Greetings Webtaculators! Aren’t you glad February, is almost over? I sure am. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Venezuela In Crisis
Why: Because the country, under Nicolas Maduro, is not doing so great. Currently, countries attempting to deliver aid to Venezuelans are being violently stopped at the boarder.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: The Cost Of College Sports
Why: Because a game between two schools that fewer than 30,000 undergraduate students combined cost an average of about $4,500 per ticket to see live, the third highest ticketed American sporting event ever. A student who was hurt during the game caused Nike’s stock to drop by 1.5%. The student athletes will not see any of the profit.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Oh Hey, The 8th Amendment Still Exists
Why: Because seizing assets beyond what is required by law has long been an overlooked part of law enforcement.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Foldy Phones!
Why: Because $2000 for a screen with a crease in the middle sounds exactly likes something no one actually needs.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Bochy Is Leaving The Building
Why: Because the Giants’ manager is entering his final season. It has been way too fun having him in the Bay.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3  min. look)
What: Oscars
Why: Because movies still won, even though no one was hosting.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: This Land
Why: Because Gary Clark Jr.’s album dropped, and it is amazing.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. look)
What: Venezuela At The Boarder
Why: Because this should not be a modern problem.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Read The Oscars
Why: Because a lot of movies didn’t start out as films.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Bowser Is In Charge
Why: Because Nintendo of America’s new president’s last name is Bowser. I had no idea Bowser was a real last name.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Weezer = Mr. Rogers; Kitbull; Cue Cards
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: A $2000 Phone
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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

Greetings Webtaculators. You are getting Webtacular World a day late in honor of our current president who got his budget out way past its due date. Happy President’s Day! On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Immigration Is Not An Emergency
Why: Because when both the Cato Institute and the National Review rebuke a Republican President’s decision, it must be wrong. Our Dealmaster in Chief not only lost a ton of money in American productivity by keeping the government closed for a month, but also got a worse deal out of the final budget that passed, which as expected, did not include enough money for a wall. Like most things in life, it would have been better for Trump if he had actually done nothing. I guess that means that I need to edit the opening paragraph again, since it turns out he does do things, they are just mostly wrong. But since being wrong is his MO, that actually means I can leave it alone. He then proceeded to shoot his argument in the foot and run it over with a car, before heading off to golf.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: No AMZN For NYC
Why: Because Amazon backed out of its HQ deal with New York City after a large pushback against some of the company’s tactics and plans for the location.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: I Don’t Pledge
Why: Because forcing people to pledge allegiance to something is what fascists do. Getting arrested for the outcome is even worse.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The End Of Opportunity
Why: Because the NASA rover went offline for the last time.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Hey Now, You’re An All Star
Why: Because Basketball is the most fun All Star game in professional sports. Mostly due to Curry related alley oops, like this and this.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Alita Nonsense
Why: Because this movie looks like it had potential, but that apparently is the problem.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Just Stop
Why: Because I don’t think I ever actually heard a Ryan Adams song, but for some reason this ass hat keeps coming up in regards to ruining other peoples careers.

TRAVEL THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Idiot Tourists Ruin Everything
Why: Because Everest base camp is closed due to too much trash.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Threat
Why: Because it’s not a good thing when a person who was (briefly) in charge of the FBI says that they have to protect the world from the current president.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (quick look)
What: Another Week, Another Too Many Games
Why: Because Anthem was supposed to be the big thing, but it probably isn’t the best out of a bunch of mediocre games that tend to get released right near the end of the fiscal year. Metro: Exodus is probably a better bet.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Best Fries For Reals; A Lot Of Willem Defoe; Ice Karting
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: McDonalds Fries
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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

