This story was originally published on Oct. 3, 2019. We are republishing it ahead of Halloween.

Halloween, for all its spooky charms, can be an overwhelming holiday. There’s the anxiety of finding a good costume, the pressure to brave fearsome things like haunted houses and scary movies and, of course, the struggle to nab the best candy.

Those looking for a more low-key way to celebrate fall’s most thrilling holiday can (and should) indulge in a binge of TV’s best Halloween episodes. After all, the holiday has inspired some of the most memorable holiday specials. Who could forget the classic Friends episode in which Monica and Chandler host a drama-filled costume party with ruthless arm-wrestling competitions? Or the heartwarming proposals that take place in Halloween episodes of Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine?

Here’s a run-down of the best Halloween TV episodes of all time, presented in alphabetical order.

Bob’s Burgers S4E2: “Fort Night”

“Fort Night” doesn’t rely on costumes, candy or any typical Halloween gags to bring the thrills for viewers. On the contrary: the Belcher kids, joined by their pals — the Pesto twins and Darryl — are foiled from getting the best candy in the neighborhood after they’re first trapped in their fort by a truck, then by Louise’s nemesis Millie. Eventually, the kids find their way out of the fort. Although they’ve missed out on trick-or-treating for the year, they still find a way to get their sugar fix with a well-deserved prank on Millie.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine S5E4: “HalloVeen”

It’s no secret that the officers and detectives at Brooklyn Nine-Nine love Halloween — so much so, in fact, that they have an annual Halloween Heist in which the stakes are stacked for the precinct as they split into teams to either pull off or stop a scheme. For the fifth annual Halloween Heist, however, Jake (one of the tradition’s originators), uses the elaborate competition as a way to propose to his fellow detective, his partner and girlfriend Amy.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer S4E4: “Fear, Itself”

While a typical episode of Buffy is usually as scary as a Halloween episode of any other show, “Fear, Itself” really upped the ante for the gang as each of them faces his or her deepest personal fears while attending a frat party-turned-night of the living dead.

Cheers S3E4: “Fairy Tales Can Come True”

One of Cheers‘ long-running jokes came at the expense of postman Cliff’s love life, which is why “Fairy Tales Can Come True” is such a heartwarming surprise. In the episode, the regulars gather at Cheers, where Cliff, dressed as Ponce de Leon, amazingly hits it off with a woman dressed as Tinker Bell. While the two enjoy each other’s company so much that they close the bar down, they make plans to meet each other as their regular selves the next night. Both chicken out multiple times before they finally meet again — but when they do, it’s a romantic moment worth waiting for.

Curb Your Enthusiasm S2E3: “Trick or Treat”

Larry David’s quirky neuroticism is on full display in “Trick or Treat,” when he refuses, as a matter of principal, to give Halloween candy to two teenage girls sans costumes. As might be expected, it ends in disaster, with the subsequent TP-ing and vandalism of his home being the least of his worries.

Frasier S5E3: “Halloween”

Frasier and Niles’ literary-themed Halloween party becomes the setting for a showdown between the brothers after a comic misunderstanding with Roz leads Niles to believe that the relationship between his brother and his one true love, Daphne, might be more than what he assumed.

Freaks and Geeks S1E3: “Tricks and Treats”

Growing pains are rarely more visceral in Freaks and Geeks than in its Halloween episode, “Trick and Treats,” in which Sam and his friends attempt to return to the simple joys of their childhood by dressing up and doing one last round of trick-or-treating. Unluckily for them, however, they have a few challenges to contend with: a bully, and an unfortunate surprise encounter with Sam’s big sister Lindsay, out for a night of pranks.

Friends S8E6: “The One With the Halloween Party”

In “The One With the Halloween Party,” the gang gathers for a costume party hosted by Monica and Chandler, but the night takes a turn for the dramatic as many of the friends confront their own challenges. For Chandler, a pink bunny suit costume activates his sensitive nature, while Phoebe deals with the wiles of her evil twin Ursula. For Rachel, newly pregnant, trick-or-treaters seem like the perfect way to tap into her maternal side — but things don’t go quite as planned.

Gilmore Girls S6E7: “Twenty-One Is the Loneliest Number”

While this episode of Gilmore Girls could be seen as mostly a vehicle for Rory’s 21st birthday and the stress of her rift with her mom and best friend, Lorelai, it’s also an in-depth look at the extreme quirkiness of their town, Stars Hollow, and the way in which Halloween brings it fully to bear.

Glee S2E5: “The Rocky Horror Glee Show”

Glee‘s Halloween special had its characters re-enacting the campy 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with the students taking on the iconic roles of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Janet, Brad and the rest of the cast, while Mr. Schue, Emma Pillsbury and her boyfriend Carl (played by guest star John Stamos) reckon with their love triangle. Fans of the original film were quick to notice that the original Brad and Eddie (Barry Bostwick and Meatloaf, respectively) made cameos in the special.

