FPM: A Scientology Network Engineer's Blog

Volunteer Ministers Help Villagers in Botswana

2008-02-07T19:14:00.001-08:00

Great video about Scientology VM's helping out in Botswana.

Johannesburg - Dianetics & Scientology Basics Book-a-Thon

2007-12-15T15:07:00.001-08:00

Johannesburg - Dianetics & Scientology Basics Book-a-Thon
Originally uploaded by scientologytoday.

This is from the 2007 Scientology & Dianetics Basics Books Book-a-thon! See http://bookathon.wordpress.com for more information!

Dianetics Book-a-Thon in L.A.!

2007-12-15T02:36:00.001-08:00

Someplace in Wyoming

2007-12-04T07:47:00.001-08:00

Someplace in Wyoming
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

I just found this one, taken by my old buddy, Amy, somewhere in Wyoming (see my Flickr map).

I need to go camping.

Cappy's Chowder House in Camden, ME

2007-11-08T00:27:00.001-08:00

Cappy's Chowder House in Camden, ME
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

This place has positively the best Clam Chowder of any place on the planet. Including Boston. Including the west coast. Most certainly including New York City.

I took a trip back there to ensure my childhood memory wasn't failing me, and it wasn't. Their chowder is out of control.

This one made me cry

2007-11-06T23:10:00.001-08:00

Embedded Video

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Enhance my download experience? Another symbol of moral decay.

2007-11-06T12:40:00.001-08:00

I just got the following message when downloading a new Windows Media Encoder:

"Some downloads are made available only after users have validated their versions of Microsoft Windows. Firefox and Netscape Navigator browser users may install a helper program, the Windows Genuine Advantage plug-in, to enhance their download experience."

I'm not sure precisely what this means. I think that the inference is that when you can download the software, it enhances the experience - more so than if you're prevented from doing so.

Personally, I think the whole WGA ("Windows Genuine Advantage") issue is a enormous framework and hassle trying to solve the absolutely wrong problem. It's the same thing as DRM and all of the woes that befall anyone trying to live with DRM-based music. It ends up being more hassle than it's worth.

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard had a much more simple solution. He wrote it in The Way to Happiness, and it's called "Seek to Live with the Truth" and "Don't Do Anything Illegal".

Click here to view other Public Service Announcements

If you've really bought something, just be truthful about it, and don't tell harmful lies. The simplicity of just having and following a moral code like this is more powerful than any DRM solution there could be.

Click here to view other Public Service Announcements

Likewise, it just doesn't pay to steal. You can tell people that, or you can educate them on it using an easy text like The Way to Happiness.

This is the reason why you have big banks, insurance companies, hospitals, credit card companies, etc all getting and distributing TWTH to all of their customers. You can harp at someone to be good, you can make it really uncomfortable and inconvenient for them to be bad, but in the end -- if you target the actual problem, which is declining moral values in society, you'll have ended up making a positive change. As opposed to more digital rights management, more restrictions, more whack solutions to try to make it more and more difficult to pirate software, etc. All you end up getting there, in Microsoft's case, is people moving over to Linux because they can't stand the hassle.

It's the same in the music industry, and look what's happening with the DRM trend. People are fed up with it.

So, let's try to buck the trend a bit and actually attack the heart of the problem. Sure, it's way bigger of a subject to tackle (the international decline in moral values) but in the end it will end up solving way more than just my download of Windows Media 9 encoder. That's for sure.

Maiden's Cliff, Camden, Maine

2007-11-05T09:07:00.001-08:00

Maiden's Cliff, Camden
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

When most people ask, I tell them "I'm from the United States". Mostly because I am, and have lived on every corner of the U.S.

But to friends, I'll tell them where I'm really from, and that's from Maine.

Despite mosquitoes large enough to carry small children away, I still consider Maine one of the most beautiful places on earth.

I look at places like this photo (which I took while on a hike along Maiden's Cliff in Camden, Maine) and remember why it is that I'm involved in Scientology, and why it is that this planet is worth doing something about. There are a lot of real beautiful places left, and a lot of genuinely good people around.

Glenfinnan Scotland 2nd October 2007

2007-10-31T00:28:00.001-07:00

Glenfinnan Scotland 2nd October 2007
Originally uploaded by loose_grip_99.

Whoa - that's another one taken with my model of camera -- a Konica Dimage Z2.

My photos were all with the wide-angle attachment, but this fellow doesn't look like he needed it with that expanse of country.

That's Scotland. If you're a Scientologist in Scotland, or want to get involved, there's a Church of Scientology in Edinburgh.

They Said Half a Hit of Ecstasy Would be Fun....

2007-10-29T20:04:00.001-07:00

After seeing this Anti-ecstasy PSA on I was just over at a pro-ecstasy forum to see if this is really the case. Its actually ridiculous to me. In the same sentence people were saying how the xtc made them feel all fantastic or whatever, and at the same time were saying that it makes them soil themselves and vomit all over the place.

I really don't get it. Can someone enlighten me?

Note on Flickr Photos in Search Results

2007-10-24T16:23:00.001-07:00

Just noted this, and figured it'd be worth mentioning - even if just as a note to self. I posted a few days ago about the anti-psychiatry photo that I posted on Flickr, which was - the next day - the number 1 result on Google when searching for "anti-psychiatry". By the end of the day, it was at #2, and days later it was at #4.

Now, I just checked for the same thing, and found it back down on the 3rd page of search results.

So, for blog-type content, it appears that freshness is a bit of a factor in where it appears in the results.

Hmmm....curious.

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Wife Swing Dancing at the IAS Christmas Ball

2007-10-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

Wife Swing Dancing at the IAS Christmas Ball
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

My wife is a whupass swing dancer. At the Christmas Ball of the International Association of Scientologists in DC, swing phenom and instructor Tom Koerner showed up, and started dancing with my wife. She took classes with him years before. When he said, "Damn, you're good - who taught you to dance?", she replied, "YOU DID!" :) And yes, those are the Swing greats, the Jive Aces playing in the background.

It's Blog Action Day: Safeguard and Improve your Environment

2007-10-15T10:25:00.001-07:00

Click here to view other Public Service Announcements

As a part of Blog Action Day, make sure that you apply the above precept from The Way to Happiness, and do your part to Safeguard and Improve your Environment! Obviously this means different things for different people, but if that means riding your bike in to work, not throwing your lead-acid battery into the ocean, recycling your paper, cutting down on your trash output, helping push through legislation, or whatever - everyone can help make the planet a cleaner place!

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Are Flickr Photos Well-Indexed in Google?

2007-10-13T09:20:00.001-07:00

Something I wondered a bit ago, was that with the billions of photos that have been uploaded to Flickr and Photobucket, whether or not all of these photos and their content would actually be indexed in Google. I had read in a little SEO Best-practices article that someone wrote that utilizing Flickr images could possibly be a good source of inbound traffic for your site.

But I was then left to wonder whether or not these photos actually get indexed, and whether or not they're used at all.

So, I just now Googled for "Anti-Psychiatry Demonstration", the title of a Flickr photo on my anti-psych demonstration in DC which I uploaded not too long ago. And what do you know - the photo in Flickr is right now the number one result for that! Wouldn't have thought it would be the case, what with so many anti-psych demonstrations happening around the world, but it proved an interesting point on whether or not Flickr content is indexed!

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At the Delphi Soccer Jamboree '93

2007-10-12T20:37:00.001-07:00

At the Delphi Soccer Jamboree '93
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

After blogging about the school Tom Cruise sent his kids to in Oregon, I found this little one from the photo archives. This was soccer jamboree at Delphi in Oregon that I played in back in '93. This was back when I played sweeper on the team and had a 39bpm resting heart rate. Oh, for the old days!

What if you debugged a computer like a psychiatrist?

2007-10-09T09:10:00.001-07:00

Anti-Psychiatry Demonstration in Washington, D.C.
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

At the APA convention that was held in Washington, D.C., my wife and I joined a ton of other people (I think the count was a few thousand by the time the event was in full swing) to protest the big pharma drones and their yearly vote-in of psychiatric disorders.

I wish that debugging computers could be done in the same method as psychiatry uses for debugging people. It'd be great! Check this out - instead of having to actually dig around and find out the root cause for something (the 'Why', if you've studied Scientology Data Series tech), all you'd have to do is state the phenomena that you were running into, and develop an excellent term for it that you and the other engineers in the room could agree on. The name of the term would be key - otherwise nobody would believe you. If someone was complaining about a slow Internet connection, you could just let them know about the reverse-transductive route congestion disorder his line was experiencing. When asking for a handling, you could just act like a psychiatrist and bring over a portable rack of 10 12-volt car batteries hooked together, and then just take both leads and touch them to the network card int he back of the computer.

Then, afterwards, when the stinky black smoke clears, you'd ask him if he was still experiencing the same network lag. I'll bet you that same behaviour he was experiencing would no longer be present! Validation of therapy!

Unfortunately, their debugging methodology for people is about the same as I describe above, thus you see outraged people like my wife and I out in protest when they go to vote their next disease into the DSM.

Harper's Ferry West Virginia at Christmas

2007-10-08T10:00:00.001-07:00

Harper's Ferry West Virginia at Christmas
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

This was another one I just dug up from the archives, when looking through my photos for something else. It's my wife & I on a bitterly cold Christmas morning, taking a drive out to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, for a little space.

She was just my fiancee back then, though - our wedding ceremony (which we used a Scientology wedding service for, quite similar to the one Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes used when they were married).

I'd have to say that it worked. That photo was taken close to 8 years ago, and I'm still rather married.

How about those hills, too!?

RX7 in a Snowy Driveway in Bloomington, IL

2007-10-05T15:51:00.001-07:00

RX7 in a Snowy Driveway in Bloomington, IL
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

I just happened to find this photo, and it reminded me of when I was back in Illinois. It was terrible, actually. Though the projects I was working on were fun, I was 2 1/2 hours away from my closest Scientology Organization. The Church of Scientology of Saint Louis was over 2 hours to the south, and the Church of Scientology of Chicago was close to 3 hours to the north. And there I was stuck in a cornfield!

First try at posting a Photobucket Slideshow

2007-10-01T21:32:00.001-07:00

We'll see how this comes out!

