Of all the world’s inventions, clocks top the list as one of the most enabling technologies of all time. If we didn’t have the precise time, GPS would not function correctly. Not having the correct time would also make it impossible to synchronize networks over long distances. Scientists count on clocks so that they can test the laws of the universe to its depth.

Many of the programs that that assist scientists with the development of standards, improved measurements and the development of technology are funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is a federal agency with two main locations in Maryland and Colorado. A physicist named Andrew Ludlow has been working on improving the measurement of time at this agency’s Colorado facilities. His hard work and dedication to an improved clock was recently realized by the unveiling of two of the most accurate clocks ever built. Ludlow presented two of these clocks so that one could check the other’s time. He maintains that the new clocks can measure time with a precision of one part in 10-18.

Andrew Ludlow, a true Clock Hero

If you are unsure of how accurate such a clock may be, we will try to put into perspective for you. Ludlow has stated that a measurement of one part in 10-18 is equal to specifying the age of the universe to less than a second. We are quite sure you will agree that this measurement is extremely accurate. Ludlow also compared this new clock’s accuracy to being able to measure Earth’s diameter to less than the width of an atom! You might be wondering what kind of clock pinpoints time so accurately. Good…then read on!

What Type of Clock Keeps Such Accurate Time?

The type of clock that Ludlow unveiled is a chip-scale atomic clock. In principal, this clock is a simple device. The general idea of the clock is that a second is defined by the frequency of light projected by an atom when electrons in a ground state jump to another state. The difficulty of such a clock is measuring this frequency correctly. This is because any small movement of the atom will generate a Doppler effect that will shift its frequency. Stray electric fields can shift these electronic transitions. These stray movements are a phenomenon called Stark shift. Having to overcome these small shifts is the major challenge of building an extremely accurate clock.

Doppler Effect

Ludlow and his colleagues have constructed these clocks by using a technology known as an optical lattice clock. Using this approach, they bounced a laser off of a mirror; this created a standing wave of light which formed a lattice to trap atoms. The atoms sit in an egg-like box. They fill this egg box with ytterbium atoms and then zap them with a laser to see the frequency of the electronic transition.

This strange looking egg box is important because it grips the atoms like a vice, and it minimizes Doppler effects. However, electric fields that associate themselves with the light generate the Stark shift that we mentioned earlier. Ludlow and his team get around this by selecting what they call a magic transition in ytterbium where both electronic states make a shift by the same amount. This leaves the transition frequency unchanged. Because the egg box can be filled with a lot of atoms, Ludlow can take measurements by using lots of the atoms to get a clearer signal. The result is a clock that loses only one tick in 10188 tocks. Ludlow measures the accuracy of the first clock to the second to ensure that the measurements are highly accurate. All of this information may sound a little too academic, so we will put it in a simpler way: This clock only loses one second in 50 billion years.

Ludlow has presented what many are calling the next generation atomic clock. The new clocks are making a number of brand new applications. These new clocks are so sensitive that they can measure the gravitational redshift. This is where clocks tick slower in powerful gravitational fields. Essentially, they can see changes in height.

Although the best clocks today are quite sensitive to change, this new clock will be able to measure changes of about 1cm at the Earth’s surface. This will be useful for applications such as geology, hydrology and for measuring the ice pack shifts in climate change studies. The new clock will also allow physicists to test the gravitational redshift and the very fine structure of constant change with position, which is an important fundamental test of physics.

How an Optical Lattice Clock works…

Humanity has always undertaken the ongoing process of improving clocks, which has taken several thousand years. These latest clocks are a culmination of impressive work, but they are bound to be eclipsed in the not too distant future. Ludlow and his team of clock experts are already pointing to improvements that they plan to enact so that their clock can be even more precise. We can’t imagine how accurate they will get in the future, but technology is that way; it just keeps getting better.

How We Use Precise Time Measurement in Our Lives

Accurate time measurements are a part of modern infrastructure; we use it every day. When a telephone call is made, we rely on networks that have to be synchronized to above a millionth of a second per day. Electrical power has to be synchronized to the same standard as the telephone infrastructure. Airline pilots rely on the precise time to better than a billionth second to safely get us to our destinations. Of course, the Internet would be nothing without an accurate measure of time. Most of us wouldn’t want to live in a world without these things. Precise time keeping is what made them possible.

How one chip-based Atomic Clock looks…

Earlier, we mentioned that this new clock will be helpful in measuring height. This is important for many reasons. For instance, if there are Earth changes such as a mountain somehow gaining or losing mass, an extremely accurate measurement can be taken to ascertain the changes.

Another area that may be improved with this new technology would be medical imaging. If slight movements can be more accurately measured, the movement of the blood stream, heartbeat and brain activity could make way for new medical imaging. This is always helpful to mankind. Medical imaging can be a warning to take action when a body is not functioning properly. Many times, lives are saved, and health problems are curtailed because of accurate medical imaging.

How This New Clock Helps our Climate

Even with the most sophisticated atomic clocks of our past, elevation changes could only be measured by thousands of feet. However, with Ludlow‘s new invention, elevation changes will be discernible even in slight changes of glacier ice thickness or observable mountain range changes caused by colliding tectonic plates. As you can see, living in a world where time is precise allows us many benefits and lifesaving abilities. The ongoing improvement of time measurement can only mean good things for the future.

Here’s a look at the different parts of one chip-based Atomic Clock

Here at OnlineClock.net, this new clock invention means that we can be even more accurate than ever. We like that because we don’t want you to miss even a millionth of a second of this great thing called life. After all, we are in the clock business, and anything concerning time helps us to better serve our website’s old and new followers.

We would like to know what you think of Ludlow’s awesome new clock invention. Did you think such accuracy would ever be possible? Feel free to use the comment section of our blog to share your thoughts on this matter of time.

OnlineClock.net salutes Andrew Ludlow for his fantastic clock invention, and we wish him good luck with all of his future endeavors!

The World’s Most Accurate Clocks is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed…brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?

- Charles Bukowski, “Factotum”

A large portion of finding our place in this world revolves around finding the right job.

Most of us, unfortunately never seem to ultimately find “the right job” and instead we have to make do with what we get. Personally, as the creator of the world’s original Online Alarm Clock, I too, have experienced the pain that comes from not having or even knowing what the right job for me is. With this is mind, here’s a short list of the different kinds of jobs I’ve held in my life. I’m sure that many of you can relate…

1. Cleaning tables at a combination Buddhist bookstore and cafe (those Buddhists in Boulder were cool people)
2. Working at an ice cream store (after a week, I couldn’t eat that stuff any more)
3. Working in the warehouse of a large furniture store (hanging out behind the scenes)
4. Working as a “trainee” at a large insurance company (I left that job after two weeks. I didn’t want the Yuppie career path. )
5. Working as a “bus boy” at many different restaurants in NYC
6. Working as a freelance advertising copywriter (Chicago)
7. Working as a full time advertising copywriter (fired from that one!)
8. Working the night shift at the reservation desk of a seedy hotel
9. Writing mail correspondence, answering customer questions at a mutual fund company (I just stopped showing up)
10. Working as an office assistant for a producer of art videos (that boss was very weird)
11. Creating coffee drinks for customers at many different cafes (how do you like your latte? Well, I don’t care…)
12. Working as a bartender (I was my own best company)
13. Working as a cook at a Catholic retirement home (those nuns were actually very nice to have as my boss)
14. Working as a manual laborer and construction worker for a temp service (ouch)
15. Sorting garbage at a recycling plant (the night shift! ohhhh, the smell of it)
16. Working on renovating old apartments (removing ten layers of old wallpaper by hand with a spatula-like device; just doing nothing when the boss wasn’t around)
17. Sorting out non-wood on a conveyor belt at a wood recycling plant (sawdust in the ears, eyes, nose, etc.., despite goggles and face mask)
18. Teaching English as a second language (cute young groupies)
19. Working as a web developer (my first really fun job)
20. Working as an online marketing manager (good work if you can get it: requires no heavy lifting)

And you know what? The truth is, I’ve probably forgotten several jobs along the way, in the process of writing this down, and have inadvertently omitted a few jobs from this list.  No matter…I trust that you get the idea. And, looking back, I regret nothing.

Having had all of these different jobs in my life, however, is probably responsible for my recent fixation on the subject of work, as you can see in previous Infographics instructing people how to sleep on the job, as well as how to get away with being late for work, that could hopefully help a few of you if you’re ever forced to explain yourselves to your boss.

But my fixation with the subject of employment is not new, as you’ll read below…

Editor’s Note:

Long before Online Clock was created back in 2006, the creator of the world’s original online alarm clock website lived a previous life as a (more or less failed) writer. We’ve mentioned this a couple of times in posts like these.

Although much of what he wrote back then should perhaps best be used to line the bottom of bird cages, there are a couple of things he wrote that are halfway decent.

We’ve decided to highlight some of these writings in the form of a new series of posts here on the Alarm Clock Blog.  The first installment in this series can be found below. Let us know what you think of it via the comments form found at the end of this post! In addition, feel free to let us know: what’s the worst or craziest job you’ve ever had in your life? How many different jobs have you had in your life?

The Unemployment Office – A Short Story Written by Online Clock’s Creator

A man walks into an employment office.  He is naked with half-dead animals strapped to his chest with baling wire:  half-dead chickens, cats, dogs, rabbits, raccoons, birds and rats are tied down to his torso in many bulky layers with the shiny black wire.

The man lumbers, with much difficulty, up to the reception desk and asks the woman behind it for an application.  She is understandably startled but, not knowing what else to do, hands him a brown clipboard with an employment application attached to it.  He takes it and goes to sit in one of the few unoccupied chairs in the reception area.  The other applicants waiting there look up at the squirming menagerie attached to the naked man.  Many get up immediately and leave, not even bothering to turn in their finished applications.

Just then the receptionist remembers that she forgot to give the man a writing instrument.  “Would you like to borrow a pen,” she asks him.  “No thank you,” he replies politely, “That won’t be necessary.”  And he reaches down to his waist where he grabs the claw of one of the chickens strapped to his body.  He brings the claw up to his face and bites off the tip of it with his teeth.  Then he uses the blood oozing from it to fill in all of the information about his education, work history and references.

Once he has completed the application and signed his signature on the bottom line in chicken blood, the man gets up and gives it to the receptionist.  She accepts the application, saying, “Okay, now it’s time for a little typing test” and ushers the man with the animals attached to his body over into a corner where several typewriters are set up.  She says, “Now, when I say ‘go’ you will have five minutes to type the page in front of you…A bell will ring when your five minutes are up.”

“Go,” says the receptionist, and the naked animal-strapped man begins banging away at the keys in earnest, trying his best to type rapidly but with no mistakes.  Things seem to be going well for him in the beginning of the test, and he begins to increase his speed with confidence.  Just then, however, his concentration is upset as a  shrieking and crying breaks out amongst the herd of beasts strapped to his belly.  He pauses for an instant or so to pummel the half-dead carcasses with his fists.  They quiet down at first.  But then, as he restarts the test, they use their wings and claws and paws to hammer the typewriter’s keyboard.  Before long the man’s test page is a mess of indecipherable errors and typos.

The bell rings and the receptionist says, “Time to stop, please,” just as she’s done at least two dozen times a day for the past seven years.  The man is relieved.  He stops typing and looks on as the receptionist prances over and removes the bespotted page from the typewriter’s carriage.  “Oh, too bad–looks like we had some difficulties, didn’t we,” she says to the man in a rote attempt at consolation.  Then she motions him and his animal brood back over to the waiting area.  She tells the man that a placement counselor will be interviewing him shortly.

Twenty-five minutes pass while the man leafs through the ancient magazines scattered on the table in front of him.  On two separate occasions various species of woodland animals, still not quite dead, attempt to bite persons seated in nearby chairs.  One raccoon, too stupid to realize the difference in species, futilely attempts to mount a dead poodle.  And, from inside the bundle attached to his chest, some creature breaks wind and then urinates against the man’s naked back.