Grey’s Anatomy S4E5: “Haunt You Every Day”

Meredith’s past comes back to haunt her as she feels her late mother’s presence in every situation, which she tries to remedy by bringing her mother’s ashes to the hospital. While Meredith eventually makes peace with her mother, a respected surgeon herself, by washing her remains down the surgery room sink, there’s a lot more happening at Seattle Grace this Halloween, including a man with a “haunted” foot, chainsaws galore and a little boy looking for a new pair of ears.

How I Met Your Mother S7E8: “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns”

In this Halloween episode from the show’s 7th season, we see everyman Ted Mosby finally reunite with his dream girl (guest star Katie Holmes), who was dressed as a “Slutty Pumpkin” when they met at a rooftop Halloween party a decade ago. In the years since their initial meeting (and after Ted lost the candy on which she had written her number), he’s never stopped searching for her — but once he finds her, things aren’t quite what he expects.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia S6E7: “Who Got Dee Pregnant?”

The Always Sunny gang made good use of actress Kaitlin Olson’s real-life pregnancy to make a Halloween episode of epic proportions. And in typical fashion, nothing turns out as expected. While the episode aired during Halloween week, the actual episode doesn’t take place during Halloween, but in a series of flashbacks to a Halloween past. When the boys harass Dee for gaining weight, she casually informs them that she got pregnant at the last year’s Halloween party by one of them. The rest of the episode is a rollicking ride of each of their hazy perspectives and recollections, with a race to find witnesses who will give them accounts of what really happened that night.

Modern Family S2E6: “Halloween”

When you’ve been on the air for as long as Modern Family has, there’s no shortage of Halloween episodes — especially when Claire Dunphy, Halloween enthusiast extraordinaire, is involved. However, it’s the show’s first Halloween episode that’s the most endearing as it establishes the Dunphy-Pritchard crew and all their eccentricities as they deal with Claire’s truly frightening Haunted House.

Parks and Recreation S5E5: “Halloween Surprise”

If there’s anyone who loves a theme, it’s Leslie Knope, but even the perky do-gooder of Pawnee couldn’t keep her spirits up during a costume party when she found out that her main squeeze Ben got a job offer that might threaten their relationship. Not to worry, however — the title’s “surprise” comes with a twist that’s sweet, not spooky, when Ben proposes to Leslie, solidifying their status as possibly the cutest power couple in all of Indiana.

Stranger Things S2E2: “Trick or Treat, Freak”

Stranger Things deals in the business of otherworldly thrills, so it should come as no surprise that the show’s Halloween episode was extra spooky, filled with flashbacks to the Upside Down, vague rumblings of the Demogorgon and a mysterious creature found in a trash can. But one of the highlights of the episode is delightful rather than frightening: in keeping with the series’ general spirit of 1980s nostalgia, the boys adorably dress as the Ghostbusters for Halloween.

The Office S7E6: “Costume Contest”

The Office has more than enough hilarious Halloween episodes, but “Costume Contest” might just take the cake for its wild levels of drama and aesthetic acrobatics. When a costume contest is announced, the Scranton staffers duke it out for best costume (can anyone ever forget Gabe dressed as a very tall, very glittery Lady Gaga?). But the competition for the costume contest isn’t anywhere close to the rivalry building between Michael and Darryl, making this episode one for the books.

The Simpsons S6E6: “Treehouse of Horror V, The Shinning”

No one does a Halloween special quite like The Simpsons, whose writers came up with their own campy genre name for the annual episodes: the “Treehouse of Horror.” The show’s sharp humor and sense of satire are honed most exquisitely in “Treehouse of Horror V: The Shinning,” a brilliant spoof of The Shining, in which Homer goes crazy like Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance. Unlike Jack, however, he loses his mind due to not having any cable or beer, which is pretty on-brand.

The Twilight Zone S5E6: “Living Doll”

While The Twilight Zone didn’t have any designated Halloween specials, the series has become a go-to for Halloween enthusiasts, with marathons often scheduled ahead of the holiday. One of the episodes most cited for embodying the eerie quality for which the show is remembered is “Living Doll,” a harrowing tale about a doll out for revenge against a cruel man. Annabel is shook!

Watch the biggest moments from King Charles III’s coronation, where Charles and Camilla were crowned.

World leaders paid tribute to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after he was fatally shot while campaigning for his political allies Friday morning.

Read More: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Has Been Shot and Killed. What We Know So Far

A teary-eyed Fumio Kishida, Japan’s current prime minister, condemned the assassination when he appeared before Japanese reporters following news of Abe’s death. Kishida described Abe as a “personal friend” with whom he spent a lot of time.

Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi, a good friend of Abe’s, announced that July 9 will be a national day of mourning in India as a mark of “deep respect” for the late Japanese leader. Modi recalled how he visited Abe in his most recent trip to Japan, noting that he did not expect that that meeting would be their last.

Abe had made big strides to improve diplomatic ties between Japan and India during his tenure, including the signing of a historic civil nuclear deal in 2016.

In a statement, U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened” by the news. “The longest serving Japanese Prime Minister, his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific will endure.” Abe fostered strong ties with Washington in his near-decade long rule.

