About

A Dyson Sphere is a hypothetical energy-absorbing structure built to encompass a star to provide power for an advanced civilization. While some have imagined the sphere to be a giant solid enclosed framework, others have speculated that the structure would be made of orbiting satellites sometimes referred to as a “Dyson swarm.”

Origin

In 1937, the novel Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon was released, in which several disembodied travelers discover a future civilization that use large structures to absorb solar energy. In 1960, physicist Freeman Dyson wrote a paper titled “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation,”^[1] in which he speculated that advanced alien civilizations may create megastructures to encapsulate local stars to provide enough energy to support themselves. While Dyson referred to the structure as a “shell,” the term “Dyson sphere” was subsequently popularized.

Spread

On October 12th, 1992, Season 6 Episode 4 of Star Trek: The Next Generation was broadcast, in which the crew of the Starship Enterprise discovers a large Dyson sphere in space (shown below, left). On December 7th, 2010, YouTuber jasquatch uploaded a video speculating that the planet Earth is actually a Dyson sphere controlled by the Illuminati (shown below, right).

On April 17th, 2012, the science fiction blog io9^[4] published an article outlining several hypothetical ways to construct a Dyson sphere. On July 17th, Redditor Creature_From_Beyond submitted an artist’s rendition of a Dyson sphere to the /r/Futurology^[2] subreddit (shown below).

On September 15th, 2015, the SciShow Space YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Building a Dyson Sphere,” discussing the various astroengineering issues with building the hypothetical megastructure (shown below).

WTF Star

On September 11th, 2015, astronomer Tabetha Boyajian published the article “Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 – Where’s the Flux,”^[9] describing changes in brightness coming from star KIC 8462852, also known as “Tabby’s star” or “WTF Star.” Some scientists speculated the reductions in light could be explained by a newly created asteroid field or a could of comets orbiting the star. Additionally, others speculated that the changes in brightness could be caused by a swarm of Dyson sphere-like satellites. On October 13th, The Atlantic^[8] published an article about the star titled “The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy,” which included a statement by astronomer Jason Wright about the potential extraterrestrial origins of the anomaly:

“When [Boyajian] showed me the data, I was fascinated by how crazy it looked. Aliens should always be the very last hypothesis you consider, but this looked like something you would expect an alien civilization to build.”

On the following day, Slate’s Bad Astronomy^[6] blog published an article expressing skepticism toward extraterrestrial explanations for the star’s irregular dimming. On October 15th, Wright published a blog post^[7] about the Internet reaction to his statement, which criticized online media coveragefor being sensational and embarrassing.

Fan Art

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External References

About

#BoycottStarWarsVII is a Twitter hashtag ostensibly promoting a boycott of the upcoming science fiction film Star Wars: The Force Awakens for being racist toward whites. While the hashtag was widely reported by Internet news media as being an authentic campaign against the movie, many have speculated that it was a hoax campaign engineered to cause widespread outrage.

Origin

On October 18th, 2015, Twitter user @DarklyEnlighten^[4] posted a tweet urging readers to boycott the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, claiming that the new film “barely has any whites in it,” followed by a @DarklyEnglighten^[6] tweeted a call for followers to make the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII a trending topic.

Spread

The same day, Twitter @genophilia^[7] tweeted the hashtag claiming that “JJ Abram’s political correctness is a code word for anti-white” (shown below).

On October 19th, an anonymous 4chan user submitted a link to the “BoycottStarWarsVII” hashtag to the /tv/^[3] (television & film) board, adding “It’s happening” (shown below).

That day, #BoycottStarWarsVII became the top trending topic in the United States on Twitter. Meanwhile, Twitter user @genophilia^[8] posted a tweet mocking “SJWs” for being outraged by the hashtag (shown below).

Also on October 19th, YouTuber TheAmazingAtheist posted a video titled “Racists Boycott Star Wars VII for Promoting White Genocide?,” in which he criticizes many of the racist tweets using the hashtag (shown below).

On October 20th, Redditor KRMcNamee submitted a post asking about the hashtag to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[2] subreddit, where Redditor vexinom submitted the top-voted commenting replying “A few people are trolling, idiots are falling for it and ‘journalists’ are looking for clicks.” The same day, Mashable^[5] published an article titled “Don’t give in to your anger: That #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag was the work of trolls,” which reported that the hashtag was created for the purpose of making people angry. Additionally, the article claimed that 94% of the tweets using the hashtag were “expressing outrage over its existence,” according to a sample taken by the social media analytics firm Fizziology.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

Poot Lovato is the nickname given to American singer and actress Demi Lovato based on an unflattering photograph of the celebrity that was uploaded to Tumblr in October 2015. Since emerging online, the photograph has spawned a series of photoshopped parodies and a myth centered around the entirely fictional twin alter ego of Demi Lovato.

