Author Topic: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb  (Read 46088 times)

TechMan

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Firethorn

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #126 on: September 21, 2015, 04:06:25 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmSwJTqpgY

Summary to save others 4 minutes:  It's not an 'invention', it's a disassembled alarm clock stuck in a case.  Creator of video believes the intent was to alarm, not being a 'stupid kid'.

I don't think anybody here disputes that it's essentially the guts of an alarm clock stuck stuck into a pencil case.  Not exactly even a Heathkit project.
"No evidence that the kid put it together" - There's no evidence presented that he didn't, it's well within the range of an average kid's abilities, not even requiring a 'genius'.

Where I got irked earlier was the 'COUNTDOWN clock' repeated half a dozen times in a different 'analysis' that tried to make it out to be a proto-bomb.  Countdown being carefully presented in ALL CAPS each time for extra scare.  The pencil case was also described variously as 'briefcase' and 'suitcase'.  That's like calling a smart car a semi.

I've seen words used - "assembled" "invented" "made" etc...  From what I understand, Ahmed hasn't claimed he invented it, using 'assembled', specifically 'in about 20 minutes'. 

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

Loses points for calling it a 'briefcase'.  It's too small to fit a notebook into.



makattak

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #127 on: September 21, 2015, 04:12:48 PM »
I've seen words used - "assembled" "invented" "made" etc...  From what I understand, Ahmed hasn't claimed he invented it, using 'assembled', specifically 'in about 20 minutes'.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mW4w0Y1OXE&t=0m33s

"Interrogated me and took my stuff and my invention."

To call something "my invention" indicates you consider yourself the inventor.

I keep getting the feeling that the people jumping to conclusions and making lots of assumptions without getting the available information are the people jumping to defend the muslim troll.
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cassandra and sara's daddy

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« Reply #128 on: September 21, 2015, 05:06:08 PM »
To me speaks very loudly when people have to miss characterize and construct evidence in order to support a position and many of the people who are oh my god are doing just that ie the pencil case becomes a briefcase and the clock becomes a countdown timer

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HeroHog

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #129 on: September 21, 2015, 06:03:12 PM »
The stuff I posted came from that bastion of truth, Facebook. There was an interesting comment where a particular make and model clock/countdown timer was said to be identical to what was in the pencil case. I have tried to find it but searching FB or comment quotes in an exercise in futility. Yes, calling it a Briefcase is a hell of a stretch.

Is the kid an inventor? Not even close. Was this possibly (probably) meant to cause alarm? I certainly believe so.
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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #131 on: September 21, 2015, 06:20:08 PM »
The stuff I posted came from that bastion of truth, Facebook. There was an interesting comment where a particular make and model clock/countdown timer was said to be identical to what was in the pencil case. I have tried to find it but searching FB or comment quotes in an exercise in futility. Yes, calling it a Briefcase is a hell of a stretch.

Is the kid an inventor? Not even close. Was this possibly (probably) meant to cause alarm? I certainly believe so.


So you think he did, in fact, build an Alarm Clock.

Firethorn

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #132 on: September 21, 2015, 06:29:34 PM »
Is the kid an inventor? Not even close. Was this possibly (probably) meant to cause alarm? I certainly believe so.

Some of the other pictures of him show him working on 3d representations of, among other things, the pencil case clock, with a much more complex circuit board with alligator clamps on it.

There's also a chance that, rather than being meant to cause alarm, it was the start of an unknown project.

MikeB

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #133 on: September 21, 2015, 06:48:17 PM »
When I was in 8th grade I made a 4 zone alarm circuit built into one of the at the time 4x2x3 or so blue boxes from Radio Shack. It had a countdown circuit to give time to turn it off, a mercury switch to detect tampering/moving it, etc. It would set off a little horn/buzzer if a circuit was tripped and not turned off in 20 or so seconds. It had a series of DIP switches to enable/disable the zones. My father and I had built an alarm system for our home and I duplicated some of it to create my device.

It is pretty obvious this kid appears to have disassembled a commercially available alarm clock and put it in a pencil case. Regardless of his intentions it does look somewhat suspicious in the current school climate whether I agree with that climate or not and is no demonstration of some superior intellect or inventiveness that should garner this attention.

