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The Mystery Vault

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Background

On March 16th, 2013, Redditor dont_stop_me_smee[1] submitted five images of a large-sized safe vault (shown below) to the r/pics subreddit,[2] claiming it was found in a friend’s new house in New Zealand that had previously served as a drug house, which naturally led to to extensive speculation as to what could be inside the safe.



Within the first 48 hours, the post garnered more than 41,000 upvotes, 3,100 points overall and 5,500 comments, while the Imgur gallery[3] was viewed more than 1.6 million times. While many commenters in the thread seemed excited by the story still in development, some expressed skepticism towards its significance and speculated that the opening of this safe may not live up to its hype, even drawing a comparison to the live opening of Al Capone’s vault[7] in 1986.

Notable Developments

Within four minutes of the original post, Redditor MrSweatpantsJackson requested[8] that the OP post results once the safe was open, to which Redditor dont_stop_me_smee responded with a verbal promise to deliver the finding. By the end of the evening, Redditor Tof1911[10] had possibly identified the lock as a Sargent and Greenleaf model 6630[11] and suggested the OP get a special stethoscope to try to crack the combination. Throughout the rest of the comments, the OP claimed that he contacted a safe expert[15] to pay a visit and inspect it.

Image Macros

Between March 16th and 18th, dozens of questions about the safe were submitted to /r/AskReddit. Additionally, more than 100 safe-related image macros were submitted to the AdviceAnimals subreddit.[16] Many of these posts contained very similar jokes, as illustrated in a March 16th post by Redditor ChrisTobin[17] who compiled 14 unique instances of the advice animal character Confused Gandalf portrayed as someone who had missed the original post but become aware of its popularity on the site.



/r/WhatsInThisThing

About an hour after the images were first posted on March 16th, Redditor red321red321 brought up similar stories[9] about mysterious safe vaults that were posted on the site but never went resolved. The OP then replied with a link to the newly launched /r/WhatsInThisThing[4] subreddit as a gesture of firm commitment to unraveling the mystery. Within the first 48 hours of launch, the subreddit accrued more than 62,000 subscribers. Redditors began sharing theories[12] as to the content of the safe, while others divulged into their own stories about discovering locked objects, including those who had successfully opened them[13] as well as people seeking help[14] in getting their items unlocked.

Media Coverage

On March 18th, The Daily Dot[5] and Business Insider[6] both provided coverage on the subreddit and dont_stop_me_smee’s story.

Search Interest

Though there have been previous queries for the phrase “Reddit safe,” there is a large spike in mid-March 2013, corresponding with the original Reddit post.



External References


Carlos

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About

Carlos is a fictional character from the animated children’s television series The Magic School Bus who is known for making pun jokes throughout the show. Online, screen captures of Carlos are often posted in association with word play humor.

Origin

The children’s animated television show The Magic School Bus[1] originally ran from September 1994 to December 1997. In the show, a third grade elementary school class embarks on various field trips led by their teacher Ms. Frizzle on her magical school bus, educating the viewers about science along the way. One of the recurring characters in the series is Carlos, the class clown best known for his constant pun jokes that lead his classmates to groan “Carlos!” in unison (shown below).



On September 19th, 2007, a thread discussing an abortion was posted on 4chan featuring messages written from the perspective of characters from The Magic School Bus. In the thread, Carlos responds with an abortion pun, to which another poster replies with “Carlos!” (shown below).



Spread

On July 17th, 2010, a thread was started on 4chan’s /co/ (Comics & Cartoons) board, featuring several pun jokes accompanied by screen captures of Carlos (shown below). On September 13th, a screenshot of the original 4chan thread was submitted to FunnyJunk,[2] gaining more than 41,000 views and 1,100 up votes in the following three years.



On May 8th, 2012, Tumblr user Boltong published a post about her experience with the video game Fallout: New Vegas,[4] which turned into a series of Carlos pun jokes between Tumblr users Thegoodoneisbad[5] and Diarrheaworldstarhiphop[6] (shown below, left). On September 20th, Tumblr user Judaara[7] published a night blogging post, to which Tumblr user Serenitywarrior[8] replied with a Carlos image macro (shown below, right). Within six months, both posts received more than 11,000 and 131,000 notes respectively.



On December 5th, FunnyJunk[3] user dingbox posted an animated computer reaction image, representing the FunnyJunk community’s reaction towards Carlos comments. Within one year, the post garnered over 44,000 views and 1,000 up votes.



Notable Examples

Additional examples can be found on Funnyjunk[10] and Tumblr under the tag “#carlos-ramon”.[9] Carlos related replies to puns can also be found on the online archive, Foolz.[11]



Search Interest


External References

Blood Raining Night

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About

What is Blood Raining Night?






Blood Raining Night is a pretty infamous fanfiction, its not as well known as the other infamous Hary Potter fanfiction, “My Inmortal” we all know, but it’s still close enough to it and it got famous due to sites like Tumblr reviewing the fanfiction (mostly in a negative way) or Fanime Reviews and Dramatic Readings on YouTube (e.g. BoringTrousers). And due to all the attention it gets thanks to its mary sue-ish protagonist, by now, BRN might just as well become a meme in the making.

The Story itself






The story is basically an anime crossover, which contains random anime characters making, mostly unnecesary and out of character, cameos, like for example: Inuyasha, Lucy (Elfen Lied) or Alucard (Hellsing) and even characters from american cartoons like the Legend of Korra (although the author claims it to be an anime).


But the story mainly focuses on the OC and protagonist of the fanfiction, Reicheru Ketsuekineko-Oni (literally meaning/or just rough google translation, knowing the author: Rachel Blood Cat demon in Japanese), and as has been said before, Reicheru is the character that you would idenfy as a “Mary Sue”, many people in the fanfiction’s reviews said that they have put Reicheru through a mary sue test, and according to a person running the Fanime Reviews blog on Blogspot, “0 was the lowest score she could get, 50 was the highest. Reicheru actually received a 165”. The character is, hence her surname, a Cat Demon Vampire who just so happens to be a Yakuza member (even if she is still in high school and the Yakuza is portrayed very innacurately in the story) who is only 17, she is haunted by the memory of her father (this is because apparently, her “demon form” killed her mother when she was little, causing her father to hate her and beat Reicheru up, Reicheru kills her father but he later on is ressurected) and is on a mission to kill him again. Another notable thing about Reicheru is her ’’beauty’’ and strength, in the story she is described as being flawless, having nice curves, having large breasts, how she could ‘’just kill someone with her looks’’ etc., many males fall for her (and she is paired up with Inuyasha and Denmark, well..the Hetalia character, not the country itself) and many girls are either jealous of her, hate her or want to be her friend. According to the fanime version of the story I watched, she can kill her oponents in only ten seconds flat and she keeps crying tears of blood and feeling sorry for herself, If you sum the dramatic past, her looks, her popularity, name and strength all together then Reicheru obviously wins the title of the ‘’Classic Sue’‘. She also has a catchphrase which the readers tend to find obnoxious: ’’NYA ON!!’’