Origin

On October 3rd, 2015, Tumblr user Versaceslut posted a sketch drawing of Demi Lovato based on a poorly framed and washed out image of the pop star, most likely a low-resolution screenshot of a photograph taken at a red carpet event^[1], in the style of the “I Have Drawn You” fan art meme. In just a little over two weeks, the post garnered more than 75,000 notes.

Spread

On October 11th, 2015, Tumblr Cstcrpt posted the image along with the caption that read: “Demi’s twin sister. She was locked in a basement her whole life. This picture was taken the first time she went outside. Her name is Poot.” The post received over 87,000 notes before the user deleted the Tumblr account.

In the following days, the image instantly began spreading throughout Tumblr, with some users incorporating the photo into photoshopped images and otherwise adding to the story.^[2] On October 12th, Twitter user @OfficialPoot began tweeting in character of Lovato’s alter ego; the user has gained more than 3,700 followers in the first week.^[3] On October 16th, Wattpad user KayleeMarieTodd began expanding the backstory of Poot in a fanfiction called “The Secret History of Poot Lovato.” Incorporating some aspects of the Demi Lovato fandom, including the phrase “Delete It, Fat!”, the backstory has received over 40,500 reads and 820 votes.^[4] In addition, others attempted to create a Wikipedia page for Poot Lovato, but it was removed and identified as a hoax.^[5]

Notable Examples

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External References

About

Vaping is the practice of vaporizing plant materials like cannabis and tobacco for inhalation. Vaporizing devices are commonly used by those who wish to diminish the harmful effects of smoking by inhaling vapor created without combustion.

History

In 1963, inventor Herbert Gilbert designed the first electronic cigarette using a battery-powered heat source (shown below). In an interview with ECigaretteDirect,^[1] Gilbert speculated that his electronic cigarette was never put into production due to pressures from the tobacco industry.

In the late 1970s, computer entrepreneur Jon Phillip Ray invented the “Favor Smoke-Free Cigarette.” His physician Dr. Norman Jacobson ran a trial on the device, and subsequently described the use of the e-cigarette as “vaping.”^[2] In the mid-1990s, the first marijuana vaporizes were popularized in Canada and the Netherlands.^[7] In 2003, Chinese medical researcher Hon Lik manufactured the first modern electronic cigarette in Beijing, China. Subsequent designs by Lik began exporting internationally in 2006.

Online Presence

On March 31st, 2004, Urban Dictionary^[6] user SweeperOfDreams submitted an entry for the term “Vape,” defining it as a slang term for vaporizing devices used to smoke marijuana and tobacco. On January 17th, 2010, the /r/Vaping^[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about vaping practices. On September 2nd, 2013, YouTuber 1O1Films posted a video titled “Vapers Be Like,” featuring various comedy sketches mocking vaporizer enthusiasts (shown below, left). On May 4th, 2014, YouTuber PDX1K uploaded a video demonstrating various smoke tricks performed with a vaporizer, which gained over 2.9 million views and 1,700 comments in the next two years (shown below, right).

On November 12th, an article titled “10 Facts That Everyone Gets Wrong About Vaping” was published on the listicle site Listverse.^[5] On March 17th, 2015, Redditor quagdingo77 submitted a GIF of a man vaping in a car with loud speakers to the /r/oddlysatisfying subreddit, where it garnered more than 4,600 votes (90% upvoted) in seven months.

On August 16th, 2015, the ASAPScience YouTube channel posted a video explaining the differences between smoking and vaping, receiving over 2.4 million views and 5,200 comments in two months (shown below). On October 8th, Redditor Creamofcelery submitted a post titled “Why do I keep hearing people make fun of vaping?” to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[4] subreddit, where is received upwards of 2,500 votes (90% upvoted) and 800 comments in the first two weeks.

Search Interest

External References

About

11B-X-1371, also known by its binary code “01101101 01110101 01100101 01110010 01110100 01100101” (which translates to “muerte”; meaning “death” in Spanish), is a YouTube video featuring black-and-white footage of an individual fully cloaked in a traditional Christian cowl and Venetian carnival mask, along with a series of steganographic ciphers encoded in audio and video. In October 2015, the video went viral on Reddit after tech news site GadgetZZ posted an article about the cryptic footage it had reportedly received in the mail from an unknown sender in Poland.

