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[11 Nov 2009|08:33pm] |
This t-shirt is interesting:( Read more... )
If you were to create a piece of clothing to aid in surviving not just a Zombie emergency but the aftermath, what would you put on it? Could we as a community create such a concise shirt?
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| Know Your Enemy. |
[11 Nov 2009|11:52pm] |
So you go home after a long day at work on Friday and crash only to wake up sick and spend Saturday in bed. That bites. You wake up refreshed on Sunday and turn on the tv to hear that widespread panic and chaos has overtaken at least the city, possibly the world. You don't get much information because the newscaster suddenly stops in the middle of his script, looks horrified at something offscreen and speaks the words you will never forget: "Wait, why is that guy getting back up, he is already dead." Than the channel suddenly goes to static.
Like I said, that bites (pun intended).
One of your first jobs for survival will need to be learning what the zombies are capable of because that will dictate how you deal with them. It is important to know what to look for (ie: how do you tell zombie puppy apart from injured rabid dog with stamina if you see it), how to evaluate your sources (ie: "dude, it was 30 feet tall and ate virgin babies" is probably not trustworthy), and have alternate sources of information in case your main sources go down or is less than helpful (ie: if radio, tv, and internet all go down/are censored than you need to know where to go next). If you are going to learn by personal observation than it would be good to have some fallback plans in case they are more powerful or hearty than you originally expected.
Some things to consider and some possible variations (but not all):
How to kill: any headshot kills, brain only, brain-stem only, heart, burn every part, cannot be killed.
Movement: slow walking zombies, runners, climbers, swimmers, jumpers, crawlers
Distribution: generally solitary, always solitary, heard instinct, swarm instinct, pack instinct.
"Infection": turned when injured by zombie, turned when bitten, on any death, the past graves will rise.
Intelligence: Braaaains...., dumb animal intelligence, dog-like, human, extraterrestrial guidance, hive mind, memories of life, skills from life.
Strength: Human strength minus injury, super strength, rigor-mortise hampered, clumsy strength.
And, of course, anything else that might be important: Give your ideas on what else might be important and how you would learn about it.
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| School Forts? |
[06 Nov 2009|09:46pm] |
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Fly From the Inside by Shinedown |
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Some time ago I made a post about using abandoned schools as forts. The local high school has some really impressive stats. So, I went out and did a small trek though these to see what was able to be used and what wasn't such a good idea.
Most of them happen to be well, small schools (100 student max), but have plenty of room for living and secure grounds with heavy earthen walls or modern fenses. The one I choose to do the MOST looking into was the local high school, which is pictured below the cut w/ stats.
( School Forts? )
Here are the stats:
A: The main building houses 600+ students, 2 floors w/basement.
B: Vocational Studies building houses 100 - 150 students, has work shops for electronics, automechanics, carpentry/wood working, and metal shop.
C: Track area suitable for additional space.
D: Football area suitable for additional space.
E: Gym which is suitable for additional space or storage.
F: Technology Building has a small radio broadcasting facility as well as computer access and electronics access with a cafe.
G: Pool suitable for additional space or large water collection if needed, also contains assortment of filters.
H: Baseball area suitable for additional space or using portions for bunkers or fortified storage lockers.
I: Softball area suitable for additional space.
J: Vehicle Garrage suitable for secure vehicle transport area or working on automobiles with a 3 medium vehicle garrage.
K: Sanatation area suitable for keeping a clean sanatized facility which takes care of the main building only, other building have seperate systems that should be intergrated soon.
L: Local graveyard which is secure yet a bit too close for comfort.
M: Access point, a bridge that enables you to get to the facilities.
N: A local dam that can be used for water collection or hydroelectric power.
O: A 3 - 4 small vehicle secure garrage.
P: A local residence that has access to the main highway and facilities.
Q: A local store/residence that isn't secure yet could be easily.
R: The water treatment facility for water storage and filtering from the local river and dam.
