The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

[CarmeloOrchards]

From the IVy list

Ken Urquhat


2010/6/23
If I may comment:

1. We can't assume anything with regard to LRH's state of mind
towards Mayo or any other individual. It was a standard characteristic
of LRH's for most if not all of his public life that he could not keep a
friend but he could make an enemy out of anyone at no notice. I
personally expected my trashing to arrive within the next few seconds,
always.

2. I *believe* that Miscavige so managed the comm line to LRH that
he, Miscavige, could get LRH whipped into a fury; in that fury LRH
would say things that Miscavige [this is conjecture on my part, which
I'd say is reasonable] would record from what LRH was saying in his fury
so that he, Miscavige, could then enforce compliance with "command
intention" -- the angry nonsense spewing through LRH's tragically
inflamed thinking processes. According to what I was told by David
Mayo, this is how Miscavige was able to negate MSH's authority --
and to just about destroy her personally, in the process.

3. I am not so sure that LRH had nothing to do with Int management
after 1981; I conjecture that he was on the line but removed from
reality by Miscavige's probable filtering of his comm lines. He would
have been issuing orders and/or directions/guidance/policy, but
incapable of evaluating his own connection to the reality of the world,
or to the reality of who was interpreting which of his orders/whatever
were picked to push.
Even in his sanest times, LRH had a tendency to issue far more orders
than ten times the human resources available to him could possibly
carry out. I don't see him losing confidence in his own brilliance.

4. Do not underestimate LRH's confidence in his own ability to glow things
right.  I saw him hesitate to remove an incompetent senior exec because
he had no-one to replace him with. I have also seen him promote an
incompetent because there just was no-one else around. If he turned on
Mayo, he turned on Mayo, and Mayo was out. If LRH then felt he HAD to
put someone else on that post, he'd put on the least unqualified nearest
available person, and hope for the best.

5. I question the consideration that his way of creating parallel manage-
ment systems was excellent. I'd say he had a smattering of an excellent
way to organize along with a bag of assumptions that were unworkable.
He had a consistent pattern of setting up a new level or management
when one that he had created was seen to have failed. In 1966, he
ordered the then International Exec Division at SH, set up to run the
global network, to become a separate organization, the Exec Div WW.
He set it up so that Clears were its senior execs, Clears of course
having all sort of wonderful abilities. They would take off his hands the
load of managing the orgs by long distance. In practice, WW became
an outfit  competing with the SH org for the available staff. And WW
resolved a lot of its staffing problems by taking on some of the people
whom SH had refused to take on staff for various reasons. The reasons
had to be fairly serious because the demand for staff was strong. So,
WW took these people, and some of them started issuing orders to SH
execs. [These would be people SH had considered to be PTS or DB., or
otherwise downstat.] Not very wise management.

Soon, people who were either very enthusiastic about joining the SO, or
who were not very needed at SH (i.e., not so very productive) were going
off to the SO. Not long after that, LRH found out that WW wasn't so good
after all at taking Int management off his hands. So he started sending
SO missions into WW and into SH. Some of these missionaires were
people who had left SH for the SO, some were people whom the SO had
recruited. It became obvious that SO standards for recruitment were at
times lower than those at WW in its days of need. These missionaires
were throwing their weight about at WW and SH in ways that were
extremely aggressive (knives in walls, extreme ethics conditions, vast
contempt, and so on). We at SH noticed, said nothing, formed our own
conclusions. Wise management on LRH's part?

In 1968, LRH appointed me HCO Exec Sec WW; there were other new
people at the ES WW level. He sent an Aide to brief us on the new Ethics
policies -- none of which were on green and white, and all of which were
extreme, and severe (such as, for Doubt, one had to work for 72 hours
straight in the grounds, no sleep). At the end of his briefing, he asked me
if I was all right. He said i was as white as a sheet. Well, as HCOES, I had
to uphold green on white, and to hold the form of the org. He was destroying
both to my face.
When I was able to turn to the mess of papers on my new desk, the first
thing I picked up was a telex from Ron. It said "Why are you pulling rug out
from under SO Mission's feet?" Just before that, I'd received a telex from
the
HCO Area Sec, DC., Natalie Fisher, stating that the HCO Exec Sec, DC, whose
name I forget (these were both old-time HCO people) had been denied a
Comm Ev on her declaration of Enemy by the HCO Exec Sec US, Julia
Salmen. My response was that of course the HCO ESDC could have her
comm ev. Policy clearly said she was entitled to it. LRH took offense at
this. I was "pulling the rug out from under a SO Mission's feet." One thing
LRH had not told WW was that he had sent a mission to
Exec Div US and that Julia Salmen was complying with an order given to
her by this mission; presumably the mission was being run by Ron.
The mission went about its business, whatever that was, by chaining
people to their desks, making them work around the clock, and various
other methods of bullying and abuse.
The Continental US Gross Income halved immediately. It was the major
part of the Exec Div WW GI stat, and of course it crashed too.
Never was a word said against the incompetence of that mission and its
disastrous result on that stat, the one that LRH paid most attention to.
Not wise management.

So, he built up the SO to manage scn internationally. He created the
International Bureaux, including the bureau that did all the evaluations,
wrote up the mission orders, and the Action Bu. that operated the
missions.
In 1973 or 4, he was disillusioned about what the Int Bux could do, so
he went about creating another Int management stratum in California,
which was labelled "Int Strata." After a while, he didn't like what they
were doing, so a new level was put in place that became The Watchdog
Committee. I don't know exactly how things developed out there, and at
the time it was happening, I was auditing in the Flag HGC and working on
getting out of the place without being too obvious about it. I just didn't
want to destabilize the people who were staying in, those for whom I
had been a stable terminal. I was long since disinterested in anything
to do with Management. When an old friend from SH tried to persuade
me to take an Aide's post, I flatly refused and told her that the system
was set up so that no-one could possibly win at anything.

When the CMO tried to appoint me the first Ed Int, I was intrigued, I
must say. But I figured that the real power would always remain with
the CMO, and that the first guy on the ED Int post would be flattened
just to show #2 what would happen if he didn't toe the party line, so
I refused it. I'll always be grateful to David Mayo that he got the CMO
to back off on their insistence that I take that post. So, poor old
Bill Foster became that sacrificial goat, and G. Lesevre the compliant
goat.

When LRH had to move from an area, such as when he was refused a
residence permit to live in the UK, or when he had to leave Clearwater,
and later when he had to leave his hideouts in California because
someone had had the sense to blow therefrom, he generally took a
few people with him for admin support to maintain what he thought
were, and what he called, his comm lines. He would generally take
people who were not in key positions (in other words, not necessarily
all that bright). Then he would start issuing urgent orders. The people
left behind, in the last hideout, would be receiving hot pressure from
the new cocks on the manure heap -- who were simply echoing the
mannerisms of the boss. However, the recipients were being bossed
about by a small handful of people whom they had not respected too
much very recently, before the elevation of that few to the select and
close presence to the deity. Wise management of people? I doubt it.

When I was just made LRH Comm SH by LRH, in 1966, he ordered
me to write a telex order to Ray Thacker, whom I'd known for years
as the very friendly Reg at London Org. It was a downright rude,
abusive, and aggressive message to someone who in no way
deserved it, and I felt horrible. But I sent it. And I signed it as from
me. I was as embarrassed as could be, but could not resist.
Ray must have felt a personal betrayal from the disrespect I
showed her. LRH had a lot of the bully about him. He created a lot
of bullying in his organizing. He seemed to imagine himself as the
general of a very incompetent army engaged in a deadly battle
he could not conceive of losing.

And he could also be the warmest, friendliest, golden-glowing
being with seemingly unlimitable ARCU.

And some of his organizational philosophies and policies are
downright beautiful.

