#IStandWithAhmed

[Eraser]

^ you're probably not wrong in thinking that. i went to school in the 70s and 80s and even i think that levels of preciousness, risk-aversion and sheer god-damned faggotry have reached critical point

I went to school in the 90's and... well, you know what I want to say.

[Eraser]

This is a time where you can't even play dodgeball anymore because some puss might get hurt.

You say we should change our behavior to not upset the morons of society, I say those morons should fuck off and learn to reason about things in a broader sense than their government induced perpetual fear of the unknown.

Reminiscent of a bomb but who cares? The kid is showing interest in technical stuff. Maybe he'll work for Lockheed Martin when he's older.
Why should he be applauded any more for being interested in technical stuff than any other kid ever that picked up a soldering iron or wrestled with compilers, or whatever instead of playing games? Because he's a victimized brown kid who happens to be Muslim?

I didn't say other kids shouldn't be applauded for showing an interest in technical subjects. It's your possibly racially biased brain that brings up the color of his skin amd the faith he follows.

The fact that it was simply moving parts out of one box into another is what really stands out to me and makes me feel that this whole story doesn't really add up. Taking the circuit board and display off some plastic and adhering it to the inside of more plastic doesn't really scream 'technical curiosity' to me. If he wanted to make a clock why not go get a kit or dick around with a raspberry pi or something? He didn't make a clock here he just changed it's case.

That's speculation. You don't know. Might the color of his skin be the reason why you are suspect of his motives?

I'm curious who the people you're grouping me with are. I

I dunno. Racist fearmongering idiots?

So somebody makes something that looks like it could be a bomb. "What is that you've got there?" "A clock." Common sense is not taking that at face value. If, by some chance, it actually were a bomb and the teacher was just like "well it's got numbers and the kid says it's a clock" then we'd have another school massacre just because a teacher was afraid of being racist for questioning a kid who happened to not be white.

Seriously, talk for more than 3 minutes with a kid about something he/she brings to school and you'll be perfectly well able to judge what the kid has done, what it is and why the kid made it. "Just because I think it's neat" is a perfectly acceptable answer.

The school acted appropriately, in my opinion. When it comes to the safety of all students, you shouldn't take any chances regardless of how stupid you might seem for saying a clock that looks like it could be a bomb "something that reminds me of a bomb".
What I'm reading right now indicates that his English teacher was alerted to the clock when the box of wires and circuits started beeping in the kid's backpack.

Ok, let's assume the school did. Then why was it necessary for the police to handcuff him and why wasn't there anyone present with more than half a brain who could immediately identify the complete lack of combustible solutions in the clock and conclude that, hey indeed, this is just a clock.

Everything's working out pretty well for our brave heroic victim here. His ability to change the case of a clock earned him an offered internship at Twitter, invites to the White House, a shitload of scholarship money, offers from NASA and MIT to tour their buildings, donations, and more.

What are you saying. That this was all planned by the kid or his family? Yeah sure, the logical conclusion to bringing a homemade clock into school is that it gets blown out of proportion by the school and police and that President Obama asks you to visit the White House.

[Silicone_Milk]

It seems to me that you're missing the point entirely. I don't think we should be tip-toeing around changing our policies to avoid offending idiots. The morons, as you say, should fuck off, I agree.

The only reason the color of his skin is brought up is because that's been the focus of this story for the past few days by everybody. Everyone is exclaiming that this would never happen to a white male and that this is clearly Islamophobia. I'm saying it's not and that the color of his skin doesn't matter neither does his religion. He brought something to school that looks like it was intentionally made to look questionable and consequences happened as a result.

I'm questioning his motives because he's being drowned in hand-outs and donations and being hailed a hero. He's clearly benefiting from it. I would have been less concerned about his reasons if he actually made a clock but he didn't; he changed the case of a clock and said it was "his invention". That doesn't seem off to you at all? If he brought a book into class where all he did was change the cover and called it his novel it would be called plagiarism.

Zero Tolerance Policy = Zero Tolerance. It's a stupid policy but just the fact that the clock appeared to be bomb-like is enough to warrant consequences.

I already addressed the fact that the kid shouldn't have been arrested at all.

The logical conclusion to bringing a homemade clock that looks suspiciously like a briefcase bomb is getting in trouble in some way and having an excuse to claim discrimination or religious attack. My thought is that the intention was just to be able to sue the school for supposed "Islamophobia" but that it blew up (no pun intended) into this crazy story beyond what any of them expected.

[shaft]

[surgeon62]

...but have it scanned by the secret service first to make sure it isn't a, uh, bomb

You just had to go and bring reality into it.

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

I stand behind Ahmed. Quietly and softly dry-humping.

[Transient]

[lvlshot]http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20150916-0916ahmedclock.jpg.ece/BINARY/0916ahmedclock[/lvlshot]
Clearly just an electrical timing device. It's not as if bombs were ever known to use electrical timing devices.

I know one thing bombs are know to use: explosives. Where exactly are the explosives in that image? Some C4, maybe, or a little vial of liquid? I'll settle for a bottle of ball-bearings. No? Nothing that looks remotely like any of that? Just a bunch of circuits and wires on a display, I guess.

I know you used the word "clearly" ironically, but that statement ended up being the most lucid thing you said.

[Silicone_Milk]

I know one thing bombs are know to use: explosives. Where exactly are the explosives in that image? Some C4, maybe, or a little vial of liquid? I'll settle for a bottle of ball-bearings. No? Nothing that looks remotely like any of that? Just a bunch of circuits and wires on a display, I guess.

I know you used the word "clearly" ironically, but that statement ended up being the most lucid thing you said.

Sounds to me like you hadn't bothered to read much of any of my posts and just skimmed them.

So you're saying here that if there were a big-ass block of C4 in there then, yeah it's a bomb, but the lack of C4 makes it pretty obvious it's a clock?

[Transient]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. You can clearly see every nook and cranny of that briefcase.

[Silicone_Milk]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. You can clearly see every nook and cranny of that briefcase.

So then can you see why somebody would look at that and possibly think "bomb" and not "clock"?

[LawL]

He's got Geoff's physique.

[LawL]

The kid's an idiot if he thought bringing a tangled mess of wires and circuits in in a metal box was going to go over smoothly.

Dude, we were working on a weekly basis with tangled messes of wires in high school for our technical courses. It's exactly your kind of attitude that makes this world a horrible one. You're suspicious of everything.

Especially with all the school shootings that have been happening. The teachers and police realized it wasn't a bomb but considered it to be a 'hoax bomb' and still falls under a zero tolerance policy.

The teachers and police didn't realize it wasn't a bomb, which is why the kid was handcuffed and degraded to some kind of terrorist. Also, it wasn't a hoax bomb. Not even remotely. It was a clock. A CLOCK! Nothing more!

It would also appear he didn't even make the clock himself; he ripped the parts out of a factory-made clock from the 1980s and slapped it into a box.

Who cares. The kid shows interest in technical stuff. It should be applauded instead. Too few kids these days get their hands dirty with stuff like that. They'd all rather be playing the so-manieth incarnation of FIFA on their Playstations.

Sure, he shouldn't have been arrested, but if the twat was clever enough to 'make' a clock at 14 he should have some common sense and not bring something reminiscent of a bomb into a school.

It wasn't reminiscent of a bomb. That's the whole problem. People like you have been so brainwashed into assuming everything that shows electrical wires could be a bomb. It's a completely ridiculous assessment. Your government is keeping you living in fear.

To show what common sense really means: how about the scenario where the teacher asked the kid what he brought into class, the kid showed him he made a clock, the teacher said "oh that's really nice, well done kid" and class started. The kid would go home at the end of the day being proud of his achievement.

WHOA, WHAT A REVELATION!

Breaking down a post for replies = gotten to.

[Eraser]

No, it's called "having a discussion". If you want to see a case of " gotten to", you should look at Geoff, sys0p and yourself. The three of you just can't get enough of each other.

[LawL]

Nah, it's definitely called gotten to.

[Transient]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. You can clearly see every nook and cranny of that briefcase.

So then can you see why somebody would look at that and possibly think "bomb" and not "clock"?

