Submitted by: Clm via Submit a Kludge!
Only 100 more layers and I won’t be able to HEAR it either. – Ms. Fix-It
Favorite Comment: Fixer dono1 says, “I just cover my eyes with a couple of strips of duct tape.
Not only does it work great, but after I rip the strips off in the morning, my eyebrows have that smooth, “just-bikini-waxed” look.”
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Copy & paste this:
That’s one way to make time stand still.
If you stick with it, you’ll always find a solution.
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Phht! Who uses military time on their alarm clock anyway?
Anyone who might be sleeping in to 16:00 hours half the week in an area with blackout overcasts.
That sounds very intriguing. Does a black out over cast mean it’s pitch black at 16:00? I want to see that.. heck, I want to live there… as long as it’s not dark because of something horrible, which, I guess, it has to be.
Welcome to un-sunny California then. And really the major stickler is 6 am/pm in the fall/summer when you can’t see what dirrection the sun is.
Anyone notice it said 23:42?
yes!
Wow, thanks. I hadn’t noticed it.
I do, for one. Although I must admit that’s mainly because I can’t figure out how to switch it back to the standard civilian a.m./p.m.
Lt Hookstratten: I would like to get the playing on about 1900 hours, if that is satisfactory.
Derek: When will that be?
Lt Hookstratten: I make it now it is about 1830 hours.
Derek: So that’s what, about 50 hours?
David: 120 hours?
Lt Hookstratten: That’s actually about 30 minutes.
…and most of these amps go up to ten….
. . . this one goes up to 11. That’s one louder than, i’nt it?. . .
Tipping over waiters is really rude. But funny.
military time, LOL
you mean 24 hour clock.
mainly everyone uses it thats older than 12 year old.
I do, Canadians (officially) do use it as well as Europe and probably most of the civilized world…
I am a Canadian
I don’t have a beaver/moose as a pet
I don’t live in an Igloo/Teepe/Wigwam
We do have telephones (Alexander Grahm Bell was Canadian he invented them)
We do have VCR’s and DVD players
I don’t play hockey
And NO we do not run our country “officially” on the 24 hour clock.
The only use for the 24 hour clock is notation or “logging information”
seeing as you need not place an am/pm after the numerical value.
Sorry about the little rant but every time I talk to people from a vast majority of the states south of North Dakota(and a small minority from those within) I actually get these types of questions. It seems as though the world sees us as backwoods morons.
Although looking at the Vancouver 2010 closing ceremony, I can see how you have come to believe them. And I am sorry about Catherine O’hare’s skit or whatever you want to call that pile of drivel. That was horrible and in no way represented the typical Canadian or our sense of humor for that matter.
Thanks
My husband sets every clock in the house that’s capable of it for 24-hour time. I’m used to it by now.
Anyone bugged at the idea that you count as follows: 10 AM, 11AM, 12PM, 1 PM, 2 PM…
If it’s not internally consistent, why use it?
Yes, actually, that’s always bothered me. Noon should be 12:00 AM, but it isn’t. Actually, noon should be 12:00 M. It’s the meridian, so it isn’t ante- or post-meridian. Then midnight would be 12:00 PM.
Look at the hemmed edges of the pillow case. It’s sewn like in France, which uses a 24 hour clock.
What? We have pillow cases like that in America too…
I do.
If you ever had to brave morning rush-hour traffic to make the boss’s 8-o-clock meeting, only to have the little asswipe tell you he meant 8 at night…. You learn to love the clear accuracy of a 20:00 appointment rather than “eight o clock”
I used to, when I was living WAY far north of the Arctic Circle: when winter is 24/7 total darkness, and summer is 24/7 total sunlight, it’s makes it handy to know if you’re waking up in the middle of the day or the middle of the night!
That would be people in the military.
Germans use the 24hr clock in daily life.
What do they use for nightlife?
Sleeping pils.
Of all people, you should have been the one to say “beer.”
Son, I am disappoint.
I purchased a blue LED alarm clock once. 5 layers of window tint film didn’t do a thing. Gave it to my kids to replace their nightlight.
I did the same to my Sony CD changer, except only 4 layers, so I listen to tunes @ night w/o being imprisoned in the beta state.
I’ve done this many times, but I usually use car window tint. I take the device apart, and put the tint behind the glass though. It works especially well on high beam indicators. Those things just blind me.
Most of the good clocks, like my RCA Blue LED clock, have a dimmer and a light sensor I always use to save the LEDs (An LED clock run at full brightness will die in 10 years.)
I had to use masking tape, though, to block an external HD enclosure with an OMGWTF bright blue LED activity light.
This isn’t a fail at all.
Some of these are really too bright. Mine was so bad I couldn’t lie on my right side without sunglasses. So I cut a piece off of the tinted plastic cling I used to use for the window over my son’s car-seat. I cut it so neatly that no one can see it unless they look closely. Voila!
I usually just throw a t-shirt over mine before a go to bed. Cindy, you put forth way more effort!
I just flicked the switch from “High” to “Low”.
