# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/81 "2015-09-20T21:56:59Z")
Microsoft sent Ahmed a nice collection of tech toys. šŸ˜‰ > **[Microsoft Seriously Hooked up Ahmed Mohamed After That Clock BS](https://www.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-seriously-hooked-ahmed-mohamed-150152426.html)** > > Microsoft hooked up Ahmed Mohamed with a giant box of gifts after he was arrested for building a clock that police said looked like a bomb. > [@](#): > > We can see a Surface Pro 3, a Microsoft Band and a 3-D printer in there (what, no Xbox One?), which is a pretty nice haul. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/82 "2015-09-20T22:28:54Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Mark Cuban (yeah, I know, guyā€™s a douche) said that when he talked to Ahmed on the phone, when he asked him what happened the kid was fed the answers to every question by his sister. Which could indicate something fishy, or maybe the kid just has something in his personality that shuts down when people question him. Or maybe it indicates that Ahmedā€™s father doesnā€™t want some random jackass tricking a child into saying something stupid. Hell, if the cops were doing their jobs right they explicitly told Ahmed to mind what he says and to have someone to counsel him - maybe he took that to heart? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/83 "2015-09-21T05:00:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Fox ā€˜Newsā€™ has been shown to be extremely inaccurate, and so is not a reliable source. Show me what was wrong with their reporting in this case, not some vague generalities of how you donā€™t like them. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/84 "2015-09-21T05:08:57Z")
Does ANYONE feel the kid deserves to see the president over it? I mean kids get kicked out of school all the time for dumb stuff. Why is this kid so special? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/85 "2015-09-21T05:33:48Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Does ANYONE feel the kid deserves to see the president over it? I mean kids get kicked out of school all the time for dumb stuff. Why is this kid so special? I guess they saw this as a way to promote science and education? I agree that Ahmedā€™s situation isnā€™t that much different than other kids that ran into dumb teachers and policies. Like the kid expelled for a poptart shaped like a gun. I agree Ahmed really didnā€™t require a grand gesture like a White House invite, but it doesnā€™t bother me either. Heā€™s just one more guest at Astronomy Night in October. > **[Obama invites Ahmed Mohamed, clock-making teen arrested in Texas, to White...](https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/politics/barack-obama-ahmed-texas/)** > > The same day Texas police announced that a teenager arrested in Texas after bringing a clock he made to high school would not charged, President Barack Obama invited the student to the White House. > [@](#): > > The White House invited Ahmed to Astronomy Night in October, an annual event that brings together astronauts, scientists and other professionals. > > White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the incident "is a good illustration of how pernicious stereotypes can prevent even goodhearted people who have dedicated their lives to educating young people from doing the good work they set out to do. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/86 "2015-09-21T05:56:11Z")
More on Astronomy Night in October. Ahmed will just be one of many kids at the event. > **[White House Astronomy Night: A Celebration of Science, Technology, and Space](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/08/21/white-house-astronomy-night-celebration-science-technology-and-space)** > > Scientists and amateur astronomers are also invited to host events and expand access to STEM experiences for the next generation of scientists, engineers, and inventors ---
**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 21, 2015, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/87 "2015-09-21T07:06:15Z")
> **[Nerds Rage Over Ahmed Mohamed's Clock](https://www.thedailybeast.com/nerds-rage-over-ahmed-mohameds-clock)** > > First the teenā€™s homemade clock got him arrestedā€”then invited to the White House. Now comes the conspiracistsā€™ backlash against his ā€˜invention.ā€™ Interesting that Richard Dawkins has come around to the same theory I hold. It just took him a little longer to get there. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/88 "2015-09-21T09:10:22Z")
As an experiment Iā€™d like to see someone walk into, say, a federal courthouse with some mangled electronics wired together haphazardly and stuffed into a briefcase. If questioned about what it is it give vague and blunt responses. This is in the name of Science, please take it with dreadful seriousness. The Scientific community needs is counting on you. ---
**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 21, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/89 "2015-09-21T14:03:59Z")
Being Muslim with an Arabic name and 14 neitherā€¦ ā€¦excuses his being jerked around by Texas cops at 14; nor ā€¦makes him some sort of instantly exonerated figure, as too many in this thread and blogstreams everywhere seem to be contending. He took a Radio Shack (brand) clock out of its case and put it in a small briefcase with only the display showing. Then took it to school. Everyone who thinks heā€™s a brilliant kid inventor who really wanted to show off his project in all possible innocence, stand over there with the rest of the outraged blogosphereā€¦ Now, everyone who thinks heā€™s an at-least fairly bright hobbyist kid who _did not fail to consider that his cool project looked pretty bomb-like_ and took it to school to get coolness cred from his schoolmates - with nothing further than 14yo idiocy on the point - stand over here. I see this as a lesson in both racist/profiling overreaction in 2015 America, and the ten-billionth example of just how naively stupid 13-15yos can be. Iā€™ve had several. I was one. It does not lead to sainthood. And Iā€™m glad to see some fairly rational correction appearing in the media that treated this like the second crucifixion of a budding tech ghod. ---
