Scientology Founder Garners Third Guinness World Record

Scientology Founder Garners Third Guinness World Record: "With 185 audio books, L. Ron Hubbard has just garnered his 3rd world record as confirmed by Guinness World Records, and announced at the London Book Fair. The official statement reads, “Most audio books for one author is L. Ron Hubbard with 185 published audio books as of 21st April 2009.” It was just last month at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida that Bridge Publications released seven of Mr. Hubbard’s religious works in an additional 50 languages, surpassing the number of translations that led to one of his two other Guinness World Book records of most translated author. This means that Mr. Hubbard’s materials on the subjects of Dianetics and Scientology can now be understood by 90% of the world’s population, where previously they could only reach 22%. He also received a Guinness record for most published author."

L. Ron Hubbar's House Strikes Back

Comments about Hubbard's house story I blogged about last Feb. 5, 2009.

Phoenix News - Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, February 19, 2009 - page 1:

"[...] The L. Ron Hubbard House is just that, a house. Ron Hubbard lived there at one time. There isn't anything hidden or secret about that. Some people (including quite a few neighbors who aren't deranged) have actually enjoyed seeing the house and safely eating some coffee cake. [...]"

L. Ron Hubbard in Apple's 'Think Differently' Ad

Update: The video below is a fake. You can see the original on Youtube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=USn5t5nQWU8 and Hubbard is NOT in it. Nevertheless, I leave the post up just for the amusement factor.

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The following initially appeared on johnalexwood blog but has been removed for some unknown reason:

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They are not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them - about the only thing you can't do is ignore them - because they change things; they push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as the 'crazy ones', we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

L. Ron Hubbard appears at 37-42 seconds.

Here's the complete list of the "troublemakers" in order of appearance:

• Albert Einstein
• Bob Dylan
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Richard Branson
• John Lennon (with Yoko Ono)
• R. Buckminster Fuller
• Thomas Edison
• Muhammad Ali
• Ted Turner
• Maria Callas
• L. Ron Hubbard
  
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Amelia Earhart
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Martha Graham
• Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog)
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Pablo Picasso
• Shaan Sahota

Original video source

Small House Big Controversy

Phoenix News - Will the L. Ron Hubbard House Turn a Camelback Neighborhood Into a Scientology Recruitment Mecca? - page 1 - Phoenix New Times:

"On a recent December Sunday, on a still street nestled against Camelback Mountain, a party is in full swing at the L. Ron Hubbard House. It's meant to be a holiday open house, to show off the stunning renovation of the simple brick dwelling where Hubbard founded Scientology a half-century ago, and to smooth relations with neighbors, some of whom have lately been up in arms about plans to turn the house into a Scientology museum."

Long article about a big controversy for such a small house. Neighbors don't want Scientology in their midst. Jacobsen quoted extensively - just the usual bigoted routine.

Fitzroy House

Fitzroy House
"Fitzroy House, 37 Fitzroy Street, London. Fitzrovia dates back to the 18th century and has been for many years well known for its writers and artists. From H.G. Wells and George Orwell, to Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf - its inhabitants have left an indelible mark. [...] 75 years later, writer and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard made 37 Fitzroy Street his London base. [...] You are welcome to visit Fitzroy House. It is open to the public by appointment daily.

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard honored
"The House, which has been open since October 2006, has, to date, received guests from almost 50 nations. Visitors have included Ambassadors and businessmen and it has proven an interest to people from all walks of life."

Stunning photos! Have a look...

Stories from the Golden Age

The CoS is making quite a push for Hubbard's pre-Scientology Science-Fiction stories of late.

See also this blog, and the fact that they had an L. Ron Hubbard Stories from the Golden Age float at the recent annual Hollywood Santa Parade 2008.

PS - I find it remarkable that LRH significantly went into the science-fiction genre, departing somewhat from his more down-to-earth adventures he wrote previously, after his 1938 out-of-body experience where all the secrets of the universe were supposedly revealed to him. Maybe it's just coincidental circumstances but still.

This should be clear from this list.