What made it become so popular?





The confusing plot of the story, badly written sex scenes and gore, Reicheru’s characteristics, use of broken Japanese in the fanfiction, demonization/out of characterization of canon characters and sugar coated controversial subjects (like teenage pregnancy, abortion, racism and pedophilia) is what made the fanfic stand out in a negative light and has about gotten many negative reviews and some consecutive criticsm (positive comments are either from her friends who created other slghtly underdeveloped OCs for the story or like finding a needle in a haystack).

Once the story got up there in June 2012, the first reviews were negative and pointing out Reicheru’s mary sue nature, then later it graduated to more mocking and hateful reviews (and some even thinking the story is merely just an art of trolling),It was indeed, quite hurtful for the author, but then again, the author’s remarks were no better than the comments, and instead of trying to figure out where she went wrong with her story and OC and looking up the meaning of ‘’Mary Sue’‘, she just went and even called the critics ’’mean’’ or ’’assholes’’ for pointing out the many downsides of the fanfiction. The Fanime made for Blood Raining Night also got a fair amount of dislikes and even one episode was flagged for graphic/nudity content, of course, this probably made the author very mad.

Another thing that might have made BRN popular on Tumblr and other sites is the obvious signs of Weeaboo, from both the story and author herself:



‘’konichiwaaaaaaa! watashi o namae wa Reicheru Ketsuekineko-oni (it means blood cat demon in Japanese) I am a fanfiction writer and happily have 15 chapters now. I’m hoping that I get a bit more recognization on here because not a lot of people are paying attention to my Deviant Art becauze some people are being stuck up assholes about how i edit pictures. but thats what photobucket is for >:)’’ – The Author herself

Fanart









Despite the infamy of this story and fanime, it does get quite a lot of fanart, from both haters, people who think it needs improvement and fans, these were some few notable examples


External Links

















Resources from Author ( WARNING: these may not be safe for work and could even be offensive, view at your own risk)
The Fanfiction:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8174397/1/Blood-Raining-Night
The Fanime: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReicheruKetsuekineko/videos
The “Fansite”: http://reicheruskittypowers.webs.com/

Resources from Reviewers, Blogs, Parodies etc:

BRN Review, Blogspot: http://fanimereviews.blogspot.nl/2012/10/blood-raining-night.html
Blood Raining Night, Divines help us! http://bloodrainingnight.tumblr.com/
Blood Raining Night tags on Tumblr http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/blood%20raining%20night
Blood Raining Night fanime reviews:
BoringTrousers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc9RCk3Uot4
darknessfanimereviews (this review, however, is quite positive) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImebZU3f-tU
Fanime Family Fun Night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9g3YInqPWs

Oreo Separator Machines

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About

Oreo Separator Machines are devices that are designed to split Oreo cookies into two pieces and remove the cream filling, many of which were produced by Wieden + Kennedy as part of the “Cookie vs. Creme” ad campaign for the snack food company Nabisco. Sine the launch of the campaign during the Super Bowl XLVII in February 2013, the adverts have inspired numerous YouTube videos showcasing custom-designed prototypes of cookie separators.

Origin

On February 26th, 2013, The official Oreo YouTube channel uploaded the first commercial of the series featuring a Rube Goldberg-style Oreo cookie separator machine purportedly built by physicist David Neevel. Within the next three weeks, the video received over 4.03 million views and 4,000 comments.



The video was soon revealed to be part of the “Cookie vs. Creme”[4] marketing campaign by Wieden + Kennedy,[1] Portland-based advertising agency that is best known for producing several successful Old Spice advertisements.

Spread

The same day Neevel’s separator machine was uploaded to YouTube, Redditor PenName submitted the video to the /r/videos subreddit,[2] where it gained upwards of 13,000 up votes and 1,200 comments in the following 20 days. On February 27th, the advertising news blog Ad Week[3] published an article about the video, reporting that Neevel was employed by Wieden + Kennedy.



On March 1st, Oreo uploaded a second video featuring a separator machine built by Minnesota toy scientists Bill Fienup and Barry Kudrowitz, which knocks off the top of an Oreo before heating and spraying the cream off (shown below, left). Within 18 days, the video garnered over 400,000 views and 100 comments. On March 11th, CNN aired a segment about the separator machines, featuring interviews with Fienup and Kudrowitz (shown below, right).



On March 17th, 2013, YouTuber JoergSprave uploaded a video titled “Oreo Separation Pump Gun,” featuring a pump action crossbow using Oreo cookies as ammunition (shown below). The same day, the video was submitted to the /r/videos subreddit,[5] receiving more than 2,900 up votes on Reddit and 250,000 views on YouTube in the next 48 hours.



Notable Examples

Oreo released two more separator machine videos during the month of March (shown below, top) and other YouTubers have since uploaded videos of other Oreo splitting machines (shown below, bottom).



Search Interest

External References

Bitcoin

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About

Bitcoin[1] is a virtual crypto-currency regulated by a peer-to-peer network that creates a time-stamped register yielding chains of valid transactions. Unlike other digital currency systems or credit payments, Bitcoins are treated like cash and transactions cannot be reversed.

History

The need for a digital currency based in cryptography[2] was discussed in two separate academic papers published in 1993 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University[6] and the University of Southern California.[7] Five years later, the idea was introduced to the the Cypherpunks[3] mailing list[4] by cryptography advocate Wei Dai, who suggested a system in which the currency would be both regulated and created through crowdsourced cryptography, thus eliminating the risk of double-spending altogether.

Proposition

On November 1st, 2008, a person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto[8] distributed a paper[9]solidifying this idea into a proposal for something called “Bitcoin” via the Cryptography Mailing List.[10] The first blockchain was generated on or before January 3rd, 2009, as its Genesis Block[11], or first block, references the title of an article[12] published that day in the UK newspaper The Times about a physical bank bailout. The announcement of the system and its open source client was posted on the Cryptography Mailing List[13] on January 9th. This post also stated that the total circulation would consist of 21 million coins, made available in increments with the full amount made available by 2140.

Exchange Market

On July 18th, 2010, the exchange market Mt. Gox[19] launched, allowing people to buy and sell Bitcoins as well as providing software for merchants to accept Bitcoins as payment on their online storefronts. The site also offers a live ticker of Bitcoin exchange rates (shown below). They claim to facilitate more than 80% of all Bitcoin trading as of March 2013.[20]



Mining

Bitcoins are generated through a process known as “mining,”[22][26] which adds transaction records to Bitcoin’s public register known as a block chain.[23] The chain exists as a record of Bitcoins spent in actual monetary value and to bar attempts from double-spending, or spending previously used coins. The process is meant be challenging, requiring a piece of data known as a proof of work[24] that has an ever-changing very low probability[25] for getting the hash for each transaction correct on the first try. The actual act of mining can be completed by dozens of different programs[27] for multiple operating systems, including Android. A ledger of the most recent blocks is provided by BlockExplorer.[25] A handful of miners have shared their mining hardware setups made from both desktops (shown below, left) and mobile phones (shown below, right) on YouTube.



