[mach schnell]

i actually helped develop a series of sports sunglasses in the mid 90's that utilized this concept - fixed polarized lens against a rotating partial polarized lens - the idea was a pair of sport sunglasses that allowed the wearer the ability to 'dial in' both the amount of light transmission and color contrast without having to switch lenses (yeah, our competition was Oakley Mframes and Killer loop, as well as the photchromic models offered by Serengetti). We called them Sundials - we generated alot of interest in the eyewear/sports/sunglass industry for a couple of years, but never got a final product into stores - closest I got was an almost sealed deal with Brookstone - of course, Sunglass Hut was the ideal goal. Problem was, our company Pres was too much of a perfectionist (he was Japanese) so everytime we had a 'final' prototype, he'd scrap the lot and wanna start all over - finally people in the biz got tired of all our hype and waiting, the idea fizzled. In 2 years we spent several million $$$ of his families money (roots in Nissan in Japan) - his family also put the squash on things. It was sad, cuz the idea was very cool (especially once we got the frame design down to something sweet looking that properly utilized the technology) and would definitely had been stiff competition for Oakley (not too mention a major windfall for my checking acct).

Maybe if this medicine thing don't work out, I'll revive the idea...