Sea Org Day
The Sea Organization or Sea Org is the senior-most status of Scientology officials, staff within the Church of Scientology network of corporations, but is not itself incorporated. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Sea Org was started as L. Ron Hubbard's private navy, and adopted naval uniforms and ranks. Today, all Scientology management organizations are exclusively staffed with Sea Org members. The Sea Org maintains strict codes for its members, beginning with a billion-year pledge of service to Scientology upon initiation. David Miscavige, the leader of Scientology, is the highest-ranking Sea Org officer with the rank of captain. The higher rank of commodore is permanently reserved for the reincarnation of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. Some ex-members and scholars have described the Sea Org as a totalitarian organization marked by intensive surveillance and lack of freedom. In a 1992 memorandum by the Church of Scientology International, the following information ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gold Base
Gold Base (also variously known as Gold, Golden Era Productions, Int Base or Int) is the ''de facto'' international headquarters of the Church of Scientology, located north of San Jacinto, California, United States, about from Los Angeles. The heavily guarded compound comprises about fifty buildings surrounded by high fences topped with blades and watched around the clock by security personnel, cameras and motion detectors. The property is bisected by a public road, which is closely monitored by Scientology with cameras recording passing traffic. The property had previously been a popular Inland Empire (California), Inland Empire spa resort called Gilman Hot Springs, which was established in the 1890s. However, the resort went bankrupt in the late 1970s due to changes in American vacation habits. Bought for cash in 1978 by Scientology under the alias of the "Scottish Highland Quietude Club", it has since been developed and expanded considerably. Gold Base houses numerous List of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andreas Heldal Lund
Andreas Heldal-Lund (10 December 1964 – 2 January 2024) was a Norwegian anti-Scientology activist best known for operating the website Operation Clambake. Personal life Andreas Heldal-Lund was born in Oslo, Norway on 10 December 1964. He moved to Stavanger, Norway in 1985. In May 2022, Heldal-Lund was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour, known as Glioblastoma. He died on 2 January 2024 at the age of 59, in the arms of his living partner and a few close friends. Activism Heldal-Lund served on multiple boards for the national secular humanist organization Human-Etisk Forbund. He was also a member of the Norwegian Society of Heathens. Heldal-Lund first became interested in the Church of Scientology in 1996 when he read about Magne Berge, an ex-member in Norway, who sued the organization in court and won. Heldal-Lund started gathering information about Scientology and eventually began hosting the materials himself as part of a project he called Operation Clambake. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of List of islands of the United Kingdom, the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering . Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Food And Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, caffeine products, dietary supplements, Prescription drug, prescription and Over-the-counter drug, over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, Animal feed, animal foods & feed and Veterinary medicine, veterinary products. The FDA's primary focus is enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C). However, the agency also enforces other laws, notably Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act as well as associated regulations. Much of this regulatory-enforcement work is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stephen A
Stephen Anthony Smith (born October 14, 1967), also known as Stephen A., is an American actor, sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He makes frequent appearances as an National Basketball Association, NBA analyst for ESPN on ''SportsCenter'', ''NBA Countdown'', and the network's NBA broadcasts. He has also hosted ''The Stephen A. Smith Show'' on ESPN Radio and is a commentator on ESPN's First Take (talk show), ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. Smith is a featured columnist for ESPN and ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. Early life and education Stephen Anthony Smith was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. He was raised in the Hollis, Queens, Hollis section of Queens. Smith is the youngest of six children. He has four older sisters and had an older brother, Basil, who died in a car accident in 1992. He also has a half-brother on his father's side. Smith's parents were originally from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ole Doc Methuselah
''Ole Doc Methuselah'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer L. Ron Hubbard, published in 1970. Contents The stories follow the adventures of "Old Doc Methuselah" in a future where interstellar travel Interstellar travel is the hypothetical travel of spacecraft between star systems. Due to the vast distances between the Solar System and nearby stars, interstellar travel is not practicable with current propulsion technologies. To travel between ... is completely routine; humanity has spread through several galaxies, and has met many alien races. Old Doc Methuselah is a "Soldier of Light". The Soldiers of Light are an organization of supremely skilled, extremely long-lived physicians whose prestige and authority are so great that they can go where they please and do very much as they please. At one point, a low-ranking character mentions that in his instructions for welcoming visiting dignitaries, Soldiers of Light are not mentioned. "Neither ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Military Career Of L
