14-year-old Texas boy arrested for bringing homemade clock

[Cow Poke]

Okay, I have a (quickly falling apart) life and haven't time to read everything - could someone tell me if it was ever confirmed that the kid showed it to the engineering teacher and if so, why the heck he/she wasn't consulted?

That's the problem - there's no clear timeline. From the initial CNN story... (and it doesn't read like news - it reads like a sad animal story)

"I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her, she thought it was a threat to her," Ahmed told reporters Wednesday. "It was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it."

(that sounds a bit hokey to me -- "it was really sad....")

But it's not clear if this was the "engineering teacher", or if there was, indeed, an engineering teacher. All of the focus has been on the kid, and taking his word for everything. He clearly says that this teacher thought it was a threat, so, as much as some here would love to believe that "no reasonable person would think it was anything but a clock", his teacher clearly did - even by his own admission. We'd have to believe the kid, and believe that the teacher was some kind of nut.

[Teallaura]

Um, it's ISIS.


Obviously, none of those guys watched Saturday Morning Cartoons in the Seventies...

Isis

[Teallaura]

Still in my ers

Thanks.

[Teallaura]

That's the problem - there's no clear timeline. From the initial CNN story... (and it doesn't read like news - it reads like a sad animal story)

"I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her, she thought it was a threat to her," Ahmed told reporters Wednesday. "It was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it."

(that sounds a bit hokey to me -- "it was really sad....")

But it's not clear if this was the "engineering teacher", or if there was, indeed, an engineering teacher. All of the focus has been on the kid, and taking his word for everything. He clearly says that this teacher thought it was a threat, so, as much as some here would love to believe that "no reasonable person would think it was anything but a clock", his teacher clearly did - even by his own admission. We'd have to believe the kid, and believe that the teacher was some kind of nut.

Oh...


Wake me when they know what we're arguing about. My position on the original story remains unchanged - but it looks like SoR might need to save me a plate.

[Sam]

Even ignorant little me knows that the two components make no sense together - wasn't half the argument that the teachers should have just known it wasn't a bomb? If the thing has components that shouldn't be necessary one would expect a bit more scrutiny to determine just what the thing actually does.

And you are being unfair - CP was pointing out the incongruity, not 'ragging' on the kid's project. IC, Jae and SoR (Maybe you, haven't caught up yet) have all argued that the device was obviously not a threat and in so doing, invited analysis of the device proper. It's poor sportsmanship to start arguing that the device is somehow off limits now.

It's not being unfair to note the almost sneering way this kid's project is being referenced by CP and Sparko. And if we're arguing on the merits, my alarm clock has a 9V battery backup -- of COURSE those components belong together. I don't know how young you have to be to have never seen an alarm clock with a battery backup but I know Sparko and CP ain't that young.

[Cow Poke]

It's not being unfair to note the almost sneering way this kid's project is being referenced by CP and Sparko.

Turn down the drama dial, Sam -- no sneering here. Not even close.

[Teallaura]

It's not being unfair to note the almost sneering way this kid's project is being referenced by CP and Sparko. And if we're arguing on the merits, my alarm clock has a 9V battery backup -- of COURSE those components belong together. I don't know how young you have to be to have never seen an alarm clock with a battery backup but I know Sparko and CP ain't that young.

Why would the thing have a 9 volt battery AND a transformer that needs plugged in?

Your alarm clock doesn't have both of those - nothing I can think of that has an external transformer uses 9v batteries.


We have now hit the limits of Teallaura's electronics expertise - please don't hurt yourself laughing. It is just happenstance I know that is abnormal - and I can't remember why. But I am sure alarm clocks don't have those kinds of transformers.

[Sam]

Turn down the drama dial, Sam -- no sneering here. Not even close.

This quote:

Yeah, this looks like the kid went to a Radio Shack and said, "lemme look at all the old stuff you haven't been able to sell over the past 40 years, cause I want to build a big kludgy impractical clock that looks like crap to impress my teacher".

is, at the very least, close to sneering. If you were saying it about a project that my kid had made, we'd probably have a terse exchange. It's disrespectful and untoward.

[Sam]

Your alarm clock doesn't have both of those - nothing I can think of that has an external transformer uses 9v batteries.


We have now hit the limits of Teallaura's electronics expertise - please don't hurt yourself laughing. It is just happenstance I know that is abnormal - and I can't remember why. But I am sure alarm clocks don't have those kinds of transformers.[/COLOR]

Not speaking as an electrical engineer (or even someone who can solder without causing grievous injury), a plug-in alarm clock with a backup 9V will necessarily have an AC/DC converter; computer components use DC and there needs to be a converter from an AC outlet. The 9V is DC and so can be directly hooked up to the PCB (like a flashlight).

[Cow Poke]

is, at the very least, close to sneering.

You really need to get out more.

If you were saying it about a project that my kid had made, we'd probably have a terse exchange.

Is this where I quake in my boots and pee my pants, Sam?

So, tell me Sam, if your kid showed you that ... um... 'work of art'... and said, "I'm going to put this in my backpack and take it to school", would you say, "yeah, cool, good idea!" Or might you be a just a little concerned.

[Teallaura]

Not speaking as an electrical engineer (or even someone who can solder without causing grievous injury), a plug-in alarm clock with a backup 9V will necessarily have an AC/DC converter; computer components use DC and there needs to be a converter from an AC outlet. The 9V is DC and so can be directly hooked up to the PCB (like a flashlight).

Yep, but it won't be on the cord.

Leaving this now. CP can expand on it, or not, as he chooses.

[Sea of red]

Not speaking as an electrical engineer (or even someone who can solder without causing grievous injury), a plug-in alarm clock with a backup 9V will necessarily have an AC/DC converter; computer components use DC and there needs to be a converter from an AC outlet. The 9V is DC and so can be directly hooked up to the PCB (like a flashlight).

[Sam]

You really need to get out more.



Is this where I quake in my boots and pee my pants, Sam?

So, tell me Sam, if your kid showed you that ... um... 'work of art'... and said, "I'm going to put this in my backpack and take it to school", would you say, "yeah, cool, good idea!" Or might you be a little more forthright about the situation.

This is where you recognize that you're being puerile toward a 14 year-old's engineering project and realize just how ... filtering ... asinine that is.

I'd say "Yeah, cool idea," having seen enough torn-apart and half-reassembled electronics to recognize and appreciate a functioning clock.

You've either got to attribute some sinister motive to this kid or accept that the school's response and the police officers' response was completely disproportionate.

[Cow Poke]

Not speaking as an electrical engineer (or even someone who can solder without causing grievous injury), a plug-in alarm clock with a backup 9V will necessarily have an AC/DC converter; computer components use DC and there needs to be a converter from an AC outlet. The 9V is DC and so can be directly hooked up to the PCB (like a flashlight).

Well, REALLY old school bedside alarm clocks used to have a 9 volt battery to keep the memory alive in the event of a power failure, so you wouldn't miss work if the electricity went out in the middle of the night. That's because the components used a lot of power, and needed that kind of backup.

Stuff we use today will have a CMOS battery or some smaller battery, because memory consumption is much lower.

[Sea of red]

You really need to get out more.



Is this where I quake in my boots and pee my pants, Sam?

So, tell me Sam, if your kid showed you that ... um... 'work of art'... and said, "I'm going to put this in my backpack and take it to school", would you say, "yeah, cool, good idea!" Or might you be a just a little concerned.

Is it really so necessary to act that immature?

I honestly wouldn't think anything of it. I've gone to schools with solid rocket fuel to shoe my brothers class. It's really not such a scary world when you stop seeing terrorism everywhere.