X-Message-Number: 671
From:
Subject: Alcor Nevada Minutes
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 92 17:54:58 PST
ALCOR NEVADA MINUTES
SUNDAY MARCH 8TH 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Eric Klien Katie Kars Mark Volker
Don Laughlin Richard Kars Harry Braun
Jerry Searcy Ron Piturka Dave Pizer
(Alcor Treasurer)
Note that the ending time will always be equal to the time that the
dinner after the meeting ends. This is because I don't carry a watch
and don't note the time until the drive home. I will always use this
ending time format to hint to those who skip the dinner afterwards
that they are missing some interesting discussions.
Our first meeting went pretty well, although it had one less person
than the last Alcor Boston meeting. We tried various publicity ideas
to attract more people to the meeting, but none panned out this time.
Looks like we will have to rely on word of mouth to attract most of
our new people.
EMTs
It was decided that Eric Klien and Jerry Searcy would train as EMTs.
Cindy Piturka has already completed EMT training. Jerry and I should
have a schedule for our EMT training by the next meeting. Jerry will
be calling the person in charge of EMT training this coming Monday.
Within six months, Alcor Nevada should have at least three EMTs.
Clark County Fire Dept.
Richard Dismukes, the Acting Paramedic Coordinator at the Clark
County Fire Dept. told Cindy Piturka that the fire department would
not honor our medical bracelets. I will contact him before the next
meeting and point out that I have a letter from Donald S. Kwalick,
MD, State Health Officer, saying that he finds nothing wrong with
cryonics. To make life interesting, he is the person that Jerry will
be contacting about EMT training this following Monday. Oh, talking
about the government wasting our money, the local fire department
building cost $10 million! I would much rather they had spent the
money on fire trucks and firemen's salaries.
Doctors
Currently, no one has a firm commitment from their doctor to help
stabilize them while they wait for Alcor's suspension team. Don
Laughlin's doctor has shown some support, but he hasn't read the
protocol to the best of our knowledge. Katie Kars promised to send
me a list of life extension doctors in the area, and I received it
Friday. I'll call them next week and see if any of them will help
cryonicists. Our goal is to find at least one doctor in the area
that we can trust won't try to kill us. This doctor could then be
everyone's family doctor.
Coroner
I passed around the Las Vegas Review-Journal February 10th article on
the Clark County coroner, Ron Flud. We discussed ways to influence
coroners, including raising money for their campaigns if they are
elected officials. For instance, in Riverside, $10K was raised to
get a nice coroner elected to office to replace the one that gave us
so many problems. I plan on speaking to Ron Flud after we have begun
EMT training and located a nice doctor in the Las Vegas area.
I mentioned that I had committed Alcor Nevada to pay for $5,000 of
Alcor Boston medical equipment once they had trained someone as an
EMT. I won't try to raise this money from our members until Alcor
Boston needs it.
Recruiting Members
The following ideas were tried to recruit members for our first
meeting: 1) I posted flyers all over the UNLV campus. No response.
2) Don Laughlin gave two radio interviews. No response. 3) Don
Laughlin agreed to have an interview with the local ABC TV station
with reporter Mary Ruth Carleton. She hasn't arranged the interview
yet although she did interview Katie Kars in the past so this will
eventually be done. 4) I sent a note to the local events section of
the Las Vegas Review-Journal but it wasn't published. I didn't give
an exact date; instead I said we meet every second Sunday. I also
sent the note way before the next meeting and I have since noticed
that the local events section doesn't publish anything until a few
days before the meeting. I will give an exact date and send the note
a little later this time. 5) I tried to arrange to speak at the
astronomy club run by Lonni Hammagren. Nothing has happened yet, but
I'll keep you informed on my progress. 6) I agreed to speak at Ken
Kramer's classes but nothing has happened yet. 7) I tried to send a
flyer along with a Libertarian's campaign mailing, but he didn't
follow through. Unfortunately, the Libertarians aren't very well
organized in this state. I also attended the state Libertarian
convention and didn't see a lot of good prospects for our group.
