New Orleans-based crafter Miss Malaprop made a dress covered with stuffed animals for the most recent Mardi Gras. She accidentally sewed through her finger with a sewing machine needle while making it, but "Either way, I’m happy with the way it turned out, it was very fun to wear and very SOFT!"

Link via Craft

The whole Snow White story -- well, the Disney version, anyway -- is told in this lovely back tattoo. I'm not completely sure who's responsible, but it's been attributed to an artist named Ping who lives in Taiwan.

via Caramel, Carmel

Saunas are great, but they're not very portable. Here's a gadget that tries to solve that problem. The sauna pants wrap around your nether regions and give them the Finnish treatment.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SP2D1M via DVICE | Image: Amazon.com

The Environmental Transport Association (UK) developed the QTvan -- a travel trailer that can serve as a shelter for users of mobility scooters. It contains a bed, a 19" television screen, and a kettle. Available options include a satellite dish, a gaming console, and a heater. You can watch a video of it at the link.

Link via OhGizmo! | Photo: ETA

(Video Link)

Garage genius Jörg Sprave, who invented the machete-firing crossbow, has made a multi-shot slingshot that repeats like a Gatling gun:

The Slingshot Channel took the challenge to design a rubber powered version of Mr. Gatling's great invention. And here it is: Eight 20 mm balls, on their way to the target in less than half a second. The theoretical firing rate is 960 rounds per minute, slightly faster than the popular M16 assault rifle.

via Geekosystem | Sprave's Blog

Brush Acme Pen - $64.95

Are you looking for a fun graduation present for your favorite Art Major?  You need the Brush Acme Pen from the NeatoShop.  This gift is a stroke of genius!

Be sure to check out all the fabulous Pens & Pencils available at the NeatoShop!

A little ingenuity and a lot of brooms will get you this Chinese street sweeper: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Arbroath

...OK, maybe not cool, but this art project takes the sting away from seeing a telltale envelope stuck under your wiper blades. The Parking Ticket Emotional Reclamation Project (PTERP) writes a little note explaining the project on one side of a card that fits neatly into New York City parking ticket envelopes, then asks kids, artists and random people to draw something on the other side. PTERP's people then scour the city looking for cars that have received a ticket and place the art in the envelope with it, hoping that the good of the art will balance out the bad of the ticket.

Link via Gothamist

Should you have hot cocoa? William Sisskind of Socrates' Closet crated the flowchart to determine the answer of this weighty question: Link

In his bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell posited a theory that anyone can become great at anything as long as they put 10,000 hours honing the skill.

Well, Dan McLaughlin decided to put the 10,000 Hours Rule to the test by becoming a pro golfer:

Could he stop being one thing and start being another? Could he, an average man, 5 feet 9 and 155 pounds, become a pro golfer, just by trying? Dan's not doing an experiment. He is the experiment.

The Dan Plan will take six hours a day, six days a week, for six years. He is keeping diligent records of his practice and progress. People who study expertise say no one has done quite what Dan is doing right now.

Dan spent last month in St. Petersburg because winters are winters in the Pacific Northwest. "If I could become a professional golfer," he said one afternoon, "the world is literally open to any options for anybody."

Link - via Kottke

Oceanographer Paul Hargreaves and artist Faye Darling used an electron microscope to capture this image of a diatom - a tiny single-celled marine algae - that looks exactly like lips.

The Telegraph has more: Link

We take TV remote control for granted, but did you know that the first TV with remote control was made 50 years ago? Here's an ad for RCA Victor's wireless wizard remote control (billed as the greatest advance in television since color television itself / the ultimate in performance and convenience).

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Bits and Pieces

The Internet is packed with examples of motorists getting into trouble for trusting their GPS navigation - so color me glad to see someone creative enough to tack on a "Your GPS Is Wrong!" sign to warn people of this dead end road. I think it should be standard issue for some roads. Via The Presurfer.

Previously: GPS Strands Motorist on Mountain

(YouTube link)

How many plastic containers does your family go through? Multiply that by millions of families, and you see why they have to be made so fast that this video is slowed down to show us how it's done. This is from the TV show How It's Made. -via J-Walk Blog

There have been 47 people to hold the office of vice-president of the United States so far. How many can you name in ten minutes? That's the challenge in today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. I guessed I'd probably name five (plus the three giveaways), but scored 21 of them. I bet you can do better than that! Link