Make Your Own Zombie

With Halloween coming, you might just want to create your own Zombie.  Check out this article:

How to Make a Zombie (Seriously)

By Marc Lallanilla, Assistant Editor   |   October 24, 2013 04:30pm ET
A guy dressed up as a zombie with bloody hands and on a black background
 Most rational people scoff at the suggestion that zombies are real, but a number of respected medical experts and academic journals have presented evidence that zombies are, in fact, real.
Credit: Vietrov Dmytro | Shutterstock

The slouching, flesh-eating zombie has become one of the most in-vogue creatures in current TV and movie offerings, appearing in films like “World War Z” and in the AMC series “The Walking Dead.”

Most rational people scoff at the suggestion that zombies are real, but a number of respected medical experts and academic journals have presented evidence that zombies are, in fact, real.

To understand the zombie phenomenon and its Haitian roots, an appreciation of the practice of vodou (sometimes spelled voodoo or vodun) is needed. A religion based in West Africa, voodou is still practiced in varying forms throughout the Caribbean, Brazil, the American South and other places with a strong African heritage.

Vodou spirituality has a rich tradition of fetish objects, including the so-called “voodoo doll.” Practitioners of vodou also place a particular importance on herbal remedies and other concoctions that may include animal parts, such as bones and hair, dried plants, shells, minerals or other ingredients.

Toads, worms and human remains

Vodou priests known as bokor create a white, powdery compound called coupe poudre, according to numerous reports. The ingredients in this powder allegedly can turn a person into a zombie. In the 1980s, Harvard ethnobotanist Wade Davis traveled to Haiti to investigate zombies and “zombie powder.”

zombie
 A residential neighborhood near downtown Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city in Haiti.
Credit: arindambanerjee / Shutterstock.com

Though different bokor used different ingredients in their powders, Davis found that “there are five constant animal ingredients: burned and ground-up human remains [usually bone], a small tree frog, a polychaete [segmented] worm, a large New World toad, and one or more species of pufferfish. The most potent ingredients are the pufferfish, which contain deadly nerve toxins known as tetrodotoxin,” Davis wrote in Harper’s Magazine.

Some in the scientific community have criticized Davis’ research — his investigation was published in 1983 in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology — but his identification of tetrodotoxin as the active ingredient in zombie powder has considerable scientific merit.

Euphoria, then death

Several animals contain tetrodotoxin in their tissues; the liver, eyes and ovaries of the pufferfish (genus Takifugu) have especially high amounts of the lethal nerve toxin. Though regarded as a delicacy in Japan, the fish and some of its organs (especially the liver) are banned as food items in many places because of the dangers.

In small amounts, tetrodotoxin causes numbness, tingling and a not-unpleasant sensation of floating — even euphoria — according to reports from brave gourmands who have sampled carefully prepared pufferfish. High levels of the toxin, however, can cause death within minutes due to respiratory failure.

But at sublethal doses, the toxin can leave a victim in a state of suspended animation: Breathing is subdued and barely perceptible by observers, the heart rate is near zero, but the person remains conscious and aware (though unable to speak).

Zombie slavery

This toxin, then, may form the basis of the zombie phenomenon. According to Davis and other observers, a person who is exposed to a certain amount of zombie powder containing tetrodotoxin can slip into a vegetative state resembling death. Shortly after the person is buried, their body is exhumed by a bokor.

Though the exhumed zombie usually suffers from apoxia (oxygen deprivation) caused by breathing the limited amount of air inside a coffin, the bokor wields control over the person by continually administering a second drug, a psychoactive compound derived from the jimson weed (Datura stramonium). This second drug causes delirium and disorientation, rendering the person incapable of normal functioning.

The British medical journal The Lancet published three accounts of “zombification” in 1997. In one case, a woman who was presumed dead and was buried in a family tomb reappeared three years later — she was positively identified by several family members and townspeople. “After a local court authorized the opening of her tomb, which was full of stones, her parents were undecided whether to take her home, and she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital in Port-au-Prince,” the authors wrote.

Because death certificates and other official niceties are rare in rural Haiti, and because burial generally occurs within a day of death, “it is not implausible for a retrieved person to be alive,” the authors added. “The use of Datura stramonium to revive them, and its possible repeated administration during the period of zombie slavery, could produce a state of extreme psychological passivity.”

The legal status of zombies

A well-known report of a zombie comes from the pages of ChemMatters, the publication of the American Chemical Society. In 1962, a man named Clairvius Narcisse was admitted to Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Port-au-Prince with severe respiratory problems. After slipping into a coma, Narcisse was later declared dead by two hospital doctors and was buried shortly thereafter.

