Scientologist in France

Today Scientologists in Paris were out in the streets

2011-11-22T12:36:00.001-08:00

On the left is Palais de Justice in Paris, Conciergerie is part of it.

This afternoon a group of Scientologists and myself went to demonstrate in front of the Justice Palace (Palais de Justice) to make a stand for our religion. See below for the official statement on that.

As a Scientologist since many years (20+), seeing what some newspapers and individuals say about our religion never ceases to amaze me, these people must be "visiting" a Church of Scientology with blinders on. It's either that or we Scientologists are just totally incapable of explaining what we're really doing.

But since we have a website, we have blogs, we have produced a gazillion videos letting people into the churches so they can see what's going on I just don't think that's the problem. But in the end, we can't sit here and blame the evil editors and others I guess we just need to realize that we've got to communicate more and make our efforts more real.

Because in terms of un-selfish help, I don't think there are many organizations that beat Scientology in that game.

Here's a really bad translation (Google plus a little bit of editing) of why we were demonstrating outside the Palais de Justice today. From a blog post by Eric Roux a Minister of the Church of Scientology in France.

Today, counsel for the Association of Spiritual Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre-opted by their conscience, to leave the trial in which they felt not being able to practice as paralegals.

The Association, in turn, wishes to inform that it has more than endorse a trial of its presence it considers that it is absolutely unfair, in which the most basic rights have been denied.

While the defense wished, as is the usual procedure, to examine parts of the record to determine if UNADFI could really qualifies as a civil trial, the most fundamental right has been denied arbitrarily, and Court denied that these pieces could be considered contradictory, thus protecting a party to the proceedings unduly against the legitimate demand of another, in violation of procedural rules that are available to all citizens.

This incident comes as the Church denounced the trial began interference of the Ministry of Justice in this matter, and a circular instructing magistrates to work "in partnership" with UNADFI, an association known for its commitment to fight against the Scientology religion. The Court had yet to be defended biased and subject to this circular.

Faced with what it sees as a justice unworthy of our country, the Association of Spiritual Church of Scientology-Celebrity Centre chose not to guarantee of a trial that his presence, blatantly, is a process whose ins and outs are distorted.

Scientology is a religion that exists in France for over fifty years, it has about 45,000 followers in the hexagon, 12 million worldwide and over 9,000 churches and missions groups across 5 continents. It is a religion whose rights are recognized as such by both the European Court of Human Rights, but also in all democratic European countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, etc.)..

Quick tip to unclog Epson Stylus SX400

2011-07-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

I've been having some issues with my Epson Stylus SX400 inkjet printer lately. I'm not using Epson ink but some cheap ink I bought on ebay.

Recently my printer stopped working, it was just giving me blank pages. Not a single color worked. Sometimes I wonder if these printers aren't programmed to fail if one puts non-Epson ink in them.

Well after reading a bunch about how to unclog the printer I was ready to trash it and find a new one since I was not going to open the printer up and try to mess around with the guts.

So I tried the following to unclog it and it worked.

First I made an unclogging solution with 1 part window cleaner, 1 part distilled water and 1 part alcohol (medical type). I mixed that all together into a home made ink-jet unclogging solution after reading various stuff on the internet.

Then I took out the ink cartridges one by one and with a syringe I put a lot of this stuff on the ink tubes and in the ink tubes (the ones that take the ink from the cartridge - not the heads). I did this for every color ink.

Then I ran the cleaning program and voila. Almost works perfect now, at least it prints whereas before it didn't.

Of course this isn't as good as a professional repair, but it surely is cheaper than buying a new printer.

Let me know if it works for you too.

Movie review: Four Lions

2011-01-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

Summary: Wow, I haven't that this much fun in a long time!

This movie is one of the funniest movies I have seen in my life. A bunch of utter incompetent fools set out to become terrorists and try to make some big impact. The movie follows them through their massive failure and utter idiocies.

It is a bit controversial since these terrorists are "muslims" I agree that this is a bit touchy, making fun of anyone's religious beliefs is an insult. But in my view this isn't so much a joke on muslims but rather on idiots who think they are following a religion when they are actually following insane leaders.

The movie takes one through the lives of an extremely stupid bunch of people that are trying to make something out of their life.

Favourite quote: “As I understand it, we shot the right man, but the wrong man blew up”

Pros: Really funny, and totally exaggerated enough not to be insulting to real Muslims (at least in my opinion).
Cons: Accents really hard to understand, without subtitles I would have been lost.

Scientology books, at home versus in a Church

2010-09-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

As a Scientologist one spends a lot of time reading the books and listening to the lectures that comprise the religion. This has quite some advantages, not the least of which is that by reading and understanding the materials one can get one's own opinion of how the religion works.
It's not all about being lectured and told that things are this way or things are that way etc.

Over the last few years I have been reading the books and doing the extension courses of the books you see above. I actually read them all one time through and that was pretty cool.

I was doing the extension courses at home as I mentioned in my previous post (Keeping up with Scientology Teachings) it was fun and definitely a certain level of learning.

But recently I went to the Church of Scientology to do the complete courses, with the lectures. Wow what a difference. It's like a third dimension to the data. When reading some of the books I could see how the information is good, but sometimes it wasn't totally real how it had anything to do with me. So doing the course and listening to the lectures helped make it real. L. Ron Hubbard, gives example on example making the information more and more real.

And doing it in a church of scientology is so much faster, no distractions, course supervisor there to help in case of bugs and more. It speeds up the progress by 2 or 3.

I recommend it.

La Worldcup de Football (or Soccer)

2010-06-27T15:36:00.001-07:00

I have been following the worldcup quite a lot lately. Well not many people in Europe haven’t or in most of the world for that matter.

Unfortunately France went out pretty much immediately. Well honestly, the way they got in (a ball pushed in by hand) it was obvious that it wouldn’t finish very well. For anyone who knows the overt-motivator sequence well then it was sure that France “qualifying” on a false goal would be kicked out quite rapidly.

And that’s exactly what happened.

What is unfortunate currently is that the players are blaming their superiors, the superiors are blaming the players and the coach and the coach, well he has pocketed about a million dollars to qualify the team, so what’s the big deal.

Well I don’t know if it’s really that bad but it was a funny concept.

Actually the French are some of the most creative people I know – and beauty is quite evident all over the country, so they can’t be that bad.

Well I keep watching the cup and was impressed by the German team! Wow that was teamwork. After the group of 16 we should have a pretty clear idea of who will end up in the final.

Seeing my Doctor

2010-02-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

I went to see my doctor today due to a continuing cold (and for all those that think Scientologists refuse to go to doctors or that they only see Scientologist doctors - that's not the case).

Somehow I have the idea that the Doctor is my friend and he should be explaining me what is happening and giving me a bit of an education in what is happening. It may be wrong of me to think that but my prior experience with doctors has always been like that.

This time it was pretty quick, he checked up on some stuff and made a long prescription of things I need to go buy. Feels like the visit to a doctor these days has turned into a short diagnosis and then voila, a prescription.

I was a bit saddened that there was just no attempt to inform me of what I can do to sort out the cold aside from take the prescription, neither was there any explanation to why the situation exists.

I guess as a Scientologist we are used to being informed of what is happening, when one goes to religious counseling in a church there is always a lot of information about everything so the parishioner isn't left there just being told what to do. It's a great way to work as it leaves us cause over what is being done. Just telling someone to take X medication with no further briefing puts him at effect.

Well I guess I'll continue to ask lots of questions and try to understand for my next visit. Meanwhile, gotta get well quick. ;-)

Getting the straight dope from Haiti

2010-01-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

The situation in Haiti is bad enough without the need for certain rumormongers to add to it and make things worse.
I was wondering how we could get some of the real deal from people - real people - on the ground that are there working to help.
And I think I found it, there are two blogs from Scientology Volunteer Ministers that are there right now working to help solve the problem with just factual reports of the scene. It's neither good nor bad news, it's just the real news.
I respect those individuals that dropped it all and went out there to save total strangers. They are the real people, they aren't there to gather information and relay it as editors see fit, they are there to help.
The links to those blogs are:
http://blog.volunteerministers.org/
and
http://ellenthevm.blogspot.com/

As Ellen says in her blog:

This is my personal blog on everything happening down here in HAITI. I will be blogging all day long, its gonna be crazy but good! Im excited because I would've loved to be getting an on the ground view of what was happening before I arrived. So....guess what? now you will have it :)

As an aside:
In watching the news a couple of days ago a French reporter that has just returned from there was being interviewed. His side of the story was quite different from that in the news.
News said: American GIs have to be sent to Haiti because the people are rioting and it is not safe to walk anywhere as all the criminals are in the streets.
Journalist said: People aren't rioting, they are struggling to survive and get food. They jump on the food that is handed out as that is all they have. It's not nearly as bad as the Parisians going shopping on the first day of the Sale.
News said: Americans, Chinese and other countries are trying to take over the country and are sending in their soldiers to try to "invade" the country.
Journalist said: Americans have been the ones doing the most for this country, they have the infrastructure and can organize in the midst of the chaos. If it weren't for them there would only be confusion.
News said: There are no more phone lines in the country and even the President can't call anymore.
Volunteer Ministers said: We will be updating our Facebook pages and blogs daily to ensure there is real news going out.

So what do we believe? REAL PEOPLE.

Sending Volunteers to Haiti

2010-01-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

When the quake hit a Scientologist friend of mine in Haiti, send me an urgent message on Facebook that help was needed. We got it at about 08:00 AM Paris time. I have since been telling anyone that I know who has qualifications to go and help since that seems to be the biggest need.

Unfortunately I couldn't go yet (am still trying to go).

But I just saw this article from the Miami Herald which I was happy to see:

Church of Scientology to send ministers, doctors to Haiti

BY JAWEED KALEEM

JKALEEM@MIAMIHERALD.COM

The Church of Scientology is chartering a plane Thursday evening from Miami International Airport to Port-au-Prince carrying Scientology ministers, Mormon medics and Haitian-American doctors to join relief efforts in Port-au-Prince.

