They recently introduced a policy whereby you cannot obtain seat assignments ahead of time unless you are prepared to pay an extortionate $30 per leg. Either you cave to their strong-arming, or wait until 24 hours prior to the flight when online check-in, at the risk of being stuck in a middle seat or in non-contiguous seats even if you booked months in advance.
Even by BA’s deplorable standard of service, this is a despicable new low.
I spied a medium-sized Cocoon Grid-It organizer in the Flight 001 store on Hayes Street last Sunday, and bought one. This is a board, roughly letter size, with a criss-crossing web of elastic bands. there is a zippered pocket in the back (not shown).
You just find a section the size of the gizmo you want to fit and slide your item in. The elastic has non-slip rubberized dots that will keep it in place. In this case, a Hypermac battery pack for MacBook Air (with cable), Novoflex Mikrostativ mini-tripod, lens-cleaning brush, spare Leica M9 battery, pencil and small bottle of sanitizer.
The good: works as advertised, useful for people who change bags often—just grab the whole thing and transfer it.
The bad: rather heavy at slightly over 300g, quite thick at 5mm or so (the stiffener inside is probably corrugated cardboard or plastic rather than a thinner material).
Conclusion: given the bulk and weight, you would be better off with a conventional zippered multi-pouch organizer
Leica recently introduced the Monovid monocular. Monoculars are more compact than binoculars, but you lose stereo vision, which is why birdwatchers tend to shun them. I myself have a very strong director eye and correspondingly poor binocular vision, so this is not such a big deal for me.
The Monovid is supplied with an accessory screw-on close-up lens that reduces the minimum focus distance. This is useful for butterfly or hummingbird watchers, but the arrangement is clumsier than the (admittedly much larger) Minox Makroskop.
The Monovid is essentially half of a pair of Ultravid 8×20 BL binoculars. The barrel is 3-4mm longer to accommodate the threads for the close-up lens, and it has a goiter-like knurled protrusion towards the end for focusing. The eyecup is the same, and can be either pulled out for normal viewing, or left in for eyeglass wearers. This is a far better arrangement than fold-up rubber eyecups. The leather case for the Monovid is quite bulky, and features a screw thread to hold the close-up lens as well as an ingenious ribbon that pulls the monocular out of the case when you flip the lid open. It also has a magnetic catch unlike the Ultravids’ snap button.
Unsurprisingly, the performance is nearly identical, that is to say, stellar. The image is bright (most monoculars are in the 12-15mm aperture range). There is no hint of distortion or chromatic aberration across the field. It is quite sensitive to perfectly centered eye placement, specially when you are wearing eyeglasses, otherwise you will black out.
Sadly, the price is not half that of the binoculars, closer to two thirds. Considering that it is not all that much more compact and you lose stereo vision, if you are considering one, I would recommend the more versatile Ultravid 8×20 BL (or the cheaper BR) instead. Another option to consider is the respected line of Zeiss monoculars (most are more compact than the Monovid, but the 8×20 is nearly the same size and not as well built) or the slower but smaller Nikon “high grade” monocular series (unfortunately the 7×15 has been discontinued, but old new stock is still readily available).
Update (2012-11-26):
I purchased a new-old-stock Nikon High Grade 5×15 monocular. It is much lighter than the Monovid, has much closer focusing at 60cm vs 1.80m, no futzing with accessory lenses required (although to be fair the Leica focuses to 25-30cm with the close-up lens).
The fit and finish on the Japanese-made monoculars (vs. Portugal, not Germany, for the Monovid) is superb, with deeply engraved and paint-filled markings (even superior in execution to AI-s Nikkors). The supplied case is made of genuine leather, unfortunately it does not include a belt clip. The aluminium shell is not monocoque like the Monovid, and seems less robust. There is also no mention of the Nikon being nitrogen-purged and waterproof. The finger indents make it quite comfortable to hold and the hexagonal cross-section means it is unlikely to roll off a table. The neck strap on the Nikon is also lighter and far more practical than the bulky hand strap on the Leica. Surprisingly, it is not easier to hand-hold despite the lower magnification – the heft of the Monovid stabilizes it somewhat against shake.
The optics are excellent. It’s hard to compare to the Leica, due to the lower magnification and aperture, but like the Leica, the image is clear across the frame with no color aberrations across the frame. There seems to be some slight chromatic aberration at the very edges that you don’t get with the Leica.
The Nikon 5×15 HG is discontinued, but it appears in their 2012-2013 sports optics catalog, along with the 7×15 HG, so there is a possibility it will be resurrected. It is readily available from Japan on eBay and occasionally Amazon as well.
Update (2017-02-21):
I seem to be collecting monoculars. Some other models:
The US is currently in a frenzy over the TV series Mad Men. People seem to be discovering that Americans once were articulate and knew how not dress as slobs, when snappy dressers like Barack Obama or former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown (below) were the rule rather than the exception.
As I watched the French period action movie Le Bossu, I could not help but admiring the elaborate 18th Century Régence costumes.
In most animal species the male is the most flamboyant of the sexes, from the peacock to birds and beyond. If you look at Mughal miniatures, you will find their Emperors (like Shah Jahan below) were clad in finery and jewels far outstripping the women in their court.
The rich silks and brocades European aristocracy wore well into the 19th century did not fear from comparison with the ladies. Yet somehow since then men’s wear has devolved to subdued dark colors once worn only by priests, undertakers and school teachers (Péguy’s Black hussars of the Republic).
Women’s handbags have become the mainstay of the luxury industry, generating well over $10B a year in revenues. San Francisco has no dearth of companies designing, and sometimes manufacturing, bags locally, but most have an urban, not luxury sensibility. We have more manufacturers than any place with the possible exception of Australia. To mention but a few (ones I have bought bags or pouches from are highlighted with the backpack emoji 🎒), and those that actually make their bags in the US have the US flag emoji 🇺🇸, with those actually made in San Francisco getting their bonus SF emoji 🌁:
There is a newcomer to this list:
Update (2012-07-13):
Add to the list:
Update (2013-08-07):
And some more:
Update (2019-05-22):
It never ends:
Update (2021-09-11):
I didn’t realize Baggu is also SF-based: