L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) was an American pulp fiction author turned religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology. After establishing a career as a writer of pulp fiction, becoming best known for his science fiction and fantasy stories, he developed a self-help system called Dianetics which was first published in 1950. He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals as part of a new religious movement that he called Scientology. His writings became the guiding texts for the Church of Scientology and a number of affiliated organizations that address such diverse topics as business administration, literacy and drug rehabilitation. The Church of Scientology depicts Hubbard in hagiographic terms, drawing on his legacy as its ultimate source of doctrine and legitimacy. His critics have characterized him as a liar, a charlatan and a madman, and many of his autobiographical statements have been proven to be fictitious.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1781:

German-born British astronomer and composer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus while in the garden of his house in Bath, Somerset, England, thinking it was a comet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus

1884:

Mahdist War: A combined Anglo-Egyptian force began a 319-day siege of Khartoum, Sudan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Khartoum

1920:

The Kapp Putsch briefly ousted the Weimar Republic government from Berlin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapp_Putsch

1988:

The Seikan Tunnel, the longest and deepest tunnel in the world, opened between the cities of Hakodate and Aomori, Japan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikan_Tunnel

1997:

A series of unexplained lights appeared in the skies over the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico, and the Mexican state of Sonora. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

dissociate (v): 1. To make unrelated; to sever a connection; to separate. 2. To part; to stop associating. 3. (chemistry) To separate compounds into simpler component parts, usually by applying heat or through electrolysis http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dissociate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

For those to whom a stone reveals itself as sacred, its immediate reality is transmuted into supernatural reality. In other words, for those who have a religious experience all nature is capable of revealing itself as cosmic sacrality. --Mircea Eliade http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade