Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb

[KD5NRH]

I don't know if anybody knows about geocaching, but it's using a GPS to find small containers someone else hides.  But people are so conditioned to assume that anybody or anything out of the ordinary is a threat, that more than once a geocache gets called in as a bomb scare.

Yeah, I hear the Alarm Clocks, Road Flares And Bulk Silly Putty cache needs replacing pretty often.

[RocketMan]

No reasonable person would think that was a bomb, as evidenced by the fact that no one involved in this story thought it was a bomb. If you're arguing that it looked like a bomb then all you're doing is showcasing your ignorance.

Actually, no reasonably intelligent person would think what the kid assembled* was a bomb.  Unfortunately, there aren't that many reasonably intelligent folks left out there that would take the time to analyze what the kid assembled and understand that it is not a bomb.
However, that thing looks very much like what Hollywood has conditioned everyone on the planet to believe a bomb looks like (OMGZZZ!  Don't cut the red wire.  Oh, wait!  Don't cut the blue wire!).
That, coupled with the kid's statement that he closed the case with a cord so that it wouldn't look "suspicious", makes me question his motives and intent.  A cord not looking suspicious when the case has latches?  Really?

I would bet the kid got cold feet while trying to prank some of his buddies at the school.  Just a kid being stupid.
After taking it to school, he realized that he could get in some serious trouble if a teacher or administrator saw the thing. He showed it to his science teacher claiming it to be a neat thing he "invented" in order to give himself some cover if he got caught with it during the school day.  He got the desired cover from his science teacher, but things went south from there when it beeped in his later class.

As far as assigning political motives to what the kid did, maybe his hoping he'd get piled on for being Muslim?  What middle-school aged boy thinks that far ahead or even considers stuff like that?  Think back to when you were that age, what with the onset of raging hormones and the discovery of girls and such.

* Looking at the picture, it was obviously assembled out of parts, maybe a kit or an old dead digital clock.  Definitely not "invented" as the story purports.

Edited to add content for clarity's sake.

[Hawkmoon]

Here's the first one I found, looking for a build-a-clock kit:

Where do you put the batteries?

[Hawkmoon]

Boyd [police chief] said authorities would have reacted to the incident with the same caution if it had been a white student.

"Our reaction would have been the same either way," he said. "That’s a very suspicious device. We live in an age where you cant take things like that to a school.”

I think the chief has unwittingly put his finger on the crux of the problem. Just why CAN'T a kid take something like that to school?

[vaskidmark]

If I show you this: http://www.replicagunsdirect.com/catalog/resin-replica-guns/resin-replica-1911-pistol-1659.html and, upon inspection, you know it's not a gun, might I still be in trouble for having a "hoax gun"?

As I said, from the actions, everyone knew, upon inspection that the "clock" that he "made" was not a bomb, just as they would know the above is not a gun.

Can you tell me what his intention was in bringing into the school and plugging it in in front of his teacher after being warned by a previous teacher? (Who clearly ALSO thought it looked like a bomb or he wouldn't have warned the student.)

1 - schools have zero-tolerance policies.

2 - see #1

And again - "everybody" did not know it was not a bomb  because in order to be a "hoax bomb" it has to give some impression of being a bomb sufficient to cause concern in the observer.

I could walk into a school, take out my wallet and say "This is a bomb" and dollars to donuts the place is going to be evacuated* and the bomb squad called out.

 

 

stay safe.

* - if the school is like many the evacuation route(s) are extremely limited and usually are routed past places where anybody desiring to rack up a body count could do so without having to walk the halls.

[Hawkmoon]

Where's the fake explosives?  Or anything that looks anything like a detonator, whatever a detonator looks like?

Kid takes apart a cheap digital clock and says he "invented" it.  That sounds to me like something stupid that a smart 9th grader would do.  (I've been there)  It may or may not be more sinister than that.

