Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Our top stories today are about: How President Biden’s birthday cake has become the new “this is fine” meme, a look at some of the best travel hacks we’ve found online, how YouTube admitted to purposefully delaying site loading times for specific users, and an explainer on the popular “here we go again” meme I’m sure you’ve seen on your timeline.
After that, our Senior Reporter Audra has a “That One Sound” column for you.
See you tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today’s top stories
🎂 POLITICS
Biden’s flaming birthday cake is the new ‘This Is Fine’ meme
A photograph of President Joe Biden celebrating his 81st birthday is being hailed by some as the new “This Is Fine” meme.
🌴 HACKS
What are the best travel hacks on TikTok?
Given that ‘travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer,’ here are some suggestions to make that investment better.
⏳ TECH
YouTube admits it implemented delays on loading site for specific users
YouTube admitted that it was purposely delaying loading times on its videos for a specific group of users.
🔁 MEMES
The ‘here we go again’ meme, explained
The beauty of the meme is that the character’s frustration can be applied to a number of situations.
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🎵 That One Sound
By Audra Schroeder
Senior Culture Reporter
A ‘Hamilton’ song is revived to document weird pet behavior
In each edition of web_crawlr we have exclusive original content every day. “That One Sound” is a weekly column from senior internet culture writer Audra Schroeder that explores the origin of popular sounds heard on TikTok. It runs on Wednesdays. 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.
🍰 A video of a couple having dinner at The Cheesecake Factory went viral after the girlfriend shared that her boyfriend doesn’t know the “Cheesecake Factory rule.” Viewers were puzzled. So what is the rule?
🍲 Our friends over at Cool Beans got a crew of foodies together and put together the ultimate Friendsgiving potluck recipes all in one place. Check out the full menu here, and subscribe to Cool Beans here.
🗣️ A user on TikTok is calling out Panera Bread after alleging that the company fired a woman 2 days after she gave birth.
🖼️ This CVS was captured putting pictures of products on the shelves instead of the actual items—like toilet paper—to deter shoplifters.
🎄 In another case of “What I bought vs. What I got,” a mother shares her disappointment after unboxing a Christmas tree from Family Dollar.
🐟 This TikToker issued a call to “whoever is in charge of cutting the salmon at Trader Joe’s” after discovering something was left behind.
💼 How would you react if your supervisor never sent you a work schedule, and then wrote you up for not showing up to your job anyway?
🔍 From the Daily Dot archive: Telegram is supercharging conspiracy theories across the planet.
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📝 Question of the Day
Everyone’s got opinions, and we want to know yours. Just click a button below to answer the question, and tomorrow we will let you know how fellow web crawlers like you answered.
ARE YOU SHOPPING AT COSTCO AHEAD OF THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY?
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👋 Before you go
A Jack in the Box customer says they visited three separate locations in an attempt to purchase food, but all of them were either closed or apparently abandoned. On their final stop, they found a total disaster.
TikToker Andro-Meda says they were greeted with an empty kitchen that was in the process of “flooding” thanks to a sink being left on, which was pouring water all over the place.
In their video, Andro records the interior of the Jack in the Box’s kitchen from outside of the drive-thru window. A running faucet can be seen continuously pouring water into a flooding sink bowl that then falls into a red bucket. The water then spills over onto the orange-tiled floor.
