X-Message-Number: 28591
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:00:58 -0700
From: Regina Pancake <>
Subject: cryonics

Wow. I got feedback from people on and off Cryonet.
That was a happy surprise.
Thanks for all that . Very encouraging.

Rudi gave me the best lead in though:

BTW, Regina, you may want to introduce yourself to some of the folks on  

cryonet who do not know you are a long time activist in the cryonics  community.
And have participated in quite a few actual standybys and  suspensions...

Thanks for the opening.
Briefly, I've been signed up since 1991.
I've been in the film industry for the better part of the last two decades.
And have been a manager/owner of two different props and effects houses 
in L.A. for the last 14 years.
I've worked on /every/ science fiction t.v. show that aired in the 90's, 
and pretty much all the major films too. You name it, I probably worked 
on it.
All during this time, I have been a volunteer with Alcor. Doing 
suspensions and standbys in the L.A. area.

During the last 3 years, I moved my company, Applied Effects, into the 
field of product development.
Products can be very lucrative.
So instead of working in science fiction, I've now turned to more of the 
science fact stuff.
But it is hard to do if you are always trying to make the rent, or quell 
whatever problem that has arisen. Also, in product development, believe 
it or not,
the making of the item, the engineering of it etc. is merely 5% of the 
actual process of getting a product to market. The rest is mostly 
marketing.
So currently, I've closed the business. And am now working solo without 
partners, overhead that would choke a horse or any of the other things 
that made
life a kaleidescope of crazy.
I'm drawn to being involved with Alcor. But I'm not leaving the beach 
yet to go work in the desert.
I'm the co-coordinator of the Southern California Suspension Team with 
Peter Voss. And I take care of  Alcor's Los Angeles transport vehicle 
and standby kit.
And I love talking to people about cryonics.
So I'm going to pipe up every once in a while in this forum. I wanna 
help us all when it comes to pulling this grand scheme of ours off.
And I want us all to get our collective acts together.
Its soooo tantalizingly possible. We just have to cooperate and remember 
that death is really just an engineering problem when you boil it down.

Running a cryonics facility is a target rich environment for priorities.
Infrastructure and revenue streams are two that I would pick for 
starters if I had to draw a bead on something.
This is what any cryonics outfit needs to have to survive this 
transition time during which cryonics is still fringe.
These are the things I'm bound to chat about.
The hard science I'll leave up to the scientists.

The other thing that is top of the list of priorities I think, is the in 
the field stabilization. Its still pretty primitive. I think you all 
will agree.
I'm in talks with Alcor Central about just that.
More will develop as we go. I've just started down this path. But I'm 
going to be involved in development. How and to what extent, time will tell.
But the first of it was announced at the conference in Steve Van 
Sickle's talk on that Sunday.
Meanwhile, getting to know all you, whom I haven't met in person at 
sometime or another will be inspiring and fun.
I haven't been on Cryonet till about 3 weeks ago. So forgive me if I'm 
not up to speed on what the current scuttle butt is.

I hope I can bring many good things to the table here.
And thanks for the warm Cryonet reception from Charles and Rudi.
Charles, you've got some interesting points I hadn't dwelled on before.
I'm wondering if there is any other industry that we could look to that 
might have some mechanism
in place that we could replicate. So we don't have to reinvent the wheel 
here.
Just a thought.

Regina Pancake

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