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

[Kjelt]

Yeah it's really sad, but seems to be what the government wants, they don't like the idea of people knowing too much they want to keep knowledge in the hands of mega corps, and themselves. 

What a nonsense, YOU are the government, YOU vote the puppetplayers and if you work for the Govt. you are a bigger part of it, or if you study EE and master it and work for a medium or big company YOU are talking about yourself. YOU then have the knowledge of the corporation, not your stupid manager that only knows how to talk three letter words from MBA classes and count numbers whole day. No you have the knowledge or at least part of that knowledge. so Unless you are in some dictatorial african 3rd world country you should know better than to talk garbage like this.

[dr.diesel]

What a nonsense, YOU are the government, YOU vote the puppetplayers and if you work for the Govt. you are a bigger part of it

YOU have no idea what your talking about, 

[ccs46]

Yeah it's really sad, but seems to be what the government wants, they don't like the idea of people knowing too much they want to keep knowledge in the hands of mega corps, and themselves. 

What a nonsense, YOU are the government, YOU vote the puppetplayers and if you work for the Govt. you are a bigger part of it, or if you study EE and master it and work for a medium or big company YOU are talking about yourself. YOU then have the knowledge of the corporation, not your stupid manager that only knows how to talk three letter words from MBA classes and count numbers whole day. No you have the knowledge or at least part of that knowledge. so Unless you are in some dictatorial african 3rd world country you should know better than to talk garbage like this.

You do know that none of our votes really count? The only votes that count are that of the electoral college.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AF6LJ]

Yeah it's really sad, but seems to be what the government wants, they don't like the idea of people knowing too much they want to keep knowledge in the hands of mega corps, and themselves. 

What a nonsense, YOU are the government, YOU vote the puppetplayers and if you work for the Govt. you are a bigger part of it, or if you study EE and master it and work for a medium or big company YOU are talking about yourself. YOU then have the knowledge of the corporation, not your stupid manager that only knows how to talk three letter words from MBA classes and count numbers whole day. No you have the knowledge or at least part of that knowledge. so Unless you are in some dictatorial african 3rd world country you should know better than to talk garbage like this.

You do know that none of our votes really count? The only votes that count are that of the electoral college.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In terms of electing a president I don't have a problem with that.
The problem begins with a false choice, in this country nothing ever changes because the candidates have been pre-selected. We use to joke about the USSR having a false choice when it came to their elections.
The last real choice we had at the ballot box was when George Wallace ran for president, and you know what happened to him.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

As well as the Illuminati and the lizard people (aka Queen Beatrix & Elisabeth). Alex Jones told me so.
 

You do know that none of our votes really count? The only votes that count are that of the electoral college.

[zapta]

In terms of electing a president I don't have a problem with that.
The problem begins with a false choice, in this country nothing ever changes because the candidates have been pre-selected. We use to joke about the USSR having a false choice when it came to their elections.
The last real choice we had at the ballot box was when George Wallace ran for president, and you know what happened to him.

Good to know. Can you tell me who are the selected candidates for 2016?  I can make a buck or two this Australian site http://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/politics/us-politics/outrights?ev_oc_grp_id=375375

My concern is more about a thick layer of unelected bureaucracy class that keeps increasing its control and makes laws (even if they are called otherwise) that control our lives. CARB is one example.

[Stonent]

As well as the Illuminati and the lizard people (aka Queen Beatrix & Elisabeth). Alex Jones told me so.
 

You do know that none of our votes really count? The only votes that count are that of the electoral college.

[apis]

Erm, not one person in the whole charade thought it was a bomb.

Then why is the kid escorted away in handcuffs?

The whole thing has been very carefully planned and stage managed by the lad's knobhead of a father.

Do you have any proof of that? It doesn't really matter though, what the school did and how the teacher reacted was utterly stupid. If it was planed by his father as you say, the school reacted exactly as he was hoping for and exposed themselves as idiots. It's a depressing story either way.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

Finally an intelligent young person who is not a mindless drone. Turn your volume up though..

[apis]

Yeah it's really sad, but seems to be what the government wants, they don't like the idea of people knowing too much they want to keep knowledge in the hands of mega corps, and themselves. 

What a nonsense, YOU are the government, YOU vote the puppetplayers and if you work for the Govt. you are a bigger part of it, or if you study EE and master it and work for a medium or big company YOU are talking about yourself. YOU then have the knowledge of the corporation, not your stupid manager that only knows how to talk three letter words from MBA classes and count numbers whole day. No you have the knowledge or at least part of that knowledge. so Unless you are in some dictatorial african 3rd world country you should know better than to talk garbage like this.

