Greetings Webtaculators! This was my first Father’s Day. That made it a pretty good weekend. Hope you all had a good one too. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Juneteenth
Why: Because getting a holiday reminding Americans that we have been absolutely awful in our treatment of Black people is an important thing to recognize, even while it still sort of co-opting it for everyone in the face of all the problems that our continuously racist present (see, e.g., the current GOP led movement to ban critical race theory accurate history from American classrooms) is failing to address.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: There Is No Half Way
Why: Because the GOP is adamantly refusing to admit that America needs to be revitalized. A “bipartisanship solution” that is in the works also doesn’t address many of the things that the US MUST address, such as climate change, so isn’t a real solution. While they’re at it, they should fund the IRS. This is especially important after ProPublica dove into exactly how the richest Americans avoid paying taxes.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: The ACA Stays
Why: Because health care for millions of Americans remains attainable.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (1.75 hr. watch)
What: The 2021 WWDC
Why: Because Apple continues to iterate its platform. One of the most interesting things Apple announced was its inclusion of Dolby Atmos “spatial audio” into its music subscription. While interesting on its face, it isn’t quite the game changer Apple made it out to be. Dolby Atmos is part of the soundscape for many modern movies and video games, where directional sound makes sense. However, it remains to be seen whether the same is true for music – this is especially for music that was not originally mixed with anything but stereo sound in mind (it completely breaks certain older songs both by destroying the sound quality and missing certain sounds – I thought I was going slightly crazy by comparing the Dolby Atmos version of Weezer’s Buddy Holly [one of the songs Apple promoted using the technology, and since I’m a White guy in his thirties who grew up in the suburbs, I am very familiar with it] to the song’s lossless version, where the Dolby version inexplicably drops two and a half bars of drums in the middle of the song. Baffling). It will be interesting to see whether artists actually start incorporating this into their work, since it has the potential to be very cool if it is used correctly.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. reads)
What: Good Sports
Why: Because Racing, Basketball, and Golf have all been very exciting this week.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Returning To Its Source
Why: Because Luca seems like a safe, fun Pixar movie that was largely made during the pandemic, which sounds both exhausting, but also like a good thing to work on during that time.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: SKA IS BACK, BABY, So Start Skankin’!
Why: Because the Washington Post says so. What are also back are concerts. I cannot wait to rock my face off again.

ART THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: The Evolution Of The Graph
Why: Because visible representation of numbers remains the the most artistic thing about Excel.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: The Pulitzer Prizes
Why: Because a number of books I will probably never get around to reading (this is not a good thing) are things that you may enjoy reading.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: E3 Goes Electronic
Why: Because “gaming’s biggest event” was entirely online. there are entirely too many games coming out in the future, which is a good problem to have. Some of the ones I think seem promising are Elden Ring, Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2, Metroid: Dread, Starfield, and Battlefield 2042.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Welcome To The Internet; Magneto’s Magnets; Donna’s Design;
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: A $7,000 Grill
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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