Finally, a spectacled, schoolmarmish woman enters the reception area from the offices behind it and calls out the man’s name.  He dutifully introduces himself, shakes her hand and follows her down the institutional carpeting to her office, where she inquires as to the nature of the work he is seeking.  “Public Relations,” the man replies.  And the woman interviewer says, “Well–We’ll keep you on file here…and we’ll see what we can do.”  She gives him one of her business cards and walks him back to the reception area.

“Thank you very much for seeing me,” the man says, as those few animals on his chest which have not yet expired go “UGGGHRAAWWR!” in unison.

The interviewer opens the door for him and the man leaves, shutting the door on his way out.

An odor of wild game lingers behind him.

All The Jobs In All The World is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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According to a 2011 survey, 16% of workers report that they arrive late for work at least once per week. 27% confess to coming through the door behind schedule at least once a month. And our bosses appear to be even worse. A 2006 report reveals American CEOs don’t make it on time to eight out of every 10 meetings. Tardiness costs U.S. businesses more than $3 billion yearly in lost productivity.

The law of averages seems to work against most of us when we’re trying to get out of the house and to our place of employment. If something can go wrong, it will.  For this reason, Online Clock decided to explore the topic of being Late for Work in our newest Infographic!

Embed The Late For Work Infographic on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below!

In a 2013 poll, CareerBuilder.com found delays are most often caused by traffic (30%), lack of sleep (19%), bad weather (9%) and getting kids to day care or school (8%). The most unusual excuses include a car being attacked by a bear to one who stopped on the side of the road to help deliver a baby.

But there’s one thing about being late that’s usually a given — the look on the boss’ face when we finally do get there. Nothing’s going to change that — but here are some excuses that should help change your boss’ mood for the better!

Without further ado, we give you:

Online Clock’s Top Excuses For Being Late to Work

1. The dog buried my Volvo in the backyard.
2. Whatever you do, do not download that new “Sleep Late and Be on Time for Work” app for your smartphone.
3. My girlfriend is anti-daylight savings.
4. I decided to take my experimental solar power scooter to work. It started to rain and let’s just say, I won’t be filing for a patent anytime soon.
5. Four out of five doctors recommend eight hours of sleep at night. My friends recommend at least six hours of “Call of Duty” a night. You do the math.
6. I got caught in a temporary cosmic rift and was sucked into a parallel universe for most of the morning.
7. I had a severe allergic reaction to 8:00 AM.
8. I got in the elevator with our CEO and the next thing I knew, he’d pushed the buttons for all the floors. What a joker!
9. Long story short… two kids, one box of Cocoa Puffs, a half gallon of expired milk, projectile vomiting.
10. I was kidnapped by the Two-Hour Liberation Army. After two hours, they let me go.
11. My three year old came to the conclusion this morning that my car keys were flushable. He was right.
12. I forgot we had moved locations and went to our old address. Did you know it’s a flower shop now? These are for you!
13. The Procrastinators Club was holding its weekly meeting at Starbucks this morning and I got in back of them in line.
14. My car was hijacked by a bear, making me late. The good news is: I have the number one trending video on YouTube!
15. We had a “Walking Dead” marathon party last night and my girlfriend made me stay up all night on Zombie Watch.
16. My atomic clock was deemed a hazard by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

What’s your favorite excuse for being late to work? Let us know by using the comments form below!

Sources:

• CareerBuilder.com – 2013 (http://thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com/2013/02/07/tardy-employees/)
• Harris Interactive Survey for CareerBuilder – Nov-Dec, 2011 (http://www.keyorganization.com/time-management-statistics.php)
• Proudfoot Consulting – 2006 (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2920989&page=1)
• HR Magazine – Nov 2005 (http://cbri.com/tardiness)

This Infographic has been brought to you by the team at the world’s original Online Alarm Clock

Disclaimer: The makers of this Infographic urge you to always give 100% at work – 12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday and (highly optional) 5% on Friday.

How To Get Away With Being Late For Work is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Titanic Pocket Watches

One of the most treasured items in watch collecting history is a pocket watch recovered from a passenger of the RMS Titanic.

It was worn by Mr. John J. Astor, and it was recovered with his body when the Atlantic Ocean was initially searched for survivors of the ship.

The sinking of the Titanic on April 14th & 15th of 1912 was a horrendous event. The fright from such a fate would cause even the most placid person to become unraveled. When the Titanic was sinking, Astor helped his pregnant wife into a lifeboat as a precaution. He gave up his own place on the lifeboat to another woman because he insisted that the women and children should go first. Astor never made it off the ship. When his body was found, it was covered in soot and blood. This led to speculation that he was killed by the collapsing funnel as the ship went down. John J. Astor was identified by his initials, which were sewn into his jacket. In his pocket was a gold pocket watch, which also bore his initials. After his remains were recovered, John Astor’s son Vincent Astor picked up the clothes and the watch. He allegedly wore the watch for most of his life.

There were other pocket watches recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic. One of the watches stopped as soon as its owner plunged into the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. The watch belonged to Mr. John Chapman; he was 37 years old. His wife Lizzy refused to get into the lifeboat without her husband. Mr. Chapman was following Astor’s lead by allowing the women and children to board the lifeboats ahead of the male passengers. Sadly, they both drowned. Mr. Chapman and his pocket watch were eventually found. Lizzy’s body, however, was never recovered.

Photo of an actual pocket watch recovered from the RMS Titanic

If you read our blog about clocks regularly, you probably already know that old pocket watches are completely mechanical devices, and they are very fragile. It’s not hard to believe that a pocket watch being submerged in freezing water would almost instantly stop running. The water temperature would freeze the oil in the mechanisms, and the watch’s parts would cease to move. The recovered Titanic watches have quite an interesting history; very few people are fortunate enough to have collected these rare timepieces.

As noted earlier, the Astor pocket watch was passed down to John Astor’s son Vincent. After Vincent’s death, the events surrounding this watch take quite an interesting turn. Vincent left the watch to his godson, William A Dobbyn. It remained in the Dobbyn family until it was sold at auction to an American businessman in the 1990s. Here is where the story gets both interesting as well as ugly. Vincent’s wife, Brooke Astor remained married to him until his death. She had a son by a previous marriage. His name is Anthony Marshall.

Anthony Marshall is apparently a man with a shady past. He was convicted of stealing 60 million dollars of his mother Brooke’s money while she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Anthony Marshall apparently allowed Brooke to live out her later years in squalor, and she eventually died in this disgraceful way. What was left of Brooke Astor‘s possessions was later auctioned off and given to her favorite charitable organizations.

Apparently, the 60 million dollars that Marshall and his wife acquired from his mother was not enough. Marshall has been bragging about having the Titanic pocket watch recovered from John J. Astor.

Marshall stunned the distinguished guests at a lavish party for a proposed cruise ship to be named Titanic II with this news. The Titanic II is the brainchild of an Australian businessman. At the party, Marshall wore a watch that he insisted was a family heirloom from John J. Astor. He was making his way around the room telling everyone that he was asking a million dollars for the watch, which he said was found on Astor’s body. Apparently, however, no one was fooled by his claims. Marshall is now 88 years old. Because of his past fraudulent activity and subsequent criminal conviction, he and his wife have lived a frugal life of solitude ever since his conviction; they are rarely seen in public. After his behavior at the Titanic II party, it’s easy to see why solitude might be the better choice.

John Miottel, the California real estate magnate who enjoys collecting luxury ocean liner items, was not surprised when he heard that someone was claiming to have the Astor pocket watch. Mr. Miottel stated that it is just another ruse by a most unscrupulous man because he in fact purchased the authentic Astor pocket watch in the 1990s!

It’s amazing that the John Astor pocket watch was ever recovered. After all, it was in the water for over two weeks when it was found. It remained attached to Mr. Astor despite being subjected to the current of the Atlantic Ocean. Given this tremendous history, it’s really a shame that the watch has become muddled in a story of fraud and deceit. Nevertheless, it has survived along with many other pieces from the Titanic wreckage. Pocket watches were very well-made back in the old days, and many of them have survived the ravages of time through restoration and good maintenance by watch aficionados!

On the left is a photo of a golden mantel clock still found on the wreckage of the Titanic, appearing somehow eerily untouched by the ship’s tragedy; on the right is a photo of the clock as it would have looked before the shipwreck.

In 2012, yet another pocket watch found amidst the wreckage of the Titanic was placed for auction. This pocket watch was part of a very large collection of items retrieved from the wreckage and and supposedly belonged to a hotelier named Thomas William Solomon Brown. Premier Expeditions were the previous owners of the collection, which included this pocket watch. The company spokesperson stated that although it was an honor to have the collection, it was extremely expensive to maintain it. They decided to allow individual ownership of these historical artifacts. This ensures that the collection will survive the ages. This is especially important for pocket watches found in the wreckage. Most collectors have to constantly maintain old pocket watches to keep them in working order.

Titanic Mantel Clocks

There are other timepieces that have been recovered from the Titanic that hold great value. The ship was very lavishly constructed. Carved mahogany fireplace mantles adorned some of the fireplaces of the ship’s cabins. When the Titanic wreckage was being searched, the crew discovered that a mahogany fireplace mantle was still in place, and sitting on top of the mantle was a gold clock. The brightness of the gold clock surprised the search party. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Who could imagine a clock would last 74 years on the murky floor of the Atlantic Ocean? One can’t help but wonder if a modern clock would survive that long in the ocean. We think that it would probably work after restoration, but unless the outer case was constructed as well as antique clocks were, it probably wouldn’t look as good.

The Titanic Grand Staircase Clock

The RMS Titanic had two great, winding staircases which were used by first-class passengers. These staircases were ornate and represent some of the most decorative elements of the Titanic. At the midpoint of these dual staircases, a clock could be seen, and this clock has become somewhat emblematic, representing the Titanic’s luxury and splendor. Surrounding the clock are carved oak panels displaying a scene depicting “Honor and Glory crowning Time” (in the form of two carved, symbolic figures).

Although the original clock from this Grand Staircase appears to have gone missing, there are in fact many reproductions of this clock currently on sale…which would surely be a macabre addition to any home.

Because this dual staircase is large, it has often been used by submersible devices as an entry point into the ship’s interior. As one of the more easily identifiable visual elements of the Titanic, the staircases and the clock have indeed been featured in most films created about the Titanic. The 1997 Titanic film is no exception. In this excerpt from the dream sequence of the film, the clock has stopped at 2:20 am – this is the time of the ship’s final sinking!

The Grand Staircase and Clock as seen in the 1997 Titanic Film

The Titanic pocket watches and clocks are now all over 100 years old.

It’s truly amazing that at least some of them have managed to survive, after all this time.

OnlineClock.net salutes the collectors who have maintained these rare and historically-significant watches, as well as the more than 1,500 men, women and children of the RMS Titanic who lost their lives in this tragedy.

God rest their souls!

RMS Titanic Clocks And Watches is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Here at OnlineClock.net, I’m proud that I am a one man Internet start-up, and I’ve begun to offer tips to other people seeking to be the same.

Keeping with this subject, this particular blog article now offers everyone a lifestyle tip, designed for fellow Internet hobbyists and people everywhere who are dreaming of creating their own Internet start-ups. This is a tip that you probably won’t find anywhere else. It’s about the importance of finding somewhere to live with cheap rent.

Back when I was a young person, I was heavily involved in the punk rock subculture. In addition to being a weird kind of fashion statement (or perhaps, better said, an anti-fashion statement?), there was a real kind of do-it-yourself philosophy at the core of this subculture. The people truly involved in the punk movement reveled not in how expensive their things were…instead, they celebrated how cheap they were.

The Philosophy of Living Inexpensively

Part of the punk rock lifestyle was the practice of scouring every Salvation Army and Goodwill store in the area for the most obnoxious clothing you could find, and attempting to pick up entire outfits for under a dollar. But, as an American punk rocker, this cheap-o philosophy didn’t just stop at clothing…it permeated every aspect of your daily life. The most extreme punk rockers even got a thrill out of buying their food from food stamps. And, for just about everyone that I knew in the punk rock scene in the 1980s, the most important thing in the world was finding someplace to live FOR CHEAP.

