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Miguel's Fan-Kicking Stage Dive

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Overviuew

Miguel’s Fan-Kicking Stage Dive refers to R&B singer Miguel Jontel Pimentel’s on-stage stunt which resulted in the singer accidentally kicking a fan in the head during his performance at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in May 2013.

Background

On May 19th, 2013, Pimentel attempted to jump across to the other side of the stage and accidentally kicked a fan in the head during a performance of the song “Adorn” (shown below). Pimentel continued to finish the set before returning back stage to apologize to the fan Khyati, who was not seriously injured.



Notable Developments

Immediately after the incident aired, Vine user Zahbee uploaded a short clip of Pimentel jumping over the audience (shown below), which received over 4,200 retweets in the following 24 hours.



Twitter users immediately began joking about Miguel’s failed jump, the highlights of which were compiled into articles on the news sites News One[3] and The Huffington Post.[4] According to the Twitter analytics service Topsy,[6] the volume of tweets containing the keyword “miguel” peaked at 9:38 p.m. (ET) with over 602,000 mentions.



At 10:23 p.m. (ET), Pimentel tweeted that he “got caught up in the moment” and confirmed that the woman had not been injured.




Also on May 19th, YouTuber Stylz910 uploaded a video featuring several replays of the kick paired with his humorous commentary (shown below). Within 24 hours, the video received upwards of 320,000 views and 1,800 comments.



On May 20th, Redditor thatguy1977 submitted an animated GIF of Miguel’s stage dive to the /r/WTF[1] subreddit, where it received over 10,400 up votes and 1,000 comments within the first 19 hours. Two hours later, Redditor FieldOfBirds posted a similar GIF to the /r/cringepics[2] subreddit, gaining more than 1,500 up votes and 100 comments in the next 17 hours. Also on May 20th, E Online[5] published a compilation of notable image macros and photoshopped images from Twitter and Instagram, many of which drew references to power moves in professional wrestling as well as the snowclone expression “bitches be like”.



Notable Images



Search Interest


External References


Equestria Girls

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In December 2012, several Brony fan sites including Equestria Daily and Derpy Hooves News reported Hasbro filed two trademark applications for “Equestria Girls,” noting it would be used on pony toys as well as dolls and doll clothing. The February/March 2013 issue of industry magazine Kidscreen confirmed that Equestria Girls would be a companion series in which the main characters from Friendship is Magic would be sent to a new worlds, taking on human forms. While rumored leaked images from Equestria Girls depicting humanized ponies began to appear online in February 2012, the first official image of the characters (shown below) was published in a New York Times article on March 1st, 2013.

Threads discussing the spinoff were posted on a number of forums including Funimation, the MLP Forum and the deviantART. On March 9th, 2013, Redditor BryanBoyko submitted a post to the /r/MyLittlePony subreddit discussing the design quality of the humanized ponies, comparing them to previous fan art works. Many similar discussions also took place on Tumblr. On May 1st, 2013, The Round Stable shared a synopsis of the film, noting that it will trace the challenges that the Mane 6 would encounter in a high school setting. They also noted the film would be shown in a number of select theaters in the US beginning on June 16th, followed by its official release at the San Diego Comic Con in July.

On May 12th, the trailer for Equestria Girls was posted to the Round Stable’s YouTube channel:


Yahoo!

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About

Yahoo! is an American multinational internet company best known for its web portal, search engine and other online services such as e-mail hosting, news aggregation and user-generated knowledge database.

[researching; please request editorship!]

2013 Oklahoma Tornado

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W.I.P.

About

2013 Oklahoma Tornado is a disaster and breaking news about a giant tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 20th, 2013. Not only the tornado destroyed the city of Moore, but it also cause a death toll of 91 people. 20 of them are children.

External References

AIRBHG (Angry Iowa Running Back Hating God)

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About

AIRBHG is an pseudo-acronym for Angry Iowa Running Back Hating God, a supposed deity whose sole and primary function is to cause injuries to University of Iowa running backs or otherwise cause them to be ineligible to play. It highlights what appears to be a level of attrition at a certain position that is beyond reasonable explanation by reverting to the ancient world’s custom of inventing a wrathful supernatural being.

From Urban Dictionary:

Be it through academic ineligibility, arrest, suspension, transfers to other schools, repeated injuries (especially of the knee variety) or other causes, Iowa running backs suffer attrition worthy of a critically endangered species. AIRBHG tends to fell multiple running backs every year without cease, so Iowa can never replenish its backfield.

The deity is often mentioned after an injury, transfer, arrest, or other debilitation to an Iowa running back is announced, though it has been appropriated on many other sports blogs to describe a curse to their team or a specific position group. On Iowa sites, AIRBHG is often pictured as the animated character of God from Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail, although “Angry Zeus” (see above) is another popular depiction.

Origin

Cook wearing an AIRBHG t-shirt sold by Black Heart Gold Pants, in a still taken from an episode of SBNation’s ‘Shutdown Fullback’

Angry Michigan Safety Hating God

The meme was first appropriated from MGoBlog, a Michigan fan blog whose author, Brian Cook, supposed the existence of an “Angry Michigan Safety Hating God” in 2005 to explain the multitudinous injuries to University of Michigan safeties. Cook also made mention of the Michigan Safety Hating God on the Blogpoll (a ranking system that uses votes from top college football bloggers around the country) then written by Cook for AOL Fanhouse). Several early mentions of this proto-deity were made on MGoBlog around the time of the 2005 Michigan-Iowa game, in which Michigan was forced to burn the redshirt of cornerback Brandon Harrison to fill the now-empty safety depth chart.