**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 21, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/90 "2015-09-21T14:18:19Z")
My initial read on this was exactly the same as yours, **Amateur Barbarian**. But after learning more about his dadā€™, it is really hard for me not to suspect that there was something more going on. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/91 "2015-09-21T15:42:58Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > More on Astronomy Night in October. Ahmed will just be one of many kids at the event. > [White House Astronomy Night: A Celebration of Science, Technology, and Space | whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/08/21/white-house-astronomy-night-celebration-science-technology-and-space) But you can bet he will have his picture taken with Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/92 "2015-09-21T15:51:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Iā€™ve known adults who say that they ā€œdesignedā€ a power transistor when what they did was specify its current-handling requirements. Dyson took six vortices, attached them to what essentially is a hard drive motor, and called it a ā€œV6 Digital Motorā€. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/93 "2015-09-21T16:02:57Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > But you can bet he will have his picture taken with Obama. Whatā€™s your problem with that? ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/94 "2015-09-30T02:31:31Z")
According to the initial news reports ā€“ the ones written before anyone had formed a narrative, the ones written before anyone developed an agenda, the ones subject to inaccuracies of haste, perhaps, but not of bias or prejudgment ā€“ said he did his project and brought it in to show off, and never claimed it was anything but a clock. This strikes me as an odd thing to do when youā€™re trying to create a bomb scare. At any rate, can we at least agree that the people who are saying it actually was a bomb are outright lunatics? > [@SlackerInc](#): > > They did say, pretty immediately, something about it having nothing to do with race and that they would have done the same with any student. Well, they would say that, wouldnā€™t they? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/95 "2015-09-30T02:41:55Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Hereā€™s one report from Fox News about it. > > [Obama invites clock kid, but ignored cops' kin? | Fox News Video](http://video.foxnews.com/v/4496361112001/obama-invites-clock-kid-but-ignored-cops-kin/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_583506&playlist_id=trending#sp=show-clips) > Poor little darling: just like dear Trayvon. Why in the world should we give anyone from the [Center for Security Policy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Security_Policy) any credence whatsoever? ---
**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 30, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/96 "2015-09-30T03:12:55Z")
> [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](#): > > At any rate, can we at least agree that the people who are saying it actually was a bomb are outright lunatics? Yes. > [@](#): > > Well, they would say that, wouldnā€™t they? Sure, of course. I was just responding factually to someone who thought it was notable that they hadnā€™t said anything like that; in fact, they had. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/97 "2019-06-30T04:04:11Z")
Bumping because [this educational electronics thing in a briefcase](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arduino-Essentials-Learning-Kit-Prototyping-Electronics-Programming-Fundamentals/980693003) just came up in my Facebook feed. Better make sure none of those wires stick out of the case! ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/98 "2019-06-30T07:00:58Z")
Link to Wiki > **[2007 Boston Mooninite panic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic)** > > On the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police Department and the Boston Fire Department mistakenly identified battery-powered LED placards depicting the Mooninites, characters from the Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), leading to a massive panic. Placed throughout Boston, Massachusetts, and the surrounding cities of Cambridge and Somerville by Peter "Zebbler" Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, these devices were part of a nat... LED sign mistaken for a device. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/99 "2019-06-30T13:38:12Z")
Reading about stuff like this makes me worried. I do a lot of electronic stuff. So Iā€™m always ordering kits, parts, etc. for various projects. Right now I have two items, including a battery, waiting to be shipped. Put all the stuff together Iā€™m buying and ā€¦ I think Iā€™m on a list somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481/100 "2019-06-30T14:17:50Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Reading about stuff like this makes me worried. > > I do a lot of electronic stuff. So Iā€™m always ordering kits, parts, etc. for various projects. Right now I have two items, including a battery, waiting to be shipped. > > Put all the stuff together Iā€™m buying and ā€¦ I think Iā€™m on a list somewhere. Batteries and electronic parts are OK, just donā€™t order any [Casio wristwatches](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-casio-wristwatch-alqaida) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-year-old-arrested-for-building-a-clock/731481.md?page=6)