Eighteen years later, in 1980, a man shuffled up to Angelina Narcisse in a village marketplace and identified himself as her brother. He related a story of being buried alive, dug up and enslaved on a distant sugar plantation. Doctors who examined Narcisse — and dozens of villagers and family members — positively identified him as the man who was buried in 1962.

But if you’re tempted to make a zombie slave of your own, be aware that the zombie phenomenon is considered so real in Haiti that it’s specifically outlawed.

Article 249 of the Haitian penal code states, “It shall also be qualified as attempted murder the employment which may be made against any person [using] substances which, without causing actual death, produce a lethargic coma more or less prolonged. If, after the person had been buried, the act shall be considered murder no matter what result follows.”

http://www.livescience.com/40690-zombie-haiti-are-zombies-real.html

Why Zombies?

Zombie Science: Why Society Is Crazy About The Walking Dead

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A Stanford University researcher took notice of the latest craze for the walking dead and decided to pinpoint the reason for the obsession of zombies in culture and society.

Stanford literary scholar Angela Becerra Vidergar says the obsession over zombies can be traced back to the invention of nuclear warfare during World War II. She says our collective visions of the future changed after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, as well as other World War II events, churning up some disturbing thoughts about the human capacity for violence.

Vidergar wrote in her doctoral dissertation entitled “Fictions of Destruction: Post-1945 Narrative and Disaster in the Collective Imaginary” about how the events of the 20th century, combined with movements to increase environmental awareness, have cast doubt about the consequences of our development as modernized societies.

“In our world today, many of us live with an underlying awareness of possible risks to our survival, not just as individuals, communities, or nations, as has been the case for centuries or even millennia, but on a global scale for reasons new to our era of modernization,” she told redOrbit in an email. “That awareness seems to be one factor in the overflow of the apocalyptic imagination from primarily religious, spiritual spheres into more secular parts of our culture.”

NUCLEAR WAR

As an example, she mentioned how we live in a nuclear age that still continues under the threat of wars that could destroy large portions of the planet.

“Furthermore, the violent events of the past century, including two world wars and a series of other wars, genocides, and other acts of physical and psychological violence have forced us into a frightening awareness of the fragility of our moral frameworks,” said Vidergar. “We have taken great pains through efforts around the world to respond to these crises to our faith in what we thought separated the “human” and “inhuman,” but have not yet found solutions to help us process the traumas of our past, much less find a definitive way to prevent them in the future.”

The literary scholar added we could also be more aware today of the dangerous aspects of our relationships to the rest of the earth, and the non-human life that it contains.

“We regularly hear debates regarding the effects the rush of technological and scientific development can have on the world,” she told redOrbit. “No matter what side we take on these issues, the increased fear for the future over the past century or so is part of our socio-cultural milieu—and therefore affects the ways we imagine (and therefore fictionalize) the future.”

POPULAR CULTURE

“If we take cultural products such as literature, films, television, games, etc. as an indicator, we no longer primarily picture a promising road of enlightenment to a bright future (as many did during, for example, the Industrial Revolution),” Vidergar added. “Progress has not yet delivered on the utopian destinies we previously envisioned; so despite the advancements we have made, we instead find ourselves surrounded by evidence of the ways we have not only failed to improve the world, but perhaps even made it worse.”

Vidergar, who is currently finishing a doctoral degree in Comparative Literature at Stanford, said our increased awareness of mass-scale risk can shift the outlook of our future to darker possibilities, so “more of us buy into more dystopian visions of the world to come.”

“Zombie plagues are among various different scenarios that have made up the increase in mass-scale disaster stories in the past decades. Zombie horror is, in part, popular in the way other genres of entertainment that provide adventure and violence are popular,” she commented. “However, zombie narratives have a particular set of elements that allow us to tap into those anxieties about the future and how we would address them.”

SURVIVAL

She said like other disaster stories which focus on the survivors, these zombie tales provide us with a low-risk environment to “try out” our responses in an extreme situation.

“It is not the zombies that we are drawn to in this sense, but the survivors. Through them we can face our fears without being in danger ourselves, including one of the scariest things to consider: the strength of our own ethical boundaries and our capacity for survival.”

Vidergar points out the destruction of humans in these stories is not due to natural disaster, but comes in a form that is so close to ourselves it provides a unique element to the survival experiment.

Zombies have the potential to stand in as reflections of things that frighten us about ourselves. There are various possible and interesting interpretations for what exactly about our culture they reflect, but because of my research I am particularly interested in the idea that the survivors are like the zombies in that the people they were are gone, yet they live on in another form,” she said in the email.

According to Vidergar, in the stories, humans must become different people in order to survive, creating a frightening situation, but somewhat liberating.

IMAGINATIVE ENVIRONMENT

For the research, she told redOrbit she was fascinated by the nature of the relationship between the socio-culture environment, and the artistic products that arise from that environment.

