NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.
#GERMANY: Exit polls from Germany’s general election to pick a successor to outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel showed her conservative party in a dead heat with the Social Democrats.
#SWITZERLAND: Voters in Switzerland have thrown their support behind allowing same-sex couples to marry, bringing the Alpine nation in line with many other countries in Western Europe.
#ICELAND: Iceland today became the first country in Europe to have more women than men in parliament, a day after a general election that saw the left-right coalition win a clear majority.
Anyone who has been on social media or shared texts with friends will likely know Drew Scanlon’s face.
His GIF, known as “Blinking Guy” or “Blinking White Guy”, is estimated to have been used more than 1.7 billion times across the internet to express disbelief or confusion.
Scanlon has been using internet fame for good – by soliciting donations for the US National Multiple Sclerosis Society to aid with research and advocacy for the disease.
Last week, he appealed to his Twitter followers to pitch in, writing on Twitter: “If this GIF has ever brought you joy in the past, I humbly ask you to consider making a donation to the National MS Society.”
Many have chipped in, helping Scanlon raise more than $75,000. Overall, the 35-year-old has raised more than $154,000 for the organisation since 2016.
The meme was the result of a moment in 2013, when he and his co-workers at the gaming site Giant Bomb were live-streaming themselves playing video games.
One of his co-workers made an “off-colour” joke, and Scanlon reacted with what has now become his famous expression.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say