Lassen County Times
I made it in the Lassen County Times as a front page feature. Click here to be re-directed to the webpage where you can dowload a hi res version to read.
posted by Gina @ 7:56 PM
My Computer Animations & Art
3D Studio Max animation - and more.
About Me
- Name: Gina
- Location: WA, Seattle, United States
I am an artist, I make textured paintings as well as computer generated 2D and 3D animations (if you are interested see: nanogirl.com). I'm also interested/involved in nanotechnology and other emerging sciences that could help solve some of our worlds problems (disease, hunger, pollution).
Links
Previous Posts
- Butterflies and dragonflies
- Happy Hearts Day!
- My Green Screen
- Immortality Institute film
- New metaXLR8 image
- The Documentary For WUSL
- Artpad
- Thee, thy hermit
- Fireside Reading
- Poochie
Friday, February 17, 2006
I made it in the Lassen County Times as a front page feature. Click here to be re-directed to the webpage where you can dowload a hi res version to read.
16 Comments:
An excellent article about you, Gina! I like the fish story. :)
Interesting photo, the way your left eye is the only one exposed, and it's juxtaposed against the right eye of the artwork behind you. (You look great, as always.)
Congrats! --David
Thanks, Gina, for sending this new recognition of your talents. Now please tell me how to find the jump of the front pg. on P. 16A. Toto keeps looking over the laurel hedge as though she knows Tearsa is out there somewhere. Love and best wishes to you three.Toto's Mom
Hi David, long time no post. The goldfish story was my first experience with cryonics and was very powerful, it holds a real sense of nostalgia for me, especially considering where I am in my life today. I think I recall you commenting on an early recitation of it in my Bioethics of Cryonic Suspension paper, you liked my "I wish, I wish I was like a fish." sentence, remember? I hope the Navel W dept. is treating you kindly, we've really missed you and the rest of the nanotech gang since we've haven't been able to attend the conferences recently. Wish I could have been there to see you live in action presenting those Nanogirl animations : ) By the way you can see that photo in color in my press kit. The Dermal Display animation generated so much press I had to make one, at a certain point I couldn't even keep track of the coverage. What an profound experience, I'm ready for my next nano animation. I look forward to your update email. And thank you my dear friend.
Hi Toto's Mom, it' so good to see you here! I think I heard Toto today! Okay to get to 16A put your mouse on the very bottom scroll bar and scroll to your right. If it still doesn't work let me know and I'll figure something else out. Your friend, Gina
Congratulations Gina! It is nice to see you getting recognition for your brilliance! Keep up the great work.
All my best to you and your family.
Katie
Hello Katie. I believe you are the person I've known the longest to post on this blog. Glancing over your photos, you look as young and sweet as ever. Congratulations to you too for your well deserved magazine coverage! I'm not surprised, listening to your intellectual and soothing music has brought me many moments of respite. Thank you so much for your generous comments.
Gina,
Very cool. Congrats to you. I really enjoyed reading the article.
A. Hanson
Aw, thank you A! Very nice of you to take the time to read it and come post a comment. It means a lot to me.
Hi Gina,
That is a nice article! Great story about the goldfish; I don't think I heard that one. Hope to see you soon.
Bob
Well thank you kindly Bob! Lovely to hear your thoughts. I was thinking about maybe doing an animation of the goldfish story, but I'm not sure yet. We hope so too and I think Jim is getting ready to send you an email about it. Hugs to everyone.
You have quite a memory!! Yes, I do recall commenting on the fish story before, though couldn't remember the context.
I've missed you too. . . can't wait for you and Jim to return to the conferences, soon I hope.
D
Thank you Dave for my birthday present.
Hi Gina!
That is a very good and interesting article! The fish story is great..I never thought about the possibility of that happening to a living being before I read this article, is quite amazing. I wonder what the conditions to keep the fish alive in the cold would be. I was thinking about birds in cold weather...I don't think the same thing can happen to them, though.
Martha
Hi Martha, I've been wondering how you were doing. With all your endeavors you must be quite busy, but it sure is good to see you around! Hope you are enjoying your necklace, by the way in case I forgot to mention, you have a lifetime guarantee for repairs if ever needed on your pendant.
I'm glad you enjoyed the article, I was very pleased with how it came out. There are even smaller examples of long term natural cryopreservation specimens such as micromycetes and actinobacteria (and some others - see my paper link below), and larger animals such as the wood frog, and many other small critters. There have also been artificial (or man induced) crypreservation examples like human embryos and sperm at the fertilization clinics and within research institutes as well as roundworms, frogs, fish, full organs and there was even a dog that ended up on an afternoon talk show, although he wasn't brought down to the same low temperature that suspension does.
