PAINT IT WHACK
My Color Story
One reluctant homeowner’s journey into the heart of darkness: a Benjamin Moore paint color wheel.
WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK
Kids Can Get CTE, And Other Facts
Welcome to What We Learned This Week, a digest of the most curiously important facts from the past few days. This week: The struggles of a young man with CTE, the barbarism of Seal Team 6 and right way to raise a plant.
'OH, SHIT'
Snowboarder Films Himself Getting Caught In An Avalanche
That high-pitched whine is the sound of the snowboarder activating his inflatable backpack — which likely saved him from being buried.
FROM THE DIGG STORE
Get 50% Off A Curated Wine Subscription
You could gamble on that cheap grocery store wine OR you could get four curated wines, tailored to your tastes and delivered to your door for less than $7 a bottle.
HOW COULD THEY BE SO HEARTLESS?
Bryan Cranston And Friends Perform A Soap Opera Composed Of Nothing But Kanye West Lyrics
Other than the odd rhyming, if we saw this bit on a soap opera show we would not question it at all.
DON'T LOOK DOWN
Never Die
Spencer Seabrooke wanted to break a slacklining record. The only problem was that if he failed, he'd die.
FILE UNDER: DEFEATS THE PURPOSE
WhatsApp Backdoor Allows Snooping On Encrypted Messages
Privacy campaigners say the WhatsApp vulnerability is a "huge threat to freedom of speech" and warn it could be exploited by government agencies.
THAT'S A MORAY
Dumb Scuba Diver Gets Precariously Close To Some Moray Eels
Moray eels are not creatures you want to fuck with. These 7-foot-long monstrosities have powerful jaws that can sever fingers and are known to be unpredictable.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
The Curious Connection Between Autism And Cancer
A surprising number of genes associated with autism also have links to cancer. Does that mean cancer drugs can treat autism?
BO KNOWS
Bo Jackson 'Would Have Never Played Football' If He Knew About CTE
“If I knew back then what I know now,’’ Jackson tells USA TODAY Sports, “I would have never played football. Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody.
THE STRONGEST LINK
I’m A LinkedIn Expert — Whatever That Is
For the last decade, Viveka von Rosen has spread the gospel of LinkedIn — via books, lectures and endless how-tos that she promises will lead to greener professional pastures.
A MOVE AWAY FROM 'REPEAL AND DELAY'
Paul Ryan Says GOP Will Replace Obamacare At The Same Time They Repeal It
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday Republicans plan to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law at the same time they approve a GOP replacement plan.
TOOK A SHINE TO THEM
The Milky Way’s Stolen Stars
Astronomers say some of the galaxy’s most distant stars were actually whisked away from a passing mini-galaxy.
MIND CONTROL
Trevor Noah Explains Why Nobody Can Ever Win An Argument Against Ben Carson
Ben Carson might not have the credentials to be the head of Housing and Urban Development but, boy, does he have the determination.
WAAAAAAAHHHH THE FUCK?
What If Mario And Wario Are The Same Guy?
"I’m going to warn you up front that this is a ridiculous theory. It is likely wrong in a hundred ways. That will not stop me from sharing it with you now."
UNSTOPPABLE
Road To 23: The Story Of Serena's Path To Greatness
It is no longer a question of if, but of when, Serena Williams will surpass Steffi Graf's Open era Grand Slam record. Once she reaches 23, the buzz will turn to Margaret Court's all-era record of 24, and history will beckon again.
WOMB MATES
Twin Sisters Who Were Separated At Birth Reunite For The Very First Time And Oh No, We're Crying
Audrey and Gracie were both born in China and adopted by different families from the United States. Growing up, neither they nor their families knew about their missing twin until a shocking online discovery.
LIFE, UH, DOESN'T ALWAYS FIND A WAY
Why Most Planets Will Either Be Lush Or Dead
The Gaia hypothesis implies that once alien life takes hold, it will flourish.
CROSSING THE STREAMS
Netflix Wants The World To Binge-Watch
The company wants the attention of the world’s well-off cosmopolitan consumers, and is investing billions of dollars in a multifront effort to create a lingua franca of original programming, while also upgrading the world’s video streaming structure.
DIGG PICKS
Stuff That’ll Make Never Leaving Your Apartment Even Better
Butter-soft sheets, smart-home hacks and all the other things you need to hibernate the right way.