Regulation

On March 18th, 2013, the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a clarification[28] to the regulation regarding virtual currencies. Though the statement does not explicitly address Bitcoin, it stipulates that businesses that exchange American dollars for digital currencies qualify as Money Services Businesses (MSBs) and should thus be subject to federal regulations and must comply with money laundering laws.[29] However, users of the currency, or people who mine the currency for themselves, do not qualify as an MSB.

Reception

As of March 2013, Bitcoin users and miners congregate on Reddit[14] and the Bitcoin Talk Forums[15], among numerous other smaller groups. There is also a Wiki[21] and the online publication Bitcoin Magazine[18] that gathers information about the currency and keeps track of its exchange rates. Since 2011, Bitcoin conferences have been held annually[16] throughout Europe, with the first US conference scheduled for May 2013.[18]

Thefts

Since Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed, if Bitcoins are stolen from a user’s digital wallet, they cannot be replaced. One of the earliest Bitcoin robberies occurred in June 2011, when a user known as Allinvain reported[30]25,000 Bitcoins (approximately $467,000 at the time) stolen from his account. It was later believed to have been caused by a Trojan virus[31] that would hack into unencrypted wallets and forcefully carry out the transfers. between 2012[32] and 2013,[33] there have been several reports of large sums of Bitcoins stolen from exchange sites, leading some enthusiasts to suggest offline storage of Bitcoin codes, either on encrypted hard drives that are not connected to the Internet or by physically writing them down. Bitcoin owner Charlie Shrem[41] has a ring with an engraving of his codes (shown below, left) to protect his investment and entreprenuer Mike Caldwell[35] has minted more than $2.5 billion in physical Bitcoins (shown below, right).



Usage

As of March 2013, a number of online businesses and non-profit organizations[43] accept Bitcoins, most notably Wordpress,[44]4chan,[44]Wikileaks,[38]Reddit[39] and OkCupid.[40] Additionally, the Internet Archive has offered their employees an option to receive a portion of their paychecks in Bitcoins.[41] There are also a handful of Bitcoin casinos[42] where players will bet anywhere from ฿66,000 to ฿1,787,470 per year, depending on the site.

Silk Road

Bitcoins are the only currency accepted on Silk Road, an online black market that can only be accessed via The Onion Router (TOR). Though the site launched in February 2011, the site did not recieve mainstream attention until Gawker[37] published an expose on it in June of that year. Silk Road allows people to buy a number of items including drugs, apparel, books, digital goods, drug paraphernalia, erotica and forgeries. In July 2012, it was estimated[36] that more than 1.2 million dollars US in sales were being generated monthly by the site.



Search Interest



External References

[1]Bitcoin.org – Home

[2]Wikipedia – Cryptography

[3]Wikipedia – Cypherpunk

[4]Cypherspace – Cypherpunks Mailing List

[5]Wei Dai – Home

[6]Carnegie Mellon – Cryptography: It’s Not Just For Electronic Mail Anymore

[7]The University of Southern California – Electronic Currency for the Internet

[8]Bitcoin Wiki – Satoshi Nakamoto

[9]Bitcoin.org – Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System

[10]The Mail Archive – cryptography: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper

[11]Bitcoin Wiki – Genesis Block

[12]The Times – Chancellor Alistair Darling on brink of second bailout for banks

[13]The Mail Archive – cryptography: Bitcoin v0.1 released

[14]Reddit – /r/Bitcoin

[15]Bitcoin Talk – Home

[16]2011 Bitcoin & Future Technology European Conference – Home

[17]Bitcoin Magazine – The Two Bitcoin Conferences of 2013

[18]Bitcoin Magazine – Home

[19]MTGOXHome

[20]Business Insider – ANALYST: Bitcoin Took A Key Step Towards Going Mainstream, And That’s Why It’s Been Going Crazy The Last Two Days

[21]Bitcoin Wiki – Home

[22]Bitcoin Wiki – Mining

[23]Bitcoin Wiki – Block Chain

[24]Bitcoin Wiki – Proof of Work

[24]BlockExplorer – Probability

[25]BlockExplorer – Home

[26]Coding In My Sleep – Bitcoin Mining in Plain English

[27]Bitcoin Wiki – Software

[28]FinCEN – Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Persons Administering, Exchanging, or Using Virtual Currencies\

[29]Ars Technica – US regulator: Bitcoin exchanges must comply with money-laundering laws

[30]Bitcoin Forum – I just got hacked – any help is welcome! (25,000 BTC stolen)

[31]Symantec – All your Bitcoins are ours…

[32]Ars Technica –
Hacker steals $250k in Bitcoins from online exchange Bitfloor

[33]The Verge – Hackers steal over $12,000 of Bitcoins from transaction broker Bitinstant

[34]Wired – Ring of Bitcoins: Why Your Digital Wallet Belongs On Your Finger

[35]Casascius – Physical Bitcoins

[36]Cornell University Library – Traveling the Silk Road: A measurement analysis of a large anonymous online marketplace

[37]Gawker – The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable

[38]Wikileaks – WikiLeaks Bypasses Financial Blockade With Bitcoin

[39]TechCrunch – Reddit Starts Accepting Bitcoin for Reddit Gold Purchases Thanks To Partnership With Coinbase

[40]Reddit – /r/Bitcoin: OkCupid, one of the biggest dating sites just (manually) accepted Bitcoin!

[41]Internet Archive Blog – Employees to be Paid in Bitcoin: Please Donate

[42]Forbes – Bitcoin Casinos Release 2012 Earnings

[43]SpendBitcoin – Places that Accept Bitcoins Directly

[44]Bitcoin Blog – The Bitcoin Ladder

George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People

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Overview

“George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People” was a controversial quote uttered by rapper Kanye West during his appearance on the Concert for Hurricane Relief, a celebrity-driven benefit for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, in which he accused the then-President George W. Bush of lacking sympathy for the African American communities affected by the disaster in New Orleans.

Background

On September 2nd, 2005, rapper Kanye West appeared on live television during a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief on NBC. During the segment, West spoke alongside actor Mike Myers about the devastation in New Orleans and deviated from the script by criticizing the government’s response to the Hurricane, concluding with the statement “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”




“I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, ’They’re looting.’ You see a white family, it says, ’They’re looking for food.’ And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help--with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way--and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us!”

Notable Developments

News Media Coverage

In the days following the incident, West’s comments were reported on by various news sites, including The Washington Post,[1]BBC,[2] Fox News[3] and the New York Times.[4] The following week, NPR[5] aired a special segment on President Bush’s relations with African Americans, noting how West’s statement caused a political uproar regarding the federal government’s response to the hurricane.

