As if today’s youth didn’t have enough to worry about, what with zombie attacks, slow websites, expensive lattes and high gas prices, now weed is taking a hit. That is to say, FAKE weed.

Washington, D.C. has a problem with fake weed, a legal but dangerous substitute to the real stuff. Similar to bath salts, this drug will mess you up. Synthetic marijuana is sold as “K2″ or “Spice” and is just chock full of lovely things that will mess with your system.

According to the website, k2zombiedc.com, fake weed causes extreme anxiety, paranoia, panic attacks, alienation/disassociation, psychotic episodes and hallucinations. This behavior has been labeled and appropriately marketed as the ‘zombie’ effect.

The Undead Report recommends maintaining a healthy body and mind, as the zombie apocalypse may still come at any moment. Keep your head clear.

Few zombie weapons are as recognizable as Rick Grimes’ revolver. It may not be the most effective weapon, but it makes a grand statement and is an extension of the character’s personality.

Will you have a personal statement in the apocalypse? Maybe you’ll want a sword, as Michonne, quiet and deadly carries. The silent but practical crossbow may be to your liking. Or perhaps you just want a nailed baseball bat. Whatever the case, it can be a great morale boost to carry your trusty or storied weapon or tool at your side.

The fine and knowledgeable folks at Lucky Gunner have put together a detailed look at Rick’s revolver, weighing in its advantages and disadvantages, history, and personality.

If you’re a fan of the series, want to up your own character with more than an ounce of intimidation, the rare and powerful Colt Python might be your choice. It may not be the most effective or practical weapon, but neither is an armored Humvee the best means of transit.

Read more about the colt and the rest of the review over at Lucky Gunner Labs.

If you’re still eager to await the coming zombie apocalypse, you’re not alone. There are plenty of other people out there with nothing to do but prepare and wait. But preparation doesn’t have to be all spending, canning and hoarding. There are plenty of other ways to prepare for the downfall and eatening. Some are just a little less practical than others.

1 – Humans VS Zombies

It’s springtime again, and colleges are teeming with zombies that need a good putting down. The cold dark days of winter are somewhat behind, and the long, warm days of summer are yet to come. What better time to join Humans VS Zombies and break out the Nerf blasters to team up for survival?

Whether you choose to be a zombie from the start, or prefer to try and survive, it’s a great way to get in some practice. You’ll feel the adrenaline, make rash decisions, and ultimately probably die and then undie. You can’t have a zombie apocalypse when everyone is a survivor.

Student Arvind Narayan recalls,

I decided to drop from the overhang onto the pinestraw underneath me, and jump off the brick wall onto the pavement below it. This was not a good decision.

Feel the rush. Shoot foam.

2 – Video Games

There is a plethora of video games available that feature zombies, are about zombies, or are a zombie mod. DayZ, STALKER, Left 4 Dead, and The Walking Dead games come to mind. Android and iPhone are not left out either. You can get your survival on old-school style with The Organ Trail.

Team up with friends and strangers online and hope that they have your back! Are they trustworthy? Will they use their medkit on you? Can you cut off a survivors leg (or your own) to stop the infection? These are all questions we’ll probably be faced with. Better to face them now, with the option of a save button, than in real life. There is no CTRL+Z in the apocalypse. There is however a CTRL+X…

3 – Movies

Cinema is far from interactive or a simulation, but it does tell stories, present ideas, and look within us all. Some of the best zombie movies may not be zombie movies at all. We don’t need flesh eating monsters in a movie to be zombies. The real horrors are us, as The Walking Dead has proven again and again.

For some non-zombie zombie movies, look no further than pandemic fears, nuclear annihilation, robot uprising, alien takeovers, or even dinosaurs. Can Jurassic Park be an example of an apocalypse movie?

In Jurassic Park, tourists (survivors) are stuck in a remote location (anywhere), surrounded by strange beasts that want to eat them (zombies) that will not stop until they’ve consumed everything. You have survival (in the trees), offense (shotguns), bunkers (the tech center), vehicle pursuits (T-Rex / Jeep), and plenty of eating (raptors).

By the way, that shotgun is an Italian Franchi SPAS 12.

Contagion, Outbreak, and 12 Monkeys take over the world with their viral horrors, reducing population, forcing people to survive, not trust each other, and face a grim reality. There may not be shambling hordes here, but we’re still forced to reckon the opposing forces of an oppressive military force or our neighbors.

Be irresponsible. Have fun. But try to learn a thing or two while you’re vegging out. Besides, we don’t have too long to wait for the new Nerf line, Survarium / Day Z, and World War Z!

Everything has gone zombie! And truthfully, there’s no better way to go.

Artist Matt Busch has taken classic and modern movie posters and given them a hand touched, horrible zombie makeover.

He puts a hideously decayed twist on the movies we know and love by creating zombie versions of the most iconic movie posters of all time. They’re called Hollywood-is-Dead, and they’re completely hand-drawn with no Photoshop touch-ups.

All the details are there, from creepy actor names to slightly modified and rotting title puns.

Enjoy the whole macabre show at www.hollywood-is-dead.com/!

