Free Republic

Does anybody else here suffer from what I call "Alarm Clock Fatigue?" That is the syndrome where even if you get plenty of sleep, the mere fact that an alarm clock wakes you up makes you weary for the rest of the day.That happened to me today. Despite the fact that I was asleep by around 9 PM last night so I got over 8 hours of sleep, the mere fact that it was an alarm clock that woke me up at 6 AM because I had an early appointment this morning made me tired for the rest of the...

Your morning alarm clock might not just be annoying. It could be raising your blood pressure, putting you at greater risk for adverse cardiovascular events, such as stroke and heart attack, according to research. Yeonsu Kim studied how being forced awake contributes to morning blood pressure surge, an increase in blood pressure that happens when people move quickly from being asleep to awake. Kim studied 32 participants over two days. The first night, they were told to awaken naturally, without an alarm. The second night, they were instructed to set an alarm to awaken them after only five hours of...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

April 4, 2007 For those who resent being awoken by the shrill ring of an alarm or the inane chatter of breakfast radio jocks, there is now a classier option. Voco has developed an alarm clock that sounds off with the dulcet tone of English comedian Stephen Fry, known for his work in TV shows Blackadder and the Young Ones. Fry, who once made the claim that his “vocal cords are made of tweed,” recorded 50 tender, deferential, deeply respectful wake-up messages to coax "sir" from his depths and into the world. The clock, which stands at 110mm, is available...

Before you hit the snooze button a second time on this alarm clock, you'll have to hunt it down. The shag carpet-covered robotic alarm clock on wheels, called Clocky, rolls away and hides. The clock is the invention of Gauri Nanda, a graduate student - and occasional oversleeper - who works in the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I've been known to hit the snooze bar for a couple hours, wake up two hours later and be completely shocked," said Nanda, 25, who created Clocky for an industrial design course last year. She made a prototype out...

A smart alarm clock that will allow you a lie-in or wake you up early depending on traffic conditions has been invented by researchers at Brunel University in southern England. The Rise alarm clock has in-built internet access and can be connected to the web via a normal telephone line. The clock retrieves relevant traffic information from across the web based on data the users have given it, such as where they live, where they need to travel to and what time they need to arrive. The alarm clock will then work out what time you need to be woken....