Memes Are Fun

When most people hear the word 'Meme', the think of a funny picture with a hilarious joke- the set up on the top of the image followed by a hilarious punchline along the bottom. Memes are the things your friends text you so that you can have a laugh in the middle of work hours, the things you 'Like' on Facebook but don't actually comment on. Memes are the profile pictures of people that love to share hilarity.




However, memes are actually much older than the age of digital sharing. In fact, they are older than the Internet itself.

A little history: The phrase 'Meme' was coined in 1976 (a good thirty six years back) by Richard Dawkins as he described evolution. Dawkins concluded that evolution doesn't simply operate on a chemical level, it it also required some self replicating form of communication. In the chemical world, a gene is self replicating, it duplicates on and on and on and on. It's the reason a baby goes from a tiny thumbnail sized ball of tissue to a 6'11 NBA center. However, outside the chemical world, there are ideas or information that do the same thing. They duplicate and travel through society the way small pox travelled through the newly discovered Americas. These information packets, self replicating units of transmission, are memes.

Enter the Internet Meme we all recognise so easily. These are information packets- whether it be something as simple as using the word 'teh' instead of 'the', or 'moar' instead of 'more', these are all little packets of information that travel through huge amounts of people at incredible speed. They evolve and adapt as some genes do too- what is funny one day is parodied the next. Companies are spending thousands of dollars daily to analyse what makes them funny and what makes them spread, they are an advertisers holy grail.

And occasionally they are pretty funny.

Much funnier than genes.

Interesting and Funny

I think we could all do with a rehash here:

Interesting (Adjective)
Arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention.
It will be very interesting to see what they come up with.

Funny  (Adjective)
Causing laughter or amusement; humorous.
The play is hilariously funny.

Kryptonite!!

A few days ago I was driving home with my wonderful wife and we started talking about how ridiculous it is that EVERY single villain in the DC Universe seems to have an unlimited supply of Kryptonite.

I mean seriously, kryptonite is, by definition, the meteor remains of the planet  Krypton, which is generally stated to be 50 light years  (or 473,026,420,000,000kms) from Earth. How many people do you know that own a single rock from that far away- let alone a whole arsenal of meteor infused weaponry. For me, that number is zero. I know zero people that own rocks from 50 light years away.

It’s ridiculous. My wife agrees, so that’s where that ended. Yet the curiosity center in my head got a hold of the whole ‘kryptonite’ thing and I ended up looking it up. Online.

It turns out there are quite a few types of kryptonite. The run of the mill green stuff that makes Superman weak is the most commonly known one of course, but then there’s the red rock that alters his mind so he can do whatever he wants. 

There’s gold kryptonite that takes away his powers and blue kryptonite that heals and strengthens him. Superman can develop split personalities when influenced by black kryptonite and grows paranoid when under the effects of the silver stuff.

My two favourites however for there complete and utter nonsensical nature is white kryptonite- which kills plants (Awesome!) and pink kryptonite- which (you guessed it) makes Superman develop some quite fruity tendencies… Hilarious…

Too much information to remember? Fear not, the caped crusader is here to rescue you once again... And he apologises for the typo (see if you can find it):

De-Sex Your Cat!!

Today, while digging up a giant lavender bush (seriously- huge). I found a teeny tiny litter of kittens. They were so small and cute! So cuddly and soft! Absolutely adorable. The only problem was that by taking out the bush, I had now deprived them of their shaded cat-pad. So, I did what I could, I put them in a cardboard box with a soft towel and dropped them in to the vet.

Here's where the trouble starts. The vet informed me that spring is generally kitten season. Lots of abandoned kittens are brought in and the only humane thing they can do is euthanise the itty bitty kitties- which basically breaks that part of my heart that loves adorable things with tiny paws and big eyes.


What could I do? They need their mother- so I went looking for her. I asked the neighbours all around if they own a cat, I checked where I found them in search of clues, I did what I could but there wasn't much hope. The vet had told me that these kittens weren't in the best condition and were likely victims of being dumped by some careless punks or abandoned by their mother. Due to the fact they were right under an overgrown lavender bush, chances are it was the latter.

