Dr. Steven Schlozman, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, will present a public lecture on the neuropsychology of zombies, as well as that of zombie attack survivors:

And that's the crux of one of Schlozman's arguments: The story changes as the situation grows grimmer. Here, the professor draws on "mirror neuron" theory, which holds that humans are hard-wired to reflect the psychological states of the people around them. (Show a test subject a short film of a face displaying disgust, or pleasure, and regions of the brain associated with those feelings activate in the subject.)

Unable to relate to the hordes of undead, the survivors in zombie films enter a spiral of despair, feeding off the panic and hopelessness of the uninfected people around them.

If you're in Boston on Monday night, check it out.

Link -- Thanks, Tom Jackson!

Jeremy Barker at Popped Culture has compiled 101 satirical versions of da Vinci's The Last Supper, covering everything from Popeye to Mario Brothers to Gordon Ramsay.

Link

After World War II, the French could not afford the most sophisticated military equipment, and so improvised with what they had on hand. Hence their production of scooter-mounted 75mm recoilless rifles. Blogger James R. Rummel offers more information and photographs of this vehicle.

http://www.hellinahandbasket.net/2009/04/that-is-a-really-loud-scooter.htm

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

(Atom Films Link)

A short film by Atom Films user The555 about a man who decides to bring along his dungeon master to mediate a blind date. Clearly, he botched an intelligence check. 2.5 minutes long.

Via Topless Robot

Dunkin' Donuts is inviting website users to create their next donut using a five-step selection process. Mine is a chocolate butter filled donut with peanut butter frosting and chocolate sprinkles. What's yours?

https://www.dunkindonuts.com/donut/ via Radley Balko

The Boston Latin School, a private prep school, issued a press release in the hopes of quashing rumors that the school is infested with vampires:

"The headmaster believes that the outrageous rumors had reached a point where she had to say something to families to ensure that all students felt safe and respected," said Chris Horan, School Department spokesman.

In my experience, when an authority figure denies that there is a problem, the problem has become much, much worse than feared.

Link via Hit & Run

This panel from Zach Weiner's webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal reveals what I've always suspected about physicists.

If you've never read SMBC, you're missing out on a treat. Check it out.

(YouTube Link)

This 4-minute video from Current TV's SuperNews lampoons the Twitter phenomenon. Why would anyone want hourly updates on the mundane details of other people's lives? SuperNews explains.

Via Gavin Richardson

(YouTube Link)

Nemesis is a short film by Leonard Scarlow about an ordinary man trying to discover his hidden superpowers -- because deep down inside of himself, he knows that he was meant to be a superhero.

It's about 9 minutes long. The dialogue is in Norwegian, but it's subtitled in English.

Here are a few panels of Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, as though they had been written and drawn by Frank Miller in the style of Sin City. By deviant art user ninjaink.

Link via Popped Culture

(Video Link)

Only with your taxpayer dollars can Lex finally destroy Superman. Please call or e-mail your representatives in Congress and ask them to rescue the troubled LexCorp.

When the month and day form the square root of the year, math geeks celebrate a special holiday. Well, presumably. I never made it past precalculus, so I'm only going by what the Associated Press says:

The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine). "These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone," said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event. The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event. Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol.

How will you celebrate Square Root Day? 

Image via flickr user d3 Dan

I'm a big fan of the genre of fiction known as alternate history. That's why I'm excited about a new novel by Harry Turtledove and Bryce Zabel called Winter of Our Discontent: The Impeachment and Trial of John F. Kennedy.

The point of divergence is that a Secret Service agent spotted the glint off of Oswald's rifle seconds before he fired. Kennedy survived November 22, 1963. Whether or not he would survive scandals that would rock his administration would not be so certain.

You can read the first chapter of the novel here, and the articles of impeachment here.

http://www.impeachjfk.com/

(Video Link)
Khoda is a short film by Reza Dolatabadi made from 6,000 paintings that he created over a two-year period. It's a psychological thriller about a prison escape.

His other paintings are also quite stunning and I recommend checking them out.

Via Geekologie

Unshelved is a webcomic by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes about the staff of a public library. It's a focal point of librarian subculture as it's written from an insider point of view.

Every year for the past three years, Unshelved has hosted a contest called "Pimp My Bookcart", wherein library staffers trick out their bookcarts in outrageous ways, such as this circus-themed cart above. Click on the link to see this past year's winners.

Link