X-Message-Number: 750 Date: 18 Apr 92 17:11:03 EDT From: "Russell E. Whitaker" <> Subject: Alcor UK minutes: April 1992 Minutes of the Sunday, 5 April 1992 meeting (4)92 of Alcor UK Ltd at the Alcor UK Potts Marsh facility near Eastbourne, England Minutes taken & prepared by: Michael Price [with amendments and corrections made by Steve Whitrow and Russell Whitaker] Distribution: CryoNetUK cryonet Alcor Life Extension Foundation, by electronic mail Alan Sinclair, by facsimile Local membership at large, by post Meeting began at 11:00 BST Present were: Chris Benatar Michael Price Alan Sinclair Steve Strong Russell Earl Whitaker Steve Whitrow Apologies for absence received from: Andrew Clifford Patrica Cross Garret Smyth 1 Previous Minutes The minutes of the 2 March 1992 Alcor UK meeting were accepted, by those present. 2 Actions (format: action#meeting#/actionee) 1(2)92/REW AUK Newsletter. Awaits arrival of above printer. Action Continues. 1(3)92/MCP UK mailing list (phone numbers and addresses). Michael has sent copies to Russell, Garret and Steve Whitrow. Action Complete 2(3)92/REW Post labels. Now typed in. Awaiting printer to print (ETA 30-April-1992). Action Continues 3(3)92/MCP Michael to provide guidelines for a AUK letter- head to Russell. Action Continues. 4(3)92/REW FAX local (UK) requests for information letters to Alcor US. Letters faxed off to Alcor. Action Complete. 5(3)92/REW Email Alcor about part return of dues to defray local running costs. No response yet. Action Complete. 6(3)92/REW Email distribution of Alcor charter for comments. E-mail version not released yet - Tanya Jones still making changes to it. Action Continues. 7(3)92/REW Russell to get a pager in the near future. ETA is 8-April-1992. Action Continues. 8(3)92/REW Russell to ask a non-member, DB, to fax over the insurance companies' data. DB reports that he has faxed off the material to Alcor, but Tanya has not received said fax. Russell will ask DB to fax it again. Action Complete. 3 Progress 3.1 HL (a pseudonym). Since the last meeting HL has spoken to Russell, Michael and Alan. There was a discussion about whether we wanted to do business with him, the pros and cons of chemical versus cryogenic suspensions, etc etc. The conclusion was that there may be some benefit in storing a patient in the UK to test out the legal situation. But this must be offset against the fact that - HL is very unforthcoming with information - HL owes Alcor US some money ($315.05) - there's not much hope for the patients HL wants to store here (his father and an associate's mother) - which casts doubts on HL understanding of cryonics - we don't want to store chemically "preserved" patients since we have grave doubts as to the scientific validity of such a procedure. - we have no full time cover at the facility. HL has been told that : - HL must make his peace with Alcor US before we will consider anything. - Alcor US offers superior storage facilities. - AUK is a transhipment facility, not a storage facility, at present. 3.2 Bills There was a review of the bills that were dished out at the last meeting. It was confirmed that they had all been paid and any reminders must have crossed with the cheques (especially since they'd all been drawn). Steve Whitrow was given a telephone bill reminder to follow up [post- meeting it transpired that this was for one of Alan's private lines, and passed back to Alan]. Action 1(4)92/MCP: Michael to contact Janet Blake to change the name and address of the various accounts. The business rates (a local government tax) on the facility are due for payment. Michael agreed to pay the first installment, but it is hoped that funds can be raised to pay for the later installments (see below). Action 2(4)92/MCP: Michael to pay first installment. Following up Andrew Clifford's idea at a previous meeting it was agreed that we would ask UK-resident Alcor suspension members in the UK to stump up some money to cover local running costs. It was thought that something commensurate with the dues we send Alcor US would be reasonable. The list of people would be all the UK Alcor suspension members (plus anyone well on the way to signing up). Action 3(4)92/MCP: Michael to sound out people on how much seems reasonable. Action 4(2)92/MCP: Russell to continue to press Alcor US for a response to our request for the 3/4 return of UK dues. 3.3 Medication After asking Alan it transpires that the medications which we had thought missing are present - they had been moved from the freezer (which doesn't work properly) to the fridge (which does) to maintain their integrity. 3.4 Videotape Garret has made the videotape for the Alcor US anniversary banquet. Max More left yesterday, for the US, with the tape. The banquet should have taken place about 5 hours ago - no feedback yet. 3.5 Publicity Email - Steve Strong explained how AUK could use the UK academic e-mail networks (JANET = Joint Academic NETwork) by dropping quasi-advertisements into college newsgroups. Action 5(4)92/SS: Steve Strong will continue to investigate JANET when he returns to college. Times article - an article appeared in the Times (4-April- 1992, by Nick Nutall, whom we have dealt with before) announcing the Alcor anniversary parties, including the one at Russell's (in Wapping) on Friday. GQ magazine - have been trying to get hold of Michael for a photosession. Russell volunteered to stand in. Michael passed on the contact. Action 6(4)92/REW: Russell to contact GQ. Both Garret and Russell have now spoken to Patrick Kessler, about appearing on Clive Anderson Talks Back. Michael will call Patrick Kessler. Action 7(4)92/MCP: Michael to call Patrick Kessler. 3.6 Pagers Russell is expecting to get a pager from London Pager (for private and business use, in addition to acting as an Alcor co-ordinator) on Wednesday. The London Pager will cover the Thames Basin and can accept up to 40 162-character messages in its buffer. Russell passed on to Alan the details of another pager service, Aircall, which covers more of the UK. Action 8(4)92/MCP: Russell to confirm arrival and issue pager number. 3.7 Alcor membership list Russell handed over the sealed Alcor membership list to Alan for safe keeping. It was agreed not to store it at the facility in case of a "Paddy Ashdown" or "Watergate" style break-in. Alan will store it at a secure location (known to the AUK Board). 3.8 It was agreed after the meeting that an ambulance driving session (around the industrial estate, to begin with) would be held. [post-meeting: The experience was very valuable for everyone (except Alan, who's already an expert). Most of us were unfamiliar with automatic transmissions, placing the gear stick in "neutral" rather than "park". Alan gave us a quick guide to preventative maintenance. An oil leak was detected. It was agreed to continue the driving lessons.] 4 Any Other Business 4.1 Russell will be giving a lecture at the next AUK meeting. The title is "The Mechanisms of Ischemia". 4.2 Another ambulance driving session will take place at the next AUK meeting. 4.3 The date of the next AUK meeting is 10th of May. The first Sunday of the month falls close to a public holiday. [Standard disclaimer: Alcor UK Ltd is a legal entity incorporated in the United Kingdom. There exists no statutory or contractual tie between it and the Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Riverside, California, United States of America.] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=750