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Using Saran Wrap As A Polarizing Filter

cdneng2 writes "Here's a University of Toronto research paper on how to use ordinary Saran Wrap as a polarized filter to turn your laptop into a stereoscope. From the paper, cellophane (costing mere pennies) proved to be a better half-waveplate than a commercial half-waveplate (costing hundreds of dollars for the required size) for rotating the polarization of white light. The same paper is cited in www.mygeekdom.com." Cellophane wonders may never cease.

52 comments

  1. Works on the John? by MakoStorm · · Score: 2, Funny
    By Wrapping this toilet I am not creating Mischief!!!

    I am simply filtering the available light to the water through this filter known as ordinary clear-wrap. This is a science experiment I expect Class credit for this!

    Boy, I wonder if that would have helped back then.

    1. Re:Works on the John? by Red+Rocket · · Score: 1


      It's hilarious that someone used a mod point to mod this comment down. I'm sure I speak for all the readers here when I say that we're all truly sorry that you (the modder) were traumatized by a toilet prank at some point in your life. Hopefully, one day you'll be able to read about toilet pranks without that burning urge to kill someone.

      --
      - Hail to our fearless misleader! Fool speed ahead!
  2. again... by Tom7 · · Score: 0, Informative

    Also cited on slashdot two weeks ago.

    1. Re:again... by RealityMogul · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So how does an editor manage to link to the original story on slashdot, which references the same article link, without realizing it's a duplicate?

    2. Re:again... by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Also cited on slashdot two weeks ago. "

      I wish cellophane would filter out posts whining about dupes.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    3. Re:again... by Tom7 · · Score: 1

      And the posts whining about whining?

    4. Re:again... by WoTG · · Score: 1

      What? Why would anyone ever check the links? =)

      In the editor's defence, there's so much science jargon in this article, that with a cursory glance it's easy miss the fact that it's a dupe.

  3. All right, this is cool by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is pretty neat stuff. Making 3D monitors using saranwrap is like starting nuclear fusion with old coffee grinds.

    1. Re:All right, this is cool by BrynM · · Score: 3, Funny
      Making 3D monitors using saranwrap is like starting nuclear fusion with old coffee grinds.
      It's just not good coffee unless it can melt the cup :)
      --
      US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
  4. Greatest Dupe Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think what makes this dupe particularly amusing (poignant? telling?) is the fact that it links to the article it duplicates. Sheesh, don't these editors read anything?

    1. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod parent up!

    2. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is why Timothy is in the running to de-throne Michael as Slashdot's All-Time Dumbass.

      I say Michael's got some competition.

    3. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod parent's parent up....err, grandparent...!!!

    4. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by isorox · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but timothy (not cdneng2) added the /. link, he must have done some work to find the dupe, then posted it. He si teh LAMEST!!

      Unless they needed the thousands of ad impressions an obvious dupe would generate.

    5. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Hell+O'World · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know what you guys are getting so worked up about.
      "Stereoscopic technique for generating 3D displays from cellophane and a laptop"
      doesn't sound anything like
      "how to use ordinary Saran Wrap as a polarized filter to turn your laptop into a stereoscope"
      to me! I mean... "polarized". Definantly some new information there, right?

    6. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Catskul · · Score: 1

      All hail Timothy, King of the Dupes !
      All hail Tim !
      All hail Tim !
      All hail Tim !

      (men in black reference)

      --

      Im not here now... Im out KILLING pepperoni
    7. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Molina+the+Bofh · · Score: 1, Funny

      I, for one, welcome our new Dupes Overlords.

      And I'd like to remind them, that as a trusted Slashdot reader, I can be useful in submitting more duplicate stories.

      --

      -
      Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
    8. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Insightful? Come on, Moderators. How about "Funny"?!?

    9. Re:Greatest Dupe Ever by Abm0raz · · Score: 1

      Nah, it would be the greatest dupe ever if Timothy had also been the editor that posted the FIRST article, as well. Now that wouldn't bode well for an editor's competence level.

      -Ab

      --
      Nothing fails quite like prayer.
  5. Who makes the first Quake2 for this? by mnmn · · Score: 1

    A bunch of laptops and cellophane should be cool here for FPS games. Quake2 should be ported I suppose faster than hl+counterstrike.

    But I'm curious how GTA1 would look on it, or even warcraft 3 characters.

    --
    "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
    1. Re:Who makes the first Quake2 for this? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Or, like the 3d glasses from elsa, they will simply work with D3D or OGL. Then you don't have to do ANYTHING to the apps; You just have to set your depth in the driver for different games.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. sunglasses by benhuot · · Score: 0

    If they made them into sunglasses I wouldn't be able to break them.

  7. Cellophane != Saran Wrap by Datoyminaytah · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Cellophane != Saran Wrap

    --
    assert(birth_date<time-86400)
    1. Re:Cellophane != Saran Wrap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
      Lazy. Lazy.

      Here's some links. Cellophane is made from cellulose.

      While plastic wrap (aka Saran Wrap) is made from "plastics" like PE and PVC.

      Unlike many english names. These ones make some sence.

  8. Mirror from previous article by muirhead · · Score: 1
  9. Dupe in 3D by jolshefsky · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, put the articles side-by-side and cross your eyes. You'll see it in 3D!

