That "clock" that Mohamed Ahmed made is a 1980's Digital Alarm Clock

[ionbasa]

Kid brings alarm clock to school gets arrested.

 

But it was okay for us (my friends and I) to start a rocket club in middle school and compete against other teams. We built rockets that reached ~500ft using combustibles and scale solid-fuel rocket engines. We did this on campus, and even got to go tour Northrop Grumman. Media went crazy (the good kind), we got awards, recognitions and praise. DoD and Air Force Reserve actually started funding the program.

 

My year started the club, and it's still going strong within the district. Other schools now organize 'science nights' all the way from elementary school to high schools. Every year now, we even get NASA engineers to give talks and demos, along with other STEM fields. Even got DoD Starbase program rolling so students within the district could participate.

 

And it doesn't stop there. Our original group of ~15 or so students (now that we're adults) went on the give back to the program, mentor, and even start new groups, Such as VEX and FRC Robotics groups within the local area.

 

 

TL;DR: Got to play with rockets at school, started program that's alive 8+ years later, got media and community praise.

 

 

On a side note though, I am now also suspicious of Mohammed's "Home-made" clock, I try not to be, but with this new information, the circumstances seem odd (to say the least).

[GoodBytes]

Doesn't matter. Remember, white people aren't people according to the left. The only time they're useful is if they're apologizing for their history that they had nothing to do with since they weren't alive when it happened.

If he wasn't white, he would have been handcuff, put in jail, interogated, mug shot, finger printed. No possibility for lawyers or parent.

THAT is the story here, not that the clock is made or not.

[thekeemo]

Did you all really believe that he built a clock an programmed it and all?

not that hard at all.

[ObeseWalrus]

not that hard at all.

I'm not saying that it's hard. I'm just saying that he is 14, if I were 14 and I had rebuilt a clock then i would show my teacher too. Maybe he took it with him as show and tell.

[thekeemo]

I'm not saying that it's hard. I'm just saying that he is 14, if I were 14 and I had rebuilt a clock then i would show my teacher too.

Eh. I stand with Ahmed for the racist portion not for "ingenuity" portion of the story.

[Trik'Stari]

If he wasn't white, he would have been handcuff, put in jail, interogated, mug shot, finger printed. No possibility for lawyers or parent.

THAT is the story here, not that the clock is made or not.

If he was white you mean

[Pony080905]

blew up

[GoodBytes]

If he was white you mean

Sorry, I was talking about the poptart gun

[ObeseWalrus]

Eh. I stand with Ahmed for the racist portion not for "ingenuity" portion of the story.

me too, the ingenuity part is all the companies that want great pr.

[Sanctuary2808]

Well the dude is asian...

But yeah, i agree. Imagine next month's news headline: 5 year old assembles pen, teachers think it is a pocket missile 

 

TIL: Middle Eastern = Asian. Yeah, sure.

[alicskysareblue]

Because he disassembled a clock, and put it in a case, that now means it was all done by the parents to provoke a media response? 

 

K then

thats the associated press, too me that sounds just a "little" farfetched, going with corrolation and no actual facts

[POCOLOCO]

tbh considering the state of affairs with perceptions/reactions to muslims in the western world its not surprising his parents are in some way associated with muslim advocacy groups.

 

Thats not to say that in regards to events like the poptart affair the school/law enforcement relationship shouldn't be looked at. Rather its that these issues havent gained any traction in the press, public, or government spheres so far. Yes this case is muslim centric but there is also potential here for more general reform.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I don't like dishonest people that try to gain publicity.

Heh, like he wanted all this to happen, right...

[Kamina]

Heh, like he wanted all this to happen, right...

"Hey, check out my clock that I made". 

[SpaceNugget]

Heh, like he wanted all this to happen, right...

I would gladly get accused of making a bomb if I got the results that kid did.

[stconquest]

This is a satirical thread right?

 

 

 

 

Look... you have a story here that displays the ignorance of many "responsible adults".  Yeah, they make huge mistakes and they try to justify them.

