Newsletter: 📦 Brazen FedEx robbery caught on camera

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

Happy Friday! Our top stories today are about: An attempted FedEx robbery that was caught on camera (and subsequently went viral), Trump’s pick for defense secretary once boasting that he never washes his hands, how Trump picked an anti-TikTok crusader for his cabinet despite running on saving the app, and an explainer of the “Comically Large Spoon” meme. 

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

Also: It’s Friday, so don’t forget to take our weekly news quiz! If you guess correctly you might win a “Click or Treat” sweatshirt. Make sure to answer if you want one—today’s the last day we will be giving them away! 

See you tomorrow! 

— A.W. 

⚡ Today in Internet Culture

📦 CAUGHT ON CAMERA
‘Please be aware’: Woman sees FedEx pull up to her porch through Ring camera. Then she notices 2 men in the background

A FedEx driver pulled up to a woman’s porch to complete a delivery and was then the victim of an attempted robbery. And their Ring camera caught the whole thing.

➤READ MORE

🦠 EWWW
Trump Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth proudly boasted of never washing his hands: ‘Germs are not real’

Trump’s pick of Hegseth is raising some eyebrows, not just for a potential lack of qualifications—but also for a controversial video clip from 2019.

➤READ MORE

📱 TECH
Trump ran on saving TikTok—his new National Security Advisor called refusing to ban it ‘craven’

This week, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) as his National Security Advisor. In doing so, Trump picked one of the biggest congressional crusaders against TikTok.

➤READ MORE

🥄 MEMES
Where did the ‘Comically Large Spoon’ meme come from?

The Comically Large Spoon meme began as a joke by Vine creator King Bach about getting “one spoonful” of a friend’s ice cream. The twist? It’s a comically LARGE spoon.

➤READ MORE

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A RECIPE FOR WHAT KIND OF FOOD HAD THE INTERNET GRIPPED EARLIER THIS WEEK?

By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor

Main Character of the Week: Olive Garden breadsticks

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.

🤑 In a viral video, a former Target worker revealed how to get “expensive” items for free.

📹 Should employees at popular sandwich chain Jimmy John’s smile for the cameras? One TikToker is claiming Jimmy John’s watches employees using security devices.

🚗 If you’ve ever been asked to pull around after placing your order in a drive-thru line, it’s got to do with service metrics.

🦵 The That Feeling When Knee Surgery Is Tomorrow meme, aka Blue Grinch meme, is a very specific feeling of knowing that your knee surgery is tomorrow. As a brainrot meme, its specificity is the joke.

🍬 TikTokers Doug and Jenn are seeking answers after purchasing Milk Duds from Walmart, only to find a single Milk Dud inside one of the boxes.

👮 From the Daily Dot archive: Police struggle to justify use of Fusus, a community surveillance tool they foisted on citizens.

🤳 Today’s Viral Video

Billy Crystal explains why he wouldn’t date Princess Diana.