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 Frazzled wrote:

you act like it has something to do with the state.

Oh, not with the state. Some people in the state.

And yes, you can blame Belgium. That's from where you get your guns.


More seriously, this is just a case of human stupidity. Not the first, will not be the last. Happens everywhere, all the time. Even here.

Too bad children are always the first to pay.

 motyak wrote:
A hoax bomb that he didn't claim was a bomb...making that a pretty poorly orchestrated hoax.

Kid: "Hey here is my clock, it's a really cool clock isn't it? Can I get extra marks?"

Teacher: "My god it's a bomb!!"

Principal/Cops: "You're in trouble now"

Kid: "Damn, they saw right through my elaborate hoax."

Doesn't matter what he claimed. The school administrator called the police after being notified by one of her teachers that an unkown, unauthorized, crude, hidden electronics device went off during a class, causing enough of a disturbance for the teacher to halt the class and investigate the device. If the school administrator thought that the intent of the device going off was intended to cause alarm, despite the protestations of the student to the contrary, then assuming it was a bomb hoax is somewhat reasonable.

"Your pencil case is beeping."
"Sorry, that's the clock I made. I'll take care of it."
"ERMAGOD!! BAMB!"

For the record, I'm not arguing how this went down wasn't ridiculous. Just pointing out the possible reasoning behind how this escalated.

 nels1031 wrote:
For the record, I'm not arguing how this went down wasn't ridiculous. Just pointing out the possible reasoning behind how this escalated.

Considering that cell-phones are used to set off bombs, any teacher could call the cops on any random person with a cell phone for a fake bomb thread.

 d-usa wrote:

 nels1031 wrote:
For the record, I'm not arguing how this went down wasn't ridiculous. Just pointing out the possible reasoning behind how this escalated.

Considering that cell-phones are used to set off bombs, any teacher could call the cops on any random person with a cell phone for a fake bomb thread.

Ok? I guess.

Not sure what your point is. But canI play?

Considering that fingers are used to make bombs, any teacher could call the cops on any random person with fingers for a fake bomb threat.

 nels1031 wrote:

 d-usa wrote:

 nels1031 wrote:
For the record, I'm not arguing how this went down wasn't ridiculous. Just pointing out the possible reasoning behind how this escalated.

Considering that cell-phones are used to set off bombs, any teacher could call the cops on any random person with a cell phone for a fake bomb thread.

Ok? I guess.

Not sure what your point is.

Just to show that arresting a kid for making a bomb thread, even though me didn't make a bomb thread, only because someone else mistook his clock for a bomb was bad logic because everything could be used as a bomb so everybody could randomly be arrested for making a thread for any random reason without ever making one.

Fingers don't make bombs, kids who use their fingers to play video games make bombs.

Certainly a breadboard project like the digital clock looks more like the action movie idea of a bomb fuse than a typical off-the-shelf phone or radio. However so does a bundle of sticks of plasticine from the art and design store cupboard. For that matter, any good school chemistry lab has the equipment and supplies to actually make explosives and poison gas.

In school people learn to build and show off stuff as part of education. One might hope that teachers are not so ignorant and fearful as to assume that anything they don't instantly understand is a probable rather than a possible threat that requires police attention.

Texas: one of the few places you can be arrested for being an intelligent kid lol.

If all a post is going to be is calling someone a troll and posting an image, don't. It doesn't add to discussion, it's rude and it's spammy.

 keltikhoa wrote:

Relapse wrote:

Crimson Heretic wrote:
This just shows that america profiles..its a cycle, the irish, the indians, the african americans and so fourth...now we stink eye people of muslim lifestyle, hopefully next it will be people that shop at wal mart. its sad, that kid will be tarnished for life for trying to be creative and learn.

It was a stupid thing on the part of the school and police, but it's not racial profiling when you see this stupidity cuts across races. A 7 year old white kid got suspended for eating his pop tart into what his teacher thought was a gun shape, for instance. There have been other instances where zero tolerance has caused ridiculous actions on parts of schools, regardless of the student's race.

The questioning and the treatment? yeah that was dumb. the acting on suspicion of it being a bomb... that was not dumb. this thing look much more dangerous than a poptart gun and poptart gun kid got suspended.

What is 100% racist is the reaction from the prez. Why does this kid who made something looking like a Hollywood bomb get a trip to the white house while poptart gun kid does not?

And if you don't believe it looks like a bomb, Replicate the thing and try to get threw airport security. good luck.

Interesting points.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Texas: one of the few places you can be arrested for being an intelligent kid lol.

We built the stuff that went to the moon. We build stuff for pressures that would crush a Navy boomer. How about you? Oh it got a little quiet.

 keltikhoa wrote:

Relapse wrote:

Crimson Heretic wrote:
This just shows that america profiles..its a cycle, the irish, the indians, the african americans and so fourth...now we stink eye people of muslim lifestyle, hopefully next it will be people that shop at wal mart. its sad, that kid will be tarnished for life for trying to be creative and learn.

