Glassy Eyes - Got my specs online!

If you could save 75% on eye glasses, would you?

I have just had a great experience buying glasses online, mediated by Ira Mitchell and his excellent Glassy Eyes website. After getting my prescription (from a cranky optometrist - who was not so happy to examine me only and give me my prescription.) I costed glasses with  flexible frames, multifocal and transition lenses, (lenses change in differing light) scratch resistant. All the bells and whistles.

The quote  from the local optometrist was R6000 (+/- US$ 600)

Using Glassy Eyes recommendation of a company called EyeBuyDirect, I nervously ordered exactly what I wanted. If it was wrong, being in South Africa, the return or correction process was unknown. I had to really trust to do this. BUT, less than 25% of the local quote was a powerful reason to check it out, no?

Final cost was R1300 - including postage!! It was so worth the risk. My glasses arrived in Cape Town from a factory in China in FIVE (5) DAYS after order - and they also kindly marked it 'samples' so no duty paid. FIVE days is incredible. It takes longer to get a letter around this country than my glasses from China from order to delivery.

Getting used to wearing multifocals is a bit of a learning process, but now I am happy as a clam and sold on this incredible service and savings. It is worth investigating if you are a wearer of lenses. Big thanks to Ira at Glassy Eyes for this service.

1 Giant Leap Part 2 - "What About Me?"

What about me? - home

Whoa! I am so happy! I just recently discovered that '1 Giant Leap' has put out a second disc/episode/experience.

For the uninitiated... 1 Giant Leap is a world musical extravaganza following the success of their first double Grammy nominated film and album. This visionary project took Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman to over 50 locations as they explore, through music the complexities of human nature on a global scale.

Its music through collaborations of musicians from many parts, a drum track from India played to a singer from Mali played to a guitarist from Rio played to a jazz band from New Orleans... And so it goes gathering richness, layers rhythm and soul. And the music is interspersed with interviews with a diverse collection of collaborators thinkers Noam Chomsky, Tim Robbins, Billy Connolly, Eckhart Tolle, Baaba Maal and many others.

Watch it. Buy it. Celebrate!

1 Giant Leap - Trailer for 2nd Film - 2sides2everything

Before The Net Was The Whole Earth Catalog

I remember, (which is quite a good thing really) my awe and wonderment when I saw - and greedily devoured - the Whole Earth Catalog sometime around 1970. Even though it was a whole $4, it was worth it! What a revelation. This was another kind of religious experience, a cosmic, how-to book about tools and new ideas, rantings and ravings and recipes. I even have, and was just showing a relatively young buddy the latest version, The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog circa 1994. This latest version was published just on the verge of the ubiquity of the Net and the time of millennial change. The WEC was the direct forerunner of the net. And the Wikipedia, And universal access to leading edge tools, And TED. And blogging. And, and, and... It was the inspiration of a generation.
You whippersnappers (and I have been waiting a very long time to say that) need to have a sense of your history. It's your history, and because you are reading this, technologically able to navigate cyberspace via Google, and blogs et al. Likely when you want to know something, you Google. Go look at Kevin Kelly's blog. KK was an editor of the Whole Earth Catalog and still does the same kind of stuff, albeit in a more refined way these days.
The Whole Earth Catalog is still there, online, but somehow, the digital version just isn't it/

Couple 'a Favourite Podcasts

Down here in the south of Africa, listening to the radio is just not 'compelling'... Endless talk, crap pop, local and international, are a substandard diet that does not satisfy or nourish. With a couple of noteable exceptions, radio in Cape Town is ubercrappy. What to do? What to do when I want to listen to something new and fun on the road?

Podcasts are the answer. For the technophobe or noob, podcasts are simply recordings that have been uploaded to the internet either to listen to or download for later consumption.

Here are two podcasts that I throughly enjoy from National Public Radio.

Always engaging is This American Life, who by the way, have just won an Emmy Award for Outstanding nonfiction Programming. And it is really well deserved. Host Ira Glass is a warm, casual and very sharp interviewer with a sense of humanity and humor that propels the show.
Just have a listen to The Giant Pool of Money, an entertaining story with interviews of how this horrid current credit / banking crisis got rolling. Instructive, scary and fun. What could be better?

Another recommended podcast is All Songs Considered, an NPR show hosted by Bob Boillen that exposes a whole host of music that otherwise might be off your radar.

How do I listen to these podcasts? I download them, put 'em on my iPod and walk the dog, alternately laughing at This America Life or enjoying artists that I would never would have heard, except for All Songs Considered. But you can also just listen to them right from their website. In the next while I will post a list of other good stuff to stimulate your ears.
If you wish to subscribe to any of the many thousands of podcasts, you can download the free and excellent Ziepod podcast receiver (like an internet radio) and go from there. So much stuff, so little time.

three books that are yanking my chain

Here are three books I am completely enjoying - all different but compelling. First is Andrew Brown's Street Blues - Experiences Of A Reluctant Policeman. check it here. Brown is a lawyer and South African police reservist.

Second is Wikinomics subtitled How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. Click here to download the intro and first chapter.

Third up is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Set in 12th-century England, the narrative concerns the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. The ambitions of
three men merge, conflict and collide through 40 years of social and political upheaval as internal church politics affect the progress of the cathedral and the fortunes of the protagonists. "Follett has written a novel that entertains, instructs and satisfies on a grand scale,"

1974 c''est moi

  

NPR: All Songs Considered

NPR: All Songs Considered

This is where I discover a lot of my new music. Nothing like it anywhere else. All Songs Considered evolved from The National Public Radio magazine show All Things Considered, and was initially a compilation of the musical interludes. But people kept on asking " What WAS that song you played..." And it evolved.

Here is their Best of 2005 show, which you can hear either over Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer (broadband absolutely necessary) Have a look in their archives. There are about 90 full shows you can listen to. I discovered a LOT of treasures here that otherwise I would have never connected with. Happy listening!