#R`o4ϟ X):g(
#R`o4ϟ X):g(
6,000 inmates escape from a high-security prison as post-election violence roils Mozambique
Last year, the internet mulled over the enigma that was Skibidi Toilet and found more complexity to this narrative of sentient toilets than what meets the eye. This year, the levels of absurdity were hardly different, though the memes have been equally entertaining. The internet has come a long way, especially now that it's being helmed by a generation of youngsters who have grown up hacking into their parents' phones instead of licking dirt off their fingers. But this unblinking exposure to screens did make them intelligent in their own ways. Now, memes are no longer a simple template of hasty comedy. No, no, pookies. The internet of 2024 gave us a scroll of new slang, in-depth lore, and a gaping case of brainrot. Year of the wordsmiths If you were diagnosed as chronically online this year, then congratulations! You've been promoted and you're now one of the elite employees. Of what, exactly? You may never find out. But that's okay, because you're low-key just a chill guyor an anthropomorphic dog with your hands stuffed in your pants' pockets as the soft lull of Gia Margaret's Hinoki Wood plays in the background. If none of that makes sense to you, then you're probably of the opposite demographic and might need a little context. Except, any explanation might render you even more perplexed. But that's the fun of written memes; they are a mouthful and often accompanied by visual elements, but their appeal lies in the text. And this year, they've been a common culprit of the collective internet brainrotwhich, by the way, has been deemed Word of the Year by the Oxford University Press (OUP), if you want to get a sense of the impact of memes that were born this year. From one-liners to long-form passages, these memes encourage personal touches so you too can make them hyper-specific for that extra relatability. You can credit that to X's essay-writing tweaks or the fact that everyone with a general understanding of the world wants to pen think-pieces on TikTok. But sometimes these memes are just phrases that function as social cues for like-minded individuals to find each other. A greeting, if you will. "Send it to me, Rachel" does not mean anything in isolation, but this year found teenagers echoing it like a chant all the same. A user on YouTube admitted that the source clip has "literally been my vocal stim for weeks." Lore of the new lingo Aside from their unique intelligence, the generation currently prevailing over the big web is also known for its creativity. Entire musical numbers have been created based on "brainrot" terminology, which is essentially just modern slang. Although carried over from 2023, this level of creativity dominated the digital horizon for its magical ability to incorporate an extensive vocabulary of memes into high-quality music. Internet lists and video tutorials for Gen Alpha slang are graciously at the disposal of rookies from the former generation. Words like 'mewing', 'rizz', and 'sigma' might seem like they mean nothing at first glance, but translation manuals are also available online for the nonplussed oldies. But hey, don't judge the new internet culture. That's not very demure of you. Pictorial takeover No matter how much our critical faculties continue to evolve, it seems likely that we'll always view memes as visuals that potently substitute slapstick comedy. This sentiment persisted in 2024, which saw the rise of AI-generated content, and a hoard of inexplicable memes as a result of that. This collection of memes is referred to as 'slop', a word which made it to OUP's Word of the Year shortlist before 'brainrot' took the crown. Take, for example, the AI-made graphic slides of a ludicrous story centering a cat as Bongo Cat's cover of Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For? plays in the background. The song, composed only of sorrowful instrumentals and committed meow-meows, even caught the singer's attention and made a concert debut. As you can expect, the crowd was more than eager to sing along. But AI didn't dominate the illustrative category of memes this year. For a sarcastic show of depression, Clean Bandit's Symphony was revived and an artwork of dolphins and rainbows was slapped over it to reel it in. In a similar yet grimmer fashion, Thomas Lea's painting The Two-Thousand Yard Stare depicting a dissociated soldier became symbolic of youthful angst, with the subject sometimes being replaced by a cat to really highlight what's popular with the current generation. Aside from the idiosyncrasies of cats, one thing the internet tirelessly and unanimously enjoys is absurdity. Observe memes ever since the birth of the digital sphere and you'd hardly find a consistent pattern, which