Origin

On May 9th, 2015, YouTuber Aetbx uploaded a video titled “01101101 01110101 01100101 01110010 01110100 01100101,” which shows a mysterious individual garbed in a Catholic monk’s robe with a light-emitting glove standing in an abandoned building (shown below). On September 15th, a duplicate version of the footage was uploaded by YouTuber Parker Wright under the alternative title “11B X 1371.”

On October 12th, more than five months after the original video was uploaded online, the tech news site GadgetZZ ran an article about a DVD package containing the identical footage it had received in the mail from a mysterious sender in Poland. According to the article, the DVD was labeled with an alphanumeric sequence that could not be deciphered (shown below).

Spread

On the next day, Redditor TropicalJohnsons submitted GadgetZZ’s article to the /r/creepy community, which brought massive exposure to the video for the first time since its upload in May, accumulating more than 700,000 views in the following seven days. Meanwhile on Reddit, TropicalJohnson’s /r/creepy post generated more than 2,200 comments in that same time period, as part of a concerted effort to identify and decipher the meaning of the hidden audio-visual clues embedded in the video footage.

Steganographic Analysis

• On October 14th, Redditor M4nic_H3dgehog posted an Imgur album containing a series of frame-by-frame screenshots from the original video in the comments section, each image annotated with timestamp information for crowdsourced analysis.

• On October 19th, Redditor ryon_sherman posted a lengthy and comprehensive summary of all the potential clues discovered within the video in the comments section, along with strings of codes that have been deciphered using steganographic methods, including spectrograms and the Morse code, by peer Redditors.

• On October 21st, Twitter user @Exen pointed to the now-abandoned Zofiowka Sanitarium near Otwock, Poland as the location where the video was filmed.

External References

About

Zmapp-chan is a female anime-style character designed as the anthropomorphic representation of the ZMapp Ebola Vaccine. The character was originally to be opposition of Ebola-Chan.

Origin

The ZMapp vaccine is a vaccine developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical. Most promintantly known as the vaccine against Ebola, it was tested on victims of the 2014 Ebola West African outbreak. The drug is manufactured in the tobacco plant Nicotinana benthamaiana.

Spread

A facebook page for Zmapp-chan was launched on October 4, 2014. ^[1] Nobody knows who the exact creator of the character or of the page is, but this is the only remnants of her origins. Zmapp-chan’s spread wasn’t as well documented, but it caught on quickly due to it being the vaccine of the Ebola. She has regularly been drawn attacking or trapping Ebola-chan in fan art. Her biggest exposure came from this video by OkatuMOE.

Various Examples

External References

About

“Hotline Bling” is a 2015 single by the Canadian hip-hop artist Drake. Following the release of the song’s music video, which prominently features the artist dancing in a color-shifting cube-like structure, it became popular among fans, spawning parodies, remixes, and reaction images.

Origin

“Hotline Bling” was released as a single on July 31, 2015.^[1] On October 4, Drake announced via Instagram that a music video for the song would be released.^[2] The video debuted through Apple Music on October 19.^[3]

Spread

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#DanceLikeDrake

#DanceLikeDrake is a Vine meme which features people attempting to dance like Drake does in the music video. As of October 22, 2015 there are over 500 Vines tagged with the hashtag. The most popular of these was uploaded by Vine user Cameron Dallas with over 3 million loops.

#DrakeAlwaysOnBeat

#DrakeAlwaysOnBeat is a Vine meme which features music placed over the music video.

Example Images

Search Interest

External Sources

About

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Poster Parodies are photoshopped variations of the official poster for the upcoming science fiction adventure film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Origin

On October 18th, 2015, Disney released the official film poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (shown below, left).^[1] That day, artist Olly Gibbs^[2] published a digitally edited version of the poster featuring several superimposed illustrations of the controversial Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks (shown below, right). In the next 72 hours, the post gathered upwards of 320 notes.

Spread

That day, Redditor stelaingyourpixels submitted a photoshopped poster featuring actor Mark Hamill’s face superimposed into the upper right corner in a post titled “I added Luke Skywalker into the new Force Awakens post” (shown below). In the first 72 hours, the post gained over 5,500 votes (91% upvoted) and 300 comments on the /r/StarWars^[3] subreddit.

