The Plan To Reanimate George Washington’s Corpse
Lauren Davis on io9 discusses U.S. Capitol designer William Thornton’s half-baked plan to bring George Washington back from the dead. Thornton’s idea was not enacted, but who knows what the future holds — in the decades to come, George Washington’s cadaver and Hitler’s brain may yet sit in a cafe somewhere sharing a conversation:
George Washington may have been America’s first president, but was he nearly America’s first zombie-in-chief? If William Thornton, physician and designer of the US Capitol, had had his way, Washington’s body would have been subjected a scientific experiment designed to bring the deceased former president back to life.
Washington’s body was not buried immediately after his death. The president may not have feared death, but he did fear being buried alive. Before he died, he commanded his secretary, Tobias Lear, to make sure that he would not be entombed less than three days after he died. In accordance with…
WikiLeaks: the Novel?
Author Thomas S. Roche has written a new zombie novel which incorporates WikiLeaks, conspiracy forums, and viral YouTube videos, studying the new wasteland where military violence intersects corporate disinformation.
“I think WikiLeaks represents a very important impulse and the start of a strong movement toward anti-corporate sentiment and the demand for government transparency,” he explains in this new interview, “As ineffectual as that movement may end up being – because it started so late in the process of corporate control being consolidated…”
He moves from discussing fictional zombie-fighting to the brutal real-world military violence in neo-colonial nations around the world. And he ultimately wonders if our wireless technology-enhanced future will also include the potential for massive global disinformation.
Homeland Security Office Stages a Mock Zombie Invasion
An Ohio office of the Emergency Management Agency — part of the Department of Homeland Security —
will stage a mock zombie attack on Halloween using more than 225 volunteers dressed as zombies at an Ohio college.
“Organizers hoped the theme would attract more volunteers than previous simulations of industrial accidents or train crashes,” the AP reports, quoting a spokesman for the agency as saying that “People got zombie fever here in Delaware.” The exercise included decontamination procedures for hazardous materials, and was inspired by an “emergency preparedness” post on the CDC web site citing the popular fascination with zombies. (The number of zombie ebooks in Amazon’s Kindle store has increased by 13.9% in just the last two months.)
Now, “Dozens of agencies have embraced the idea,” the AP reports, “spreading the message that if you’re prepared for a zombie attack, you’re prepared for just about anything.”
Zombie Bankers Feeding On Us
This zombie movie short for 97 Percent Owned promotes what looks like a great new documentary about the need to democratize the money supply. Alex Jones fans will especially like the audio – crank it up!
Massacre ‘Tea Party Zombies’ Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly
Thanks to Stephen Gutkowski of the Media Research Center for alerting us to this interesting new game:
Have you ever fantasized about beating Bill O’Reilly to death with a crowbar or shooting up the offices of Americans for Prosperity with an Uzi? Well, the folks at StarvingEyes Advergaming apparently have and they’d like to share their latest creation with the world. The game is called “Tea Party Zombies Must Die” and, apart from abysmal game play, features several different levels where your only objective is to mercilessly slaughter everyone around you whether they are a Fox News stars or simply Americans For Prosperity employees…
U.S. Warns Of Zombie Apocalypse
Hard to believe that this is a real communication from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, but it is! From the official CDC blog:
There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.
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…
Zombies Ahead!
From the amusing pranks department, via Reuters:
Arizona drivers were warned of the undead roaming a desert highway near Tucson over the weekend, after a suspected prankster tampered with an electronic road sign, police and news media said.
Someone without a good grasp of spelling reprogrammed a digital road sign on a highway near Marana, northwest of Tucson, to read “Caaution Zombies ahead!,” the Arizona Daily Star newspaper reported on Monday.
Marana Police Department said it appeared to be a practical joke.