Here's a household experiment, capture a fly, put it in the freezer, pull it back out to thaw and watch it fly away. Of course it is the larger organisms that are most intriguing as it relates to human implementation. Now in our case, we need cryoprotectant where as some of these smaller organisms already have more natural "antifreeze" properties with in them which helps them survive and revive from being naturally frozen. In the case of the wood frog before winter arrives, he eats a lot of carbohydrate which during a frozen state uses the glycogen to raise its blood sugar levels for cryoprotection.
Of course cryonic suspension isn't really a problem, Dr. James Bedford has been suspended since 1967 and there have been many more since that time, 69 are suspended currently at Alcor and 773 members signed up. There are other providers as well, so the number is higher than that, but since I am signed up with Alcor I just don't know the others stats off the top of my head. What the real issue will be is the revival process, which obviously has not been achieved yet (with humans, the examples above however have been revived). We will need to not only repair the freezing damage of the patient but also whatever ailed them in the first place. The nice thing about Alcor is they are not only providers but they continue on with research to help in the process as well, the most recent example being vitrification, which even visually looks more like solid glass then the typical frozen cracks and fog. This is a vast improvement for preservation. You can see a comparative image here: http://www.boingboing.net/images/_images_kidney.jpg
What sort of advanced technology could revive someone, you guessed it, nanotechnology! It's the one thing that could repair all that cellular damage, but of course like I said in the newspaper feature, I would prefer the full capabilities of nanotech happen with in my life time so as to avoid cryonic suspension all together.
What's interesting about cryonics is that it goes back a lot farther than the last century, and you won't believe who suggested it in an early documented letter. Benjamin Franklin, in 1773 he wrote ""I wish it were possible from this instance to invent a method of embalming drowned persons, in such a manner that they may be recalled to life, however distant."
You can read more about cryonics and some history in my paper here: http://www.nanoindustries.com/feature/cryoethics.html
Gina, the pendants are very nice. My husband and I (and his daughter) like it a lot. I may have to ask you sometime for a little "retouch" on one of them, in order to strengthen the heart attachemnent.
Yes, I've been busy. But I am almost finished with my MSE program at UW (I need only 3 additional credits that will complete next quarter, one of the courses I needed to finish the program has not been available).
I am also working on a very exciting entrepreneurial project on the use of biodegradable plastics in disposable medical products. If everything works out, I hope in the near future to have this project implemented.
By the way, I read your article on cryonics and is quite fascinating. I understand the reason why many people would like to preserve their bodies. And yes, it surely has something to do with our natural desire to eliminate the experience of death, especially the frightening idea of our mind/spirit anhilation. But, if we were certain that our spirits live forever, would you choose to have your body preserved and come back to life in that body? I don't think I would.
Of course nowadays nobody can be certain about what happens after we are gone. I would like for science to progress to a point where we can answer that question in the future, though.
Gina, you do a very good job...I admire your work. I have a wonderful time always reading your blog!
Martha
Hello Martha - Absolutely no problem, if you still have my address you can mail it to me and I will strengthen it for you and send it back (for free of course). If you don't have my address any longer just send me an email at nanogirl@halcyon.com and I will send it to you.
You are really coming along with the MSE program, I hope the missing required class is available as soon as you need it. Kudos for all your hard work.
Wonderful news about your project, it sounds interesting. I'm curious to know what your base is? Are you talking about natural polymers? Or are you starting a level up from the manufacturing process? I understand you might not be able to discuss due to proprietary issues (or other) and if that's the case I'll just anticipate your later updates. How exciting! Congratulations to you.
Thanks for reading the cryonics paper. To answer your question, this point becomes an issue of belief. If I believed that my body had a spirit that lives forever there might be a contradiction in biologically living forever and I completely understand your point, in fact it's probably the number one reason why those who don't sign up, don't. But I think it matters what one thinks a spirit is (or if they think it is at all), what is a spirit? Others believe that it is a core self that is unseen and not necessarily a part of a body but rather that the body is a shell for the spirit. I personally think what is commonly referred to as the spirit or soul is really the me that resides in my brain. For myself it is my mind, my personality, it is all of my experiences and how I process all those neurons. To me, this is where my core self lives and in fact I wouldn't term it technically as a soul or spirit since I haven't found a physical property of this definition. I understand and accept that a lot of others feel differently, but since this is my own interpretation, there is no conflict for me. Wonderful comment(s) Martha, it's always fun to talk with you.
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