Free Republic

Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse: Just Do the Math This equation could spell your doom: (bN)(S/N)Z = bSZ. That is, if you ever found yourself in the midst of a zombie pandemic. That's because the calculation describes the rate of zombie transmission, from one walking dead individual to many, according to its creators, Robert J. Smith?, a mathematics professor at the University of Ottawa who spells his name with a "?" at the end, and his students. Smith's work has inspired other researchers to create zombie mathematical models, which will be published with Smith's work in the upcoming book, "Mathematical Modeling...

Student forgotten in DEA holding cell gets $4.1M SAN DIEGO — A UCSD student scooped up in a drug raid and left in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell for 4 1/2 days without food or water will get $4.1 million to settle his claims, his attorneys announced Tuesday. Daniel Chong, 25, was among seven people detained in an April 21, 2012, raid on a University City home. Chong, an student at UCSD, was handcuffed and put in 5-by-10-foot cell, by an officer who told him, “Hang tight. We’ll come get you in a minute,” his attorney Julia Yoo said....

Your chances of surviving an airplane crash, like the recent crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport, are surprisingly good. More than 95 percent of the airplane passengers involved in a crash survive, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

It seems almost everyone has a story of how they almost drowned, almost drove off a cliff, or narrowly dodged a bullet. What is your story of the closest you came to dying?

Real Doomsday: Earth Dead in 2.8 Billion Years The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jaggar crooned “Time Is On My Side” in the 1964 classic rock hit of the same title. Sadly, that’s not the case for habitable planets orbiting sun-like stars according to a recent computer simulation by astrobiologist Jack O’Malley-James of the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom. “A combination of slow and rapid environmental changes will result in the extinction of all species on Earth, with the last inhabitants disappearing within 2.8 billion years from now,” O’Malley-James predicts. He says that we’ve got about 2 billion years...

USA --(Ammoland.com)- Special operations troops are often lauded for their ability to move behind enemy lines undetected, gather detailed reconnaissance, conduct daring raids and rescues, and then disappear just as quickly as they’ve arrived. At least, that’s the sort of thing that makes a good Hollywood film. One of the greatest and most important capabilities of such highly-trained troops, however, is their ability to train local forces into a formidable defensive units, and that is the premise of Mike Garand and Jack Lawson’s “A Failure of Civility,” one of the more unique survival books on the market.... Former Navy SEAL...

It happened a few years ago during a trip to USA for the Self Reliance expo in Utah. After the expo we decided to go have dinner to this place nearby. Jack Spirko was driving and as he turned to enter a parking lot he had to hit the breaks to avoid running over a woman and her two brats that just walked in front of the car without a care in the world. “People like these, they will be the first ones to go when SHTF” said Jack. You know what? Jack was right. People like that are the...

Though most Americans go through their day thinking everything is now returning to normal, the fact of the matter is the situation is anything but stable. With crime rates skyrocketing, home prices dropping to under $500 for a house, and the local government out of solutions, the city of Detroit is the latest to join the likes of Stockton, California, having just defaulted on its loans from creditors. Despite promises to the contrary, it should come as no surprise that the city is unable to meet its obligations. And it won’t be the last. City and state governments all over...

The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it. Politicians are making a hash of this country—and much of the rest of the civilized world. We know it. They know it. They know we know it. But we don't feel we can do anything much to stop them. That right there is the pre-condition for civil unrest—when people are frustrated and politicians are nervous. Worse, that was how things stood before last fall's crash. Before pols on both left and right launched the biggest mass transfer of wealth in history—transferring our wealth (what we...

If you’re like me, you’re a news and politics junkie who follows current events with obsessive, hawkish vigilance. Sometimes, the never-ending outrages pouring in make you just shake your head with exasperation, wondering how so much can be so wrong, so often, everywhere. But certain events are like sudden, brilliant beacons of light and hope in an abyss of darkness and despair. They remind us that sometimes when all appears to be irredeemably lost, God has other ideas. In fact, that’s basically the entire message of Christianity: ”The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” (Psalm 118:22, Luke 20:17)....

Israeli police are in the midst of a campaign encouraging citizens to hand in their unregistered weapons, with no fear of prosecution and no questions asked. One person they likely didn’t expect to show up was a 78-year-old grandmother who arrived at the police station in Kiryat Gat with a virtual arsenal in tow — four crates worth.

