Greetings Webtaculators! Happy Pride! I also hope everyone on the West Coast managed to not catch on fire this week. I really don’t function well in anything above 100 degrees, and it hit that multiple times. Good thing our Government understands that this is not normal! Oh, right. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Russia Hacked Our Election
Why: Because  the Obama administration, ironically, didn’t overtly act on the information for fear of appearing like they were trying to influence the election. It also did not help that almost every single poll showed that Clinton was going to win, regardless. Also, Trump is a liar.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Health “Care”
Why: Because removing coverage for 23 million people is disgusting and immoral.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Driverless
Why: Because the head of Uber stepped down after several prominent investors revolted.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. watch)
What: What’s In A Name
Why: Because free speech is one of those things that is total, except when it isn’t (see, here).

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Sports Are Over
Why: Because my favorite baseball team is doing terribly, and all the other sports are not happening right now. No, I don’t care about drafts.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (various listens)
What: Back To The Other Decades
Why: Because new music doesn’t quite sound new anymore. Portugal. The Man went back to the 60’s, Phoenix, Paramore, and Bleachers went back to the 80’s, and Katy Perry’s new album sounds like a late 90’s early 00’s dance club. Also, apparently a lot of music I listen to has the letter P in it.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Transformers Is Bad
Why: Because you should watch Baby Driver or The Big Sick, which are good, instead.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. look)
What: A History Of Pride
Why: Because Pride parades are fun. If you haven’t had a chance to attend one, you really should next year.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: You’re A Wizard, Harry! Turns 20
Why: Because the Harry Potter series was singlehandedly responsible for showing my brother that reading was fun. I can only assume that it did the same for millions of others.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Steam Sale
Why: Because there are a ton of really good computer games for really cheap right now. Like, a cup of coffee cheap for hours of entertainment. Also, actual Nazis are mad that people seem to have plenty of fun shooting video game Nazis.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: He’s Back, And He Brought Some Friends; The Earth Is Not Flat; A History Of The “Domestic” Cat
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD NOT GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: A $400 Tea Maker
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™

Greetings Webtaculators! This week was one of those weeks where I just wished the World could have a mulligan. The amount of truly awful news coming from this week, from multiple shootings, building and forest fires, bad court outcomes, and vehicular destruction (on land and sea) is too much. My brain definitely went numb multiple times from the overload of horribleness. But then there the good things – celebrating Father’s Day, weddings, dinner with old friends, and local team wins, that at least allow for some respite and joy through all of it. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: Coast To Coast Shootings
Why: Because there are a bunch of people guns somehow still don’t kill people.  For a refresher, this is what guns do to people. Also, while we’re at it, fuck the NRA.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Whole Amazon
Why: Because Amazon is buying Whole Foods, even though the CEO of Whole Foods wasn’t really too excited about the prospect of selling it.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Injustice, And More Injustice
Why: Because something is wrong with our jury system when a rapist is not found guilty of rape, and a murderer is not found guilty of murder.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: Yahooooooooo…
Why: Because Yahoo! is now part of Verizon, and joins America Online as a new subsidiary called Oath (probably the most techno-dystopian sounding thing they could have come up with). Also, Marissa Meyer is proof that ruining a company is a perfectly valid way to make a boatload of money.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. look)
What: WARRIORS
Why: Because the Warriors won (as if there was any other possible outcome.)

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. look)
What: People Doing Cool Things
Why: Because people can do good things, too, sometimes.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (1 min. read)
What: The New Jay-Z
Why: Because you probably won’t end up listening to this album (movie?), because no one has Tidal.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Losing Marvel Movie Magic
Why: Because the comics don’t do nearly as well as the movie franchises they created.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The Best Of E3
Why: Because I’m really looking forward to a new Metroid.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Father’s Day Rules; KFC Reaches For The Stars; Rakka
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: I know it’s a lot to ask for, but how about less bad news this week. Think we can manage it, humanity? I’d really appreciate it.
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™

Greetings Webtaculators! Another crazy week in the world, because I guess that’s what we deserve. Comey addressed the Senate, Teresa May, the PM of England, destroyed her party’s majority, and Puerto Rico (sorta) decided it wants to be an actual state. Considering how crowded the demand for our attention is, I probably forgot one or two major world things, but I can only follow so much. I apologize in advance if I left something out.  On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (long read / watch)
What: Comey V. Trump
Why: Because like so many other parts of this presidency so far, an FBI Director testifying against a sitting president is basically unprecedented. What is also disconcerting is how the news was reported by different outlets. Truth is what you want it to be, I guess.

