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

[cimmo]

I'll leave this right here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/09/16/istandwithahmed-scientists-and-the-public-surge-to-support-boy-arrested-for-homemade-clock/?tid=sm_tw

and this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Claimed_use_in_terrorism

And apparently this is what a bomb looks like to all the supposed adults who get all their "knowledge" of such things from Hollywood:

[mtdoc]

The silence of the Repub candidates on this incident really is notable.  I suppose on the one hand they can't risk alienating the islamophobic, white supremist contingent of their party, on the other hand, some of the tea-party contingent who fashion themselves of the libertarian bent must be repulsed by this incident - at least I would hope so.  Then again their are loads of fake libertarian types in the party who really just adopt the ideology when it suits their self interest (or potentially garners votes.) 

Anyone who denies that there is an islamophobic element to this incident either has a major blindspot or an agenda.  There is no way in hell a white, "proper Texan" nerd would have been arrested and questioned (without parents present!) for this.

I'm no fan of Obama or Hillary but at least they spoke to the issue.

For a real libertarian take on this Mike Krieger had a nice piece. 

I like Wired magazines line about it being "A perfect shitstorm of Islamophobia and technophobia".  Exactly right.

[cimmo]

I wonder what happens to students of a certain religion who come to school with one of these:

[EEVblog]

[gaijin]

Reminded me of the 2007 Boston bomb scare.

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

[EEVblog]

Here's a clock I build when I was about Ahmed's age, it's what hobbyists do:

SAM_4913.JPG by Dave Jones, on Flickr

SAM_4914.JPG by Dave Jones, on Flickr

SAM_4912.JPG by Dave Jones, on Flickr

[Halcyon]

He got it all wrong! Bombs are supposed to be made out of a Compaq Concerto! Didn't he learn anything from watching Die Hard? 

http://starringthecomputer.com/feature.html?f=634

[zapta]

The silence of the Repub candidates on this incident really is notable.  I suppose on the one hand they can't risk alienating the islamophobic, white supremist contingent of their party, on the other hand, some of the tea-party contingent who fashion themselves of the libertarian bent must be repulsed by this incident - at least I would hope so.  Then again their are loads of fake libertarian types in the party who really just adopt the ideology when it suits their self interest (or potentially garners votes.) 

Anyone who denies that there is an islamophobic element to this incident either has a major blindspot or an agenda.  There is no way in hell a white, "proper Texan" nerd would have been arrested and questioned (without parents present!) for this.

Your post is full of bigotry, hate and racism.

[cimmo]

The silence of the Repub candidates on this incident really is notable.  I suppose on the one hand they can't risk alienating the islamophobic, white supremist contingent of their party, on the other hand, some of the tea-party contingent who fashion themselves of the libertarian bent must be repulsed by this incident - at least I would hope so.  Then again their are loads of fake libertarian types in the party who really just adopt the ideology when it suits their self interest (or potentially garners votes.) 

Anyone who denies that there is an islamophobic element to this incident either has a major blindspot or an agenda.  There is no way in hell a white, "proper Texan" nerd would have been arrested and questioned (without parents present!) for this.

Your post is full of bigotry, hate and racism.

Since his post is merely describing the reality of the situation, I guess your comment is correct.

[ronniegogs]

I think I am gonna build a clock for kicks this weekend... This is just plain stupid what happened. Glad my teachers in India encouraged me rather than act stupid like these idiots..

[vk6hdx]

Here's a clock I build when I was about Ahmed's age, it's what hobbyists do:

You could have at least labeled which red wire am I supposed to cut.

[RickBrant]

Here's a clock I build when I was about Ahmed's age, it's what hobbyists do:

You could have at least labeled which red wire am I supposed to cut.

*sigh* You're first supposed to connect a shorting lead across the wires to the detonator or equivalent. THEN cut the red wire, damnit!

[RickBrant]

I propose that all of us, at least those of us who live in places where we "do Halloween".... this year's H'ween costume? Ahmed. Or Ahmed supporter. Costume to include a NASA t-shirt and black horn-rim glasses.

And, of course, a working digital clock, preferably with bright LED digits. Preferably one you built yourself with its circuitry visible.

(I predict a run on digital clock kits... )

[codeboy2k]

I propose that all of us, at least those of us who live in places where we "do Halloween".... this year's H'ween costume? Ahmed. Or Ahmed supporter. Costume to include a NASA t-shirt and black horn-rim glasses.

And, of course, a working digital clock, preferably with bright LED digits. Preferably one you built yourself with its circuitry visible.

(I predict a run on digital clock kits... )

Annual "Bring a clock to school day" ?

[station240]

Don't the police in Houston have a bomb detection dog ?
If it don't smell like TNT, C4, fertiliser it's not a bomb. A quick sniff from the dog would solve the doubt.

Personally I think the teachers, principle should spend the night in a cell. Making false reports and wasting police time is a crime.
Time to start punishing the idiots that call the cops when something goes bump in the night, or a stranger comes into town.

[pickle9000]

Sound like the only thing the kid said was "It's a clock", over and over to deaf ears. If he was a white kid named John Smith would anything have happened? Be kinda cool if Obama made some personal phone calls to the teacher, principal and cops on the scene. Just to say hello and what the hell where you thinking. Maybe ask them to apologize to the kid.

[cimmo]

Be kinda cool if Obama made some personal phone calls to the teacher, principal and cops on the scene. Just to say hello and what the hell where you thinking. Maybe ask them to apologize to the kid.

