9th Grader Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

[rootone]

Next up, it's not hard to find old mechanical watches from the mid last century which contain minute amounts of radioactive material printed into the dial numbers, so you could read the watch in the dark.
Maybe the possession of one those is sufficient cause to suspect an attempt to build a nuke!

 

[Czcibor]

Ahmed invited to the White House. Great recovery Mr. President!

"Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?," @POTUS tweeted. "We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great."

Seems that Obama wants to make a prank to Secret Service. ;)

 

[PAllen]

Along the lines of Jim Hardy's "how times have changed" [ this was late 1960s ]...

In high school chemistry, somehow the teacher got wind of my interest in explosives. On the first day of chemistry he took me aside and told me not to try to make any explosives in class, he would make sure I couldn't. Hmm. Obvious challenge?. Near the end of the year, he overlooked something. We had halogen waters (chlorine water, bromine water, etc.) for experiments in halogen substitution. I figured that I could make an explosive ingredient in a nonstandard way via halogen substitution, and everything else needed could be made from always available reagents. I did so, and had the explosive as a dilute precipitate, in test tubes. I wanted a more convenient form to carry home so I was centrifuging the tubes. The centrifuge was not part of any experiments that day. He walks over. He asks what I'm doing, I tell him. He responds "excellent chemistry, I'll take those now."

That was it - no telling the principal, no telling even my parents.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

We've told our children to be careful with what they bring to school (and airports, etc) and how they talk about things not to give even the appearance of evil. If one brings something that looks like a gun or drugs or other contraband to school, then one is likely to get unwanted disciplinary attention. Why would something that looks like a bomb be any different? I think most 14 year olds who are smart enough to experiment with electronics are also smart enough to figure out that there are certain configurations that might be construed as potentially dangerous.

At the same time, it's too bad that most teachers are not smart enough to distinguish between ordinary electronics and something that could really be a bomb. The hypersensitivity of law enforcement and teachers, combined with their ignorance probably allows the inventor to maintain plausible deniability. The inventor may have earned a trip to the White House, but having mentored students who also earned trips to the White House based on their scientific accomplishments, I can assure you that somone showing up at the White House door with that device would be in a lot more trouble than the young inventor who merely brought it to school.

Practical considerations dictate that consequences and response to perceived threats be of a nature that is not interpreted as blanket permission to continue activities that are likely to be perceived (or misperceived) as threats. Would schools, airports, or government buildings be able to function if students and citizens were given the green light to bring in homemade electronics in briefcase like containers?

 

[phinds]

Hey! @Drakkith is from Texas!

Yes, that does explain a lot

 

[OmCheeto]

I still have too many questions unanswered to make a decision on the matter.
I would still like to see what the engineering teacher's point of view is/was. Anyone have a link?

As a former postal type employee*, I was trained to look for "bombs" in the mail.
Ok, training might be a stretch. They made us look at the USPS web page, and provided poster, on "suspicious" items.

United States Postal Inspection Service
Mail Bombs
It is important to be alert for suspicious parcels, but keep in mind that a mail bomb is an extremely rare occurrence. To illustrate just how rare, Postal Inspectors have investigated an average of 16 mail bombs over the last few years. By contrast, each year, the Postal Service processed over 170 billion pieces of mail. That means during the last few years, the chances that a piece of mail actually contains a bomb average far less than one in 10 billion!

...
If you become suspicious of a mailing and are unable to verify the contents, observe the following safety precautions:
Poster 84, Suspicious Mail, tells employees what to do if they find a suspicious package:

1. Don't open the article.
2. Isolate the suspect parcel and evacuate the immediate area.
3. Don't put it in water or a confined space, such as a desk drawer or cabinet.
4. If possible, open windows in the immediate area to assist in venting potentially explosive gases.
5. Don't worry about possible embarrassment if the item turns out to be innocent. Instead, contact the Postal Inspection Service and your local police department.

It's not clear to me whether or not the pencil box was opened to show the English teacher that there was nothing but a bunch of wires and circuit boards, which I would imagine even a lowly English teacher would recognize as not being a bomb.
But #1 on the list clearly states: Do not open it.

#5 on the list, is why I don't have a problem with the actions of anyone at the school, nor the police force.
Better to be embarrassed by misidentifying something, than dead.

Not sure if anyone has referenced the following yet, but I find it somewhat entertaining:

Like Ahmed Mohamed, Steve Wozniak Was Also Arrested for Building Something Cool in High School
9/17/2015
.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was also arrested for what a high-school principal thought was a bomb after he heard it beeping, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. What he heard was actually a metronome.

Here is the excerpt from the book:

In twelfth grade he built an electric metronome—one of those devises that keep time in music class—and realized it sounded like a bomb. So he took the labels off some of the big batteries, taped them together, and put it in a school locker; he rigged it to start ticking faster when the locker opened. Later that day he got called to the principal’s office. He thought it as because he had won, yet again, the school’s top math prize. Instead he was confronted by the police. The principal had been summoned when the device was found, bravely ran onto the football field clutching it to his chest, and pulled the wires off. Woz tried and failed to suppress his laughter. He actually got sent to the juvenile detention center, where he spent the night. It was a memorable experience. He taught the other prisoners how to disconnect the wires leading to the ceiling fans and connect them to the bars so people got shocked when touching them.

Wozniak posted on his Facebook page that Mohamed's story took him back to his high school days. In reply to some comments on his post, Wozniak called Mohamed a "modern day hero" to people like him.

"From the most creative people I meet in high tech, I'd suggest that slight misbehavior is an essential ingredient of creative thinking," he wrote.

...

Now, it is clear that Steve intended for his device to appear to be a bomb. But as has been mentioned, things have changed in the last 47 years. (This makes me feel kind of old for some reason.)
According to the internets, Steve was a senior in 1968, and was attending high school in Kilgore Texas.
Actually, the comments on Steve's Facebook page are quite entertaining also. Lots of high school type shenanigans!

Along the lines of Jim Hardy's "how times have changed" [ this was late 1960s ]...
In high school chemistry, somehow the teacher got wind of my interest in explosives.
...

What is it with boys and blowing things up. I didn't start college until I was 24, having spent 6 years in the navy. And having been a "nuke", I was averse to things blowing up.
I vaguely remember in chemistry lab, being surrounded by a bunch of 18 year olds, who as soon as the TA left the room, someone would say; "Let's blow something up!"


-----------------
* And yes, we did receive items in the mail intended to do harm to some of our staff.
[edit] One suspicious package had me call security. It turned out to be a dead fish.
Another suspicious package, which I dealt with myself, having been promoted to "stupidvisor", turned out to be a broken, improperly packaged bottle of barbecue sauce.

ps. Sorry about all the edits. (4 in total, I think. )
Now 5!

 

[OmCheeto]

Now 5!

6...

Looking at the poster again, if you look closely, the third red box says; "Do not taste the suspicious looking item".

​

Not sure how many people are old enough to remember the old "Mikey" commercial, but there was one person, in the mail center, who, when we found a suspicious package, we would all say in unison; "Sally! Let's let Sally taste it! She'll taste anything!"

On one occasion, when we had a suspicious package, she went over, grabbed it, and started shaking it, accusing everyone else of being sissies, as we all crouched behind heavy objects.

ps. Sally is/was not her real name.

 

[nsaspook]

Practical considerations dictate that consequences and response to perceived threats be of a nature that is not interpreted as blanket permission to continue activities that are likely to be perceived (or misperceived) as threats. Would schools, airports, or government buildings be able to function if students and citizens were given the green light to bring in homemade electronics in briefcase like containers?

Yes, they function just fine when people travel with devices that a first glance might look suspicious. I make tons of demo controller devices with tools, wires, chips, leds and always hand carry the case they are in. (but I do check my gun at the counter , Yes I'm from Texas) I always declare that I have electronics in the case before they scan it (I would never trust some TSA handler to open it without me being there if I checked it in at the counter). I have only been asked for a detailed inspection once and that was in Honolulu for an agricultural inspection.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Yes, they function just fine when people travel with devices that a first glance might look suspicious. I make tons of demo controller devices with tools, wires, chips, leds and always hand carry the case they are in. (but I do check my gun at the counter , Yes I'm from Texas) I always declare that I have electronics in the case before they scan it (I would never trust some TSA handler to open it without me being there if I checked it in at the counter). I have only been asked for a detailed inspection once and that was in Honolulu for an agricultural inspection.

