Scientology Volunteer Ministers Video

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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Russia "Dissolves Government" Story

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

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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Team Dianetics Takes Another One

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. :)

Take that Press: Scientology Berlin Opening

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

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:

• Church of Scientology
• Sister Scientology Church in London
  
• David Miscavige - Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center
• Scientology Volunteer Ministers
• Scientology-sponsored Anti-Drug Programme
• Scientology - Human Rights Initiative
  

High-Tech Approach to Religion - Scientology in Berlin

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:

• Church of Scientology of New York
• Church of Scientology of London
• Church of Scientology Stevens Creek (San Jose, CA)
• Church of Scientology of Madrid, Spain
• Church of Scientology of Tampa, Florida
  

References for this article:

• Official David Miscavige website
• Scientology Germany Website
• The Scientology Handbook
  

Church of Scientology Releases International Epansion Figures

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

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

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?

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.

What are Volts & Amps? The Hydraulic Analogy for Electronics

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/kB]
flux	current ΦV [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.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Australia

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

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
  

Technology: How Bushfires Spread

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.