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Rocking old Honeywell E-Mail Ad

2007-10-01T18:56:00.001-07:00

Mmm....just like back in college. :)

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Lighting Striking Sears Tower

2007-09-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

This is a slick video I found of lighting hitting the Sears tower in Chicago. I need to dig up a similar one I have of lighting hitting the MetLife building in New York, which I took when visiting the Church of Scientology in New York.

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Sun's new Intel-Based 16-Core Server

2007-09-25T15:35:00.001-07:00

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Dubai: Scientology Organization Technology

2007-09-23T19:20:00.001-07:00

Skyline von Dubai
Originally uploaded by jochen.westermann.

Skipping through Flickr, I happened to come upon yet another intense photo of the Dubai skyline - something (as you can probably tell) I have been intrigued with of late. Look at the sheer number of cranes here, and you'll see why the local slogan is apparently "Dubai will be great, when it's finished."

Well, one of the things that immediately hits my mind, seeing an affluence of this nature, is to give people tools that they'd need to be able to continue this affluence into the future.

The introductory Scientology text, "Problems of Work", is one that has also been on the forefront of my thoughts since the new Scientology Basics books & lectures were release by Mr. David Miscavige in July of this year. Problems of Work, specifically, is probably the simplest book you'll ever read - yet it has page after page of just jaw-dropping simplicities that can utterly save a business or a culture.

Now, why would I bring that up when referring to an affluent town like Dubai? Dubai is certainly not the same thing as a town like Buffalo - where it itself had its peak years ago, and is now due for a new renaissance. Dubai is one where, if you don't handle the affluence right - and ensure the people have a good game to play and a purpose and a reason for being there -- can crash and burn and you can end up with all manner of crime, people moving away in droves, etc.

This is why a whirlwind of a place like Dubai could stand to make use of key principles covered in Problems of Work like Confusion and the Stable Datum and the solution for worker exhaustion (that ISN'T Red Bull!), and others.

I know from my friends at Scientology publisher Bridge Publications, that there is interest in Scientology basics already brewing in Dubai - but I just wanted to put in another plug for it.

Dubai: A Trip Through the Time Machine

2007-09-21T09:09:00.001-07:00

A Trip Through the Time Machine
Originally uploaded by UAE style.

I've posted before on the growth in Dubai which to me is just beyond astounding. It's almost indescribable for a westerner like me, who's used to things staying somewhat the same from year to year.

This gives you an idea what 14 years worth of industrious work can accomplish. This is Sheikh Zayed Road, with the lower photo taken in 1991, and the upper one taken in 2005.

These guys are actually putting a future their for their country which is beyond just oil, which is what I find quite respectable about the whole ordeal. Now, they just need a Scientology church, as there isn't a single one right now in the whole country!

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Video

2007-09-16T16:25:00.001-07:00

This is a test of the VideoBlogging feature in Flock. I just found this video of the Scientology Volunteer Minister campaign -- something that is also in translated languges on the Scientology VM site.

Embedded Video

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Scientology Volunteer Ministers Work with Buddhist Monks

2007-09-16T16:15:00.001-07:00

I was just browsing around and found this on YouTube on Scientology Volunteer Ministers helping in Banda Aceh.

Give your Sun Server a Squeeze

2007-09-13T11:08:00.001-07:00

Sun Server X2100
Originally uploaded by cfq.

Ha! Just saw this one on Flickr when searching for something else. That's exactly how I felt when I first got my stack of x2200's! They've been great ever since - I love those little leaf blowers.

Stuttgart - Panorama Photo

2007-09-12T17:58:00.001-07:00

stuttgart turnout panorama
Originally uploaded by fasttyper.

I was just browsing around, looking for some nifty German photos, and found this one of Stuttgart. I have friends from the Church of Scientology in Stuttgart - and it's a place I've always wanted to go -- even if just for the Mercedes-Benz museum!

Russia "Dissolves Government" Story

2007-09-12T09:10:00.001-07:00

I just saw this story about Russia's government being "dissolved" that caught my attention yet again as another ploy to attempt to create a dangerous environment where you have to be afraid for your life and "no stability is possible". Seriously, what could be more destabilizing than your government 'being dissolved'?

Read the article, and you'll see that the actuality of the situation is that Putin just replaced his Prime Minister. The rest of the country still exists, we aren't reverting to communism, and you don't have to stand in line for TP again.

Some people know innately that the media loves to spread nasty news just to get you to read it, and that their stock-in-trade is chaos and confusion and terror.

However, others are more vulnerable to such, and actually get upset about things like this. Quite a few, actually. So, what technology is one to apply in such a case? Best suggestion I can make would be getting a hold of the "Solutions for a Dangerous Environment" booklets from the Scientology Handbook.

From this chapter - taken from the works of L. Ron Hubbard:

" A great number of people are professional dangerous environment makers. This includes professions which require a dangerous environment for their existence such as the politician, the policeman, the newspaperman, the undertaker and others. These people sell a dangerous environment. That is their mainstay. They feel that if they did not sell people on the idea the environment is dangerous, they would promptly go broke. So it is in their interest to make the environment far more dangerous than it is."

I would recommend this technology completely as a way to make the environment less dangerous, so you can get on with life.

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Auto-Detecting an XML API

2007-09-09T11:47:00.001-07:00

I have a Scientology blog over at xeeks.com (www.xeeks.com/scientology) which I started a while back, but literally just dumped because of the fact that I couldn't figure out a way to use any of these nifty app-type clients like Flock or LiveWriter to be able to write to the blog.

It's so much easier to be able to just be surfing along and just hit one hotkey and blog about it, than it is to have to go to some website and log in and then start typing. It stops being a natural extension of your communication cycle, and instead is something else you have to remember to do sometimes.

Does anyone know of a way to be able to take a regular old blog like this Xeeks blog and find out how to detect its XML API?

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Nifty Success from the new Scientology & Dianetics Basics

2007-09-07T16:11:00.001-07:00

I saw this one in a success newsletter I got from Bridge Publications, and had to redistribute it.

This is from someone who's trying to recount how incredible the new Basics are, and what makes them so nifty:

“I would be very hard-pressed to explain exactly ‘what it is’ that has so greatly changed for me and my study on Dianetics, Science of Survival and Self Analysis. Unquestionably there is a very positive change.

“Could it be glossaries? Certainly these are incredible — they always have the words I need to clear and always the most pertinent definitions for the specific usage. In the past this would have required looking up these words in several dictionaries. That is, if I had the inspiration and doggedness to continue digging for the right definition, rather than settling for what was ‘close enough.’ Now the glossaries give me the exact intended definition — worlds different than ‘close enough.’ [see an example of the glossary here]

“Maybe it’s the content? Certainly I’ve had experience of re-reading some LRH reference and getting more out of it. But not to this extent. There are entire major concepts that are new to me and that open up huge levels of understanding!

“Perhaps it has something to do with the checksheet. I’ve read Science of Survival before, but from a completely different viewpoint, and not as any sort of companion to Dianetics. It is absolutely intended as such, of course. That its usefulness to other LRH technologies and life in general is not diminished in any way, but my appreciation of its original purpose has further endeared this book and LRH to me.

“Probably, it's a combination of these things that has made such a difference to my study of these materials.

“The end effect, and the most important part to me, is that where before I was more of an observer and casual participant of this technology, I feel that now I am a true student of Dianetics and Scientology. These materials and the underlying technology are truly mine as they never have been before. My deepest thanks to all who were involved in allowing me to more fully experience LRH Source. I am indebted.” — J.H.

Ever since these Basics were released by Mr. David Miscavige some months ago, I've been studying them myself -- I'll try to sneak in a win or two I've been having as well into this blog, as there's nothing to compare with this!

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I'm the Flock Equivalent of Beetle Bailey

2007-08-13T14:15:00.001-07:00

"Beetle Bailey, you're last again!"

That's about how I feel. Here I am, blogging on the various and sundry differences between using Flock and Windows LiveWriter, and I'm now 2 versions old on Flock and didn't even know. Where's auto-update when you need it?

I just grabbed Flock for my Windows Vista VM, noticed that it looked WAY cooler than my Linux version, only to find that I've been at 0.7 on Linux, and the newest is way up at 0.9. I guess auto-update doesn't work for major version updates.

The new Flock, in addition to looking much slicker, has some updates to the blogging tool which make it easier to insert images, easier to add tags, and has a nifty preview feature as well.

Nice to be up-to-date.

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Reading the Scientology Basics?

2007-07-27T12:10:00.001-07:00

After the release of the Scientology Basics a few weeks ago, I've all of the sudden found myself with my nose in a book once again. I've been a Scientologist for, well, I guess around 20 years -- but the core of the religion and the essence of what it is, is contained in these books. And these are books that I have, in some cases, never read before at all. It's a bit like being Islamic and having only read parts of the Q'uran.

These books were all recently released anew by Mr. David Miscavige at an event where he briefed all Scientologists about the massive project that had resulted in a complete verification and restoration of these Basic Scientology materials so that they were 100% true to what L. Ron Hubbard had originally written, and so that they are in that regard 100% easy for any new person or old hand to pick up and get all of the basics of Scientology and Dianetics.

So, I've started from the beginning (according to the Scientology Materials Guide Chart), and am now in the middle of reading Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. I'll write more when I'm through it, but for sure -- I'm now more positive than ever that the easiest, best way of understanding what Scientology and Dianetics are is to just grab one of these books and read it.

Referencess:

technorati tags:scientology, materials, david, miscavige, basics

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New Way to Happiness Public Service Announcements

2007-07-21T19:50:00.001-07:00

technorati tags:way, to, happiness

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Video Sharing Sites

2007-07-19T16:09:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the prior post - I was testing out some various video sharing sites and looking at how their controls worked, their automatic one-click publishing features, etc, and one of the sites I went to happened to have old Gramma wielding an MP40. I yielded to the same pressure that many bloggers do, and posted it. Just shows you the pervasive power of a preposterous video.

