Big Kev, by the Grace of God, defender of Australia and Australian business, cleaner of spills, remover of stains, of the House McQuay, first of his name.
Widely controversial in his austro-centric ethnic policies, Big Kev is the face of Australian made cleaning products, although, it is disputed that this is in fact a cover – for the face of Austrian made ethnic cleansing
Some say he can fit an entire sponge in his mouth, whilst others claim he is just a mere mortal.
However, we shall never know. Big Kev transcended this dimension in 2005, under the falsity of having a heart attack.

About

Flat Earth Theory is a hypothesis that states that there is no true evidence that the earth is round. While the hypothesis is often dismissed as a weak, easily disproved theory, several different organizations online boast subscribers to the hypothesis, who enjoy discussing whether or not the earth is flat.

Origin

People have believed that the Earth is flat since the beginning of humanity, but the modern Flat Earth hypothesis stemmed from an experiment called the Bedford Level Experiment, conducted in the mid-1800s by a man named Samuel Rowbotham. Rowbowtham, who wrote a book named Earth Not a Globe, started the modern movement by debating scientists publicly and accumulating followers. In the experiment, Rowbowtham attempted to measure the curvature of the earth by observing the curvatures at a local river. He took his results as disproving the theory of a round earth, but future scientists have said that the results he obtained could be accounted for by the parallax effect.

A drawing from Rowbowtham’s experiment

In 1956, Samuel Shenton created a more modern version of the Flat Earth Society, to collect a variety of followers of Rowbowtham’s experiments. When the first images of the earth taken from space were released, Shenton claimed that they were false. In the 1970s and 1980s, they released a newsletter called the Flat Earth News, which often debated NASA and other space agencies.

Spread

In 2004, the society was resurrected by a man named Daniel Shenton (no relation to Samuel), who created the Flat Earth Society forum, which as of February 2016 has over 8,200 members and 1.4 million posts. In addition, the forum runs a Facebook page with over 14,000 likes, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr profiles with several thousand followers each, and a Flickr profile where they advertise a variety of different posters with proofs for why the world is flat.

B.o.B. vs. Neil DeGrasse Tyson

On January 25th, 2016 Atlanta rapper B.o.B., who has self-identified as a member of the Flat Earth Society, tweeted a photograph of himself against a skyline, then tweeted a screenshot from Flat Earth Movement literature that proclaimed that Polaris (the North Star) can be seen 20° south of the Equator. Neil DeGrasse Tyson answered the rapper’s question, writing “Polaris is gone by 1.5 deg S. Latitude. You’ve never been south of Earth’s Equator, or if so, you’ve never looked up.”

Later that day, B.o.B. posted the track “Flatline” to his Soundcloud account dissing the physicist and reinforcing his belief in a flat earth.

Other Celebrity Followers

In January 2016, Tila Tequila posted a series of tweets claiming to believe the Earth is flat.

Search Interest

External References

(This page is a work-in-progress, as most newly-created ones tend to be)

“Jumping the Shark” is a term originating from pre-internet popular culture that is used to designate the moment at which any given serial media officially begins declining in quality and/or reaches a “point of no return” as a culmination of already-established decline. Moments labelled as this tend to be outrageous, ridiculous, status-quo-breaking or upsetting in nature.

Origins

The name comes from a 1977 episode of the classic sitcom Happy Days, in which lead character Fonzie literally jumps over a shark-infested tank while water skiing. This moment was seen as very gimmicky and cheesy, as well as disregarding of previous character development such as when Fonzie had once injured himself while attempting a comparable feat and admitted that undergoing such dangerous activities to prove one’s bravery is wrong. Despite its present-day infamy, this episode of Happy Days was a hit at the time, and the series continued running for several more years after its initial airing. Hence, in the original case, “Jumping the Shark” referred not to a “point of no return”, but the start of the series going downhill.

The actual term “Jumping the Shark” was not officially coined until its use in 1985 by radio personality Jon Hein, who got the idea of its usage from a roommate at the University of Michigan. Soon afterward, Hein created a now-defunct website (Jumptheshark.com) on the subject, listing the moments at which various other series had “Jumped the Shark” in his own opinion.

Related/Similar Terms

“Nuking the Fridge”

In 2008, a similar term known as “Nuking the Fridge” was coined in reference to an infamous scene in the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released that same year, in which the titular hero survives a nuclear bombing by hiding inside a refrigerator which is launched a great distance away in the blast without harming him, allowing him to then emerge without being exposed to significant radioactive fallout. Compared to “Jumping the Shark” which can refer to something that is not too bad in and of itself but heralds the onset of worse things to come, “Nuking the Fridge” more precisely refers to a moment whose singular outrageousness serves to discredit the dramatic effectiveness and feasibility of anything and everything that comes after it in the story, as its existence has severely undermined the work’s basis in any semblance of reality.

