Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Thursday, August 1, 2024

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for August 1, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficult; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 1, Wordle #1,139! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

---

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

Three of today's letters are from our mnemonic. One is fairly common, and the other is less common.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

This is found in a classroom and used by climbers.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There are no repeated letters today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There is one vowel.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with C. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with K. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is CHALK.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, and from the handful of solutions, thought CHAMP was one of the most common words. CHALK seemed like the next most common.

Wordle 1,139 4/6

⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

---

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was harder. The hint was “a type of pasta” and the answer contained four common letters and one fairly common letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was PENNE.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

What People are Getting Wrong This Week: Couches, Dolphins, and JD Vance

Would United States senator and vice presidential hopeful J.D. Vance consider the image at the top of this article pornographic? It depends on if you're asking the internet or not.

You may have heard that a presidential election is coming up in the fall. Naturally, that means a ton of sewage-level information—lies, slander, rumors, and satire mistaken for fact—has been flooding the internet. The most notable piece of digital flotsam from the past week is the widely spread, tongue-in-cheek rumor that Vance, who I must remind you has 50-50 odds of being next in line for the presidency of a world superpower, fucked his couch . I'll attempt to explain where this rumor came from and why it's spreading across social media like cat hair on a wool sectional (short answer: because it's funny). I'll then dive into the other meme about Vance's sexual proclivities that has been making the rounds.

Did J.D. Vance really say he had sex with a couch?

On July 15, X user @rickrudescalves (account since deleted) made online waves when he reacted to Donald Trump choosing Vance as his running mate with a message reading, “can't say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘺, pp. 179-181)”

The message was shared millions of times, and quickly boosted, memed, and otherwise entered into the unofficial record. Because it has a citation and it seems so believable, many people took the couch-sex story as fact, at least at first. But it's not. It's just a joke—a shitpost, in internet parlance.

While no one can definitively say that Senator Vance has never fucked a couch (what goes on between a man and a consenting piece of furniture is none of my business), he definitely did not write about fucking a couch in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, and there is no other publicly available evidence that indicates he has had sex with a sofa, ottoman, futon, or any other upholstered furniture.

Whatever side of the political spectrum you fall on, it isn't really a mystery why this bit caught on. It's absurd, memorable, and perfectly crafted—kudos to @rickrudescalves for suggesting Vance required three full pages to describe his encounter with the sofa.

Is J.D. Vance a fan of dolphin porn?

While there isn't any evidence that Vance is turned on by his couch, there actually is evidence that he's searched the internet for dolphin porn! It's not the strongest evidence, but still.

On Feb 17, 2024, Vance posted the following to his X account:

Credit: JD Vance - X

I’m not sure what Vance was trying to communicate by sharing this screenshot, but the important thing is that X's search function returns results with the search terms emboldened. For instance, I used to X to search “JD Vance" and "Dolphin.” Here is one of thousands of results that came back to me:

Credit: Antonio Serrata - X

Note the bolded words matching my search terms. The evidence, then, tells us that Vance’s dolphin post is proof enough that he searched the words “woman” and “dolphin” together on Twitter at least once. We don't know why Vance searched those words, but it definitely looks like he searched for them.

Update: Celebrity restaurant banning sprees continue in fake news universe

A few weeks ago, I looked into the sprawling alternative reality created by right wing fake news websites and Facebook forwards targeting ABC's talk show The View. A recurring theme in that mire of incendiary wish-fulfillment are fake stories of celebrities being banned from dining at other celebrity’s restaurants. For reasons unknown, dopes love to read stories about people they hate being banned from chain restaurants.

Since that post, two other stars have reportedly been ejected from celebrity-owned eateries:

• Shaq Throws George Clooney Out Of His Restaurant, Bans Him For Life,“Keep Your Wokeness Out”

• Gordon Ramsay Throws Lia Thomas Out Of His Restaurant, “No Place For You Here”

If you’re keeping score at home, here’s a running tally of who has been banned from which celebrity -owned restaurant:

• Gordon Ramsay’s ban list: Robert Deniro, Lia Thomas, Megan Rapinoe, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Whoopi Goldberg, The Miami Dolphins.