The 168-seat aircraft is the second the church is sending to Haiti. A crew of 126 volunteers flew from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Haiti Sunday to provide water, food and medical supplies to earthquake victims.

Thursday's group will arrive on a plane from Los Angeles before picking up supplies and more passengers in South Florida and departing for Port-au-Prince. About half of the passengers will be ``volunteer ministers'' who will use Scientology techniques to assist the injured, said Mercedes Alvarez, a South Florida Church of Scientology member.

Those techniques, applied after medical assistance, include partial reenactments of trauma and the "touch assist," in which a Scientologist repeatedly touches a person near the injury and calls attention to the touch. Techniques also include the ``nerve assist,'' which involves stroking parts of the upper body and legs and arms with two index fingers to release ``standing waves in the nerve channels of the body, improving communication with the body and bringing the being relief,'' according to Scientology literature.

Scientologists believe that individuals are foremost spirits, or thetans, and that Scientology methods will better help the body communicate with the spirit and remove mental blocks to bring relief.

Alvarez, who attends the church's center in Coral Gables, said there is no formal Church of Scientology in Haiti, but there are organized members in the Dominican Republic. The team flying Thursday includes members from across the United States.

Note: I just saw the Haitian President saying on TV that he could not accept a phone call from the President Nicolas Sarkosy because there are no phones in Haiti any more. Seems odd, since a volunteer friend of mine is sending several updates an day on Facebook so she has access to internet. I don't think she has better access to internet and phone lines than the president...

Circus still going strong

2010-01-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was invited to a show of the Circus Pinder that had arrived in Paris. One of our suppliers had arranged a private showing. Honestly I was doubtful that it would be full, with all the modern entertainment channels I was quite sure it would be almost without customers. I was pleasantly surprised to see it totally full.

The show started with an impressive Lion and Tiger act. Something like 16 beasts in the cage being controlled by one man. Frederic Edelstein the Lion tamer seems to make it so simple, they just seem like cats playing around. It's when one realizes that with a single strike they could rip an arm off that one realizes how courageous he is.

The show was pretty long, something like 3 hours so I won't go over all the details. But there was some really great stuff. One of the next acts was a balancing and acrobatic act on a flexible bar, I think this is called a Russian Bar by a Cuban troupe called Losmendes.

One of the next amazing parts of the show was Sophie Edelstein's illusions number. Not only was the lighting just fabulous the show itself was great and left me and my girlfriend pretty amazed. At the end she has some 6 people appear out of a tiny 1 person box. Quite well done. The only thing that could use some improvement was the music, as it was all pre-recorded the mixing left something to be wanted with abrupt change of songs during the show.

Then came the trapeze act which was pretty scary as one can't help but wonder what would happen if anything went wrong, but everything went right and was great.

And the show went on with more exotic animals and spectacle. Overall it was a great experience and what's more impressive is how smooth they make it look, unlike movies they can't do a retake so they just need to be perfect when they come out and do their show. It's great to watch professionals at work, they make amazing acts look like a piece of cake.

In summary, go to the circus - it's fun and a great way to go out with friends and family.

Why 80% of women still do housework in France

2009-12-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

The big news in France today was how 80% of the French household work is still being done by women.

It was on radio this morning, on TV this evening and in the papers this afternoon.

And the problem seems to be that men and women aren't equal or something like this. How is ironing causing a problem with equalities?

It's ironic, next time the car is down and needs to be pushed home - will you be asking your wife to push it? When there are heavy loads to be carried - are you going to get your wife to carry them while you do the ironing?

It's not a question of being a chauvinist. I respect women rights, but that they do certain household work doesn't mean they are not equal. In our place we split the job, I take some my girlfriend takes others and we get along great. I asked her and she would much rather do the ironing than washing the scooter or carrying the heavy bags home.

It's a weird "big story".

Really it's a matter of treating others the way one wants to be treated. I would never enforce my girlfriend to do something she doesn't want to. And neither would she do that to me. The booklet, The Way to Happiness is a great booklet to apply and avoids these odd "studies" and conclusions.

http://ourearthlyrights.blogspot.com/2009/10/way-to-happiness-as-feature-length-film.html

http://www.thewaytohappiness.org/

The Scanners at Juliette Lewis' Concert in Pairs Video

2009-11-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

I managed to shoot a short clip of The Scanners when they played at the Alambra in Paris. It is a iphone video so bare with the low quality.

However I find this piece absolutely amazing. Hope you enjoy it too.

Juliette Lewis concert in Paris

2009-11-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

I went to see Juliette at her concert in Paris this week. Wow what a bundle of energy! If you have not seen Juliette in concert yet you are definitely going to be amazed at how she rocks the stage.

The setting was a small hall called l'Alambra, and it was packed to the brim. Amazingly the public wasn't a bunch of teenagers but lots of 30-40 year olds. I really thought it would be a different type of audience for her punk-rock style music.

I managed to take some snaps with my iphone (yeah I guess that's going to be a tradition of mine, posting crappy iphone pics of concerts).

The great thing about settings like l'Alambra is that WE CAN SEE THE BAND!

If you like Juliette's music, then the concert is for you because it's 150% on. She's dancing on the stage like you have hardly ever seen someone do and the band are playing to the max.

On the Alambra website they wrote the following about her and the concert (in French but the English is below automatic translation):

JULIETTE LEWIS

Née le 21 juin 1973 à Los Angeles, Juliette Lewis est la fille de l'acteur Geoffrey Lewis et d'une graphiste, Glenis Batley. Elle grandit à Hollywood et rêve, enfant, de devenir actrice en regardant Grease (1978) et Fame (1980).

Elle débute à la télévision en 1987, à l'âge de 12 ans, dans la série I married Dora. Elle quitte alors le lycée qu'elle n'aura fréquenté que trois semaines... L'année suivante, elle joue aux côtés de Kim Basinger dans la comédie J'ai épousé une extra-terrestre. Elle enchaîne ensuite les films et se fait remarquer en 1992 dans Les Nerfs à vif de Martin Scorsese où elle tente d'échapper à un ignoble individu incarné par Robert de Niro. L'année d'après, elle crève l'écran en étudiante déjantée, petite amie de Brad Pitt, dans Kalifornia, de Dominic Sena. Mais son plus grand rôle à ce jour, celui qui la rend célèbre de par le monde, est probablement celui de Mallory dans Tueurs nés, le film ultra violent d'Oliver Stone sorti en salles en 1994. Devenue une actrice confirmée, elle reste néanmoins cantonnée à des personnages troubles et inquiétants.

En 2003, Juliette Lewis monte un groupe rock, Juliette and The Licks, et sort plusieurs CD dont les ventes restent confidentielles. En 2004, elle enregistre trois morceaux avec le groupe The Prodigy sur l'album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Une punk attitude qui ne l'empêche pas d'être un membre actif de l'Eglise de Scientologie.

Côté coeur, Juliette Lewis fut un temps la compagne de Brad Pitt avant de jeter son dévolu sur un certain Michael Dewitt, ancien majordome du couple Kurt Cobain/Courtney Love. En 1999, elle se marie avec Steve Berra, un skateboarder professionnel, dont elle divorce en 2005.

English below:

Born June 21, 1973 in Los Angeles, Juliette Lewis is the daughter of actor Geoffrey Lewis and a graphic designer Glenis Batley. She grew up in Hollywood and as a child dreamt of becoming an actress while watching Grease (1978) and Fame (1980).

She began in television in 1987 at the age of 12 in the series I Married Dora. She left high school which she attended for three weeks ... The following year she costarred with Kim Basinger in the comedy My Stepmother Is an Alien. She then follows on to more movies and stands out in 1992 in Cape Fear by Martin Scorsese as it tries to escape an horrible killer played by Robert De Niro. The following year, she bursts the screen as a crazy student role, girlfriend of Brad Pitt in Kalifornia by Dominic Sena. But her biggest role to date, one that made her famous throughout the world, is probably that of Mallory in Natural Born Killers, the ultra-violent film by Oliver Stone released in 1994. Having become a confirmed actress she is still stuck with roles of characters with troubling disorders.

In 2003, Juliette Lewis created a rock band, Juliette and The Licks, and released several CDs whose sales remain confidential. In 2004, she recorded three songs with the band The Prodigy on the album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. A punk attitude that does not prevent her from being an active member of the Church of Scientology.

On the romantic side, Juliette Lewis was once the girlfriend of Brad Pitt before casting her eye on a certain Michael Dewitt, the former butler for Kurt Cobain / Courtney Love. In 1999, she married Steve Berra, a professional skateboarder, she divorced in 2005.

It was funny to see that mention of "A punk attitude that does not prevent her from being an active memeber of the Church of Scientology", some people have an odd idea of what a Scientologist is.

But in any case, if you're in for Punk Rock - Juliette is an experience you rarely will forget. And the band that came before her "The Scanners" are great too. Musically talented, they did some great stuff before the concert. I am definitely getting their album.

More pics here but you need to use your imagination...

Juliette again

The Scanners (check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/scanners)

New iMacs

2009-11-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

The new iMacs are amazing. I went to see one in the store the other day and wow! That mouse, the screen are great. The mouse particularly struck me. I've thought that this would be a great idea a while ago but to see it in action now is great. And that it runs with the built in radio is great, no need to have a USB dongle in addition!

Frankly I must say that (even though I am not much of a Mac user) the quality of design, the attention to detail that goes into an Apple product is great. No wonder they sell - it's just a great exchange value to the customer.

What I wasn't so happy about is that only 3 weeks before the new iMac was released, I had bought the earlier version for the same value. That was rather boring. In fact I think it was really lame, they should offer a free upgrade of RAM or something like that at least. Or a coupon for a major discount on the new mouse or whatever.

