Tag Archives: weapons
ZOMBIE PREPPERS – Using zombies to teach science and medicine
With my colleague Greg Tinkler, I spent an afternoon last week at a local public library talking to kids about zombies:
The Zombie Apocalypse is coming. Will you be ready? University of Iowa epidemiologist Dr. Tara Smith will talk about how a zombie virus might spread and how you can prepare. Get a list of emergency supplies to go home and build your own zombie kit, just in case. Find out what to do when the zombies come from neuroscientist Dr. Greg Tinkler. As a last resort, if you can’t beat them, join them. Disguise yourself as a zombie and chow down on brrraaaaiiins, then go home and freak out your parents.
Why zombies? Obviously they’re a hot topic right now, particularly with the ascendance of The Walking Dead. They’re all over ComicCon. There are many different versions so the “rules” regarding zombies are flexible, and they can be used to teach all different kinds of scientific concepts–and more importantly, to teach kids how to *think* about translating some of this knowledge into practice (avoiding a zombie pandemic, surviving one, etc.) We ended up with about 30 people there: about 25 kids (using the term loosely, they ranged in age from maybe age 10 to 18 or so) and a smattering of adults. I covered the basics of disease transmission, then discussed how it applied to a potential “zombie germ,” while Greg explained how understanding the neurobiology of zombies can aid in fleeing from or killing them. The kids were involved, asked great questions, and even taught both of us a thing or two (and gave us additional zombie book recommendations!)
For infectious diseases, there are all kinds of literature-backed scenarios that can get kids discussing germs and epidemiology. People can die and reanimate as zombies, or they can just turn into infected “rage monsters” who try to eat you without actually dying first. They can have an extensive incubation period, or they can zombify almost immediately. Each situation calls for different types of responses–while the “living” zombies may be able to be killed in a number of different ways, for example, reanimated zombies typically can only be stopped by destroying the brains. Discussing these situations allows the kids to use critical thinking skills, to plan attacks and think through choice of weapons, escape routes and vehicles, and consider what they might need in a survival kit.
Likewise, zombie microbes can be spread through biting, through blood, through the air, by fomites or water, even by mosquitoes in some books. Agents can be viral, bacterial, fungal, prions or parasitic insect larvae (or combinations of those). Mulling on these different types of transmission issues and asking simple questions:
“How would you protect yourself if infection was spread through the air versus only spread by biting?”
“How well would isolation of infected people work if the incubation period is very long versus very short?”
“Why might you want to thoroughly wash your zombie-killing arrows before using them to kill squirrels, which you will then eat?” (ahem, Daryl)
can open up avenues of discussion into scientific issues that the kids don’t even realize they’re talking about (pandemic preparedness, for one). And the great thing is that these kids are *already experts* on the subject matter. They don’t have to learn about the epidemiology of a particular microbe to understand disease transmission and prevention, because they already know more than most of the adults do on the epidemiology of zombie diseases–the key is to get them to use that knowledge and broaden their thinking into various “what if” situations that they’re able to talk out and put pieces together.
It can be scary going to talk to kids. Since this was a new program, we didn’t know if anyone would even show up, or how it would go over. Greg brought a watermelon for some weapons demonstrations (household tools only–a screwdriver, hammer and a crowbar, no guns or Samurai swords) which was a big hit. Still, I realize many scientists are more comfortable talking with their peers than with 13-year-olds. Talking about something a bit ridiculous, like an impending zombie apocalypse, can lessen anxiety because it takes quite a lot of effort to be boring with that type of subject matter; it’s entertaining; and kids will listen. And after all, what you don’t know, might eat you.
Hungry? Try the new zombie diet
One of my favorite episodes of the classic television series “The Twilight Zone” was 
titled “To Serve Man.” Aliens visited Earth and proceeded to help humanity solve its social, political and medical problems while setting up an exchange program. A tool was a book with the title of “To Serve Man,” which turned out to be a cookbook with recipes on how to prepare people as meals.
That imaginative episode of the sci-fi series seems to be playing out in a slightly different form the past two months. Zombie-mania is taking hold of the country, with reports of people eating each other and other creatures.
The entertainment industry is filled with movies and television shows depicting zombies in all of their mindless, flesh-eating gory glory. A cottage industry has tips, products and processes to protect humanity from the living dead.
