Which Round Is Best?

This seems to be a topic of much debate just about everywhere I read and these are my personal opinions.  Ideally everyone should have at least 1 hand gun and 1 rifle.  I'm partial to my 1911, I don't think there is a more reliable handgun and you can't beat the stopping power of a .45 ACP.  That being said it does have it's drawbacks.  It only holds 7 rounds and it's loud.  Loud is definitely not a good thing.  In a zombie filled world I can't stress the importance if a quiet kill.  For that reason I would invest in a .22.  Sure it might sound ill-equipped but I assure you, a .22 has enough velocity to penetrate a human skull at reasonable distances.  Just about any firearm chambered in a .22 can be purchased at a reasonably cheap price and ammo is plenty abundant and cheap as well.  Since you can get a rifle and a handgun both chambered in .22 you wouldn't have to worry about carrying different types of ammo and one person can carry plenty of them.  Another added benefit of a .22 rifle is that most barrels are naturally silenced.  I guess when it comes down to the wire you should probably use whatever you have handy.  The chart below shows a few cities and kind of attraction gun fire would have on the population.

kitup.military.com

Zombies Rise In Popularity

Ever since Night of The Living Dead zombies have been pretty popular and their number of fans have only grown over the years but I have to say, this Florida "bath salt zombie" guy has single handedly taken it to a new level.  I heard on the radio yesterday that there was a ridiculous increase in zombie apocalypse related websites that started just days after the Florida attack. I wish I could remember the exact number they threw out but you can see for yourself on just about any social network.  Multiple websites report the word zombie trending just about everyday since the event and for a price you can get some Zombie Garden Gnomes on Amazon.com, but you better hurry, there are only two left.  Amazon sales aren't the only thing going up right now, ammunition manufacturer Hornady has been selling their Z-Max "zombie bullets" for a while but they have just recently started a large advertise campaign. 

While I can't say for sure they are trying to capitalize on recent increase in zombie awareness I have a pretty good assumption and I can't say I blame them.  Company spokesman, Everett Deger told WWJ Newsradio 850 that while the bullets are real, they're only meant to be used on targets and not on people.  He also stated that they are Hornady's most successful product.  But wait, there's more....product manufactures aren't the only one capitalizing on the situation. The South Florida Business Journal reports that the site of the infamous "Miami Zombie" will become the latest addition to the Miami Crime Coach Tour from HistoryMiami.

  http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2012/05/31/where-theres-zombie-gore-theres.html
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/06/07/zombie-bullets-in-high-demand-following-flesh-eating-attacks/

Hollywood zombies Vs The actual possibility

For years Hollywood has been portraying zombies as corpses that have been brought back to life and for the most part people are expecting that's what the zombie apocalypse will be. Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place.  The thought of dead bodies rising from the ground and corpses walking around seems a little far fetched to me but maybe there is another cause of zombie-like behavior.  Take Toxoplasmosis for instance.  This particular infection is caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Normally it only infects rats and causes them to act in a manner that would lead to death, usually by cats, which is how their life cycle is completed. This parasite has also been known to inhabit pigs and cows and the CDC has reported that "More than 60 million men, women and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite".  If this parasite can make rats act strangely than who is to say it couldn't effect humans? Dr. E. Fyller Torrey at the Stanely Research Institute made a connection between this parasite and and schizophrenia.  

Toxoplasmosis isn't only thing that can alter behavior.  Take for instance the epidemic in Uganda they call the "nodding disease".  It usually only effects children between 5 and 15.  This disease is very debilitating. It causes seizures and most of the children effected wander around aimlessly. Most have to be tied down to keep them from just wandering off. The CDC has no known cure but they believe it is transmitted by a parasite from the black fly.  While this disease is serious and nothing to joke about it can make you wonder. How long is it until an epidemic that can effect humans enough to act "zombie-like" spreads across the country with no known cure?