The different colored areas are the areas that are secure and enclosed with a heavy solid backed chainlink fense and gates at several points. If you guys want more pics, I have them. ^^
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| Yahr! |
[06 Nov 2009|01:40pm] |
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Vampire Diaries |
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| The two books combined would be EPIC. |
[05 Nov 2009|07:08pm] |
In response to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) shaved_ape's assessment of Zombies - A Record of the Year of Infection. I'd agree for the most part, though I wouldn't really call it a "cheap paperback" - it's printed on good paper and has some pretty good artwork in it. I think of old Del Ray paperbacks with pulpy paper when someone says "cheap paperbacks." Also, I don't think it's unrealistic to ask for a little suspension of disbelief when it comes to pretending that it's a collection of field notes from a doctor trapped in a zombie outbreak. It is a book about zombies, after all. Besides, the publisher couldn't actually tape newspaper clippings to the pages, or stain the paper with a coffee mug - not without making it twice as expensive.
I'd definitely agree that it presents no new concepts or story lines that haven't already been explored in other zombie stories. Maybe the idea of a scientific journal dedicated to zombies is original, but that alone certainly isn't enough to call anything about the story "original".
I received this book as a gift and I'm pretty happy about it. I might be a little more critical if I'd spent $20 of my own money on it.
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| Zombies (another book) |
[05 Nov 2009|11:15pm] |
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Skunk Anansie - Weak |
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This week I have been mostly reading: Zombies - A Record Of The Year Of Infection by (The Improbably named) Dr. Robert Twombly.
This book models itself on a "found" journal of a medical researcher and catalogues the first year of the zombie infection, from outbreak to global pandemic. It does this competently but with little that hasnt already appeared somewhere. Where the book falls down is that it markets itself as a "found manuscript" and is supposedly a handwritten journal, complete with the authors own illustrations. No attempt has been made by the publisher to make the book look or feel anything remotely like that. Its very obviously a cheap paperback. The "publishers note" which is supposed to explain the books origins just ends up cheapening the whole affair.
Its not a bad book and some of the illustrations are pretty cool, it just doesnt do much of anything that is original. Its a let down.
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| The Big Chill |
[04 Nov 2009|08:16pm] |
I've been re-reading WWZ recently and it mentions that the global human survival rate was helped by a series of severe winters.
If we assume that industrial manufacturing activity drops to effectively zero, and car travel likewise drops to 1% then within a year we would see CO2 levels drop to the same level as 1900. Looking at the temperature for London for that period (it was accurately measured and so a good yard stick) we see that it isn't until 1911 that we get a year that is described as 'warm'.
While this helps us fighting Jonny Zulu it does put the kibosh on farming in some areas.
Your homework for today: Find out what the weather and harvests were like in your area in 1900-1910.
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| had a zombie dream last night... |
[04 Nov 2009|01:41pm] |
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The Daily Show |
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...and it woke me up.
Not quite a nightmare, it didn't get to that point, but it was heading there. Sleepy, barely awake me stumbled around for a bit still operating as if that were the reality, it being pitch black I was nervous at every sound, and I had this one nervous thought.
I'm safe so long as I don't go outside!
Along with whoever is currently living in your house with you, how long do you think you can survive with the amount of food and water that you currently possess?
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| zombie dreams |
[04 Nov 2009|11:28am] |
I had a zombie-related dream last night. This one a bit weird.
Anyone else have zombie dreams? Care to share?
Here's mine below. But this wasn’t your typical “Holy-Crapola-I-Just-Woke-Up-There’s-Zombies-Everywhere” zombie dream.
( alternative history? )
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| Zombie Walk in Windsor, On. |
[02 Nov 2009|01:56pm] |
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Here is a picture of my costume for our Zombie Walk on the 23rd of October. I wanted to go with something people will remember and pick out from the horde. Easily to say, it was. I won 1st prize costume.
( Zombie goodness here )
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| Zombie Shoot |
[02 Nov 2009|12:13pm] |
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My husband’s Aikido sensei has been teaching his students marksmanship on the side for a while now. Apparently this year he and his sempai got a crazy idea and decided to put together what they are hoping will be an annual zombie shoot on Halloween.