Definitely am intrigued though with the potential of Internet video. I've been used to being a back-end sysadmin for some time, and just now am looking at the relative persuasive value of being able to circulate little videos that can be continuously re-watched. Gets me thinking.

technorati tags:video, sharing, grandma, mp40

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Grandma with an MP40

2007-07-09T13:06:00.001-07:00

Grandma MP40
Uploaded by LSD25

technorati tags:video, sharing, grandma, mp40

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Sharkle - Video Sharing test of Wife @ Beach

2007-06-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here's another test -- this one is Sharkle. This is a video of my wife at the beach.

Zannel Test - My Wife in the Malibu Mountains

2007-06-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

This is a test of a blog post from another video sharing service, Zannel. This is my wife and 2 of her friends, up in the Malibu mountains. We were definitely getting some space after some long days, a la Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's Problems of Work!

Sweeny & Scientology - Grouper

2007-06-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

I'm testing out some of the various video sharing sites I've seen, seeing what it looks like to embed their player in your blog. This is a grouper shot, made famous on YouTube, of dork BBC reporter John Sweeney's insane tirade against a Scientologist. (Full thing is on Scientology's Freedom Magazine.)

30-Story Transformers Billboard - world's largest?

2007-06-15T09:54:00.001-07:00

Using Linux as a Router

2007-06-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

I'm implementing some basic routing in a LAN I've got and am looking into using inexpensive Linux boxes as routers. I'm trying to clear all of my misunderstood words on IPv4 routing and so forth, but in the meantime am trying to get some sort of professional advice on the matter.

I've got Quagga installed on a Fedora 7 box, but there are no man pages, and googling around is producing jack diddly in terms of sample configurations. The ripd.conf.sample that comes with it is a joke with nothing really in it (i.e. compare this ot the squid config file!)

This is leading me to believe that nobody who is anybody actually uses their linux box as a router.

Looking for other opinions, though. Anyone else actually using Linux as a router?

technorati tags:linux, routing, fedora 7, misunderstood, words

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VirtualBox Virtualization in Fedora 7

2007-06-11T11:43:00.001-07:00

On the suggestion of Liquidat, I decided to fire up virtualization on my new Fedora 7 PC, so that I could see if I could get my Windows Apps all working in a real windows virtualized box, and still have my excellent Gnome/Compiz desktop. Well, worked like a charm.

Above, you can see my widescreen Gnome desktop, with a virtualized Windows2003 Server running in a window on the left side. This is running using innotek VirtualBox, which has an F7 executible that installed in about 10 seconds and worked straight-off. You can see a little warp action on the window - just to show that it is running right there, and you can bounce & drag it around just like any other window. It has great mouse integration as well, once you install the local tools on it -- all you have to do is put your mouse inside the virtual box's window, and now your mouse cursor is sync'ed with the local box.

It actually rocks.

Now I can ease up on all my various posts (for now) about how I can't get Dreamweaver on Linux. Now, I literally just run Dreamweaver on Windows, on my linux box. As Dan Kegel pointed out on my other blog post on Dreamweaver, some application of the Scientology Communication formula may still be in order to test, bugfix and work with the community to reach that lofty goal.

technorati tags:linux, virtualbox, scientology, communication, windows2003

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Underwater Hotel in Dubai

2007-06-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

I think someone's going to need to put a Church of Scientology in Dubai, as I'm going to have to move there. The gadget/technology lover in me has now boiled over, after seeing their latest project - a massive underwater hotel being built in the Persian Gulf.

I've read posts on this sort of thing earlier, from the Burj Dubai's site to various other articles on the massive growth of Dubai.

What I don't know, and what Dubai does not have, at this time, is any similarly-sized Churches of Scientology. Everything else is oversized and, well, over the top. However, I'll still be tied here to the States for as long as there's no Church there for me to attend. Does anyone know if other Churches are represented in Dubai? Seems like there would be, with how International the place has become.

In any case, intriguing all the same. What's next?

Map of Scientology Volunteer Minister Activity in Blacksburg, VA

2007-04-18T08:11:00.001-07:00

Map of Scientology Volunteer Minister Activity in Blacksburg, VA
Originally uploaded by scientologyvm.

A whole Scientology VM team is already on the ground in Blacksburg to help the grief-stricken students and faculty after Monday's shooting. Many more are needed, however.

A team of 25 VMs are at the University. Another 15 to 20 are about to leave to join them. But 100 VMs are needed on the ground within the next 24 hours.

This tragedy has overwhelmed the students and faculty of the school and the local residents. And the families of the victims are in urgent need of our help.

Scientology VM's have been asked by the Salvation Army staff, who are manning the official relief center on campus, to provide 24-hour help for the next two days in the form of grief counseling and trauma relief for the parents and families of the victims.

To meet the need and demand for our help 100 VMs are needed immediately. If you can help, call Abby in NY at (212) 757-9615 or cell (646) 235-9994 or Kayleen in DC at (202)797-9826. You can also call the DC Scientology VM Hotline at 1-800-435-7498. You will need take care of your flight and living expenses. Local Scientologists will arrange your accommodations.

Smiling Children from the Solomon Islands

2007-04-15T14:36:00.001-07:00

Smiling Children from the Solomon Islands
Originally uploaded by scientologyvm.

Another by-product of the Scientology Volunteer MInisters tour that's in the Solomon islands now, helping the area recover from the 2 April tsunami. Smiling kids!

Child from the Solomon Islands

2007-04-14T16:25:00.001-07:00

Child from the Solomon Islands
Originally uploaded by scientologyvm.

This is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. From the Scientology Volunteer Ministers disaster response efforts happening in the Solomon Islands.

Hi-Tech Scientology Churches

2007-03-22T13:25:00.001-07:00

Scientology Hamburg
Originally uploaded by scientologytoday.

I posted a while ago on the new hi-tech Church of Scientology in Berlin, with its many displays, films, etc that allow one to easily just walk in to the place and find out what Scientology is, and what it does.

However, the Church of Scientology Berlin represents what really is a whole new breed of Scientology Church - one where the intensely workable technologies of Dianetics & Scientology are communicated at a quality level commensurate to their workability.

Churches like this are going up all over the world now, as the question of "What is Scientology" is just as hot in the United States, Spain, Denmark, England, etc as it is in Germany.

Pictured is the Church of Scientology in Hamburg, Germany - another Ideal Scientology org.

Chewy at the St. Louis Arch

2007-03-14T17:24:00.001-07:00

At the bottom of the St. Louis arch
Originally uploaded by Typos in the Key of E.

I was actually looking for a great shot of St. Louis, as I was going to talk about the new Church of Scientology which is shortly being constructed in the city - something I'm actually quite excited about. But then -- Chewy? It was so random, I had to blog it.

Also, as one of my fellow Scientologists has a Chewy blog, where he blogs just about everything Chewy. Well, honestly, what's not to like about Chewy?

In any case, in an attempt to try to veer back on-topic, there is a new Scientology Church in St. Louis which is soon to be constructed - where they're renovating an old, historical building into a magnificent new Church. One of my best buddies is a staff member at the St Louis church, and is definitely excited beyond belief.

Church of Scientology of Kansas City getting New Building

2007-03-10T17:57:00.001-08:00

Kansas City
Originally uploaded by andropolis.

The Church of Scientology Kansas City, which has been expanding faster than just about any other area of Scientology on the planet, is soon to get a much larger and more magnificent premises in Kansas City. I've only heard of it so far, not seen the real deal.

R2D2 Mailboxes! USPS Celebrates Star Wars 30th Anniversary

2007-03-09T19:16:00.001-08:00

R2D2 Mailboxes! USPS Celebrates Star Wars 30th Anniversary
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

"I guess we'll have to find new ways to mmmotivate them..."

-- Darth Vader

The US Postal Service is getting into the spirit this 30th anniversary year of Star Wars. Apparently, they’ve even got a website planned : uspsjedimaster.com.

Sun "Raptor" Cluster at Mississippi State

2007-03-07T18:27:00.001-08:00

Raptor
Originally uploaded by Roger Smith.

A new high-performance compute cluster was recently set up at Mississippi State University, which is now the fastest all-Sun cluster in the world. It has 2048 AMD Opteron 2218 compute cores and has a total of 4 terabytes of memory. It has a peak performance of over 10 trillion calculations per second (10 TFLOPS).

I just recently got myself 5 of these new Sun "Aquarius"-class warships, of the x2200 variety - each running 2 dual-core AMD Opteron 22xx processors. Now, these new Sun boxes sport a brilliant green system status light (the only LED on the front panel) which is bright enough to light the room up if you turn the datacenter lights out. I always wondered what a full rack would look like, but here's a ton more than that -- and what amounts to what's now the fastest all-Sun cluster in the world.

I've grown to really like these new Sun boxes, even if they are at the low end of the spectrum. The integrated lights-out manager rocks -- lets you just plug in and watch the thing from power-up, through the bios, all the way into running the system -- all via a Java-based window in your browser.

They're also fast as all hell.

No, Sun didn't pay me to write this. I just happen to like Sun equipment (or any Quality equipment for that matter) and when I saw this post on Flickr, I had to say something. I know most of my posts are on the Scientology end of my "Scientology Network Engineer" beingness, but sometimes I just have to gush about hardware. :)

Scientology in New York

2007-03-06T01:11:00.001-08:00

The Church Of Scientology
Originally uploaded by Ozzdo.

This is a beautiful photo someone posted of the Church of Scientology of New York. Clearly (based on their comment on the photo) they've not gotten a chance to go inside and meet the staff. I have, and they're some of the most down-to-earth people I know.

Anticipating Soreness: Soccer this Weekend

2007-03-05T18:24:00.001-08:00

Throw In
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

If you've ever read "The Way to Happiness" by L. Ron Hubbard, the precept I'm applying right now is "Take Care of Yourself".

Unfortunately, sometimes that sometimes means beating the bejeesus out of your body.

I've started running again on a daily basis, after a period of slothful computer geekage. That has helped, significantly, and this weekend I'm going to hit the soccer field again after a long period of inactivity. I'm preparing for the Monday morning "aaaarrrgh".

However, as any soccer player can tell you, being sore as all hell, barely being able to move, etc -- there's sometimes nothing sweeter than that feeling.

