I Hate Diseases

Similar in nature to my Zombie fear, I have a slight paranoia about pandemics. Nowhere near the level of panic I get when Zombies some out to play thankfully. I am not debilitated by the appearance of someone with a cold or flu. However I find it disturbing how dirty people can be, and how easily it really is for large numbers of people to be killed by a tiny little virus.

Maybe this fear has re-surfaced because I watched a BBC documentary on the Bird Flu - not my best way to spend my ultra-early morning but what can I say. Word of advice to anyone I know who travels to southeast Asia - don't eat a damn thing. ever, like anywhere. In fact, bring your own medical masks and oxygen supply. I will suggest an air scrubbing re-breather system used for cave divers. Seeing the images of how they prepare their food makes me want to burn it all to the ground, and as Monk would say, "..and burn the ashes!"

Unlike many of my peers, I am actually planning what I would do to save my family in the event of a killer-super bug being released into the general population. Am I stockpiling weapons and ammo - no. Unlike most people I have other options to defend myself. However it does mean that I do think of what would need to be done, in the event of a disaster, to get my family out of the city and into the safety of the countryside. Bad news is, I live in one of the largest Metropolitan areas in the country (goddamn it!). Good news is that most of the year it is a scorching dry-hot mistress of total merciless proportions, making it tougher for diseases not from around here to survive(yay!) Bad news is (wait more bad news?) most of these super-bugs will come from tropical regions so the heat won't help so much. I guess having a disease outbreak in Greenland is a much better scenario than the tropics.

Anyways, given the capacity for such a deadly outbreak to occur, I have often wondered why more isn't done to prepare for a total quarantine of the country? Why do we not have self-sufficient zones established that will allow for people to limit the spread of the disease? Are we, as a modern people, so worried about offending people, that we can't make the callous decision that in order for the greater good we need to be prepared to draw lines in the sand and protect as many as we can? Because of the nature of disease, its spread will be nearly impossible to stop, so perhaps we just try not to stop it all because the cost for a small chance on a return on that investment is so slim? The rioting alone would cost lives - though why any person would go out in a crowd of people in close proximity to one another when a deadly virus breaks out is beyond me. I am sorry, the moment you tell me that this years flu is killing people - you won't be seeing my ass outside. Screw that. I will email my unhappiness in. I will text and tweet my anger at the "system" doing everything it can to protect as many as possible.

I think at the end of the day, the outbreak of a disease that can kill is just beyond the ability of people to comprehend. The first world has lived so sheltered from the dangers that exist, for so long, we can't actually face the grim reality that we live in the midst of. It falls into a category of problems and concerns that a select few choose to address, that a select few look to the future and know that they work hard to prevent this sort of problem, so most of us can stay happy in our bubbles with our families and friends. While I am thankful that we have people working silently to fight off the darkness that threatens us all, I am aware enough  to understand how much we have to thank them for.

Science of Zombies

Son of a B-. No, I won't swear at that level in the blog, but I sure as hell did say it out loud when I read and watched the video about the science that could create an actual zombie-like event. Located on Mashable, this article discusses the ability of a virus to meet the qualifications necessary to create a zombie horde.

You see, nature is a mean spirited destroyer of all things - just as much as she can create some amazing wonders. No one should ever forget that that same person who creates the awesome beauty of things like this image at right:








Also create terrible things like this:

That is an image of Hurricane Sandy from space as it envelopes a majority of the Eastern Seaboard. Like I said - Mother Nature is not all sunshine and honeybees. 

Imagine my displeasure to hear that she allows for viruses to take over human brain function. I don't think anyone can ignore the fact that Rabies is a disease that acts like this. It is a mean spirited bug intent on death and to spread itself to new victims. Why do you think Rabies causes aggressive behavior and salivation in animals? Aggression makes the animal use its main weapon - biting, and salivation is a method to spread itself - since Rabies is passed through fluids. 

It doesn't take much of a stretch to get to unending hunger and other loss of mental control. The video explains that all it takes is a virus specifically targeting those parts of the brain. The terrible part of it as well - is that the virus could easily enter via a sense of smell. The damn olfactory nerves lead directly to the part of the brain that handles these sorts of things. 

Damn Nature. Now I have to worry about things I may smell. This planet is flipping crazy!

