'Anonymous' Targeted in Internet Blacklist

Scientology protest group 'Anonymous' targeted
in internet blacklist crackdown - news - world - LIVENEWS.com.au: "A list of 2,395 websites which are considered unsuitable for Australian internet audiences has included a home base of 'Anonymous', the web-based activist group that made headlines by declaring war on the Church Of Scientology."

More Pandas

At this stage I am quite enthusiastic about this revolutionary product because it really is very light on PC resources and seems to constitute an excellent compromise. I think it is going to wipe out the competition, including Panda's own product. You can hardly make it more simple, powerful, and available.

I am not sure where Panda is going to make its money with this. They claim on their blog that the Suite still has its own advantage because "security suites contain many more functionalities not found in free AVs like Panda Cloud Antivirus, such as firewall, anti-spam, parental control, technical support, etc." - well, I also use a server rather than client based software for spam that works great, I use a separate and free firewall that does a good job as well, I don't need parental control, and it seems that the cloud hardly needs any support...

Anyway, as Google has shown, just deliver a high-quality product and you'll cash on it sooner or later. I am surprised that Google itself didn't come up with this, and I am still convinced they'll try hard to buy the whole Panda box altogether just for that one good.

Clam vs. Panda

Panda Cloud Antivirus

I recently changed my f-secure anti-virus for the free AVG program. I ended up throwing it out of the Windows as it dramatically slowed down my system (F-secure too, by the way).

My laptop is so much faster without anti-virus programs that I wonder if it is really worth the hassle having them at all.

I then had the idea to look for a non-resident program, something with which I can just scan whatever I decided to scan myself rather than what a resident resource-eating mother-in-law decides for me.

I found the perfect program for doing that in the person of ClamWin.

This gave me the idea to blog about it here. You see, clam... and clam win... oh my...

Anyway this becomes even more relevant after pandas come in the equation too.

Indeed, reading about clam win on the net, I soon bumped into the latest fad in terms of anti-virus fashion - Panda Cloud.

Now this is an anti-virus program that rather than relying on a never ending database updating, and consequent resources slowing down, system, is relying on "The Cloud", or "Collective Intelligence".

No more structural database. The knowledge about viruses is shared through a network of distributed resources and any new virus-like behavior emerging in California or Beijing, or anywhere in the connected world, is immediately shared by "The Cloud", and becomes common knowledge, with direct application on your PC, in an average of six minutes - and the more people use the program, the greater the protection of each PC gets!

Another advantage is that it is supposed to significantly reduce the demand on your system resources (and that's where I lend a very interested ear), since it does not need to intercept each file at different layers (entry vector, file system and execution) and scan them using various techniques (antivirus, heuristics, intrusion prevention, behavioral analysis, etc.) - with a very consequent workload reduction. Most of the processing is done up in the cloud.

Now this sounds really revolutionary, and why does it make me think of Anonymous? And Google? What is more, it's free... (but watch out, soon to be bought by the afore-mentionned Google, IMO)

I downloaded the beta version and so far it seems to do quite some marvel (reserving my judgment for later, though).

The one thing I don't like about is that it did not want to install itself while ClamWin was installed on my computer. I tried to offload ClamWin from memory, just to keep the scan on demand bit, but it also didn't agree to this.

Is that a transcategorial subliminal metaphysical sign of big changes to come? The "Collective Intelligence" win over the sclerosed traditional structures?

Another question is this: if panda's servers get hit with a virus, does that mean every person who uses panda software will be vulnerable? would this not be a way to spread a potential virus?

Food for thought...

At the end, especially if The Cloud starts to make my system run at Panda's speed, the Clam may win after all...

Beck's Bigger Energy

Beck Adds More Material To Website | CHARTattack: "Maybe Scientology isn't a total crock of shit. I seriously doubt it, but something seems to have given Beck a bigger energy boost than a B12 shot. The artist has been on a creative roll of late, especially pertaining to his website, and he's just added the Videotheque section to the space."