• Guy Fieri’s ban list: Whoopi Goldberg, Megan Rapinoe, Garth Brooks, and Tom Hanks.

• Shaquille O’Neal’s ban list: George Clooney, Joy Behar, Robert Deniro, 

Gordon Ramsay is leading the pack with seven total celebrity ejections (including the entire Miami Dolphins football team), compared to just four for Fieri and only three for O’Neal. The most banned celebrity is Robert Deniro, who is not allowed to dine at eateries owned by Fieri, Ramsay, or O'Neal—a greater honor than winning a third Oscar, if you ask me.

How to Work Out When You’re Still Sore From Last Time

The hardest part of sticking to a workout routine may be starting, but the second-hardest part is showing up to the next workout when everything feels like fire. You’re not off the hook, though! Staying home actually isn’t your best plan of action.

Know what normal soreness feels like

Your first question might be: did I seriously injure myself? Normal next-day muscle soreness, called DOMS for "delayed onset muscle soreness," can feel pretty brutal. It's not a serious health condition, though.

Normal DOMS:

• Hurts the most when you wake up in the morning or when you've been sitting still for a while

• Feels better with movement

• Hurts when you use the muscle and when you stretch the muscle

• Usually starts the day after exercise, and may last multiple days

• Is often at its worst two days after the exercise that caused it

There are medical conditions that can also cause muscle soreness, so check with a doctor if you think there may be more going on than the usual DOMS situation. One condition worth keeping in mind is rhabdomyolysis, which is muscle damage that gets severe enough to cause muscle breakdown and kidney issues. Dark-colored urine (often described as "tea colored" or "cola colored") is a huge red flag—get to the emergency room if you notice this. I've written more here about the differences between normal soreness and the kind that needs medical attention.

But most likely, you just have a normal case of DOMS. If that sounds right, let's talk about what to do about it.

Don’t skip your workout

When you're feeling sore, you’re probably tempted to just stay home with some Netflix instead of taking your achy body back to the gym. But resting doesn't help much in the long run. Beating the soreness for good comes from getting used to exercise, and you’ll never get used to it if you have to take a week off every time you get the idea to start again.

So go back to the gym, or head out for another run, or whatever is on your schedule for today. Make some effort to continue the schedule that you set up for yourself, whether that was a written program or a promise to yourself that you'd go to the gym a certain number of times per week.

First, do your warmup, but ease into it gradually. If you planned to go for a run, start with a brisk walk and then see how an easy jog feels. If it's a lifting day, start with lighter weights than usual, and only add as much weight as you feel like you can handle today.

Even if you can't manage your regular workout, you're still doing something, and that's buying you insurance against future soreness. You're also not going to get anywhere near as sore after today's workout as you did before. Scientists call this the repeated bout effect: each workout (each "bout" of training) protects against soreness from the next one.

Do some active rest

If a rest day comes when you're still sore, you'll probably think: okay, now is the time to sit around. But DOMS feels better with movement, so even if you don't have any training goals to work toward, you'll feel better if you keep moving.

So go for a walk. That's my go-to when I'm not feeling great. If you have access to a spin bike, moving your legs at low resistance tends to help relieve soreness. Cyclists will talk about "flushing" out their muscles; whether that's scientifically accurate or not, it does seem to help. If you're into yoga, a day you're sore is a good time to do some gentle yoga; you can even look up recovery yoga for some videos to follow.

How to deal with the pain

There are a lot of myths surrounding muscle soreness, and one harsh truth: Nothing but time really works to make the soreness go away. In the meantime, the best tools we have are light activity, massage, and heat. Activity is what I described above, so let's explore the rest.