As L. Ron Hubbard said in a lecture from the Philidelphia Doctorate Course in 1952, "...this body was made to be threatened with death three times a day. There's nothing like being threatened with death to bring somebody up to present time." - LRH

Sure beats just trudging in with the morning Starbucks. :)

Team Dianetics Takes Another One

2007-03-05T00:08:00.001-08:00

Team Dianetics Takes Another One
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

Well, this didn't just happen - but was one of my Maryland photos that I decided to blog on today. Why? Because I can. Flickr rocks.

My friend, my wife and I, when living in D.C., had a Team Dianetics relay team, and would go around racing at various area bike/run/swim type races.

This one was some type of fat-tire fiasco, with around 1000 people there all geared up to go.

My wife was a pro backstroker, but hadn't done any racing in years, and so was a bit flipped out about even making it around the lake. It was a good half-mile she had to swim, flat-out -- and the other heats had their swimmers starting out, doing the first 1/3 of the race in FLY. Nuts. So, she finished her heat in something like 115th place, tagging me to do the mountain bike thing.

I took off on the bike, and luckily I had been riding from our house to the Church of Scientology D.C. each day, and was a bit more in shape. I passed about 100 people on the trail, and by the time I tagged our runner, we were in 10th place. John then cleaned up on the 5k trail run, and we ended up winning the thing.

Anyhow, one of my funner runs, and another thing where I try to keep myself from being a total computer geek. :)

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Mozambique

2007-03-04T10:40:00.001-08:00

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Mozambique
Originally uploaded by jetteroheller.

This will be my first post using the Flickr integration into the Blogger beta. I'm definitely finding this to be a useful app - especially when one has a photo story to share.

This particular photo is one that a guy from South Africa sent me. He has Scientologist friends who just left for Mozambique to assist the Scientology Volunteer ministers there with organizing clean-up efforts. It really is quite a disaster there, with hurricanes and flooding providing all manner of issues. Destroyed houses, mowed-over towns, theres a few hundred thousand people displaced. Not a lot of fun. So, I know his friends are there working their tails off to try to get people back into their homes and get the place rebuilt.

Volunteers needed to go to Mozambique

2007-02-28T17:16:00.000-08:00

There's a time to code and tinker around with little networking gadgets, and there's a time to get one's hands dirty. Well, unfortunately for me right now, I'm stuck doing network engineering tasks. But if I were slightly more mobile, I'd be heading to Mozambique.

The Church of Scientology International and the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg in South Africa are putting out a call to all Scientology Volunteer Ministers and people who have wanted to train to be Volunteer Ministers, to saddle up and get to the Zambezi river in Mozambique to help with the massive flooding they're having there.

Following is the release on this from ScientologyToday:

The Church of Scientology of Johannesburg urges all Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Southern Africa to join the Scientology Disaster Relief Team, preparing to move into Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Favio.
With estimates of more than 120,000 homeless from this and earlier flooding, and possibilities of a second cyclone hitting this weekend, supplies, funds and emergency relief personnel are urgently needed.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers are needed to lead the teams and train others who want to help. With hundreds of thousands needing assistance, the VM team will follow the pattern developed over recent years, of training local residents and other volunteers and emergency relief personnel in the techniques from the Scientology Handbook. This maximizes their ability to provide help, and was effective in their work after the South East Asian tsunami of December 2004, the 2005 hurricanes in the US, cyclones in Australia and typhoons and earthquakes in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The team is funded in the field entirely by donations, and anyone who can do so is urged to help. You can give your donation online at the Volunteer Ministers web site.

If you can participate in the relief effort, contact the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Coordinator at the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg, or visit www.volunteerministers.org.

References:

Kansas City Planning to be one of the next Ideal Scientology Organizations

2007-02-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

Back in mid-January, I wrote about the new Church of Scientology in Berlin -- a brand-new, state of the art Scientology Church which has some of the most high-tech systems you can shake a stick at to make it easy as falling off a log to walk in to a Church of Scientology and find out all about what Scientology is.

Well, that same concept is going to shortly be making its way to the heart of the midwest, where the Church of Scientology Kansas City will soon be the next Ideal Scientology Organization. Or one of them, anyhow.

They're looking to purchase a gigantic new building in downtown Kansas City, MO -- to keep pace with their rapid growth. A few years back they were actually honored with an award as having the fastest-growing Scientology parishionership in the world. Well, that growth hasn't abated and the Church continues to need to find a space that's large enough for all of the people currently training to be Scientology Volunteer ministers.

I hope to have some photos of the place soon!

Volunteer Work

2007-02-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Work

This is a cute blog I found about Youth Scientology Volunteer ministers. Just found it when I was browsing Yahoo! Groups, looking for any other Scientology Volunteer ministers out there. It hasn't been updated in a little bit, but still - is cute and has some good info on what Scientology Volunteer Ministers were doing around the time of hurricane Katrina.

Delicious Library

2007-02-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

I found this one when going through my Ambient Findability book, looking at how to properly design user interfaces:

Delicious Library

They had a "blog this" icon, so I couldn't resist.

London: Beautiful Panorama Photo

2007-02-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

Jason Hawkes: September 2006 Archives: "Image_2184.jpg"

I just saw this one on Reddit.com, referred from today's top user. This is probably one of the nicest city panoramas of London I've yet seen. Unfortunately, my familiarity with London stops at the data I had when blogging about the new Church of Scientology of London that Mr. David Miscavige gave his grand opening speech at last fall on Queen Victoria St. Honestly, I don't know if that's even in the frame, but the photo sure looks cool.

Scientology Today: New Program Launched by Foundation for a Drug Free World in Honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

2007-01-22T18:32:00.000-08:00

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.'

On the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, the Foundation for a Drug Free World announced a new program to help parents learn how to communicate to their children about drugs. Since so much of the crime that plagues our cities is drug-related, helping children and teens decide to live drug-free lives can help our communities enormously.

And with the sheer amount of devastation drug abuse causes, what could matter more to parents than helping their children make the right decisions about drugs?

Take that Press: Scientology Berlin Opening

2007-01-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

If you check any of my last posts, I wasn't too impressed by the media coverage granted to the Scientology Grand Opening in in Berlin. The media (obviously under someone's influence) kept trying to downplay the thing, saying that there were only 150 people there, that it wasn't really happening, that it was all just protesters, that the public weren't invited, etc. All utter, complete, total fabrications.

A friend of mine just had his wife return from the Grand Opening there, as she was representing her Scientology Church in Florida. The final count of Scientologists there ended up being something like 5,035 or something like this. Perhaps I'm off by thirty or something, but it was in that range. Another friend of mine told me that even hours after the Grand Opening, it would take 20 minutes just to walk from one office in the buiding to another, because of the mobs of people one had to walk through.

2 days after the opening, there were still mobs of Scientologists and non-Scientologists alike hanging around the place.

So, in any case, I just see it fitting and funny to point out the fact that when you're a reporter, and you come to an event like this Church of Scientology Grand opening with your story already written for you, completely abandoning any journalistic integrity, you'll end up getting burnt. Unfortunately, this is now the case -- as the Grand Opening in Berlin was a huge success.

Ever since I heard Mr. David Miscavige announce the new Berlin church at my Church's Scientology New Year celebration, I knew this was going to be big. Well, all the press controversy turned out to create is to make it bigger. So, I guess their lying did some good for once!

German Power Elite Freaked out about Scientology

2007-01-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

It's all over the news -- still.

You'd have to be living under a rock to be in Germany and not know about the new Church of Scientology that just opened in the capital city of Berlin. However, you do need to do a bit of reading between the lines to fully interpret the media that has been running on such.

Now, anyone with half a brain knows that the easiest way to pursue a political agenda is to completely manipulate the media, and let people know what "public opinion" is, by simply fabricating it and putting it in a news article.

Such is the case with Scientology in Germany, and has been for some time.

Read my last article on the new Church of Scientology in Berlin -- the new Berlin Scientology Church has displays and seminar rooms where anyone can just walk in off the street and find out what the Church is all about. Hardly the 'secretive sect' that some odd German media is trying to pump up the jam on. Seriously, the new Berlin Church has 360 degree windows that go all the way around the building -- you can't even have an office in that place without having a window. Just try to be secretive there!

But talking to friends I have there, who went to the opening and were some of the people from the U.S. waving flags all over the place, said that Germans on the street were just utterly curious, wondering what in the heck Scientology is -- as all they had heard was the random maunderings of the media. It's far from this scene that German news tries to trump up.

So, it really makes me wonder what in the heck various German government officials are trying to protect -- like, what are they sitting on? It's pretty well known that the Church of Scientology vigorously investigates people who create human rights abuses, and won't stand for that sort of thing at all. So what are these officials worried about? What would cause them to try to continue to badmouth an organization which has a dedicated following, which zealously works in fields of social reform, drug rehab, and general help?

When the grand opening was happening, I kept seeing odd news articles that talked about an "exclusive opening ceremony for 150 Scientologists" while the photos showed 1000 people, all out on the street, celebrating the opening. Who's kidding who here?

Seriously. Being in Germany, when all you hear is German media, it must be tough. But looking at it from the U.S., it just looks like wagging the dog to draw attention away from something we don't know.

References:

High-Tech Approach to Religion - Scientology in Berlin

2007-01-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

Everyone is talking about the new Scientology Church in Berlin. Nasty politicians in Germany are pointing fingers at one another (especially the ones with their vested interests to protect) and the general public has just been pouring in to the building to find out what Scientology is all about. It has been at the top of Google.de news for the past 48 hours.

Now, that is where things get interesting -- especially from a technical standpoint. There's a curious problem that you get into when you're trying to explain to someone what your religion is all about. You're either very well versed in language, and can easily explain it in ways that someone can understand, and do this one-on-one, or you figure out a way to explain it much faster to more people.

Just try doing this for something like Shinto. What is it all about? You need to read a lot, and probably talk to some Shintos before you really grok it. Scientology is similar, in that you either have to talk to a Scientologist who's in the know for some time, or just go in to this new Berlin organization.

Inside the organization are some of the niftiest displays and films that have been devised specifically to solve this problem. Explained at a Scientology event by Mr. David Miscavige -- Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, which is the holder of the Scientology & Dianetics trademarks -- this organization includes panels that literally let anyone walk in, touch a screen, and then by themselves -- with no input from others or person trying to explain anything -- get a full explanation of the various facets and practices of Scientology.