“Frying the Coke”

In 2011, The Nostalgia Critic coined the term “Frying the Coke” in his review of the film Double Team, explicitly comparing it / calling it a successor to Jumping the Shark and Nuking the Fridge and specifically insisting that it become an internet meme. As defined by the Critic, “Frying the Coke” refers to an even more outrageous moment than Nuking the Fridge, whose sheer ridiculousness may actually serve to thrill and entertain more than it does to undermine a work’s credibility. In the Double Team scene that this term comes from, the protagonists survive a large explosion (itself an already-spectacular display taking place in a colosseum) by shielding themselves with a Coca-Cola vending machine.

Although a memorable Nostalgia Critic quote/moment, “Frying the Coke” has failed to gain significant leverage outside of the TGWTG fandom, partially because the Critic “ruined” its potential as a true meme by specifically trying push it to become one, thereby making it a “forced meme”.

About

Tila Tequila is the stage name of American actress, model and singer-songwriter Thien Thanh Thi Nguyen, best known for starring in the 2007 reality television show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequilla. Online, Nguyen has been widely mocked and criticized for her bizarre blog posts and vlog videos about the Illuminati and the Holocaust.

Online History

In July 2001, Nguyen launched the site TilasHotSpot, featuring photo galleries and information herself, originally requiring visitors to pay a monthly fee for access. After appearing on the reality television show Surviving Nugent in 2003, Nguyen gained a large following on the social networking site Myspace. In 2005, Nguyen launched the now defunct fashion website TilaFashion.com. By April 2006, Nguyen had the most popular profile on Mypsace, with over 31.5 million views.^[3] In 2007, Nguyen starred in the MTV reality dating show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.

Insane Clown Posse Concert

On August 14th, 2010, Nguyen suffered facial injuries after being pelted with rocks and other objects on stage at The Gathering of the Juggalos festival, an annual concert for fans of the rap group Insane Clown Posse and other artists on the record label Psychopathic Records.

Sex Tape

In 2011, the adult film company Vivid Entertainment released sexually explicit footage of Nguyen with two adult actresses. On January 31st, TMZ^[1] reported that Nguyen claimed the video was for personal use and was released without her consent.

Antisemitism Controversy

On January 13th, 2012, TMZ reported that Nguyen had announced plans to convert to the religion of Judaism. In December 2013, Nguyen posted a photoshopped picture of herself wearing a Nazi SS uniform while standing in front of the Auschwitz concentration camp on her Facebook^[2] page, which contained the super imposed signature of political comic artist Ben Garrison (shown below). After being widely derided online as anti-Semitic, the photo was removed by Facebook.

That month, Nguyen published a blog post titled “Why I Sympathize with Hitler: Part I,” in which she claimed that Hitler “stood up for his country in a desperate time of need.” The post was subsequently deleted. In August 2015, Nguyen apologized for previous antisemitic comments and claimed they were spurred by depression and drug addiction.^[5]

Flat Earth Tweet

In January 2016, Nguyen posted a tweet claiming to believe the Earth is flat.^[6]

Search Interest

External References

Overview

The 2016 United States Presidential Election is the 58th quadrennial presidential election, scheduled to happen on November 8th, 2016.

Background

2016 Democratic Presidential Primary

The 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary is the preliminary round for the Democratic party to pick the candidate they wish to support for the 2016 general election. It has gained some attention online, mostly due to the conflict between candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

2016 Republican Presidential Primary

The 2016 Republican Presidential Primary is the preliminary round for the Republican party to decide which candidate they wish to support for the 2016 general election. It has gained much attention online, most notably for its inclusion of Donald Trump.

Notable Developments

{WIP}

Notable Examples

{WIP}

Search Interest

External References

{WIP}

About

Now Neither Of Us Will Be Virgins! refers to images where a person meets their clone or alternate universe with text saying “now neither of us will be virgins!”, implying that they are about to engage in sexual intercourse.

Origin

The earliest known usage was an edit of a Sonic the Hedgehog coloring book (below), featuring Dr. Eggman. While the exact date is unknown, it was recorded by TinEye on February 7th, 2008.^[1]

Spread

{WIP}

Various Examples

{WIP}

External References

^[1]TinEye – Search for image from https://i.imgur.com/1DjWi.jpg

About

Are You a Boy? Or Are You a Girl refers to a phrase used to make fun of the Pokemon Professors’ inability to tell the player’s gender in the games. Professor Oak is most often the one made fun of.

Origin

The first usage of the question was in Pokemon Crystal in 2001, in which Professor Elm asked the question. Professor Oak didn’t ask the question until the release of Pokemon Firered and Leafgreen in 2004.

Spread

While it likely was used before, the first known usage was on April 23rd, 2008 by the webcomic Super Effective.^[1]

The next earliest usage was in 2009, in the webcomic Heart and Soul.^[2]

Another early known usage of the phrase as a joke was on March 30th, 2010 on JoyReactor.^[3]

Various Examples

External References

Editor’s note: Work in Progress

About

The Clothes That Kill Virgins (Japanese: 童貞を殺す服; Doutei wo Korosu Fuku) refer to the kind of female outfits which “killingly” fascinate male otakus who are usually recognized to have no romantic experiences with women. Since the term was coined on Twitter in July 2015, its concept has widely spread on the social web and Japanese illustrators communities Pixiv and Nico Nico Seiga.