Xenu.net Traffic Comparison with Scientology.org

Rave - The Day Scientology broke 20,000: "As they say in Hollywood, any publicity is good publicity. The Church’s exposure has been enhanced by websites who are dedicated to exposing the organization, and newpapers running articles in series about the Church. This has helped produce a public awareness of the Church and the existence of its philosophy. While the recent advertising campaign doesn’t mention critic’s efforts, it builds on earlier exposure."


Indeed, go to http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/scientology.org. There you will see the stats, and can compare them to xenu.net.

This is a comparison over a month:


Over six months:


This is the effect of the new advertising campaign ran by the CoS, combined with the hard work by dedicated Scientology critics who helped make the name of Scientology familiar to the public while at the same time discrediting themselves by their own ridiculous accusations.

This is the graph over the maximum period:


We can see here the effect of the work accomplished by Anonymous in February 2008. However, after Anonymous wasted their potential and became irrelevant by failing to moved beyond the level of the "old guard", Scientology's stats were down and they had to find new ways to advertise themselves, which they found and which seems to be working incredibly well.

As I said so many times, "criticizing" Scientology through outlandish accusations is only going to accomplish two things: discredit yourself and raise interest for what you are unfairly attacking.

In this way, critics are truly a great ally for Scientology and the CoS should thank them.

Jackson Anonymous

YouTube - Michael Jackson's kids

Michael Jackson used to make his kids wear masks so they won't be recognized. Here is Prince wearing a Guy Fawkes mask! He's with Paris, the new overnight YT sensation after her deeply moving tribute to her father.

How To Be a Good Creationist

YouTube - How to be a good Creationist - 3

She's pretty, she's sexy, she's witty - and she's funny while also often right.

Actually, she is an Atheist. I am not. But I also think she may have a point here.

4chan Attacks Twitter

Another "raid" by 4chan, this time on Twitter.

The article has, among others, two interesting quotes:

"Before that, they were responsible for hacking Time Magazine's voting system for the World's Most Influential Person, making the site's creator, moot, the winner by a wide margin."

Confirming my assumption that Obama's "What Do Americans Want" survey's result may very well have been riddle by the like of Anonymous and 4chan.

In a comment:

"They probably couldn't do it though. They have become weaker since the scientology days."

Interesting concept...


4chan may be behind attack on Twitter | The Web Services Report - CNET News

Belief-O-Matic - Beliefnet.com

Belief-O-Matic - Beliefnet.com

Now that's a rather interesting or potentially interesting test that will tell you what is your religion, even if you don't know it.

Below is my result. And there I thought I was a New Age type, but not quite, it only arrives 4th (but at 90%). Strangely, "Reform Judaism" arrives just after - and there I thought I was a non-believer Jew.

More on-topic, Scientology arrives 11th, with 70% - not surprisingly, as Scientology borrows many Buddhist and New Age concepts with which I identify.

It's a relief to see that Roman Catholic and Jehovah's Witness arrive last, but more surprising is the discovery that for 55% I am a Muslim - something I was really not aware of, although I must admit that the lavish promise of being cared for by 72 sweet and charming virgins in heaven is quite an attractive proposition...

1.	Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2.	Neo-Pagan (96%)
3.	Liberal Quakers (95%)
4.	New Age (90%)
5.	Reform Judaism (88%)
6.	Baha'i Faith (82%)
7.	Mahayana Buddhism (82%)
8.	Hinduism (76%)
9.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (75%)
10.	New Thought (73%)
11.	Scientology (70%)
12.	Sikhism (68%)
13.	Secular Humanism (65%)
14.	Taoism (63%)
15.	Jainism (62%)
16.	Orthodox Judaism (61%)
17.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (60%)
18.	Orthodox Quaker (59%)
19.	Islam (55%)
20.	Theravada Buddhism (50%)
21.	Nontheist (37%)
22.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (32%)
23.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (30%)
24.	Seventh Day Adventist (28%)
25.	Eastern Orthodox (22%)
26.	Roman Catholic (22%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (18%)

Scientology Sign Gets Makeover

Internationally Known Scientology Sign Gets Makeover: "Los Angeles - More than a thousand Scientologists, their friends and families cheered the lighting of a new state-of-the-art LED sign Friday night atop the Scientology complex on the corner of L. Ron Hubbard Way and Sunset Boulevard.

