The best free-throw shooter in pro basketball is not in the NBA. She has people talking.

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Elena Delle Donne is one of the best basketball players you've never heard of.

Standing 6 feet 5 inches, Delle Donne is a powerful presence and star of the WNBA's Chicago Sky. In an interview with the WNBA, her teammate Cappie Pondexter suggested Delle Donne could probably play in all five positions on the court. Yes, she's that damn good.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images.

In fact, Delle Donne took home this year's WNBA MVP Award because her awesomeness on the court is unmatched.

Baller alert! Image via Wall Street Journal/YouTube.

Delle Donne is also already in the record books as one of the best free-throw shooters. OF ALL TIME.

We're talking men, women, Air Bud, or Monstars. Delle Donne is simply the best.

Check out her mind-boggling stats:

In her 77 games in the WNBA, Delle Donne made 448 out of 477 free throws. No NBA player with 400 attempts has managed to match that percentage. That's a 93.9% career average, more than 3% higher than Steve Nash, who holds the current NBA record of 90.43%.

Delle Donne at the NBA All Star Celebrity Game in 2014. Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images.

And in the 2015 season, her record was an astonishing 95%. 95 PERCENT?! What?! The woman is a force to be reckoned with. Delle Donne is also only 26, so she's just getting started.

How did she get so good? Magic — no, scratch that — practice.

She makes the game look effortless, smooth, and measured. But she says that, really, her grace and timing is a result of countless hours spent on the court.

Image via Wall Street Journal/YouTube.

Instead of sitting down when she got tired, Delle Donne says she would rest by working on her free throws, telling the Wall Street Journal, "You'll see little kids who are out by the three-point line like launching it. That was never me. I practiced it every single day and really got it down."

Delle Donne making a free throw while wearing a blindfold. A FREAKING BLINDFOLD. All GIFs via Wall Street Journal/YouTube.

It also helps that Delle Donne refuses to give up, even when she gets sick.

Her success on the court is especially remarkable given her Lyme disease diagnosis in 2008. While her disease is currently under control, bouts of intense fatigue and muscle stiffness forced her to miss part of the 2014 season, including the All-Star Game.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.

And while most of us will never play professional sports, we can learn a thing or two from Delle Donne about life and basketball.

First, dust off your gym shoes and try Delle Donne's free-throw technique:

1. Dribble three times.

2. Get your arms in a 90-degree angle.

3. Lift and flick the ball while simultaneously popping your ankle. Don't jump.

(The last step is sort of three steps in one, but multitasking is what separates the MVPs from the benchwarmers.)

And then consider adopting her other trick, which has nothing to do with muscle memory.

Delle Donne says a few words of self-encouragement can make all the difference.

A helpful tip for all of us, on and off the court.

See Elena Delle Donne in action in this delightful video from the Wall Street Journal.

Think she can make the shot while a vuvuzela blows? Spoiler Alert: Of course she can.

Community

Facebook group brings people together IRL to make meaningful friendships

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Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

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Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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friendship

Democracy

This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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Identity

One man turned nursing home design on its head when he created this stunning facility

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?

92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

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Health

If you're grieving a loved one this holiday season, here's a gift you can give yourself

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

Images courtesy of Kelly Cervantes

Kelly Cervantes wrote her way through grieving the loss of her daughter, Adelaide.

Kelly Cervantes begins the Introduction to her book with five words: "Grief sucks. It's also weird." It's a concise truth that anyone who has lost a loved one knows all too well.

Grief is a universal experience—none of us get through life without loss—but it's also unique to each person. Most of us are familiar with the popular "stages of grief" theory, but denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (along with guilt and a host of things) are less like sequential rungs on a ladder and more like pools you fall into at various times as you stumble your way through the grief process. Grief is not linear and it's not neat and tidy and it's not predictable.

Take it from someone who's been there. Kelly Cervantes lost her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Using writing as a therapeutic tool to help her process Adelaide's medically complex life, death and everything that came after, Kelly created the book she wished she'd had as she was trying to navigate her own grieving process.

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grief

The best free-throw shooter in pro basketball is not in the NBA. She has people talking.

Elena Delle Donne is one of the best basketball players you've never heard of.

Delle Donne is also already in the record books as one of the best free-throw shooters. OF ALL TIME.

How did she get so good? Magic — no, scratch that — practice.

It also helps that Delle Donne refuses to give up, even when she gets sick.

And while most of us will never play professional sports, we can learn a thing or two from Delle Donne about life and basketball.

And then consider adopting her other trick, which has nothing to do with muscle memory.

See Elena Delle Donne in action in this delightful video from the Wall Street Journal.

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?

92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Confusion is common in Alzheimer's patients, but Makesh knew there had to be some way to minimize these conflicts.

Instead of rooms or units, each resident gets a "home" on a quiet little indoor street reminiscent of the neighborhoods many of them grew up in.

Instead of a boring panel ceiling, residents look up and see a digital sky, which grows dimmer late in the day to help keep their biological clocks in tune.

Throughout the day, nature sounds and fresh aromas like peppermint or citrus are piped in.

For Makesh, this isn't just about making patients comfortable, though. He wants to change how we think about the endgame of severe dementia.

Of course, we're a long way from a cure for Alzheimer's.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

Trameka Brown-Berry was looking over her 4th-grade son Jerome's homework when her jaw hit the floor.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

The assignment was real. In the year 2018. Unbelievable.

The shockingly offensive assignment deserved to be thrown in the trash. But young Jerome dutifully filled it out anyway.

"You, white friend, need to speak up and say something when I can't."

1. You're going to have to get uncomfortable.

2. "Your black friend would like to say something to the racist lady, but doesn't want to appear to be that 'angry black man.'"

3. We are constantly monitoring our surroundings and adjusting our clothes, hair, speed, and speech to maintain white comfort.

4. "Your black friend wishes you'd play more than Beyoncé. There are more black performers than Beyoncé."

5. Speaking of which, performative blackness is really uncomfortable.

6. "Your black friend feels like a man without a country."

7. We would love it if we could stop talking about our anxiety and frustrations regarding racism. But right now, that's impossible.

The billionaire passed away on November 28 at the age of 99.

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.