14 year old arrested for bringing in homemade clock

Mr Jones · 22 Sep 2015 at 07:14

Thekwango said:
So you reckon if someone posted up in the build logs forum a thread about taking an old pc, lifting it out of its case and stuffing it inside, let's say, a suitcase and then saying 'look guys at the pc i built' they wouldn't get belittled or ridiculed?

Give it a try and tell me how you get on

Because essentially that's what the kid did.

I also don't buy the claims he did it as he was interested in how it all worked. Nonsense. He wouldn't have stripped it out and bunged in a pencil case type thingy.

Of course we shouldn't discourage kids from taking an interest in how things work - but that's not the case here. It'll take some convincing now to displace my belief that it was prank gone wrong.

http://www.benheck.com/xbox-360-portable-2012/

This guy strips an Xbox and put it in a 'suit case', except he's older and more experience, the finishing is better. Did he just build and tried to sell a bomb for $2000 on his website back in 2012??

The point of what's happened to the kid is:
1) He was arrested a later that day when a teacher assumed he created a bomb - that smells more than the kid bringing in a prank.
2) He was detained without parental or Lawyer, a requirement under Texan law.
3) School tries to cover by blaming him immediately, and even suspended him for 3 days?
4) now police tries to cover them selves by blaming the kid was pulling a prank, despite point number two, which they were clearly in the wrong, along with many other points which are dubious.

Which one smells more? A kid who assumed, lifted a clock and rehouse it like most DIY hackers, such an Ben Hack, or the actual actions of what the teacher who sounded the alarm, the schools reaction to I and the police?

OhEsEcks · 22 Sep 2015 at 07:18

I remember when Mini ITX first came on the scene in the early 00s, there were no good cases. So one of the popular things to put them in was .50 bmg ammo cases.

Here's one all the way back in 03. http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/ammobox/

bledd · 22 Sep 2015 at 07:23

Thekwango said:
So you reckon if someone posted up in the build logs forum a thread about taking an old pc, lifting it out of its case and stuffing it inside, let's say, a suitcase and then saying 'look guys at the pc i built' they wouldn't get belittled or ridiculed?

Give it a try and tell me how you get on

Because essentially that's what the kid did.

I also don't buy the claims he did it as he was interested in how it all worked. Nonsense. He wouldn't have stripped it out and bunged in a pencil case type thingy.

Of course we shouldn't discourage kids from taking an interest in how things work - but that's not the case here. It'll take some convincing now to displace my belief that it was prank gone wrong.

Would be great for LAN parties.

+1 to what Werewolf said.

SexyGreyFox · 22 Sep 2015 at 07:44

muon said:
Lol. So it's unfair. Is that now what this entire story is about?

It's funny how racial stereotyping and potentially illegal actions of the police has now taken a back seat to.

"This kid ain't a qualified engineer, what a liar".

"Its unfair MIT, Facebook are being nice to him".

I haven't taken much interest in this story but if he has been invited to study at MIT he might not be actually qualified enough and will be taking up a more deserved place.
Of course this will be found out when he does get to that age.
I suppose the toys are a nice gesture though.

Tefal · 22 Sep 2015 at 07:47

dowie said:
briefcase pencil case

briefcase implies you could fit an a4 sized brief in it....

Tefal · 22 Sep 2015 at 07:50

Dicehunter said:
This is nothing but a racial false flag event to cause a distraction and cause further racial divide.

ok so its a false flag please tell me which intelligence or government agency you think trained this 14 year old boy and briefed him on the plan?

Tefal · 22 Sep 2015 at 07:50

Thekwango said:
So you reckon if someone posted up in the build logs forum a thread about taking an old pc, lifting it out of its case and stuffing it inside, let's say, a suitcase and then saying 'look guys at the pc i built' they wouldn't get belittled or ridiculed?

or say a desk?

wait....

The Geezer · 22 Sep 2015 at 08:20

The most telling comment I read on the web;

"14 old boy creates a bigotry detector"

MatsyLR · 22 Sep 2015 at 08:43

Why are people defending this kid?
All he did was take a clock out of its case and putting the board/wires it into a questionable case, then lie about "inventing" it. It would take you like 2min to do that. The kid invented how to use a screwdriver?

