Fixing your iPod with a 3×5 card
My iPod died this weekend, and while googling for ideas I came across this site. I gave it a try and used a 3×5 card instead of a business card, and it seems to be working.
Let’s see if it holds up, but it saved me plunking down some cash for a new one, hopefully until the next generation of iPods come out.
$12 eyeglasses – how to do it right
I read an article on boingboing last year about buying cheap eyeglasses online, which led me to the glassy eyes blog. I promptly went to zenni and ordered a $12.95 pair of glasses, throwing in the sunshades for $4. Laura ordered a pair as well. The glasses arrived a few weeks later, but I found that they were a bit strong, and I think it was due to bad measurements.
The process is pretty simple, you obtain your prescription from your optician, which they are required to give you by law. However, they don’t give you one piece of information – the pupillary distance. This is the distance between your pupils and is used to properly center the lens in the glasses. The first time we measured this, I had Laura do it. She tried to hold a ruler up to my eyes and “eyeball” it. I think this was the source of the error.
I then came up with a great idea. I held up a ruler to my eyes and took a photo of myself straight on. Then, I downloaded the picture to my laptop and blew up the photo and measured the distance from there. Turns out I was about 5mm off the first time. I ordered a second pair and they feel much better – this time I ordered a deluxe frame with a magnetic sunshade and higher index lenses – $45. With prices like this you can afford to make a few mistakes, and it’s great to have a few extra pairs just in case or to mix things up a bit. Give it a try.