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Today's 'Harlem Shake' Report: 15 Aussie Miners Fired; 'The Simpsons' Joins In

The phrase " jump the shark" is coming to mind this morning. The "Harlem Shake" craze does seem to be getting to the point where it's getting out of hand.

Last week there was the news that the FAA isn't too thrilled that Colorado College's ultimate frisbee team did the shake (and, of course, videotaped it) on a Frontier Airlines flight to San Diego.

Now there's word from Australia that "up to 15 workers at the Agnew gold mine in the Goldfields have been sacked and banned for life from every Barminco [company] project in the world after performing the Harlem Shake dance craze on site." The West Australian adds that "a dismissal letter shows Barminco considered the stunt a safety issue and a breach of its 'core values of safety, integrity and excellence.' "

And there's also what could be the ultimate sign that the shake has peaked: The Simpsons did it on Sunday night's show.

According to The Associated Press, " to 4,000 videos of "Harlem Shake" variations are uploaded on the Internet daily. The song "Harlem Shake," recorded by Brooklyn disc jockey and producer Baauer, is currently No.2 on the Australian singles chart."

Has the shake played itself out?

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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