Sunday, March 18, 2007

Birthday meme


Meme: The term "meme" (
IPA: /miːm/, rhyming with "theme") was coined in 1976 by the biologist Richard Dawkins to refer to a "unit of cultural information" which can propagate from one mind to another in a manner analogous to genes (i.e., the units of genetic information).

A Meme in today's world is a short list of curious questions that one "tags" a friend with; it propagates via blogs, email and web sites. This particular meme comes to me via The Bemused Muse: Ok Toni, I'm sorry I didn't ask permission before I lifted this.

Here are the rules:

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday, month and day only - or another history resource if your date has slim pickin's (like mine did)
2. List 3 events that occurred on that day.
3. List 2 important birthdays
4. List one notable death
5. List a holiday or observance (if any)
6. Tag five of your friends.

My birthdate - November 18th

Three events that occurred on this date:
1626
: In Rome, St Peter's Church is consecrated
1883, four standard time zones for the continental U.S.A. were introduced at the instigation of the railroads.
1963
: The Bell telephone company introduce the first push button telephones in the United State

Two people who share my birthdate are:
1909: Johnny Mercer, US composer
1923: Alan Shepard, First American astronaut in space -
and my personal favorite along with Gus Grissom


List 1 death - there were a lot to choose from and this one struck me as most interesting
Gia Carangi, supermodel junkie, died of AIDS 1986

List a holiday or observance. (if any) - OK, it's not precisely a holiday, but it was listed as an observance and historically it was a rather big deal event. Not to mention, I think this is very cool.

Mickey Mouse debuted in Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in New York on Nov. 18, 1928.

And an additional Birthday just FYI -Minnie Mouse's Birthday is also November 18, 1928
...same as Mickey Mouse's

Tag 5 other bloggers.
Tagging people seems to not work well for me. It's sort of like throwing a scrapbooking party or tupperware party and two people show up - Maybe. So, if this meme appeals to you (and it actually was pretty informative), consider yourself TAGGED

7 comments:

TMTW said...

lol Annie! I do not mind it being "lifted".

Mickey and Minnie? I am jealous.

It is interesting to see what historical events stand out in our minds. I was also amazed at the Wiki birthday list.

Anonymous said...

i think the idea of MEME is fun. after with all of us really hooked into the cyber now-a-days, we meet so many people and they generally become friends. but we actually come to know very little about them apart from their blogs, so being tagged allows you to know more of others and give out a little more of yourself to others.

Susie said...

This does look interesting. I like your analogy of the Tupperware party and no one showing up!!
I may try this one at some point. I liked the Mickey and Minnie connection to your special day!!
hugs!!

Anonymous said...

St Peter's church and you share a special day. Wow! isn't that special. It makes sense too. because you are a spiritual person!

paris parfait said...

Autrice tagged me; must post mine soon. This is very interesting to read.

Julie said...

Yay for Mickey and Minnie; how lucky they are to share their birthdays with you!

I'm not much on doing memes (BTW, I always thought it was me-me, so I've learned something this morning!) because I never really feel I have much to say, but I do love to read those of other bloggers. So I did a brief look and here's what I found for my birthday, November 3:

Events -
1911 - Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T
1954 - The first in the Godzilla series of films is released in Japan.

Sharing my birthday -
1918 - Bob Feller, baseball player
1953 - Kate Capshaw, American actress

Died on my birthday -
1926 - Annie Oakley, American sharp-shooter (b. 1860)
1954 - Henri Matisse, French artist (b. 1869)

Holidays -
feast day of many Catholic saints, Independence day of several countries, and (not listed, but bemoaned by me many years) my birthday is often election day

Rethabile said...

I'm gonna try and do your meme, Annie. Cheers