Tag Archives: Survival
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Zombies
Zombie survival guides are a blood-stained dime a dozen, but won’t somebody please 
think of the zombies? It’s a hard “life,” full of unending hunger, long monotonous stretches of boredom, a homogenous diet, and unceasing drool. Plus, you never get to change into a clean pair of underwear, and that’s just bad luck.
Well, I’m somebody—a yummy body to the zombies—and I’m happy to oblige. It seems fitting that I, man of alterity and otherness, would be considerate of the needs of zombies. You don’t get much more otherwise than they. So without further moaning, zombie-walk ado, I present seven habits of highly effective zombies.
- Get Involved in a Community – The lone wolf or isolated zombie is easily seen, easily avoided, and easily whacked. Join a mass of your fellow flesh-eaters and stay hidden. It offers you safety, strength in numbers, and a better chance of surrounding and getting your mouth on some of that living meat you so excitedly crave.
- Be Patient – Aristotle taught that virtue is a mean between excess and defect. When you’re in a group advancing on your prey, don’t rush to the front where you’ll be the first to fall, and don’t meander at the very back where you’ll never get your hands on even a multiply-stomped-on strip of intestine. You want to be close to the front, but biding your time. Wait for the frontline zombies to wear down the food. When it’s your turn to strike, your meal will be exhausted, out of bullets, and primed for you, the walking abattoir.
- Have Foresight – This habit is also important before you become a zombie. If you know you’re doomed to be dinner and maybe to life as a zombie, try to get bitten on a part of your body that won’t slow you down or handicap you later. Avoid bites on the leg. You’ll want mobility. The face is fine, but make sure you still have a working jaw. You can get by without an arm, but you’ll be a much more effective killer with all your appendages intact. I recommend guiding the gnawing jaw of a zombie to your chest or back.
- Keep Your Moaning to a Minimum – No sense in announcing your presence. If your voice box alerts your prey, rip it out. You’re a zombie; you can take the biblical injunction literally.
- Eat on the Run – Some zombies like to sit or crouch down to relax and enjoy their food. This is usually unwise. The living may be lurking, looking for distracted zombies to bash in the head. If you must sit, have your back against a wall, and eat with your head up and your eyes peeled. By the way, peeled eye is quite succulent if you can get your hands on some.
- Attack the Unarmed – This may seem a no brainer, but that’s part of your problem, isn’t it? Stay away from humans with guns, blades, bats, and other weapons. You may want to focus on anyone unarmed who could conceivably obtain a weapon and appears to have the knowhow to use it, but this approach obviously has its risks.
- Stalk Close Friends and Family – No one wants to shoot a spouse, parent, child, or good friend in the head. Take advantage of this momentary hesitation to go in for the kill. Beloved celebrities like Justin Bieber or Katy Perry should stalk their once adoring now delicious fans. On the flip side, avoid your enemies, and, if you were a horrible boss, your former employees. People lose their moral compass during a zombie apocalypse and won’t hesitate the blow the brains out of people they really hated if presented with the mere possibility that they’ve become zombies. In The Simpsons, Zombie Flanders learned this the hard way when approaching his neighbor Homer, who, after shooting his undead foe, remarked, “He was a zombie?”
So there you have it. Happy effective hunting!
ZOMBIE SURVIVAL – Survival tips for the urban living: Part 1 – Nuclear Radiation
Though many survivalists like to prepare for TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it), joblessness and homelessness have led me to the end of the world as I know it. With coffee in hand, I opened the warehouse door of my temporary digs to greet the dawn. Only, it’s noon, there’s a downpour, and the smell of rubber from a pile of decomposing tires greets me. This marks Month 4 in New Orleans and two years since I was laid off.
In this vein, I finally started reading Mat Stein’s two survival books, When Technology Fails (2008) and When Disaster Strikes (2011). I also headed over to Jim Rawles’ Survival Blog and Mat’s website, whentechfails.com.
Instead of a lone-wolf, Mad Max world which plays well on film, Stein reasonably argues that individual survival relies on a community of like-minded folks. So plan your survival migration or shelter with room for your core group. The essential wisdom from both books and most survival websites is to plan a strategically sound survival budget, taking into account the climate of where you expect to be after you hit the road.
