Life of an engineer

The anti-glare-coating is falling off my glasses. I'm going to need new glasses one of these days. New lenses at the very least, but the frame isn't that young either. It's lasted me for 10 years, but it won't survive yet another set of lenses.

I was contemplating this before a mirror when I noticed that my glasses were in their usual angle on my nose. No matter how many times I bend them straight, they always seem to end up at that same 5-degree angle.
For the thousandth time I experimented with closing one eye, then quickly alternating between my eyes, and noting that one eye puts its image higher than the other. When I open both, I see double for about a second before the images lock in place on top of each other.

Nothing new so far - but then I noticed for the first time that my double vision became worse when I put my glasses straight. I realized that my glasses need to be crooked to compensate for a slight defect in my vision, and started to wonder how crooked it would have to be to compensate completely. I took my spare glasses and some pliers, and ended up with this:

I've been wearing these for some hours now, and I think they work great.

Next step will be to explain to an optician what I want, and hope that he/she has a way to measure it. I'm not that impressed with opticians in general, so I like to confirm their measurements with my own.

So I measured:

and measured:

(Bad image, since the frames have been shot through my glasses and my glasses have cylinders which my eyes need, but my camera doesn't.)
My conclusion is, that my right eye needs a prism that bends the light 1.1 degrees or 0.02 rad down. I hope my optician will agree, and if not, I'll just specify how I want the lenses cut into the frame. That they should be able to manage.

Now why do I write this down?
I don't remember actually, in my current state of mind, which is illegal almost anywhere outside the Netherlands. I had a point to make when I started, but it has slipped my mind. It was something to do with true reasoning versus religious reasoning - oh well. Perhaps someone else is kind enough to make my point for me.

hahaha, amusing post! Maybe you should become a part-time optometrist yourself - your spec 'amendments' look pretty funky - maybe your onto something! Generally though you'd think that they could mould the glass into any shape or thickness. Walk in with your data and say "look, i've done your job for you, just do me up a pair of these babies would ya!?", haha!

I don't currently need glasses, ...but inevitably I will, as both my parent's had fine vision for quite a long time buth both went down hill around 40 & needed glasses. Genes will be genes, so it's only a matter of time for me until I get my pair

haha, have you tried repeating the experiment after the good ol wacky tabacky has worn off? It could be a 'miracle' fix! Then again, it'll be next to impossible to remember the point you were trying to make when off of it, so you'll have to get back on it.

Clint wrote:Generally though you'd think that they could mould the glass into any shape or thickness.

They have everything they need in stock. No need to manufacture anything.

Walk in with your data and say "look, i've done your job for you, just do me up a pair of these babies would ya!?", haha!

That's basically what I tried today. There wasn't an optometrist, but the girl behind the counter told me that they usually don't make them without advanced tests and doctors prescriptions. I didn't want to give the poor girl a course in physics, so I made an appointment for tomorrow with the optometrist himself.

I don't currently need glasses, ...but inevitably I will, as both my parent's had fine vision for quite a long time buth both went down hill around 40 & needed glasses. Genes will be genes, so it's only a matter of time for me until I get my pair

Those will be just reading glasses, I guess? You're a lucky bastard to need only those.

haha, have you tried repeating the experiment after the good ol wacky tabacky has worn off? It could be a 'miracle' fix![/quote]
I did! It still worked fantastically. I is a miracle fix for many people with headaches or vertigo, but it's not my invention. It's called "prisma-glasses" and their existence was pointed out to me a month ago.

Then again, it'll be next to impossible to remember the point you were trying to make when off of it, so you'll have to get back on it.

Oh, yes: The point! I remember now.

The point is about the word "thinking", which is used for both scientific deduction and magical daydreaming. I just wanted to set an example of what thinking should be all about. I find it amazing that many apologists (and astrologers and such) can string together the same words that I use, but without putting any meaning in them.

I spent a pleasant 1.5 hours at the optician today. Half an hour was spent teaching optics to the optician. He wasn't convinced, so in the end I just told him what I wanted, taking full responsibility. The other hour was spent with the loveliest of girls staring into my eyes, measuring height and distance of my eyes. Those measurement weren't really necessary for what I wanted, but the girl explained that we had to fit my specifications into a prescription for multi-focal glasses to make the glass-cutter understand. He couldn't work with my relative measurements; he needed absolute numbers. Oh well, there are worse things than having nice girls staring into your eyes.