# 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:** 45
**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 25, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/881 "2015-09-25T12:53:50Z")
If, as he claims, he plugged it into a wall socket, during class, after his other teacher advised him not to show it to anyone else, because, you know, it might seem suspicious, then he is either an idiot, or very clever. Or just a regular idiot 14 year old kid with no respect for school. Since it resulted in fame and profit, it doesn’t even matter as far as the result. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/882 "2015-09-25T15:13:12Z")
Thank christ **Fuxsie** has brought his patented brand of scienzs! to this issue too. Get ready for 2,000 posts of him selecting the juciest cherries. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/883 "2015-09-25T15:17:03Z")
Oh, for Christ’s sake. Family retains lawyers to get the [piece of shit clock back](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/09/24/ahmed-mohamed-family-wants-clock-back/72753532/). > [@](#): > > "The family says that Ahmed has been severely traumatized. The family wants justice and to ensure no family will ever have to experience what Ahmed went through again,"according to a statement released Wednesday. Yes, I’m sure he’s _severely_ traumatized by becoming an overnight celebrity who got to meet the President and gets all kinds of free shit given to him. My take (since everyone’s been clamoring so loudly for it): I don’t know whether the whole thing was planned by the family from the start. My guess is it wasn’t that organized. But no kid as supposedly bright as this one would be completely oblivious to the resemblance of this “invention” to an explosive device. I think he knew it looked like a bomb, and thought it would be funny to show it off. Whether it was planned out by the family or not, they’re definitely milking the moment for every goddamned drop. Everyone involved in this fucking fiasco is an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/884 "2015-09-25T15:22:02Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Whether it was planned out by the family or not, they’re definitely milking the moment for every goddamned drop. Everyone involved in this fucking fiasco is an asshole. Including Obama. And Zuckerberg. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/885 "2015-09-25T16:14:59Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Including Obama. And Zuckerberg. If everyone else involved in a situation looks like an asshole, it’s not everyone else who’s the problem. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/886 "2015-09-25T17:48:01Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > If, as he claims, he plugged it into a wall socket, during class, after his other teacher advised him not to show it to anyone else, because, you know, it might seem suspicious, then he is either an idiot, or very clever. It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/887 "2015-09-25T18:00:25Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Yes, I’m sure he’s _severely_ traumatized by becoming an overnight celebrity who got to meet the President and gets all kinds of free shit given to him. He’s not traumatized by being an overnight celebrity etc. He was traumatized by being a 14-year-old treated like a fucking terrorist suspect, with an arrest and handcuffs. The fame doesn’t necessarily obviate that experience, and _that’s_ what they’re suing for. Geeze, I mean, Elizabeth Smart became an overnight celebrity with a book deal and talk shows and TV movies and everything. Does that mean she wasn’t traumatized by the kidnapping? No, I’m not equating the level of trauma between the two. I’m just saying that the after-effects have nothing to do with the original incident. And I wonder if the parents _might_ have been mollified, rather than going the litigation route, if the asshole admins in the high school showed one ounce of “oops we were wrong” remorse instead of sending out a letter patting themselves on the back for protecting the innocent children from this nasty violent Muslim. ---
**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 25, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/888 "2015-09-25T18:37:18Z")
We should never ever even give the slightest indication we are concerned over Muslim’s killing and terrorizing us. Much better to err on the side of caution, and rather than upset anyone, just ignore any possible threats. Otherwise, the terrorist have won. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/889 "2015-09-25T19:02:10Z")
Because, y’know, there’s no excluded middle between ignore any possible threats and interrogate a 14 year old without his parents present. ---