Heat

Heat tends to make sore muscles feel better, so this is a great time to hit the sauna, if your gym has one. You can also use an electric heating pad like this one, or take a hot bath. Epsom salts don't do anything for your muscles, but adding them to a bath can make it smell nice (get the lavender scented kind) and can make it feel like you're doing something special for yourself.

Massage

Pressure can feel good on sore muscles, so consider treating yourself to a massage or asking someone to give you a back rub. A foam roller is a good way to give yourself some "self-myofascial release" (I'm convinced that's nothing but a fancy word for massage), or consider a massage gun.

Food and sleep

When you’re sore, it's good time to pay more attention to taking care of yourself. Anecdotally, I find sleep helps to deal with soreness: if I stay up late, I’m more likely to be sore the next day. Eating plenty of protein can’t hurt, either, since protein is important to building muscle.

One last note: Pain relievers like ibuprofen are popular among athletes, but they aren’t as good a strategy as the things mentioned above. If you get into the habit of taking ibuprofen regularly, it can hinder your recovery. So it's fine to view it as a short term fix to help you get through a bad day, but try not to make a habit of it. If you have enough soreness that you feel you need medication to get through every day, it's probably time to ask a doctor what else might be going on.

How to Prepare Now for a Flat Tire (If Your Car Doesn’t Have a Spare)

If you find yourself on the side of the road with a flat tire, your first move is probably to pull out the spare and change it out—or call someone to help you with the switch. Your car's spare may be a smaller space-saving tire meant only to get you to the shop so you can get your full-size tire repaired, but if you drive a newer vehicle, you should check whether you even have a spare on board at all.

According to Consumer Reports, about 40% of cars sold today aren't equipped with any type of spare tire—even a temporary one—likely due to manufacturers' desire to increase fuel economy and decrease costs. Some vehicles don't even come with the tools needed to seal or repair a flat.

If you discover that your car is one of the 40% that lacks a spare, here's how to prepare for the possibility of a flat tire ahead of time.

Learn how to use an emergency repair kit

If your vehicle is without a spare, it may instead have come with emergency repair supplies to repair a deflated tire that has been punctured—this may include tire sealant and CO2 cartridges. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the tools and read any instructions that explain how to apply sealant (which can actually be more straightforward than a tire change). If you don't have any emergency supplies on hand, you can purchase the stuff yourself, including just packets of sealant or full repair kits. A portable air compressor can also come in handy for inflating sealed flats or low-pressure tires on the go.

Repair kits provide a temporary fix, and you shouldn't drive faster than 50 miles per hour or distances longer than 100 miles before getting your tire inspected. Note that tire sealant is ineffective for sidewall tears or severe flat damage, and when used, it may cost extra to be removed during the repair process.

Buy a temporary spare or used tire

Even if your vehicle doesn't come with a spare, it may have space to store one. You can purchase a space-saving temporary tire that fits your vehicle's make and model or consider buying a used (refurbished) full-size spare online. (Check to make sure a full-sized wheel will fit in your spare wheel well first.) Ensure you also have the tools required to change a flat, including a jack and lug wrench.

Check your roadside assistance benefits

Whether or not you choose to add a spare to your vehicle, you should know how to call roadside assistance when you need it. Newer vehicles purchased from a dealership may include complimentary roadside assistance as part of the warranty or service benefits, so check before you pay for an additional subscription. Otherwise, you can add roadside assistance to your auto insurance plan or sign up for AAA.

Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Wednesday, July 31, 2024

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for July 31, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is harder; I got it in five. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 31, Wordle #1,138! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

---

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

Four of today's letters are from our mnemonic. The fifth is fairly common.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

A type of pasta.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There are two repeated letters today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There are is one vowel, used twice.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with P. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with E. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is PENNE.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, followed by LEDGE. There were a few possible solutions—PEEVE was my next guess, followed by PENNE.

