Four of Saturn's moons parade by their parent

17-Mar-2009: A new Hubble image shows four of Saturn's moons circling the ringed planet On 24 February 2009, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured a photo sequence of four moons of Saturn passing in front of their parent planet. The moons, from far left to right, are the white icy moons Enceladus and Dione, the large orange moon Titan, and icy Mimas. Due to the angle of the Sun, they are each preceded by their own shadow. These rare moon transits only happen when the tilt of Saturn's ring plane is nearly "edge on" as seen from the Earth. Saturn's rings will be perfectly edge on to our line of sight on 10 August and 4 September 2009. Unfortunately, Saturn will be too close to the Sun to be seen by viewers on Earth at that time. This "ring plane crossing" occurs every 14-15 years. In 1995-96 Hubble witnessed the previous ring plane crossing, as well as many moon transits, and helped to discover several new moons of Saturn. Early 2009 was a favourable time for viewers with small telescopes to watch moon and shadow transits crossing the face of Saturn. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, crossed Saturn on four separate occasions: 24 January, 9 February, 24 February and 12 March, although not all events were visible from all locations on Earth. Italian Galileo Galilei — often referred to as the father of astronomy — was the first to observe Saturn through a telescope in 1610. Dutch mathematician and astronomer Christian Huygens discovered Titan in 1655 and, 350 years later, the ESA probe named for him touched down on Titan (on 14 January 2005), giving the world its first views of the surface of the mysterious, icy world. Giovanni Domenico Cassini, a French/Italian astronomer, discovered Dione (in addition to others) and the German-born Englishman, William Herschel, discovered Mimas and Enceladus. These pictures were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on 24 February 2009, when Saturn was at a distance of roughly 1.25 billion kilometres from Earth. Hubble can see details as small as 300 kilometres across on Saturn. The dark band running across the face of the planet slightly above the rings is the shadow of the rings cast on the planet. Notes for editors: The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Links: NASA's release Contacts: Colleen Sharkey Hubble/ESA, Garching, Germany Tel: +49-89-3200-6306 Cell: +49-151-153-73591 E-mail: csharkey@eso.org Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. Tel: +1-410-338-4514 E-mail: villard@stsci.edu Keith Noll Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. Tel: +1-410-338-1828 E-mail: noll@stsci.edu

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Fantastic Treehouse Restaurant

It’s not often that a commission to design a treehouse is offered, so when asked to build one for a ‘reality’ TV advert for an off-the-wall functioning restaurant, Pacific Environments jumped at the opportunity. It’s the treehouse we all dreamed of as children but could only do as an adult fantasy.

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Bank? Who Needs a Bank? Well, Who Needs A Credit Union?

Andy Sernovitz's post "Where Are The Credit Unions?" was great, but it missed the mark by a moon-shot. The question isn't "Why aren't credit unions taking advantage of the moral mess banks are drowning in?" The question is, "Why aren't you joining a credit union right now?" The answer to that question really has to come down to ignorance, probably not a politically correct thing to say, but the truth. Most people probably don't know they are eligible to join a credit union.

First, a disclaimer: I am a big fan of credit unions in general, and have served as the independent consumer spokesperson for some big ones in this country for years. But I can speak out because I am also a big critic of many credit union practices.

But here's a fact: the worst credit union (and there are some bad ones) is better than the best bank when it comes to pricing almost all of its loans and most of its other products. Credit unions really do feel like it is their obligation to find you the cheapest product rather than the most expensive product. You cannot say that about virtually any bank and definitely not about any for-profit "specialty" loan company--like the loan companies used by car dealerships and many mortgage brokers.

These guys practice "predatory pricing"-- if you don't know how to ask for a lower price (or know that you can ask for a lower price) you will pay more. Thousands more on the average used car loan, for instance. For years, I've headed a task force that tracks auto dealership tactics, and here's a steady statistic. Consumers that have financed a vehicle at a car dealership and then refinanced it at a credit union save on the average of $1,800 by refinancing.