You can see some of this here:

A gallery of photos from the grand opening of the Church of Scientology of Berlin is available at the Scientology Berlin website.

The screens there just let you walk up, and visually get an explanation of the various principles of Scientology - such as the A-R-C triangle, which the average person got introduced to during Tom Cruise's wedding.

In any case, I would highly advise anyone who has been trying to find out what Scientology is really all about to actually just walk in to this new Berlin Church (or one of the other Scientology churches which have such panels in them) and just spend some time alone finding out what this movement is all about.

Other Churches I know of which have such panels are:

References for this article:

Church of Scientology Releases International Epansion Figures

2007-01-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

The Church of Scientology International released its expansion figures for 2006 this week and announced the launch of community outreach programs for 2007 that will far surpass any year in the Church's history.

Los Angeles, CA. (PRWEB) January 4, 2007 -- The Church of Scientology International released its expansion figures for 2006 this week and announced the launch of community outreach programs for 2007 that will far surpass any year in the Church's history.

Our programs are there to combat every one of society's ills

"We live in a world where conflict, crime and continual chaos dominate the news. It is time for positive and sweeping changes," said Church of Scientology International spokesman, Rev. Bob Adams. "Working hand in hand with other churches, community leaders, government officials and a wide range of organizations, we are making a difference. And we expect 2007 to be the most spectacular year yet, in terms of positive change."

Recapping the religion's growth in 2006, Rev. Adams pointed out that in the last year more than 1,500 new centers, missions and churches of Scientology were opened, including large new central churches in both London and Berlin. With new groups this year in Afghanistan, Niger, and Bahrain the international Scientology presence now totals more than 7,500 centers, missions and churches in 163 nations.

In far-flung regions of the world, Scientology Volunteer Ministers---best known for their disaster relief efforts---set up large tents where anyone encountering a problem in their life can go for help. Carrying forward the message that, "No Matter the Problem ... Something CAN be Done about it," the Church's Volunteer Ministers Corps numbers 87,000 in 114 nations.

With the 2006 release of 30 public service announcements that bring each article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to life, the Church's human rights campaign spans 71 nations. These compelling video clips aired on 2,000 TV stations worldwide in 2006, reaching over 50 million people.

"The purpose of the campaign is to educate people on their human rights. These rights are the foundation on which freedom and peace can be built," said Rev. Adams. "More than 200 schools have adopted the campaign and are teaching human rights to children and teens. Young people are getting involved."

For two decades, Scientology Churches have sponsored a worldwide drug abuse prevention campaign. In 2006, in response to the increasing demand for drug prevention information, the Church launched a massive drug education initiative --5 million drug education booklets printed in 19 languages and distributed throughout 30 countries.

"We recognize that drugs---both street drugs and psychotropic prescription drugs---are the source of a multi-billion dollar industry that is ruining an entire generation," said Rev. Adams. "Our drug prevention programs keep young people from falling into this trap."

Beyond activities administered directly by the Church, the popularity of the secular social betterment programs that use L. Ron Hubbard's discoveries was tremendous in 2006.

From its flagship organization in Oklahoma, Narconon delivers L. Ron Hubbard's solutions to drug abuse in 184 centers across 44 nations. Criminon administers successful criminal rehabilitation in 2,000 prisons. Applied Scholastics International saw to the introduction of L. Ron Hubbard's solutions to illiteracy to more than 1.6 million people this year. And The Way to Happiness Foundation International has distributed copies of L. Ron Hubbard's common sense moral code to 70 million people worldwide.

"Our programs are there to combat every one of society's ills," said Rev. Adams. "Drug abuse, crime, illiteracy, immorality, human rights violations---these problems cannot be ignored. And while the past year saw expansion greater than at any time in our history, 2007 will be even better."

The Church of Scientology International urges all people of goodwill to take part in making a better world. "We offer our help to anyone, no matter their religion, race or creed," said Rev. Adams. "We only ask that you use these effective solutions and make them available to others."

Scientology Introduction DVD

2007-01-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

Dang! The sales of the Introduction to Scientology DVD are now over 91,000 -- just 3 days after release! Says so on the Scientology site! Yet another example of L. Ron Hubbard's work continuing to generate interest, year after year.

L. Ron Hubbard "An Introduction to Scientology" represents over 100,000 man-hours of film restoration

2007-01-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

Just released on DVD last night was the filmed interview with L. Ron Hubbard, An Introduction to Scientology. This was released at the Scientology New Year celebration in Los Angeles just now, by Mr. David Miscavige - Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center. Similar to the release done last March by Mr. Miscavige of L. Ron Hubbard's Clearing Congress, the DVD An Introduction to Scientology encompassed hundreds of thousands of man-hours of work to restore and produce - quite a herculean task.

In this filmed interview -- the only filmed interview L. Ron Hubbard ever gave -- he answers the most commonly-asked questions about Scientology.

The questions answered in this DVD include:

"What is Scientology?"
"What is the Mind?"
"How did L. Ron Hubbard come to develop Scientology?"
"How did he make these discoveries?"
"What is an auditor?"
"Why is Man on this planet and what is his purpose here?"
"Why is many basically good?"

I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is endevoring to find out what Scientology is all about. More data on it can be found at www.scientology.org/interview/.

What Social News Sites Drive the Most Traffic?

2006-12-30T17:32:00.000-08:00

This is a question I'm trying to answer for myself, but am now looking for empirical research to back it up.

There are all sorts of social news sites around now. Digg, Reddit, Netscape, Newsvine, Slashdot, etc. Which one of them is most beneficial for the content producer, or for the interested individual, to be posting on? Which delivers the most bang for the buck?

I had my own initial results with many different social news services, and the resultant traffic they can drive to one's site. Everyone knows that Digg has the best Alexa ratings out of all these, but is it the best for actually directing interested people to on-topic news?

My initial response to it all would fall under the concept of "publics". In an essay called "Wrong Publics", an essay written for people in business, PR and Marketing, L. Ron Hubbard discusses the need to only promote to correct publics, and not go after wrong distinct publics. The "people" aren't just "the people". They're cynical college kids or high-school girls or they're housewives or whatever. You can't put the same stories up on Digg and expect them to be gobbled up if they're for the 60-yr-old housewife public.

I've noticed this on posts that I've done, and that a friend of mine did on Scientology Volunteer Ministers. Now, firemen nearly escaping death, and excellent stories showing such is definitely a newsworthy item. It's a story of hope, and bravery and camaraderie. Now, you'd think this sort of thing would rise up in social news services. Of course, it doesn't. What does instead? Well, let's take some of the top stories in Reddit right now:

Inkless Metal Pen Never Runs Dry
Duke Nukem Forever approaches *10 years* of active development

It's terrible. Why do dorky articles outpace meaningful ones?

It does come down to who is reading them, and what audience they're destined for. The selfsame article that went nowhere on Digg, erupted on Reddit. Similarly, articles that went nowhere on reddit erupted on Netscape.

It is indeed a matter of looking at what you're writing, and then write for the people that will be reading it. I.e., if you're writing for the 22-yr-old Linux hacker, definitely post on Digg.

Integrating Reddit Buttons Onto your Blog

2006-12-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

I've become quite enamoured with Reddit of late - partially because it's so easy to use, and partially because it does seem to have an uncanny ability to drive quite preposterous quantities of visitors around -- assuming you have decent content to send them to.

On http://reddit.com/buttons, you'll find a number of little Reddit buttons that you can add to news stories, web pages or blog posts. These put a nifty little reddit box onto your page, like you see on this post.

This is done by adding a tag like this to the HTML code of your blog post

Now, one thing that I've noted which is an impediment to using a service of this nature is that just about every blog provider I've seen will strip out the "" tags out of your HTML. Wordpress does it, Live.com does it, Clearblogs does it, etc. Now, Blogger seems to do it too -- and gives you a big, gnarly "dangerous code detected..." warning when you go to post. However, if you simply check the checkbox that says to ignore further errors, the post will post, and the script tags will end up on your blog post. The only other one that I've seen work is on www.xeeks.com, where it still allows you to just slap script tags right on to the HTML.
I still haven't gotten the Digg JS to work on Blogger, but the Reddit JS seems to work like a bomb.

Another nifty article on Duplicate Content and SEO

2006-12-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

This is another such article I've found on duplicate content, for those who have found themselves nailed by Google's duplicate content filter:

http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/blog/?p=169

From the article, "This duplicate content that I’m reporting on should provide some good insights. Why? Because these sites aren’t attempting to spam the search engines. Instead, they’re just typical efforts by business units to brand something on the web with no consideration of the SEO consequences. You might also ask why, as someone involved with SEO, I’m not doing anything about it? Partly because the sites are eventually going to disappear as they are replaced by yet another recipe search and partly because examining the data should be quite educational."

Outstanding SEO Guide

2006-12-29T07:18:00.000-08:00

Browsing around, I just found this incredible site on search engine optimization, which has one of the better explanations of things like duplicate content, importance of titles and backlinks, and so forth.

Here is their mini-book on SEO - which I would definitely encourage any SEO to study up on.

I. Introduction – What Is SEO

1. How Search Engines Work

2. Differences Between the Major Search Engines

II. Keywords – the Most Important Item in SEO

1. Choosing the Right Keywords to Optimize For

2. Keyword Density

3. Keywords in Special Places

a. Keywords in URLs and File Names

b. Keywords in Page Titles

c. Keywords in Headings

III. Links – Another Important SEO Item

1. Why Links Are Important

2. Inbound and Outbound Links

3. Anchor text

4. Link Practices That Are To Be Avoided

IV. Metatags

V. Content Is King

1. Topical Themes or How to Frequently Add Content to Your Site

2. Bold and Italic Text

3. Duplicate Content

VI. Visual Extras and SEO

1. Images

2. Animation and Movies

3. Frames

4. JavaScript

VII. Static Versus Dynamic URLs

VIII. Promoting Your Site to Increase Traffic

1. Submitting Your Site to Search Directories, forums and special sites

2. Specialized Search Engines

3. Paid Ads and Submissions

What are Volts & Amps? The Hydraulic Analogy for Electronics

2006-12-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

I had a friend who had a hard time getting the difference between volts, amps and so forth and what it all actually means in the real universe. As anyone who knows L. Ron Hubbard Study Technology will tell you, a misunderstood word can be one of the nastiest things there is, in terms of its impact on one's ability to learn and work. So, here's my favourite analogy which explains this, excerpted from Answers.com.

