Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Color Me Weird by Robert Tacoma . Emerging in 1991 with the album C.M.B., Color Me Badd helped to define the smooth R&B trend called “ . ” Whether the band ’ s actual influence upon later acts such as Boyz II Men was as decisive as Color Me Badd themselves would claim is debatable, but they were among the first in the 1990s to popularize a blend of rap, classic R&B, and harmonized ballads in one package. However, after their sudden appearance into the limelight, Color Me Badd slid back towards obscurity with a pair of follow albums that failed to recapture the chemistry of their debut. Although born in different cities, all of Color Me Badd ’ s members — Bryan Abrams, Mark Calderon, Sam Watters, and Kevin “ KT ” Thornton — grew up together in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Like many young singers, the foursome began vocal training within the setting of a church choir, and were able to create a local reputation before entering high school. After taking on the name Color Me Badd in 1987, they plied their trade in the halls of their school singing the doo-wop style of harmonizing made popular in the 1950s. After performing at several. For the Record … Members include Bryan Abrams, (born November 16, 1969, in Oklahoma City, OK), vocals; Mark Calderon, (born September 27, 1970, in Los Angeles, CA), vocals; Kevin “ KT ” Thornton, (born June 17, 1969, in MD), vocals; Sam Watters (born July 23, 1970, in TX), vocals. Group formed in 1987 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; signed with Giant Records, 1990; “ ” appeared on New Jack City soundtrack, 1991; released debut album C.M.B., 1991; performed with Boyz II Men and Jodeci at , 1992; released second album Time and Chance, 1993; released Now and Forever, 1996. Awards: Best R&B/soul song ( “ I Wanna Sex You Up ” ), American Music Award, 1991; Best R&B/soul song and Best R&B/soul song performed by a group, band, or duo, Soul Train Music Awards 1991. Addresses: Record company — Revolution, 729 Seventh Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019. talent shows, it was not long before the quartet had gained enough credibility to audition for high-profile musicians, such as rocker Jon Bon Jovi, whose tours brought them through Oklahoma City. When Robert Bell of the group Kool and the Gang saw the group perform, he was impressed enough to pull the necessary strings to land Color Me Badd their own manager. However, after relocating to New York City in hopes of making their break, the act found themselves back in a sea of show business contenders. “ It was a struggle, ” Watters later told Bill Francis of Billboard. “ For a year and a half, we slept on the floor of the one-bedroom apartment we were sharing with one of our managers. ” After that period of dogged perseverance, Color Me Badd was signed to Giant Records in August of 1990. Having been struck by the sensual feel of Color Me Badd ’ s demo tapes, Giant executive Cassandra Mills took decided to unveil her new signing act in an upcoming film soundtrack, New Jack City, a gritty 1991 crime film in need of a soulful, erotic number. After Mills delegated the writing duties to producer Dr. Freeze, who had given the group Bell Biv DeVoe their hit “ Do Me, ” Color Me Badd delivered the song “ I Wanna Sex You Up. ” Flavoring the cut with their own barbershop quartet nuances, Color Me Badd ’ s result became the biggest hit of the New Jack City soundtrack and caused Giant to slate the group ’ s debut album for as early a release as possible. The single release of “ I Wanna Sex You Up ” cut to the head of sales charts, and Color Me Badd was suddenly in demand. As the New Jack City album offered no photos of Color Me Badd, many listeners were surprised to find that four-piece was comprised of various ethnic backgrounds. “ A lot of people were surprised that we ’ re not an all-black group, ” Abrams told Francis. “ So when people listened to our song, they liked it for what it sounded like, not what we looked like. ” The band ’ s blurring of color lines in the face of an often segregated market was refreshing, and in fact is at the heart of Color Me Badd ’ s moniker. “ The name Color Me Badd is a state of mind, ” said Thornton. “ Color me ‘ bad ’ or don ’ t color me anything at all. The type of music that we have doesn ’ t have a color. It comes from within. ” By summer of 1991, the group released C.M.B. , proving they were more than one-hit wonders. Expanding upon their self-named style of “ hip- hop-doo-wop, ” Color Me Badd crooned a collection of ballads and funk-laced pop tunes such as “ ” and “ All For Love, ” both of which were Number One singles. However, while C.M.B. was embraced by record buyers, critics found the record formulaic, if amiable enough. “ [T]he group itself is fairly evidently fabricated to marketing specifications, ” wrote Mim Udovitch in Village Voice. “ They don ’ t play any instruments, they don ’ t write most of their material, and though they sing and rap nicely, if unremarkably, for all I know it ’ s not even their vocals. None of which detracts from the album ’ s slight but satisfying charm in the least. ” After “ I Wanna Sex You Up ” racked up statues at various music awards, Color Me Badd set themselves to work on their follow up album. Perhaps in response to charges of being studio pawns, the quartet helped pen the cuts for their next release, albeit under the guidance of a bevy of experienced producers that included DJ Pooh, , and the team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The resulting songs, which appeared on the 1993 album, Time and Chance, bore a passing resemblance to the R&B groups of the 1960s that had influenced Color Me Badd, such as the Temptations and the Four Tops. “ Once [our producers] heard tracks like ‘ Trust Me ’ and ‘ God Is Love, ’ Abrams told Billboard ’ s David Nathan, “ they got the direction we were going in. It ’ s more of a an adult sound, because we ’ re growing, and it reflects our love for older music. ” Unfortunately, few of Time and Chance ’ s 14 tracks were as catchy as the group ’ s earlier singles, and the album withdrew from the public eye after a brief chart sojourn. The group counted their losses and took some time off before returning to the studio, writing songs for other pop singers, including Paula Abdul. When Color Me Badd returned it was with an even larger arsenal of producers than on Time and Chance, most notably Grammy-winner and , who was an uplifting force for Color Me Badd ’ s members. “ Working with Narada was an incredible experience, ” Watters remarked on the band ’ s internet homepage. “ He would light candles in the studio, set up props, do anything to make us really feel what the song was saying. It was very inspirational. ” In addition, the band prefaced their new album with a fairly successful live tour of Asia, where their popularity had not waned as radically as it had in North America. Nevertheless, the resulting Now and Forever, released in 1996, was Color Me Badd ’ s biggest disappointment to date. Almost completely ignored by critics, Now and Forever bore signs of being a calculated effort to recapture the formula that had made C.M.B. so popular. The first single, “ Sexual Capacity, ” was another steamy soundtrack tune, featured in the film Striptease, but whereas the similarly themed “ I Wanna Sex You Up ” had became a summer anthem, “ Sexual Capacity ” was cast into the deepest reaches of the charts. In spite of such abysmal reception, Color Me Badd band remained undaunted in interviews at the time, and even claimed responsibility for the influx of male vocal groups that had recorded in the wake of C.M.B.. “ We know a lot of groups have come along since we started recording in 1991, ” Watters claimed in a 1996 online interview, “ and we know we were the first to hit it big. It makes us feel good when some of these newer groups let us know we inspire them. ” Selected discography. C.M.B., Giant, 1991. (Contributor) New Jack City (soundtrack), 1991. Time and Chance, Giant, 1993. Now and Forever, Giant/Revolution, 1996. Sources. Periodicals. Billboard, May 11, 1991; May 25, 1991; March 21, 1992; December 4, 1993; April 6, 1996; August 10, 1996. Robert Tacoma. Hold onto your naughty bits because this time Sheriff Skunk Johnson has really got his hands full trying to stop Jake Nails and his band of miscreants before they can cause the most cataclysmic event the planet has seen since dinosaurs ruled the eart. Key Wicked. When two disgraced FBI agents find themselves in Key West, they’re just in time for a city’s worst nightmare to come crawling along and chase away all the tourists. But three sisters who own an old hotel are used to taking matters into their own. Key Dali. Key West was never so weird as when seen through the eyes of a young street artist with charity in his heart and an errant cellphone in his head. The artist has nearly nothing himself, yet pledges to help those who have even less. His plan is noble b. Possum Surprise. Possum Row is a small Texas town unlike any other, where the lowly possum is king, cows are widely ignored, farmers have their own religion, and lawyers are afraid to set foot inside the city limits. But everyone in town loves a party, and everyone l. Sheriff Skunk. If Possum County wasn't the smallest, poorest, and dustiest county in Texas, they probably wouldn't even have a sheriff like Skunk Johnson. But they do, and the new sheriff is out to prove he's up to the challenge when he finds himself with an unusua. Key Manatee. Welcome to the land at the end of the road: Key West. A tropical island known for Margaritas, warm breezes, singing manatees, and surprises. One surprise awaits Taco Bob and a couple of friends just offshore. It s quite a grisly discovery, and they s. Key Weirder. No man can take too much of a good thing, not even in tropical Key West. When beach-connoisseur Taco Bob decides on a road trip, he leaves the Conch Republic in search of the beautiful woman who broke his heart, and the ultimate trout recipe. But soo. Key Witch. Could three sisters be any more misunderstood? Some people in town think the young women running the old hotel are witches just because they cackle a little on poker night. Okay, so sometimes they cackle a lot. And sure they may have to use a little . Key Lucky. At the end of a long road, on a tropical island, sits a rich horde of Spanish treasure that has captivated many over the years and caused more than a few heads to be filled with illicit thoughts. But never in the long and storied history of Key West . Color Me Weird. Here's something different. Color Me Weird is a twenty-chapter mystery with a drawing suitable for coloring at the end of each chapter making it possibly the