Credit unions don't work to find members the lower price because they are goodie two-shoes, either. Because members completely own the credit union, the financial well-being of the member has a direct impact on the well-being of the credit union. Ergo, helping members make wise decisions is a wise decision.

Okay, I'm preaching too much, so let me get back to Andy Sernovitz's post, and why its question is so off base . Actually, this is probably preaching, too, but too bad.

• Credit unions haven't reacted as a group to the bank crisis for a very charming reason. They aren't slick marketers on the whole. The big credit unions who have more marketing savvy and bigger budgets are out there with strong "Safe Harbor" messages. But the vast majority of credit unions are small, even intimate, businesses that don't have the word slick in their spell-check. A lot of their staff members actually wake up many morning feeling good about the member they helped the day before. They wouldn't know derivatives if they bit them.
• Small credit unions also have small marketing budgets--and their marketing is targeted to their membership, so the public doesn't see it. Why small marketing budgets? Because most of them had rather keep that money to benefit members in loan and savings interest rates.
• Some credit unions are very involved in the most important aspect of recovery from the economic mutilation of our economy They are teaching young people the truth about money and the realities of the free enterprise system. Here's the message. If you think you can believe all the advertising you see, and if you think you're going to get the best product or service because you're nice, you're a fool.
• Right now AOL's "WalletPOP" is featuring a column on a credit union program called FoolProof. FoolProof deals with the realities of money and the free enterprise system. I am the (non-paid or compensated) chairman of this initiative. If Andy Sernovitz wants to know what some credit unions are doing about marketing, take a look at this program and the WalletPOP column. Here's an example of valuable credit union marketing: telling the truth about something, for a change! I'll wager you will not find any bank in America who is as honest with its customers about money, credit cards, and credit as this single credit union-sponsored program.

So, Andy, the final question: After ranting about credit unions as rotten marketers while praising them as great sources for consumers, did you join one?

The 9 Levels of Hell For The Living

Dante's Inferno took us through the 9 levels of hell when you die. But we think there are plenty of hellish places you can find yourself in when you're alive. Here are the 9 levels of hell you've probably encountered at some time in your life.

LEVEL 1: Jiffy Lube Waiting Room

At first glance, the Jiffy Lube waiting room seems down-trodden, but normal. It has all of the common elements of any other waiting room: magazines, a television set, coffee, donuts, and even a little candy machine. However, upon further investigation, you’ll quickly discover that the Jiffy Lube waiting room somehow contains the absolute worst of all of these things. The magazines are from 2002, and half the pages are torn out. The television set somehow always has terrible reception, and is stuck on Spanish soap operas because the channel buttons are broken. The coffee is cold, the donut box is empty, and the candy machine is half filled with Mike & Ike’s, and half-filled with the dead bugs who ate the rest of the Mike & Ike’s. But wait, it gets worse: at the end of all of this, a guy with half of your education is going to rip you off, and then present you with a receipt from a printer that was built before cocaine became popular.

LEVEL 2: Open Mic Night At A Coffee Shop

Usually you’ve been invited to this level of hell by someone you work with, or one of your girlfriend’s friends. There’s nine people in the audience, yet somehow the person you came to see is 64th on the list to go up. After sitting through eleven different performances of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” all of which were prefaced with a five minute talk about when they came across a homeless person/dog/child that looked “disenchanted”, the person you came to see comes up. Then he or she plays an original song they wrote, the lyrics of which read like the opening credits theme to Full House. Then, after they’ve finished, you can’t just leave, because they wants to “have a cup of coffee” with you, even though by this point it’s 11:45 p.m. and you’d rather not ingest something that’s going to keep you up for four more hours and cause you to shit out the nine maple scones you ate while trying to pass the time before his performance.

LEVEL 3: A One-Year-Old's Birthday Party

Walking into a one-year-old’s birthday party is like walking into a really bad acid trip. There’s colorful shit all over the walls, everyone’s speaking in disturbingly high voices and time slows to a crawl. Then, as you stand there, you have to pretend that you’re really excited for the gurgling, snotting “special little guy” who has no idea why someone is shoving a flaming cake in his face or forcing him to wear a hat. Having a birthday party for a one-year-old is like having a birthday party for a chair or an amoeba. Yet, you have to paste a fake smile across your lips every time someone says, “Let’s all take another photo of the amoeba!”