Also, from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack/bs2-3.htm

"Writer A.E. van Vogt, an important figure in the early Dianetic movement, has said that Hubbard claimed his heart had stopped for six minutes during an operation, in 1938. Excalibur was the result of the revelation Hubbard had during this near death experience. Armstrong has said it was a dental extraction under nitrous oxide. Hubbard told his literary agent that a "smorgasbord" of knowledge had been laid out before him. ... In 1938, Hubbard became a science fiction writer, claiming he was "summoned" by the publishing firm of Street & Smith to write for Astounding Science Fiction. Hubbard protested that he wrote about people, not machines, and was told that this was precisely what was needed. ... Hubbard joined editor John Campbell's circle of friends, and became a major contributor to the reshaping of science fiction which Campbell brought about. ... Hubbard's interest in the occult continued, and for six months in 1940 he belonged to the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC)."

Other interesting related links:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/l-ron-hubbard/
http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/frenschkowski.html#H1
http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_fiction_of_lrh.html

The L. Ron Hubbard Museum

The L. Ron Hubbard Museum has been open as a museum for a few years. It is being hosted in Washington D.C., in the townhouse on 19th Street near Dupont Circle (a block away from the current D.C. Church of Scientology). It is there that LRH held his lectures and is therefore considered as the first-ever Church of Scientology.

R.I.P. - Forrest Ackerman

Forrest Ackerman died Dec. 4 at the age of 92.

Ackerman was a primary contributor to making science-fiction something that could be defined and understood by the masses, right down to coining the phrase "science-fiction" itself. There is not a single aspect of genre culture that he did not inspire, influence, embrace, embody, popularize, promote or have an actual hand in creating.

As an agent, he represented more than 200 authors in the genre, and was instrumental in the rise of greats such as Isaac Asimov, Charles Beaumont, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, Rod Serling, Edward D. Wood Jr.

Why the news is relevant in this blog is because he also was the literary agent and friend of L. Ron Hubbard, long before Dianetics and Scientology.

As a publisher, his Famous Monsters of Filmland, the garish, gushing, goofy fan magazine he launched in 1958, became an acknowledged inspiration to countless future fantasy creators, from Steven Spielberg to Stephen King to budding auteurs not even born when it ceased publication in 1982.

Ackerman was considered as perhaps the science fiction's greatest collector, owner of a huge private collection of science-fiction movie and literary memorabilia that for years filled every nook and cranny of a hillside mansion overlooking Los Angeles, the "Ackermuseum" – which he gladly kept open to the public.

Collated from:

• http://reason.com/blog/show/130428.html
• http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/12/voices----forre.html
• http://syfyportal.com/news425633.html
• http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/549655
  

L. Ron Hubbard Biography on Video

Official Hubbard biography in video. Needs to be compared of course with critics' version of his life, probably closer to the truth.

Interview with L. Ron Hubbard

A video on YouTube contains one of the rare interviews with L. Ron Hubbard. Unfortunately, it has been very heavily edited and distorted.

For example, zoom to 2:55 where Hubbard is asked to answer the question "what is Scientology". He starts to explain the origin of the word, then the commentator at 3:38 ask him to be more concrete. He let Hubbard state one single sentence then cuts abruptly and on 3:47 jumps to another out of context sentence that for the layman would be difficult to understand. Then the commentator claims "even after three hours of talking, we never got an explanation from him that we could understand" and goes on to provide his own (irrelevant and biased) interpretation. They didn't even allow the viewer to decide this for himself by letting Hubbard speak more than two sentences, mounted in such a way to make it look absurd!

This gives the tone of the whole footage. Out of three hours the team made a 26 minutes footage containing very little of the actual interview and loads of their own derogatory comments. They just selected out the few minutes in the interview that fit their obviously biased point of view.

The full uncut version of that interview is unfortunately not available.

L. Ron Hubbard in the Guiness World Records

Having out-sprinted popular American novelist Sidney Sheldon and best selling British children’s ‘magic’ writer JK Rowlings to enter the Guinness World Records as the most translated author in 2005, Hubbard has added a feather to his cap in 2006 as most published writer, having sold more than 233 million copies internationally with 19 New York Times best-sellers; Guinness World Records certified him as the world's most published author with 1084 works exceeding the record held by Brazilian author Jose Carlos Ryoki with 1,058.

One of the last L. Ron Hubbard interview

One of the last L. Ron Hubbard interview (Feb 20, 1983)