Tag Archives: Survival
Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse From the CDC
A Brief History of Zombies
We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over (my personal favorite is Resident Evil
), but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo and folk-lore traditions, shows like the Walking Dead were born.
A couple dressed as zombies – Danny Zucco and Sandy Olsson from the movie Grease walking in the annual Toronto Zombie Walk.
In movies, shows, and literature, zombies are often depicted as being created by an infectious virus, which is passed on via bites and contact with bodily fluids. Harvard psychiatrist Steven Schlozman wrote a (fictional) medical paper on the zombies presented in Night of the Living Dead and refers to the condition as Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome caused by an infectious agent. The Zombie Survival Guide identifies the cause of zombies as a virus called solanum. Other zombie origins shown in films include radiation from a destroyed NASA Venus probe (as in Night of the Living Dead), as well as mutations of existing conditions such as prions, mad-cow disease,measles and rabies.
The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen. In such a scenario zombies would take over entire countries, roaming city streets eating anything living that got in their way. The proliferation of this idea has led many people to wonder “How do I prepare for a zombie apocalypse?”
Well, we’re here to answer that question for you, and hopefully share a few tips about preparing for real emergencies too!
Some of the supplies for your emergency kit
Better Safe than Sorry
So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page.
- Water (1 gallon per person per day)
- Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
- Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
- Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.)
- Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
- Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
- Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few)
- First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado orhurricane)
Once you’ve made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan. This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your door step. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake, or other emergency.
Family members meeting by their mailbox. You should pick two meeting places, one close to your home and farther away
- Identify the types of emergencies that are possible in your area. Besides a zombie apocalypse, this may include floods, tornadoes, or earthquakes. If you are unsure contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information.
- Pick a meeting place for your family to regroup in case zombies invade your home…or your town evacuates because of a hurricane. Pick one place right outside your home for sudden emergencies and one place outside of your neighborhood in case you are unable to return home right away.
- Identify your emergency contacts. Make a list of local contacts like the police, fire department, and your local zombie response team. Also identify an out-of-state contact that you can call during an emergency to let the rest of your family know you are ok.
- Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.
Never Fear – CDC is Ready
Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Prepared
If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (includingisolation and quarantine). It’s likely that an investigation of this scenario would seek to accomplish several goals: determine the cause of the illness, the source of the infection/virus/toxin, learn how it is transmitted and how readily it is spread, how to break the cycle of transmission and thus prevent further cases, and how patients can best be treated. Not only would scientists be working to identify the cause and cure of the zombie outbreak, but CDC and other federal agencies would send medical teams and first responders to help those in affected areas (I will be volunteering the young nameless disease detectives for the field work).
To learn more about what CDC does to prepare for and respond to emergencies of all kinds, visit: http://emergency.cdc.gov/cdc/orgs_progs.asp
To learn more about how you can prepare for and stay safe during an emergency visit:http://emergency.cdc.gov/
Join the CDC Zombie Task Force! The CDC Foundation, a non-profit partner of CDC is offering Zombie Task Force t-shirts (click on the picture to find out more). Proceeds go to benefit disaster relief efforts and other important health programs. Get yours before they’re gone…
Are you prepared? Tell us…
Have you begun preparing for a zombie apocalypse? Or maybe you have been preparing for a more realistic threat like hurricanes or the next flu season? Tell us about what you are doing to prepare! Enter our video contest here:http://prepare.challenge.gov
Planting Your Survival Potato Crop
Potatoes. Nothing is humbler than a potato. But, potatoes have saved many a person from starvation. When potatoes fail, many a society has dipped into hard times, see The Irish Potato Famine.
Potatoes are a great SHTF crop. Generally healthy, easy to grow, they can survive locusts and temperature swings and even drought if you’ve got the right variety. It’s not too late in most places to plant a little potato crop. I got mine in last week, and wanted to share some tips, for those embarking on potatoes for the first time.