The following day, the LEGO art site Macro LEGO Universe^[6] released a photoshopped version of the poster featuring various LEGO characters (shown below, left). On October 22nd, Redditor jpcollier90 posted a Seinfeld-themed edit of the poster to the /r/Seinfeld^[5] subreddit (shown below, right). In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the poster parodies, including.The Verge,^[4]BGR^[7] and Slash Gear,^[8]

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

Overview

Nu Metal, often referred to as nü-metal or aggro-metal, is an American musical genre of alternative rock, which often fuses hip hop and heavy metal. Mostly dating from the late 1990s and early 2000s, nu metal is often ridiculed as part of 90s nostalgia. In addition, ironically positive references to popular nu metal lyrics, bands, and fashion choices are often used in shitposting.

History

Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Staind are generally thought to be some of the first nu metal bands.^[1] Korn and Limp Bizkit were both originally produced by Ross Robinson, who also invented the term, shortened from the words “new heavy metal.”^[2] Korn’s first record, a self-titled debut, was released in 1994, and is generally considered to be the first nu-metal album. Their style, which mixed screaming, low growling, and rapping with sludgy metal-type beats, laid the groundwork for the genre.^[3]

Other notable nu metal groups included Slipknot, Evanescence, Kittie, Kid Rock, Papa Roach, Incubus, Godsmack, and System of a Down.^[1] Singles from many of these groups reached high positions on the Billboard music charts, beginning with “Freak on a Leash,” the initial single from Korn’s multi-platinum 1998 hit record Follow the Leader.^[4] It is generally accepted that mainstream, authentic interest in nu metal began to die down over the years of 2002 and 2003, when the popularity of later styles of alternative metal began to grow in popularity.^[5]

Nu Metal Fashion

Nu metal had a distinctive mode of fashion that combined the styles of hip hop and metal. Members of the nu metal subculture often wore baggy pants or athletic track pants, an oversized shirt or sports jersey, and often died their hair black.^[1] The JNCO, Kikwear, and Adidas brands were popular, as was clothing from the chain outlet Hot Topic. Dreadlocks were common among both Caucasian and African-American members of the nu metal subculture, often died black or platinum blond, with streaks of artificial colors like blue. Piercings, tattoos, and other body modifications were widely used. Some nu metal bands, like Slipknot, wore masks, and many, like System of a Down, wore unique or creative facial hair.^[6]

An example of nu metal apparel

Reception

Even during its mainstream acceptance, nu metal was often ridiculed by devotees of heavy metal, rap, and other genres, who called it “whine core” or “mall core.”^[1] Many complained that the melding of genres was an attempt by record executives to commercialize or popularize metal in a way that was disingenuous and rooted in marketing. However, the large numbers of records sold and the popularity of a wide variety of different nu metal bands would indicate that the trend was organically popular.

After the fact, nu metal is sometimes referred to as the “Worst Genre of All Time”, leading to its ridicule in shitposting forums.^[7]

Related Memes

Wake Me Up Inside (Can’t Wake Up)

‘Wake Me Up Inside’ and ‘Can’t Wake Up’ are lyrics from the 2003 alternative rock song “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence, which are associated with images of a calm-looking subject juxtaposed next to a picture of the same subject looking appearing distressed.

Crawling In My Skin

“Crawling In My Skin” is a lyric from the 2002 nu metal song “Crawling” by the American alternative rap rock group Linkin Park. On the web, the chorus of the song is frequently featured in anime music videos (AMVs), as well as in montage parodies to mock edginess due to its association with teenage angst.

Let The Bodies Hit The Floor

“Let The Bodies Hit The Floor” is a lyric from the 2001 song “Bodies” by the American nu metal group Drowning Pool, which has often used in dubbed remix videos online in a similar vein to the 2002 nu metal song “Crawling” by Linkin’ Park.

Search Interest

External References

About

Justin Trudeau is the Leader of the Liberal Party in Canada who is expected to take office as Prime Minister in November 2015.

History

In October 2008, Trudeau was elected to the Canadian Parliament for the district of Papineau in Montreal. In 2011, Trudeau was re-elected to his position in Parliament. In March 2012, Trudeau defeated Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau in a charity boxing match (shown below). In April 2013, Trudeau was elected as the Leader of the Liberal Party in Canada. On October 19th, 2015, Trudeau was elected as the Prime Minister of Canada and is expected to take office on November 4th.

Online Presence

On April 9th, 2015, the Vice News YouTube channel uploaded an interview with Trudeau conducted by Vice founder Shane Smith (shown below, left). On October 20th, BuzzFeed^[3] published a listicle of tweets featuring politicians praising Trudeau’s good looks. On October 21st, Redditor prishpreeed submitted a clip of Trudeau discussing marijuana prohibition with a Canadian citizen to /r/videos,^[2] where it received upwards of 4,700 votes (88% upvoted) and 1,600 comments (shown below, right).

