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

[Howardlong]

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

....

I'm gutted that I don't have the clock (or even pictures of it) of my own design back in the 70s, from about 20 TTL chips when I was 12.

It consisted of some 7490s, 7492s, and 7447s, with a bunch of glue logic to convert the hour 7492 output to BCD. None of your LS nonsense either, this was full fat TTL, I don't think LS was even around then.

Even back then, I pushed back against tying counter outputs to reset pins to fudge a given arbitrary divide ratio (quite a common practice), because if you take the timing specs from the datasheet, the result is not guaranteed, although in practice I accept that it works.

Crystals were expensive, and so would be the divider chain, so I used the mains 50Hz. At the time I didn't realise that this technique is used quite often for clocks, as mains 50Hz, at least in the UK, is fairly stringently managed, and although it may vary slightly throughout the day, the aggregate frequency is 50Hz. I set up a resistor/zener limiter, fed into a 7413 Schmitt trigger in an attempt to use the hysteresis to work through any spikes. It didn't work that well, when the washing machine changed cycles, it would jump forward many seconds! It wasn't until several years later when I started to understand analogue electronics that I would understand concepts of filtering sufficiently to be able to correct for that.

Current draw was about an amp, I used an LM309K screwed to a bit of metal, it got pretty hot.

It was hand wired built on stripboard. No oscilloscope, just a crappy 1k ohm per volt multimeter and an LED plus resistor.

Looking back, I'd say that designing the logic, particularly the 7492 to BCD part, hand wiring 20 TTL chips, and getting it to work was quite an achievement for a 12 year old. IF I saw a kid of that age doing something as complex as that nowadays I'd be pretty blown away.

[Mechanical Menace]

Deciding that a Muslim kid's clock project must be a bomb and nothing else, because "well, you know Muslim boys only live to make bombs" is the essence racism. 

Nah, Muslim isn't an ethnicity. It's some sort of bigotry but 'racism' is the wrong label.

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

....

I'm gutted that I don't have the clock (or even pictures of it) of my own design back in the 70s, from about 20 TTL chips when I was 12.

I wish I had pics of mine but they were all mechanical. My favourite wasn't even very good, gained about a minute a day, but was made entirely out of Lego lol.

One of my sons once did a high school assignment describing in detail how to build a bomb that would cause mass destruction. The school called me in for a meeting with the Principal

Same happened to me for 'designing' a neutron bomb. Except when my parents got to the heads office the reaction wasn't...

where I was asked that I discipline my son because his knowledge is dangerous.

...but to try encourage me to take more interest in physics lessons in school :/

[Zero999]

Admit racism in this case based on what?

Kids get arrested in school for various reasons.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/19-crazy-things-that-school-children-are-being-arrested-for-in-america

Having a Muslim name should not grant one immunity against fake bomb suspicion.

Wow, that just shows how bad it is over in the US. No one should be arrested for any of those silly things.

I beg to differ. It is constructed specifically to represent what most people would imagine an explosive device would look like.

Then, as mentioned several posts ago, if they really thought it was a bomb, the whole school should have been evacuated but it wasn't.

Even if the boy was pretending it was a bomb (clearly he wasn't) then getting the police involved, when they knew it was not a real bomb, would have still been wrong (he's only 14 and children often play still games like that) the school should have dealt with the situation.

[Galenbo]

Most of the 9/11 Muslim terrorists were ENGINEERS. So this 14 year old kid could be guilty by association. After all,...

This makes me think about 2 quotes:

-It's not because the 9/11 guys were muslim terrorists, that every muslim is guilty.
-It's not because the muslim clock kid is innocent, that every muslim is innocent.

This causes apparently a contradiction for some people, I think both right AND left extremist are shooting at me now.

For me, there's much common in it:
-TV will bring whatever event in their versions.
-Politicians are ready to shamelessly use every event.
-Once some religion is named, the debate is over.

[SL4P]

All klocks must now be ANALOG type to avoid confusion.
Hands must be no longer than 1-inch (2.5 cm) to avoid use as a penetrating weapon.
Time shall be displayed in 12-hour indication so not to confuse inexperienced klockwatchers!.

[Galenbo]

Nah, Muslim isn't an ethnicity. It's some sort of bigotry but 'racism' is the wrong label.

Some years ago, the PolCo's from EU changed that term too, to make us silent and falsify the debate.

Saying: "I only hire non-religious people" is now officially racism here, and punishment goes until jail and closing your business.

[GNU_Ninja]

Though if I had encountered this device out of context, without knowing who created it and why, I'm afraid I can see how this could be considered HIGHLY suspect.move on.