Origin

According to Pixiv Encyclopedia^[1], the term “Clothes That Kill Virgins” was first appeared in a tweet by an amateur illustrator Keyholder (キーホルダー) on July 5th, 2015. He used it to explain a photo from a Japanese clothing label NO.S PROJECT where girls are wearing white blouses and long dark high waisted skirts. This tweet had earned over 10000 retweets and favorites in each within the following 2 days due to its quite impressive and incendiary naming.

飲み会とかで何回か童貞を殺す服を見てきたけどやっぱりダントツはNO.S PROJECTのブラウスとかスカートとかそのへん pic.twitter.com/97hzMD9yWq

— キーホルダー (@key774) July 6, 2015

Translation:

After watching the clothes that kill Virgins in several drinking parties, I think the best is something like blouses and skirts produced by NO.S PROJECT.

In a reply to his follower on another day, the twitter user explained that the term simply means his favorite female outfits and male otakus must be fascinated with it and fall in love, too.^[2]

Spread

Just after that tweet went viral on Twitter, it sparked a controversy about definitions and meanings of this catchy term among the internet users while ignoring the originator’s message. Particularly male otakus, who were named in it, engaged an enthusiastic argument about outfits that actually kill them. As a result of this large online storm which was also reported by several online news media^[3][4], “Clothes That Kill Virgins” became to refer to a specific kind of outfits which are not improper/revealing but neat and clean while it emphasize body shapes, especially breasts, by high-waisted/suspender skirts or corsets.

Naturally, this kind of clothes have been always known as famous otaku beloved outfits. Sexy uniforms in Anna Miller’s^[5] and Kobe-ya Kitchen^[6] have been familiar to otakus since 1980s-1990s. As well, popular female voice actors such as Sumire Uesaka^[7] and Ayana Taketatsu^[8] often wear this kind of “casual lolita” outfits as stage/photoshoot costumes, moe illustrations drawn in the “breasts sack” style frequently feature it, and these have also inspired female otakus/cosplayers fashion. So, it’s also the reason why the term took the root in the subculture that there had been no good word to express those very familiar costumes collectively.

Examples of “Clothes That Kill Virgins” suggested by Twitter users

In a reflection of the trend, many hundreds of illustrations, photos and parodies featuring the “Clothes That Kill Virgins” had been uploaded to Pixiv^[9], Nico Nico Seiga^[10], and Twitter^[11] within its first few days. It was reported by an online gossip blog media^[12] and its article was also republished on several major portal services. And since then, it has been widely used as a collective term for the otaku-killing clothes in the illustrators communities.

Criticism

On the other hand, it’s also the fact that some people don’t have a good impression to its bit offensive expression against virgins and especially women in this fashion. A user’s tweet worried about negative effects of its spreading win the sympathy of many people and earned almost 10000 retweets and over 4000 favorites just in a few hours (shown below). Nico Nico Pedia’s article for this term, which explains it also refers to the clothes worn by women who have ulterior motives to charm male otakus after drinking parties, also affects to the bad reputations.^[13]

「童貞を殺す服」という言葉が広まってしまうことで、本来「可愛いから」という理由でそれらの服を着たかった女の子が、周りに「お前それ童貞殺す服じゃんｗｗ狙ってんの？ｗｗ」と言われるのが嫌だからと着なくなってしまうので、今めちゃくちゃ悲しい気持ちになっている。

— エビピラフとタコライス (@pankashi) July 8, 2015

Translation:

Now I’m feeling so blue. Spreading of the term “Clothes That Kill Virgins” must hurt girls who would like to wear that kind of clothes simply because of its “cuteness”. They would stop wearing it as they don’t want to be said like " Wow! You’re wearing the clothes that kill virgins! Who the hell is your target? (lollol".

Various Examples

Personalities

Representative real/fictional personalities of The Clothes That Kill Virgins suggeste by Twitter, Pixiv and Nico Nico Seiga users.

From top left to bottom right: Sumire Uesaka, Ayana Taketatsu, Saber (Fate), Hajime Ichinose (Gatchaman Crowds), Hotaru Shidare (Dagashi Kashi), Tatsuta (Kantai Collection), Isara Aomi (Love, Election and Chocolate)

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos/illustrations listed in this section.

About

Primitive Technology is a YouTube channel which contains videos of a man demonstrating how to create primitive tools and shelters using only natural materials found in the wilderness of North Queensland, Australia.

History

On May 2nd, 2015, the first video was uploaded to the channel, in which a wattle and daub hut are built entirely from scratch (shown below, left). Within ten months, the video gained over 8.3 million views and 9,100 comments. On May 22nd, a video demonstrating how to make a celt stone axe was posted on the channel, garnering upwards of 2.4 million views and 1,800 comments in nine months (shown below, right).

