If it was just you and your future partner trying to make a new life, then yeah; find yourself a sturdy farmgirl. Looks optional.

Put her next to an average woman and I think dainty probably works.

Looks don't have to be optional if its Nicole Curtis. Anyone seen her show on DIY Network? She renovates old houses, and can do every bit of the work herself, from carpentry to tile to laying sod to driving a backhoe. If we're doing a draft of apocalypse companions, she's going first.

Put her next to an average woman and I think dainty probably works.


Does anyone really think stars and starlets are going to maintain those figures in zombie apocalypse?

I figure most folks who survive a decent length of time would probably wind up with a lean, sinewy look. Everyone's physical activity would go up a ton, while the food supply would be scarce and irregular. Fatties would be first to go. Gym bunnies of either gender might do OK, but their diets and the kind of exercise they'd be getting would change, and so would their physiques.

as i have mentioned before, i am feeling good about a doomsday scenario. got my own well. have large underground tanks filled with fuel (unleaded and diesel). lots of guns and ammo. hunting knives. unobstructed line of fire around the main homestead. generators. horses. dogs, both hunting and herding. farm animals obviously though not a lot of breeding stock. full knowledge of hunting, foraging and raising all kinds of animals and plants. medical supplies. field dressing knowledge. daughter is a doc so if i can get her to the farm that's another plus.

ZombApoc is pretty much your paleodiet/Crossfit workout dream. You're basically eating hunted animal proteins and foraged fruits and nuts. At least in the first few decades of ZA you're not going to get a lot of grain based carbs. Nobody's going to be farming and processing wheat or corn in volume. And the nomadic lifestyle, both for hunting animals for food and sprinting away from zombie hordes is going to favor the CrossFit mentality, minus the modified Olympic lifting.

I figure most folks who survive a decent length of time would probably wind up with a lean, sinewy look. Everyone's physical activity would go up a ton, while the food supply would be scarce and irregular. Fatties would be first to go. Gym bunnies of either gender might do OK, but their diets and the kind of exercise they'd be getting would change, and so would their physiques.

One thing I remember about the Nathaniel Philibrick book about the wreck of the whaleship Essex was that the fat captain survived three months in an open boat (gnawing human bones and so forth) reasonably well. My guess is that a fat person who was basically healthy but carrying 50+ extra pounds (a former college linebacker would be an ideal example) would be an ideal survival candidate. A lot of it depends on the realities of the situation. If food is scarce the fat person will have more reserves to survive and so is a better bet than the skinny model. If there are lots of Piggly Wigglys to loot and the main problem is surviving attacks then the slow and unfit would be the first to go. We need to define the apocalypse before predicting who will come out of it OK.

ZombApoc is pretty much your paleodiet/Crossfit workout dream. You're basically eating hunted animal proteins and foraged fruits and nuts.

Since the defining feature of a Zombie Apocalypse is

I nominate Carol of the Bells as the best of the best,

Since the defining feature of a Zombie Apocalypse is, you know, zombies, I think we have to assume that fighting and running from zombies will be a critical element of the scenario.

For example, when I was in England and Wales in the spring I managed to hit 28 churches or cathedrals in 16 days.

I guess Springsteen doing "Merry Xmas Baby" is good.

Mouse I just don't see how the vote helps things. I also don't see how it hurts

Asian-Americans make up half of the Bay Area's technology workforce, and their double-digit employment gains came from jobs lost among white tech workers, according to an analysis by this newspaper of Census Bureau data released Thursday.

The dramatic shift in the changing composition of the high-tech workforce represents a new generation of homegrown and imported workers drilled in science, technology, engineering and math studies. But the shift in workplace demographics -- at least among tech companies -- fails to reflect the gains of California's Hispanic and Latino population, which lost ground in tech jobs along with African-Americans.

"It's the new world -- a world in which whites are not the majority,"

... The tech employment picture hardly represents the growing number of Hispanics and Latinos who make up 27 percent of Santa Clara County, English-Lueck said.

But it does reflect the young and growing number of Asian-Americans "who were raised with a very strong STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) background" and are going into high tech.

Asian-American software developers, in particular, saw huge gains all around the Bay Area: from nearly 45 percent of those workers in 2000 to more than 53 percent in Alameda County; and from nearly 50 percent to nearly 60 percent in both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, the center of Silicon Valley.

Ryan Shelby, a 28-year-old African-American doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, said young African-American and Hispanic students are often raised in communities that don't stress science and math curriculums that are likely to guide them into tech jobs.

Shelby grew up on a farm in Letohatchee, Ala., where his love for engineering started by working on his father's tractor.

"I've been beating my head over this," Shelby said. "There's a lack of mentorship early on for a lot of these young students, who don't have these facilities and teachers to expose them to math, science and technology early on."

So Shelby supports greater outreach to women and underrepresented minorities at UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, which now has an associate dean of "Equity and Inclusion."

While 34 percent of African-American and Hispanic students start out in engineering across the country, only 13 percent leave with degrees, he said.