Sadly, I left them with the vet. Chances are they might have been put to sleep already. I guess it's better then slowly dehydrating and starving to death out in the cold but it's so sad. I feel responsible for those little monsters and there's nothing I can do for them. They're too young to live without their mothers milk and they wont last the night without it.

Instead, I wish the owners of their mother had been smart enough to have their cat de-sexed. Forty dollars is all it takes. That way, innocent kittens wouldn't have to pay for their irresponsible behaviour and I wouldn't feel so bad.

Overreact Much?

I often overreact and I shouldn't. It's one of those things where something really irks you at the time and when you look back on it you see just how small and petty it really is.


Recently, I figured I'd try this instead: As soon as something annoys me to a point where I might transform it from a molehill into a towering mountain, I'd jump the whole 'looking in hindsight' thing and go straight to figuring out how much of an effect that one, little, teeny, tiny thing, conversation, person or opinion had on my life. It worked wonders.

For example, Bob comes into the gym and bench presses with miserable form. He packs on a lot of weight and then performs the shallowest of reps, barely bending his elbows at all. I've told Bob a thousand times to go deeper and do a full rep through a full range of motion so that he will have healthy joints that are balanced and strong and he will live a life free of injury. However, Bob has probably realised that if he does this, he wont be able to lift as much weight. If he can't lift as much weight, he wont be getting the self-esteem hit he normally does, or he wont be impressing the girls he normally does, or something else- so he doesn't do it.

For a while, this really bothered me. I'm of the philosophy (or at least I like to think I am, I'm probably not, we're all imperfect) that if you're going to do something you should do it properly. Why would Bob continue to do something counterproductive to his goals?

Then I realised. Bob will do what Bob wants and I don't need to overreact to that. In fact, I don't need to react at all. There's a wise old quote that is simple and eloquent: "Act, don't react." 

Bob still comes in to bench press and still does the same thing, now I just smile and get back to my own thing. I act on my goals and it's made me a much happier gym patron.

Act. Don't react.

Embrace Your Weirdness

Some of the most wonderful and entertaining people out there are the weird ones. It's always refreshing to find someone who doesn't act the way the programmed masses do. Everyone has the capacity to be a little weird, to wear odd socks or sing in the shower in a really high pitch voice- but the truly weird ones are the ones people are drawn too.

Even if for the only reason of seeing what it's like on the other side of normalcy. 

Embrace what makes you different. If nothing makes you different, then do something out of character- if you do, even for a moment, you'll be something unique, something new, something awesome.

Something weird.

Don't Be Creepy

Due to the fact that I am amazing (slightly exaggerated) and married to a beautiful woman (entirely true) I am constantly (another slight exaggeration) being asked about the secrets to building an awesome relationship.

Now, as we all know, relationships are somewhat like snowflakes in the way that no two are a like, therefore, I wont dabble in specifics but more in general common sense, which contrary to its name seems to be quite rare in an age where information in all shapes and forms rests at our fingertips.

So here we are, my top five tips on how not to be creepy when chasing that special someone:

Be The Right Age
Age is huge when it comes to creepiness. Nobody wants to see couples using their lips to bridge generation gaps- that’s just nasty! Sure, there are exceptions (many of which are highly paid exceptions known as ‘celebrities’) but for the most part, you should obey the golden rule. [(Age/2)+7]. If you don’t, you’re putting yourself at risk of putting people in the uncomfortable position of not being sure if you’re her boyfriend or creepy uncle.

Open with Direct Conversation
There is a direct correlation between how often you talk to someone and how attractive they find you. Think of it like beer goggles- if you are unfortunate enough to be granted with any measure of attractiveness whatsoever, a few good conversations can easily bring your mug up to the national average. This relationship between beauty and communication, however, only extends to REAL conversation. That excludes text messaging, Facebook chat, emails and epistles carried by messengers- those are all great ways to communicate once you’ve built a relationship on REAL face to face, but using them as your sole form of contact will quickly put you in the creepy bin.

Eyes On The Prize
Nobody likes walking around with a head on a swivel the same way nobody wants to cook for a fussy eater. It’s demeaning and embarrassing. Plus, if you’re checking out everything with a pulse that passes when you’re with your special someone, you’ll quickly find they might do the same- and replace you, because lets face it, that’s creepy.