European leaders including German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron also shared their condolences. “We stand closely by Japan’s side in these difficult hours,” Scholz tweeted. “Japan has lost a great prime minister,” Macron said.

European Council President Charles Michel decried the “cowardly” attack on Abe, whom he called “a true friend” and a “fierce defender of multilateral order and democratic values.” The European Union is a major trade and investment partner of Japan.

In a statement, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Abe was one of Australia’s “closest friends on the world stage.” During his first term in 2007, Abe initiated a four-way alliance between Japan, India, the U.S., and Australia that facilitated security and economic cooperation.

Outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that Abe’s “global leadership” will be remembered. “The UK stands with you at this dark and sad time,” he said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg sent his “deepest condolences” to Abe’s family and to Kishida in a tweet. While Japan is not a NATO member, Abe paved the way for a stronger partnership with the transatlantic alliance.

A spokesperson from the Chinese embassy in Japan expressed shock about Abe’s assassination in a statement and extended condolences to his family. During his premiership, Abe tried to improve relations between Japan and China, but his comments last year about Taiwan’s independence drew criticism from Beijing.

The president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen, said in a statement that “the international community lost an important leader, but Taiwan has also lost an important and close friend. Taiwan and Japan are both democratic countries with the rule of law, and our government severely condemns violent and illegal acts.”

South Korean president Yoon Suk-Yeol sent his condolences to the Japanese people, condemning the shooting as “an unforgivable act of crime.”

Abe became Japan’s longest-serving prime minister before stepping down in 2020 due to ill health. However, he has remained to be one of the most influential political figures in contemporary Japan.

On the streets of Tokyo, locals expressed disbelief. “The shooting of a prominent figure like Shinzo Abe, longest-serving prime minister in Japan, is profoundly shocking,” Kanae Hayakawa, a 36-year-old office worker, told TIME. “And now I’m afraid—the fact that such incident took place here in Japan reflects social instability and people’s discontent with society. I really hope the shooting incident will not trigger further instability here. And I also wonder how the incident will impact the election on Sunday.”

— With reporting by Mayako Shibata in Tokyo and Eloise Barry in London

The U.S. imposed new sanctions on senior leaders of Myanmar’s military junta on Monday—the eve of the one-year anniversary of their overthrow of the country’s democratically elected government and imprisonment of its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The U.S., joined by the U.K., and Canada, announced sanctions on officials who helped prosecute Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the National League for Democracy. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was arrested in the Feb. 1, 2021 coup. Myanmar courts have sentenced her to a total of six years in prison as of Jan. 10—but she faces additional charges.

Washington also slapped penalties on the scion of the Kyaw Thaung family, who the New York Times reported has strong ties to the Myanmar military and helped it procure equipment. The sanctions also targeted a Myanmar government agency responsible for procuring arms for the military, which is known locally as the Tatmadaw.

But activists and Myanmar watchers say that the targeted sanctions will do little to deter a brutal regime that is increasingly isolated from the West and determined to put down resistance to its rule with violent repression. More than 1,500 people have been killed in encounters with the junta across the country, according to human rights group Assistance Association of Political Prisoners.

“I think it’s fair to say that the West has had little leverage in Myanmar both politically and on the ground since the coup,” says John Nielsen, Senior Analyst at Danish Institute for International Studies and former Danish Ambassador to Myanmar.

Pro-democracy protesters have long called on the international community to find ways to cut off the junta’s revenue streams. And since last year’s coup, several Western firms—including energy giants TotalEnergies of France and Chevron of the U.S.—have vowed to pull business out of Myanmar due to human rights abuses in the country.

Read more: Myanmar’s Artists Are Continuing to Resist from Abroad

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and other members of the Tatmadaw were already under sanction by the U.S. and other nations. Human Rights Watch has urged the United Nations Security Council to impose a legally-binding global arms embargo on Myanmar.

But in addition to punitive measures, Burmese exiles say the international community must work to protect people suffering under the junta’s rule. London-based Burmese activist and scholar Maung Zarni says neighboring states should open their borders to Burmese refugees who flee from the Tatmadaw.

They are also wary of dialogue with the military leaders, which neighboring countries including some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), favor. Nay San Lwin, a co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, a global network of Rohingya activists and allies, says many Burmese protesters feel such talks will only serve to cement the coup-leaders’ legitimacy.

Read more: ‘Risking Everything.’ Myanmar Activist Talks About Her Fight

But not everyone is shunning the Tatmadaw. Russia has been criticized for warming up to Myanmar post-coup, continuing to sell arms and its officials attending junta-led events. China also has ongoing dealings with Myanmar, but has taken a more ambivalent stance: It urged ”to restart the democratic process” in the Southeast Asian country while engaging with both the Tatmadaw and ethnic armed forces. “China’s primary objectives in Myanmar is to ensure stability at the borders and get access to the Indian Ocean through an economic corridor from Kunming to Rakhine. They will work with any party in the conflict to accomplish these objectives—and that is in essence what they are doing,” Nielsen says.

