Flack's Daily Smack - Remote Invention

RSS Bot · September 24, 2008

A year or two ago there was a reality show called "American Inventor" (I have no idea if it's still around or not). On the show, everyday people presented their invention ideas to a panel of judges. The first few episodes were similar to the first few episodes of American Idol and were filled with judges spending a lot of time making fun of most of the inventors and their silly inventions.

There's one invention I never forgot from that show. A rather eccentric fellow presented his "remote clips" or something like that. I don't remember the exact name of the invention, but the items were long pieces of colored ribbon (three or four feet in length) attached to plastic clips (similar to those "chip clips" that are used to keep opened bags of chips from going stale). The clips were about the width of a standard television remote. The purpose of the invention was that these tails could be easily clipped onto the end of your television remote control(s), and the long colored tails would make it/them easy to find.

The judges on the show called the man's idea ridiculous and laughed him off the stage. I didn't think the idea was all that funny. In fact, I remember thinking at the time that if they sold something like that, I would probably buy a couple.

We have somewhere around a dozen remotes between the living room and the bedroom and they are constantly disappearing. In our bedroom, there are only two: the television and the DVD player. In the living room, there are many more. There are two interchangable ones for the television and another "oversized" novelty remote that also controls things. There's the VCR remote (required to change channels), the PIVO remote, and another DVD remote. Depending on who used it or where they used it from, the remotes tend to leave and join our plane of existance at will. Sometimes they appear deep in the cracks of the couch or the crevices of my recliner. Sometimes they stay gone for weeks at a time. The kids watch a lot of television in our bedroom, and those remotes are always disappearing. I'll find them a day or two later under a pillow, between the mattresses, under a pile of dirty clothes, under the bed ... you name it. This is a pain because I like to watch television around bed time, and right before I fall asleep I'll turn it off with the remote.

The other day while strolling through Wal-Mart, I saw a pair of bright neon green shoelaces, and was inspired.

Using a few inches of electrical tape, I have now attached one shoe string to each of the bedroom remotes. Susan thinks it's the most white trash thing she's ever seen. I think it's genius. Over the past few nights, each time I've walked into the bedroom I've spotted the remotes -- or at least the strings -- immediately. One was poking out from underneath a pillow. The other was hanging over the side of the bed. My implementation isn't perfect. I tied a knot in the end of each shoestring and taped just below that to give the strings an anchor, but that leaves a big knot on the underside of the remote that feels weird when holding them. It's a pretty small sacrifice that I'm glad to make in exchange for tearing apart the bedroom on a nightly basis looking for the remotes.

Here's to you, Mr. anonymous American inventor guy. Thanks for the idea!

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