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.  

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