But the point is there was context. This was his teacher and the school Principal who should know this kid.
One look at him and his NASA T-Shirt screams harmless nerd, without even knowing him.
[/quote]
No. There area lot of second generation immigrants living in europe, who start looking for their roots, and then they are radicalized and become terrorists (recently in France) or they travel willingly to middle east countries to fight in a war based on religion.
Police arrested a similar aged girl from the Netherlands who wanted to travel to Syria and join a terrorist organization. She was half way there. Teachers, friends were shocked. (She would be probably a sex slave there, the poor misguided girl).
http://www.thejournal.ie/dutch-girl-arrested-syria-is-1764687-Nov2014/
I'm with the police and the teachers on this. When some time passes and they prove all of them can live civilized amongst us, and not kill us because we dont believe in their deity, and I mean all of them, not 999 out of 1000, then maybe they will not get the treatment, prejudge that they have now.
I feel bad for this guy. I really do. It is not his fault that this happened. But here is a moral of the story for all of you:
You dont point at people who cried wolf, you dont ridicule them, you dont laugh at them.
Because the next time someone gets killed by a brainwashed teenager, and it happened because no-one suspected anything, or their suspicions were dismissed.
[/quote]

I stand to be corrected, but most of the recent mass killings in american schools seem to have been perpetrated by white supremacist middle class suburban punks with ready access to automatic weapons.  Not young muslim geeks wielding homebrew digital clocks

[Galenbo]

I stand to be corrected, but most of the recent mass killings in american schools seem to have been perpetrated by white supremacist middle class suburban punks with ready access to automatic weapons.  Not young muslim geeks wielding homebrew digital clocks

You have to look at the white-supremacist-made numbers to see if you're correct.

"most of"

Changing places the terms "white supremacist" and "young muslims" in your expression gives a guote that is regarded "Racist" these days.

[Mechanical Menace]

Changing places the terms "white supremacist" and "young muslims" in your expression gives a guote that is regarded "Racist" these days.

But change it to "Islamic fundamentalists" or "Muslim supremacists" instead and it would be 1) more accurate and 2) an actual comparison to the "white supremacists" example.

[GNU_Ninja]

You have to look at the white-supremacist-made numbers to see if you're correct.

"most of"

TBH I can't be bothered to go through the list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States and get the numbers. Its a long list, and I'm way to lazy.

[AF6LJ]

I stand to be corrected, but most of the recent mass killings in american schools seem to have been perpetrated by white supremacist middle class suburban punks with ready access to automatic weapons.  Not young muslim geeks wielding homebrew digital clocks

You have to look at the white-supremacist-made numbers to see if you're correct.

"most of"

Changing places the terms "white supremacist" and "young muslims" in your expression gives a guote that is regarded "Racist" these days.

GNU_Ninja No school shooters had access to automatic weapons. Perhaps you should look up the definition of an automatic weapon.

[EEVblog]

You dont point at people who cried wolf, you dont ridicule them, you dont laugh at them.
Because the next time someone gets killed by a brainwashed teenager, and it happened because no-one suspected anything, or their suspicions were dismissed.

Right, so live in a society of constant "just in case" fear instead of using some common sense.
No thanks, you can have that world, I want to make a better one, or I'm off to Mars.

[FrankBuss]

Good idea from Hackaday:
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/16/why-you-should-build-a-clock-for-social-good-this-week/
And what Woz did back in high school:

I guess nowadays you would locked away for a year in prison for such a prank instead of a day.

[ciccio]

I spent one hour reading all the above posts, and I feel really sad.
Some of the posters found something rationale in what police and school members did.
I switch on  the TV and see the whole Europe is in a complete hysteria about Migrants or Refugees.
That's makes me think about hijacking Dave's rocket for Mars.
Sorry, I cannot pay my ticket, but can do cooking or cleaning, or maybe some maintenance.

Best regards
   

[AF6LJ]

You dont point at people who cried wolf, you dont ridicule them, you dont laugh at them.
Because the next time someone gets killed by a brainwashed teenager, and it happened because no-one suspected anything, or their suspicions were dismissed.

Right, so live in a society of constant "just in case" fear instead of using some common sense.
No thanks, you can have that world, I want to make a better one, or I'm off to Mars.

/45847587Now you are beginning to understand Dave.
When people live in fear of "what might happen" they are easy to control, you use their fear to keep them from questioning their leaders. It is as old as mankind itself.

[AndyC_772]

I beg to differ. It is constructed specifically to represent what most people would imagine an explosive device would look like.

It's constructed using normal one-off prototyping techniques, there's nothing deliberate about that. It's also not his fault that Hollywood depicts a bomb as a thing with flashing lights and exposed, colour coded wires for the hero to cut.

What next? Someone yawns and stretches their arms, and the school is evacuated because of a zombie hoax?

[GNU_Ninja]

I stand to be corrected, but most of the recent mass killings in american schools seem to have been perpetrated by white supremacist middle class suburban punks with ready access to automatic weapons.  Not young muslim geeks wielding homebrew digital clocks

You have to look at the white-supremacist-made numbers to see if you're correct.

"most of"

Changing places the terms "white supremacist" and "young muslims" in your expression gives a guote that is regarded "Racist" these days.

GNU_Ninja No school shooters had access to automatic weapons. Perhaps you should look up the definition of an automatic weapon.

All guns look alike to me  but I stand corrected. I should've said 'white supremacist suburban idiots with ready access to guns and ammo'.

There's a list of incidents here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States the US plod are looking probably at the wrong demographic. Instead of arresting brown kids with alarm clocks, they should be keeping an eye on the ones most likely to be 'tooled up'. Common sense, that 

[HP-ILnerd]

This didn't turn up in search (BIG thread!), so sorry if this has been posted.

Read the Fox News commenters on their site (green button near the top):  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/16/texas-14-year-old-arrested-for-bringing-homemade-clock-to-school-after-teacher/

A few sensible people, a great many not so much.

As a wise man once said:

[tszaboo]

You dont point at people who cried wolf, you dont ridicule them, you dont laugh at them.
Because the next time someone gets killed by a brainwashed teenager, and it happened because no-one suspected anything, or their suspicions were dismissed.

Right, so live in a society of constant "just in case" fear instead of using some common sense.
No thanks, you can have that world, I want to make a better one, or I'm off to Mars.

Sorry I did write that.
All the trouble happens far from Australia.
I dont know why are people ranting about this. There were 74 children just recently brutally murdered by the local self-appointed authorities, for crimes like they watched football or refused to fast.
Where are the forum posts about that? The outrage? The ranting videos?
Ah right, that wasnt in the USA, or an english speaking country, or Europe, so it really doesnt matter, right?
I dont think I'm the one being paranoid or manipulated by the media.
I'm sorry. Probably I'm not thinking with my brain now.

[zerorisers]

I live about 20 minutes away and I have brought scarier things to school without being arrested. I had a battery pack (3 lithium ion cells in parallel) inside of a sh*t ton of electrical tape. Many people have asked me about it, all of which being students. Never was I asked by a teacher or the school police officer about it although they have seen it. Scary to think that they will react to a clock and not something that looks like it could be an actual bomb. Maybe it's just because I'm white... I swear if a white kid wanted to blow up a school they could probably just walk right in with it, and they wont say anything.

[AF6LJ]

I stand to be corrected, but most of the recent mass killings in american schools seem to have been perpetrated by white supremacist middle class suburban punks with ready access to automatic weapons.  Not young muslim geeks wielding homebrew digital clocks

You have to look at the white-supremacist-made numbers to see if you're correct.

"most of"

Changing places the terms "white supremacist" and "young muslims" in your expression gives a guote that is regarded "Racist" these days.

GNU_Ninja No school shooters had access to automatic weapons. Perhaps you should look up the definition of an automatic weapon.

All guns look alike to me  but I stand corrected. I should've said 'white supremacist suburban idiots with ready access to guns and ammo'.

There's a list of incidents here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States the US plod are looking probably at the wrong demographic. Instead of arresting brown kids with alarm clocks, they should be keeping an eye on the ones most likely to be 'tooled up'. Common sense, that 

You should also look into how many of those shooters were on SSRI type Antidepressants. Being a survivor of a person who had a psychotic break and went into a homicidal rage while on Prozac I find it interesting that nearly every one of those shooters were on some SSRI.   http://www.drugawareness.org/

[VK3DRB]

You have to look at the white-supremacist-made numbers to see if you're correct.

"most of"

TBH I can't be bothered to go through the list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States and get the numbers. Its a long list, and I'm way to lazy.

Disgusting.

In Texas, there are 25 million men, women and children; and 22 million guns. That's not freedom. That's stupidity on a massive scale.

Australia abandoned singing God Save the Queen as our national anthem (unfortunately God must have listened.) But Australians still celebrate the foreign Queen's birthday each year (when it isn't even her birthday) when we all take a day off work to join in the celebrations for this pompous relic. So when it comes to national stupidity, the US is not alone.

We can fix our national stupidity by becoming a republic and giving the Queen and her Crown the flick.
The US can fix its national stupidity by disarming its population.

Both easier said than done.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

Now along with the "Live In Fear Doppler Radar 9000" "A storm may strike at any time possibly threatening your life! Stay tuned to this station! It may save your life!"
Live in fear people, live in fear. All the time, all the time..
Be a good Nazi citizen and report everything.

[AF6LJ]

You have to look at the white-supremacist-made numbers to see if you're correct.

"most of"

TBH I can't be bothered to go through the list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States and get the numbers. Its a long list, and I'm way to lazy.

Disgusting.

In Texas, there are 25 million men, women and children; and 22 million guns. That's not freedom. That's stupidity on a massive scale.

Australia abandoned singing God Save the Queen as our national anthem (unfortunately God must have listened.) But Australians still celebrate the foreign Queen's birthday each year (when it isn't even her birthday) when we all take a day off work to join in the celebrations for this pompous relic. So when it comes to national stupidity, the US is not alone.

We can fix our national stupidity by becoming a republic and giving the Queen and her Crown the flick.
The US can fix its national stupidity by disarming its population.

Both easier said than done.

That is freedom, and taking responsibility for your own safety.
A disarmed population is a population of subjects or slaves take your pick.

[wraper]

That is freedom, and taking responsibility for your own safety.
A disarmed population is a population of subjects or slaves take your pick.

It's freedom to be killed by some psycho idiot. Freedom to be in fear for own life.