The Mardi Gras of Cryonics

By John Bull

When the CBS News show Sunday Morning featured the Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival on March 16, it was the first time the Festival received national media attention. Appropriately, the segment that carried it was usually reserved for reporting on the oddball and eccentricities of American life. They were right on the money in this case.

The origin of the festival goes back to November of 1989. That’s when Bredo Morstoel died in Norway. His grandson Trygve Bauge, packed grandpa in dry ice and shipped him to Trans Time’s facility in California, where the body was stored in liquid nitrogen. After four years Bauge moved grandpa to Nederland, Colorado, and placed him in a storage shed, packed in dry ice.

Originally, the local officials were against having the body stored there, but later relented a little, by grand fathering grandpa in!! Things were relatively quiet after that, except for the occasional film crew that came to do a story. Then about two years ago some of the locals with the Chamber of Commerce were trying to figure out a way to boost tourism.

One of them remembered "the dead guy in the shed," and from that the Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival was born. This year’s festival, the second, attracted folks from all parts of the country.

Some of the attractions were a coffin race, a movie, "Grandpa’s Still in the Tuff Shed," a parade of old hearses, Dead guy look alike contests, and for $25, a trip to the Tuff shed where Grandpa rests on dry ice. Tuff Sheds, the official home of Grandpa, were everywhere, from the coffin race’s finish line to the official headquarters, many of them stocked with Dead Guy Ale, T-shirts and similar paraphernalia.

Meanwhile, Bauge, having lived in this country for fourteen years without a visa, passport or green card was deported.

When asked if he would ever be allowed back in, he replied, "I qualified for the general amnesty that Ronald Reagan offered in 1986, but I did not apply for amnesty. I assume I would be allowed back in if I applied for a passport and visa. However, I prefer to work towards removing all passport, visa and work permit requirements. Basically, the way I see it, entrepreneurial liberty and life-extension go hand in hand. You won’t get drastic improvements in human life expectancy without entrepreneurial liberty. There was a time when people took pride in being un-documented and equated that with liberty. I still do." Considering conditions in the world today, he shouldn’t count on the light being left on for him.

Bauge recently referred to the Festival as the Mardi Gras of Cryonics. David Verbeke chided Trygve on Cryonet for the circus atmosphere surrounding Frozen Dead Guy Days. Verbeke, living in Belgium, is CI’s contact person for Belgians:

Mr. Trygve Bauge,

You're comparing this 'frozen dead guy festival' with Mardi grass. Your comparison is correct, although I think you have a rather wrong idea about the value of Mardi grass.

If it's Mardi grass, what do we see on TV? We see drag queens dancing half naked in the streets of a major city. That makes every gay man a stereotype fag in the head of many people, just like your show makes every cryonicist a crackpot in the mind of a lot of people who see and hear it. Remember that it wasn't those who were dancing half-naked in the streets that gave gays more rights. It was those who were doing the serious emancipation work and lobbying to politicians, trying to change their minds of those who were filled with pictures of Mardi grass.

Maybe some common folk may like this little party now, and the city tries to make some benefit from it. But will it last? Do you think such actions can build a solid soil for the rights of cryonicists? I'm convinced of the contrary.

Verbeke David

CI-member

philosophy student UG

http://groups.msn.com/cryonicsbelgium

Cheer up,

Let me quote the Danish Author Piet Heine: "The one that always takes the light lightly and the serious seriously,

he and she have understood both poorly!" This event isn't there to build support for cryonics in Colorado, it is there because of the support that Cryonics (thanks to yours truly) already has in Colorado!

The Chamber of Commerce is basically (with my approval) cashing in on the fact that my Grandfather is the most famous resident in the town of Nederland Colorado. His presence there has put Nederland on the world map and attracted film crews and TV stations to the town every year for the last 10 years. The Chamber correctly saw that this was an opportunity to get a festival going and to drum up some business. The United States was founded on the right to the pursuit of happiness, and what better way to be happy than with a fun Winter carnival?

It is a free world, (sort of) at least those who like to party are still free to do so, Luckily there is no Cryonics police trying to outlaw Cryonics related parties. If you think such parties are a threat to cryonics, then we disagree and luckily you don't have the power to stop our party.

The Frozen Dead Guy Days have lasted two years so far, and that is longer than most other events. My other large Winter carnival, the annual New Year's Day dip at Boulder reservoir just had its twentieth anniversary with more than 450 icebathers. Maybe Frozen dead Guy days will be as long lived? But if it doesn't so what?

The festival is just one of many activities organized around my grandfather's suspension over the years: An award winning short movie has been made, lots of TV programs have been made etc. I am favourable to activities that keep him and his situation in the public eye. It makes it easier to maintain him in the long run that way.

The Chamber of Commerce have organized the event and contributed a lot of volunteer efforts and money to get it going. (Their budget for the festival this year is USD 35,000 and they have had one director working on it full time for a year.)

I for one am grateful for the support.

I think cryonisists should use the opportunity that this festival is, and participate in the planning of next year's festival.

Here is a successful festival, and lots of volunteers, and all we have to do is to participate We could combine the festival with a cryonics conference at the local motel, and an information table on main street. There is a film festival paarallel to the Frozen dead Guy Days, so we could show selected cryonics movies as well

Ayn Rand died on March the 6th 1982. The calendar based on her death, has now come to: 21.004 (that is 21 years and 4 days after Ayn Rand). Thus the Frozen dead Guy festival is kind of a New Years party for those of us who

stick to this calendar. She didn't want to be frozen, though she knew Ettinger.

However, she wanted people at her death to celebrate life and achievement and life at its best, so a celebration is appropriate. The attempt to restore life to those that are frozen, is one of many possibly highly life-extending ventures, and certainly worth an annual celebration.

Trygve Bauge

trygve@bauge.com

Se: www.trygve.bauge.com