meme

Thanks to the internet, you can find out your pirate name and your Jersey Shore name, and now thanks to the EMBL-EBI learning tools, you can find your protein name too! When you type your name into the box, the program reads the letters of your name as if they were the single-letter codes for amino acids. Since there are only 20 amino acids, if you have a B, J, O, U, X, or Z in your name the program reads it as "X" which just means any amino acid could go in that spot. The amino acids are then translated back into one of the possible three-letter DNA codes for each amino acid, and that DNA…
tags: Cala Boca Galvão, hoax, fraud, prank, humor, funny, satire, meme, World Cup football 2010, Brasil, Rede Globo, Galvão Bueno, Carlos Eduardo dos Santos Galvão Bueno, streaming video Anatomy of an elaborate hoax: If you know anything about birds, then you knew immediately that none of the parrots portrayed in these videos are known as the "Galvão", nor are (most of them) endangered, nor are their feathers used in any sort of Brazilian celebration. If you do have even a rudimentary knowledge of Portuguese, then you know that Cala Boca Galvão actually means "shut your mouth, Galvão…
Or, on the other hand, this may be a good thing: You know about the [ooh.. something spooky just happened. tell you later] Adolph Hitler video memes, where conversation about pretty much anything (the new iPod, the latest ballgame, whatever) is superimposed over german dialog from Downfall (the 2004 film) giving Hitler and his last remaining bunker-bound Nazi-symps funny dialog. Here, for reference, is the original in German: Well, apparently, the era Hitlering our discourse has gone the way of the Dodo and the Third Reich: On Tuesday, the clips on YouTube, many of which had been watched by…
tags: meme, blogging, Why Blog?, navel gazing, lint picking Steffi Suhr, who writes Science Behind the Scenes at Nature Network, is (re)asking this popular meme in the wake of the internecine explosion that ensued after a misunderstanding at the recent Science Online 2010 conference expanded to encompass the two best and biggest English-speaking science blog sites in the world: Nature Network and ScienceBlogs. The questions; What made you start blogging? Is a sense of community an important part of blogging for you, or do you prefer blogging 'solo'? Are there blogs you never look at? If…
Today is "Year in Review" day in which I post my predictions and my evaluation of last year's, but first, here's a meme I stole from the fabulous Dr. Isis in which I list the first blog post of 12 months, plus the first sentence of each blog post. I figure they'll make something really strange, which is always good. BTW, all of these are from ye olde blogge which is still alive and kicking, so if you'd like to read more of me (as though this weren't enough ;-)), you can go there. January: My New Year's Resolutions came 'round (and were kept about as well as all new year's resolutions) One…
This is really, really funny: Well, actually, it's not even a little funny... ... Well, actually, the punchline is the funniest thing I've see yet this year. I can hardly type I'm laughing so hard. Hat Tip Science Lover
While the economy is still performing CPR on itself, you may find yourself without a job. Worse still, if you are like me, you may not be able to find another one. In the meantime, here are 101 ways to improve your life (and take up some extra time) when you can't find a job no matter how hard you pound the pavement. Here's my edited version of their list along with some of my annotations. Those activities I've done, or do, are noted with a red asterix. *Catch up on all those books you've ever wanted to read through the local library. :: I go to the library nearly every day, thanks to MY…
tags: blogosphere, meme, reader demographics meme Every once in awhile, I ask my readers to identify themselves by demographic groups -- gender, age, what you do, what you aspire to do, favorite books, and anything else you'd like to tell me because honestly, I find you all to be quite fascinating. I think about you all nearly constantly -- what stories you might like to read, what photographs and videos might amuse you -- and I'd like to learn more about you. I am participating in the "Who are You?" meme, inspired by my ScienceBlogs colleagues [Ed, DrugMonkey, SciCurious, Janet Stemwedel,…
tags: blogosphere, meme, science badges meme Okay, my good readers, ScienceScouts has updated their badge page, so I thought I'd start a little meme where we all compare badges, sort of like an advanced form of navel-gazing, except for scientists and other geeks. Below the fold, I've listed which badges I qualify for, along with a brief comment regarding that badge, and I invite you to join in the fun! Which badges do I qualify for? Here's a list; The I've published at the Science Creative Quarterly Badge. It happened a long, long time ago when I was still at my blogger site. If you humor me…
Alice and I have been talking about the big and small ways that universities could act to improve the environment, but Earth Day is also about making personal changes to lessen your environmental impact. So it's fitting that Mike Dunford has issued us an Earth Day challenge: I'd like you to take a minute or two to come up with three things that you can do to be more environmentally friendly. The first should be something that's small, and easy to do. The second should be more ambitious - something you'll try to do, but might not manage to pull off. The third should be something you can do to…