My contraption after being taken from me by a bully and played with garnered attention from school officials as well, of course back then it didn't involve police, but wasn't a pleasant experience either. This was probably about 1983 or so ...


Perd Hapley

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Re:
« Reply #134 on: September 21, 2015, 06:51:43 PM »
To me speaks very loudly when people have to miss characterize and construct evidence in order to support a position and many of the people who are oh my god are doing just that ie the pencil case becomes a briefcase and the clock becomes a countdown timer

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Seriously? People were calling it a briefcase because they only saw a picture. The Pencil Case of Invention was styled to look like some sort of briefcase, so big surprise that it looked like one in photographs.

A friend of mine bought a silver tea pot on Ebay, for a very good price. It turned out to be a figurine. Silver, yes, but a figurine.
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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #135 on: September 21, 2015, 07:15:52 PM »
I might not last very long or be very effective but I'll be a real pain in the ass for a minute!
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HeroHog

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I might not last very long or be very effective but I'll be a real pain in the ass for a minute!
MOLON LABE!

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #137 on: September 21, 2015, 08:00:05 PM »
So much bullshit surrounding this from all sides I don't know what to make of it.

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #138 on: September 21, 2015, 09:41:46 PM »
Via saysuncle:

http://www.saysuncle.com/2015/09/21/once-again-narrative/


I'm curious about the name of the father's company.
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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #139 on: September 21, 2015, 10:34:58 PM »


Ummm... Is anybody else seeing what I am seeing?
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #140 on: September 21, 2015, 10:42:00 PM »
Ummm... Is anybody else seeing what I am seeing?


The rest of us are smart enough (or straight enough) to look away.
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Firethorn

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #141 on: September 22, 2015, 12:03:23 AM »
Ummm... Is anybody else seeing what I am seeing?

How the large wood grains indicate that the kettle is a lot smaller than it looks?

For some reason I have a hard time seeing the middle bottom of the kettle.  Some sort of imperfection there that demands the whole house be burned to the ground.

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Perd Hapley

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #143 on: September 23, 2015, 08:03:17 AM »
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/buzz-over-teen-clockmaker-from-texas-shifts-from-celebrity-to-conspiracy/

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Most of these theories cite no evidence, many contradict each other and some clash with known facts — like a statement from Irving City Hall that the MacArthur High School freshman never intended to frighten anyone with his circuit-stuffed pencil case.


Are they saying that, because City Hall said so, it is a "known fact" that the kid didn't intend to frighten people?  =|
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makattak

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #144 on: September 23, 2015, 08:58:41 AM »
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/buzz-over-teen-clockmaker-from-texas-shifts-from-celebrity-to-conspiracy/

Ah, and speaking of no evidence, the article is long on its own suppositions and short on evidence of others.

I like how they conflate the "countdown clock" theory, which was sensationalism, with the "just assembled a commercial clock into his case" theory. The article goes out of its way to poke holes in the first and then just mentions the other as though it were just as mistaken as the first. It's a common tactic of the left.

Excellent bit of agitprop, but adds nothing of value.
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brimic

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #145 on: September 23, 2015, 09:01:09 AM »
After further analysis, I'll repeat my earlier post and stick by it...


To me it looks like attention/ethnic/lawsuit trolling meets zero tolerance, the fact that obama invited them to the white house only confirms the former.
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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #146 on: September 23, 2015, 09:45:03 AM »
I'm with brimic, like I said earlier

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #147 on: September 23, 2015, 12:36:53 PM »
Found this video today and thought of this thread and you guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4_ueajS-3I

It's work safe, and I found it funny...
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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #148 on: September 23, 2015, 12:57:34 PM »
Found this video today and thought of this thread and you guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4_ueajS-3I

It's work safe, and I found it funny...

Thanks, that was pretty good.
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TechMan

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Re: Texas 14-year-old arrested for homemade clock that looked like a bomb
« Reply #149 on: September 23, 2015, 04:19:42 PM »
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Hawkmoon - Never underestimate another person's capacity for stupidity. Any time you think someone can't possibly be that dumb ... they'll prove you wrong.

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Stupidity will always be its own reward.
Bad decisions make good stories.

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