Newsletter: Terrifying amusement park ride malfunction

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Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr. 

Got any good weekend plans? I’ll be in Chicago watching the Mets play the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It’s my first time going to the historic stadium, so I’m excited. Maybe I’ll wear my “Take Me Out To The Blog Game” shirt. ⚾

Anyway, our top stories today are about: People capturing video of an amusement park ride malfunction that left people suspended upside down, Biden supporters and detractors accusing one another of gaslighting over wandering off videos, five wild instances of landlords being evil, and a Subway customer saying a worker gave her attitude for not tipping after buying a bottle of water. 

After that, the trending team shares their pick for “Main Character of the Week.” 

Also: It’s Friday, which means it’s time for our weekly news quiz. Just scroll down to answer today’s question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Take Me Out To The Blog Game” shirt. 

See you tomorrow!

— A.W. 

⚡ Today in Internet Culture

🎡 WTF
‘Thought we were going to die’: Passenger calls out Portland amusement park after getting stuck on ride upside down

Twenty-eight passengers were stuck suspended in mid-air for nearly 30 minutes after a malfunction—and people posted video of the incident. 

➤READ MORE

🚶 ‘CHEAP FAKES’
Biden supporters, detractors accuse one another of gaslighting over wandering off, freezing up videos

The videos have sparked a fierce online war between outlets and right-wing influencers covering them and Biden’s team furiously attempting to debunk them.

➤READ MORE

🏘️ LANDLORD HORROR STORIES
‘SUE. NOW.’: 5 wild instances of landlords being evil

Hundreds of tenants take to TikTok daily to share their individual negative landlord experiences, and today, we’ve decided to share five of those cases. 

➤READ MORE

💵 VIRAL LABOR
‘The cashier scoffed at me’: Subway customer says worker gave him an attitude for not tipping on $3 bottle of Dasani

In a world of fast food, self-checkouts, and self-pickups, some customers are asking one question: To tip or not to tip?

➤READ MORE

✏️ Take Our Weekly News Quiz! 

Are you the most online reader of web_crawlr? Prove it by answering our question of the week! The answer can be found somewhere in one of our newsletters from this week. 

If you answer correctly, you’ll be entered to win this shirt, and we’ll shout out five people who won the shirt! 

A SENATOR’S PICTURE OF HIM GRILLING BURGERS WAS MOCKED SO WIDELY HE TOOK IT DOWN. WHICH SENATOR WAS IT?

To enter to win a shirt, sign up for web_crawlr here.

👑 Main Character of the Week

By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor

Main Character of the Week: Woman who had the most ‘standoffish’ job interview ever

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.

🐠 While Whole Foods is notoriously expensive (and a bit bougie), this one food item is so well-priced that it’s going viral.

🥤 The food service industry can be a messy and disgusting business on the kitchen side of things—and former workers are calling out things they would never order.

🍔 Happy Meals typically come with a choice of entrée—burger or chicken nuggets—a french fry, a drink, and a toy. But did you know they have another purpose? 

🛏️ First come, first served, seems to be the golden rule when buying furniture at Goodwill. After one shopper allegedly noticed someone buying out the furniture section, they asked viewers on TikTok: Is this fair?

🌯 Someone tested out an emergent Chipotle trend—filming yourself ordering, allegedly to get bigger portions—taking the concept to an extreme.

🔍 From the Daily Dot archive: QAnon is now too big to fail.

🤳 Today’s Viral Video

Mesmerizing mastery in motion—watch this artist make ceramic sculpting look effortless.