Istandwithahmed

[PakledHostage]

I like this story:

Texas teen handcuffed, arrested for bringing homemade clock to school

Not for the turkeys who pass for teachers and police in the Texas city, but for the huge outpouring of support:

President Obama!

Bobak Fredowski!!

Chris Hadfield!!!

Good job, kid. Nice clock. I hope you also play KSP.

P.S. Please refrain from politics if you choose to respond to this thread.

[r4pt0r]

Having gone through school in the midwest US, I have been in 5(I think) school evacuations for bomb threats. Stupid kids leave vague false notes to avoid tests, ect... but every threat must be taken as real.

I do think they went about it the wrong way here, but that box with wires hanging out does qualify as a "suspicious object". Were it a bomb, a bomber might also claim it was a clock. These are strange times we live in and I see nothing wrong with vigilance.

It just needs to be handled differently.

[Endersmens]

Saw that earlier, but didn't read the article.

Now, it doesn't look like a bomb. It looks like a hollywood bomb. There is no benefit of putting a big clock screen on a bomb.

[LN400]

I read that story on the BBC site this morning and I really couldn't stop laughing at the massive absurdity of it. It was like something straight out of the Onion except satire is no match for reality some times.

We need more clockmaking teens and fewer scared out of their minds adults.

[PakledHostage]

It just needs to be handled differently.

Right, but as was pointed out in the article, they didn't actually think it was a bomb. They didn't evacuate the school or call the bomb squad or anything. Even the police admitted that Ahmed never said it was anything other than a clock, but they chose to rough him up anyway - while Ahmed was wearing his NASA t-shirt. Hence the outpouring of support from the space community.

Edited September 16, 2015 by PakledHostage

[Endersmens]

You know, I actually know what he's going through.

In January, my little brother decided he wanted to use my backpack to transport a BB pistol to a friends house. He never took it out. And he didn't tell me.

So I'm at school the next day, I open my backpack, pull out my school Chromebook, and there it was. In my backpack. It didn't have an orange tip or anything. It looked real. My heart dropped and I felt my face turn red. The person next to me saw it before I could close my bag. I tried to explain what had happened, but because I was so freaked out, I ended up making the situation worse. He either told somebody else, or he told the office directly, but either way, I went to the office to make a phone call and the Principle and Assistant Principle called me into one of their offices and asked what they would find if they went through my backpack.

I explained what had happened, and they called my brother to the office and asked him about it, and he admitted to putting it in my backpack and forgetting to take it out. They knew exactly what had happened. And you know what? They expelled me anyways.

Yep. I was expelled from school for the rest of the semester. Their reasoning was that since I didn't immediately take it to the office when I found it, and that somebody saw it, that I must have showed it to them. But of course I didn't take it to the office, I thought I would be in trouble either way. I was just going to try to make it through the day and get out of there.

This ruined me, because I wasn't allowed to do Track, the thing I love to do the most. I almost wasn't allowed to go to Prom with my girlfriend.

So yes, I stand with Ahmed. I sincerely hope they don't suspend him any more.

[sal_vager]

Had to remove an inflammatory post, and a reference to that post, please don't argue politics on these forums and definitely don't post anything libellous, thank you.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

To be fair, at a glance that looks suspicious

[Superfluous J]

Having been on the wrong end of a bomb scare I can admit it's easy to go overboard, though I don't know any of the particulars in this case.

I also have enough life experience to know that - in general - people can be jerks.

[Bill Phil]

Wow... How did I not know about this?

This is sad, especially because it makes the USA look like a nation of bad people.

Not it only that, but I can tell you right now that there are many things that look like bombs, that everybody* owns.

It also seems to me as if the clock were a project for something in school. Maybe not, though.

*more than 50%

[Starwhip]

http://i.imgur.com/jGZ8RBU.jpg

To be fair, at a glance that looks suspicious

Yeah, I'd have to agree. I've worked with Arduino boards and the like, so if it was just a bunch of wires and a battery, it wouldn't be so bad.

But that white packet thing in the corner is weird.

Anyways, it's good that he got off without any charges.

[RainDreamer]

Strip an alarm clock out of its case and you already have an actual bomb timer. Slap it on a piece of clay and boom, you got a mock bomb.

But this kid is not making anything looking like that...it is just an exposed circuit board with a display. A home made digital clock...

I hope this doesn't sounds political...but I wonder what will happen if it was another kid with different skin colour...

[regex]

I hope this doesn't sounds political...but I wonder what will happen if it was another kid with different skin colour...

They would be praised for their ingenuity and skills. Welcome to America.

[Camacha]

To be fair, at a glance that looks suspicious

The fact that people get spooked by anything and everything does not make it suspicious. We used to take lost luggage to the lost and found department, now the bomb squad gets called. And no, this is not a time with more terrorism than ever before. That is just skewed perception.

[Bill Phil]

The fact that people get spooked by anything and everything does not make it suspicious. We used to take lost luggage to the lost and found department, now the bomb squad gets called. And no, this is not a time with more terrorism than ever before. That is just skewed perception.

Like the year of the shark?

[Kerbart]

At this point probably the best thing that could have happened to the kid. I expect that by the time I get home he has already landed two or three scholarships at top tier technical universities (MIT, CalTech, etc).

At the school somebody is probably going to lose their job over it now, as it becomes clear to the outside world that the school pigheadedly decided to stay on the "OMG it's a bomb" track when it clearly wasn't.

[PakledHostage]

To be fair, at a glance that looks suspicious

To be fair (I say this again), even the police admit that he never said it was a bomb. Nor was the bomb squad called and nor was the school evacuated.