The thing to remember when you’re planting is that the seed potato will grow new potatoes above itself. That is to say, you need to get the seed potato deep, so that there’s room to grow above it. I accomplish this by hoeing a trench to put my potatoes in. About 8-12 inches deep.
I put the sprouting seed potatoes in the trench, one every 8-12 inches. Put the sprouting eyes pointing up. Then I use SOME of the dirt from the trench to cover the potatoes. I also put some straw on top of the dirt that’s covering the spuds. The straw helps keep moisture levels even, and help keeps the light away from the developing potatoes. If sunlight gets to your growing potatoes, they will turn green, which means they are now slightly poisonous, and containing a bitter alkaloid. You can still eat them, if slightly poisoned is better than slightly dead. The plants need at least 6 hours of sun a day to grow a good crop. So, it’s a bit of a balancing act. Also, avoid growing potatoes in ground that was used for legumes the previous year as these fix nitrogen into the soil which will cause the potatoes to grow extensive haulm (the upper part of the plant) at the expense of the tubers.
When the potato plants are about 12 inches tall, you will need to hoe the remaining soil from the trench over the base of the plants. This is called hilling up. You want to bury a few joints of the haulm in dirt, to encourage a heavy tuber set. This also helps to cover the growing potatoes, (remember, they are forming ABOVE the seed potato, and UNDER ground.) I usually just pile the dirt on top of the straw, and add a fresh layer of straw to the top when I’ve got the dirt mounded up. That nice layer of straw in the middle will help drainage in the soil, as potatoes will rot if they have wet feet.
Potatoes will reach maturity in 3 to 4 months, depending on conditions and variety. Later crops tend to store better in cold storage. You’ll typically get between 8 and 14 pounds of potatoes per pound you plant; it’ll take about 8 to 10 lbs of seed potatoes per every 100 feet of potatoes you plant.
Any potato growers out there? I’m growing Kennebec and Yukon Gold, what do you have in the ground>
Raising Tilapia For Doomsday
Doomsday Tilapia Farming!
Tilapia is a tropical fish native to the Middle East (thank God we don’t use it as fuel for our cars!) Speaking of Him, it has been said that Tilapia was the fish used by Jesus regarding the miracle of the “multiplication of the fishes”. It is so true, I thought of changing my name to “Little J”.
Tilapia are very clever fish, the females realized a long time ago that if they kept their fertilized eggs in their mouths, their survival rate in the wild would be greatly enhanced. Thus, they are known today as “mouth brooders”. They keep their eggs in their mouths until they hatch, and take them back into their mouths any time danger arises for a few days after they hatch. After that it’s “adios muchachos, you are on your own”. In the wild, their survival rate is about 1%. The average “litter” is about 100 to 3000 “fry” (babies) depending on the age of the female. A full grown female will carry 2000 eggs or more. That means that about 1 or 2 % of the offspring will make to adulthood.
This is a batch of hybrids about 2 weeks old. They are in a 29 gallon tank.This is from one of the young breeders, a full grown one can produce many more times the number of babies.
one in a hundred?
Yes, in the wild. Under controlled circumstances, as in your aquarium, we are talking about a 99% possible survival rate! OK, now we are talking big Louisiana fish fry material here eh? You got it! All it takes is a little “fish diplomacy”. When the female is “pregnant”, you will see that she is swimming around with her mouth full, and she will not eat. Mark that day on a calendar, wait 7 days and get her out of there and into the “delivery room”. Tilapia, like any other fish, just doesn’t like it when you chase after it with a net. Yet you want to get her out of there and into a place where she can comfortably “deliver” the babies.
What to do? well, you have to catch her in a net. You do this by S-L-O-W-L-Y following her around the tank until she zigs when she should have zagged and she ends up in your net. You S-L-O-W-L-Y lift her out of the water and run to your delivery/nursery tank. You release her into the delivery tank and make sure to check the net for eggs/fry she might have released while on the way. Just drop them into the tank, she will pick them up after a while.