The same day, Redditor Jasperkr672 submitted two screenshots of Jezebel articles to /r/TumblrInAction,^[1] accusing the blog of promoting double standards for “objectifying” male and female politicians (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post garnered more than 5,400 votes (92% upvoted) and 600 comments.

Up For Debate Interview

During an interview orchestrated by the women’s advocacy group Up for Debate, Trudeau was asked about the leading causes of violence against women, to which he cited music lyrics, pornography and absent fathers as leading causes. When asked about his stance on feminism, Trudeau replied that he was “proud to be a feminist” and that people should take a stand against “issues like gamergate or video games misogyny in popular culture.”

“Just Watch Me” Note Auction

Following the election on October 19th, 2015, Michael Kydd, a Halifax resident and former Mount Saint Vincent University instructor, posted an eBay auction listing for a handwritten note penned by Trudeau that was given to him in March 2013 during a late-night flight from Halifax to Ottawa. According to the news reports, Kydd initiated the brief in-flight exchange after recognizing Trudeau sitting three rows ahead of him. When Kydd passed a note to Trudeau asking “can you really beat [Stephen] Harper?” the-then contender for the Liberal leadership responded with a note of his own which read “just watch me,” a famous quote attributed to his late father and former Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Kydd’s eBay listing, which was posted with a starting bid price of $2,500, initially failed to draw any interest, but by late afternoon on October 21st, 62 bids had been placed on Trudeau’s note and it was sold for $12,301 on the following day.

Personal Life

Trudeau was born on December 25th, 1971 in Ottawa, Ontario. His father Pierre Elliott Trudeau was Canada’s 15th prime minister, serving office from April 1968 to June 1979. Trudeau is married Sophie Grégoire with whom he has three children.

Search Interest

External References

About

Derpy’s Door is a Photoshop meme of fan-favorite background pony Derpy Hooves from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic slamming the door in S5E09 Slice of Life. This episode marks the 100th episode and shoutout to the fans, including Derpy’s voice reprise voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.

Origin

The episode Slice of Life is the 100th episode that will focus on favorite background ponies instead of the Mane 6 as mention and hinted by the staff of the show in conventions such as San Diego Comic-Con 2014 and PonyCon Australia 2015. During the near ending of the episode, the mayor asks Derpy Hooves if everybody is ready for the wedding. While the Mane 6 rushes to the wedding, Derpy slams the door with the lock fell to the handles and replied “All set, Mayor!”.

On the same day Slice of Life was aired on television, this scene with Derpy closing the door has been quickly forced into a Photoshop meme with numerous amount of edited images posted by 4chan’s /mlp/ board.

External Links

^[1]Friendship is Magic Wikia – Slice of Life

^[2]Derpibooru – Derpy’s Door

About

The “Fifth World” refers to a fictional inter-dimensional plane of existence that contains bizarre life forms, philosophies, physics and other anomalies. On Reddit, several subreddits exist for submissions featuring fifth worth-themed fiction, surreal art and absurdist humor.

Origin

On April 26th, 2011, the /r/fifthworldproblems^[1] subreddit was launched, featuring text posts complaining about frustrations living in alternate dimensions written in the style of first world problems. Within five years, the subreddit gained over 56,600 subscribers.

Spread

On June 20th, 2011, the /r/sixthworthldproblems^[7] subreddit was launched, which features posts containing unintelligible gibberish. On July 9th, the /r/seventhworldproblems^[8] subreddit was created, which prominent highlights a photograph of a tower. On October 7th, the /r/fifthworldpics^[3] subreddit was launched, which typically contains surreal artwork of fantasy creatures and locations. On March 25th, 2012, the /r/Fifthworldgonewild^[5] subreddit was created for surreal artworks depicting nude or sexualized creatures (shown below, right), describing itself as “a place for open or closed minded beings to exchange their nude and naked bodies or gravity fields for karma.”

On March 30th, the /r/fifthworldpoetry subreddit was launched for submissions of avant-garde poetry. On June 4th, the /r/fifthworldvideos^[2] subreddit was created for disturbing, strange or confusing videos often created using experimental editing techniques (shown below). On November 14th, 2013, Business Insider^[6] ranked /r/fifthworldproblems second in a listicle titled “Where to Find the Weirdest Stuff on the Internet.”