Angry Iowa Running Back Hating God

Adam Jacobi, founder of the Iowa blog Black Heart Gold Pants, began to apply similar wording to describe the far more extensive history of injuries that plagued Iowa running backs since 2001, specifically in reference to supposed starting running back Shonn Greene’s perpetual difficulties in remaining eligible in light of potential backups Kalvin Bailey and Corey Robinson both leaving the school for academic reasons. Cook and Jacobi became a sounding board for the meme, with Jacobi and his readers using it on BHGP, and Cook publishing those mentions on his weekly Fanhouse column (also since moved to SBNation) “This Week in Schadenfreude.”

Spread

The meme’s popularity among internet Hawkeyes fans (particularly on Jacobi’s Blackheartgoldpants.com, Hawkeyelounge.com and Hawkeyenation.com) grew because of the continued propensity for Iowa running backs to lose their health or eligibility, and reached peaks of popularity as strings of attrition hit in 2008-‘11. In 2010 a poster named YouslavianMountainHound posted the first attempt at a comprehensive list of AIRBHG’s “victims”--that list has since been updated on, among other sites, www.airbhg.com.

The meme perhaps reached its peak of popularity in August 2012 when the loss of a fullback had Iowa going into the 2012 season with no available scholarship running backs (non-scholarship fullback Mark Weisman became the starter until he too was injured in the 2012 season), and the meme was mentioned on an ESPN broadcast:



It has also been referenced by mainstream outlets as onetime sports bloggers (examples: Jerry Hinnen and Brent Yarina) took on writing positions with more established media or organizations.

The meme has inspired a website to catalog victims (http://www.airbhg.com/), as well as t-shirts, a twitter and facebook profile, and repeated references in context of Iowa football on college football message boards, local radio and rival fans’ sites.

Search Interest

#OpGTMO

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Overview

OpGTMO (Operation Guantanamo) is an Anonymous campaign launched in early May 2013 to convince the United States government to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[1] The operation was established in support of a hunger strike that was started by a group of inmates[2] in March 2013.

Background

On May 4th, 2013, the Twitter account @OpGTMO[4] was created, highlighting a selection of quotes from prisoners in the camp as well as messages from their families. The feed also linked to a Change.org petition[5] seeking to shut down the facility immediately. As of May 21st, the petition has accrued more than 213,000 signatures. On May 6th, Crypt0nymous[6] released a communique video (shown below) describing the dire situations at Guantanamo Bay and why it is necessary to shut it down. The video declared the third weekend of May as days of action for the campaign, encouraging viewers to participate in protests, email bombs and Twitter storms to convince the American government to close the camp.[7] By May 20th, the United States government confirmed[3] 62% of the camp’s 166 prisoners had joined the strike, with 30 of them having to be force-fed through tubes.



Notable Developments

May 7th: Initial News Coverage

News stories about the operation began to appear May 7th on a number of politically-minded news blogs including International Business Times[8], Russia Today[9], the Daily Kos[10] and Before It’s News.[11] The same day, the Crypt0nymous Tumblr compiled a #OpGTMO master post[12], providing links to download Twitterstorming programs as well as phone numbers to call in protest and online petitions to sign.

May 17th: Protest Begins

On May 16th, 2013, one day prior to the official launch of the protest, the hashtag #OpGTMO[13] was used on Twitter nearly 8,000 times, according to Topsy Analytics.[14] the On May 17th, the Daily Dot[15] reported on the launch of the campaign, noting they were launching the second hashtag #CloseGitmo[16] for people who wanted to join in the protest without expressly being associated with an Anonymous operation. The same day marked the 100th day of the prisoners’ hunger strike and coincided with a number of real life protests organized by other human rights groups including Code Pink and the Answer Coalition[18] in a number of cities across the globe including New York City (shown below, left) and London (shown below, right). On May 17th, #GITMO17[17], the hashtag promoted in the Twitterbomb, was the top trending topic on Twitter worldwide.[19]



May 20th: Guantanamo Bay WiFi Shut Off

On May 17th, investigative reporter Jason Leopold tweeted[21] that the wireless internet connection throughout Guantanamo Bay had been shut down in response to #OpGTMO, despite the lack of any DDoS plans. This was confirmed to the Associated Press[20] on May 20th, when Army Lt. Col. Samuel House reported that the wireless had been shut off and access to social networks including Facebook and Twitter had been blocked for a week. The news was also reported by BBC[22], Russia Today[23] and the Daily Dot.[24]

Twitter Feed



Search Interest

[Not Currently Available]

External References

[1]Wikipedia – Guantanamo Bay detention camp

[2]The Miami Herald – U.S. acknowledges 14 on hunger strike at Guantánamo prison

[3]Al Jazeera – Guantanamo hunger strike enters 100th day

[4]Twitter – @OpGTMO

[5]Change.org – President Obama: Close Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay

[6]Twitter – @Crypt0nymous

[7]Anon Insiders – We are closing Guantanamo Bay for good (#OpGTMO Press Release)

[8]International Business Times – Anonymous Launches #OpGtmo Campaign Aimed At Closing Guantanamo Bay

[9]Russia Today – OpGTMO: Anonymous vows global hack attack to shut down Guantanamo

[10]Daily Kos – Anonymous Launches #OpGTMO Protest To Shut Down Guantanamo

[11]Before It’s News – OpGTMO: Anonymous vows global hack attack to shut down Guantanamo

[12]Tumblr – crypt0nymous: #OpGTMO Information Center

[13]Twitter – Tweet Results for #OpGTMO

[14]Topsy – Tweet Statistics for #OpGTMO

[15]The Daily Dot – Anonymous launches campaign to close Gitmo for good

[16]Twitter – Tweet results for #CloseGitmo

[17]Twitter – Tweet Results for #GITMO17

[18]Answer Coalition – Why we are demonstrating to Shut Down Guantanamo Now

[19]International Business Times – Anonymous #opGTMO: Guantanamo Bay Protest Campaign Reaches Millions, Trends Worldwide On Twitter