Online Reaction

Immediately following the televised benefit, YTMND user matlock45 created a page titled “Bush doesn’t care about black people (fixed)”, featuring a screen capture of West and Myers accompanied by an audio clip of West repeating the statement. Within eight years, the page received over 61,000 views and more than 65 other YTMND pages referencing the incident were created.[6] On October 9th, 2005, Urban Dictionary[7] user ganstanaut submitted an entry for the phrase “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” defining the expression as “Kanye’s words of wisdom.” On November 15th, YouTuber stimulator uploaded a music video for the protest song “George Bush Don’t Like Black People” by The Legendary K.O. (shown below), which gained upwards of 120,000 views and 1,200 comments in the next eight years. On April 16th, 2006, YouTuber Shockroc1 reuploaded the video clip of West and Myers, which received over 5.8 million views in the next seven years.



On November 29th, Assata Shakur Forums[9] member Young_African_Queen submitted a poll asking “Do [sic] Bush Like Black People?”, to which more than 45% responded “Naw…..And Never Will” and over 35% responded “Fuck Bush!” (shown below). On April 16th, 2006, YouTuber Shockroc1 reuploaded the video clip of West and Myers, which received upwards of 5.8 million views in the next seven years.



Kanye West’s Response

On September 24th, 2007, West was interviewed on the ABC late-night news program Nightline, in which he amended his statement by saying he had “a hard time believing that George Bush cares about anyone” (shown below).



George Bush’s Response

On November 9th, 2010, NBC aired an hour-long special program featuring Bush’s interview with journalist Matt Lauer, in which Bush recounted West’s statements as being "one of the most disgusting moments of my presidency” (shown below).



Notable Videos



Search Interest

External References

Sloths

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About

Sloths are a type of tree-dwelling mammal typically found in jungle areas of Central and South America. They are typically associated with laziness, although recent research[1] suggests they are more active than people assume. Since October 2012, online interest in sloths has been on the rise, with many internet users sharing photos and videos of the animal as well as creating single topic blogs dedicated to them.

Online History

One of the first sites dedicated to sloths (shown below) was created as early as October 2002, as a parody of the fictitious Ninja fansite Real Ultimate Power. In January 2005, a Tripod site claiming to be the “Unofficial Sloth Fanclub”[8] was created, though it did not specify whether or not the fan club celebrated the mammal or a fictional character named Sloth. In October of that year, the blog Sloth Love[9] was launched with a collection of photos and facts about the mammals, but went on hiatus in less than a month. In May 2006, a Last.fm group titled Sloth Appreciation Society[6] was established with playlists based on the listening habits of people who are fans of sloths.



In April 2010, YouTuber Mermaid5651[26] uploaded a video (shown below, left) of a sloth trying to cross a road in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica very slowly. As it reaches the pavement, a man on a motorcycle pulls over and picks up the sloth, quickly running it across the street as the sloth outstretched his arms. More than a year later, on May 14th, 2011, YouTuber Chema Leon remixed this video, adding a clip from R. Kelly’s 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” (shown below, right), giving it the additional title “Sloth’s Perspective.” Six days later, her video was reuploaded by YouTuber timah99[27], whose version has been watched more than 7 million times as of March 2013.



Fandom

Fans of the mammals can be found on Twitter[2], where they have been tweeted about more than 34,000 times.[3] Additionally, there are dozens of Sloth fan pages on Facebook, with the largest two[4][5] having nearly 100,000 likes between them. As of March 2013, there are more than 330,000 search results for “sloth” on YouTube.[14] Dozens of single topic Tumblr blogs have been created for sloth fans since June 2010, including Sloth Love[19], The Sloth Sabbath[20], Slothville[21], Your Daily Baby Sloth[22], Sloth It Like It’s Hot[23], That Sloth Blog[24] and SlothPls.[25]

Related Memes

Socially Lazy Sloth

On August 21st, 2010, the single topic blog Fuck Yeah Socially Lazy Sloth[15] (shown below, top row) launched, curating dozens of image macros featuring a sloth’s head superimposed on to a blue and green background with captions that generally depict acts of apathy and passivity in social situations. On September 1st, 2010, a Facebook fan page[16] was also established for the advice animal series, gaining almost 500 likes in two and a half years. As of March 2013, there are more than a thousand submissions on the Socially Lazy Sloth Memegenerator page.[18]




Just Lazy Sloth

The series inspired a similar character named Just Lazy Sloth[17] (shown below, bottom row), featuring a similar sloth photo on a red and green background with captions about general malaise, however its corresponding Tumblr blog ceased updating in April 2011.



Kristen Bell’s Sloth Meltdown

In January 2012, Veronica Mars actress Kristen Bell appeared on the daytime talk show Ellen and retold a story (shown below, left) about how her fiancé and actor Dax Shepard brought a sloth to her 31st birthday party. A video clip of her overemotional response to the sloth’s visit before she even saw the animal caused the video to go viral, earning more than 15 million views in slightly more than a year. In January 2013, Bell appeared on Ellen a second time (shown below, right), during which Ellen surprised her by bringing a sloth on stage. Bell was able to feed the animal, named Lola, a banana while Ellen presented her with a basket of sloth-themed presents for her baby.



Astronaut Sloth

Astronaut Sloth refers to a photoshopped image created by digital artist Pedro Dionísio in January 2012 that gained notoriety on sites like Tumblr and Reddit after users began pranking people in real life by replacing framed photos or desktop wallpapers with it. One of the first instances of this was posted to Tumblr on October 29th, 2012, when the user alpacalypse[10] claimed she had been changing all of her father’s virtual backgrounds and wallpapers to the Astronaut Sloth photo, culminating in her leaving a framed photo of the sloth (shown below, left) on his desk. Days later, a Redditor[11] claimed he made a similar move when he switched out his boss’ family photos with the sloth (shown below, right).



Rape Sloth

Rape Sloth is an advice animal image macro series that utilizes a picture of a sloth that appears to be whispering in a woman’s ear. Though the base photo was first uploaded to the web in 2009 in an advertisment for the 2010 Pirelli Calendar, the image macro series did not appear until February 22nd, 2012, when BodyBuilding Forums member VitaCrave started a thread[12] with four captioned images with creepy sexual innuendo and pick up lines. As of March 2013, the Rape Sloth Quickmeme[13] page has more than 330 submissions.



Search Interest



External References

Guccifer

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About

Guccifer is the online pseudonym of a hacker who is known for compromising the security of several high-profile political targets, including members of the Bush family, former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

History

Bush Family Hacks

On February 7th, 2013, The Smoking Gun[1] reported that a hacker calling himself “Guccifer” posted photos and email exchanges taken from the email accounts of several family members of former President George W. Bush. Among the photographs were self-portraits of Bush taking a bath and shower (shown below).[2]



Guccifer reportedly told the Smoking Gun that the federal government had been investigating him for some time and that he was not worried about being caught, adding “i have an old game with the fucking bastards inside, this is just another chapter in the game.”

Colin Powell Hacks

On March 11th, 2013, The Smoking Gun[6] reported that Guccifer hacked the Facebook account of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, where he proceeded to post several status updates insulting George W. Bush (shown below). The same day, Powell posted a status update[4] that the hacking problem had been fixed after working with Facebook.



On March 13th, The Smoking Gun[5] published an article revealing that Powell’s AOL e-mail account had been compromised by Guccifer as well, who was able to access Powell’s personal financial documents and communications with several former government officials.

