Since Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the popular imagination has been alive with stories of mad scientists and the chilling experiments they conduct. But sometimes, real life is even more frightening than fiction. From zombie dogs to mind control, here are some of the scariest experiments ever done. [LS]
I'm on the tail end of Hurricane Sandy - we had high winds, freezing rain, and power outages but apparently my area's going to be slammed and it won't be safe to go out. Certainly not the same as being in the midst of a life threatening emergency yet, but we often only think of the bare minimum items for survival through disasters - but what happens when minor or major events stretch on?
Both minor and major events force us to adapt. Aside from media smear campaigns painting preppers (people with common sense) as wackos and terrorists, most people are warming up to the idea of being prepared. Maybe they are eco-conscious and are naturally leaning towards doing without, or are romanticizing old times away from the technocratic rat race, or maybe scary news stories finally lit a fire beneath them.
If you were hunkered in for an indefinite amount of time what would you wish you had picked up when you had the chance? If you are experiencing minimal effects from the storm, it's not too late! [AP]
Superstorm Sandy has claimed lives of at least 55 people on US East Coast with New Jersey and NYC badly affected
Obama skips campaign events in battleground states in favour of visit to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's state
Gov Christie: 'We've got a big task ahead of us that we have to do together. This is what New Jerseyans are built for'
Obama will return to campaign trail tomorrow with trips to Green Bay, Wisconsin; Boulder, Colorado; and Las Vegas
These are the heartbreaking pictures of homes and communities across the US East Coast ravaged by a deadly superstorm that has shocked the world.
Barack Obama will today meet victims of Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey - skipping campaign events in battleground US regions in favour of visiting a state he is confident of winning - as it was revealed the total damage caused by Superstorm Sandy is expected to eventually hit $50billion (£31billion).
The President's visit today - just six days before the election is due next Tuesday - has forced his Republican challenger Mitt Romney to walk a careful line, with him having to show respect for the storm’s casualties along the East Coast, even though he can't afford to waste a minute of campaign time.
Much of New York was plunged into darkness Monday by a superstorm that overflowed the city's historic waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and cut power to nearly a million people.
The city had shut its mass transit system, schools, the stock exchange and Broadway and ordered hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to leave home to get out of the way of the superstorm Sandy as it zeroed in on the nation's largest city. Residents spent much of the day trying to salvage normal routines, jogging and snapping pictures of the water while officials warned the worst of the storm had not hit.
Hurricane Sandy made landfall along the coast of South Jersey on Monday evening at about 6 p.m.
“This storm is HISTORIC,” said CBS 3 meteorologist Katie Fehlinger on her Twitter page.
The National Hurricane Center issued a powerful warning stating, “Sandy expected to bring life-threatening storm surge and coastal hurricane winds plus heavy Appalachian snows.”
“This is the worst-case scenario,” said Louis Uccellini, NOAA.
A strengthening Hurricane Sandy churned north Monday, raking ghost-town cities along the Northeast corridor with rain and wind gusts. Subways and schools were closed across the region of 50 million people, the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was deserted, and thousands fled inland to await the storm’s fury.
As the storm closed in on the mid-Atlantic coast, it washed away an old section of the world-famous Atlantic City Boardwalk and left most of the city’s emptied-out streets under water.
“I got a call from a friend of mine from Florida last night who said, ‘Mark, get out! If it’s not the storm, it’ll be the aftermath. People are going to be fighting in the streets over gasoline and food.’” [cbs]
Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors: An untold number of so-called zombies are coming to a counterterrorism summit attended by hundreds of Marines, Navy special ops, soldiers, police, firefighters and others to prepare them for their worst nightmares.
"This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume party," said Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, a security firm hosting the Oct. 31 training demonstration during the summit at a 44-acre Paradise Point Resort island on a San Diego bay. "Everything that will be simulated at this event has already happened, it just hasn't happened all at once on the same night. But the training is very real, it just happens to be the bad guys we're having a little fun with." [FNR]
Howling winds, falling trees, flooding streets and power outages: Hurricane Sandy is expected to cause an extraordinary amount of damage. And when you are trapped inside with little to do, it can be hard to keep your cool. Here are some tips for keeping calm during the storm.
Scores of Twitter users have flooded the social networking site announcing their plans to go on looting sprees once Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, as the New York National Guard announced it would put troops on duty in Long Island to prevent such activity.
