Newsletter: Woman suspects fake owl is secretly spying on her

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

I hope your weekend is off to a good start! Our top stories today are about: A woman thinking her neighbor is spying on her with a hidden camera inside a fake owl, why people are blaming Kamala Harris’ loss on George Clooney, an explainer of the Matthew McConaughey smoking meme (which I personally use all the time), and a Cold Stone customer being so disgusted she walked out mid-order. 

After that, we’ve got another edition of “Meme History” for you. 

Also, don’t forget to keep an eye on your inboxes in a few hours for the next round of the Daily Dot Hall of Fame. Make sure to vote! 

P.S. — If you didn’t take our weekly news quiz yesterday, you still can! Just open yesterday’s newsletter to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Click or Treat” sweatshirt. 

See you next week! 

— A.W. 

⚡ Today in Internet Culture

🦉 WTF
‘That is scary, strange, and creepy’: Woman thinks she’s being filmed on a hidden camera by her neighbor. Is she right?

A content creator is going viral after sharing with viewers that she believes her neighbor is spying on her with a hidden camera hidden in a fake owl. 

➤READ MORE

🗳️ VIRAL POLITICS
Why is Harris’ loss getting pinned on George Clooney?

Hollywood icon George Clooney, who urged President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, is now facing blame for the election results.

➤READ MORE

🚬 MEMES
The Matthew McConaughey Smoking meme is all of us, on the internet, at any given point

The Matthew McConaughey Smoking meme (aka Rust Cohle Smoking) is a still photo of McConaughey’s character Rust Cohle from the HBO series True Detective, and is most often used as a reaction image to express worry, anxiety or an intense fixation on a topic.

➤READ MORE

🍨 YIKES
Cold Stone customer walks out mid-order after noticing something unusual about the worker

This Cold Stone customer was so disgusted after witnessing a worker’s lack of cleanliness that she abandoned the ice cream she’d been craving.

➤READ MORE

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By Kyle Calise
Video Producer

Meme History: English or Spanish?

Meme History is a weekly column that dives deep into internet lore to uncover the history of famous memes. It runs on Saturdays 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.

🚽 This toilet expert reveals the best—and the worst—value toilet you can buy at Lowe’s. Do you agree with his assessment?

🥪 Restaurants add pickles to food to enhance flavor. And now this Jimmy John’s worker is showing how exactly the chain preps its Picklewiches. 

💸 A content creator is going viral on TikTok after exposing what she thinks is a new DoorDash scam.

🌺 How did prom pictures damage this woman’s brand-new Jeep? 

🍗 This Buffalo Wild Wings customer posted a viral PSA after discovering the chain’s 6 for $19.99 deal. 

🌐 From the Daily Dot archive: Is there a First Amendment right to assemble in the metaverse?

🤳 Today’s Viral Video

Jesse Eisenberg explains the hilarious reason he started acting.