On PCs we know that there are constanly new PCs coming out and that one buys a PC there'll be something like it the next week so it's not so upsetting.

Well that's my first experience with a mac...

Official Scientology Press Release on French Scientology Case

2009-11-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

Here is the official press release from the Church of Scientology on the court case it was published a little while a go and I never put it on my blog.

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY DEFEATS ATTEMPT TO CURTAIL FREEDOM TO PRACTICE THE RELIGION IN FRANCE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Karin Pouw
Church of Scientology International
(323) 960-3500

October 27, 2009

The Paris Correctional Court today rejected the recommendations of prosecutors in a case against a Paris Scientology Church, a Scientology bookstore and six individual Church members. The Court cited the absence of any complaints against the Church in more than a decade and that the defendants had acted out of sincere religious conviction as the reason for refusing the draconian sanctions sought by the government. The Court imposed no restrictions on the Church's activities.

The case arose out of the five-month participation in Scientology religious practices in 1998 by the main civil party. This included studying Scientology Scriptures and receiving spiritual counseling. Throughout the month-long trial held in May and June 2009, the Church decried the case as a blatant heresy trial and an example of the discriminatory treatment to which new religious movements are treated in France-treatment that has been condemned by international human rights bodies. In its annual International Religious Freedom Report issued on
October 26, 2009 the United States State Department said that "discriminatory treatment" of Scientologists in France "remained a concern."

In 2006, the prosecutor recommended the case be dismissed because there was no evidence of any wrongdoing. Instead, the court succumbed to pressure from anti-religious extremists in government and turned it into a heresy trial in violation of the rights of the Scientologists under French law and under the European Convention on Human Rights.

This is in marked contrast to the treatment of Scientology in other countries where Scientology is formally recognized as a religion. The European Court of Human Rights has on two recent occasions found that
Churches of Scientology in Russia are entitled to the protection of religious freedom guaranteed by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Today's decision means that Scientologists remain free to practice their religion in France, despite the best efforts to the contrary by anti-religious extremists. While the fines and suspended sentences issued by the Court will be appealed, they will have no effect on Church activities and the rapid expansion the Church is experiencing will continue.

The Church of Scientology has grown from one Church in 1954 to more than 8,000 Churches, Missions and groups in 165 countries today. The Church sponsors an international human rights education initiative as well as the world's largest non-governmental drug education program. Four new Churches have opened in 2009, most recently the Church of Scientology of Rome on October 24, with a new Church opening in Washington, DC, on October 31. In April, three new Churches were dedicated: in Malmo, Sweden; Dallas, Texas; and Nashville, Tennessee. The Scientology religion has expanded more in the past year than in the past five years combined and more in the past five years than in the past five decades combined.

oOo

And down came the Berlin Wall

2009-11-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's already 20 years since the wall came down. Still feels pretty recent though.

I went to visit Berlin last year and was impressed by the speed at which the city has been rebuilt. I love that city, totally different from Paris but really great.

As my girlfriend was from East Germany, we went to see the family in East Berlin and then further in former East Germany, and that is where we got to see what communism did to those places.

They were run down, dirty and amazingly ugly. There was just no space for creation, for artists or for being different. I am posting a picture below which will give an idea of what I mean. And yet, Dessau the city I was in, was one of the hubs of the Bauhaus design movement! Modern design, art-deco all that came after the Bauhaus which was a turning point in design.

While Berlin is better than Dessau - the eastern part of Berlin still bears some serious scars from the communism era.

Well all this Berlin Wall talk, reminds me of the relief that I personally felt when the wall came down. It's odd that as a teenager in a different country (and I wasn't a super responsible teen) I personally felt a relief when this happened.

I guess this is part of the Dynamics that Hubbard mentioned in the book Scientology: A New Slant on Life on the chapter The Eight Dynamics.

Well it's great to celebrate more freedom!

Typical building - 20 years after the wall came down!

News on the Scientology case in France

2009-10-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

The verdict of this morning was a fine to a Church of Scientology in Paris and several of the members plus a suspended jail sentence for some members. The case is being appealed and we will see what happens then. In my opinion the biggest part of this case is that the government cancelled the law permitting it to ban a religious group for the mistakes of one person.

That is a major step forward for human rights in France which has had a tarnished history when it comes to minorities (religious and otherwise). Despite a very gory revolution, tyranny came back in power only a few years later. And even though that revolution brought the first declaration of Human Rights - the country has never been famous for ensuring these rights are followed. But I believe this is a major step in the right direction.

As the case goes to appeal now we will see later how it will progress. This isn't the first time Scientology goes to court in France, nor in any other major country in the world. Spain took 17 years, Italy took about 20, US took more than that.

What really matters is what Scientology and other religious minorities do for society. The actions such as drug prevention, literacy campaigns, disaster aid and personal help to the followers make Scientology and other minorities continue to exist and expand.

Lily Allen Concert at Le Zenith in Paris

2009-10-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see the Lily Allen concert at Le Zenith.

Great concert and a great hall. Le Zenith fits about 6000 or so people so the crowd was not too big. It's a major difference to the big bands like Coldplay, U2 etc who fill stadiums and if you're not in the crowd you are just not going to see too much.

As the seats were not numbered we went early so we could catch good places. We came at about an hour early and the hall was only one quarter full. I was worried the concert would be empty, but it filled up.

By the time the warm up band came on the hall was totally full. Then Just Jack came on and the show began. I wasn't sure what to expect from them, but was pleasantly surprised. In fact I found them much better on stage than on their studio recordings. They had punch and life and really got the crowd going.

Here is a nice recording (not mine - all my photos and recordings were so bad I had to trash them) of them doing their song "The Day I Died"

Just Jack managed to get the entire crowd on their feet at the end of their show which was quite a feat. So hat's off to them.

And after them, wait...

Stage gets set up and finally Lily Allen comes on: (another video I didn't take).

She announced that she had been sick all week so her voice may be slightly croaky. But we didn't care - we wanted to see her sing. She also announced that this was her first major concert on her own and with her own big stage so we had to get this one done with her. Which we all agreed to.

She did, Oh My God by Kaiser Chiefs which was awesome, Naive by the Kooks and Womanizer by Britney Spears in addition to all her songs of course.

Lilly does "Smile"

Overall the concert was great. The worst part was probably the two people in front of us who really could have done with some deodorant.

All the best for the rest of the tour Lily.

The Way to Happiness as a Feature length film!

2009-10-18T04:07:00.000-07:00

I was just told about the brand new "The Way to Happiness" Feature Length film! Wow, needless to say I am excited to get my copy. It was just released in East Grinstead, at Saint Hill for the 25th Anniversary of the International Association of Scientologists.

The booklet is a tremendously practical guide to life, not proselytizing for Scientology or any other religion, but just based on common sense and not in an authoritarian way. I think we are all tired of being told, you musn't do so and so and you must do the other.

The Way to Happiness is practical and useful, and it's up to date with society.

As soon as it is up on their site you can order it from here: New Era Publications Official Website or click on this links that go through their Paypal site: http://bit.ly/1twthDVD

Nobel Peace Prize to Obama

2009-10-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

I must say I was rather astonished to hear that Obama was awarded the Nobel peace prize. I sort of confused me that someone who has just started working on peace is already being awarded the most famous prize for the subject.

If he had ended the war in Iraq and Afganistan and invested the hundreds of millions being spent there every day into the economic crisis I would have understood. But none of that happened, the war is still going on.

Now this post isn't for or against Obama, but rather on the subject of rewarding people for products achieved. There's a concept I grew up with in Scientology which is that rewards, recognitions, recompense etc are all given based on quality products achieved. And there's a balance between quality and quantity.

There are hundreds of people who have done things for peace and surely many would have earned the award. On the other hand with two major wars going - maybe the prize should be given to the one who stops these wars.

PS: Isn't it ironic that the most famous Peace Prize was created by the one who produced the dynamite for which wars are the biggest consumer.

Scientology named a religion on French soil

2009-10-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

I just read the following article from Associated Press and thought it was quite interesting. The interesting part being that the decision was taken on French soil. Need I say more...

Scientologists win rights case against Russia
(AP) – 6 hours ago
STRASBOURG, France — Russia's ban on the Church of Scientology is illegal, the European Court of Human Rights said Thursday in a binding ruling.
The court said Russia cannot ban the Church of Scientology just because it has not been in the country for long and awarded each of the groups euro5,000 ($7,270) in damages. The groups together also received euro10,000 ($14,500) for costs, which they shared.
The case was brought to the Strasbourg-based court by two Russian Scientology branches that were refused listing as "religious organizations" because they have not existed for at least 15 years as required by Russia's Religions Act.
Though Scientology is not widely seen as a religion in Europe, the court said it was making its judgment based on national law.
The Russian Scientology branches — one in the city of Surgut, the other in Nizhnekamsk — had originally taken their case to Russian courts but lost.
The Church of Scientology of Russia said the ruling "sets another important precedent to protect the rights of all other religious communities in Europe," according to a statement from spokeswoman Nina de Kastro.
In 2007, the Moscow Scientology branch Moscow won a case in the Strasbourg court. The St. Petersburg branch has a case pending.
The Strasbourg court issues rulings based on the European Convention on Human Rights that are binding on the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.
The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, claims to have 10 million members in 165 nations.
It has been active for decades in Europe, but has struggled to gain status as a religion. Belgium, Germany and other European countries see Scientology as a cult or sect.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

How to connect Clavinova to Mac Garageband

2009-09-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Recently I bought a Yamaha Clavinova piano with the intention to get a Mac so I could use Garageband or other music software and have some fun composing music with tracks etc.

So today when I finally got my iMac and tried to connect the Clavinova I had a cold chill for a second as I just could not get the Mac to even see the piano. It was actually pretty simple to fix but it wasn't very clear so I thought I would post the solution.