is honestly the best part about this ever-changing humour. Each year, it becomes stranger and proudly so. Oh, how far we've come from stock photos and block text. COMMENTS Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see ourA pivotal bantamweight bout headlines as former 135-pound champion Petr Yan takes on former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo. This bout scheduled for five rounds is taking place Saturday, Nov. 23 at Galaxy Arena in Macau. No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, in the official UFC bantamweight rankings, Yan (17-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) and Figueiredo (24-3-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC) are fighting for the attention of champion Merab Dvalishvili, about his first title defense being against Umar Nurmagomedov. Yan got back on track in his most recent appearance this past March at UFC 299 where he won a to snap a three-fight skid. Prior to that, Yan had dropped three in a row to Aljamain Sterling (to lose his title), Sean O'Malley and Dvalishvili. Since moving up to bantamweight last December, Figueiredo has been active, with this his fourth fight in the past 11 months. He's also been on a roll and become an immediate top contender at 135 pounds after consecutive wins over Rob Font, former champ Cody Garbrandt and . Here are the walkout times for the UFC Fight Night 248 main event between Yan and Figueiredo. The UFC Fight Night 248 lineup consists of 13 fights. With the event happening in primetime locally, prelims start at 3 a.m ET and the main card at 6 a.m. ET. As the main event, Yan and Figueiedo are expected to walk out to the cage at approximately 8:30 a.m. ET (12:30 a.m. locally in Macau). The fight will stream on pay-per-view.
Why these 2 ASX 300 shares were my latest investmentsOAKLAND — Police here say they have identified multiple suspects and persons of interest in two shooting deaths that occurred 14 months apart. Yet, the killings of Henry Texada, in April 2020, and De’Shawn Rhoades, in June 2021, remain unsolved. Police say both men were friends, and both had ties to the same San Francisco-based gang, whose rivals are under investigation for possible involvement. Related Articles Oakland police put out calls for assistance from the public in both homicides back in May, which led to the identification of a potential suspect, a 30-year-old man who was arrested in Oakland for alleged gun possession in August, court records show. Despite the leads, no charges have been filed in either shooting. The call for assistance included a statement from Texada’s mother, who described her son as a youth mentor who was part of Youth Radio and attended Laney College in Oakland. The investigations have led police to identify possible gang connections between numerous other shootings, including a prior attempt on Texada’s life. The gang motive was a common theme during both investigations, with one resident telling police that the killings had everything to do with San Francisco and nothing do with Oakland, authorities said. Texada and Rhoades were both allegedly part of Down Below Gangsters or DBG, which had active rivalries with two gangs at the time, Tre-4 and , according to police. The Towerside gang is a longtime rival of DBG, and the feud has been linked to other shootings. In 2018, a Towerside member was sentenced for , a mother of four who was driving in a car with a DBG member when she was . The , meanwhile, is based in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, and was a high-level law enforcement target at the beginning of the decade. In one federal case against an alleged Tre-4 member, prosecutors attributed Texada’s death to the feud and said a Tre-4 member was . Police say that both Texada and Rhoades appeared to have been targeted. In Texada’s case, his killer or killers passed by his home on 68th Avenue in the same vehicle seven times before he was fatally shot. The shooting happened after a silver SUV pulled up and an occupant began staring down Texada, then opened fire, authorities said. Two months earlier, someone had fired at Texada in the same location. The gun used in the nonfatal shooting was later seized from a man in San Francisco, authorities said. Rhoades was killed on Juneteenth 2021, after a celebration at Lake Merritt. Police say his killing was the result of a shootout between two groups of people, where a total of five guns were used. Two of those guns were linked to shootings that year in Oakland and Antioch, authorities said. Police believe one potential suspect posted a music video about the killings but later removed it from social media. Anyone with information on either killing can reach the Oakland police department’s homicide unit at 510-238-3821 or submit tips to 510-238-7950.
