Fundy Colours”Blueberry Fields Forever”

On a recent trip through the Bay of Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, we were struck by fields of various burgundy colours (not to mention the frigg’n snow that was falling during the last week of April!). It turns out these are blueberry bushes.

Fundy Colours”Blueberry Fields Forever”

On a recent trip through the Bay of Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, we were struck by fields of various burgundy colours (not to mention the frigg’n snow that was falling during the last week of April!). It turns out these are blueberry bushes.

The Deterrence Effect of Fines:The Bridges of Madison County New Brunswick

As I have often said, economics can be summarized in four words:



People respond to incentives.



And it makes sense that back before these bridges became historical sites, if people didn’t want others to ride their horses on the bridge, they would levy a fine.





The Sawmill Creek Bridge







The signs are clearly reproductions of the originals, but it is fun to see them. Why did it matter so much to the bridge proprietors (typically county gubmnts) whether someone drove or walked their team of horses across the bridge?

The Deterrence Effect of Fines:The Bridges of Madison County New Brunswick

As I have often said, economics can be summarized in four words:



People respond to incentives.



And it makes sense that back before these bridges became historical sites, if people didn’t want others to ride their horses on the bridge, they would levy a fine.





The Sawmill Creek Bridge







The signs are clearly reproductions of the originals, but it is fun to see them. Why did it matter so much to the bridge proprietors (typically county gubmnts) whether someone drove or walked their team of horses across the bridge?

Shopping for Eyeglasses, Part II

I recently read about a place called Zenni Optical, where you can order eyeglasses for unbelievably low prices over the internet. How unbelievable? as low as $8 for a pair of prescription glasses including both the lenses AND the frames. The company appears to be based in California, but that site merely takes the orders and transmits them to China, where the glasses are actually produced.



When I mentioned the place to Jack, he did some searching and found seriously bi-modal reviews of the place. Many people loved them. At the same time, many people hated them. The major complaint is that if the glasses didn’t have the right prescription, it is nearly impossible to get glasses with the correct prescription sent in their place; you’re just out the money.



Also, they do not produce lined trifocals (though they do produce both progressives and lined bifocals).



Since it is time for me to update the prescriptions in some of my glasses, I decided the potential saving would outweigh the risk of placing an order with them. Also, they charge the same total amount for shipping, regardless of how many pairs of glasses you order at one time. I ordered four pairs of glasses; three different types for me and one for my older son, David Ricardo Palmer. Shipping time was about what they had said it would be — three weeks or a bit less.

1. My son says his glasses are fine. He is not as happy with the style of the frames as he had hoped he would be, and this is one disadvantage with buying glasses online. The site has considerable detail about sizes, colours, and styles, but it is not the same thing as trying the frames in the showroom of an optician.
2. I ordered one pair of glasses with just my distance vision prescription. I refer to these as my “bedtime glasses” because I wear them in bed so I can see the tv, something wearers of bifocals and trifocals cannot do easily because the bottom portion of their lenses is usually for close-up, not distance vision. These glasses were $8, including some frames with spring-loaded temples, and seem just fine. I had nothing special done to the lenses, so these were the very basic model, and they seem like a fantastic bargain. The new prescription is certainly better than the old one that I had been using for over a decade.
3. My intermediate vision glasses (for when I play French horn in the band) are fine, too. The focal point is about 5” closer to me than I might have liked, but that’s a (very minor) problem with the prescription, not the glasses. For these glasses, I ordered thinner lenses, transition lenses (photo-gray) and anti-reflective coating for when we play outside; I also selected some slightly more expensive ($20, not %8) unusual rimless frames. Because I got more expensive frames and extras with the lenses, the price of this pair was about $55. The price for my first two pairs of glasses at even a discount optician in London, ON, would easily have been around $300 – $400 or more. My son’s would have been about $350.
4. I also ordered a pair of full progressive glasses, just like the ones I had ordered from a London optician [see my previous posting about shopping for eyeglasses]. As I said earlier, I am not terribly keen on progressives because they have too narrow a field of vision. I ordinarily would get tri-focals, but Zenni doesn’t do trifocals, so I decided to try their progressives. The actual clear-vision “post” is still too narrow to suit me (I have to move my head to read this small computer screen when wearing those glasses), with some intriguing distortions outside the post. But the field of vision with the Zenni progressives is, if anything, a bit wider than that of the progressives I ordered locally. Progressives, transitions, thin lenses, anti-reflective, neato rimless frames – $97. These will become backup glasses.
   