LEVEL 4: A Denny's Restaurant Near A High School Right After A School Play Ends

Drama kids are the most annoying people in any school environment, but few things are worse than 30 high school drama kids hopped up on post-performance adrenaline, teenage hormones, and Moon’s Over My Hammy. Most of these loud, obnoxious adolescent thespians will still be sporting a thick layer of stage make-up to let everyone know that they were just in a play, and if that’s not a clear enough signal, they’ll be sure to constantly scream lines from Pygmalion, or West Side Story, or whatever other shit-ass play they just stumbled through. You’re eating at Denny’s, so your meal is not going to be that great to begin with, but these cracked-out drama kids are sure to make your dining experience a living hell.

LEVEL 5: Kinkos

No matter what you need to get done at Kinkos, if you ask an employee for help, he’ll take a simple process and explain it to you like he’s trying to recount the plot to Mullholand Drive. “Okay so first, you go to the color printer, no wait, first you grab the copy key, then there’s this part where you take your jump drive and…okay, before that part though, there’s this other part that’s really important where…hmm, maybe I have that backwards.” Then after you finally figure out what machine you have to use, it sends to a printer that apparently doesn’t exist, nor has ever, yet the Kinko’s guy is sure he’s seen it before. It’s like the Sixth Sense, except replacing Bruce Willis with a HP laser jet, and Haley Joel Osment with a 27-year-old guy who’s probably tried on several occasions to overdose on marijuana.

LEVEL 6: Emergency Room At 1 A.M.

You’re sitting next to ten people, all of whom look like they’ve caught whatever that monkey in Outbreak had. The whole place smells like someone threw a bucket of bleach on top of a pile of baby shit. Then every ten minutes, a nurse comes out and calls the name of someone you’re almost POSITIVE sat down five minutes ago. Meanwhile the guy vomiting next to you has filled up his barf bag and set it down between you and he, even though there’s no one sitting on the other side of him. You try and sleep, but the chair you’re sitting in was apparently used in Guantanamo Bay to torture Al Qaeda members into giving up Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts. Finally, the night ends at six in the morning, when you get seen, then are informed that your insurance doesn’t cover this exact location, and you’re going to have to pay through the ass.

LEVEL 7: Dinner With Two People Who Want To Get Divorced

Have you ever noticed how mashed potatoes can instantly remind you of how much you hate your spouse? If you have, then that probably means you desperately want to get a divorce, but can’t afford to. Somehow every single element of life reminds these people that they hate each other. Subtle complaints about the green beans or the silverware quickly lead to harsh, quippy remarks on sexual performance, followed by a long, uncomfortable silence. Don’t bother trying to change the conversation, because as soon as anyone says anything, they’ll both go back to an argument that they were having long before you even showed up. Eventually, one of them will leave the table and the other one will complain in a hushed tone to you about why they hate their spouse, and what financial woes are troubling them. If you’re thinking you can just leave, forget it. No matter how awkward it gets, they will never let you leave. You’re trapped in this hell for the entire night.

LEVEL 8: A Gas Station Bathroom When You Have To Shit

Upon first entering the eighth level of hell, you’re actually in awe. And then the fear sets in. How is there shit smeared on top of other forms of shit? Why is there a human leg in the corner? Is that a bucket of custard? As you attempt to relieve yourself, the only thing you can do is spread your legs as far as they will go so no fleshly parts of your body touch the stained, beige, cracked toilet “seat.” When you’re finished with shitting, you then realize (a little too late, I might add) that you’re now forced to wipe your own asshole with what can only be described as “mushroom sand paper.” It’s not absorbent, it’s rough enough to draw blood and there appears to be some small civilization living on its surface. The fact that you now probably have AIDS doesn’t help, either.