On June 23rd, the /r/PrimitiveTechnology^[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about the channel and other survival-related videos. On July 7th, the Primitive Technology WordPress^[2] blog was created. On September 4th, Primitive Technology uploaded footage of the creator making a tiled roof hut (shown below, left). On October 30th, the channel released a video showing how to make a fireplace, chimney and pots (shown below, right), which subsequently reached the front page of the /r/videos^[6] subreddit.

On November 27th, the channel posted footage showing how to make a sling projectile weapon (shown below, left). That day, the video reached the front page of /r/videos.^[5] On January 18th, the channel was highlighted in a post on the hacking news blog Hackaday.^[7] On January 22nd, Primitive Technology released a video showing how to make a cord drill an pump drill (shown below, right). In the coming days, the video was featured on the news sites BoingBoing^[8] and Popular Mechanics.^[9]

On February 20th, Redditor Rideron150 submitted a request for the creator of the channel to answer questions in an “ask me anything” thread to /r/IAmA,^[4] receiving more than 2,700 votes (89% upvoted) and 130 comments in 72 hours. By the end of the month, the channel had received upwards of 31 million video views and 788,000 subscribers.

Search Interest

External References

About

“Regressive Left” is a pejorative label often used against those who identify as politically liberal but are accused of being apologists for illiberal ideologies in defense of multiculturalism, specifically in the context of Islamic extremism.

Origin

In 2012, British political activist Maajid Nawaz coined the term in his memoir Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism as an epithet for liberals who “pandered” to Islamist extremists under the guise of cultural and religious tolerance.

Spread

On October 1st, 2015, The Rubin Report YouTube channel uploaded an interview with Nawaz, in which they discuss the book Islam and the Future of Tolerance and the term “regressive left” (shown below, left). On October 2nd, comedian Bill Maher discussed the term with Richard Dawkins during an episode of the show Real Time with Bill Maher, and lamented the stifling of free speech on college campuses (shown below, right).

On November 18th, the Big Think YouTube channel uploaded an interview with Nawaz titled “Religious Tolerance Shouldn’t Mean Accepting Lower Moral Standards,” in which he describes the regressive left (shown below). On November 24th, author Sam Harris published an uncut version of his interview with the news site Salon, in which he criticizes “regressive leftists and Islamist apologists.”^[4]

On December 9th, Dawkins posted a tweet accusing the “regressive left” of ignoring the presence of misogyny and homophobia in Islam (shown below). Within two months, the tweet gained over 1,700 likes and 1,200 retweets.^[1] The following day, a question asking about the label was submitted to Quora,^[5] to which the top reply listed the public figures Reza Aslan, Glenn Greenwald and Cenk Uyger as examppseudo-intelphilistineslistineslistines" that make up the regressive left. On December 18th, the /r/regressive_left subreddit was launched for discussions about the political label.

On January 4th, 2016, YouTuber Joseph Watson uploaded a video titled “The Truth About the Regressive Left” (shown below). On January 13th, Redditor xenoghost1 submitted a post complaining about the use of the term to the /r/GamerGhazi^[2] subreddit.

Search Interest

External References

About

Desus (better known by his Twitter handle @DesusNice) is the professional pseudonym of Daniel Baker, an American comedian most well-known for his humorous commentaries on Twitter, as well as co-hosting the weekly podcast series Desus vs. Mero and starring in numerous TV shows along with fellow entertainer The Kid Mero.

History

Desus created his Twitter account in April 2008^[1] while working as a columnist for a business news magazine geared towards black readers. According to an interview with Rolling Stone^[6], Desus garnered his early fame on the microblogging platform by sharing his personal grievances about day-to-day struggles at work, and later on, commentaries on hot-button issues and current events in popular culture, sports and hip hop music, which proved to be relatable and comical to many of his readers.

Media Coverage

As early as in 2012, Desus’ tweets started getting mentioned in listicles and round-up articles that highlight the best examples of social media reactions to various happenings in the news media, including Newser’s article about American news anchor Ann Curry’s awkward on-air farewell in June and The Urban Daily’s round-up of “7 Best Tweets About Joe Budden’s Oakland Struggle Show” in November that same year. In 2013, Desus continued to draw mass exposure on Twitter and elsewhere in the blogosphere by regularly chiming in on trending hashtags that cover a wide range of current events and pop culture gossips, from the trial of George Zimmerman and Paula Deen‘s racism scandal to album releases by hip hop artists like Kanye West and Kendric Lamar, among others. By December 2013, Desus had accrued more than 13,000 followers on Twitter and become known as an influential early adopter of Black Twitter, as mentioned in Complex’s “Black Twitter’s 2013 All-Stars” article. By November 2014, Desus’ audience on Twitter had nearly quadrupled to more than 50,000 followers.^[7]

Desus vs. Mero

During this time, Desus also began crafting his signature brand of comedy after re-connecting and collaborating with fellow Bronx native The Kid Mero, whom he had first met during his childhood at a summer camp, via Twitter.^[2] On December 18th, 2013, the duo debuted their first episode of Desus vs. Mero on Complex Magazine.^[3] The pair received critical acclaim for the podcast, which released a new episode every week for 46 weeks until December 30th, 2014.