world s first coloring novella. Color Me Weird is the story of a young man's escape from. Key Weird. What do you do when you lose your possum ranch, all your money, and the Dalton Gang is on your trail? If you're Taco Bob, you head for Florida and end up in tropical Key West hanging out with a collection of colorful and crazy locals, fishing for gru. “Amaranth” And 30+ Other Weird Color Names. Color is poetry. It is beauty and it is nostalgia. New life is breathed into every living thing when color is involved. The shade of a kiss, the green of a leaf, the soft and delicate hue of the blues and the pinks and the pastels that make up a sunset. All of these colors in nature come together to add something inexplainable to our every day moments. They add meaning to a memory. You’ll never forget the distinct brown of your first love’s eyes. You’ll never forget the apricot glow that danced inside of the sun when you were young and alive during the summertime. You’ll never forget the bruised purples of your favorite fruit, the cherry reds of the blush that spilled across your cheeks whenever your heart beat against your chest. You’ll never forget, and that is beautiful, because there are over 16,777,216 different color possibilities in nature, and they all make up your life. So, despite being taught in art class that red was simply just red, and green was simply just green — we beg to differ. There are thousands of colors we don’t even have names for, but we often forget about the rare hues we have classified. From amaranth, to aegean, to obsidian, these weird color names have captured our imagination, and our awe, so much so that we have been inspired to collect them all here and share them with you. Calamine. Calamine is the color of the trail your lover laced along your skin the night you told them you loved them for the first time. Amaranth. Amaranth is the color of the five cent bubblegum you were always caught chewing in middle school. Thistle. Thistle is the color that sank beneath your skin when your bruises surfaced to tell stories of the experiences you adventured through as a young and fearless child. Flint. Flint is the color of the graphite words you patched along a piece of porcelain journaling paper when you were younger and trying to make sense of your feelings. Heliotrope. Heliotrope is the color of the voracious laughter that fills the air between two best friends who haven’t seen each other in months. Cerise. Cerise is the color your heart beats when you look at someone in the middle of a conversation and truly internalize just how deeply you care for them. Tyrian. Tyrian is the color of intimate anticipation, the hue that hangs in the air on first dates, the shade that lingers between desire and longing. Azure. Azure is the color of the kind of uncertainty that leaves you feeling both hopeful and uplifted. Cerulean. Cerulean is the color of the feeling that washes over you when you go for a walk and notice that the streets are empty, and that everything is still. Aegean. Aegean is the color that was stamped along your bedroom walls when you stared at them late at night, wondering if someone was waiting for you. Catalina. Catalina is the color that calmly bleeds into the night sky minutes before the twilight breaks. Chartreuse. Chartreuse is the color of every spontaneous decision you have ever made, the color of questionable, yet invigorating, memories. Viridian. Viridian is the color of the wanderlust that thrives within your bones, the color of the vibrations that surge within you whenever you think about all that still needs to be discovered. Birch. Birch is the color of the bark that acted as a canvas for your adolescent love, the color of the initials of you and your first crush that still adorns the trunks of trees in your hometown. Bisque. Bisque is the color of the warm and balmy sheets you wrap around yourself whenever you fold fresh laundry. Laurel. Laurel is the color of your favorite freckles in the eyes of the person you love. Alabaster. Alabaster is the color of the sugar your father would scoop into his bitter coffee right before he would pick you up in his arms to kiss you goodbye in the morning. Sable. Sable is the color of the sand you pressed your feet into the first day you saw the Ocean. Fallow. Fallow is the color of the dryness in your mouth that soaks your words with nervousness before you open yourself up to vulnerability. Maize. Maize is the color that floods into your apartment at 7am, blanketing every corner of your room in a new beginning. Aureolin. Aureolin is the color of the Sun’s promise, the bright and radiant reminder of warmth even in the middle of December. Citrine. Citrine is the color of the traffic signs and flashing lights you always find yourself counting on long, winding car rides. Amber. Amber is the color of the honey you tasted on the soft lips of the first person you ever kissed. Sandstone. Sandstone is the color of your mother’s unconditional, and eternal, love on the days you have done something disappointing or silly. Persimmon. Persimmon is the color of the fires that ignite within you whenever you reconnect with your hunger and thirst for life. Coquelicot. Coquelicot is the color you see whenever you think about that summer abroad, it is the color of foreign cars, and foreign love. Vermilion. Vermilion is the color that seeps into your cheeks whenever you