But zombies aren’t just for entertainment anymore. They have infiltrated real life.
Following the news recently has been a trip through weirdville, with reports on cannibalism and assorted stomach-turning events. Movies, television shows and social media conversations have elevated the topic to near maniacal status, focusing especially on the zombie potential.
One of the first reports came from Miami on May 26, as police shot a naked man eating another man’s face. A few days later, a college student in Maryland told police he killed a man and then ate his heart and part of his brain.
Then things got really weird. In New Jersey, a man stabbed himself 50 times and threw bits of his own intestines at police, who then pepper-sprayed him but still had a hard time bringing him down.
Also in May, police discovered a video that appeared to show Canadian porn performer Luka Magnotta, 29, slashing his bound young lover with an ice pick. He then reportedly abused and dismembered the corpse before eating some of the man’s remains with a knife and fork. Detectives in Montreal allege Magnotta then mailed some body parts to members of the Canadian Parliament. Magnotta was arrested about two weeks later in Germany.
The lunacy continued with other reports in June, including one of a man who ate his dog.
While some are equating the rise of this type of incident to zombies and end-of-the-world prophecies, cooler heads are blaming a more mundane and man-made cause: drug abuse. The New Jersey event is being specifically blamed on a drug mixture known as “bath salts.”
Florida officials describe bath salts as a synthetic drug that reportedly produces “an extreme high of euphoria” and is comparable to amphetamines and cocaine. The mixture is sold as potpourri and incense at liquor stores, gas stations and head shops. Officials said in order to know exactly what is in each package you have to seize them from the store and test them in a lab.
Some state legislatures, Michigan included, have taken steps to outlaw the product. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta released a statement saying there is no Zombie Apocalypse on the horizon.
Personally, I think the CDC’s statement is just a diversion to hide the truth.
In the meantime, bolt the doors, stockpile the food and keep your loaded weapons nearby. Remember, zombies are already dead. The only way they can be stopped is by destroying the brain, according to people who have studied this sort of thing.
DOOMSDAY 2012: A New Age or a New World Order?
I see two events as the most probable for this date. A terrorist attack, which will bring with it the Dawn of the New Age of Man, or perhaps the collapse of the world economy, which would bring about the New World Order spoken of since the time of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency.
A terrorist attack of some sort may occur on 12/21/2012 and is most likely the event that world leaders are trying their best to prevent. After the events of 9/11, nothing would surprise me. The architects of the events of 9/11, Al-Qaida, planned the event to be carried out on 9/11/2001 as the numbers 911 refer to the phone number we here in America and other places as well, use to report an emergency. 
So if one or more terrorist organizations were to plan and try to execute an event on 12/21/2012, the supposed end of the world according to the Mayan calendar, it may not be as unexpected as one might think. Actually, the end of the Mayan calendar signifies the dawn of a New Age, not the end of the World as we know it.
Terrorist groups the world over 
have been trying to acquire nuclear weapons of any kind for some time now. We don’t know if they have succeeded in acquiring them, but I think if they did, our government would do something about it, and then that information would be made public, so all the World would know. And I’m not sure if that type of information would be disseminated to the general public, as it may have unintended consequences.
Panic and hysteria may ensue, and this may be the reaction that those involved are after.
So if someone or some group of people manages to create a disastrous event on this date, just how crippling to our world this event will be should be examined.
A concerted effort by radical terrorist groups Worldwide to act
in unison on this date would be devastating. Mass bombings of buildings and infrastructure around the globe would be extremely debilitating. The worst case scenario in my opinion would be the detonation a nuclear device, or even multiple devices, on a global level. This would spell doom for the entire Planet.
Iran has been actively producing nuclear material for some time now, according to them, for peaceful purposes, i.e. nuclear power generation. But many in the International community, the
United States included, think that they are trying to create a nuclear weapon. They have been hell bent on the destruction of Israel for decades, and this scenario on this date would create Armageddon. This definitely would bring about the Dawn of the New Age of Man. And it is a distinct possibility.
Now let us talk about the other possibility referred to herein, the New World Order.
The term was first used during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, in reference to his creation of the League of Nations, a
precursor to the United Nations, following the devastation of World War I. The term was used sparingly at the end of World War II when describing plans for the creation of the United Nations, in part because of the negative association to the failed League of Nations.
