Sorry for the late release- I forgot how to internet because the world suddenly got wet. Also, I’m wondering when you will be delivering the rest of the THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEKS, since apparently someone is listening to my requests.

STORY OF THE WEEK (15 min. read)
What: The Winter Olympics Is (Are?) Here!
Why: Because it’s the Winter Olympics! In Со́чи, Россия! Coverage of the Games has been mainly negative, but, as they say, in Mother Russia, Olympics win you!

BUSINESS THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Pharmacies Trending Away From Selling Cigarettes
Why: Because it is important that stores that exist to keep people healthy start acting like it.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Starbucks Is Dumb, And So Is Copyright Law
Why: Because I can’t believe that someone is dumb enough to think this is parody, and someone needs a new lawyer.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: How To Stop Worrying And Love The Vagina
Why: Because too many people don’t know how we work as humans, and we should really start figuring that out.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (7 min. read/watch)
What: Top NFL Prospect Comes Out
Why: Because I thought the NFL was done being in the headlines, but this is actually for a good reason.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: 95% Fresh
Why: Because I am so excited to see this.

TV THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. watch)
What: This Guy Is Replacing This Guy
Why: Because it’s about damn time.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. look)
What: NYC Before And After Bike Lanes
Why: Because a lot of the Big Apple has converted to bike friendliness, and it seems to be working.

WRITING THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: How To Be Funny According To The NY Times
Why: Because the person who wrote is not that funny, even though he is trying to be, which is sort of funny on a meta level.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Flappy Bird Stops Flapping
Why: Because Flappy Bird is one of the most successful gaming apps in the last few months, but success often comes at a high price.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK ()
What: What The Hell Is Shona?; Wow. Much Doge; Luge You Long Time; I Love Behaving Aggressively Towards Clams
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: All It Needs Is Some Sharks With Lasers, And A Bunch Of These
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,

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

This edition is out a little early today because I am scheduled to yell at a TV for a few hours this afternoon to encourage 22 people to give each other concussions. Enjoy!

STORY OF THE WEEK (20 min. read)
What: Good News Everyone! The State Of Our Union Is Still Strong.
Why: Because Obama gave his SOTU, and while it may have seemed pretty cookie cutter, he did say he would use the power of the Executive Branch to its fullest in areas where Congress proved to be unwilling to cooperate. And Joe Biden.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Capitalism Is Not Democratic
Why: Because this is one of the first actually academic studies that proposes capitalism and democracy, which have historically been necessarily tied together, may not be as compatible when democratic issues veer more towards equality.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The Fight Over Education
Why: Because teachers unions are the oft-vilified reason for the US’s struggling school system, and this is just the beginning.

DRUG THING OF THE WEEK (15 min. read)
What: The Real Problem With Designer Drugs
Why: Because the effort to control substances is potentially making them uncontrollably dangerous.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Black Holes Aren’t As Black Holey As Smart People Thought They Were
Why: Because it is very rare when a world renowned astrophysicist alters his own original findings on something of this magnitude.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Breaking Madden Super Bowl
Why: Because the Super Bowl is worthless without the 49ers in it, so this at least makes the matchup entertaining.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. look)
What: A Location You Can’t Refuse
Why: Because it is cool to see how much has changed and how much remains the same.

LAST MINUTE UPDATE: RIP Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (20 min. watch)
What: Music’s Best (?)
Why: Because the Grammys are trying really hard to stay relevant, but also aren’t quite doing their job right, and haven’t been for quite a while.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (potentially very long read, short download)
What: Lot’s Of Words From Some Of The Year’s Best New Authors
Why: Because reading is good for you, so here are some free things to read.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (5 min read. 8 min. watch)
What: GoPro Is Now A Media Production Company
Why: Because GoPro is lending its cameras to individuals to produce films like this.

FOOD THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Your Olive Oil Is Probably Sleeping Around
Why: Because most extra virgin olive oil in the U.S. is not actually extra virgin olive oil.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: GIFs Of The Year; The Voyager Can Use Negative Numbers; Where’d The Music Go?; Man > Baby.
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Some Rain Would Be Nice
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,

URGENT: The earlier version was posted in error. Please destroy all copies at your earliest convenience. Those responsible have been sacked. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti… On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Kiev Protests
Why: Because this is one of the first defining protests articulating the variance in influence between the EU and Russia.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What:We’re # 51!
Why: Because it allows me to feel good about myself for not passing the bar.

