Seeing Differently

No, the glasses in the picture below aren't broken. They're supposed to look like that.

These reading glasses belong to my buddy Chris Gunderson, shown modeling the specs in the picture below. The first time I met him, he was wearing the glasses. Then he went to take them off and did a move like this:

... and my head sort of exploded, in a classic I-was-NOT-expecting-THAT moment.

Here's the thing: everyone knows how glasses work. You put them on from the front, with thin bars stretching across your temples and hooking over your ears. If you want extra security, you can add a loop on the back side, connecting one temple bar to the other. But if they break at the bridge, you're either out of luck or risk looking like a dork by taping the break.

Someone obviously noticed that glasses sometimes break at the bridge. It happens often enough that it's sort of a cliche. So why not break it there from the start? And let's use magnets (how DO magnets work?) to keep things together.

A little research showed that the design has been around for a while. I guess I'm just a bit behind when it comes to reading glasses technology. But late or not, I still think it's a pretty sweet design, no doubt produced by someone who sees things a little differently. I think there's a lesson there for all of us...