X-Message-Number: 24450
From: 
Subject: Cryonics Meeting in Vancouver
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 04:55:05 US/Eastern

       On Thursday, July 28th a meeting of cryonicists and 
fellow-travelers was held in Vancouver's West End which
was more than twice as large as any previous such gathering
ever held in British Columbia -- seven people, including the
three locals, Chuck Grodzicki, Brent Young and Doug Skrecky. 

   The Russian cryonicist Mikhail (Mike) Soloviev (currently
visiting Canada from Switzerland) came with his wife. Mike's
wife is devoted to him and wishes to be with him for as 
long as he lives -- including a greatly extended lifespan -- and
to assist him in fulfilling his dreams. Chuck  suggested that 
finding Russian wives might be a good idea for some of the
rest of us. 

    Some mention was made of the anti-cryonics law in BC
and how that law claims to only be against the "marketing"
of cryonics -- and of the "comfort letter" received by Olaf
Henry to the effect that there would not be persecution or
prosecution for practicing cryonics. However, I pointed to
the one cryonics case in BC in which the family of a young
girl who died of leukemia were treated very harshly by
hospitals, medical personnel and funeral service people. 

   In the best of cases, BC organizations will insist on consulting
lawyers before committing themselves to involvement in a
cryonics case -- and the lawyers are likely to give their typical 
paranoid advice (insofar as lawyers are professional paranoids).
If anyone wishes to practice cryonics in BC I believe they will
have to do a lot of consulting ahead of time with lawyers, hospitals,
funeral directors, medical personnel and common carriers to ensure
complicity in a timely manner. 

    Some members of the group expressed concern that there
is too much private communication between the Toronto
cryonicists which does not appear in the CSC list. . I said that 
we in Toronto often do not wish to presume to be Canada, and
that we don't wish to pollute cyberspace with meeting-plans, etc.
that apply only to Toronto and not the rest of Canada. Chuck said
that it is an inspiration to see our planning, activity and 
organization even if it is physically remote from BC. 

     I visited Doug Skrecky's apartment long enough to see his
fly-experiment equipment and the beautiful & colorful 
science-fiction artwork adorning the walls. Concerning the 
former, it is very  well-organized so as to occupy very little
space and to be quite unobtrusive. 

                 -- Ben Best

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