Armchair astronomers and space freaks listen up! The amazing developers behind Stellarium have accomplished quite some amazing things. Used by many real planetariums for their projection showings, Stellarium is an amazing feat of open source software development, giving the user a realistic, 3D sky on a desktop environment, allowing users to enter coordinates, browse the night sky or even beam it onto your ceiling before going to sleep. The educational usage and possibilities of this is amazing and I for one am considering purchasing an HDTV projector simply to see Uranus on my ceiling at night!

Download: Stellarium - Open source planetarium for your computer

When money isn’t an object, a toilet is an object you’re too good to touch. Thankfully Toto comes to the rescue, with their luxury model toilet, the Washlet S400. Featuring a remote open and close lid AND remote flush, built-in air purifier, 5 types of ‘cleansing’ modes, heated seat(!), warm air dryer (oh!) and a built-in air purifier, the S400 gives the discerning user the peace of mind one needs when entering a bathroom. I haven’t found any price points yet, but, if you’re honestly considering a purchase, I doubt that matters much to you anyways.

Read more: Toto Washlet S400

With world peace all but a memory of the past and revolts popping up throughout oil producing nations, the Economist takes a look at petrol consumption throughout the world in a lovely graph format. Though the results aren’t shocking, it’s still laughable (in a sad sort of way) the rate at which the US is consuming petrol, out-consuming many of the world’s largest nations combined.

BBC produces a documentary on owners of Real Dolls and how they choose to live their lives with “synthetic humans” instead of real humans. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Creepiness factor: off the chart! Watch and be creeped the fuck out at the slightly NSFW documentary after the jump.

Read more of “Ahhhhhh! Real Dolls documentary creeps us out!“

I had a hard time trying to source this back to The Onion or something, but, it appears real.

A recent home invasion in Washington DC turned weird, ending in the invader sharing a glass of wine with his victims and then leaving with only his glass of wine, an apology and a group hug. A group of friends and family were enjoying a late dinner on their patio when a hooded man came through an open gate and put a handgun to the head of a 14 year old girl, demanding everyone hand over their money. It all seemed straightforward, until a guest invited the criminal to join them for a glass of wine. The home invader, impressed by the Chateu Malescot St-Exupery, was offered the whole bottle and some cheese when he put his gun away and apologized, stating he thought he was in the wrong house and then asked for a group hug, which the guests complied with. The intruder walked away quietly with his glass of wine and has yet to be identified by police.

Read more: Home invasion ends in group hug

It was reported a few days ago that fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent is at the American Hospital in Paris suffering from respiratory difficulty among other health issues, where his prognosis doesn’t appear good. Laurent, who started out working for Dior, left the fashion world in 2002 due to disillusionment with the industry and quite possibly health reasons. Laurent turns 71 in just a few weeks, so we wish him a big get well soon and early birthday wishes.

Read more: Yves Saint Laurent hospitalised

Epuron and the German Ministry for the Environment have gotten their heads wrapped around this whole advertising as art thing. A recent campaign to promote, something (I won’t say what, you have to figure it out, though it’s not rocket science) combines the love of minimalist French direction and classic Chaplin-esque plot to create an enjoyable new campaign, which I hope we’ll see more of. Watch and listen carefully and enjoy the thick French accent.

I was browsing through something or other, when I came upon pictures from trials earlier this year of the SeaPhantom, a 5 passenger speed boat from Maritime Flight Dynamics (awesome name!). The SeaPhantom is a work of maritime engineering art, radically reducing drag with it’s lifting-body, airfoil design and looking like something straight out of the newest Batman film. The goal of the project, is to make a sleek and efficient mobile craft, which can move at triple-digit speeds, potentially becoming a viable alternative for direct travel from city center to city center. Also, imagine the cool types of weaponry that could be mounted on that thing, I’m sure Chuck Norris is.

Read more: Trial photos of the SeaPhantom

DLMers of the world jump for joy. Dead Like Me start Ellen Muth (Georgia) recently dropped some new information about the long-awaited Dead Like Me DVD film, teasing fans with the tidbit that if the direct to DVD film sells well, it could possibly revive the series on an unknown network. The downside? Series heavyweights Rube (played by Mandy Patinkin), and series creator Bryan Fuller (busy as writer and co-executive producer of Heroes) are not attached to the project, sadly. There are also rumors that Daisy (played by Laura Harris), will have limited, if any involvement. Recent industry casting calls have pointed to a new plot based around the film, which, could work or could possibly not. Personally, I think the void left by Rube is a huge one to fill, Daisy not so, but, still, any sort of DLM news is good news. All I hope is that Muth is looking a touch healthier than the later episodes of season two, where I was worried more about her health rather than seeing her accept her role as a grim reaper and somehow reunite with her family.

Plot breakdown from a recent industry casting resource:

When Calvin Kane, a slick businessman who couldn’t care less about helping the newly dead, takes over Rube’s Head Reaper duties, all hell breaks loose, bringing out the worst in Daisy, Roxy, and Mason. George, however, is determined to set her latest, botched reap right, especially because the boy who was supposed to die, Hudson Hart, is her little sister Reggie’s secret boyfriend. In the process, George and Reggie re-connect for real, for the first time.

Read more: Ellen Muth @ MySpace

A video simulation showing the air traffic density over a 24 hour period above Europe.

Note to self: Never fly again.