July 23, 2026, was the busiest day for commercial air travel ever, according to data from @flightradar24.

A whopping 153,359 commercial flights were tracked worldwide. pic.twitter.com/0fJ9mcjZkY

— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) July 25, 2026

With the instability of international oil markets due to the war in the Persian Gulf and what the International Air Travel Association (IATA) describes as decreased customer demand, one might expect that commercial air travel would be limited. But people nonetheless flew in record numbers, breaking a previous record set in 2023 by 14,122 flights.

These figures, of course, do not include non-commercial air travel, such as military flights.

-via John Konrad

It's not too early to start preparing for the harsh winter weather coming. This all-terrain vehicle in Hudson, New Hampshire available on Facebook Marketplace is ideal. It's a 1996 Mitsubishi Bravo, which is normally a city vehicle designed for quality roads.

You may have noticed some modifications to the original design. It has tracks from a Polaris UTV instead of wheels to provide for traction on snow. Although it's on sale for $11,500, the owner is willing to trade it for an ATV and cash.

-via Jalopnik

Suka Sushi in New York City is pioneering a revolutionary new sushi delivery mechanism. It's a push pop! The chefs at this counter service sushi restaurant put high-grade sushi inside. To eat, just push from the bottom, like the classic frozen treat.

There's a lot of merit to this design. If you're on the go, sushi can be hard to eat. Just push the bottom of the cardboard tube to expose another segment of sushi.

Food & Wine magazine offers a positive review, although each tube is pricey at $15-17. Think of the extra cost as a convenience fee.

-via Massimo | Photo: natenibblez

I majored in history. Why? It was a bad idea and I should have focused on a degree program that leads directly into a meaningful and finanially rewarding career such as online influencer.

Dextero reports that Arizona State University now offers a bachelor of arts program in Content Creation. This program prepares you for a financially rewarding career as "an influencer and strategic storyteller." Students have to prove that they have what it takes to succeed by gaining real followers. They can also complete their BA program while also completing a master's program in Digital Strategy and Audience Engagement.

You can't afford the tuition? Consider going into debt to acquire this degree. 

-via David Burge | Photo: Pxhere

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, whom we commonly name as Diocletian, was Emperor of Rome from 284 to 305 A.D. He temporarily brought stability to a fragmenting empire before retiring to an estate in what is now Croatia to raise cabbages. It was a rare for emperors of this era to be able to retire peacefully. When political leaders asked him to return to power, he responded, "If you could see the cabbages I have planted here with my own hands, you surely would never have thought to request this."

As Diocletian's final years were in Croatia (then called Dalmatia), it is fitting that a Croatian film production studio offers a feature-length movie about his life. The dialogue of The Last Roman God is entirely in Latin.

-via Debby Witt

This is Luceros y Penumbras, a one-of-a-kind pop-up book currently on display at the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. The Library Foundation for Los Angeles informs us that it measures 30 feet by 21 feet and the pop-ups are 11 feet high.

Don't expect to check it out from the library. The book weighs 1,800 pounds! LAist reports that artist Daniel González and paper engineer Matthew Reinhart worked together to design and build this book made out of linoleum. It has four pages and two scenes that pop up as they are opened. You can visit and read it at the library until November.

The world has fallen in love with Jimothy, a raccoon that lives in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. He has an adorably abbreviated, stumpy appearance. Smithonian magazine explains that it's most likely due to a rare disorder called short spine syndrome. Despite this disability, Jimothy scampers well and appears to be able to fend for himself in the wild.

Jimothy is a heroic figure, defying the entropic call upon mortal flesh to fall to weakness and despair. That's why we sell a t-shirt with his visage at the NeatoShop.

He has also inspired Phoebe Sanders, a banjoist who specializes in making puppets that dance.

Marc Schulz builds custom mobility scooters that will make you laugh and take you places. One of his models is this scooter designed to resemble the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. On his Instagram page, you can see appearances of the scooter in parades where it provides classy style and functionality.

Schulz informs readers that he's now working on a scooter that looks like the landspeeder from Star Wars.

Your 2026 Solon Beef Days Hay Bale Toss Champion ➡️ @CaelWinter pic.twitter.com/REoo1lHif5

— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) July 18, 2026

Solon, Iowa is the home of Beef Days, an annual festival of food, music, and sports. One of its feats of strength competitions is the hay bale toss. The goal is to toss a hay bale over a bar set high

The winner this year was Cael Winter, a football player with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, having thrown the bale thirteen feet and six inches. You can see his winning toss above or watch the entire 2 hour and 27 minute contest here.

-via David Burge

Andy Beth Miller of The Takeout undertook the laborious task of evaluating the many beef sandwiches available across the United States and selecting the best from each state. Seriously, there's a methodology section at the end because this is science.

Part of good scientific research is replication of experiments, for which I volunteer.

Seven of the sandwiches are reubens, of course. But this one pictured above also has my attention: the three-way roast beef from The Modern Butcher in Danvers, Massachusetts. It's a delicacy available only one day a week because preparation includes a 16-hour sous vide. It has garlic, mayonnaise, and very rare roast beef.

Photo:The Modern Butcher

Like actor Ed O'Neill, I'm only vaguely aware of Taylor Swift. I know that Batboy was caught flipping a grunt, but that's about the extent of my cognizance of pop culture.

Fortunately, I have teenage daughters who tell me that there are numerous references in this video to Taylor Swift songs including "Getaway Car" and "Cruel Summer" in just the first 20 seconds of this video (they declined to watch any more of it) by Dustin Ballard's There I Ruined It.

Other Ballard videos in this theme include music by AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and the bro country genre of music.

It is hot outside. Like, really hot. Dangerously hot if you stay out too long.

Sora News 24 brings us a solution from Japan. The company SRDS manufactures refrigerators and vending machines. It has re-purposed some of its designs to create boxes where people can seek temporary relief from the heat a 59ºF environment.

The Do Hiemon Box provides a seat and blows cold air on the head, neck, shoulders, and back to prevent and counteract heat exhaustion.

The machine has three airflow settings and automatically shuts off after 20 minutes of use. One is already in public use at the city hall of Maebashi in central Honshu.

Little Horrors Glassworks in Atlanta produces works of stained glass that are terrifying and amusing if you have a sick sense of humor like I do. Her corpus includes many facehuggers from the Alien franchise because you always need more facehuggers in your life.

The National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland is, apparently, a romantic venue for couples. A few days ago, Jacob and Selena became engaged there when Jacob dropped to one knee and popped the research question.

Note that the museum was an enthusiastic participant in the plot. I gather that it allowed Jacob to place the engagement ring in an exhibit and direct attention to it with an official marker.

How do you set the mood? Direct your lady to a mock-up of some grisly surgical procedure. Then wait for her to read the placard and turn around.

-via Patrick Heizer

X user Patrick Heizer brings to our attention this geographical oddity. Under the current law of the sea, nations have exclusive economic regulatory authority over a certain distance beyond their territorial seas.

Many of these claims overlap each other or lead to unusual borders for the exclusive economic zones. The Bering Sea Donut Hole refers to one such area that was heavily overfished in the 1980s. Several nations with large fishing fleets rejected American claims to the maritime region.

The Donut Hole Convention (as it was popularly but not officially called) is a 1994 treaty between the United States, Russia, Poland, Korea, Japan, and China determining the status of the area.