Wordle 1,138 5/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩⬛⬛🟩
🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

---

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was harder. The hint was “wild, like an animal” and the answer contained four common letters and one fairly common letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was FERAL.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: South Korean Pistol Champion Kim Yeji

Young people don't usually vote in huge numbers, and I get it: Voting is boring, and it only encourages politicians anyway. But the entrance of Kamala Harris into the presidential race seems to be invigorating the political interests of young people. It's anyone's guess whether that will lead to engaged new voters in November, but it's resulting in a lot of memes now, and that's the next best thing, right?

And once you've digested that, you can focus on what really matters: A badass Olympic sharpshooter with real Main Character Energy.

The Kamala Harris meme explainer

Since Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party nominee for president a little over a week ago, the internet has been meme-ing her up, and hard. While it's difficult to cut through the hype to really understand how younger people feel about politics, it seems clear that they like Harris better than Biden, and they like her way better than Trump. At the very least, they find her to be better fodder for internet jokes.

Here are some of the most prominent Harris memes that have caught on, and what they mean.

Brat: Some online folks have been are referring to Harris as "brat" (complementary). The honorific was bestowed upon Harris by pop singer Charli XCX in a tweet posted shortly after Harris announced her campaign, which reads: "kamala IS brat." This references the singer's album of the same name, which had already become something of a meme itself, thanks in part to its distinctive lime green cover art. According to XCX, to be “brat” is to be “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it." So that's how young folks see the future president maybe? I'll take it.

Coconut: Along with "brat," people are are mentioning coconuts in the same breath as Harris, or saying they're "coconut-pilled." This is a reference to a speech Harris gave in 2023 in which she quoted her mother saying, "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” As for why it catching on, it's a clear idea in a concise little package, a little silly and novel enough to be memorable. Or maybe the kids are making fun of her a little bit? Even Lifehacker's Gen Z expert Meredith Dietz thinks it's hard to tell.

Weird: The Democratic Party has seemingly reached an agreement to refer to Donald Trump and and his running mate JD Vance as "weird," and as often as possible. Many people have called Trump weird throughout his life, but it's sticking this time, thanks to a cable news appearance by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in which he painted the GOP with the "they're weird" brush. This message was soon amplified by a Harris campaign statement describing Trump as "old and quite weird?" [Sic.]

In a broader context, "weird" dovetails perfectly with the song of the summer (and probably the decade), "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar, in which Lamar ejects Drake from hip-hop by defining him as "not like us." The same energy is being applied to Trumpworld by the meme-makers (and the Democrats cashing in on the trend.)

What is budots music?

Add "budots" to the list of musical sub-genres you will probably not like. Budots is a genre of electronic dance music that originated on the streets of the Philippines and is taking over TikTok. It's characterized by simple, repetitive eletro-beats and lots of sound effects—strictly music for the feet, not the head.

The breakout piece of budots music is DJ Johnrey Masbate's “Emergency Budots,” a remix of “Dr. Beat” by the Miami Sound Machine. It's has been used in over 400,000 TikTok videos and counting. But the genre has been around longer than that song. It was developed by DJ Love, an internet cafe owner in the Philippines who started releasing Budots videos 11 years ago (although "budots" originally referred to the silly, joyous, overly exaggerated moves of the dance that accompanies the music).

What does EYP mean?

NSFW warning! If someone has been posting "lemme EYP" at you lately, they are asking to eat your pussy. The phrase is blowing up on various online comment sections lately, but like budots music, it's been around a few years, bubbling under the surface, waiting for the right moment to catch on.

Ilona Maher: The 2024 Olympics' viral star

Most Americans don't think much about women's rugby, but younger people are becoming very aware of Ilona Maher. The 27-year-old Olympian is an absolute beast on the rugby pitch, and her TikTok and Instagram have become wildly popular for their mix of body positivity, rugby positivity, and content anyone can relate to—like this video of Maher saying the most awkward thing possible when meeting an Olympic tennis player, and her pure excitement over a photo op with Snoop Dogg.