Am I the only person to wonder why a clock that has a power cord needs a 9-volt battery connector? Is that what's typically used as the back-up for a digital alarm clock?

[Jocassee]

Am I the only person to wonder why a clock that has a power cord needs a 9-volt battery connector? Is that what's typically used as the back-up for a digital alarm clock?

You are correct.

[vaskidmark]

Am I the only person to wonder why a clock that has a power cord needs a 9-volt battery connector? Is that what's typically used as the back-up for a digital alarm clock?

Yes.  Yes it is.

stay safe.

[erictank]

Am I the only person to wonder why a clock that has a power cord needs a 9-volt battery connector? Is that what's typically used as the back-up for a digital alarm clock?

It looks very much to me as though he disassembled a (working or broken) commercially-available clock, and reassembled the components in working order inside his little pencil case.

Not "inventing a clock", certainly - but if he took a broken one and made it work, or even took a working one apart and put it back together in the pencil case and it worked, that's a good tinkering job, IMO.  Something that ought to be ENCOURAGED.

Instead, we have stupid teachers and bureaucrats calling it a "hoax bomb" when all he ever said was "clock", and stupid police violating the civil rights of a minor and a minority in multiple ways.  Along with the aforementioned stupid teachers and bureaucrats.  Who will be paying Ahmed's college tuition through Masters, from the look of things.  Sadly, they will not be doing so out of their own pockets, as should be the case - no, of course, Irving taxpayers get to foot that bill.

[Fitz]

It looks very much to me as though he disassembled a (working or broken) commercially-available clock, and reassembled the components in working order inside his little pencil case.

Not "inventing a clock", certainly - but if he took a broken one and made it work, or even took a working one apart and put it back together in the pencil case and it worked, that's a good tinkering job, IMO.  Something that ought to be ENCOURAGED.

Instead, we have stupid teachers and bureaucrats calling it a "hoax bomb" when all he ever said was "clock", and stupid police violating the civil rights of a minor and a minority in multiple ways.  Along with the aforementioned stupid teachers and bureaucrats.  Who will be paying Ahmed's college tuition through Masters, from the look of things.  Sadly, they will not be doing so out of their own pockets, as should be the case - no, of course, Irving taxpayers get to foot that bill.

You're welcome, Ahmed. LOL


Here in irving, we have two things that haven't been interacting well lately: retard politicians and officials, and a high population of Arab, Indian , and other immigrants.

[Ned Hamford]

I dare say for his personal experience the positive now strongly outweighs any negative.  Good for him. 

[HeroHog]

He took a COUNTDOWN TIMER, tore it down, reassembled it in a pencil case and lit it off after being advised against even letting it's existance be known. Eff' `em.

[Firethorn]

He took a COUNTDOWN TIMER, tore it down, reassembled it in a pencil case and lit it off after being advised against even letting it's existance be known. Eff' `em.

Where's your evidence on this?  Everybody else has been saying it's a pretty standard digital clock - the only 'countdown' would be the alarm, maybe the 'sleep' function.

[HeroHog]

Kevin Davis
September 17 ·

As you know - my degree is in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. So, as someone with some appreciable expertise, I analyzed the "home made clock" that the kid in Irving was supposed to have "invented" and taken to school. First, it is NOT a simple alarm clock. It is a COUNTDOWN clock. Second -- the kid didn't home make or invent anything. He decomposed an already existing commercially available COUNTDOWN clock (as evidenced by the commercially manufactured Printed Circuit Board (PCB)) as shown in the picture of his device.

If the kid were to "home make" or "invent" a clock -- he would have used a breadboard (as I have added to the picture) wherein one inserts integrated circuits, wires, and capacitors, resistors, etc., to form the logic of such a device.

So, question: why did the kid take apart an already existing COUNTDOWN clock and build it into a briefcase where only the LEDs were visible counting down time? What would happen at any airport, building, school, public sidewalk, if such a device were spotted?

