# RO: This is totally going to kill Bring Your Clock to School Day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2015, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454 "2015-09-16T08:35:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 36
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/701 "2015-09-23T16:38:04Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Fine, but you must concede there are some elaborate suppositions/handwaving required on both sides of this argument. Only by those that are assuming he had ‘evil intent’ and a ‘master plan’ - the evidence/statements we have so far do not support that. The default assumption in US law is ‘innocent’ - you are presuming guilty, and having to go to elaborate lengths to ‘make your case’. Absent any evidence to the contrary - he simply ‘built’ a clock and there was no ill intent in his taking it to school . Your assumptions to the opposite and ‘grand schemes’ do not make a case - “could” he have planned to do something? it is a possibility - but one for which there is ZERO evidence at this point (even in past behaviour). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/702 "2015-09-23T16:46:22Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Fine, but you must concede there are some elaborate suppositions/handwaving required on both sides of this argument. Sounds a lot like “Both the kid and the teachers/police made dumb choices so let’s pretend there’s an equivalency here”. ---
**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 23, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/703 "2015-09-23T16:51:44Z")
No. I just want to know the truth, for its own sake. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/704 "2015-09-23T16:52:24Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Sounds a lot like “Both the kid and the teachers/police made dumb choices so let’s pretend there’s an equivalency here”. Eh, I think for me it’s more that I don’t see Ahmed as being capable of making such dumb choices. I’m willing to give him way more credit than you are, it seems, and in doing so it gives the school more credit as well. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/705 "2015-09-23T16:52:42Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Fine, but you must concede there are some elaborate suppositions/handwaving required on both sides of this argument. Further to the above posts, I concede that one of is us multiplying entities needlessly. And–hang on, let me double-check–yeah, it’s you. I’m not saying your hypothesis is incorrect. Just that it’s not supported by the facts, and that Occam’s knife obviates it. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/706 "2015-09-23T16:55:20Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > But when the actual clock picture came out, and I realized that a) even though it’s in a small pencil case, there’s definitely more than a hint of movie-bomb there, and b) it’s certainly not a little electronics hobby project (watch this [trite but humorous video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHk_6Vh4Qeo) of the “cool clock” being recreated in about 20 seconds), I started to get that familiar feeling of having been burned by the media and the story we were fed by the parent. Good post. But since it’s fact based, it probably won’t make any difference at all. If this was about the facts, and fighting ignorance, it would be a different thread. > [@steronz](#): > > Do you think Obama would still tweet out “cool clock kid” if he’d seen the actual clock in question? I don’t. I would hope not, because that would make the POTUS look like an idiot. And an idiot that doesn’t check with all the really smart and scientific experts that we like to think he has surrounded himself with. Does he still think it’ a cool clock? Twitter lets people make fools of themselves faster than even the media used to be able to do. ---
**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 23, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/707 "2015-09-23T16:56:53Z")
Doesn’t this just boil down to spineless nitwits who can’t think for themselves? The teacher kicked it upstairs to the principal who in turn called the cops. The cops probably would have called Homeland Security if they knew how. In a rational world, the cops would have gotten pissed at the school for wasting their time. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/708 "2015-09-23T17:07:12Z")
I think it’s kind of a cool clock. Cooler than it used to look in the 1970s faux wood plastic casing, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/709 "2015-09-23T17:11:29Z")
Aside from it being completely useless as an actual clock, it’s pretty cool. Looks like a bomb in a suitcase. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/710 "2015-09-23T17:15:11Z")
And there you have it folks: “It’s pretty cool.” the highest of praise from one 14 year old to another. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/711 "2015-09-23T17:23:06Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I think it’s kind of a cool clock. Cooler than it used to look in the 1970s faux wood plastic casing, anyway. Yeah, but then at least it wasn’t a fire and electrocution hazard. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/712 "2015-09-23T17:25:33Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Aside from it being completely useless as an actual clock, it’s pretty cool. Looks like a bomb in a suitcase. I hope you’re going for a “funny” here. Because, as a clock, it fulfills its function. It has a numerical display of digits that represent the actual time, which (one assumes) progress as the rate of one-to-one with the actual passage of time. If the case is non-optimal, meh, whattya gonna do? I bought a clock recently that was so poorly designed that it used a wall-wart for power, but the plug kept falling out at the slightest bump. THAT was a useless clock! As for looking like a bomb, it does not. [This](http://nootropicdesign.com/projectlab/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/dynamite1-large.jpg) or [this](http://nootropicdesign.com/projectlab/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/c4-large.jpg) is what a fake bomb clock looks like. Coiled wires going to detonators, and something that looks like actual explosives. (And something I’d NEVER own, especially if I had enemies. it would be the height of ironic stupidity if someone wanting to kill me replaced my fake dynamite with the real thing!) ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/713 "2015-09-23T17:26:42Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > When I entered this thread I’m pretty sure I still knew nothing about his dad at that point. My initial assumption, later revised, was that the kid came up with the prank on his own. In any case, it was not his dad that made me doubt the official story here. (Also, please keep in mind that I still give the “it was completely innocent” scenario a 40% chance of being true, which is far from infinitesimal.) Your % are based on nothing but intuition, though – nothing about what actually happened. I don’t see why that would be convincing to anyone who doesn’t already have such a gut feeling or something. ---
**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 23, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/714 "2015-09-23T17:30:07Z")
It’s fine if people don’t find it convincing. I’d be happy to see people just not dismiss it out of hand, which deep down is where I think a lot of people have already shifted even if they don’t want to say so (the human desire to appear consistent is very stubborn). ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/715 "2015-09-23T17:35:31Z")
I wish I had thought of putting an old clock in a mini briefcase, then getting busted for having it at school. Did you see all the cool shit people gave him? Even the prez tweeted that shit out. I give the kid high marks for thinking ahead, and he sure has impressed his teachers at this point. He’s going to MIT, the White House, who knows how far he will go. And they told us building a fake bomb never did anything to make the world a better place. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/716 "2015-09-23T17:38:11Z")
Just think of the clocks he’ll be able to make after MIT! ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/717 "2015-09-23T17:39:25Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Because, as a clock, it fulfills its function. No, in the real world, a clock isn’t hidden inside a case, a case that you have to open to even see the clock, and then you have to plug it in somewhere. Shoving the guts of an old clock into a pencil case, drilling as hole and splicing the plug through the hole, isn’t much of an invention. Unless the real invention was profit. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/718 "2015-09-23T17:43:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great. [x.com](https://twitter.com/POTUS?lang=en) > [@andros](#): > > And there you have it folks: “It’s pretty cool.” the highest of praise from one 14 year old to another. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/719 "2015-09-23T17:57:12Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Shoving the guts of an old clock into a pencil case, drilling as hole and splicing the plug through the hole, isn’t much of an invention. Unless the real invention was profit. What were \*you \*doing (or are you doing now) as a 14 year old, besides whacking off whenever possible? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/720 "2015-09-23T17:58:58Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > It’s fine if people don’t find it convincing. I’d be happy to see people just not dismiss it out of hand, which deep down is where I think a lot of people have already shifted even if they don’t want to say so (the human desire to appear consistent is very stubborn). Without any evidence for it, I dismiss it out of hand. Sure, it’s possible. But a lot of things are possible. Without evidence, this is just a wild guess at, essentially, an extremely minor conspiracy theory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=35) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=37)