Susan notes: Thanks to TED for making TED Talks downloadable and embeddable, and for providing the biographical information that goes along with them.

Athlete, actor and activist Aimee Mullins talks about her prosthetic legs -- she's got a dozen amazing pairs -- and the superpowers they grant her: speed, beauty, an extra 6 inches of height ... Quite simply, she redefines what the body can be.

Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant.

She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta.

Susan notes: The late Audrey Hepburn, one of the most beautiful women ever (inside AND out), is said to have offered this timeless advice below.

However, like many things circulated by email and/or found on the Internet, it would appear that the words have been falsely attributed to the simply gorgeous Hepburn.

I’m a dynamic, engaging, attractive woman. I’m creative, curious and funny. Oh yeah, and modest too!

I have my own successful one-woman communications consultancy (or at least it was successful until the recession hit!), and I know how to make small talk at business lunches and cocktail parties.

Susan notes: I've copied and pasted this biographical information and talk unabashedly from the TED website.

In this TED archive video from 1998, paralympic sprinter Aimee Mullins talks about her record-setting career as a runner, and about the amazing carbon-fiber prosthetic legs (then a prototype) that helped her cross the finish line.

Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant. She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.

You never know when that loose change might come in handy...