Jason Tower, Director for Myanmar at the United States Institute of Peace, says there must be a regional approach to the crisis, as companies closely aligned with the junta operate in neighboring states. If the U.S. and allies can convince Myanmar’s neighbors, including Thailand and India, to crack down on these firms, it could have a dramatic effect on the cash flowing to military leaders.

But the window for such action may be closing. Cambodia has taken over chairmanship of ASEAN in 2022. And Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen—no friend of democracy—has given a conditional invitation the Myanmar coup leader. Last year, the nine countries barred the Myanmar junta’s representative from attending its meetings.

Increasingly many activists say they cannot rely on the international community to support their cause of restoring a democratic government in Myanmar. They are putting their faith in ethnic minority militias that have long fought the Tatmadaw, and the People’s Defense Force—an armed group composed of members of Myanmar’s exiled shadow government and pro-democracy protesters. “If we want to be free, we have to fight for ourselves,” says Zarni.

Many major global cities saw a significant decrease in competitiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic, as governments tightened border restrictions and imposed tough social distancing restrictions, according to the 2021 Global Power City Index (GPCI).

It remains to be seen whether, in the post-pandemic world of work, these global hubs will retain their ability to attract the highest-caliber workers. But, the 2021 Global Power City Index—produced by the Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies in Tokyo—found most major cities have adapted to work-from-home and hybrid work trends.

Peter Dustan, a researcher at the Institute for Urban Strategies, says that while international travel is still difficult due to COVID restrictions, many cities have begun relaxing social distancing measures, as COVID-19 vaccinations rise. Some cities have also begun requiring proof of vaccination to attend large events, eat at restaurants or use public transit.

Dustan thinks this year’s Power City Index, released Wednesday, is useful for comparing how cities have been affected by COVID-19. “The shape or character of urban attractiveness may shift, but its importance in attracting new business and talent will remain,” he says.

Read more: Here Are the World’s Greatest Places of 2021

For instance, Hong Kong, which has ranked in the top 10 each year for the past seven years, slid to 13th place from ninth in 2020. Hong Kong’s government has among the toughest COVID-19 border restrictions in the world, with up to three weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine for travelers. The Asian financial hub also had the biggest decline in the number of air passengers, at 88%.

London continues to be the most attractive city, according to the Global Power City Index, but its overall score dipped, with the report’s authors attributing the decline to both the pandemic and Brexit, which hampered its economy and global accessibility. “The fact that all other European cities increased their economy scores suggests that the U.K.’s exit from the EU is beginning to have an impact, allowing other European cities to start catching up to London,” the institute said.

Tokyo improved its overall scores, in large part due to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and improvements in work flexibility as Japan adapts to work from home.

The Global Power City Index evaluates and ranks global cities by their “magnetism” using 70 indicators across six categories: economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment and accessibility.

In the 48 cities assessed this year, the study saw accessibility taking a huge hit; compared to the year before the global pandemic began, the frequency of international flights between these cities decreased nearly 50%.

But the Institute for Urban Strategies reported some positive changes in the 48 cities despite fewer people moving between them—more than half of them saw an increase in co-working spaces and a decline in working hours.

Here are the Global Power City Index’s top 10 world cities:

1. London
2. New York
3. Tokyo
4. Paris
5. Singapore
6. Amsterdam
7. Berlin
8. Seoul
9. Madrid
10. Shanghai

Driller Amplify Energy Corp. took more than three hours to halt California’s worst oil spill in almost three decades, according to a government report.

Following a low-pressure alarm around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 2 from its San Pedro Bay Pipeline, Amplify’s Beta Offshore unit didn’t shut the pipeline down until 6:01 a.m., the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a corrective action order Tuesday.

The company didn’t return messages seeking comment.

While all the details aren’t known, “the facts that are stated are very concerning to us,” said Bill Caram, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, a group that engages with pipeline operators. Operational reasons can cause a pipeline to lose pressure suddenly, but “we would have expected a pipeline to shut a line much faster than three hours” and also report it more quickly, he said.

The Golden State’s largest oil leak since a 1994 earthquake split open a pipeline spilled as much as 3,000 barrels along the California coast, according to Amplify’s estimates. The oil has drifted southward, forced the closure of popular surfing beaches and sullied wetlands.

Divers have found a 13-inch split in the pipeline that was “the likely source of the release of the oil,” said U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Rebecca Ore at a briefing on Tuesday. About 4,000 feet of the pipeline was “laterally displaced by 105 feet.”

Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher said at the briefing that footage showed the pipeline was “pulled like a bowstring.” That type of dislocation is “not common,” he added.

He said his company didn’t confirm the leak until about 8 a.m. that morning, when an oil sheen on nearby waters was identified.

“Regardless of the cause, we’re going to do everything we can to make things right,” Willsher said.

After shutting the pipeline, Beta didn’t report the incident to the National Response Center for another three hours, according to the report. Initial estimates indicated that the pipeline released about 700 barrels, much less than the company’s number.