I don't think any teacher would look at that and honestly think it was a bomb. I don't think anyone looking at it up close would mistake it for one. I think from a distance maybe someone might wonder what it was, but upon closer inspection would discover the truth quite easily. I think that of all places for a foreign jumble of electrical components to be spotted, a high school class would be one of them, and that any reasonable person would infer that it was a project of some kind. And as it turns out, nobody at any point actually thought it was a bomb. Just that it looked like one. Not the teachers, not the principal, not the cops, nobody.

We all know it only looked like a bomb because it was built by a kid named Ahmed.

[shaft]

just stop. the thing was in a briefcase looking pencil box and he had it sealed shut with a clock face on it that started beepingin his bag in the middle of class. It's not really a stretch. Plus the charge was for a hoax bomb anyway so everyone shut up now.

[xer0s]

Yeah, I was a little pissed and felt sorry for the boy when I first heard about it. I thought they were just picking on another Muslim. But now as the details start to come out and a photo of the clock has been released, it's starting to look more and more like this may have actually been a hoax and his father may have been in on it. First of all, he didn't even build it. He ripped the guts out of a manufactured clock and threw it in a briefcase. Why do that? Then Obama says "cool clock". lol, what? Did you even see this thing? It's not cool. Obama jumped the gun and assumes this kid was innocent. It also looks like his father may have some radical views. Even Richard Dawkins is chiming in and calling this kid out...

[syp0s]

Muslim looking kid comes up to me with a ticking box and a timer on it, I'm looking for the next available exit.

Fuck a clock.

[syp0s]

No, it's called "having a discussion". If you want to see a case of " gotten to", you should look at Geoff, sys0p and yourself. The three of you just can't get enough of each other.

You sound gotten to. Calm those emotions; you're in the red.

[Chupacabra]

I find it interesting that Mark Cuban doesn't side with the kid even though he talked to the kid directly (usually directly talking to someone makes one more empathetic.) Bill Maher doesn't take the kid's side either. Here is a clip where they both talk about this subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGit-XltUB4

[seremtan]

beginning of thread: "dumb hick teachers and cops and their kneejerk Islamophobia"

end of thread: "stupid no-talent kid just trying to rustle everyone's jim-jams and getting his just desserts"

god i love this place

[Silicone_Milk]

We all know it only looked like a bomb because it was built by a kid named Ahmed.

No , it looks like a bomb because it looks like a bomb. You even said so yourself - if the only thing added to it was a jar of ball-bearings suddenly it's a bomb.

The only reason it can't look like anything but a clock is because the kid's name is Ahmed; It'd be politically incorrect and racist to suggest that Ahmed brought something that looks like it was made to look like a bomb to school.

[Tsakali]

Lol sounds like this twat did it on purpose to get exactly this reaction from it... What a poser

[Transient]

No , it looks like a bomb because it looks like a bomb. You even said so yourself - if the only thing added to it was a jar of ball-bearings suddenly it's a bomb.

The only reason it can't look like anything but a clock is because the kid's name is Ahmed; It'd be politically incorrect and racist to suggest that Ahmed brought something that looks like it was made to look like a bomb to school.

No, that's not what I said. Ballbearings wouldn't do anything without something to blow them up. I said I'd settle for seeing it, because then maybe there's a hidden compartment or someshit that warranted further investigation. He didn't use that mini briefcase thing because he knew it would look more like a bomb, he used it because it was laying around the house. It has a giant dent on the left side, so it was probably discarded and unused, and made the perfect receptacle for his project.

Furthermore, he might not have "invented" a clock, but even if what he did was as simple as disassembling and reassembling select parts of a clock from one container to another, that's still impressive for a 14-year-old. He had to know what parts were integral to its operation, and where each wire goes to make it work. Don't you think it's possible that the reason it was beeping was because one of the wires got connected at the wrong place, maybe?

Tell me which scenario is more likely:

A: Ahmed wanted to trick his school into thinking he brought a bomb to school when it was really just a clock. To assure his plan worked, he made the clock/bomb beep, stored it in a suspicious container, and gave it a display that looked like bombs from movies. His plan was to get caught by a teacher who thought it looked enough like a bomb to send him to the principal, and have the principal call the cops just to be safe. The cops had to be zealous enough to agree with the school and arrest him, and he had to make sure someone took a photo of him while he was in handcuffs. He knew this picture was important, because it increased the chances of the story getting picked up by the national media. His gamble was that there would be an outcrying of support from public figures and he would be invited to tour tech companies, be offered scholarships to universities, and possibly even get to the White House to meet the President. He just had to really sell that WTF expression when his picture was taken. Oh, and as icing on the cake, wear a NASA t-shirt.

B: Ahmed built a fucking clock for school.

Everyone wants to assume it's a bomb and prove it's not. I would rather assume it's not and prove that it is.

[Silicone_Milk]

No , it looks like a bomb because it looks like a bomb. You even said so yourself - if the only thing added to it was a jar of ball-bearings suddenly it's a bomb.

The only reason it can't look like anything but a clock is because the kid's name is Ahmed; It'd be politically incorrect and racist to suggest that Ahmed brought something that looks like it was made to look like a bomb to school.

No, that's not what I said. Ballbearings wouldn't do anything without something to blow them up. I said I'd settle for seeing it, because then maybe there's a hidden compartment or someshit that warranted further investigation. He didn't use that mini briefcase thing because he knew it would look more like a bomb, he used it because it was laying around the house. It has a giant dent on the left side, so it was probably discarded and unused, and made the perfect receptacle for his project.

Furthermore, he might not have "invented" a clock, but even if what he did was as simple as disassembling and reassembling select parts of a clock from one container to another, that's still impressive for a 14-year-old. He had to know what parts were integral to its operation, and where each wire goes to make it work. Don't you think it's possible that the reason it was beeping was because one of the wires got connected at the wrong place, maybe?

Tell me which scenario is more likely:

A: Ahmed wanted to trick his school into thinking he brought a bomb to school when it was really just a clock. To assure his plan worked, he made the clock/bomb beep, stored it in a suspicious container, and gave it a display that looked like bombs from movies. His plan was to get caught by a teacher who thought it looked enough like a bomb to send him to the principal, and have the principal call the cops just to be safe. The cops had to be zealous enough to agree with the school and arrest him, and he had to make sure someone took a photo of him while he was in handcuffs. He knew this picture was important, because it increased the chances of the story getting picked up by the national media. His gamble was that there would be an outcrying of support from public figures and he would be invited to tour tech companies, be offered scholarships to universities, and possibly even get to the White House to meet the President. He just had to really sell that WTF expression when his picture was taken. Oh, and as icing on the cake, wear a NASA t-shirt.

B: Ahmed built a fucking clock for school.

Everyone wants to assume it's a bomb and prove it's not. I would rather assume it's not and prove that it is.

So if ball-bearings were present maybe there's a hidden compartment with explosives. Lack of ball-bearings means that there's no longer a chance for a hidden compartment with explosives. OK.
There are plenty of other things he could have used to house the components. What he happened to choose just happened to look like a briefcase bomb from a hollywood movie coincidentally.

Opening a clock, looking at which wires connect to which parts of a circuit board, and moving the parts into another case is not impressive for a 14-year-old unless maybe he was mentally challenged and had the mental capacity of a 6-year-old. It's a clock. Look at it. It's got like 6 wires max. It was probably beeping because it was an alarm clock with a 9-volt battery attached and it just happened to hit the time to go off.

C: Ahmed moved a clock into a new case and made it look suspicious as fuck to get somebody to confront him about it. The police called him out on what he was doing and arrested him for making a hoax bomb (since he constructed the clock in such a way as to have it be possibly misinterpreted to be a bomb by somebody with the intention to stir shit up).
I already addressed the fact that I didn't think they planned all this with the specific intention to get invites to the White House, NASA, and MIT. I do think, however, they planned this to stir shit and then claim prejudice when the kid got in trouble and then have grounds to sue the school district for singling out their kid for being Muslim. It just happens that social media caught wind of the story and shit got out of control.

Know why that seems more likely? Because Ahmed went ahead and admitted that his clock was suspicious to begin with. He knew full well what was up:

I closed it with a cable, so… because, I didn’t want to lock it to make it seem like a threat so I just used simple cable…. so it won’t look that much suspicious.

At around 1:25.
[youtube]3mW4w0Y1OXE[/youtube]

Also nobody assumes it's a bomb. At all. That's not what's being said. What's being assumed is that it was made to look like it could be a bomb on purpose because this kid's a rabble-rouser.