7/23/26 - BBQ Dates, Plant Hospital, Giant Nutcracker, and Star Wars Props!

Thursday 7/23/26

Celebrate:

Gorgeous Grandma Day

Hot Enough For Ya Day

National Refreshment Day

National Shiraz Day

National Vanilla Ice Cream Day

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day

Sprinkle Day

Yada, Yada, Yada Day inspired by Blah, Blah Blah Day and yes, the Seinfeld Episode.

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In some parts of Russia, men are running personal ads — not for romance, but for something equally intimate: barbecue companionship. For $13 - $65, you can hire a man to come over, prepare the grill, cook the meat, set up the tent, and keep you company with jokes and conversation. The ads are exclusively marketed to other men and clearly state the services aren't meant to spark a friendship. If someone wants to engage the barbecue buddy's services again, they'll have to pay for it. As Russian restaurateur Evgeny Demchenko put it: "If there's an unmet need, a service will emerge" Honestly, we're surprised this didn't exist sooner.

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In Ecuador, couples getting married in civil ceremonies now have more options for who can serve as their formal witnesses: their pets.

When Diana Tupiza, 38, and Andres Alquinga, 31, got married, they brought their dog, Luna, who "signed" the marriage certificate with her paw print . The paw stamp is merely symbolic — the document she signed says "Symbolic marriage certificate" with a space that indicates "paw print of your furry friend." The official marriage certificate was signed by the couple and their human witnesses. But Luna definitely stole the show.

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Lacking a green thumb? You can take your plant(s) to Hilda Houseplant Hospital, run by horticulturalist Rosanna Costello in Edinburgh, Scotland . Costello works up a "patient history" when customers bring in their plants, chatting with them about possible diagnoses and treatments. Like human patients, "patients" in the plant hospital can be "put on drips," quarantined, or even undergo "surgery" — which usually just means something like repotting or removing pests 

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The town of Luverne, Minnesota, unveiled "Verne the Patriot," a massive landmark sculpture that officially claims the record as the world's tallest nutcracker at nearly 66 feet (20-meters) tall.

That's where there's a local collector who has a rock shop and has 7,554 nutcrackers!

Plus it's a year-round obsession with the Nutcracker Fest every summer.

Not to be outdone, The Los Angeles Public Library unveiled the world's largest pop-up book.

Spanning approximately 31 by 20 feet when open (the previous record-holder’s dimensions were about 29 by 18 feet). The design rises to more than 11 feet tall, and overall, it weighs nearly a ton. 

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If you’re looking to throw someone a big surprise party this summer, you may want to rethink that. According to a survey of 2,000 Americans, when it comes to surprises, 52 percent believe the best kinds of surprises are small gestures.

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Comic-Con is going on this week in San Diego, and this story fits. Luke  Skywalker's Empire Strikes Back lightsaber (and hand) breaks a Star Wars record at auction. The 1980 prop sold for $3.75 million.

The lightsaber has become the most expensive piece of screen-used memorabilia sold from a Star Wars film.

The previous record was held by an original 20-inch model of an X-wing starfighter used in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which sold for $3.135 million in October 2023.

The top record holder in the Star Wars artwork category remains Tom Jung’s original half-sheet key poster painting for A New Hope. It was sold last year for $3.875 million.

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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - Today is National Vanilla Ice Cream Day! Thomas Jefferson is widely credited with bringing one of the earliest written American recipes for vanilla ice cream back from France. If you ever visit Mount Rushmore, the local ice cream parlor still serves a version based on his exact handwritten notes!