14 year old arrested for bringing in homemade clock

the kid is either trying to be edgy and prank people with a bomb hoax or he's just some kind of retard... why take a clock out of its case and put it in a briefcase?

I mean I had an electronics kit as a kid, I'd make stuff like an AM radio etc.. - it would generally be a bunch of messy wires etc... later I'd order stuff from tandy - little boards with lots of holes in where you could mount resistors, transistors, capacitors, diodes etc.. and then use a soldiering iron to connect them

this kid hasn't done **** he just took a clock out of its case and put it in a briefcase.... strangely enough people don't normally do that unless they want to perhaps use it as a timing mechanism for a bomb...
 
dowie said:
the kid is either trying to be edgy and prank people with a bomb hoax or he's just some kind of retard... why take a clock out of its case and put it in a briefcase?

I mean I had an electronics kit as a kid, I'd make stuff like an AM radio etc.. - it would generally be a bunch of messy wires etc... later I'd order stuff from tandy - little boards with lots of holes in where you could mount resistors, transistors, capacitors, diodes etc.. and then use a soldiering iron to connect them

this kid hasn't done **** he just took a clock out of its case and put it in a briefcase.... strangely enough people don't normally do that unless they want to perhaps use it as a timing mechanism for a bomb...
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Having had a not dissimilar childhood in that regard I bet you were doing much of that before 14 as well... this kid is far from some kind of genius and far more likely an elaborate troll.
 
yeah by 14 you're like 2 years away from GCSE... I mean we did actually make printed circuit boards in school at GCSE and building up to it. I had an electronics kit in junior school as did plenty of other kids I'm sure...

I'm also pretty sure we were using soldering irons in school at around aged 12 or so...

takes fairly low standards for anyone to be impressed by a 14 year old taking a clock out of a case
 
CREATIVE!11 said:
People are not capable of thinking outside this box. This is why being a top level investigator takes a certain type of person.
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I used to think it was a positive trait for people to see the good in things, but actually the lack of critical thinking in the general populace is quite dangerous.

Google and Facebook are acting like this kid's DNA needs to be preserved and analysed so future generations can understand how to make clocks. He put a clock in a briefcase for christ sakes.

The school did the right thing in reporting it though, clearly the kid showed it to his teacher in a way that was cause for alarm - and from the smirk in his interview he probably had his best troll face on at the time. If it actually had been a bomb and the school passed it off as a toy then there would have been an uproar.
 
Well well. I wonder will all the good, level headed, clear thinking folks who were quick to vilify those dared suggest the kid was anything other than the total victim the media portrayed him as be so quick to pop back in and perhaps apologise or even just say 'you know some of you guys might have been on to something'

Sadly I doubt it. They'll take their perpetually offended and perpetually correct thinking off into another thread I guess.
 
Thekwango said:
Well well. I wonder will all the good, level headed, clear thinking folks who were quick to vilify those dared suggest the kid was anything other than the total victim the media portrayed him as be so quick to pop back in and perhaps apologise or even just say 'you know some of you guys might have been on to something'

Sadly I doubt it. They'll take their perpetually offended and perpetually correct thinking off into another thread I guess.
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To be fair at face value it appears a lot more cut and dried until you break it down with a bit of electronics/tech experience to draw on and I'd hate to be negative about someone showing enthusiasm for the subject at even a basic level but the more I think about it the less its holding water as being something completely innocent.
 
How did it beep if it was originally a mains powered bedside alarm clock with the battery only there as a backup?

Thekwango said:
Well well. I wonder will all the good, level headed, clear thinking folks who were quick to vilify those dared suggest the kid was anything other than the total victim the media portrayed him as be so quick to pop back in and perhaps apologise or even just say 'you know some of you guys might have been on to something'

Sadly I doubt it. They'll take their perpetually offended and perpetually correct thinking off into another thread I guess.
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You'd have more of a point if the type of posts that people were objecting to weren't such gems as:

Greebo said:
Right or wrongly but I would agree with the kid been a muslim called mohammed, the teacher isnt going to take any chances when a pupil has what appears to be a bomb in school are they?
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It's totally fine to challenge someone who thinks it's cool to treat a kid differently based on them being a Muslim called Mohammed. You're also sort of forgetting that this turd-storm was caused by an alarm clock moved into a different box. Yeah sure maybe the kid isn't as bright as his parents think he is. But literally anything could be a bomb if you have a creative enough imagination, and I'm not sure detaining people because you interpret what they have as bomb-like (whilst not actually calling the bomb squad) is the way forward.
 
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Greebo said:
No that not been allowed to contact his parents was wrong.

However i do not see an issue with him been detained and questioned by the police until the facts had been verified.

