I received one in high school for touring the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Maybe the smart kid likes space stuff? That's like saying it's a bit over the top to wear your favorite band shirt.
In case you didn't notice, or didn't realize, all of those parts are very big. They are scrap parts. The articles about this kid point out that his room is full of scrap parts, and chances are most of this shit was free. You need a big container to store big parts in.
That 'big metal suitcase' looks like one of the many heavy-duty CD cases I have here at my house. For holding CDs. DVDs too, I suppose. I can even see the shitty felt lining inside that catches every speck of lint in the free world. Set me back about 20 bucks when I first bought, probably 10 or so now.
Cheap. It's a cheap box with scrap parts in it that a kid used to make a clock for school.
The point is if the kid had brought in a friggin' potato with wires connecting it to a lightbulb, no one would have batted an eye because they had a basic understanding of it. (Or maybe they would have - brown skinned kid, wires... maybe a potato bomb?) But because this looked like something OUT OF A MOVIE the educators and police of Irving punished a really smart kid.
There's nothing strange about the picture release because the clock isn't really the point. A 14 year old being hauled out of school in cuffs for being smarter than the people in his town is the point. Getting labeled a troublemaker for trying to share something is the point. A kid that now realizes the town is full of racist asshats is the point.
Okay that does look very "bomb like". Who puts a clock in a suitcase? We all know what people put in a suitcase in the movies or on TV dramas about Terrorism and it's never just a clock. At first I thought the school was crazy. Not so much now.
I worked at a STEM high school in the Dallas area (close to Irving) as a social studies teacher. I have no technical background but I would've thought it was just a project.
The DFW area is super diverse and the Muslim students are very studious- I would've been impressed with he kid.
Those aren't reasonable people, those are reactionary people who don't understand what they are looking at, and that is fine. There is nothing wrong with being cautious.
There is a problem when a school doesn't have ONE teacher who could look at a homemade clock and see there was no danger because it has no source of explosive. There is a problem with police profiling a 14 year old kid and there is a problem with a school that would suspend a student for being too smart for them.
Any person ignorant of basic electronics, maybe, but that is where his teachers come in. To me it just looks like a hobby project, and i'm not a person that teaches electronics. I do not think that the kid had any intention of making threats with his setup, and has been stated before, "why would he show his teachers if that was his goal". Glad i'm not in irving, it is one thing to be against people who don't add to society, and a whole other to be against someone who can do stuff like this.
That's not how this works, you don't carry around shit that might look like a bomb, though there is a chance that the shape is coincidental.
Edit: To all the "smart" people, briefcase with a clock - a stereotypical bomb. You can make a bomb in the shape of a huge suppository and shove it up your bums for all I care, what counts is not how a bomb might look like but how a lot of people think a bomb looks like.
This is what a GSM module looks like. it is about a 1.5" square and then the rest of the circuitry to make it work might double that. So when you are "on the lookout for a bomb" in irving, that is what you are looking for.
don't forget about backpacks, that's where the boston bomber had his bomb. The local campus here is crawling with terrorists, maybe we should start a "see something, say something" campaign for every little thing that could be a bomb. Too bad the extremely intelligent officers would never simply use this as an excuse to skirt the 4th amendment.
Sikozen ago
'actual discussion' 'Reddit' 'cliche' 'circlejerked' - yes you are far from Reddit. Better head on home, kiddo.
pizza_mine ago
This has all the earmarks of a false flag, it is too well scripted.
Edit: added an extra "o" to "too" to appear more grammatical.
ScientiaPotentia ago
It's almost like the screw up was staged for the press.
Bfwilley ago
Is it me or is this being pulled together much to fast for a Duh or an Oops, the NASA t shirt picture seems a bit over the top.
Sikozen ago
I received one in high school for touring the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Maybe the smart kid likes space stuff? That's like saying it's a bit over the top to wear your favorite band shirt.
Freakazoid ago
You can buy it from Target. I have the same exact one.
FinnTheHuman ago
You aren't looking hard enough.
puddlewonderful ago
Does anyone else find it strange that the picture of the clock was released after the picture of the boy? I sense that he was put up to this because it looks like a bomb right out of a Hollywood movie. It's in a metal suitcase and has a big red face for a countdown
Sikozen ago
No, actually.