Ken

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Five Tips To Avoid Making Bad Decisions

Confirmation Bias Can Negatively Impact Judgement.

The Holocaust never happened. The moon landing was staged. And "Sex and the
City2" is a great movie. How do I know this? I did a Google search. No
matter what your position, you can find support.

The lesson? Be careful what you ask, or maybe more appropriately, be careful
how you ask.
In psychology, the term for this is confirmation bias, and it can have
damaging consequences for your finances and your life if you are not
careful.

Nobody likes to be wrong, so we will actively try to find support for our
existing beliefs. We will scour the Web to try to find anybody saying
anything that remotely resembles our own beliefs. "Well, how can I be wrong
when blogger 'iheartcarrie' clearly agrees with me?" we ask.

The problem with confirmation bias is that you selectively filter what
information you choose to pay attention to and value. So not only will you
actively look for evidence and seek experts that confirm your existing
beliefs, you will hide from or discredit any information that contradicts
your viewpoint. This can cause you to dump money into a failing business or
even to stay in a stock too long.

For example, let us say after watching the stock market go up and up and up
over the past year, you decided to jump back in a month ago. Now you are
fully invested and you have just seen the market drop 10 percent. If you are
suffering from confirmation bias, instead of rationally evaluating the
long-term economic and financial outlook of the US. And global economy, you
may selectively read just those blogs or columns that are bullish. If you
come across an article that is bearish, you will dismiss it, or maybe not
even read it.

Confirmation bias is not just a problem for investors. It is a problem you
need to be aware of when looking for a spouse, starting a business,
interviewing for a new job, managing people and any other situation where a
supply of fresh information can help you make better decisions.

Confirmation bias is difficult to recognize, but here are 5 tips you can use
to help minimize this cognitive distortion.

1) Remove your ego. At its root, confirmation bias is an ego disease. We
Hate to be wrong and we are desperate for others to validate our position.
Seek the truth over being right, because if you disregard the truth long
Enough, you will eventually be proven wrong anyway.

2) Seek disagreement. Foster an environment where it is not only OK to
Disagree but encouraged. Asking friends, family, and employees "Am I
Right?" will likely get only those who agree with you to speak up. A better
Question is, "Why am I wrong?" At meetings, require everyone to play
Devil's' advocate. Early on it might be difficult to get this kind of
Feedback from others because they are probably not used to thinking about
Why you are wrong, so turn it into a game and reward the best answers.

3) Ask better questions. One of the most worthless questions to ask a
Friend or co-worker is "How do you think I did?" It's worthless because you
Will never get any constructive feedback. A much better question is, "What
Could I have done better?" By changing the question ever so slightly you
Will be shocked at the honest advice you will hear.

4) Keep information channels open, Constantly seek alternative views and
Opinions in print, on TV, and in person. That might mean visiting web
Sites, reading newspapers and watching shows that you have previously
Avoided. Remember seek the truth, not evidence that you are right.

5) Google better. Do not search what you want to prove, because with more
Than 3 billion Web pages you are bound to find one that agrees with you.
Instead, use open-ended searches that are not biased.

 

[Mark A. Baker]

Ken Urquhat


2010/6/23
If I may comment:

1. We can't assume anything with regard to LRH's state of mind
towards Mayo or any other individual. It was a standard characteristic
of LRH's for most if not all of his public life that he could not keep a
friend but he could make an enemy out of anyone at no notice. I
personally expected my trashing to arrive within the next few seconds,
always.

2. I *believe* that Miscavige so managed the comm line to LRH that
he, Miscavige, could get LRH whipped into a fury; in that fury LRH
would say things that Miscavige [this is conjecture on my part, which
I'd say is reasonable] would record from what LRH was saying in his fury
so that he, Miscavige, could then enforce compliance with "command
intention" -- the angry nonsense spewing through LRH's tragically
inflamed thinking processes. According to what I was told by David
Mayo, this is how Miscavige was able to negate MSH's authority --
and to just about destroy her personally, in the process.

3. I am not so sure that LRH had nothing to do with Int management
after 1981; I conjecture that he was on the line but removed from
reality by Miscavige's probable filtering of his comm lines. He would
have been issuing orders and/or directions/guidance/policy, but
incapable of evaluating his own connection to the reality of the world,
or to the reality of who was interpreting which of his orders/whatever
were picked to push.
Even in his sanest times, LRH had a tendency to issue far more orders
than ten times the human resources available to him could possibly
carry out. I don't see him losing confidence in his own brilliance.

4. Do not underestimate LRH's confidence in his own ability to glow things
right.  I saw him hesitate to remove an incompetent senior exec because
he had no-one to replace him with. I have also seen him promote an
incompetent because there just was no-one else around. If he turned on
Mayo, he turned on Mayo, and Mayo was out. If LRH then felt he HAD to
put someone else on that post, he'd put on the least unqualified nearest
available person, and hope for the best.

5. I question the consideration that his way of creating parallel manage-
ment systems was excellent. I'd say he had a smattering of an excellent
way to organize along with a bag of assumptions that were unworkable.
He had a consistent pattern of setting up a new level or management
when one that he had created was seen to have failed. In 1966, he
ordered the then International Exec Division at SH, set up to run the
global network, to become a separate organization, the Exec Div WW.
He set it up so that Clears were its senior execs, Clears of course
having all sort of wonderful abilities. They would take off his hands the
load of managing the orgs by long distance. In practice, WW became
an outfit  competing with the SH org for the available staff. And WW
resolved a lot of its staffing problems by taking on some of the people
whom SH had refused to take on staff for various reasons. The reasons
had to be fairly serious because the demand for staff was strong. So,
WW took these people, and some of them started issuing orders to SH
execs. [These would be people SH had considered to be PTS or DB., or
otherwise downstat.] Not very wise management.

Soon, people who were either very enthusiastic about joining the SO, or
who were not very needed at SH (i.e., not so very productive) were going
off to the SO. Not long after that, LRH found out that WW wasn't so good
after all at taking Int management off his hands. So he started sending
SO missions into WW and into SH. Some of these missionaires were
people who had left SH for the SO, some were people whom the SO had
recruited. It became obvious that SO standards for recruitment were at
times lower than those at WW in its days of need. These missionaires
were throwing their weight about at WW and SH in ways that were
extremely aggressive (knives in walls, extreme ethics conditions, vast
contempt, and so on). We at SH noticed, said nothing, formed our own
conclusions. Wise management on LRH's part?

In 1968, LRH appointed me HCO Exec Sec WW; there were other new
people at the ES WW level. He sent an Aide to brief us on the new Ethics
policies -- none of which were on green and white, and all of which were
extreme, and severe (such as, for Doubt, one had to work for 72 hours
straight in the grounds, no sleep). At the end of his briefing, he asked me
if I was all right. He said i was as white as a sheet. Well, as HCOES, I had
to uphold green on white, and to hold the form of the org. He was destroying
both to my face.
When I was able to turn to the mess of papers on my new desk, the first
thing I picked up was a telex from Ron. It said "Why are you pulling rug out
from under SO Mission's feet?" Just before that, I'd received a telex from
the
HCO Area Sec, DC., Natalie Fisher, stating that the HCO Exec Sec, DC, whose
name I forget (these were both old-time HCO people) had been denied a
Comm Ev on her declaration of Enemy by the HCO Exec Sec US, Julia
Salmen. My response was that of course the HCO ESDC could have her
comm ev. Policy clearly said she was entitled to it. LRH took offense at
this. I was "pulling the rug out from under a SO Mission's feet." One thing
LRH had not told WW was that he had sent a mission to
Exec Div US and that Julia Salmen was complying with an order given to
her by this mission; presumably the mission was being run by Ron.
The mission went about its business, whatever that was, by chaining
people to their desks, making them work around the clock, and various
other methods of bullying and abuse.
The Continental US Gross Income halved immediately. It was the major
part of the Exec Div WW GI stat, and of course it crashed too.
Never was a word said against the incompetence of that mission and its
disastrous result on that stat, the one that LRH paid most attention to.
Not wise management.