Indeed it would be cool and highly appropriate to apologise to the kid.
But their lawyers would never permit that - it would signify guilt and would add a zero or two to the ultimate settlement.

There will be a lawsuit over this - and it will be very expensive.

[linux-works]

Be kinda cool if Obama made some personal phone calls to the teacher, principal and cops on the scene. Just to say hello and what the hell where you thinking. Maybe ask them to apologize to the kid.

we are missing the bigger picture, here, though.  the bigger picture is zero tolerance and robot-thinking that we have adopted over the last 10-20 years.  obama could see this and comment on THAT.  do we really want teachers to HAVE to report kids, out of fear for their jobs?  I 'get' that teachers in that position feel forced to do things they may not agree with, but have to to CYA (cover your ass).

lets address and try to fix the zero-tolerance bullshit and reverse it.

we have a teachable - and society-changeable - moment here.  we can use it or waste it.

[Pedram]

Nice floating resistor !

[eas]

I'm not surprised this happened in TX, or anywhere else in the south; but I won't be surprised if it happened in WA state, or Oregon, or New York, or anywhere else in the US either. I don't think there is a state in the country that hasn't seen a ratcheting up of security paranoia in the schools over the past 20 years, and there isn't a state in the country that hasn't had a ratcheting up in security paranoia over the past 15 years. Racism and xenophobia isn't confined to the South either.

Still, I don't have any problems implicating a certain strain of Texasness in this. The state's politics is afflicted with an ugly mix of retrograde white protestant religious fundamentalism, Texas-nationalism, fascism and who knows what else. Religious fundamentalists and reactionary "conservatives" have been twisting school curriculum  to try and use their buying power to force their ideology into schools across the nation. They're one of many "red" states trying to keep "undesirables" from exercising their right to vote. Women, minorities, atheists, "liberals," LGBT, and whatnot are frequently sacrificed (figuratively and literally) to provide red meat to get the Republican base to the polls. There are, however, a hell of a lot of african-Americans, Mexicans, muslims, LGBT, Democrats, in the state, and their life isn't all hell -- I look forward to the inevitable day though when the retrograde shitbags loose to demographics. I hope they suffer a decade or two of their own medicine once the tables turn.

In the end, its hard to imagine that this kid's name and skin color didn't play a role in how things went down. The school and the cops both acted reprehensibly. The initial suspicion and arrest are bad enough. What really galls me though, is the way they doubled-down and tried to smear the kid further with vague insinuations and appeals to paranoia and racism to try and deflect attention from their overreaction. Its the same sort of evil cowardice that may end up with another likely innocent man being executed in two weeks (in Oklahoma, this time).

The kid is 14. I hope he can continue being a kid for a few more years.

[mtdoc]

Be kinda cool if Obama made some personal phone calls to the teacher, principal and cops on the scene. Just to say hello and what the hell where you thinking. Maybe ask them to apologize to the kid.

we are missing the bigger picture, here, though.  the bigger picture is zero tolerance and robot-thinking that we have adopted over the last 10-20 years.  obama could see this and comment on THAT.  do we really want teachers to HAVE to report kids, out of fear for their jobs?  I 'get' that teachers in that position feel forced to do things they may not agree with, but have to to CYA (cover your ass).

lets address and try to fix the zero-tolerance bullshit and reverse it.

I agree the zero-tolerance (aka zero-logic) policy BS is a problem but in my mind there is a bigger problem here.  If Ahmed had simply been pulled into the principles office and even perhaps suspended for bringing to school what was wrongly labelled a "fake bomb" , then that would be a shame and a byproduct of zero-tolerance BS.

But the travesty here  IMO is that the police were called, he was hand-cuffed, arrested and brought to the police station for questioning ( without his parents present!!!). This is way beyond to idiocy of zero-tolerance policies - this is where the islamophobia and fear mongering police state tactics that are taking over our society came into play. Racism, bigotry and hate - yes indeed.

we have a teachable - and society-changeable - moment here.  we can use it or waste it.

  Oh, if only it could be so.. But I wouldn't get your hopes up...

[linux-works]

to counter-balance things, a bit, there's this nice bit of news that just came out today:

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/09/16/1535215/followup-library-board-unanimously-supports-tor-relay

last week, a library was coerced into shutting down an anonymizer (tor exit node) by the US feds and their minions.  this week, the library board met and decided to ignore the illegal attempt to scare them into shutting down and keeping down that node.

yay!  score one for the good guys, where they were confronted by a power-base gone astray, they resisted and they say NO!   lots of respect for the librarians who did their research and decided that freedom was worth the risk of being bullied by thugs in blue.

[SNGLinks]

All bombs have an LED display counting down. That's how they look in movies so it must be true.

[Tothwolf]

Student suspended for shaping Pop-Tart into gun

As for Ahmed's story...the problem here was the English teacher and school principal. This wasn't about "safety", both of these individuals were looking to start trouble and/or make a name for themselves (and I would even go so far as to say that the teacher was clearly being a bully). Because of the uproar (and likely sizable monetary settlement with Ahmed's family), the Irving school board will absolutely be looking for reasons to fire them. If they can't outright fire them, they will without a doubt be moved to administrative roles within the school district where they have no contact with students.

[BradC]

All bombs have an LED display counting down. That's how they look in movies so it must be true.

Last time I checked a clock counted up.