Sidney Blumenthal Hacks

On March 15th, The Smoking Gun[7] reported that Guccifer had managed to break into the AOL email account of Sidney Blumenthal, a senior White House adviser to former President Bill Clinton. In the account, Guccifer obtained many emails between Blumenthal and Hilary Clinton, among other correspondences with Washington insiders. The article also mentioned that Guccifer left a message regarding the purported secret society known as the “Illuminati”.

“the evil is leading this fucked up world!!!!!! i tell you this the world of tomorrow will be a world free of illuminati or will be no more,”

On March 18th, The Smoking Gun[8] published a follow-up article about several confidential memos Guccifer discovered in Blumenthal’s email account, which he disseminated to hundreds of recipients. The memos referenced several incidents in Libya, including an attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi on September 11th, 2012 (shown below). To distribute the messages, Guccifer pasted them into a new document using the Comic Sans font. The article also reported that two IP addresses connected with the hacker had been traced to Russia and several emails containing the Blumenthal memos were distributed to Russian reporters.



Search Interest

External References


George W. Bush

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About

George W. Bush is an American politician who served as the Governor of Texas and the 43rd President of the United States. The Bush presidency is widely remembered by the tragedy of 9/11 terrorist attacks and its consequent American military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the controversial counter-terrorism measures ranging from the PATRIOT Act and the Terrorist Surveillance Program to enhanced interrogation techniques and detainment of foreign citizens.

History

Early Career

Following the path of his father George H. Bush who served as the 41st President of the United States, George W. Bush ran for a seat in the House of Representatives from Texas’s 19th congressional district in 1978, albeit unsuccessfully. After nearly a decade of serving as an executive in the oil business, Bush moved to Washington D.C. in 1988 to work on his father’s Republican presidential campaign as a campaign adviser. He ran for the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and won with 53.5% of total votes against Democrat incumbent Ann Richards’ 45.9%. In 1998, Bush became the first governor in Texas history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms.

U.S. Presidential Campaign

In June 1999, Bush announced his candidacy for President of the United States while serving as the incumbent governor of Texas. Throughout his primary campaign, Bush portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative with a centrist-Republican platform and by 2000, the race had centered on Bush and Arizona’s Republican senator John McCain. After being formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention, Bush continued to campaign across the country and eventually won the general election in 29 states, including Florida, against the incumbent Democrat vice president Al Gore. [incomplete] [researching]

Highlights

Mission Accomplished

Mission Accomplished is a catchphrase that stems from the infamous banner sign displayed in the background during former President George W. Bush’s 2003 speech onboard USS Abraham Lincoln, where he announced the end of major military combats in Iraq. Already facing global anti-war protests and unstopping insurgency, photographs of President Bush delivering his speech in front of the banner soon became a target of online parodies and symbol of public skepticism towards the Bush administration’s handling of the war.



Internets

Internets is the erroneous pluralization of the word “Internet” popularized by Bush during his 2004 election campaign. While the word internet may be pluralized in rare occasions in the context of joining together many smaller intranets, it became the target of many jokes and parodies on the web, similar to the former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens series of tubes gaffe. The term can be also used intentionally to signify that the speaker has limited knowledge about computers and technology.



You Forgot Poland

“You forgot Poland” is a popular catchphrase adopted by George W. Bush’s detractors to poke fun at his tactless rebuttal during the first debate of US Presidential elections in 2004. Since the rise of Bushism and related jokes in the mid-2000s, “You forgot Poland” has become one of the most recognizable quotes uttered by the former US president. See also: Polandball.



One Finger Victory Salute

One Finger Victory Salute is a video clip of Bush playfully flipping off the camera while getting ready for a local television appearance. The never-aired footage was uploaded to YouTube on March 5th, 2006.



Iraqi Shoe Toss

Iraqi Shoe Toss is an exploitableGIF of Iraqi Journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi throwing shoes at then-President Bush during his surprise visit to Iraq on December 14th, 2008. The image itself is usually altered by changing the object thrown or cutting to another scene entirely for comedic effect.




Miss Me Yet?

In February 2010, a mysterious billboard of Bush smirking and waving along with the caption “miss me yet?” appeared along route I-35 near Wyoming, Minnesota. Perceived by many as an expression of dissatisfaction concerning the performance of incumbent president Barack Obama, both the image and the phrase inspired many parodies online.



Reputation

“George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People”

“George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People” was a controversial quote uttered by rapper Kanye West during his appearance on the Concert for Hurricane Relief, a celebrity-driven benefit for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, in which he accused the then-President George W. Bush of lacking sympathy for the African American communities affected by the disaster in New Orleans.



Search Interest



External References

[1]Wikipedia – George W Bush

[2]Biography – George W Bush

[3]Slate – A Profile of George W. Bush

[4]DomainTools – GeorgeWBush.com

Thumbs and Ammo

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About

Thumbs and Ammo is a single topic blog featuring photoshopped movie stills in which firearms have been replaced with a thumbs-up hand gesture.

Origin

On March 7th, 2013, Thumbs and Ammo[2] was launched on the blogging platform Blogspot, with its first post[1] featuring Brad Pitt from the 1995 thriller film Seven edited to have his gun replaced with a hand making a thumbs-up signal (shown below). According to the tech news blog Mashable,[6] the blog started as a Photoshop competition between the site’s co-creators and was not intended to convey an anti-gun message.



Spread

On the same day, the @ThumbsandAmmo Twitter[15] feed was created, which linked to individual posts on the Thumbs and Ammo blog. Within two weeks, the profile received over 1,100 followers. On March 13th, the German pop culture blog Nerdcore[10] published a post about the site, which featured an image gallery highlighting several notable examples. That week, various Internet news blogs reblogged highlights from Thumbs and Ammo, including Laughing Squid,[11] BuzzFeed,[13] UpRoxx,[14] Hyper Vocal[12] and Gawker.[9] On March 19th, the blog was reported on by several other news sites, including The Huffington Post,[3] E Online[4] and the AV Club,[5] many of which framed the blog as part of the national debate on gun control. In the following days, notable examples from the series were featured on Mashable,[6] Funny or Die[7] and ABC News.[8]

Notable Examples



Search Interest

External References

Gritty Reboots

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About

Gritty Reboot refers to a subgenre of movie trailer remix and alternate universe fanart that involves recutting an existing movie trailer or creating a completely new live-action piece featuring characters from a movie, comic series or video game franchise to depict them as hard-hitting, grimdark or film noir.

Origin

The phrase “gritty reboot” was used on Cracked[1] as early as July 2009 to describe a comic by Mike Jacobsen[2] depicting a dark version of The Wizard of Oz in which the Tin Man and the Scarecrow are shown removing Dorothy’s brain and heart.



Spread

“Gritty reboot” was used again by Cracked in October 2009[3] in a piece detailing five superheros that were ruined by adaptations, citing Spider-Man’s future as told through the 2006 limited series Reign[4] as a “gritty faux pas.” One of the earliest video remixes was uploaded to YouTube by silverlightsaber on March 17th, 2010, utilizing footage from six movies to make a darker version of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (shown below). As of March 2013, the video has more than 2.1 million views.



