The Sheila Variations

Forgive my ignorance....two questions.

1. Who's Rocco Sefredi

2. What's a meme? (I remember hearing/reading something about it, but can't recall).

Grazie.

One - have you seen this site?

http://queryletters.blogspot.com/

Failed query letters for movies... hilarious.

Two - I have one a great porn star name by the above metric - Lady Penny.

melissa:

Oh my GOD I've read 3 of them and I'm hooked. The bitter one about the Tucson archaelogical community ... this is genius - Trotsky meets Woody Allen is hilarious too.

My porn star name is Schatzi Wilson.

Emily - I don't know why that is so damn funny to me, but it is. It sounds like a guy porn-name to me.

I am also ignorant - and I do not know what "meme" means.

Another thing I see often that I don't know the meaning of is "grok".

I grok this, I grok that ...

I am so sorry, but what is "grok"?

A meme is a piece of cultural knowledge or information (or, in this case, a pattern of cultural information in the form of a list of questions) that is replicated and passed on through society.

I believe Richard Dawkins first came up with the name to describe the movement of ideas, information etc through society in a similar way to the transfer of DNA through genes.

Ohh, so it's not just some dumb blog term thing? Like "moonbat" or whatever?

Interesting. If I look in the dictionary, I will see "meme?"

Ann Marie - if you are out there - do you remember this from Osteo-Density night? "Whom? Meem?"

'grok' I don't know.

Oh, it's mutated into a "dumb blog term thing", Sheila.. like all genes do. ;)

Peteb: hahaha i'm so articulate. "Oh, is that one of those dumb blog term thingies?"

It was articulated perfectly, Sheila, I knew exactly what you meant. :)

I think (based on a lecture I saw rather than the book itself) Dawkins talks about his definition of a 'meme' in The Selfish Gene

I know the "Silly rabbi, kicks are for trids" joke.

Rabbi hears about this tribe of small creatures called Trids that need to get up a mountain for food, yet an ogre keeps kicking them back down the mountain because, well, he's an ogre and that's what ogres do.

Rabbi climbs up the mountain to reason with said ogre, but the ogre doesn't kick HIM. When the rabbi asks why not [insert punchline].

Hi Sheila,

"Grok" basically means "to understand," although the term is intended to be somewhat more imprecise than "to understand." If you have a feeling for a concept, if it makes intuitive sense to you, even if you might not necessarily be able to articulate your understanding, then you grok it.

I believe the term comes from some science fiction novel. I don't read science fiction (except Harold Bloom's The Flight to Lucifer and David Lindsay's Voyage to Arcturus), so I don't know which.

Grok comes from Heinlein's "A Stranger in a Strange Land"

Once again, you guys blow me away.

So "grok" ALSO isn't a "dumb blog term thingie". Good to know.

Hi J Swift, thanks for the reference. Maybe I should read that one.

Btw, one of my favorite computer science visionaries Jaron Lanier has some hilarious critical comments about the "meme" idea.

At least they're hilarious if you're an ueber-geek like myself.

Bryan - do you have a link for that?

Um, I tried inserting the link, didn't seem to work. Let's try this.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/27/jaron_lanier_futurist_conference/page2.html

There we go. Using an empty "a href" tag was what didn't work.

Sci Fi geek I am. Speaking of Heinlein, I just posted a comment on the Opening Scene/War Movie post where another commenter, who shall remain nameless, said that the Starship Troopers movie was better than the book.

I say again: SACRILEGE! ; )

This is actually a better statement of Lanier's criticism of memes than the link I just provided.

To grok is to understand something beyond the strictures of language, to see that something truly and in its entirety.

Astronomical distances might be a good example. We all understand that space is big, you might think it's a long way to the chemist, but that's just peanuts... (sorry)

As I was saying, we understand space is big. But when you really think about, truly comprehend those distances and it takes your breath away, you've grokked it.

Grok technically means the sharing of water. You'll want to remember that Mars, where it originates, is a desert planet; water-sharing is deep sharing, against odds. So to grok something is more or less to really, really get it. Like walking a mile in the same shoes.