The electronic Hydraulic analogy (derisively referred to as the Drain-pipe theory by Oliver Heaviside) is the most widely used analogy for "electron fluid" in a metal conductor. Since electric current is invisible and the processes at play in electronics are often difficult to understand in an intuitive way, it is common to teach electronics using analogies to more common sense objects and processes. The analogy is made to a hydraulic system of water in pipes. The "electron fluid" in a metal conductor has many similarities to such a system, and the various electronic components have similar hydraulic equivalents. Electricity (as well as heat) was originally understood to be a kind of fluid. This hydraulic analogy is still of some use in teaching, not only for the fact that the names of the quantities are often struck by analogy. The water analogy is very useful in describing some aspects of electricity, but it breaks down for others.

Basic ideas

There are two basic paradigms:

Version with pressure induced by gravity. Large tanks of water that are held up high, and the potential energy of the water head is the pressure source. This is reminiscent of electrical diagrams with an up arrow pointing to +V, grounded pins that otherwise are not shown connecting to anything, and so on.
Completely enclosed version with pumps providing pressure only; no gravity. This is reminiscent of a circuit diagram with a voltage source shown and the wires actually completing a circuit.

Component equivalents

Wires: All pipes are completely full of water, and none ever has an open end. If a pipe were to go somewhere without reconnecting to the circuit, it would have to have a cap on the end. This is because the wall of the pipe is like an insulator, and a wire just sticking out into insulating space/air is like a completely pipe-surrounded rod of water.
Potential: Equivalent to pressure.
Voltage: Also called potential difference. A relative difference in pressure between two points
Current: The amount of charge (i.e. electrons, electron holes or ions) passing through a cross section of conductor per given time, much like a hydraulic mass flow rate.
Ideal voltage source: A pump with a pressure meter on both sides. It varies the speed of the pump to keep the difference in pressure constant.
Ideal current source: Also a pump, but with a current meter (little paddle wheel). The pump changes speed to maintain a constant speed of the little paddle wheel.
Resistor: A pipe with a small width. "So what makes this different from a regular-width pipe?" Nothing. All pipes have some resistance, just like all wires have some resistance.

A capacitor driven by an AC source through a diode.

Diode: One-way valve or check valve. If it has a rubber flap it can be blown out permanently by too much reverse bias, which is similar to the real thing.
Capacitor: Big spherical tanks with a sheet of thick rubber separating the two halves.
Inductor: All flowing water has inertia, which has similar effects to inductance. A large, heavy, frictionless paddle wheel is like a dedicated inductor. As you try to increase a DC current, you encounter resistance as you speed up the paddle wheel, but after it is going, you can send a current at the same speed as the paddle wheel with no effort. If you try to put AC through it, the wheel will present a great resistance, as its inertia prevents you from moving it back and forth. Any real paddle wheel will have some friction associated with it, just as any real inductor has some resistance. The DC to DC converter uses inductance to change voltage in the way that a Hydraulic ram uses inertia to change pressure.
Transistor: A device similar to an EGR valve, where a diaphragm controlled by a low-current signal (either constant current — BJT, or constant pressure — FET) moves a plunger which allows a larger current to flow through another section of pipe, like a globe valve.
CMOS: A combination of two MOSFET transistors. As the input pressure changes, the pistons allow the output to connect to either zero or positive pressure.

Principle equivalents

EM wave speed (velocity of propagation): Speed of sound in water. When a light switch is flipped, the electric wave travels very quickly through the wires.
Charge flow speed: Particle speed of water. The moving charges themselves move rather slowly.
DC: Constant flow of water in a circuit of pipe
Low frequency AC: Water oscillating back and forth in a pipe
Higher-frequency AC and transmission lines: Sound being transmitted through the water pipes
Inductive spark: Used in induction coils, similar to water hammer, caused by the inertia of water

Equation examples

Some examples of equivalent electrical and hydraulic equations:

type	hydraulic	electric	thermal
quantity	volume $V$ [m³]	charge $q$ [C]	heat $Q$ [J]
potential	pressure $p$ [Pa=J/m³]	potential $φ$ [V=J/C]	temperature $T$ [K=J/ $k B$ ]
flux	current $Φ V$ [m³/s]	current $I$ [A=C/s]	heat transfer rate [J/s]
flux density	velocity $v$ [m/s]	current density $j$ [C/m²s]	heat flux [J/m²s]
linear model	Poiseuille's law	Ohm's law	Fourier's law

Limits to the analogy

If taken too far, the water analogy can create misconceptions. For it to be useful, we must remain aware of the regions where electricity and water behave very differently.

Fields: Electrons can push or pull other distant electrons via their fields, while water molecules experience forces only from direct contact with other molecules. For this reason, waves in water travel at the speed of sound, but waves in a sea of charge will travel much faster as the forces from one electron are applied to many distant electrons and not to only the neighbors in direct contact. In a hydraulic transmission line, the energy flows as mechanical waves through the water, but in an electric transmission line the energy flows as fields in the space surrounding the wires, and does not flow inside the metal. Also, an accelerating electron will drag its neighbors along while attracting them, both because of magnetic forces.

Leaking pipes: If a hole is made in a hydraulic system, the water can leak out. But the movable charges present within electrical conductors are always attracted to unmoving opposite charges in the material. The "electric fluid" can be forcibly removed from metals, but enormous voltages arise if even a tiny amount is removed. For this reason, the surfaces of conductors act as if they always have a high energy-barrier preventing leaks. Also for this reason, continuing electric currents require closed loops rather than hydraulics' open source/sink resembling spigots and buckets.

Inductors: Wrap a long water-filled hose around a barrel, and the water's large mass behaves as a significant "inductance." However, in real coils the adjacent turns interact via magnetic fields, and the value of inductance increases as the square of the number of turns. It's as if we could create four times the mass of water by only doubling the length of the water hose.

Fluid Velocity: As with water hoses, the carrier drift velocity in conductors is directly proportional to current. However, charges' velocity within a conductor is typically less than centimeters per minute, and the "electrical friction" is extremely high. If charges ever flowed as fast as water can flow in pipes, the amperage would be immense, and the conductors would become incandescently hot and perhaps vaporize. To model the resistance and the charge-velocity of metals, perhaps a pipe packed with damp sand would be a better analogy than an empty, water-filled pipe.

Quantum Mechanics: Conductors and insulators contain charges at more than one quantized level of atomic orbit energy, while the water in one region of a pipe can only have a single value of pressure. For this reason there is no hydraulic explanation for such things as a battery's charge pumping ability, a diode's voltage drop, solar cell functions, Peltier effect, etc.

Digg Passes the 20 mark on Alexa Ratings

2006-12-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

Apparently, Digg has officially broken the 20 mark for most visited websites in the United States. Digg now comes in at 19th place in the rankings where can be found here.

This is pretty impressive considering that digg has only been on the wire for a little over 2 years now.

Digg falls just behind Microsoft and IMDB while it beats out some very big names which include: The New York Times, Wal-Mart, Weather.com, Mapquest, Best Buy, etc.

According to Seth Godin's Web 2.0 traffic list, that puts it a good ways ahead of Reddit (1400) and Newsvine (3490). Curious Reddit always seems to pull more visitors every time I post something. Oh, well. Reddit's faster too, so I'll stick with that.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Australia

2006-12-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

Photo: Media inspect a fire some 30 kilometres south of Mansfield. Firefighters battling Australia's massive wildfires amid soaring temperatures and fierce winds are looking forward to a white Christmas to dampen the bushfire emergency, officials said.

Funds are still needed to support the volunteers. If you can help, go to the Volunteer Ministers website and fill out the contact form they have there.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Blog
Scientology
International Association of Scientologists
Volunteer Ministers - Mr. David Miscavige describes the Volunteer Minister Program

Miracle Stories of Scientology Volunteers in the Philippines

2006-12-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Scientology Assist technology can produce products routinely that many might consider "miracles". To the average Scientology Volunteer Minister though, this is all part of the normal day's work.

Two Scientology Volunteer Ministers giving assists to children in the evacuation center.

There have been so many miracle stories that have come in from the Scientology Volunteer Minister activities in the Philippines.

Two young girls they helped were devastated. Having lost both parents in the typhoon, they were overwhelmed with grief. They calmed down, stopped crying and both of them experienced some relief. Nothing the Volunteer Minister could do would bring their parents back, but at least they could now get on with their own lives, and start caring for themselves and each other.

In another room the volunteers helped a whole family that seemed to have given up after their home was destroyed. It started with an assist to a woman who was clearly very sad. She was lying listlessly on a mattress on the floor, and told the volunteer she felt very lonely. After her assist she got off the floor and started watching the volunteer as he gave an assist to a little girl nearby. She was so interested that he asked her if she wanted to learn how to do this too. She was very emphatic when she said she did, because the child the volunteer had just helped was now giggling and smiling. And that child was her daughter. The volunteer then taught the mother and daughter how to use this technique and the daughter gave an assist to her father. When she began the assist, her father was lying down and said he couldn't move. But after his assist he felt much more energetic and he got up to prove it!

Scientology Volunteer Minister Relief Corps
Scientology
Scientology Handbook (training for anyone on how to be a Volunteer Minister)
Scientology in Australia
Scientology in New Zealand
David Miscavige on Scientology Volunteer Ministers
How to do Scientology Assists

Using Dreamweaver on Linux

2006-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

I've been trying for the last 2 years to find a decent web development platform for Linux, and still can't find one.

I truly don't understand what the big deal is with porting Dreamweaver to Linux. It already works on the Macintosh, so what would the big deal be making it work on QT or GTK+?

