Posted On: Friday - August 26th 2022 3:16PM MST
In Topics: Curmudgeonry Artificial Stupidity
"You win some, you lose some", they say. Usually in the battle with edgy hotel alarm clocks, I win. I've seen all kinds now.
There are alarm clocks with radios in them. Wow, big freaking deal! We had the same when I was a kid, albeit some still with mechanical digits (and even an analog clock that I can recall). The radio was only AM, but it could get in the really cool WLS from far-away Chicago at night. (I can still remember the station ID jingle. Hit play to hear the whole 1960's era jingle. This was quite a while later. the basic "WLS" part at 0:17 is what I remember.)
OK, but the Millennials or Zoomers who specified the new edgy stuff for the more modern hotel chains, as described here in Stupidity in everything, including the bathroom sink, need to do something DIFFERENT with the clock radios. They can't just be those same things from 1975 that you could get to give you the time, and wake you up with the radio. Therefore, the thing now is you don't have to set them! Yea!
GPS is incorporated in lots of electronic appliance now for the time signal, if nothing else. But what if the clock is off the right time? I really won't stand for the time being more than 2 minutes off either way.
Well, most of them have some way to set them. I had to learn slowly - read the directions in fine print, hold the snooze button down 6 seconds, open up the back with that knurled knob, but sometimes a small Phillips screw, to read the freaking fine-printed directions back there, or finally find a button to start the sequence to set the damn clock.
That was not the case with this one. "It's got GPS, you know, so it knows the time." "But it's about half an hour off!" "It can't be because G P S!" "But it is, so how can I set it? "You ... well, nobody specified any hardware and software to set it, because it's ... got ... GPS?"
Clock Radio over Peak Stupidity, by a button, this round.
PS: I had an idea a few days later about this one. Lots of these let you set hours only, via a "Time Zone" setting switch. Was this one exactly 1/2 hr. off because it was on one of those odd time zones you see on the map?* It could have been, as Newfoundland in Canada is 1/2 hour ahead of Atlantic time and Venezuela used to be ('16 and prior) 1/2 hour ahead of Eastern time. Old homesick but forgetful Venezuelan housekeeper with no cell phone? Perhaps. Or, the thing is a piece of shit.
PPS: Why the curmudgeonly stuff when the country is going to hell, you ask? Remember, we are Peak Stupidity, so this is not mission creep, but well within our wheelhouse. I've got 2 more, but I'll intersperse them with more important stuff.
* There are even time zones that are hours + 0:45 / 0:15 off from GMT.
Comments:
Moderator
Sunday - August 28th 2022 3:29PM MST
PS: Possumman, that's pretty funny. When they do have instructions right there on the clock, they are often in very tiny letters. How about a big SET button? No, not clever enough.
possumman
Sunday - August 28th 2022 11:51AM MST
PS my most recent alarm clock is great except that when it needs set--as in after an electrical outage I need to read the GD manual every time and set the date including the year --I look at the clock in the a m to see the time --I seldom care about the date at 6 am in the morning--sheeeeesh
Moderator
Saturday - August 27th 2022 6:18PM MST
PS: That's a good possibility, Alarmist. Even with their wire antennae (that don't look at all like the antennae of aviation GPS units, I ran into another of the same model - for Adam, this one was placed as close as possible to a window*, not on the usual side of the bed - it's still of by 16 minutes. I'm not gonna fight this one - I left it facing the wall.
Mr. Smith, I read that article. It should remove all doubt from anyone wondering why I picked URL of this website. $300,000! She had to go to college at 50 y/o to set an example for her kids. How in the hell did she accumulate that much? They must have had a doozy of a meal plan!
Mr. Smith, I read that article. It should remove all doubt from anyone wondering why I picked URL of this website. $300,000! She had to go to college at 50 y/o to set an example for her kids. How in the hell did she accumulate that much? They must have had a doozy of a meal plan!
Adam Smith
Saturday - August 27th 2022 1:27PM MST
PS: Mr. Alarmist is right...
Maybe it would have updated the time if you put it near the window to get a fresh GPS signal?
Maybe it's just a piece of crap.
Off topic stupidity...
This single, black, immigrant woman is a mentor to her four children...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/25/student-debt-strike-biden-older-people
☮
Maybe it would have updated the time if you put it near the window to get a fresh GPS signal?
Maybe it's just a piece of crap.
Off topic stupidity...
This single, black, immigrant woman is a mentor to her four children...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/25/student-debt-strike-biden-older-people
☮
The Alarmist
Saturday - August 27th 2022 11:12AM MST
PS
To be set by GPS, it has to be positioned to see GPS ... unlikely in a hotel room.
To be set by GPS, it has to be positioned to see GPS ... unlikely in a hotel room.
Moderator
Saturday - August 27th 2022 10:12AM MST
PS: M, I was about to argue that with you, butI see my mistake now. Newfoundland uses GMT - 3.5, and was thinking of Eastern being at -4, but that's just during the Daylight Time. I will fix it now.
Yeah, on the clock, I did not note whether it was right on 1/2 hour off or just nearly so. That's what's the weird part. They are supposed to be based on GPS, yet I've seen them be off my a few minutes. (At least most of them let you set them.*)
* If there was a way, I didn't find it - I could have looked up the model on the web, I suppose. Rather than that, I took the battery out and unplugged it, then put the battery, as it read so far off, I wouldn't be misled by it.
Yeah, on the clock, I did not note whether it was right on 1/2 hour off or just nearly so. That's what's the weird part. They are supposed to be based on GPS, yet I've seen them be off my a few minutes. (At least most of them let you set them.*)
* If there was a way, I didn't find it - I could have looked up the model on the web, I suppose. Rather than that, I took the battery out and unplugged it, then put the battery, as it read so far off, I wouldn't be misled by it.
M
Saturday - August 27th 2022 9:32AM MST
PS
Nitpick - Newfoundland is 1/2 hour ahead of Atlantic time, not Eastern.
Maybe there's a Caribbean island that's in between Eastern and Atlantic?
Or maybe the clock's just wrong (unpossible I know...)
Nitpick - Newfoundland is 1/2 hour ahead of Atlantic time, not Eastern.
Maybe there's a Caribbean island that's in between Eastern and Atlantic?
Or maybe the clock's just wrong (unpossible I know...)