Throughout 2010, fan requests of gritty reboots appeared on the Escapist discussion forums[6], while parody images and videos in the style of Alternate Universe and Ruined Childhood appeared on College Humor[7], Dorkly[8] and Cracked.[9][10] In July, the term was also first defined on Urban Dictionary[16] and in September, YouTuber megasteakman uploaded a Pokemon reboot video (shown below, left) depicting a war between Pokemon trainers, leading Ash down a grimdark path. As of March 2013, this video has accrued more than 10.8 million views. Throughout 2011 and 2012, fan-made gritty reboot videos and images were featured on Cracked[11], The FW[12], Funny or Die[13] and Crunchyroll.[14] In March 2013, a YouTube channel dedicated solely to making gritty reboot videos launched[15] with a darker version of the video Harvest Moon (shown below, right).



Notable Examples

As of March 2013, there are more than 13,000 search results for “gritty reboot”[5] on YouTube.




Search Interest



External References

Electric Boogaloo

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About

“Electric Boogaloo” is a phrase typically appended to the title of a sequel TV or film production to mock its poor quality. Originally featured in the title of the poorly received 1984 dance film Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo[3], the term refers to a type of dance move that arose out of funk and hip hop styles in the 1970s, popularized by the street dance team The Electric Boogaloos.[9]

Origin

Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (trailer shown below) (trailer shown below) was released on December 21st, 1984 and was met with mediocre reviews from Variety[10] who called it a “comic book” and Roger Ebert[11] who gave it 3 stars. As of March 2013, the film has been given 4.3 stars out of 10 on IMDb[3] and 3.4 starts out of 5 on Rotten Tomatoes.[12] Online, the phrase became adopted as a denotation of any sequel release as early as October 2nd, 2001, in a blog post about a radio show by actor Wil Wheaton.[3]



Spread

In the early 2000s, the phrase was used offline in titles of works by Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy[14] and indie rock band Minus the Bear.[15] In July 2005, the first YTMND site using this title format was created by user Pandaman87[16], as it was a sequel to one of his previous sites. As of March 2013, there are nearly 20 other sites[17] that use “Electric Boogaloo” in their titles.



In November 2005, “Electric Boogaloo” was first used in this manner by a journalist on the Huffington Post[7], regarding election reform in Ohio. In July 2007, the New York Times[18] used the term in reference to the sequel to the viral video “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama,” marking one of the first times it was used in a negative fashion. In August of that year, a blog post on the Oxford University Press[1] examined the titling structure and defined it as a snowclone that is used to denote any sequel production, which later became supported through its documentation on the Snowclone Database[19] in 2008. On May 25th, 2008, “Electric Boogaloo” was similarly defined as a general description for sequels on Urban Dictionary.[8]



As of March 2013, there are nearly 500 search results for “electric boogaloo” on Reddit[20] and more than 100,000 on YouTube[21], although a handful of these relate to the original movie or the dance. There are also articles chronicling the use of the term on TV Tropes[5] and Encyclopedia Dramatica.[6]

Notable Examples




Search Interest



External References

Kabooyow! Kapooyow!

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About

“Kabooyow! Kapooyow!” is an onomatopoeic expression uttered by Texas resident Michelle Clark to describe the noise of hail hitting her house during an interview with a local television news station in March 2013.

Origin

On March 21st, 2013, YouTuber TrippingOverFunny uploaded a video titled “Kabooyow! Kapooyow!”, which featured a clip from an NBC 2 Houston local news report about a hail storm that had struck some parts of Texas and Colorado on the day before. In the clip, Clark was quoted as saying “it was like ’kapooyow! kapooyow!” in describing the sound of her house getting battered by the hail (shown below).



Narrator: “Many said it sounded like nothing they’ve ever heard before.”

Clark: “It said ‘kahpooyah! kahpooyah!’ and then boy that hail just came in. I looked out my… opened my door and looked out my door it started hitting me in my head i took out running and ran to my restroom and then I called my momma to see if she alright.”

Spread

On March 21st, 2013, the Internet news blog Hyper Vocal[1] published an article about the clip, comparing it to other local news viral videos starring Antoine Dodson and Sweet Brown. Hours later, YouTuber Locke Vincent uploaded the first music remix video using the footage (shown below).



The same day, the video was posted in a thread on the Body Building Forums[2] by member KangarooMD, where it received 15 replies in the next six hours. Also on March 21st, the video was reblogged by several other Internet news sites, including Gawker,[3] The Huffington Post,[4] What’s Trending,[5] UpRoxx,[7] E Online[8] and BuzzFeed,[6] which featured an animated GIF from the video (shown below).



Notable Examples



Search Interest

Not yet available.

External References

Donglegate / Adria Richards

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Background

While attending the 2013 Python programming language convention PyCon on March 17th, 2013, developer evangelist Adria Richards tweeted a photo of a group of developers seated behind her during a plenary session, stating that they had been making crude jokes about “forking” and “‘big’ dongles.” She also sent a follow up tweet[1], citing PyCon’s Code of Conduct[2] which states that “all communication should be appropriate for a professional audience” and “harassment and sexist, racist or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate.”




Following her tweet, PyCon staff members contacted her via Twitter[3] asserting that they had dealt with the situation. The following day, Richards presented her account of the entire situation on her blog[4], explaining that she initially chose not to say anything to the men out of fear of “being heckled or [having my] experience denied,” but later tweeted her complaints out of concern for future women developers.

Notable Developments

March 20th: PyCon Responds

On March 20th, PyCon issued an official statement about the situation on their blog[5], stating that both parties were addressed in private where they agreed and apologized. Contrary to initial reports, neither party was removed from the conference. The organizers also noted that they valued their attendee’s privacy and later updated their Attendee Procedure for Incident Handling[6] to add that they do not condone public shaming in these incidents.

March 21st: Terminations

In the early morning on March 21st, CEO of Playhaven Andy Yang posted a statement about the incident to the company blog[9], announcing that the offending person had been fired from the company. By noon on the same day, SendGrid announced Richards’ termination on Twitter[10] and Facebook[11], despite an early tweet from Richards (shown below) claiming that SendGrid supported her.




Online Reactions

As news about the incident spread across Twitter, #Donglegate[7] emerged as the hashtag for related discussions, which was used more than 1000 times on March 20th. On Reddit, nearly 100 unique threads[12] about the incident were submitted to different subreddits including /r/MensRights[13], /r/TumblrInAction[14], /r/geek[15] and /r/news.[16] There were also two popular posts in /r/Technology[17] that were removed by the moderators. On March 21st, a Redditor on /r/Geek[18] pointed out a tweet Richards made on March 14th[19] (shown below) making a joke about a friend stuffing socks into his crotch region in response to him getting a pat-down by TSA agents, intending to point out her hypocrisy. The post accrued more than 2100 upvotes, 1300 points overall and nearly 750 comments within 13 hours.




