They refuse to bite. I think they’re afraid of looking silly or being criticized by some opportunistic politician (“$20,000 for ads about ZOMBIES?!? Government waste!!!!”). Maybe this could prod them along.

Do sarcasm and dry wit work on zombies? I’m hoping a cutting comment might get me out of a scrape or two.

Or perhaps I should just snub them.

It seems to me that the best survival chances would come from grouping up with the right folks. Even if you succeed in avoiding the aforementioned vulgar hordes, lone-wolfing it or hiding out in some bunker seems like a bad plan.

Regardless of how well trained, tough and prepared you are… at some point you’re going to need help. Even the most elite military commandos work in teams, after all, and those guys are some of the baddest asses who ever assed.

Give me a couple of reliable, level-headed friends with a good cross-section of skills over a pile of guns any day.

Of course, we’ll surely be armed.

PS — I must admit that I raised an eyebrow, as well, at Brooks’ firearms advice.

Note that, based on popular cinematic models, your zombies will either be mindless, or brain-eating, but not both.

Actually I wish the stupid brain-eating meme had never arisen. It comes from the “Return of the Living Dead” movies, which are absurdist comedies, not horror, featuring articulate, fast-moving zombies (even the ones that seem to be nothing but skeletons with eyes) that somehow bite through human skulls.

The George Romero movies always got to me because they seemed somehow almost possible, with their pathetic, slow reanimated corpses, barely able to move about and seek the one thing they want, warm human flesh.

I do applaud the CDC for using a bit of pop culture to remind people of the basics of emergency preparedness. (Though the CDC didn’t do so well in the tv show “The Walking Dead”.) I’m going to work on my evacuation route, but I’ll also keep my crowbar, sledge hammer, axe, machete and swords handy.

Would an island be safe? Assuming we are talking about slow, relatively mindless zombies, wouldn’t they just flounder around aimlessly in the water since they probably lack to the motor coordination to swim effectively? Also, since they are decomposing, they would probably be rather buoyant, so wouldn’t be able to walk along the bottom. Any zombies that happen to luckily drift to the island shore could be picked off individually.

What am I missing?

My disaster kit is all about batteries, flashlights, candles and matches. I have no water, no clothing, no medical supplies, and I only have one cat carrier and two cats. I have no idea where a shelter exists nearby. Needless to say, the closes thing I have to a weapon is a kitchen knife.

Also, I just moved and have not yet determined which of my neighbors is the over-prepared one that I need to beg to take me.

I will certainly be eaten in the first act of this movie.

I mostly agree; that’s why I mentioned that I wasn’t one of those who criticized the CDC for not mentioning weapons.

My criticism of Brooks is mostly in regards to his firearms information and advice. I don’t want to go into too much detail and totally sidetrack the thread, but his information and advice regarding hunting firearms, .22 rim fire weapons, and the M-16/AR-15 are way inaccurate or off base, for instance.

I could do an in depth Deconstruction of the firearms information and advice in the Zombie Survival Guide on my blog, but it’s not really very timely, except in the context of the CDC’s recent Zombie preparedness campaign.

Your crowbar is extremely useful and versatile, both as a tool and a weapon of last resort.

While I’m a bit of an amateur prepper myself, I think it would be very unwise of the CDC to mention firearms in their preparation instructions. The disasters that are actually likely to happen (earthquakes, floods, long-term blackouts) would only be made worse by an armed and panicked populace.

Don’t get me wrong, I sure as hell want to have a gun myself if stuff hits the fan — but I’d rather have as few people armed as possible.

Also, having read both of Max Brooks’ books I’d be interested to know what he got wrong about weapons. Are you saying that the crowbar in my bug-out bag is not useful?!