Now, don’t get me wrong…I haven’t always lived according this philosophy. One of the biggest mistakes I made in my life was, after graduating from college, moving back home to live with my Mom, “just until I found a job”. The problem was, she was then living in a luxury apartment building on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive (right across from Oak Street Beach, actually).

It’s kind of hard to find motivation to go on out there and take the world by storm when you’re already living in a luxury apartment. The best thing I ever did in my life, back then, was finding a place to stay temporarily in Manhattan, and buying a train ticket to escape to New York…

Manhattan in the 1980s was my first real adventure in Cheap Rent Land.

I had been trying to get my first break in the Advertising business in Chicago…but all I could manage was getting a few freelance assignments as a copywriter. People who looked at my portfolio of sample work told me that there were smaller “boutique agencies” in New York City who did the kind of work that I had on display in my portfolio…so it made sense for me to go to NYC to check out the advertising agency scene there.

The person I stayed with in Manhattan was the son of one of my Mom’s best friends. He lived in a cramped, dingy one-bedroom apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, back when Hell’s Kitchen was still a little nasty. I know that I was kind of shocked to see some kind of a jerry-rigged shower setup right there in the middle of his kitchen, with a garden hose running from his kitchen faucet to some kind of self-made shower stall that he then placed on the floor of his kitchen whenever he wanted to shower. There were iron bars over ALL of his windows. And he told me they were necessary: one time he’d come home from work to find some junky running off with stereo, escaping over the rooftops…

So, as soon as I arrived in New York, I started looking for a job. I had no intention of taking a train back to Chicago and living with my Mom again…after about a week, I managed to get my first job in New York as a bus boy at this restaurant in the theater district. I was kind of a weird, introspective kid…heavily into punk rock. I couldn’t seem to be nice and friendly enough to be an actual waiter (or “server”), so instead I just lugged around dirty dishes and poured water for all the guests, who I didn’t have to actually speak to. It was all OK, as long as it paid for my cheap rent, and as long as I didn’t have to pretend to be happy and friendly while I was in fact struggling to make a living.

How I feel…after paying my rent and bills.

After having obtained my first job in NYC (as a busboy, yahoo!), I then sought out the cheapest rent I could find. The only prerequisite was that it had to be in Manhattan. I really wanted to live in the East Village but, unfortunately, the East Village was already trendy and on the way to becoming completely gentrified back in the 1980s and, at least without any kind of contacts living there who could tip me off about unrenovated apartments, I just couldn’t find any cheap rental opportunities there. Most young people in NYC tend to find roommates and then share apartments. But this is also something that I didn’t want to do: it didn’t sound that great, sharing an apartment with some stranger!

In order to find an apartment, I went out to a newsstand in the middle of the night whenever the Village Voice came out, in order to buy a copy as early as possible. I then scoured all of the cheapest rental listings in the back of this newspaper, calling them up the next day. I was amazed then to find one listing for $270 a month (yes, this was VERY cheap, even way back then!)…at a place that turned out to be a Single Room Occupancy Hotel. It was literally the size of a large walk-in closet. To this day, when I’m riding an elevator with friends, I like to tell them that, “this elevator is larger than my first apartment in New York”, and it’s actually not too far from the truth.

Dark, creepy hallways – just one characteristic of Single Room Occupancy “Welfare Hotels”.

When I look back at the various cheap living spaces I’ve had in my life, they’ve had several common characteristics, especially when it comes to cheap home furnishings:

• Shelves made out of plastic milk crates
• A bed constructed of either a mattress on the floor or a futon on the floor
• “Found furniture”, meaning furniture you’ve found discarded on the street (get it before some dog urinates on it)
• Hand-me-downs for everything: always take the old stuff that your friends and relatives want to throw out: housewares, dishes, appliances, furniture…whatever
• Stuff from thrift stores
• Old sheets thumb-tacked to the windows for curtains (the worst!) or those cheap bamboo blinds (these were better, but people could then see into your apartment at night)

Every other week I need a new address
Landlord, landlord, landlord cleaning up the mess !
- X (the band), “We’re Desperate”

Now, back in the 1980s, there were quite a few Single Room Occupancy Hotels located in Manhattan. These were living situations where you rented one room, usually in a section of a floor which shared a common kitchen and bathroom with perhaps five or six other rooms. The “SRO” Hotel I lived in was actually located on the Upper West Side in a nice neighborhood (West 95th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, to be exact). But don’t let that fool you: the hotel’s residents were mostly comprised of poor people who were unfortunately very much down-and-out in life. My heart goes out to the people who never made it out of that welfare hotel.

But the suburban scumbags, they don’t care.
They just get fat and dye their hair.
…I love living in the city!
- Fear (the band), “I Love Living In The City”

While living in this cheap rent situation in New York, I managed to get a full-time job as a copywriter, first working for this guy Donny Deutsch, who, since then, has apparently become a huge celebrity in the New York advertising scene. To sum up my cheap rent years in New York City, I was then lured to jumping ship to a different advertising agency by another well-known advertising guy running his own agency…who then ended up firing me (thanks, Gary…this was actually the best thing that ever happened to me!). Since I had been earning practically nothing the whole time, just scraping by with a meager existence, I then decided that a career in advertising just wasn’t worth it (there was indeed a lot of stress and pressure associated with the job). As a result, I ended up kind of bailing out on New York City altogether and I then moved to San Francisco.

In San Francisco I moved into a new phase of my Cheap Rent existence, finding a room in a large flat where three other roommates lived. Yes, I broke down and tried the roommate thing…

My next Cheap Rent Experience was in San Francisco’s Mission District.

This was on Woodward Street in San Francisco. I recently revisited San Francisco and was surprised to find Woodward Street looking pretty nice. Back when I lived there, in the early 90s, it was quite nasty! The entire Mission District was sketchy back then and it was filled with crime, and there seemed to be a lot of illegal activity going on, right on our street. Whenever you left the apartment, you kept your head down, not wanting to make contact with anyone on the street. At home, we seriously tried to stay out of the way of the windows, because you would frequently hear gunshots fired at night (true story!). One time there was a nasty shooting on the street, and unfortunately at least one person died, I believe.

Our kitchen on Woodward Street in San Francisco looked very much like this. It was cleaned only after everyone in the flat could no longer take living with all the filth!

This was not the only cheap rent situation I experienced in San Francisco. I lived at several other locations in the Mission District, and also stayed at one apartment in The Tenderloin. I’m continually surprised to discover lots of people who claim that San Francisco is the most beautiful city in the world…because I have it in my memory as a dingy, ugly city.

So, where is this catalog of my experiences with cheap rent leading to?

It’s leading to Berlin, Germany.

That’s right. As everything in San Francisco was getting more and more expensive, and as I underwent a bit of a crisis there involving not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I ended up moving to Berlin, Germany. At the time, I didn’t know if it would be permanent or not. But that was over 15 years ago, so it’s proven to be one of the most permanent moves I’ve ever made.

My cheap rent experiences continued right along in Berlin, where I’m lucky enough to be living presently in a small, one-bedroom apartment that is VERY affordable and is also located in one of THE coolest neighborhoods in the entire city (Kreuzberg…I love this place!).

Now, before you up and move to Berlin, Germany after reading this article…please note that cheap rent situations here are now almost impossible to find. Berlin has been “discovered” by young people around the world who are interested in finding a fun, cool place to live, and the real estate market has changed dramatically here over the last 10 years. Back when I’d moved to Berlin, there were far more empty apartments than renters…but since then, this situation has fully reversed. I currently know lots of young people desperately searching for an inexpensive place to live here, and they are all finding it very difficult.

What’s the point of all this? Why Cheap Rent?

The point of all this is that…if I had never had the ability to live cheaply all these years, I probably never would have been half as creative as I’ve been. I have lived years and years, just trying to do something creative. After leaving the advertising business, I sought to try to become a WRITER, writing short stories and poetry and even a couple of very bad novels. Without cheap rent, I would’ve been forced to just put on a suit and a tie and I probably would have been assimilated into the normal, boring 9-to-5 work force that I’ve always hated and which I’ve always tried to avoid.

(I will never forget my first job after college. My mother bought me 3 expensive suits. It was a big insurance company in downtown Chicago. The other young people in my training sessions just talked about their health club memberships and taking out loans to buy their first car or their first apartment. I was interested in going to all the punk rock clubs at night. After two weeks, I just stopped going in to work at that job. I didn’t want to be that lame. And I didn’t want to have anything to do with people like that, who just seemed to be waiting to have kids and move out to the suburbs.)

If you want to create your own Internet start-up, or if you want to do something creative…or if you just want to stay out of the 9-to-5 rat race, then do yourself a favor and seek out CHEAP RENT.

I personally could be happy living in a cheap rent situation until the day I die. It gives me the security of knowing that I won’t be held hostage, working for The Man, just because I need to pay my bills.

Break out…**** the system.
You. Are not alone.
Break out, because we’re all behind you.
Break out!
- UXB (the band), “Breakout”

Good Advice

Unfortunately I don’t know his name, but one of the more senior copywriters in New York (at the first agency I worked at) gave me this advice, “Tom, don’t ever let your expenses get out of control. If you do, you’ll be forced to do the kind of work you really don’t want to do, just to pay your bills.” And then he looked kind of sad, because he had to write several crummy ads for products that he didn’t at all believe in or like…just to pay for his new boat.

I’m not going to lie to you all and say that it’s always been fun, living a cheap rent existence all these years.

A cheap rent lifestyle can be ugly, and you will likely be confronted with a lot of poverty and despair in your environment. But that’s part of the real world, unfortunately…and you will become more connected to the real world than people who’ve never experienced something like this. You’ll have to regard the whole experience as an adventure, which it is. You’ll have to be tough, in order to travel this path. But it definitely has its advantages; and it just might be the price you’ll have to pay in order to simply DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH YOUR LIFE.

And, if it enables you to do that, isn’t it worth it?

You were caught up in the Rat Race and you know it’s too bad, too bad for you.
You were running in the Rat Race…and you lose!
- Agression (the band), “Rat Race”

What’s YOUR favorite cheap rent story? Share it with me here, in the comments form below.

In Praise Of Cheap Rent is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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If you’ve ever lived near someone who has a rooster, then you know how loud their morning crowing sounds can be. For early risers, this is a positive event; however, if you like to sleep late, you may find yourself imagining ways to silence this fowl creature!

At one time, these sounds were all people had to remind them that it was time to get up because there were no alarm clocks in the olden days. Now that we have evolved, the rooster’s crowing sounds are not nearly as welcomed. Even though many people are not big fans of these birds, they often wonder just how the rooster knows when to crow in the morning.

Explaining How the Rooster Knows It’s Time to Crow

A scientific study on how the rooster knows it is daybreak was recently published. Scientists have found that roosters have an internal biological clock that tells them when it’s the right time to crow. While researchers in Japan were studying the genetic underpinnings of innate behaviors such as crowing in chickens, they learned that male birds do not need light cues to start crowing. Before this study, no one had demonstrated the connection to the biological clock in the rooster. The co-author of the study is Takashi Yoshimura; he specializes in biological clocks at Nagoya University.

For many of their experiments, Yoshimura and fellow researcher Tsuyoshi Shimmura used roosters to measure two different light regimens. During the first experiment, the roosters experienced at least 12 hours of normal light and 12 hours of dim light conditions for a period of 14 days. They discovered that the roosters would begin to crow at least two hours prior to the onset of light.

The Rooster: he woke you up before it was cool.

During the second experiment, the roosters were exposed to 24 hours of dimly lit conditions for 14 days. Shimmura and Yoshimura noticed that the roosters started running on a 23.8 hour cycle and did not crow when they thought dawn had arrived. The study was published on March 18, 2013 in Current Biology.

Interestingly, when the scientists exposed the roosters to both light and sound stimuli to find out whether external cues would make them crow, they found that the roosters crowed more in response to light and sound in the morning than they did any other times during the day. Essentially, this means that roosters have internal clocks that take precedence over external cues. Additionally, the researchers found that the social rank among the roosters also affected the timing of their crows.