“We didn’t get any complaints or any other problems in the area… (and) no reports of zombies…
Vice Ventures Into Haiti In Search Of Zombies
Just in time for Halloween, VBS TV brings us a ghoulish film that follows Vice correspondent Hamilton Morris as he travels to Haiti to explore the underbelly of voodoo culture and hunt down actual Zombies.
In 1982, Harvard ethnobotanist Wade Davis traveled to Port-Au-Prince to investigate the ethno-biological base of the Haitian zombie. Davis left the island convinced that zombies were not fictional creations, but in fact real monsters that roamed the rural villages of Haiti. Inspired by Davis’ work, VBS correspondent Hamilton traveled to the Haitian capital last year to conduct his own zombie investigation under the guidance of a man who survived fourteen bullets to the face.
Cocaine Can Rot Your Flesh
Photo: Efimero (CC)
Fox News reporting on a Time.com story:
Besides making you edgy and skittish, with a propensity toward emotional highs and lows, cocaine can also rot your skin, according to a study reported Monday by Time.com.
Researchers found that the illegal drug can contain agents that contribute to low white cell count or dying skin tissue, giving people the appearance of wearing rotting flesh.
The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine after a discovery by doctors at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. It was found that women who had a history of cocaine use also tended to have discolorations on various body parts like their cheeks, buttocks, thighs and earlobes.
Those symptoms are consistent with use of the medication levamisole, which is used by veterinarians for de-worming farm animals. “Almost 80 percent of the cocaine coming into this country has levamisole mixed in,” said Dr. Ghinwa Dumyati, a University…
Do You Want To Join The Zombies?
Would you join the zombies?
George Romero once said, if faced with a zombie apocalypse, he’d run out and join them. This article by former disinformation® writer Nick Mamatas traces the secret appeal of collaborating with world-conquering zombies, and suggests zombie-mania is becoming a real social force. “For many readers and viewers of zombie stuff, the zombies are what you practice on while preparing for the real uprisings to come.”
Besides zombie literature like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and George Romero’s new upcoming zombie movie, Marvel even launched a line of superhero comics called… “Marvel Zombies”. And people are staging zombie-themed flash mobs on two different continents…)
But zombie message boards inevitably turn to discussions about real-world survivalism tactics, which has its own appeal. “The iconic zombie horde isn’t just a stand-in for a terrifying undifferentiated Other, but a symbol of how we might shamble and shuffle toward liberation… Zombies will wear the…
DARPA Tests Zombie Hibernation Formula
DARPA is funding research into “a zombie-like form of hibernation” — including a $9.9 million Texas program seeking to induce suspended animation. They’re testing chemical compounds on anesthetized pigs to keep them “as close to death as possible” — to improve emergency trauma care for soldiers on the battlefield.
Also being tested is a pancreatic enzyme found in squirrels “to put humans into a state of squirrel-like hibernation…
No joke: UF officials remove zombie plan from site
From: AP:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida’s response plans for a zombie apocalypse are no longer available for public consumption.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said Friday the university removed a link to a disaster recovery exercise, which detailed how the school could respond to an outbreak of the undead. The link was taken down late Thursday afternoon.
Orlando says officials felt the joke “didn’t really belong” on the site, which also included plans for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.
The exercise lays out the university’s response to attacks by “flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals.” It notes that a zombie outbreak might include “documentation of lots of strange moaning.”
Orlando says the employee who wrote the gag wasn’t punished.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida’s response plans for a zombie apocalypse are no longer available for public consumption.
UF…
If Zombies Attack, The University of Florida Has A Plan
Associated Press GAINESVILLE, Fla.:
No one expects a zombie apocalypse. But the University of Florida is making sure officials are ready for a night of the living dead, just in case.
The school has a plan for responding to the undead on its Web site among outlines for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.
The exercise lays out how university officials would respond to attacks by “flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals.” It notes that a zombie outbreak might include “documentation of lots of strange moaning.”
A University of Florida spokesman says the exercise was written by an employee at the school’s academic technology office to “add a little bit of levity” to disaster preparation discussions.
