X-Message-Number: 2951
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: CRYONICS: Re: GIF and Journal
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 21:48:38 -0700 (PDT)


Hi again!

Yes, the result of GIF is a binary file, which strictly speaking can't be
sent as such on the net. The other side of this issue, however, is that it
allows the widest possible audience. My main problem with Postscript files
is simply that not everyone has a printer that will take postscript files.
Sure, they're really nice if you can use them, but .... But quite deliberately
Cserve has made GIF decodable on the widest possible set of computers, and
distributed the executables to do this decoding. (My problem with Postscript
is NOT personal. I have my own postscript laserwriter. But it's very clear
to me that not everyone does).

I'm very happy to cooperate with Edgar. My phone # is (415) 726-2251. I live
at 1037 S. Colonel Way, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019. One hitch, maybe a BIG one:
because of the fact that I still get seizures from my encounter with my
brain tumor, I can't drive. I used to be happy enough to drive but when a
seizure caused an accident (no harm to anyone but my car!) I decided it would
not be wise to drive any longer. No doubt the CA bureaucracy will agree with
me when they get round to looking me over in a year or so.

So any help will probably also need help with transport. But hey: Half Moon
Bay has beaches and lots of nice restaurants and interesting places. So
since it's summertime it's not so bad. 


RE: a high class scientific journal.
Basically, Dr. Stodolsky has something in what he says. However, my efforts
to set up a journal which would print cryonics results met with very little
success in getting referees for the articles. The only referees who consented
were also cryonicists. I don't think the fact that this journal would be
hardcopy while future journals may not be really deals with this fundamental
problem. Where are the referees? There are of course plenty of unrefereed
science forums around, but they don't really serve either. If Dr Stodolsky
has any suggestions for what to do in this line, I'd very much like to 
hear them.

Many cryonicists, especially those who have come to think cryonics has 
merit but haven't really tried to convince anyone else of its merit, still
seem to miss something. There remain many many people out there who will go
to any lengths, even quite irrational lengths, NOT to hear or think about
cryonics. And many of these people are scientists, no less. This is a problem
that everyone who has worked at any side of cryonics bumps up against 
constantly. Perhaps Dr Stodolsky, as a psychologist, can provide some 
helpful suggestions about what to do here: I don't mean an explanation of 
that behavior, but some way to actually deal with it constructively.

		Long long life,

			Thomas Donaldson

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