Search Interest

External References

About

“Cut My Life Into Pieces” is the opening lyrics from the 2000 nu metal rock song “Last Resort” by American hard rock band Papa Roach. Since the ‘90s nostalgia-driven resurgence of the song’s popularity in the late 2000s, the lyrics of the song has been frequently parodied in various forms, including the notable mondegreen rendition: “cut my life into pizzas, this is my plastic fork.”

Origin

[researching]

Spread

[researching]

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External References

About

Share If You Agree, sometimes phrased as Like If You Agree, is an expression used to solicit more interaction on Facebook posts in order to expose them to a wider audience. The phrase is often mocked for its close association with clickbait.

Origin

The Facebook content-sharing ability was introduced internally to Facebook in 2010, when during a revamp of Facebook pages and groups.^[1] The ability was granted for users to share content through an API that could be installed on any web site for users to share individual articles or pieces of content to their own walls, later rebranded as Timelines.^[2]

The share link also allowed users to share the content of a post made by a page or group, and later, the feature was introduced for the posts of individuals.) The purpose of this was to enable page administrators, who were often paying customers of Facebook, to distribute content more widely through viral means, imitating the “retweet” functionality of Twitter.^[3]

Spread

After the functionality went into wide release, users began creating posts using the phrase; criticism began soon after. On October 22nd, 2012, Social media blogger Daylan Pierce wrote about extensive “Like” and “Share” scams, where users looking to sell social media exposure stole photographs and paired them with made-up stories to farm for viral hits.^[3] On Soshable, author Conor Livingston wrote and article titled “Like and Share if You Agree Needs to Stop” on November 1st, 2012, saying those using the phrase were “playing the guilt card.”^[4] In 2015, the Telegraph of Great Britain ran an opinion article titled “Viral memes are ruining our politics. Share if you agree,” ridiculing the phrase and others like it for the way they eliminated subtlety from online political conversation.^[5]

As of October 22, 2015, the phrase remains in wide use in both ironic and un-ironic senses. For example, the Facebook group “Hit Like If You Agree,”^[6] which is devoted to sharing a variety of un-ironic, un-themed viral content, has over 71,000 followers, while the Facebook group “Share If You Agree,”^[7] which is devoted to sharing image macros combining the phrase with bizarre images, has over 5,000 followers. Thousands of links on Reddit use the phrase in their titles, with a mix of sincerity and irony;^[8] a similar phrase, with the “sharing” substituted for “rt” (as in retweet) is used over 550,000 times per month on Twitter.^[9]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Unbelievable – I so stunned like vegetable is a song by Chen Tianwen whose music video was released by MediaCorp Channel 5 on YouTube as promotional material to the second season of the Singaporean sitcom “Spouse For House”. Since its release in April 2015, it has garnered over 2 million views and has spawned remixes, cover versions and a dance cover.

Origin

The song “Unbelievable – I so stunned like vegetable” was sung by Chen Tianwen and its music video produced and released under Singapore’s MediaCorp Channel 5 on YouTube in order to promote the second season of “Spouse For House”. Tianwen’s look for the video was inspired by 70s Singaporean singer Huang Qing Yuan while the video’s visuals was fashioned after Chinese karaoke music videos ^[1]. The song and its music video was released by MediaCorp Channel 5 on April 14, 2015 through YouTube.

Upon the release of the music video, the video garnered popularity inside Singapore and began attracting international attention after TIME^[2] and Huffington Post ^[3] ran articles about the song and its video two days after its release.

Spread

The music video’s spread can be credited to the coverage that was given to it by Singaporean news outlets as well as international news outlets. Community on Buzzfeed ^[4] also did an article about the music video through an article that featured ten tributes to “Unbelievable – I so stunned like vegetable”.

Three days after the video was released and went viral in Singapore and worldwide, Chen Tianwen became a guest performer at the Singapore Star Awards 2015 where he performed the song wearing an outfit that was exactly alike to what he wore to the music video and bringing plastic flowers exactly similar to what was featured in the music video

In the July 1, 2015 episode of “The Noose” (a satirical news program also under MediaCorp Channel 5), the closing scene of Pornsak Sukhumvit’s (a Thai character in the show) segment was interrupted when Chan Tianwen entered the studio looking exactly like he did in the music video and started singing to the song and leaving Pornsak shocked afterwards.

EDM Remix

Two days after the music video was released, FallenSuperheroSG (who is also behind the Yam Ah Mee club mix that was a part of Yam Ah Mee – Returning Officer Extraordinaire) released an EDM Remix of the song. Their EDM Remix of the song has garnered over 60,000 views as of October 2015.

