X-Message-Number: 6172 Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 00:51:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: One More Leary Update Re the report on Leary and cryonics in the LA Times: the journalist who wrote the article, David Colker, happened to be at Leary's house on the night when Mike and I removed the standby kit. He asked to interview us; Mike said no, but foolishly I said yes. Colker called me on the weekend and I spent at least an hour on the phone, trying to explain some fundamentals of cryonics to him. (He knew nothing.) He managed to misinterpret, miss, or misquote every single piece of information from me that he included in his piece, including the costs of cryopreservation. Needless to say, he concealed his personal opinion of cryonics from me throughout. ----- Today, Kevin Kelly, Executive Editor of Wired magazine, happened to be in the LA area and was interested in visiting Timothy Leary. Since Kevin had not rented a car, I agreed to drive him to the Leary house on condition that I would wait in the car outside, since I had no idea whether some of the people at the house would want be pleased to see me. After about twenty minutes, I was invited in. According to Kevin, he mentioned that I was outside, and Leary immediately said, "Well, bring him in, bring him in!" Leary seemed in very good spirits and was sitting on the side of his bed, browsing through news clippings, enjoying his press coverage (not just in the LA Times, but on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, with a color picture). He greeted me warmly and said "I just want to be sure there are absolutely no hard feelings." Leary's meetings with outsiders are almost always videotaped, and this one was no exception. If David Cosenza or anyone else doubts that the above statement is true, it's on tape. We chatted for a while, then left when Leary's hospice physician arrived. Just before we left, I asked Leary what he plans to do instead of cryonics. "I plan to have a death party," he said, "some time around the year 1999." In fact I think he doesn't have a clue what he plans to do, but he's certainly enjoying the attention that he gets by being playful on the subject. --CP Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6172