Archive

The Weekly Geek: Morbid fascinations

Only in Halloween season does an article about morbid means of death become fun and perky! That’s precisely what io9’s latest “science” oriented piece offers — an examination of different methods of bodily demise (from horror movies/other media) and just how realistic they are. Instead of taking individual scenes, however, they’ve opted to take a look at the methods themselves, all the way from hangings and gas chambers to “natural” means like drowning and hypothermia.

It’s totally morbid, but also quite informative. Check out this bit of myth busting from the beheading section:

There was a popular rumor that a head could stay alive for 30 seconds after it was separated from the body, provided the separation was clean and quick enough. That has been pretty thoroughly debunked, on this site even. A broken neck generally renders someone unconscious and leads to death so quick it might as well be instantaneous. A severed neck would do the same.

Fascinating!

I’m a bit of a medical oddity geek, so I love this stuff. You may get more Halloween-flavored mileage out of The Mary Sue’s awesome little list of “The 10 Most Theoretically Delicious Sweets,” an awesome little recounting of fictional treats from nerd media.

I’m especially happy they included Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs from Calvin and Hobbes. However, there are a few serious omissions, including the creepy treat cards from Costume Quest (with such awesome items as “Cinnamon Brain” and “Unicorn Pellets”), the delicious desserts from Inn at the Crossroads (The Song of Ice and Fire cooking blog), or perhaps the Peptide Cake from the Star Trek Cookbook.

Geeks, what are your favorite fictional delights?

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button