The Environmental and Territorial Aspects

Yoshimura found that crowing was merely a warning signal that advertised a rooster’s territorial claims. The preliminary data suggests that the highest ranked rooster takes priority in crowing at dawn. Lower ranking roosters are patient; they wait and follow the highest ranked rooster each day. This indicates that roosters are much like mammals that form organized hierarchies.

The rooster has quite an interesting way to indicate that he is the head bird in charge. This is especially true when he is around hens. The rooster tends to strut in a half circle with one wing extended down, which is an aggressive approach that alerts females to his dominance. Usually, a hen will submit by moving away from the rooster to acknowledge that he is dominant. Once the rooster has established dominance, he will rarely strut again. If he is removed from the pen for a period of more than 24 hours, the rooster will strut again to show his dominance over the other birds.

Some aggressive roosters will drop and extend both of their wings and puff out all their body feathers to give the hens and other roosters the impression that they are a lot larger than all the other birds. Although establishing such dominance may seem pompous, it does help to explain how one particular rooster will be the first to crow before dawn.

Sometimes, you need an extra-strength alarm !

Hormone specialists at the University of Georgia in Athens say that no one is sure why this study on roosters wasn’t done sooner. Nearly everyone who has studied birds knows that roosters begin to crow before dawn in lab settings. However, until now, no one had thought to test why they begin to crow before dawn. Previously, most researchers believed it to be entirely external cues that initiated the crowing sounds.

The reasons why roosters crow in the morning are remarkably similar to the reasons why humans wake up at a certain time each day. Our circadian clocks play a very important role in the regulation of our sleeping and waking cycles. Remarkable progress has been made to further the understanding of the mechanisms and functions of our circadian clocks. Alterations in our circadian rhythms may cause sleep disorders that can impede the height of human productivity cycles.

In essence, if we don’t get enough sleep, the amount and quality of the work we produce may be greatly reduced. Not getting enough sleep is often blamed on busying ourselves with things such as personal computers and televisions. This is often carried out in a dimly lit environment for extended periods. This correlates with the roosters in the study. Because of their extended exposure to dimly lit environments, the roosters’ internal clocks malfunctioned and they did not crow.

Hormonal Adjustments

Interestingly, the roosters in the experiment were given the hormone testosterone to put their circadian clocks back on schedule. This is similar to the use of the hormone melatonin that humans sometimes use to adjust their circadian clocks. It seems that there is validity to choosing to use hormones in the effort to adjust our clocks; it certainly worked well for the roosters in the experiment. Not everyone finds the hormone melatonin to be useful in adjusting their circadian rhythms, and some people are not able to tolerate melatonin. However, when used in conjunction with other methods, it’s known to induce the feeling of sleepiness.

For instance, taking a hot bath before bedtime along with small doses of melatonin taken earlier in the day is an example of how some people use the hormones along with an external method of getting to sleep early. This new study on why roosters crow in the morning sheds some light on how circadian rhythms can be both interrupted and adjusted.

How to get a rooster to NOT crow early in the morning…

So Why Do Roosters Make Crowing Sounds?

Unfortunately, the researchers in Japan could not tell us why a rooster makes crowing sounds, at least opposed to other possible sounds that a rooster could possibly make. They jokingly referred to also not knowing why dogs make barking sounds; these are just innate sounds that animals make. However, they did learn why we may hear rooster crows slightly before dawn. Connecting these studies to an internal clock/circadian rhythm served to validate human studies of the same variety and provided valuable insights into the study of sleep.

In the interim, we can help you to align with your circadian rhythm by using our alarms to wake you on time each day. Online Clock is indeed proud to be the virtual rooster of the Internet! In fact, we have many ways to put you to sleep and gently wake you from your slumber. We hope you will take advantage of them. After all, we made them especially for you.

And finally, no blog article about Roosters would be complete without at least a quick reference to the Death Metal Rooster:

Roosters And Their Need To Crow In The Morning is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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[ Editor's Note: The following article was prepared for a start-up magazine which then decided not to print it. Undaunted, and believing that this piece contains helpful information, we've decided to publish this on The Alarm Clock Blog. ]

Tom Churm is the American ex-pat living in Berlin who created the start-up called Online Alarm Clock (also known as “Online Clock” or OnlineClock.net) back on March 24, 2006. More information regarding how OnlineClock.net was created can be found in our past blog posts here, here and here.

We recently contacted Mr. Churm, who offered his thoughts regarding how to create a successful “one man start-up“, or a start-up fully operated by a single individual. In the interview below, all responses listed as coming from “Online Clock” have actually come from Mr. Churm himself.

Interviewer:

Hello Mr. Churm, thanks for taking the time to participate in our interview. First of all, please go ahead and tell us about OnlineClock.net, describing what your start-up does and how successful it’s been up to now.

Online Clock:

Thanks very much for contacting me! I appreciate it. Well, OnlineClock.net was based on an idea I had back in early 2006. I was working at my day job as a web programmer, and at the same time I enjoyed creating my own hobby websites in my free time. I’d placed a handful of websites online, just for my own pleasure and amusement. I never really expected much to amount from these websites. Basically, I’d found a cheap web hoster, and had discovered that domain names were also not very expensive. So I invested very small amounts of money from my day job into creating hobby websites in order to learn more about the process of web development and, actually…just to have fun! (Sometimes, I truly love programming websites.)

Over time I began thinking that it would be really cool to create a website that would become popular and that would be used by a lot of people…a website that a lot of people would like to use. So I began trying to come up with an idea for a unique website that would be useful to lots of people. (Not an easy task!) Such a website, I thought, should be based on a brand new idea…something that has never been done before. I’d been mulling this over, trying to come up with a killer idea for a website, when suddenly the idea for an Internet-based alarm clock came to me. I got this idea suddenly, in the middle of the night, one night when I was having problems falling asleep.

I immediately knew that this was a great idea, so I got out of bed and jotted the basic concept down on a piece of paper, so that I wouldn’t forget it the next day. Sure enough, I woke up the next day and looked at the idea I’d written down on a piece of scrap paper: “create an online alarm clock“.

That very day I quickly programmed the first Beta version of OnlineClock.net. I also registered the domain name, set up a new hosting account at the cheap web hoster I was using at the time, and placed the first version of Online Clock online.

When it comes to server technology, I definitely recommend the Open Source L.A.M.P. platform: a combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. I’ve been making websites for years using only these technologies, and I recommend them to everyone starting out!

L.A.M.P. – the world’s best software for hosting & managing websites is Open Source

Since we went online, we’ve continued to add various different online time tools to our site. We now have more than two dozen different timers, countdowns and stopwatch functions on our site. And we’re currently averaging at around 4 million visits per month, which I’m very proud of.

Interviewer:

How much money did you originally invest in your website, and where did you get your funding?

Online Clock:

The domain name OnlineClock.net was registered at a price of just about ten dollars a year from one of the large domain registration companies. Our original web hoster was also very inexpensive. I believe my first web hoster for OnlineClock.net originally cost me just 60 dollars per year! It’s interesting to note that, once my website later became popular, this web hoster actually kicked my site off their servers, complaining that my website was getting too much traffic, and that their shared server environment was not adequate to cope with all the traffic. I recommend that everyone read the “small print” in hosting contracts before they sign a web hosting agreement. You’d be surprised to discover how many web hosters reserve the right to kick your site off of their servers if it simply begins getting too much traffic!

In addition, one of the best tips I ever received while starting out is this: never use your web hosting company to register your domain names. Always use an external domain registration company for registering your domain names. If you do this, and ever have problems with your web hoster, it’s pretty easy to switch: you just copy your website onto the new server and, when finished, you point your domain name at the new web host. This process can be MUCH more difficult and tedious if you your domain was registered via your web hoster!

Interviewer:

Interesting. So your website had an original investment of just 70 U.S. dollars. Of course, this is because you did all the programming yourself, is this correct?

Now entering: The Start-Up Zone !

Online Clock:

Yes, exactly! Creating websites is a truly egalitarian activity. Just about anyone can do it, using a minimum of start capital (I mean, 70 U.S. dollars is not a ton of money!) and a little bit of knowledge regarding how websites are created. And this brings us to the crux of my message to other people reading this. If you want to create your own start-up, I highly recommend that you learn how to program websites yourself. In my case, this has made all the difference in the world. What you see on OnlineClock.net has all been done by myself. This enables me to run the website as a one-man operation, with extremely low overhead: I have no employees. I only have to pay for my web hosting and domain registration. Now that’s what I call punk rock! It’s a do-it-yourself kind of aesthetic that can revolutionize modern businesses.

I love web developers and programmers, but I know this from experience: if you rely on someone else to create and program your website, then you’ll very likely need their services again and again in the future. This puts you, the person owning the Internet start-up, in the delicate position of being dependent on someone else for your website’s operation! Clearly, large start-ups do work like this. A managing director is rarely the person who codes HTML or PHP for his website. However, there are some notable exceptions to this, and I am convinced that many start-ups would benefit from being run by programmers, or at least former programmers.

I sometimes like to joke that web developers are like drug dealers: the first time is free…and then you are hooked.

If you want to create your own one man start-up, I recommend you learn how to code in these scripting languages, and roughly in this order:

1. HTML
2. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets
3. JavaScript
4. PHP

Tons of information can be found on these scripting languages online…and if you’re intelligent, you can teach yourself how to code in these languages just by using various free online resources and tutorials which are available! Programming should be intellectually invigorating and FUN at the same time. Make it more fun by trying to program websites and apps that you personally think are cool! If this process is fun, it’s no longer work…and you’ll find yourself putting your heart and soul into it.

Once you’ve learned one or two programming languages, teaching yourself additional programming languages is much easier, since they all have a lot in common. My advice to young people reading this is to start with the ones I’ve listed. Like everything else, the programming world is sometimes susceptible to trends. New programming languages sometimes come along and become mega-popular and trendy, only to disappear again in a couple of years. Be wary of this. In the time that I’ve been active as a programmer, I’ve seen many hot trends peter out again, including things such as Ajax, Ruby on Rails, HTML5 and many more.

Programming my first website

Interviewer:

That’s a new point of view that I’ve never heard before…that start-up owners should all be programmers. It would indeed be interesting to conduct a poll, to find out how many start-up owners also have programming experience. Now, a different question: did your site just take off by itself at some point, and begin to become popular? Or what exactly would you credit as the reason for your site’s success?

Online Clock:

Good question! I hope some of the people reading this are old enough to remember the good old days of the Internet, back when Digg.com was an important website. Back then, Online Clock had the great stroke of luck to have made it to the first page of Digg.com. This was something that we had nothing to do with. The person who’d submitted us to Digg was not at all connected to us…apparently, she just discovered our site and liked it, and then submitted us. From the very beginning, people just found the idea of an Online Alarm Clock to be a great, innovative idea, and we got a ton of Diggs back then. This resulted in the post about our site getting promoted to the front page of Digg.com, where it was noticed by tons of people.

One side effect of making it to the first page of Digg was that lots of people with blogs and websites found out about us, and began to write about OnlineClock.net and give us great reviews. This was definitely the lucky break that got the ball rolling for us, and I still thank my lucky stars for this now! Online Clock has really been off and running ever since. For this reason, I highly recommend all start-ups to invest a lot of their time and energy into social media websites (like the original Digg.com). I continue to spend the vast majority of my time marketing my website via Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and I can highly recommend this strategy to start-ups everywhere!

My special insider’s tip is to get busy on Google+. Google Plus is a beautifully-made social media site, and the ridiculous amount of bad press it has received is unjustified.

Interviewer:

Interesting advice. Thank you for that. One final question, before we let you go Mr. Churm: where do you see the future of OnlineClock.net being headed. What do you have planned?

Online Clock:

Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to reveal my plans in detail, because there are lots of copycats sites out there. However, I will say that I’ll continue to innovate with OnlineClock.net by coming up with many more surprising ideas.

