The world needs more rebels like Einstein. Luckily, they seem to pop up everywhere we look.
There are young geniuses like Igor Falecki, the 4 year old drumming prodigy and Landon Shuffet, the 7 year old pool shark. There are troopers like Harry Bernstein, who published his first book at 96 and Mae Laborde, who is Hollywood's new favorite granny after becoming an actor at 93.
There are rebels making miraculous breakthroughs. Terry Lovejoy of Queensland, Australia discovered a comet with his Canon digicam. An IBM team is helping blind people see multimedia on the web. South Korean researchers have cloned a pair of female wolves. And thanks to John Forth of the University of Leeds, we can now build houses with Bitublocks, a construction material made entirely from waste products.
There are rebels breaking down barriers. After 900 years of male-dominated canals, Alexandra Hai will be Venice's first female gondolier. Bryan Killian stood up for his right to wear pirate clothes to school in accordance with the holy texts of his religion, Pastafarianism. Others come achingly close to glory. This group of Michigan inmates were six feet from freedom when their tunnel was discovered -- they had cleared the prison perimeter, but "had not dug the 'up' part of the tunnel."
Successful or not, you have to admire the effort of the rebel. The person who invents a table that walks or a USB foot warmer. The teacher who shares the secret of the tai chi finger submission. The family who is proud to steer their horse-drawn carriage into the McDonalds drive-thru. Women like Charlotte Winters, the last female WW1 vet, who passed away this week. And men like MacGyver, who may have been the first to truly understand the power of the clip.
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