Alexander Wolfe wrote an excellent post today discussing Go Bags and Bug Out Bags. I am going to talk about my thoughts on 'lines' of gear. In doing so we will talk about go bags/ assault packs/ get home bags and such.  First line gear is the most basic survival and defensive gear. You really shouldn't be leaving home without it. Military- Survival gear (knife, fire, etc) and weapon with reload. For most deployed personnel the weapon is an M4 variant but that doesn't really matter. Civilian- EDC/ Survival gear and potentially CCW pistol with reload. You can see mine...

It’s no secret that a lot of people do not prepare for the worst. Whether it’s an economic collapse, a natural disaster, man-made disaster or any other kind of an emergency, it seems most households are not properly equipped to handle a crisis. This was apparent with recent events like Hurricane Sandy and the severe weather disasters in the Midwest and south in the middle of last year.

One of the largest concerns during a disaster situation is when to leave. Hurricanes, floods, chemical leaks, societal breakdowns and terrorist attacks – all cause major evacuation disruptions in urban areas when too many people are trying to flee at the same time. We have seen this with such disasters as 9-1-1, Hurricane Katrina, and evacuations from mass wildfires. While it is important to listen and keep up to date on the current status of a disaster, as a societal whole, we have placed far too much emphasis on the government telling us when the appropriate time to evacuate is....

One Step Closer... "Conservatives and liberals are kindred spirits as far as government spending is concerned. ... Since government has no resources of its own, and since there’s no Tooth Fairy handing Congress the funds for the programs it enacts, we are forced to recognize that government spending is no less than the confiscation of one person’s property to give it to another to whom it does not belong -- in effect, legalized theft." Walter E. Williams, Professor of Economics, George Mason University Have you ever heard of SB 3341? Probably not. Have you ever heard of the "Precious Metals...

In last article I wrote about surviving combat and how I experienced it during my year in war. Today I write about the aftermath. Survival is not only hard on your body but can also kill you inside. So you survive but you are just empty shell. You all heard of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) but I call this just being dead inside. But this does not have to be like that. First let me tell you about Alek. I know Alek for many years now, I met him during one hiking trip I did with my survival group...

· Amoxicillin 250mg AND 500mg (FISH-MOX, FISH-MOX FORTE) · Ciprofloxacin 250mg and 500mg(FISH-FLOX, FISH-FLOX FORTE) · Cephalexin 250mg and 500mg (FISH-FLEX, FISH-FLEX FORTE) · Metronidazole 250mg (FISH-ZOLE) · Doxycycline 100mg (BIRD-BIOTIC) · Ampicillin 250mg and 500mg (FISH-CILLIN, FISH-CILLIN FORTE) Clindamycin 300mg (FISH-CIN) · Sulfamethoxazole 400mg/Trimethoprin 80mg (BIRD-SULFA)

Imagine if suddenly, and completely without warning, the world experienced a total blackout – no electricity, no mobile phones, no banks, no internet, no TV, no emergency services. Nothing. Highways quickly become jammed with cars that have ground to a halt; an aeroplane falls from the sky; a satellite view of the planet shows it rapidly plunging into darkness. As it becomes apparent that the lights are never coming back on, nations are plunged into chaos, mass riots break out in major cities and, without electricity, governments are toppled. Into the vacuum step ad-hoc militias, armed and ready to enforce...

Being able to effectively communicate with family and friends during an emergency is critical. In the past we’ve seen disasters quickly take down the infrastructure needed for cell phones to operate as well as situations where cell towers were undamaged but overloaded. When too many people try to use the same means of communication the cellular networks can quickly become overloaded and calls simply will not go through.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — First responders from across Los Angeles County are practicing for the “big one” Thursday in a drill designed to measure the response to a magnitude-7.8 earthquake. The exercise is hosted by the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management and will take place downtown from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. “It’s our game day. The NCAA basketball tourney is starting, it’s their game day. It’s our game day for the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Offices, Office of Emergency Management,” Emergency Manager Kenneth Kondo told KNX1070. This year’s functional exercise will feature the California Integrated Seismic...