While being held in a Nazi prisoner of war camp, British officer Major Alexis Casdagli did everything he could to resist his captors. He was skilled with a needle and thread, so among other projects, Casdagli made an excellent cross-stitch sampler which told the Nazis in a coded message where to shove it:

Over the next four years his work was displayed at the four camps in Germany where he was imprisoned, and his Nazi captors never once deciphered the messages threaded in Morse code: "God Save the King" and "F*ck Hitler".

This subversive needling of the Nazis was a form of defiance that Casdagli, who was not freed from prison until 1945, believed was the duty of every PoW. "It used to give him pleasure when the Germans were doing their rounds," says his son, Tony, of his father's rebellious stitching. It also stopped him going mad. "He would say after the war that the Red Cross saved his life but his embroidery saved his sanity," says Tony.

Link -via Craft | Photo: Graham Turner | Quote edited for content

Maya Pixelkaya is an artist who specializes in video game and movie themes worked into fabric, paper, and fingernails. She has a gallery of neat fingernail polish designs that required her to remain still for hours at a time while individual layers dried. Follow the link to see nails with scenes from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jaws, and more.

Link -via Geekosystem

Glen Robinson of Brisbane, Australia, initially didn't want to make a formal proposal, but when he saw that this distressed his girlfriend, he decided to make a grand, romantic, and rather permanent gesture. He had the words "will you marry me" (no question mark) tattooed on his wrists:

That evening, with the new tattoo still raw, Glen bent on one knee in the couple's living room with a ring in his open palms.

"Michelle wasn't feeling well that night ... she was lying on the couch," he said.

"I came home and sat down beside her on the knee and said, 'Hopefully, this will make you feel better'."

Michelle said, "Are you going to ask me something?"

Glen tactfully replied, "Surely you can read."

Michelle said 'yes'.

"I said, 'Yes! But I don't know what I think about that [tattoo]'."

Video at the link.

Link | Photo: Marissa Calligeros/Brisbane Times

(Video Link)

Mikey Mason, having listened to Allie Goertz's Dungeons & Dragons song "Tonight," decided to compose his own. It's about that time when your campaign was plagued by an idiot player who kept on getting his characters killed. But because he was the game master's brother, he stayed in the game, again and again. You know, that game.

For me, it was a Cyberpunk campaign and the game master's brother (who had just gotten out of jail) insisted on provoking gun fights with heavily-armed strangers as often as he could. He ran through three characters in that session, and never saw a causal relationship between his behavior and their mortality.

-via Nerd Bastards

Well, of course he did. It's all in the 'stache. And Dmitri Drjuchin did a fine job depicting this classical hagiographical event.

Link and Artist's Website -via Uniblog

The Dutch Stutter Foundation encourages you to be patient with people who have a stutter. Don't interrupt; just wait and let them finish.

Link -via Copyranter | Photo: Y&R Not Just Film

Graphic designer Stefan Asafti is fascinated by the history of brands and decided to play around with prominent ones this way. Among other logo mashups that you can find at the link are Firefox vs. Internet Explorer, Coke vs. Pepsi, and Canon vs. Nikon.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Greatest-Brandversations/1971913 -via reddit

(Video Link)

It's called the idolomantis diabolica or Devil's Flower Mantis. If you're going to be named after a flower, that's a pretty badass name to have.

If you ever meet one, don't be afraid. They get energy that way.

-via Geekologie | Previously: Glamorous Insects

Sure, you could rent a U-Haul truck, but those are expensive. And apparently this guy in Toronto hadn't thought ahead and installed a trailer hitch when he bought his Lamborghini Gallardo. That should be an automatic decision: buy a car, get a hitch.

-via Jalopnik

(Video Link)

YouTube user Frabjousfilms made an a cappella version of the Doctor Who theme. At least, that's the way it starts out. Then he works in signature lines like "Always bring a banana to a party" (the Tenth Doctor). Now lest you think that this video is too weird: it carries the endorsement of executive producer Steven Moffat.

-via Nerd Bastards

Previously: Every Version of the Doctor Who Theme, 1963-2010

Tony Ponce of Destructoid offers this photo of a well-done cosplay from Dragon*Con. That's Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Are Joel and Mike going to be female, too?

http://www.destructoid.com/the-cosplay-homestretch-from-dragon-con-2011-day-4-210684.phtml -via The Mary Sue

I really like the colored frames that Ghostpatrol, an artist who lives in Melbourne, creates by carving surfaces into pencils and then illustrating them. They give the impression that Ghostpatrol simply excavates them from the wood.

Gallery and Artist's Website -via Colossal

(Video Link)

For Burning Man, artist Duane Flatmo built an enormous octopus automaton called El Pulpo Mechanico. It shoots fire from its feet. So, you know, that's just a bit different from the mechanical octopodes that you encounter normally.

Artist's Website -via Make

Previously: Duane Flatmo's Kinetic Sculpture

Swedish engineers are working on a tank that will be able to blend into the background -- whatever that background may be. It's covered with a skin that can change its appearance:

The technology is based on sheets of hexagonal 'pixels' that are able to change temperature very quickly.

On-board cameras collect images of the vehicle's background and display that infra-red image onto the vehicle panels, making it appear to vanish.

http://news.sky.com/home/technology/article/16063257 -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Håkan Dahlström used under Creative Commons license

Craftster member erica_tattoos made a pair of embroidery hoops depicting Princess Leia and Jabba the Hutt. My brilliant idea: the original trilogy should be re-shot with manatees.

Link -via Geek Crafts