On my husband’s alarm clock, even the “Low” setting is too bright for my liking. I’m actually getting some good ideas for solutions to that from the comments.
I just cover my eyes with a couple of strips of duct tape.
Not only does it work great, but after I rip the strips off in the morning, my eyebrows have that smooth, “just-bikini-waxed” look.
I found a clock made by Memorex that lets me turn the light off. It still displays the time so I can see it during the day, but I can’t stare at it and think 1) how slow time is passing 2) how I can still get x amount of sleep if I could just fall asleep right now or 3) that counting the number of times the dots blink might be a good way to drop off.
I also took black tape (electrical?) and put pieces over the light on the phone.
Tape-to-digital conversion FAIL.
Comment win.
Why didn’t I think of that?!?! We have a clock that is so bright that it actually lights the room. It is also European (hence the 24 hour clock). I keep ours in the guest room as a means to get the guests to leave quicker. I mean, to double as a night light.
Ooh, if you can get the display to flash, they might not even stay at all.
Umm, I just turn the clock to the wall… (works great).
I turn my clock face-down. Works even better.
This, however, may not work with clocks with curvy fronts.
Your mileage may vary.
That’s what I do too. Turn it face down, the only problem with that I’ve found is when I want to know what time it is.
Oh. My.
I use a double layer of car window cling tint at night on mine. (I pull it off in the daytime so I can see the numbers.)
I just didn’t think of it as a kludge.
I thought it was just a clever solution to a problem.
Oh. Wait a minute…
I think the kludge is more in the fact that they just slapped the tape on and didn’t even bother to cut it off the roll.
The alarm clock manufacturer eventually removed ‘Retinal Burn’ as one of the levels of intensity for the LED display. All too often, the brightness became stuck on this setting. Thankfully, the owner of this original model had some tan packing tape with UV-blocking properties. He or she can get some sleep now and live to see another day.
The clock also served well to facilitate medical diagnoses without use of an Xray device.
win
This time real duct tape (the gray one) would have been a total failure.
Or equaled to snooze?
Impressive how they couldn’t even be bothered to cut the tape. Why does anyone this lazy even bother with an alarm clock?
Whoever taped this clock was trying to fall asleep. No time wasted.
The tape-cutting device will be in a future post.
Not only will it be in the future, it will be made of a sandal, a book commonly placed on the nightstand, discarded fignernails, and pair of glasses.
I’m with you here, I think, but do you recommend juice glasses, or perhaps ones for wine? Also, what is a figner nail for, and where do they throw them out? Behind Home Depot, maybe?
And it will be assembled using a swiss army knife.
That was the first thing I thought of too. If you can’t at least take the roll off, why not save the effort and just unplug the thing?
If you unplug your alarm clock it won’t wake you up!
In the future, I will check the box before making such a purchase, and if the clock is made by the Vicious Cycle Alarm Clock Company, I’ll pass on that particular model.
Asked for: Tape Player
Received: Tape Layer
Eh… close enough.
Hmm. I did the same thing for the led in the damn cable box.
This “duct” was not made in order to cover up the bright light from the display during nighttime. It was made by some drunk guy crawling back home from the after-work bar with only one thought in mind.
-”How can I cover up the fact that I promised to be home in time for dinner?”
I rule out turning my over-bright clock to the wall. Too hard to read that way, when I flip over. I have mine wrapped in about seven layers of bridal veil material to difuse it. Stop laughing!
Sorry, I can’t help it!
Stop that, kc/cc! She repurposed a bridal veil. It was cheaper and could easily be removed, unlike what I would do to the clock (which would be to install a small potentiometer/rheostat to make the light intensity adjustable). I have a habit of modifying just about anything that stays in one place long enough. Sure, it’s obsessive, but it keeps guests from lingering longer than they should. Also fun at keggers.
You have some mad workshop skills, Anna. If I had a veil over my too-bright alarm clock, it probably means that I threw it in that direction to get it out of the way and never bothered to pick it up again. Seven layers, though? That would be one bride they didn’t want anyone to see, I think. Also, still kind of laughing, don’t even know why. Ahaha, light diffusion!
42, off course
I did a similar thing to my clock radio… Seriously, it’s as bright as a small lamp and enough for me to stay awake.
And for LED power indicators, electrical tape.
I do that too. I’ve covered all of the LEDs on my appliances with black electrical tape.
Even the black LEDs that are activated by pushing the black button on the black console of the black ship?
(Hint: Douglas Adams)
Those you use sable tape for. The fuzzy backed kind.
And I hate Douglas Adams.
We couldn’t stand that bright blue light of our alarm clock either. That’s the last clock I buy without seeing a plugged-in store model!
Every night, my husband puts his socks in front of the screen. Works fine.
OK for him, but I don’t think I could get used to sleeping with my feet on the nightstand.
coffee spit upon reading
lol
next time use electrical tape
I did that too. i used black duct tape though and my clock lit up my entire room before i did it.
Hrm, simplest solution yet. Turn it to the side….