Beta Offshore was ordered to review and assess the effectiveness of its emergency response plan, including “the on-scene response and support, coordination, notification, and communication with emergency responders and public officials,” according to the document. PHMSA didn’t specify if the time taken to shut the line and notify the National Response Center was too slow or adequate.

An email and call to PHMSA regarding the appropriateness of the three hour wait wasn’t immediately returned.

The root cause of the accident remains unconfirmed but “preliminary reports indicate that the failure may have been caused by an anchor that hooked the pipeline, causing a partial tear,” according to the order. There’s no confirmation on a ship causing the leak.

–With assistance from Mike Jeffers.

You don’t need us to tell you that 2020 was a rollercoaster of intense emotions, from frustration to boredom to sadness to anger. You also don’t need us to tell you that memes helped many cope with this long, long year.

Memes were a force in 2020. A force to vent, a force to call for change, a force to find normalcy, a force for finding connection, more than ever, memes became a shared language that bridged gaps during lockdown, but also widened partisan splits. The Cheezburger Cat and Success Kid memes of a younger internet has matured into waves of jokes that betray a more biting, more cynical online community. The memes of 2020 reflected an internet that has become desensitized to the burning house around it and the phrase “this is fine” is more of a plea than a resignation. Memes, and the internet which spawns them, have been sharpened to a fine, sometimes desperate, point.

At the same time, memes continue to exist as they always have: inclusive inside jokes and an entertaining shorthand for life’s very specific experiences. They still spark recognition and even community, whether people connect over COVID-19’s impact on mental health or about waiting to order coffee.

They also continue to be joyfully, immeasurably dumb. Look no further than when a picture of a carp blanketed most of Twitter earlier this month.

Through group chats, social media, oversharing coworkers and so many other ways, memes brought many together, pushed many apart and brought levity to extended crisis after extended crisis. So as 2020 comes to a close, we’ve rounded up some of the memes that captured the true essence of this unprecedented year—and left an indelible impression on the internet in their wake.

Bernie Sanders is once again asking

It seems safe to say that no one on the Bernie 2020 campaign team could’ve predicted that a December 2019 video of the then-Democratic presidential candidate candidly requesting donations while strolling down a snowy street would result in the screengrab that launched a thousand memes. But that’s exactly what became of a still from a fundraising ad featuring Sanders bundled up against the cold, asking his supporters for financial aid.

So many people were left wanting this year. And a snug Bernie, chapped in the winter cold, provided the perfect avatar to ask for help.

Going full Sue Sylvester mode

Glee‘s six-season run may have ended in 2015, but you’d never know that from online memes. While it felt like someone was working to sabotage all our lives from behind the scenes, it’s easy to see why Sue Sylvester—McKinley High’s ultimate saboteur and played by the legendary Jane Lynch—enjoyed a resurgence in meme popularity.

The ruthless cheer coach striving to create the most toxic environment possible was a full 2020 mood in itself, but it wasn’t always an accusation. While many used Sue’s threat as a way to vilify those seeking destruction, the meme was also often used in the first person by those gleefully bringing a bit more chaos into the world.

Animal Crossing to the rescue

Weeks after New York City shut down, Nintendo released the perfect game to play in the middle of a pandemic. Animal Crossing is a game that relies on players to have ample time to spend collecting, decorating and personalizing things only to show them to other people who have collected, decorated and personalized their own life away. The game is a deeply relaxing, pleasant experience, full of cute characters and charming moments. Millions of people, many of whom claimed not to be regular video game players, dug into crafting their island and learned what it feels like to be deeply in debt to a tanuki.

Though there was no single meme that swept the internet, Animal Crossing inspired multiple riffs, one offs, subgenres and fandoms based around the game. This lovely game allowed an escape in the game and in the memes it helped create.

Pope Francis gives his blessing

On the internet, nothing is sacred. So it’s no surprise that the concept of Photoshopping the Pope offering up a communion wafer in religious reverence took off on Twitter. Even though people have been editing this particular picture since it first appeared online in 2013, Twitter users put a new spin on the meme by employing the social media site’s tiled image format to make it look like Pope Francis was holding everything from Simba to the Twilight DVDs to an Auntie Anne’s pretzel.

How it started vs. how it’s going

No matter what you thought 2020 would bring when the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1, it probably wasn’t a global pandemic that would send the world into lockdown for months on end. Of course, that’s why a meme format making fun of scenarios where things don’t quite work out how you expect was pretty much universally relatable this year—even if it did start out as a cutesy way to brag about your relationship.

Though this meme can be seen a riff on My Plans vs. 2020, it wasn’t only used to denounce the year. In a refreshingly positive twist, for many this meme became a way to showcase how far they had come in learning skills, achieving goals, sharing childhood pictures or even proudly showing off their identity.

The trolley problem

It may be grim, but so is 2020. The trolley problem is a famous thought experiment that asks people to weigh in on the ethical dilemma of whether it’s better to let a runaway trolley take its course and kill a group of people, or divert the trolley and kill only one to save the others. Finding new ways to frame this problem, with the height of internet gallows humor, became a staple of online coronavirus discourse this year.

