X-Message-Number: 15778 From: "George Smith" <> Subject: From the Epicenter Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 19:33:28 -0800 My family lives exactly 11 miles northeast of Olympia, Washington which positioned us at precisely ground zero for the epicenter of Wednesday's 6.8 earthquake and Thursday's barely noticed aftershock. Escaping form my house to the back yard, my wife and I sat on the earth and literally watched the world roll by. Houses and trees swayed and rocked as I rode my lawn like a roller coaster for a little less than a minute. After checking for gas leaks and determining that other members of my family were still alive, I determined that I would communicate something about this to the readers of the Cryonet. My message? Anything can wipe you out at any moment. You who live within silly fantasies born of armchair statistics or just outright denial will probably never make it anyway. (Bye). Life is an IQ test. As far as I am concerned signing up for cryonics gives you the possibility of a passing grade ... maybe. Anything else means you flunk. The choice of your grade is yours. If you want to put life into perspective go into combat, survive an auto accident, wait while your family is trapped during the Mount Saint Helens explosion or ride your back yard like a roller coaster during a 6.8 Big One. If you lack this perspective from experience, try using some common sense, instead. It is less stressful. Thus far everybody on this bloody mudball dies. Cryonics give you an option to come back. Don't flunk the IQ test. There may not be a make up exam! George Smith CI member Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15778