Greetings Webtaculators! I hope everyone is having a fantastic All Hallows Eve. We certainly did (Hobbit to scale).
On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: A Closing Window
Why: Because this is likely the United States’ only chance save its future – if we continue to collectively act like nothing can be done, nothing will be, and it truly will be too late.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Tax The Rich
Why: Because billionaires have too much money, especially when they think the best thing to do with it is to flee Earth.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: The Last Thing We Need Right Now Is Access To More Guns
Why: Because I cannot think of an Originalist argument that assumes everyone has the right to carry a weapon.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Say Hi To Meta
Why: Because Facebook renamed itself to Meta. Which is extremely silly.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. reads)
What: Sports Are On Hiatus
Why: Between the recent “shenanigans” happening all over (NHL, NFL, and MLB most specifically), it’s probably best to pay attention to anything else.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Marvel Is Not Eternal
Why: Because the new Eternals film is a rare miss from the Disney comic juggernaut.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: A Good Kind Of War On Drugs
Why: Because The War On Drugs’ new album is terrific.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (hopefully infinite look)
What: Please Send Me Your Halloween Pics
Why: Because nothing makes me happier than seeing people having fun while looking ridiculous.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Always More Books
Why: What is interesting about this batch is the number of memoirs that are coming out.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Extreme To The Max
Why: Because Riders Republic comes close to capturing the heyday of “Xtreme” sports from the turn of the millennium.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: META; David S. Pumpkins Says Hi; Proto David S. Pumpkins
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Seriously, Your Halloween Pictures.
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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

Greetings Webtaculators! I promise I’m not trying to make this a late Monday / early Tuesday thing, it’s just how things are going. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: It’s Like RAAAAAAIIIN, On A Rainy Day
Why: Because Northern California just had its wettest single day in October in recorded history. This barely put a dent in the state’s water shortage issues, but definitely is better than nothing.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: One TRILLION Dollars
Why: Because that’s how much Tesla is worth now after a hundred thousand vehicle order from somehow un-bankrupt Hertz. 

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: It’s Like They’re Not Even Trying
Why: Because the Supreme Court continues to do its job poorly.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Bring Mammoths Back!
Why: Because no one learned anything from Jurassic Park.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Yay! Basketball Is Here!
Why: Because there has already been enough preseason drama to host multiple Bravo TV shows.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (1.5 hour watch)
What: The King Of North Sudan
Why: Because my friends Danny Abel and Ben McIntire wrote, directed, and shot this film about a misguided man trying to claim his own country. It is much better than what is going on in the rest of the film industry and real Sudan.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: Musicians On Musicians
Why: Because Rolling Stone Magazine is doing a neat thing by having artists do long-ish interviews with each other.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: The Printer People
Why: Because who knew you could create a funny and poignant book about people who kept our printers in order during the 1990s?

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. reads)
What: Single Player Is Back, Baby
Why: Because two releases this week, Marvel’s Guardians of The Galaxy and Age of Empires 4 hit players with the sweet, sweet goodness of not needing to hear teenagers (or their parents) scream or type racial slurs while playing a game.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Bike Tricks, Renewable Energy, AND Joy Formidable??? Count Me In; Mr. Blue Muppet; Mr. Science
Why: Because Internet.

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

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

Greetings Webtaculators! Sorry for the delay – turns out it’s hard to make one of these during a power outage. It would generally help if people remembered that driving during new rain is especially dangerous due to extra slick roads, but humans have proven again and again that they learn nothing from well known previous experiences <<shrug emoji>>. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: At What Cost
Why: Because Colin Powell passed away due to complications from a combination of COVID and blood cancer (remember, this is why it’s important for healthy people to get vaccinated in general). The New York Times article noting Mr. Powell’s death is too kind by far, and does not go far enough in describing just how much his lies to the UN regarding non-existent weapons of mass destruction helped sway America’s decision to go to war in the Middle East, or even his role in washing the military’s hands of My Lai in Vietnam. Yes, he broke color barriers, was relatively apolitical, and even denounced Trump at the end, but always seemed to do too little, too late, especially when it mattered.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: We Quit
Why: Because people are over working too hard for too little.