I have a Clavinova CLP-330 and an iMac with OS X.

There is no need to buy special midi adapters etc.

Connect the regular USB cable to the piano.
Download and install the USB-MIDI Driver for Mac OS X on the following link: http://www.yamahasynth.com/downloads/drivers_software/stage_pianos/cp300/driver/
Install it on your Mac.
Restart the Mac.
Launch Garageband.

And that is all.

The driver doesn't specifically mention that it will work with the CLP-330, but it does.

So there you go. I hope this helps anyone who isn't sure about this in the future. You don't need to purchase the midi adapter (Yamaha UX16 or other). It works straight from the piano.

And once you've done that and you're ready to make some music. I suggest some great reading on music and rythm. Ron the Music Maker: http://www.ronthemusicmaker.org/music/contents.htm

Hotel Matignon, la journee du patrimoine

2009-09-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to visit "Hotel Matignon" which is the French Prime Minister's residence and office. It's part of the Journee du Patrimoine (the last weekend of Sept all public buildings are open to public visit).

It's an amazing site. If you want to see it there is a great virtual representation of it on the following link: http://www.gouvernement.fr/visite-virtuelle-matignon-360

Visiting this site I was struck by the beauty of the place. I've posted some of my photos, but they probably don't communicate as much to you as they did to me.

The architecture, gardens, paintings, decoration are works of art, not unlike many others found in Paris and France. When walking through the streets of Paris there is a quote from L. Ron Hubbard that comes to mind and it explains why France still exists today.

The quote is the following:

"A culture is only as great as its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists" L. Ron Hubbard

Now back to the visit.

Waiting line to get in. I went down the right, across the street and up on the left again. Probably something like 3 hours waiting - maybe more (I came a little early so only waited 2 hours).

Artistic detail in the staircase, the whole place was guilded all over. Amazing work put into making it.

That's the desk of the Prime Minister, hey he's on Mac. That means one of two things - ministry is not very computerized since no major administration system is on Mac. And that he like's great design in computers.

On the wall in the main court yard is the Declaration of Human Rights, painted on the wall. The French one from the revolution in 1789. It's meant to remind the government every day that they should never ignore these human rights.

The gardens, or rather parc. This picture is taken only halfway into the parc. It's the biggest non-public parc in Paris. As it is totally secluded, one can't see any of this from the outside so it's pretty amazing when one gets in there. They have 5 gardeners keeping it totally impeccable all the time.

In summary it was a great visit.

News on the Scientology Case

2009-09-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

While watching the news on TV this evening I heard about the change on the court case against Scientology. I've already given my views on that. It's lame to try and forbid a belief - it just wont work, ever. The French and many others have tried, but it just never worked.

Some are claiming there is a conspiracy behind this - come on, Scientologists didn't even know this had happened. It's just common sense to rework a law as stupid as the one that they had (one could dissolve any association based on anything wrong done within that association).

Here is the article: http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=1059

Loophole could save Scientology

September 15, 2009

A NEW law has been “discovered” that means that whatever the outcome of France’s Scientology trial, the French branch of the group cannot be dissolved.

French Scientology – considered to be a cult by the government – has been on trial, accused of swindling people out of money in an organised gang.

A judgement is expected next month and prosecutors are demanding that the organisation be dissolved.

However it has come to light that the Simplification and Clarification of the Law act, which the government passed just before the trial started in May, has a clause in it which means courts can no longer dissolve associations found guilty of fraud.

The clause was not subject to any parliamentary debate and appears to have gone unnoticed.

The lawyer for the prosecution, Olivier Morice, has accused the government of trying to protect the group.

“At present the justice minister can give no explanation. That means someone in the government came up with a text that was totally stupid and it was voted through at top speed so as to protect the Scientologists,” said Mr Morice, who is demanding an enquiry.

Justice Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has said she will take the first opportunity to bring back the power to dissolve associations. However when a law is toughened it is not retrospective, so any change would not be in time to affect this trial.

Despite the legal change, the courts still have power to tell the Scientologists to cease activities in France even if they cannot dissolve the legal entity of their organisation.

Scientology on Trial in France

2009-09-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

I found this article on the website of Daniele Gounord the spokesperson of Scientology in France, it's the results of an interview with a journalist of the Christian Science Monitor.

I only have a google translation of it but it can help. Find the original here: www.dianelegounord.com

...

1) The Church argues that her activities and actions of the defendants are part of the practice of Scientology?

Note that in this trial the prosecution, after 8 years of investigation, concluded that there was no offense by the accused and requested a dismissal in 2006. Then, the current prosecutor, without any new evidence in the case, has clearly been under pressure and radically changed his mind. He has offered no evidence in relation to the charges but has directly attacked the religion of Scientology and its founder.
Master Maisonneuve expressed clearly when he said that while the Church of Scientology is recognized as a religion in many European countries, "we we're about to burn the books by Ron Hubbard in the courtyard of the Holy Chapel.

2) The Church has presented this as an infringement on freedom of religion. Why? The prosecutor focused on particular cases of conduct in question.

The chief prosecutor in his final indictment for non-suit, said that with regard to the accusations, nothing could be criticized Scientologists. Then, at trial the prosecutor again targeted the beliefs and practices of 45,000 French Scientologists a very general way. Indeed, it was like an inquisition trial, without early evidence to the charges.
Freedom of religion is really in danger in France, with militant groups such MIVILUDES (interministerial group) and UNADFI (a private association which has made very few members and receives its funding mainly from government-96%) creating a climate of hatred against religions.
This was stressed by many international institutions. Last month, the OSCE has come to its investigation MIVILUDES on suspicion of violations of human rights. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion of the United Nations, after visiting France, wrote in his report that the attitude towards religious minorities had created situations of discrimination for many religious communities. The State Department has in turn criticized France for its stance against Scientology and other religions in its 2008 report. You should know that recently a group of U.S. officials (Republicans and Democrats) has reminded the Ambassador of France, Pierre Vimont, the international conventions ratified by France on freedom of religion. (see letter)

3) What would you comment on the proposed list of sects by MIVILUDES, and you expect other problems to come?

This type of black list is similar to those established in Germany at the time of the Nazi regime, and has never been used since 2005. French Prime Minister, has in fact strongly recommended not to use reference to such list, considered dangerous. Today MIVILUDES will make the same mistake that earned him criticism from the United Nations. If this proposal is accepted, it will only strengthen the climate of hatred not only against Scientology, but against all religious minorities in our country, including churches and Protestant minorities.

4) Which statement do you want to enter?

Scientology has 12 million followers worldwide and 45,000 in France, who practice their religion with faith. They intend to continue whatever happens.

They implement eg the largest non-governmental campaign of prevention against drugs in the world. Scientologists are in France for 50 years. The French Constitution must protect their rights.

Coldplay Concert in Paris - awesome!

2009-09-09T15:26:00.001-07:00

On Monday night I went to Parc des Princes to see Coldplay live (along with 50,000 other people). Wow that was just awesome!

Parc des Princes stadium, Paris

The concert was in the Paris Parc des Princes open air stadium. It's probably the second biggest stadium in France and pretty neat. I was seated high up right under the roof. You can click on the picture here to get the map if you want.

The concert started with the Flaming Lips. I didn't know the band but was positively impressed when I saw them on stage. They had a pretty good stage set up and some good songs.

After them was the usual clean-up team. Except that one of the sweepers started doing a breakdance on stage and got the crowd pretty cheered up. I am not sure if that was set up or if it really was spontaneous. In any case it was great fun.

Then they came and they delivered a fantastic concert. I must admit I had been pretty heated up by a friend of mine so I didn't want to expect too much. But when they came on it was great fun.

I liked how it wasn't just Chris Martin that got all the attention but the drummer and guitarist also got a good share of the show.

After a few classics the team moved off to the smaller stage and played a very strange (but interesting) version of one of their latest songs I think it was Viva la Vida. That was great as they moved into the crowd on a smaller stage that was set up just for that song and got close up.

Then back to the main stage for more.

Suddenly they all walk off the stage, the lights are almost off. We're wondering WTF are they leaving already? We're only 1 1/2 hour into the show! Not they walk off the side and onto another small stage in the middle of the crowd! Wow. And played Billie Jean by MJ! Awesome. I found a recording here from someone who was pretty close:

And Chris Martin then asks (in French) for everyone to take out their mobiles (about 40,000 of them) and it lights up the stadium! So he gets the crowd to make an illuminated wave with the mobiles which gets everyone to go crazy.

And after that back on the stage for more classics.

The team is great, the sound quality was a little rough and I can say that a few friends of mine that had paid for "presidential" seats were sat on the bottom row, almost in the back so I was almost better seated for less money.

But it was a great concert and totally worth every minute. The music is awesome and a great mixture of pop and rock. To wrap up the night we went off to the Trocadero and had a Panache (beer and lemonade) on the square with view on the Eiffel Tower. It was just sublime.

Keeping up with Scientology teachings

2009-09-06T14:51:00.001-07:00

The Basics are some of the priority reading that all Scientologists around the world are reading currently. Well actually as they are the Basics they will be the priority reading for all time.

I make sure I always spend several hours a week reading the books and going through the lectures.

It's great stuff. I think most scientologists do this, some more, some less.

For the Logics, the Axioms and some of the tougher concepts I did lots of sketches to get more mass to the data (a lack of mass being part of the three barriers to study).

But with the lectures that go with the book. Ron gives quite some additional examples of the data which illustrates it and makes it easier to understand.

A great way to spend the weekend. Learning.

New Arctic Monkeys album released?

2009-09-05T06:28:00.001-07:00

Whoa! I just discovered that the Arctic Monkeys have released a new album in just about every country but France!

How come I never found out!?

I listen to radio EVERY MORNING specifically so I don't miss out on new music releases. I thought I was the bees knees when I heard the new Robbie Williams song on radio.