LEVEL 9: Florida

There are four types of people you will encounter in Florida. 1) Proudly uneducated toothless rednecks who think they’ve “made it” because they parked their trailer “in a place that has warm all the time.” 2.) Fat, jackass Midwestern tourists in cut-off jeans who think spending two weeks of their vacation eating fried shrimp at an Orlando Red Lobster qualifies as some sort of exotic luxury. 3.) Walking, wrinkled corpses who are somehow still given driver’s licenses…and actually drive cars despite their half-inch cataracts and non-existent motor skills. And 4) Everyone who lives in Miami (snobby club sluts, Cubans who won’t shut up about Cuban politics, South Beach Guido douchebags etc.) If you ever find yourself in the Ninth Level of Hell (aka, Florida), you should probably just kill yourself. Or go to the nearest airport and take the first flight out of there. Whichever is easier.

Best Live-Action Disney Movies

Which of the Mouse House's family-friendly romps comes out on top?

by Jeff Giles

We tend to think of Walt Disney Pictures as chiefly an animation studio -- and with good reason -- but the house Uncle Walt built has been churning out quality (and often highly profitable) live-action entertainment since the 1950s, something we were reminded of when we noticed that the latest chapter in the Witch Mountain franchise (and the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's latest bid for the undisputed heavyweight champion of kid-friendly cinema), Race to Witch Mountain, was landing in theaters this Friday. What better time, then, for your pals here at Rotten Tomatoes to devote a Total Recall list to the 10 best-reviewed live-action entries in the Disney canon?

Of course, not all of Disney's live-action efforts have been critical winners -- we're guessing Condorman is discussed as infrequently as possible at the Mouse House -- but not everything that missed the list was a dud: You'll find plenty of the classics you remember (yes, Old Yeller is present and accounted for), but you're bound to take umbrage with a few omissions. Some movies missed the cut on technicalities -- we limited our scope to films without animation (so long, Bedknobs and Broomsticks) and crossed any co-productions off the list, too (thus sparing Operation Dumbo Drop the embarrassment of being disqualified on critical grounds). Others, however, simply didn't have the reviews -- something we think says a lot about the strength of the competition. So let's see what we ended up with, shall we? The live-action world of Disney awaits!

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74%

10. Escape to Witch Mountain

Well, well, well. How's this for perfect? Not only did it provide a starting point for this week's Total Recall honoree, 1975's Escape to Witch Mountain wound up making the list itself. While not the best-remembered of Disney's 1970s properties, this adaptation of the Alexander Key novel helped kickstart a mini-franchise that eventually extended to 1978's Return from Witch Mountain, a 1982 TV movie and 1995 made-for-TV remake, and, of course, 2009's Race to Witch Mountain. Placing extraordinary kids in situations of nail-biting, grown-up peril is something Disney has always done well, and Escape is no exception; psychic alien twins Tony and Tia are literally running for their lives from creepy millionaire Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland). Though not all critics were susceptible to its charm -- Vincent Canby of the New York Times called it "a Walt Disney production for children who will watch absolutely anything that moves" -- most scribes took its popcorn-flavored blend of action, sci-fi, and family drama at face value, including Roger Ebert, who called it "a sci-fi thriller that's fun, that's cheerfully implausible, that's scary but not too scary, and it works."

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80%

9. The Absent-Minded Professor

No list of the Disney live-action oeuvre would be complete without a mention of Fred MacMurray's work for the studio. Although he'd been a major film star for decades before making his Disney debut with 1960's The Shaggy Dog, it's MacMurray's late-period string of pipe-puffing father types that he's arguably best remembered for, particularly among younger film fans. The most critically successful of these movies, 1961's The Absent-Minded Professor, casts MacMurray in the title role as Ned Brainard, the accidental inventor of an incredible energy-producing substance known as Flubber. Over the course of the film, Brainerd uses Flubber to make himself look like a talented dancer and helps an entire basketball team cheat during the big game, but thanks to MacMurray's Everyman charm, you still believe he's the good guy. It's goofy, and light as a feather, but Disney has always known how to make the most of those two ingredients; as TV Guide put it, "This is a zanily inventive piece of work, with delightful special effects, which set the style for a long series of live-action Disney films."