have had too much to drink, whenever you catch someone admiring you from across the room. Argent. Argent is the color you see reflected in the glaze that dances within someone’s eyes moments after they have wiped their tears. Pewter. Pewter is the color of overcast skies, the smell of a wet sidewalk after a sun storm in the middle of Spring. Sepia. Sepia is the color of the present becoming memory. Garnet. Garnet is the color of the dirt that Summer braided within your hair, settled along your feet, and placed beneath your fingernails. Hickory. Hickory is the color of the beauty marks that are embroidered along your limbs like intimately personal constellations. Obsidian. Obsidian is the color that is imprinted behind your eyelids, the color that primes every blink, and every dream; the color of your very thoughts. That’s all of our weird color names (for now) Do you know any cool color names we can add to this list of weird color names? If so, please leave the color name in the comment or email us. Get the best of Thought Catalog in your inbox. Sign up for the Thought Catalog Weekly and get the best stories from the week to your inbox every Friday. You may unsubscribe at any time. By subscribing, you agree to the terms of our Privacy Statement. 11 Colors You've Probably Never Heard Of. Wearing sarcoline—literally "flesh-colored"—high heels makes your legs look longer. Wearing a sarcoline leather jacket reminds everyone of Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs . 2. Coquelicot. Originally another word for poppy, coquelicot is the flower's orange-tinted red color. (It also sounds like a celebrity baby name.) 3. Smaragdine. Smaragdine sounds like a Smurfs villain, but it means emerald green. It was the 2013 Pantone Color of the Year. 4. Mikado. It's a Japanese emperor, a comic opera, and a bold yellow. 5. Glaucous. Glaucous was first used as a color name in 1671, but it's more than a hue. It describes the powdery—and perfectly harmless—blue-gray or blue- green coating on grapes and plums. 6. Wenge. If you've ever shopped for furniture, you know wenge. It's that dark brown wood color with copper undertones that even classes up particle board. Actual wenge wood comes from the endangered Millettia laurentii legume tree, so you won't find it at West Elm. 7. Fulvous. What makes an owl or duck fulvous? Brownish-yellow feathers. 8. Xanadu. It's a Chinese city, a 1980 musical flop, and the gray-green color of the philodendron leaf. 9. Falu. The deep red shade commonly found on barns is Falu. It's named for the Swedish city of Falun, where it originated in a copper mine. 10. Eburnean. Something that's eburnean is as white as ivory. Of course, ivory's not completely white—it has a slightly yellow shade. 11. Amaranth. Rose-red amaranth isn't just a plant. It's a color, too. The word amaranthine—with definitions including related to the amaranth, eternally beautiful, and everlasting—is also a pigment, but it's darker than amaranth. Not to mention that amaranths are actually short-lived perennials. Confused yet? 30 Crazy Facts About Colors That Will Blow Your Mind. We're immersed in color. Right from the get go (color-in-the-lines lessons in pre-school), the color spectrum surrounds and informs everything we do. And yet, for most of us, color remains, by and large, an unknown. Sure, you may know that red mixed with blue makes purple—and that orange clashes with just about everything—but that's all 101-level knowledge. A deeper dive into the Crayola box will reveal troves of astonishing information—from fascinating history about broad color groups to how certain hues have bona fide effects on your psyche. Here, we've rounded up the most fascinating facts about the wide wheel of color you may have thought you knew so well. When human beings see a color (or even simply hear the name of a specific color), it calls to mind several associations—objects, moods, even temperatures—that were established as far back as childhood, says historian and symbologist Michel Pastoureau, author of the book Blue: The History of a Color . If you're a sports fan, you may see the color worn by your favorite sports team and it may send a rush of positive feelings your way. If you were a child that loved playing with a Barbie doll, it's possible that simply hearing the word "pink" can reproduce fuzzy feelings of joy. How cool is that? According to Pastoureau, blue was one of the later colors to be adopted in the ancient world (with reds, blacks, and browns appearing in cave paintings). In Ancient Rome, it was seen as the color of the working class, worn by the those lower on the social ladder, while the wealthy wore white, black, and red. Pastoureau says that the color was seen as so far out of the mainstream that it was associated with barbarians and used to frighten enemies. That low opinion of the color blue changed significantly when it became the color of the cloak of Virgin Mary as she developed in the 12th century. As the image become more widespread, the color was seen as far more respectable and worthy of reverence, spreading to other religious imagery. During the 13th century, those selling the blue plant-based dye of woad and the red plant-based dye of madder battled to get others to buy their products. Kassia St. Clair, in her book The Secret Lives of Color , describes how "In Magdeburg, the center of Germany's madder trade, religious