The United States has now recorded more cases of measles in 2026 than in any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000.

This is aa grim sign that the country may be headed toward a new era in which the disease regularly sickens thousands every year.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that there have been 2,318 confirmed cases of measles so far this year.

The case count toppled the record set last year, when measles infected more than 2,200 Americans and killed two unvaccinated children.

More measles cases have been reported in the United States in the last two years than in all the years from 2000 through 2024 combined. (NYT)

• Neither rolling nor folding is definitively superior for saving space, as rolled clothes tend to have a larger footprint while folded clothes take up more vertical space.
• For quick packing and fewer wrinkles, folding is recommended.
• Rolling allows you to see all your garments at a glance, making it easier to find items without disturbing others.
• We suggest rolling softer, less bulky garments like underwear and t-shirts, and folding stiffer items such as dress shirts, khakis, and skirts.
• The “ranger roll” method, a military technique, can save more space than standard rolling, especially for lightweight clothes in tight spaces like a backpack, though it can be more time-consuming and may cause more wrinkles. (NYT)

This summer has seen ferocious wildfires tearing across southern Europe.

More than 240,000 acres of land have already been destroyed across Spain, with a recent blaze in the south quickly turning into one the country’s deadliest.

Preventing wildfires has become a high-tech endeavor of satellites, drones and AI systems. But 80 miles south of Barcelona, an ancient solution is quietly roaming across the mountain.

It’s a herd of donkeys.

Tivissa Donkey Firefighters, a nonprofit in southern Catalonia, rehabilitates mistreated and abandoned donkeys and puts them to work as “firefighters.”

By grazing the most flammable grasses in mountains and rural areas, they carve natural firebreaks across the dry Mediterranean landscape. (CNN)

So much for techknowledgy!

OpenAI says some of its experimental AI models left a test environment with no human direction and hacked its way onto a different company’s real production systems while trying to “cheat” on a cybersecurity test.

It’s one of the first publicly disclosed examples of an AI system autonomously breaching its testing environment and reaching a real external system – the “agentic attacker” scenario the AI and cybersecurity industry has been warning will happen.

It’s like an engineered virus escaping a biocontainment lab and turning up inside a neighboring facility’s systems.

“We consider this incident to be an unprecedented cyber incident, involving state-of-the-art cyber capabilities, and are responding accordingly,” OpenAI said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We are sharing preliminary findings at this stage to help defenders understand what happened and to help calibrate on what models are now capable of.” (CNN)

We always knew AI is dangerous. Here is a specific example.

A very unusual question!

How many of us awaken with the goal of making something better?

My first suggestion deals with relationships.

Surely, we can make a relationship better.

It may be a troubled one or a solid one that can still be improved.

How about your physical health?

This is often neglected by living with too much stress.

Stress can be managed by committing yourself to regular exercise.

How about improving your faith life?

Prayer and acts of kindness will improve your life.

Of course, there are many other types of improvement we can accomplish.

Which will you do today?

Just beyond the edges of one of the largest cities on the planet, a stretch of ancient rainforest and coastline lies mostly unknown to international travelers.

The roughly 370 miles of São Paulo state’s pristine, mountainous coastline is nestled beneath the canopy of the Atlantic Forest.

It is the second most biodiverse region in the Americas, after the Amazon.

Greater São Paulo holds more than 21 million people, with the wider urban sprawl pushing past 30 million.

Yet a two- to three-hour drive from this megacity in Brazil delivers tumbling waterfalls, deserted beaches and welcoming fishing villages.

It is where the pace of life is still dictated by the moon and the tides. (CNN)

Sounds like one of a kind!

Our society is undergoing many changes both good and bad.

One negative example is that people don’t believe their future looks bright.

Changes like that put people on edge and being on edge gets the population upset.

When citizens are upset, they generally don’t feel like being courteous.

That’s all the more reason for you to do and say the right and kindest thing.

And that RIGHT THING is COURTESY.

Receiving kindness from strangers is a quick and easy way to break the barrier.

It’s not easy being courteous when we are also upset.

Let’s remember that success was never built by doing easy things.

Success is found in doing the difficult!

Be COURTEOUS!

If not today, when?

Your parents like to hear from you.

That’s just the way it is.

And as they get older, their need grows.

They were always “IN THE ACTION” while they were raising you.

Now you’re “In the action”, while they are bystanders.

And let’s talk about the fact that you may live a distance from them.

Maybe a great distance!

In that case they’re not with you very often.

And the irony is that your parents won’t call you because they think you’re too busy.

So, the ball is in your court!

How often do we notice BLUE skies in the morning…

… until they are BROWN?

We just had that experience recently.

For anyone with breathing problems, it was especially noteworthy!

Having the BLUE skies we normally have is truly a blessing…

that we should appreciate and celebrate!

If not today, when?

The Detroit Tigers secured a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, July 17, 2026, at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

ROOKIE HAO-YU LEE delivered the game-winning moment with a clutch, two-out, two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to erase a 1-0 deficit.

He is a Taiwanese professional baseball infielder for the Detroit Tigers. He made his MLB debut in 2026.

Hao-yu Lee was born on February 3, 2003, in New Taipei, Taiwan. He established himself as an elite hitting prospect, signing an international free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in June 2021. (CNN)

Can you imagine what his journey has been like?

In addition to his obvious skills, his personal sense of perseverance made him last night’s MIRACLE!