The updated landmark is three times the size of the previous Scientology sign, which had been in place since the late '70s and is recognized the world over. The new sign is 5.2 tons, 84 feet long, 16 feet tall and can be seen for miles - from several Hollywood and Los Angeles freeways, and indeed by aircraft from far above."

Scientology Expansion

This is a copy and paste of the article linked below.

The building statistics are certainly plausible, as can be seen through the Buildings category of this blog, and the Guinness Book one as well (it's official). The other stats, I am not sure, but if true, it would certainly be a major fail for Scientology critics and Anonymous. I have already posted critics' and Anonymous own statistics: that in spite of their claims, they have not managed to close down a single organization or mission, while in fact these doubled in five years to now reach, if we have to believe that article, 8,071 Scientology Churches, Missions and groups - almost one for each protester in the peak of Anonymous protests of Feb 2008.

Scientology certainly has many cultish aspects and there's certainly much to criticize about it, but the bigoted way Scientology critics and Anonymous go about it only helps Scientology expansion. Just take a look at the comment section of that article - instead of addressing the facts of the article, it's just cries of "cult shill" and "ban Louanelee".

The whole Scientology criticism thing has become so pathetic it hardly is worth spending much time one it anymore. It's over, and the CoS will just quietly continue to expand, ignoring the discredited cries of wolf from critics - until at last some sort of intelligent and credible criticism appears.

All critics manage to do eventually with their cruel and unfounded accusations is to draw a lot of sympathy for Scientologists and a fair amount of interest for Scientology - at least enough to keep on "feeding the beast".

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Scientology has its expansion statistics out

by louannelee

Share this on Twitter - Scientology has its expansion statistics out

Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 06:20:29 PM PDT

The Church of Scientology International published its 2009 statistics. Notably everything is compared to a five-year-range which might be an odd way of counting, but impressive nevertheless. What do you have to say about it?

• louannelee's diary :: ::
• 
  

(Source: Scientology Today)

- The Church’s property holdings internationally have more than doubled in the last 5 years. The combined size of Church premises increased from 5.6 million square feet in 2004 to 11 million square feet in 2009.

- The Church has acquired 66 buildings since 2004 in major population centers around the world. For example: Berlin, New York, Greater Los Angeles area.




- The Church has completed 401,003 square feet of construction of new premises in the last 5 months. It currently has under construction another 475,887 square feet, including Churches in Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Quebec, Mexico City, Brussels, Rome and Tel Aviv.

- There are 8,071 Scientology Churches, Missions and groups in 165 nations, double the number five years ago.

- 80 million L. Ron Hubbard books and lectures on Dianetics and Scientology have been sold in the last decade, compared to 5.6 million in the prior decade, and 60 of that 80 million have been sold in the last two years-more than during the first 50 years of Dianetics and Scientology combined.

- The number of individuals completing auditing and training has doubled since 2007.

- Since the Church undertook to publish and reproduce its scriptural materials in-house in 2007, the average price of Mr. Hubbard’s books and lectures sold has decreased dramatically.

- There were 12.4 million visitors to the Scientology website in the last year alone coming from 234 countries, with 23 million video views.

- 4.5 million pages of L. Ron Hubbard’s writings have been translated in the last 10 years alone compared to a total of 359,459 for the prior 50 years, making him the most translated author in history-according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

- Today there are 196,000 Scientology Volunteer Ministers worldwide-there were 45,000 in 2004. Volunteer Ministers helped over 1.4 million people in the last year alone, a 300% increase over the 2004 figure of 550,000 people helped.

Scientology Public Affairs Director Receives International Award

American Chronicle | Scientology Public Affairs Director Receives International Award: "Scientology Public Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology of Catania, Italy, Ms. Itria Leone, was awarded the 2009 Silver Chimera Award for the impact she has made on the community through her work as coordinator of the Church’s social reform programs.

The 8th annual International Silver Chimera Awards ceremony was organized by dell’Arte Etrusca to raise awareness of social issues and recognize those who have distinguished themselves through contribution that improves the quality of life. With the theme, “Peace in the World,” the ceremony was held this year at the Museo Castello Ursino in Catania, in Sicily.