TECHNOLOGY THING OF THE WEEK (~30 min. with links)
What: The Mac Hits Its Dirty 30
Why: Because most of you are probably reading this on a Mac.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (15 min. and 3 min. watch)
What: Table Tennis! And Real Tennis!
Why: Because there is no football this week. Except this, but it barely counts.

FOOD THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Guy’s American Kitchen, Meet Your NY Times Review
Why: Because this is still one of my favorite reviews ever.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: You’re So Money, Baby
Why: Because this movie taught me all I know about how to be the bear I didn’t know I was.

TV THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. per episode watch)
What: The Greatest Event In Television History
Why: Because Paul Rudd and Adam Scott are hilarious.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. watch)
What: What’s The Story, Noel Gallagher?
Why: Because Oasis was huge, Noel still hates his brother.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (15 min. look)
What: Kiev On Fire
Why: Because see STORY OF THE WEEK.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Romeo’s homieos, Benvolio and Mercutio
Why: Because Wuthering Heights would have been bearable if Bronte wrote it like this.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Games Time Forgot
Why: Because they were influential in their own right, even though no one played them. Especially this one.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: This Is The News; Big Trouble In Little Atherton; I Works Good!; How I Wake Up Every Day
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What:

STUPID SEAHAWKS. On to the real news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: All Nets Not Created Equal
Why: Because this ruling has the potential to make the internet more like Comcast. No one likes Comcast.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Build Your Own Damn House, I’m Eating Toast
Why: Because there’s actually a good story behind the origin of $3.00 burnt bread.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (40 min. listen)
What: Sotomayor, Por Favor (Me Gustan Las Rimas)
Why: Because the first Latina on the Supreme Court doesn’t remind lawyers not to read from their notes.

POLITICS THING OF THE WEEK (20 min. read)
What: Obama Tokes And So Should You
Why: Because this is the most open a President has been about the use of drugs and potential problems with sentencing disparity. Also some other things.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: Sanka’s Not Dead, Mon!
Why: Because the Jamaican bobsled team is headed to the Olympics. And the Seahawks suck.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. watch)
What: Golden Again
Why: Because Tina and Amy killed it.

TV THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. watch)
What: Winter Is Coming
Why: Because the King of the North is no more, and I can’t wait to see what the ramifications are.

TECHNOLOGY THING OF THE WEEK (2 Min. watch)
What: Google’s Nest Egg Apparently Is 3.5 Billion (Me Gustan Los Retruécanos Malos)
Why: Because Google is about to become a huge player in the future of energy.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Dan Brown Sucks At Writing
Why: Because Dan Brown is a terrible author, and the world needs to know why.

GAME THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. watch)
What: This Is A Clusterfuck
Why: Because Cards Against Humanity is great, ipso facto this will be great too.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: Everyone Loves Porn; It’s All Coming Up Millhouse; Animals Sitting On Capybaras; Act Like A Fool Violin
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: A Time Machine (Or This One) So I Can Come Out Of Nowhere And Chop Block Sherman So Crabtree Gets A Touchdown And The Niners Go To The Superbowl.
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Greetings Webtaculators! I Hope you all had safe and exciting New Year’s celebrations.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Lowest Police Deaths By Gunfire In Over 100 years
Why: Because the sensationalization of news often leads us to believe that the world we are living in is much more dangerous than it ever has been.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (1 min. read)
What: Pot Sales Exceed $1 Million In Revenue In One Day
Why: Because Colorado’s legalization of marijuana just went live. This is going to be big business.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: US Presidents Who Owned Slaves
Why: Because it is crazy to learn that the General of the Northern Armies in the Civil War was himself a slave owner.