Viral Video of the Week: "Kim Yeji breaks the world record for 25m Women's Pistol"

Another breakout viral star of the Olympics this week is South Korean pistol champion Kim Yeji. While she's competing in various air pistol events this year, her virality comes from the ISSF World Cup held a few months ago, when Kim broke the world record for 25m Pistol. She did it with such style that the video of the moment must be seen to be believed—it's been viewed over 20 million times in the last day alone. Del Walker, one of many people who posted the video on Twitter, summed up the vibe like this: "The most 'Main Character Energy' I've ever seen in my life."

How it's possible to break a world record while winning a gold medal at an international event and stay that cool is a mystery, but the all black clothes and cyberpunk-looking magnifying glasses don't hurt. (To add to her legend, Kim just won a silver medal at the women's 10m air pistol event.)

Six Simple Upgrades That Can Add Value to Your Home

If you’re thinking of selling, but don’t have the budget for bigger changes like a whole new kitchen or bath, you might think that staging is your only option to up your sale price. Luckily, there are quite a few smaller upgrades that don’t involve demolition and reconstruction that you can do yourself to increase the resale value of your home.

Get gardening

Making sure that your landscaping is well cared for and has a clean look can increase the selling price of your home by 10 to 20%. To give your landscaping a boost, you can add some large planters with flowers for a pop of color, freshen up the mulch in your garden beds, or add some window boxes. Any upgrade you make to your garden will boost your curb appeal and can help you increase your sale price.

Furinno 2-FG16450 Tioman Hardwood Flower Box, Two-Pack, Natural

$49.99 at Amazon

$49.99 at Amazon

Upgrade walkways

Another good way to increase curb appeal is to upgrade your walkways. You can make a walking path using pre-poured pavers, or you can choose to mix your own concrete and mold your own pavers. If you prefer a gravel path, refresh your gravel and level your walkway with a rake to keep it looking neat and tidy.

Install a picket fence

It seems like a cliché, but a picket fence can add the kind of classic charm you need to get a higher sale price on your home. In addition to adding safety for kids and pets, a picket fence can increase your selling price, so it’s a good project to tackle if you’re an enthusiastic DIYer. Just make sure to call 811 before you dig so you don’t hit any utility lines while you’re digging your post holes.

Put in a fire pit

A fire pit can pull in a buyer with the promise of outdoor entertaining space, and you can add one with a DIY fire pit kit for between $500 and $700. The kit comes with most of what you need to build it, although you’ll need to level the area you want to put it in as well as clearing any vegetation from the area to avoid causing a fire hazard.

Add some vintage details

While it might not seem like a big thing, vintage hardware and fixtures can really make a difference to the overall look of your home. Vintage touches are in demand, and they can give your home a timeless quality that is attractive to buyers. Adding some vintage-inspired drawer pulls, cabinet handles, and knobs to your existing cabinets can give you an instant upgrade you only need a screwdriver to install. You can also opt for a vintage-inspired light fixture to add some nostalgia to your home.

Alzassbg 10 Pack Antique Brass Cabinet Cup Pulls, 3 Inch(76mm) Hole Centers Cabinet Handles Hardware Shell Bin Cup Drawer Pulls Handles AL3033AE

$37.99 at Amazon

$37.99 at Amazon

Install smart lighting

Smart lighting like the Philips Hue system can improve your chances of getting a better sale price on your home as well as saving some money on your electric bill. The trick to successfully adding smart lighting to your home is to choose one integrated system that will communicate with other smart features. You can usually add smart lighting for between $300 and $400, and you’ll need some simple tools and basic knowledge of electrical systems to do the installation yourself. Make sure to turn off the power to the switch you’re working on at the breaker to avoid electric shock.