   
   
   My local monopolist optometrist would probably charge about $900 – $1200 or more for the same three pairs of glasses; I paid about $170 for all three. So overall I’m pleased. But please note that I have no idea how good the lense material is, and I realize that not everyone has been happy with their orders from that outfit.

Shopping for Eyeglasses, Part II

I recently read about a place called Zenni Optical, where you can order eyeglasses for unbelievably low prices over the internet. How unbelievable? as low as $8 for a pair of prescription glasses including both the lenses AND the frames. The company appears to be based in California, but that site merely takes the orders and transmits them to China, where the glasses are actually produced.



When I mentioned the place to Jack, he did some searching and found seriously bi-modal reviews of the place. Many people loved them. At the same time, many people hated them. The major complaint is that if the glasses didn’t have the right prescription, it is nearly impossible to get glasses with the correct prescription sent in their place; you’re just out the money.



Also, they do not produce lined trifocals (though they do produce both progressives and lined bifocals).



Since it is time for me to update the prescriptions in some of my glasses, I decided the potential saving would outweigh the risk of placing an order with them. Also, they charge the same total amount for shipping, regardless of how many pairs of glasses you order at one time. I ordered four pairs of glasses; three different types for me and one for my older son, David Ricardo Palmer. Shipping time was about what they had said it would be — three weeks or a bit less.

1. My son says his glasses are fine. He is not as happy with the style of the frames as he had hoped he would be, and this is one disadvantage with buying glasses online. The site has considerable detail about sizes, colours, and styles, but it is not the same thing as trying the frames in the showroom of an optician.
2. I ordered one pair of glasses with just my distance vision prescription. I refer to these as my “bedtime glasses” because I wear them in bed so I can see the tv, something wearers of bifocals and trifocals cannot do easily because the bottom portion of their lenses is usually for close-up, not distance vision. These glasses were $8, including some frames with spring-loaded temples, and seem just fine. I had nothing special done to the lenses, so these were the very basic model, and they seem like a fantastic bargain. The new prescription is certainly better than the old one that I had been using for over a decade.
3. My intermediate vision glasses (for when I play French horn in the band) are fine, too. The focal point is about 5” closer to me than I might have liked, but that’s a (very minor) problem with the prescription, not the glasses. For these glasses, I ordered thinner lenses, transition lenses (photo-gray) and anti-reflective coating for when we play outside; I also selected some slightly more expensive ($20, not %8) unusual rimless frames. Because I got more expensive frames and extras with the lenses, the price of this pair was about $55. The price for my first two pairs of glasses at even a discount optician in London, ON, would easily have been around $300 – $400 or more. My son’s would have been about $350.
4. I also ordered a pair of full progressive glasses, just like the ones I had ordered from a London optician [see my previous posting about shopping for eyeglasses]. As I said earlier, I am not terribly keen on progressives because they have too narrow a field of vision. I ordinarily would get tri-focals, but Zenni doesn’t do trifocals, so I decided to try their progressives. The actual clear-vision “post” is still too narrow to suit me (I have to move my head to read this small computer screen when wearing those glasses), with some intriguing distortions outside the post. But the field of vision with the Zenni progressives is, if anything, a bit wider than that of the progressives I ordered locally. Progressives, transitions, thin lenses, anti-reflective, neato rimless frames – $97. These will become backup glasses.
   
   
   
   My local monopolist optometrist would probably charge about $900 – $1200 or more for the same three pairs of glasses; I paid about $170 for all three. So overall I’m pleased. But please note that I have no idea how good the lense material is, and I realize that not everyone has been happy with their orders from that outfit.