I know what people are saying about homemade electronics etc. but if he had turned up at the Whitehouse with that unannounced, would you not think the whitehouse security services would have detained him and questioned him over it as well? Or they would have looked at it and gone "yep thats a clock, i can tell as my dad used to make them for a living, go straight through the president is in there"
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Funny cause the president has invited him to bring it to the white house :p
 
Tefal said:
Funny cause the president has invited him to bring it to the white house :p
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That's my point! They know it's just a clock now but if he had turned up unannounced with it in his bag, he would have been arrested and questioned like he was at the school.

That's why I kept mentioning the White House. Easy to say it's just a clock and it's all been an over reaction but that's after the event when you know it's a clock.
 
Caged said:
How did it beep if it was originally a mains powered bedside alarm clock with the battery only there as a backup?



You'd have more of a point if the type of posts that people were objecting to weren't such gems as:



It's totally fine to challenge someone who thinks it's cool to treat a kid differently based on them being a Muslim called Mohammed. You're also sort of forgetting that this turd-storm was caused by an alarm clock moved into a different box. Yeah sure maybe the kid isn't as bright as his parents think he is. But literally anything could be a bomb if you have a creative enough imagination, and I'm not sure detaining people because you interpret what they have as bomb-like (whilst not actually calling the bomb squad) is the way forward.
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My point wasn't that it was my view, just that it must have crossed the teachers and police's mind and may well be a factor in their decision. I never said it was cool so don't put words into my mouth. Are you saying with 100% certainty that him being a Muslim didn't affect the way the teachers or police dealt with him?
 
dowie said:
this kid hasn't done **** he just took a clock out of its case and put it in a briefcase.... strangely enough people don't normally do that unless they want to perhaps use it as a timing mechanism for a bomb...
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Pencil case...
 
Greebo said:
That's my point! They know it's just a clock now but if he had turned up unannounced with it in his bag, he would have been arrested and questioned like he was at the school.

That's why I kept mentioning the White House. Easy to say it's just a clock and it's all been an over reaction but that's after the event when you know it's a clock.
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So just to be clear you belive that if it had been a bomb h3 made it brought it into school showed his engineering teacher what he'd made then put it back in his bag went through classes till another teacher when nuts when it beeped?

Why would anyone show their bomb to their engineering teacher?
 
Greebo said:
My point wasn't that it was my view, just that it must have crossed the teachers and police's mind and may well be a factor in their decision. I never said it was cool so don't put words into my mouth. Are you saying with 100% certainty that him being a Muslim didn't affect the way the teachers or police dealt with him?
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What? It's more likely than not that his name and being a Muslim was a large factor in the treatment he received. You initially stated that you agreed with the teachers actions due to the kid being a Muslim called Mohammed. It might not have been what you meant but that's how it reads.
 
He's a kid, and chose poorly because he was probably excited to show his teacher.

Total over reaction. Even the engineering teacher explained to the first teacher that it wasn't an issue etc, but obviously the second teacher felt like this was a future threat.

I make crap with wires and batteries all the time, I don't expect to be arrested for making a usb powered fan, or a self made bike helmet light etc.
 
Not sure if it's been mentioned by apparently he had just started at that school a few weeks ago after moving up from middle school, where he used to make and take in gadgets all the time.
 
Caged said:
What? It's more likely than not that his name and being a Muslim was a large factor in the treatment he received. You initially stated that you agreed with the teachers actions due to the kid being a Muslim called Mohammed. It might not have been what you meant but that's how it reads.
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No I never said I agreed at all! I said I'm sure it was a factor though
 
Chojin said:
I used to think it was a positive trait for people to see the good in things, but actually the lack of critical thinking in the general populace is quite dangerous.

Google and Facebook are acting like this kid's DNA needs to be preserved and analysed so future generations can understand how to make clocks. He put a clock in a briefcase for christ sakes.

The school did the right thing in reporting it though, clearly the kid showed it to his teacher in a way that was cause for alarm - and from the smirk in his interview he probably had his best troll face on at the time. If it actually had been a bomb and the school passed it off as a toy then there would have been an uproar.
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Maybe i've become cynical but I believing NOTHING now at first glance. Ever. So many times it's turned out be total ******** or something completely different....

Now if this kid did just disassemble a clock and put into a pencil case / brief case looking thing. We have to now ask.

Why would you do that? and why is this getting a bunch of media exposure and the police made out to be absolute pieces of ****.

Also why the humongous amount of praise as if this kid is the next Einstein and all he's done is rip the inside of a clock out and stick it in some pencil case....

He hasn't even made anything. This is why I love the internet, they begin to pull things apart and really look into it. Did he actually do it to hoax a bomb threat? no probably not... but clearly it's just a clock pulled apart stuffed into a pencil case. Hardly the work of a child prodigy.

http://therightscoop.com/weve-been-had-ahmed-didnt-even-make-that-clock/

Basically TLDR, this has been taken too far again. As usual.

Why I just ignore the news and the idiots who instantly eat it up. And twitter? Don't even get me started, it's a just a congregation of vacuous human beings.
 
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