A number of my colleagues and I have decided that it simply easier and more reliable to ship equipment ahead of time rather than subject equipment to TSA inspection and mishandling for equipment that is likely to get increased attention. Even if they don't break it, the delay of the extra inspection and extra effort to get everything back in order is simply too big a hassle compared with the relatively minor expense and effort to ship it ahead of time.

The shipping companies (UPS and FedEx mostly) have gotten very good and reliable at electronic and other specialized scientific and engineering materials. TSA and the airlines are pathetic. In some cases, it is simply easier to drive.

 

[nsaspook]

A number of my colleagues and I have decided that it simply easier and more reliable to ship equipment ahead of time rather than subject equipment to TSA inspection and mishandling for equipment that is likely to get increased attention. Even if they don't break it, the delay of the extra inspection and extra effort to get everything back in order is simply too big a hassle compared with the relatively minor expense and effort to ship it ahead of time.

The shipping companies (UPS and FedEx mostly) have gotten very good and reliable at electronic and other specialized scientific and engineering materials. TSA and the airlines are pathetic.

If it's something common we do ship but if it's my 'baby' she stays with me.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

If it's something common we do ship but if it's my 'baby' she stays with me.

I get what you're saying, but if it's dear enough to call my 'baby', I'd be working hard to figure out how to drive and deprive the TSA their chance to mess it up.

But back to the educational angle, we've mentored a number of high school students in science projects related to rocketry, ballistics, and blast. We've been careful to explain to them not to bring that stuff to school. Even innocuous stuff (no energetic materials) can be misinterpreted as dangerous by well-intended teachers, administrators, and school resource officers.

This is too bad in many ways. One student had a project using high speed video to quantify the internal ballistics of a potato cannon (transparent barrel). The video was not nearly as compelling or as interesting as the spud gun would have been. (See: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1305/1305.0966.pdf ) Another student had a project quantifying the dependence of rocket motor thrust on altitude. She put together a force plate that would have made for a great demonstration at the fair. Yet another student project tested how exact the proportionality of air drag and air density is for supersonic projectiles. Since the easiest projectiles to experiment with were bullets, she had to leave those at home.

I even caught heat once from an ignorant administrator for passing around bullets in my physics class. (I mean just the inert projectile, without the powder or primer or launching system).

It's not enough not to _be_ dangerous in any way, these days one must not _appear_ dangerous, even to the ignorant and uninformed.

 

[phinds]

It's not enough not to _be_ dangerous in any way, these days one must not _appear_ dangerous, even to the ignorant and uninformed.

Yeah, I had a guy working for me some years back who brought in, and lined up on his bookcase, a number of different sized shell casings. No power. No bullets. Just the shell casings. Some secretary said she found them "scary" so my boss asked the guy to take them home.

 

[nsaspook]

It's not enough not to _be_ dangerous in any way, these days one must not _appear_ dangerous, even to the ignorant and uninformed.

Is this the future we get if we appease the ignorant and uninformed?


Maybe we should calling it out when we see it.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Is this the future we get if we appease the ignorant and uninformed?

Maybe we should calling it out when we see it.

We sure should be calling it out.

But we should be challenging it with reason and facts rather than forcing their hand.

It's just not smart to confront the ignorant and uninformed with stuff that's likely to spook them into overreactions.

It's better to explain what one is going to do before hand, explain why it is safe, and gain agreement from the relevant authorities regarding the safety and soundness of one's planned actions.

Sometimes that is possible with an enlightened principal, teacher, or security guard. Other times, it is simply so much easier to substitute a picture or video that it is not worth the effort to change the minds of parties who are ignorant, stubborn, and in authority.