Dance Cover

On October 21, 2015, a link submission titled How to dance to “Unbelievable – I so stunned like a vegetable” surfaced on r/LearnUselessTalents ^[5] and the link submission led to a dance cover of the song that was uploaded on vid.me by an anonymous user. The dance cover features what appears to be a middle-aged woman in a teal bathing suit, pigtails, a bandana scarf and leg warmers dancing in their bathroom to the song with seemingly fitting choreography.

The Artist

Born as Chai Tian Bian in Singapore on May 28, 1963, Chen Tianwen is a veteran Singaporean actor who started his career in many Mandarin dramas throughout the 1990s. He also played a key role in the Cannes Film Festival award-winning film “Ilo-Ilo” as well as in other notable Singaporean movies such as the the Ah Boys to Men trilogy (Ah Boys To Men, Ah Boys To Men 2 and Ah Boys To Men 3: Frogmen) The Lion Men and The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown. He plays the role of Erik Kwek in the second season of Spouse For House which explains his involvement in the promoting the show’s second season through “Unbelievable – I so stunned like a vegetable” and “Sandcastles In My Heart”.

Notable Examples

Parodies

A few parodies of the song have been made ranging from a Mother’s Day parody called “Unconditional” to lip sync tributes (which make up most of the parody videos for the song).

Cover Versions

Cover versions of the song outnumber the parodies for it and the cover versions come in various genres such as an acoustic version, an accapella version and even a marching band version to name a few.

Remixes

Aside from FallenSuperheroSG’s EDM remix of the song, other remixes also exist – mostly in the form of mash-ups with Billboard hit singles

Search Interest

External References

About

“Knock Knock” is a 2015 erotic thriller movie notable for it’s performance by lead actor Keanu Reeves, and it’s popularity and exploitable catchphrases on the /tv/ board of 4chan.

Origin

Given a wide release on October 9th, 2015, Knock Knock was given mixed reviews by film critics, but it’s over the top performance by Keanu Reeves was noted, and made some consider the film a dark comedy due to it’s overall campiness.

Spread

Throughout the coming weeks of the films release, many of the campy and nonsensical lines uttered by Keanu, such as “It was free pizza!”, “You f**ked me!”, and “Chocolate with sprinkles” became popular phrases used on the /tv/ board of 4chan, and spread onto other boards of the site.

Search Interest

Editor’s note: Use the main JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure entry for image or video uploads.

[WIP]

About

Dio Brando, also known as DIO, is one of the main antagonists of the Japanese manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. He is most notably known for his arrogant, ambitions, over the top personality, and gratuitously cruel behaviour.

Origin

Dio Brando first appeared in chapter 1 of the manga, during the events of Part 1: Phantom Blood. In the chapter, he gets adopted by the Joestar family, after the death of his biological father. Dio spends the following chapters tormenting his adoptive brother Jonathan, by getting him alienated by his father and friends, stealing a kiss from his girlfriend, get getting his dog burned alive.

From chapter 11 onwards, Dio becomes a vampire with the help of an ancient stone mask. His reign of terror however gets ultimately stopped by Jonathan and his allies.

Dio returns later in the manga, during Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, this time gaining a Stand, a spiritual manifestation, with the power to stop time.

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Related Memes

Za Warudo / Wryyy

Za Warudo / WRYYYYY (or The World in English) is the Stand of Dio in Stardust Crusaders, which is capable of time stop. WRYYYYY (which doesn’t translate to anything) is one of his battle cries.

Muda Muda Muda

Muda Muda Muda (means “Useless” in Japanese) is a battle cry of Dio when he uses a melee attack, consisting of rapid punches.

It Was Me, Dio

It Was Me, Dio! (or “Kono Dio Da” in Japanese) is a memorable phrase shouted by Dio Brando in Phantom Blood, when he kissed Erina Pendleton, while stealing the first kiss of the main protagonist Jonathan Joestar.

How Many Breads Have You Eaten in Your Life?

“How Many Breads Have You Eaten in Your Life?” is a phrase used by Dio Brando in response to William Anthonio Zeppeli’s question: “How many lives have you sucked to heal these wounds.”

Dio and 7-Up

Dio and 7-Up are series of jokes, relating to Dio and the soft drink 7-Up.

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About

The Fermi Paradox refers to the conflict between the high statistical probability of intelligent extraterrestrial life in the universe and the failure of humans to find evidence of their existence. Many hypothetical explanations for the paradox have been proposed, including speculation that humans may be the first and only intelligent life in the universe, that space is too vast for extraterrestrials to traverse or that intelligent civilizations are destroyed prior to leaving their home world.