So, he built up the SO to manage scn internationally. He created the
International Bureaux, including the bureau that did all the evaluations,
wrote up the mission orders, and the Action Bu. that operated the
missions.
In 1973 or 4, he was disillusioned about what the Int Bux could do, so
he went about creating another Int management stratum in California,
which was labelled "Int Strata." After a while, he didn't like what they
were doing, so a new level was put in place that became The Watchdog
Committee. I don't know exactly how things developed out there, and at
the time it was happening, I was auditing in the Flag HGC and working on
getting out of the place without being too obvious about it. I just didn't
want to destabilize the people who were staying in, those for whom I
had been a stable terminal. I was long since disinterested in anything
to do with Management. When an old friend from SH tried to persuade
me to take an Aide's post, I flatly refused and told her that the system
was set up so that no-one could possibly win at anything.

When the CMO tried to appoint me the first Ed Int, I was intrigued, I
must say. But I figured that the real power would always remain with
the CMO, and that the first guy on the ED Int post would be flattened
just to show #2 what would happen if he didn't toe the party line, so
I refused it. I'll always be grateful to David Mayo that he got the CMO
to back off on their insistence that I take that post. So, poor old
Bill Foster became that sacrificial goat, and G. Lesevre the compliant
goat.

When LRH had to move from an area, such as when he was refused a
residence permit to live in the UK, or when he had to leave Clearwater,
and later when he had to leave his hideouts in California because
someone had had the sense to blow therefrom, he generally took a
few people with him for admin support to maintain what he thought
were, and what he called, his comm lines. He would generally take
people who were not in key positions (in other words, not necessarily
all that bright). Then he would start issuing urgent orders. The people
left behind, in the last hideout, would be receiving hot pressure from
the new cocks on the manure heap -- who were simply echoing the
mannerisms of the boss. However, the recipients were being bossed
about by a small handful of people whom they had not respected too
much very recently, before the elevation of that few to the select and
close presence to the deity. Wise management of people? I doubt it.

When I was just made LRH Comm SH by LRH, in 1966, he ordered
me to write a telex order to Ray Thacker, whom I'd known for years
as the very friendly Reg at London Org. It was a downright rude,
abusive, and aggressive message to someone who in no way
deserved it, and I felt horrible. But I sent it. And I signed it as from
me. I was as embarrassed as could be, but could not resist.
Ray must have felt a personal betrayal from the disrespect I
showed her. LRH had a lot of the bully about him. He created a lot
of bullying in his organizing. He seemed to imagine himself as the
general of a very incompetent army engaged in a deadly battle
he could not conceive of losing.

And he could also be the warmest, friendliest, golden-glowing
being with seemingly unlimitable ARCU.

And some of his organizational philosophies and policies are
downright beautiful.

Ken

Beautiful post, as usual, by Ken. To what was it in response?


Mark A. Baker

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Beautiful post, as usual, by Ken. To what was it in response?


Mark A. Baker

Root Cause Analysis for the problems in the Church of #Scientology:
http://elysianchakorta.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/and-the-why-is-drumroll/

->Geir Isene

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

From NY Times re Gen. Stanley McChrystal

June 22, 2010
What Would Lincoln Do?
By DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
IF Abraham Lincoln’s experience is any guide, Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s fate will be determined by President Obama’s judgment of how his firing would affect the war in Afghanistan.

For months during the Civil War, Lincoln chose to ignore insolent behavior by Gen. George McClellan, who served at times as the commander of the Army of the Potomac and the general in chief of the Union Army, arguing that his breaches of protocol were worth tolerating as long as he was exerting a positive influence on his forces.

For example, one night in 1861, Lincoln went with his secretary of state, William Seward, and his young aide John Hay to McClellan’s house. Told that the general was out, the three waited in the parlor for an hour. When McClellan arrived home, the porter told him the president was there, but McClellan passed by the parlor and climbed the stairs to his private quarters. After a half hour more, Lincoln again sent word, only to be informed that the general had gone to sleep.

Hay was enraged, writing in his diary of the “insolence of epaulettes” and “the threatened supremacy of the military authorities.” To Hay’s astonishment, Lincoln “seemed not to have noticed it specially, saying it was better at this time not to be making points of etiquette and personal dignity.” He would hold McClellan’s horse, he’d once said, if a victory could be achieved.

McClellan’s bad behavior did not end. In letters to his wife, he regularly referred to Lincoln as “the original gorilla.” He considered the cabinet “some of the greatest geese I have ever seen,” and called Seward “a meddling, officious, incompetent little puppy.” Still, Lincoln kept him on.

When a critic in Congress demanded McClellan’s firing, Lincoln asked who should replace the general. “Why, anybody,” the senator replied. “Anybody will do for you,” Lincoln said, “but not for me. I must have somebody.”

So McClellan remained, until in November 1862 Lincoln finally lost faith in his commander’s commitment to the mission, his fighting spirit and his ability to prosecute the war to ultimate victory. Only then did he fire “the young Napoleon.”

Doris Kearns Goodwin is the author of “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.”

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Scavenger Hunt

If Paul thought my posts were off the thread topic before, this one should verify that assertion.

Let's have a part web based, part physical universe scavenger hunt. Everybody help everybody to find this.


above is a picture taken half a century ago in LA. I'll post a couple of clues. You find the spiderweb in the physical universe today in the 21st century.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...34,-118.347366&spn=0.006137,0.007113&t=h&om=1



Part 1: 1769-1919

1769-1887: The Lay of the Land

Only Southern California could have provided the setting for the series of unlikely events – and even more improbable characters – that combined to bring the Spiderpool to life.
The players included Hollywood legends and the all-but-forgottens, oddball inventors and secret agents, and of course a parade of well-proportioned young women, nubile and pulchritudinous, and eager to smile for the birdie.

Before any of this cast had assembled, the lay of the land had to be made ready.
Los Angeles was founded by the Spanish in 1769 and become an American city in 1850. The Santa Monica Mountains, called in later days the Hollywood Hills, run from east to west just north of LA, and separate it from the San Fernando Valley. Still farther north, beyond the valley, rise the parallel mountain chains of the Verdugo Mountains and the more distant San Gabriels. The view from the Santa Monicas that met the first Spanish explorers that stood as backdrop for many a Spiderpool photography session, today differs only in the smog and suburban clutter. The mountains are the same; any Spiderpool fan, whether from Iowa or Australia, upon cresting the Hollywood Hills, would instantly know where he was on Earth, within four miles.

Other familiar names first appeared on maps in 1887: the town of Burbank was laid out to the north of the Santa Monicas, and a real estate development known as Hollywood was laid out to the south. Sited a few miles west of Los Angeles, Hollywood was nestled against the foothills of the Santa Monicas and gradually expanded up the slopes. For that reason, the Santa Monicas began to be called “Hollywood’s hills”.

1892-99: The Birth of Our Protagonists, Including Los Angeles Itself

Los Angeles, though founded a century earlier, began its rapid rise to metropolitan status only following a catastrophic economic collapse in 1889. Then a financial and cultural backwater compared to San Francisco, LA used the opportunity to shake off the dust of its cattle-grazing past, and the development that began in the “Gay ‘90s” was just in time to provide a uniquely suitable stage for the colorful events to follow.
John W. “Jack” McDermott, who would own the Spiderpool property from the 1920s until 1946, was born on September 9, 1893, in the Union Pacific town of Green River, Wyoming. Harold Lloyd, later a silent movie legend and the best known of the Spiderpool cast, was born in Burchard, Nebraska just a few months earlier.

