X-Message-Number: 1379
From: 
Subject: CRYONICS Reply to C. Platt
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 21:33:40 PST

Charles Platt in msg 1358 seems to think my postings are "a 
formidable exercise in denial" and "intended to reassure people 
that Everything Is Absolutely Okay." 

While I disagree with much to which I respond (why respond if I 
did agree?) I was *far* from sanguine about the prospects for 
cryonics or Alcor.

These are some on my list of serious concerns. 

1)  In gaining the zoning conditional use permit from the City of 
Riverside (which we must have to store patients) we have lost the 
use of animals for research or training.  At this point it seems 
Alcor will not be able to do pet suspensions, and it may cause a 
considerable degradation in our level of transport and suspension 
training unless we take costly and time consuming steps to get 
the conditions modified or go elsewhere to get around the 
requirement.  

2)  Earthquakes.  One of these days Southern California is going 
to "rock and roll."  Short of moving to a larger building, there 
seems to be no reasonable engineering approach to securing the 
whole body dewars.  For moderate movement, this is unlikely to 
cause a problem.  For large motion (ten feet or more) we may see 
serious damage to the dewars and surrounding structures.  (We 
have *long* had plans to supply LN2 from Phoenix or Northern 
California, because it is assumed that the LN2 plants will be out 
for weeks to months.) 

3)  Patient protection.  There are several problems which I would 
like to see rectified.  They all cost a lot of money, are of 
limited effectiveness, and would be wasted if we move soon.  
Should we do them anyway? 

4)  LN2 losses.  We lose a lot of LN2 in the delivery containers 
and transfers.  It is a significant problem with no inexpensive 
solutions in sight. 
  
5)  Cooldown labor reduction.  This project is now at a halt 
since the person who was working on the software is no longer
available.

5)  Moving.  This has its own long list of problems, starting 
with "where?" 

Re quoting original postings at length, I do so only in the 
interest of *not* quoting out of context.  If Charles had not 
taken the 60% passage out of context, he would not have made the 
error which prompted his apology. 

BTW, Charles, most of what I have written in the last six to 
eight months *is* for the record, directed to "some demented 
cryo-historian."

Keith

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