Ted Williams signed a note favoring "bio-stasis"
The note, signed 11/2/2000, was left in the trunk of John Henry Williams' car and got stained. It reads: "11-2-00 JHW, Claudia and Dad all agree to be put into bio-stasis after we die. This is what we want, to be able to be together in the future, even if it is only a chance."

Everyone else has already written about the blog meetup last week, but I suppose I must have my say - or else, what's a weblog for? Alison's writeup covers it thoroughly. I decided to go at the last minute and Shelly was game to go, too. My expectations were low, but I did want especially to meet Anita, whose List of Links and Book of Days I have read for years. The location on Rainier Ave. S was an unusual choice, but actually pretty good - it's an easy shot over I-90 from the Eastside. The Starbucks was about as sorry a one as I have seen outside of an airport. A surprising dozen people showed up. No one would confess to picking this venue; perhaps it was chosen by the mysterious "blog meetup" people in NYC!? I found it hard to hear at the Starbucks because of the background music and general noise level. Someone had the bright idea to drive down a few blocks to Columbia City and find a restaurant. The downside was that we lost Suzanne (Eat, Drink and Be Married) and Bridget (Vegan Bridget) in the move.

Salumeria on Hudson turned out to be a nice little Italian restaurant happy to see ten customers walk in on a weeknight. I have taken the liberty of posting Alex Lo's photograph of our table, so I could list everyone's name and blog.

Shelly	Anita (Anita's LOL)
Richard (Absolute Piffle)	Skip
Cameron (Dreamtime)	Alex's chair (Alex Lo)
Zoltan (Fuggit)	tyd hiding (Then You Discover)
Alison (Alison's Journal)	Stacey (Statanic Action)

We talked with Skip, who says he doesn't have a weblog. He came all the way from Poulsbo on public transit to this meetup. We gave him a ride over to Salumeria, even though our little van didn't have the back seat in and Skip had to just sit on the floor (it was only a couple of blocks). We talked quite a bit with Anita Rowland. Shelly and I both liked her. It was interesting to meet someone in person and know so much about her life already from reading her weblog and journal. We learned the fate of the motorhome (sold) which was the subject of the last entry in BOD for so long. We also talked a little to Cameron and Alex, who were on the other side of us. Cameron is smart and cute, and I suppose that applies to Alex also, who's a program manager at Expedia (or ought to be anyway). I thought there might be some crossover from the old S.M.U.G. (Seattle Modem User's Group), BBS folks who used to meet in West Seattle in the 1980s, but no such luck.

All in all, it was fun chatting with everyone. I wish we had changed seats a few times so we could mix better, but we thought of that too late. And I wish we had all printed out the first page of our weblog and taped it to our chests or something. I didn't put name/face/weblog together until later (I'm slow at this kind of thing). Everyone was really nice and interesting to talk with. I hope we do this again soon.

It's a small world department...
A letter (not online) in the current New Yorker comments on one of the obscure books mentioned in the article I blogged on June 27. It was a book by Edmund Ruffin about manure. The letter writer informs us that this book was a hit in the antebellum south and went through five editions. One of the reasons people became pioneers and went west was because the soil in Virginia was depleted. Ruffin's book showed them how to restore the soil on their farms. Edmund Ruffin used the profits from the book to devote himself to the cause of seccession and wound up firing the first shot at Fort Sumter. He later killed himself after the defeat of the South. Here is a nice short bio, which incidentally has the clearest summary of the causes of the Civil War that I have ever read.

Now further online research reveals that Ruffin had a friend and distant cousin, Col. George Blow. Blow was a fellow Virginia planter and a follower of Ruffin's methods for renewing the soil. Blow was also a seccesionist, though not such a fire-eater as Ruffin. During the Civil War, he was appointed a Lt. Colonel in the 14th Virginia Regiment of Infantry, got captured and exchanged and apparently sat out the rest of the war.

George Blow had a son, Judge George Blow, Jr and he in turn had a son, George Preston Blow. George P. Blow graduated from Annapolis and joined the Navy. In 1893 he married Adele Matthiessen of LaSalle, Illinois (Adele was the daughter of F.W. Matthiessen and Fannie Clara Möehler.) He was aboard the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor when it blew up in 1898, starting the Spanish American War. George P. Blow's Naval career included the invention of the depth charge. Later, he became president of the Western Clock Company, makers of Westclox (his wife's father owned the company).

