Wrist-top computer. Perfect. More info at Suunto.

Opinel has been making knives since 1895. With a beechwood handle, an 8.5 cm stainless steel blade and a double safety ring, this is the classic multipurpose pocket knife. $18 at Brook Farm General Store.

More about the design at Kitsune Noir. $198 at Furni.

Designed by The Luxury of Protest

2nd Edition: Screen print gloss milk-white ink on GFSmith Plasma Polycoat 700 micron Clear Natural plastic. Print by K2 Screen, London. Edition of 20.

“Everyone Ever in the World” is a visual representation of the number of people to have lived versus been killed in wars, massacres and genocide during the recorded history of humankind. The visualisation uses existing paper area and paper loss (die cut circle) to represent the concepts of life and death respectively. The total number of people to have lived was estimated through exponential regression calculations based on historical census data and known biological birth rates. This results in approximately 77.6 billion human beings to have ever lived during the recorded history of humankind. The total people killed in conflicts was collated from a number of historical source books and was summed for all conflicts – approximately 969 million people killed, or ~1.25% of all the people to have ever lived. The timescale encompasses 3200 BCE to 2009 CE – a period of over 5 millennia, and 1100+ conflicts of recorded human history.

The sequence of dots to the top left of the graph shows the dramatic increase in the number of conflicts over the past 5 millennia (left to right : 3000 BCE to 2000 CE) with the most recent 1000 years being the most violent. The large dot below the graph represents the 1000 years to come : a predicted startling increase in human conflict.

The relative simplicity and intuitive graphical approach of using a die cut area to represent total people killed, lends a direct poetry to the concept and affords the viewer an instantaneous assessment of the degree to which conflict has shaped human history. Printing in transparent ink allows for a visual assessment of die cut area as compared to paper area without interfering graphics. The graphic simplicity of the poster belies the necessary complexity of mathematical modeling of cumulative population size and the depth of research required to obtain death counts for all conflicts of recorded human history. However, it is the very same simplicity of representation that imparts a somber and respectful tone to such a weighty subject matter

About $100 at Counter Objects.

This scent was crafted by world-renowned perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux, and it offers an immediate fresh tone, followed by a smooth, sexy musk, and finishing with a rich, warm woody background note, echoing the design of the scent’s packaging. $125 at Alford & Hoff.

The Magnum Opus series edited by Adam McLean was initially produced in the period 1979-1986. They were conceived as a vehicle for providing people with access to important alchemical and hermetic texts that had never been available in print in recent times. Many of these were translations of texts from manuscripts and early printed books in Latin, German, French and Italian. Each of these books required much in-depth research. They are not reprints of works from the 19th century occult revival, such as Waite’s Hermetic Musaeum, but each book was edited from original source material. Many of the volumes contain first ever translations of these texts into English.

This series of books provide a survey of the alchemical/hermetic tradition, and include key works such as the Crowning of Nature, the Rosary of the Philosophers, and works of Robert Fludd, Trithemius, Khunrath, Dee, Michael Maier. Many of these editions have extensive commentaries as well as introductory material. These allow the reader to approach closer to the true nature of alchemical and hermetic ideas, by going back to the source rather than merely reading the often muddled interpretations of 20th century commentators. To get the the truth one has to go back to the original material.

As they were not sold through book dealers, but only by direct mail order, these books have became collectors items, often fetching high prices on the second-hand market. Only a few copies remain of some of the books in this series, and these are sometimes available through this online bookshop. Stocks are extremely limited and often become unavailable for months while time is found to bind up another batch.

Nine of the earlier 23 volumes (Nos. 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 18, 22) were issued by Phanes Press in paperback editions – though no more will be issued by Phanes which is now defunct. Since 1997 twelve more titles in this series have been issued with more to appear in the years ahead.

Each book in these limited editions is individually signed and numbered by Adam McLean. These books are produced in limited editions of 250 or 300 copies, but are made in small batches of about 10 or so at a time.

These books are entirely unique. They are bound by hand in a full leather binding. This process takes a great deal of time, up to three hours per book. This is why the prices are quite high, but it also means that bound copies of the books are not always instantly available.

Naturally, I am determined to not only own, but also have read and understood, to the best of my ability, each  and every book in this series, as well as his 8 Hermetic Studies Books.

Four decades after the Oblivion Crisis, Tamriel is threatened anew by an ancient and all-consuming evil. It is Umbriel, a floating city that casts a terrifying shadow–for wherever it falls, people die and rise again.

And it is in Umbriel’s shadow that a great adventure begins, and a group of unlikely heroes meet. A legendary prince with a secret. A spy on the trail of a vast conspiracy. A mage obsessed with his desire for revenge. And Annaig, a young girl in whose hands the fate of Tamriel may rest . . . .

Based on the award-winning The Elder Scrolls, The Infernal City is the first of two exhilarating novels following events that continue the story from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, named 2006 Game of the Year.

Excerpt at Random House. $10 at Amazon.

EDIT: Just so everyone knows, I LOVE Oblivion. Favorite game EVAR. Next, I LOVE Fallout3. So, basically, I LOVE Bethesda Softworks. If Bethesda ever asked me if I wanted to work for them, I would drop whatever I was doing at the moment, and run toward them with open arms. *Hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink*
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Second in the series. $100, Available March 2010.

The toothpaste itself is black, and uses the natural whitening property of charcoal powder, ideal for use in toothpaste. Unlike peroxide whiteners which can cause allergic reactions, this formulation is safe and gentle for everyone. About $9 from Sort Of Coal.