The meme was often used to highlight binary choices that many believed were not binary choices at all. Can the world’s richest country afford to help keep the economy afloat, or should businesses stay open even if hundreds of thousands of people die? Is wearing a face mask protecting people, those they love and their community, or is it a complete loss of personal liberty?

Trolly problem memes questioned the very nature of these choices, and are meant to highlight the absurdity of limited thinking.

Nature is healing

As carbon emissions dropped in the early part of the year as COVID-19 brought much of the world to a screeching halt, people began posting heartwarming photos and videos of animals supposedly returning to urban areas. Many of those viral posts turned out to be misleading. But on the bright side, they did set Twitter users up for one of the best parody-driven meme formats of the year: “nature is healing, we are the virus.”

D.W. through the fence

Where summer 2016 gave us the Arthur clenching his fist meme, spring 2020 gave us a resurgence in popularity of the D.W. peering longingly through a fence meme.

Scenes from the beloved ’90s PBS children’s show Arthur have long been fodder for relatable online jokes, but perhaps never more so than when people began missing the everyday outings—from getting their nails done to grabbing margs with friends—that make life enjoyable while staying home amid coronavirus. The FOMO is so, so real and, in the simplicity of the image, many immediately recognized their own yearning.

Everything is cake

In July, BuzzFeed’s food website Tasty shared a video compilation of a chef cutting into a number of hyper-realistic cakes decorated to look like everyday objects, including a Croc shoe, roll of toilet paper and potted plant. The internet quickly arrived at the conclusion that, in a year when nothing else made sense, it was entirely possible for anything at all to actually to turn out to be cake.

Collective “everything is cake” anxiety took over, and nothing has been the same online since. This post is probably cake.

Play how you feel

At the end of the summer, Nathan Apodaca reflected our own collective vibe with nothing but a skateboard, some cranberry juice and “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. A short TikTok showed him skating down the street, taking a swig of juice and singing the words “it’s only right for you to play the way you feel.” It was one of the most beautiful moments in 2020.

On TikTok alone, the video received over 77 million views. It caught the attention of Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood. It sent “Dreams” to the very top of iTunes. It spawned a “Dreams” challenge. And gave us all a few seconds to chill this year.

Four Seasons Total Landscaping

One of the most bizarre stories that played out on the national stage, which is saying something, happened on Nov. 7, the day most major news networks called Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election. That morning, Rudy Giuliani held a press conference in the parking lot of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping company, located in Northeast Philadelphia between a sex shop and a crematorium.

At 9:35 a.m. that day, President Trump tweeted that there would be a meeting held at the Four Seasons, which many took to be the hotel chain. Ten minutes later, he tweeted again, saying “Big press conference today in Philadelphia at Four Seasons Total Landscaping,” which, no offense to the business, many in the press had never heard of.

Thanks to a tweet from Philly’s Four Seasons hotel, it seemingly came to light that someone in the Trump camp had mistaken the family-owned landscaping business, for the luxury downtown hotel. While the Trump campaign denied there was a mistake, that stopped few people from assuming that the whole press conference, bafflingly held adjacent to a busy, noisy highway, was a huge self-own.

Don’t worry about what’s in the vaccine

As misinformation surrounding the recently introduced COVID-19 vaccines has ramped up—a development that’s led to increased vaccine hesitancy among Americans—some pro-vaxxers have turned to memes to comfort those afraid to get vaccinated.

One increasingly popular online bit asks people to reconsider their thoughts on the vaccine if they’ve ever participated in a number of common experiences that could potentially have more worrisome side effects.

While 2021 has already served up plenty of wretched bombshells, the best surprise of the past two weeks might be TikTok’s biggest new trend: sea shanties. As the world hurtles head-first into 2021, sea shanties are turning into a safe harbor for social media users looking to take their mind off the events of the day with some (very) old-timey entertainment.

It all started when Scottish musician Nathan Evans recorded a video performing a remarkably catchy rendition of “Wellerman,” a 19th century shanty of New Zealand origin. It blew up online, garnering over four million views on TikTok alone. From there, it wasn’t long before other users were piggybacking on the trend by duetting the whaling tune alongside Evans or debuting sea shanty performances of their own. Thus, #ShantyTok was born.

Despite the fact that the recent resurgence of sea shanties is owed entirely to the internet, their modern appeal certainly harkens back to their original purpose: synchronizing individual efforts to achieve a common goal.

In centuries past, the purpose of these call-and-response work songs was, of course, to maintain a ship crew’s focus on safely navigating often dangerous waters. Whether the task was rowing, hoisting sails or hauling nets, the hand-over-hand beat of sea shanties was intended to help sailors keep time with each other.

But amid a global pandemic that has kept many people at home and isolated for nearly a year, sea shanties can help foster a sense of community during a time when many are feeling lonely. As expertly noted by Vulture‘s Kathryn VanArendonk, at their heart, sea shanties are “unifying, survivalist songs, designed to transform a huge group of people into one collective body, all working together to keep the ship afloat.”

They’re also undeniable earworms.