My Favorite Highlights and Drama From Day Three of the Paris Olympics

Hello, fellow Olympians! The Paris games are in full swing, with thousands of athletes from all over the world competing in 32 sports (29 of which you won't hear about until the next Olympics). I'm glued to the competition, with an equal appreciation for athletic excellence and random heroes like Bob the Cap Catcher who gained international acclaim for jumping into a pool to retrieve a swim cap. Here are some highlights, lowlights, ongoing drama, and random observations from the Paris Games.

The Seine is full of shit

Probably the biggest story of the 33rd Olympics is whether the Seine is too polluted for human safety. "Mon Dieu! The river, she is full of merde!" a French official (who I made up) said of the matter. It's a big deal, because you can't hold swimming races in a literal sewer.

Just hours before the scheduled start of the swimming portion of the Men's triathlon on Tuesday, officials were mulling whether the race would go ahead as scheduled, be postponed until later in the week, or be canceled altogether. Everything hinges on the results of water purity tests. The hope is that the levels of E. Coli in Paris's waterway will drop to "safe for humans," but since E. Coli rises when it rains, the race's future may depend on whether the storms scheduled for later this week materialize.

An official of the World Triathlon, the governing body for the sport, told CBS that the swimming portion of the triathlon could be dropped altogether. "Then it would be a biathlon," he added.

While canceling swimming might work for the triathlon (although triathletes who excel in swimming will be pissed), the marathon swim events scheduled for later in the games have no fallback position.

Why Olympic street skateboarding is terrible

Day three of the Olympics featured the finals of the street skateboarding competition. Japan's Yuto Horigome took home the gold medal, and Americans Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston won silver and bronze. But it was very stupid and bad because, as a concept, a "street skateboarding competition" is fatally flawed.

First, because of Olympic drug testing. Skateboarders who like to smoke cannabis are ineligible for Olympic competition, which narrows the field of athletes considerably. Step one to improving Olympic skateboarding is ending testing for weed.

But more importantly, street boarding, as it is practiced in reality, is nothing like the way it's "played" in the Olympics. Skaters don't compete by taking 45-second runs and scoring their best two tricks on scale of 0-100 points. Skaters compete by playing S.K.A.T.E.

In S.K.A.T.E, a skater does a trick, then his opponent has five tries to replicate it or lose a point. Then they switch places. This is practiced in schoolyards and random stairways all over the world, and would be a much more interesting way to decide who the best street skateboarder is. S.K.A.T.E. involves direct competition, and has an objective outcome that doesn't depend on judges' interpretation. And it comes from the sport itself, not from whatever Olympic governing body made up the fake-ass rules for Olympic street skating.

This is a great time to be into women's rugby

Why did no one ever tell me that rugby is so amazing? All these years I thought it was like cricket—some foreign game for people who can't handle real sports—but I've been glued to every game of Team USA's women's sevens rugby squad this Olympics, and it is badass. Plus, we are tearing shit up.

We beat Brazil a couple days ago, and on day three, Team USA waged war against our eternal rivals, and the villains of the world, Great Britain. People in Great Britain actually care about rugby—they invented the game, after all—but team USA crushed 'em, 17 to 7, and barely broke a sweat. Highlights included a clutch score from team captain Naya Tapper at the game's halfway point, Sammy Sullivan mean-mugging the camera after putting the game out of reach in the second half, and literally everything Ilona Maher does, both on the field and on TikTok.

This victory puts an American Rugby team into the Olympic semifinals for the first time ever. We're playing New Zealand on day four. They're very good, but I have faith in the mighty USA sevens.

USA Women's Basketball: the anti-\underdogs

While the USA women's sevens rugby team are scrappy underdogs, our Olympic women's basketball team are not. We simply crush every competitor to the point that it's not even fun. Our victory against Japan adds a 56th game to USA's winning streak. The team hasn't lost a game since 1992. We play Belgium on Thursday. I don't think they have much of a shot.