Meteorologists are warning that Hurricane Sandy could potentially be the worst storm to hit the east coast of the United States in 100 years. Do you remember “the perfect storm” back in 1991? That storm was so bad that Hollywood made a blockbuster movie starring George Clooney about it. Well, this storm is going to be much worse. When I first heard about Hurricane Sandy, I didn’t make that much of it.
I figured that the east coast would get some wind and some rain and that they would whine about it a bit but that everything would be just fine. But then I started looking into this storm a bit more. It turns out that this storm is even larger than Hurricane Katrina was. [ECB]
Police were forced to break up riots in San Francisco last night as Giants fans celebrated a World Series victory by setting fires, smashing up vehicles and letting off fireworks in the street, posing the question – if Americans are willing to riot over a baseball game taking place in another city, how will they react to a contentious presidential election result or a breakdown in order following this week’s Frankenstorm? [info]
While the east coast braces for the storm of the century, the APN wants you to be prepared.
It’s going to be bad folks. This hybrid storm is expected to impact 60 million people. With it will come torrential rain, storm surges, snow, ice and wind gusts of up to 75 mph. This storm has it all. With leaves still on most of the trees, be expecting a lot of damage and power outages from fallen limbs.
Do you have your food, fuel, and water? Be prepared in case you are asked to evacuate.
The #1 Amazon Bestseller "Survival Medicine Handbook" is meant for those who want to ensure the health of their loved ones in any disaster situation, from hurricanes to a complete societal collapse. Integrative medical strategies abound for situations in which medical help is NOT on the way. This book will teach you how to deal with all the likely medical issues you will face in a disaster situation, and shows you strategies to keep your family healthy even in the worse scenarios. You'll learn skills like performing a physical exam, transporting the injured patient, and even how to suture a wound!
I just got this book in the mail not too long ago - might I add, a signed copy (so many thanks again) - and I've slowly been digesting all the information inside. At 400+pages, this is one of the most extensive and well written survival guides / general medicine books I've ever went through.
While many people are still trying to make up their minds about the potential severity of the storm threatening the U.S. northeast, it’s not stopping millions of concerned residents from racing to to grocery stores, gas stations and hardware depots in droves.
If you’ve ever wanted to know what it looks like when the 99% of Americans who have failed to prepare for a disaster wake up and realize they are facing a major crisis take a look at what’s happening on the east coast ahead of Hurricane Sandy. [SHTFPLAN]
Dubbed Frankenstorm, Hurricane Sandy is an unusual storm by any measure.
It's enormous, could become a hybrid tempest of sorts, and is creeping north all in time for Halloween. Now, forecasters and emergency mangers have urged those in harm's way to prepare for the Category 1 hurricane, and for widespread impacts that potentially last for several days from Sandy's strong winds, heavy rains and punishing storm surge. Here, we review four facts about Sandy you need to know ahead of its arrival.
The projected storm surge from Hurricane Sandy is a "worst case scenario" with devastating waves and tides predicted for the highly populated New York City metro area, government forecasters said Sunday.
The more they observe it, the more the experts worry about the water — which usually kills and does more damage than winds in hurricanes. In this case, seas will be amped up by giant waves and full-moon-powered high tides. That will combine with drenching rains, triggering inland flooding as the hurricane merges with a winter storm system that will worsen it and hold it in place for days. [yahoo]
An ancient tsunami in a Swiss lake triggered by an Alpine landslide suggests that cities now on the lake's shore may face dangers more commonly associated with large oceans, researchers say.
Tsunamis are monster waves reaching more than 100 feet (30 meters) high. Earthquakes often generate them, but landslides can as well — for instance, those occurring in submarine canyons. So, landlocked tsunamis are possible, if lakes get hit by landslides or collapses of the flanks of volcanoes.
"People think that, to be affected by a tsunami, you have to live on seacoasts and in a region not too far away from major seismic activity," said researcher Guy Simpson, a geologist at the University of Geneva. "We think we have a counterexample."
Shelters opened and tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas Sunday as big cities and small towns across the Northeast buttoned up against the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy, which threatened some 50 million people along the most heavily populated corridor in the nation.
"The time for preparing and talking is about over," Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate warned as a monster Hurricane Sandy headed up the Eastern Seaboard on a collision course with two other weather systems. "People need to be acting now."
Paintballs are not the weapons that immediately spring to mind when considering how to defend the earth from a potentially catastrophic hit from a giant asteroid. However, according to Sung Wook Paek, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics it could be the answer.
If Paek's calculations are correct then the staple of office bonding outings may be the way to change the course of an asteroid before it collides with the earth. [independent]
