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Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
Golden Breathalyzer Could Diagnose Lung Cancer
How Does Shark-Jumping Really Affect Audience Numbers?
Zeppelins On Mars, Water Purification On Earth: Research Secrets Of Two SF Writers
Teenage Girls Are Writing Harder Science Fiction Than You Are
Orangutans and Bonobos Make Art for Charity
Japanese Academy to Make Gundam a Reality
War and Social Upheaval Cause Spikes in Zombie Movie Production
Lab-Grown Smell Receptors Could Pave the Way for Artificial Noses
Dreams of Doctor Who and Star Trek Fans vs. the Realities of Their Lives

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Erich Benjamin Spurgin
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
Why shouldn't we study zombie attacks?
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Ghede promoted this comment

Anekanta - former space marine
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: study people like the Australian Aborigines or the Khoisan for better cooperative dynamics. They may be stone-age in a technological sense, but socially they are light years ahead: they know how to get along much better than we "civilized" folk.
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Jonny_eh
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
The professor behind the study wrote a similar defense for our local paper, [www.ottawacitizen.com]

I also interviewed the author for our podcast, [www.ottawaskeptics.org]

I recommend the podcast, not just because it's mine, but because we touch on the same issue discussed here and he talks about his main area of interest, eradicating AIDS!
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RandomFrequentFlierDent promoted this comment Edited by Jonny_eh at 09/15/09 10:48 AM Jonny_eh was starred Jonny_eh was unstarred

engtech
09/15/09

@Jonny_eh: I'd promote this if I could.
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Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. promoted this comment engtech was starred engtech was unstarred

Alessar
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
Funny, I was just having this chain of thoughts the other day in that "Zombie Apocalypse" would be a great mental exercise to plan for because it represents that unbelieveable catastrophe no one has ever dared think of. Unfortunately, we've had a couple of those in the last several years.
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Chip Overclock
09/15/09

@Alessar: Among my more survivalist friends, that's exactly how they use it: as a codeword to mean "whatever we can't anticipate". "Katrina" is another metaphor (or is that an allegory) I hear used a lot. The fact that the rule of law pretty much broke down temporarily and various local, state and federal governments seemed pretty clueless was apparently a big wake up call for a lot of people.
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Jeb_Hoge
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
All I can say is I will voluntarily stay away from any "zombie walk" because, y'know, you can't be too sure and I'd hate to bash in someone's head by accident.
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CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard)
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
I think getting ready for a zombie attack is good. It gives our goverments something else to spend our money on in a completly useless way. I say if we are going to get ourselves reay....why not combine the 2 big cash cows right now. Attach a shotgun to a speed camera. Now we all know that zombies run....yes? So when said zombie comes legging it past a camera..BOOM! One dead zombie. Maybe a zombie tax on all large citys. They can come in to eat our brains...but damn it! They'll pay a charge or get fined!!!!!
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engtech
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
Here's a link to the original zombie study: [www.mathstat.uottawa.ca]

submitted it to io9 a few months ago, but I don't think it got picked up.
Reply

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Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip!
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
Might be a good idea to bone up on strategy too:
[www.cracked.com]
Reply

Aidan_
09/15/09

In reply to Why Should We Study Zombie Attacks?
I'll give him AIDS and climate change, but terrorism? This is not a new concept. The term terrorism has been in use since at least the early 20th century.
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cletar
09/15/09

@Aidan_: The term "terrorism" dates to at least the 1780s.

I think the point here is dealing with sudden outbreaks or increases in known phenomena. The concept of disease isn't new, but each unique epidemic is. Terrorism as a concept isn't new, but each terrorist event is new and unexpected. Modeling of catastrophe is actually a useful thing.
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Boas_MC
09/15/09

@Aidan_: He probably means shifting forms of terrorism. Like planes flying into buildings, or secret armies of bulldozers undermining whole downtowns. In addition, of course, to Molotov cocktail-tossing zombie Baha'i fundamentalists.
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TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H.
09/01/09

In reply to Golden Breathalyzer Could Diagnose Lung Cancer
Sometime in the near future a iintoxicated driver is pulled over by a rutine traffic patrol. The following conversation takes place:

Cop: I have some good news and bad news.
Driver: What's the good news?
Cop: You passed the breathalyzer test.
Driver: Yay! And the bad news?
Cop: You apparently have lung cancer.
Driver: ...
Reply

Edited by TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H. at 09/01/09 4:33 PM

Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L.
09/01/09

In reply to Golden Breathalyzer Could Diagnose Lung Cancer
Not so good for Cybermen, however.
Reply

reddingofish
09/01/09

In reply to Golden Breathalyzer Could Diagnose Lung Cancer
This is the kind of stuff I was expecting from the 21st century.
Reply

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tetracycloide
03/20/09

In reply to How Does Shark-Jumping Really Affect Audience Numbers?
if you're going to devote an entire paragraph to explaining that rating trend downward over time and spike for premieres and finalies why not just make it official and regress the deflation and outliers out of the timeseries data?
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denna
03/20/09

In reply to How Does Shark-Jumping Really Affect Audience Numbers?
I have to say I am truly puzzled by the inclusion of "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1" on the list of possible shark-jumpers. More happens in that episode before the teaser than in many full hours of television.

Really, it's unfathomable to me that it is considered when dreck so awful as "Black Market" goes unnoticed--an episode that is so hideous that RDM spent the majority of the podcast apologizing for it.
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Lamar Henderson
03/19/09

In reply to How Does Shark-Jumping Really Affect Audience Numbers?
Jesus H. Christ on a stick. Why are people so dedicated to tearing down everything -- even things they supposed like -- that they're willing to look for whatever piece of "evidence" they can find in order to say, "Nyah, nyah! I told you! It sucks, and here's the numbers to prove it."

Galactica has been a great show, a classic -- not perfect in any way, but then no show ever is. Why not just enjoy it for what it is now, while it's still here, rather than trying to tear it down and do a postmortem even before it's completely done?

In the end, the only opinion that matters about whether an individual likes or dislikes a show is that person's. No one else's opinion counts for jack shit. And, I'm coming to believe, that counts double for the "fan boyz."
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Annalee Newitz
03/20/09

@Lamar Henderson: Wait, what? I love Galactica. This is just a fun chart which allows us to talk about how audience numbers have ebbed and flowed over the years. Every great show has its low points. Doesn't mean we hate it.
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