    --
    --- Jason Olshefsky

    Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)

    1. Re:Dupe in 3D by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ur teh FUNNEY!!1

  10. We're Due by mugnyte · · Score: 3, Funny


    Mike Tyson, bite somebody. News is dry and we're repeating posts about polarization to effect 3D. Does anybody really want to sit with their eyes crossed for any period of time? To to see things in 3D? BTW, the rest of the world comes in 3D for free.

    mug

    1. Re:We're Due by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Does anybody really want to sit with their eyes crossed for any period of time? To to see things in 3D? BTW, the rest of the world comes in 3D for free.

      Yeah, but it sues you when you touch it or stare too long.

  11. crosses your eyes by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 1

    Just a note: You're crossing your eyes when viewing an image of this sort. This may cause some amount of eyestrain. You may wish to move the display further away from you to help minimize this effect.

  12. Not Saran Wrap, CELLOPHANE by dvnelson72 · · Score: 3, Informative

    there is a difference.

    1. Re:Not Saran Wrap, CELLOPHANE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Likewise, its "Cellotape" not Scotch Tape(C).

    2. Re:Not Saran Wrap, CELLOPHANE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Not likewise. Saran Wrap (aka plastic wrap) is not a trademark name for cellophane. It's a different substance. Pretty important to this article smart mouth.

  13. Just checking... by mcgroarty · · Score: 3, Funny

    Am I the only one who was worried that "Cellophane wonders" would be a not-safe-for-work link?

    1. Re:Just checking... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Google for Cellophane and wonders with safe search off 2,690.

      Google for Cellophane and wonders with safe search on 2,320.

      Disclaimer: Any illusion that this is scientific or that these numbers mean anything is just an artifact to the way it appears and should be ignored.

  14. Duplicate Stories are Dying by mcgroarty · · Score: 0, Troll
    It is official; Netcraft confirms: Duplicate stories are dying

    One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Slashdot community when IDC confirmed that duplicate story count has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all stories. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that duplicate stories have lost more Slashdot share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Duplicate stories are collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Slashdot poll.

    You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict duplicate stories' future. The hand writing is on the wall: Duplicate stories face a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for duplicate stories because duplicate stories are dying. Things are looking very bad for duplicate stories. As many of us are already aware, duplicate stories continue to lose article share. Red ink and cancellations flow like a river of blood.

    Slashdot duplicate stories are the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its editor acceptances. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time topics Saran Wrap Laptop Filters and Ear on the Back of a Mouse only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: Duplicate stories are dying.

    Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

    Slashdot editor Timothy states that there are 7000 duplicate story posters on Slashdot. How many duplicate story posters on K5 are there? Let's see. The number of Slashdot versus K5 posts is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 K5 duplicate stories. Duplicate story posts on Slashdot are about half of the volume of K5 posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of K5 submitting dupes. A recent article put Slashdot duplicate stories at about 80 percent of the Slashdot story pool. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 Slashdot users. This is consistent with the number of Slashdot posts.

    Due to the troubles of Ear on a Mouse stories' abysmal duplicate posting rate, duplicate stories are going out of style and will probably be taken over by Natalie Portman trolls who post another type of story. Now duplicate stories are also dead, their corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    All major surveys show that duplicate stories have steadily declined in market share. Duplicate stories are very sick and their long term survival prospects are very dim. If duplicate stories are to survive at all it will be among trolling dilettante dabblers. Duplicate stories continue to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save them at this point in time. For all practical purposes, duplicate stories are dead.

    Fact: Duplicate stories are dying

  15. Deja Moo??? by advocate_one · · Score: 1

    things must be slow at the moment... I'm sure I saw this just the other day... strangely enough it was in here...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
    1. Re:Deja Moo??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I should probably install the latest patches but why mess up the uptime

      Heh.

    2. Re:Deja Moo??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think this point you make might be too subtle for that person to appreciate.

  16. Using saran wrap as a polar bear filter by psyconaut · · Score: 4, Funny

    (1) wrap yourself in saran warp
    (2) wait for polar bear
    (3) polar bear kills you
    (4) you stay fresh for weeks until polar bear is ready to finish consuming you
    (5) profit

    -psy

    1. Re:Using saran wrap as a polar bear filter by js7a · · Score: 1

      or alternativly, (1) wrap Roy Orbison in saran wrap.

  17. Re:what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it because of STORM TROOPERS that you say that?

  18. the fact that this dupe exists by kaltkalt · · Score: 1

    cannot be attributed to incompetence as the original story was linked in the dupe, thus it must be malice.

    --

    Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
  19. This is bullshit by Obligato · · Score: 1

    You can get the exact same effect without the saran wrap or the glasses just by displaying the two images on the screen and crossing your eyes to superimpose them. You have to cross your eyes when using the saran wrap method anyway, so what is the advantage to putting the Saran wrap on?

    1. Re:This is bullshit by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1
      Yup. I just tried it. I used some plastic wrap from Safeway and I actually found it easier just to cross my eyes. The plastic film as all sorts of irregularities in it making it hard to merge the two images as they are quite different.

      On the other hand it's kinda fun to just play with without trying to produce 3D effects.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    2. Re:This is bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cellophane is not plastic wrap. Please try again with proper substance.

    3. Re:This is bullshit by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1
      You clearly didn't read my comment.

      I said the whole polarization thing worked, silly! The problem is not with the polarization, it's with the direction your eyes have to look in. Normal polarized 3D displays have the left and right image superimposed on the display. In this case they are separated making them very hard to view even if the polarization works 100% perfectly.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  20. while left blink right blink repeat by 3dvideo · · Score: 1

    forget the wrap.. just blink your eyes in sequence and voila 3D d

    --
    stereoscopic multimedia pioneer view3d.tv