News Media Coverage

The Daily Dot[21] was the first site to cover the incident on March 20th, followed by coverage on Techcrunch[22]. BetaBeat[23], New York Magazine[24], Businessweek[25], Mashable[26], Buzzfeed[27], VentureBeat[28], The Atlantic[30] and Ars Technica[31] the next day. It was also reported[29] that SendGrid suffered from DDoS attacks following the online backlash.

SendGrid’s Statement

At 6:30 PM on March 21st, SendGrid CEO Jim Franklin issued a longer statement about Richards’ termination via a blog post[20] wherein he explained that while the company supported her right to report the incident, they did not support the means by which she did it or the extreme responses that came from it. He also claimed her actions “strongly divided the same community she was supposed to unite” making her unable to effectively do her job, resulting in her termination.

Search Interest

[Not Currently Available]

External References

[1]Twitter – @adriarichards’ Code of Conduct Tweet

[2]PyCon – Code of Conduct

[3]Twitter – @pycon’s Tweet

[4]Adria Richards – Forking and Dongle Jokes Don’t Belong At Tech Conferences

[5]PyCon – PyCon’s response to an inappropriate incident on March 17th

[6]PyCon Code of Conduct – Attendee Procedure for incident handling.md

[7]Twitter – Tweet results for #donglegate

[8]Topsy – Tweet statistics for #donglegate

[9]Bloghaven – Addressing PyCon

[10]Twitter – Richards’ Termination Announcement

[11]Facebook – Richards’ Termination Announcement

[12]Reddit – Search results for “Adria Richards”

[13]Reddit – Reaction by PyCon to Adria Richards bullying incident

[14]Reddit – Adria Richards has been fired from Sendgrid

[15]Reddit – Adria Richards has been terminated from SendGrid.

[16]Reddit – SendGrid Fires Adria Richards

[17]Reddit – /r/technology mods have now hidden two popular posts about the Adria Richards/Pycon Incident

[18]Reddit – Adria Richards, the “Developer Evangelist” who got someone fired from their job after overhearing a sexual joke at PyCon, just prefers her jokes to be about penises.

[19]Twitter – @adriarichards’ TSA Sock Joke

[20]SendGrid – A Difficult Situation

[21]The Daily Dot – How a “big dongle” joke brought out the worst of the Internet

[22]Techcrunch – A Dongle Joke That Spiraled Way Out Of Control

[23]BetaBeat – Why Can’t the Tech Community Talk About Adria Richards Like Grownups?

[24]New York Magazine – All of Silicon Valley Is Scandalized Over a Stupid Dongle Joke

[25]Businessweek – Brogrammers Making Sex Jokes and Other Reasons Startups Need HR Departments

[26]Mashable – SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

[27]Buzzfeed – Woman Publicly Fired For Tweeting About “Sexual Jokes”

[28]VentureBeat – Breaking: Adria Richards fired by SendGrid for calling out developers on TwitterV

[29]VentureBeat – SendGrid under DDOS attack after its developer evangelist complains about sexual jokes at PyCon

[30]The Atlantic – Hackers Got a Woman Fired by a Startup After She Called Out Sexual Harassment

[31]Ars Technica – How “dongle” jokes got two people fired--and led to DDoS attacks

GILGAMESH

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Gilgames-er GILGAMESH first made his debut in final fantasy V as a persistent, yet comical boss fight and/or villain who would combat the party, yet was generally heroic in his tendencies, going so far as to sacrifice himself in battle.
His most famous quote “Enough expository banter! now we fight like men! and ladies! and ladies who dress like men!” sealed his fame as the first villain to be a comical persistent yet seemingly incompetent presence in videogame culture, to the point that kefka succeeded him as an unexpected malicious villain.
His most famous moment in Final Fantasy V was when he sacrificed himself to save the party, shortly thereafter he made a reappearance in final fantasy viii, and then went on to make subsequent reappearances until he became the most famous character in final fantasy, so much so that he became the game’s mascot, having attacks that were a synonym for final fantasy such as “ultimate illusion” and being one of the most powerful characters in the series. as evidenced in the japanese title final fantasy type-0 when he was nuked at point blank and survived unscathed.
Soon after his first appearance, he began to receive a massive internet fanbase led by internet user MagiusNecros, called “the GILGAMESHARMY” and due to this popularity, his power as a recurring boss increased as a nod to the legendary internet status he had begun to amass.

Gilgamesh has gained much fan art and multiple demotivational and motivational posters in celebration of his awesomeness. the all caps GILGAMESH meme was inspired by the character himself, and he ranks on par with Barbatos from tales of grace, and sephiroth from final fantasy in popularity. His popularity on the internet may even manage to net him his own spinoff game. or so the internet rumors go.

The gilgamesh army is most commonly found in the gamefaq’s message board, where magius necros is seen spamming the boards whenever his topic arises.

Origin
He originated in final fantasy V and began growing in popularity due to his recurring appearances, his popularity is made even greater due in part to the fact that his ridiculous behavior and appearance paints him as weak, when in reality he may be the strongest final fantasy character in the entire series. This, on top of his boss theme “clash on the big bridge” gave him a loyal internet following on par with sephiroth’s.


Darien Long The Kickass Mall Cop

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About

Kickass Mall Cop is the nickname of Darien Long, a former mall security guard who rose to fame online after posting videos of incidents he filmed while on the job at a shopping center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Online History

On January 24th, 2013, a Facebook[3] page titled “Atlanta’s Downtown Criminal Culture” was launched, which claims to be the “official Facebook page endorsed by Darien Long.” In the following two months, the page gained more than 2,600 likes. On January 28th, Redditor gentimmy submitted a LiveLeak video to the /r/videos[1] subreddit, featuring footage of Darien Long shooting a mother in front of her children with a taser gun in self defense (shown below). Within two months, the post received over 8,800 up votes and 5,600 comments.



On January 31st, Long created the KickAssMallCop YouTube channel,[2] receiving upwards of 1.3 million video views and 15,000 subscribers within the next two months.

Reputation

Many have hailed Long as a local hero for attempting to clean up downtown Atlanta to bring in new businesses. Other have criticized him for escalating situations by being overly aggressive and using unnecessary force.

Reddit Fundraiser

Search Interest

External References

What Happened to These Girls

The Mystery Vault

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Background

On March 16th, 2013, Redditor dont_stop_me_smee[1] submitted five images of a large-sized safe vault (shown below) to the r/pics subreddit,[2] claiming it was found in a friend’s new house in New Zealand that had previously served as a drug house, which naturally led to to extensive speculation as to what could be inside the safe.



Within the first 48 hours, the post garnered more than 41,000 upvotes, 3,100 points overall and 5,500 comments, while the Imgur gallery[3] was viewed more than 1.6 million times. While many commenters in the thread seemed excited by the story still in development, some expressed skepticism towards its significance and speculated that the opening of this safe may not live up to its hype, even drawing a comparison to the live opening of Al Capone’s vault[7] in 1986.