1900-1910: Boomtown!

Eastern immigrants had begun to focus on southern California, as opposed to San Francisco, around 1900, attracted by the promise of a more pleasant climate for retirement, money to be made in citrus and oil, and after 1906 the desire to avoid earthquake-shattered “Frisco”. LA’s population more than tripled between 1900 and 1910, from 100,000 to nearly 320,000.
The Lloyds and McDermotts had not yet arrived, but it isn’t hard to imagine them, or their families, shivering through the Nebraska and Wyoming winters while poring over sun-baked promotional literature distributed by LA realtors’ energetic publicity agents.

Prehistory: The Stone Ruins in “Hollywood’s Hills”

Part of the allure of the Spiderpool is the wide variety of elements that comprise the estate. Certainly the oldest man-made element is the crumbling stonework of a building that early Spiderpool investigators nicknamed the Stone House, or simply the Ruins.
Educated guesswork dates the Ruins to no later than 1900. The hills were then a considerable trek from Los Angeles, which was confined to the basin to the south. Tales of banditos, highwaymen, and hidden gold and treasure in the hills and passes were fresh in local memory. Well into the new century, the remote “cañons” in the hills were visited chiefly by hunters, and the public record often cites their expeditions for leading authorities to corpses uncovered in the remote terrain.
Even when the Spiderpool’s neck of the Hollywood Hills was finally surveyed and divided into lots, it was not with large-scale residential development in mind. The area was too rugged and remote to be attractive for urbanization, but it could provide mountain retreats or hunting camps within a reasonable distance of the city, especially as the automobile began to reduce travel time to and from the city. Road access in the hills remained limited; hiking trails were often the best available thoroughfare.
The Spiderpool’s Ruins have all the markings of an early cabin retreat, and it was probably in place by the year 1900. Whether or not records of this structure’s origin will ever be discovered is one of the Pool’s lingering mysteries. The topographical mantra of the Search for the Spiderpool, “The folds of the earth hold many secrets”, has long been true of Hollywood’s hills.

1910-20: Go West Young Man

Early 20th-century southern California offered many opportunities to those looking for a new or better life, and it was at this time that the movies – previously an eastern monopoly – came to town. The first motion picture studio in Los Angeles was established in 1906, and the first of many to come in Hollywood opened in 1911.
The Lloyds and the McDermotts were among this hopeful wave of immigrants. Harold Lloyd, with stage acting ambitions, had emigrated from Nebraska to San Diego with his father, only to be lured to Los Angeles and a career in movies starting in 1913. He was a three-dollar-a-day extra for a while, and earned his first credit for a walk-on in The Old Monk’s Tale.
As far as the McDermotts go, the family was in Los Angeles by 1914, selling wholesale dry goods.
John McDermott, like Harold Lloyd, began his Hollywood career with acting ambitions. “J.W.” McDermott was listed among the cast of 1915’s Old Heidelberg, and in 1916 “John” McDermott played Rance Clifford in The Chalice of Sorrow.
John did not last long in front of the camera, but by 1916 he was described as a “director with a staff of four actors, a megaphone, and horn-rimmed glasses and puttees.”
John McDermott’s first writing credit appeared in 1918’s Fast Company. He finished the decade with credit for writing or directing a dozen short films.

1912-19: Hollywood Park

The history of real estate development in the Hollywood area during this period focuses on the luxury developments immediately adjacent to Hollywood, most notable Whitley Heights and Outpost Estates. Only later did developers begin to eye the Cahuenga Pass region for luxury home subdivisions. These subdivisions, Hollywood Knolls and Hollywood Manor, are east of the Pass and some of the homes are visible in the Three Graces photographs. They were first developed in the mid-1920s, and until very recently were the first documented subdivisions adjacent to the Pass.
Neighborhoods all around the Spiderpool seemed to have been part of some named subdivision or other – from Whitley Estates to Hollywoodland – but the Pool always seemed to fall into the cracks. That is, until 1912 references revealed the development of a tract marketed as Hollywood Park. Ads appeared in local newspapers as early as 1912, with the lots marketed for “bungalows”, not the palatial estates under construction closer to Hollywood.
Development in Hollywood Park progressed in fits and starts through 1916, when marketers resorted to contests – on at least two separate occasions -- in which the grand prizes were free lots in the tract. In 1916 several new miles of streets were paved, and in 1919 the residents petitioned Los Angeles for city water service.

1920: Setting the Stage

The War to End All Wars was over. Southern California was the land of endless sunshine, endless promise, and thanks to Chief Engineer Mulholland endless water. Swimming pools were the latest rage among the rich and famous. Prohibition had been enacted, but the Roaring Twenties were still about to take off like a new Chrysler Six, and in his own little corner of the world, Jack McDermott was slipping in behind the wheel.

 

[lkwdblds]

Sanity in a capsule. Take one monthly to be sane!

Thanks for posting this Carmelo! Urquhart is the poet laureate of Scientology commentators. His text is clean, clear and reeks of sanity. He writes from a unique perspective, working so close with LRH for so many years. On our thread here, we seem to have reached conclusions very similar to Ken's. Of this I am proud because few of us worked closesly with LRH. Face is one exception and their may be others, probably Dart, et al. In the main, we had to deduce our conclusions from anecdotal evidence and did a pretty good job of it.

I want to make a few comments on K. U.'s post and I will have to insert text highlighted in blue after vaious paragraphs.

Ken Urquhat


2010/6/23
If I may comment:

1. We can't assume anything with regard to LRH's state of mind
towards Mayo or any other individual. It was a standard characteristic
of LRH's for most if not all of his public life that he could not keep a
friend but he could make an enemy out of anyone at no notice. I
personally expected my trashing to arrive within the next few seconds,
always.

2. I *believe* that Miscavige so managed the comm line to LRH that
he, Miscavige, could get LRH whipped into a fury; in that fury LRH
would say things that Miscavige [this is conjecture on my part, which
I'd say is reasonable] would record from what LRH was saying in his fury
so that he, Miscavige, could then enforce compliance with "command
intention" -- the angry nonsense spewing through LRH's tragically
inflamed thinking processes. According to what I was told by David
Mayo, this is how Miscavige was able to negate MSH's authority --
and to just about destroy her personally, in the process.

We had pretty muched figured out the method described above which DM crafted and used to assume power. I believe he took this method one step further by obtaining his Notary Public certification and also learning to perfectly replicate LRH's signature.

3. I am not so sure that LRH had nothing to do with Int management
after 1981; I conjecture that he was on the line but removed from
reality by Miscavige's probable filtering of his comm lines. He would
have been issuing orders and/or directions/guidance/policy, but
incapable of evaluating his own connection to the reality of the world,
or to the reality of who was interpreting which of his orders/whatever
were picked to push.
Even in his sanest times, LRH had a tendency to issue far more orders
than ten times the human resources available to him could possibly
carry out. I don't see him losing confidence in his own brilliance.

We had this paragraph firgured out as well.

4. Do not underestimate LRH's confidence in his own ability to glow things
right.  I saw him hesitate to remove an incompetent senior exec because
he had no-one to replace him with. I have also seen him promote an
incompetent because there just was no-one else around. If he turned on
Mayo, he turned on Mayo, and Mayo was out. If LRH then felt he HAD to
put someone else on that post, he'd put on the least unqualified nearest
available person, and hope for the best.

We had this concept but K.U. embelishes it a bit further.