Few experts would call the US a failed or fragile state given to eco-migration, but most Americans already live in toxic zones, with our land, air and water being systematically poisoned by industry. New Orleans is only one of many areas suffering from hyper-industrialization and weather destruction. Locals call the corridor from here to Baton Rouge, “Cancer Alley.”
Thanks to Corexit and the Macondo Blowout (among hundreds of other oil “spills”), Gulf seafood is unfit for human consumption, and anglers and beachcombers are suffering from a host of health issues including respiratory failure. Birds, turtles, dolphins, and other sea life are dying in mass numbers or are showing up deformed, while federal agencies insist all is well.
I met a man who helped with the cleanup. The toxic brew severely damaged circulation in both his legs, leaving him wheelchair-bound. Grandmothers of the Gulf organizer, Laura Regan, insists her and her husband’s respiratory problems are from swimming in the Gulf after authorities promised the water was safe. She, along with most coastal residents, believe they are still spraying Corexit today. That may explain why the Louisiana Senate buried SB 97 in committee last year, which would have banned Corexit and any other oil dispersant not categorized as “Practically Non-Toxic.”
My romantic notion of sticking my toes in the famous Mississippi after I got here was sullied by the strong industrial odor wafting from the river. It sickened both of us who walked the levy that day.
All over the planet, giant multinational corporations are singly and jointly destroying the landbase for huge swaths of people, and New Orleans is no exception. Three major wars settled this area so that tens of thousands of oil wells could be built, right along with all the chemical and oil refineries, labs, agrochemical dumps, and the 25-year-old Waterford nuclear plant, 20 miles outside the city.
Because Fukushima radiated the Northern Hemisphere, because fracking releases rock-bound uranium that contaminates our local water table, and because I’m in Cancer Alley just miles from Waterford, this first essay focuses on nuclear survival.
Some nuclear survival tips are obvious. Dr John W. Gofman, a distinguished medical and nuclear scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb estimated in 2001 that 75% of US women who develop breast cancer get it from medical radiation. Simply refuse such tests, including airport body scanners.
When the US Supreme Court thwarted public will and handed Bush Florida, and thereby the presidency, we were led into 9/11 and nuclear war on the Middle East and Africa. Bob Koehler writes:
“Iraq Syndrome must include awareness of our toxic legacy, in particular the radioactive fallout resulting from exploding several thousand tons of depleted uranium munitions. Last year, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published a study of the devastated city of Fallujah, pointing out that, among much else, it is experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia and infant mortality than Hiroshima and Nagasaki did in 1945. And birth defects abound: ‘Young women in Fallujah are terrified of having children,’ a group of British and Iraqi doctors reported.”
Industrial civilization’s war on the environment is no less radioactive. The US hosts 25% of the world’s nuclear power plants, and even without incidents or accidents, they leak radiation into the local environment, as evidenced by the cancer clusters around nuke plants. Being in New Orleans, I’m exposed daily to whatever is dumped in the Mississippi, including leaking radioactive particles from the several nuke plants that dot its length.
Lest anyone believe health officials and nuclear energy proponents that the harm from Fukushima is minimal (and no longer poses a threat), all they need do is look at the Chernobyl casualties, where only one reactor was involved. Last year, researchers published their review of over 5,000 scientific articles and studies and concluded that a million people have succumbed to Chernobyl radiation. According to one source, the authors explain:
“Emissions from this one reactor exceeded a hundred-fold the radioactive contamination of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No citizen of any country can be assured that he or she can be protected from radioactive contamination. One nuclear reactor can pollute half the globe. Chernobyl fallout covers the entire Northern Hemisphere.”
Fukushima lost four reactors, with three in complete meltdown, but pro-nuke officials from the World Health Organization on down promise thru lying teeth this poses little to no threat to our health or the environment. As Chernobyl showed, in 30 years, we can expect many Northern Hemisphere survivors to sport tumors and other cancers resulting from radiation-damaged DNA. We can only pray for the unborn, from those healthy enough to reproduce.
Expectedly, US officials also lied about the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, while cancer rates jumped for those nearby. Richard Wilcox wrote an excellent article on all this that is well worth the read:
“Independent testing in Japan has revealed that fallout from the accident and ongoing accumulation has contaminated food supplies in the Northeast and Tokyo.”
From plutonium-laden fish, “the most toxic substance known in the universe,” to radioactive cesium in California tuna, Wilcox itemizes the destruction of our food supply. Radioactive fallout, of course, contaminates grazelands, meaning our milk and dairy products are also contaminated.
