原创 Embracing the geek in you

A few weeks ago, I received a newsletter from those little scamps at ThinkGeek (www.ThinkGeek.com). This started off by informing me that July 13 is "Embrace Your Geekiness Day!?"

"Hmmm", I thought, "I've not heard of this one". So I did a quick search on Google for "Embrace Your Geekiness Day" and by golly there are hits everywhere.

Of course this is not to be confused with Geek Pride Day, which is celebrated on 25 May. Also of interest is the fact that Geek Pride Day shares the same day as Towel Day, for fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy saga by Douglas Adams, and the Glorious 25 May for fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld (see also my Introduction to Discworld blog).

You have to admit that these are more fun than some of the more traditional holidays. In fact, thinking about it, we should all soon start preparing for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which takes place on 19 September (am I the only one who dresses up for this?).

But that's not what I wanted to talk about. One of the products mentioned in the ThinkGeek newsletter was a set of Special Glasses that are said to turn 3D films back into 2D. Check out this video on YouTube where the presenter (who starts off saying "I like pie, but that's not why we're here today" [grin]) explains why he invented these glasses that let people watch a 3D movie in "Two very crisp, very beautiful dimensions."

Now, on the one hand this makes sense. Some people become nauseated when watching today's 3D offerings (hopefully they will enjoy things more as the technology improves). So you might ask why these folks would want to watch a 3D movie in the first place. The answer is simple--going to the movies or to a friend's house to watch a movie is a social thing--so if you are one of the people who can't take today's 3D movies, but you want to see one for social reasons, then these glasses would be a good idea.

If the truth be told I'm now quite sure how these work. In a traditional 3D movie two images are displayed overlapped on the movie screen. My understanding is that these images are presented using polarized light--horizontally polarized for one image/eye and vertically polarized for the other. The ThinkGeek Site explains that these special glasses eliminate the left eye image and show only the right eye image to both eyes. I suppose that this could work if the lens for the left eye took the polarized light intended for the right eye and rotated it by 90 degrees before presenting it to the eye.

Hmmm... I'll have to think about this.

Also of interest is that the ThinkGeek folks also say "In double-blind scientific tests it was determined that when watching 3-D movies the right-eye image was consistently more action packed and humorous than the left-eye image."

Hmmm... I'll have to think about this also.

The only thing that worries me is that those little rascals at ThinkGeek have been known to play tricks. Do you recall my Play arcade-style games with your iPad blog? I hear that this actually started out as a spoof product (possibly an April Fool's Joke), but that the ensuing demand was so great that they ended up building them.

The trouble with the ThinkGeek site is that once you are there you get sucked in. A couple of weeks ago I purchased an EvilTron, which is currently puzzling my friend Bruce Till who sits in the office next door, and an Electronic Butterfly in a Jar, which is sitting on my desk and which looks amazingly lifelike. I for one am really enjoying both of these products (I obviously can't speak for Bruce, who does not yet know what?s making the strange sounds in his office :-)