[20]Associated Press – GUANTANAMOHACKTHREATPROMPTSWIFISHUTDOWN

[21]Twitter – @JasonLeopold’s Tweet

[22]BBCGuantanamo wi-fi shut down after Anonymous threat

[23]RT – ‘Anonymous’ hack threat prompts WiFi shutdown on Guantanamo

[24]The Daily Dot – Guantanamo shuts down Wi-Fi in response to Anonymous’ #OpGTMO

Xbox

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About

Xbox is a gaming brand distributed by Microsoft that was launched in 2001, with consoles in the sixth through eighth generations. The brand also incorporates an online service known as Xbox Live, which allows users to play multiplayer games over the server as well as download new content. Online, Xbox fans are often found competing in “console wars” with fans of Playstation and Nintendo consoles.

History

Xbox

The first Xbox console[1] was released in North America on November 15th, 2001, marking the first American-made console since the Atari Jaguar ceased production in 1996. It was released globally in 2002, but the system had the most success in North America.



One year prior to the Xbox’s release, Microsoft acquired the video game development company Bungie[2] to make games exclusively for the system. Their first project with Microsoft first-person shooter game Halo: Combat Evolved[3] was selected as the launch title for the Xbox. The game went on to sell more than 1 million copies in five months, breaking the record for any previous sixth-generation console game. By November 2005 when the Xbox 360 was launched, Halo: Combat Evolved had sold 5 million copies.



Xbox Live

Seeing a future in broadband online gaming, Microsoft equipped every Xbox with an Ethernet port, skipping over modem and dial-up support. Though execs hinted at an online service at the Xbox’s launch, it did not recieve the name Xbox Live[4] until 2002’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) convention. The system was launched on November 15th, 2002 with a $49.99 starter kit, including a year’s worth of the service, a headset and starter disc.[5]



The system allows users to create a handle called a Gamertag which also collects statistics about the player and his or her games. This let the system scan one’s statistics for random opponents based on their skill level when starting up online matches. Xbox Live also provides downloadable content for games, and had a roster update for Sega’s NFL 2K3 available on launch.

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 was announced in 2005 through an alternate reality game called OurColony[8], created by 42 Entertainment[9] that March. The game required players to create “colonies” with each other, receiving challenges based on the number of members in their group. Each successfully completed challenge revealed a piece of a photo of the redesigned console.[10] The game ended on May 12th, 2005 with a video (shown below) of Microsoft executives introducing the Xbox 360.



The same day, the Xbox 360 was unveiled in a television special that aired on MTV. The next week, Bill Gates appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine with the console, where the author called the Xbox 360 “the greatest piece of game-playing hardware the world has yet seen.”[11] The console was released in Japan and North America in November 2005 with a selection of 7 and 18 launch titles repectively. At the time of its release, a $299.99 basic edition and a $399.99 20 GB premium version were made available. As of May 2013, there have been seven different versions of the hardware, ranging in prices from $479.99 to $199.99.



Xbox One

On May 21st, 2013, Microsoft announced the Xbox One[15], scheduled to be released by the end of that year. The system is expected to incorporate access to streaming movies, live television, Internet Explorer and Skype. The system would also use the Kinect[16] motion sensing device as a voice sensor, allowing users to speak commands to the console. The system will also feature its own operating system, Xbox OS, as well as two additional systems that would allow for players to use streaming services like Skype while in-game.



Twelve launch games were also announced, including new additions to the Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty franchises. However, it was also announced that the system would not be backward-compatible with Xbox 360 games. The console will only be available in the United States at launch and will require a special receiver for live television streaming.[17]

Reception

XBox

Being Microsoft’s first foray into the console gaming market, the sales of XBox was generally perceived as successful upon its launch in North America. Within three months, 1.53 million Xboxes had been sold in the market, more than the Gamecube, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Wii and Wii U. By May 2006, more than 24 million Xboxes had been sold across the world, with roughly 16 million units in North America, six million units in Europe and just over two million units in Japan.

XBox Live

Prior to its release, Microsoft anticipated 10 million Xbox Live subscribers by 2007.[5] That March, Xbox Live had more than 6 million subscribers[6] who had logged more than 2.3 billion hours of gameplay and exchanged 2 million voice and text messages per day. By February 2013, Microsoft reported[7] more than 46 million Xbox Live subscribers.

XBox 360

In North America, more than 326,000 units were sold the first month, but the company missed their goal of 3 million units worldwide within 90 days.[12] Despite this, Microsoft was not able to keep up with the demand of sales in Europe and North America[13], resulting in 10% of all Xbox 360s sold being resold at a higher price on eBay by December 2005.[14] As of March 31st, 2013, there have been more than 77.2 million Xbox 360 consoles sold worldwide.

Fandom

Since its launch in 2001, the official XBox forum hub site[19] has become popular destination for the console gamers, providing a wide range of console-related and title-specific information as well as technical support and troubleshooting services. Outside of the official community, there are numerous other independently-run news sites such as This is XBox[25], XBLA Fans[26], X Box Kinect Fans[27] and BritXBox[28], as well as discussion forum communities, including XBox Live Fan Forum[20], IGN’s Team XBox Forum[21], XBox Live Gamer Hub[22], XBox Live Nation[23] and XBox Life Community.[24] As of May 2013, the official Facebook fan page[18] for the XBox console has accumulated more than 21.6 million likes.