Now, you're with me so far, right? Right. Well, it turns out his wife Adele was my first cousin, twice removed. What, you're not impressed? It's a long way to go for nothing? Oh well.

Seattle Weekly: The Long, Cold Road to Undeath
What, me dreamy? I get interviewed by the Seattle Weekly. We're signed up with Alcor, but the way, not Cryonics Institute.

---

One newspaper reports that Muhammad Ali supports cryonics. The Arizona Republic reports on the how Alcor deals with all the new found fame. Even ESPN gets in on the act.

NYTimes: Executor Says Williams's Will Doesn't Give True Wishes
This is just turning into the Ted Willaims blog! Ted Williams' will, written in 1985 and affirmed in 1996, was recorded with a Florida court. It says he wants to be cremated. His executor (an old friend) filed a petition saying this does not reflect his true wishes, that he later changed his mind and wanted his body to be placed in cryonic suspension. The executor does not want to change the disposition of the body, which he confirmed was at Alcor in Scottsdale. So this makes it definite: cryonics finally has a frozen celebrity, an event which has been much speculated upon in the past.

Boston Globe: Florida court may be arbiter on intent
The latest in the Ted Williams saga. There will have to be a court hearing to decide what happens to Ted Williams' body. Documents that he signed such as a will have priority. So far none have been made public. We must await the court date, which should happen within 10 days of his death, but there is no penalty for being late, so it is unsure.

Boston Globe reporter visits Alcor
A very nice story about cronics and Alcor by Raja Mishra. Shelly and I got the tour of Alcor a year ago February. We were impressed by their sincerity and by the thought that had gone into all their systems.

The Boston Herald has more on the Ted Williams soap opera
Some interesting details revealed here. His son wants cyronic suspension for himself, too. He discussed it with his dad a year ago. A Florida court will decide next week about the disposition of the body, and presumably we will finally hear from the other side and see what documents they have to prove that Ted Williams wanted to be frozen. Alcor usually requires a will for anatomical donation, notarized and with witnesses.

A reporter from the Seattle Weekly did a phone interview with me today about cryonics. It will be interesting to see what is published.

Pravda on fertility: "Multiplication of spermatozoa is impossible with lack of patriotism. According to scientists of State Scientific Centre of Preventive Medicine, negligence of patriotic education issue has negatively influenced spermatogenesis of men of Moscow Region."
Time to salute the flagpole!

NYTimes: Even for the Last .400 Hitter, Cryonics Is the Longest Shot
The New York Times weighs in on cryonics today, confirming that Ted Williams has been placed in cryonic suspension at Alcor. This is a good article and includes an interview with Dr. Jerry Lemler, the current president of Alcor. Shelly and I had dinner with Dr. Lemler and his wife a few years back at an Alcor conference. He's a good man and has done a lot to promote cryonics.

Seattle Times: Ted Williams in cryonics case
Nice article, fairly even-handed about cryonics. I'm happy to see that they are using the right word (NOT cryogenics). But the arguments against it are so strange:

Meanwhile, [Dr. Arthur] Caplan said that even if scientists can overcome all the problems associated with bringing someone back to life, he's not sure it'll be worth it — even for Williams, who was the most recent player to bat .400 with a .406 average in 1941. "Say I'm wrong, and Ted Williams could come back 200, 500 years from now," Caplan said. "With all of his descendants deceased and nobody remembering or caring who the Red Sox were, he'd be a complete, freakish oddity."

Why would all of his descendants be deceased? He could well have thousands of descendants, great-great-great grandchilden, after all that time. Plus, his son would presumably also be suspended. Meanwhile, MSNBC presents a small FAQ about cryonics and Wolf Blitzer did a segment today about cryonics, on CNN.

This is useful publicity, but two falsehoods have cropped up:

• His son can't have had Ted Williams' body shipped off to Alcor. The person to be suspended must make detailed arrangements and sign notarized documents while still alive. (One could argue that his son had undue influence.)
• It is hardly necessary to do cryonic suspension to get a DNA sample. A cotton swab with his saliva would be plenty of DNA to make all the clones you want, and could be frozen.

The Boston Globe reports that Ted Williams has been placed in cryonic suspension by Alcor in Scottsdale, Arizona. If true, he would be the first celebrity to be suspended. There were rumors that Walt Disney was frozen but this is generally discounted these days.

Jon Markman makes the case against index funds, esp. ones based on the S&P 500. His argument is that these "passive" indices are in fact managed and rather poorly.