Thanks to TikTok’s duet feature, which allows users to build on fellow TikTokers’ videos with their own additions, Evans’ solo rendition of “Wellerman” has been transformed into a complex split-screen harmony, complete with multiple vocal parts and instrumental accompaniment. It’s a group project that everyone in the video worked on individually, which makes its success all the more impressive.

Affirming that the traditional shanty format possesses a timeless quality, some people have even begun turning popular songs of today, like Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP,” into sea shanties in their own right.

A video of one reluctant sea shanty fan discovering the allure of these nautical ditties has also gone viral. All it took was a car ride and an inspirational brother.

The 45-second clip perfectly showcases how shanty sing-alongs have a way of drawing others in to the fold, or, as one commenter puts it, “I guess it makes sense when you think [about how] the artform originated as a way to provide pleasure, connection and entertainment during periods of sustained social isolation.”

So if you’re in need of a distraction amid everything going on right now, #ShantyTok is here for you. Keep calm and shanty on.

“In the end, I’ve got antibodies and a dog named Fauci.”

That’s how Los Angeles-based lawyer Kari Milone says she’s choosing to look back on the eight months that she spent trying to adopt a rescue dog in 2020—a time period during which she not only lost her second dog in less than a year, but also survived COVID-19.

Named after Dr. Anthony Fauci because “he has a white coat and was abandoned during COVID,” Fauci the dog is one of approximately 3.2 million shelter animals that the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) estimates is adopted each year. This year, demand for animal adoption is skyrocketing: as stay-at-home orders were issued across the U.S. in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the ASPCA shared that according to industry data from PetPoint, animal welfare organizations across the country saw a spike in adoptions during the second half of March, with an estimated national adoption rate of 58% at the beginning of the month, jumping to 85% by the end of the month.

“We’ve seen an incredibly compassionate response from people willing to open their homes to foster and adopt vulnerable shelter animals during this period of uncertainty and applaud them for stepping up so heroically for animals in need,” says ASPCA President and CEO Matt Bershadker. “This unprecedented compassionate response from communities across the country to support their local shelters reflects widespread appreciation of the invaluable role pets play in our lives.”

Despite fears that stay-at-home orders would result in shelters being inundated with animals due to an increase in abandoned pets, officials from rescue organizations like Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC) and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) say the opposite has been true.

“When stay-at-home orders were set into motion, we were anxious about the possibility of seeing an increase in intake requests and a decrease in transfers and adoptions,” says CACC Public Information Officer Jennifer Schlueter. “We were so pleased to experience the exact opposite of what we first feared…The demand for foster and adoptive animals coupled with a decrease in intake led us to be down to around 30 animals for a while in the late spring and early summer.”

In Los Angeles, spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein says the shelter is adopting pets out as fast as they come in. “This is true across the country,” she says. “The animal shelters have been emptied of adoptable animals through either adoptions or fosters, because of what a good time it is, when families are home together during lockdown, to work with a new pet. And it’s also a hedge against loneliness.”

It’s a trend that doesn’t surprise longtime pet owners like Caitlin McCarthy, who understands firsthand how comforting animals can be, especially in times of stress or isolation. After her dog, a Westie named Oscar, passed away in September, McCarthy, a teacher for Worcester Public Schools in Massachusetts, says she wasn’t able to last long without a fur baby.

“This pandemic has been a very isolating situation,” she says. “I was grateful to have the time with Oscar because his health had started to fail when the schools shut down, so I was able to be with him. But after he passed away, I really noticed not having him in the house because he was a member of the family. I’m working from home. I’m not going out. I really missed having a dog.”

So when she saw that Northern New England Westie Rescue Inc. had shared some photos on Facebook of a few dogs who were up for adoption, she jumped at the opportunity. “I immediately sent them a message,” she says. “It wasn’t even something I thought about. I just did it. Because I knew. I saw the little faces and I knew one of them had to be mine.”

About a week later, McCarthy was meeting a volunteer driver in the parking lot of an Olive Garden to pick up Finbarr, a 10-year-old Westie who had been rescued from a Kansas “puppy mill.” As soon as she held him, she says she knew they had a connection.

“I had gravitated toward the photo of him that [the rescue] had posted on Facebook. There was just something very soulful about his eyes. So I told them I’d be happy with any dog, but if I could meet him, I think he’s the dog for me,” she says. “I went to pick him up and they opened up the back of the car and there he was. I was so excited and he was shy, as you can imagine. But as soon as I picked him up, he licked me right on the cheek. It’s like he knew, like he was saying, ‘You’re gonna be my girl, aren’t you?’ And the answer was yes.”

Since arriving at his new home on Oct. 26, Finbarr (a name that McCarthy says she chose because her late mother loved it) has blossomed before McCarthy’s eyes. “He was used as a puppy mill breeder for 10 years. His whole life was in a cage. He didn’t know what a toy was. He had never had a name. He had never been outside to play. So I’m teaching him all those things,” she says. “And it’s very healing for me too. He’s like furry evidence of hope during a very troubling time. When you see a dog that’s survived the most horrific circumstances and he keeps getting better and better every day, how can you not feel hopeful about life in the future?”