Related Memes

Huge Like Xbox

Huge Like Xbox is an expression referring to the first generation Xbox released by Microsoft in 2001, which mocked the gaming console’s large size and bulky appearance.



XBox Crazy Lady

Xbox Crazy Lady is the nickname of an Argentinian actress who auditioned for a commercial for the Xbox 360 that surfaced on YouTube in September of 2006. In the footage, the woman pretends to fire an invisible pistol while yelling exploding sound effects.



Xbox 360 Kid

Xbox 360 Kid is the nickname given to a teenage boy with braces featured on a sales flyer for the Xbox 360. The photograph of the boy has been heavily remixed in MS Paint-style illustrations, bearing many similarities to fsjal artworks.



Fake Xbox 360 Achievements

Fake Xbox 360 Achievements are photoshopped images resembling achievements that are unlocked by players connected to Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE online gaming system.



Red Ring of Death

Red Ring of Death is a slang term for the red notification light on Xbox 360 consoles indicating that a general hardware failure has occured. Do to the frustration caused by attempting to fix the various problems associated with the red ring, many grew to associate the notification with dread.



Why They Call it an Xbox 360

Why They Call it an Xbox 360 is a joke claiming that the console was named the “Xbox 360” because when people see it, they turn 360 degrees around and walk away. The joke has inspired the creation of many comics and image macros using the punchline.



Search Interest



External References

Yelp

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About

Yelp is an online local business directory service and review site that earns a majority of its revenue from local business advertising.

History

Yelp was founded in October of 2004 by Max Levchin, Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons. In February of 2005, the site was relaunched with a focus on unsolicited review writing. That year, Yelp launched the “Yelp Elite” category to reward super users on the site, who received invites to special Yelp events. By 2006, over 100,000 reviewers had joined the site. By February of 2008, Yelp was active in 24 major cities.[22] In January of 2010, the venture capital firm Elevation Partners invested $100 million to increase Yelp’s sales staff.[23] On September 16th, 2011, the Harvard Business School[6] published a paper studying Yelp’s effect on restaurants, which found that positive Yelp reviews lead to an increase in revenue for small, independent establishments, while chain restaurants seem to have suffered as Yelp grew in significance.

Features

Yelp allows users who have created an account to rate and review business listings on the site. Suspicious reviews are filtered by an automated algorithm to prevent gaming of the system. The local search feature allows users to find listings for keywords in a specified area, which can be filtered by price, distance, category and neighborhood. With moderator approval, users and business owners can update listings with up-to-date information. Community features include a reputation system, direct messaging and a web forum.

Controversies

The fairness of Yelp’s review system has been called into question several times over the years, with many suggesting that friends and competitors of local businesses can attempt to skew ratings. In February of 2009, the Oakland, California publication East Bay Press[24] published an article reporting that local businesses claimed Yelp offered to hide negative reviews if they payed for advertising. On November 3rd, 2009, a San Francisco bookstore owner confronted a Yelp user at his home who had given the store a poor review. The owner was subsequently arrested and given a restraining order.[25] In March of 2010, a group of small businesses filed class action lawsuits against Yelp for “extortion and fraudulent business practices.”[26] On September 4th, 2012, Redditor cstaerns86 submitted a post to the /r/food[8] subreddit, which claimed that Yelp had dropped his sister’s restaurant rating by filtering most of the positive reviews after she declined to pay for the site’s advertising fees. Prior to being archived, the post gained upwards of 3,200 up votes and 720 comments. On April 16th, 2013, the political news blog Daily Kos[5] published an article reporting that Yelp was extorting small businesses by filtering positive reviews

Highlights

Parody Reviews and Listings

On May 27th, 2011, Redditor msd2099 submitted a link to the Booty Trap strip club Yelp[10] page to the /r/funny[11] subreddit, calling attention to a satirical 5-star review by Yelper Orlando D. (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post gained more than 1,700 up votes and 150 comments.


I like to get my dick wet as much as the next guy, probably even more so. However, where the next guy and I differ are in our love of strip clubs. The general sentiment in the male community is “bro, tits and shit, strip clubs are money!”

First off, I would never speak that way, because I’m not a douche and I don’t write “reading is for losers” in my Facebook profile under “interests.” Second, I love boobs and butts, but the strip joint environment is teeming with daddy issues and shattered dreams. Make no mistake, I still get a boner, but it’s a boner of shame. Your dick is behaving the same way a regular person behaves at Wal Mart; you’re trying to keep a low profile, but you can’t resist a $2 10-pack of undershirts. Erection is all, “ugh, I don’t want to BE here right now, but damn it, titties.”

I’ve been to a few strip clubs, usually because one of the guys has never been and wants to experience it, and no amount of me saying “I know you, you’re not going to like it” is enough to talk them out of it. The premise sounds fantastic, yet in practice it’s a clusterfuck. Let me explain.

I went to BT with two of my closest friends, one of which had just broken up with his girlfriend, the other had never been to a titty bar. It was the newbie’s idea. We show up and immediately you’re given a taste of the racketeering that goes on in there. The girl that’s charging you a cover to get in starts coercing you into tipping her. You know the rules, you wanna see some fucking chesticles before you give her any green, but the powerbitch knows how to intimidate. She subtly motions toward the former XFL linebacker in a black suit in charge of deflating the nut sacks of anyone who gets a little too rowdy, and suddenly you realize the employees in this place have ALL the power.

Once inside, you’re told about the drink minimum, and you awkwardly sit down and watch the girl on stage. The girls are a varied bunch. Sometimes you’ll see a veteran with a glazed look in her eyes like she’s wondering where her life went wrong. Other times you’ll get the nubile thing with way too much enthusiasm – more on her later. After you watch them gyrate across the stage very unlike you see in movies, they get off stage and walk around collecting dollar bills. The guys sitting right up on the stage eating chicken wings are usually the ones to tip the most.