 

[nsaspook]

We sure should be calling it out.

But we should be challenging it with reason and facts rather than forcing their hand.

It's just not smart to confront the ignorant and uninformed with stuff that's likely to spook them into overreactions.

It's better to explain what one is going to do before hand, explain why it is safe, and gain agreement from the relevant authorities regarding the safety and soundness of one's planned actions.

Sometimes that is possible with an enlightened principal, teacher, or security guard. Other times, it is simply so much easier to substitute a picture or video that it is not worth the effort to change the minds of parties who are ignorant, stubborn, and in authority.

While I agree in principle it's been my experience that reason and facts only work with those who are reasonable and are able to understand the facts when they are protected from abuse of authority. What has to change is the culture of fear and zero-tolerance combined with the destruction of the laws and procedures driven by that culture that is enabling people to make stupid decisions without consequence. This case makes me hopeful that people in general can see the evil this system of mindless judgment brings and some of us are forcing their hand by exposing it as harmful to the future of our society. Showing those involved how the system makes them look stupid is harsh but IMO harsh measures are needed to stop this now.

 

[Jeff Rosenbury]

No. How is being a critic of something the same thing as forcing your beliefs on people? There's nothing in the law that says government officials have to respect your personal beliefs - they only have to respect the law. If people take issue with a politicians opinion about some social or religious issue, they are free to vote against that person. And wouldn't you prefer people expose their opinions, good or bad, rather than keep them secret and let them silently impact their policy decisions?

Public officials make decisions that affect the lives of citizens. So what happens in a case like this one? Whether this was a fake bomb or a clock is a judgement call based on lots of information to which we, the voting public, will never have access. The officials making that determination will be influenced by their understanding of the people involved -- right or wrong. They determine what the law is in such situations.

IMO, public officials should make extra effort to treat people equally even if (or especially if) they disagree with them on some political/religious level.

There is a cost to freedom. One of those costs is in making the assumption of innocence. Yes scofflaws will take advantage. But that is a price we should gladly pay to avoid a society of jack booted thugs.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice...gineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/

This article makes a strong case that Ahmed's clock was not really an invention or electronics project, but rather an existing clock with the working parts simply transferred to a pencil case.

 

[OmCheeto]

http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice...gineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/

This article makes a strong case that Ahmed's clock was not really an invention or electronics project, but rather an existing clock with the working parts simply transferred to a pencil case.

You beat me to it.
It would appear that elderly electronics nerds around the planet are collectively scratching our heads and saying; "That's not an invention. He took the casing off an 80's era clock, and put it in a box".

This Is Ahmed Mohamed’s Clock
.
comment by Tunacrab;
...
Anyone with an understanding of electronics will immediately see this “homemade clock” is not the tinkering of a child or teen. It was never Ahmed’s idea to begin with. This isn’t some innocent science project. The picture of the clock exposes the lie. Ahmed did not lovingly patch together IC chips and resistors, as the media would like you to believe. What you see is the guts from a manufactured digital clock, right down to the 9 volt memory backup, and the prefab button board. Absolutely nothing was made. It’s the equivalent of taking the plastic surround off of your TV and claiming you “made” a TV.
...

ps. I'm still cleaning out my house, and have not yet found my first high school electronics project: A stopwatch, made from one of the first led display calculators, and a small smidgeon of components surrounding a 555 timer. Never could get that darned thing calibrated. And my soldering skills, at 14... OMG!

 

[RooksAndBooks]

Adding to the Texas stupidity, http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/docs/09illitmap.html .

 

[Astronuc]

It would appear that elderly electronics nerds around the planet are collectively scratching our heads and saying; "That's not an invention. He took the casing off an 80's era clock, and put it in a box".

It's possible that the media through in the word invention giving the teen more of a celebrity status. Perhaps he introduced some innovation, but I don't know enough details. On the other hand, I have yet to see someone point to something in the device that looks like an explosive, e.g., a tube of gunpowder or block of C4 or Semtex. If it looked like C4 or Semtex, the one would have to ask, how did a 14-year old get access to such material.