Joking Off

Following the successful run of Desus vs. Mero, Desus and The Kid Mero continued to make regular TV appearances as cast members on a number of MTV shows, including Guy Code, Joking Off and Uncommon Sense.

DesusGate

On April 2nd, 2014, The Kid Mero tweeted a photograph of himself with a white man, who he identified as being Desus.^[8] Many of the fans of the podcast felt betrayed, as they had believed that Desus was black. However, the next day Complex debuted episode 21 of Desus vs. Mero, which was the first episode to be filmed as well as recorded as an audio podcast; fans realized that The Kid Mero’s tweet had been a prank, and that Desus was, as they had originally assumed, a black man.^[9]

Bodega Boys

On September 11th, 2015, The Kid Mero and Desus launched a new podcast entitled “Bodega Boys”, and recorded at New York City’s Red Bull Studios. The first episode received over 109,000 plays via Soundcloud; as of February 23rd, 2016 there have been 15 episodes of the podcast.^[10]

Online Presence

With over 115,000 followers on Twitter^[1] (as of February 2016), Desus has often been cited as an influential social media commentator and Internet comedian, particularly within the rapidly emerging world of Black Twitter. In addition to his well-known presence on Twitter, Desus also runs a Tumblr^[4] blog and an Instagram account, where he has over 15,000 followers (as of February 2016).^[11]

Highlights

As of February 23rd, Desus’s most popular tweet references a Kidz Bop-style cover of Fetty Wap’s hit song Trap Queen.

Personal Life

Born on May 18th, 1983, Daniel Baker was raised by Jamaican immigrant parents and spent his childhood and early adulthood in Bronx, New York City. Baker has a degree in literature at the College of Mount St. Vincent, which is located in the Bronx.

Search Interest

Note: Desus is a word or acronym in several languages other than English.

External References

About

Keit-ai is a copypasta of an original story made in the Anime & Manga section of 4chan. The premise goes like:

A boy falls in love with a girl.
Unable to confess, he is gifted with by a deus ex machina with the girl’s phone number. Never minding the strange area code, he immediately calls her, and is overjoyed to find out that she has a crush on him as well.
But, the next day, when he recounts the previous day’s confessions to the girl, she only looks at him with a perplexed expression. After some investigation, he finds out that the girl he called is not the same girl he fell in love with. In fact, she doesn’t exist in this universe at all. She is the girl’s alternate universe counterpart, who has fallen in love with the MC’s own AU self, who too is blissfully unaware of her crush.
Hijinks ensue as the two strike up a deal to give each other their darkest, most private secrets in order to equip the other with the weapons they need to conquer the heart of their other selves. While the two chase their respective loved ones, DRAMA ensues as they begin to fall in love with each other instead and question the NATURE of LOVE.

Origin

Keit-ai was posted at around 2012 when “ITT: Write Your Own Anime Plot” thread starts becoming popular.

One of the most well received story was the copypasta above due to its elaborate premise as well as its open-ended idea.

Spread

Keit-ai starts spreading when it was posted at almost every, some with different version from its original copypasta.

With its notorious reposting, as well as its unique premise, users starts posting and editing different image macros and memes whenever the copypasta pops up again.

<img src=“http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/084/069/927.jpg” width ="200">

<img src=“http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/084/071/737.jpg” width ="200">

Soon, a writer by the name of Abdiel1, with the blessing of Hataki, the anon who claimed to write the original copypasta, starts actually writing the details of the story at July 7, 2014, having currently 12 Chapters since June 21, 2015
https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3206139/1/

Confirmed Chinese Cartoon

References

http://4chandata.org/a/A-boy-falls-in-love-with-a-girl-Unable-to-confess-he-is-gifted-with-by-a-deus-ex-machina-with-the-girl-s-phone-number-Never-mindin-a15382

About

Napping Kanye is a photoshop meme based on an Instagram photograph of the American hip hop artist Kanye West and his daughter North West napping on display furniture while shopping at a Los Angeles nursery store in February 2016.

Origin

On February 21st, 2016, Kim Kardashian posted an Instagram of her husband Kanye West and their two-year-old daughter North napping in the middle of a Bel Bambini boutique nursery store while out on a day of shopping with fellow celebrity couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen in Los Angeles, California (shown below). Within the first 72 hours of the post, Kardashian’s Instagram photo garnered over 1.4 million likes and 23,400 comments.

Spread

The next day, Redditor Joeval83 submmitted the Instagram image to /r/PhtoshopBattles in a post titled “Kanye West caught snoozing at the baby store,” which quickly garnered several dozens of photoshopped parodies in the comments section, including a couple of notable mashup instances featuring the subject behind the Sleeping on the First Day of Internship meme that had taken off on the previous week (shown below).

