Here is what I had to do after Laurent showed me how to open an URL in the browser:

NSWorkspace.sharedWorkspace.openURL(NSURL.URLWithString("http://google.com")

I wish this would be wrapped in a simpler way.

open_url_in_browser("http://google.com")
open_file_in_browser("./resources/schedule.html")  (I guess there is way to open a pdf without having to use the browser)

-Matt