When the girls walk up to you to collect money, there are various maneuvers they use. One is flat-out asking you for money, another is to give you a pseudo lap dance, and the last is they notice the slight bulge in your pants so they grab your pump stick and pretend like you’ll get a maximum of 3 tugs if you give her a dollar. Once you’ve got the money, some want you to put it betwixt their boobies, and the ones with smaller funbags like it when you sandwich it between their ass cheeks. Their skin is always cold. They’re kind of like lizards. Lizards that show you their genitals for money.

One very enthusiastic girl on stage, probably 20 years of age, gave me the most “oh shit, this is new” moment I’ve had in any strip club. First, she was masturbating on stage. I’m talking finger-licking, bean-flicking, fake-moaning masturbation right there to a Mötley Crüe soundtrack. I’m guessing it was her first day. When she got off stage, she came up to us. My first friend tried so hard not to touch her he might as well have mailed her a check. The second friend did the ass cheek dollar sandwich. When it was my turn, I was having issues pulling out the single from my pocket, and while I fumbled for it she arced her legs over me splaying her vag right in front of my face. Had I been a gynecologist she’d be the one tipping me, it was that close. Then her poon landed right on my chest, and she slid allllllll the way down to my crotch. My friends tell me the look on my face was like I had seen Abe Vigoda masturbating over a photo of Betty White.

I thought I contracted chlamydia that had a tiny vagina infected with syphilis. We left soon after that.

If you wanna see some tits I suggest you go to South Beach, find a club, and hit on drunk girls. If you want to see some tits and know what shame feels like, head to BT.

PEOPLEWHOWOULDENJOY IT: Guys who don’t know how to talk to women.

PEOPLEWHOWOULDNOTENJOY IT: ME.


On May 31st, the Internet news blog BoingBoing[2] published an article about a fake listing for an “Abortionplex”[14] inspired by an article on The Onion[27] about an $8 billion abortion center opened by Planned Parenthood. On December 28th, the viral content site BuzzFeed[3] highlighted several humorous Yelp reviews for McDowell’s Restaurant in Elmhurst, New York. On May 23rd, 2012, Redditor thedigitaldork submitted a humorous review for an Indian restaurant to the /r/funny[12] subreddit, which described the experience of painful diarrhea following the meal (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post accumulated over 10,400 up votes and 300 comments. On January 23rd, 2013, the Internet humor site World Wide Interweb[1] published a compilation of notable humorous Yelp reviews.



Single Topic Blogs

On July 17th, 2011, the “Fuck You Yelper” Tumblr[4] blog was launched, which highlights aggressive and mean-spirited Yelp reviews (shown below).



On September 13th, The Next Web[15] published an interview with the creator of the blog, who revealed that the site was inspired by his interactions with people who felt “entitled” about their dining experiences. Other Tumblr blogs curating notable Yelp reviews include “Fuck You Yelpers,”[16]“Yelping With Cormac”[17] and “The Blank Elite.”[18]

Actor Review Readings

On July 27th, 2012, the web series “Real Actors Read Yelp Reviews” was launched on YouTube, with the first episode featuring actor Chris Kipiniak performing a dramatic reading of a one-star review of the Stratford Diner in Stratford, New Jersey (shown below, left). On July 30th, a second episode was released in which actress Therese Plummer read a four-star review for the restaurant Tamarind of London in Newport Beach, California (shown below, right).



Amy’s Baking Company

The Amy’s Baking Company PR Scandal was an online feud that erupted between a restaurant owner in Arizona, United States and members of Reddit over an episode of Fox reality show Kitchen Nightmares aired in May 2013. The scandal was partly ignited when the restaurant began receiving poor reviews on Yelp[13] as early as August of 2010.



Traffic

In January of 2013, the site reported it received more than 100 million monthly unique visitors.[19] As of May 2013, Yelp.com has an Alexa[20] traffic rank of 190 and a Quantcast[21] rank of 43.



Search Interest

External References


Custom Bingo Cards

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About

Custom Bingo Cards are a type of exploitable images often used in online forum games in which participants are asked to create their own bingo sheet with a set of words or phrases, usually tailored to specific fandoms, communities or events. The goal of the game is to fill in five adjacent boxes on the bingo sheet in the shortest amount of time possible.

Origin

The game of bingo[1] can be traced back to approximately the year 1530 with the Italian lottery game “Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia”. Over the course of the next few centuries, the game was eventually co-opted by the French in the late 18th century. Bingo reached the web in the mid 1990s through virtual game rooms on Bingo Zone[11] and Pogo (shown below, left).[12] In 1995, the derivative game Slingo[13] (shown below, right) launched, replacing the traditional bingo format of calling one number at a time with randomization inspired by slot machines. Although it is unknown when bingo cards first became customized using words and phrases instead of numbers, custom bingo generators were created on the web as early as February 1st, 2001.[2][3]



Spread

According to a NeoGaf thread[4] posted on June 27th, 2007, the now-defunct gaming website Angry-gamer.net created custom bingo sheets for Electronic Entertainment Expo presentations beginning in 2006. Starting in July 2008, gaming website Joystiq[5] started an annual E3 Bingo in which they post bingo sheets for the announcements by companies such as Sony (shown below, left), Microsoft (shown below, center) and Nintendo (shown below, left).