81%

8. Swiss Family Robinson

Even in the context of the other classic films in the Disney vaults, 1960's Swiss Family Robinson was a huge success -- its $40 million gross is equivalent to $367 million in today's money, placing it proudly among the ranks of the most successful G-rated films of all time. Johann David Wyss' 1812 novel has been adapted on numerous occasions, for film and television, but Disney's Ken Annakin-directed treatment is the most well-known; although it doesn't skimp on the cheesy dialogue and cornpone wholesomeness that came prepackaged with many of the studio's live-action efforts, Lowell S. Hawley's screenplay does a fine job of drawing enough swashbuckling action and tropical derring-do out of the source material to guarantee a good time for viewers of all (okay, most) ages. Channel 4 Film's Alistair Harkness spoke for many of his peers when he wrote, "It's no Pirates Of The Caribbean, but the spirit of adventure, and Disney's high production values, means that there's still some fun to be had watching this wholesome family adapt to island life."

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82%

7. Pollyanna

Hayley Mills, like Tommy Kirk before her (and countless fresh-faced Disney teen starlets after her), became a household name thanks to a string of starring roles in Disney live-action films. Mills' six-movie run got off to a pretty good start with 1960's Pollyanna; although its box office performance was initially something of a disappointment for the studio, Mills won a special Academy Award for her performance. For many, the film is now considered one of Disney's earliest live-action classics; though Disney was far from the first to adapt Eleanor Porter's novel, it's Mills that people usually think of when they hear the name "Pollyanna" -- and for good reason, as even critics who overdosed on the movie's relentless optimism, like the Time critic who called it "a Niagara of drivel and a masterpiece of smarm," were often swayed by her performance. Variety, for instance, said her presence "more than compensates for the film's lack of tautness and, at certain points, what seems to be an uncertain sense of direction."

82%

6. The Rookie

By 2002, the "inspirational sports movie" genre was seen as well past its prime -- and so was Dennis Quaid: one of the more bankable matinee idols of the 1980s, Quaid was suffering through a dry spell when he signed on for Disney's John Lee Hancock-directed dramatization of the brief-yet-noteworthy Major League Baseball career of high school teacher-turned-Tampa Bay Devil Ray pitcher Jimmy Morris. Like Morris himself, The Rookie was initially written off by many as an amiable relic of a bygone era -- but try as they might, most critics were too charmed by its true-life inspirational story, and Quaid's refreshingly low-key performance, to be cynical about the film. The Rookie earned a healthy return on Disney's $22 million investment, kick-started a new chapter in Quaid's career, and earned a surprising number of endorsements from critics like Looking Closer's Jeffrey Overstreet, who called it "one of those rare, wonderful 'formula' films that ... favors understatement over exaggeration, subtlety over sentimentality."

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88%

5. The Parent Trap

For a relatively lightweight rom-com, The Parent Trap has enjoyed an incredibly long life; not only was the original film re-released to theaters seven years after its theatrical debut, but Hayley Mills ended up reprising her dual roles for a trio of made-for-TV sequels more than 20 years later -- and the career-boosting power of the story of matchmaking twins who play Cupid for their divorced parents proved every bit as potent in 1998, when Lindsay Lohan starred in a remake. Part of Trap's appeal no doubt came from its pioneering use of the trick photography that made it appear as though Mills was actually her own twin -- a technique later used to notable effect on The Patty Duke Show two years later -- but even without special effects, The Parent Trap is a solid, albeit proudly corny, film that benefits from a strong performance by its winsome star. Mills' charms were even sufficient to win over more "serious" publications, such as Time, whose reviewer wrote, "Surprisingly, the film is delightful -- mostly because of 15-year-old Hayley Mills, the blonde button nose who played the endearing delinquent in Tiger Bay."