tags: Earth Day, earth-friendly resolutions, meme, environment, nature Mike at Questionable Authority has started a new meme in honor of Earth Day, listing our Earth Day Resolutions. Even though he's being a big dork by not tagging me with this meme, I have decided to contribute anyway. (I have to live up to my "pushy New Yorker" description since I am a Seattle transplant with something to prove.) Because I live in an apartment in Manhattan and my backyard consists solely of a shaded fire escape that is four floors above a concrete sidewalk, I thought my resolutions might be interesting…
There's a crafty meme going around the blogosphere and lovely academic blogger phd me is going to be sending me a craft of her making. In order to be deserving of her crafty goodness, I've promised to make crafts for 5 others. If you'd like to get something from me (probably photo-oriented), be one of the first five to leave a comment on this post. Here are the complete rules: The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully: * I make no guarantees that you will like what I…
BBC Book Meme As seen everywhere. BBC Book List Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. Instructions: 1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. (I'll bold those I've read and italicize those of which I only read part.) 2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE. 3) Star (*) those you plan on reading. My list is below the fold. 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen*3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X+5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte*8 Nineteen Eighty Four…
tags: books, meme, five books I wish I'd never read, book review Here's a meme that is a little bit different from the usual sorts because it is a negative meme. I usually celebrate all the wonderful books I read and review on my blog, but there are some books that I wish I had never invested the time into finishing. In spite of my "100 page rule" where I stop reading a book at page 100 if I still dislike it at that point, I sometimes finish books that I really really wish I had simply "lost" on the subway when I had the chance (I think "rehoming" books is the correct way to deal with…
tags: blogosphere, meme, 100 unusual lifetime experiences meme I discovered this meme at Guadalupe Storm-petrel, and thought it sounded interesting. This meme lists 100 unusual experiences that one might have had in his lifetime, and so I've emboldened those I've experienced, and placed a red asterix in front of those I'd like to experience someday. Started my own blog Slept under the stars -- many many times Played in a band -- I was in a handbell choir, I hope this counts *Visited Hawaii Watched a meteor shower Given more than I can afford to charity Been to Disneyland/world --…
My friends and colleagues at Nature Network (yes, I am a member of their auspicious group, although I have yet to start a blog there), have been passing a meme around amongst themselves. Martin Fenner is the culprit who started this whole thing off, so go yell at him about it. Anyway, in an effort to reduce NN's inbreeding coefficient, I have decided that this is a perfectly good meme for the greater blogosphere, or at least for ScienceBlogs, especially since it is navel-gazing at its best, and who doesn't enjoy picking through their own belly-button lint? What is your blog about? Well, my…
tags: meme, 7 Random Things, Seven Random Things blog meme One of the very first people who ever read or linked to my blog, Tabor, tagged me to participate in a blog meme. Since I am a veteran blog whore who always is looking to increase my traffic, I will play, although grudgingly, because I hate letting you all know how boring I truly am. The Rules are as follows: Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that…
Creature-features are fun to watch any time of the year, but they're an absolute must on Halloween. Although there are many excellent SF and horror films to choose from, this year I'm going to have to pick John Carpenter's The Thing. Based on the Don A. Stuart (AKA John W. Campbell, Jr.) story "Who Goes There?" The Thing is a blend of several horror-film styles that leaves the audience guessing as to who's human and who is not. Set at an Antarctic field station, the film tells the story of the crew encountering an alien that can imitate any living form after the slightest of contact, the…
I'm sure any cat owner will get a laugh out of this (I have 3 at the moment, so it's even a little worse than in the video...); [Hat-tip to GrrlScientist]
Yesterday I put up v. 1 of PZ's patented Mutating Genre Meme that had been passed on from The Primate Diaries, but today I'll be passing on The Anterior Commissure version. In case anyone hasn't seen them, here are the rules again; There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations: * You can leave them exactly as is. * You can delete any one question. * You can mutate either the genre, medium, or…