As early as April 2008, Ronery Bingo began circulating 4chan’s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board.[16] Threads with these cards were so pervasive, one thread resulted in a ban for everyone who posted the card.[17] In February 2010, Illinois Science Council member Monica Metzler created a custom bingo sheet called “Bad Presentation Bingo”[6], which was based around common and well known mistakes made during presentations of any kind such as flaws in the slides or the speaker rambling. This bingo card has been mentioned on Idea.org[7], the Research Explainer[8] and My Research Rants.[9] It is also often shared on Twitter.[10]



Notable Examples

Custom bingo cards are often shared on deviantART[14], Tumblr[15] and 4chan.[18]




Search Interest


External References

FrankerZ

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About

FrankerZ is a dog face emoticon used to convey sarcasm or playfulness in chat rooms on the video game broadcasting site TwitchTV.[13] The image is sometimes spammed in forums and chat rooms during raids, in a similar vein to both “desu” and “( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)” .

Origin

According to the now-defunct website TwitchTVFaces,[8] the TwitchTV streamer Ernest Le[6] would sometimes speak in a different voice while referring to himself as “Frankerz,” which led a TwitchTV staff member to add the FrankerZ emoticon using a photograph of Le’s dog.[7][9] The earliest known mention of the dog face icon was featured in a blog post about TwitchTV emoticons by gamer Ashe Soriano[10] on January 31st, 2012.



Spread

On October 11th, 2012, a Facebook[4] page titled “FrankerZ” was launched. On October 30th, the domain for the website FrankerZ[2] was registered, which displays a page announcing that the website will launch sometime in 2013 (shown below).



On November 28th, Soundcloud user MarkSoupial uploaded "Marathon Anthem 2012 (Apocalypse 2012 Edit),” which featured an electronic dance song accompanied by a vocal track repeating the phrase “FrankerZ” (shown below).



On January 5th, 2013, the /r/FrankerZ[3] subreddit was created. On January 8th, a Pastebin[14] page was created with an ASCII art rendition of the FrankerZ dog face (shown below).


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On January 31st, YTMND user devanwolf submitted a page titled “FrankerZ,” which featured a tiled photograph of the FrankerZ dog accompanied by the “Marathon Anthem 2012” track. On March 15th, Redditor gamecubes submitted a screen capture[11] from the Nintendo 64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time with FrankerZ’s face superimposed at the end of a tunnel (shown below).



On May 20th, League of Legends Forums[12] member Darthdanimal started a thread titled “FrankerZ,” which linked to a page on the flash website TehUrn[5] featuring two photographs of the FrankerZ dog accompanied by the “Marathon Anthem 2012” audio track. On March 24th, Urban Dictionary[1] user MHFsilver submitted an entry for “FrankerZ,” pointing to its widespread usage on TwitchTV.

Notable Examples

On Tumblr, photoshopped images featuring the FrankerZ dog’s head are often posted under the tag “#frankerz.”[15]



Search Interest

External References

[1]Urban Dictionary – FrankerZ

[2]FrankerZ.com – FrankerZ

[3]Reddit – /r/FrankerZ

[4]Facebook – FrankerZ

[5]Teh Urn – FrankerZ

[6]TwitchTV – Ernie

[7]Reddit – Soooo someone posted this GIF

[8]TwitchTVFaces – FrankerZ

[9]Chat Slang – Emoticions – Twitch

[10]Ashe Soriano – All Twitch Emoticons

[11]Reddit – frankerz

[12]League of Legends – FrankerZ

[13]TwitchTV – TwitchTV

[14]Pastebin – FrankerZ

[15]Tumblr – #frankerz

Ha Ha Ha, No!

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Work in progress. Feel free to request editorship

About

Ha Ha Ha, No! is a catchphrase, normally related with reaction faces, used as sarcastic response to unfunny comments.

Origin

Spread

Notable Examples

Search Insights

Old Economy Steven

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About

Old Economy Steven is an advice animal image macro series featuring a photograph of young man wearing a blue collared shirt with a 1970s haircut. The captions typically depict the man as being out-of-touch with the frustrations young people experience in the 21st century economic climate, including dealing with student loans, unemployment and rising housing costs.

Origin

Prior to being used as an advice animal, the photograph of the young man was initially featured in acne-related articles online as early as May of 2010 (shown below, left).[1] On May 10th, 2012, Redditor NewNormal submitted an image macro titled “Introducing Old Economy Steven… you know, your dad” to the /r/AdviceAnimals[2] subreddit, which featured the same photograph paired with the caption “Fails out of high school / Gets job, buys house, retires happy” (shown below, right). Prior to being archived, the post received over 10,600 up votes and 950 comments.



Spread

On the following day, the Internet news blog The Daily Dot[3] published an article about the meme, noting that the advice animal resonated well with frustrated young workers. On May 17th, the Internet news blog UpRoxx[4] published a slideshow of notable examples from the series. On May 23rd, 2013, the “Ron Paul Problems” Tumblr[6] blog published a compilation of image macros from the series titled “Old Economy Steve,” which gained more than 5,300 notes in the next 24 hours. On May 24th, Redditor NarwhalBaconCat resubmitted the same compilation the /r/funny[5] subreddit, where it received over 1,800 up votes and 230 comments in the first hour.

Notable Examples

As of May 2013, the “Old Economy Steve” Quickmeme page has accumulated upwards of 365 submissions.



Search Interest

[Not yet available]

External References

Rob Ford Crack Scandal

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Background

On May 16th, 2013, Canadian newspaper The Star[1] published an article about a cellphone video allegedly showing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking out of a glass crack cocaine pipe. The video, which was being shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade, was said to have been filmed in late 2012 in a well-lit room in a house in the Kingsville Village area of Toronto. Ford was also seen recorded calling himself “fucking right-wing” and calling Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau a “fag.” The same day, Gawker published an article[2] by staff writer John Cook, noting he had also seen the tape along with a photo (shown below) of Ford posing with three men, one of whom was shot and killed outside of a Toronto nightclub in March.[3]



Cook revealed that the owner of the video was asking six figures for the footage. After contacting an acquaintance at CNN to see if they could help with payment, a CNN reporter in Canada called a source who had previously worked for Ford.

