Monday, August 13, 2007

Scientology restores historic house in Phoenix

A lowly house near Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona, once the home of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology religion, has been restored by the Church of Scientology to exactly how it was in 1952, when Hubbard made his breakthrough discoveries into the spiritual nature of man. Here's an article about the L. Ron Hubbard House in the East Valley-Scottsdale Tribune, with photos.

The Church of Scientology has also recently renovated homes Mr. Hubbard occupied in South Africa in the early 1960's, and in Washington, DC in the mid 1950's. These basically serve as museums of the history of Dianetics and Scientology around the world.

I've toured Hubbard's mansion in East Grinstead, Sussex, England, which is within walking distance of the Scientology college he established there in East Grinstead. From that tour, I recall a basement room which had been made into a recording studio and lecture hall that might hold 50 people. It was here that Hubbard recorded some lectures that I found particularly inspiring. It wouldn't mean much to most people, but it was significant to me.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Cool summer

We're having a very cool summer here in south coastal Oregon. We bought an air conditioner after one hot day in June, and we've only had to use it twice so far. Today we're wearing sweaters at noon!

I do not subscribe to the religion of global warming. Any time scientists say they have reached a consensus, I back away carefully and try to look at the actual data. When anyone says "the debate is over" on any subject, experience has taught me that the debate is just getting going, and someone wants to shut up the other side.

It appears that the global temperature seems to have gone up slightly in the last 150 years. Maybe one degree. The earliest data is sketchy and unreliable. In Oregon, it was actually hotter in the 1930's than presently -- that whole decade was hot here.

So, if I don't believe in the global warming mythic, then why is it cooler this summer? For the same reason it's hotter on some summer days than others. Variance. Randomness. Chance played out across a bigger area than is comfortably grasped by the human mind.

I'd be really worried if I believed that humans were causing global warming. Did we cause the global warming of Mars, as well -- which has gained about one degree in the last 30 years?

What do you think?

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Psych quotes

This site has some terrifying quotes from leading psychiatrists. Psych Quotes. I say terrifying because they've been at it for over a hundred years now, and have made inroads into every aspect of modern life. There is evil in the world, and you'll find it candidly expressed in the words of the psychiatrists themselves, on that site.