I often wake up not knowing what day it is (or what time it is or who I am). I also tend to nod off again after killing the alarm.

I would like to have to enter a code to turn off my phone alarm - this would require me to engage my brain before I could kill the alarm thus reducing the chances of nod-off.

As a further fail-safe, the code should be today's date. This would mean that my phone would require me to prove that I know what day it is before leaving me alone.
-- wagster, Apr 06 2007

... which was linked to general knowledge alarm clock Smart_20alarm
[po, Apr 07 2007]

I have this very same problem. The doctors here call it narcolepsy. This wouldn't work for me, though. I would just fall back to sleep despite the alarm. Hell, I slept through three alarms today.
-- sqykly, Apr 06 2007


btw, is the title deliberate?
-- po, Apr 07 2007


I'm normally a stickler for not americanising words, but 'orienting' just sounded better than 'orientating' in the title.
-- wagster, Apr 07 2007


I meant *temporally*

:)
-- po, Apr 07 2007


'temporally' usefully distinguishes this invention from two other kinds of alarm clock, viz.
1. The spatially orienting alarm clock "Brrring! Yes, you have fallen out of bed again, but don't worry, you are in your own house and will find clean underpants to your right."
2. The spiritually orienting alarm clock "Brrring! When last asked, you had committed your life to Jesus. Your lenten discipline is... not stated. Your besetting sin is... sloth."
-- pertinax, Jan 24 2009


I like this idea, but I could see myself ending up developing the ability to mumble my way through the sheaf of probable dates while half asleep and losing the ability to say anything else until mid-morning (already got a start on that).
-- FlyingToaster, Jan 24 2009



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