As the /r/PhotoshopBattles thread continued to gain momentum on the frontpage of Reddit, many celebrity gossip blogs^[6][8][9] and entertainment news sites^[3][4][5][7] began reporting on the latest photoshop parody meme centered around Kanye West, who had recently returned to his home in Los Angeles after going on a highly publicized media blitz in New York to promote the release of his latest album The Life Of Pablo.

Examples

Search Interest

[not yet available]

External References

About

“Garlic Bread” is a series of in-jokes referencing bread that has been topped with garlic and butter, which inspired dedicated circlejerk-style communities on both Facebook and Reddit.

Origin

The exact origin of the meme is unknown. Some have credited a video clip of English comedian Elaine Williams performing a cringeworthy stand-up comedy routine during an episode of the British reality television show Britain’s Got Talent with popularizing garlic bread jokes online. In the clip, Williams awkwardly repeats the punchline “garlic bread” after the audience fails to react to her initial delivery (shown below). On April 23rd, 2011, YouTuber mitchlastone uploaded a clip of the footage.

Others have credited a screenshot of a Facebook post in which an elderly woman scolds her granddaughter for posting a photo and accidentally replies with the words “garlic bread” (shown below). On October 26th, 2013, image was submitted to the /r/facepalm^[4] subreddit, where it received upwards of 2,500 votes (94% upvoted) prior to being archived.

Spread

On October 27th, 2013, Redditor Dyxus submitted a post titled “What is the deal with ‘garlic bread’?” to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[9] subreddit, which received replies citing the Britain’s Got Talent audition, the Facebook screenshot and a routine by British comedian Peter Kay. On September 19th, 2014, a clip of Elaine Williams’ stand-up routine titled “Comedian fails at jokes, then shares bizarre punchline about garlic bread” was submitted to the /r/cringe^[1] subreddit. On April 15th, 2015, Redditor arribalosrudos submitted a photoshopped tweet of the phrase “Yeah sex is cool but have you ever had garlic bread” attributed to rapper DMX to /r/BlackPeopleTwitter^[7] (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post garnered over 8,000 votes (97% upvoted) and 220 comments.

On May 10th, the Garlic Bread Memes Facebook^[2] page was launched, gathering upwards of 131,000 likes in the following two years. On October 20th, the /r/garlicbreadmemes^[3] subreddit was launched, accumulating more than 8,000 subscribers in the next four months. On November 5th, the MTV^[5] entertainment news site published an article about the Garlic Bread Memes Facebook page. On January 22nd, Redditor TommieTheTurd submitted a photoshopped picture of a skeleton holding garlic bread to the /r/dankmemes^[6] subreddit (shown below).

On January 25th, the news site The Odyssey^[6] published an article about the rapid subscriber growth of the Garlic Bread Memes Facebook page. On February 23rd, 2016, Redditor Aleesus submitted a post titled “What is this garlic bread meme?” to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[8] subreddit.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Google search queries for the keywords “garlic bread meme” saw a large spike in October 2013, the same month the Facebook screenshot was submitted to Reddit.

External References

Overview

The F.B.I. vs. Apple is an ongoing dispute between Apple, Inc, and the United States Department of Justice in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is asking for Apple to create a method by which security features tied to version 8 of the iOS operating system could be bypassed by investigators attempting to gather data for law enforcement activities. Apple has opposed the official order, saying that creating the bypass (often referred to as a “backdoor”) would negate the safety of the iPhone and set a dangerous anti-privacy precedent.

Background

On February 16th, 2016, a U.S. District Court judge presiding over the case ordered Apple to provide “reasonable technical assistance” to the federal investigators in unlocking the data stored on an iPhone that had been owned by Syed Farook, one of the two killers in the 2015 San Bernardino Shooting. According to the court ruling, Apple was ordered to help the FBI with clearing at least two technical obstacles hindering their investigation: disabling the phone’s auto-erase function, which activates after 10 consecutive failed attempts at entering the password, and installing a custom-coded version of the iPhone operating system that would allow investigators to bypass the phone’s security features electronically.^[2]

The next morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook released an open letter titled “A Message to Our Customers,” revealing that the U.S. government demanded the company unlock an iPhone that had been recovered during the San Bernardino shooting investigation. The company also announced its intention to challenge the court ruling, asserting that its compliance would require creating a “backdoor” to circumvent its own security measures, an action that could set a dangerous precedent in cooperation between the government and the information technology sector.^[1]

“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers -- including tens of millions of American citizens -- from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.

