From pirates to spies to kid detectives, it’s a common Hollywood trope: hold a simple spyglass or binoculars up to your eyes, and you’ll effortlessly get a crystal-clear cylindrical picture of what’s going on. That’s horseshit, of course. Unless you’ve got the hands of a surgeon, it’s surprisingly hard to line up eyeballs, multiple pieces of glass, and a faraway subject. Kid Sean was sad to learn that fact. But I’ll never forget the day Teen Sean pressed the magic button that made all the difference: the one in the center of the image-stabilized binoculars that Canon still sells today. The binoculars come in many different magnifications, from 8x to 18x, and with varying grades of glass.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A family friend was showing me his new toy at the beach, and I couldn’t understand what was so special about it. (I’m blessed with 20/20 eyesight, and I figured I could already see the swimsuit-clad ladies just fine — why would I want to add complications?) He told me I …