frescoes began to depict hell as blue; and in Thuringia, the madder merchants persuaded the stained-glass craftsmen to make the devils in the new church windows blue, rather than the traditional red or black, all in the effort to discredit the upstart hue." Despite the many stunning paintings going back centuries, "It was only relatively late in the nineteenth century that artists really benefited from a proliferation of ready-made pigments," according to St. Clair. "Cheap compounds, such as cerulean, chrome orange, and cadmium yellow, freed artists from either pestles or unscrupulous colormen who sold unstable mixes that would discolor within weeks or react with other colors, or the canvas itself." Research has found that infants as young as two weeks old are able to distinguish the color red. As their color vision develops, the number of colors they are able to see continues to grow until they see the full spectrum of colors by the age of about five months. The color pink has been found to have palliative effects on people. "Even if a person tries to be angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he can't," says Dr. Alexander Schauss, director of the American Institute for Biosocial Research in Tacoma, Washington, who studied how the color can effectively suppress anger and anxiety in prisoner populations. "The heart muscles can't race fast enough. It's a tranquilizing color that saps your energy. Even the color-blind are tranquilized by pink rooms." Fun fact: It's for this reason that many sports teams paint the visiting team's locker room pink. (Anything to get an advantage over the competition!) Studies of vehicular accidents and car colors have found white to be the color of automobiles least likely to be involved in an accident resulting in death, according to Monash University Accident Research Centre, which conducted a study examining crashes between 1987 and 2004. The least safe color? Black, with cars of that color 12 percent more likely to be involved in a deadly crash. Poultry farmers use a variety of lighting tactics to elicit different behaviors in chickens. Red-tinted lights have been found to have a calming effect on the birds, reducing cannibalism and feather picking, while blue-green light stimulates growth, and orange-red stimulates reproduction. That rusty reddish color of the planet Mars is due to the fact that it is covered in iron-oxide—the same element that gives blood its red color. That's certainly appropriate for a planet named after the Roman god of war. Another surprising observation made by Pastoureau is how the very concept of color as a thing in itself has changed over time. "A Roman could perfectly well say, 'I like red togas; I hate blue flowers,' but it was hard for him to declare, 'I like red; I hate blue,' without specifying something in particular," he writes. "And for a Greek, Egyptian, or Israelite, it was even more difficult." According to a study by University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen, who polled almost 2,000 Americans, blue is the most popular color for both men and women, with 42 percent of men and 29 percent of women citing it. Our collective love of blue could be creating problems. It turns out that mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors, especially blue. The reason, according to Jonathan Day of the University of Florida, is that "Mosquitoes are highly visual, especially later in the afternoon, and their first mode of search for humans is through vision." That means that, "People dressed in dark colors—black, navy blue, red—stand out and movement is another queue." The second-most-popular color in the University of Maryland poll showed some gender split, with 27 percent of women citing purple as their second-favorite, while 25 percent of men pointed to green. In his book Red: The History of a Color , Pastoureau explains that red has seemed to be granted special symbolic power more than any other color. "Why?" he asks, and answers that it is likely the color's associations with fire and blood, two natural elements "that are almost immediately associated with red and encountered in almost all societies in every period of their history." He points out that "nearly all language dictionaries" define the adjective of "red" with some phrase like "having the color of fire or blood." Perhaps because of these dramatic connotations, and the fact that in the Bible, the angel that expels Adam and Eve from paradise was depicted in red clothing, judges in the Middle Ages preferred the color for their robes. As Pastoureau puts it, "judges, in actual courts, as in the iconography of miniatures, were inevitably dressed in red, the color of their delegated power and their function: to state the law and render judgments in the place of the king, prince, city, or state." As Pastoureau writes: "The same word can mean 'red,' 'beautiful,' and 'colorful' all at once." For example, coloratus in classic Latin and colorado in modern Castilian can both mean "red," or simply "colored." In Russian, the word for "red" ( krasnyy ) is sourced from the same root as the word for "beautiful" ( krasivy ). In the Middle Ages, the color green came to represent inconstancy, betrayal, and unreliability. For example, Judas was often depicted wearing green clothing. According to Pastoureau, this association may have grown out of the fact that dyeing in