91%

4. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Whether you attribute it to beginner's luck or the steady hand of one of Hollywood's most quality-conscious studios, it's worth noting that Richard Fleischer's adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is both one of Disney's most highly regarded live-action efforts and its first foray into science fiction. Proving he had an eye for giant squid battles to match his knack for animating adorable fauna, Walt Disney personally produced 20,000 Leagues, helping Fleischer blend an attentive eye to period detail with a rip-roaring action yarn that just happened to have strong Cold War parallels (right down to the mushroom cloud witnessed after the climactic battle). Enlisting the talents of A-list stars like Kirk Douglas, James Mason, and Peter Lorre certainly didn't hurt Leagues' box-office prospects -- nor did glowingly positive reviews from the likes of the New York Times' Bosley Crowther, who called it "as fabulous and fantastic as anything [Disney] has ever done in cartoons."

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93%

3. That Darn Cat!

Younger filmgoers may be more familiar with the 1997 remake, starring Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug -- which, as illustrated by that film's woeful seven percent Tomatometer rating, is a shame. The 1965 original, starring Hayley Mills as the owner of a robbery-foiling feline (and the immortal Frank Gorshin as the robber), was a perfect example of the sort of goofy, animal-assisted middlebrow flick that Disney's live-action arm became known for in the 1960s -- but if it's silly stuff, it's at least eminently well-crafted, thanks to the steady hand of director Robert Stevenson and charming performances from a cast that included Disney vets Mills and Dean Jones. Critics were kind, if not exactly effusive (Rob Thomas of Madison's Capital Times waved it off as "lightweight, forgettable family fun") -- but it was the titular cat that earned some of the movie's highest warmest praise, including high marks from the New York Times' Bosley Crowther, who said, "The feline that plays the informant, as the F.B.I. puts it, is superb. Clark Gable at the peak of his performing never played a tom cat more winningly."

94%

2. Old Yeller

A movie so successful that it spawned a sequel, Tommy Kirk's career, and the heartbreaking on-screen deaths of dozens of beloved critters, Old Yeller is mostly remembered today for its tearjerking final act and cornpone dialogue -- and although this Robert Stevenson-directed adaptation of Fred Gipson's popular novel certainly doesn't skimp on the familiar plot points and gooey nostalgia so often identified with the Disney films of the era, it also tries to impart some useful lessons about the tough choices that come with growing up. Those lessons were imparted to a huge audience, too -- watching Old Yeller was a rite of passage for multiple generations of filmgoers, among them DVDTalk's Scott Weinberg, who called it "every bit the warm, comfortable, and tragically bittersweet classic that had you sobbing like a infant the first time you saw it."

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100%

1. Never Cry Wolf

The best-reviewed of Disney's late 1970s/early 1980s string of family-friendly live-action flicks, Never Cry Wolf offers a surprisingly mature, unflinching adaptation of Farley Mowat's memoir detailing the years he spent studying the hunting habits of wolves in the Canadian wilderness. One year later, Disney would spin off Touchstone, an imprint which would eventually be responsible for some fairly racy fare, but in 1983, Wolf director Carroll Ballard's decision to afford audiences a glimpse of Charles Martin Smith's bare buttocks was a major step for the Mouse House. Though the film wasn't a giant hit, it did manage an impressive 27-week theatrical run -- all the more notable considering its small cast, exceedingly minimal dialogue, and deliberate pace. Critics were suitably impressed, sending Never Cry Wolf all the way to a 100 percent Tomatometer rating on the strength of reviews from scribes like Time's Richard Schickel, who raved, "Ballard and his masterly crew of film makers have reimagined a corner of the natural world...They leave us awed."

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Check out the rest of our Total Recall archives here.

Finally, we leave you with a clip from one of Disney's trippiest live-action offerings. It's a close encouter of the feline kind: The Cat from Outer Space.

Michael Jackson Wacko Purchase: Psychosexual Fortune Teller

By Lina Lecaro

Tabloids and gossip blogs had a field day with reports and pics of "Jacko at Wacko" last week, but all we could think of when we heard about -- and then saw this video of -- the King of Pop popping into our favorite Silver Lake chotchkee haven and art gallery -- also known as Soap Plant/La Luz de Jesus -- last week, was, what did he buy? Well, thanks to some sources inside the store, we've got the exclusive scoop and it's weirder than we might have imagined.