5. I question the consideration that his way of creating parallel manage-
ment systems was excellent. I'd say he had a smattering of an excellent
way to organize along with a bag of assumptions that were unworkable.
He had a consistent pattern of setting up a new level or management
when one that he had created was seen to have failed. In 1966, he
ordered the then International Exec Division at SH, set up to run the
global network, to become a separate organization, the Exec Div WW.
He set it up so that Clears were its senior execs, Clears of course
having all sort of wonderful abilities. They would take off his hands the
load of managing the orgs by long distance. In practice, WW became
an outfit  competing with the SH org for the available staff. And WW
resolved a lot of its staffing problems by taking on some of the people
whom SH had refused to take on staff for various reasons. The reasons
had to be fairly serious because the demand for staff was strong. So,
WW took these people, and some of them started issuing orders to SH
execs. [These would be people SH had considered to be PTS or DB., or
otherwise downstat.] Not very wise management.

I have been championing the contents of this paragraph for a long time now and recently Face has backed me up on this as well as Roger and others. I am refering to the portion of the paragraph dealing with parallel management. I was beating the drum against the G.O., LRH Comm, Flag Rep and ESTO networks usurping power from the local execs and Roger and Face added the various Flag Missions in with the other groups I just mentioned.

I had no inkling of the WW versus SO story. That story cleared up one point for me. When I wanted to join staff at CCLA in 1971, I wanted to be 5 year staff and not Sea Org. I had a miniscule "psych" history, 5 visits at $25 each to a psychiatrist in 1967 where we just discussed my second dynamic and he prescribed librium which I took for about one year until my prescription ran out. Chris Many told me that WW in England handled the 5 year staff contracts and they would not approve me because of my "psych history" but that the S. O., based in L.A. had already approved me to join. He urged me to take the Sea Org offer. I had quit my aerospace job and wanted a job in C of S so I reluctantly accepted the Sea Org offer. I had assumed that CHris Many had lied to me but apparently he was telling the truth.

Soon, people who were either very enthusiastic about joining the SO, or
who were not very needed at SH (i.e., not so very productive) were going
off to the SO. Not long after that, LRH found out that WW wasn't so good
after all at taking Int management off his hands. So he started sending
SO missions into WW and into SH. Some of these missionaires were
people who had left SH for the SO, some were people whom the SO had
recruited. It became obvious that SO standards for recruitment were at
times lower than those at WW in its days of need. These missionaires
were throwing their weight about at WW and SH in ways that were
extremely aggressive (knives in walls, extreme ethics conditions, vast
contempt, and so on). We at SH noticed, said nothing, formed our own
conclusions. Wise management on LRH's part?

In 1968, LRH appointed me HCO Exec Sec WW; there were other new
people at the ES WW level. He sent an Aide to brief us on the new Ethics
policies -- none of which were on green and white, and all of which were
extreme, and severe (such as, for Doubt, one had to work for 72 hours
straight in the grounds, no sleep). At the end of his briefing, he asked me
if I was all right. He said i was as white as a sheet. Well, as HCOES, I had
to uphold green on white, and to hold the form of the org. He was destroying
both to my face.
When I was able to turn to the mess of papers on my new desk, the first
thing I picked up was a telex from Ron. It said "Why are you pulling rug out
from under SO Mission's feet?" Just before that, I'd received a telex from
the
HCO Area Sec, DC., Natalie Fisher, stating that the HCO Exec Sec, DC, whose
name I forget (these were both old-time HCO people) had been denied a
Comm Ev on her declaration of Enemy by the HCO Exec Sec US, Julia
Salmen. My response was that of course the HCO ESDC could have her
comm ev. Policy clearly said she was entitled to it. LRH took offense at
this. I was "pulling the rug out from under a SO Mission's feet." One thing
LRH had not told WW was that he had sent a mission to
Exec Div US and that Julia Salmen was complying with an order given to
her by this mission; presumably the mission was being run by Ron.
The mission went about its business, whatever that was, by chaining
people to their desks, making them work around the clock, and various
other methods of bullying and abuse.
The Continental US Gross Income halved immediately. It was the major
part of the Exec Div WW GI stat, and of course it crashed too.
Never was a word said against the incompetence of that mission and its
disastrous result on that stat, the one that LRH paid most attention to.
Not wise management.

Not wise indeed! Pretty much all of the above paragraphs are new, things that only an insider could have known. I knew Natalie Fisher quite well, she was on he Excalibur ship in San Pedro Harbor when I did my basic training there in late 1971. She was a woman around 50. I believe she was on the EPF doing physical work with we new recruits. She reminded me of my school teachers in grade school and junior high, really a kind and sincere person, totally treating even new recruits with respect. She was intelligent, knowledgable and kind and yet she radiated quite a bit of "ethics presence".

So, he built up the SO to manage scn internationally. He created the
International Bureaux, including the bureau that did all the evaluations,
wrote up the mission orders, and the Action Bu. that operated the
missions.
In 1973 or 4, he was disillusioned about what the Int Bux could do, so
he went about creating another Int management stratum in California,
which was labelled "Int Strata." After a while, he didn't like what they
were doing, so a new level was put in place that became The Watchdog
Committee. I don't know exactly how things developed out there, and at
the time it was happening, I was auditing in the Flag HGC and working on
getting out of the place without being too obvious about it. I just didn't
want to destabilize the people who were staying in, those for whom I
had been a stable terminal. I was long since disinterested in anything
to do with Management. When an old friend from SH tried to persuade
me to take an Aide's post, I flatly refused and told her that the system
was set up so that no-one could possibly win at anything.

The comment that he became disillusioned about what the Bureaux system could do is revealing. Here is a rare instance of where I was one the insiders and have inside information! I and 4 others were assigned to be Data Evaluators in the Bureaux one day after I arrived at Flag. I would have been a natural to do well at that post but first I would have had to be trained on the Data Evaluators' Course, then do an internship on it and then have intensive training on my Hat Pack. All 5 of us were ordered to start the Data Evaluators' Course and begin our new posts as Data Evaluators the very next day. Furthermore, no Hat Write up at all existed for my post and my senior, Sandy, wanted to destroy me from the moment she first met me. Her senior, Sue Anderson also resented me from the first instant I met her. I've told the story of what happened in great detail already on this thread. LRH behaved like a moron on this, just a total whack job. It is equivalent to assigning a brand new recruit to be a Class 8 auditor. Providing them no training and not even a hat pack and just telling them to "Start!" and make it go right. You get your first CS and a PC is waiting for you in the waiting room, what the hell do you think is going to happen? LRH was no idiot but he set up exactly this type of scenario and then became disillusioned with the Bureaux and ordered it scrapped and a new system installed.

The proper response was for LRH to order that each Data Evaluator complete the Course and not just start it, then have graduated Evaluators do interneships under an expert, then get hatted on their Hat Packs and then enter a Bureaux where their co workers are friendly and welcomming and give them support. Instead LRH blammed everone else for the debacle and just wasted a lot of talented staff in the process causing them unnecessary and unjust degradation and mental damage. Is this any way to run a Navy? I wish I would have had the balls and the knowledge to tell him to his face what I just said above. If I had it to do over, I would do just that when his messenger came to see me.

When the CMO tried to appoint me the first Ed Int, I was intrigued, I
must say. But I figured that the real power would always remain with
the CMO, and that the first guy on the ED Int post would be flattened
just to show #2 what would happen if he didn't toe the party line, so
I refused it. I'll always be grateful to David Mayo that he got the CMO
to back off on their insistence that I take that post. So, poor old
Bill Foster became that sacrificial goat, and G. Lesevre the compliant
goat.

When LRH had to move from an area, such as when he was refused a
residence permit to live in the UK, or when he had to leave Clearwater,
and later when he had to leave his hideouts in California because
someone had had the sense to blow therefrom, he generally took a
few people with him for admin support to maintain what he thought
were, and what he called, his comm lines. He would generally take
people who were not in key positions (in other words, not necessarily
all that bright). Then he would start issuing urgent orders. The people
left behind, in the last hideout, would be receiving hot pressure from
the new cocks on the manure heap -- who were simply echoing the
mannerisms of the boss. However, the recipients were being bossed
about by a small handful of people whom they had not respected too
much very recently, before the elevation of that few to the select and
close presence to the deity. Wise management of people? I doubt it.