There are a few drawbacks to being a one-man startup. I’m reminded of this each time I go on vacation, and find that I have to check in on my business a couple times a day, even though I’m trying to relax. (Weekends are the same.) However, I’m convinced that the advantages definitely outweigh any disadvantages. I plan on doing my best to make Online Clock a household name and a brand, while at the same time trying to delight and surprise my website’s long-term users.

Interviewer:

That sounds great. Do you have any final words of wisdom you’d like to leave us with?

Online Clock:

Sure. To those parents reading this article, I urge you to encourage creativity in your kids. My mother was great, in that she always encouraged me to be creative. While other boys of my age were out playing sports, I was encouraged to spend my time drawing monsters or making puppets instead (thanks, Mom!).

America has changed in a lot of ways since the time when I was little. But now that I live in Europe, I can say with experience that Americans DO seem to have an edge when it comes to creativity. Thankfully, this doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. So let’s make the most of this by urging young people to think outside of the box and develop careers where they can exercise their creativity!

We’ll all benefit from this.

Oh, yeah…by the way, I still like to draw monsters:

Typical “monster drawing” by Tom Churm

How To Create A One Man Start-Up is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Embed The Fear of the Dark Infographic on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below!

For those of you unable to read images, here is a transcript:

Why Are We Afraid of the Dark ?

When a normal fear becomes intense, persistent and irrational, it develops into a phobia. Achluophobia and Nyctophobia are two terms used to describe a phobia of the darkness or the night.

Origins

Some experts believe that fear of darkness is genetically-coded in humans: our ancestors were simply afraid of being eaten by nocturnal predators. While the senses of other nocturnal creatures evolved over time to compensate for lack of light, humans remained comparatively helpless in the dark.

In a study of lion attacks on 474 humans in Tanzania from 1988 to 2009, 60% were attacked between 6 pm and 9:45 pm. 40% were attacked at any other time.

Most of the attacks occurred during the span of darkness between sunset and moonrise, a period of time that lengthens following the full moon. Hourly attacks were 2 to 4 times higher in the first 10 days after the full moon than during the 10 days before it.

Children’s Fear of Darkness

Fear of darkness is one of the most common fears among children.

Fear of darkness is most prevalent in children between 4 and 6 years old.

It begins to decrease in the majority of children after age nine.

Sigmund Freud believed that our fear of darkness is linked to separation anxiety and the absence of our mothers. He wrote, “The yearning felt in darkness is converted to fear of darkness.”

102 children between 8 and 12 years old were asked to list what they fear. The children mentioned a total of 49 different situations or stimuli. “The Dark” was the third most listed, with 17 children (16.7%) citing it as something they feared.

It’s Not Only Kids Who Are Afraid

For some, fear of darkness persists into adulthood. In 2001, a Gallup poll found: 5% of adults say they are afraid of the dark. 8% of these adults were female and 2% were male.

A recent study of 93 undergraduate students hints that the percentage may be even higher. Many adults experiencing insomnia may be afraid of the dark.

Of those who reported being afraid of the dark, 46% were poor sleepers and only 26% were good sleepers.

The researchers created an objective test to verify the responses. Participants listened to bursts of noise through headphones while in a bedroom with the lights on and then with the lights off. Poor sleepers were more startled by noises and these reactions were heightened when the lights were off.

The Dark Consequences

Studies have shown that darkness is good for us and not embracing it might actually be harmful. Prolonged exposure to light before one goes to sleep suppresses the release of the sleep hormone melatonin and may increase risk of mood disorders, sleep disorders and obesity.

Is The Fear Justified By Crime Statistics?

It’s natural to feel vulnerable in the dark, but should we be any more worried about being a victim of a violent crime after the sun sets? The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey keeps data on violent crime (rape, sexual assault, simple and aggravated assault, robbery) and the time of occurrence as reported by victims.

The statistics Analyzed include: Crimes of Violence (attempted & completed combined), Completed Violence (negative effects on victims) and Attempted Violence (attempted but not completed)

Though many people are afraid of the dark, crime statitics do not clearly show that this fear is justified.

Treatment

One effective form of treatment for phobias is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. A trained therapist helps one confront the feared object or situation–in this case, darkness–in a gradual and methodical way until the fear is reduced or conquered.

If you suffer from a Fear of Darkness, please ask your physician for help!

Brought to you by OnlineClock.net, The World’s Original Online Alarm Clock

Sources

• Craig Packer, Alexandra Swanson, Dennis Ikanda, Hadas Kushner, “Fear of Darkness, the Full Moon, and the Nocturnal Ecology of African Lions”
• Mireia Orgilés, José P. Espada, Xavier Méndez, “Assessment Instruments of Darkness Phobia in Children and Adolescents: A Descriptive Review”
• P. Muris et al, “What is the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children Measuring?”
• Gallup News Service, “American Fears”
• Moss TG, Atwood ME, Crowe BM, Carney CE. SleepVolume 35, 2012, Abstract Supplement, “Are People with Insomnia Afraid of the Dark, A Pilot Study”
• TA Bedrosian, Z M Weil, R J Nelson, “Chronic dim light at night provokes reversible depression-like phenotype: possible role for TNF”
• U.S. Department of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey 2008, table 59

Fear Of The Dark Infographic is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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James Bond checking his Pulsar digital wrist watch

If you are a James Bond fan, it’s likely that you enjoy his interesting spy gadgetry. Over the years, there have been many actors who portrayed Bond, but the one we want you to recall today is Roger Moore. In 1973, during his introductory role as Bond in the film entitled Live and Let Die, Moore wore a wristwatch that became enormously popular. In one of the movie’s opening scenes, he is lying in bed with one of the fabulous Bond girls, and he casually checks the time by pressing a button on his wristwatch to reveal a light-emitting diode (LED) display on a Hamilton P2 Astronaut wristwatch. Moviegoers were in awe of the watch because they had never seen anything like it. They soon found out that it was not a movie prop; it was real. It took very little time before Bond fans were in search of the Pulsar LED watch.

The Pulsar watch was the first product to integrate a complete electronic system on a single silicon chip, which is called a system-on-chip (SOC). Essentially, it was a time computer, and the Hamilton Watch Company decided to market it as humankind’s link to the very edge of time. Hamilton made a long television commercial for the Pulsar watch that probably sounded futuristic to 1970s consumers.

At the time, the LED watch was considered to be Space Age technology, and people wanted to possess it. As with all things, the passing of time changed how people felt about the LED watch. They eventually found the watch to be awkward and inconvenient because the display button had to be pressed to see the time. Although it may have been awkward, there were reasons why the time did not perpetually display on these flagship LED watches.

Roger Moore has his hands on…a Pulsar Digital Watch, of course !

Development of the First LED Wristwatch

Semiconductor research in the 1960s produced the technology used to create the LED watch. However, the problem of having to miniaturize this technology to make something as small as a wristwatch had to be overcome. This did not occur until the early 1970s.

When LED displays first appeared, they were power hungry. The batteries back then were not as strong as they are now. This meant that the early LED watches were only able to display the time very briefly. At first, this was considered novel, and at the time, it was even considered to be cool. However, in the late seventies, liquid crystal display (LCD) watches arrived. The LCD watches required a lot less power for a constant digital time display. It became the latest consumer bauble.

The First LCD Watch

Around the same time that Roger Moore was checking his Pulsar for the precise time, engineers were producing a new low-powered LCD chip that extended watch battery life by leaps and bounds. This effort made way for the watchmaking industry’s first LCD watch, which was the Microma. Interestingly, Microma was a subsidiary of the Intel Corporation. Intel acquired Microma in 1972. In 1974, after creating the perfect chip that would perpetually display the correct time, the Intel Corporation learned that success in the watch industry heavily depended on marketing. They made one television commercial that cost the company a whopping $600,000. When the Microma failed as a consumer product, Intel swore off anything to do with marketing to consumers. Intel’s former CEO, Andy Grove, wore the Microma to remind himself to never get into the consumer products business again. He called the watch his 15 million dollar watch, which revealed how much money Intel lost on the Microma. Whenever someone would approach him with an idea that would require marketing directly to consumers, Andy would look at his watch before turning them away.

The Microma: The World’s First LCD Wrist Watch

The Intel Corporation made a wise move. LCD watches were about to go from a retail price of $200.00 to less than $20.00. The low price was attributable to the advent of a new watch made by a Japanese company known as Casio. Casio was widely known for their Casio Mini, which was a small calculator. Previously, calculators were only seen in office environments, and they were huge. Casio produced small, portable calculators, and they were a big hit with consumers. Casio got into the watch business in November, 1974; they produced large quantities of watches, which drove down the price of digital watches.

The Casiotron Watch

After experiencing success with the Casio Mini calculator, Casio was in a solid lead among other companies competing in the calculator industry. To solidify their earnings base, Casio made the decision to diversify their business by producing watches. However, the Japanese watch industry was closely integrated from production to sales levels. This made it extremely difficult for a new manufacturer to enter the marketplace.

Casio’s Casiotron digital wrist watch, in all its glory

Casio made serious efforts to overcome this pesky barrier, and in the fall of 1974, they released a computerized watch called the Casiotron. The watch displayed the hours, minutes, seconds, and as an added bonus, it had a visible calendar. The calendar automatically determined the number of days in a month. To say the watch became popular would be an understatement. Eventually, Casio went on to produce watches that had calculator and game functions. This was the forerunner of the technology that created hand-held computer games. Shortly after Casio’s watchmaking venture, an American company that was also known for making calculators decided to enter the digital watch market.

Texas Instruments

In 1976, Texas Instruments (TI) entered the watch industry. Their introduction of electronic digital watches was a business landmark during the 1975 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. During the show, TI featured three high-fashion LCD wristwatches and three personalized watches with LED displays for women and men. The company had previously developed custom integrated circuits and LED displays for the marketplace. They had an established channel of distribution for their calculators, and it was a small step to make low-cost cases for their watches. The company purchased the batteries and the bands elsewhere to produce a complete watch. They chose to enter the marketplace below the $40 price point, and they targeted mass distribution. Some of the places they sought out were department stores and discount stores. The chip design for their prototype watches began in December, 1974. The watches were ready to be shipped in September of 1975.

The first LED Wristwatch produced by Texas Instruments

In 1976, TI announced that they were the leading supplier of digital watches. They were producing about 18 million watches per year. The largest part of the market was below the $20 price point. Eventually, their introduction of a $9.95 digital watch that featured a plastic watchband was the beginning of the end of their watchmaking. They were roundly criticized for the low price of the watch, which generated very high revenues but very low profit margins. In 1981, TI stopped producing watches and turned their attention to other opportunities.

It’s hard to imagine the companies that once produced millions of watches each year losing the lion’s share of the watch industry because they were underpricing one another until the profits disappeared. Some argue that the watch business was never an engineering timepiece market; they say it always has been a fashion market. Perhaps they are correct.

Considering the digital watch was initially a fashion craze for its high-tech James Bond gadgetry, the companies making these watches should have known that the next shiny thing would snare the public eye away from their watches. Eventually, a large chunk of the watchmaking business reverted back to the Swiss (especially via Swatch). It’s kind of funny imagining the Swiss laughing at some of these manufacturers pricing themselves out of the digital watch business. After all, no one knew more about marketing, precision watchmaking and pricing than the Swiss. They refused to enter the digital watch market because they believed it would be a fad. They nearly lost their entire industry because of this refusal, but in theory, they were right.

Vintage Ad for Hamilton’s Pulsar Digital Watch

Here at Online Clock, we are thrilled that there was once a digital watch craze. A lot of good technology came out of it. Imagine if it hadn’t happened! On second thought, let’s not imagine it hadn’t happened because had Intel spent all of their money on failing digital watches, you might not be staring at your computer right now. It really is a chilling thought, isn’t it?

Nevertheless, 1970s digital watches are still really cool collector’s items. There are many for sale online at auction sites and watch collector sites. The first batch of Pulsar P2 Astronaut watches retailed for $2,100. Back then, $2,100 was enough money to buy an infamous 1970s Chevy Vega.