It's not quite that simple though. Assuming you live in a democracy, it's not as if whoever you vote for get elected, it's the majority vote that counts. But there is more to it than one vote per person. If the majority of people are to make a good choices when voting they need access to all the relevant information, too often the important stuff gets decided behind closed doors and the relevant documents are classified. People also need to be educated enough that they can interpret the information and make a good decision based on the facts. Uneducated, clueless people are much easier to scare and manipulate with propaganda. And on top of that there's the asymmetric influence people have over media for example: some people can pay for large PR campaigns and lobbyists to promote their personal views (often secretly) while many struggle just to get enough money for food and rent. And I've probably forgotten about many other important factors, but the point is that it's not really a level playing field. But of course, we all have a responsibility to try and make things better as well.

[Kjelt]

You do know that none of our votes really count? The only votes that count are that of the electoral college.

You do know this is an international forum. In our country we vote for a party and person on the list and if that party wins and the person has the most votes he usually can constitute a government. Unless he lacks majority in parlement or other parties do not want to cooperate.
I find the US system really confusing, you vote and have only two parties to choose from and stil then the most votes do not guarantee anything. Oh well good luck with that "democracy"

[retrolefty]

You do know that none of our votes really count? The only votes that count are that of the electoral college.

You do know this is an international forum. In our country we vote for a party and person on the list and if that party wins and the person has the most votes he usually can constitute a government. Unless he lacks majority in parlement or other parties do not want to cooperate.
I find the US system really confusing, you vote and have only two parties to choose from and stil then the most votes do not guarantee anything. Oh well good luck with that "democracy"

 That part is simple. The original 13 states had some with very high (at the time) population States and some with very small populations. So a simple popular vote for President would mean the low population states would have little or no say in the election. The came up with a acceptable compromise to try and balance the States/Population issue.

 I do agree that are two party system is one of the biggest problem with our present government. However that is not the constitution's fault as there is no mention of parties at all.

[apis]

I find the US system really confusing, you vote and have only two parties to choose from and stil then the most votes do not guarantee anything. Oh well good luck with that "democracy"

Watch this video about first past the post voting...


...and then this one about gerrymandering:

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah it's really sad, but seems to be what the government wants, they don't like the idea of people knowing too much they want to keep knowledge in the hands of mega corps, and themselves. 

What a nonsense, YOU are the government, YOU vote the puppetplayers and if you work for the Govt. you are a bigger part of it, or if you study EE and master it and work for a medium or big company YOU are talking about yourself. YOU then have the knowledge of the corporation, not your stupid manager that only knows how to talk three letter words from MBA classes and count numbers whole day. No you have the knowledge or at least part of that knowledge. so Unless you are in some dictatorial african 3rd world country you should know better than to talk garbage like this.

Unfortunately that's not how the real world works.  You may be able to vote for 1 of about 4 lesser evils but you cannot vote on the decisions they make.  When you work for a big company it does not matter how smart you are, but the upper management is always right and you do what they tell you.  I used to work IT for a hospital and everything we did was a huge bodge, even though we told management it's not the right way, we had to do it that way anyway.  It's how the world works these days.  The people with the money are the ones that do the talking and have the power to ruin your life if they want to.

But I think political stuff is frowned upon here, so I will end here on this subject.   

Slightly back on topic, I wonder if Ahmed's clock would work better if it was also using a batteriser. 

[AF6LJ]

In terms of electing a president I don't have a problem with that.
The problem begins with a false choice, in this country nothing ever changes because the candidates have been pre-selected. We use to joke about the USSR having a false choice when it came to their elections.
The last real choice we had at the ballot box was when George Wallace ran for president, and you know what happened to him.

Good to know. Can you tell me who are the selected candidates for 2016?  I can make a buck or two this Australian site http://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/politics/us-politics/outrights?ev_oc_grp_id=375375

My concern is more about a thick layer of unelected bureaucracy class that keeps increasing its control and makes laws (even if they are called otherwise) that control our lives. CARB is one example.

If Clinton hasn't completely destroyed her credibility she will be the next president, otherwise it is JEB.

You have every right to be concerned with the deep layer of bureaucracy regulatory law is the noose around the neck of nearly all first world countries.

[David Spicer]

Well, yes, but...
http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/#comment-2261708298

[zapta]

NASA tee-shirt, but not a single solder joint or wire, ...

Apropos NASA, can you guess what is NASA's first and foremost mission?

[Mechanical Menace]

You have every right to be concerned with the deep layer of bureaucracy regulatory law is the noose around the neck of nearly all first world countries.

Cough cough, corporatism, cough cough, legal bribery, cough cough anti free market 'conservatives,' cough cough corporate welfare...

What was it Donald Trump said? Paraphrasing but I believe it was along the lines of "Vote for me because if you don't I'll just buy the others. Have before and it works every time..."

Funny how people so scared of government tyranny promote just giving in and bending over for said governments true masters...

[AF6LJ]

You have every right to be concerned with the deep layer of bureaucracy regulatory law is the noose around the neck of nearly all first world countries.

Cough cough, corporatism, cough cough, legal bribery, cough cough anti free market 'conservatives,' cough cough corporate welfare...

What was it Donald Trump said? Paraphrasing but I believe it was along the lines of "Vote for me because if you don't I'll just buy the others. Have before and it works every time..."

Funny how people so scared of government tyranny promote just giving in and bending over for said governments true masters...

I don't promote just giving in, I cannot talk about what I promote here simply because it would be outside of the scope of this forum. The problem is the average American is so addled and distracted with all those shiny objects and the school nagging him about his kids saying they need to be drugged because they are board in class and act out.

Go to YouTube and put this in the search box. We Want Your Soul, it is all by design.

[EEVblog]

Wow, I'm stunned at the amount of comments now coming out about how he didn't build anything, it was just a reassembled Radio Shack clock.
As if this is the greatest revelation that busted the whole story wide open 
It was blindingly obvious to any electronics person that there was little or no custom electronics in this, including myself.
Why didn't I mention it in the video? Because it didn't need to be mentioned, many of us started out doing exactly this. The whole point of the video was to encourage a beginner, instead of shout him down for not having any skills.
It's a sad reflection on society when people shout down a kids skills (or lack of) instead of encouraging them. 

[economist]

Wow, I'm stunned at the amount of comments now coming out about how he didn't build anything, it was just a reassembled Radio Shack clock.
As if this is the greatest revelation that busted the whole story wide open 
It was blindingly obvious to any electronics person that there was little or no custom electronics in this, including myself.
Why didn't I mention it in the video? Because it didn't need to be mentioned, many of us started out doing exactly this. The whole point of the video was to encourage a beginner, instead of shout him down for not having any skills.
It's a sad reflection on society when people shout down a kids skills (or lack of) instead of encouraging them. 

Exactly right. It's embarrassing to see people who just have to make it clear how much (or little) went into this. Completely beside the point. Schools should be encouraging students who express an interest in learning. Nobody begins at the top. Many of us started by taking things apart. The point of this mess is that this student wasn't encouraged or even tolerated kindly. He was arrested by fools and fear mongers for no crime at all. That's the point and the problem.

[vk6zgo]

Wow, I'm stunned at the amount of comments now coming out about how he didn't build anything, it was just a reassembled Radio Shack clock.
As if this is the greatest revelation that busted the whole story wide open 
It was blindingly obvious to any electronics person that there was little or no custom electronics in this, including myself.
Why didn't I mention it in the video? Because it didn't need to be mentioned, many of us started out doing exactly this. The whole point of the video was to encourage a beginner, instead of shout him down for not having any skills.
It's a sad reflection on society when people shout down a kids skills (or lack of) instead of encouraging them. 

I do it all the time---it's such a joy!

But seriously,this thread is a bit strange.
We have all gone off on tangents on stuff such as politics & WW2 history (mea culpa).
Some of the "sidetracks" would themselves make interesting subjects for threads,such as the "TV/Movie versions of Technology".

No wonder people "believe in fairies",when you look at some of that crap!

Journalists don't get things right either,because they are basically members of the General Public,with skills  confined to their chosen profession,& they have the same weird ideas of  Technology as the "man/woman in the street".

[Howardlong]

In other news, that well-known chronologist Sarah Palin has sidestepped democracy and declared herself monarch in some kind of foreign coup.

"Right. That's a clock, and I'm the Queen of England."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sarah-palin-ahmed-clock_55fd7d59e4b0fde8b0ce7ddc

[Wytnucls]

There are some unanswered questions:
Why did he take that rushed strange contraption to school, unsolicited?
Why such an unchallenging project, when he has more impressive work (with potential patents, in his own words)?
Why not seek permission first, when he knows it looks like a triggering device?

[Howardlong]

There are some unanswered questions:
Why did he take that rushed strange contraption to school, unsolicited?
Why such an unchallenging project, when he has more impressive work (with potential patents, in his own words)?
Why not seek permission first, when he knows it looks like a triggering device?

Tell me you didn't ever take stuff to school like this. I know I did, frequently.