Greetings Webtaculators! I am still not used to this whole 2020 thing – it still feels too much like the future. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Against The Truth
Why: Because Republicans just cannot stop lying.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Tragedy Of The Commons
Why: Because Trump’s treatment of environmental regulations rob the future of what is theirs.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Robbing Peter To Pay Paul
Why: Because the First Amendment apparently means absolutely nothing.

HEALTH THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: The Coronavirus Is Here
Why: Because this is the most serious global health epidemic in a long time.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: RIP Kobe
Why: Because basketball legend Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash today.

TELEVISION THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Engage
Why: Because Jean-Luc Picard, the fearless Captain of the Starship Enterprise, is back, boldly going where no one has gone before.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: The Grammys
Why: Because Billie Eilish won everything. The show was not without its own controversy this year.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Quid Pro Quo
Why: Because Bolton says that Trump tied the Ukraine aid to digging up dirt on Biden. Again, this is blatant attack against the core principles of American democracy.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: At Least Your Boss Isn’t Kylo Ren; Kobe’s Best; Terry Jones’ Best
Why: Because Internet.

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

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

Greetings Webtaculators! I hope everyone had a good long weekend. Here’s a reminder of why many of us didn’t have to work today. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: A Times Divided
Why: Because the NY Times chose both Warren and Kolbuchar as its presidential nominee endorsements. This is sort of indicative of the entire Democratic party, which is mostly divided about whether it should lean pragmatically centrist to reunite the country, or assume Republicans are a complete lost cause and do a massive course correction and elect someone much more liberal. The Washington Post essentially laughed at the unhelpful indecisiveness.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Falling Into Debt Forever
Why: Because the way in which the economy treats different people’s failure to be responsible with is highly dependent on how much money they had to lose. If it’s a only a little, you could have your entire life destroyed.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: This Is Not A Legal Brief
Why: Because there are hardly any actual legal arguments in the document, and plays extremely loosely with known facts.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: What They Know About You
Why: Because it turns out it’s pretty much everything.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Super Bowl Baby!
Why: Because the Niners are back!

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Five Decades Of Soundtracking Scrolling Text
Why: Because the strangest thing about the last Star Wars movie is that it will also be John Williams’ last Star Wars score.

TELEVISION THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: All Gooped Up
Why: Because you should not watch The Goop Lab on Netflix. It will make you more stupid, and potentially dangerous.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: In Your Head
Why: Because the transformation from listening to music primarily through speakers to headphones has changed the way sound engineers produce the final product.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. look)
What: Take Your Pick
Why: Because its amazing that delivering articles of impeachment seems like such a quaint thing to happen.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Even More Books You Wont Get Around To
Why: Because I have no idea how the publishing world can support this many stories. I barely made a dent in my list of books last year, and now it just feels like I’ve missed out on everything.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (15 min. look)
What: What Does Best Even Mean?
Why: Because a breakdown of the best games according to metacritic (a review cite aggregator) has shown that as the gaming industry and its critics have grown, there is no real way to define “best” anymore. Hell, look at the Golden Globes this year – was 1917 really “better” than Once Upon A Time or Little Women? Who knows!

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Goldman Vs. Silverman; This Makes My Proposal Look Completely Inadequate; Learn Something, Maybe
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: A Future A Bit More In Line With MLK’s Dream
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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

Greetings Webtaculators! Isn’t it great to learn that playing war kills people? I really wish stupid people were not in charge of the world. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Wagging The Dog So Hard It Falls Off Its Tail
Why: Because the constantly changing story for why Trump decided to murder someone half way around the world is not holding up to even the lightest amount of scrutiny. Thanks to his brash actions, an overly alert Iranian shot down a civilian plane. Good job everyone. Patriotism awards all around.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: Failing Higher And Higher
Why: Because the rewards for people who destroy society are too high.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Barr At The Bar
Why: Because in another “just another day in the Trump administration,” the New York Bar asked Congress to investigate the US Attorney General for bias.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The Future Is Meh
Why: Because nothing coming out of the biggest technological trade show is really groundbreaking anymore. Here are some of the best things. This was probably the worst.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (long read? [For some reason, ESPN has all stories as one continuous scroll. Who knows])
What: Bring It Back
Why: Because the Niners have a chance to be the best again.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: The Music Makes The Movie
Why: Because John Williams has been working on Star Wars movies for 50 years.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Watch And Listen
Why: Because the Watchmen soundtrack is really, really good. Also, RIP Neil Peart.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: It’s Good Being Furious
Why: Because a growing number of books are channeling women’s well deserved rage at the world.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: The Year In Games
Why: Because even though the sun is setting on two consoles, there still is a bunch of stuff coming out this year.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Obama’s Favorite Music; Obama’s Favorite Movies; Obama’s Favorite Books Pt. 1; Obama’s Favorite Books Pt. 2
Why: Because Internet, and I miss a President who has impeccable taste.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: I Want To Be A Pod Person
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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

Greetings Webtaculators! Thanks for making it to 2020 with me. Who knows if we’re going to make it to 2021. Apologies in advance for starting the year off in such a bitter way. My back hurts, I am tired, and I am pissed off. If you want a much more positive version of Webtacular World, re-read the last issue. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: There Is No America With Trump
Why: Because Trump killed a foreign general without proper authorization. Yes, Suleimani was not a good person (arguably, no general should be considered “good” from the amount of blood they inevitably have on their hands, whether foreign people or their own citizens). Murdering him extra-judiciously is the most stupid thing Trump could have done. With Trump as the figurehead of America, America stands for nothing. He must be removed from office before can cause any more damage.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Trump Bombs More Than Just People
Why: Because his unprecidented open assassination of a foreign military personnel will most likely continue to drive global markets down.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Freedom Isn’t Free
Why: Because when the government doesn’t follow its own laws, America isn’t free either.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Bezel-less TVs!
Why: Because everything is shit, so why not watch the world burn to death without screen borders?

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: UnPatriotic
Why: Because the Patriots failed to make it past the wildcard round of playoffs this year.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Golden Globes
Why: Because Ricky Gervais closed the show by telling everyone there to fuck off. Ellen’s speech was good, at least.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (24 min. watch)
What: Nirvana, Reunited
Why: Because it’s really weird watching an audience sitting still watching the surviving members of what once was the biggest band in the world + St. Vincent and Beck (?) through their phones. Those 5 headbangers in front get it.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The Floor Is Lava
Why: Because Australia is on fire.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: The Next Chapter
Why: Because these are books you should read on the history between the US and Iran. It’s already too late for the people who should have done their homework.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: A Decade Of Marginally Lessening Shittiness Towards The Marginalized
Why: Because as forward thinking the technology driving these games are, the dudes who were the focus of the industry sure took a long time to realize that its not all about them.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Go outside. It might not be here tomorrow.
Why: Because Internet Trump.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Well, peace in 2020 was worthless to ask for.
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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