What the hell does "meme" mean anyways?

According to Google:

As defined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976): "a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation." "Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.

So in the great Blogosphere, a meme is a format of writing something that is imitated, I guess. Here are a few...

Here's a fun one via Sharon:

Sum up 2005 in 24 words:

1. Separation
2. Reunion
3. Transition
4. Again
5. Broke
6. Heartache
7. Missing
8. Found
9. Together
10. Decisions
11. Goals
12. Jobs
13. School
14. House
15. New
16. Old
17. Pain
18. Health
19. Intellect
20. Prosperity?
21. Contentment
22. Where
23. Am
24. I?


Next I don't know if this qualifies as a meme, exactly, but it was interesting. (Also from Sharon.)

This site will allow you to upload a picture of yourself, and then it searches a database for celebrities that look like you.

Here are my results:



In case you couldn't tell, that mug on the left is me. According to this site (and what a great ego-booster it is!), I look most like Scarlett Johansson(???) and Judy Garland (awww!). But I also look like Gustav Stressemann (It must be my mustache). I think my huge teeth resemble Katherine Hepburn's (only when she's old). And, c'mon, who wouldn't wanna look like Frodo?

The last picture on the right is Sania Mizra, tennis player from Hyderabad, the first Indian woman to win a "grand slam" (I don't know what that means.) Personally, I think I look most like her - sans athletic prowess, of course.


And, last but not least, this meme from Bitch PhD.

The "Seven" Meme

A. Seven things to do before I die
1. Travel around India for three months.
2. Stop binging on twizzlers.
3. Learn Spanish.
4. Visit New York. (That place scares me. I must conquer the fear.)
5. Finish my PhD.
6. Have a savings account - with money in it.
7. Meditate daily.

B. Seven things I cannot do
1. Watch "Anne of Green Gables" without crying.
2. Live without seeing my family for too long.
3. Be worry-free.
4. Clean up vomit.
5. Keep plants alive.
6. Read one book at a time.
7. Grow my hair long.

C. Seven things that attract me to ...
1. My husband: his generosity.
2. My kid: his scatalogical humor.
3. My sister: her taste in music.
4. My friend Debi: the "different drummer" to whose beat she marches.
5. TKP: her spot-on impersonations.
6. Twizzlers: their chewey goodness.
7. People in general: humor, insightfulness, and good conversations.

D. Seven things I say most often
1. Shite
2. C'mon!
3. Whassup?
4. Rad
5. Somebody please shoot me in the head.
6. Why, God?
7. Isaac, you're the bestest.


E. Seven books (or series or genres or topics) that I love
1. The Temple of My Familiar (Alice Walker)
2. Kingsolver
3. Amy Tan
4. Harry Potter (I know, lame. But hey, I have a kid. That's my excuse.)
5. Anne Rice
6. Nerdy non-fiction stuff.
7. This one's too hard. There are too many. I didn't even think about Isaac's kid's books!

F. Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would if I had time)
1. Anne of Green Gables
2. Moulin Rouge
3. The Bourne movies
4. Hindi movies: Kisna, Devdas, Swades
5. Barbra Streisand - Funny Girl
6. Pokemon and YuGiOh (This is not out of choice)
7. Sex and the City and Friends

G. Seven people Two people I want to join in, too.

TKP - you're it! Do this quick before you get stuck in Worcester again.

Wendy - You, too dude!