Notable Developments

On Twitter

Many Canadians took to Twitter to comment on the story using the hashtag #TOpoli.[13], a number of which were archived on Storify[14] by The Star staff. According to Topsy Analytics[15], #TOpoli was mentioned more than 10,800 times that day, while “Rob Ford” was tweeted over 116,000 times (shown below).



Media Coverage

In the coming days, a multitude of news outlets and internet culture blogs picked up on the story including The Chicago Sun-Times[5], The Huffington Post Canada[6], MetaFIlter[7], BoingBoing[8], the National Post[9], the New York Daily News[10] and Democratic Underground.[11] The incident also became fodder for a segment on The Daily Show.

Ford Avoids Questions

On May 17th, Mayor Ford was encountered by the press at least three times asking for a statement on the story. He called the allegations “ridiculous” and claimed that the Toronto Star was going after him in an official statement at city hall[4] (shown below). His brother, Toronto city councillor Doug Ford,[24] released a statement claiming the allegations were driven by “questionable reporting.”



Gawker’s “Crackstarter”

Also on May 17th, Gawker launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign[19] intending to raise $200,000 USD to buy the Ford video. Within two days, they raised $63,500 towards their goal[20], breaking $145,000 by May 23rd. The same day, Gawker revealed[21] they had not been in contact with the owners of the video since May 19th, that no money would be taken from pledgers unless they reached the full $200,000 goal and that they would donate the full amount to a Canadian nonprofit working against substance abuse if they were unable to obtain the video.



Chief of Staff Fired

On May 23rd, 2013, Ford’s Chief of Staff, Mark Towhey, was escorted out of city hall, telling reporters “I am no longer the chief of staff. I did not resign.”[22] Though Towey claimed his departure was not related to the scandal, a source later told the CBC[23] that he was let go for organizing an impromptu intervention for Ford with his top advisors and telling the mayor to get help. Towey claimed the mayor laughed at thoughts of going to rehab. The day he was fired, Towhey gained more than 500 new followers on Twitter (shown below), but he has not addressed the matter there as of May 24th.




Ford’s Press Conference

In the first few days following the scandal, Ford did not initially address whether or not the video was real. On May 24th, 2013, he held a press conference[17] where said he cannot comment on a video that he had “not seen or does not exist.”[18] He also reinforced that he does not use crack cocaine and is not addicted to it. He asserted that he had been judged by the media without any evidence. He also addressed the fact that he was let go as head coach of a Catholic high school’s football team, but a spokesperson for the Toronto Catholic District School Board claims this decision had nothing to do with the scandal.[25]



Search Interest



External References

[1]The Star – Rob Ford in ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal

[2]Gawker – For Sale: A Video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Smoking Crack Cocaine

[3]CBC News – Shooting victim Anthony Smith was a ‘big part of the community’

[4]The Star – Rob Ford crack scandal: Toronto mayor refuses to discuss specifics of video

[5]Chicago Sun-Times – Reports: Video allegedly shows Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack (Updated)

[6]Huffington Post – Rob Ford On Video Smoking From Glass Pipe: Gawker, Toronto Star

[7]MetaFilter – For Sale: A Video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Smoking Crack Cocaine

[8]BoingBoing – Gawker reporter claims to have seen video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack

[9]National Post – From ‘high-end’ dealers to the Somali connection: A closer look at the alleged Rob Ford crack cocaine scandal

[10]NY Daily News – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford caught in crack smoking video scandal

[11]Democratic Underground – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in crack cocaine video scandal

[12]Instagram – nottypix: Photo of front page story

[13]Twitter – Tweet results for #TOpoli

[14]Storify – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal. Twitter explodes.

[15]Topsy Analytics – Tweet Statistics for #TOpoli

[16]Topsy Analytics – Tweet Statistics for “Rob Ford”

[17]680 News – RAWVIDEO: Mayor Rob Ford denies crack cocaine use

[18]Slate – With Fate of Video in Question, Toronto Mayor Denies Smoking Crack

[19]Indiegogo – Rob Ford Crackstarter

[20]Gawker – (Update) We Are Raising $200,000 to Buy and Publish the Rob Ford Crack Tape

[21]Gawker – Rob Ford Crackstarter Update

[22]The Globe and Mail – Mayor Rob Ford fires his chief of staff, Mark Towhey

[23]CBCRob Ford fired chief of staff for telling mayor to ‘get help’

[24]Huffington Post – Doug Ford Defends Rob Ford Against Crack Allegations, Attacks Media

[25]Yahoo! News Canada – Rob Ford fired as Don Bosco Eagles football coach

2013 Woolwich Attack

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Overview

2013 Woolwich Attack refers to a violent attack against British Army soldier Drummer Lee Rigby by two men in the Woolwich district of South East London, England in May of 2013.

Background

On May 22nd, 2013, two men believed to be British Muslims of Nigerian descent ran down British Army soldier Drummer Lee Rigby in a car and proceeded to stab and hack him to death. After dragging Rigby’s body into the street, the attackers told witnesses that the killing was an act of vengeance against the British military for killing Muslims. Police arrived and shot the two men who were subsequently taken to separate hospitals in critical condition.

The Victim

Drummer Lee Rigby was a 25-year-old soldier in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers of the British Army from Middleton, Greater Manchester. After joining the Army in 2006, Rigby served in Cyprus, Germany and Afghanistan prior to becoming a recruiter in London. He was survived by his wife and two-year-old son.