“The expressions of our imaginations, such as zombie stories, do not come out of nowhere. There is an oscillating relationship between our socio-cultural context and the fictions we create in response (whether directly or indirectly) to that environment,” Vidergar said. “In short, our experience flows into what we imagine, triggering expressions of that imagination into what we produce. Those products that make it out back out into the cultural environment become part of the experiences of others, triggering their imaginations, and so on.”

She referred to her research as “collective imaginary,” which involves the kind of imagination that is shared, rather than just possessed by individuals.

“Although it is a phenomenon that most of us would agree is ‘there,’ it is difficult to get a handle on and tricky to describe. That challenge is the exciting part!”

Also, she said she is fascinated by the manifestations of survivalism encountered in the US and around the world today.

“Stories of survival have excited and stimulated us for centuries, and they continue to do so,” Vidergar told redOrbit. “But particularly since the end of WWII and into today there has been a strong interest in disaster preparedness, from survival kits and outdoor training camps to fallout shelters.”

Angela is also co-founder of the Graphic Narrative Project, a research group and upcoming journal for the study of comics, graphic novels and other graphic narratives.

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

For fun, Vidergar explained to redOrbit what she would do in the event of a “zombie apocalypse.”

“First plan of action: secure shelter, supplies and appropriate weaponry. If the first is a bust, then mobile protection of some sort. I would be traveling with a toddler, so finding sturdy transportation would be a key concern,” she said. “Guns are effective, but weapons that do not need to be reloaded would be a better, long-term solution against the undead. I particularly like the section on defense in Max Brook’s The Zombie Survival Guide. Antibiotics, pain medicine, bandages, needle and thread, dynamo flashlight/radio, water (and water purification tools), non-perishable food items and a route for escape that stays away from areas of major population yet is close enough to possible places to replenish said supplies, as well as fuel.”

She said she would find some kind of effective body armor, a solid pair of boots and layers of clothing, and a “good hat.” Also, “a bandana or scarf would be an added bonus, as it gives protection and doubles as a bandage in a pinch.”

The zombie apocalypse expert mentions it would be good to have some first aid training in your background. Also, to add to the list of supplies, she says ensure you have a compass, a map, backpack, blanket and a solar USB charger.

“The ability to make fire is great and should be acquired in advance—just ask contestants on the show Survivor! Oh, and you always need a good rope. You don’t know what you’ll use it for until you need it, but you will need it,” she told redOrbit. “Finally, good judgment and a cool head are paramount. As The Walking Dead has taught us, the greatest danger won’t be from zombies—it’ll be from other people.”

from:    http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112791793/zombie-craze-society-analysis-022613/

From the CDC (Yes, the CDC) — Zombie Preparedness Tips

Zombie Preparedness

Zombie Banner

Wonder why Zombies, Zombie Apocalypse, and Zombie Preparedness continue to live or walk dead on a CDC web site? As it turns out what first began as a tongue in cheek campaign to engage new audiences with preparedness messages has proven to be a very effective platform. We continue to reach and engage a wide variety of audiences on all hazards preparedness via Zombie Preparedness; and as our own director, Dr. Ali Khan, notes, “If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack.” So please log on, get a kit, make a plan, and be prepared!

Zombie Products

for more, go to:    http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm#

 

Zombie Safe House Design Contest

Architecture Contest Calls for Zombie-Proof Home Designs

Joseph Castro, Life’s Little Mysteries Staff Writer
Date: 18 October 2011 Time: 02:30 PM ET
zombie architecture contest

 

The Lifebuoy: a safe haven against zombies, built atop an abandoned oil rig in the Antarctic.
CREDIT: Survival Systems International, 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition

Between diseases, global warming and falling satellites, we have a lot to worry about these days – but let’s not forget about the looming threat of a zombie apocalypse.

To help us prepare for this potential undead disaster, the folks at Architects Southwest, an architecture firm based in Louisiana, have launched the 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition. The organization has tasked artists, architects and other zombie enthusiasts with one goal: Design a haven that can withstand a full-onzombie assault on civilization as we know it.

Design entries so far are varied and imaginative, to say the least. A top contender right now is the Zombie Ranch, a zombie-powered vertical farm. As per the design, humans live in a spiral housing system above ground, safely out of harm’s reach; down below, zombies run around in circles trying to catch hanging bait traps, all the while turning a turbine that provides energy for the humans in the ranch.

Other entries include portable houses that travel through the air by balloon, structures floating atop abandoned oil rigs in the Antarctic and zombie fortresses built into mountain cliffs.

Voting for the contest is now open and ends on Oct. 20

 

from:   http://www.livescience.com/16598-zombie-apocalypse-architecture-contest.html