The Web is obsessed with anything that spreads, whether it's a virus, a blog or a rumor.

And so the Internet loves memes.

Meme and memetics were once terms batted around only by thinkers like Dawkins, Dennett, and Blackmore. Now the word "meme" is part of many would-be-trendy Web addresses like MemeStreams.

One site says it tests "new, old and emergent memes that are sweeping the memesphere, the mediasphere or the buzzsphere." In fact, much of the site is a grab bag of blogs, quotes and theories about politics and culture.

Another web site advertises a meme list that turns out to be just a dispensary of lame topics for bloggers.

n other words, you add some meme gas to your blog to help it spread through the culture. The model here seems to be Sylvester McMonkey McBean, the Dr. Seuss character who invented a machine to put stars on the bellies of non-star-bellied Sneeches.