green tended to be difficult and unpredictable during this time, with green dyes from plants creating a faint and unstable color that would fade over time. During the Middle Ages, the dyeing trade was organized in such a way that professional dyers were only licensed to dye with certain colors—a person who dyed in green might not be allowed to dye in red, for example. This meant that the palate which the public could choose from was severely limited as well, prohibiting dyers from selling combinations of colors they were not licensed in. Newton had many scientific accomplishments, but one of his most enduring was his findings on how light influences color. He developed experiments using prisms, projecting a rainbow spectrum that he would develop into his famed color wheel. This debunked the view up to that point that color grew out of a combination of light and darkness, replacing it with the realization that light alone was responsible for color. German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, best known for his poetry and novels such as The Sorrows of Young Werther , also helped shape our understanding of color, "challenged Newton's ideas about color and light, suggesting that color was not just a matter of scientific measurement but was often subjective, impacted by individual perception and surroundings," as Smithsonian puts it writing a "psychological and physiological treatise around color" titled Zur Farbenlehr ("Theory of colors") in 1810. The famed board-game maker (who also manufactured crayons and water colors) saw color sensitivity as something akin to learning music. He sought to educate the public about the psychology of color in his book Elementary Color , which included a special color wheel that scientifically matched and measured different colors. "When spun rapidly, overlapping colored disks mix colors before your eyes," explains Smithsonian . "Different combinations of disks create a multitude of hues based on measured proportions." You probably didn't know it had a name, but that dark gray that your eyes see as soon as you turn off the lights—just before complete darkness takes over or your eyes adjust to the lack of light—is known as "eigengrau." We are more likely to remember something that we see in color than something we see in black and white. In one study, researchers had participants look at 48 images, with half in color and half in black and white. Participants were then shown 48 additional images, and asked to identify which they'd seen. Subjects were 10 percent more likely to correctly identify the images in color than in black and white. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but "geoluhread," which means "yellow-red," was once the word used to refer to the color orange, while, as far back as the 13th century, the citrus fruit was called "orange." It wasn't until the 16th century that Europeans adopted the same word for both the fruit and the color. While blue might be men's favorite color, red is what attracts them. A study conducted by two University of Rochester psychologists found that the color red made men more attracted to women. Among the experiments was one that asked male subjects to respond to photographs of women framed by different colors, with questions such as, "How pretty do you think this person is?" and another that digitally colored a woman's shirt either blue or red. Across the board, the women wearing red were judged as more attractive. While red is usually associated with the second-place ribbon, it turns out winners wear the color. A 2005 study by British scientists found that athletes who wore red "have an advantage over blue-suited competitors." "Across a range of sports, we find that wearing red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning," Dr. Russell Hill and Dr. Robert Barton, researchers in evolutionary anthropology at the University of Durham, wrote in a paper in the journal Nature . They determined this by examining the results of the 2004 Summer Olympics, finding that across a number of different sports, competitors wearing red were more likely to succeed, controlling for other variables. But while the color may be associated with winners in athletic competitions, it has the opposite effect for test takers. Researchers at the University of Rochester and the University of Munich determined that seeing "even a hint of red" on an exam can negatively impact a test-taker's performance. The researchers chalk this up at least partly to the fact that those being tested associate red "with mistakes and failures," and, "in turn, they do poorly." That was the finding of research that has noted that the combination of these two colors boosts the appetite of the average person. Consider that the logos and store designs of so many eateries incorporate these colors, including McDonald's, Wendy's, In-N-Out, Denny's, TGI Friday's, and on and on. Some call it the "Ketchup and Mustard Theory." The exact same thing can taste different depending on the color of the dish in which it's served. That was a discovery of scientists who conducted an experiment in which participants tasted the same hot chocolate from mugs of four different colors—white, cream, red, and orange. Across the board, the chocolate in the orange and cream-colored mugs were considered better tasting than the other two. 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