You Can Get This Eufy Robot Vacuum on Sale for $100 Right Now

You can get this Eufy BoostIQ Wi-Fi robot vacuum on sale for $99.99 right now (reg. $139.99) until August 4. You can control it through the EufyHome app or connect Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to set schedules, create boundaries for the vacuum not to cross, or manually control it in the case of a spill. The robot is narrow enough to fit under furniture, as quiet as your microwave, runs up to 100 minutes on a single charge, and cleans effectively on tile, carpet, and hardwood floors with three different brushes. This is an open-box model—a customer return or extra store inventory—so it's 28% off, even though it’s verified to be in new condition and comes with a 90-day warranty.

You can get this Eufy BoostIQ Wi-Fi robot vacuum on sale for $99.99 right now (reg. $139.99) through August 4 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.

Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Tuesday, July 30, 2024

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for July 30, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is harder; I got it in five. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 30, Wordle #1,137! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

---

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

Four of today's letters are from our mnemonic. The fifth is fairly common.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

Wild, like an animal.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There are no repeated letters today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There are two vowels.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with F. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with L. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is FERAL.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and CHANT, then went with MOPED and BREAK to eliminate possible consonants and get known letters in the right place. There were a lot of words left with R, E, and A, but only FERAL fit with the letter placements remaining.

Wordle 1,137 5/6

🟨🟨⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
⬛🟨🟨🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

---

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was medium difficult. The hint was “great, excellent, very” and the answer contained four common letters and one pretty common letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was SUPER.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

You Can Get This 24” Dell Gaming Monitor for $90 Right Now

You can get this 24” Dell LED gaming monitor on sale for $89.99 right now (reg. $229.99). On the outside, it has a black finish with thin bezels, and on the inside, it has full HD resolution, a high-speed response time, and a refresh rate up to 75Hz. It has an anti-glare coating, minimal blue light emissions, and flicker-free visuals, and you can fine-tune the color, brightness, and contrast with simple controls. This monitor is 60% off because it’s an open-box model (a customer return or extra store inventory) verified to be in new condition and including a 90-day warranty.

You can get this 24” Dell LED gaming monitor on sale for $89.99 right now (reg. $229.99), though prices can change at any time.

You Can Watch Augmented Reality Porn on a Meta Quest 3

The Meta Quest 3 is the best virtually reality headset for watching augmented reality pornography. Its array of front-facing color cameras allows for better pass-through video than the grainy, black-and-white of the previous generation, and that means a new kind of porn. While the technical specs of the Apple Vision Pro are superior to the Quest 3, its price is way higher ($3,499 versus the Quest 3's $499.99) and its design is porn-unfriendly.

Meta Quest 3 128GB + Link Cable

$579.98 at Amazon

$579.98 at Amazon

Valve Index VR Kit

$999.00 at Steam

$999.00 at Steam

HTC Vive Pro 2 Headset

$799.00 at Amazon

$799.00 at Amazon

But AR-porn genre is in its early days, and like any early innovation, it can be fairly complicated to get right. You may have to spend a little money, too. Below is a step-by-step guide to watching augmented reality VR porn on a Meta Quest 3 headset.

How to watch virtual reality porn on a Meta Quest 3

There are basically three "levels" of porn-viewing on a VR headset. The first two—simply streaming video, and streaming "immersive" 3D video—work the same on the Quest 3 as on any other VR headset. I covered the basics of how to stream VR porn here. Below is how the new kind of porn—mixed reality, or augmented reality porn—works on a Meta Quest 3 and other VR headsets with decent front-facing cameras.

• Get the right VR headset: I have a Quest 3, so this guide is based on that that, but the general ideas apply to any headset with cameras out front. Scroll down for some suggestions on headsets.

• Make sure you have a fast connection: In order to work, streaming VR video requires huge data transfers to your headset. I have a cable modem and it works great, but a slower connection will require you to down-rez the content or result in buffering (probably at inopportune times).