Meredith Leu grew up studying STEM courses surrounded by other Asian-American students and graduated with honors from Mission San Jose High School in Fremont.

Now, as a 19-year-old junior at SJSU studying computer science, Leu said many non-Asians don't appreciate "the Asian culture, where there is a deep work ethic that America hasn't really bought into yet."

But there's so much more to it. Fast zombies or slow zombies? How easy to kill? Do they eventually die of starvation? If they starve to death then your best bet is to hole up somewhere and try to starve more slowly than the zombies. That requires a different skill set (or at least body type) than a situation where you're fighting zombie hordes all of the time. The starvation situation would be a wonderful opportunity for people who say they're fat only because of a slow metabolism to put up or shut up.

There will never be a zombie apocalypse and not because it is a fantasy concept but because a zombie outbreak would never get large enough to cause human society to collapse and the world's population diminished by any great degree.

Absolutely, and I think that we can all be eternally grateful that Bach, Beethoven and Buxtehude weren't secular humanists.

In general I don't like zombie stories. There are some good ones but the whole trope is WAY overdone and not that great to start with.

She's very young and has the hips/boobs that signify "fertility"; at 5'10 with all the curves she has, I'm not sure it's fair to characterize her as "dainty".

Put her next to an average woman and I think dainty probably works.

ZombApoc is pretty much your paleodiet/Crossfit workout dream. You're basically eating hunted animal proteins and foraged fruits and nuts. At least in the first few decades of ZA you're not going to get a lot of grain based carbs. Nobody's going to be farming and processing wheat or corn in volume. And the nomadic lifestyle, both for hunting animals for food and sprinting away from zombie hordes is going to favor the CrossFit mentality, minus the modified Olympic lifting.

The whole zombie apocalypse premise (and underlying zombie biology and ecology) is more than a little illogical.

I guess I really should try to post on-topic comments :) OK, is there anyone who thinks that the "Benghazi Talking Points" isn't the lamest excuse for a scandal in the history of scandals?

The whole genre is completely played out for me.

Leu said many non-Asians don't appreciate "the Asian culture, where there is a deep work ethic that America hasn't really bought into yet."

Asian-Americans make up half of the Bay Area's technology workforce, and their double-digit employment gains came from jobs lost among white tech workers,

you're going to have to live with missing out on this.

Seconded, Thirded and Fourthed. I never saw the appeal beyond the campiness of the original George Romero works.

post 11050:

where do all the hobby farmers and organic farmers fall? because they are farmers but i doubt most of them would adapt to a hostile environment very quickly

i also think you overstate my peer group's abilities in general

My immediate neighbor is a great old soul of 82 with serious COPD issues, but he can still shoot, garden, carpenter, find edible plants anywhere, and fix anything. He's the kind of generalist (grew up on a farm, worked as plumber in Brooklyn for a decade and a half, turned farmer again then turned b&b owner) I'd draft high if the world ended.

The number of better ways to spend my time is astronomical.

I don't play video games.

that's why its a group thing.

that's why its a group thing.

A handful of outlets have reported that Team Romney’s internal polling showed North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia moving safely into his column and that it put him ahead in a few other swing states. When combined with Ohio, where the internal polling had him close, Romney was on track to secure all the electoral votes he needed to win the White House. The confidence in these numbers was such that Romney even passed on writing a concession speech, at least before the crotchety assignment-desk known as “reality” finally weighed in.

as someone who has seen people at less than their best i think it's important to remember the skills that can get you through the transition from civilized world to rustic world are not the ones that will help you prosper in rustic world

that's why its a group thing. you need folks who can be pretty hard (some might say ruthless) to get you through the immediate chaos and then you get into some kind of equilibrium state. who knows how long the transition state lasts.

In an exclusive report by the Palm Beach Post, several prominent Florida Republicans are now admitting that these election law changes were geared toward suppressing minority and Democratic votes.

Former governor Charlie Crist (R-FL) and former GOP chairman Jim Greer (R-FL), as well as several current GOP members, told the Post that Republican consultants pushed the new measures as a way to suppress Democratic voters. Crist expanded early voting hours in 2008 despite party pressure, but Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) targeted early voting almost immediately when he took office in 2011. Scott’s administration claimed the new laws were meant to curb in-person voter fraud, despite the fact that an individual in Florida is more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud.
Current party members and consultants confirmed the motive was not to stop voter fraud but to make it harder for Democrats and minorities to vote:

Wayne Bertsch, who handles local and legislative races for Republicans, said he knew targeting Democrats was the goal. “In the races I was involved in in 2008, when we started seeing the increase of turnout and the turnout operations that the Democrats were doing in early voting, it certainly sent a chill down our spines. And in 2008, it didn’t have the impact that we were afraid of. It got close, but it wasn’t the impact that they had this election cycle,” Bertsch said, referring to the fact that Democrats picked up seven legislative seats in Florida in 2012 despite the early voting limitations.

Another GOP consultant, who did not want to be named, also confirmed that influential consultants to the Republican Party of Florida were intent on beating back Democratic turnout in early voting after 2008.

