I\’m obsessed with the Midori Traveler\’s Notebook. This is pure stationery porn. It\’s a refillable leather journal from Japan and the attention to detail is impeccable. For example, the packaging is almost Apple-like. It comes inside a cloth bag, which is inside a cardboard sleeve, which is wrapped in 2 layers of plastic. It even comes with a replacement elastic strap. The leather looks really high quality and there\’s a ton of accessories and refills available, like various kinds of paper refills, calendar refills, adhesive pockets, business card holders and pen holders.

Somehow I think nothing I write will ever be worthy of the journal. It\’s not readily available in the US but I think there are some stores in the Bay Area that carry it. There\’s a good review of the notebook here. Now I just need some fantastic trips to fill the notebook with.

For this year\’s Olympics diving competitions they have a cool tracking camera that follows the divers as they go into the water. It\’s simply a camera tied to a rope, then when the athlete dives the cameraman drops it. I believe on its 3rd dive the camera was disqualified cause it tested positive for doping.

Ignore that logo under the tape!

To ensure that only the companies that pay millions of dollars to be official Olympic sponsors enjoy the benefits of exposure in Olympic venues, organizers have covered the trademarks of nonsponsors with thousands of little swatches of tape.

In media centers, dormitories and arena bathrooms, pieces of tape cover logos of fire extinguishers, light switches, thermostats, bedroom night tables, soap dispensers and urinals. The Taiden Industrial translation headsets in a large conference room have had their logos covered, as have the American Standard faucets in the bathrooms nearby, and the ThyssenKrupp escalators down the hall.

Heh heh, that\’s funny. Sounds like they hired some guys off the street, gave them some tape, and told them to tape over any logos they could find, and the guys took it too literally.

In the Netherlands they have Smart Car fire engines. So cute. I imagine it pulling up to a little fire, then midget firefighters jump out and start setting up a step ladder.

A parking garage in Australia has directional signs that appear to float in the air when you look at them at the right angle. Pretty cool, but I bet the painter thought the designer was nuts. \”You want me to paint the words how?\”

Awesome photos of the Death Star Large Hadron Collider in France/Switzerland. This thing looks incredibly complicated. It must be a nightmare to troubleshoot when something goes wrong.