 

A wider community decides to help out an impressionable 14 year old with a whole lot of praise because the immediate dumb-ass community around him is not capable of doing so.

 

Get your heads out of your a$$es.  Hate?  Like wtf?  Hate what should be hated, ignorance.

 

 

I commend anyone that tried to use details to tell the truth, but it won't work.  You have to keep the context as simple as possible. 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

"Hey, check out my clock that I made". 

 

"Yea! I totally wanted to get arrested for making a clock! Hell Yeah!"  :rolleyes:

[Speaker1264]

If you haven't please watch this video, which reviews all the facts.  There are some opinions, but it's a great video nonetheless.  Also I don't think this kid should be getting thousands of dollars worth of free stuff, and scholarships, etc. etc. when there are actually some really talented kids out there that don't get any of that.

 

[stconquest]

If you haven't please watch this video, which reviews all the facts.  There are some opinions, but it's a great video nonetheless.  Also I don't think this kid should be getting thousands of dollars worth of free stuff, and scholarships, etc. etc. when there are actually some really talented kids out there that don't get any of that.

 

There is a problem with this very idea throughout this thread.

 

A lot of authoritative abuses go unnoticed.  Private run prisons in the USA is a cash cow... throw whoever you can in jail.  A situation like this out of the public eye can get way out of hand, and a kid (or his family) could have little recourse.

 

So my question to you is: if some randomly talented kid is not going to get all the free stuff anyway, what does it matter to you (or anyone, it is not a personal attack on you Speaker1264) what is gifted to this particular kid?

 

Can you not feel good for a "happy-ish" ending? 

 

...and no, I am not watching the video. 

[Speaker1264]

There is a problem with this very idea throughout this thread.

 

A lot of authoritative abuses go unnoticed.  Private run prisons in the USA is a cash cow... throw whoever you can in jail.  A situation like this out of the public eye can get way out of hand, and a kid (or his family) could have little recourse.

 

So my question to you is: if some randomly talented kid is not going to get all the free stuff anyway, what does it matter to you (or anyone, it is not a personal attack on you Speaker1264) what is gifted to this particular kid?

 

Can you not feel good for a "happy-ish" ending? 

 

...and no, I am not watching the video. 

 

Yeah, I do understand that a lot of bad stuff goes without being noticed, or being uncovered, but in this case I think the whole situation was far too overblown by the media, and that he didn't actually do anything to deserve what he got.  Like, if he had legit built a clock, and was totally honest from the beginning to the teachers, the administrators, the police, and was still put in handcuffs I think he deserves all the compensation that he has gotten.  The fact of the matter is that he did not build a clock, he was not honest, and he got these things anyway.

[stconquest]

Yeah, I do understand that a lot of bad stuff goes without being noticed, or being uncovered, but in this case I think the whole situation was far too overblown by the media, and that he didn't actually do anything to deserve what he got.  Like, if he had legit built a clock, and was totally honest from the beginning to the teachers, the administrators, the police, and was still put in handcuffs I think he deserves all the compensation that he has gotten.  The fact of the matter is that he did not build a clock, he was not honest, and he got these things anyway.

 

He was handcuffed and taken to a detention center for what?  ..."adults" that have no clue what to do about the investigation of an unknown quantity: 

 

     "Hey, what is that?"

 

          "A clock I built"

 

     "Oh cool, how does it work?" 

 

At anytime did he hint that it was a bomb?

 

 

--compensation--

 

This word.  No company or person that praised this kid or sent him stuff was obligated to do so.  It was not compensation, it was way more than that.  The message to this kid was:  Don't let stupid people ruin your aspirations.

 

Is it so hard to understand that when people run around saying:  "I don't think he deserves that", what it really means is that: 'I am envious'.  This thread is black and white.  Not a single good argument for demonizing this fourteen year old or his family.

 

The same stupidity that causes these situations is available to see here in this thread... that is the only reason I even commented.

[Albatross]

There is a problem with this very idea throughout this thread.

 

A lot of authoritative abuses go unnoticed.  Private run prisons in the USA is a cash cow... throw whoever you can in jail.  A situation like this out of the public eye can get way out of hand, and a kid (or his family) could have little recourse.