He purchased several books from the store's vast selection. Taschen tomes, non-fiction on China and architecture, the human body and soul music, and some children's books (of course). Interesting but not exactly shocking. Had the surgical mask-covered star seen the Pop Up Book of Celebrity Meltdowns they stock (which features a scary caricature of him and his baby "Blanket,") his reaction might have been. Though the shop was given only 15 minutes notice to clear out customers before he entered, someone had the good sense to hide it before he came in. A vintage MJ pillow stayed on display, but he didn't notice it during the 2 hour private shopping spree.

The purchase de résistance was found in the adjacent gallery, where the shop's popular group show "Everything But the Kitschen Sync" is the current exhibit. Michael apparently had to have a sculpture called "Freudian Fortune Teller," the work of local artist and La Luz fave Brian Poor (not so poor anymore). The old-timey looking piece, made from found objects had a recording device inside that spewed strange and offensive Sigmund Freud inspired psychosexual comments to those who fed it coins.
Sample "fortunes":


'You want to kill your father and sleep with your mother."

"You like the smell the of dog poop."

"You dream about going outside without your pants on."

The piece's price was $7500, and despite Jackson's attempt at haggling for a discount, he paid the full amount. Though the gallery's usual practice for show purchases is to keep them up (with "sold" stickers) until the exhibit's close, we hear they made an exception for
Jackson. He took his Freudian friend home right away, which surely made
his Id very happy. He sure seemed in a good mood while signing LPs for fans afterward.

Check out all the Everything But the Kitschen Sync art pieces at La Luz through March 29. Those not in LA, can see the entire show here.

Discovered: The 'fat controller' in the body that is the key to staying slim

By Fiona Macrae

A 'fat controller' in the gut could be the key to preventing obesity, diabetes and heart disease, research suggests.

Scientists have pinpointed an enzyme that determines whether the fat we eat is burnt off as energy or stored in the body.

The breakthrough raises the prospect of a pill being developed which targets the enzyme in people, allowing them to eat without worrying about putting on weight.

Want to stay slim? Call the fat controller

Research at the University of California focused on MGAT2, an enzyme found in the intestines of mice and humans.

Mice without the protein were able to eat a high-fat diet while remaining slim and healthy.

The fat they absorbed was burnt off as energy, rather than stored, the journal Nature Medicine reports.

The mice in the experiment also seemed better at processing sugar, cutting their risk of diabetes, and had lower levels of 'bad' cholesterol in their blood.

A pill that targets the enzyme in people could provide a new weapon in the battle of the bulge.

Obesity has become a staggering problem across much of the developed world over the past few years and this breakthrough could help sufferers

The researchers said: 'Our studies identify MGAT2 as a key determinant of energy metabolism in response to dietary fat and suggest that the inhibition of this enzyme may prove to be a useful strategy for treating obesity and other metabolic diseases associated with excessive fat intake.'

With almost a quarter of men and women obese and children faring little better, such a drug is likely to have mass appeal.

Even more appealing is the prospect of a pill that makes the body fit, as well as keeping it slim.

Last year, US scientists unveiled an experimental drug which fools the muscles into thinking they have worked long and hard, boosting fitness as well as burning off fat.

Mice treated with AICAR for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice and when tested on a treadmill, they could run almost 50 per cent longer.

Researcher Professor Ronald Evans, of the Salk Institute in California, said: 'We have exercise in a pill.

'It is tricking the muscle into "believing" it's been exercised daily.

'It proves you can have a pharmacological equivalent to exercise.'

But obesity experts say such pills are years from the market, and most people would benefit from eating less and exercising more.

Nokia to lay off 1,700 worldwide (AP)

HELSINKI - Nokia Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off 1,700 people worldwide to cut costs, as the global economic downturn strikes deeper into the mobile phone sector.

The world's top mobile phone maker said the job cuts will affect several sectors, including its devices and markets units, the corporate development office and global support functions.

"The number of employees we have to reduce is 1,700," Nokia spokeswoman Arja Suominen said, adding that details would be announced after the company begins negotiations with employees.

