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First Click: Bill Murray, Ron Swanson, and a preview of the week ahead

December 7th, 2015

Let me guess, you spent an hour with Bill Murray and his cast of misfit friends Friday night? Then you probably spent the rest of the weekend wondering if you loved or loathed the new Netflix Christmas special? Yeah, us too, at least when we weren’t binging on season two of Transparent.

It’s December which means it’s time for lists from the internet's biggest companies. Some have already published including Spotify, Twitter, Flickr, and Microsoft Bing. Others like Facebook and Google should be coming any day. We’re also just 11 days away from the world premiere of Star Wars: Episode VII. So really, what else matters?

But first let's catch up from the weekend that was.

  1. Let's rank all of the guest stars in A Very Murray Christmas

    Bill Murray’s holiday special A Very Murray Christmas made its Netflix debut on Friday, and it’s every bit the old-fashioned variety show suggested by its trailers. The tone of the show, directed...

  2. How does medicine describe the worst smells humans can make?

    I did not truly know what a foul odor was until a doctor cut into my right breast with a scalpel to remove a growth. I am a new woman, now. If you talk about a lump on your breast, people get...

  3. Meet the Japanese robots that do what humans can't

    Nearly half the jobs in Japan could be performed by robots in a decade or two, according to a recent study by Nomura Research Institute. If that's the case, then the International Robot Exhibition...

  4. Apple waited too long to get into music streaming

    By now, we’re used to Apple being late to the party. The company has a long standing reputation for taking a wait-and-see approach with new technologies before releasing its own version and touting...

  5. Ron Swanson dies and goes to heaven

    Nick Offerman may be best known as the spouse of very funny person Megan Mullally, but he's also one of the world's preeminent spokespeople for earthy masculinity — and now, Lagavulin whisky....

  6. Canon should make a digital mirrorless version of its famous AE-1 camera

    In the last few years we've seen a distinct trend in photography: the rise of mirrorless cameras. With fewer moving parts, these cameras are smaller, lighter, and less imposing than their DSLR...

  7. There's got to be a better name than 'The Founders' for the generation after Millennials

    We all know about Millennials — the generation born roughly between the early ‘80s and 2000 — but how are we going to grossly oversimplify the next generation? Clearly, we need a name. Generation Z...

  8. Here’s that $2.2 million Bugatti yacht you didn’t know you needed

    Ultra-exotic car maker Bugatti doesn't currently have any cars in production, and it's months away from showing its next model — the Chiron — to the public. But that doesn't mean you can't buy...

  9. How to win at Art Basel, Miami's most excessive celebration of wealth

    This weekend, Art Basel Miami Beach is officially open to the ticketed public. But the opening of the art fair is a mere formality: the party started on Monday and will run for a solid week. I’ve...

  10. The Verge Review of Animals: The reindeer

    The first thing you need to know about reindeer is that, like a spy or a pro wrestler, they go by different names depending on where they are. If you're reading this in the Russian taiga or in the...

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