You wouldn't be able to pick Naomi Kutin out of a line-up at the yogurt place at the mall. Sure, she's trim, with strong little legs...but you'd still never suspect that this wide-eyed 10-year-old is a weight-lifting champion who just broke the women's world record for squatting (that's women's record, not girls). Naomi, who's been training for years, recently lifted 215 pounds (over double her weight of 93!)--watch the NBC sports video to see how the pint-sized powerhouse was able to do this. On her Facebook page, Naomi says she's now focused on a bench press and deadlift contest the end of April. We hope it's only a matter of time before she starts training to lift cars off of trapped elderly people in order to hurl them at villains.



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The Life-Lifter: A 108-year-old Holocaust survivor on how to deal with anything: "I look where it is good."

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Here it is, the key to succeeding at something intensely difficult despite the odds, such as, say, mastering the violin when you only have one hand: ignorance. 

That's according to the classically trained, professional musician Adrian Anantawan, who happens to lack a right hand, when he and his parents decided that he should learn the violin it worked because “we came from the premise of ‘why not?’” And Anantawan thinks this is precisely what gave him the confidence to go on to become a skilled violinist who studied at Yale and has performed at the White House, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and Carnegie Hall.

Playing violin this well is an accomplishment for anyone, but in this case it's particularly amazing. Because Anantawan was born without his right hand, he plays the instrument with a special device designed just for him that he calls a "spatula." (You must see this video of Anantawan in action to see how this amazing device works -- and how effortless the music sounds.) The talented fellow told the Harvard Gazette that growing up different from those around him, finding the violin “was one of the first times I was accepted within a peer group, mainly because it’s how you sound; it’s not how you look. It’s how you express and communicate.” And so Anantawan has decided to pay it forward, using his talents to teach music to kids with disabilities.

I don't know what's most inspirational about this. The working with disabled kids? The persevering despite a profound disability? The cheery attitude Anantawan exudes? Or is it simply the idea that by forging ahead, powered by optimistic ignorance, anything is possible? 

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At clubs and lounges, along the red carpet at Cannes, on Hawaiian beaches, and at a gala in Istanbul, Cynthia Carvajal has carried the torch—and twirled it, too. The 30-year-old professional fire dancer whips flaming ropes around her body, dancing in four-inch heels and a blazing headdress. Carvajal got her start in 2000, when she saw circus performers brandish flames in their act. "I loved the artistry," she says. "It's entrancing to watch." When one of the performers agreed to mentor her, Carvajal started twirling poi (chains with lighted balls of Kevlar at one end). "It's easier than people think," she says. (Give or take the occasional burn, which she says is "all part of the job.") Eventually, Carvajal joined a touring performance troupe, and her hobby became a full-time job. It's also a way for her to fund her passion: saving our seas. In 2010 Carvajal founded marine conservation nonprofit Ocean Lifeline—and has raised thousands by performing at events. "I never thought fire dancing would take me places," Carvajal says. "But it's been such a blessing—and it's helping me do my part."

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Singapore has one of the longest life expectancy rates in the world (84.96 for women and 79.53 for men), and this video from the Singapore Sports Council shows how some of the country's older citizens are spending their twilight years (keep watching: this tea tête-a-tête is just the beginning).



We love these guys--we're calling them the Singapore Globeshufflers--for reminding us that's it's not about how many miles you can travel throughout your life, but how many three-point shots you can sink along the way.

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With all the talk of technology's downsides (identity theft, bank accounts drained, airline reservations messed up...), good news from Watson: It's helping cure cancer (seriously).

One man, one pink tutu, a series of photographs. It sounds funny (and it is) but wait until you hear the bittersweet reason this man turned to the tutu.

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