Nokia shares fell 2 percent in Helsinki to close at euro8.65 ($11.25) after the announcement, which came as the industry bellwether continues to struggle with falling demand and handset prices.

In January, Nokia warned of major cost-cutting measures after its fourth-quarter net profit crashed 70 percent to euro576 million ($744 million). It also lost market share, which fell to 37 percent from 38 percent in the previous quarter and 40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Nokia said it would aim for annual savings of euro700 million at its handset unit, but gave no details at the time.

Last month, Nokia said it will close a research center, ax up to 320 jobs and temporarily lay off 2,500 workers in Finland. It also announced a global voluntary resignation program, open to employees until May 31, in a move aimed at cutting personnel by 1,000.

It has also said it plans to increase short-term unpaid leaves and sabbaticals, and has appealed to employees to accept holiday time as payments, instead of cash, for overtime work in 2009.

Based in Espoo near Helsinki, Nokia last year remained the No.1 cell phone maker selling 468 million handsets, up 7 percent on 2008. It employs 128,400 people worldwide.

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On the Net:

Nokia: http://www.nokia.com.

The best Samus papercraft…ever

Samus Aran

Ever since I started papercrafting, I have wanted a high-quality model of Samus. We've had models of Samus before, and, though they were good, they weren't as detailed as I would have liked. So, I went ahead and made my own!

Since we've already had a few Samus models already, there's not much extra I can say about the character, but I can still talk about the model. First of all, as you can probably tell from the picture, this is not a good craft for beginners! The model stands 12 inches tall (about 30 cm), has 13 pages, and has 347 pieces. So, if you are fairly new to papercrafting, then I recommend you get a bit more experience before attempting this model.

Oh, also, before you start building this, you should read the included text file. It has a few things in it that you need to know before you start building.

Download it here

More Phish Summer Tour Dates

by C. Brahkowski

Hey did you know Phish is back together? NO? Well it’s a good thing you stopped by on a day where we just happend to have a post up discussing their return. Lucky you.

FOUR DAYS AT RED ROCKS.

TWO DAYS AT THE GORGE.

SICK.

I’ve seen shows at both venues and believe you me those are two of the most amazing places to see a show in the country … this shit is gonna be ridiculous.

The newly added dates are:

07/30 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Morrison, CO - ONSALE 3/26
07/31 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Morrison, CO - ONSALE 3/26
08/01 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Morrison, CO - ONSALE 3/26
08/02 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Morrison, CO - ONSALE 3/26
08/05 - Shoreline Amphitheatre - Mountain View, CA - ONSALE 3/29
08/07 - The Gorge - George, WA - ONSALE 3/27
08/08 - The Gorge - George, WA - ONSALE 3/27
08/11 - Toyota Park - Chicago, IL - ONSALE 4/04
08/13 - Darien Lake Performing Arts Center - Darien Center, NY - ONSALE 3/27
08/14 - Meadows Music Theater - Hartford, CT - ONSALE 3/28
08/15 - Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD - ONSALE 3/27
08/16 - Saratoga Performing Arts Center - Saratoga Springs, NY - ONSALE 3/27

Phish.com

Nottingham Rugby Boosts Attendance With Inflatable Fans

Total Pro Sports - When times are tough and stadiums are empty, teams should follow in the footsteps of the Nottingham Rugby Club.

This past Sunday the Nottingham Rugby team filled their stands with 1000 inflatable dolls provided by Airheads a local company that specializes in enhancing crowd scenes for films, TV, commercials and promotional work.

"Nottingham Rugby managed to get 1,000 extra "supporters" on Sunday when they took on title-chasing Exeter Chiefs at Meadow Lane.

The inflatables added to a crowd of 1,305 at Notts County's stadium, who watched Nottingham go down 15-14 to the Chiefs."

The Inflatable fans are being used at Nottingham's games to encourage support of their local teams and the entire sport of rugby.

"Hopefully it will add to the atmosphere, and inspire people to come back again next week and help the team qualify for the Cup Final by beating Leeds."

Hats off to Nottingham's great idea and best of luck in their quest to the Twickenham Final.