In one of the interviews he's talking about tech with board in his hands and he says its a media player and the presenter is like "OMG :O YOUR SO TALENTED", Yeah you can use a screwdriver, big deal.

I wouldn't be surprised if the father was the one who made him do this to push his own agenda.

He should not be getting invites to MIT and stuff, he will be laughed out.

Winky_The_Winking_Turtle · 22 Sep 2015 at 08:57

Dicehunter said:
Bet you anything that if he was a white christian not a peep would have been heard about this.

This. Honestly if I was in his position right now I'd feel quite used/offended. All these companies are offering "compensation" of sorts, almost like "hey, sorry you're muslim, take these products/scholarships/etc. to make up for "our" lack of knowledge."

After all, literally all he did was gut an off the shelf alarm clock and shove it into a pencil case. Not necessarily saying this is a bad thing per say as it shows his potential interest in tech, engineering, etc., but he never solely inventing anything.

Mr Jones · 22 Sep 2015 at 09:28

MatsyLR said:
Why are people defending this kid?
All he did was take a clock out of its case and putting the board/wires it into a questionable case, then lie about "inventing" it. It would take you like 2min to do that. The kid invented how to use a screwdriver?

In one of the interviews he's talking about tech with board in his hands and he says its a media player and the presenter is like "OMG :O YOUR SO TALENTED", Yeah you can use a screwdriver, big deal.

I wouldn't be surprised if the father was the one who made him do this to push his own agenda.

He should not be getting invites to MIT and stuff, he will be laughed out.

Winky_The_Winking_Turtle said:
This. Honestly if I was in his position right now I'd feel quite used/offended. All these companies are offering "compensation" of sorts, almost like "hey, sorry you're muslim, take these products/scholarships/etc. to make up for "our" lack of knowledge."

After all, literally all he did was gut an off the shelf alarm clock and shove it into a pencil case. Not necessarily saying this is a bad thing per say as it shows his potential interest in tech, engineering, etc., but he never solely inventing anything.

Take the Muslim bit out and see why these companies / university are doing what they're doing:

1) Media Frenzy - free advertisement
2) Encouraging the kid to stick with Engineering and not be put off because the police arrested you for experimenting - something that is vitally important when you get kids aspiring to being celebrities.

Also, I have not found an article that Ahmed said he invented the clock, he said he made a briefcase clock. Watching Dragons Den and you can see some of the most pointless prototypes people are asking money for, this is a 14 year old experimenting, it's not going to be the golden egg.

Except in the case, the situation the School / Police's action was the catalyst that made it look like the golden egg.

spudbynight · 22 Sep 2015 at 09:30

CREATIVE!11 said:
Nah mate he's a genius.

#IStandWithAhmed

I invented the computer, several times.

I stay that as someone who has actually been to MIT.

Random Guy · 22 Sep 2015 at 09:43

Dicehunter said:
Bet you anything that if he was a white christian not a peep would have been heard about this.

Are you high? If this was a white Christian do you think that any of this would have kicked off in the first place?

spudbynight · 22 Sep 2015 at 12:38

Random Guy said:
Are you high? If this was a white Christian do you think that any of this would have kicked off in the first place?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/pop-tart-gun-bill_n_2852472.html

White kid suspended for biting pop-tart into the shape of a gun. Suspension has been upheld.

Note the lack of any sort of IStandWithJosh hashtag. Guess it is because he is a white kid and not a Muslim?

Thekwango · 22 Sep 2015 at 13:06

Mr Jones said:
http://www.benheck.com/xbox-360-portable-2012/

This guy strips an Xbox and put it in a 'suit case', except he's older and more experience, the finishing is better. Did he just build and tried to sell a bomb for $2000 on his website back in 2012??