FOOD THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The History Of The Chocolate Chip Cookie
Why: Because C is for Cookie, and that’s good enough for me.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Former Vikings Punter and Gay Marriage Advocate Speaks Out On Firing
Why: Because players rarely talk about what actually occurs both on and off the field, and even more rarely call out the people responsible for their actions.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. watch)
What: Total Cost Of Destruction In Die Hard
Why: Because Die Hard is my favorite Christmas movie of all time (Sorry Muppets). And John McClain broke a lot of things.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (7 min. watch)
What: Composing “One More Time”
Why: Because Daft Punk creates some of the best songs from other songs. This is what song production can be in the hands of masters.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. look)
What: Photos Of Antarctica From Shackleton’s 1917 Expedition
Why: Because the Antarctic is beautiful.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (20 min. read)
What: Valve’s Revolution; Interview With The Man Responsible
Why: Because Valve is one of the most interesting companies in the world.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: Friendly Applebees; No Ice Cream For You!; Drop It Like It’s New Year’s Eve
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Restored Delorian
Why: Because Brian deserves a time machine.

Webtacularly yours,

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

Hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season!

STORY OF THE YEAR (15 min. watch)
What: Best News Of The Year
Why: Because this is the best news, and my previous ones have been too depressing.

BUSINESS THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read, 4 hr. 22 min. flight from CA)
What: Ninja Star Throwing Range
Why: Because ninjas are awesome.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. / x hr. read depending on how deep you go)
What: NSA Surveillance Lawful
Why: Because the government knows you are reading this.

TECHNOLOGY THING OF THE WEEK (15 min. interactive read)
What: The AK 47
Why: Because the inventor of one of the deadliest weapons of the 20th century died this week. It probably is one of the most influential tools humanity has ever created.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. watch)
What: Hockey Ref Cam
Why: Because all sports should be delivered this way.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 hr. watch)
What: The Hobbit – The Desolation Of Smaug
Why: Because Peter Jackson rectified the problem of the first one of having no action by making this one nothing but action. Go see it.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (20 min. read of pretentiousness)
What: Pitchforks Top 50 Albums Of The Year
Why: Because now you know what the cool kids all listened to before you heard of it.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Bilbo As A Girl
Why: Because Bilbo as a heroine makes the character much more interesting. (See above.)

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What:Gamers = Athletes
Why: Because now they get visas saying that they are.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: The Internet Before The Internet Was The Internet 2.0; FPOU
Why: Because Internet.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Now for the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (1 hr. read)
What: The Fall of the House of Tsarnaev
Why: Because the Tsarnaev brothers were responsible for the atrocious attack on the finish line of the Boston Marathon last year. This article looks into their lives to try to determine what could drive two people to cause so much destruction.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: The IPhone Is Going To China
Why: Because the people who make one of the most successful technology products of all time will finally be able to use it.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (15 min. read)
What: NSA Spying Ruled Unconstitutional; So Is Utah Law Against Gay Marriage; Former Prosecutor Gets Himself Arrested
Why: Because these rulings show that the courts occasionally still work as effective balances against bad laws, and sometimes the system just is broken.

TECHNOLOGY THING OF THE WEEK (1.5 min. watch, endless searching)
What: Internet Zeitgeist
Why: Because now you know what everyone is really searching for.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Payton Manning Unstoppable
Why: Because 51 touchdowns in a season with one game left is insane.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (2.5 watch)
What: Anchorman (cat)
Why: Because Anchorman 2 is out, and you should stay classy and go see it.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (7 min. listen)
What: In Memoriam
Why: Because we can still listen to the wonderful sound these people made even though they are no longer with us.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Read ALL the Books
Why: Because it would take a really really really long time to do it, so you should get started now.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The New Yorker’s Best Games of the Year
Why: Because The New Yorker is now reviewing video games, apparently.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (15 min. watch)
What: Goalkeepers; Santa; Not Santa
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: These. Or This.
Why: Because It’s Brian’s Birthday Week.

Webtacularly yours,

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

Greetings Webtaculators! Welcome to the second issue. Enjoy.

STORY OF THE WEEK (45 min. read)
What: Invisible Child – Girl in the Shadows: Dasani’s Homeless Life
Why: Because this is a longform article that follows the life and struggles of a young homeless girl and her family. One of the strongest news pieces I have read this year. It will make you cry.

