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

[lilpixieofterror]

So, who was it that was castigating us for believing that the "invention" was a deconstructed clock, simply transferred to the metal pencil case? I mean, after all, Sam believes that, too! (now)

When I was around that age, I took apart and old computer and reassembled it in a box. My dad wasn't too pleased about that and I had to put it back in the original case, but it really isn't too difficult to take apart and reassemble something in a new box.

[Cow Poke]

Only 10? Back in the pre-9/11 world when I use to make a special, um, "firecracker" each New Years and Independence Day my favorite part was figuring out new ways to trigger detonating the thing. I would rotate between electrical, chemical and mechanical methods just for the added challenge.

One of my favorites was separating the contacts with an ice cube, so, as the ice cube melted...... and, of course, part of the "trigger" mechanism totally disappears!

[klaus54]

I've been shocked by quite a few different voltages and wattage's and I find AC ones to be the more painful of the two (plus their tendency to grab and hold doesn't help). You wouldn't want to be part of the main outgoing line of one of these generators though; they're 28.75 kilowatts per phase.

But the AC frequency makes a difference, dunnit?

[lilpixieofterror]

I almost cracked my sternum once over a shock. But it wasn't me who got shocked. I was looking over a guys shoulder as he reached into the back of a TV, telling him don't do that, and he got zapped, causing his arm to fly back, his elbow hitting me right in the chest bone. YEEEEEOOOOOCH!

So a capacitor ended up discharging?

I once took apart a disposable camera and ended up getting shocked by the capacitor discharging for the flash. Wasn't all that fun.

[lilpixieofterror]

But the AC frequency makes a difference, dunnit?

I'm sure it does, but I doubt a 3 phase generator, with that kind of output, would matter much.

[Teallaura]

This thread has been very educational. Now we understand a lot of things about those of you with permanently frizzed hair...

[Sea of red]

Like I said before, the terrorists won in the end.

If kids can't bring any kind of electronic device without it being seen as a bomb, then the terrorists really did get exactly what they want - everybody in the US living in an irrational fear, based on ignorance and stereotypes. This is not a matter of ' See something, say something' it's a case of people in general just assuming that Arabic people - including the children - are always up to no good.

[Cow Poke]

If kids can't bring any kind of electronic device without it being seen as a bomb,

Well, not ANY kind of electronic device - just those that look like they might be a bomb.

[lilpixieofterror]

This thread has been very educational. Now we understand a lot of things about those of you with permanently frizzed hair...

My hair has only been frizzed on a few occasions and that is mostly due to a static charge and dry air (growing up in a desert does that).

[lilpixieofterror]

Like I said before, the terrorists won in the end.

If kids can't bring any kind of electronic device without it being seen as a bomb, then the terrorists really did get exactly what they want - everybody in the US living in an irrational fear, based on ignorance and stereotypes. This is not a matter of ' See something, say something' it's a case of people in general just assuming that Arabic people - including the children - are always up to no good.

You're just being silly now.

[Sea of red]

You're just being silly now.

Yeah, I forgot that anyone that disagrees with conservative majority here is 'silly' - along with a multitude of other names.

[Cow Poke]

Yeah, I forgot that anyone that disagrees with conservative majority here is 'silly' - along with a multitude of other names.

Need a tissue?

[Sea of red]

Well, not ANY kind of electronic device - just those that look like they might be a bomb.

Which is just about all of them based on the reasoning here.

[Cow Poke]

Which is just about all of them based on the reasoning here.

wow

[Sea of red]

Need a tissue?

Ouch! Damn, that one burned.