X-Message-Number: 19432 Date: Mon, 08 Jul 2002 20:17:01 -0700 From: James Swayze <> Subject: What an idiot... you are! Mr. Ryan, You have to be either the most gullible of individuals, along with Connie Chung and the rest of your ilk, or simply an idiot of the first order. Then again there is a worse scenario, that you have a personal agenda and it violates all journalistic ethics. In your boston.com article regarding the remains of Ted Williams it is painfully clear you have bought Ferrel's lies hook line and sinker! If you had been a good journalist and done even a little of your homework on Cryonics and especially Alcor, you would have found that no one is involved in the selling of DNA material nor would ever be nor ever condone it. You completely missed the fact that IF that were the case then a whole body procedure, rather than just Ted's head [neuro], would have been a lot more inventory and a lot more lucrative, no? So why hasn't the evil John Henry, as you portray him, not gone for the larger payoff? Could you and the rest busily vilifying him have been wrong. Did you even stop to consider it before doing the damage you have done to us in cryonics? Next you fail to find, through good investigative journalism, the fact that no one can arbitrarily have the procedure done on someone else's body, parents or not! In fact neither Alcor nor any other of the organizations will accept after death sign ups. Ted Williams had to have wanted this and agreed to it and signed many legal documents saying so well beforehand. But of course you aren't interested in the truth are you? No I think you only wish to sensationalize this for your own purposes. In that case you are worse than how you portray John Henry. To me, regardless of his alleged ineptitude at business, he is a hero for wanting to honor his father's wishes despite the negative portrayal you and your ilk are providing. Could it be that part of your and your ilk's agenda is revenge for the less than favorable alleged treatment Ted gave the press in his lifetime, his not trusting the press? Seems he had good cause to, huh? Would you love your parents so much as to wish to give them the chance of continued life? Oh but you don't feel it is honest science do you? Or worse you might even think Ted is with god now! Again if you had done your homework you would find that many people have suffered extreme low temperature deaths and been revived, one recent one after several hours of being flatline, no brain activity and no pulse. Routinely in modern medicine low temperature suspension is purposely instituted for bloodless brain and cardiac surgery, again no brain activity and no pulse... death by any modern definition. Logically one must ask why didn't these people stay dead? Why did their souls, if you must, not go to god? The answer is that we don't know yet what the actual definition of death is. It seems very evident to us in cryonics that preserving the body from further and final deterioration makes sense because today's dreams are tomorrow's medical science. If one chooses not to try it they are most certainly going to be dead. Trying and failing is the same as not trying. Trying and not failing is wonderful but cannot be achieved by not trying. So why not try? What is there to loose, the dignity you think Ted deserves in a "normal death"? There is no dignity in oblivion. Ted did not believe in an afterlife. Why don't you respect that about him? James Swayze <--receiver of the kindest most selfless charity from cryonicists -- MY WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/~davidpascal/swayze/ A COLLECTION of photos of me and some of my artwork: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4292752723&code=2039335&mode=invite A RADIO INTERVIEW on Dr. J's ChangeSurfer Radio program with me and the father of cryonics Prof. Robert Ettinger, author of "The Prospect of Immortality": http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=3728 A RELIGION I actually recommend: http://uk.geocities.com/venturist2001/index.html A FAVORITE quote: Last lines of the first Star Trek the Next Generation movie. Capt. Picard: "What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived, after all Number One, we're only mortal." Will Ryker: "Speak for yourself captain, I intend to live forever!" Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19432