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14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

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Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#691

Post by anigbrowl »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #639
lisper wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's both: ignorance is the source of their power, and they are afraid of losing it. (I also grew up in the South.)

> ignorance is the source of their power Ignorance is a source of power only within a like-minded group, and only as long as that group is powerful. Now get out of there and see where ignorance gets you. Or wait until that group washes out into the irrelevance of history.

If you're stuck within such a group, you can wait your whole life for history to prove you right and still be disappointed - better to start planning your exit strategy.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#692

Post by [deleted] »

feedjoelpie wrote: post #441
sp332 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stupidity does not adequately explain why they are considering bringing charges of a "hoax bomb", or sent this letter home with the other students: http://www.irvingisd.net/cms/lib010/TX01917973/Centricity/Do... [PDF] Therefore, malice.

Stupidity adequately explains the initial reaction. Bringing charges is merely after-the-fact butt-covering. The whole world knows you're stupid, but if you can get the entire legal system to be just as stupid, it's no longer your fault! Remember the Aqua Teen Hunger Force "bomb" scare in Boston? The city rigorously pursued legal action to spare their police department the embarrassment of having wasted millions of d…

[deleted]

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#693

Post by Frenchgeek »

austenallred wrote: post #366
Avenger42 wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I recommend using this opportunity to talk with your child about the Student Code of Conduct and specifically not bringing items to school that are prohibited ." As a parent, can I see the list of "items... that are prohibited"? I'd be pretty shocked if "clock" is actually on there.

That's the crazy part to me. They still seem to think and act as if it was a bomb.

Well, the alternative is being wrong.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#694

Post by DanBC »

mindcrime wrote: post #687
mbreese wrote: post #95

The real question here is: how can we help this kid? I'm not talking about from the legal perspective, but rather what can we (me, you, the larger tech world) do to make it so that this kid and others like him keep tinkering. He needs to know that what he built wasn't wrong, it was awesome.

Also, I'm a member at Splatspace, the hackerspace in Durham, NC. I've just sent an email to our group list, soliciting ideas for ways we could make a show of support to Ahmed. My first thought is maybe send him a box with some parts, kits, tools, and/or books of some sort. Nothing is definite yet, but I have a feeling we'll be able to put something together. If anybody else is in a hackerspace, let me encourage you t…

He definitely needs some reparations, and shows of support are great.

But there are probably very many young people like him who could also do with a bit of mentoring, a bit of tutorship, some tools and equipment. It'd be nice if the publicity from Ahmed's case could be used to provide more support to a wide range of people.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#695

Post by yellowapple »

adharmad wrote: post #164
coldtea wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't legislate intelligence. Not but you can severely punish idiocy, so that it doesn't dare act that way again (and I mean the idiocy of the police in the story, or the people having your daughter sign BS)..

Ridicule works too!

Oh if only.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#696

Post by mikeash »

DanBC wrote: post #680
mikeash wrote: post #623

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I don't see anything particularly remarkable there.

multiple flagged dead comments for the same kind of race trolling that you're feeding? This comment (about a muslim conference where the speakers were saying it's never acceptable to beat your wife) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10228134 Or this comment abut how SJWs love victim culture: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10228134 Or this comment saying African Americans have an average IQ of 80: https://new…

No, I don't have ShowDead turned on. I guess that enables showing flagged comments as well? That certainly would explain it.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#697

Post by eric_the_read »

baldfat wrote: post #474
msandford wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public schools also do plenty of dumb things. It's not as though charter schools have a lock on this. A lot of people want "vouchers" so that private schools are more affordable. And plenty of private schools have a good track record, while having similar per-pupil costs as public schools. If it costs $1000/student/month irrespective of if a child goes to a public school or a private school, why does the state really…

Charter Schools = They take 100% of the money from the public school and the money follows the student. > why does the state really care which one the child attends? Well I as a tax payer cares. If those school fare even worst and the administration and CEO/President of the foundations makes millions at the expense of children there is a concern. Public Schools work and have worked for decades. We have a problem with…

In many cases, that's not true. Until recently, charter schools in my district received 17% of the per-pupil funding compared to district-run schools. That's changed recently, but who knows how long that will last.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#698

Post by criddell »

nickhalfasleep wrote: post #339
sp332 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offer support: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ws7e8WyQvrsLfhSFvdGot3n9NWK... Sign up to be notified when some plans are made: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zCtwhsEh_zB4PkuwlgAVZRTFV4I...

Perhaps we can all pitch in on an airplane ticket to someplace he can get a tour of a facility where people like him are valued and rewarded. SpaceX? Mountain View? Cape Canaveral? Also, if/when he considers higher education I'm sure there are plenty of alumni who could consider opening doors for him.

He's been invited to the Whitehouse!

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/644193755814342656

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#699

Post by lisper »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #639
lisper wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's both: ignorance is the source of their power, and they are afraid of losing it. (I also grew up in the South.)

> ignorance is the source of their power Ignorance is a source of power only within a like-minded group, and only as long as that group is powerful. Now get out of there and see where ignorance gets you. Or wait until that group washes out into the irrelevance of history.

It's actually not the ignorance per se, it's the self-confidence that comes from a mindset that allows you to believe things without evidence, or even in the face of contrary evidence. That sort of self-confidence can be very powerful (c.f. Donald Trump) but, of course, it can also be very dangerous.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#700

Post by mindcrime »

DanBC wrote: post #694
mindcrime wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, I'm a member at Splatspace, the hackerspace in Durham, NC. I've just sent an email to our group list, soliciting ideas for ways we could make a show of support to Ahmed. My first thought is maybe send him a box with some parts, kits, tools, and/or books of some sort. Nothing is definite yet, but I have a feeling we'll be able to put something together. If anybody else is in a hackerspace, let me encourage you t…

He definitely needs some reparations, and shows of support are great. But there are probably very many young people like him who could also do with a bit of mentoring, a bit of tutorship, some tools and equipment. It'd be nice if the publicity from Ahmed's case could be used to provide more support to a wide range of people.

I absolutely agree. That's one reason I encourage any group making a show of support to back it with a press release and a very public announcement. That way this story can be show as part of the broader struggle to preserve the 'right to hack" for all of us.

The downside, of course, is creating the perception that Ahmed is being used as a figurehead, and making him, as somebody else said, a "political football". At 14 I doubt he wants all of that. But his story is part of a larger story, and I think we should all acknowledge that and help make that point to the rest of the world who don't realize it.

Edit:

Also, FWIW, at SplatSpace we spend a lot of our energy on exactly that - encouraging young people. We do a lot of outreach with local public schools and the various local library systems. We have done a lot of things like offering Scratch programming workshops, and electronics demos using 'squishy circuits' and taking 3D printers to "math and science night" at local schools, etc. So yeah, I totally agree with the sentiment that we (in the broadest possible sense) should do all we can to encourage and support young hackers/makers.

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