The most widely acknowledged use of the term in modern times was by President George H. W. Bush of the United States and President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union to define the post-Cold War era.
The New World Order, and its possible enactment, has been deemed a conspiracy by several different groups of people to, in essence, start over, and Capitalists have been accused of leading the charge.
You see money, in my opinion, is a finite resource, and there is only so much of it to go around. Many will disagree with this statement, and it is only my opinion, not necessarily a fact. Be that as it may, Capitalists, since the dawn of time, want to make ungodly profits on their investments, for a multitude of reasons. One only has to look at Exxon/Mobil for an example. Our planet is in the midst of a global recession, and their profits are in the hundreds of billions. Ungodly indeed.
Have you ever wondered why our government appears to prop up some third world countries? That’s because one or more American businessmen probably has a factory there, and it’s there because the wages paid to the work force in these countries are a tenth or less than the wages in the US. That makes it cheaper to manufacture and ship a product to the US than to manufacture it here because of our prevailing wages. And it allows the Capitalists the opportunity to make ungodly profits.
So here’s the conspiracy scenario. On December 21st, 2012, a disaster on a global scale befalls the planet. Whether it is a natural disaster or an intentional event created by some group of people with ulterior motives is yet to be determined. In short order, the world economy crashes, and transportation of goods stops. No ships to bring goods to America. The food supply will also be interrupted.
Then at some point in time, the government announces that US dollars are no longer a valid currency
and USA bucks, or some similarly named item, will replace them. At ten cents on the dollar. So the $10,000.00 US dollars in your savings account will only be worth $1,000.00 USA bucks. The majority of the population in the US will exchange their US dollars for USA bucks because that’s all they can do. Black market buying of USD will begin as independent entrepreneurs realize what is happening and try to get in on the scam.
Capitalists and the wealthy will not exchange their US dollars because they already know the scam. Then when all the available
US dollars are accounted for and replaced by USA bucks, then and only then will our government announce that we are returning to the US dollar as our only form of currency, and everyone will have to re-exchange their USA bucks for US dollars. Except for the rich and wealthy, who were in on the scam from the beginning and never exchanged their money in the first place. They will have prepared for the event by stockpiling food and water and anything else they would need to last them for five years or longer. And now their US dollars are worth ten times more than before.
And the rich get richer. And let us not forget, your wages will only be worth 10 cents on the dollar as a 9 dollar per hour minimum wage is now only 90 cents per hour. Similar to the wages in those third world countries. And everything starts over. And thus begins the New World Order. Or is it the New Age of Man? Hang on a minute, let me look at my scorecard.
I know it sounds crazy, but it could happen, couldn’t it?
Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, let’s hope not.
Surviving the event begins next week, I promise.
GERM OUTBREAK AT CDC – Security lapses found at CDC bioterror lab in Atlanta
A federal bioterror laboratory already under investigation by Congress for safety issues
has had repeated incidents of security doors left unlocked to an area where experiments occur with dangerous germs, according to internal agency e-mails obtained by USA TODAY. In one incident, an unauthorized employee was discovered inside a restricted area.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman says the unsecured door incidents in 2010 and 2009 inside its Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory in Atlanta were “not an acceptable practice of the agency.” At no time, though, were bioterror organisms such as anthrax at risk of falling into the wrong hands, he said.
“The doors in question here are but one layer of multiple layers of security when it comes to both the animals and the agents that are worked on,” CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said. “The security measures we have in place, without going into detail, make it close to impossible for anyone who doesn’t have approved access to the agents to get their hands on them.”
The e-mails document doors being left unlocked in the building’s high-containment lab block, which includes an animal-holding area and Biosafety Level 3 labs where experiments are done on microbes that can cause serious or potentially fatal diseases and can be spread through the air. Anthrax, monkeypox, dangerous strains of influenza and the SARS virus are examples.
One e-mail by a CDC safety manager describes an unauthorized man discovered in the animal-holding area and multiple doors that were unsecured at the time. Skinner says the man was a CDC scientist but was not immediately able to provide further details about why he was in the restricted area. Skinner said the man was in an outer corridor of the BSL-3 suite of labs.
