PZ Myers. 2005 Dec 29. Seven? Why not three, or better yet, one?. <http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/seven_why_not_three_or_better_yet_one/>. Accessed 2006 Feb 13.

Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Thursday, December 29, 2005

Seven? Why not three, or better yet, one?

I've been cursed with a meme, which I seize upon as an excuse to avoid that pile of lab reports.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die

  1. Hand my wallet to a family member.
  2. Insurance policy up to date?
  3. Clean underwear.
  4. Any incriminating evidence must be disposed of.
  5. Write the bastard's name in blood on the floor—and no stupid anagrams or idiotic codes.
  6. Make sure my bowels and bladder are empty.
  7. Compose face into cryptic and beatific smile, hope it sticks that way.

Seven Things I Cannot Do

  1. Get elected to political office.
  2. Stifle myself.
  3. Lick my own nose.
  4. Appreciate my freakish good looks.
  5. Photosynthesize.
  6. Sing.
  7. Come up with a seventh thing I can't do.

Seven Things That Attract Me to Blogging

  1. The money.
  2. The groupies.
  3. The spammers.
  4. The power.
  5. The public criticism.
  6. The parties.
  7. The secret handshake.

Seven Things I Say Most Often

  1. "hmmm."
  2. "uh."
  3. "OK."
  4. "yeah, sure, you betcha."
  5. "no."
  6. "hi."
  7. "bye."

That will get you through most phone calls, I've discovered.

Seven Books That I Love

This is an insane question. Seven? Just seven? No way. I refuse to shackle my love to so restrictive a prison.

Seven Movies That I Watch Over and Over Again

This question has the opposite problem: there aren't any. There are lots of movies I like, and I'll happily watch them a second time, but I generally don't persist in viewing movies repeatedly. Now Skatje (whose weblog has been shut down for about a month while I procrastinated about fixing a spam problem) has some movies I know she watches over and over…I should pass this thing on to her.

Seven People I Want To Join In Too

Or maybe not. You know, if everyone has to name seven new people with each generation of this meme, there are going to be 5,764,801 articles on this subject after just 8 generations. I think it is my obligation to stop the proliferation now.

Posted by PZ Myers on 12/29 at 02:24 PM
Weblogs • 2 Trackbacks • Other weblogs • Permalink
  1. Thank you. I have been the victim of meme's and I have even passed them on, but damn ... who want's to read all that?
    #: Posted by Jeffrey  on  12/29  at  01:58 PM
  2. Completely off topic, but did you know that you're mentioned in the SciAm blog? http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=the_flying_spaghetti_monster_and_i&more;=1&c;=1&tb;=1&pb;=1
    #: Posted by  on  12/29  at  02:22 PM
  3. Dude, you are a serious wiseass. But then, we knew that. wink
    #: Posted by  on  12/29  at  05:44 PM
  4. Hey 'no' was one of my things I say most often - you copied from me!

    Only mine was a completely different version of 'no' - unaccompanied by any OK or yeah sure you betcha, on account of how I never say anything affirmative. I just stick with No.
    #: Posted by Ophelia Benson  on  12/29  at  08:07 PM
  5. O Master, I must sit at your feet and learn from you. I have been trying to comprehend the way of NO for many years now, and it is a difficult task.
    #: Posted by PZ Myers  on  12/29  at  08:10 PM
  6. .. Three of those seven words should be I Love You. I am sure you can find someone to say them to every day.
    #: Posted by  on  12/29  at  08:12 PM
  7. You don't photosynthesize? I do it everyday although admittedly it's not the type the average plant goes in for but I can manage a couple of vitamins.
    #: Posted by Ronald Brak  on  12/30  at  03:15 AM
  8. Just curious - why did you link Skatje's name to a Panda's Thumb post?

    By the way, the "photosynthesize" bit was hilarious, so thanks for the laugh.
    #: Posted by Alon Levy  on  12/30  at  09:40 AM
  9. if the four words words are, in alphabetical order, "dead" "see" "to" and "would", maybe not so good.
    #: Posted by madbard  on  12/30  at  03:55 PM
  10. "Yah, sure, you betcha."

    You can the guy out of Minnesota but that phrase is clearly tattooed on the genetic code somewhere.
    #: Posted by  on  12/31  at  01:22 PM
  11. What exactly makes this a meme? As I understand it, a meme is self-propagating, and a unit of cultural evolution. Is the idea of 7x7 the meme here? Doesn't an idea etc need some sort of staying power to be classified as a meme? And where does this fit in to cultural evolution? Or is 7x7 just a meme that will (probably) go extinct rather quickly (like in a month or so, when we all forget about this)? I'm confused.
    #: Posted by  on  01/11  at  05:55 PM