Group makes y2k provisions to protect those in cryostasis

Power outage could thaw out bodies, heads Associated Press Mesa, Arizona

Apparently no ones immune from the Y2K computer bug, not even the dead.

Er  make that the not-quite-dead.

At a Scottsdale cryonics organization, workers are making provisions to ensure that 36 peoples bodies - or in some cases, only their heads - remain in deep-freeze through the turn of the millenium.

That means paying bills in advance of Jan. 1 and stockpiling a one-month supply of liquid nitrogen - the substance that keeps these wannabe immortals chilled to minus 320 degrees.

"If (the year 2000) is Armageddon, thats a big problem for people like us who..are responsible for 30 to 40 people in cryostasis," said Linda Chamberlain, co-founder of Alcor Life Extension Foundation.

Alcors stainless-steel tanks, known as "patient care bays," do not rely on traditional refrigeration, Chamberlain said. Consequently, if the electricity flickers out, they would not undergo an immediate meltdown.

But a long-term power outage could dissolve more than hopes, stopping suppliers from making and delivering liquid nitrogen.

Are Alcos leaders panicked?

If so, they dont show it.

Instead, these futuristic-minded folks convey the impression that the so-called millennium bug will be a brief hiccup, just another technological challenge on the way to the next century and possibly eternal life.

Operating in Arizona since 1994, Alcor bills itself as the worlds largest cryonics organization. Its 475 dues-paying members believe that 21st century science might provide cures for deadly illnesses, perhaps even concoct an antidote to aging.

Freezing is a backup, a last resort for humans who die today but think their bodies might be revived in some tomorrow-world.

from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 10, 1999 page 12B.

-- Lynn Racliffe (mcgrew@ntr.net), October 10, 1999

Answers

OH...MY...GAWD!! Here in the frigid North, if the power goes out on people who haven't prepared, they will find themselves in "patient care bays"...no charge.

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), October 10, 1999.

* * * 19991010 Sunday

... ROFLMAO!!! ...

Perhaps these muddle-heads should book the cryostatic immortals on the National Guard rescue flight scheduled to pick up the female scientist with cancer.

It's -60 Celsius down there in the Antarctic. All they'd have to do is stick 'em out in 'open' "patient care bays." (How cold is liquid nitrogen?)

What a rip!?! ... LOL!! ...

Regards, Bob Mangus

* * *

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus1@yahoo.com), October 10, 1999.

I like this quote the best:

"If (the year 2000) is Armageddon, thats a big problem for people like us..."

Armageddon just ain't what it used to be.....

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), October 10, 1999.

Jeez, guys, woud it be prudent to go ahead and have ourselves put into cryostasis NOW, and get ourselves thawed out after the y2k curse has been eliminated? After all, that way we wouldn't have to face all these difficult moral decisions.

Al

-- Al K. Lloyd (all@ready.now), October 10, 1999.

If someone tries to sell you a funny lookin' stainless steel water buffalo after the roll-over...DON'T BUY IT!

-- Ocotillo (peeling@out.___), October 11, 1999.

I'm trying as hard as I can to get interested in this thread, but it just leaves me cold...

-- Ann M. (hismckids@aol.com), October 11, 1999.

t8alk about chilled out

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasn@yahoo.com), October 11, 1999.