Basically, he set up a range according to IDPA rules. The only differences were that we were all instructed to arrive at the range in ‘zombie hunter gear’ including hand-to-hand weapons. Interpretations of that instruction ran the spectrum from a Tallahassee costume to fully-equipped tactical harnesses. Also, the targets were a little… non-traditional. Participation was invitation-only, mostly for safety reasons, but a flexible sense of humor was also required.
( A Few Photos of the Course )
For the first run-through, we all got to use our own personal weapons. Completing the course was timed. You were disqualified if you took more than five seconds to reload your gun, if you failed to hit a target in the brain, if you ran out of ammo before all targets were hit, or, of course, if you broke any of the safety rules. Anyone who did not successfully complete the course was ‘bitten’ and a zombified photograph of them was posted for the next shooter on the target wearing the ‘Loser’ t-shirt.
For the second run-through, we drew which weapon we would ‘find’ from a hat. We then had to take out one ‘crawler’ (a gore-filled balloon head) with our melee weapon before ‘finding’ the randomly selected gun. Each shooter then had ten seconds to clear the gun, figure out how it worked, and collect any available magazines and ammo before starting the course. If the shooter ran out of ammo, was not able to ready the gun in time, etc., the course had to be finished with the melee weapon alone and a penalty was assigned for having to close distance with a zombie.
Not the most reverent of Halloween festivities, but a great deal of fun was had by all. The winner received a zombie hunter patch and some Twinkies.
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| Food growing on its own? |
[01 Nov 2009|11:07pm] |
In my continuous travels, I have noticed how much food is grown ALL over the USA. Corn mostly, and that corn being corn to be used to feed animals, or now a days, even moreso to produce corn syrup and biofuels. However, I have also seen carrots, greenbeans, peas, SHITLOADS of stupid wine grapes, and various fruits. I have also seen significant amounts of cash crops including primarily cotton, and tobacco.
What happens to all of these UNHARVESTED fields next year? Will new crops spring up from the unharvested bounty? Is it possible that there maybe whole fields of crops growing on their own, year after year? Could there maybe actually be fields of food out there for the harvesting?
Or, are our foods so genetically altered, that we need to actually get seeds from a manufacturer instead of what comes out of the plants themselves? Will the seeds that we have stored for Z-day produce food that yeilds us more seeds for the next planting? Does any of our food actually grow anywhere NATURALLY anymore? Can I go out into some randome NON farm field and find greenbeans growing? Potatoes? Carrots? Even corn?
I do know that peas still grow naturally in the wild. I find them often enough growing on the edge of the road in Virginia, mixed in with the orange Tiger Lillys. But, what else is out there growing on its own? What else out there has the potential to feed us? Particularly when we wont likely have knowledgable farmers with their seeds, equipement, and fertalizers, and such...
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| Halloween for the Living Dead |
[01 Nov 2009|07:17pm] |
This is my 11 year old nephew, Jake. I did his zombie make-up for Halloween yesterday. He helped me scare the big goblins that came to may haunted porch for candy.
The white shirt and red tie are from a couple years ago when he went as Shaun of the Dead. We just added more red.
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| menu for zombie marathon? |
[30 Oct 2009|01:12pm] |
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We are hosting a zombie movie marathon for Halloween (postponed from Easter). We are trying to make our menu fit the theme. I need some suggestions if anyone has any. We will be having bone-in ribs with a nice red BBQ sauce. I also have a brain mold I was going to use to make brain mashed potatoes (possibly with a gray colored gravey). I need a vegetable idea and maybe a desert. I know, not related to zombie survival but I figure I'm not the first to throw this kind of party out of this group. Thanks!
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| Pontypool |
[30 Oct 2009|12:50am] |
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Ben E. King - Stand By Me |
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I love the cinema but there is a combination of three words more cast-iron-guaranteed to get me there than any other: New. Zombie. Movie. This is how Pontypool, the independent Canadian movie was sold on me.
( Read more... )
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