Friday, August 22, 2025

Good Afternoon! Our top story this week features a Scottish race car driver who competes despite being paralyzed. Amy Hess, host of The Feel Good Flyover Podcast, sat down with him for an interview featured in today's episode. Make sure to catch it on YouTube.

Learn about these 11 weird little hacks Costco shoppers should know from today's sponsor, FinanceBuzz.

Paralyzed Teen Breaks Barrier in Scottish Racing

Seventeen-year-old Ally Chalmers of Glasgow has become Scotland’s first race car driver who uses a wheelchair, just three years after a ski crash left him paralyzed. Watch a video of Chalmers driving.

Driving a hand-controlled Mini Cooper S, he made his debut at Knockhill in Fife and earned runner-up Driver of the Day.

The car, rebuilt with help from engineers across the U.K., uses a ring on the steering wheel for acceleration, buttons for shifting, and a lever for braking.

He says the adrenaline gives him the same rush he once got from ski racing, and he hopes to join Team Brit, an all-disabled team aiming for Le Mans.

Dad Letters Go Global From Ohio

An Ohio father who spent decades writing daily letters to his daughter is now sending fatherly advice, dad jokes, and heartfelt notes to more than 1,200 strangers worldwide.

Buz Ecker, 67, launched the Dad Letter Project this summer from his cabin in Michigan. What started as a post-retirement pick-me-up has grown into a full-fledged operation, with help from three other dad staff writers.

Each letter is handwritten, personally addressed, and mailed the old-fashioned way—stamp and all—paid for by the dads themselves.

Scientists Catch Brainstorm Before It Strikes

Researchers at the University of California, Merced, may have cracked the code on those sudden, brilliant "aha!" moments, showing they don't come out of nowhere after all.

By filming mathematicians at work and analyzing over 4,600 moments of scribbling, pointing, and pacing, the team uncovered a clear shift: familiar thinking patterns broke down, and unpredictability ramped up.

Using tools from physics, ecology, and information theory, the team found these creative sparks could be measured minutes before they happened.

It's the first real evidence that insight leaves a trail—and a peek into how the mind gears up for genius.

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➤ The first woman to skateboard across the U.S. completed a 3,266-mile trip from California to Virginia Beach in 119 days, raising $50,000 for spinal cord injury research. The journey honored her late stepfather, whose memory fueled the record-setting ride. (Watch Report)

➤ A fast food worker in Roseville, Minnesota, who walked over four miles daily between jobs at Chipotle and Dairy Queen, was gifted a used car by a Bible study friend. (More)

➤ A 6-week-old pygmy hippo at a Kansas wildlife park refused to leave the pool until his mom gave him a stern look. The moment struck a chord with parents everywhere, who recognized the universal power of the "mom stare." (Watch Hippo)

➤ A 92-year-old former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot took to the skies in Alberta, flying the same Harvard aircraft he trained on nearly 70 years ago. (See Pilot)

➤ A runt goat rejected at birth is now thriving at a U.K. farm after being adopted by two border collies who groomed, snuggled, and even taught her how to herd like one of their own. (See Goat)

➤ Here are 24 hilariously timed dog photobombs capturing pups crashing everything from engagements to selfies, proving once again they're the real stars of the show. (See Dogs)

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video via The Braley Family/Instagram

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If anyone's interested...

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"These moments were often accompanied by sudden movements and emotional exclamations, not unlike Archimedes running naked through the streets of ancient Syracuse yelling 'eureka'—though admittedly less dramatic."

— Researchers, on observing mathematicians' behavior before a breakthrough in the study of insight