That means a clean floor, no sand, gravel or anything else in this aquarium. You also want to wrap the water intake to the filter with a little piece of netting, this will prevent the fry from getting sucked up into it. Sponge filters also work very well for this purpose.
Soon (in a day or two), she will not allow them into her mouth anymore. It is time for her to get back to work. Care must be exercised at this stage. She WILL eat her young if you let her stay in the tank with them too long! I suggest removing her when it is clear that the fry can swim around by themselves.
Carefully catch her in a net and put her back in your big aquarium. Make sure that she gets a few decent meals before the male breeds with her again, remember, she has not eaten in a week!
There, wasn’t that easy!
Now all you have to do is take care of the little ones by feeding them finely-ground, high-protein, fish food and by keeping the aquarium clean. They almost double in size the first day so feeding small amounts frequently is best. Don’t forget water quality!
When they are fingerlings about 1 inch long you can place them in a larger tank. At this size they can travel well so if you want to sell fingerlings this is the right size. If you want to raise them to market-size you can wait until they reach about 1 ounce (3-4 inches) and place them in a large grow-out tank.
Bigger females in one of the pools outside in the greenhouse. 3 of these females had a combined “litter” of about 800 hybrids on April 21 through 23, 2008.
Notice the “chicken wire” netting around the tank? it prevents them from taking a leap of faith and jumping out of the tank. For some reason they seem to want to go out for a walk without a leash!
Survival Seed Doomsday Preppers Kit
Survival Seed Doomsday Preppers Kit
- 24 Varieties Vegetable & fruit These seeds are fresh for the 2012 growing season
- Sealed in a Metal Container about The size of a coffee can with thick individual resealable mylar seed containers 24 total Labeled and dated with each seed type
- Planting, harvesting, and seed saving instructions are included
- These Seeds May Be Planted, Harvested, and Replanted Forever
- OVER 11,500 Happy Customers growing daily
harvesting, and seed saving instructions are included. The survival seeds are shipped sealed in a metal storage container: Bean Kidney dark red over 45 seeds Bean Lima Henderson over 45 seeds Blue Lake Bean over 100 seeds California Wonder Green Pepper over 70 seeds Jalapeno Hot Peppers over 100 seeds Pumpkin jack o lantern over 40 seeds Scarlet Nantes Carrot Over 800 seeds Marketmore Cucumber Over 150 seeds Butter Crunch Lettuce Over 1000 seeds Golden Acre Cabbage Over 530 seeds Detroit Dark Red Beet Over 260 seeds Green Pea Over 50 seeds Swiss Chard Over 160 seeds Beefsteak Tomato Over 200 seeds Cherry belle Radish Over 100 seeds Green Sprouting Broccoli Over 300 seeds Waltham Butternut Squash Over 100 seeds Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach Over 100 seeds Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion Over 145 seeds Golden Bantam Sweet Corn Over 100 seeds Hales Best Cantaloupe Over 70 seeds Snowball Self-blanching Cauliflower Over 200 seeds Black Beauty Zucchini Over 50 seeds Watermelon Jubilee Over 50 seeds
Prepping for the Financially Challenged: Basic Survival Strategies For Apartments and Confined Spaces
Previously we talked about basic critical preps for apartments. Once these basic elements are secured, you will want to expand your supplies to increase your capabilities. Your expanded supplies will be dictated by three things. They will be based on your individual situation, your personal preferences and your financial capability. The potential list of supplies based on these things is infinite so we won’t try to list all of the conventional items but instead let’s look at some unconventional things.
In the area of sanitation and hygiene it will be important to keep clean. Your cleanliness will be a contributing factor to your overall health. Women have their own special needs so they should plan for this accordingly. Overall you should have a way to shower at least once a week and clean yourself a few times in between. This can be as simple as having a supply of baby wipes and a solar shower to use. With the solar shower just keep in mind that you will need a way to hang it up high that can support 50 or so pounds. One solution to this might be to use a step ladder that supports your shower when you need it and the rest of the time its’ steps can be used to hold small planters such as for sprouts.