All of us have cause, right now, to ensure our water and food is clean and radiation-free. All of us have sound reason to become survivalists. Here are some tips to protect you and yours…
SURVIVAL TRAINING – PURIFY WATER
You have been fighting zombies all day, your dying of thirst. Water is dirty and you need it to survive..but how do you make water clean so you can live to fight another day….
- Clean the containers in which you’re going to hold or store the water. Use dish soap and water. Rinse thoroughly. After washing the containers, submerge them in a solution of 1 teaspoon of non-scented liquid household chlorine bleach to every quart (or liter) of water (making sure the entire surface of the bottle comes in contact with the solution for a minimum of 15 seconds), then rinse thoroughly with a weaker mixture of bleach and water.[1]
- Don’t use any container that has had milk or fruit juice in it. Milk protein and fruit sugars remain in the container and can fuel bacterial growth when water is stored. Plastic soda bottles are suitable.
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Filter water through a clean cloth.Filter water through a clean cloth. Then allow it to settle for at least 30 minutes and pour off the clear water for purifying. This process of filtering and settling is especially important if you’re going to be using chemical purification because disinfectants are less effective in cloudy, murky, or colored water.[2]
- It is possible to use cotton cloth, such as a clean handkerchief or clean white sock, or silk (water passes quickly through multiple layers).
- One way to set this up is to cut the bottom off of a water or coke bottle. Roll a clean sock up on itself and stuff it down to the neck of the bottle. Pour your water through the filter until it is clear to the eye.
- If you have a portable water filter, use it.
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Speed up the clearing of water.Speed up the clearing of water. One way to do this is to add a little aluminum sulfate. This causes impurities to coagulate, which are removed as the particulate settles to the bottom of the container.
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Purify the water using any of the following methods.Purify the water using any of the following methods. If you can, combine boiling with a chemical disinfection method; the boiling is more thorough, but the chemical method will continue to keep the water safe when it’s stored.[3]Select a method:
- Boiling: This kills most types of disease-causing organisms and is the most recommended purification technique. Boil the water for 1 full minute, then let it cool. Make sure it’s a full, rolling boil. If you are more than one mile above sea level, boil for 3 minutes longer.[1]
- Disinfecting: Disinfecting with household bleach kills some, but not all, types of disease-causing organisms. The bleach must contain chlorine in order to work. Don’t use scented bleaches, color-safe bleaches, or bleaches with added cleaners. Most household chlorine bleaches have 4-6 percent available chlorine, in which case add 1/8 teaspoon (8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water (2 drops per litre), stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it. Check the label; if the percentage of available chlorine is around 1 percent, or you don’t know what the percentage is, use 40 drops per gallon/ 10 drops per litre; if the percentage is 7-10 percent, use 4 drops per gallon or 1 drop per litre. Double the amount of chlorine if the water is cloudy, murky, or colored, or if the water is extremely cold. If, after sitting covered for 30 minutes, the water doesn’t have a slight chlorine odor, repeat the dosage and let sit for another 15 minutes.[2]
- Granular calcium hypochlorite: This works in the same way as household bleach. You can dissolve one heaped teaspoon of high-test granular calcium hypochlorite (about 1/4 ounce) in two gallons of water (1 heaped tablespoon or 7g for every 7.5 litres or 1 gram for every litre of water) to make a disinfecting solution. Then add one part of the disinfecting solution to each 100 parts of water to purify.[2]
- Correction: replace the word tablespoon with teaspoon. As correctly stated above, one heaped teaspoon = 1/4 ounce = 7g. One ounce = 28.35g. One tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 22g per 7.5 liters = 3g for every liter of water. The solution would be 3 times stronger than it was intended to be.*
- Potassium permanganate (KMnO4): This can be used to disinfect water. It can be purchased from camping supply stores and pool treatment stores. The water should be colored slightly pink, 3 or 4 crystals in a quart or litre of water. Let the solution stand for at least 30 minutes. This is definitely an emergency measure only, and should not be used for planned leisure activities, such as hiking or camping.
