The plot thickens, Dear Reader

Be warned.

Trite conversation, bad fashion, no rhythm...

Are any of us safe?

 

The Center for Disease Control

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

Categories: General

May 16th, 2011 11:48 am ET  -   Ali S. Khan

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 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 or hurricane)

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 (including isolation 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

Hoax or cover-up?

New York - News and Features
Article by: David Brock
December 14, 1998

"By day, Rivera was reporting on migrant workers in New Jersey, child heroin addicts in East Harlem, and the Yom Kippur war. By night, he was partying at Studio 54 with Andy Warhol, Rudolph Nureyev, and Mick Jagger."



New York - News and Features
Article by: Unknown
October 22, 2010

The Vampires of Studio 54

Cutting the rug at Studio 54

New York in the summer of 1977 was a city on edge. The Son of Sam killer was gunning people down in their cars, and a blackout on July 13th had paralyzed the city and sent looters running amok in the streets. Amid this atmosphere of fear and paranoia arose reports that a pack of vampires were preying on the young and the hip at Studio 54, the city's most popular discotheque. The rumor was that "54" owner Steve Rubell kept the vampires in a basement crypt and allowed them access to the club goers in exchange for a promise of immortality for himself. Though a couple of young men had disappeared after a night at Studio 54, most people discounted the rumors as the stuff of urban legend, and the disco remained popular.
One Studio 54 regular was not so quick to dismiss the story: Geraldo Rivera, a brash young reporter for ABC-TV. Rivera was looking to make a name for himself and thought that breaking the vampire story would be a sure way to put him on the map. His sources for the story were a group of disgruntled former Studio 54 employees. All claimed they were fired by Rubell when they refused to keep quiet about the vampires. One Sunday afternoon, former 54 bartender Francisco Birney snuck Rivera through a back entrance into the Studio 54 basement and showed him a mysterious locked vault where he claimed that the vampires slept during the day.
Rivera talked his bosses into making the crypt-opening a one-hour live special. The show was hyped as the first assault on vampires ever carried on live television, although the location of the assault was kept undisclosed so as not to tip off Rubell and Studio 54 management. The cryptic marketing campaign intrigued the nation, and on the night of September 4, 1977, approximately 40 million Americans sat down in front of their TV sets to watch host David Hartman introduce the special with the words "we're about to do something that has never been done before."

Rivera prepares to enter the crypt

After a taped introduction featuring interviews from the former Studio 54 employees, the show went to a live shot of Rivera in a van parked behind the disco. The cameras followed him, Gould and Francisco Birney into the basement, where Birney unlocked the vault. Inside the dark, cramped space lay two dusty coffins. The television audience held its collective breath as Rivera pried open one of the coffins and the camera captured the image of a what appeared to be a male vampire at rest. Suddenly, the vampire's eyes snapped open and, as the camera rolled, he leaped out of the coffin and attacked Rivera. A melee ensued.

Rivera a day after battling the "vampires"

When the dust settled, Rivera had a broken nose and a cameraman had his burly arms wrapped around the alleged vampire: former 54 doorman Robert Mendez, complete with blue makeup and plastic fangs. Rivera promised "to get to the bottom of this" as the live shot cut back to the studio and a flummoxed David Hartman.
In all, five former Studio 54 employees were involved in the hoax. They admitted that they had hatched the scheme in the hopes of bringing bad publicity to Rubell and Studio 54. It was only after they got Rivera involved did they begin to see an opportunity to get what 54 patron Andy Warhol might have called "their 15 minutes of fame."
Studio 54 was eventually brought down, but it was the taxman, not vampires, who did the job. As for Rivera, although his reputation took a hit and he became something of a laughingstock, he survived the embarrassment and continued his career in television. The hoax has been all but forgotten, far from the bright lights of Studio 54.

Your unveiling...

Now that we've looked back
It's time to look ahead. 
We danced the night away.
But now, so many are dead.

Everyone looks so lovely.
And none of us are without sin.
But as I have said before
"I can see every monster as they come in."

Is this the end of Studio?

Dear Guests - Studio 54 Part 3 and an important message

I admit that my previous post was a bit misleading.  I have no doubt that each of you will use your unique talents to make our much anticipated gathering a memorable one.  Perhaps, even one we just might remember for the rest of our lives. 

But that is not why you were chosen.

The real reason is that each of you has been hiding something about yourself from the world.  For some of you, this is, shall we say a "recent development", while for others, it must seem like an eternity.  I suspect for those of you who know me, it comes as no surprise that I simply adore a good secret.  Those who don't, will soon find out. As you are about to learn, the only thing I love more than a good secret is revealing one.

Consider yourself forewarned...

Dear Guests - Part 2 for your viewing pleasure

Keep watching (and learning).  Some information may prove to be useful...