 

So my question to you is: if some randomly talented kid is not going to get all the free stuff anyway, what does it matter to you (or anyone, it is not a personal attack on you Speaker1264) what is gifted to this particular kid?

 

Can you not feel good for a "happy-ish" ending? 

 

...and no, I am not watching the video. 

 

It doesn't feel like a happy ending to me, not anymore at least. I mean, it is obviously for Ahmed and his family, but when you think about the truly talented kids that could really use all of those scholarships (or just half of one) for actually creating things or being mistreated even, it makes you realize just how wrong this situation is. No one was mistreating him for being a Muslim, which the media makes it seem like they were doing, but in reality they were only trying to be safe on the "ifs" (to do their job!)—an "if" made on all of the recent shootings and mass murders happening at schools by teenagers.

 

 

EDIT

 

Wow, wait a second!

 

No one in here is demonizing the kid. Okay I think maybe I saw one person say something negative toward the kid that could be described as "demonizing" him. But the rest of us? We're only referring to the situation.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Yeah, I do understand that a lot of bad stuff goes without being noticed, or being uncovered, but in this case I think the whole situation was far too overblown by the media, and that he didn't actually do anything to deserve what he got.  Like, if he had legit built a clock, and was totally honest from the beginning to the teachers, the administrators, the police, and was still put in handcuffs I think he deserves all the compensation that he has gotten.  The fact of the matter is that he did not build a clock, he was not honest, and he got these things anyway.

 

What? He made that clock, he built that thing.

Did he made it from scratch? No.

Did he expect to get arrested? No.

Did he expect to receive media attention? No.

Did he expect to receive all this gifts? No.

 

And here we have some peeps trying to to portray him as a liar, a scum for not inventing the clock or making it from scratch. A scum for receiving all this gifts, a scum for being offered a scholarship.

 

smh.   

[stconquest]

It doesn't feel like a happy ending to me, not anymore at least. I mean, it is obviously for Ahmed and his family, but when you think about the truly talented kids... blah, blah, blah<<< What is this sh*t?

 

-snip-

 

 

--

 

No one was mistreating him for being a Muslim  <<How do you know this?

 

--

 

 

--

 

but in reality they were only trying to be safe on the "ifs" (to do their job!)—an "if" made on all of the recent shootings and mass murders happening at schools by teenagers. <<Bullsh*t

 

--

 

 

--

 

EDIT

 

Wow, wait a second!

 

No one in here is demonizing the kid. Okay I think maybe I saw one person say something negative toward the kid that could be described as "demonizing" him. But the rest of us? We're only referring to the situation.

 

What thread have you been reading?

[Speaker1264]

What? He made that clock, he built that thing.

Did he made it from scratch? No.

Did he expect to get arrested? No.

Did he expect to receive media attention? No.

Did he expect to receive all this gifts? No.

 

And here we have some peeps trying to to portray him as a liar, a scum for not inventing the clock or making it from scratch. A scum for receive all this gift, a scum for being offered a scholarship.

 

smh.   

 

Holy shit, I did not say he was scum, or a liar.  What I am saying is that he did not deserve the things that he got.  He didn't make anything special, and his situation wasn't even really handled inappropriately, given the proper context of what occurred.  If you take what the media said without a second thought yeah it sounds terrible, but those aren't all the facts.

 

Secondly, I'm not attacking him or his family.  What I am saying is the whole thing was overblown by the media, especially the parts where they say that he is some sort of genius, or inventor, and then he starts getting sent thousands of dollars of free stuff, and scholarships, for something that I don't believe was deserved.  The fact is, he did not build a clock, he is not an inventor, and nothing we know about him shows anything of greatness.  Maybe he is a genius, but so far there is zero evidence to support that.  But there is evidence out there showing that there are seriously some smart people out in the world, in far worse financial situations who would have been far better off, and far more deserving of those scholarships.

 

Like I said, it is nothing against him or his family, I am just saying the thing was overblown, and he probably doesn't deserve the praise and honors that he was given.