Perhaps you have a vintage digital watch. If you do, we’d love to hear all about it.

Many digital watches have very interesting histories. You can discuss this topic with us on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. And you can also leave a comment here on our blog!

The World’s Earliest Digital Watches is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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There are not many clock mechanics around these days. The few that exist usually have lots of work to keep them busy because there are so many existing clocks that people cherish and want to maintain. Here at OnlineClock.net, we appreciate clock mechanics because without them, many of the historical clocks that were the forerunners of the timekeepers we use today would no longer work. It would be a shame if these precious devices were rendered useless because of neglect. There will always be a need for a good clock mechanic, and we are fortunate enough to still have a few of them around to keep our old clocks well-maintained.

Unfortunately, the world has just lost a great clock mechanic, and his story is rather sad. However, we want to share it with you to honor him and his life because he was so dedicated to doing the work that he loved.

Phillip Paguio, AKA Doctor Time

If you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, he or she will probably say they want to be a fireman, doctor, nurse, singer or similar responses that seem like cool jobs to them. It’s not likely that any of them will tell you they want to repair clocks. However, there was once a little boy who told everyone that he wanted to work on clocks when he grew up, and he did. His name was Phillip Paguio. His friends called him Phil. When Phil was a toddler, he used to cry a lot when he was placed in his crib. One afternoon, his grandmother was spending time with little Phil and placed him in his crib for a nap. He began to scream and cry in protest, and his grandmother grabbed a small clock on a nearby table and gave it to him. She was making an effort to keep him quiet. It didn’t work, but Phil credits this as the start of his long appreciation for clocks.

Eventually, Phil grew up and went to school to learn how to repair clocks. He put this knowledge to work by opening a small business that he operated in Sacramento, California for over 30 years. Phil’s business was called The Time Factory. He was known around Sacramento as Dr. Time, and he worked hard to repair clocks for his customers. Phil was happy doing the work that he loved. He never wanted to do anything else; he simply loved clocks.

Phil Paguio had a few nice friends in his neighborhood, but he never spoke very much about his family. Perhaps there were no surviving family members to speak of, but no one in his neighborhood really knew for sure. He lived with a woman who was more than ten years younger than him. He told one of his longtime neighbors that she was trouble and that he had to get that woman out of his house, but he hadn’t been successful in getting her to move on with her life.

An avid collector with an eye for unique clocks, Phil loved to recite the history of many of his clocks. His collection engulfed the space of an entire room inside of his home. It’s estimated that Phil had collected 4,000 clocks throughout his lifetime. The largest clocks in Phil’s collection are unique grandfather clocks. There are two clocks in Phil’s collection that have historical significance. One is a clock from the USS Arizona, and the other is a clock from the Titanic. He loved to show them off. He was a regular guest twice a year on Sacramento’s KXTV News 10. They enjoyed having Dr. Time on the show to remind viewers to change the time on their clocks in the spring and in the fall. The station usually asked questions about the clocks in his collection. Phil would bring out a clock or two and discuss the clock and its history. In one particular segment, he took out a clock with the news channel’s logo on it and referred to it as one of his favorite clocks. We’re sure that this is partially true because the segments helped Phil to sell his services. His relationship with the local news channel was mutually satisfying.

Phil divided his clock repair work time between Montana and California. He often flew back and forth to repair clocks in the two states. In 2010, Phil was called to update the courthouse clock in Billings, Montana. He modernized the old clock by embedding a chip inside of it, which automatically changed the time in the spring and fall. This way, he didn’t have to be called to change it by hand, and the city didn’t have to incur labor costs just to change the time. It was his intention to eventually move to Montana; he liked it there.

He was called to another job in Billings around the middle of January, 2013, and after his work was complete, he left Billings to travel back to Sacramento. No one knows why Phil decided to drive to Montana and back on that particular trip. Perhaps it was the weather. There was a lot of packed ice on the road, and it’s possible that conditions for flying were not exactly ideal. While driving through Idaho on his return trip, Phil attempted to pass a vehicle in front of him. This decision sent him crashing head-on into an 18-wheeler. The police said the ice did not seem to be the cause of the accident. Perhaps he just didn’t see the truck coming on the other side of the road before he began to pass the car in front of him. The police were unsure because Phil was unconscious, so they could not ask him what happened. He was immediately airlifted to a local hospital. Sixty-year-old Phil Paguio was listed in critical condition, and he was placed in a medical coma. His injuries were severe, and he needed surgery.

In Sacramento, Phil’s girlfriend got the sad news that Phil had been in a near fatal accident. Doctors informed her of his comatose state. She told the hospital that he never spoke of his family. She assumed there were no surviving relatives, so if there were any medical decisions to be made, they would have to be made by the hospital. The hospital decided to go ahead with the two surgeries that Phil needed. After that, they could only wait to see if the surgeries would help him to recover. Phil was alone, and all he had was the care of the physicians and the nurses who tried desperately to heal him.

The scene of Dr. Time’s serious accident.

While Phil was still in a coma, his girlfriend contacted a local man who bought used furniture and antiques. She asked him to come over to look at Phil’s clock collection because she intended to sell it. The man drove to Phil’s home and asked his girlfriend to point out the clocks that she wanted to sell. She told him that everything in the clock collection room was for sale. He offered her $3,500 dollars for the entire collection. She took the money, and the dealer left with Phil’s lifetime collection of clocks. He had gotten quite a deal because he had paid less than a dollar for each clock in the collection, which contained many rare items.

Somehow, the local news channel received a tip that the clocks had been sold while Phil was still in a coma. Since they had a fondness for Phil and knew how much he cherished his clock collection, they immediately intervened by visiting the dealer and asking him about the clocks. The dealer seemed prepared to answer questions about buying this extensive clock collection from Phil’s girlfriend. The dealer said he had a bill of sale from her. The document, which was handwritten, stated that she had the authority or legal right to sell the clocks. Of course, she didn’t, and the dealer said that he would hold on to the clocks without selling any of them until he could talk to Phil about them first. He expressed an understanding of Phil’s lifetime collection, and he seemed sincere about doing the right thing with the clocks. It was at this time that Phil began to come out of the medically induced coma he had been in for weeks.

Days after the dealer had been interviewed, Phil’s girlfriend talked to the reporters at the local television station over the telephone. She said that she initially sold the clocks because she thought that Phil would’ve wanted her to have a roof over her head. She said that she was struggling to pay the rent and several other bills, which were unrelated to Phil being hospitalized. A short time later, she informed the television station that she had returned the $3,500 to the dealer and got the clocks back from him.

Phil and his girlfriend, back in the day

Eventually, the sad news came that Phil had died from the injuries he sustained in the accident. Apparently, the local news station that featured Phil Paguio and his clocks twice each year stayed on the trail of the fate of Phil’s clock collection. The television station was later informed that the clocks were put in storage until a surviving family member or heir could be located.

It wouldn’t surprise us if they followed the story of Phil’s clocks until the matter is resolved. They knew him quite well, and they seem to care about his lifetime collection of clocks.

Indeed, this is a sad tale. We hope that someone will be able to claim these clocks before they succumb to dust and become inoperable. Perhaps there is a surviving family member out there that will step forth to claim them. Alternatively, it would be nice to know that the clocks were bought by other clock aficionados that would maintain them properly.

Here at OnlineClock.net we sincerely appreciate Phil’s dedication to his craft and his unadulterated appreciation for clocks. Many of our site’s visitors are clock lovers. They enjoy reading about and collecting clocks. Perhaps you have a small collection or a favorite clock you would like to tell us about. If so, you can discuss them with us by leaving a comment here on our blog!

Most importantly, wherever you are now, Phil Paguio, we salute you as a fellow clock lover!

The Life And Times Of Doctor Time is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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We’ve already provided you with tips on feeling great when you wake up in the morning, and even tips for waking up on time…but what about looking great when you wake up?

You may not be able to avoid morning breath, but there are things you can do during the day and before hitting the sack to help you look your best when you wake up in the morning.

Exercise, hydration and a good skincare routine all play a role in the way you look before you get out of bed.

There are also tricks to styling your hair at night that really help when you’re pressed for time in the morning.

So, without further blah blah blah, here are Online Clock’s Tips for Waking Up Looking Good !

1) Go to Bed with Clean Skin

Washing your face with a deep cleansing scrub before bed is a great way to help your skin look great in the morning. The cleanser removes makeup, impurities and dead skin cells that can clog your pores and cause breakouts. Breakouts often appear overnight when the oil and impurities have had time to build up in your pores and create zits. You can buy special cleansers for your skin type, but even washing with plain soap and water every night is beneficial. Another reason to wash off your makeup before bed is that it can smear horribly while you are sleeping, making your first look in the mirror in the morning a scary sight.

2) Use Moisturizers and Eye Treatments at Night

You can leave lip balm on your lips while you are sleeping to help your lips stay soft and hydrated. Keeping your lips hydrated prevents chapped lips, which are both uncomfortable and unsightly. It’s also smart to moisturize your skin at night after you wash it. This allows the moisturizer to sink into your skin during the night and helps you look fresh and revitalized in the morning. Anti-aging eye treatments are best used at night when you won’t worry about covering them up with makeup. You can also apply eye treatments that reduce puffiness and under-eye circles just before hitting the sack so they can work their magic while you get your beauty sleep.

3) Braid Your Hair Before Bed

Braiding your hair or putting it up in a bun is a great way to keep it away from your face at night. Another benefit to braiding your damp hair before bed is that the braid will add volume and waves to your hair while you sleep. Take out the braid in the morning and style your hair gently so that the waves stay intact. Try braiding your hair tightly for more defined curls and loosely for loose waves. If you don’t want curly or wavy hair in the morning, try putting your hair up in a high bun. This will create tons of volume with little work in the morning. It also keeps the hair out of your face so it doesn’t tickle you and wake you up.

This never would’ve happened if she had braided her hair…

4) Eat A Healthy Diet

Although many people don’t like to admit it, much of the way we look and feel is dependent on the fuel we put into our bodies. Eating a large amount of fruits, vegetables and lean meats and avoiding fried foods is a great way to look and feel better every morning. Eating too many carbohydrates before bed contributes to water retention and can make your skin look doughy instead of glowing. High amounts of salt also contribute to water retention and bloating. Try not to eat within an hour or two of going to bed because your body needs time to digest the food before you lie down. Eating just before bed can cause heartburn, upset stomach and other issues that make sleeping difficult. Indeed, sleep is sometimes quite heavily affected by what you eat.

5) Keep Your Body Hydrated

Drinking water is essential for keeping your body hydrated, which helps you wake up looking and feeling great. Water also doesn’t contain calories, which makes it the best drink for people who are trying to lose weight. Your body needs about 64 ounces of water each day, but try not to drink anything within an hour of bedtime, otherwise you may wake during the night to use the bathroom. Another way to stay hydrated is to apply moisturizer to any areas of your skin that feel dry. This may include your hands, feet, elbows or knees. If you really want to wake up with glowing skin, try using a tinted moisturizer or tanning lotion on your skin before bed. Just make sure it dries before you lie down, otherwise you could end up with streaked skin and stained sheets.

Live long…and stay hydrated !

6) Splurge on Satin Sheets and Pillow Cases

It’s best to sleep on your back, but controlling the position you sleep in is much easier said than done. That’s why investing in satin sheets and pillow cases helps you look great in the morning. Satin is one of the few materials that won’t cause wrinkles even if you sleep on your stomach. The material also doesn’t cause your hair to become frizzy. Satin sheets also feel great against your skin and help you feel pampered, which is fun to wake up to every morning.

7) Go to Bed Earlier

It sounds simple, but you probably won’t wake up looking your best if you don’t get enough sleep. Most people don’t have the option of sleeping later in the morning, but they do have the option of going to bed earlier at night. Start getting ready for bed about an hour before the time you actually plan to hit the sheets. This gives you time to prepare for the next day, complete your skincare routine and take a few minutes to read a book, write in a journal or listen to a few songs to help you relax before bed. Keeping the same routine each night will let your body know that it’s time to unwind and get ready for sleep. Sleep is cumulative, so definitely avoid going several days with too little sleep.