Be Realistic
Face it. At first, nobody wants to spend all their time with you. You may be mighty, bold, beautiful and resplendent, but people need time to recharge their “social batteries” and chances are you might not be as resplendent as you might think. Give the other person some time to miss you and catch up on their lives outside of you. There’s nothing creepier than a human magnet.

And While You’re At It…
If you’re spending a realistic amount of time with a special someone, don’t go backwards on the creepy scale by bombarding them with text message while you’re a part. That’s not to say you need to sever lines of communication completely but there’s a big difference between a few genuinely friendly texts throughout the day and trying to match the word count of the entire works of T.S Elliot in a single twenty-four hour gap. One of those is creepy and one of those isn’t. I’ll let you pick which is which.

And if you are ever unsure about your course of action and how it might come off, you can always ask yourself this simple question: "Would a creep do this?", and if they would- then pick another course of action. I couldn't put it any simpler than that.

An Australian US Presidential Election?

For months on end, my Facebook feed has been battered by arguments, glowing support and slanderous comments directed towards Mitt Romney or Barrack Obama. No biggie right? Most of you reading this are likely in the same boat. The problem is this though: All these political posts are coming form Australians.

Australians. People in a country far from the jurisdiction of the US President. A country with a whole handful of its own political problems. A country that really doesn't need its citizens focusing so intently on something that 1. Doesn't have any affect on them and 2. They don't even have a say in. Aussies don't vote in international elections.

It reminds me of another raucous debate my Facebook endured months ago. Team Edward or Team Jacob. Clearly Edward was the protagonist of the entire Twilight series so he had dibs, right? No, no, no, he bailed in the second book and forfeited that right... Sound stupid? Well now you're beginning to see just how ridiculous this is.


Yet still people do it. They are passionate about it and will continue regardless of how often I link them to this very post in the available comments section. Meanwhile, Australia has a Prime Minister doing her very best to be worse than useless and naming her opposition a "misogynist" for calling her out on it, which is ridiculous: Being a woman doesn't make you a crap politician; being a crap politician is what makes you a crap politician. 

It doesn't help that we, as a country, elected someone who closely resembles the villain in the Disney movie The Rescuers.


Alas, that is the boat we are in. So I shall endure the pointless political posts with a smile. I've had my rant and ranting is always strangely therapeutical in one way or another. Yet that is my stance- what side of the fence am I on?

The Australian side.

As for you, where do you stand in the current Political maelstrom?

Zombie Apocalypse, The Epic Conclusion.

Nate-Radio Presents:

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Part IV

Needless to say, the Zombie-Infection slowly spreads until Will Smith sacrifices himself to save a vial of blood that holds the key to curing the infection. The infection escapes the terrifying reach of the Zombie-Apocalypse long enough to reach scientists who create a vaccine capable of mass production.

The world is saved. (Dramatic Pause) Alas, too late for the stick-men at Nate-Radio.

Zombie Apocalypse Part III.

Nate-Radio Presents:

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Part III

To Be Concluded

Zombie Apocalypse Part II.

Nate-Radio Presents:

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Part II

To Be Continued

The Zombie Apocalypse has captured the imagination of artists all over the world. From filmmakers to musicians to photographers to garden enthusiasts. In fact, Zombies are such a cultural phenomenon that should you become victim to their relentless bloodlust, you can still proudly tell the world just how many little Zomblings you must pay to feed and clothe.

So, keeping that in mind, it makes sense for Nate-Radio to take on a Zombie Apocalypse and see just how long they make it. Of course they're not the most clever stick-figures on the block (this isn't XKCD) but perhaps there's more to them than meets the eye. Like a transformer. Or something, I don't know.

Nate-Radio Presents:

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE 

To Be Continued

Inscribblespiration

Scribbling mindlessly on Post-Its sometimes leads to wacky ideas! They might not always make sense or anything but in this case they provided the Interweb with a Thursday Comic. Enjoy!

Have you ever scribbled yourself into action or gotten a great idea from some wayward lines?