X-Message-Number: 6239
Date: Sun, 19 May 96 21:09:11
From: Steve Bridge <>
Subject: Answers on Pizer, Platt, Discovery film
To CryoNet
>From Steve Bridge, Alcor
May 19, 1996
In reply to several CryoNet messages.
First, I should note that Dave Pizer hastily posted a couple of
messages before leaving for a week's vacation; so I'll answer (as best I
can) some questions and criticism of them.
Charles Platt in #6220 protested strongly the content of Pizer's
#6216, with the subject "If."
Dave showed me that post before he sent it and said it was satire. I
told him I didn't think it would be funny in print, that it was only the
sort of thing that would be funny in person, with appropriate winks and
nods. He sent it anyway. It obviously wasn't funny to Charles, either.
For the record, Dave doesn't necessarily think Alcor would have had a
bit better luck than CryoCare/Biopreservation did, and he doesn't at all
think that friendly Steve and Tanya would have signed up the household.
I don't either.
And Dave definitely does respect Tim Leary's (and everyone else's)
right to chose Cryonics or not.
****************************************************************
Next, in Message #6225, Dave Pizer states, "I believe Hugh Hixon has been
involved in more suspensions than any other person. It would be
interesting for the historical record to see how many suspension various
persons have been involved in. I don't know how old Hugh was when he
assisted in his first suspension."
Charles Platt then calls for some facts. OK. Hugh wasn't a teenager
on his first suspension in 1978, of course. He was 36. But then Hugh is
some 15 years older than Mike Darwin.
Hugh has participated in 33 suspensions total, but only 8
standbys and/or transports. Up until 1991, Hugh's suspension activities
were more oriented toward assistance in the operating room, followed by
managing the entire cool-down procedure.
By my count (and I could be off 1 or 2, of course), I list Mike
Darwin as having participated in 31 suspensions, including 19
standby/transports.
For numbers on some other Alcor personnel (again, on some of these I
could be off by 1-2):
Mike Perry -- 27 suspensions
Carlos Mondragon -- 21 suspensions
Ralph Whelan -- 17 suspensions
Tanya Jones -- 16 suspensions (13 transports or standbys)
Steve Bridge -- 14 suspensions
Also, for the record and as a baseline of some kind, it appears that
Jerry Leaf participated in 18 suspensions (all as team leader, I believe)
and 6 standbys, not counting his own suspension.
>CI has a woman that I met at the High Roller's Conference that has been
>involved in many whole body suspensions. I don't know the number.
I don't know why Dave mentioned this person. (I would list the name, but
don't remember how public she is. Bob Ettinger can drop in details if he
wishes to.) Since CI has 19 patients, no one there can have been in more
than 19 suspensions. I doubt that anyone but Bob himself would get that
high a number for CI, and I don't think Bob was physically present for all
19. I hope numbers are not all we are after here, of course.
>The first person suspended is thought to be a woman who was only
>suspended for a short time and perhaps for cosmetic reasons. Credit for
>the first (there is some controversy on how controlled) controlled
>suspension is usually given to Bob Nelson of CSNY.
While I know Dave has a bug about CSNY, I do not think this mistake
was intentional; just a typo. (Nelson was more of a rival of CSNY,
perhaps even an *enemy*; he ran Cryonics Society of California and Cryonic
Interment)
****************************************************************
And finally:
Message #6237
From: (David Stodolsky)
Subject: Dora Kent on Discovery Europe
Date: Sat, 18 May 96 23:06:10 +0200
>Discovery Channel (Europe) is going to show
>(from text TV listing):
>
>"Unexplained: The Living Dead.
>Follows the progress of Dora Kent as she
>makes preparations to be put into cryonic storage."
>
>Wed., May 22, 1996 - 21:00 hrs (CET + 1)
That can only be the BBC special "The Living Dead", filmed in 1988.
It had some good material in it, but a very creepy and depressed narrator.
It might be interesting to compare to see how the perspective have changed
over the last decade.
But I think the summary is misleading. If there was much in there
about *Dora* Kent's "preparations," I missed it. *Saul Kent's* preparations
for his mother's suspension, yes.
Steve Bridge
Stephen Bridge, President ()
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
Non-profit cryonic suspension services since 1972.
7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916
Phone (602) 922-9013 (800) 367-2228 FAX (602) 922-9027
for general requests
http://www.alcor.org
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