X-Message-Number: 19933 Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 10:43:19 From: "York W. &/or Lois G. Porter" <> Subject: WHACKO Wednesday, August 28, 2002 10:40 a.m. CDT Hi Everyone! Since I occasionally have submitted a "Notes from the Net" column to *The Immortalist*, I normally refrain from sending anything to Cryonet as I think it is somewhat uncouth for me to be editing for presentation to others something that I am submitting to. But, in this case, I felt it necessary to make an exception. The term "whacko" or "waco" or "wacko" was clearly meant "tongue in cheek" at the First Annual Cryosummit and, I think, much amusement was had by everyone (or most everyone), at least through Saturday night, bandying the term about. We joked about a "bunch of whackos", whether one was a "true whacko" and, at Robert Ettinger's house, David Pascal and I discussed and laughed about whether we should rename the professional standards group "Deanimation Organizations of America" (DOA). By late in the set of meetings even I had grown tired of the term "whacko" and before I left to go to the Cryonics Institute's facility on Sunday morning I thought up the phrase International Association of Cryonics Organizations which Dr. Robert Newport had independently arrived at (great minds think alike Dr. Newport!! :o)) and which he mentioned without any prior discussion between us in a very nice presentation on Sunday morning and which I think sounds appropriately professional and which follows up on Rudi Hoffman's quite correct observation that the term "whacko" is over the top to say the least. While "whacko" was meant as a parody of those folks in the public arena that want to ignore the the fact that cryonics is one of the most rational and clear headed things you can do in life and would rather engage in personal attacks instead, nevertheless, cryonics is difficult enough to sell to the public as it is and we need to take as many steps as possible to be as professional as we reasonably can be in it's presentation and I feel confident that under Dr. Newport's guidance that the various organizations involved will develop standards that work towards that goal. Those that know me are aware of and (at least occasionally) appreciate my sense of humor but everyone has my apologies for what I meant as a clearly joking remark possibly being taken seriously by some folks. Thanks!! Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19933