The FAIL meme, or would calling it a phenomenon be more apt, in fact takes its root from a 1998 arcade game, and not something more recent, as many people might be forgiven for thinking: It's nearly impossible to pinpoint the first reference, given how common the verb fail is, but online commenters suggest it started with a 1998 Neo Geo arcade game called Blazing Star. (References to ... Read full entry

Humans Are Just Machines for Propagating Memes In an interview with Wired, British scholar Susan Blackmore talks memes, ideas, human evolution, and also offers a possible explanation for the enduring "success" of the Paris Hilton meme: Presumably because it presses enough human buttons - you know, sex, greed, celebrity. Some memes will succeed because they make you talk about them even though you think they're bad. For example, a ... Read full entry