Knock knock!
Who's there?
Umm...flowers.
But I'm allergic to flowers!
Umm...candygram.
Who would send me candy? (looks through peephole, but sees only an indistinct gray shape) (abandons rational thought, opens door)
(Landshark attacks! Feeding frenzy ensues.)
================== This all-too-common tragedy can be a thing of the past, once we get to the future. The future, that is, where flat-panel video displays can be made to cover the entire inside surface of your front door. Fed by an exterior video camera with paralax-correction in between, the panel allows you to see straight through the door, as if there were no door there at all - without compromising your safety one bit. And you don't have to mash your face against the door and leave an embarrassing greasy spot near the peephole, either. Flip the "off" switch, and the panel displays the image of the inside surface of a door. Or a fishtank, or etc. Or b&w mode (thanks, waugs).
While we're at it, why not build interior walls like this, if you live in a scenic environment? (Why not, that is, except for staggering cost and current panel-size limitations.) How cool would it be to project all of outdoors all over the walls, and install drywall in the windows? Or project video from a remote location even? But now I'm wading pretty deeply into dontthink's idea (see link below).-- beauxeault, May 02 2003 Video Windows http://www.halfbake...dea/Video_20Windowsby dontthink [beauxeault, Oct 05 2004] acknowledgments http://www.halfbake...rgonomic_20PeepholeUnDoorWare was inspired by k_sra's idea and Worldgineer's annotation. [beauxeault, Oct 05 2004] B&W Mirror http://www.halfbake...idea/B_26W_20mirrorGreat moments in beauxeault history. [waugsqueke, Oct 05 2004] Ulexite http://geology.abou...mages/blulexite.htmrocks, man. [robophobic, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Hehe – saw this coming. (+) for including a Landshark.-- Shz, May 02 2003 Croissant if it's switchable to b&w mirror mode.-- waugsqueke, May 02 2003 Or: a camera is placed on the ceiling in front of your door, pointing straight down at the visitor/would-be intruder. On your side of the door, each bristle of your doormat is a fibre-optic... well, fibre - so that when standing atop the doormat, about to open the door, you can look down and see your visitor as from above. If they have a dorsal fin, or a disagreeable hat, you deny them access. If they have an impressive tonsure, or a big fruit-basket, you welcome them into your home, and guffaw wildly as they soil themselves by stepping through the door onto what at first glance appears to be a ruddy great hole in the floor.-- friendlyfire, May 02 2003 Damn! The same thought occurred to me when reading "Ergonomic Peephole" but you beat me to it. +-- krelnik, May 02 2003 Yes, that is all fine and good until the next-door neighbor starts gardening in his hot pink thong, again. Make sure I can turn it off and I'll give you a croissant.-- ato_de, May 02 2003 Done.-- beauxeault, May 02 2003 Perhaps if the door were made of ulexite (see link) with the same coating as a two-way mirror on one side so people couldn't see in... Or maybe if you glued millions of two-inch pieces of fiber optics together side by side and made a panel it would do the same thing?-- robophobic, May 02 2003 and done. +-- ato_de, May 02 2003 random, halfbakery