Is The Walking Dead not enough zombie TV for you? THen you’re in luck! BBC Three is producing a new zombie series called “In The Flesh”. The series seems to be centered around a young man who is a recovering post-cadaver, trying to readjust with the living.

From an Interview with the writer, Dominic Mitchell:

Kieren Walker (!) isn’t comfortable in his ‘undead’ state, he didn’t want to come back, he wanted to be dead. That’s a journey for Kieren – here’s someone who didn’t want to be alive and now he’s alive again, and he’s discovering that life is worth living, weirdly, but now he’s partially deceased.

With its central themes of redemption, forgiveness, acceptance and denial, it seems the show will focus more on the positive, recovering aspects of humanity, rather than the depraved hopelessness that often comes with The Walking Dead.

Filming begins on zombie drama, In The Flesh

Scientists just cannot leave well enough alone. Living cells just aren’t good enough, now we need silica replica cells to do our bidding.

An American team of biology researchers has recently crafted artificial “zombie” cells that can outperform natural living cells. Zombies will most certainly be the superman-like “I Am Legend” type. The technique took mammalian cells and coated them with silica, which embalmed the original and created a near-perfect replica.

Lead researcher Bryan Kaehr, clarified the structure and type of the cells: “Our zombie cells bridge chemistry and biology to create forms that not only near-perfectly resemble their past selves, but can do future work”. You know, like Fido.

As if uber-charged zombie cells aren’t bad enough, they may be immune to fire as well.

Dr. Jeffrey Brinker, of the research team, said that the zombie cells exist in a “robust, three-dimensionally stable form that resists shrinkage even upon heating to over 500 degrees Centigrade [932 degrees Fahrenheit]. The refractoriness of these delicate structures is amazing.”

‘Zombie’ Cells Created In New Mexico Lab Said To Outperform Living Ones In Some Ways

Scientists Create Zombie Cells, This Will End Poorly

So, killing it with fire is out. Headshots for everyone! That or, you know, RUN.

Whenever the zombies decide to rise from the dead, get infected, or break out of their secret government bunkers, a warning system might be nice. It turns out, the Emergency Alert System will be the perfect announcement.

Usually reserved for natural disasters or other such end scenarios, the EAS will take over our radio and TV broadcasts and let us all know we’re about to die.

An Upper Peninsula of Michigan (and Montana, California, New Mexico) TV Station recently had their broadcasts hacked from an unknown source. This is the first breach of the system since its inception in the 1940s. The WNMU messages warned with a crawl strip, and an audio message said “dead bodies are rising from their graves” and “attacking the living.”

Given recent end of the world paranoia, perhaps more than a few college students got excited at the notion of skipping finals this semester.

Unfortunately folks, this was just a hoax. We’re still waiting. But luckily, the EAS is there for us. It’s security leads a little to be desired. As we all know, the four most-used passwords are: love, sex, secret, and god.

Continuing education is important. Your brain will be your best weapon (and most delicious morsel) in the zombie apocalypse. IF you can find a class, forum, or lecture, TAKE IT! Residents of Casper, Wyowing have just such a course at their disposal, led by experts in their respective fields.

Experts on zombies will give lectures starting this Monday at Casper College, including members from the health department, emergency management, and National Guard.

The real world of Zombies – College class will dissect devastating events

Plan while you still can! The impending threat of a zombie apocalypse may have passed, but by no means should you go unprepared.

If retro gaming has taught me anything, it’s that someone will always die of dysentery. And that someone could have been traded for fuel and food to a roving biker gang. Relive the experience of that classic game “The Oregon Trail” updated for modern times by playing The Organ Trail!

The game has been released for iOS, Android, PC and Mac, so we all get a chance to have fun! After a rather successful Kickstarter campaign, Chicago developers The Men Who Wear Many Hats have taken their smash Flash game and turned it into something amazing.

The update to the old “shoot rabbits and bears” has you now repelling the zombie horde, including horrible zombie bears! The shooting mechanic takes advantage of a touch interface, featuring a slingshot-style control.

Other minigames include avoiding biker gangs, hordes of zombies, and getting in shootouts. You’ll do all this while trekking your trusty station wagon across the US.

Survive the hordes, 8-bit style!

The threat of a zombie apocalypse in 2012 may be over, but that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down. We must remain as vigilant as ever in preventing zombie hordes from stalking the Earth. Lately it appears, those zombies will be self induced.

If bath salts weren’t enough of a worry, be on the lookout for Xylazine, a horse tranquilizer. Addicts in Puerto Rico are injecting themselves with the drug, which causes a zombie like state. Abusers do not appear to be aggressive, but the video showing a zombie is still quite shocking.

Xylazine’s immediate effects on humans include fading in and out of consciousness, a lack of coordination, and the troubling sense of your body falling to the ground, which can last for up to six hours. The drug is (not surprisingly) also bad for the heart, potentially causing heart attacks even in young persons.

Zombie Island: Puerto Rico Drug Addiction Turning Resident Users Into Zombies

Xylazine Horse Tranquilizer: The Next Zombie Drug?

Don’t do drugs, kids. You don’t know what will turn you into a zombie these days.