[...]A GOP consultant who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution said black voters were a concern. “I know that the cutting out of the Sunday before Election Day was one of their targets only because that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves,” he said.

Though the state ultimately went to President Obama, the Republican effort to suppress votes was largely successful. A post-election report found that new voting restrictions led to a huge increase in provisional ballots, which are cast when there is some question of the voter’s eligibility.

While crying voter fraud, the Florida GOP had to confront its own scandal when a voter registration firm they hired turned in hundreds of fraudulent registration forms in several Florida counties. The GOP hastily cut ties with the group when the state opened a criminal investigation into their operations.

For the zombie inclined, DayZ could be a really interesting game centered on the premise. The mod based on Arma2 was pretty good.

In the great Zombie apocalypse draft, don't forget water and probably fishing. I have no idea where the group in Walking Dead are getting water from, but I think they'd have died of thirst by now.

I'm thinking cardio/endurance training is the way to go here. Combined with enough strength training to carry heavy amounts of gear a very long way. Doing a lot of rough hiking and/or rock climbing would probably be helpful.

You know nothing.

ZombApoc is pretty much your paleodiet/Crossfit workout dream.

All fad diets are crap

Most of a caveman's scavenged protein came from insects or small animals like mice and frogs. If you're eating nice big steaks, you're putting totally different amino acids into your body than the guy you're supposedly trying to emulate.

The model uses some assumptions that I don't really agree with (I believe).

I mean, you're nitpicking the marketing term of a protein heavy diet. It's beyond silly.

Most of a caveman's scavenged protein came from insects or small animals like mice and frogs.

No, I'm nitpicking the philosophical underpinnings of that particular protein-heavy diet.

Cite? The fact is, we have no idea what quantity of protein sources were used by paleolithic hunter/gatherers. We can measure animal bones at a site, but we can't determine which ones were eaten by humans.

With a side of technological edge leading to incompetent internal GOP polling and "ORCA"

the Romney internal polls

Democrats’ strength in the region is hard to separate out from the growth of its core industry — information technology – and the advantage that having access to the most talented individuals working in the field could provide to Democratic campaigns.

Companies like Google and Apple do not have their own precincts on Election Day. However, it is possible to make some inferences about just how overwhelmingly Democratic are the employees at these companies, based on fund-raising data. (The Federal Election Commission requires that donors to presidential campaigns disclose their employer when they make a campaign contribution.)

Among employees who work for Google, Mr. Obama received about $720,000 in itemized contributions this year, compared with only $25,000 for Mr. Romney. That means that Mr. Obama collected almost 97 percent of the money between the two major candidates.

Apple employees gave 91 percent of their dollars to Mr. Obama. At eBay, Mr. Obama received 89 percent of the money from employees.

Over all, among the 10 American-based information technology companies on Fortune’s list of “most admired companies,” Mr. Obama raised 83 percent of the funds between the two major party candidates.

This is really crazy. In Romney's internal polls, he was losing the election. His internal polls, which were incredibly unrealistic and way off in Iowa, Colorado and Minnesota, still had him losing 267-271. Remarkably, when his own polls showed him losing, he still thought he was going to win so much that he did not prepare a concession speech.

Wow.

Mr. Obama won the nine counties of the Bay Area by margins ranging from 25 percentage points (in Napa County) to 71 percentage points (in the city and county of San Francisco). In Santa Clara County, home to much of the Silicon Valley, the margin was 42 percentage points.

Over all, Mr. Obama won the election by 49 percentage points in the Bay Area, more than double his 22-point margin throughout California.

Although San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley have long been liberal havens, the rest of the region has not always been so. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Bay Area vote over all, along with seven of its nine counties. George H.W. Bush won Napa County in 1988.

Republicans have lost every county in the region by a double-digit margin since then. But Democratic margins have become more and more emphatic. Mr. Obama’s 49-point margin throughout the Bay Area this year was considerably larger than Al Gore’s 34-point win in 2000, for example, or Bill Clinton’s 31-point win in 1992.

We actually can, to an extent, because of cut-marks on the bones of butchered animals.

There will never be a zombie apocalypse and not because it is a fantasy concept but because a zombie outbreak would never get large enough to cause human society to collapse and the world's population diminished by any great degree.

Most of a caveman's scavenged protein came from insects or small animals like mice and frogs.

Cite? The fact is, we have no idea what quantity of protein sources were used by paleolithic hunter/gatherers.

Not exactly indicative of an enormous contingent of right-libertarian techies.

They would have 40 years ago, for sure. I probably would have voted for Nixon at least once, had I been born in 1950 instead of 1980.

If you think people should eat that particular balance of nutrients, fine - use science to show why. But cavemen don't have anything to do with it. That's just a load of soft-headed marketing horseshit, designed to separate dippy consumers from their money.

why should the hypothetical science-&-social-moderated-Republicans find an audience in people like you?

I'm a straight white guy with a Ph.D in a hard science; Nixon is also the last Republican presidential candidate I would've voted for. Republicans these days love Reagan, but he's where I say \"#### that ####."