Origin

In 1950, the physicist Enrico Fermi famously questioned why humanity had failed to document any evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations if a multitude were likely to exist within the galaxy. In 1975, astrophysicist Michael H. Hart published a paper titled “Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth,” which provided an in-depth examination of the paradox.^[6]

Drake Equation

In 1961, astrophysicist Frank Drake wrote an equation to estimate the probability of active extraterrestrial civilizations within the Milky Way galaxy. Due to a number of uncertainties, Drake estimated that there were likely between 1,000 and 100,000,000 intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way alone.

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On September 18th, 2009, Xkcd^[7] published a comic titled “The Search,” in which a sentient ant colony calls off the search for intelligent life after failing to discover other pheromone trails (shown below).

On November 27th, 2012, a page for the Fermi paradox was created on TV Tropes.^[2] On March 20th, 2013, the sci-fi blog io9^[5] published a listicle titled “11 of the Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox.” In May 2014, the educational blog Wait But Why^[3] published an article on the Fermi paradox. On June 4th, Xkcd^[8] posted a comic titled “Fish,” which speculated that humans have yet to find evidence of extraterrestrials because they are invisible (shown below).

On April 25th, 2015, the astrophysics blog Quarks to Quasars^[4] published an infographic containing various explanations for the Fermi paradox (shown below).

On May 6th, the In a Nutshell YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “The Fermi Paradox – Where Are All the Aliens?”, which described the hypothetical Dyson sphere technology and provided various hypothetical explanations for the paradox (shown below, left). On June 4th, a second video was uploaded which included additional explanations for the Fermi paradox (shown below, right).

On September 17th, Edward Snowden was interviewed by Neil deGrasse Tyson on the StarTalk podcast, where he proposed that the Fermi paradox could be explained by encryption techniques used by extraterrestrial civilizations (shown below).

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Overview

Hurricane Patricia was a tropical cyclone that impacted Central/Western Mexico in October 2015. The hurricane was rated as one of the most intense ever recorded to date due to record breaking low pressure and sustained/gusting wind ratings. Due to perfect environmental conditions, the storm developed from tropical depression classification to Category 5 in just 24 hours.

Background

The original storm disturbance incubated off the southern Pacific-Mexico coast near the Gulf of Tehuantepec on October 14th, 2015. The disturbance gained “tropical depression” classification on October 20th as it worked its way up the Mexican coast. By October 22nd, the depression had intensified to “tropical storm” strength as it neared the Western-Central Mexican coast. Within 24 hours the storm met exceptional environmental conditions as it strengthened to Category 5 hurricane classification.^[1] The intensity of the storm was ranked greater than any other Eastern Pacific hurricane on record (since the 1960s).^[2] Gusting winds of over 200 mph (330 km/h) were recorded within the storm as widespread rains produced flooding over Central America.

Notable Developments

International Space Station Tweet

In the morning of October 23rd, astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted a picture of Patricia as seen from aboard the International Space Station.^[3] Within 12 hours, the picture gained over 31,500 retweets and over 19,100 favorites. The picture was shared on multiple news websites and received trending status on Facebook.^[4]

Elsewhere On Twitter

Tweets about the hurricane were tracked using the hashtags #Patricia and #HurricanePatricia.^[5] From October 21st to October 23rd, Topsy Analytics recorded over 316,000 tweets used #Patricia and over 96,000 used #HurricanePatricia. The hashtag #Mexico was also used in conjunction with the conversation.

On Reddit

On Social News site Reddit, stories and news of the hurricane spread starting October 23rd and on. The sub-reddit /r/HurricanePatricia was created mid-day on the 23rd, where stories of the hurricane were shared.^[6] A live feed was created the same day, and featured live developments about the hurricane. Throughout the day, the stream averaged over 1,500 readers.^[7] Multiple threads also reached the front page on the 23rd as well. Of those was a post to /r/WorldNews titled “Hurricane Patricia is now measured to be the strongest Hurricane we have ever seen”^[8] which gained over 6,000 upvotes and 3,700 comments in 10 hours, as well as an /r/Science AMA^[9] which gained over 4,000 upvotes in 8 hours.

Search Interest

[Not Yet Available]

External References

Work in progress.

About

Hamster Hoodie is the name given to the hamster kimurugi worn by Umaru Doma, the main character of the manga and anime series Himouto! Umaru-chan!, on her chibi form. As one of the most recognizable parts from her design, the hood has been featured on multiple crossover fanarts with some variations, in similar vein to the boob ribbon from Hestia.

Origin

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WIP

Real Life Hood

WIP

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available

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