We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack. For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data. Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.^[3]

Notable Developments

Department of Justice Motion & Response

On February 19th, The US Department of Justice filed a motion in the United States District Court for Central California to compel Apple to obey the original court order. The court order accused Apple of using the FBI’s request as a “marketing ploy”, and claimed that the company forced the government to pursue further legal action. From the order:^[4]

“Apple left the government with no option other than to apply to this Court for the Order issued on February 16, 2016. The Order requires Apple to assist the FBI with respect to this single iPhone used by Farook by providing the FBI with the opportunity to determine the passcode. The Order does not, as Apple’s public statement alleges, require Apple to create or provide a ‘back door’ to every iPhone; it does not provide ‘hackers and criminals’ access to iPhones; it does not require Apple to ‘hack [its] own users’ or to ‘decrypt’ its own phones; it does not give the government ‘the power to reach into anyone’s device’ without a warrant or court authorization; and it does not compromise the security of personal information.”

iCloud Password Change

In response to the further court order, Apple revealed that the FBI had actually prevented it from being able to retrieve the data on the phone by prematurely changing Farook’s iCloud passsword, which would have allowed the phone to connect to Apple’s servers and the data to potentially be retrieved without bypassing the password of the individual phone.

Other iPhone Data Requested by FBI

ON February 23rd, a New York District Court filing by Mark Zwilliger, one of Apple’s lawyers, was unsealed; the filing detailed 12 other cases in which the United States Government had asked Apple to retrieve data from fifteen other iOS devices since October 2015. This contested with the FBI’s message on the San Bernardino unlocking case, in which they claimed that the software bypass they were seeking from Apple was a special case that would not be duplicated. The filing detailed that the government had asked to access data on 11 devices that had not been operating iOS 8, and therefore were able to have their data retrieved, but in four of the pending cases the device was running iOS 8. In all of the cases, the write said that Apple objected to the government’s request.^[8]

Public Response

On February 17th, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump urged Apple to unlock the phone (shown below).

On February 18th, Business Insider^[6] published an article by John McAfee, who offered to decrypt the iPhone free of charge in three weeks to prevent Apple from compromising iPhone devices. Many other technology leaders agreed with Apple. Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook, said that he sided with Apple in the dispute,^[11] but on February 23rd, Bill Gates told the Financial Times that he disagreed with Apple’s stance, saying that the company should comply with the government.^[7]

“This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case. It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records. Let’s say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said, ‘Don’t make me cut this ribbon because you’ll make me cut it many times’.”

On February 22nd, the Pew Research Center released a poll that stated that 51% of Americans sided with the FBI in the unlocking dispute, and that 38% of people sided with Apple. However, the level of support was very different depending on what age group the respondents were in. From the study:^[10]

Across age groups, adults ages 18-29 are divided over what Apple should do: 47% say the company should unlock the iPhone, while about as many (43%) say it should not unlock the phone to ensure the privacy of its other users. Among adults age 30 and older, somewhat more say Apple should unlock rather than not unlock the San Bernardino suspect’s iPhone. By a 54%-27% margin, those 65 and older think Apple should unlock the phone; 18% do not offer a view.

Search Interest

External References

About

DURRPLANT is a meme unintentionally made by YouTube user I Hate Everything to mock and compare the equivalent of the Damn Daniel vine meme.

Origin

On February 23th 2016, I Hate Everything posted a video talking about the trending meme Damn Daniel and why he disapproves of it, including a part in the 2:45 mark of the video where he explains the meme has no much of a difference as recording a clip of someone pointing their hand at a plant saying in a dopey accent, “Durr Plant!!!” as shown here.

Spread

(WIP)

A video was posted a few hours after IHE’s video by chookax at February 24th 2016, reusing IHE’s audio in 4 second video.

The clip has later been converted into a Vine by Yoshi The Lion the same day and has currently has over 1,200 loops.

Later, a video was posted by YeloPartyHat the same day editing the The Duck Song with the meme.

About

Legbeard is a pejorative term referring to unattractive, overweight and socially inept women who do not shave their legs. As the female counterpart to the neckbeard stereotype, legbeards are often associated with social justice warriors and misandrists who frequent the website Tumblr.

Origin

The term “legbeard” references the feminist movement urging women to abstain from shaving their legs to protest socially imposed standards of beauty. On October 7th, 2009, the earliest known instance of the term was posted on the /a/ (anime and manga) board on 4chan (shown below).^[7]

Spread

On February 19th, 2010, Urban Dictionary^[3] user Marcel Laverdongle created an entry for “legbeard,” defining it as “the female equivalent of neckbeard.”

Over the next two years, the term remained relatively dormant until it was used in reference to unattractive women in a post on 4chan’s /r9k/ (Robot9001) board on June 10th, 2012.^[8] On April 21st, 2014, the /r/JustLegbeardThings^[11] subreddit was created, for posts mocking examples of the legbeard stereotype found online. Within two years, the subreddit garnered upwards of 8,200 subscribers. On January 16th, 2015, the Social Justice Legbeard Tumblr^[13] blog was created. On February 14th, Redditor SyncNexus posted a “I Wish I Was at Home” comic titled “Legbeard at a Party” to the /r/justlegbeardthings subreddit (shown below).