When I was just made LRH Comm SH by LRH, in 1966, he ordered
me to write a telex order to Ray Thacker, whom I'd known for years
as the very friendly Reg at London Org. It was a downright rude,
abusive, and aggressive message to someone who in no way
deserved it, and I felt horrible. But I sent it. And I signed it as from
me. I was as embarrassed as could be, but could not resist.
Ray must have felt a personal betrayal from the disrespect I
showed her. LRH had a lot of the bully about him. He created a lot
of bullying in his organizing. He seemed to imagine himself as the
general of a very incompetent army engaged in a deadly battle
he could not conceive of losing.

And he could also be the warmest, friendliest, golden-glowing
being with seemingly unlimitable ARCU.

And some of his organizational philosophies and policies are
downright beautiful.

Ken

The various dichotomies of LRH's personality have already been observed and discussed by us and our conclusions on the philosophies and policies are also similar.
Lakey

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVGXcjM9SOQ

Coffee's Mysterious Benefits Mount
Reuters
Remy Melina
Staff Writer
LiveScience.com – Tue Jun 22, 5:45 pm ET
From lowered cancer risks to a sharper memory, more studies are showing that coffee is good for you - but why?
Regular coffee drinkers have a 39 percent decreased risk of head and neck cancer, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Those who drank an estimated four or more cups a day had significantly fewer cancers of the mouth and throat than non coffee drinkers, the study found.

"Coffee contains more than a thousand chemicals, some of which have antioxidant and antimutagenic activities," Mia Hashibe, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Utah and the study's lead researcher, told Life's Little Mysteries. "Further research is necessary to identify which ingredients in coffee are responsible for the results we observed in our study."

Scientists are still trying to determine exactly what it is about coffee that gives it its disease-fighting properties, but recent research is getting closer to unlocking the mysterious power behind the energizing brew.

Your brain on coffee

Coffee may be good for the brain, too. A study earlier this year by neuroscientists at the University of Lisbon showed that drinking coffee can help to prevent the neural degeneration associated with brain disorders and aging. The scientists found that drinking up to four cups of coffee a day over a long period of time actually prevented the deterioration of memory.

Other research has shown that coffee is good for the cardiovascular system. Women who drank one to three cups of java a day reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease by 24 percent, according to the Iowa Women's Health Study that tracked 27,000 women for 15 years, although it was noted that this benefit diminished as the quantity of coffee rose above three cups.

And while coffee has been given a bad rap for supposedly upping the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease, scientific studies have revealed the contrary. Drinking coffee lowers the risk of stroke by 19 percent among women, according to a 2009 Harvard Medical School study that tracked the coffee habits and stroke occurrences among 83,000 American women for nearly a quarter century.

The risk of some cancers may be cut by drinking coffee. Research presented at the 2009 American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference showed that coffee cut male coffee drinkers' risk of aggressive prostate cancer by 60 percent, based on a 20-year study of 50,000 men.

And people who drink coffee reduce their risk of developing liver cancer by 41 percent, compared to people who never drink coffee, according to a study in the journal Hepatology. The researchers theorized that compounds found in coffee may block the action of enzymes involved in detoxifying carcinogenic compounds that may lead to liver cancer, the third largest cause of cancer deaths around the world, after lung and stomach cancer.

Other recent studies have shown that coffee is protective against certain brain tumors, endometrial cancer and advanced prostate cancer, Hashibe said.

While it is true that some of the chemicals present in a cup of joe may be gastrointestinal irritants, coffee is not as much of a cause of heartburn and acid reflux as previously believed. Scientists have actually identified a chemical in coffee, called N-methylpyridinium, which inhibits acid production. The compound is more common in dark roasts like espresso and French roast blends, according to the Research Platform of Molecular Food Science at the University of Vienna.

Chemical coffee concoction

But not all of the chemicals found in coffee are good for you. It's been blasted for containing pesticides and dangerous chemicals.

A typical cup of coffee contains about 10 milligrams of known carcinogens, such as benzene and formaldehyde, according to McGill University chemistry professor Joe Schwarcz, writing in "The Fly in the Ointment: 70 Fascinating Commentaries on the Science of Everyday Life" (Ecw Press, 2004). However, other experts argue that these trace amounts are too small to pose a serious cancer risk, and point to studies showing that coffee reduces the risk of several cancers.

In fact, for most adults, coffee is the number one source of antioxidants, or chemicals that prevent cellular damage, according to a study funded by the American Cocoa Research Institute.

"Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source," said Joe Vinson, lead author of a study on antioxidants conducted by the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania. "Nothing else comes close."

While antioxidants help to reduce cell damage and aging, scientists have yet to determine if they are the compounds responsible for coffee's weird -but wonderful- health benefits.
There are many organic and inorganic compounds in a regular cup of coffee, including chemicals called phenolic compounds, melanoidins, and diterpenes. Some of these chemicals are believed to be beneficial, such as chlorogenic acid, which is a natural compound found in coffee beans and other plants that is an antioxidant and believed to aid in digestion, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"Coffee is a very complex mixture of various chemicals," Hashibe said. Researchers are still trying to track down exactly what it is that makes coffee so mysteriously beneficial, but it's antioxidant components may be part of its protective effects against cancer.
Potential downside
But because coffee contains caffeine, which is a stimulant, drinking too much of it could lead to headaches, jitters and a racing heartbeat. Even decaffeinated coffee contains at least trace amounts of the drug, as the decaffeinating process cannot remove caffeine completely.
The safe daily dosage of caffeine is 300 milligrams for adults and 35 to 40 milligrams a day for children, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). While caffeine was once considered unsafe for women to consume while pregnant, the HHS has determined that mothers-to-be who drink less than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day do not put their child in any risk.
However, the HHS warns that women who drink or eat more than 300 milligrams of caffeine per day may have a harder time getting pregnant, and a study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research found that high doses of daily caffeine - two or more cups of regular coffee or five 12-ounce cans of caffeinated soda - during pregnancy may increase the risk of miscarriage.
"Each individual metabolizes caffeine and the other components of coffee differently," Hashibe said, so broad recommendations for everyone aren't possible. Coffee can increase heart rate, blood pressure, and affect sleep, but do each of these things differently in different people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pULXnVTRynY

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Urq

The Networks provided several things to EL Ron El Rey and The Empire.

The Flag Bureaux would levy “Tribute” for their “Management Services" and “Support” Missions.

The Networks levied Tribute for their “Services” as well, which were: Stat Pushing, Exacting Control, Orders Enforcement, Internal Intelligence, Tribute Extraction.

Urq is a Prince of a Man and has insight into El Ron, The CEO that no one, outside of Mary Sue, was privy to.

Face

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

The Networks provided several things to EL Ron El Rey and The Empire.

The Flag Bureaux would levy “Tribute” for their “Management Services" and “Support” Missions.

The Networks levied Tribute for their “Services” as well, which were: Stat Pushing, Exacting Control, Orders Enforcement, Internal Intelligence, Tribute Extraction.

Urq is a Prince of a Man and has insight into El Ron, The CEO that no one, outside of Mary Sue, was privy to.

Face

I was talking to a 40 year old recently, who got auditing from Ken. He recognized Ken as the "butler"

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

I was talking to a 40 year old recently, who got auditing from Ken. He recognized Ken as the "butler"

Very Cool.

El Ron never had two better friends than Urq and Mary Sue...Hisself threw both of them under ther bus. Urq "buffered" El Ron's histrionic pathology and Mary Sue tirelessly protected Hisself and "took a bullet" for El Ron without a cry or whimper

Cowardice such as Hisself’s is, IMO, not to be forgiven and is the “Cultural Legacy" of the SO and the “Church”.

