The Walking Dead on AMC… although they never say the word “zombie.”
SciFi Question of the Day: What kind of zombie-apocalypse preparations would also have non-apocalyptic benefits?
Facebook Answers:
Douglas S Caprette Most. Expect the Mormons to survive the zombie apocalypse.
Zachary Navakuku Shotguns, Chainsaws, and Landmines all have practical home security Applications.
AmyBeth Fredricksen Shotguns, chainsaws, sure… but Landmines? Really?
Al Hartman Digging trenches is good exercise…
Zachary Navakuku Hey, I was awfully tempted to mention Anti-Tank Mines useful for the oversized zombie brute mutants in the Post Apocalypse and against government forced censorship attempts in the non-apocalypse, but I figured that was stretching it for you unprepared folks.
Daniel Beard Laying in cans of soup. they go bad in five years, so at least you know what you are having for dinner tonight.
AmyBeth Fredricksen I’d like to have a good, rotating supply of canned goods. A pantry that I can refill from the back and take stuff out from the front. So the cans were’re using might be a year old, but it means we have plenty in case we’re snowed in or something.
Terry Morgan Why Mormons?
Geri Bressler My grandma had the biggest pantry I’d ever seen – she was Mormon, and she always told me that she was supposed to have 7 years of food (or something), but that she didn’t have enough room for it. To this day, I feel like a bad parent if I don’t have enough food in the house for at least two weeks.
Al Hartman Clown makeup is always useful for kids parties… Zombies won’t eat clowns, they taste funny!
AmyBeth Fredricksen And Geri has chickens!
Geri Bressler Bandaids…those things are money!
Geri Bressler I do – and they’re giving us tons of eggs!!
Geri Bressler Brown ones, green ones, the occasional pink one…
AmyBeth Fredricksen I want a hot plate powered by pedals, like a bike. Sort-of Gilligan’s Island style!
William J. Teegarden Guns and ammo, lots of both. Always come in handy no matter what the occasion: zombie apocalypse, keggers, second terms, or removing pesky Occupiers.
Douglas S Caprette Terry asked: “Why Mormons?”
Geri answered: “she was Mormon, and she always told me that she was supposed to have 7 years of food (or something”
I always heard one year such as AmyBeth advocates. And yes, that is the reason.
Geri Bressler One year sounds more reasonable than seven! I’m trying to picture seven years worth of food…Pretty sure you’d need an extra house or two to store it! LOL
AmyBeth Fredricksen On “Doomsday Preppers” they sometimes have storage containers (Like you see on the back of a semi truck or used to ship goods across the ocean) buried in their back yards.
Google Plus Answers:
Ben Guilfoy Gardening.
Tiffany Marshall Establishing buddy-systems.
Pat G A number of organizations use Zombie prep as a lead in to real emergency preparations. Just about everything you can do to prep for zombies works for more mundane situations – except maybe stocking up on decapitation tools.
Glenn Rogers Twinkies.
AmyBeth Inverness OMG yes! I totally forgot about the Twinkies!
Samuel Falvo II Building your own set of radios or solarphones. It’s a really fun hobby, you get a great sense of satisfaction from completion, and when the zombies attack, you still have a means to stay in touch without the oversight of a central authority (single point of failure).
Samuel Falvo II Also, building your own computer, for similar reasons.
Samuel Falvo II +Pat G Decapitation tools like axes and/or crowbars are used extensively in rescue efforts after a major earthquake.
Ben Guilfoy Good luck finding Twinkies until someone buys that brand or the mediation takes an upward swing.
AmyBeth Inverness Which is more important… the twinkies, or the decapitation tools?
Jennifer Coleman Making your own beer
Ben Guilfoy If only the world was more like a videogame, and decapitating your enemies yielded rewards such as Twinkies…
AmyBeth Inverness OOhh +Jennifer Coleman good point! And great for barter in case of long-term outages. I bet +Christopher Clark would go for that!
Jennifer Coleman I also…uh….spin yarn. (No laughing at my extreme nerdiness)
Jennifer Coleman My bro makes knives too. That would be useful. Knives don’t need reloading
AmyBeth Inverness +Jennifer Coleman I know several spinners, actually! A very useful skill, as well as a fun hobby!
Jennifer Coleman It’s very “zen” for me. I don’t even care what I’m making….lol
Richard Erickson Non-perishable food and weapons, grow your own food,store water … okay everything you do in preparation for the coming zombie apocalypse is beneficial 🙂
AmyBeth Inverness Not sure about “everything…” over on facebook they’re arguing for decapitation tools and landmines…
Richard Erickson lol
Lason Strike Keeping a large herd of swine would be beneficial in any apocalypse. And they eat zombies for lunch. There’s no better way to dispose of a body. Seriously, pigs have thousands of uses, some as yet undiscovered. We need a George Washington Carver for pigs.
Christopher Clark Sorry I was working, had a show tonight.
making grain ethanol would be good even on a short term, because it can be fuel and wound cleaning… and drunken sexy zombie parties
This week, I have a couple of important extras! A few weeks ago, my first story was published in an anthology called Precipice. It’s available in both print and electronic formats. Also, I have a short story entered in the America’s Next Author contest, which ends soon. You can read and download that story for free on the website. I’d appreciate your vote (just takes a click on the site, no log in) and if you’re feeling very generous, please leave a review! (requires a log-in with basic info)
♥
I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.
AmyBeth Inverness 
Since plants grown in low gravity tend to be spindly and weak, in what way could that trait be exploited to make gourmet salads?
If a spiral tube slide went from the axis of the spinning space station (micro g) down to a playground at earth-like apparent gravity, what would that be like? Too scary?