On May 28th, Redditor N0Treal submitted an “I Made This” comic in which a /r/TrollXChromosomes Redditor reclaims the word “legbeard” (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post gathered upwards of 1,800 votes (98% upvoted) and 270 comments.

Search Interest

External References

About

Vic Berger is a video editor, satirist, and musician most well-known for his humorous Vine edits during 2016 Republican Presidential Primary and for trollingJeb Bush during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Online History

Berger has maintained a YouTube account since August 2006, although there are no videos uploaded to the account before 2012.^[1] He joined Vine in June 2013 and began uploading edited videos to the social network when that functionality became available in 2014.^[2]

On April 28th, 2014, Berger created a video on YouTube called “E-ZPass has the worst on-hold music I’ve ever heard.” The video, which featured a recording of the strange sounds callers heard when trying to speak with an operator for the automatic toll pass company E-ZPass, received over 187,000 views as of February 2016. In addition, it was posted to the subreddit /r/politicalvideos, where it received 2,371 points (94% upvoted),^[3] and was spotlighted by New York City news anchor Pat Kiernan on Twitter.^[4]

On Vine, Berger began gaining attention to his videos with a series in early 2015 on Chubby Checker, the original singer of “The Twist,” who still makes many television appearances. The videos of Checker were often humorous out-of-context snippets.

Berger produced videos consistently on both his Vine and YouTube channels, often targeting Guy Fieri, Jimmy Fallon, televangelist Jim Bakker, and Chubby Checker, among other celebrities. In the summer of 2015, when candidates began announcing their presidential candidacies, Berger created a series of videos in which the candidate’s announcement speeches were edited humorously; several of these videos became popular.

Throughout the presidential campaign, Berger has created popular videos on both his YouTube and Vine accounts and also for the online content portal SuperDeluxe^[5] about the 2016 Presidential Campaign. These videos have been described as “surreal” and “absurdist.” The writer Dan O’Sullivan has praised Berger’s satirical videos, saying “Vic Berger IV might be this election’s Ralph Steadman, but with Vine footage instead of dripping pens.”^[6]

#Jeb4Prez Tattoo

On July 16th, 2015, Berger created the Vine “Jeb Bush loves technology. #JebBush,” in which Jeb names several Apple products, including an Apple Watch. The video has gained more than 7.9 million loops as of February 2016.

On July 25th, Berger tweeted that if the video received 1 million views by the end of the following weekend, he would get a #Jeb4Prez neck tattoo. The tweet was retweeted over 1,077 times and favorited 826 times.^[8] On July 26th, Jeb Bush tweeted about the video, saying “I’d like to make Vic get a #Jeb4Prez tattoo. He’s halfway to 1mil, give this Vine a few views…”^[9] According to the Daily Dot,^[10] Berger was contacted by the communications director for Bush’s campaign, who encouraged him to get the tattoo; following the meeting Berger changed the rules to the contest, saying that he would receive the tattoo whenever the video hit 1 million views.

On August 11th, Berger tweeted several photos indicating that he got the tattoo, and was immediately contacted by several news outlets, who published stories about his support for Bush. However, in a later story with CNN, he explained that the tattoo was a hoax.^[11]

Personal Life

Berger lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with his family. He is a longtime collaborator of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of Tim & Eric, with whom he works as a video editor; he also works freelance in this capacity.

Search Interest

External References

About

Better Names For Things is an image macro series in which various photographs of subjects and objects, such as animals, food and instruments, are intentionally captioned with made-up, troll-scientific names for comedic effect, in a similar vein to the proper anatomical charts of animals.

Origin

[researching]

Spread

[researching]

Examples

[researching]

Search Interest

External References

WiP, feel free to help out

About

Merlin Network,^[1] also known as various derivatives such as [Merlin] CDLTD and [Merlin] Phonofile, refers to an online network that claims to be a digital rights agency. Although the group first appeared online in 2007, it did not reach prominence until several years when it began to issue copyright claims against Montage Parodies and Let’s Plays and montage parodies and later in 2016 when it issued claims against higher profile channels such as NFKRZ and I Hate Everything.

Origin

According to the Merlin website, the group was formed back in 2007 to help protect clients’ digital rights against piracy.^[2]

Spread

On November 13th, 2013 YouTuber mp4podcastDOTcom uploaded a video talking about both [Merlin] Phonofile, and another company, named IDOL, and how the claims they have made on his videos are false, and that they do not own the rights to the videos they claimed (shown below).

Later in 2015 [Merlin] CDLTD began claiming various videos, typically let’s plays. Several threads on Reddit began springing up about the company questioning whether or not it was a legitimate company or not.^[3][4][5] On February 24th, 2016, YouTube critic and comedian, I Hate Everything, uploaded a video detailing how [Merlin] CDLTD had filed a false claim against his Damn Daniel video (shown below, left). The following day, montage parody creator NFKRZ also uploaded a video explaining that [Merlin] CDLTD had filed a false claim against his Damn Daniel video (shown below, right).

Charles Caldas

Search Interest

External References