X-Message-Number: 31136
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 06:36:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Julian Conrad <>
Subject: Jackson Zinn enters cryostasis.



http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081105/A_NEWS0803/811050318/-1/A_NEWS05

Attorney's final wish: to chill out
By Michael Fitzgerald
Record Columnist
November 05, 2008 6:00 AM

Jackson Zinn, a Stockton attorney, died on Monday. In
accordance with his wishes, he is to be frozen in a
giant Thermos outside Detroit.

Zinn, 65, was a cryonicist. He believed his corpse
could be preserved until the day medical science might
revive it.

"He's a real true believer," said Zinn's colleague,
Nolan Stringfield.

Stringfield, to whom Zinn gave power of attorney, took
Zinn off life support when doctors at Dameron Hospital
concluded Zinn had no chance of recovery.

Following Zinn's wishes, Wallace-Martin Funeral Home
special-ordered a casket with zinc insulation and
leak-proof silicon seals.

"In his case, we rushed it," funeral director Matt
Bryant said.

Time was of the essence, because better preservation
translates into likelier revival. Or so cryonicists
believe.

Four volunteers from the Bay Area cryonic community
packed Zinn's body bag with ice at the funeral home -
a procedure no one at Wallace-Martin had seen.

"I can tell you that in our line of work, it's not up
to us to judge anyone," Bryant said. "We respect and
honor the wishes of the family."

The volunteers injected Zinn with a drug to prevent
blood clots, said Ben Best, president and CEO of
Michigan's Cryonics Institute. They also performed
chest compressions. Compressions circulate blood to
better cool it.

"I think they may have put some bleach in, too," Best
said.

Bleach fights mold. Zinn had contracted a bacterial
infection.

Placed in a shipping container, Zinn's iced casket was
flown cargo out of San Francisco International and
transported to the Cryonics Institute in suburban
Detroit.

Zinn's original wishes called for "neuroseparation" -
for his head to be surgically removed and his body
discarded. Future science that could revive him could
grow him a new body, he reasoned.

Zinn originally planned neuroseparation at Alcor Life
Extension Society of Scottsdale, Ariz. Baseball legend
Ted Williams' head is in cryostasis at Alcor.

But Zinn instead opted for Cryonics Institute. The
institute, which operates under different state
regulations, does not offer neuroseparation.

Cryo-technicians will replace Zinn's blood with
"vitrification solution," an antifreeze, to prevent
cellular ice damage. They will gradually chill his
corpse to 321 degrees below zero.

Zinn will be transferred to a cylindrical steel tank
"like big Thermos bottles" and frozen in liquid
nitrogen. About 90 people are thus maintained at the
institute.

"I think people preserved in good condition today,
we'll be able to bring them back in 50 to 100 years,"
Best opined. "That's my guess." But, "there's no
guarantees."

Zinn once said that if revived, he will go on the
lecture circuit.

Contact columnist Michael Fitzgerald at (209) 546-8270
or  

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=31136