Question: what is in the white bag in the suitcase? It serves no electronic purpose. Hmmmm.

Do you want anyone to bring a briefcase with COUNTDOWN clock embedded within it and setting the clock to countdown and go off during English class in your kids schools? Again, the only thing visible on the outside of the briefcase were the LEDs counting down time to 00:00.

I smell a dirty rat, a setup here, if there ever was one. I am appalled that the media is buying into the innocent "inventor" story. This is not about race or religion -- it is about someone purposefully taking a menacing device to school.

What if a kid were to take an upper from one AR-15 rifle, and a lower from another AR-15 rifle and put it together, then remove the firing pin and take it to school as a metal worker "inventor"? Why, anyone who knew anything about rifles could closely examine the metal object had no firing pin and would celebrate what a great inventor the kid was!!! NOT!!!! How many people at a school could closely examine the inside of this briefcase with a countdown clock visible on the outside counting down to 00:00 and make the call as to its purpose? Again, what is inside that white bag?

Someone even identified the timer brand and model. Looking for it now.

[Firethorn]

Hero -
1.  Note that the 'countdown clock' display is substantially different than the kid's.  His is a standard LCD panel, the pictured one uses LEDs.  They DO NOT MATCH.  The only reason to emphasize 'countdown' like in the article you post is as a 'SCARE TACTIC!!!'

Hell, I found the one pictured on Amazon.  Do you really figure that the kid 'decomposed' a $160(on sale! regularly $308) timer that wouldn't even fit in his case?(the numbers on that one are 4" high, it wouldn't fit inside the kid's pencil case).  It also wouldn't have the 9V battery lead for backup, given that the one pictured has a rechargable 8 hour battery for operation unplugged.

Instead, how about this RCA Digital Alarm Clock.  $11.25 off amazon, 1.4" red letters, which would fit in the case as shown, takes a 9V battery as backup, etc...  Note:  I'm not saying this is the source alarm clock, I figure 'any' old one would do, and there are thousands of models that use essentially the same internal components.

2.  The positive and negative leads they mention look to go to the transformer, then to the power plug.  Ergo, if you hooked anything up to them to 'charge anything when the alarm goes off', they wouldn't go off when the alarm goes, they'll go off when the device is plugged in. 

3.  'What is this?' - We don't know.  It looks a bit like a silicone packet, which is used to absorb moisture.  Given that it's not attached to anything, why does it matter?

4.  It's not a briefcase or suitcase, it's a pencil case, substantially smaller.  You could probably easily fit a dozen pencil cases into a standard briefcase.  Even more into something deserving of being called a 'suitcase'.  Note how large the plug is.  Ergo, calling it 'briefcase' means he's not paying attention.  Graduating to 'suitcase' indicates to me that the writer is deliberately trying to scare people by over-stating the size of the device.

5.  Only the LED being visible?  If I was setting up such a clock, I'd probably mount it much like the kid did.  Still, the display is very much NOT visible unless the case is open, unlike the writer's supposition, at which point, seeing that it's empty and only has the circuit boards and power components for the electrical stuff is easy.  I can tell that the panel is designed to light up INSIDE the case as it's mounted because I can see the 88:88 pattern.  You can't see that from the back side(and yes, I've disassembled a few clocks in my time.) 

6.  Sure, he more decomposed a clock than 'built' one.  but I'm asking if you have any evidence that it was a 'COUNTDOWN clock' as opposed to a regular 'alarm clock' most people have next to their bed, and is readily available in most general goods stores for under $20, depending on how fancy it is.

[erictank]

Someone even identified the timer brand and model. Looking for it now.

Display does not match the one in the "countdown clock".  Much more closely resembles the solid-LED 7-segment readouts on $12 Walmart-special alarm clocks I saw last weekend.

"Breadboard"

There is no visible breadboard in Ahmed's alarm clock.  Multistrand wire harness, couple of power leads between the two circuit boards and the transformer connecting the AC wire to the board, and the 9V backup connector of course.  Oh, let's not forget to mention the pencil case he put it all in.

