# 14-year-old arrested for building a clock **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 16, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481 "2015-09-16T16:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gotlift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc348/32.png) [@Gotlift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotlift)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/41 "2015-09-19T01:50:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Ah. I rarely go to The Pit. I can’t figure out why this board has The Pit, MPSIMS, and IMHO when pretty much everything is the same and all of it fits under the same BS. Kind of retarded. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/42 "2015-09-19T02:07:02Z")
> [@Gotlift](#): > > I can’t figure out why this board has The Pit, MPSIMS, and IMHO when pretty much everything is the same and all of it fits under the same BS. Kind of retarded. IMHO is for Opinions. MPSIMS is for miscellaneous crap (which could be an opinion). The Pit is for gloves-off attacks on other posters. Sometimes these divisions tend to overlap, but most times they work very well. You’re just new here (and you are likely to get shit about your use of the word “retarded”). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/43 "2015-09-19T02:12:16Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > The Pit is for gloves-off attacks on other posters. Or it should be. Mostly it seems to be recreational outrage. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/44 "2015-09-19T04:55:40Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Obviously not a bomb. Obviously, you didn’t see it… WTF would put a clock in a briefcase? Something like this happened to me- I brought a pool stick to work in a gun case. Can you believe the racists who thought that I was going to shoot up the place?? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/45 "2015-09-19T04:59:37Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/46 "2015-09-19T05:08:17Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Obviously, you didn’t see it… > WTF would put a clock in a briefcase? > Something like this happened to me- I brought a pool stick to work in a gun case. Can you believe the racists who thought that I was going to shoot up the place?? Anyone who wanted something better than a cardboard box to carry it in, and had no budget. Geez! I can’t believe how many bozos here are chiming in on things they have no experience with - as I kid I used any box I could find to house my projects - Cigar boxes, coffee tins, and tupperware. And, that “briefcase” is like 8” wide… ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/47 "2015-09-19T05:11:04Z")
> [@](#): > > A picture reportedly taken by Ahmed’s sister shows him in handcuffs at the juvenile detention center, sporting a NASA T-shirt and an understandably confused expression I think a law suit is in order… he should win. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/48 "2015-09-19T05:23:47Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Anyone who wanted something better than a cardboard box to carry it in, and had no budget. > > Geez! I can’t believe how many bozos here are chiming in on things they have no experience with - as I kid I used any box I could find to house my projects - Cigar boxes, coffee tins, and tupperware. > > And, that “briefcase” is like 8” wide… He could have just used the case that the clock (a 1980s Radio Shack model with a built-in 9V battery backup) was originally built with. But then I guess he couldn’t pretend he “invented” it. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/49 "2015-09-19T05:25:44Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > He could have just used the case that the clock (a 1980s Radio Shack model with a built-in 9V battery backup) was originally built with. But then I guess he couldn’t pretend he “invented” it. Man, you must have been insufferable as a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/50 "2015-09-19T07:45:25Z")
To you? Probably. I had plenty of friends and dates though, so fuck it. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/51 "2015-09-19T14:34:27Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Saying he designed and built that as opposed to taking apart a Wal-Mart clock and sticking it in a Wal-Mart pencil case, is a stretch. The boy is 14 years old and probably just getting started in electronics. That is how you learn. You take shit apart that already works and put it back together. Using wires and component parts would demonstrate to the class and help you understand what makes the thing keep time. Do you tell little Suzie that her painting isn’t really a painting because Da Vinci never would have used that particular accent tone? Further, if people were scared that this was a bomb, where was the explosive content? What part of that device was going to go “boom”? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/52 "2015-09-19T16:21:59Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > To you? Probably. I had plenty of friends and dates though, so fuck it. That makes me happy - special needs kids need love, too. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/53 "2015-09-19T16:47:14Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Saying he designed and built that as opposed to taking apart a Wal-Mart clock and sticking it in a Wal-Mart pencil case, is a stretch. > [@beowulff](#): > > How large was the last digital clock that you designed and built? **Slacker** ’s got it. This is an “invention” and “home made” like a tyrannosaurus made from Legos. Many of us have indeed “invented” and built much more complex items at similar ages. I had a tabletop radio when I was about 13 - I picked the smashed thing out of a dumpster and re-housed it in a cigar box. I had no tuning indicator so it was old-school tune-by-ear… but I did not and never would have claimed I “invented” it. I did invent (= start with idea and a few sheets of graph paper) many, many things, some of which were purely for me, quite a few of which appeared in the hobby magazines and a number of which were produced as kits or finished goods. I just “invented” a solid-state replacement for a ridiculously complex and expensive relay used in vintage cars, and am doing very small-scale production. Taking the guts from a clock and putting them in a different box is NOT inventing, even for a kid. It’s clever, and it shows a certain degree of technical aptitude (and imagination), but neither “inventing” nor “home made” applies to this case. Which has nothing much to do with the legal, racial and other human issues involved. But the whole whoop-te-do about Mohamed being some kind of genius inventor tech whiz is just a tiny tad inflated. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/54 "2015-09-19T16:55:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > **Slacker** ’s got it. This is an “invention” and “home made” like a tyrannosaurus made from Legos. Many of us have indeed “invented” and built much more complex items at similar ages. > > I had a tabletop radio when I was about 13 - I picked the smashed thing out of a dumpster and re-housed it in a cigar box. I had no tuning indicator so it was old-school tune-by-ear… but I did not and never would have claimed I “invented” it. > > I did invent (= start with idea and a few sheets of graph paper) many, many things, some of which were purely for me, quite a few of which appeared in the hobby magazines and a number of which were produced as kits or finished goods. I just “invented” a solid-state replacement for a ridiculously complex and expensive relay used in vintage cars, and am doing very small-scale production. > > Taking the guts from a clock and putting them in a different box is NOT inventing, even for a kid. It’s clever, and it shows a certain degree of technical aptitude (and imagination), but neither “inventing” nor “home made” applies to this case. > > Which has nothing much to do with the legal, racial and other human issues involved. But the whole whoop-te-do about Mohamed being some kind of genius inventor tech whiz is just a tiny tad inflated. BFD. This kid started _just_ they way I did - taking electronics apart, and running them without their cases. Being able to do that shows an aptitude far beyond most 14 year old kids. If he exaggerated when he said he “invented” it, so what? We’ve gotten into arguments on this board about _Apple_, saying that they didn’t actually design their processors in the iPhone. None of that is germane to this issue. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/55 "2015-09-19T17:03:33Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > None of that is germane to this issue. I already conceded that the human/prejudice/profiling issues are the real ones and the tech issues are secondary. However, a good part of most stories so far include the angsty wail about how this incredibly brilliant kid has been slapped down for being the next Steve St. Jobs, which is hyperbole at best, and plain bullshit to anyone who’s ever taken the back off an electronics device. > [@](#): > > This kid started _just_ they way I did - taking electronics apart, and running them without their cases. Being able to do that shows an aptitude far beyond most 14 year old kids. If he exaggerated when he said he “invented” it, so what? I was designing from scratch when I was 14, having passed the “take the back off things and add switches” stage at around 10. I had many friends who were at that level, or beyond, at similar ages. Neither they nor I every made the pretension of being a tech genius based on that, nor did I let anyone use the word “invent” for such tinkering and modifications - we had a high regard for the word and its meaning. Anyone who’s actually INVENTED something of moderate technical sophistication knows what I mean. It’s the difference between a performance medal and a participation one. It sincerely sucks that 2015 America treats any kid the way Ahmed Mohamed has been treated, and I am glad it made such a splash, and proud of the Muslim terrorist in the White House for stepping up so quickly and decisively. But the media needs to look up “invented” in in any grade-school dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/56 "2015-09-19T17:13:05Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I already conceded that the human/prejudice/profiling issues are the real ones and the tech issues are secondary. > > However, a good part of most stories so far include the angsty wail about how this incredibly brilliant kid has been slapped down for being the next Steve St. Jobs, which is hyperbole at best, and plain bullshit to anyone who’s ever taken the back off an electronics device. > I was designing from scratch when I was 14, having passed the “take the back off things and add switches” stage at around 10. I had many friends who were at that level, or beyond, at similar ages. Neither they nor I every made the pretension of being a tech genius based on that, nor did I let anyone use the word “invent” for such tinkering and modifications - we had a high regard for the word and its meaning. > > Anyone who’s actually INVENTED something of moderate technical sophistication knows what I mean. It’s the difference between a performance medal and a participation one. > > It sincerely sucks that 2015 America treats any kid the way Ahmed Mohamed has been treated, and I am glad it made such a splash, and proud of the Muslim terrorist in the White House for stepping up so quickly and decisively. > > But the media needs to look up “invented” in in any grade-school dictionary. I was designing from scratch in 3rd grade, and etching my own circuit boards in Jr. High. And, I’m still willing to cut this kid some slack. I’ve known adults who say that they “designed” a power transistor when what they did was specify its current-handling requirements. I don’t think there is any argument that the kid’s abilities have been over-hyped. But that shouldn’t obscure the essential injustice about what happened to him. And **Slacker** has been arguing the the whole thing was done for sinister intent, for which there is _zero_ evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Gotlift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc348/32.png) [@Gotlift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotlift)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/57 "2015-09-19T17:20:17Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > You’re just new here (and you are likely to get shit about your use of the word “retarded”). … and I don’t give a shit if people are offended by the word retarded. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/58 "2015-09-19T17:26:03Z")
> [@Gotlift](#): > > … and I don’t give a shit if people are offended by the word retarded. It’s a great way to get banned… ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/59 "2015-09-19T18:16:04Z")
You can be banned for using the word ‘retarded’? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/60 "2015-09-19T18:44:09Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > You can be banned for using the word ‘retarded’? Probably not, but disregarding friendly advice on this board is usually indicative of a short stay here. The continued use of such a word might be considered the dreaded “T-word”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481.md?page=4)