But I missed the release from the monkeys?

I discovered that the following is the track list:

# Title

1. My Propeller

2. Crying Lightning

3. Dangerous Animals

4. Secret Door

5. Potion Approaching

6. Fire and the Thud

7. Cornerstone

8. Dance Little Liar

9. Pretty Visitors

10. The Jeweller's Hands

Just found it on the iTunes store, ok that is coming my way.

eBook - what are you waiting for?

2009-09-02T12:34:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine recently posted a question on Facebook wondering what is it going to take for eBooks to take off.
That got me thinking a bit. I used to read ebooks on my Sony Clie and then later on my Dell Axim and later on my HTC smartphone. I have read Dianetics ebook and quite a few others. But it never caught on and I haven't done any ebooking in a few years.

I was wondering what it would take to get ebooks to take off.

Trying to emulate paper books doesn't seem to be the way to go. I much prefer reading a paper book than an ebook. Getting a large ebook reader won't help at all it's just more stuff to carry around. And taking an ebook reader to the balcony or beach to read in the sun is going to feel akward if not dangerous (exploding batteries being all the rage).

So what's the next great idea?

Let's compare it to music. MP3 players brought a whole new dimension to listening to music on the go. We could have hundreds of songs with us. The tracks didn't skip when we ran or walked. There was no more clunky cassettes to slot in or out. The batteries didn't run out as we were rewinding the tape etc. In short there was a ton of advantages.

And how did the internet change the news media? Well suddenly we could search for exactly the news we wanted, we could get the news that interested us. If we were not interested anymore we could flip to the next. No more need to buy an entire newspaper or magazine just to read 5 stories and skip the rest.

But how does all this compare to eBooks? Well when we read books we want to read the entire book. We aren't going to "shuffle" between 300 chapters. It's a linear thing.

So what?

We need something that is going to dramatically improve the way we read. Some ideas could be having built in dictionary where we can tap on a word and the definition appears in a little window. I think MS Reader did that. It's good, but still not enough to convince me to lug around a huge ebook reader (or small ebook reader for that matter).

We could reinvent the way books are written. It's a bit far fetched. But what about an interactive book which is written with different endings or stories. When we start reading the book we input certain parameters and the story is adapted to that.

Or a soundtrack that goes with the book? The book is typeset to have certain things happening at specific points on the page. As we flip the pages, the soundtrack follows with a musical background.

And even more importantly - THE PRICES ARE AS HIGH AS A PAPERBACK! These prices need to go down before anyone starts using them for real.

These are just some ideas I could see right now. There are hundreds more. I believe the industry needs to go out and survey the readers to find out what they would most like to see and workout the future.

Feel free to post your ideas.

Traffic in Paris - tips on how to get around

2009-08-30T23:14:00.001-07:00

If you are going to be in Paris for a little while and you don't want to take the subway (which I advise you do) then you may want to rent a scooter and experience Paris - Parisian style.

As I haven't always been living in Paris it took me a while to get accustomed to Parisian driving but I must say it's a bit more efficient on scooter than by car.

This short video should give you a good taste of what it's like.

Have fun.

Decided to go visit Paris this weekend

2009-08-30T09:57:00.001-07:00

This weekend I decided it is time to go exploring the city I live in again. Until summer came I had decided I would go visit something new every weekend but since summer that didn't continue.

So this weekend it was on again. I went for a guided tour of Opera Garnier. Wow - what an amazing palace! I have seen lots of photos of it and they are amazing (see some here: http://www.paris-photo.net/paris_opera_garnier.php). But seeing it for real is a totally different story.

It's an amazing building from the beginning to the end and has lot's of stories. Including the Phantom of the Opera.

It's totally worth the visit and I must say I admire the architect Charles Garnier for putting this together.

Why I believe in Drug Education

2009-08-27T12:18:00.001-07:00

I recently watched the new DVD made by the Foundation for a Drug-free World called "Real People - Real Stories" and thought it was a good angle on what drugs really are.

I haven't personally taken much drugs and feel lucky. But I have a personal experience on what drug education can do. My father was a serious drug addict and consumer. He had been forcefully taken off Heroin at least three times, he had half his liver removed due to alcohol abuse and his friends didn't help his drug problem much as they were mostly all into it too.

And he wasn't specialized in one type of drug, he would take anything he could get his hands on mixing street drugs, medical drugs, alcohol to get a better fix.

Criminality wasn't very far from his door almost every day.

Why drug education?

Because I knew that my dad had taken all these drugs, when I hit my teens I asked him a lot of questions, how does Heroin work? What is LSD and what does it do? How does cocaine work? What are sniffing drugs? What about mushrooms? and much more.

He never told me not to do drugs and never told me to do them. He explained them to me in detail, told me what happens in a person's head, explained the after effects and in short gave me a factual overview of what they are. He often also explained how they are made.

With the data I could judge for myself, it was simple and it was my decision.

My father is dead now, supposedly from internal bleeding and not directly related to drugs. He was an impressive creator and a man full of knowledge, some good some bad but most of it had a story.

One of the many things I got from him was a personal reality that I will not be doing drugs.

If drug education was more widespread - we wouldn't need to fight the drug pushers and drug manufacturers as they would just not have any customers.

Logics and the Basics

2009-08-26T12:02:00.001-07:00

Like most Scientologists I am reading the Basic books and listening to the lectures thus catching up with the founding data that make the religion.

I say catching up as I have been a Scientologist for 17 years and have read many of the earlier editions. They've always been amazing to me and I have always gotten data out of them that I could use in life.

But with the review and release of the Basics (click on the link for a full article on this) I am re-reading the books and now listening to the companion lectures.

What a difference!

I just re-read the Logics in Advanced Procedures and Axioms it's night and day. I first listened the lectures the Ron gave shortly before the book was released and then started reading the book. I had to sketch a few out to get a complete understanding but, despite having read them at least four times before, now I totally get them and I can finally use the data in life.

Imagine you are watching a photo and enjoy it. You love the scene, the angle, the lighting and how it captures a still shot of a great location but this is on an old cathode ray TV screen, it's great because you don't know there is better. Now you are looking at that great shot and you find the colors are better, the detail is incredible. You are watching a full HD screen in 1080p - you're impressed. The shot is even better than you imagined. But it gets better - someone hits play on the blu-ray player and now you are flying over the landscape in full HD.

That's about as close a comparison I can give. And it hardly does it justice.

Well, gotta go - have much more to read.

eBay - pluses and minuses

2009-08-17T14:34:00.001-07:00

I've used ebay quite a lot over the years as a buyer and it's a great site.

Recently I had a mobile phone I wanted to sell so I put it on sale on ebay and it was sold. A little cheaper than I had hoped but that's the name of the game so I shipped it rapidly to the buyer.

As I have often been upset about people overcharging on the shipping I put the shipping to a minimum and did an honest deal.

The buyer (adam_hodgson_1987@hotmail.com) paid the phone with paypal and I shipped.

The same day I shipped the phone I got an email from Paypal saying the payment was withdrawn as Adam Hodgson had used a fraudulent credit card. I was not so happy with that as I had shipped real cheap and there was no way for me to cancel it.

I email Adam and he swore he didn't understand and would resolve the problem immediately. I waited and waited and to no avail.

Adam who lives in Birmingham at the following address had run off with the phone and suddenly wouldn't answer any emails...

Adam Hodgson
22 Overdale road
Birmingham, West Midlands
b32 2qp
United Kingdom

It's a pity to see people misuse such a practical thing as eBay.

eBay's founder Pierre Omidyar once said

"We believe people are basically good; we believe everyone has something to contribute; we believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people; we recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual; we encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated."

I totally agree with him. It's down the same concept of The Way to Happiness precept 20. "Try to treat others as you would want them to treat you."

There are many other precepts of The Way to Happiness that would apply here.

Let's see if Adam can use them.

Well that will certainly not stop me from using eBay.

Back from Holiday

2009-08-15T11:19:00.001-07:00

Just returned from summer holiday. Wow that was great. Went to the French Riviera in the sun and fun. In Hyeres (the city I stayed in most) the beaches are abundant due to the large half-island on the in the south of the city.

There is an amusement park in the city that is totally oriented around America. It's quite fun, not very big. The light in the "Colorado" title of the roller-coaster didn't work which made this a fun photo.

The area is like a little paradise with palm trees and beaches plus some great cliffs. Awesome sightseeing. This shot is from one of the islands off the coast. One side is silvery sand beaches and the other cliffs like these. Smoking is not allowed on the entire island except for a little village in the center due to fire hazards.

Holidays are also a great time to read up on my Basics, so that's exactly what I did, together with some of the fiction stories from L. Ron Hubbard.

Other than that, lot's of sun, fun and great food. In between I watched the movie UP and loved it. I wished I could have seen the 3D version but they didn't show that version in the cinema I was. But the story was original and the whole thing was excellently put together.

In summary, happy holidays.

Me and Tom Cruise

2009-07-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

It has often intrigued me how several media make the link that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist and he is "a leader" in Scientology and therefore all Scientologist bend down and are devout fans to him no matter what he does.

I am a Scientologist and honestly I have never been a devout fan of Tom Cruise. Artistically speaking or otherwise. I don't hate his films either, I have seen several and I liked some of them and didn't like others. As an actor he is OK and has a certain style. I must say there are other actors that evoke more emotion from me than him.

As a pure Hollywood self-made man I admire his success and must say he has achieved what many people haven't. Seeing him still in control of his career after all these years is pretty good, we've seen better actors crash and burn in much less time. But there are others that are equally impressive, such as Tom Hanks and more.

As a "fellow" Scientologist, I respect him for the time he has put into the cause and the energy that he devotes to it in addition to his work. I try to do the same and frankly I don't manage to do near as much as he does.

Tom Cruise isn't a leader in my religion, he is a Scientologist like the rest of us who is probably more active in the religion than many others. I think he is more active in many things than others, his life, his movies etc.