Notable Developments

Within four minutes of the original post, Redditor MrSweatpantsJackson requested[8] that the OP post results once the safe was open, to which Redditor dont_stop_me_smee responded with a verbal promise to deliver the finding. By the end of the evening, Redditor Tof1911[10] had possibly identified the lock as a Sargent and Greenleaf model 6630[11] and suggested the OP get a special stethoscope to try to crack the combination. Throughout the rest of the comments, the OP claimed that he contacted a safe expert[15] to pay a visit and inspect it.

Image Macros

Between March 16th and 18th, dozens of questions about the safe were submitted to /r/AskReddit. Additionally, more than 100 safe-related image macros were submitted to the AdviceAnimals subreddit.[16] Many of these posts contained very similar jokes, as illustrated in a March 16th post by Redditor ChrisTobin[17] who compiled 14 unique instances of the advice animal character Confused Gandalf portrayed as someone who had missed the original post but become aware of its popularity on the site.



/r/WhatsInThisThing

About an hour after the images were first posted on March 16th, Redditor red321red321 brought up similar stories[9] about mysterious safe vaults that were posted on the site but never went resolved. The OP then replied with a link to the newly launched /r/WhatsInThisThing[4] subreddit as a gesture of firm commitment to unraveling the mystery. Within the first 48 hours of launch, the subreddit accrued more than 62,000 subscribers. Redditors began sharing theories[12] as to the content of the safe, while others divulged into their own stories about discovering locked objects, including those who had successfully opened them[13] as well as people seeking help[14] in getting their items unlocked. On March 18th, The Daily Dot[5] and Business Insider[6] both provided coverage on the subreddit and dont_stop_me_smee’s story.

Magic the Gathering Cards Hoax

On March 19th, Redditor Safeisbig submitted a post[18] to the /r/WhatsInThisThing, which detailed his discovery of a sizable Magic: The Gathering card collection after calling a locksmith to open a safe that he had first discovered in September 2012. The post, which was accompanied by several photographs and videos of the card collection, received more than 3,000 upvotes and 1,500 comments within the first 48 hours. The curiosity peaked when fellow Redditor and Magic expert JubilationLee[19] estimated that the collection could be worth up to $32,000.



However, around noon on the next day, Redditor TheKidd142[20] followed up on the post with a lengthy comment explaining why he suspected Redditor Safeisbig’s claim to be a hoax, citing his cross-examination of the OP’s Reddit handle and the YouTube account that was used to upload several videos of the purported collection. By 3 p.m. on March 20th, the post had been identified as a hoax and its original description redacted in strikethrough.

Search Interest

Though there have been previous queries for the phrase “Reddit safe,” there is a large spike in mid-March 2013, corresponding with the original Reddit post.



External References

Carlos

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About

Carlos is a fictional character from the animated children’s television series The Magic School Bus who is known for making pun jokes throughout the show. Online, screen captures of Carlos are often posted in association with word play humor.

Origin

The children’s animated television show The Magic School Bus[1] originally ran from September 1994 to December 1997. In the show, a third grade elementary school class embarks on various field trips led by their teacher Ms. Frizzle on her magical school bus, educating the viewers about science along the way. One of the recurring characters in the series is Carlos, the class clown best known for his constant pun jokes that lead his classmates to groan “Carlos!” in unison (shown below).



On September 19th, 2007, a thread discussing an abortion was posted on 4chan featuring messages written from the perspective of characters from The Magic School Bus. In the thread, Carlos responds with an abortion pun, to which another poster replies with “Carlos!” (shown below).



Spread

On July 17th, 2010, a thread was started on 4chan’s /co/ (Comics & Cartoons) board, featuring several pun jokes accompanied by screen captures of Carlos (shown below). On September 13th, a screenshot of the original 4chan thread was submitted to FunnyJunk,[2] gaining more than 41,000 views and 1,100 up votes in the following three years.



On May 8th, 2012, Tumblr user Boltong published a post about her experience with the video game Fallout: New Vegas,[4] which turned into a series of Carlos pun jokes between Tumblr users Thegoodoneisbad[5] and Diarrheaworldstarhiphop[6] (shown below, left). On September 20th, Tumblr user Judaara[7] published a night blogging post, to which Tumblr user Serenitywarrior[8] replied with a Carlos image macro (shown below, right). Within six months, both posts received more than 11,000 and 131,000 notes respectively.



On December 5th, FunnyJunk[3] user dingbox posted an animated computer reaction image, representing the FunnyJunk community’s reaction towards Carlos comments. Within one year, the post garnered over 44,000 views and 1,000 up votes.



Notable Examples

Additional examples can be found on Funnyjunk[10] and Tumblr under the tag “#carlos-ramon”.[9] Carlos related replies to puns can also be found on the online archive, Foolz.[11]



Search Interest


External References

Just Little Things

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About

Just Little Things[1] is the name of a single topic blog that launched in December 2010 posting sharable image macros containing text describing small things or actions that make people in general happy. The fad has led to many spinoff blogs which either stick with the original plain text on a colored background format or use superimposed text on artistic-looking “hipster” photographs. Some of these blogs have also inspired parody blogs themselves.

Origin

Just Little Things launched on December 31st, 2010, posting 34 image macros utilizing plain black text on different colored backgrounds to describe a number of simple pleasures in life. The blog was the brainchild of Californian student Nancy Vu, who launched the blog during her sophomore year of high school. As of October 2012, Just Little Things had more than 500,000 followers and saw 25,000 page views per day.[2] As of March 2013, there are more than 880 image macros on the site.



Spread

By April 2012, dozens of blogs dedicated to specific people, fandoms, objects or subcultures with the snowclone title “Little X Things” began popping up on Tumblr. As early as April 20th, 2011[3] some of these blogs began transitioning away from the colored background format, superimposing their text on to photos illustrating the subject at hand.



Notable Blogs

Just Girly Things

Just Girly Things[4] was created by three female Tumblr users in November 2011, highlighting some of their personal favorite things, ranging from different types of makeup and clothing brands to celebrities and television shows using the inspirational photo quote text and image style popularized by blogs like Kushandwizdom[5] earlier that year.



On June 7th, 2012, a parody blog titled Juzt Gurly Thingz[6] launched taking similar imagery and adding buzzkilling text describing strange or disturbing behavior disguised as a “girly” thing. As of March 2013, both Just Girly Things and its parody blog are still active.



Things Boys Do We Love

Things Boys Do We Love launched in December 2011 with posts very similar to Just Girly Things, only focusing on meaningful or cute moments in relationships.



As early as January 16th, 2013, these images were parodied in a post on the Metal Memes subreddit[7] comparing an image macro from the blog captioned “When boys have curly hair” with a photo of musicians Kirk Hammett Dave Mustaine (shown below, left). Between February and March, similar buzzkilling parodies were shared on MemeCenter[8], the Lolbrary[9], FunnyJunk[10], WeKnowMemes[11] and 9gag.[12] On March 10th, the blog owner posted a response[13] saying that she did not care if her posts were being parodied and was tired of receiving hate mail about her images.



Search Interest



External References

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