LMAO! I’ve done the exact same thing to my wireless, clearwire, and Wii (the dongles for RB2)! Use the black duct tape, though. Works WAY better!
Wouldn’t it be more effcient to just tape your eyes shut. Sure, you’ll lose a few lashes, but you could very well sleep through a supernova. (Earplugs on, of course.)
I don’t have this problem with my alarm clock. Then again, I use a sun dial. By the time I can actually see what time it is, I’m already awake. It’s not hurtful to the eyes, either (unless of course you get poked by that pointy thing in the middle).
It’s not one of those 24-hour/Military/Canadian/European time models either. It’s a good, old fashioned AM/PM units.
Oh, and as a backup, I have a bell tower.
That “pointy thing” is called a gnomon.
Maybe I should also try dimming my digital clock with some tape. It’s hella bright when I’m trying to sleep!
Does your sun dial have a buzzer or radio for an alarm? Or is it hooked up to the bell tower?
I keep a picture frame in front of mine.
Yeah they make all these things way too bright. Doesn’t make sense that they’re not all dim-able either. My now-dead 1980′s model $12 GE alarm clock could be dimmed from zero to blindness. If they could do that for $12, why can’t my $50 CD-playing clock do it today?
I’ve taped over my computer’s and monitor’s lights with a racing stripe of colored electrical tape. I keep a small square of the same over the “high beam” indicator light in my car (WAY too bright and kills night vision). Electric tape is removable with very rare damage and lets a little light through. Other gadgets I’ve actually taken apart and put cellophane filter over the screen or removed LED’s.
When it comes to this problem, I really get it!
There is of course one type of clock this won’t work on.
The cat-clock of ‘Feed meh.’
I lean my tear-off calendar against mine; covers the light, just have to tilt it to read the time, and it doesn’t look bad in daylight, either.
My 3-CD stereo was too bright, so I poked straight pins through one of those red decoder slips and slipped the pins between the CD tray and the clock. It doesn’t come unstuck with age, I can take it off in the day time to see the display when I’m actually using the thing, and there’s no sticky residue.
I use a piece of red cloth to take the edge off my bright-green display. It was the cheapest model I could find, and I was having to stretch every yen at the time I bought it. Gotta replace the thing now that I’ve got a little extra o-kane on hand.
I have an blue backlight LCD Alarm clock in my bedroom. It is so bright that I don’t need to switch on the room light to find a matching tie for a shirt.
I put a pill box in front of the clock at night. And I was thinking of putting a switch inside to switch of the backlight completely.
Quite clever for someone who was obviously really sleepy and frustrated when they did it.
I will never understand the designers need to have things so bright. My clock lights up the bedroom like a neon bulb and thats on its “dim” setting – that looks like a gret solution I may try.
And don’t even get me started on the piercing blue and red “I am turned off” lights on the dvd player, tv, dvr and cable-box that are so bright they cause shadows.
I use the blue painters masking tape. Nice calming color.
I do something very similar. Not to my alarm clock, but to all of those *annoyingly* bright LEDs on my Router/Modem and my Laptop.
The Laptop is kludged with a black sock covering the always-on LED when the Laptop is plugged into the AC, and thankfully my router is close enough to the hanger rack, that I can slide a few shirts over so that they block Line-of-Sight between the router and the bed (and also between the router and the ceiling).
I can *certainly* understand the need to get rid of annoyingly bright LEDs (ABLEDs? lol), especially ones that tend to blink on and off constantly (like a router/modem’s).
Also, I’d like to add, that cigarette cartons also work nicely for bright LEDs. You can even see through them, but most of the light is absorbed to the point there’s not enough to light up a dark room, but you can still tell if the light is on or off if you look close enough.
It’s all part of the Chinese conspiracy to keep us awake at night.
I have a few things with power LEDs that are way too bright. A monitor (whose LED blinks annoyingly) and joystick (bright as day – why does a joystick need a LED, anyway?) have electrical tape over them, with a pinhole I can look at to see if they’re on. An external hard drive (practically a lamp) has some green sticky notes layered over it to diffuse the light while not making it totally invisible. Then there’s some battery chargers.
I also have a neat square clock that can display either digital or analog, but in analog mode, it’s blindingly bright, making it unfortunately useless.
We don’t need all these lights keeping us awake and wasting electricity! Come on!
I did this but had the good sense to use electrical tape — a perfectly valid solution. Nuthin’ kludgey about it my man!
Whats the tape supposed to be doing?
…hmmm I wonder if that clock runs on nuclear power…. no wonder if that would be so bright….
LOL I’ve done this with my computer! The power light is this bright, bright red LED light and it’s located in the worst spot imaginable, and it’s blindingly bright in the pitch darkness and lights up the room enough that I can’t sleep, so I stuck a piece of masking tape over it. You can see the light through the tape but it no longer illuminates the room, so, problem solved!
L O S T
The problem with this is not just oversleeping, but sleeping too soundly as well. Someone enlisted them in the military while they were out. Talk about a rude wake up call.