At 14, I knew very well what various materials looked like.

 

[DavidSnider]

The fact that he didn't build it totally changes the tone of the story. While I don't think he intended to build a "hoax bomb" it certainly looks like it was at least a "mock bomb".

He's 14, he probably doesn't understand that building a mock bomb is such a big deal. His Engineering teacher however should have confiscated it and said "you'll get this back at the end of the day, don't bring something like this in again" and that would have been the end of it.

 

[mheslep]

Adding to the Texas stupidity, http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/docs/09illitmap.html .

Which at 19% and per that link is a better rate (lacking-basic-literacy) than ... California (23%), New York (22%).

I don't see "stupidity" in the title of the report nor elsewhere in the study as a cause. Perhaps there are other possible explanations for English illiteracy. For instance, in a border state with high job growth, perhaps many speak languages other than English. Would they be counted as lacking-basic-literacy in this study? Yes.

It should be noted that adults who were not able to take the assessment because they were not able to communicate in English or Spanish (i.e. language barrier cases) are included in the indirect estimates and classified as lacking BPLS because they can be considered to be at the lowest level of English literacy.

 

[OmCheeto]

Which at 19% and per that link is a better rate (lacking-basic-literacy) than ... California (23%), New York (22%).

I don't see "stupidity" in the title of the report nor elsewhere in the study as a cause. Perhaps there are other possible explanations for English illiteracy. For instance, in a border state with high job growth, perhaps many speak languages other than English. Would they be counted as lacking-basic-literacy in this study? Yes.

To be honest, I was very freaked out to see that it was Texas A&M that posted that illiteracy chart.
Some of the most intelligent people I know are from Texas.
hmmm...

 

[nsaspook]

This is not directed to anyone here but I've statements in this direction elsewhere.

I just laugh when I see theories of how the boy had some sort of plan to cause an event at school. Most classic conspiracy theories are built on the deconstruction of events in a plan (an innocent plan to impress his teacher here) that actually (and usually in a random fashion) evolved in real-time and were not deterministic. The need to see random events as deterministic parts of a master plan seems to stem from our need to be in control of events or see a 'reason' for things instead of just falling down the well of time with random events controlling our lives. Occam's razor and all information so far available point to the events happening just like he said from the choice of possible and more complex alternatives to what he said.

 

[DavidSnider]

If he did do all this on purpose then he is the most brilliant Social Engineer in history ;)

 

[Vanadium 50]

Adding to the Texas stupidity, http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/docs/09illitmap.html .

As much fun as it is to pile on Texans, the statement should be that 19% of Texans cannot read an English newspaper. Something like 31% of Texans only speak Spanish at home. This tells you something about Texans, but probably not what you thought it did.

 

[russ_watters]

If he did do all this on purpose then he is the most brilliant Social Engineer in history ;)

Or perhaps his father, who is a political activist, is a pretty good one.

Does it bother anyone else that this clock was mounted inside the case?

 

[Vanadium 50]

IMO, public officials should make extra effort to treat people equally

Which is exactly what zero tolerance does. The price you pay is that you start suspending kids for half-eaten pop-tarts.

Or perhaps his father, who is a political activist, is a pretty good one.

Oh, he might have played a part, but fundamentally this story was, as they say, "too good to check". It fits so many narratives, it was fated to be told this way, no matter what the facts were.

 

[nsaspook]

Or perhaps his father, who is a political activist, is a pretty good one.

Does it bother anyone else that this clock was mounted inside the case?

Why should it?

I've seen the junk pencil box and I've seen the junk clock. Together it looked like a junk clock in a junk pencil box that IMO the idea that it might get him in trouble or cause trouble never crossed his mind. So yes, he wanted attention as in the attention of his STEM teacher and he has said many times that he wanted to impress his teacher.

 

[anorlunda]

With the new information, it does sound plausible that the boy was building an "Islamaphobia detector" , or maybe it was more innocent childish prank. We'll never know for sure.

Suddenly this case as a "perfect" example of whatever point you want to make has become very imperfect.

 

[russ_watters]

Why should it?