Face

 

[Mark A. Baker]

Root Cause Analysis for the problems in the Church of #Scientology:
http://elysianchakorta.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/and-the-why-is-drumroll/

->Geir Isene

How appropos of the circularity of communication. I put a link to the post you made of Ken's article on a thread started by Geir on scnforum requesting links to dox in support of his blog post, and had previously created a thread on esmb of linking to that vary same blog post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLD85G2jr-o&feature=related


Mark A. Baker

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

How appropos of the circularity of communication. I put a link to the post you made of Ken's article on a thread started by Geir on scnforum requesting links to dox in support of his blog post, and had previously created a thread on esmb of linking to that vary same blog post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLD85G2jr-o&feature=related


Mark A. Baker

and you posted the Dirt Band doing "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

Here is the Dirt Band's first hit, Buy For Me the Rain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qhUjixmP28

which was written by Steve Noonan

whose first ex wife, was my girl friend before he met her, who was my girl friend, at one point while they were married, and was my girl friend after they were divorced ( three separate periods).

whose sister, Laurie Noonan, was also my girlfriend, and who I got into Scientology. Who has been in the Sea Org for 37 fucking years. Whose daughter, Jessica Engelhart has herself been in the Sea Org nearly ten years and (obviously) raised in the mecca of hell hole perfection.

How can you look at that beautiful girl, and not slug me hard in the face for introducing her mother to Scientology? Ask me if I feel upset and guilt ridden about that.

Laurie's mom is still alive. Laurie has a sister and brothers that I am still connected to. They all know I'm the one who got her involved. They rarely see her. Boy, would I like to see the cult dismantled.

 

[Mark A. Baker]

and you posted the Dirt Band doing "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

Here is the Dirt Band's first hit, Buy For Me the Rain:

That is a lovely song. The first number I knew by the Dirt Band was "Hand Me Down That Can of Beans" which they did in the film version of "Paint Your Wagon". Later I discovered the "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" album. What a treasure that is.

How can you look at that beautiful girl, and not slug me hard in the face for introducing her mother to Scientology? Ask me if I feel upset and guilt ridden about that.

Well, the scientology to which you introduced her was not the scientology of more recent decades. No doubt she received benefit, at least initially from her involvement. In becoming involved she chose to follow her own interest and has for her own reasons chosen to remain there to date.

I certainly empathize with you for the loss of your friend and the circumstances of her life as they have subsequently unfolded. Watching the needless suffering of others is always emotionally wrenching. All the more so when we consider ourselves to bear some measure of responsibility for those events.


Mark A. Baker

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Adios Apollo, Part 2

The advent of the FCCI's (term for public receiving services on the Apollo—Flag Case Completion Intensives) boomed while the Ship was in the Caribbean. The rates were high and the cost of delivery minimal. It was “easy money” and could go straight to Sea Org Reserves without any “bleed-off” or vias.

Due to security considerations the FCCI “Target Markets” were established well healed Scios and Mission Holders and the focus was on expensive, “Flag Only” services, like the Case Cracker Rundown and L 10, 11 and 12. Early on during this expanded Public delivery it was seen that the Target Markets were not only viable but that there was a huge potential market in training the Mission Holders Staffs. There was only one big problem…the Apollo was not big enough and posh enough to make this possible. What small number of decent berthing spaces there was were increasingly being taken away from Senior Officers and Execs for FCCI’s, and even they were sometimes having to share tiny cabins on the MUD’s. The overcrowded course rooms were down in lower holds and that, let alone the non air-conditioned conditions in a tropical climate, was a big limiter. Confidential Missions were fired out to look for a full-fledge ocean liner (such as the Rotterdam) to replace the Apollo as “Flag”.

As I earlier said in, “Adios Apollo, Part 1”, this period was the rise of El Ron, The Director. Weekly “Theater Night’s” were held with the Aft Well Deck as the theater and Aft Fan Deck and Aft MUD’s gangways, Prom and Sun Decks the balconies. A recent release feature film was rented by RONY (Relay Office New York) and flown in, along with the other Ext Comm bundles. Popcorn was made and everyone in attendance, upstats only of course, had a grand time. Just before show time El Ron (dressed in his finest tailored tropical white “Commodore” costume) descended from the Prom Deck with Mary Sue and the Family. It was a grand entrance to cheers, hip hips and all that jolly good rot. There was a special, comparatively large, perfectly located elevated “throne area” where the family would sit in overstuffed easy chairs and watch the flick, all the while being attended to by personal stewards. When El Ron and family reached the “throne mezzanine” Hisself would smile a toothy grin, hush the audience and say a few thank-you's, sit down and the flick was on.

On one of these movie nights “The Sting” was shown. The Flag Service Consultant network was being established under the command of the infamous Uber Reg, David Light, and a compliment of these soon to be unleashed buccaneers was aboard. El Ron and Family (who I guess were always upstat as they never missed a flick) made the customary grand entrance, to the obligatory cheers and hip hips. Once El Ron had quieted the crowd Hisself said, with obvious delight and joy, “Now, I want all the reges to pay close attention…there’s some real tech here that you need to know well and apply.” El Ron laughed heartily and Hisself's audience joined in. That moment is still “disturbing” to me...we all know what came after with Flag Reges and Reging, and Reges and Reging in general. BLS went from a tool to the rule.

And then it happened…two events that would forever change El Ron’s and Scientology’s destiny.

The first event, Operation Snow White, I knew only general information about—that it was a “heavy and deep ops” re: the US Government and we were “getting the goods’ on “them”. That event would blow up later and is well documented. I was not a part of, nor involved in, Snow White in anyway nor privy to any of the details of what was actually being done until it “blew up”.

The second event, which I will discuss in some detail here, was…El Ron, The OT has a heart attack in Curacao. .

One could hear Hisself’s bellows and anguished shrieks of pain throughout the MUD’s. It was unnerving, scary and, in a way, “earth shattering”. After several of the yelps and bellows I knew it was not one of Hisself’s fits of rage (which had been less frequent and severe since the Atlantic Crossing). I knew El Ron was not only in agonizing pain but that Hisself was in great distress, helpless. I headed for the Research Room and while on the way realized that El Ron must be in his Cabin. I headed for his Cabin and when I got there several HU (Household Unit) staff and Messengers were already there. A very frazzled Cathy Cariotaki (Co HU) saw me and took me aside and said that Kima (Douglas) was in there with El Ron and she thought Hisself was having a heart attack. I asked what I could do and she said, “Nothing”. She suggested that the best thing I could probably do is go to my office and standby for any orders from El Ron, Mary Sue or Kima. I did so, for hours, even after Hisself was whisked away to the hospital. I was shittin’ bricks, and the entire MUD’s were spooked for days. But also, honestly I have to tell Yall folks, life was easier going, with much less “edge” to it with El Ron completely off the lines.

After Hisself was discharged from the hospital El Ron and a small entourage took up residence in the ultra-posh Intercontinental Hotel in Willemstad. Not too long after that the “inner circle” learned that we weren’t buying a bigger, better ship—we were not only heading to land, Flag would now be somewhere in the US. We were all thrilled, thrilled, thrilled that we were gonna be getting off that Ship. It was some weeks later before the majority of the Crew learned of the plans in an all Crew briefing.

The Crew briefing was, in my view, just another “Shore Story”.

I’ll pick things up from there in a few days in Adios Apollo, Part 3.

Face

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Root Cause Analysis for the problems in the Church of #Scientology:
http://elysianchakorta.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/and-the-why-is-drumroll/

->Geir Isene

I see that Geir used the "SO Org Chart" that you posted here some time ago...Carmelo Scripps, always with the scoop...read it first, read it here.

