Meme: Cultural Viruses

10 April 2008, 9:09 am by Giggles
Categories: Folks, Learn Something, Meme

Someone elsewhere asked what a meme is. I knew how I’d describe it. I’d describe it as a blog thing, a list of really random questions that someone answers on their blog, and then they tag other readers to do the same on their blogs, who then answer and tag others, and so it goes. They come in handy when you feel like blogging but don’t know what you want to write.

But there had to be a real definition too. So I went looking. Turns out it isn’t strictly an internet term. The term has been around for a long time.

Dictionary.com defines it as: a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.

It’s folklore! Another definition describes it as cultural viruses. It is a part of the culture that replicates itself and gets passed from person to person. It is culture that transmits itself verbally. It is an idea the reproduces itself and moves from one mind to the next. It’s perfect! I’ve even seen some blog meme’s mutate to better suit their environment (i.e. the person posting the blog). I’ve mutated a few myself to fit how I’d answer the questions.

And now we know.

1 Shared thought

Thoughts and Rants

9 April 2008, 5:46 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Exercise, Gospel, Politics, Venting

There have been a couple of news articles this week that I felt like I wanted to comment on. They cover politicians thinking they know about education, religion, and politics in general, so this won’t be a terribly cheery post. You have been fair warned.

The Deseret News reported on Monday at that Utah has once again been ranked lowest for per student spending in the nation. And they don’t seem to have much of a problem with it, which is a large problem if you ask me. Yet they are patting themselves on the back because some how Utah still manages to come out okay on standardized tests. Utah must be very efficient to get such results with hardly any funding. Big whoop! Just imagine what they could do if they actually funded education! It boggles the mind. That’s politicians for you though.

The Deseret News had another article on Monday that I have a few thoughts on. This article was reporting on an agreement of the LDS leaders to meet with a group of homosexuals. I don’t see what their problem is. They have the same laws and commandments as everyone else. They aren’t being held to a different standard than anyone else. I like men too. But I’d be in just as much trouble if I acted on those impulses as anyone else who wasn’t married would. Celibacy is expected of those who aren’t married, regardless of who you feel like you’d like to be married to. Why they think the laws of God are different for them, I’ll never know.

The article says that they are looking for a change in the BYU honor code that results in the expulsion for sexually active gay students. Except the exact same rules apply to any non-married sexually active students as well. I appreciate that the article specified that as well. There’s no different in treatment. I don’t understand what the big deal is on that one.

The third article that caught my attention already this week is one about the Olympic torch going around the world right now and the protests it is encountering in different cities. It is in San Francisco today. Yesterday it was extinguished in London by protesters.

I love the Olympics. I love the amazing sports feats, the pageantry of the opening and closing ceremonies, the world coming together for two weeks. But with the issues with Tibet and human rights issues in China, I’m torn on whether or not I want to watch the Olympics this Summer. I hate the idea of so many athletes missing the Olympics if there is a boycott. For so many of them, they would be past their peak in another four years and would miss their chance. It’s not their fault that the Olympics are in China this year and that there are so many problems there. But I have to wonder about the world celebrating just part of the country, and ignoring the problems with the rest of it. I’ll figure out what I’ll do about it by August.

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Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

8 April 2008, 9:12 pm by Giggles
Categories: Random

I drew a bird. What does your bird look like?

bird

1 Shared thought

I’m an addict

7 April 2008, 8:51 pm by Giggles
Categories: Exercise, Happy Things

The New York Times recently reported that running is in fact, addicting. It’s nice to have science back up my addiction. I really do feel better when I’m running regularly. I sleep better. I’m less stressed. The feeling after a race or a good vigorous run – it’s hard to beat that feeling. It is quite the high.

It’s official. I’m an addict. I get high.

It’s no wonder I keep running.

1 Shared thought

¡?uun? ????

1 April 2008, 12:49 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Random

¡?uun? ???? ¿u?op ?p?sdn p??o? ??? p?u?n? o?? ‘???o

01101000 01110100 01110100 01110000 00111010 00101111 00101111 01110111 01110111 01110111 00101110 01110011 01100101 01110110 01100101 01101110 01110111 01101001 01110010 01100101 01110011 00101110 01100011 01101111 01101101 00101111 01110000 01101100 01100001 01111001 00101111 01010101 01110000 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 01000100 01101111 01110111 01101110 01001100 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 01110011 00101110 01101000 01110100 01101101 01101100

d?d o? s?u???

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I’m still single because I’m not married

28 March 2008, 2:14 pm by Giggles
Categories: Relationships

There are people who like to say that people “my age” (meaning “older than 23 at the most”) are single “for a reason.” They never specify what the reason is though.

For men it is implied that the reason is not a good one, that there is something definitely wrong with him or he would’ve managed to get married by now. They must be creepy, weird, abusive, socially inept, selfish, etc. Now while I’ve met or known of a lot of guys who would definitely fall under those categories, I also know of men who are older than 23, single, and really have nothing wrong with them.42D

For women, it tends to be implied that it is a neutral reason. Which is completely unfair. If you are going to imply that there is something wrong with men my age that aren’t married, then at least don’t be sexist about it and imply that there is something wrong with women my age too. Yes, I do know of women who are creepy, weird, abusive, socially inept, selfish, etc, and they do have their reasons for not being married yet. But there are also women (me) who have nothing wrong with them and just aren’t married yet.

Why can the “reason” never be that they just aren’t married yet? Stupid people.

I’m still single for a reason – and that reason happens to be that I’m not married. End of story.

3 Shared thoughts

Folklore and Phone Books

28 March 2008, 10:13 am by Giggles
Categories: Books, Folks, Musings, Questions, Science & Tech

I read this story earlier, and the folklorist in me just had to comment on it. The Book of the Undead: Why Won’t Phone Books Die?

The article talks about how phone books have outlived their usefulness. Any more people can look up the information they want on the computer, or even on their phone. Yet not everyone has the internet on their phone. I do have the internet, but I also pull out the phone book on occasion. And I always have one in my car that gets used even more.

But I think it was the idea of studying phone books from the point of view of a folklorist that struck me. Phone books have been such a part of our culture for so many years. We do draw on them – but what do we draw? Why do we draw on them? I had never heard about drawing on them so as to be able to locate them again after they’d been discarded, but I have drawn on a phone book or two in my day. What is put in them? What kinds of things do we include in a phone book? Why do we include that? What are they used for outside their intended purpose? Why do we use them for those things?

I hope someone answers those questions before it’s too late.

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