It's sad and amusing at the same time to see the reporters make up "documentaries" and write "learned books" about Tom Cruise's involvement in the management of the Church of Scientology. It amusing to see how wrong they can get their facts, is saddening to see how many people watch the stuff and believe it. See my first post on this blog entitled The Dark side of The Sun?

In any case Tom Cruise is a drug free, productive individual who spends more time helping others than many people I have seen and for that, I do take my hat off.

Got a ticket today for on my scooter

2009-06-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

This morning when I was late for an appointment in the middle of the city by the St Augustin church I was whistled a by a set of policemen for having crossed a street when the light had turned red. Honestly I was certain that it was still green but I can't really argue because my focus was mainly on what street to turn at next.

Scooting in Paris is a pretty intense activity and being late for an appointment after having had to skip breakfast sucks. So I must say I was stressed. Having to go through the routine with the police officer just added to it.

But OK it was what it was. I was there and I guess he was right so I told him so. And really it doesn't help to tell them that they are evil MFers, after all they do deserve being treated like honest people. So after that he realized that the light was actually orange and the fine was less. Well OK I thought, so much better.

I had to sign the sheet, so I asked the police man what difference does it make, he told me some people don't want to sign it etc. So I asked him to request that those that sign it get a discount (i.e. we won't take it to court). He said he would think about it.

Well it was all over, I told the police officer that I can't exactly say "Thank you" but to have a nice day. Which he could agree to and told me to drive carefully.

OK, that being done I was back on the scooter and off to my late appointment. Thank god the others were later than me.

Sometimes I wonder if the police has quotas on fines to give. In the last 24 hours I have seen more police officers out on the streets handing out fines than in a long time. I mean handing out fines like that (and especially in Paris where traffic is a little more than ordinary) must be a major cash machine for the government. I guess those are the questions we will probably never get answers to.

Well, morale of the story... drive carefully, chill out - it doesn't help to be stressing out about a late appointment stress doesn't make one drive faster. And respect our police officers. ;-)

Scientology on Trial in France?

2009-05-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

I hear about Scientology being on trial in France and that is could be shut down. Wow how incredible. One can shut down a religion? Don't know how that works.

I saw this little article and thought it would apply.

The Death of Common Sense
© Lori Borgman | Sunday, March 15, 1998

Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense. His obituary reads as follows: Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape. Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering.

Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S. A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet.

C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math. C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus.

In the following decades, his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf.

His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last.

Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.

Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought. Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.

Angles and Demons - review

2009-05-16T04:50:00.000-07:00

I just watched Angels and Demons and actually I liked it quite a lot. I wasn't so keen on watching the movie as I had read the book and I think Dan Brown is slightly misleading in some of his books when it comes to mixing fact and fiction.

Maybe that isn't the case for everyone but I think his stories could affect people's opinions on the CERN or The Catholic religion instead of directing them to go find out for themselves. But maybe that's just because I am a religious guy.

Back to the movie, for a big part of the movie I sat there trying to force myself to watch it without knowing what would happen... not so easy. But as we move to the end of the film even though you read the book - subtle changes in the script actually make it even more exciting and I was actually on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen.

The action shots are great. I wouldn't be able to tell if the plot is easy to follow for a non-reader (sorry) but I guess they worked that out.

The computer graphics are awesome, even though this was not shot on location, one really feels close to the real scene. The acting was good, I felt the Camerlengo however was a bit to obvious as the bad guy. In the book he seems like a real good guy until the end.

However the end of the movie was really the pleasant surprise for me. The explosion is much more real than in the movie that whole section was well made.

And it was a better respect on both Religion and the CERN than the book, which made the pope, the CERN Director and several others seem like total lunatics.

I advise it, whether you have read the book or not.

No more chores...

2008-10-25T13:12:00.001-07:00

Dishwashing, ironing, cleaning the house are no longer chores, finally they are fun!

Even though I have subscribed to the pulp package of books and audiobooks I had not listened to any of the audiobooks but had read all the books.

This weekend while cleaning the house we put on the new audiobook The Iron Duke that had recently arrived.

Wow the chores were fun! Suddenly it was great to do the dishes, iron the shirts, clean the bathroom etc. I recommend it!

The story is great, totally gripping story a la catch me if you can just a bit more fun and moral.

I saw www.galaxypress.com has a blog about the release of the Iron Duke and the cast assembled to play a part of the story for the release. I wish I had been there!

If you don't have them yet, get them fast, they are totally fun! And I suggest you get the epulp, I regret I didn't get it.

Reading the Pulps

2008-10-11T13:32:00.001-07:00

So as I mentioned in my earlier post on the Hubbard fiction pulps I subscribed to the pulps and now read the first 4 that have been released.

A few of them definitely stick out as my favorites.

"Under the Black Ensign" definitely is the favorite of the first 4 I read.

The story is well written with an amazing depth of research by Hubbard. Obviously he knows what he is talking about and I found out afterwards that he did in the little booklet that came free with the package.

The story also has some volume, with ship battles, large crews, take over and romance.

I was amazed that in so few pages Hubbard managed to fit such a great story with so many details.

This was riveting entertainment and a great new view on what Buccaneering was all about.

I look forward to getting the next one!

Segway a public Danger?

2008-08-26T10:24:00.001-07:00

I just saw this videos that appeared on German TV. Wow this is amazing.

I have been on a Segway, it's fun and it is totally practical. It's certainly less dangerous than being on a bicycle or even a skateboard.

Now some agency wants to make it illegal or something like that because one can get killed with this? duh this reminds me of the "Illegal to have an iPod" post I did. Or the post from Don Grey "All in the name of progress".

I heard that a segway goes at 10km/h and that a human being can run at up to 20km/h - soon we will be banned from running!

Unboxing of the new Hubbard Pulp Fiction Titles

2008-08-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

The long awaited moment has come! My new L. Ron Hubbard Pulp fiction titles arrived today and WOW!

As this has been a moment I have been waiting for, for a long time I decided I was going to do an un-boxing post, just like Engadget does with the new releases.

The rest of this post is photography...

First the box shipped to me by New Era Publications International in Denmark, they publish all L. Ron Hubbard books in Europe and the CIS:

And next the packaging box as it comes from Galaxy Press, they publish L. Ron Hubbard's fiction titles.

And now the books... 5 paperback newly published and 5 Audiobooks!

And a little bonus story... "Yesterday you might have been a Pirate."
The Audiobooks by the way are recorded with sound effects and multi-cast etc it is perfect! Here they are again.

And now... I will be gone for a bit - listening and reading the stories!

And there is also an iPod that has been released with all the audiobooks, but I unfortunately don't have that one.

Batman - The Dark Knight... my review

2008-08-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

In Paris, the Dark Knight was just released a week ago. After all the hype about the movie and all that was said about how Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker I figured I need to see this movie.

And so I did... result - hm.

At the Champs Elysees of all places...

The pros:

The movie is well produced, the effects are great and the camera work is awesome. The acting is good in most parts, I still think Batman in suit is a little rough but it is understandable considering the suit he is wearing and the big voice.

The cons:

The plot is too noir. I understand that the title is the dark knight. But 2 1/5 hours of movie is a long movie. Throughout the movie it is one bad news after the other, towards the end it becomes too much. It is as if the movie is about the Joker and is about his success rather than the Batman. After all Batman is a hero movie. Yet the movie has been edited or scripted towards how the Joker can turn half of Gotham insane and Batman and the whole police force is incapable of doing anything about it.

Each good move done is countered by an unthinkably big bad move by the Joker. At the end one just gives up any hope of good prevailing and just wants to get over with it.

The one really positive note about how the people of Gotham actually are good and don't want to blog each other up... goes by almost unnoticed!

Summary:

Yes the Joker is very well played. And overall this is definitely a film worth seeing just for the action, effects and acting. But the editors or scriptwriters swung to the wrong side. And could have made it a little more positive.

At the end of the day: MAN IS BASICALLY GOOD! and it's much more fun to see the good prevailing.

Pulp Fiction - reloaded

2008-08-19T05:21:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Galaxy Press released a reload of Hubbard's pulp fiction work. Repackaged in similar format to the original pulp of the 1930s and now with full audio stories as well this is bound to be interesting!

I of course bought my subscription immediately and am expecting to get the first package any day.

Stay tuned for more news, reviews and excerpts from the stories!

Meanwhile check out the L. Ron Hubbard Pulp Fiction release site - pretty cool site it is too.

This weekend in Scientology

2008-02-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

Its funny how when people do good things, someone tries to put sticks in their wheels. Especially when one is even doing better than ever.

Since the release of the Basics, Scientologists have been winning all over the world. The world of Scientology totally changed!

Last weekend was amazing, I was on course reading my new books and doing great.

This weekend we had a bunch of people come in to Scientology churches asking what Scientology is. In fact one staff told me they never had so man enquiries and lots of people buying books as well.

Scientology is being searched for on the net more now than all of last year.

Overall a great weekend - and it's great to see the interest there is. The best answer really is to go to a library and pick up one of the new books. Ask the libraries if it is the 2007 edition and if not request that they order it.

More Scientology Volunteers in India

2007-07-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

I got these pictures from a group of Scientology Volunteer Ministers in India. I think these shots are excellent. Photos of people working on the ground helping people out where life is a little rougher are always great. Especially when something is being done about it.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression...

2007-06-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

I was send a copy of this poster. It's really nice. This small version of it doesn't do it justice, you need to see the real thing and BIG PLEASE!

It is a bit similar to a stencil I think. At least the guy is. It reminds me of the stuff I saw on the blog here: marcozna.wordpress.com but this poster is much more colorfull and more helpfull too.

Artists for Human Rights workshop in Sydney
Sponsored by Church of Scientology, Mission of Leichardt
79 Renwick St, Leichardt
Australia

Hello and welcome to the Mental Health Hotline

2007-06-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

I got an email with the mp3 version of the "Dublin Mental Health Hotline". I've listened to it a number of times, it's really great!