STORY OF THE WEEK #2 (5 min. read)
What: Regrebrexit
Why: Because about a year after voting to leave the EU, British citizens just dealt a huge blow to the party that they elected to pull them out in the first place. People in groups seem to be really bad at making decisions recently.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: Brick By Brick
Why: Because Legos are awesome. Just like in the song.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: How To Become A State
Why: Because even though Puerto Rico voted to become the 51st state, there are lots of hurdles left in what might not be counted as a vote at all.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: ‘Cause I’m Freeeeeee, Free Climbin’
Why: Because Alex Honnold just completed what may be the single most difficult / insane athletic feat in human history. Don’t look down. Also, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup (you know, the trophy you get for winning at hockey). Go Dubs.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (15 min. read)
What: Oh Hey, Here’s A List To Argue About!
Why: Because the NYT made a list of the 25 best movies of this century. There’s a good chance this list is at least half wrong.

TELEVISION THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Goodbye, Batman
Why: Because Adam West, the purest Batman, passed away this week.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (45 min. listen)
What: Dispatch Returns
Why: Because one of my favorite bands from high school just released a new album and is touring again. Here they are playing The General for the first time in years.

THEATER THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What:  It’s The Tony Awards!
Why: Because it’s too bad that Hamilton can’t win everything again.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Books And Basketball
Why: Because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a national treasure.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: How Many Xboxes Are There?
Why: Because it’s E3, Microsoft just released information on it’s latest hardware, which for anyone who doesn’t follow the industry closely, might be confusing. See, back in 2001, Microsoft released a gaming system called the Xbox. They followed it up 4 years later with the Xbox 360, even though that was only their second one. Then, in 2013, they released the Xbox One, even though it was the third Xbox, not the first. Last year, they released the Xbox One S, which was just a smaller Xbox One. Now, there’s the Xbox One X, which is neither the first nor the 10th Xbox, and not even really a new Xbox at all, but it is capable of utilizing 4K. Got that? Also, here’s a pretty neat study of how people actually use the damn thing. I mean the Xbox One, which is the third Xbox.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Run Tom Run; West Goes To The Mayor; How Not To Run
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: The Original Batmobile
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™

Greetings Webtaculators! It’s time for a check in. How is everything going? You all doing all right? I know for me, watching society being intentionally dismantled from both inside and out is exhausting, and this week was especially difficult. Our President is causing international havoc, England is reeling from its second terrorist attack in as many weeks, and the year is only at it’s half way point. Hopefully, all of you are still able to find moments of joy, since that’s really all we’re looking for. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: London Bridge Attack / U.S. Vs. The World
Why: Because America is going alone at a time when the world should be coming together.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Apartments For The Rest Of Us
Why: Because my friends at Starcity are trying to figure out how to make housing that actually fits modern city living besides cramming 8 people into an old mansion.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Clerk So Hard
Why: Because the British legal system is definitely a different beast than the U.S.’

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: WARRIORS
Why: Because watching one of the best basketball teams led by one of the best players ever get demolished by what is potentially THE best team ever is a beautiful thing.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Wondrous Women 
Why: Because Wonder Woman had the highest grossing opening weekend of a movie directed by a woman.

TELEVISION THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: The Animaniacs Return
Why: Because they’re zany to the max.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (1 hr. listen)
What: Lots Of New Things
Why: Because for some reason, the beginning of summer is a popular time to release new songs. Here are a few of them.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Tienanmen
Why: Because protesting an oppressive government is a human condition, regardless of where or when it occurs.

SPELLING THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Spelling Sucks
Why: Because even though the National Spelling Bee is no longer the spectacle it once was a few years ago, it requires a ridiculous amount of knowledge of one of the most difficult languages in the world.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: The History Of Halo
Why: Because Halo was the first video game that proved consoles could do FPSs as well as a PC.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: 30 under 30; Trailer Songs Matter; Everyone Has Talent
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: 2 More Wins
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™