- Disinfecting with iodine: This is generally less effective than chlorine in controlling the parasite Giardia, but it’s better than no treatment at all. Add 5 drops of 2 percent iodine (from the medicine chest or first aid kit) to every quart or litre of clear water; add 10 drops if the water is cloudy. Let the solution stand for at least 30 minutes.[2]
- Commercial tablets: For commercially prepared chlorine or iodine tablets, follow the instructions that come with them. If you don’t have instructions, use one tablet for each quart or litre of water to be purified.[2]
- Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS) method: Pouring the water into clear plastic PET bottles, and exposing to direct sunlight for at least 6 hours has been shown to be an effective method of disinfecting.[4]
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Be careful with the cap or lid of the container.Be careful with the cap or lid of the container. If you’re chemically disinfecting water in a canteen or other portable container with a screw-on cap, wait about five minutes after adding the purifying chemical(s), then partially unscrew the cap and shake the container so that some of the water sloshes on the inside of the cap and the threads of the container, then re-tighten the cap and let it sit for the remainder of the time specified above or in the instructions. Otherwise, there may still be contaminated water in the cap, on the outside of the container’s neck, or on the threads.
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Improve the flavor of purified water, if needed.Improve the flavor of purified water, if needed. Boiled water can taste “flat”, and disinfected water can have a strong chlorine taste. Aerate it by pouring it from one clean container to another several times. Alternatively, add a pinch of salt to each quart or litre of water.[2] If the flavor is still unpleasant, use a powdered drink mix, if available.
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Take care when consuming.Take care when consuming. Once the water in a container has been purified, open and close the container carefully. Don’t touch the inside or the rim with your fingers, or else the water could become contaminated.
- If you’re going to drink some, but not all of the water, don’t drink directly from the container. Pour it into another container and drink from that. Contact with your lips and mouth can contaminate water that’s going to be stored.
- If you don’t drink the water immediately, write the date on the bottle. Store it in a cool, dark place for up to six months.
SURVIVAL TRAINING – MAKING FIRE
Just cause you can shoot a gun and rummage for food.doesn’t man you can survive…We have decided to start a series on survival since you have to do more to survive then just shoot zombies
MAKING FIRE FOR WARMTH, PROTECTION, AND COOKING
There are three ways to start a fire without the help of matches. Each can be effective, and all take lots of practice, but they’re actually pretty fun to learn.
Remember: Even in a survival situation, try to avoid harming the environment when building your fire. Look for a spot from which a fire could not spread and where the surrounding area would not be damaged.
The Walking Dead: Love Will Continue To Blossom For Maggie & Glenn
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. — “The Walking Dead” survivors may be gearing up for another battle with zombies in Season 3, but it looks like love will continue to blossom for Maggie and Glenn.
“I think where we are going to pick [back up] is two people, living with an entire group, where the key is survival and survival means needing the person next to you,” Steven Yeun, who plays Glenn told AccessHollywood.com at Hyundai Undead: “The Walking Dead” 100th issue release party at Petco Park at Comic-Con 2012. “And, if you have someone you love, needing them even more, and I think the bond only gets stronger.”
WATCH: Norman Reedus Interview — The Walking Dead Season 3 Is ‘Full Of Rage’
Lauren Cohan, who plays former farm resident Maggie, thinks her character has found “the one” in Glenn.
“I think Maggie and Glenn have definitely been looking for their kindred one and their kindred spirit and I think they both have this kind of pure, optimistic, hopeful thing,” she said of the characters’ love in the show’s crazy world. “And when you find that in someone else, you’re not going to let it go, especially when there’s nine of you and four of them are your relatives.”
But with the coming of one of new villain — The Governor (David Morrissey) – and the world filled with plenty of survivors hoping to do the gang harm, that love could be used as a tool to manipulate the other party.
“Absolutely. There is weakness in that as well, which is exactly — leverage,” Steven told Access. “I’m sure that’ll be tested, but I can’t say [any more].”
WATCH: David Morrissey Talks Joining The Walking Dead Season 3 As The Governor
Currently halfway through shooting Season 3, the cast are still amazed at how big their show has grown.
“It was crazy, it was craziness,” Steven said of their Season 2 ratings, which reached 8 million. “To think about what you do in an isolated area of Atlanta, and you just come together and put makeup on and pretend. And to have that many people watch it and enjoy it and continue to watch it and support you? That’s an overwhelming feeling. I can’t even qualify it really. It’s pretty great.”
“The Walking Dead” returns October 14 at 9/8c on AMC.