• Download and install DeoVR. You can download this app either directly from your headset or through the Meta Quest app on either Google Play or Apple's app store. This free VR video player and browser can be used for any type of content, but the largest creator of pass-through porn uses this for streaming its videos. Which brings me to:

• Sign up for a membership to a site producing pass-through porn content. At the time of this posting, there aren't many companies creating this kind of content. The industry leader in this niche is Sexlikereal, which requires a subscription. I realize that paying money for porn is very 2003, but for something as new as this, you have to shell out for a monthly subscription for the full experience. You could try some other free sites; there might be dribs and drabs available, but it will almost definitely be lower in quality than smut you pay for.

• Use DeoVR to navigate to the website of your choice.

• Click "Pass Through" on the search panel to your left.

• Select a video and start streaming.

• Congratulate yourself: You are now on the cutting-edge of porn-viewing.

If you've had the patience to jump through these hoops, you should now have a virtual version of a your porn of choice in your home. But to really get the most out of your experience, you have some work to do.

How to get the most out of augmented porn

It looks like they're right in my house—kind of. Credit: Sexlikereal/Stephen Johnson

If you were hoping that pass-through enabled pornography would instantly make it seem like your porn-star-of-choice was actually in your home, you are no doubt disappointed. Convincingly integrating live video and pre-recorded 3D content is so technologically difficult, I give producers props for even trying, but my results have been mixed at best. Still, I gave this the best shot I could, and here are some tips.

• Have a wide open area: You'll need a fair amount of open space to make this work.

• Make sure it's brightly lit: Pass-through cameras work better with more light.

• Assume the correct position: VR porn is generally shot from a static camera, so the POV is standing, lying down, or sitting. If you're not in that same position it will look wrong. Clicking the pass-through button (it looks like an eye) to see the scene without the blue screen being stripped out can help. It will look like this:

How the VR porn sausage is made. Credit: Sexlikereal/Stephen Johnson

• Align the video content: Try to connect video elements with real-world furniture and body parts. This content, generally, involves simple items like tables and chairs, so have some ready to put in the right places. I found that videos of a person standing in front of the viewer look more like they're actually in your home than videos of people in different poses.

• Work with the settings: DeoVR allows you to mess with all kinds of settings, from the size of images to their position, pitch, hue, and more. How these should be set depends on your device, your house, the video that was shot, and too many other factors to tell you how these setting should be, so the only thing you can do is experiment. DeoVR's guide is helpful, but ultimately, it's a trial-and-error thing.

No one said virtual sex was going to be easy. Credit: Sexlikereal/Stephen Johnson

• Avoid the floating sausage effect and giant people: Much pass-through porn is shot with a blue-screen suit covering one of the actors (with the exception of a body part). If your video isn't positioned in the right place, said part will appear to float in space. This is low-key hilarious, but can be avoided by lining up the video and jiggering with its size and position until the sausage is where the sausage belongs. Another problem: scale. Get it wrong, and you'll have a giant on your dining room table.

Do not do it like this. Unless this is what you're into. Credit: Sexlikereal/Stephen Johnson

Is augmented reality porn worth it?

Your mileage may vary, but I found this experiment in cutting-edge porn to be mainly a chore—a lot of effort for little result. Part of the issue is that the content itself must be rigidly controlled to work within the narrow parameters needed for VR porn. The camera has to be locked down in only one of a few positions, and one half of a coupling (almost always the male half) has to stay perfectly still most of the time. The result is a static, lifeless feeling made worse by the fact that the "action" doesn't really fit together with the setting.

Any change in camera position requires you to change positions physically to try to get the "you are there" effect, and you'll probably have to monkey with 15 menus to try to match everything up again. Trying to make it "look right" is an interesting challenge, but it's about as far from "erotic" as you can get, if you ask me. On the other hand, if you have a free afternoon, and want to try something new, give 'er a shot.