Terminal Defense Position: The Channel Islands

Since my last entry discussed some of the concerns a Zombie-apocalypse survivor needs to keep in mind when selecting a location, I decide I should start picking some out that I think would make for interesting analyses. Lets face it, after playing a few rounds with the game "Plague Inc." almost anyone would want to find a nice secluded spot to live when the Zombies come. Or in this case - the vastly over-powered mutating sentient disease intent on wiping out humanity.

One can only hope that Plague Inc. gives me a free copy of the app for plugging them here (please? I need to scare myself more often?)

Anyways, my location for today's analysis is going to be the Channel Island off the California coast. Here is a map in case you are unsure where they are. that city in the top right corner of the Map is the Ventura/Oxnard region just outside of Los Angeles. This location will include the caveat that I have not spent any time on the islands - I have only looked longingly at them from the coast when I spend time in Ventura. This location speaks to me on a number of different wavelengths, so lets look at each of the areas of concern and how this location stacks up.

Limited Approach
These islands are nice in that they are close to shore, but out of range of most swimmers. The first small island is almost 20 miles off shore - I know I can't swim that far as of today. (Note to self, begin swimming training for endurance) The island each have few locations that you can just get onto the island - their coasts are rocky - this will help provide less area to patrol and keep possibly infected people off-shore under quarantine. Can't beat that. However - this place is within an hour travel of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles. The city proper has almost 3.9 million residents, and the Metro area is closing in on 20 million inhabitants making it one of the largest city centers on the planet. Score: 8/10

Length of Stay before Re-Supply
This one is tricky. If you have time to prep the location - which you cannot in this case because I guess people get angry if you modify a national park- these locations can be very long-term inhabitable. Fishing is ample around the islands, and there seems to be enough rain to keep the place green most of the year, however this island is along the dividing line of the California heat and the more common cooler rainier climate of the northern half of the state. With the right seed crops in addition to local wildlife, and a way to store large amounts of water, this island could be a great place to spend your time. Also, though you can't see it on the smaller map above - directly north of the eastern peninsula of the island are active oil derricks. That's right - you have a pre-tapped supply of oil - if you know how to not blow yourself up operating an oil derrick. Score: 10/10

Supplies
This location could be self-sustaining if properly managed - however a fair amount of technical expertise is needed. Who here can farm? How much needs to be planted to feed a single/multiple persons? Who can operate an oil derrick? Can you fish without a fancy pole or net? Also, the previous blog entry mentioned that whole "Tons and tons of explosives" that would be dropped to stop the advance of the Zombie horde. Does anyone reading this that the military would think twice about nuking an LA with Zombie Justin Beiber eating his fans? Hell. No. (a Google image search was too revolting to include here.) I wouldn't stop myself. So this location could be partly irradiated, and any supplied you would have tried scavenging while fighting off the millions of undead in LA will be a melted pile of slag. Your only hope is that the mountains shielded Ventura and Oxnard - lots of hippies with Solar panels, and marina's with nice boats. Score: 6/10

Available Skill Sets
This one will take some planning. Good news is that California has Rocket scientists - so no shortage of mad-scientist types can be found near the Channel Islands - they do Rocket testing there. Additionally, the Naval Engineers (Sea Bees) are located at the naval base at Point Mugu - on the south side of Oxnard. Make that another notch for very well armed construction and trade skills. In fact - if you can't make a pretty hospitable location work when you have both rockets scientists and a full armed construction force you are really going to have to reconsider your plan of action for the apocalypse.  Score: 11/10

Final Score
Because of the relative ease of sustaining this area, and the availability of both farm and technical skill sets, but its proximity to a major ZBA - I would give the Channel Islands a total score of 35/40. This location could sustain a group of people for an extended period of time, in relative ease with its moderate climate conditions, proximity to technical and physical resources and a more secure location than most people can find on land. Well done California, well done.

CDC Zombie Planning

My fear, hilarious though it can be, is something that many consider a pop-culture icon. A mere traversing of a cultural idea with fears and values tossed into a nice mix - with a dash of undead for flavor for that story to be told. That being said, I always enjoy finding other zombie preparation plans, especially ones from reputable government agencies - like the CDC! The link here is a reposting of the blog post by the CDC. Granted, I am finding flaws in this plan of their (who wants to meet out in the open during a zombie attack?)

In any case, though the preparation kit does not include a shotgun or other weapon (I do NOT count a utility knife as a proper weapon when dealing with a ravenous flesh-eating mob) it does a good job of making sure people keep things in mind for any other emergency.

I mean seriously, not even a gun and ammunition?