It was a stupid thing on the part of the school and police, but it's not racial profiling when you see this stupidity cuts across races. A 7 year old white kid got suspended for eating his pop tart into what his teacher thought was a gun shape, for instance. There have been other instances where zero tolerance has caused ridiculous actions on parts of schools, regardless of the student's race.

The questioning and the treatment? yeah that was dumb. the acting on suspicion of it being a bomb... that was not dumb. this thing look much more dangerous than a poptart gun and poptart gun kid got suspended.

What is 100% racist is the reaction from the prez. Why does this kid who made something looking like a Hollywood bomb get a trip to the white house while poptart gun kid does not?

And if you don't believe it looks like a bomb, Replicate the thing and try to get threw airport security. good luck.

I doubt it would have any problems. Stick a phone to a lump of plasticine and try getting it through airport security. However what airport security does has no relevance to what happens in a school. A box with wires in, that some kid had in the open, and was not worried about at all, and happily says "Its a clock I made" is really not a threat. If we have got to this point of fear then there is something seriously wrong.

 Frazzled wrote:

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Texas: one of the few places you can be arrested for being an intelligent kid lol.

We built the stuff that went to the moon. We build stuff for pressures that would crush a Navy boomer. How about you? Oh it got a little quiet.

Texas may have built it, but the UK invented most of the things that made those things possible.

Texas may have built it, but the UK invented most of the things that made those things possible.

Now you're just being silly.

No, now you're both just off topic

 Frazzled wrote:

Texas may have built it, but the UK invented most of the things that made those things possible.

Now you're just being silly.

Quite.

it was mostly the Germans.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
To get back the topic, how many people think that building your own mains powered digital clock is a greater achievement than biting piece off a pop tart to make it look like the silhouette of a pistol?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
To get back the topic, how many people think that building your own mains powered digital clock is a greater achievement than biting piece off a pop tart to make it look like the silhouette of a pistol?

 Kilkrazy wrote:
it was mostly the Germans.

Hitler got us to the moon!

But, these days an iPhone app is worth more in the classroom than a hand-built alarm clock.
If no-one made iPhones or their equivalent, there's no app to be built.

From what I've read of this incident, if it hadn't gone off in a lesson, and didn't look a vaguely suspicious, he'd have been fine.
I hope he takes up the offers of visits to the Faces that are siding with him.
Even tinkering in the basement or shed isn't any use to the kid, as once someone suspects he has a bomb-factory in there, off he goes for a week in the cells while they pick through the stacks or wire and breadboard he has gathered.

I've learnt my trade as computer techy by tinkering at home. Taking apart an Amiga floppy drive, after its head started drifting. Wiring up a network to get Doom, Diablo and Command & Conquer going for my mates. None of this was taught at school, as school doesn't (didn't) teach this stuff back in the late 80's.

Crimson Heretic wrote:
This just shows that america profiles..its a cycle, the irish, the indians, the african americans and so fourth...now we stink eye people of muslim lifestyle, hopefully next it will be people that shop at wal mart. its sad, that kid will be tarnished for life for trying to be creative and learn.

"Tarnished"? Hah! I mean sure it was probably pretty crappy as it was happening, but now he's got the president and celebrities tweeting him and such. This kind of outcome is more like winning the lottery.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

To get back the topic, how many people think that building your own mains powered digital clock is a greater achievement than biting piece off a pop tart to make it look like the silhouette of a pistol?

I do, though I've seen a shocking number of posts to social media sites asking why the pop tart kid was not invited to Facebook and the WH, as if they did not recognize a difference in achievement.

of course the poptart kid achieved. Who has the self control; not to immediately gobble down the whole thing?

The point of their argument is the selectivity involved, I guess.

Is it me or the LEO in the background leaning against the window has "this is so stupid" feel

The one thing I don't believe has been done here is speculation on how soon a movie is made of this.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

To get back the topic, how many people think that building your own mains powered digital clock is a greater achievement than biting piece off a pop tart to make it look like the silhouette of a pistol?

While it's certainly more artful than biting a pop tart into a gun, I'm unclear on how big an achievement it really is.

Is what he did that tough? Even for a 9th grader?

I don't have a ton of knowledge/background.

The degree of difficulty in making a clock like that for a kid nowadays is probably the same as when they used to have those crystal radio sets kids assembled back in the day.

 cincydooley wrote:

While it's certainly more artful than biting a pop tart into a gun, I'm unclear on how big an achievement it really is.

Is what he did that tough? Even for a 9th grader?

I don't have a ton of knowledge/background.

I wish they'd release new pictures. More information about the clock is required to really judge how complex of a hack this was, and I'm genuinely interested in this.