The Latest in PLO Chic

Something to decorate the office? [h/t JohnM via BenS]



The article is a bit dated, and I wonder whether it is even an issue any more. But in true Philistine Liberation Organization style, one of the commenters writes,

How exactly does what I watch, what I drink and What I listen to make me inferior to you? I watch NASCAR, sure its dumb, cars going around in circles but I enjoy it and that isnt hurting anyone. What do you watch? Opera? Ballet? Those dont hurt anyone either, but I fail to see how they are better then NASCAR. I drink Bud out of a can, its cheap, I like it, it is made in my state. Does your sipping a cosmo somehow elevate you above me? Are we not both still consuming alcohol? If we drink too much do we not both get intoxicated? As for Limbaugh, well, I dont listen to him either, but Im sure youd blanch at the country station presets on my radio, just as I would skip over your world music or indy rock or whatever you listen to. So we are different and have different tastes, how exactly does that make you better than me?

Shopping for Eyeglasses, Part I

I have worn tri-focals for about a decade. My eyes aren’t all that bad (I can pass the driving test without glasses), but they don’t adjust to different distances all that well; hence the trifocals.



After my most recent eye examination, both my optometrist and Ms. Eclectic suggested that I should re-consider getting progressives — trifocals that have no lines on them; they don’t have three distinct viewing areas but instead have a progressive change from top to bottom. The two advantages of this type of lens are that (1) there is no line or abrupt change in the prescription from one portion of the lens to another, and (2) by slightly tilting your head up or down you can always find an angle at which things are in focus, regardless of how far they are from you.



The major disadvantage of progressives is that because of the physics/optics, it is impossible to make the lenses so that you can see much to the sides of what you are looking at; the field of vision is very narrow. I had tried progressives when I first got bifocals and hated them because I had to pivot my head from side-to-side to read a newspaper. I was assured, though, that newer designs meant that the field of vision is much wider now.



My local monopolist optometrist initially quoted me a price $530 just for new lenses (I like the rimless titanium frames I’m using and see no need to replace them). They also said that lined trifocals would cost about the same amount. And they guaranteed that if I didn’t like the progressives (with transition lenses that go darker in the sunlight and and and, etc.), I could change to trifocals at no charge.



I was about to place the order with them when they called and said they’d made a mistake: the price would be $630, not $530. Okay. That seemed a bit steep, but mistakes happen. [I must say, though, that most businesses that give you a quote honour it even if they make a mistake like this.]



I then asked whether, if I didn’t like the progressives, I would get a $100 refund if I switched back to the lined trifocals. The person I was speaking with said she’d never been asked that before, but she checked with others and said that yes I would.



The next day I received ANOTHER phone call from their office telling me that she was new there and had answered incorrectly (despite having checked with others) and that if I ordered progressives, the price would $630 even if I switched back to lined trifocals.



By this time I was beginning to feel jerked around. This optometry company has about five optometrists working in it with offices in two of the local towns. I don’t know of any other dispensing opticians within a 20-mile radius of where I live. Due to their locational advantage and their aggressive expansion [shades of Alcoa? or perhaps this is a better reprise of the Alcoa case.], they have some degree of market power. But not so much that they can irritate me as much as they did.



So I went to an optician in London, ON, with my prescription [London is about an hour's drive from the small town where we live, and I go there maybe once every week or two, even when I am not teaching at the university there.]. Their price? $420, with the same guarantee that I can switch back to lined trifocals at no charge if I don’t like the progressives. So I placed the order.



I now have the progressives. I’m not thrilled with them. When I get a chance, I will probably return them and get lined trifocals. With these new progressives, not even the entire 12.1″ screen on my small laptop is in focus from side to side. The field of vision is still too narrow to suit me.



Next week: Other options when there appears to be a local monopoly: ordering glasses from China.

De-Stressing:Reducing the Stress in Our Lives

Many people find that one way to reduce stress in our day-to-day lives is to sit around and pop the bubbles in bubble wrap. One problem is that doing so can be annoying for the people around you; also, once the bubbles are all popped, the stress can accelerate.



So here, courtesy of BenS (he says it is sponsored by Ritalin, but I don’t believe him) is a virtual sheet of bubble wrap for you to pop. I find the “manic” version especially satisfying.

De-Stressing:Reducing the Stress in Our Lives

Many people find that one way to reduce stress in our day-to-day lives is to sit around and pop the bubbles in bubble wrap. One problem is that doing so can be annoying for the people around you; also, once the bubbles are all popped, the stress can accelerate.



So here, courtesy of BenS (he says it is sponsored by Ritalin, but I don’t believe him) is a virtual sheet of bubble wrap for you to pop. I find the “manic” version especially satisfying.