Notable Developments

Bystander Video

That same day, a video of one of the assailants justifying his actions to eyewitnesses was uploaded to YouTube by user Alexander Wickham, which was subsequently submitted to the /r/videos[1] subreddit where it received more than 20,900 up votes and 11,700 comments in the first 48 hours. Shortly after, the video was removed due to a copyright claim by ITV News after receiving over 2.04 million views.



""The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers, and this British soldier is one, is a eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. By Allah, we swear by the Almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. So what if we want to live by the Sharia in Muslim lands. Why does that mean you must follow us and chase us and call us extremists and kill us? Rather you lot are extreme. You are the ones. When you drop a bomb, do you think it hits one person or rather your bomb wipes out a whole family. This is the reality. By Allah, if I saw your mother today with a buggy I would help her up the stairs. This is my nature. But we are forced by the Qur’an in Sura at-Tawba [Chapter 9 of the Qur’an], through many, many ayah [verses] throughout the Qur’an that [say] we must fight them as they fight us, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I apologise that women had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments. They don’t care about you. Do you think David Cameron is gonna get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? Do you think the politicians are going to die? No it’s going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we can…, so you can all live in peace. Leave our lands and you will live in peace. That’s all I have to say. Allah’s peace and blessings be upon Muhammad."


On Twitter

On May 22nd, “Woolwich” became the sixth highest trending topic on Twitter in the United Kingdom.



The same day, London Mayor Boris Johnson published a tweet referring to the attack as an “unforgivable act of violence.”




According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,[5] tweets containing the word “woolwich” peaked at over 407,000 mentions on May 22nd.



Religion Debate

On May 23rd, Redditor iFlick submitted an And It’s Gone image macro to the /r/atheism[4] subreddit, which joked about the attacker’s Muslim beliefs (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post accumulated over 17,900 up votes and 2,600 comments.



On the same day, the UpshotTV YouTube channel uploaded a response video by comedian Nabil Abdulrashid, who complained about those who blamed the tragedy on the Islam religion (shown below). On May 24th, the video was submitted to the /r/videos[2] subreddit, where it gained upwards of 12,000 up votes and 2,700 comments in the first nine hours.



“If I’m a vegetarian and I eat 2000 hamburgers in the name of being a vegetarian, I’m still not a vegetarian extremist – because I just did something that is against the whole concept of being a vegetarian”

Attack Video

On the same day, The Daily Mirror[8] released footage of the attackers charging police officers before being gunned down in the street (shown below). The men were identified as 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo and 22-year-old Michael Adebowale.



Search Interest

[Not yet available]

External References

My Sides

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Need an expert

Commonly used slang term in forums. Similar to LOL and rofl


Zach Galifianakis

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(This is a stub entry, please request editorship!)

About

Zach Galifianakis is an American stand up comedian and actor known for his appearance in a number of films and television shows including The Hangover trilogy, and Bored to Death. Online, he is best known for his Funny or Die web series Between Two Ferns.

Online History

Reputation

Personal Life

Search Interest



External References

Hide X Threads, Ignore X Posts, Do Not Reply X Posters

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Hide Body Threads, Ignore Body Posts, Do Not Reply Body Posters.

Head Smash Icons

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About

Head Smash Icons are a popular trend on websites like deviantArt. The icon consists of a animated gif of a character smashing their head into the ground. The character is usually portrayed in a minimalistic or chibi style.

Origin

Gaaah +10000 work
Don’t have the time right now

Spread

There is a group on deviantArt solely devoted to the creation of Head Smash Icons, called the #HeadSmash-Club.

^This

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About

^This is a single-word demonstratives and indication used to show agreement with previous posts used on internet forums and image boards. Besides it’s usage as a single-word text post, it has also gained usage with image macros and GIF animations of characters and people pointing upwards.

Background

In linguistics, demonstratives indicate objects the speaker the refers to. Demonstratives are used to either point towards objects in the physical surroundings of the speaker or the listener, or to include abstract concepts where the meaning is something other than the objects in the physical location of the speaker, such as whether something is currently being said or was said earlier. The most common demonstratives used in the English language are this, that, these and those, in which the usage differs on the location of the objects in the vicinity and to differentiate single and plural.


Usage

^This is most commonly found on interent forums and image boards. In discussions and opinion-related threads on these forums, those that agree with a previously made post commonly decide to point out their agreement instead of posting redundant information. Due to the style in which new posts and replies appear on most of these forums, in which new posts and replies get posted at the bottom, the use of a caret is a popular way to point to a previously made post.

On chat clients such as IRC and Skype, the addition of “this” is commonly left out and users post only a caret due to the high speed at which these chats may continue, as they otherwise risk pointing out to a different post.

Notable Examples



Related: Bless This Post

Bless This Post is a similar style comment as ^this in which users point out to a previous post or previously posted content. Likewise to ^this, which is most commonly used in agreement with opinions in discussion, Bless This Post is also regularly used to show appreciation to previously posted content such as fanart.



Search Interest


External References

Tortoise Sex Face

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‘Tortoise Sex face’ is a meme that originated on /sp/ in May of 2013. During the 2013 playoff final between Watford and Crystal Palace, an anon posted an image of a tortoise in his next door neighbours garden having sex with a shoe. Naturally this recieved several replies due to the hilarity of the image and more importantly the smile on the face of the Tortoise, indicating it was enjoying having sex with the shoe.

/sp/’s hilarious culture snapped into action and instantly created several Kornheisers about the image to provide /sp/ with a great deal of fun and laughter. It was so far one of the most epic days in /sp/ history, and a great deal (over 9000) lols were has

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