Geir seems to think we all's kinda rabid over here...I like Geir, a lot...I'm not OTVIII and brilliant, but damnit Geir I knew the man, I personally served the man and so did a number of other folks over here...we aint all rabid, least not most the time, and we aint no bunch a rabbits, that's for damn sure.

Face

 

[Terril park]

Very Cool.

El Ron never had two better friends than Urq and Mary Sue...Hisself threw both of them under ther bus. Urq "buffered" El Ron's histrionic pathology and Mary Sue tirelessly protected Hisself and "took a bullet" for El Ron without a cry or whimper

Cowardice such as Hisself’s is, IMO, not to be forgiven and is the “Cultural Legacy" of the SO and the “Church”.

Face

I don't think LRH threw Ken under the bus.

At one point he told Ken he was too much of a gentleman and didn't
induct him into whatever ungentlemanly stuff he was about to embark on.

Ken eventually was leaving Flag quietly, and then Steve Marlow make a
fuss and spit in his face, and I believe issued an SP declare.

 

[SweetnessandLight]

IMHO

I agree with what you say about Carmelo's approach in addressing with love the "God like" portion of the being. I don't have any idea of what the limitations, if any, are to this approach to auditing. I see it as an excellent way to communicate out of session as one moves through life. In session, I got a dose of it in my phone conversation with Carmelo. It was very powerful and drove me way up scale. The biggest win was complimenting him for doing it. After that, I was too blown out to continue.

If this method were to be applied to try and tackle various negative case phenomena such as predispositions to illness, engrams, overts, withhold, GPMs and all those types of things I don't know if the method would bite or not. It would be good to hear Carmelo's opinion. In any case, if this were to be a a valid form of auditing for the long haul, it would need to undergo more testing and development in my opinion.

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THAT SOMEWHERE IN THE EARLY 90'S C of S HAD SOMETHING SIMILAR TO CONFESSIONAL IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WHERE A PC WAS FORGIVEN FOR HIS SINS?

I remember a tech film about it and it used an Angelic looking woman in a Gown made up to look like an Angel and I think she had wings pasted on the back of the gown and after a preclear gave up his/her overts, the Angel would formally absolve the person of their sins. I had this run on me a couple of times where the auditor would tell me that through the power invested in him by the Church of Scientology, I was forgiven for my sins and transgressions. This always produced a good effect, a feeling of being cleansed and one would walk out of session feeling pure.

Face, in my auditing I never felt knowingly that I was wrapped around a pole, everything always went smoothly. The two worst things which happened were my End Phenomena on OT 3 and then paying megabucks for Flag Services in the summer of 1978 only to find out later in the year that most of what I ran was no longer considered valid or legal to run and that I would have to come back in for a clean up.

First situation - OT III. I ran it well for about 3 to 4 weeks and suddenly had a rock slam. I changed to another meter and it still rockslammed. I ended it off and wrote it up. The next two days, I tried to go back in session but the rock slam turned on immediately. I had a persistent rock slam on OT III. I went in and turned in my work sheets at AOLA and they had me wait around for perhaps an hour to an hour and a half. I was worried that something terrible had happened but finally they called me in and announced that I was graduating. They played the William Tell Overture and I went from being frightened to being ecstatic and gave a success story. From that point forward, I believed that a persistent Rock Slam was the EP of OT III. It was not until only a few months ago that Leon explained to me what really happened. If an OT level would not bite on a person, they had him attest and continue to the next highest OT level, hoping that whatever it was that prevented the earlier level from biting would be handled on the next OT level.

I think the continuing rock slam was because some part of your self knew that it was bullshit! You grew up on Flash Gordon and Ming the Magnificent, Buck Rogers, Etc., just like Hubbard did. I think on some level you knew it was "Space Opera" and some very rational part of your mind rebelled at accepting it as real!

The Second thing was the summer 1978 auditing at Flag. I received a lot of R3R auditing in both my trips there in 1977 and 1978. They were looking into and clearing up all my 300+ hours of Expanded Dianetics as well as a couple hundred hours of regular dianetics. I was already OT III and running all this R3R auditing and even giving wins that R3R Dianetic type auditing ran much more smoothly after one was OT III. Suddenly in late 1978 it was announced that it was illegal for OT3's to run R3R. I had just paid approximately $12,000 to do just that, when you combine my 1977 and 1978 trips. I received no apology or credits of any kind for spending the equivalent of proably $50,000 in today's money for something and then being told a couple of months later that it is not illegal and should never have been run in the first place.
To call Flag the Mecca of Technical perfection was really a joke. How could technical perfection be possible when the subject was still in such a developmental state?

Face, your last paragraph is quite esoteric. You need to get your butt over to the Scientology forum where Gier Isene and Vinaire post and discuss such deep topics. That last paragraph of yours should be posted over there.
Lakey

Lakey, this was financial fraud, pure and simple.

And may I say that I platonically LOVE Brother Facey's esoteric butt, and I hope he keeps it right here and goes on sharing his insights and memories with us!

 

[lkwdblds]

Just a note about coffee.

Carmelo, just a note about drinking coffee. I love it myself and today I played on old high school friend at the game of Boggle. He was beating me at first and said I did not look alert so I asked him for a cup of coffee. After drinking it, I began to beat him in our series of Boggle games.

There are just two drawbacks for older viewers which I would like to interject. One, most of us know about and that is that for many of us, it is not wise to drink your coffee in the evening hours because it can prevent people from falling asleep - not all people but many of us.

The other caution is mainly for older people. My cardiologist told me to drink only decaf yet I would disobey and usually drink a 50/50 split, half regular and half decaf because the jolt of the caffiene brought me to life and made my more alert. Well, early this year, I had a routine heart exam and it turned out I was having heart arrhythmia, an irregular heart beat.

I went to the cardiologist and he got out of me that I often drank a split and not just decaf. He scolded me and said that the caffeine can mess up the heart's electrical system and induce an irregular heartbeat. He implored me not to drink any more caffeine. Here again, this applies mainly to older people or people with a heart condition such as narroved arteries. When you are young or middle aged you do not have to worry. I have been almost perfect since he told me that about 5 months ago. I think I have had only three cups with caffiene. One was today, as I described above and the other two were when I was driving home at night and started dozing off at the wheel. I pulled off the road both times that happened and bought and drank black caffeinated coffee to keep me awake until I got home.

I just wanted to put this post out there just so older people have this info.
Lakey

 

[lkwdblds]

Comments on comments

Lakey, this was financial fraud, pure and simple.

And may I say that I platonically LOVE Brother Facey's esoteric butt, and I hope he keeps it right here and goes on sharing his insights and memories with us!

#1. Financial fraud? I don't know, maybe. I know for sure it is out exchange. In a normal company, I believe the consumer would win a court case. When it comes to religious donations, that is another matter. I believe no one has ever got their money back from C of S for this type of thing. C of S policy states they don't give the money back in such as case.

#2. Something deep down inside of me that knew OT III was not valid? Its possible but I doubt it. If it was something deep inside of me that was rejecting the validity of the level, it has never surfaced so I can't say for sure. In those days, my whole life was being a Scientologist. I still believed in LRH even though I got screwed over on the Apollo. I thought he was almost infinitely wise and there was probably some reason why I got treated unfairly but that I was not far enough advanced to understand his motives. In short, I had given him a pass and was afraid of losing my bridge if I openly complained. In short, I bought the party line.

#3. Come on S and L, knock of the "platonic" claim, we know there is something there more than platonic interest. BTW, I want Face to post such matters here but he could also post hemt there as well because they are actively dealing with that topic. Well Face has made it clear that he prefers to post here. (I am just kidding about the non platonic nature of your interest in his butt - I couldn't resist).
Lakey