Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
I hope your weekend is off to a good start! Our top stories today are about: A Whole Foods customer discovering something disgusting in their salad, how Mark Zuckerberg’s project to create high-quality beef has sparked conspiracy theories, why supporters of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are fretting online, and an explainer of the iconic “this is fine” meme.
After that, our Assistant Newsletter Editor Kira has got a “Decoding Fandom” column for you.
Also: If you didn’t take our weekly news quiz yet, don’t worry there’s still time! Just open yesterday’s newsletter to answer the question. If you guess correctly you might win a “Jingle Blogs” shirt.
See you next week!
— A.W.
⚡ Today’s top stories
🥗 WTF
‘I see legs just moving’: Woman disgusted after finding something unusual in Whole Foods salad
This woman came to an unwelcome realization after realizing why her Whole Foods salad tasted weird.
🥩 TECH
Zuckerberg’s cattle ranch announcement earns ‘apex man’ praise, secret UN plot accusations
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg undertook a new project aimed at creating some of the world’s highest-quality beef. But the effort has proven divisive online, producing praise, criticism, and conspiracy theories as well.
🗳️ POLITICS
As first primaries loom, Haley, DeSantis supporters online see doom in both campaigns
The candidates’ fans fretted online over the narrow paths to victory the two have.
🔥 MEMES
The ‘this is fine’ meme, explained
By now, we’ve all heard of the “this is fine” meme—a dog surrounded by flames reassuring himself that everything is going to be okay.
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⭐ Decoding Fandom
By Kira Deshler
Assistant Newsletter Editor
Fan-run MMORPG City of Heroes server goes legit—what’s next?
In each edition of web_crawlr we have exclusive original content every day. On Saturdays our Assistant Newsletter Editor Kira Deshler dives deep into the world of fan culture in her “Decoding Fandom” column. If you want to read columns like this before everyone else, subscribe to web_crawlr to get your daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
🛩️ Overhead bin space is a coveted part of traveling, but many don’t know it’s not guaranteed. One TikToker reminds us just how this part of traveling works.
🛒 Walmart has become known for its fast food dupes, including Chick-fil-A sauce, Burger King’s Hershey Pie, Texas Roadhouse’s cinnamon butter, Starbucks’ loaf cakes, and more. Now, another dupe has emerged on the internet.
👤 We’ve all bumped into a mannequin and apologized to them before—because how could we not? Some of these stores make their mannequins look ridiculously realistic. But one woman was stunned after a customer mistook her for a mannequin.
🍣 A customer at an all-you-can-eat Sushi restaurant found themselves in a real pickle: they had a bunch of food, but no more room left in their stomach to fit it.
🍴 This South Florida restaurant patron believes she and her friends were singled out for bad service at a New Year’s Day brunch excursion because they were all in their early 20s.
🚢 After embarking on their journey on Dec. 10, passengers on Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise have flooded TikTok with videos during the first month of their stay.
🏨 A user on TikTok has sparked discussion after recounting a negative experience she had at a Royalton hotel, which is owned by Marriott.
🏨 A user on TikTok has sparked discussion after recounting a negative experience she had at a Royalton hotel, which is owned by Marriott.
👋 Before you go
A UPS customer said she had to “track down” a driver to save Christmas after the most prized, and expensive, gift to be put under her tree was reported as undeliverable.
Cecilia (@ceciliawho) shared in a viral TikTok video that’s accrued over 152,000 views how she went full-on Jingle All the Way to make sure that the gift was brought into her home in time for the holidays. Now, other users who saw her video are chiming in with their own delivery company grievances after seeing her clip.
🎶 Now Playing: “My Hero” by Foo Fighters 🎶