So here is the transcription of it.

Hello and welcome to the mental health hotline.

If you are Obsessive compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are codependent, ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you are multiple personality, pres 3 – 4 – 5 – 6

If you are paranoid, we know what you are, what you want. Stay on the line and we’ll trace your call.

If you are delusional, press 6 and your call will be transferred to the mothership.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a small voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are depressive, it doesn’t matter which number you press noone will answer you.

If you are dyslexic, press 69696969

If you have a nervous disorder, please fidget with the hash key until the beep, after the beep please wait for the beep.

If you have a short term memory loss, please try your call again later.

And if you have no self-esteem, hang up all our operators are too busy to talk to you.

Scientology text on self determinism

2007-05-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite quotes in Scientology.

"The goal of the auditor with his preclear is not the release of a psychosomatic, not the improvement of appearance, not greater efficiency or better interpersonal relations. These are incidental. The goal of the auditor with the preclear is the rehabilitation of the preclear's self-determinism.
...
"Self-determinism is that state of being wherein the individual can or cannot be controlled by his environment according to his own choice. In that state the individual has self-confidence in his control of the material universe and the organisms within it along every dynamic. He is confident about any and all abilities or talents he may possess. He is confident in his interpersonal relationships. He reasons but does not need to react."
from the book Advanced Procedures and Axioms by L. Ron Hubbard

The Way to Happiness - also a Scientology text

2007-05-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

With all the mention of Scientology in the media these days - I thought it would be nice to give some people a bit of information on what Scientology actually is.

The text called The Way to Happiness which was written by L. Ron Hubbard as a non-religous moral code is a fantastic text. Instead of being just a bunch of "you must do this" "you musn't do that" it is actually tips and information on how to live better oneself and how to help others live better.

It's a basic text for anyone - and all Scientologists strive to live by it because it is based on common sense.

The 21 precepts are:

1. Take Care of Yourself
2. Be Temperate
3. Don't Be Promiscuous
4. Love and Help Children
5. Honour and Help Your Parents
6. Set a Good Example
7. Seek to Live with the Truth
8. Do Not Murder
9. Don't Do Anything Illegal
10. Support a Government Designed and Run for All the People
11. Do Not Harm a Person of Good Will
12. Safeguard and Improve Your Environment
13. Do Not Steal
14. Be Worthy of Trust
15. Fulfil Your Obligations
16. Be Industrious
17. Be Competent
18. Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others
19. Try Not to Do Things to Others that You Would Not Like Them to Do to You
20. Try to Treat Others As You Would Want Them to Treat You
21. Flourish and Prosper

Take care :-)

L. Ron Hubbard's works Number 1 again

2007-05-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine just sent me this screenshot of the Italian iTunes store. The number one in the Audiobook category is the Italian version of the Lecture by L. Ron Hubbard called "The Operation Manual for the Mind".

It's a great lecture. Part of a series called The Classics which you can see more on here.

The great coincidence is that this CD (or I guess mp3 if it is iTunes) is about the mind and becomes a bestseller in May 2007 - the month of Dianetics which is the when he released the technology of Dianetics back in 1950.

Dianetics research later led to Scientology.

I became a Scientologist back in the late 1980s because I was interested in how the religion is so workable to handle situations in life. The concept of taking a scientific approach to life was what made sense to me. And probably one of the best slogans I ever saw was "Think for Yourself" that's exactly what Scientology is all about.

Chick Corea in the Sydney Opera House

2007-04-26T14:45:00.001-07:00

Chick Corea is doing a gig in the Sydney Opera House. I was sent a copy of this poster and it struck me. The poster is so not computerized I thought it was almost organic!

It's great though. And I love Chick's stuff it's some pretty wild jazz - you're either with him and in another galaxy or you're not and you just don't understand what's happening.

Virginia Tech - Grief Councelling needed - Volunteer Minister News

2007-04-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

I am adding this from the Official Scientology Volunteer Minister site. Help is needed - anyone can become a volunteer minister see below links on how to do that.

Grief Counseling and Trauma Relief for Those Affected by Monday’s Shooting at Virginia Tech

With 32 dead and 29 injured, people around the US and throughout the world have been shocked by Monday’s events at Virginia Tech, the scene of the deadliest shooting incident in U.S. history.

A team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers (VMs) are in Blacksburg, VA, to provide grief counseling and trauma relief for students, family members, friends and local residents affected by the incident.

“Our team is here to help,” said the International Volunteer Ministers Consultant, who is coordinating the VM activities in the area. “Anyone needing to reach us should stop by our yellow tent. They can also contact us through the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington D.C. at (202) 797-9826 or call me on the Volunteer Ministers Hot Line at 1-800 HELP 4 YU (1-800 435-7498).”

“So many people are in shock over what occurred,” she went on to say. “That’s why, in addition to the one-on-one counseling we are providing, we are also training other volunteers so they can help as well. We’ve put out a call for any Volunteer Minister who can possibly arrange it, to come join us.”

Daughter of Volunteer Minister giving Assist

2007-04-17T08:20:00.001-07:00

Daughter of Volunteer Minister giving Assist, originally uploaded by marcozna.The daughter of French Volunteer Minister team helping people in India

I posted on some of the French Volunteer ministers that are in India before, here is the daughter of one of them giving a Scientology assist to an Indian kid.

Check out more on http://www.volunteerministers.org/ to find out about them.

Just saw the Scientology Event for L. Ron Hubbard's Birthday

2007-03-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

I just saw the International Scientology event for L. Ron Hubbard's birthday. That was pretty cool. They had interviewed some 10 or so people that had worked with L. Ron Hubbard back in the 1950s when he was lecturing across the US and in UK. The official biographer (Mr. Dan Sherman) spoke and briefed about that.

A funny anecdote there was when Hubbard had just released Dianetics the Modern Science of Mental Health he suddenly was getting lots of random visits and it was disturbing the parking attendants as these visitors were parking all over the place. The reply was something like "happily for me, if unhappily for you - I've got a book on the bestseller list..." and it continued on about the people on the lawn that kept arriving.

Then the Chairman of the Board RTC (Mr. David Miscavige) covered the new Ideal Scientology Churches - some 10 of them across the world (new ones), about 6 in the US, 2 in UK, 1 in South Africa, 1 in New Zealand. Wow that was pretty cool. Amazing 3D renderings of how the Churches will be after restoration (yes, not renovations but restorations).

And there was a and great footage on the opening of the church in Berlin this January. The speeches of the guests are shown and they are really good, actually the police office (Bernhard Stitz) was the funniest - he started his speech with something like "only honest people invite the police into their house" and then goes on to explain that actually in his 30 year career as a police officer that has always turned out to be a fact, quite a witty speech.

Overall it was about 3 hours intense information and overview of the Scientology world - with a little hint at the end that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

(and the above is only what I remember there was a lot more and plenty of visuals). The DVD is available in any Scientology church, click on this link to see the closest one.

Useful cool tool: Free World Clock to download

2007-03-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

I've been looking around for a simple world clock that can have some 8 different times or more which was customizable and that was small.

I saw the World Time and tried to use it but it was too big and would crash after every time I hibernated my computer.

I tried Symmtime but the new version somehow was not working well and the old version had the wrong daylight saving time.

But QLOCK.EXE is cool, it's small, totally customizable and does the job AND IT IS FREE! There is also a new version with the US daylight saving time change.

I highly advise it.

It's funny how world clock being mainly a business app just never goes free...

Les Francais - Volunteer Ministers in India

2007-03-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

A Friend of mine is a Scientology Volunteer Minister in India.

She's working with a group of Scientologue Francais (French Scientologists) to help the children and families of the villages that were devastated after the Tsunami.

She's been there for some photos of what they've been doing recently. I thought it was really cool so am spreading it here.

Here's what she says:

Here are photos of our last activities.
We continue to teach to about 100 children a week on Study technology. It's a real success. We work to train a second team of Volunteer Ministers to increase the number of children taught. Last week a village nearby our office was burned in a fire incident. 354 families had been affected. We help them, we gave them water, food, and deliver assists. So here are the pictures of that.

Happy Birthday!

2007-03-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

A press release for today.

March 13: Birthday of American writer and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. He is the most translated author in the world, with 71 languages, and the most published with 1,084 different works, as certified by Guinness World Records in October 2006. Hubbard's works comprise over 500 writings and 3,000 recorded lectures. His biggest best seller is the number 1 self-improvement book Dianetics. He is also the founder of the applied religious philosophy Scientology.

Snowboarding Scientologists

2007-03-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

Some time ago I blogged about Skating Scientologists at the Pedlow skate park. Now I was just emailed that a team of Scientologists are going out for a Snowboarding holiday.

It's funny how many skaters find snowboarding fun. I mean the board is a helluva lot bigger...

Anyways, check it out. This is cool - it's fun and on top of that the proceeds of the money goes to The Way to Happiness charity. This is arranged by The Way to Happiness Outdoor Club which seems to do a whole bunch of activities like this.

And I noticed that my last blog on Skatin' was also picked up by marcozna.

Paris like in a fairy tale - amazing photos of Paris

2007-02-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

If you know Paris or want to discover it - these images of Paris by Jean-Michel Berts are amazing.

You can check out his site to find out more about his photography and his Profile is available online here.

This is photography at the level of Ansel Adams and the other greats!

Click on the pictures to go to his site.

Some amazing Photgraphy there!

Illegal to use Ipod while walking?

2007-02-20T06:07:00.000-08:00

I read an article the other day that someone in New York had proposed a law that would forbid the use of Ipods and other MP3 players while walking in streets.

Two people got killed in traffic as they were listening to their Ipods and so this senator wants to propose a law against use of MP3 players.

