Monthly Archives: November 2011

Good Reasons to Prepare for Zombies

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So you’re just trying to live your normal little life, when out of the blue vampires and zombies start their own battle for global domination. What’s a poor human to do?

Vampires vs. ZombiesIt’s fun to mentally compare the strengths and weaknesses of both monsters, as was done at the recent Six O’Clock Series event, “Vampires vs. Zombies: The Debate.” Two authors of books that discussed how to survive their respective favorite creature outbreak squared off to support their choice of the winner. Scott Bowen (The Vampire Survival Guide) and Matt Mogk (Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about Zombies) have appeared on Spike TV’s Deadliest Warrior, which featured an episode that attempted to demonstrate who would win. Claws were compared to bites, and intelligent yet emotional killing machines were compared to a horde of unstoppable and mindless abattoirs on feet.

The winner on Deadliest Warrior was vampires, but by an extremely narrow margin (the Six O’Clock Series audience’s vote was decidedly in favor of zombies). The comparisons were fun, and the examples, though gruesome, were light-hearted because, after all, we’re talking about fictional creatures and an impossible scenario. But there was one point, almost idly mentioned in passing, that carries serious relevance: The Centers for Disease Control has created printed publications and a website on how to survive a zombie apocalypse.

The tongue-in-cheek campaign has become an effective way to help people think about disaster preparedness. As the website notes, “If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse, you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack.”

When hordes of the undead start menacing society, people may start thinking more about protecting their families than going to work. Roads may become impassable, and, as services begin to break down, there would be shortages of food and water. Deliveries of critical supplies, such as gasoline, oil, and medicine, would slow down or stop. Power outages would become an issue, as would lack of sanitation. The results of a disaster would be similar no matter the cause: zombie horde or terrorist attack, natural disaster (volcano or earthquake) or manmade (nuclear accident or biological contamination).

Be Prepared warning from the CDCWhen vampires and zombies wage war, or when any catastrophe occurs, humanity will feel the results. In the end, it doesn’t matter which of the monsters win. It’s all about how we handle the situation and what we do to save ourselves.

So learn how to survive a zombie attack. Be ready for when the battle rolls onto your lawn. Let’s hope catastrophe will never strike home in your lifetime. But knowing that you are prepared, in at least some small measure, will help you fall back to sleep easier when you hear that mysterious bump in the night.

Wisnicki’s Examination of Livingstone’s Diary: Truths and Better Truths

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wisnicki1.jpgUpdate, November 11: The BBC also featured this discovery, and the report can be seen on the BBC website. The Associated Press also filed a report, as did the New York Times.

The Google Alert I received in my in box yesterday morning made me say out loud, “Oh!” It was an article in the Washington Post about one of our own professors’ hunt for special treasure.

Adrian Wisnicki, who joined IUP’s faculty this fall, teaches British Literature in the English Department. His discovery and analysis of one of David Livingstone’s journals led to the story, which appeared in the November 1 edition. See the story.

Wisnicki, who is the codirector of the Center for Digital Humanities and Culture at IUP, initially went in search of Livingstone’s field diary for the insight it would provide on Central Africa’s culture in 1871, and he found it with the help of an archivist at the David Livingstone Center in Scotland. Wisnicki worked with Library of Congress spectral imaging experts to decipher the makeshift journal fashioned out of old newspaper and ink made from berries, which Livingstone, who was low on supplies, was forced to use. Wisnicki found discrepancies between Livingstone’s working journal–the tattered find from Scotland–and his ultimate published work.

The conclusion is that Livingstone may have chosen to bend the truth to hide a few details that, in hindsight, would have reflected badly on his pristine image, according to the article. The famous explorer, missionary, and physician published an account of a massacre that eventually led to the abolition of a certain slave market, but his diary tells a different account.

Not even after a hundred forty years can someone hide from a persistent person and spectral imaging. Facts are stubborn things, although Wisnicki is still analyzing the journal’s contents.

Wisnicki and the colleagues who worked on the project have ensured the full text of the journal is available online, hosted at UCLA’s library. See the David Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project.

Hair, Hair…All for Men’s Health Awareness

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iStock_000017022660XSmall_260px.jpgIt’s going to get a little hairy around campus this month.

For the second year in a row, IUP’s fraternities are taking over November and creating “Movember,” much to the dismay of those who like a clean-shaven man.

During Movember, men are encouraged to “grow their mos” (mustaches) as part of the national Movember men’s health awareness program, which focuses mainly on two men’s cancers, testicular and prostate.

Think of it as the manly version of the famous pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness.

Tonight, the Hadley Union Building atrium will take on a very different feel, as some thirty fraternity members take part in the “shave off” to begin the Movember project.

Later this month, there will be another men’s health awareness project, in which the fraternities will “pack the house” for the men’s basketball game against Thiel College on November 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex. Messages about men’s health and these cancers will be prominently displayed and presented during the game.

Then, on November 28, the furry-faced fraternity brothers will stage a bowling tournament (open to the community) at Mohawk Lanes. This is one of several fund-raising events for Movember. Last year’s event–the first at IUP–raised almost $2,000, which was donated to the national project fighting testicular and prostate cancer.

Early in December, men will go mustache-to-mustache for an event to judge the most iconic mos. According to Betsy Sarneso, director of Student Leadership and Greek Life, last year’s Movember mustaches (say THAT three times fast) were grown in the style of Mario (of video game fame) and samurai warriors.

While the growing of mustaches is all in fun, these cancers are very serious. They are hard to talk about, but awareness and education are a great start.

So, the next time you see a young man with a mustache, think about what kind of important message that furry upper lip is sending. And here’s another bonus: Many of these fraternity men will have an easy and very inexpensive gift for mom for the holidays: a clean-cut son!