The emotional support that pets can offer their owners is more crucial than ever in this moment, says Rachael Silverman, a psychologist specializing in couple and family psychology who often prescribes emotional support animals for patients. “With so much uncertainty and instability, animals provide people, especially children, with unconditional love, support, and comfort as well as serve as a distraction,” she says. “I had one 8-year-old patient who told me how she shared her adopted cat with her grandmother so her grandmother would have a piece of her with her and wouldn’t feel lonely because she couldn’t visit her.”

Staying at home amid the pandemic has also spurred many first-time pet owners to take the rescue plunge, and in doing so, discover how much emotional heavy lifting animals can be capable of doing. Since adopting their dog Nana, a 6-year-old boxer mix, from Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue in April, Crystal Kayiza and Peter Quandt have come to learn that she has an uncanny knack for lifting spirits.

“She’s such a joy to have and is really attuned to how people are feeling. I think everyone says this about their dog, but she’s definitely acutely aware of when someone’s having a bad day,” Kayiza says. “She’s really low energy and just wants to cuddle up with people and hang out. I think what’s been needed a lot during this time is being able to take a break from staring at screens and just sit on the floor with my dog for a bit.”

Of course, it’s not just dogs providing these much-needed moments of levity. When Elise Healy and her partner realized that they wouldn’t be able to take a trip to France that they had planned for March to celebrate finishing grad school, they decided to adopt a new cat instead. They ended up rescuing Poe, a black domestic short hair from Seattle Area Feline Rescue, who, along with their other cat Keaton, has helped them cope with spending the year at home.

“[Poe’s] crazy. He likes to be chased around the house and to play and will randomly jump into our laps and hang out with us. He falls off of his cat tower, often. I don’t think I can adequately explain how wild and hilarious he is,” Healy says. “It breaks up the day to be sitting at your desk working and bored and then, you know, suddenly have a box moving around the house because he’s gotten into it and can’t get out.”

2021 looks to be a big year for shelter pets, too: In January, a shelter dog will take up residence in the White House for the first time ever when President-elect Joe Biden moves in with his dog Major, a German shepherd who the Bidens adopted in 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association (DHA). It will be a landmark day for supporters of “adopt, don’t shop,” a growing movement that encourages people to adopt pets from shelters and rescue groups instead of purchasing them from commercial breeders.

“Our staff and our volunteers are super excited about Major going to the White House mainly because it highlights the important work we do of finding great homes for dogs and cats. It’s like, if one of our DHA adoptees is good enough for the White House, it’s good enough for your home, right?” says DHA Executive Director Patrick Carroll. “And it’s not just DHA. It’s highlighting adoption for all the shelters in Delaware and throughout the country. I think having a shelter dog go to the White House is really going to help with that awareness.”

That Major and the Bidens’ other dog, Champ, are headed to the White House will also mark the return of the time-honored tradition of presidential pets. “Americans are majority pet owners,” says Andrew Hager, Historian-in-Residence of the Presidential Pet Museum. “We kind of expect that from our presidents and we’ve gotten that for the most part because the presidents come from the American people and that’s part of our culture.”

The Bidens are reportedly planning on bringing a cat along, too. Perhaps they, like so many other Americans, have been bitten by the pet adoption bug. Milone, for one, says that even though it’s only been a few weeks since Fauci came home, his presence has already made one thing clear to her: despite the challenges she faced the first time around, she wants to rescue another dog—and soon. “The only thing that I’ve become absolutely certain about is that I will get another rescue,” she says. “I need a month to get good with [Fauci], so that he and I know each other really well. Then I’ll get a second one.”

Facebook has officially shut down “Stop the Steal,” a pro-Trump group which had amassed over 364,000 members in less than 48 hours, for promoting election misinformation regarding ongoing vote counts.

With protests over the ongoing tally of votes sweeping through a number of U.S. cities, Facebook tells TIME that it removed the group on Thursday over “worrying calls for violence.”

“In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”

The group, which appeared to be linked to the pro-Trump organization Women for America First as well as the Tea Party, was created in the wake of President Donald Trump falsely claiming that he had defeated Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during a speech he delivered from the East Room of the White House after 2 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning.

As state and local election officials continued to count ballots across the country in the days after Election Day, Trump continued to post false and misleading tweets, in which he made baseless allegations about voter fraud in key states. Many of these tweets were flagged by Twitter for containing disputed or misleading information. The description of the “Stop the Steal” group on Facebook seemed to reference Trump’s claims.

“Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and nullify Republican votes. It’s up to us, the American People, to fight and to put a stop to it,” the page read. “Along with President Trump, we will do whatever it takes to ensure the integrity of this election for the good of the nation.”

Posts on the page were rife with misinformation, including unsubstantiated claims that election workers were throwing out ballots or that voters in Maricopa County in Arizona were encouraged to vote with Sharpies that would make their ballots illegible.

The “Stop the Steal” movement has also spread to Twitter, with some pro-Trump users tagging their posts with the corresponding hashtag.