Make: Magazine did a breakdown of the components they could identify in the picture. Sizewise, I'd estimate the case to be about 8" wide, based upon the AC connector in the photo. Surprisingly, no one seems willing to talk about the dimensions.


Looking at it, the "button board" looks to be about as wide as the lcd display, which leads me to believe they came from the same source object. Difficulty minimum.
I have mixed feelings about the "main board". It's clearly etched or printed with a circuit diagram on it, but it's difficult to guess in this picture if he etched it himself. So that's hard to say. Difficulty somewhere between minimum (if he just pulled it from the same place as the rest of it so far) and high enough it'd be something I'd be nervous about doing if he etched it himself.
The transformer looks commercially made, so I don't think he made that. Difficulty minimum.

However, the thing is, if any of those things came from different sources, and he didn't just remove the inside of a single clock and stick it all in a box, then the difficulty of getting it all to play well becomes significantly harder. I had that problem with the design of my VFD tube clock.

Another possibility is that it was one original clock, broken, and he fixed it. That would require some troubleshooting, soldering, and knowledge on how to operate a meter, at a minimum.

I mean, there's a lot of things here that could sway how hard it actually was that we're just not privy to at this point. I'm going to sidestep the question by saying that it SHOULDN'T be hard for a 9th grader to make something like this, but remembering most of my peers at 14, they probably wouldn't have been able to do this if you did give them all the working parts from a single clock, and nor would they have had the motivation to do so. Which I think is more important than how difficult the task actually was. He was motivated to do this, on his own. If he keeps that drive, that'll move him closer to doing genuinely impressive things as he expands his knowledge.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Relapse wrote:
The degree of difficulty in making a clock like that for a kid nowadays is probably the same as when they used to have those crystal radio sets kids assembled back in the day.

You can still get those, though you probably have to order them if you don't have a radio shack like store around. I got one a couple weeks ago (manufacturer Velleman Electronics) as an excuse to practice some soldering before i tried to tackle some surface mount ICs. Really that's child's play though compared to the build your own drone kits and crazy stuff like that kids have around nowadays. Man, to be 14 again.

Relapse wrote:
The one thing I don't believe has been done here is speculation on how soon a movie is made of this.

You mean how long until they do a remake of the Manhattan Project?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091472/

Prestor Jon wrote:

Relapse wrote:
The one thing I don't believe has been done here is speculation on how soon a movie is made of this.

You mean how long until they do a remake of the Manhattan Project?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091472/

It'll be like E.T. with the walkie-talkies instead of guns, except instead of being an atomic bomb, it'll be an atomic clock.

 daedalus wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:

While it's certainly more artful than biting a pop tart into a gun, I'm unclear on how big an achievement it really is.

Is what he did that tough? Even for a 9th grader?

I don't have a ton of knowledge/background.

I wish they'd release new pictures. More information about the clock is required to really judge how complex of a hack this was, and I'm genuinely interested in this.

The kid said in a video that he whipped it up in the sunday evening before school, basically as an exercise to show to his tech teacher that he had an interest (he had previously been part of an electronics club at middle school). So I don't think it was particularly tough for someone with a basic understanding of electronics (i.e. which pins to connect the power supply to, whether you need an AC or DC capacitor and which way round it should go etc.).

I read in a paper just now that he's apparently switching schools, which isn't really surprising. If I were his parents then I don't think I'd want him going to a school were the principal would take part in a potentially illegal interrogation.

I question some of these teachers background. Seems they are so sheltered

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 daedalus wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:

While it's certainly more artful than biting a pop tart into a gun, I'm unclear on how big an achievement it really is.

Is what he did that tough? Even for a 9th grader?

I don't have a ton of knowledge/background.

I wish they'd release new pictures. More information about the clock is required to really judge how complex of a hack this was, and I'm genuinely interested in this.

The kid said in a video that he whipped it up in the sunday evening before school, basically as an exercise to show to his tech teacher that he had an interest (he had previously been part of an electronics club at middle school). So I don't think it was particularly tough for someone with a basic understanding of electronics (i.e. which pins to connect the power supply to, whether you need an AC or DC capacitor and which way round it should go etc.).

I read in a paper just now that he's apparently switching schools, which isn't really surprising. If I were his parents then I don't think I'd want him going to a school were the principal would take part in a potentially illegal interrogation.

Switching schools is also for the best when their lawyers sue the out of the school.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

The kid said in a video that he whipped it up in the sunday evening before school, basically as an exercise to show to his tech teacher that he had an interest (he had previously been part of an electronics club at middle school). So I don't think it was particularly tough for someone with a basic understanding of electronics (i.e. which pins to connect the power supply to, whether you need an AC or DC capacitor and which way round it should go etc.).

Gotcha. I won't be watching the video so I wouldn't have seen that.

Just curious how much MIT needs to slow their roll, or if this kid is really the next big thing.