I've seen the junk pencil box and I've seen the junk clock. Together it looked like a junk clock in a junk pencil box...

Well, I'm not 14 anymore, so I guess I may not have a good baseline anymore, but none of what he did makes any sense to me. At 14 I was taking apart things to fix them or see how they worked. If I was "making" anything electrical, it was with a Radio Shack project kit. My favorite were the radio circuits and door alarm to keep my sister out of my room. The point is, I was always trying to do/make *something*.

I'm trying to imagine why anyone would mount a clock display inside of a box instead of (facing) outside and why it would be a hinged, locked metal case instead of something more typical of clocks. "I was trying to make a clock" is not sufficient. It doesn't make sense, whiche makes me suspicious, so I agree with the police's initial judgement that he was not being forthcoming, which made them suspicious.

IMO the idea that it might get him in trouble or cause trouble never crossed his mind. So yes, he wanted attention as in the attention of his STEM teacher...

It certainly possible that that's all this is. There are a lot of not so nice angles of this and the overreactions by both the police and media are sad. It's a hyper-PC culture where in this case two PC's collided...and the one that won-out is the one that makes Texas and the police look bad, because apparently they aren't on the list.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Given the known facts, the suspicions regarding a bomb or a hoax bomb seem reasonable.

 

[nsaspook]

With the new information, it does sound plausible that the boy was building an "Islamaphobia detector" , or maybe it was more innocent childish prank. We'll never know for sure.

Suddenly this case as a "perfect" example of whatever point you want to make has become very imperfect.

What new information?

Well, I'm not 14 anymore, so I guess I may not have a good baseline anymore, but none of what he did makes any sense to me. At 14 I was taking apart things to fix them or see how they worked. If I was "making" anything electrical, it was with a Radio Shack project kit. My favorite were the radio circuits and door alarm to keep my sister out of my room. The point is, I was always trying to do/make *something*.

Much of what I see here is the projection of one's own feeling into possible motivations of the kids actions. I'm as guilty as anyone of this but look at the facts of what's been shown and said by those who could charge him with a crime and know much more than we do about what really happened.
When I was 14 things still had tubes, Radioshack was not going out of business, Heathkit and ten other businesses that sold kits and parts were still around and judging from the interior pictures of his bedroom that family is not very well off. Maybe the clock in the box is the real level of his technical ability. I do want to hear from one person, his STEM teacher who IMO should have kept the 'clock' if there was any notion of possible danger (and did not and I can't see how that person would let him keep it if they thought it really looked like a 'Hoax Bomb") and has now vanished so we can't hear that persons side of the story.
I can completely relate to the naivety of a 14yo nerd to the stupidity of the adult world.

 

[russ_watters]

Much of what I see here is the projection of one's own feeling into possible motivations of the kids actions.

Yes, that's my point. You congratulated him earlier for keeping his mouth shut with the police, but that's his catch-22: by not elaborating, he forces people to speculate and that speculation, necessarily, goes in a negative direction - prudence demands it, even without the PC issue. There are risks for both choices, but much of the current problem was created by that choice. Heck, if he'd been more forthcoming with or obedient toward his teachers, perhaps they don't even call the police?

 

[nsaspook]

Yes, that's my point. You congratulated him earlier for keeping his mouth shut with the police, but that's his catch-22: by not elaborating, he forces people to speculate and that speculation, necessarily, goes in a negative direction - prudence demands it, even without the PC issue. There are risks for both choices, but much of the current problem was created by that choice. Heck, if he'd been more forthcoming with or obedient toward his teachers, perhaps they don't even call the police?

The problem with talking to the police is that you put yourself in legal jeoparty for anything you say even if you think it's innocent. If they had asked him "we know this is not a bomb but have you ever thought about making a bomb?" do you think he should answer that question without advice? If it was only a clock in a box what else is there to say if that's your only motivation?

The bottom line for me is that he was released the same day by the Police in the state of Texas in a city that's known for not being nice to people who are 'different'. I was born and raised in the state so I know if there was the slightest hint something was amiss he would still be in a jail cell.