**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 25, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/890 "2015-09-25T19:08:01Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > We should never ever even give the slightest indication we are concerned over Muslim’s killing and terrorizing us. Much better to err on the side of caution, and rather than upset anyone, just ignore any possible threats. > > Otherwise, the terrorist have won. The terrorists have already won if we see everyone as terrorists and we live our life in constant terror. ---
**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 25, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/891 "2015-09-25T20:38:15Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > Because, y’know, there’s no excluded middle between ignore any possible threats and interrogate a 14 year old without his parents present. I agree, but its funny that people aren’t willing to see that this fallback position is dramatically different from the CW at the beginning of this thread. Saying that no one covered themselves in glory here is a lot different from giving all these huzzahs (and expensive tech goodies) to Ahmed and feting him at the White House. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/892 "2015-09-25T21:27:48Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > We should never ever even give the slightest indication we are concerned over Muslim’s killing and terrorizing us. Much better to err on the side of caution, and rather than upset anyone, just ignore any possible threats. Right, they were so genuinely worried about this clock that, as has tiringly been stated over and over again, the teacher just held onto the clock for a while, not doing anything or calling the cops until later that afternoon. BTW, who’s this guy named “Muslim” who’s killing and terrorizing us? Sounds like a scary dude! (Apostrophe goes _after_ the “s” in plurals, buddy.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/893 "2015-09-25T21:42:09Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > You just made something up, which is called a lie. You never do that. You are the one being mendacious. The kid took the clock to his teacher and showed him it was a clock. Any suggestion that the kid was trying to make anyone think it was a bomb is a lie. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/894 "2015-09-25T22:24:42Z")
> [@choie](#): > > (Apostrophe goes _after_ the “s” in plurals, buddy.) Yeah, don’t make us call the grammar police. They’ll take you down to juvie and book you unless you write a confession right now. ---
**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 25, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/895 "2015-09-25T23:03:07Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Like what? Fine. I’ll give examples. I’m not saying most of these are 100% disproven; it’s more that they notably take a different tone or tack than has subsequently become the case once more details have come out, and Ahmed increasingly looks less and less like a poor innocent persecuted tech prodigy. Emphases mine: > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Even better, he gets a scholarship to Space Camp!](https://twitter.com/SpaceCampUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > The nasty side of me wants this to be a question during the Republican debate tonight: “Would you, like President Obama, invite Ahmed Mohammed to visit the White House?” > > Would love to see the side-steps and hem-haws on that. But probably not. > [@silenus](#): > > IIRC, **the engineering teacher was impressed** but told Ahmed not to show the clock to other teachers, that they wouldn’t understand. > [@aaelghat](#): > > I think the engineering teacher had a responsibility to speak up and be an advocate for Ahmed later when the attacks started, and tell the administration and police that **Ahmed put together a digital clock** to show him. > [@Gyrate](#): > > Being clever enough to **build a clock from scratch:** we need to encourage that kid. > [@Voyager](#): > > I thought that the school should cancel the suspension, but he needs the time to respond to the White House and just about every CEO in Silicon Valley who are saying building clocks and stuff is exactly what made them successful. He has already been offered one internship. Even a post trying to throw some cold water on the story gave Ahmed too much credit, ironically: > [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > He’s not a great hero, or some electronic genius, **he’s a bright kid who soldered a few bits together** and got mistreated by a bunch of bigots for an afternoon. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > He’s said he does dream of going to MIT. > [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > I imagine that even if the kid explained everything about how the clock works, and why he **made it** , and how he **made it** , and the history of clocks and robotics, that nothing would be good enough. > > I really hope that the national attention means that he won’t get charged, and that he’s **able to find some resources outside of school that can help him with his inventions** and where he can show them off to people who won’t automatically think he’s trying to make bombs. > [@Merneith](#): > > I hope Ahmed gets his future college tuition paid for out of this. > [@AtomicDog](#): > > _Facepalm_ > > **Building digital clocks** were a standard science project in my school system back in the day. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, he’s invited to visit the [White House](https://twitter.com/potus?lang=en), which is probably better than a medal. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > He’s also been invited to an event at Google this weekend: > > Google Science Fair ✔ @googlescifair > Hey Ahmed- we’re saving a seat for you at this weekend’s Google Science Fair…want to come? Bring your clock! #IStandwithAhmed > > And Mark Zuckerberg invited him to visit the Facebook campus. > > And there are a bunch of nerdy colleges that would be happy to hear from him in a few years. (You know he doesn’t actually \*want \*to bring that clock.) > [@davidm](#): > > Someday, after he’s invented a successful fusion generator, or warp drive, or whatever, this will be an amusing anecdote in his Wikipedia entry. Which is when I jumped in, and responded to the above with: > [@SlackerInc](#): > > He is not going to invent any of those things. The level of technical skill he displayed is minimal. It looks obvious to me he made a gag bomb as a joke (I agree he is not a terrorist)–I don’t think in the age of smartphones he would be so naive as to think anyone would be impressed with something that large in a valise that only told the time. The frenzied pushback to this included: > [@beowulff](#): > > How many digital clocks did you \*\*make \*\*as a teenager, and how big were they? (There were also plenty of posts intimating that my program that simulated a modem accessing a school grades server was pretty lame compared to what Ahmed “made”, which…LOL) > [@septimus](#): > > Evidence? Did the clock count up or down? Either way, **the fact that he brought it out only to show his science teacher argues against it being a gag.** > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Why do you think he intended to create a “gag bomb”, rather than just a clock, as he claims? Is it that outlandish that a kid who likes to tinker with electronics might **make a home-made clock** for fun? > [@bucketybuck](#): > > So let me understand the plan here. > > He made a fake bomb that looked like a clock and brought it to school as a hoax. When there, he brought it to the engineering teacher and told him it was a clock. **After showing the teacher this, he put it in his own bag and left it there, showing nobody else until after hearing a beep a different teacher made him take it out again.** > > Thats one hell of a devilish hoax that is. Me, I would have left the fake bomb somewhere to be discovered, showing it to a teacher and telling him its a clock is the sort of high level thinking I just can’t begin to understand. > > Trolling people by showing it to a teacher **then keeping it out of sight all day** , its just brilliant! > [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > So, alternative A is: the kid takes about 20 minutes to **whip up a functioning clock from a set of various parts** in order to show to his Engineering teacher his interest in this kind of activity. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/896 "2015-09-25T23:08:39Z")
You don’t seem to be making an actual point. ---
**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 25, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/897 "2015-09-25T23:11:02Z")
The point was one I made earlier. It was then challenged by \*\*andros \*\*with the “Like what?” to which I responded with many examples. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/898 "2015-09-25T23:19:27Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The point was one I made earlier. It was then challenged by \*\*andros \*\*with the “Like what?” to which I responded with many examples. Your examples are examples of hyperbole, exaggeration, sarcasm, and casual speech. They don’t add up to anything tangible. You seem to be working very hard to say something disparaging about this kid, as if finding some kind of flaw in his character proves something. He’s a kid. Kids have a laot of character flaws. None of that justifies the school’s or the cops’ treatment of him. At the same time you seem desperate to construct a contradictory characterization of nefarious mastermind for him or his father, as if he’s the Joker and this is a Batman movie, in which the most complex and implausible schemes can be pulled off without a hitch. ---
**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 25, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/899 "2015-09-25T23:26:18Z")
I’ll repeat (and someone upthread even agreed with me on this, while still hastening to point out that they disliked me nonetheless): it didn’t have to be planned out to some exacting detail. “Bring a clock to school but make it look kind of like a movie bomb, but maintain deniability that this was your intent, and let’s see if these racist crackers freak out and get you in trouble, at which point we’ll make hay out of it”. It’s actually not “complex and implausible” at all–it’s simple and “hitch-proof”, since there’s little investment of time or money if they don’t take the bait. ETA: > [@Acsenray](#): > > He’s a kid. Kids have a laot of character flaws. None of that justifies the school’s or the cops’ treatment of him. It shouldn’t require endless reiteration, but I agree with this 100%, and I have said so over and over. This is, as someone else first noted, the fallacy of the excluded middle. Although I think the general tenor of the thread is edging more and more toward that middle, which was my point in quoting all the early Ahmed rah-rahing that made me roll my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/900 "2015-09-25T23:29:49Z")
I’m still waiting to see a photo _which is clear enough and shows scale_ to decide if it was a plausible hoax bomb. It’s described as being in a “pencil case.” Pencil cases are not large enough to hold significant explosives and hence do not make plausible hoax bombs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=44) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=46)