X-Message-Number: 1259 Subject: CRYONICS American Cryonics News July 92 From: (Edgar W. Swank) Date: Fri, 02 Oct 92 07:16:55 PDT AMERICAN CRYONICS NEWS The common area near our ACS offices doubles as a meeting room. The last three ACS and Trans Time meetings have been held at our new cryonics building in Sunnyvale. This shows those (except Trans Time scientific advisor Paul Segall, who snapped thephoto!) attending the Trans Time board meeting June 27. Clockwise from bottom left: Hal Sternberg, Norm Lewis, Art Quaife, Carmen Brewer, Jerry White, Jim Yount, Annie Yount, Avi Ben-Abraham, John Day, Stephen Kehrens, and Judy Segall. ACS Patient Sent to CI for Long)Term Storage by Jim Yount Carol, an ACS patient who was placed in cryonic suspension starting March 10, was recently transferred to the Cryonics Institute's long-term storage facility in Detroit. Carol is the first ACS patient to be kept in Michigan, all of our other patients being at the Trans Time facility in Oakland, California. On April 26, ACS President Avi Ben)Abraham, M.D. signed an agreement with the Cryonics Institute; on May 12, it was signed by CI President Robert Ettinger. Our agreement enables ACS members to take advantage of CI's service but retain their membership in ACS. Carol was suspended by a Trans Time team after ACS members kept an all-night vigil, prepared to start suspension at the moment of Carol's death. ACS and Carol's husband succeeded in preventing an autopsy and got the body released to us. This offer was greatly aided by the intervention of a cooperating physician and the fact that Carol had executed a Declaration of Religious Belief. Under California law, residents can sign such a document whose purpose is to prevent an autopsy which might otherwise occur. It is our understanding that an autopsy can be performed, overriding the prohibitions contained in the document, only for cases of murder or suspected murder or when insurance fraud is suspected. Carol had been kept in a temperature chest at the Trans Time facility until Friday, June 26, when she was placed into a sleeping bag, and transferred to a shipping container. She arrived in Detroit early Saturday morning. Robert Ettinger phoned us to report she was promptly transferred to a cooling chamber and, as of this writing, is undergoing slow cooling to liquid nitrogen temperature. We at the American Cryonics Society are pleased that long-term storage at CI is now available and our members are taking advantage of the cost savings through our cooperative plan. We have not yet prepared brochures describing our co)op plan. Sample contracts are available upon request. Talks on Possible Contract with Bio-Preservation by Jim Yount Mike Darwin, Saul Kent, Tanya Jones, and Paul Wakfer recently visited our Sunnyvale offices. Mike made a presentation to ACS Governors and friends on services intended to be offered by Bio-Preservation, a name chosen for the as yet unincorporated company. Bio-Preservation will offer a variety of services to cryonicists as well as pursue research into medical applications of the technology which has been and continues to be developed for cryonics. Paul Wakfer and Mike intend on cooperating so space in the Los Angeles building Paul has leased will be used by Mike for suspension and research activities of Bio-Preservation. Conducting training sessions, equipping suspension facilities on a turn-key basis, and contracting suspension services to individual members were topics discussed. Mike has offered to submit a contract to ACS for our consideration. It is ACS policy to work with other cryonics or-ganizations, whenever possible, to allow our members to take advantage of whatever services are available. Birds "Tern" on Our Fish by Jim Yount In the last issue of The Immortalist we told you of the goldfish we had "installed" in the decorative pool in front of our office building. In the midst of a recent meeting in a room overlooking the pool we were surprised to see two terns dive into our pool and emerge with goldfish. Our building is located about a mile from the south end of the San Francisco bay where many wildlife sanctuaries provide a safe haven for sea birds. Earlier in the day we had observed that our fish, who normally immediately approach any human near the pool to beg for food, were unusually skittish. The terns apparently were feeding on our fish all morning. We turned on the fountain to help turn off the terns; we have yet to work out a way to protect our fish. Trans Time takes a Baboon Break by Jerry White During the June 27th Trans Time Board meeting, directors took a break to watch a video tape of Daniel Baboone, the experimental subject whose adventure was described in last month's issue. Paul Segall, one of the primary investigators, narrated the tape, which surveyed the research facilities, showed part of the surgery, and documented Daniel's continued recovery. Daniel himself was revealed to be a rather endearing looking twenty pounder who was alert and interacted well with various human colleagues. Although Daniel is still somewhat stiff and weak in his lower body, Paul argued on the basis of other experiments, especially earlier ones on dogs which conformed to a similar improvement profile, that he expects Daniel to recover completely. Letter from Arne Johnson (We took the liberty of editing Arne's letter slightly) Dear Members Over three months ago I mailed a letter informing you that I had no choice but to join a non-profit organization like the Cryonics Institute. The American Cryonics Society cannot be a non-profit organization fromgeneration to generation unless you are strictly independent from a profit organization because a profit organization will bury you if they do not make a profit. The problems encountered back in the nineteen seventies would not have happened if all cryonics organizations had joined as one instead of being small splinter groups and thus duplicating services. In this day and age we have to operate on measurable facts as our opinions become meaningless. The facts are that after the Los Angeles riots, we saw how vulnerable we can become. By having a warm storage facility where there are a concentration of people, even if we have bars on the windows, we saw they just broke them and threw a flame bomb through the bars to set fire to the build-ing. That's why we need a storage place for our members who wish to have added security and peace of mind. By having a storage place under ground in the permafrost like Yellowknife where they have a highway leading to it or some other area in the permafrost, that cannot be set on fire. Also where you have the extra backup system for greater security without being moved if the government does not allow liquid nitrogen because they want to save energy. We would not duplicate the warm storage places that are already available. Another option we have is to let the member buy his own cemetery plot and bury him with a pipe and wire leading up to the top of the ground so the capsule can be serviced with liquid nitrogen and serviced monthly or quarterly. A liquid nitrogen sales company would provide such service if they have a contract so they can deliver and sell liquid nitrogen. We would not need someone at the cemetery; the wire could be hooked up to atemperature gauge which would monitor the temperature at all times and send a warning by telephone if the temperature started going up. That way you have a backup system. By using a four patient capsule the cost of liquid nitrogen will be down 3 to 4liters a day. With the added security of the permafrost you are never placed in a critical situation where you have to act on a moments notice which is the case with storage in a warm climate. The extra cost of liquid nitrogen does not mean much, when you consider the greater security. We have to have a completely different concept in this day and age of electronic computer robots and not keep putting our heads in the sand and trying to do the same as was done sixty years ago. We have a number of people in Europe and members here in America who wish to have this extra security. Our politicians in Washington all these years have been running America by their opinions and we are in this dangerous mess because their concepts are outdated and will not work in this high technology and computer age. We are converting energy at such a high rate that we are unable to consume in a 24hr period. If we used measurable facts we would not be in this mess. For example, energy units we consume that our technology produces in Kilogram Calories which our politicians convert (the Kilogram) into prices and values inflated many times the original cost. We have to buy this energy back at a high price and the politicians then tax you on top of it. Sincerely, Arne C. Johnson Dear Arne, We always enjoy receiving your letters and making your views available to our members. Although the American Cryonics Society does have a long time relationship with Trans Time, a for-profit company, we are in-dependent from them and all other profit making organizations. Over the past several years we have increasingly offered services not connected with Trans Time. Our members can join the Cryonics Institute and still takeadvantage of services offered by the American Cryonics Society, Trans Time, and perhaps in the future, other service providers as well (see article on possible contract with Bio-Preservation). It is true that profit making companies, especially if they control considerable financial resources, are apt to overwhelm small non-profit organizations. One way we are trying to avoidthis is for ACS to have contracts with a number of firms giving our members a choice and avoiding helping to create a monopoly. The points you make on the advantages of far north facilities should be of interest to our members. I'm sure you are aware that the American Cryonics Society has assisted two families in making permafrost burial arrangements. If any service providers, either profit or non)profit, offer far-north cryonics we are certainly interested in contracting with that company. Presently I have not observed a level of support among ACS members to justify our putting the major part of our energy and resources into establishing such a facility. As people such as you continue to promote the idea this may change. As always we invite members who share your ideas or who wish to "sign in" in opposition to write ACS or The Immortalist. Long life, Jim Yount -- (Edgar W. Swank) SPECTROX SYSTEMS +1.408.252.1005 Silicon Valley, Ca Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1259