Greetings Webtaculators! There are now infinity Democrats running for presidency (many of whom are women [yay!]), while the current one just cant stop himself from continuously being racist, immediately after promising to bring the US together, for real this time. What a world. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Dysfunctional
Why: Because the US government has 5 days to figure out how to not shut down. Again.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Bad Bank
Why: Because Wells Fargo locked all of its online customers out of its service for an extended period of time because of a fault at a single data center.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The Future Of Abortion
Why: Because Brett Kavanaugh did exactly what Susan Collins promised he wouldn’t do, mainly voting to dismantle accessibility to abortion facilities. Also, a Muslim man who was executed was not allowed to receive last rights according to the Islamic faith, because the First Amendment apparently only applies to Christians.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Getting All Of Those Pesky Companies Out Of Your Life Is Impossible
Why: Because Kashmir Hill has spent a month and a half trying to live without the 5 major tech companies, one at a time, and then all at once. Many of these services are so integrated into our society that it becomes essentially impossible to do most things without them, either because the services are used as a job requirement, run the internet, or are the main way that you communicate with people, even when you don’t think you are relying at that company. It really is worth reading all of the individual breakdowns as well, since it describes in detail just what the companies actually do.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: No More Football! Kind Of.
Why: Because Americans apparently don’t get enough football jammed in their faces for the NFL season, something called the AAF is trying to fill the gap. It might be better than the trade shenanigans currently happening in the NBA.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: More Legos Can’t Be A Bad
Why: Because Lego Movie 2 seems like it’s OK, if you haven’t dealt with peak Chris Pratt yet.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (long look)
What: Grammys
Why: Because the choices were actually decent for once.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: 👏👏👏
Why: Because an F.U. clap is a wonderful thing.

FOOD THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Reservation At The NY Times
Why: Because the recipe section is actually really good.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Who Needs An Advertising Budget?
Why: Because Electronic Art’s Respawn development team stealth released Apex Legends for free this past Tuesday. It had over 2 million players immediately, and reached over 10 million in its first three days.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Purl; This Is (Still) America; Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Green New Deal Vote
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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

Greetings Webtaculators! That was a hell of a game! Sorry, I mean, that game was hell. Let’s hear from someone who actually likes the Pats:

Looks about right. The half time show didn’t fair much better. Where is the outrage at TWO WHOLE NIPPLES?!?!? Oh. Here. At least it was cool seeing Big Boi. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: DONT DO BLACKFACE
Why: Because you don’t get to put a picture of you dressed in blackface, you dressed as the KKK, or even in the unlikeliest possibility, friends dressed as either of those in your medical school yearbook and still get to be governor of a modern Southern state. ESPECIALLY if you apologize, and then later walk back that apology. It really isn’t that hard. At least (most) Democrats understand this. Trump is still a moron.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Bankruptcy Redux
Why: Because the PG&E is filing for bankruptcy for the second time in less than 20 years. The story here revolves around much more than fires. PG&E essentially runs the single biggest machine in the United States, comprising the majority of the distribution grid in Northern California. When things go wrong with that machine, there is the potential for very bad outcomes. These problems are exacerbated by climate change, by an under funding of our infrastructure, and no real world easy solution. It took over 100 years for the electric grid to develop into what it is today, and few of our solutions are thinking about the next 100. I could go on about this for a while, but I really am just asking that you spend some time to learn a little bit more about how we made something as marvelous you flicking a switch to turn on a light, and for you to think about what you are willing to pay for being able to do that.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: 21 Savauge (It’s A Joke Because Brits Add “U”s To Their Words)
Why: Because Atlanta rapper 21 Savage was picked up by ICE for being in the US illegally. Note, he did not come Mexico, but allegedly overstayed his visa, like about half of the people who are illegally in the US do.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (long look / listen)
What: How You Listen
Why: Because the Department of Psychology at Harvard came out with a very interesting way to study how we listen to music.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Marshall Major Taylor
Why: Because the Super Bowl was boring, but the story behind Hennessy’s commercial is not.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
Why: Because the book that made the Scholastic Book Fair worthwhile (this one) is being turned into a movie by Del Toro.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Feels Like The Aughts
Why: Because Beirut released a new album that is a throwback to when horns layered on mandolins layered on kick drums layered with a melancholy warbly voice were hopeful background sounds to how we were going to make the world a better place.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (35 min. listen)
What: The Grid
Why: Because remember how a few ____ of the week ago I told you to learn about the grid? Here’s your starting point. Then go read the book.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Friendship Is Magic
Why: Because Kingdom Hearts, the long running series about a massive set of characters from the worlds of Disney and Final Fantasy saving light and fighting darkness, comes to its 15+ year conclusion of 15+ games with the release of Kingdom Hearts 3. Also, but unrelated, one of the most effective commercials of the Super Bowl was Microsoft’s commercial featuring its adaptive controller and the people who use it. It really is a great piece of technology.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Every Super Bowl Add; The Internet Loves SpongeBob And Hates Maroon 5; What They Actually Say In Huddles
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Make These Google Searches Real At Some Point

Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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