In case you didn't notice, or didn't realize, all of those parts are very big. They are scrap parts. The articles about this kid point out that his room is full of scrap parts, and chances are most of this shit was free. You need a big container to store big parts in.
That 'big metal suitcase' looks like one of the many heavy-duty CD cases I have here at my house. For holding CDs. DVDs too, I suppose. I can even see the shitty felt lining inside that catches every speck of lint in the free world. Set me back about 20 bucks when I first bought, probably 10 or so now.
Cheap. It's a cheap box with scrap parts in it that a kid used to make a clock for school.
The point is if the kid had brought in a friggin' potato with wires connecting it to a lightbulb, no one would have batted an eye because they had a basic understanding of it. (Or maybe they would have - brown skinned kid, wires... maybe a potato bomb?) But because this looked like something OUT OF A MOVIE the educators and police of Irving punished a really smart kid.
I once saw a white guy use his skateboard to launch a police car into a skyscraper in a movie. I'm not really afraid of that happening in real life because IT WAS A MOVIE. Have the Irving PD been notified? That kids with skateboards could flip their cars?
There's nothing strange about the picture release because the clock isn't really the point. A 14 year old being hauled out of school in cuffs for being smarter than the people in his town is the point. Getting labeled a troublemaker for trying to share something is the point. A kid that now realizes the town is full of racist asshats is the point.
ScientiaPotentia ago
Okay that does look very "bomb like". Who puts a clock in a suitcase? We all know what people put in a suitcase in the movies or on TV dramas about Terrorism and it's never just a clock. At first I thought the school was crazy. Not so much now.
53army ago
If i would planted a bomb. i wouldnt make it look like a bomb
peacegnome ago
those are probably just the parts he had around from scavenging. I mean for fuck's sake, what kind of bomb requires an electrical outlet?
puddlewonderful ago
Any reason able person would have an extreme reaction to that device, whether its plugged in or not
britt121 ago
I worked at a STEM high school in the Dallas area (close to Irving) as a social studies teacher. I have no technical background but I would've thought it was just a project. The DFW area is super diverse and the Muslim students are very studious- I would've been impressed with he kid.
Sikozen ago
Those aren't reasonable people, those are reactionary people who don't understand what they are looking at, and that is fine. There is nothing wrong with being cautious.
There is a problem when a school doesn't have ONE teacher who could look at a homemade clock and see there was no danger because it has no source of explosive. There is a problem with police profiling a 14 year old kid and there is a problem with a school that would suspend a student for being too smart for them.
tcp ago
Technology is so scary... You would see the same shit if you smashed your alarm clock against the wall.
peacegnome ago
Any person ignorant of basic electronics, maybe, but that is where his teachers come in. To me it just looks like a hobby project, and i'm not a person that teaches electronics. I do not think that the kid had any intention of making threats with his setup, and has been stated before, "why would he show his teachers if that was his goal". Glad i'm not in irving, it is one thing to be against people who don't add to society, and a whole other to be against someone who can do stuff like this.
oldaxolotl ago
That's not how this works, you don't carry around shit that might look like a bomb, though there is a chance that the shape is coincidental.
Edit: To all the "smart" people, briefcase with a clock - a stereotypical bomb. You can make a bomb in the shape of a huge suppository and shove it up your bums for all I care, what counts is not how a bomb might look like but how a lot of people think a bomb looks like.
CipherEnigma ago
Yeah that's it. It's his fault for using a briefcase. As for being brown.
peacegnome ago
This is what a GSM module looks like. it is about a 1.5" square and then the rest of the circuitry to make it work might double that. So when you are "on the lookout for a bomb" in irving, that is what you are looking for.
Sikozen ago
Best not carry around briefcases, brown boxes, and pressure cookers then, eh?
Ever seen the inside of a laptop? Lots of bomb-y looking stuff right there.
peacegnome ago
don't forget about backpacks, that's where the boston bomber had his bomb. The local campus here is crawling with terrorists, maybe we should start a "see something, say something" campaign for every little thing that could be a bomb. Too bad the extremely intelligent officers would never simply use this as an excuse to skirt the 4th amendment.