X-Message-Number: 22445 Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 16:33:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Subject: It's Potvin Time! First a brief message to Rick: I have suggested before that you will avoid the embarrassment of circulating inaccuracies and stating things that are simply wrong if you do what anyone should do before publicizing highly speculative reports and gossip: CALL SOURCES TO VERIFY. I am now urging you more strongly, instead of just suggesting it. You are creating unnecessary concerns--and work for me, answering your misconceptions--because you don't take the elementary step of picking up the phone or sending email to sources. That said, let me now deal with your recent speculations (published on your web site) regarding Larry Johnson. Your text appears indented without quote marks. My responses are in [brackets]. I'm about to re-read the interview of Larry Johnson. My theory is that Alcor employees and board had plenty of opportunity to detect Johnson's ulterior motives. [You met him yourself, Rick. My theory is that you had plenty of opportunity to evaluate him, too. Either you didn't take advantage of this opportunity, or you reached the same conclusion as approximately fifty people whom Larry dealt with closely during the six months he worked for Alcor. Everyone found him likable and trustworthy. He was the one employee whom no one ever complained about.] Larry says he moved from Texas to be a bit closer to family in Vegas and that's what drew him to the Phoenix/Vegas area. BINGO. Red alert. The "Phoenix/Vegas area"??? [As I recall, his mother lives in Las Vegas, his father lives in Phoenix. He wanted to be closer to his family than when he lived in Texas. Why does this give you a "red alert"?] Larry was involved in the parademic field in Vegas. "So Larry, do you like the food in the casinos? Do you like the slot machines or the shows better?". [Las Vegas is populated primarily with people who provide ancillary services to the local tourist industry. This includes the local population of paramedics. To suggest that they move there so they can gamble is simplistic, at best.] Larry's wife, Betty, would have been an important person for Alcor board members and employees to get to know. If Alcor had interviewed her, informally, or in continuous cocktail party settings, clues might have signalled alarm bells. [I did spend an evening with Larry and his wife, hoping to get better acquainted with her. But thanks anyway for the suggestion.] Larry says that he's "actually done a lot of reading of the subject of cryonics and nanotechnology". "Oh?" I might have said. Who are a few of your favorite cryonicists or what are you favorite cryonics topics? [At Alcor, we found an information request that Larry Johnson had submitted during the late 1990s. His interest in cryonics was thus verified, as you could have determined by making a phone call.] Larry said he had a Harley Davidson motorcycle stolen. Now a Harley is a pretty interesting machine. If I intereviewed Larry I would have asked him more about his bike. Certainly there are many kinds of people who own and ride Harleys. Is there a particular common profile-- anything we can say in general? [Any bike dealer will tell you that Harleys have become popular among professional people--especially new Harleys costing more than $20,000, as Larry's bike did. This is a not a productive line of speculation.] So, reader, what's the most important clue to Larry in the above? Well, I'd say the fact that he had ALREADY written BYLAWS, CODE OF ETHICS AND MISSION STATEMENT! Holy kamoley!!! Larry's been very very busy, hasn't he? I mean-- he's not EVEN a member and he's written this sort of thing up [He initiated the signup process in the Spring of this year and did become a member of Alcor. This was announced at a board meeting. The information was publicly available, Rick. As for Larry's mission statement, he had a plan to introduce a new certification for paramedics as "cryonics specialist." He proposed it to us, and we told him that it was premature; there aren't enough cases, nationwide, to make such a scheme practical. I think he had hoped to make some money out of creating and administering this scheme. The consequences of the disappointment that he may have felt when he realized it wasn't going to fly could be a much more fertile area for you to investigate, if you were willing to take the time.] [Incidentally, when I clicked on the IROCS link in your web page, Rick, I was connected with a picture of a human testicle. I'm assuming that this may be an error.] --Charles Platt writing for himself, not Alcor. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=22445