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Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Our top stories today are about: A customer finding something that was “traumatizing” in her In-N-Out peppers, how COVID-19 vaccine skeptics have entered the Kate Middleton disappearance discourse, why right-wingers are on a mission to rehabilitate the reputation of the QAnon Shaman, and a woman saying theviral Stanley Cups saved her life.
After that, the Trending Team shares with you their pick for “Main Character of the Week.”
Since it’s Friday, that also means it is time for our weekly news quiz! Just scroll down below to answer the question, if you guess correctly you might win a web_crawlr shirt!
See you tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today’s top stories
🌶️ WTF
‘Check your cascabel peppers!!!’: Customer finds something unusual in their In-N-Out peppers
A woman bit into a pepper from In-N-Out and was traumatized by what she found inside.
💉 CONSPIRACY
COVID-19 vaccine skeptics latch on to Kate Middleton’s disappearance
As conspiracies surrounding Kate Middleton’s public absence continue to swirl—anti-vaxxers and proponents of misinformation finally emerged from the woodwork.
➡️ FAR-RIGHT
‘Is he actually crazy?’: The right-wing is on a mission to rehabilitate the QAnon Shaman’s reputation
Some of the biggest names on the far-right are attempting to rehabilitate the public’s perception of Jacob Chansley, the man better known as the QAnon Shaman.
🥤 VIRAL
‘There’s a shoot out in front of my house‘: Woman says her Stanley cup saved her life, survived a bullet hole
In a viral video with more than 2.5 million views, a Stanley Cup owner explained that there was a shootout in front of her house and her cup may be the reason a stray bullet didn’t hit her.
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✏️ Take our weekly news quiz!
Are you the most online reader of web_crawlr? Prove it by answeringour question of the week! The answer can be found somewhere in one of our newsletters from this week.
If you answer correctly, you’ll be entered to win a web_crawlr shirt, and we’ll shout out five people who won the shirt!
WHICH NFL PLAYER IS REPORTEDLY IN CONSIDERATION AS A VICE PRESIDENT PICK BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.?
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👑 Main Character of the Week
By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor
Main Character of the Week: Little Caesars manager who stood up to a customer
Main Character of the Week is a weekly column that tells you the most prominent “main character” online (good or bad). It runs on Fridays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
👃 New flight attendant “icks” just dropped. According to an airline industry worker, blowing your nose outside of a bathroom while on an aircraft is disgusting.
📷 One woman says you should never trust CVS with your photos. Here’s why.
🚘 In the market for a new set of wheels? One expert shared five things to never say at a car dealership if you want to get a good deal.
🛍️ A viral video posted to TikTok is raising concerns about safety when ordering food through delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash.
🛒 Walmart once had plans to go 100% self-checkout by the end of 2021. Fast-forward to today, and the retail giant seems to have changed course.
🍟 An unruly customer is at it again, and this time she’s pressed over some cold McDonald’s fries.
💼 A job hunter confessed that she stayed on what was supposed to be a Zoom interview for 30 minutes after the people who were supposed to be conducting the interview didn’t show.
🤖 From the Daily Dot archive: Distorted TikTok sounds hurt marginalized creators—and AI is making it worse.
👋 Before you go
A TikToker shared an ad campaign from the city of Miami Beach, Florida that urges spring break visitors to party somewhere else this year, and viewers can’t get enough.
The post praising the ad comes from TikToker Uptin (@uptin), who has previously gone viral for a post about how he was forced to tip a robot bartender. This time, the TikToker had some thoughts about Miami Beach’s anti-tourism campaign urging people on spring break not to visit the city.
“I have never seen a government try this hard to get you to not visit their destination,” he says in the video.
“The Miami Beach government literally put out a one-minute commercial saying that it’s gonna have $100 parking. This is all to deter springbreakers from coming,” Uptin adds.
