Whoever thought of combining clocks and alarms?
I get the utility of it, of course.
From what I can tell, it all began in the giant clock towers of Europe and migrated its way into our bedrooms as time went by.
At least after we get up we have breakfast to enjoy.
“Sleep is a powerful seducer, hence the terrifying machinery we have developed to fight it. I mean, the alarm clock. Heavens! What evil genius brought together those two enemies of the idle—clocks and alarms—into one unit?”
–Tom Hodgkinson, How To Be Idle