Hasta La Gadget!

When Mariam Diallo fled her home in Mali after Islamists threatened her for not wearing a full head scarf, she decided to grab her favorite pair of intricate earrings before setting off to a refugee camp: Beyond just being an accessory, they symbolized her freedom.

For others who fled Mali for encampments, the choices they made about what to take with them reveal what is most important — a piece of carpet was a reminder of home; a turban represented identity and faith. Photographer Brian Sokol has documented these items and their owners for a series called “The Most Important Thing,” illustrating the stark choices behind what individual items refugee families take with them when they flee.

The freelance photographer, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has taken pictures of refugees from South Sudan, Syria and Mali. Sokol hopes to raise awareness for the world’s estimated 45.2 million refugees, a number that is at a 19-year high, according to the UNHCR.

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More on Greatest Person Of The Day

A growing number of American workers are confronting a frustrating predicament on payday: to get their wages, they must first pay a fee.

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After Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis’ 11-hour filibuster helped defeat a controversial anti-abortion bill aimed at severely cutting access to abortion services across Texas, even her Republican colleagues had to express their admiration.

“Quite a few very respectfully told me that they thought I did an incredible job, that they admired what it takes to do something like that,” Davis told The Huffington Post in an interview Sunday. “They understand the stress and the pressure that I was under, not only because of what the physical demands of that are, but also the mental demands of it … I appreciated the comments afterward.”

Davis’ emotional testimony appeared to gradually galvanize supporters in the state and across the country, hour by hour. Her supporters filled the state Capitol’s gallery, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in hallways and lining up down the steps outside.

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More on Health Care

It always rains the day you’re moving or gets really icy when you have a lot of driving ahead of you. Murphy’s Law definitely applies. If you could control the weather things would be much easier, and Design I/O wants you to feel like you can. Their installation allows participants to make it rain, produce wind, drive snow and bust out of ice blocks, all with a wave of your arm.

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The U.S. Department of Defense is actually getting its own app store, for which it has awarded a $2.9 million contract to Digital Management, a firm based in Maryland.

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