IT IS, HOWEVER, STILL TASTY
Turmeric Seems To Have Zero Medicinal Properties
Curcumin is a cautionary tale because it falls in a category of compounds known to produce false results.
THE COLOR OF MONEY
How Fiestaware Invaded The Baby Boomer Kitchen
“It’s the Madonna of dinnerware,” wrote style magazine Echoes Report in the mid 90s. “Scarcely content with just sitting there, it screams for attention.”
FEELING THE GROOVE IN TOKYO
Sweet Bitter Blues
I couldn’t quite figure out why Japanese listeners had come to appreciate and savor the blues in the way that they seemed to—lavishly, devotedly. Blues is still an outlier genre in Japan, but it’s revered, topical, present.
'TO MY BROTHER'
President Obama Surprises Joe Biden With Presidential Medal Of Freedom In Moving Ceremony
In what was supposed to be a typical farewell event for vice-president Joe Biden, Barack Obama surprised his right hand man with the rare and coveted Presidential Medal Of Freedom. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.
NO SILVER BULLET
How To Prevent Gun Deaths? Where Experts And The Public Agree
Background checks? More concealed weapons? What about improving mental health care, or having better community outreach?
BECAUSE PAIN ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE
The Hunt For New Painkillers That Will End The Opioid Crisis
From spider venom compounds to implantable devices, researchers face an uphill battle developing less addictive, effective pain treatments
GETTING SHIGGY WITH IT
How Shigeru Miyamoto Designs A Video Game
The father of "Mario," "Donkey Kong," "Legend of Zelda," "Star Fox" and many other landmark video games explains his philosophy on game design and fun.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
Pro Slackliner Saves Friend Dangling From Ski Lift
Mickey Wilson used his slacklining experience to rescue the man, who was hanging unconscious.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE FOLKS!
The C-SPAN Feed Spontaneously Cut To A Russia Today Feed And, Uh, That's Not Ominous At All
This is probably just an innocent case of some wires getting crossed, but given the events of the past few months, it is just a little bit odd.
THE RNG GODS
How Designers Engineer Luck Into Video Games
The responsibilities and challenges of programmed luck.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
Obama Administration To End ‘Wet Foot, Dry Foot’ Policy for Cubans
The Obama administration is ending a policy which gave Cuban arrivals to the US residency even if they didn't have visas.
HOW FAR DOES THAT RETURN POLICY GO?
Why People Are Boycotting LL Bean Over Donald Trump
Twitter is ablaze with calls to boycott L.L. Bean after the company's heiress and board member Linda Bean was revealed be a Trump donor and supporter. Here's what's going on.
WHEN CARDBOARD WAS COOL
The Meatless, Wheatless Meals Of World War I America
Recipes got a lot more creative during the days of food rationing.
MINING FOR LITHIUM IN CHILE
Where The Juice That Powers Your Batteries Comes From
Alejandro Bucher has spent years working in the "great void," an area near the Andes mountains full of mineral-rich salt beds.
FOR FRIENDLY EYES ONLY
Inside Signal, The Gateway App To The Encrypted Life
Demand for secret messaging apps is rising as Trump takes office, and Signal is there to fill the need.
ANOTHER SIDE OF SEX WORK
I Have Cerebral Palsy And I'm Happy To Pay For Sex
My sex surrogate has helped me to become more confident and comfortable in my own skin.
MORE LIKE GOODMINTON
This Is The Fastest Badminton Shot That Has Ever Been Badminton'd
Mads Pieler Kolding, who plays for the Chennai Smashers in India's Premier Badminton League, smacked the bejeezus out of this birdie, setting a world record at 265 mph/426 kph. We're just impressed the other guy even got his racket behind it.
NOT IF THEY'RE LEARNING ESPERANTO
Are Duolingo Users Actually Learning Anything Useful?
Addictive language-education apps are essentially mobile games, and they add to your second-language vocabulary. But are users making any real gains toward fluency?
LOOKS COLD
The Incredible Isolation Of Antarctic Researchers, Seen From Space
Concordia Station is so remote that in order to replenish its supplies, a convoy of containers pulled by a tractor must make a 10 day, 600-plus mile journey across inhospitable terrain dubbed “White Mars.” A recent image from France’s Pleiades space satellite captured the journey, the convoy a tiny black scratch in a massive white expanse.
HOME, ALONE
You Could Live Here Alone Forever
The world surrounding my father's Montana homestead could disappear tomorrow, and he would make out just fine. I went to see him to find out how he does it — and why.
