X-Message-Number: 1230
From:
Subject: CRYONICS: Alcor Meeting Report
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 92 13:38:12 PDT
To Eric Klien, and any readers of his "corrections" to the Alcor September
Business Meeting Report:
When I first read your message, Eric, I considered responding to all
of your points in turn. But after rereading it, it's clear that you don't
have a very good understanding of the way meeting minutes, and hence my
business report (which is based on the minutes that I write) are intended
to function. In fact, I specifically recall the long exchanges between
you and Russell Whitaker, during which Russell tried to convince you that
your Nevada "minutes" were actually a newsletter. Russell apparently
failed, since you continue to inject anecdotes, personal notes, and topics
completely unrelated to cryonics into your "minutes." (This isn't
intended to discourage your activism in Nevada; I (like Russell) would
simply prefer that you didn't call your monthly compendium of notes,
observations, and opinions "minutes," as that can leave a bad taste in the
mouths of people expecting actual, business-like *minutes*.)
All of that aside, I also want to point out that this was a BUSINESS
MEETING report, and is thus intended to describe the business that was
dealt with. Hence, the following statements by you are inappropriate:
"The fact that none of the recommendations by either Committee were
approved or disproved by the board was not mentioned."
"The fact that Alcor "forgot" to put the Investment Committees on
the agenda for the day was not mentioned."
"The fact that Michael Riskin's offer was not immediately accepted and
that Alcor told him that it would be difficult to provide the necessary
materials to him was not mentioned."
"The fact that Michael Riskin told the board that he thought it would just
take a little xeroxing to provide him with the necessary materials was not
mentioned."
Come on, Eric, I'm not a court stenographer! You not only want me to
list EVERY THING THAT HAPPENED and EVERY THING THAT WAS SAID, you seem to
want me to list the things that DIDN'T happen and WEREN'T said. Even as
terse and to-the-point as I keep the minutes, this month they were over
12,000 bytes! This meeting was over FIVE HOURS LONG. The purpose of the
minutes is not to report how every member feels about every subject (on
and off the agenda) to the level of detail acceptable to each member. The
purpose is to describe the business at hand, the salient points, and the
final resolution.
Most of your remaining "corrections" list things that happened, such
as "the fact that both Committees submitted their recommendations eight
days in advance," that you would like to see in the Business Meeting
Report. See all of my comments above about the purpose of minutes and
Business Meeting Reports.
You also suggested I include the following slanted tutorial (after
paraphrasing Dave Pizer's clarification of something Carlos said in
response to your repeated accusation that Carlos is a liar): "Of course,
a deficit and a surplus are antonyms -- words that are opposite in
meaning. Another year running a negative 200,000/year Carlos "surplus"
would put Alcor in grave financial danger." That you would seriously
request that I, as an objectively impartial minutes-taker, put a statement
like that IN THE MINUTES, I can barely fathom. If you have a serious
correction to the factualism of the minutes or the Business Meeting
Report, you will have to reign in your personal agenda and biases, or your
comments will not be listened to.
All of THAT said, I will address your one valid point, and your one
almost-valid point.
You quote me as saying that "Dave suggested that Eric give written
suggestions to the board--by a week before the next meeting--on how Alcor
could handle its books to the satisfaction of Eric and other concerned
parties." You then accuse me of leaving out "The fact that Eric responded
later by saying that the first thing that the members of the Committees
would like to see was for their recommendations to be approved or
disproved," and that "Until the board takes this action it should expect
no further response by the members of the now disbanded committees."
That is your almost-valid point. Unfortunately, at the time you
seemed to think that it was adequate to direct that comment to me and me
alone, rather than waiting to be given the floor by the Chairman,
announcing that to the entire Board of Directors, and allowing them a
chance to respond to this. The fact that I was sitting a few feet from
you does not give you some kind of direct, do-not-pass-go access to the
written record. Again, this is the Business Meeting Report, not the Alcor
/ Eric Klien Dialogue. (By the way, I encourage you to go to the
videotape to verify this. I am as prone to selective memory as you are,
and would unflinchingly amend the minutes--and apologize--if I'm
mistaken.)
Finally, your valid point: "The fact that Michael Riskin also
offered to do a free informal audit of Alcor's books was not mentioned."
Mea cupla. The September Minutes of the Alcor Life Extension
Foundation will be changed to reflect this (assuming the Board votes to
accept this change). (And just so you don't suspect that this omission
was some sinister attempt to sweep this topic under the rug, you should
know that Michael's offer has already been accepted; he will be here
tomorrow to begin his audit.)
In closing, I will offer some advice, thinly veiled as a rhetorical
question:
Are you trying to help Alcor, or vindicate Eric?
Whichever it is, in the future it will probably serve you best to separate
the two.
--Ralph Whelan
P.S. Anyone interested in video tapes (VHS) of the Business Meetings can
purchase them from Alcor for $25 each.
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