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Fighting Zombies? Chevrolet Reveals New "Black Ops" Concept Truck
cartechboy writes "Whether its the Mayan calendar, a rough economy, or a fear of zombies, there are people who are currently preparing for the end of the world, coming, like, soon. And they can attract some fringe elements. So maybe those elements are worth a little truck marketing. Yesterday at the Texas State Fair, Chevrolet unveiled a "Black Ops" concept truck that it says will "explore the extremes of preparedness." The truck comes with a vault storage unit, solar power pack, gas masks, gloves, a military first aid kit, a folding shovel, a generator and some rope. Twinkies apparently not included."
This is just a basic Silverado 1500 Crew Cab with a stupid paint job and a bunch of crap thrown in that and "prepper" already has. For Chevy's sake I hope this stays a "concept car" because the "concept" sucks and if this is a serious direction, Chevy is in serious trouble.
This is posted at Slashdot why? Oh. Zombies.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I looked at TFA and saw the links to related articles on the right hand side. I found my preferred zombie apocalypse vehicle. Not the Chevy.
Have gnu, will travel.
You keep using that phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Unless it comes with an oil rig and refinery.
Unless it's got a fully manual transmission and an engine that can run on when the electrical system goes away, it's crap. And guess what? This vehicle has neither. It's got a six-speed automatic and it's got a gasoline engine with full electronic control. Gasoline spoils rapidly and it's nontrivial to make more. Not impossible — you can use the ABE process, which is not exactly a new thing, to make Butanol. That's a 1:1 replacement.
If you would like an actual apocalypsemobile, that's a Unimog (to get the seating capacity of this Silverado, a Doka) with an OM617.951 upgrade. It will cost you a pretty penny for a nice one with amenities like a heater, but it will go places that would make the Silverado weep and you can get one with hydraulics which can be used to run a winch that you would be hard-pressed to damage without ripping it out of the front of the truck. It will also continue running in the event of complete electrical failure, including your hydraulic winch.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Zombies is a euphemism for nigger. Racists can openly fantasize about killing zombie where they could not about black peoples.
I had a fascinating talk last month with a man who lives near a flood plain. Not in it, but the dikes have been overwhelmed enough times in his lifetime that he's seen failures of basic transport and utilities for the area half a dozen times. He uses "surviving a zombie apocalypse" as his guideline for preparedness. So he keeps a plentiful supply of ammo, and practices with his weapons, and loads his own ammo: he also hunts with those and with a bow, and keeps a freezer full of venison. He also keeps quite a large amount of long-term stable food stores, some water and _water testing and purification_ tools. His vehicles are well built, maintained, and he has several small generators, one in the basement (for weather reasons) and one in a vehicle (for portable use).
He's also doing backup fire and rescue duties for his county, and if there's a problem nearby, I want _him_ as one of my first responders.
A better way to be prepared would be to own and be able to ride a horse. Only fuel it needs is grass, hay, and water(and if there isn't enough water for both you and a horse where you are, you are probably screwed anyway), and when it eventually breaks down at least you can eat it. Best option would be 2 horses that you can switch out to avoid tiring them out. Can go places vehicles can't (you can ride along comfortably on the median or shoulder of a road, right past all those people trapped in a traffic jam or out of gas), and, in the case of zombies, a canter or even a slow trot will easily get you past any somewhat mobile rotting corpses. Plus the skittish nature of horses would serve as a warning system to any dangers while traveling through the woods or camped out at night. It would be cheaper than this truck, more useful, and would certainly last a lot longer.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
They should call it the Tallahassee.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Gasoline is probably the worst fuel type to rely on after the Zombie apocalypse -- most gasoline sources will be in underground gas station tanks and you'll need to find a way to pump it out while fending off the zombies. Diesel can be found in above ground generator tanks in most large commercial buildings.
They should have gone with a Multi-fuel engine to broaden the potential fuel sources - adding diesel and jet fuel to your potential fuel sources gives you a lot of flexibility as you escape the zombie horde.
As somebody who isn't a hipster, and who isn't part of Generation Y, maybe I just won't ever understand it. But the whole concept of "zombies" and any fascination with it comes off as really idiotic, petty and rather stupid.
I don't think this has anything to do with hipsters, or Gen Y.
From what I can see, the zombie apocalypse is partly a joke and mostly a convenient abstraction which stands in place of any of dozens of different disaster scenarios. The zombie apocalypse is nice in that it captures a sort of maximally extreme yet potentially-survivable scenario. There are plenty of possible disasters for which preparedness is just pointless (because you'd be dead anyway), but once you exclude those from consideration, the needs of survival in the remaining, more or less realistic, disaster scenarios are pretty neatly covered by the clearly-fictional notion of societal collapse brought on by the sudden conversion of much of humanity into mindless undead predators.
In a nutshell: If you're well-prepared for the zombie apocalypse, odds are good that you're also well-prepared for any real disaster, so it's a nice target.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Why do people want to survive the end of the world? So after the dust settles they can starve to death eating their own loneliness?