I really shouldn't reply to such nonsense but I can't help myself. are you really trying to compare a guy with a website listing and documenting his products with some kid who stuffed a 'homemade clock' inside a ropey looking pencil case and then kept it in his bag - is that really what you are trying to do?
of course he didn't try and sell a bomb for $2000 on his website, why are you even asking this? I really can't comprehend why you think the 2 are even comparable :confused:

but then that's the problem here - people will try and use any method to try to defend this lad when it's looking more and more likely the kid simply tried to be a smart ass.

Mr Jones said:
The point of what's happened to the kid is:
1) He was arrested a later that day when a teacher assumed he created a bomb - that smells more than the kid bringing in a prank.

I don't think anyone ever thought he had actually made a viable bomb - the suspicion was that he had made a hoax bomb

2) He was detained without parental or Lawyer, a requirement under Texan law.

and this was completely out of order - don't think anyone is debating that

3) School tries to cover by blaming him immediately, and even suspended him for 3 days?

perfectly entitled to if the do not believe what he is telling them - schools aren't like a court of law

4) now police tries to cover them selves by blaming the kid was pulling a prank, despite point number two, which they were clearly in the wrong, along with many other points which are dubious.

Which one smells more? A kid who assumed, lifted a clock and rehouse it like most DIY hackers, such an Ben Hack, or the actual actions of what the teacher who sounded the alarm, the schools reaction to I and the police?

the kid is nothing like a DIY hacker such as Ben Hack - seriously man catch yourself on

Greebo · 22 Sep 2015 at 13:28

spudbynight said:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/pop-tart-gun-bill_n_2852472.html

White kid suspended for biting pop-tart into the shape of a gun. Suspension has been upheld.

Note the lack of any sort of IStandWithJosh hashtag. Guess it is because he is a white kid and not a Muslim?

Also wasnt there the black girl earlier in the year with her chemistry project for a science fair? She got expelled and arrested too. Didnt see the whitehouse jump on that one either.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/f...ect-there-are-consequences-to-actions-6556028

OhEsEcks · 22 Sep 2015 at 13:40

Greebo said:
Also wasnt there the black girl earlier in the year with her chemistry project for a science fair? She got expelled and arrested too. Didnt see the whitehouse jump on that one either.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/f...ect-there-are-consequences-to-actions-6556028

The charges were dropped and she was only suspended. After she got a lot of attention.

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/charges-dropped-against-florida-teen-over-ama

Still a stupid thing to do. As those house hold chemicals actually DO MAKE AN EXPLOSIVE. As opposed to a clock in a pencil case.

Glaucus · 22 Sep 2015 at 13:53

Winky_The_Winking_Turtle said:
This. Honestly if I was in his position right now I'd feel quite used/offended. All these companies are offering "compensation" of sorts, almost like "hey, sorry you're muslim, take these products/scholarships/etc. to make up for "our" lack of knowledge."

After all, literally all he did was gut an off the shelf alarm clock and shove it into a pencil case. Not necessarily saying this is a bad thing per say as it shows his potential interest in tech, engineering, etc., but he never solely inventing anything.

What utter rubbish, these companies/.people don't have compensation to give, they had nothing to do with it. They are how ever standing with him to show support and say that racism is not ok, that harming children education is not ok, that the schools and police reaction is not ok. That such minded individuals should be supported and encouraged in doing stem subjects.

Some utterly bizarre and frankly disgusting opinions in this thread.

Thekwango · 22 Sep 2015 at 13:58

Glaucus said:
What utter rubbish, these companies/.people don't have compensation to give, they had nothing to do with it. They are how ever standing with him to show support and say that racism is not ok, that harming children education is not ok, that the schools and police reaction is not ok. That such minded individuals should be supported and encouraged in doing stem subjects.

Some utterly bizarre and frankly disgusting opinions in this thread.

sorry no but that is utter rubbish. you really think these companies give one toss about this kid and his religion/race?

they are standing with him to show support?? jesus man are you high??

they are jumping on the publicity bandwagon and if you think any different you should go lay down for a while and rest!

it would be really great if they actually were 'standing up to racism' but seriously, you can't honestly think that?!

Glaucus · 22 Sep 2015 at 14:00

Be use publicity really helps out these people who have offered stuff. Yeah right. You are the insane one.

It is very common in society to stand with people who have been wrongly accused and show support,