Ran across this real-life product, called the “Flying Alarm Clock.” The idea is that there’s a plastic propeller thingy on top of the alarm clock that pops off and flies across the room when the alarm goes off. To stop the alarm from wailing in your ears, you have to actually trudge out of bed, rummage around on the floor, locate the plastic propeller thingy where it has landed, drag it back to the clock base, all while a siren-alarm is blaring your ears, and re-attach the propeller to the clock. Or you can just hurl the damn thing across the room. (Not a recommended procedure, but I’m sure it would stop the alarm.)
There’s even a YouTube video to demonstrate it. Demonstrate the clock, that is, not hurling it across the room.
This Flying Alarm Clock actually sounds like a great idea. Simple, elegant, and it would probably even get me out of bed in the morning. It also serves as a lesson in not diluting your product with too many features, as this quote from the video reveals:
The Flying Alarm Clock will not shut off until the propeller has been put back into the base. Your hands alone can’t shut it off. With the alarm activated, chronic snoozers will no longer be able to turn off the alarm from the comfort of their beds and risk missing an interview or being late for first period. However, the Flying Alarm Clock conveniently features “alarm,” “snooze,” and “off” settings, for those of you who prefer options…
So… I can’t “turn off the alarm,” but I can move its front-panel switch to the “off” setting?
Thanks to Mad Dog Blog for the link to this one. According to the AP–So, it might be true–Baghdad plans to build a giant Ferris wheel, named the Baghdad Bullseye– er, I mean, the Baghdad Eye. The Bullseye “will soar more than 650 feet over the city and feature air-conditioned compartments that would each carry up to 30 passengers,” according to Baghdad municipal spokesman Adel al-Ardawi. That makes it 200 feet taller than the London Eye, and I’m sure the similarity in names is purely coincidental. Mad Dog reports that “officials are looking at three possible locations but are holding off on a decision until they see if any of the sites are razed by U.S. troops so they can save construction costs.” (But he might have been joking.)
Congress recently approved a change of the national seal from the eagle to the condom, because a condom, just like the U.S. government, “allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed.” Additionally, it always “breaks down just when you need it most.”
(Yes, this has been floating around the Internet for years now. But it’s still funny, especially so close to election time.)
(By the way, Congress didn’t really approve such a change. That was a joke. I have to say that, because with politics the way it is these days, you never know.)
And in related news, Obama introduced his running-mate as “the next president”– Oops. I mean…