When zombies attack!: Mathematical modelling of an outbreak of zombie infection (PDF)

From http://www.talkingsquid.net

An epidemiological model of the zombie apocalypse

Here’s a contender for scientific paper of the year: When zombies attack!: Mathematical modelling of an outbreak of zombie infection (PDF) by a trio of imaginative Canadian scientists and one goth in denial.

One has to appreciate a paper that includes references like, “[8] Pegg, Simon (writer, creator, actor), 2002 Shaun of the Dead,” and includes all the graphs, epidemiological equations, and algorithms necessary to run your own simulations. And the conclusion?

An outbreak of zombies infecting humans is likely to be disastrous, unless extremely ag-

gressive tactics are employed against the undead. While aggressive quarantine may eradi-

cate the infection, this is unlikely to happen in practice. A cure would only result in some

humans surviving the outbreak, although they will still coexist with zombies. Only suf-

?ciently frequent attacks, with increasing force, will result in eradication, assuming the

available resources can be mustered in time.

An outbreak of zombies infecting humans is likely to be disastrous, unless extremely aggressive tactics are employed against the undead. While aggressive quarantine may eradicate the infection, this is unlikely to happen in practice. A cure would only result in some humans surviving the outbreak, although they will still coexist with zombies. Only sufficiently frequent attacks, with increasing force, will result in eradication, assuming the available resources can be mustered in time.

So the movies get it right. If there’s a zombie outbreak, our only chance of survival would be a rapid, intelligent, co-ordinated, sustained response from governments around the world. (Trans.: we’re doomed!)

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A Review of THE ESTUARY- A Novel by Derek Gunn

The Estuary, not your average Zombie Novel. Thank God! Derek Gunn gets it right with this novel of horror. This is a really good horror read whether or not it has zombies in it, but I am glad it does.

The novel is well written and edited, which is not always the case in this genre, and we have interesting and well thought out characters. Some of us demand more than blood and guts and it is here to be found, all of the above.

Case in point, we have a story with Nazi's, submarines, chemical warfare, the occult, zombies, back yard picnics and traffic jams, and the author still has time to place in an international man of mystery (spy). This would normally make a very jumbled and hard to follow story, but not here. The author is very adept at adding this delicious content while keeping the actions of the characters realistic in these unreal situations. I forgot to mention we also get an ancient sea bound keep and military gunning down citizens to prevent the spread of contagion.

Gunn has written some Vampire stories, but hopefully we will get some more zombies.

The only difficult time I had was relating to some Irish slang when I am from the American Southeast. A great read no matter which side of the pond you hail from.

I got mine from Amazon, click here to buy

Also found at the Permuted Press site and at Books a Million. Enjoy!