I believe it's Rocco Siffredi, but of course how would I know something like that?

And overrated actors? Two words: Jude Law...

Linus - I'm afraid to Google his name. I'm at work.

You say Siffredi, I say Sefredi ... what's the dif?

//Widdy Sullivan. Doesn't really sound porn-ish.//

Nah. More schoolmarm-ish.

Scott,

"To understand something beyond the strictures of language, to see that something truly and in its entirety..."

That is a really beautiful definition! It suggests that the ability to grok implies the existence of intellectual intuition in the act of understanding and that knowledge cannot be reduced to manipulation of symbols. The notion that knowledge can be reduced to the manipulation of symbols is, of course, the fundamental premise of AI, so the ability of the mind to grok would mean that 1) we can kiss the dream (or nightmare, depending on your tastes) of artificial intelligence goodbye and 2) consciousness is transcendental. This really makes me want to read Heinlein. I wonder if he gets into such themes.

Anyway, it's clear that not having read the book, I had misunderstood grokking. I was under the impression that it was a subrational act whereas your comment indicates that it is transrational.

Siffredi it is. [URL deleted by the Despotic Redhead. Don't want it on my site!!]

Damn, the names of his movies are really funny. Who knew? There's a big list on the bottom (heh) of the entry.

But you're right, he probably doesn't care how you spell it.

I bin censored!! 8> No worries - no one is missing much with that site withdrawn. It was just the first or second hit on Google.

Speaking of which, my porn name is Fimfi Lilienblum, which is just not going to work at all. If you count the first pet who was more mine than the family's it yields either Rainbow or Shadow Lilienblum, which isn't much better.

hahaha There ain't no freedom of speech here!!

Fimfi Lilienblum sounds more like a music hall burlesque name, than a porn name. Fimfi. I actually kind of like it!

Speaking of "grokking" space - I seem to recall a great scene in Hitchhiker's Guide - when he gets a glimpse of infinity. And many others who had had the same glimpse became shrieking maniacs and never regained their sanity. I wish I had the book with me ... I'd quote it.

Seems to me the shrieking maniacs "grokked" infinity.

Is that right??

Sounds like an excellent example of grokking to me. Reminds me of a mathematician friend of mine who refuses to study the work of the mathematician Kurt Goedel because he is afraid that if he ever actually groks Goedel's work, he'll lose his mind.

Btw, my porn name would be Suzette Rowlette.

I'm not sure why I deliberately humiliate myself like this. I must enjoy it.

HAHAHAHA

In my own self-defense, I am compelled to say that at least I wasn't the one who chose the name Suzette for the family dog.

Amen on "Holiday"! The entire CD for that matter!

Yeah - it's an awesome CD. I listen to it over and over and over.

Sorry to join the party late. But I *so* remember the "Whom? Meem?" night!! And before I saw your comment here I was going to say that while you think of Scrubs and think of haikus, for some reason what I think of is "one fork".

Ann -

HAHAHAHAHAHA God. So INSANE.

You saying to me bluntly at the Wrigleyside: "I really do not understand why you are acting the way you are acting right now." Do you remember that?

hahahaha I'm so nuts.

RE: your point number two: Just saw Aviator, and by far, the most over-rated male actor remains Leo. What does Scorsese see in him? I kept imagining other actors in that role, and I think that Sam Rockwell would have been perfect for that role.

Scorsese saw financing in Leo, that's what.Big budget flics need box office draws,or bankers walk.

Rocco Siffredi,huh? Well, I never knew you had such broad taste in film.Do you prefer him pre, or post, op? If you know his ouevre, you know what I mean.

Overrated actors is a toughie.So many names, too little time.Tom Cruise is somewhere at the top, along with Tim Robbins,Tom Hanks,Russell Crowe,Richard Gere, Robert Redford and the best goes on.Then there are the ladies.

Underrated actors? Alec Guinness and Ian Holm.

I love Leo. Always have. From Gilbert Grape on. I am not ashamed. As a matter of fact, I am proud. :)

Oh and Iam Holm ... right ON. That guy is amazing.