If you have trouble falling asleep, try drinking tea that is specially formulated for bedtime. A white noise machine may also be helpful, especially if traffic or other noise frequently keeps you from sleeping deeply. (Indeed, if you’re not familiar with our Moods Clock, be sure and give it a try. It’s an alarm clock offering soothing background sounds to help you fall asleep!) Certain yoga positions can also improve your ability to fall asleep.

Exercise – Y U So Hard ???!

8) Exercise Every Day if Possible

Exercising just before bed isn’t a good idea for most people because it gets your adrenaline up and makes falling asleep difficult. It’s best to exercise no less than three hours before you plan to fall asleep. You may not be able to fit exercise into your routine every day, but even exercising three or four days a week is beneficial to your body and mind. Many people find that hitting the gym just after works helps them make an easy transition from work mode to family mode. Exercise is great for stress relief and well as helping you lose unwanted pounds and feel better about your body.

Not only does exercise help you lose weight, but sweating is cleansing to your pores, which may improve your skin tone. Try taking a hot shower just after you exercise to improve the look and feel of your skin. The heat from the water, along with a mild soap, will cleanse your pores of the impurities that cause breakouts. Rinse with cold water to close the pores in your skin and make your hair shiny and beautiful.

Oh, those First World Problems are tough, huh?

9) Use at Least Two Pillows and Rotate Them

Lying flat while you sleep can cause puffiness around your eyes in the morning because fluid will pool around them. It also decreases your chances of sleeping with your neck crooked, which causes tension and discomfort in the morning. If you are not comfortable sleeping on two pillows, try elevating the head of your bed by putting something between the mattress and the box spring. Sleeping with your head elevated is especially helpful when you’re sick because it’s easier for your sinuses to drain when your head is elevated above your body. Rotating your pillows will help them last longer because your pillows need time to recover from the pressure that you place on them during the night. Regularly rotating your pillows also helps to minimize the amount of bacteria that is transferred back onto your skin from the pillowcase as you sleep.

10) Wear a Smile Every Morning

Looking your best isn’t just about getting enough sleep and taking great care of your skin. Having a positive attitude is the best way to start your day, no matter what’s going on in your life. Try setting your alarm so that you wake up to your favorite video. Lie in bed for a few minutes and think about things you are grateful for and what you have to look forward to. You may want to look over a list of your short-term and long-term goals to help you focus on what’s important in your life right now. Starting your day with a smile and a positive attitude helps keep you focus and happy even if you expect your day to be particularly stressful or hectic.

Well, we never thought we’d be in the business of delivery Beauty Tips, but there you have it, Clock Fans, OnlineClock.net‘s guide to waking up looking great!

We just LOVE waking up next to you in the mornings

How To Wake Up Looking Great is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Clocks…you just gotta love ‘em !

Because we are purveyors and lovers of timekeeping, we have decided to feature clock and watch collectors groups in today’s blog post.

There are a lot of clock and watch lovers throughout the world. This is reflected by the large number of people who participate in these organizations.

The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) In The U.S.

The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) is a nonprofit institution that represents a unique cultural, educational and social resource for their members. The NAWCC was founded in 1943, and their members include students, educators, hobbyists, retail professionals and casual collectors.

Members of the NAWCC share many tangible benefits. They can enjoy national conventions, trading marts, workshops, chapter activities and educational seminars. Members are also allowed free admission to the National Clock and Watch Museum. This museum is the Western Hemisphere’s largest museum of timepieces and timekeeping.

NAWCC Member Logo

The membership of the NAWCC has grown over the years. They started with approximately 50 charter members in 1943.

They now have 17,000 members. Individual members pay approximately $70 per year to join, and there are several tiers of specialized memberships for students. The NAWCC also has an exclusive Internet membership as well as contributory memberships. Businesses may also join the organization, and they do indeed have a nice Business Member Directory.

Welcome To The Club, Clock Geeks !

The headquarters of the NAWCC is located in Columbia, Pennsylvania. This site was chosen because the first Secretary, Earl T. Strickler, lived in Columbia. He organized the NAWCC and was the caretaker of all the records associated with the organization. He carried out his duties in his home, and as the organization grew, he hired employees and rented commercial office space. In 1971, the membership of the NAWCC grew to nearly 12,000. In response to this robust growth, a separate building was purchased, and it became the group’s national office. It was during this time that the NAWCC formed an acquisitions committee to solicit donations. By 1977, an 8,000-square-foot gallery was opened to the public. In 1985, a gallery addition doubled the existing exhibit and library space.

Many of the items in the museum are priceless. The museum has thousands of objects that can rarely be seen anywhere else in the world. As a whole, the collection is of immense historic value. The museum receives anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 visitors each year.

NAWCC Funding

The museum is partially funded by the members of the NAWCC. The funding is procured through admission revenues, store sales, museum friends and grants.

The library and research area is located within the museum complex, and it specializes in services for its members, beginning collectors and serious researchers. A computer catalog subject index for trade publications, and a collection of 21,000 patents are part of the resources used to document timepieces worldwide. The library is a lending library, and it also functions as a research facility. Members can borrow volumes either in person or by mail.

The NAWCC has an older website designed to promote their organization. And they also have a newer website at WatchDig.org. It’s more like a blog with monthly entries that include topics that have to do with watches, clocks and timekeeping collections.

The Antiquarian Horological Society (AHS) In The UK

In the United Kingdom, there is a clock and watchmaking organization called the Antiquarian Horological Society (AHS). It was created in 1953, and it exists to promote the education of watches and clocks. This group teaches the history of time measurement, and they publish a quarterly journal as well as various books associated with timepieces.

The quarterly journal of the AHS is sent to each of its members. Their journal includes a variety of articles pictures, news and advertising space for both the clock industry and private individuals. A collection of AHS journals can provide a wealth of horological information for those who have a keen interest in timekeeping. The articles cover many subjects for both collectors and tradesmen.

They produce various books and publications of a specialist nature. Many of the works are regarded as standard reference material in the watchmaking and collecting industry. Some of the books included in their collection include books on church, precision and electrical clocks. Reprints of the books are available to their members at reduced prices.

The AHSOC Logo

The AHS has a library that has existed since its inception in 1953. The library is located in the Guildhall, London. Within their library is an extensive collection of reference books and journals. Additionally, there are many standard and unique titles that have been gathered over the last 50 years. Many members of the AHS freely consult the library during working hours.

The AHS regularly gathers clocks for public exhibitions. They don’t do it just for the benefit of their members; they do it to fulfill one of its original aims, which is to promote the study and history of clocks and watches. They also arrange study tours for their members, which are usually located throughout Europe to include a wider appreciation for horological history.

The AHS is affiliated with many other organizations. Their latest affiliation is with the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS was founded in 1820, and it’s a distinguished society that promotes the study of astronomy, geophysics and solar system science. One of their other recent affiliates is the British Sundial Society.

The AHS presents many awards each year for published articles associated with horology. They are also known as a charitable organization that awards prizes and grants for clock conservation and restoration classes at local colleges. They have recently started a scholarship to encourage students to study clock and watchmaking.

The AHS has a blog that can be accessed from their main website. There are some very interesting facts and ideas associated with clocks and watches on the blog. For instance, one of the blog entries discusses the positions of watch hands and how people rarely pay any attention to the numbers on a watch. Watchmakers and collectors have created many collectible watches and clocks that contain letters instead of numbers. These are novel items, and some of them are featured on the blog.

The Australian Antiquarian Horological Society (AAHS) In Australia

The Australian Antiquarian Horological Society (AAHS) is a nonprofit institution that was founded in 1975 by enthusiasts. These enthusiasts include professionals and novices of clock appreciation. This organization also has a library, which was established in 1979. It has grown quite large through donations of books. Today, the library now represents an important resource for the group and its members.

The AAHS is now affiliated with the NAWCC, which provides their club with additional library access. Their members are encouraged to subscribe to the NAWCC so that they can further the benefits of information gathering associated with clocks and watches.

The society is governed by a committee that is composed of four members. They publish a quarterly newsletter and announcements of coming events. The newsletter includes articles, communications from the committee and interesting papers. The newsletter also features old clock and watch advertising material from books and journals.

Australian Antiquarian Horological Society (AAHS) Logo

The AAHS meets monthly, and its purpose is to promote the study, research, knowledge and repair of clocks, watches and related industry tools. They encourage interest in all aspects of horology. Their annual membership fee is $60.

The AAHS website contains articles of interest. The articles are mostly about the association’s activities.

Clock Geeks Unite !

It is really interesting to see how involved the hobby of timekeeping can get. Of course, we are not in the position to judge, but some of these people are downright crazy about clocks! It’s good to know that we are not the only obsessive clock enthusiasts in the world.

Many of these organizations have very rare and interesting clocks that are preserved with care to last far into the future. We appreciate how they are so careful to restore the past through the world’s most unique clocks and watches.

We have featured many of the oldest clocks in existence here on our Alarm Clock Blog, and we understand how many hours of research and work that goes into restoring an old clock. It’s good to know that there are people around the globe that will be able to continue to restore these rare timepieces. We salute their exhaustive efforts to keep these old clocks ticking.

We have thoroughly enjoyed telling you about some of the most avid clock and watchmaking clubs and organizations around the world!

We hope you can join us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to further discuss the subject of time.

Clock Collector Clubs & Organizations is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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We’re Grateful for our Popularity

For a creator of websites, there’s no better satisfaction than receiving a lot of resonance from the public at large for what you’ve created. In other words: discovering that your website has become truly popular.

Here at Online Clock, we’re thrilled to be enjoying this kind of popularity.  Besides just taking look at usage statistics for our website, we get some of the best evidence of this from real-life experiences of meeting new people and then telling them that we run OnlineClock.net; then, often getting a response like, “Hey, I know that site…it helped me wake up on time for class the whole time I was in college!”.

But there are still a few people out there who, for whatever reasons, prefer using old-school alarm clocks instead of waking up via our newfangled web-based version.

For this reason, we have been creating a whole arsenal of different timers, stopwatches, countdowns and online clock tools of various kinds since launching our original online alarm clock back in 2006.

How Can We Continue To Grow?

One thing we’ve discovered through the years is that a lot of people use our various online alarm clocks during the day and on the job.

This, combined with feedback being sent to us from loyal users, tells us that many people use Online Clock not just to wake up to…but also as a kind of simple time management tool.

(That’s right: our various alarms also work great as online reminders. There are many more uses for them besides simply waking yourself up in the morning!)

If you begin researching the subject of time management at all, you quickly discover that there’s an entire industry built up around this subject.

There are large software companies producing complicated behemoths of desktop software which are designed to help workers and bosses everywhere to better manage their time.

Since we now know that many of you are using OnlineClock.net for this kind of task anyway, we wanted to create a product especially geared toward this segment of users. With this in mind, we now proudly introduce you to the new Task Planner function on the Online Clock website.

What is the Task Planner and What Does It Do?

By creating this new task planner tool, Online Clock hopes to be giving everyone a mega-simple way to focus their attentions on one task at a time.

If you take a look at the tool, there are no multiple fields for multiple tasks. Instead, we want you to focus on doing one thing and one thing only. Too much time is wasted on task glut, or the fact that your actual To Do list may be 15 pages long. If you’re as busy as most people we know, you may easily become overwhelmed by taking a look at the big picture and seeing the entire multitude of tasks that are expected of you.

For this reason, we decided to help you break your work down to individual tasks:

Do one thing. Set a timer or an alarm for it. Crank it out…get it done…then go on to the next item on your To Do list.

It’s often been said that women handle multitasking better than men. That’s an area of discussion worthy of its own blog post. Suffice it to say that, after having worked in the IT industry for over a dozen years, we know from experience that attempting to multitask usually results in confusion…springing back and forth from one kind of task to another is not the most efficient way to get your work done. Instead, more can be achieved, and with a higher quality of output, by simply focusing on one task; by temporarily putting the blinders on and just devoting your energy to one task at a time.

