The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research.
(Image credit: School of Earth and Space Exploration)
by Eric Schulman and Caroline V. Cox
Alexandria, Virginia
We have calculated the Name Number for our field, which is astronomy. The concept of the "Name Number" for professions was proposed by Kevin Krajick as a way to quantify a profession's Nominative Determinism, or the amount to which people choose a particular profession based on their last name.1
Krajick calculated the Name Number for geology by dividing the number of geology-related surnames for those who presented papers at the 2003 meeting of the Geological Society of America by the total number of authorial surnames for that meeting. The geology Name Number presented in Krajick's study was 117 / 8639, or 0.0135432.
Krajick pointed out that geology is the first branch of science to have a calculated Name Number, and concluded that "it remains to be seen whether other specialties will rise to challenge its supremacy." On behalf of astronomers everywhere, we have accepted this challenge and present our results here.
Calculating the Name Number for Astronomy
We calculated the Name Number for astronomy by examining the names of the approximately 7000 members of the American Astronomical Society in 2000 and finding the following matches to the profession of astronomy:
Sun -- 1, Sunshine -- 1
Moon -- 1, Mooney -- 1
Starr -- 1, Field -- 1, Starrfield -- 1
Light -- 1, Beam -- 1, Ray -- 5
Argon -- 1, Silver -- 1, Gold -- 1
Greenhouse -- 1, Gass -- 1
(Image credit: University of Maryland)
Result
By this method, the Name Number for astronomy is 19/7000 or 0.0027143.
Discussion
A naive interpretation of these data is that the Name Number for the field of astronomy is a factor of 4.9896126 smaller than the Name Number for the field of geology. However, since cosmology, which is a subfield of astronomy, is defined as "the study of the physical universe considered as a totality of phenomena in time and space" (http://www.answers.com/topic/cosmology), an argument could be made that the Name Number for astronomy is actually 1.0000000.
In fact, we do make this argument, and therefore conclude that the Name Number for the field of astronomy is a factor of 73.837607 larger than the Name Number for the field of geology.
(Image credit: NASA)
Reference
1. "The 'Name Number' for Geology, and for Other Professions," Kevin Krajick, 2005, Annals of Improbable Research, vol. 11, no. 2, March-April 2005, pp. 14-15.
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Comments (0)
And what if the zombies did manage to walk on the bottom or float their bloated corpses your way. You'd be screwed in your fortress with no way out.
I can think of two old forts that match Fort Boyard. There is Fort Delaware in the middle of a moat island far enough north in the Delaware River to have "fresh" water (highly suggest filtering and boiling). Also Fort Jefferson in the keys which may have a repairable system to catch rain water.
If I could find a way to limit the people a cruise ship or US carrier may not be a bad place to spend time during a zombie invasion.
Plus, of course there's always the Zombie Survival Guide book to tell you everything you need to know (or so says the hubby) So, off to the library, on my bicycle, with my .22 rifle....after that I have no idea where would be a "good place."
Though, I REALLY AMercer's slaughter house idea.
All I know is, I am NOT going to the mall or anything similar because we all know what happens when you go to the mall during a zombie outbreak.
During the early stages of a zombie apocalypse, fellow humans are as dangerous if not more so than the undead.
You've got a great shelter? Good. Keep your mouth shut. Because if you don't, you'll be surrounded by desperate survivors. And many of them will gladly kill you to take over your fortified position.
All the French would laugh at that idea :)
Sors! t'as plus le temps!... Les zombies arrivent!
I say find the nearest slaughter house that is geared up for cattle. With a little bit of work you can create a system to get the zoms into the holding pens. These are designed and built to hold angry/scared cattle, each of which weigh over 1500 pounds or so. Those pens could easily handle zombies. You may have to extend the height of the pens to keep the climbers at bay. If you get a horde of zombies show up you lure them into the holding pens. Those pens will be strong enough to hold them.
Next up, you have bolt guns that are ran off of compresses air. If you can get a way to keep the compressor going then you can use these bolt guns to kill zombies. Direct zombies into the regular killing chutes. Of course some modification would have to happen to get these killing zones zombie ready. Zombies are smaller than cattle but it can be done. Isolate them one at a time and use the bolt gun on them one at a time. Pull the bodies out and burn them in some other part of your new compound.
A slaughter house will have many different pens and holding areas. Some of these can be used to contain bonfires. Some can be used for gardening. Heck, you may even be able to raise a few cows in there. The rest of the slaughter house, fortified of course, can house many people.
All of this presupposes you have the time, materials, and know-how to get the place up to zombie-ready conditions.
http://img483.imageshack.us/img483/5074/p70101497ci.jpg
Unless there are zombie-contestants, in which case you may have to joust with them in order to retrieve the key to the tiger-filled treasure room before the clepsydra runs out.