POLITICS THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: Newton Conn. 1 Year Anniversary; Arapahoe, Colo. 1 Year Anniversary; 1 year of Gun Deaths
Why: Because whether it’s one day or one year, the United States has apparently not learned anything about gun violence in schools. Absolutely shameful.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Homelessness and Hunger in the U.S. on the Rise
Why: Because although the economy is recovering, more people are being left behind.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. watch/read)
What: The “Affluenza” Legal Defense; And why that should make you mad
Why: Because a wealthy teenager got ten years probation for causing four deaths while driving drunk. The outrage has been directed at the judge, especially since a minority or poorer person in the same circumstance would have received jail time instead. The anger people are feeling is misplaced: it should be that the system allows for jail time for kids at all for these cases.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read / hours of links)
What: Top 100 Academic Research Papers of the Year
Why: Because this links to all of the most read research papers of the year. Make yourself smarter.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. watch/read)
What: Jameis Winston Wins Heisman Trophy
Why: Because this player was featured in last week’s “Law Thing Of The Week” for his non-prosecution in a rape case. Note: The Heisman Trust mission statement declares, “The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity.” I beg to differ.

TECHNOLOGY THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: The Verge 50
Why: Because these are the top 50 movers and shakers according to the The Verge are people and products you should know about.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: Spring Breakers Is One of the Year’s Top Movies
Why: Because I have noticed a big trend of this movie showing up on all of the best movie of the year lists. I want to know why.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (2 hr. listen)
What: Beyoncé; Q-Tip + Busta Rhymes
Why: Because these are two of the most interesting album releases of the year were just launched with little to no marketing. You should listen to both.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. look)
What: Snow Blankets the Middle East
Why: Because I was in Jerusalem during a very rare snowfall last year. This time the whole region was blanketed. These pictures show what happens when a desert gets a dusting of something other than sand.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: NY Times Top 10 of the Year
Why: Because this is the definitive list of the top books of the year. Required reads.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read; ∞ play)
What: Doom Turns 20
Why: Because Doom is one of the most influential video games of all time. It just turned twenty. You feel old yet?

 INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: Germans Trying to Say Squirrel; Road Bike Trials; Santacon
Why: Because Internet.

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

Webtacularly yours,

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

Greetings Webtaculators! Welcome to the first issue of Webtacular World. Enjoy.

STORY OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: Nelson Mandela Dies
Why: Because the of the most recognized leaders of racial equality passed away at the age of 95. This particular piece of reporting is directly from a leading South African paper. There will be many more interesting pieces about this, but you don’t need me to point you at them.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (~30 min. watch/read)
What: Planet Money Makes A T-Shirt
Why: Because this is an extremely interesting look into how our global economy works told through the journey of a “simple” cotton shirt.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK
What: FSU’S Jameis Winston Will Not Be Charged for Rape (5 min. read)
Why: The decision to not charge an individual for a crime is just as important as to why an individual is charged for a crime. The reasons why these decisions are made often appear to be due to who that individual is. This seems to be one of those cases.

TECHNOLOGY THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: What Went Wrong with Healthcare.gov
Why: Because the Affordable Health Act  (“Obamacare”) is one of the largest sweeping changes in recent legislative history, and its rollout has been anything but smooth. This explains why.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: 10 Best Movies You Didn’t See
Why: Because you should see these movies.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK(~1.25 hr. watch/listen)
What: Nine Inch Nails Tension 2013 Tour
Why: Because Trent Reznor, the main force behind Nine Inch Nails, produced and performed one of the best live shows of the year.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (∞ min. look/read)
What: Reuter’s Best Photos of the Year; Buzzfeed’s Best Photos of the Year; Time Best Photos of the Year; Agence France Presse Best Photos of the Year; Roosevelt’s Best Photos of the Year; Yahoo Español Best Photos of the Year
Why: Because photos are pretty, and tell amazing stories. You should look at them.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What: NYTimes 100 Notable Books of 2013; NPR’s Best Books of 2013
Why: Because books are good and you should read them.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (10 min. read)
What:No Girls Allowed
Why: Because video games are the largest entertainment sector of the national economy. Until very recently, I thought that only guys played games. This explains why I thought that, and why I was wrong. The piece is also interesting for the broader implications on sex-based advertising.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: Dinosaurs WTF?; Emu Tango; Late For Meeting
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Santa Skin Suit
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,