X-Message-Number: 24026 From: Subject: Re: funding issues -- reply to Rudi Hoffman Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 13:40:47 US/Eastern (Reply to: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/dsp.cgi?msg=24021 ) Thank you for your gracious response, Rudi. I feared I may have overreacted to your use of the word "travesty". I certainly don't fault your passion for ALCOR. My reference to "partisanism" was to what I regarded as an *unfair* criticism of CI. We do make mistakes, but the cremation of the CI Member was not related to the fact that he belonged to CI nor was it because of the means of funding. The CI Member was, in fact, prepaid -- a more secure means of funding than insurance. But even if it had been insurance funding we would still have had to return the money to the estate because this was the stipulatioin in the Member's paperwork concerning the contingency of a failure to cryopreserve. (Similar to Timothy Leary's insurance proceeds to CryoCare which I returned to the estate.) Yes, insurance is superior to funding through a Will and an Estate because it avoids probate. But these facts are irrelevant to the case of the cremated CI Member. I want to be on good terms with you and other Alcor Members, and I do like you Rudi. I hope we can remain friends. I hope that you and other Alcor Members can appreciate the danger of cryonicists having all of their eggs in one basket (one organization) and can appreciate that the work I do to make the Cryonics Institute better and stronger is a benefit to all cryonicists. -- Ben Best, President Cryonics Institute Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24026