A 14-year-old in Dallas, Texas has been arrested for bringing a clock to his school. [Ahmed Mohamed] could be any one of us. He’s a tinkerer, pulling apart scrap appliances and building projects from the parts. He was a member of the his middle school robotics team. The clock was built from a standard four digit seven segment display and a circuit board. [Ahmed] built the circuit inside a Vaultz hard pencil case like this one. He then did what every other experimenter, inventor, hacker, or maker before him has done: He showed off his creation.
Unfortunately for [Ahmed] one of his teachers immediately leapt to the conclusion that this electronic project was a “hoax bomb” of some sort. The police were called, [Ahmed] was pulled out of class and arrested. He was then brought to a detention center where he and his possessions were searched. [Ahmed] is now serving a three-day suspension from school. His clock is considered evidence to be used in a possible criminal case against him.
If this situation doesn’t get your blood boiling, then we don’t know what does. Not only is there a glaring racial issue here, but also an issue of allowing kids to bring their projects to school. We hope you’ll join us in expressing outrage at this whole debacle, as well as supporting [Ahmed] in any way you can. Let’s join together as a community to make sure a few small-minded individuals don’t break the spirit of this budding hardware hacker.
For anyone out there who would like to support [Ahmed]’s education even when his school won’t, [Anil Dash] is will be in contact with the family later today. We’re offering a gift card for the hackaday store and we would assume other contributions would also be welcome. -Ed.
As any smart engineer knows. A clock is all that you need to take the suicide out of the suicide bomber.
First I would like to say that this was most definitely a case of profiling. I actually understand the need at times for profiling, this however was not one of them. This poor kid got blindsided by some ignorant people who were put in a position of power and trust over him. I am sorry but even the most ignorant teacher there should have been able to tell the difference between a clock and a bomb. The kid was proud of his achievement and wanted to show it to people whose opinion up to then he valued. My God, these are the people teaching (supposedly) our children. Zero tolerance is more like zero brain cells as it is obvious no 2 were firing at the same time from any of the staff or the officers. I don’t know the kids father but this child from the video is such a scary threat! How did they ever function with him in the same town? In regards to the “fake bomb” I can pretty much say that is a bullshit excuse made by someone trying to cover their ass. This kid had his legal, moral and civil rights all violated on several levels. So what was the motives behind this? Was it fear, bigoted thinking, or just trying to make themselves look like some kind of heroes? It is obvious that these folks all over-reacted and let the fear and ignorance of a mob mentality take over. My question is where are all the lawyers and the ACLU who should be lined up to defend this young man? The school board and officers involved will all try and demonize this kid to save their own collective hides. Just so you all know, I am a 60 year old WASP who is most definitely conservative and has served my time in the military. I do not particularly care for or against any of the groups involved here. I will hope that the people in authority there learn from this but I have my doubts. I also hope this event does not harden this young man’s heart and cause him to move away from his education or his hobby. In the end these people need not only to be held accountable for their actions but be held to the highest standards. They must be held to a higher level of standard because they have been placed in a position of trust and authority. To abuse that authority and then even more so to try and cover it up should be punished swiftly and to the fullest extent possible.
The people should demand the immediate resignation of all involved. Guardians of our society? I hardly think so. I nothing else this young man needs a civil suit against these people. I think maybe it is time for the teachers, principle, and officers involved to actually sit down and read our Constitution since they apparently didn’t pay any attention in Civics class.
I scattered ammonium tri-iodide in the hallways. It was 1979 however….
Mine scattered itself in the hallways (still partially wet). 1972. The superintended of schools asked me to wait until after school hours next time, and they did not bother to notify my parents. Kids were hopping around the hall popping it as it dried, like bubble wrap as loud as lady-finger firecrackers. Different times. No more fun like that after 9/11, when it all changed to zero-tolerance insanity. Heck, when I was in fourth grade, the school library had a book called “The boy’s book of explosives”, target at 12-year old boys. It told how to make all sorts of boomy stuff. Such a book even brought to school now would get SWAT and bomb disposal units and hazmat teams to remove and dispose of such a dangerous book, probably by using their own explosives. And for that matter, I recall bringing my .22 calibre rifle to kindergarten for “show and tell”, which was well received by the class, and it was not that unusual at the time. Can you even imagine such a thing these days? Crazy times ahead, when nobody can be trusted, not even the authorities.
HAD should hire the kid & put him in charge of moderating the comments
although there are issues of race and police profiling, in some regards this could be the best bad thing to happen to the guy, how often does a 14 yr old get a invite to the white house and support from all around the world for getting in trouble from closed minded people with no understanding of tech, if the engineering teacher was shown first then couldn’t they have cleared the mess up when he was confronted about it by the other teacher, just step out of class and say, yep that’s a cool clock, deffs not a bomb guys?
The mentioning of the story on CNN, described the incident as “Muslim boy brings fake bomb clock to school”, so certain media is just as bad.
BTW, the innards of the clock was shown on bbc.com. It looks just like the whole innards of a standard clock-radio, 9 volt backup battery clip, button pcb and ac transformer just rattling around in the project box ( could be that forensic staff had taken it apart) . The diy part is fitting the 7 segment display to the lid. If the science teacher had any cred in tinkering, he would have recognised the components instantly. This is a case of fake teachers getting paid for keeping our children down.
I just want to say that the case in the picture does not look like a pencil case at all. Judging from the size of the plug, the case must be able to hold like 100+ pencils. And I am sure as hell that you have no chance convincing TSA to let you board a plane, if they saw it that is.
Some good will come out of this on many fronts, including hacking in general. At 5 something PM on NPR I heard the story.
One good thing, he has been invited to show his clock to The Principal. The one who lives in the White House. Needless to say it will be scrutinized again.
Sometimes some servants need a “clock cleaning”, in the public’s eye.
At Primary school, we made a ‘robot’ model out of all sorts of bits and bobs including old pcbs. It got put on display in the main entrance.
One of the teachers wrote “Danger UXB” on it – as a joke!
This was a long time ago (early 80’s).
One kid brought a real hand grenade to school too, it was confiscated, but no one was arrested!
Obama has invited this kid to the White House to show him the clock he made. This news came out in NZ ~12 hours ago and Im not seeing it in the comments here…?
Hate to think what might have happened had he turned up with:
http://nootropicdesign.com/projectlab/2011/09/05/defusable-clock/
Can someone in touch please suggest this pure genius:
https://imgur.com/gallery/jQST62z
Issues of over reaction and profiling aside, I always suggest people reference page 47 of this: http://www.atomicrhubarb.com/files/embedded/class_slides/14%20Building%20Stuff.pdf
Most people aren’t engineers, so it is necessary to do your due diligence when exposing outsiders to our work.
Setting aside issues of profiling or overuse of authority, this is not a new issue. I like the following reference (p48): http://www.atomicrhubarb.com/files/embedded/class_slides/14%20Building%20Stuff.pdf
Most “outsiders” aren’t savvy about these types of projects, so one should always assume that others will make assumptions about a “mysterious device”, especially in our modern, knee-jerk society.
Oh darnit, Chrome crashed and I thought my original didn’t post. Sorry for the double.
The police and school definitely have overreacted to this….
But, the kid brought a metal box to school with, what looked like a timer, built-in.
What were they [the school/police] suppose to expect was the intention?
The kid should have taken pictures of the clock during the build and possibly documented the build on video.
He could have used the pictures and video to show-off at school — because then they [the school/police] wouldn’t suspect foul-play or wrong doing.
There have been several school shootings/bombings, and several other instances of terrorism … they have put them all on high-alert. For instance (just to name a few) 9/11, Columbine High school shooting, Marathon bomber, Gunmen at a movie theater, as well as a lone gunmen killing marines in Chattanooga, etc, etc.
So they were just responding — with what they thought was an appropriate response — to the possibility that they kid has brought a bomb to school or was attempting to scare people with a ‘bomb-scare/hoax’.
It’s a pencil box, available as such on Amazon and apparently at Target. A pencil box….
How much explosive was inside the “shoe bombers” shoe. Do you think that a similar amount , or more could fit in the pencil box.
Ya’ll can put down the pitchforks and torches now. Chief Boyd says no charges files and the case is closed.
Carry on
And put out the cigarette.
Well, my bloods not boiling, I’m not going to support him, nor will I feign outrage.
He didn’t build anything – he disassembled a commercial clock and repackaged it. Nothing in that case resembles something that was made at home. The PCB certainly wasn’t etched, masked and assembled on a Sunday night, per the DFW article I read yesterday. In a CNN article I just read, his dad said it’s an alarm clock he wakes up with every morning. Something, somewhere is getting mixed signals.
If his engineering teacher told him to make sure other teachers didn’t see it, there’s a reason for that. Unless someone is familiar with electronics, the average person wouldn’t know what the hell it was. I don’t blame the school system or the police – well, police bomb techs could have told them in two seconds it was harmless. Yes, his family was known to the police because of his father’s debate over the quoran. One article claims he was interrogated by police without legal aid, another said that didn’t happen and is not being investigated. One report I read said his father returns Sudan every now and then to run for president. There are inconsistencies in the articles all over the web, the media is doing their best to flame this into an inferno.
Questions I have:
Ahmed said he built the clock to impress his teacher, but, she found it threatening. Which one? It sounded like his engineering teacher thought it was cool, but, his English teacher found it threatening.
If it was in his back pack, and not plugged in to an outlet, how and why did it start beeping and disrupting his English class? Did he plug in the 9 volt battery? The connector for it was there.
If the media are reporting the events factually, as they happened, then yeah, I’ll feel bad for the kid. But he’s no different than any other 14 year old kid with a hobby he loves. I do not agree with the police questioning him without contacting his parents, or an attorney being present, or his being suspended. But I don’t think he should get a free education because of it.
I would say, he is a kid who wanted attention. He likely brought the clock to impress his engineering teacher only. He might also have set the alarm intentionally to show off in front of his classmate, a girl, etc. But things didn’t turn out the way he wanted.
I also think he deliberately constructed the clock to look like a bomb. Think about it. The point of having a clock is so you know the time. Why would you want to hide the clock inside a case and the only way to see the time is to open the case?
“Well, my bloods not boiling, I’m not going to support him, nor will I feign outrage.”
I feel the same way as above. Especially after reading about his father’s history of debating a Pastor over the Quran in 2011 so he could bring his family to Disney World and having attempted to run for president of Sudan twice. There is a lot to this story that hasn’t been told yet.
Somebody should explain to this student about the electric shock dangers of an exposed AC transformer in a metal case, too. Had he actually “built” a clock, it should have ran completely on DC power. His disassembled and reassembled clock in a case isn’t exactly impressive, even for a 14 year old, especially since it could have shocked him or another student when plugged in.
Some things just never go out of style.
“Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?” — Reagan, ’80
Surprised no one has mentioned Woz being arrested in high school for a metromone that was mistaken for a bomb. Woz spent a night in jail over it way back in the 60’s over it.
Steve Wozniak spent the night in jail for building a fake bomb in high school
http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-wozniak-in-jail-fake-bomb-2011-10
Cool story. Woz is the man!
Difference in this case tho is that Ahmed didn’t build it with intention of it looking like a bomb, and showed it to his Engineering teacher explaining it was a clock.
Whereas woz did build it to look/act like a bomb, as a prank.
Kinda wish Woz made a comment about this whole story cause from reading his autobiography and Isaacson’s book, this is the kind of stuff he encourages in young kids …. to tinker with electronics.
What I want to know is why the heck the science teacher said and did nothing when the boy was being arrested and interrogated. It seems to me that all the science teacher had to do was talk to someone on behalf of the boy and explain that it was indeed a clock. What the bloody hell was the science teacher doing through all this??!!!
What a load of emotion here.
How accurate was this clock?
What was it’s expected drift over a month or year?
What was its reference clock source?
Did it have Arduino or RaspberryPi in it?
What was it’s primary power source?
How long would it run on its power source?
Rechargeable?
Was the display viewable in direct sunlight?
None of the really important questions were asked…
It is an old AC alarm clock that was removed from the original case, and placed in a metal pencil box.
Here’s an Artvoice article, “Reverse Engineering Ahmed Mohamed’s Clock… and Ourselves.”
It appears that HaD’s commenting set-up has overloaded.
a couple of points we all missed the first time around…
– the school was not evacuated
– the “bomb” got taken into some twits office and left there
hoax or not the procedure is to get everyone away from and suspicious device
those 2 facts point to this being a racial thing
– nobody believed it was really a bomb, but a fake bomb, hoax bomb, or some sort of stunt.
– I doubt you’ve read the procedures for this school’s policy
– The Obama Administration itself supports the policy of “If you see something, say something.”
This isn’t a racial thing, either:
It was one student who happened to be brown skinned and Muslim, who also happened to bring a suspicious beeping contraption to school. In order to prove a racial case, you’d have to show a similar situation in the same school that was either ignored for non-brown skinned, non-Muslim students or where all brown skinned and Muslim students were being targeted in the same way.
What do you imagine would have happened if anyone, brown skinned or not, would have brought a similar looking device on a tour of the White House, to a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton, the forthcoming visit to the US by the Pope, or to any marathon near Irving, Texas?
The armchair quarterbacking of the school teacher’s and administration from the Internet days later is ridiculous. The point where they seriously screwed up was with the police not having his parents present while questioning him and placing him under arrest.
Yeah, so theres this:
Instead, Khalid Hamideh of the Islamic Association of North Texas blamed political leaders for espousing inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and creating a “climate of fear.”
“We’re not pointing a finger at the school district or the police department,” Hamideh said. “Under the current climate that exists in this country, you can’t really blame them because when they see something like that, they have to react.”
Ahmen pulsed the system, and the whole scheme is now (if not from the beginning) supported and propagandized by a pro-islamist group The fifth-column-media-reported “homemade clock” was simply a crudely disassembled commercial large LED-display clock similar to the Acurite Intelli-time Model 13003. The small green circuit board is similar to PCB layout (Figure 2) in ElecCircuit’s Cheap Digital time clock.
The parts were put into a small Vaultz pencil case, shaped like a briefcase. The power transformer is laying loose on its side. The battery clip on the left is for a 9V battery backup of the time when the power cord is unplugged. And with the display inside the case, the clock would be useless unless the case were opened exposing hazardous AC voltage connections to the transformer.
This is not a science project, but a quick and dirty effort to make some electronic-looking thing with wires showing to creat suspicion and concern and some kind of reaction, which then would be reported and denounced by pro-islamist groups, desensitizing and weakening school profiling against islamoterrorism. According to fifth-column media reports, the kid plugged it in during English class, a bizarre move that would alert any responsible teacher.
Congratulations, you win the prize for most deranged and byzantine conspiracy theory of the week!
My ridiculously circuitous plan is one quarter complete!
-1, your as big of a troll as ahmed, maybe the word ahmed or arachnisdster should be used in place of the word troll.
He plugged it in during class? Hmm… that’s food for thought.
Though whether planned or not, the school and police failed in how they handled it. Had they handled it differently, none of this would have made news.
Again I ask, why was the engineering/science teacher quiet through all this? If the principal and english teacher had spoken with her before calling the cops (because the cops were not called immediately after the english teacher confiscated the clock, but a few hours later), then this could have been avoided. Further if the engineering teacher said something while Ahmed was being interrogated at the school by the police, the situation would not have escalated.
And the police instead of insisting it was a bomb should have had the basic knowledge and training to be able to tell that it wasn’t.
It seems if they gave Ahmed the benefit of the doubt that it wasn’t a bomb and actually clock as he claimed the situation would not have escalated.
The problem I am seeing here is that he wasn’t given the benefit of doubt.
I’m left wondering if anyone gave the Boston Marathon bombers the benefit of doubt.
There’s no evidence I’ve seen in media reports other than the kid’s claim that it was some kind of science project. Elsewhere the media reported the kid claims he invented the clock device to show his teacher. The media reports are also inconsistent regarding a high school Engineering teacher, and no one has come forward as the Engineering teacher to provide his/her version.
In the past, the media had reported similar instances reported by airplane passengers of disruptive Muslims trying to pulse the system during a flight to note the reaction of the crew and whether sky marshals revealed themselves.
Now Ahmen (or Ahmed) admits about his dissassembled clock he put into a pencil box: “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”. That statement is suspicious.
http://imgur.com/YvHXI5o yep
It seems to that the USA will experience far more damage from ignorance and unnecessary reactions to non-terrorist events than it ever will from those who genuinely wish the USA ill. Keep it, guys; you’re doing the terrorists’ jobs for them.
Technology isn’t the only thing scary, but so is nature. A boy “pranked” by kids who stick a Japanese Maple leaf in his backpack and reporting it as marijuana, got him with suspended with drug charges for a year, despite THREE drug tests showing it was NOT marijuana. “In the end, the criminal charge was dropped but the boy was still expelled for 364 days for “drug possession” despite the tests, the newspaper reported. The boy was forced into a program for remedial and troubled students, where, his parents claim, he has changed from an honors student into a disturbed child.” http://kdvr.com/2015/03/15/sixth-graders-life-ruined-after-drug-charge-despite-tests-showing-leaf-was-not-marijuana/
I see where this is headed. Someday a pencil sharpener will be illegal (conspiracy to build and posess a sharp instrument), as democracy continues sliding down the slippery slope into tyranny, in the name of FUD.
Not racism just retarded people in power, and the social justice brigade looking for fights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare Schools have arrested kids for less http://www.cbsnews.com/news/examiner-recommends-school-board-uphold-pop-tart-suspension/
Did the comments got /.ed? What the huh? I was trying to read all 440+ comments but got only 100 or so. Talk about a shut down. Server crash?
The kid didn’t even build a clock he took one apart and put it in a different case.
http://imgur.com/YvHXI5o
Anthony has done a very thorough analysis of the device at http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/ It is pretty conclusive that the did not invent anything. He took the clock out of it’s case, and but it in another box, in a way that the display is only visible when the box is opened. I did not just want to see this from the perspective of someone who has been making things for 40 years, so I brought my son in for his opinion.He is the same age as Ahmed, with a similar background. He was in the computer and robotics club, but is now a freshman in High School. I asked him about the project. He said that he “would not take something like that to school, because it is kind of lame, and it would be dishonest to say that he had made it” So all the call to give this kid a scholarship to MIT is probably premature. I think there is more to this story, and I am not planning to invest any emotion into either side until the facts are in.
This kid took an old alarm clock, removed it from its case and screwed it into a pencil box. He “invented” nothing. His father is a KNOWN muslim activist. The kid admits on national TV that he knew it would be controversial and did it on purpose. He admits it right in your fucking faces and these pathetic social activist jackasses in this community are outraged. GMAFB
And I am supposed to be upset that he got the exact reaction he was looking for?
Fuck you.
This is the final straw that removes HaD from my favorites after so many years. First of all, a site like this should know better. They should have seen, like anyone else with even a slight amount of knowledge in electronics, that this kid did absolutely nothing even remotely ‘hacker’ worthy. They should have been smart enough to realize that there is only one reason someone would build something like this. It’s not even fucking portable, you stupid socialist jackasses.
Every last one of you would have criticized the police and teachers if they had done nothing and eventually a real bomb was brought to the school. Why? Because you are stupid. You have opinions and lack intelligence. You lack the ability to live in the real world. You work at radioshack because you can’t actually succeed in life. And it’s all the world’s fault. It’s the man’s fault. It’s corporate cronyism that is the excuse for your absolute failure in life. Right.
I fucking hate you people. I’ll be 100% honest. YOU are everything that is wrong with this country today. We tried shit your way and that is why everything has gone to shit. And like your own pathetic life, it failed. It failed because it is stupid. Like you.
This kid made a political statement. The safety of our children is no place for political statements. I don’t feel one ounce of sympathy for the kid because this was the exact response he was looking for.
I am sick and tired of this biased social activism junk nonsense destroying the pleasure of DIY and hacking. Like everything else, these social activists destroy every last thing they touch.
You took a political stance and you have finally offended me to the point of turning you off.
Fuck you. Fuck off. And goodbye hackaday.
“His father is a KNOWN muslim activist.”
Yes! Down with people who dare to stand up for their views and discuss them in a civil fashion! What do they think the US is, a democracy? Their children ought to be arrested and illegally questioned without their parents or legal council present!
“This kid took an old alarm clock, removed it from its case and screwed it into a pencil box. He “invented” nothing.”
I look forward to seeing your long catalogue of innovations you made when you were 14.
“Every last one of you would have criticized the police and teachers if they had done nothing and eventually a real bomb was brought to the school.”
Gosh, yes, because our only options are to ignore everything or to massively overreact to something that everyone involves admits they never thought was actually dangerous.
“This is the final straw that removes HaD from my favorites after so many years.”
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
What did I make when I was 14? A robot lawnmower that operated on a Z80 microcomputer I designed. And a high-speed cassette dubber that worked over phone lines.
Now I am an electrical engineer in the aerospace industry.
Don’t you have phones to sell at radioshack?
Fuck you, you socialist jackass. You guys have absolutely no idea the amount of backlash you are about to experience from a country that has had absolutely far too much of you already. Gone are the days where you worthless basement dwelling failures get to control the conversation.
“What did I make when I was 14? A robot lawnmower that operated on a Z80 microcomputer I designed.”
Congratulations. I’m very proud of you. I’m sure, had you been arrested at age 14, you would have been calm, collected, and not at all defensive, too.
“Don’t you have phones to sell at radioshack? Fuck you, you socialist jackass. ”
What makes you think you know the slightest thing about my politics or where I work?
+1000
My first visit to HaD in a month Justice_099…and I remember when it went live.
Here we are with this Ahmed fuckery. I’m with you man, it’s adding fuel to an already volatile situation and I myself am finding difficulty being okay with the fact that there hasn’t been an “official” HaD redaction. This kid is a joke.
As for arachnidster’s snide comment about what you made when you were 14?
He. Did. Not. “Make.” Anything.
There, I’m talking slo…wer. Did you get it that time? He *took crap apart* Yes, I did that when I was 14.
Hell, I did that when I was like 7 or 8 but I usually had to hide it in a box because I couldn’t get it reassembled correctly. You are amazed he took apart a freaking clock?
And YES, I agree that “every last one of [us] would have criticized the police and teachers if they had done nothing and eventually a real bomb was brought to the school.” As a matter of fact, I hope Ahmed builds a real bomb next time and everyone “standing with” this little douchebag is at his meeting with Zuckerberg when he detonates it.
Quit being freaking sheep. #DontStandWithAhmed
Goodbye. One less bigot on HaD. You will be sorely missed. Not.
Goodbye, man who thinks that the fact that if someone is targeted by a government drone, that alone justifies the shooting, nevermind the innocent children who were also shot.
And thinks that anyone to his left is a communist who worships Marx and would rather we all be a part of a great Orwellian nation-state.
Do you guys have any idea how much you just sound like fucking idiots to everyone else? People don’t like you and your life is a pitiful failure because of that. No other reason than that. Fuck off.
Ahmed Mohamed committed the equivalent of HACKER PLAGIARISM! He did not build his clock he ripped of a 1970 Radio Shack alarm clock. If his intention was not to cause a panic and to really claim that this was truly his own work then he is monumentally stupid!
http://www.inquisitr.com/2431102/ahmed-mohamed-lied-engineer-says-and-heres-the-proof/
http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/
It’s the insides of an alarm clock put into a mini-suitcase (“pencil-box”), obviously the child is Einstein and the father is in it up to his eyeballs. A lot of mayonnaise on this rotten fish and many have eaten it up.
See, even if you were entirely correct, it’s crystal clear that he never said it was anything other than a clock, never acted in a way to cause people to think it was anything other than a clock, and nobody ever believed it was anything other than a clock. And no matter how sinister your reading of his motivations, that doesn’t justify arresting him, much less questioning him illegally without parents or legal counsel present.
I did lots of things (and worse) at approximately his age. I grew up to have a career in tech. Hopefully, so will he. So, he only case-modded the clock. So what? He’s 14. He’ll either learn, or he’ll discover girls. Either way he’s right on a normal spectrum and is the victim of extreme overreaction. The depth of racial bigotry and technical (‘I could’ve done better at 14’…so what?) condescension here is staggering.
Most people don’t know what the inside of their clocks even look like, so he’s way ahead of the curve here.
To anyone who thinks it’s impossible for the fact that he was a muslim because one of the officers who arrested him was black: Caucasian isn’t the only race that can be racist.
Edit: … it’s impossible for the fact that he was a muslim to be a factor …
I’ll just leave this here for y’all to ponder: http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/
I’m not here to debate whether Ahmed was a genius, an idiot, a terrorist, or fraud. But I would like, if possible, to turn this fiasco into something positive.
So… I have created ahmedsclock.org.
Our purpose is to provide a safe and encouraging place for young, old, beginner, advanced, teacher, student, mentor and mentee, to gather and learn more about technology, hardware, software, robotics, radio, IT, embedded systems, Arduino, and on and on. We will share interesting stuff, technical and educational resources, brag about projects, ask questions (and hopefully get answers).
if you’re interested in learning electronics, programming, IT, radio, or just general Making and tinkering, join us.
And if you are more advanced, or are a teacher, in any of those areas, or know someone who is, WE NEED HELP!
Right now, our contact email is ahmedsclockorg [at] gmail.com. We will be setting up a forum, and people are welcome to comment on posts.
But…we are not interested in debates about Ahmed.
Oh look, sweet little Ahmed was ‘radicalized’ by a teacher (into a prankster, not a terrorist), and has a rich history of problems at school, including him having a history of making ‘inventions’ to disrupt classes (like his invention to turn off the projector in class)…
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150926-before-ahmeds-fame-fantastic-inventions-and-a-fight-with-authority.ece
All of which demonstrates what? Quite apart from the fact that I’m sure 90% of the people here would have seized on the opportunity for a little harmless technologically-inspired mischief at school, the issue was him being arrested and illegally questioned over something everyone agreed was harmless; neither the originality of what he made or his previous history have any bearing on that.
taking the guts of an old micronta alarm clock and putting them in a case is not “inventing”, making, or anything. this kid did this to be provocative possibly goaded by his father.