Ms. Leone, a native of Sicily, has been coordinating the social reform activities of the Church of Scientology of Catania since 2005. At a grassroots level, she has been working to educate children and teenagers on the effects of drugs, to help them make educated choices and avoid the tragedy of addiction. She also coordinates a chapter of Youth for Human Rights International, through which young people learn their rights and help educate their friends and community on the basic rights to which every individual is entitled."

YouTube - Dancing Inmate's Michael Jackson tribute

YouTube - Dancing Inmate's Michael Jackson tribute

I've seen loads and loads of Jackson-related tributes and what not on YT, but this one is mind-blowing.

I actually saw a bit of it already on the Filipino news, as these are inmates of a Cebu prison, but they have not shown the entire video by far, available now on YT.

It almost seems impossible that they could put such a complex arrangement in such a short notice - even though they say it took them 10 hours to create. And where did all these world-flags came from? And how come there seems to be a show setup with a public? I think it probably is a show they were preparing for a long time already, and the timing just makes it as relevant as it can ever be.

By all mean, it is just f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s, and I must admit I had trouble seeing the whole thing as my eyes were blurred with tears.

Update: Apparently these inmates were already famous through a video featuring a choreography of thriller. I saw that video now, and in my opinion, the tribute video is much much much much better than this thriller video. The Thriller video does not have any kind of complex mass movements to it. It is just a bunch of people moving more or less in synchronicity and if they weren't inmates it would be nothing special, on the limit of bad taste even at the end. The tribute video is just a totally completely different kind of show - of total genius, inspiration and spontaneity.

Update 2: What do you know - it turns out that this goes MUCH further than it looks. Just watch this amazing footage. It explains it all, and shows why that clip which I am sure will become even more viral than Thriller is only the beginning of something MUCH bigger to come...

Jada Pinkett-Smith : Scientology, a Religion Just Like Other Religions

Jada Pinkett-Smith gets candid | USA WEEKEND Magazine: "Another subject she wants to set straight: persistent rumors that she and her husband are Scientologists, like their good friend Tom Cruise. She emphatically denies it, and she admits she thought it was a weird religion -- until she met Cruise.

'I'm not saying that I'm not a Scientologist because I think something's wrong with Scientology -- I want to be really clear about that,' Jada says. But, she adds, 'In knowing Tom, I realize it is a religion just like other religions. Tom is happy. And he is one of the greatest men I know.'"

Jackson Knew He Would Die Young

AFP: Jackson feared dying like Elvis: Lisa Marie Presley: "'I can't recall the exact subject matter but he may have been questioning me about the circumstances of my Father's Death. At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, 'I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.''"

I would not be surprised. I suspect that whole spiritual and living purpose of ultra-talented artists is their art. They are out on a sort of mission from heaven. When they see that they cannot perform up to their standard anymore, they must not find many reasons to stay around.

Micheal's come back show due in July must have played a role in this respect. It may be that in spite of all his hard work, he just was not satisfied with his upcoming performance In this respect, to die was the best "solution", if it could be said that way, as he was leaving with his legend intact. The show seemed to have been his last effort to get back to the level he was. Seeing he just could not, he maybe thought, supra-consciously, that it was time to go...

Just a hypothesis, of course, but I have been thinking along that way long before, especially seeing mega-stars die early.

I was a kid when I saw the come-back show of Elvis Presley. Really, for me, it really was not impressive at all, and I was wondering why all the fuss about that guy. He only was the shadow of what he used to be, and all this handkerchief throwing and idolization had little to nothing to do with any form of art anymore. Supra-consciously, he must have felt the same, and then "decided" that there was no more reasons to stay down this earth, and that he had better things to do up there.

For some others, it may not be that dramatic and they may go while still successful, but, likewise, they may feel that they have given enough and that it is time to move on to another level, literally.

Most people, of course, have more mundane goals, and that's perfectly OK as well. But the "mission order" of those who received gifts far beyond the average may not be quite the same. That they would die young, or believe they would die young, is really not surprising to me.