"WHAT IS THIS?"

It's the packet of silica drying material found inside any package or container EVAR, tucked away inside the mesh pocket which is part of the inside liner of the 8" pencil case he bolted his alarm clock into.

You're welcome.

 

[MillCreek]

This was in Sunday's NYT:

[makattak]

I see no one has followed the links I have provided:

http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/

Identifies the old clock he took apart, indicating he was lying about "inventing" it.

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/09/15/irving-isd-student-detained-for-device-resembling-bomb/72339246/

Notes he plugged it into an electrical outlet, indicating he wanted it found.

[makattak]

This was in Sunday's NYT:

Wow. These people are nuts.

[roo_ster]

As I stated before, I am not a big supporter of public schools, their administrators, or many of their policies.  Or gov't-run schools in general.  I send my own children, at considerable personal expense, to a private religious school despite living next to a public "magnet" school.

Despite that, I side with the Irving ISD administrators and police in this matter as acting reasonably under the circumstances.

Jihadibombhoaxboy comes from a family with at least two members known for elaborate practical joking on the public stage(1) and from a muslim community at odds with the majority in Irving.

To sum it up: You all are being punked.



(1) Father running for pres of Sudan...from Texas & engaging with Pastor BBQQuran.  Uncle for naming his trucking company after the World Trade Center attack.

[Perd Hapley]

Uncle for naming his trucking company after the World Trade Center attack.

Um, what?

[roo_ster]

Um, what?

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=49534.msg1010657#msg1010657

http://www.unzcloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Screenshot-2015-09-18-18.22.32.png

[roo_ster]

http://streetcarnage.com/blog/a-little-kid-just-punked-the-president/

That’s not a *expletive deleted*ing homemade clock. That’s a clock your dad took apart and reassembled in a briefcase. The dad has a history of publicity stunts.

Mohamed ElHassan Mohamed pretended to run for the president of Sudan, twice, even though that was impossible. When Vox defends him, they like to quote his website where the guy described himself as a, “passionate and sometimes amusing speaker of wisdom.” Pastor Terry Jones got a lot of publicity when he put the Koran on trial for crimes against humanity. Mohamed jumped in and said he’d like to be the book’s attorney. See? That’s what he does. He’s like that Muslim woman on the plane who told the world the stewardess refused to give her a Coke because it might be used as a weapon. She lied. It’s part of their culture. They call it “al-Taqiyya.”

It’s annoying when a stewardess gets framed but when our president is this easily duped, it’s downright embarrassing.

http://streetcarnage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CPL3K-mXAAIh3UU.jpg-large.jpeg

[zxcvbob]

One of the things that pisses me off about all this, is there are smart kids out there doing real science and some are actually inventing things.  Everyone is fawning over this poser for being so brilliant because he took a thrift store clock apart, and he gets a trip to the Whitehouse and a visit with the Poser in Chief, and will probably get all kinds of gifts and scholarships and job offers before he even finishes high school.

I'm still taking the kid's side vs the school district and the Irving police.

[Firethorn]

One of the things that pisses me off about all this, is there are smart kids out there doing real science and some are actually inventing things.  Everyone is fawning over this poser for being so brilliant because he took a thrift store clock apart, and he gets a trip to the Whitehouse and a visit with the Poser in Chief, and will probably get all kinds of gifts and scholarships and job offers before he even finishes high school.

I'm still taking the kid's side vs the school district and the Irving police.

The slapdown tweet from a college and POTUS was enough, I think.  MS getting in on it and sending him their product lineup is going a bit far.

I'm not even sure that he claims to have 'invented' the clock, given that he also states that he 'slapped it together in about 20 minutes'.

makattak - I did much the same, just looking up a 'modern' device available new that would also provide the electronics; it's not like they update the circuit boards in those much.