For safety and security, access to BSL-3 labs is restricted and they are supposed to have special airflow systems designed to help keep organisms inside. Problems with the airflow systems revealed by USA TODAY, including a February incident where air briefly blew out of a lab into a “clean” hallway, prompted the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week to launch a bipartisan investigation into safety issues. The committee is examining whether CDC — which inspects its own labs along with others nationwide that handle bioterror agents — is complying with federal safety requirements at the lab building, also known as CDC Building 18.
E-mails written by CDC Safety and Occupational Health manager Patrick Stockton indicate the lab has had security lapses that Rutgers University biosafety expert Richard Ebright said may be a “major violation” of security standards for labs that work with potential bioterror agents.
In a November 2009 e-mail, Stockton wrote to several CDC officials involved with Building 18’s high-containment laboratory area: “We are continuing to have some difficulties with doors remaining unsecured in the (high-containment lab) area. … If we continue to have issues, we will need to begin looking at individual access rights for these doors.” The particular issue involved expansion sections of the doors, used to accommodate large pieces of equipment. The “through-bolts are not being re-engaged, and the doors are remaining unsecured,” Stockton wrote.
Five months later, the expansion doors continued to be left unlatched and unsecured. According to an April 29, 2010, e-mail to more than a dozen CDC officials involved with the lab building, Stockton wrote that earlier that day “an individual with no access and no escort” was found in the research animal-holding area of the high-containment lab area.
The e-mail continued: “He did not have access and at this point we are not sure how he got there.” Stockton wrote that he talked to program and animal staff and “no one from their programs let this person in.” CDC’s Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness, which is a liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, was investigating, the e-mail said. Homeland Security officials did not respond to questions about the CDC security incidents.
Stockton’s e-mail says that after the incident he and the building’s high-containment lab manager, Anthony Sanchez, walked the entire high-containment block and found two doors unsecured. “This can certainly happen by mistake on occasion but we have addressed this issue in the past and now it seems to be a common failure point. … It is imperative that all doors leading to high containment remain secured,” Stockton wrote.
Stockton and Sanchez didn’t grant interviews. CDC spokesman Skinner said: “Doors being left open by staff is not a standard practice. It’s unacceptable, and our safety office has sent out numerous reminders to staff of the importance of staff practicing good physical security.”
Skinner said he is unaware of any other door security incidents after the one in April 2010. He emphasized that multiple layers of security in the building would have prevented any unauthorized person from accessing germs that hold the potential to be used as bioterror weapons. “The bottom line is, worker safety and the public safety were never compromised,” he said.
Ebright, of Rutgers University, expressed concern about the repeated issues revealed in news reports about Building 18 since the $214 million building opened in 2005, including articles in 2007 about backup generators that failed to keep airflow systems working during a power outage, and in 2008 about a high-containment lab door that the CDC sealed with duct tape after an incident where an airflow system malfunctioned and sent potentially contaminated air into a “clean” corridor.
The “documents you have obtained over the past several years make it clear that there has been a pattern of corner-cutting and negligence at CDC biocontainment facilities —starting with the failure to include provisions for emergency backup power, and encompassing inadequate door seals, improper airflow, jury-rigged repairs, and unsecured access points,” Ebright said.
If the security issues described in Stockton’s 2010 e-mail continue and bioterror agents are being used in that area, Ebright said, “then heads should fall.”
The CDC currently is responsible for inspecting the safety and security of its labs that work with bioterror agents. Skinner said CDC has a 66-year record of operating its labs safely.
The CDC said this week, in the wake of USA TODAY’s reports, that it is considering having its labs’ safety reviewed by an outside agency, such as the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).
Biosafety and biosecurity concerns have been the subject of previous congressional concerns. A 2009 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, examined the potential risks posed by the growing number of high-containment labs doing research on potential bioterror agents. It found that while lab accidents are rare, they do occur, primarily because of human error and systems failures.
It also noted that insiders working in the labs can pose risks, pointing to the Federal Bureau of Investigation‘s allegation that Bruce Ivins, a scientist at USAMRIID in Fort Detrick, Md., was the “sole culprit” in the 2001 anthrax attacks. While he was under investigation in 2008, Ivins died of a drug overdose.
“There are arguably two aspects to insider risk: the motive of the insider and the ability to misuse material and laboratory facilities,” the GAO wrote in its report.