9th Grader Arrested in Houston for making ... a clock.

[forrestc]

What's the deal with the US/Canadian border?
Can you guys just move there and live/work and vise-versa?

Having imported my wife from Canada I can say that that is a definite no....

The actual rule is that you can visit the other country up to 6 months at a time, as long as your intent is not to move to the other country.   Your intent, of course, is subject to scrutiny by the border agents, and they have the (relatively) final say as to whether you can or cannot visit.   If you are intending to move permanently you need to go through a long drawn out process to make that happen - if it's possible at all under each countries immigration policies.

Working in the other country depends on the specifics of the situation.   Generally you can't work on the other side of the border except in specific exemptions and/or with a visa.

[Chris C]

Texas has no monopoly on stupidity, and neither does the South.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare

[firewalker]

U.S.A. - Terrorism.
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Maybe room for "Not a bomb" sticker?

Alexander.

[Deathwish]

So, let me ask, did they find a detonator to go with this clock, if not it aint no bomb

[BulletMagnet83]

I wonder if there'll be some sort of "in your face, Establishment!" campaign for young engineers the world over to build as many electronic clocks in as many different ways as they possibly can? 

[GNU_Ninja]

Memo to the Texas PD. This is what a bomb looks like.

[Deathwish]

I wonder if there'll be some sort of "in your face, Establishment!" campaign for young engineers the world over to build as many electronic clocks in as many different ways as they possibly can? 

Erm maybe they should all send in as many as they can to the local law offices with a statement saying please find enclosed my bomb. I reckon after a few thousand they would maybe get the message.

[continuo]

Guess they don't sell these funny alarm clocks in the US then? 

http://gadgets-china.de/bombenwecker/

[BulletMagnet83]

I wonder if there'll be some sort of "in your face, Establishment!" campaign for young engineers the world over to build as many electronic clocks in as many different ways as they possibly can? 

Erm maybe they should all send in as many as they can to the local law offices with a statement saying please find enclosed my bomb. I reckon after a few thousand they would maybe get the message.

That.... might end badly  Spamming their social media pages with #notabomb and some nice project pictures wouldn't really accomplish anything, but I'm all for thumbing my nose at the authorities with some light-hearted pisstaking when it's both legal and justified!

[zapta]

there is also a war on women in texas.  read up on that, too.  such hostility toward women who want to have control over their own bodies when it comes to giving birth.  texas has a really bad track record when it comes to womens' rights.

That's a spin. The debate is about babies bodies, not women bodies, whether it should be legal to kill unburned babies.

[Mechanical Menace]

That's a spin. The debate is about babies bodies, not women bodies, whether it should be legal to kill unburned babies.

That's a massive dishonest load of bs spin. The debate is mainly about zygotes and the occasional foetus, not 'babies' at all.

[zapta]

again, truth hurts.  I get that.  but denying it won't help fix it.

and I'm not saying 100% of everyone there is like that.   don't be absurd. but cultural areas DO have trends and belief systems and this is what I'm speaking to.  until very recently, the confederate flag continued to be tolerated in the south.  this was not helping and the south had to be pulled, yelling and screaming, into the modern era.

(Flame off)

This bigotry is very typical in the Bay Area.

The fact is that many talents and businesses are moving from California to Texas because of their less intrusive state government.

[Deathwish]

I wonder if there'll be some sort of "in your face, Establishment!" campaign for young engineers the world over to build as many electronic clocks in as many different ways as they possibly can? 

Erm maybe they should all send in as many as they can to the local law offices with a statement saying please find enclosed my bomb. I reckon after a few thousand they would maybe get the message.

That.... might end badly  Spamming their social media pages with #notabomb and some nice project pictures wouldn't really accomplish anything, but I'm all for thumbing my nose at the authorities with some light-hearted pisstaking when it's both legal and justified!

Wot !, no bomb !, you are obviously not a welsh nationalist then  , Seriously, I would just send them a wun hung lo timer anonymously and let them freak as they did the poor kid.

[dr.diesel]

The fact is that many talents and businesses are moving from California to Texas because of their less intrusive state government.

That wouldn't surprise me.  I wouldn't move to California for a 10x salary increase.

[zapta]

So, let me ask, did they find a detonator to go with this clock, if not it aint no bomb

Yes, a fake bomb is not a bomb but still can have a malice intention behind it.

[Mechanical Menace]

The fact is that many talents and businesses are moving from California to Texas because of their less intrusive state government.

A state government that's interested in what you do in your bedroom and wants to dictate and enforce religious beliefs seems more intrusive to me. But meh lower taxes seem to be all most mean when they cry for 'freedom.'

EDIT: And yes I'm well aware there's not only Texas or even the US where those points apply.