Because we don't expect to be lonely. We expect our friends and families to survive along with us. I live in California, so I am more concerned with a major earthquake than zombies. I am also concerned about a major contagious disease outbreak, or a weather anomaly that causes major crop failures (this happened in 535-536, 1315-1317, and in 1815). So I have about a year's worth of food for my family, basic tools and survival equipment, and (since I am an American) an assault rifle. Even if a crisis never comes, I am still saving money by buying food in bulk, and growing most of my own vegetables. I also have a some chickens for eggs. You may think that being prepared is kooky, but if you look back through history, there is at least a 30% chance of a major calamity occurring during your lifetime. By the time you see it coming, the store shelves will be bare, and it will be too late. So I think it is foolish to not be prepared. Some of my neighbors also have a stash of supplies, and we are prepared to work together to fight off the zombies.
and (since I am an American) an assault rifle
Isn't an "assault weapon" a scary looking rifle, and an "assault rifle" a fully-automatic military weapon?
Learn to love Alaska
Zombie movies are not about zombies.
They are about human behaviour when the constraints of civilization have been removed. Zombies are just the easy explanation why civilization collapsed (and stays collapsed).
Ideally, that is to show insights into society and the roles within it and how various types of people fit into those.
There is only one suitable car available to buy by everyone. The Paramount Marauder.
Here is a pic next to a hummer : http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eNodvYO-1qs/T6rBLC-h1sI/AAAAAAAAAH0/lgJeiw3dxMA/s1600/Marauder+next+to+hummer.jpg
The Maurauder can withstand 8kg of TNT under any wheel without sustaining any substantial damage.
It's bullet proof (incl RPGs), is over-pressured to protect against biological and chemical attacks, has more torques than a HGV (it can pull real full size trucks; regardless if you put a foot on the breaks or flatfoot to accelerate), able to drive trough walls like a tank, etc etc.
But it costs 300000 GBP. Without options. But the option list is quite....interesting (included the option to electrify the hull to protect against people trying to climb on the vehicle)
I thought the guys at Top Gear figured out the best survivor-type pickup was the Toyota Hilux?
http://topgear.wikia.com/wiki/Toyota_Hilux/
This one was pretty awesome. I would want a truck that won't break down no matter what I do to it.
"You cannot find out which view is the right one by science in the ordinary sense." - C.S. Lewis on Intelligent Design
1. Feed the trolls
2. Sell to trolls
3. Profit
Table-ized A.I.
Zombies are the ideal fantasy opponent for a doomsday scenario. They have most of the strengths of humans, thus (supposedly) requiring heavy firepower and good tactics to defend against them, but being sub-human (lacking a soul, whatever) and extremely dangerous, there is little to no aversion to the use of violence against them.
Put it another way, if a prepper told anyone that they were loading up on weapons to be able to attack fellow humans during a crisis, they would be labeled psycho and probably have their weapons taken away.
But... if they're gearing up to fight "zombies", they can stockpile all the weapons they want and only appear to be a little paranoid.
I, for one, always thought 'zombie' a euphemism for bureaucrat.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
If you're prepped for zombies your friends consider you a fool.
If you're not prepped for zombies your "friends" consider you food.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Suspiciously absent from the list of supplies to have on hand, however, is a ruggedized pickup truck. Medical supplies, duct tape, plastic tarps, potable water, and dry food rations were all highly valued, as was a robust preparedness plan by the federal and local governments, with a focus on organization and communication.
And if I were preparing for a zombie apocalypse, I'd be focusing more on physical defense. Strong property fences, no glass windows on the ground floor, defensible yard, and other physical barriers are more important in zombie attacks. Military invasion, and the others on the list don't have that as a strong requirement, though I know plenty who are arming themselves to prevent looters, and zombies and looters are alike except for their reaction to being shot, or having others in the area shot.
So I guess then it's a good thing you bought a truck and a gun. Better hope you brought a really big gas tank too, because when that runs out, you are totally screwed.
Motorbike and a tank of gas. I can go 50-100 miles on a gallon. And traffic/roads aren't as much of an issue. Worth it for the gain in top speed over your method. I can go hundreds of miles in a day, if need be. And siphon off a gallon at a time from stopped traffic, for great extensions in range.
Learn to love Alaska
A bicycle is nice, but it won't help you evacuate your family and pets. It won't help you haul a generator, fuel, and two weeks worth of food home. It won't help you haul all of the debris out of your house and yard, sandbags to prevent flooding, or the tools you need to start fixing stuff. They also suck ass during blizzards, hurricanes, or when the fast zombies also have bicycles.
Wherein 'zombies' are a placeholder for 'other (hungry) people', I presume? How christian of you..
I am only a "3" on the Dawkin's Scale, and certainly not a Christian. Instead of the bible, I prefer the moral lesson of The Little Red Hen. Why should my family starve because you made a conscious decision not to prepare? But I am still helping my fellow humans more than you are: When the Yellowstone Caldera erupts, and blocks out the sun, you will rush out in a panic buying spree, thus depriving others. But I will already have my stash, built up during times of plenty, so I will need to take nothing from others.
Oh, the bureaucrats I'm familiar with only appear singly, or perhaps in pairs in a pinch. Can't recall them slobbering, ever. Moving slowly, sure. Mindless - give you that. Well, one sort of mind. But otherwise, don't see it. "Hey Peter, what's happening. We need to talk about your TPS reports. That, and your BRAIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNS!"
Assault rifle is selectable full auto by definition. You don't own one.
Assault weapon means scary ugly gun that's on some list.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I, for one, always thought 'zombie' a euphemism for bureaucrat.
In the movie "American Carol", the lawyers for the ACLU were zombies.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Zombie is a hate word, we prefer to be called 'The Infected'!
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.