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a distinct military uniform. They may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of a military is usually defined as defence of their state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms "armed forces" and "military" are often synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include other paramilitary forces such as armed police. Beyond warfare, the military may be employed in additional sanctioned and non-sanctioned functions within the state, including internal security threats, crowd control, promotion of political agendas, emergency services and reconstruction, prot ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hugh Urban
Hugh Bayard Urban is a professor of religious studies at Ohio State University's Department of Comparative Studies and author of eight books and several academic articles, including a history of the Church of Scientology, published by Princeton University Press in 2012. He received his PhD in history of religions from the University of Chicago. Early life, education and family Urban is the son of a psychologist and Pennsylvania State University professor and was brought up in a devout Episcopal family. He is married to Nancy Jesser, who also teaches in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. They have one child. Academic research Urban's academic focus began with the religions of India and expanded to his studies of new religious movements in both the United States and Europe, about which he has written many academic books and articles. He has said that the knowledge and power used by religions to keep information hidden from others had always fascina ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Xenu
Xenu ( ), also called Xemu, is a figure in the Church of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology", a sacred and esoteric teaching. According to the "Technology", Xenu was the extraterrestrial ruler of a "Galactic Confederacy" who brought billionsAs 109, or thousands of millions in Long Scale of his people to Earth (then known as "Teegeeack") in a DC-8-like spacecraft 75 million years ago, stacked them around volcanoes, and killed them with hydrogen bombs. Official Scientology scriptures hold that the thetans (immortal spirits) of these aliens adhere to humans, causing spiritual harm. These events are known within Scientology as "Incident II", and the traumatic memories associated with them as "The Wall of Fire" or "R6 implant". The narrative of Xenu is part of Scientologist teachings about extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in earthly events, collectively described as "space opera" by L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard detailed the story in Operating Thet ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Berthing
A cabin or berthing is an enclosed space generally on a ship or an aircraft. A cabin which protrudes above the level of a ship's deck may be referred to as a deckhouse. Sailing ships In sailing ships, the officers and paying passengers would have an individual or shared cabin. The captain or commanding officer would occupy the "great cabin" that normally spanned the width of the stern and had large windows. On a warship, it was a privileged area, separate from the rest of the ship, for the exclusive use of the captain. In large warships, the cabin was subdivided into day and night cabins (bedrooms) by movable panels, called '' bulk-heads'', that could be removed in time of battle to leave the cabin clear for the gunners to use the stern chasers several of which were usually stationed in the cabin. On large three decker warships in the age of sail the captain's cabin was sometimes appropriated by the Admiral. The captain would be consigned to the cabin below on the mi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, ''The Voice'' began as a platform for the creative community of New York City. It ceased publication in 2017, although its online archives remained accessible. After an ownership change, ''The Voice'' reappeared in print as a quarterly in April 2021. ''The Village Voice'' has received three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award. ''The Village Voice'' hosted a variety of writers and artists, including writer Ezra Pound, cartoonist Lynda Barry, artist Greg Tate, music critic Robert Christgau, and film critics Andrew Sarris, Jonas Mekas, and J. Hoberman. In October 2015, ''The Village Voice'' changed ownership and severed all ties with former parent company Voice Media Group (VMG). ''The V ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Premarital Sex
Premarital sex is sex before marriage. It is an act of sex between two people who are not married to each other. Premarital sex is considered a sin by a number of religions and also considered a moral issue which is taboo in many cultures. Since the second half of the 20th century, it has become accepted by certain liberal and progressive social movements, especially in the Western world. A 2014 Pew study on global morality found that premarital sex was considered particularly unacceptable in Muslim-majority countries, such as Malaysia, Jordan, and Pakistan, each having over 90% disapproval, while people in Western European countries were the most accepting, with Spain, Germany, and France expressing less than 10% disapproval. Definition Until the 1950s, "premarital sex" referred to sexual relations between two people prior to marrying each other. During that period, it was the norm in Western societies for men and women to marry above the age of 21, and there were no co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |