Oh boy Ahmed's Clock reminds me when I brought the (working) guts of a transistor radio to school in 3rd or 4th grade. The teachers proclaimed that I made a radio and had me show it to everyone. I ascribe this to the fact that most people have not ever seen the insides of any electronic device.
Repackaging things is totally a classic and valid thing to do. People do that with everything from custom cars, audio equipment, to yes clocks. Kid you not there is a whole smallish subculture of making clocks of things.
I'm way more bothered by the way everyone has just assumed that Ahmed's teacher and all the police are clearly racist idiots refusing to back down in the face of supposedly obvious misunderstanding, which seems FAR less obvious the more evidence comes out.
I don't think it has much bearing on the reaction to bringing the clock to his school, but man it really bothered me when I saw a picture of it - who adds a 9v connector like that to what would almost certainly be a first or second shot at an electronics project? (If it were only powered by 9v, like a small headphone amp, sure, but who's that concerned with backup power on a learning project?)
He's 14 years old, not 9. He should take responsibility for his words. He's old enough.
He stated in his video the clock was his "invention". Everyone was led to believe he put it together with creativity and electronics know-how. But we now know it was an existing clock he took apart and re-packed.
This takes the shine off Obama's comments, and off the comments made by so many who were inspired by his young inventiveness.
When NASA said they need more people like Ahmed, they didn't mean people who take existing things and call them their own inventions. But anyway, where were we... ah yes, giving Ahmed a scholarship.
He's not making a fuss, the fuss was already made! Even the President tweeted about it. Accusing someone of fussing for asking a reasonable question is hostile and dishonest rhetoric. Indeed, seeking out and offering relevant evidence to question the sensational outrage narrative is doing what EVERY responsible journalist covering this story should have done in the first place.
Ahmed's clock looked suspicious and he was told by another teacher not to show it to anyone else. But he did anyway. His responses in the interview are rather odd and don't offer the sort of simple factual explanations like "I found a wrecked clock in the kerbside junk, got it running, then tidied it up by stuffing it into an old pencil case". He didn't say anything about why he chose that particular pencil case, just that it's a common thing you can buy off of Amazon. The police report said his behavior was suspicious. Normally I'd discount a police report as being lies, especially with blatantly subjective words like "suspicious", but in this case that just happens to fit in with all the other facts that I've seen, which ARE suspicious. The final fact being that somehow, CAIR was right there immediately to promote the religious persecution and bigotry angle.
I'm not saying this sort of circumstantial evidence is enough to prove that Ahmed intended to commit a bomb hoax, but it's more than enough to demolish the outrageous and sensational media narrative of a poor precocious tinkerer who is being oppressed by the evil bigots in bigot-filled Texas who are too bigoted to recognize genius that is so plainly obvious to Mark Zuckerberg, President Obama, and all the rest.
That's perfectly reasonable. Sorry if it seemed like I was making a fuss.
Wasn't trying to pass judgment on the kid; even if he bought a brand new clock and stuck it in a case, I still think that's an admirable quality. The media is picking it up as he "made" a clock, and to me that didn't fit well with the photos.
It's kind of annoying that everyone says he "made" a clock, which he clearly didn't do. To me, that's kind of a slam to kids his age who really are out there making clocks from scratch.
But it's also very much a secondary or tertiary issue in the story, and just not worth fighting over.
Ahmed Mohammed mentioned his "invention" several times in his initial viral video, and again in interviews.
His "invention" always looked suspicious to me, in that it was an unlikely hobby electronics build, what with mains power and far from hobbyist looking circuit boards.
At 14, fibs like this are not cool. Fair enough his arrest was over the top, but this new information shouldn't be swept under the carpet just because it makes everyone from NASA to Obama look potentially foolish pandering to a fibber.
Also, I couldn't help but notice his (re)-tweet thanking Allah for the opportunity to visit the white house and all the other places.
In that he's more into religion than science/tech/making things.
The latest news is that his father his giving him a break from school and taking him on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Cos you know, that's where every 14yo wants to be right?
The father: "I ask Allah to bless this time. After that, we'll see" [referring to what school to put the kid in since so many have offered him places].
When they return, that's when they'll meet Obama.
It's really worked out for them hasn't it? The whole putting a clock in a case thing has opened so many doors.
Oh right, I forgot that this is a secular country where a 14-year-old kids uttering "Thank God!" or "God bless you!" or "I found strength in God." would get weird look and chided by responsible adults. Thank God (oops), at least Ahmed is just a kid. Imagine what it would be like if contenders for the White House would speak like that!
And now (it seems) you take a pity on him because he's obviously being dragged into a family trip to some place he doesn't want to be, because you just know he wouldn't like it even though you've never met him?
I don't want to argue so this is my last response on this subject.
TL;DR... my view on how religion has no place in topics related to science, and I no longer think freedom of religion is sensible.
In recent years I have lost all respect for Islam. When before I believed in freedom of religion, now I don't due to ongoing global incidents and deep-seated problems getting worse not better.
When "God", any God, comes into the discussion related to matters of science, social relations, or other completely Earthly events, it should be called out for what it is. It's misguided distraction; a contamination of thought; an irresponsible disregard of reason. Often used as a manipulative crutch, either deliberately or unconsciously habitually. An "assumed free pass" replacing otherwise needed hard work earning respect in everything from politics to community relations. An untouchable value, exploited exactly because anyone who takes aim at religion is swiftly labelled as unfit, rude, discriminatory.
There is way too much division and combative ideology associated with Islam for it to be thrust to the forefront of everything someone does in a modern society. Nothing to do with race. You could be my blood brother and embrace Islam... and just like that, I've lost at least 50% of my brother. When the worst aspects of 21st century Islam comes knocking at your door, maybe then you'll think twice before accepting all religions with open arms.
Dunno about others, but I think an alarm clock the shape of a scale model time bomb is kind of cool (even more so if it looked like something right out of a video game). I don't see it as particularly dangerous -- it's more on the same level as painting Nerf guns green and black to make them look more realistic.
Well, you weren't in the classroom where he set the alarm to go off, were you? So it's not like you're in a position to reasonably judge the reaction.
Suppose he did just take apart an old clock and piece it back together for fun, and didn't specifically try to make it look like a bomb. What was the purpose?
If it had been me, I would have been eager to explain why I chose that particular case. Like maybe-- look "how portable this is" or "look how you can hang this on the wall now" or something like that. Or maybe even just-- "well I was messing around and just happened to have the case so that's why I chose it." I also would have been up front about the fact that all I'd done was dismantled and re-assembled an old clock. I wouldn't have tried to pass it off as an original circuit-board project of my own.
Also, as the OP notes, Ahmed makes a comment about using a cable to fasten it shut to make it look less suspicious. OP wonders why would he have been thinking something like that, if he did not know that a suitcase would in fact be suspicious? Sure, such a comment might have been made as some sort of back-rationalization after the whole thing blew up, but along with the other red flags it's a suspicious statement.
And if he did deliberately try to make it look like a bomb and did nothing to assure his teacher and fellow classmates that it was not real, then it's perfectly fair to call it a hoax.
