When Josh Baker died in a car crash a few months after returning home from the war in Iraq, his hometown of White Lake, Wis. was devastated. It came as a happy surprise to his family and friends when after his death, they found a message from Josh in a bottle in a nearby lake.
Ig Nobel
The Ig Nobel Prize is an award given for strange, silly or just plain weird science. Dr. Ivan Schwab won an Ig Nobel for his research into why woodpeckers don't get headaches.
Rescuers Come To Mideast Animals' Aid
A pet sanctuary in Utah called Best Friends airlifted nearly 300 animals abandoned in the wake of the conflict in Lebanon. This little cat named Soldier suffered a broken leg after being hit by a car.
Football Legend
In his four years at Sugarland High School, near Houston, Ken Hall set national football records that still stand. Hall rushed for more than 11,000 yards. That's 6.5 miles. In one game, he averaged 47 yards per carry. He also averaged five touchdowns per game.
Bagpipe Student
Nick Hudson of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., is the nation's only college bagpipe major. So what can you do with a bagpipe major? Teach and play at weddings and funerals.
Water-Skiing Granny
Frances Woofenden is not your typical grandma. At least five days a week, you'll find her showboating across Okeeheelee Lake in West Palm Beach, Fla. -- she's a champion water skier at age 81.
Five Years Later: Mixed Emotions
Five years after the 9/11 attacks, Steve Hartman revisited Shanksville, Pa., and found a town coping with the tragedy in a variety of ways. The members of Susan Wilson's knitting group don't visit the crash site of United Flight 93.
Screaming Over Ice Cream
Two Rivers, Wis., and Ithaca, N.Y., both claim to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae, and their feud over the bragging rights continues to escalate. Two Rivers claims a man named Ed Berners made ice cream history. Ithaca says the sundae was first created at the Plat and Colt Pharmacy.
Divine 'Printer-vention'
The monks at Our Lady of Spring Bank Catholic monastery are men of modest means, but know that praying alone won't pay the bills. To support themselves, they started LaserMonks, which has become one America's fastest-growing office-supply companies. The brothers have resisted spending their money on luxurious items; they donate their profits to charity.
Like Father, Like Son
Steve Hartman and his father George faced their fears of roller-coasters at the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. Their ride aboard The Iron Dragon was a blur -- but now the Hartman men have bragging rights.
Barney Fife's Statue Snafu
Mount Airy, N.C., has a bronze statue of Andy and Opie. But "Andy Griffith Show" fan Tom Hellebrand encountered a statue snafu when he commissioned a Barney Fife tribute. A rights issue left Hellebrand half-broke and the town with a half-finished statue. Hellenbrand has since been reimbursed.
Crabby Cabbie
A free taxi ride in New York City? Sounds too good to be true. But a few years ago, Ray Kottner bought a very used taxi -- a 1982 Checker -- and launched a brand-new business. Ray works for tips only, and claims he makes more money than yellow cab drivers.
Not The Retiring Type
At 105 years old, Jack Weil has the same attitude -- and almost the same energy -- that he had when he started his western clothing company, Rockmount, in 1944. Over the years, he's defined how the West was worn, creating the western shirt as we know it. A Rockmount shirt featured in the movie "Brokeback Mountain" recently sold on eBay for $101,000.
Never Too Late
Never Too Late -- a non-profit that grants wishes for senior citizens -- gave Betty Eisenocker the ride of her life. Eisenocker, who is a lifelong racing fan, got the chance to ride in a race car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.