New ideas on recruiting people: 1) Harry Braun suggested that we
advertise on cable. We could reach 40 million people for $5,000. He
is about to try this to promote a book he wrote. I told him to work
out the details and I could guarantee that Alcor Nevada would be able
to raise enough money to try this idea. The main idea that Harry
wants to try is the effect of continuous ads. Alcor has a tendency
to be in the public eye for a short while at a time, while ad
research has shown that a consumer needs to see something at least
three times before he begins to respond to it. 2) Don Laughlin could
have a slot machine that has the prize of a free Alcor membership.
He would have the only casino that gave you a chance at immortality!
This could give us a lot of free publicity. And it would reinforce
the idea that we are trying to promote through Omni that cryonics is
a prize.
Ideas that have worked in recruiting people: 1) The only idea that I
have done that worked was advertising to the MIT Nanotechnology Group
mailing list. Nearly all Alcor Boston members are members of that
group. That's why I was disappointed that my posting flyers at the
university failed. Of course, UNLV isn't exactly a high tech
university. You should see the tiny shack that they call a
technology building. Oh well.
I have commitments from three people who missed this meeting due to
being out of the state or conflicting work schedules to make the next
meeting. So minus the three people from Arizona who probably won't
make the next meeting, we'll have about nine people at the next
meeting. In other words, we'll need to recruit some people via word
of mouth in order to beat our current record of nine people for Alcor
Nevada meetings. Hopefully we'll pull it off.
Deprenyl
Ron Piturka mentioned that his dog acted a lot more lively once he
was given Deprenyl. I mentioned that Walter Vannini, an Alcor Boston
member, takes this drug with little effect. But it was mentioned
that this drug seems to only help older animals, and Ron's dog was
100+ in dog years. This drug is normally prescribed for Parkinson's
and seems to slow down brain aging. It is the only drug or vitamin
that I recommend. I will probably start taking it at age 30 or 35.
A few of our Alcor members are getting up there and they may wish to
consider taking Deprenyl to improve their quality of life. I was
told that this drug costs $120/bottle. Walter, please let us know
how much you are paying for Deprenyl.
Anniversary Dinner
Jerry Searcy and I will be attending the 20th anniversary dinner for
the Alcor Life Extension Foundation on April 4th and the Alcor
business the following day at Saul Kent's place. If any other Las
Vegans want to carpool with us, give me a call. If any of the
Arizonans will be driving through, they should let me know. There
will be a lot of important people at this meeting, including the top
cryonics researcher, Greg Fahy.
Donations
I pointed out how helpful my small $5,000 donation was to the Alcor
New York group and how it jump-started their organization. If anyone
else wants to make a difference through small donations of a $100 or
more, they should let me know and I'll look for suitable areas where
their donations will act as a catalyst. Oh, it looks like I'm one
trade away from being able to make small donations of a couple
hundred dollars on a monthly basis. Let's hope Bank of Worchester
goes up another point next week!
Patient Care Fund
I'm now one of the three people in charge of the patient care fund.
I hope to increase it greatly from its one million dollars in the
coming years. I'll post updates on our investment decisions if there
is much interest.
24,000 Frozen Human Embryos
That's how many embryos are frozen according to the Dec 30, 1991
issue of U.S. News & World Report. So there is a chance that someone
could get frozen twice in life, once before birth, and once after
legal death. I wonder what nickname we could give such people?
Wasp Venom Gives Clues to Some Brain Traumas
The August 30, 1991 issue of the Wall Street Journal showed that this
venom binds to the receptors that normally serve as docking sites for
glutamic acid, a neurotransmitter in mammals and insects. In strokes
and heart attacks, the brain often produces an excess of glutamic
acid which then destroys brain cells. This venom, or a drug derived
from it, could be used to prevent this brain damage.
Cryonics: Reaching For Tomorrow
Most of my copies of this well written paperback by Brian Wowk and
Michael Darwin were taken from me at this meeting. It was great that
there was a demand for this literature. I hate it when I have piles
of literature that no one has a need for.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be on the second Sunday of next month, April
12th, at 5:00 PM at the Riverside casino in Laughlin, Nevada. Take
95 south from Las Vegas, through Henderson, where it forks between 95
and 93. Bear right at the fork and stay on 95 past Searchlight until
you reach the intersection with 163 a little before the border with
California. Go left on 163 and stay on it until you see signs for
Laughlin. You can't miss the Riverside Casino in Laughlin, Nevada.
For more information, call Eric Klien at (702) 255-1355. I'll be
carpooling there with other Las Vegans.
Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=671