Here we go again... 2 people out of 6 billion get killed because of listening to music. Ok - now how many people get killed wearing cotton socks? Is it also going to be illegal to wear cotton socks?

I think there is a fine line between judgement and law that needs to be drawn and decisions like this seem to assume people are irresponsible, non-thinking robots that must be directed for every step they take.

No - we'll be going somewhere when everyone realized that what get's a society going is people with judgement that think for themselves.

Global Climate change - Opinion!

2007-02-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

(note - image from this blog)

I received the following in an email from a friend. I think it's a great article and gives a much bigger view and a more FACTUAL one of what is really happening. I thought I'd put it up for everyone to see.

Global climate change is a complex subject with many factors to it. I've been reading the various articles posted on the 'net "proving" how it's all a hoax or it is not manmade, etc.

The problem with each of these articles is that, regardless of how "scientific" they may appear, they omit important data which ends up skewing the result. It helps if one knows enough about environmental science and related topics (oceanography, climatology, studies of ice and water, etc) to be able to judge the information. If one does not have at least fundamental understanding of these subjects, it is easy to be fooled by impressive charts and scientific jargon.

One could examine who has the greatest interest in forwarding propaganda on the subject (who stands to make the most profit, gain the most power, etc), but that might not tell you the truth for sure either. It is important to have some context on this subject in order to fully understand it.

A man named James Lovelock forwarded a theory of ecology in the 60s called the "Gaia Theory." In a nutshell, he said we have to look at the Earth as an interdependent, organic whole organism if we really want to understand its operations. Like a human body, though there may be seperate organs, they all work together to make the body work. Thus, if one organ is affected, it can affect other parts of the body as well. If one strengthens the liver, one's skin may become more healthy. If one's lungs are weak, this can put more strain on the heart, etc. If a vital organ fails, such as the heart or the liver, this can cause massive failure and death. If more than one organ is attacked or fails simultaneously, death is exponentially more likely (lung and heart failure both, for instance).

This is also true of ecosystems. They may be able to withstand a blow in one area, such as a heavy drought, but if there is also a significant temperature change, pest infestation, or other stressor, this could be enough to shut down a significant part of the system, resulting in what environmentalists call "desertification." (creating environmental conditions that make it difficult for any life to survive). Lovelock's Gaia Theory is widely accepted by scientists who have found that it explains many hitherto not understood phenomena. When a single datum aligns many other datums, we call that a "fundamental."

Most global climate change naysayers do not take the whole organism into account when they forward their theory. For instance, there is an ocean conveyer belt system that warms up Europe, that, paradoxically, is shutting down because of ice melt in Greenland, which could send Europe into a mini ice age while Greenland and the pole are melting! Google "ocean conveyer belt" for more info on this.

Some of these articles talk about natural cycles, but omit that the CO 2 levels are significantly higher than they have been in any "natural cycle" for the past 650,000 years. Thus, this is an unpredicted anomaly outside the scope of any known previous natural cycle for that number of years. We do not even have a prediction on what effects will be created, because we don't have clear cut weather patterns, temperature, etc, to compare to CO 2 levels as high as they are today. And they are still rising.

There are a number of similar key omissions these articles overlook, that they would not so likely miss if they were looking at the "big picture" - at how all systems interrelate and affect each other. When the balance goes out, these systems create a "positive feedback" vector in which they feed each other's imbalances and increase them. Ask Earth Org regarding this point.

Because of this interdependency, global climate change is far from the only thing we have to worry about. Deforestation creates conditions for desertification which creates conditions for more CO 2, which encourages ocean dead zones, which in turn increase CO 2 (since oceans absorb CO 2 when they are live), etc, etc, etc.

This web site includes some articles and a free downloadable book on the subject of the Gaia Theory as it relates to environmental solutions. This data hasn't taught in schools, etc (at least it wasn't when I went). http://www.ratical.org/LifeWeb/

This scenario is why it is important to come up with environmental solutions that address the problem as a whole, not just the individual parts. Too many scientists today tend to become so specialized, it is difficult for them to even look up and see who else is in the room! Many of them have a very hard time thinking outside the box and actually seeing the entire system - they can only see their "part" of it, like blind men feeling an elephant. So that is an important point to keep in mind as you read about the subject. Look for the people who can think with information across a broad spectrum and actually have shown they can think with it through their work.

There ARE solutions and answers. It is not all black. Planets have been through far worse and survived and recovered. There are actions that each of us can do to reduce personal waste and pollution. There are some very positive actions being implemented by large organizations who want to take responsibility for the environment.

It is not just climate change. We are simply taking far more than what we give back to Mother Earth, and that is not a sustainable way to live. And that is the bottom line - we need to give back into nature at least what we take from it.

Best, Cory

This is truly the most concise and understandable description I have read. Thanks Cory.

Global Warming - Fact or Fiction?

2007-02-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

I just read this article on Global Warming - really I don't know what to think. So I'll try to limit this post to facts and separate out the opinions and conclusions (not always easy it seems).

My experience is that yes there definitely is Global Warming (ok, this is an opinion) - I remember being a kid and never did we have a winter without snow and frost. Now - we hardly have frost and snow is quite rare (that is a fact).

Some say there is no Global Warming and from the article I referred to above it seems (but isn't too clear) that it's a matter of climate cycles we're going through (maybe it's a fact, can't say I verified it).

OK, that may be - but why would that be more factual than that pollution is warming the planet?

Pollution is a fact - it's not an opinion. It is destroying Nature and must somewhere be affecting the natural cycles of vegetation, not to speak of what it does to the Human body (more on that see this link).

Because, I haven't personally gone out and measured the scene with pollution on nature I will openly say that it is MY OPINION/CONCLUSION.

But hell, I need no PhD to figure out that if I put my head behind the exhaust of a car it makes me feel real bad, and thus it can't be doing wonders for our nature.

And so I will permit myself the liberty to conclude that all money invested in doing something about pollution is great news.

And another little conclusion - everyone needs to take some responsibility for Mother Earth - so we might as well do something about it. ;-)

Here's a link to some who are trying.

Reporters vs. the Media?

2007-02-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

I saw this blog and the following quote and I just had to laugh.

Matt Lauer is a reporter per the info I have on him - now isn't it ironic that a reporter would say something like this about the Media?

"The vast majority of what I've seen written about me is not true. My family and friends – the people who matter to me – they know the real story."

What amazes me more and more is how the media invents stories and gets away with it. I blogged about this earlier in my entry called The Dark Side of The Sun and I saw that this was picked up by Don Grey in his blog, he elaborated on this and makes a statement, could be true in any case nice statement and thanks for reading.

Skatin'

2007-02-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

I wished I had been there - I got an email that a team of Scientologists started the Scientologist Skating club in Socal. They were at Pedlow Skate park.

Some shots of the place - unfortunately I only downloaded those and didn't get the real ones.

But will try it another time!

French and European Volunteers in India

2007-01-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

I just found this blog (blog was deleted), here's the view from a few volunteers picking up the pieces after the tsunami in India.

It's a pity there's not much text - but then again as they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Scientology Berlin, Kein problem!

2007-01-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

Scientology Berlin, no problem

The following is a vote that was being done by "Maerkische Allgemeine". The results speak for themself.

I noticed another one of these polls being done (actually was being done by the Political party C.D.U.) and had similar results - or maybe it was 80% in favour of Scientology.

Translation:
Scientology in Berlin - Ihre Meinung? Scientology in Berlin - your opion?
1. Kein Problem. Das ist eine Kirche wie jede andere. 64.7% No problem, it is a like any other church
2. Abwarten. Ich bin da eher vorsichtig. 5.6% Let's see... I am cautious
3. Scientology ist gefärlich und muss verboten werden. 29.7% Scientology is dangerous and must be forbidden.

These aren't the final results I heard it went to 74% "Kein Problem".

The dark side of The Sun?

2007-01-25T14:26:00.000-08:00

I've just seen blogs all over carrying the story from The Sun about Tom Cruise allegedly having been named by Mr. David Miscavige as the Christ of Scientology. I'm a Scientologist and I've never heard that. Surely I would have heard before The Sun.

The Sun reports that they got this from a close friend. Sure - as if The Sun had contacts to close friends of Tom Cruise or Mr. Miscavige? Sure - if I was your close friend I wouldn't even tell The Sun something about you.

I won't even comment on the statement itself - it's bad taste. But hey, it's The Sun isn't it?

Now I did a thorough research on The Sun (about 10 minutes) and whoa here's a team of guys that seem to manufacture news and destroy lives for a living.

Check this out from the Times Online:

"The Sun newspaper has destroyed the life of a blameless woman in the reckless pursuit of a totally groundless story.

"Since these allegations were first published in August 2004, Patricia Tierney has been through 12 months of hell. Every time the story is mentioned she is reduced to tears and is prevented from trying to reclaim her life and move on."

And it goes on with all the details how they claim that Patricia Tierney (52 year, mother of 3) was a prositute which Wayne Rooney didn't like. Utter fiction! Had they invented the name they could have avoided to ruin her life...

Read the article here.

And then try another one here from blackbritain about someone with a little more luck who managed to sue them and win. Here The Sun goes into allegations - and again gives names and addresses of someone to again ruin her life. But they turn out false and they get sued.

"The case itself sheds light on the way tabloid papers, headed by white male editors often with no understanding of, or even interest in, black communities, sanction stories which feed wider society’s misperceptions of who black people are."

"The Sun newspaper’s devil may care attitude found an unlikely adversary in Esther Thomas, a black clerk who recently sued the paper for harassment - and won."

Conclusion - per some surveys I once saw about 80% of people don't believe what they read in the papers. I have always looked at the blogging community to represent those 80% and be the ones that stand out and communicate their views. The amount of bloggers that carried the story gives me the creeps.

Let's leave the sensational news to the Yellow Papers - while we blog and shine some true sunlight to The Sun.