So, let me ask, did they find a detonator to go with this clock, if not it aint no bomb

Yes, a fake bomb is not a bomb but still can have a malice intention behind it.

What makes you believe it's a fake bomb and not just a DIY clock as stated?

[zapta]

What makes you believe it's a fake bomb and not just a DIY clock as stated?

I didn't investigate it so I don't have a conclusion whether it can be reasonably considered to be a fake bomb.

[Howardlong]

This incident makes me angry too. When we're trying to encourage kids to consider careers in STEM, this kind of massive over-reaction is just baffling.

More interesting is going to be how they try to dig themselves out of it. Now global news, it's the #2 read item on the BBC News website now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34266389

Police spokesman James McLellan said that, throughout the interview, Ahmed had maintained that he built only a clock, but said the boy was unable to give a "broader explanation" as to what it would be used for.

Er... WTF do you think a clock's for, Sherlock?

[Deathwish]

Being reasonably serious, everyone with a brain knows that today in this world every household has as many chemicals in it as needed it to build a home made IED. So in theory we are all terrorists with the ability to make such by their thinking, best get my lawyer fired up in case of a visit if the feds want to make something of that fact. Arresting some poor kid is an insult to anyone with any intelligence for building a home made clock.

[zapta]

That's a massive dishonest load of bs spin. The debate is mainly about zygotes and the occasional foetus, not 'babies' at all.

Yes, the debate is about bodies of fetuses, whether it should be legal to intentionally kill them,  especially the more mature ones.

[BulletMagnet83]

Being reasonably serious, everyone with a brain knows that today in this world every household has as many chemicals in it as needed it to build a home made IED. So in theory we are all terrorists with the ability to make such by their thinking, best get my lawyer fired up in case of a visit if the feds want to make something of that fact. Arresting some poor kid is an insult to anyone with any intelligence for building a home made clock.

Quite true. Building an IED is arguably easier than building a clock. If we were to really push it to a ridiculous extreme, a GCSE/A-level chemistry textbook could be considered "materials useful to someone planning a terrorist attack"... and all you need to make potassium nitrate is piss, straw and patience 

[zapta]

That wouldn't surprise me.  I wouldn't move to California for a 10x salary increase.

The weather is good here

[Deathwish]

Police spokesman James McLellan said that, throughout the interview, Ahmed had maintained that he built only a clock, but said the boy was unable to give a "broader explanation" as to what it would be used for.

Er... WTF do you think a clock's for, Sherlock?

You know exactly why they did this one, they wanted to force the poor kid into saying " oh well yes it could be used for a bomb I guess ". he has then incriminated himself with that big word, BOMB mechanism. There really is only one word for these law officers , and I wont repeat it here.

[Kjelt]

It is silly that they actually arrested him after they found out what it is all about.
Although enough has happened in the past to make it a fuzzy case IMO.
He brought something to school that should not be on school grounds, period.
He at least could have asked his teacher first.

It was not 100% clear what it was, so yes you can imagine someone uneducated like an english teacher to get nervous and take it serious.
There were enough incidents of kids bringing a fake sometimes selfmade gun to school, it looked like it was real but it was not, you think that would be serious enough to call the police? No? Well it also has happened that kids brought real guns and killed people in school, that happened in the US and also Germany and probably other countries, a lot of innocent people died.

Only thing I find ludricous is that they really arrested him after they found out it was nothing like what they thought it was. The first reaction of the teacher is ok, better safe then ever being sorry and have to apologize to parents when their kids died.

[Mechanical Menace]

That's a massive dishonest load of bs spin. The debate is mainly about zygotes and the occasional foetus, not 'babies' at all.

Yes, the debate is about bodies of fetuses, whether it should be legal to intentionally kill them,  especially the more mature ones.

Nope, the vast majority of the 'debate' is about zygotes, even going to the extent of claiming IUDs, the pill, and other contraceptives etc are 'killing babies' by not letting eggs get fertilised or letting them implant.

It's an attempt to force one groups religious beliefs on others while they conveniently ignore that their little book of fables actually condones abortions, gives the time that a human becomes a living being as an unambiguous 'when they take their first breath,' and pretty much goes against most of what they claim their country gets from that book including it's independence.

It is silly that they actually arrested him after they found out what it is all about.
Although enough has happened in the past to make it a fuzzy case IMO.
He brought something to school that should not be on school grounds, period.
He at least could have asked his teacher first.

WTF? Please tell me you are being sarcastic. This is a place that wants to make it illegal to ban guns from schools and you're saying a clock, and not just a clock but one that was built with knowledge that came from a course of independent study, shouldn't be on the grounds at all? Isn't encouraging learning what schools are meant to do?