Churm told me that his site net 883,369 unique visits in the last 30 days, which is actually pretty great.ĭespite all the work, the site has never been a burden, he told me, because his girlfriend understands that the site is a big part of his life and thus sucks up a lot of his time. I don't know who they are, exactly, but they exist and the numbers show it. Maybe that's what makes the site and its offshoots so popular-Churm has zeroed in on a demographic of people online that will eat this stuff up. With cards that say things like, "Wake up… you're already dead," and a slogan that encourages you to "collect 'em all, and make your life miserable!" It's clear that Churm possesses a unique brand of offbeat and yet family-friendly humor, underscored by a dash of dogged persistence. Churm has even designed a set of horror-themed, but also alarm clock-themed, digital trading cards. I always need to have internet connection, just to be able to manage the site."Ĭhurm said he spends nights and weekends working on the site-he's always rolling out new clocks, games for the insomniacs out there, and updating the blog. But it also means that I cannot take a vacation or spend an entire weekend without at least caring for my 'baby' a little bit. This has benefits: I'm able to do whatever I want with the website very quickly. "I'm the sole owner and programmer and server admin and everything else. Keep in mind that Churm has been at this for nearly a decade. The clock's twitter account boasts upwards of 40,000 followers and posts the dad-est of jokes while its banner depicts "4:20:20" in the clock's familiar red digits. Churm uses the page to post memes relating to new features-different skins for the clock, countdowns to holidays-often containing photos depicting things like a rabbit fucking a turtle for Easter or a dog laying a heart-shaped shit on a rug for Valentine's Day. The site's Facebook page has more than 120,000 likes. I'm not the only person who found themselves using this oddball webpage with at least some regularity. Bare-bones and functional, the site lets you set a time and then it blares an aggravating siren when the clock's big, red numbers reach it. I don't remember when or how I started using the site to wake me up in the mornings, although I imagine my experience was a pretty common one: it was bedtime and my phone was dead, so I googled "online alarm clock." And there it was-the first result. That was before he enrolled in a programming course that taught him the skills he needed to design the website that he's maintained, by himself, since 2006:. It was the early aughts and Tom Churm was an American living in Berlin, working a construction job because he couldn't speak German.
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