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surreal clock radio

 wake up to what might or might not be happening
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A clock radio that will sometimes wake you up with accurate morning news, and sometimes lie in interesting ways. This would soothe people who can't deal with depressing news first thing in the morning, since they'd always have the option of believing the news was wrong. It would also make for interesting water-cooler conversation, as subscribers tried to piece together what was really going on.

An interesting (but impractical) variant would be a clock radio that wakes you up with a continuation of whatever you were dreaming about, for those who don't like having a firm grip on reality.

—moonmoose, Mar 24 2001

The Onion http://www.theonion.com
[someone else, Oct 04 2004]

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       I thought maybe...from the title...that someone had found a lost Salvador Dali painting......
—Susen, Mar 24 2001
   

       This is a great idea. If the concept could be extended to apply to other things as well, such as TV, newspapers, schools, languages, etc. then the world would immediately become a more varied and interesting place.
—lubbit, Mar 25 2001
   

       Game suggestion: before the broadcast, the real news is read once off-mike to a person favored by the audience. Then that person retells the news they remember without help.   

       After the retelling, scores are calculated based on how much was missing and how much was wrong. Since the listeners don't hear the original news until the scores are calculated, they can guess along what is true and what has been distorted.   

       For extra surrealism, turn off radio before tallies are calculated.   

       Subgame stolen from existing news-based radio show: guests can invent news items on their own; readers are challenged to call in and detect them.
—jutta, Mar 25 2001
   

       Why not a surrealist newspaper for your front porch, too?
—arghblah, Mar 29 2001
   

       ...of which the preceding is one...
; º )
—beauxeault, Mar 29 2001
   

       Would love if this was part of a larger idea of a customizable clock radio. I could decide that I'm happy hearing all the real crap, except for more horrid news about inner city violence, and throw in a few fiction bits now and then, would ya?   

       Kind of baked in news formats on the internet (although without the critical "surreality" option) - but not in a convenient way to start my day.
—nhyatt, Jan 14 2002
   

       good idea, it would make you want to get up, and find out the real news on t.v.
—cornpad, Aug 09 2004
   

       Given how far from reality some people are who listen to the news every day, I doubt this would do much harm. More fun as well.
—wagster, Aug 09 2004
   

       Sometimes I find that my alarm (which plays music) does not fully wake me, but rather I become aware of it in my dream. A number of times now I have been severely disappointed to wake up and find out that I was not actually holding my own in an intense guitar duel/jam with Santana or some other famous musician. The strange thing is that I was so aware of myself in the dream that I specifically remembered the fingerings and licks I was using to play whatever song it was, but when I picked up my guitar to try it out, it sounded nothing like it.
—luecke, Aug 10 2004
   


 

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