I think that if there were a decent Dreamweaver port for linux, that would end up converting a TON of people to the Linux camp. Seriously, for everyday work, I find GIMP totally acceptable for most photo work that I need to do for sites. Sure, I love Fireworks and I love Photoshop, but it's not a big block to getting website editing and development done. I can make it work.

But in terms of development environments, all I've found for Linux are:

Quanta: Great for PHP hackers, and great for the way that I develop sites (i.e. the site upload feature is very similar to dreamweavers). However, the visual editor is terrible. 90% of the time that I'm using the visual editor in Dreamweaver, it's for the purposes of SPEED. I'm trying to select something, fix it, and move on. Not navigate through someone else's messed-up code and table layout to find something. The Quanta visual editor doesn't work at all, really - crashing on even the simplest of pages.
Bluefish: Just a glorified gEdit, as far as I'm concerned.
Aptana: Looks really nifty, but I can't get it to work at all on my FC6 box. Also, has no visual editor, like Dreamweaver.
Mozilla Compozer: Would be almost usable if (a) it had a site upload / management setup like Dreamweaver (i.e. doesn't assume you're directly editing, via FTP, the files that run your website) and (b) if it didn't horribly mangle your source code every time you make an edit.

I'm all for open source software, but in this case I can't get around the NEED for Dreamweaver. Anyone have any clues how to persuade Adobe to move ahead on this?

Linux Driver for HP 2600n

2006-12-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone has ever needed a Linux driver for the HP LaserJet 2600n, a wonderful article on how to make it work with Linux is here. It works like a charm. Just follow the instructions one after the next, and it goes right on. Even works in Color!

Technology: How Bushfires Spread

2006-12-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

As I've been covering quite a bit on what Scientology Volunteers have been doing, as relates to the Bushfires in Australia, I figured I'd find out a bit how these bushfires spread and what one can do about this.

Found this interesting one on BBC news:

One home was destroyed at Stonyford, in Victoria's south-west, despite the efforts of firefighters working in temperatures of 41.1C - the hottest December day in more than 50 years. Dozens more houses are under threat.

Military personnel have been mobilised to help volunteer civilian fire crews fight the bush fires.

Specially modified planes and helicopters are dumping water on the flames from above.

Environment department spokesman Stuart Ord said crews were being stretched by trying to tackle fast-moving fires on several fronts in extreme conditions.

"There is no doubt the fire will hit settlements, the question is which ones?" he said.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has compared the situation to the state's "Black Friday" in 1939, when 71 people died in bush fires.

No-one has died in the current emergency, but Mr Bracks said the danger remained critical.

"We expect the next two weeks are going to be really like standing on our toes, waiting and hoping the communities are protected as the fires rage and move through," he said.

He condemned arsonists who, early on Sunday, lit grass fires on the outskirts of Melbourne that threatened homes before they were brought under control.

"The full force of the law will be brought to bear to find these people, to bring them to justice," Mr Bracks said. "We have increased penalties in place."

Volunteer Resources on Bushfires:

Scientology Volunteer Minister Relief Corps
Scientology
Scientology Handbook (training for anyone on how to be a Volunteer Minister)
Scientology in Australia
Scientology in New Zealand
David Miscavige on Scientology Volunteer Ministers

Scientology Volunteers in Victoria, AU

2006-12-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

Scientology Volunteers are still needed in Victoria, AU, more than ever.

Contact any of the following locations to find out how you can help.

Resources to contact:

Scientology Volunteer Minister Relief Corps
Scientology
Scientology Handbook (training for anyone on how to be a Volunteer Minister)
Scientology in Australia
Scientology in New Zealand
David Miscavige on Scientology Volunteer Ministers

Typhoon Utor - Volunteer Help Needed

2006-12-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

DOUBLE DISASTER. Over a week after Supertyphoon “Reming” left 90 percent of all houses either destroyed or damaged in Marinduque, including this hut, Typhoon “Seniang” battered the island-province again yesterday. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Talk about an engineering nightmare. Scientology Volunteers are still needed desperately in the Philippines to help patch up their villiages literally blown apart by Typhoon Utor. Contact the Scientology Volunteer Minister Coordinator for more data on how you can help.

3,000 Firefighters Needing Help

2006-12-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

Apparently, there are currently over 3,000 firefighters on the ground fighting the Australia bushfires. However, there are barely any support personnel keeping those firefighters on their feet, which is the problem. Anything anyone can do to assist those firefighters would be most welcome. One should contact the Scientology Volunteer Ministers hotline for more on how they can help.

The Technologies of Being an Effective Volunteer

2006-12-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

There are two major disasters going on right now in the ANZO area (Australia, New Zealand and Oceania) -- with the fires going on in Victoria, and the Typhoon which just hit in the Philippines. Now, Volunteer Minister teams are being dispatched to both locations -- but what are the technologies they use which makes them so effective? Governments praise them, the people on the ground wonder at why they can just get in and get things done -- but they're just people.

What's the difference between what they've got and what other groups might lack? The difference is that Scientology Volunteer Ministers are studied and drilled heaviliy in L. Ron Hubbard's organization technology -- for handling situations which seemingly are a confusing mass.

They're also drilled on L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology Assist Technology, which is a technology anyone can learn to help others. That in itself -- that anyone can learn it -- is something that Scientology Volunteer Ministers use to the hilt -- because when only a few hundred Scientology Volunteers hit a three-state disaster zone line Hurricane Katrina was, it's imperative that as many people as possible become empowered to themselves provide effective help to each other.

So, as an engineer concerned with Technology, that's where I salute the PEOPLE technologies like was created by L. Ron Hubbard and is put to use by Scientology Volunteer Ministers all over. I learned it -- and I think anyone else who could possibly run into similar such situations (which, if you live on earth, is you) -- should learn it.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Needed -- Victoria, Australia

2006-12-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

Scientology Volunteer Ministers need help in Australia, fighting fires which are now burning out of control just north of Melbourne. Contact the Scientology Volunteer ministers coordinator to find out how you can help.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Needed in the Philippines

2006-12-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Needed in the Philippines to Help in the Wake of Typhoon Durian Volunteer Ministers from Taiwan, Japan and Australia are traveling to the Philippines to help the people of the region recover from the devastating typhoon that ravaged the area leaving as many as 1,000 presumed dead and 40,000 homeless; and Scientology churches from around the world are assembling teams to join them.

(full story >>)

How Bayes Spam Filters Work

2006-12-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

I just got sent a really nice article on how Bayes spam filters (aka bayesian analysis) work. I've excerpted part of it here, as I think it's quite insightful:

Recognizing spam is not as easy as it might seem. For example, Yahoo! Groups put ads at the end of every e-mail, but if your users subscribe to such a group, they probably want to get the e-mail anyhow. Most users would just as soon discard any e-mail containing the word “Viagra,” but if you’re a pharmaceutical company, that might not be a wise policy. Press releases look a whole lot like spam, but discarding them would be a real problem for a working journalist.

Early spam-fighting products relied largely on keyword filtering to spot dubious messages, on the theory that words like “Viagra” and “FREE Offer” and “unsubscribe” only appeared in spam. There are two problems with this approach. First, unlikely though it may be, such words do appear in legitimate e-mail as well. Second, spammers quickly caught on and started sending mail with creative spellings such as “V1agra” and “FREEE Offer” and “un$ubscribe.”

The spam-fighting landscape changed dramatically in August 2002, when Paul Graham published his article “A Plan for Spam” on the Internet (www.paulgraham.com/spam.html). Graham proposed a method of detecting spam by what’s known as Bayesian statistical analysis. While you should go read the article for details, the basic idea is surprisingly simple. Start with a large corpus of spam and a large corpus of “ham” (good e-mail), say several thousand messages of each. Now count the individual words that appear in each corpus. What you’re looking for is words that tend to appear more often in spam than ham, or vice versa. For example, these days the word “Abacha” in my mail occurs exclusively in spam (of the Nigerian swindle variety), while the word “galleys” turns up only in ham (when my editors want me to review galley proofs). By looking at every word in every message, you can build up an extensive list of words and their probabilities of occurring in spam messages. Some words (like “Abacha” and “galley”) have a very high or very low probability of occurring in spam, while others (like “the” or “home”) are distributed pretty evenly.

When a new message arrives, the Bayesian algorithm compares the words in the message to those already in your corpus, looking for the most interesting (defined as having a high or low probability of occurring in spam) 15 or 20 words. Looking at the probabilities of those individual words, you can come up with a probability that the message containing the words is spam. If that probability is high enough, you can be nearly sure that the message was, in fact, spam.

Soon after Graham published his results, Bayesian spam filters started appearing—first on the client and in POP3 proxies, and then later on the server. Bayesian filters now boast a spam recognition rate of 95 percent or better in many settings. The experimental CRM-114 implementation (crm114.sourceforge.net) refines the Bayesian notion for a recognition rate over 99 percent.

The nice thing about Bayesian filters is that it doesn’t really matter what the spammers do; as long as their mail is different from real mail, the filter will learn to recognize it. Word substitutions, for example, end up working against the spammer; the likelihood that a message containing “V1agra” is spam is nearly 100 percent, and after the first few times that goes by, a good Bayesian filter will automatically stamp messages containing that word as spam.

SpamAssassin Benchmarks - Fighting Spam Faster

2006-12-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

I've been working to combat the recent wave of spam we've all been experiencing - waves upon waves of St0ck Reports, and Vlnnagra and Home M0ortgage Appr0vals. In doing so, I've done some benchmarks on SpamAssassin with its various options that some Google searchers might find ineresting:

The following numbers were produced on a test server of mine - a Gateway E-9315R server, 3.0Ghz Xeon, 512MB RAM, 80GB SATA, Fedora Core 3, running Postfix 2, MailScanner, and SpamAssassin.

All features turned on: 4.8 messages/min
Bayes filtering disabled: 19.1 messages/min
SpamAssassin disabled, but RBL still turned on: 74 messages/min
RBL+XBL, Pyzor, Razor and DCC disabled in spam.assassin.prefs: 76 messages/min
RBL+XBL disabled in MailScanner.conf (line commented out: Spam List = ORDB-RBL SBL+XBL): 320 messages/min
RBL+XBL disabled, but SpamAssassin turned back on: 64 messages/min

It's pretty clear that Spamassassin, Bayes and RBL are each pretty serious CPU hogs, but RBL is more network I/O bound than CPU bound.