He could be one of us:

But I agree with Kerbart. This may be one of the best things that ever happens to him.

Edited September 16, 2015 by PakledHostage

[RainDreamer]

At this point probably the best thing that could have happened to the kid. I expect that by the time I get home he has already landed two or three scholarships at top tier technical universities (MIT, CalTech, etc).

I think Google reached out to him. Also president Obama invited him to the white house (with his clock if he wanted) over tweets and says there need to be more science. Facebook guy Mark Zukerberg also says he can come over. Kid is an instant celebrity now.

The school is about to be sued, very soon, I believe.

Oh and he got no charges, because of course.

[Camacha]

But I agree with Kerbart. This may be one of the best things that ever happens to him.

At least they made sure a couple of kids will never speak up again, or at least do it in secretive ways. Kids learn fast and understand that the media will not always save you.

[Plume & Akakak]

At this point probably the best thing that could have happened to the kid. I expect that by the time I get home he has already landed two or three scholarships at top tier technical universities (MIT, CalTech, etc).

Er, so the moral is "Experiencing a traumatizing situation in which you have been treated unfairly then become the center of a circus act is a good way to succeed" ?

No, thanks. I like to see the glass as half full, but I'd expect healthier ways. This is the kid's life, not a TV show.

[regex]

Er, so the moral is "Experiencing a traumatizing situation in which you have been treated unfairly then become the center of a circus act is a good way to succeed" ?

No, thanks. I like to see the glass as half full, but I'd expect healthier ways. This is the kid's life, not a TV show.

Well said. This is the kind of treatment that breeds resentment; always assuming the worst of people.

[Hagen von Tronje]

What he did was...not the action of someone who has thought his actions out all the way through. Yes, if you walk around school with a metal briefcase full of wires leading to a big red clock and an unidentified white packet, you can expect that somone is going to be ignorant of what you are doing, and understandably so, and will alert authorities, who will have no choice but to treat it as serious until proven otherwise. That is an entirely foreseeable outcome; I wonder why at least one adult who saw it prior to the incident did not say "Hey, I better hang on to this for you until later. And then we're going to discuss more nonthreatening design aesthetics for your future show and tell projects."

So sure, I support young aspiring engineers of any race or religion, and think they should have all freedom in exploring their interests. I also think that by their teenage years they should apply some critical thinking skills to the most probable outcome of their actions.

[Camacha]

What he did was...not the action of someone who has thought his actions out all the way through. Yes, if you walk around school with a metal briefcase full of wires leading to a big red clock and an unidentified white packet, you can expect that somone is going to be ignorant of what you are doing, and understandably so, and will alert authorities

Do not be silly. Nothing is understandable here. You ask the kid what it is and he tells you it is a clock, end of story. No drama there. No, you create a fairly traumatizing scare for the kid and the whole school - and people did not even respond appropriately, because you missed the essential bit:

even the police admit that he never said it was a bomb. Nor was the bomb squad called and nor was the school evacuated.

Why do you get a kid arrested if you do not think it is a bomb? Why do you not evacuate the whole school if you do think it is a bomb? It makes little sense.

Besides, it is absolutely ridiculous to expect a 14 year old kid to understand people get their knickers all in a twist for nothing. I do not even understand that and I am supposedly a little wiser than that. The whole world is going down the drain if everyone panics over every piece of lost luggage or bit of wire sticking out. Is it ludicrous too. How many deaths due to terrorism has the western world seen in the past 10 years? A couple of hundred, a few thousand maybe? Just in the US alone, well over 400.000 people lost their lives in traffic in the same period. We are not even talking about Europe. Yet we do not even think twice about getting in a car. But when it comes to a scare that is way, way less likely to hurt you, everyone goes to DEFCON 1 when someone Googles two terms.

We really need to calm down and get our act together.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Camacha

[PakledHostage]

I don't think anyone here is suggesting that this sort of injustice is a good thing, but you've got to admit that there is a pretty good silver lining in this young man's cloud. And to suggest that the response is only a circus is overly cynical, IMHO. People are very likely reaching out because they can empathize with him. Maybe they see a bit of themselves in him and it makes the injustice (and the desire to help set it right) all the more profound.

I am glad that there has been such an outpouring of support for Ahmed, and I hope he gets to take advantage of some of the opportunities that he is being given. Hopefully it will broaden his horizons and show him that not everyone is as narrow minded as the people in his school.

[Hagen von Tronje]

Besides, it is absolutely ridiculous to expect a 14 year old kid to understand people get their knickers all in a twist for nothing. I do not even understand that and I am supposedly a little wiser than that.

Really? So he's smart enough to make a clock but not to figure out that making it look like a Hollywood bomb and taking it to school with the alarm set is a dumb idea? I don't buy it. I was a kid once and I remember very well how things I thought would be hilarious were not so well received at times - but I was not unaware that a reaction would take place.

I also don't buy that you don't understand it, since the very words before that indicate precisely that you do understand that. People get their knickers all in a twist for nothing, your very words. You know it. I bet he knew it, he's clearly not an idiot and no mention was made of his suffering from a total disconnect with reality. Doing things to provoke said knickertwisting is a bad life strategy, as I and many others have learned the hard way.

I'm not saying that what took place is just. I am saying that he should have known better (and now he does, unfortunately), and more importantly, one of the adults involved should have really known better.

You also seem to think that I don't sympathize with him - I do, more than probably most here, because I know exactly how it feels. But with said sympathy comes the knowledge that he was probably his own worst enemy that day.