HEATH THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: The Other, Other Epidemic
Why: Because crystal meth’s evolution from a super soldier serum to Semi Charmed Song to a brain-rotting horror drug can largely be traced to a combination of draconian drug laws combined with little will to help root causes of why communities seek out drugs in the first place. People aren’t killing themselves with meth and Fenatyl because they’re generally doing ok.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: How Not To Run A Prison
Why: Because Rikers is the definition of a broken system.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Notches On Everything
Why: Because Apple is coming out with its new line of computers, which not only have insanely fast processors, but also stuck a notch ON A 16 INCH DEVICE, WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD. People do not hate bezels that much.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (too many reads)
What: Oh Man, Where To Start
Why: Because Urban Meyer, Kyrie Irving, Jon Gruden, Evander Kane, Ed Orgeron, Nick Rolovich and the Dodgers beat the Giants. 

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. watch)
What: THE GRIMMEST BATMAN
Why: Because the Dark Night wasn’t dark enough.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: The Best
Why: Because Pitchfork is old at this point, so why not look at the last 25 years of music.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Sure, Write A Bestseller While You’re At It
Why: Because Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighter fame is now a bestselling author to boot.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Full Of Dread
Why: Because the Metroid Dread is a gorgeous, difficult game that falls a bit too far on the “less fun” side of the difficulty curve – instead of overcoming a challenge feeling like a breakthrough, it feels like a slog. It just barely misses, though, and your milage may vary.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Don’t Go Down The Hole; Halloween Is Near; The Future Of Music
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: $1K Storm Trooper Costume
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

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

Greetings Webtaculators! Happy October (somehow)! Sometimes I wonder what I would do with a billion dollars, but then I remember that it takes only a few million dollars to live an extremely affluent existence without ever touching the initial amount. Remember, a billion is an extremely large number. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Cash Rules Everything Around Us
Why: Because the Washington Post got access to a swath of documents that tells us all once again that the rich play by different rules than the rest of us.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Gotta Keep ‘Em Vaccinated
Why: Because California is continuing to do what has been done throughout modernity by requiring students to be vaccinated against many types of illnesses, including COVID. I have talked to people who went through the California public school system who are unhappy with this. The main claims against are that there hasn’t been enough studying done (there has), COVID doesn’t kill enough kids to make them get vaccinated for it (a. yikes! and b. neither does chickenpox, yet there still are required vaccines for that), and that parents should be able to choose for their kids whether or not they can be vaccinated (no, and it’s not like they had the choice before, either). Roughly 3 billion people have gotten the vaccine (remember how big of a number a billion is?). The time for well meaning skepticism has long since passed.Get the vaccine. When it’s available for your children, take them to get it.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: A Whole New Window
Why: Because Windows 11 is here on October 5. Since we’re talking about a Microsoft product, your computer may or may not be ready for it. If you want to find out, go here, scroll to the bottom, and click “download PC health check up app”. Might be a good thing to do anyway, just to learn something! Mac users, as always, feel free to ignore and mock.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: 107 = #1
Why: Because the SF Giants are the NL West Champs! The Giants (once again) beat the Padres to beat the Dodgers in the race the playoffs by a single game in an extremely exciting close to the regular season. Keep the torture coming.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Going Back To Theaters
Why: Because Venom, a mediocre if fun spinoff superhero movie sequel, somehow had the biggest opening weekend since the Pandemic started. Go figure.

TELEVISION THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Another Moment Of Zen
Why: Because Jon Stewart and his sardonic take on news is back in the form of The Problem With Jon Stewart. It is serious, because it turns out people think that because something is encased in comedy, it isn’t serious. Maybe this time he can kill Tucker Carlson’s career for good.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (11 min. listen)
What: Who Needs Albums When You Have Video Games?
Why: Because a number of artists are increasingly finding out that they can reach more listeners by being featured artists in games.

ART THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Art Is What You Take From It
Why: Because Jens Haaning was supposed to use $84k to recreate an art piece that he had previously made, showing the total annual pay of an Austrian and Danish person, respectively. Instead, he titled the recreation Take The Money And Run, and delivered two blank canvases. Amazing.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Feel Feelings, And Buy A Book!
Why: Because modern book covers don’t really convey much.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: <<Insert Obvious Joke Here>>
Why: Because Amazon released its new MMO (or “Massively Multiplayer Game”), New World, to a global player base ready to spend lots of time holding down “W” to walk forward forever and click on beautiful, digitally crafted rocks and trees to mine resources. It’s ridiculous to me how MMOs absolutely fail at gameplay compared to non-MMO games (basically – reactions are stifled, player actions are limited, story is often non-existent, and the gameplay itself is incredibly rote and repetitive), and yet solely because you can do these things with thousands of other people simultaneously is enough to make it all actually fun.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Medieval Tennis; That’s One Way To Find Yourself; Billionaires In Space
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD NOT GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: A Billion Dollars
Why: Because Brian doesn’t deserve it, and neither do the people who currently do.

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