I'm pretty tired of those spammer bastards cutting my communication lines (a subject most Scientologists feel strongly about, as communication is pretty much the most core element in Scientology), so I'm definitely looking for creative ways to process mail fast, but also more effectively. Comments welcome!

Live Spaces - Scientology VM Blog

2006-11-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

How about this one:

http://scientology-vm.spaces.live.com/

MSN, or the artist formerly known as Hotmail, is now offering blogs under the "live.com" guise. This one goes over Scientology Volunteer Ministers and what they're doing around the world.

Looks clumsy to deal with, but at least th Volunteer Ministers content is good.

Still lamenting lack of Flockdom

2006-11-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

Now that there's Scientology Media all over the place, I have all manner of things to blog about. However, this just makes me all the more peeved that I can't use my newfound Flock to blog with. Blogging is such an integral communications tool these days - it's a lot like the first time I was able to to one-click e-mails so that I didn't have to hassle my way back into Outlook to send an e-mail. Well, now that I'm blogging all the time, I just want to be able to BLOG THIS when I find something of interest, otherwise it's rapidly forgotten in the 12.8 Trillion pages of the Internet. Anyone know of any other good BLOG THIS type tools for Firefox that will work with Blogger beta?

Tom & Katie - Scientology Wedding: Mission Accomplished

2006-11-18T13:19:00.000-08:00

From People Mag:

It's official: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are now husband and wife. The couple exchanged vows Saturday in front of more than 150 guests at the Odescalchi Castle in Lake Bracciano, Italy, their rep, Arnold Robinson, confirms to PEOPLE.

"The wedding was absolutely beautiful," says a guest.

With thousands of fans, photographers and TV cameras watching from afar, Cruise and Holmes were joined by family – Katie's dad Martin walked her down the aisle – and a slew of celeb pals, including Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Brooke Shields and Chris Henchy, Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, and Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, among others.

The sunset ceremony was performed by a Scientology minister, according to a statement from their reps. The wedding party included Cruise's children, Isabella and Connor, the best man was Cruise's best friend, David Miscavige – the head of the Church of Scientology – and Katie's sister Nancy Blaylock served as the matron of honor.

Slide show of 49 famous Scientologists

2006-11-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

Thought this one was nifty:

12 of 49

Email Slide To a Friend

Scientologist: Beck Hansen, musician

It's a slide show of 49 famous Scientologists.

AMD Quad-Cores

2006-11-17T17:05:00.000-08:00

Just found this one on dailytech.com:
core. Beginning in Q3’2007 AMD is expected to release its first Stars quad-core processors. The new quad-core processors are based on AMD’s Agena and Agena FX cores. Targeting AMD’s 4x4 platform is the Agena FXAgena FX will only be available on Socket 1207+ and offer dual processor functionality. The vanilla Agena core will be available on single processor socket AM 2+ platforms.

As a pretty die-hard AMD supporter, I still find it hard to believe that these first quad-core processors will be all the way until Q3 2007, what with quad-core Xeons about to come out, Quad-Core Core2 CPUs already shipping, etc. What's with the wait?

All Flocked Up

2006-11-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

I just downloaded Flock on my Fedora Core 6 box. Ran like a charm with absolutely no problems at all. It has some seriously nifty features which really make it a bit of a competitor to using something like Stumbleupon -- in terms of how fast you can save / blog something and move on to the next.

Only problem so far is that I can't get it to work with my Shadows account or my Blogger beta account (i.e. THIS blog). This was the blog I wanted to use for such, so it makes it a bit difficult. Unfortunately I then need to divert this to some other blogging program. It's got some promise though!

Re-Usable Rockets

2006-11-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

After seeing a CNN Article on Jeff Bezos's company, which is apparently bankrolling a whole re-usable rocket program for the purposes of space tourism, I decided to search around a bit.
I ended up running across a whole website on various private, reusable launch vehicle programs (RLV), done by all sorts of people, companies and countries. Even John Carmack (the Doom/Quake programmer guy) has his own space ship.

Incredible Adverts Put Out by Amnesty International

2006-11-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

Just "stumbled" on an incredible set of advertisements when stumbling around on stumbleupon. Amnesty International is putting out this ad campaign to let people know that "it may not be happening in front of you, but it's happening."

I think it's a fantastic stab at the problem of raising public awareness on the subject of Human Rights violations, which many people don't even know are happening.

Awareness is only the first step though - as one needs to know what Human Rights are in the first place, so one can know if they're being violated. Which is why the Human Rights campaign that Youth for Human Rights is doing and the Human Rights campaign from the Church of Scientology International is so important -- as it briefs people, and especially children, on what Human Rights are so they can stand up for their rights when violated. Clearly any religion such as Scientology will have an impossible time trying to reach any manner of improvement in the life of its parishioners if human rights violations are happening all over.

Things That Only Happen in the Movies, but Not Real Life

2006-11-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, I found this one on another fellow's stumbleupon page, and found it too good to resist reposting:

From the page: "Did you ever notice that certain things only happen in the movies, but never happen in real life? For example:

1. It is always possible to find a parking spot directly outside or opposite the building you are visiting.
2. When paying for a taxi, don%u2019t look at your wallet as you take out a note. Just grab one out at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.
3. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at the precise moment it%u2019s aired.
4. Creepy music (or satanic chanting) coming from a graveyard should always be closely investigated.
5. Any lock can be picked with a credit card or paperclip in seconds. UNLESS it%u2019s the door to a burning building with a child inside.
6. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.
7. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red digital displays so you know exactly when they are going to explode.
8. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to learn to speak German. Simply speaking English with a German accent will do. Similarly, when they are alone, all German soldiers prefer to speak English to each other.
9. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off. Even while scuba diving.
10. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window of any building in Paris.
11. Any police officer about to retire from the force will more often than not die on their last day (especially if their family have planned a party). (Caveat: Detectives can only solve a case after they have been suspended from duty).
12. Getaway cars never start first go. But all cop cars do. (They will also slide to a dramatic stop in the midst of a crime scene).
13. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises wearing their most revealing underwear.
14. On a police stake-out, the action will only ever take place when food is being consumed and scalding hot coffees are perched precariously on the dashboard%u2026
15. All grocery shopping involves the purchase of French loaves which will be placed in open brown paper bags (Caveat: when said bags break, only fruit will spill out).
16. Cars never need fuel (unless they%u2019re involved in a pursuit).
17. If you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts, your opponents will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around you in a threatening manner until you have defeated their predecessor.
18. If a microphone is turned on it will immediately feedback.
19. Guns are like disposable razors. If you run out of bullets, just throw the gun away. you will always find another one.
20. All single women have a cat.
21. Cars will explode instantly when struck by a single bullet.
22. No matter how savagely a spaceship is attacked, its internal gravity system is never damaged.
23. If being chased through a city you can usually take cover in a passing St Patrick%u2019s Day parade - at any time of the year.
24. The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. Nobody will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building undetected.
25. You will survive any battle in any war UNLESS you show someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
26. Prostitutes always look like Julia Roberts or Jamie Lee Curtis. They have expensive clothes and nice apartments but no pimps. They are friendly with the shopkeepers in their neighbourhood who don%u2019t mind at all what the girl does for a living.
27. A single match is usually sufficient to light up a room the size of a football stadium.
28. It is not necessary to say %u201CHello%u201D or %u201CGoodbye%u201D when beginning a telephone conversation. A disconnected call can always be restored by frantically beating the cradle and saying %u201CHello? Hello?%u201D repeatedly.
29. One man shooting at 20 men has a better chance of killing them all than 20 men firing at once (this is known as Stallone%u2019s Law).
30. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in you room will still be visible, just slightly bluish.
31. Plain or even ugly girls can become movie star pretty simply by removing their glasses and rearranging their hair.
32. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their enemies with complicated devices incorporating fuses, pulleys, deadly gases, lasers and man-eating sharks.
33. All beds have special L-shaped sheets that reach to armpit level on a woman but only up to the waist of the man lying beside her.
34. Anyone can land a 747 as long as there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
35. During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
36. You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.
37. Most musical instruments (especially wind instruments and accordions) can be played without moving your fingers.

That Bike Racing Photo

2006-11-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I did end up finding a way to get this mountain biker photo uploaded. It's a little low-res, but fine -- you get the idea.

I used to be totally in to the whole mountain bike racer thing, actually was fairly good at it for a while, despite mediocre equipment. Found that it was a great way to get out and fill my lungs with some air, and also promote Scientology and Dianetics at the same time.

Scientology Racing Team

2006-11-10T00:03:00.000-08:00

I just found an old photo of my friends and I when I was on a Scientology bike racing team on the east coast. Stopped when I moved out here. Wish I could upload this thing...it's a nice photo. I get an error, however, every time I attempt to upload it. Firewall issues? Not sure. You'd think a network engineer would be able to work out how to upload a photo to a blog. I used to have a whole site I kept updated with photos and such. Oh, well.

Scientology Mission in Aurora, Colorado

2006-11-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

The Church of Scientology Mission of Aurora, who recently posted a website and a blog, is yet another mission which is popping up around the Church of Scientology of Denver in Colorado. It joins the Scientology Mission of Englewood and another one Scientology Mission in Boulder to add to the growing Scientology population in the mountain states.

Scientology Blogs

2006-11-06T23:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, and because I couldn't resist (based on my last blog post) here is one of those nifty Kaboodle slideshows, showing off all of the Scientology blogs I've accumulated:

Scientology Blogs by jetteroheller

Scientology Missions with Blogs

2006-11-06T23:06:00.000-08:00

There are a couple of Scientology Missions I've seen now which have created their own blogs. One in particular I recently saw was in Aurora, Colorado -- where some local Scientologists there put up a blog for that particular mission.

Quite aside from the fact that the whole Denver area is a real pretty place to live, I think it's nifty to see these blogs popping up all over the place showing people what Scientology is all about and where they can get it. It's in more places than most people know about, I think - and the Internet is the ideal medium to show it off.

More Scientology Blogs are here: http://www.kaboodle.com/jetteroheller/scientology-blogs.html