By dividing up large jobs into smaller segments, individual tasks become easier to manage and more palatable.

Indeed, there are many good reasons to focus your energies on doing one thing at a time, and doing it well!

How To Use the Task Planner

The idea for our Task Planner had actually been mulling about in the back of our brains for over a year. It was clear that we wanted to begin developing OnlineClock.net in the direction of Time Management software. But we wanted to do it the Online Clock way: keeping things mega-simple, and keeping our user interface as minimally-designed as possible.

The result is what you see here: http://task.onlineclock.net

You’ll see a web form in which you enter the name of the job or task you should be working on right now.

Then, you have the option of choosing a deadline for it using either an alarm via an Online Alarm Clock or an alarm via a Timer.

There are several differences between these two kind of reminder functions, and that’s the reason why we wanted to offer both of them as separate options:

Using an Online Alarm Clock for your Task Planner:

• Designed for longer tasks (for deadlines can be scheduled up to 24 hours into the future)
• Shows the actual time using a large digital clock display
• Displays your alarm time in the title of your browser tab
• Has a snooze function

Using a Timer for your Task Planner:

• Designed for more short-term tasks (for deadlines can be scheduled up to 90 minutes into the future)
• Shows just the amount of time remaining, counting down until your alarm
• Has a dynamic display of time remaining which appears in the title of your browser tab
• Warns you if you’re going to leave the page while having a timer set
• Gives you the option to PAUSE your timer temporarily (i.e.: for a break, or if your task gets interrupted by a co-worker)
• Also has a snooze function

In summary, we recommend using the Timer for planning shorter tasks and the Alarm Clock function for tasks that will take you a longer period of time to accomplish.

Our Task Planner’s Timer Function: We used it to write this blog post !

Using the Task Planner should be so easy that most of you should consider it a “no-brainer”. However, if you do need more detailed instructions, please take a look at our Task Planner FAQs.

Basically, using it boils down to these Simple Steps:

1. Visit our Task Planner’s start page
2. Enter in the name of the Task you want to work on
3. Choose either an alarm time for the Online Alarm Clock function or an alarm time for the Timer
4. Click on the button marked “Schedule Task” to begin your task’s countdown
5. Leave your web browser tab open to our Task Planner (which will now display either an Alarm Clock or an Online Timer)
6. When your allotted time is up, an Alarm Sound will go off
7. You then have the option of either turning the Alarm Off (if your task is done) or “Snoozing” (extending) your alarm time, thus giving yourself additional time to finish your task!

That’s it ! Try it.

Productivity Dashboard: And NO, that is not a photo of the author !

What About That Snooze Thing?

Long-term fans of Online Clock may remember that, for quite a while now, we’ve been arguing that snooze functions are evil. When it comes to waking up in the morning, we still feel this same way! However, using an Online Clock as a Task Planner at work means that you will sometimes get interrupted by your boss or co-worker coming over to your desk and asking questions, or expecting something else to be done. Or, it could simply be that you’ll need to take a break sometimes. If this is the case, we’ve got you covered

That’s about it.

We hope that the new Task Planner application is as easy to use as our other Online Clocks.

Please share it with your friends, co-workers and family members and feel free to give us feedback regarding this, Online Clock‘s first step into the realm of developing Time Management and Productivity-Enhancing Software!

We’re proud of the fact that all of our various Online Clocks continue to be free to use, and don’t even require any kind of user registration. The future of software is online…

Just visit our site…use an Online Clock and get more done!

We wish all of you great success, with all of your tasks.

Introducing Online Clock’s Task Planner is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Embed the Wacky Wake Ups Infographic on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below!

A guide to some of the strangest, oddest & downright Wackiest Alarm Clocks out there!

When it comes to waking up in the morning, many of us require additional help. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of creative alarm clocks out there, designed to help us all conquer our mornings and seize the day. So, let’s take a look at some of the weirdest wake ups around.

Gun o’ Clock

Ever feel like shooting your alarm clock? Now you can! You’ll need serious marksmanship in order to hit the target and make this alarm clock stop ringing. If you feel like you’re dueling with sleep each morning, this will make it official.

• Laughs: 8 out of 10
• Price: 4 out of 10

Hydraulic Bed

Bigger may not always be better, but sometimes it certainly IS more effective. This model is powered by a hydraulics system and computer and turns your entire bed into an alarm clock, shaking your bed until you’re FORCED to get up (or become sea sick).

• Laughs: 8 out of 10
• Price: 10 out of 10

Rolling Alarm Clock

If you’re not a morning person, Clocky could possibly be your worst nightmare. Designed to roll around your bedroom like R2D2 on ecstasy, this mobile alarm clock will make you chase it down in order to turn off its annoying cacophony of noise.

• Laughs: 6 out of 10
• Price: 4 out of 10

Flying Alarm

What could be more fun than a helicopter-style alarm clock buzzing around your head and dive bombing on you in the dark of the wee hours? Not recommended for combat veterans, this alarm may terrify you into hopping out of bed and running for cover.

• Laughs: 8 out of 10
• Price: 4 out of 10

Carpet Alarm

Sometimes the worst part of getting up in the morning is that first step out of bed. This alarm will get you moving, since it’s designed to ring until you step on it with your own two feet. Finally, you can stamp on your alarm clock with this model!

• Laughs: 5 out of 10
• Price: 9 out of 10

Bacon Alarm

Looking for an alarm that gives you serious incentive to get out of bed? This alarm clock cooks bacon each morning, filling the room with the irresistible smell of everyone’s favorite food! Mmmm, BACON!

• Laughs: 8 out of 10
• Price: 9 out of 10

The Final Wake Up

This last alarm is one you’ll hopefully never use. Designed to prevent sick people & heavy sleepers from accidentally being mistaken for dead & then buried alive, its bell & pulley system is the ultimate way to let others know you’re still alive!

• Laughs: 1 out of 10
• Price: 10 out of 10

Wake up with help from the Internet with Online Clock, the world’s original Online Alarm Clock!

Wacky Wake Ups is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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The clocks at OnlineClock.net can quietly lull you to sleep at night and successfully wake you in the morning. The sleeping and waking cycle are things that actively involve our website. The human sleep cycle is something that is constantly researched, and knowing more about it is in all of our best interests. That is why we have decided to feature some recent findings about the sleep cycle in today’s blog.

In recent years, researchers have created a new term. It is called sleep debt. But what is sleep debt exactly?

Although we realize this term sounds like a bad loan you made with yourself in the dark, it is an actual scientific term. It’s something that sleep researchers are studying with great interest.

What Is Sleep Debt ?

Simply put, sleep debt is the cumulative effect of not getting enough sleep. Sleep debt is a condition that occurs after not sleeping enough for several days during the week. Sleep researchers often argue that sleep debt can’t actually be measured; however, there is little argument over its effects. Sleep debt can cause the following conditions:

• Cognitive impairment
• Irritability
• Memory lapses or loss
• Risk of diabetes
• Hallucinations
• Symptoms similar to ADHD
• Elevated heart rate
• Impaired immune system
• Tremors
• Growth Suppression
• Aches
• Severe yawning
• Decreased temperature
• Impaired moral judgment

As you can plainly see, sleep debt does not have any good side effects. Obviously, sleep is a biological need. It’s much like the need for food and water. If sleep is totally deprived, humans can perish.

Millions of people are increasingly cheating themselves out of a good night’s sleep. On average, people sleep one hour less each night than they did 20-30 years ago.

Stay up late…

We all know people who make the unlikely claim that they can get by on four or five hours of sleep at night. Whether they know it or not, that is highly unlikely. Many people feel as though sleep is wasted time; however, sleep is not just down time between episodes of living. According to Harvard University sleep researchers, the simple fact that humans spend approximately a third of their lives sleeping suggests that sleeping is more than just a necessary evil. A lot transpires while sleeping.

Failing to get the proper amount of sleep is not only associated with various illnesses, it is also responsible for many car accidents and medical errors. Sleep debt has also been associated with impaired job performance and low productivity. Also,getting a good night’s sleep may help make you smarter.

Humans are not nocturnal animals. We cannot see well at night. We are not very effective in darkness. However, within our evolutionary time scale, the invention of the light bulb redirected our time and light environment toward a nocturnal direction. With a mere flip of the switch, a wide range of nighttime activities opened up for us. Today, we live in a round-the-clock world that is always available for both work and play. Televisions and telephones are perpetually available, the Internet allows us to surf, shop, gamble, work or flirt until 3 a.m. Businesses stay open later than they did in the past. Tens of millions of people travel through multiple time zones each year. Wall Street traders often rise early in the morning or stay up late at night to keep up with the developments on Japan’s Nikkei exchange or the Deutsche Bundesbank. Consequently, we are sleeping less than we have in prior generations.

How Much Sleep Debt Are We Accruing?

A National Sleep Foundation poll showed that American adults are averaging 6.8 hours of sleep during weeknights. This is more than an hour less than they need.

The change not only reflects that we are sleeping less, but it also reflects that many of us are sleeping during the day. In the United States, six to eight million workers work at night. They are disrupting their sleep patterns in ways that are not necessarily adaptable.

Can We Pay Sleep Debt Back?

Getting enough sleep to feel better in the short-term will work; however, over time, sleep debt will accrue and your sleep loan may default in some of the serious symptoms mentioned earlier.

To put it simply, your mother was right! If you do not get enough sleep you will get sick, fat, and you simply won’t function very well. That is why it is so important to make the time to get the proper amount of sleep. The long-term effects of sleep debt are obviously damaging, but the short-term is also not worth accruing.

Apparently, we lose at least 20 percent of our efficiency if we don’t get a full eight hours of sleep each night. Sleep researchers like to compare two hypothetical people in an explanation of why we should not accrue sleep debt. In the comparison, one person sleeps for eight hours, and the other sleeps for four hours; the latter person is awake for 20 hours a day, compared to 16 hours for the first person. If the person operating on four hours of sleep is 20 percent less efficient while they are awake, then in the 20 hours of being awake, he or she will only be able to get 16 hours of work done, so it’s a wash. The difference is that the second person is living on only four hours of sleep a night. He or she is losing a lot and gaining nothing. It will be seen in their health, their social interactions and their ability to learn and think clearly.

Not getting enough sleep also reduces the antibodies we produce, and it reduces our ability to process food properly. There is no way we can cram the equivalent of eight hours of sleep into four or five hours of sleep at night. If we do, we will begin to accrue sleep debt, and over time, this causes irrevocable damage to our bodies and our minds.

The primary focus of sleep research is in dreams. Researchers are trying to find out whether or not dreams make us smarter. When we sleep, our brains receive no outside input. That frees the neurons in our brains so that we can use them to understand and solve problems differently. It appears that this research is on the right track.

The Zen Approach

Yoga instructors say that meditation clears the mind. In meditation, the mind is on pause. It is really hard to slow the mind, but according to meditation experts, making the effort is worth it.

At the University of Wisconsin, Professor Richie Davidson has scanned the brains of monks while they were in meditation. They consistently emitted a high frequency of gamma waves, which are linked to learning and plasticity. The theory is that by quieting the mind in meditation, we are better preparing it for the stimulus of learning.

Considering this research, is it possible for us to evolve into having to sleep less through meditation methods? That question remains unanswered, but if we can, it’s likely to take quite a long time. Until then, we will have to do things the old-fashioned way. We will just have to get at least eight hours of sleep each night.

Internet, please let me sleep!

It is probably wise to curtail frequent visits to the local coffee shop. Schedule enough time to get some sleep so that you can stay away from incurring sleep debt. If you need a few tips on how to get to sleep, we have some on our earlier blogs. We realize that because of your active lifestyles, getting to sleep on time can be difficult; however, getting enough sleep is imperative.

Of course, our various clocks and alarms can assist you with the task of getting to sleep and waking up on time each day.

If you would like to discuss the topic of sleep debt, leave a message here on our blog. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Online Clock would always enjoy hearing from you!

Sleep Debt Defined is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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