Hello fellow web crawlers! Kira here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Today’s top stories are about: the news that a worm ate some of RFK Jr.’s brain (seriously!), a man on TikTok who claims to have found a time portal in his shed, Tesla’s self-driving feature having a mind of its own, and the evidence supporting restaurant servers’ rather unsettling “pigtail theory.”
After that, the Trending team shares their pick for the “Main Character of the Week.”
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for our weekly news quiz. Just scroll down below to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Take Me Out To The Blog Game” shirt!
See you tomorrow,
— K.D.
⚡ Today in internet culture
🪱 POLITICAL MEMES COME TRUE
‘Makes a lot of sense’: RFK Jr. said a worm ate part of his brain
Kennedy shared this information during a 2012 deposition.
🕰️ URBAN LEGENDS
‘Stepped into a portal’: TikTok is fascinated by an alleged ‘time traveler’ discovered in a man’s shed
Real estate investor Alec Schall’s Airbnb may or may not be the site of a time portal.
🚙 THE ROBOTS ARE TAKING OVER
‘It took us to a Mormon church’: Tesla driver shows how car’s self-driving feature goes rogue
One family let their Tesla take them for a drive and ended up at Mormon Church. Another Tesla owner says his vehicle nearly ran him into a cop car.
👱♀️ LABOR HACKS
‘The pigtail theory scares me so much…’: Server shows how much she makes in tips with different hairstyles
While working in the service industry, some employees have discovered certain tricks that lead to higher tips from customers.
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👑 Main Character of the Week
By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor
Main Character of the Week: The Chipotle deserter
Main Character of the Week is a weekly column that tells you the most prominent “main character” online (good or bad). It runs on Fridays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
☕ A Tim Horton’s customer railed against what she dubbed “PowerPoint presentations” on digital fast food menus at the store.
🚗 This woman found her Honda Civic broken into, but went viral for explaining why she was puzzled by what they chose to steal.
💸 A Chime customer has gone viral after alleging that the company closed her account, then refused to send her the money that was in it.
🏨 If a hotel worker does this one thing during check-in, you need to ask for a new room immediately. At least, that’s this military soldier’s advice after her situation escalated, leading her to leave the hotel.
🏠 Lots of unexpected things can happen in an Airbnb.
🤑 As the cost of living remains high, consumers are helping each other out via TikTok by sharing their money-saving tips and tricks.
🛍️ From the Daily Dot archive: #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt: Why TikTok shopping is now the ordinary.
*The Daily Dot may receive a commission in connection with purchases of products or services featured here.
👋 Before you go
A woman who dropped her car off at the dealership for service later caught a worker on the road with it. Viewers weighed in to reassure her that it was likely a routine test drive and not a joyride. Or was it?
TikTok user @peace2080 posted the video, which has since amassed 1.2 million views. In the video, @peace2080 drives down a road. The text overlay reads, “POV: Dealership says they’re ‘fixing’ your car but you see it on the road AND they tell you to pick it up at 5pm. ??!”
As she drives behind the vehicle, you can hear the moment @peace2080 confirms it is indeed hers. “Yeah, that is. Yup. Because I left the rooftop a little bit open,” she says.
The video has also accumulated more than 700 comments.
