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Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

bbc.com

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Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#81

Post by DrScump »

swang wrote: post #67
jaxomlotus wrote: post #9

Sorry, that seems opportunistic. I felt bad for him, but no way he was scarred to the tune of $15 million. Even the bad experience had a major upside - he was offered an internship to Twitter and an invitation to the White House. Schools are budget-deprived enough without adding frivolous lawsuits to the mix. In this case everyone involved in suspending him should have been seriously reprimanded and an apology given…

I am really confused by the negative reactions because it seems like Ahmed's family is following the American Way by suing for $15 million. But seriously, isn't this how it always has been with incidents like this? If they want to sue they don't want to sue for $2 million because the school will probably tryo to settle for ~$500K. If you set it at $15 million, it anchors the price point higher and they may get $3 mil…

Public agencies face a different process. One can't just sue such an agency for damages directly; one makes a financial claim against the agency instead. Then, if the claim is denied and not settled, then one can sue.

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#82

Post by DrScump »

Ollinson wrote: post #69
swang wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am really confused by the negative reactions because it seems like Ahmed's family is following the American Way by suing for $15 million. But seriously, isn't this how it always has been with incidents like this? If they want to sue they don't want to sue for $2 million because the school will probably tryo to settle for ~$500K. If you set it at $15 million, it anchors the price point higher and they may get $3 mil…

I think Ahmed and his family forfeit their right to the "American way" when they decided to move to Qatar after receiving an outpouring of support from the American public (including meeting Obama).

A cynic would say it's a case of the carnival folding up the tents and leaving town before the locals figure out that the midway games were fixed.

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#83

Post by foldr »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #54
InclinedPlane wrote: post #34

This thread makes me want to stop coming to HN.

Why is it so? This thread is one of the reasons why I come to HN. It turns out that yet another important story of this year was utter fabrication and lies. I wouldn't know about it if not for HN, and would keep believing falsehoods.

That point of view on the story has been covered all over the mainstream media. E.g.:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/22/clock-controversy...

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#84

Post by TeMPOraL »

swang wrote: post #75
TeMPOraL wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because it's a stereotypical "American Way", doesn't mean it's right. The negative reactions may come from the fact that rent-seeking is harmful to society. Moreover, this particular case is an abuse of public goodwill, and many of the commenters expressing negative sentiments probably fell for the hoax and were supporting this kid publicly.

The "American Way" part was a joke. But it wasn't a hoax dude. It actually happened. He got arrested for pretty much _no_ reason whatsoever. There are two separate events 1. Ahmed was arrested for a pretty dumb thing and most likely because he was a brown kid it made it easier for them to assume it was a bomb or hoax bomb. Whatever they want to call it. I'd have to see how often "hoax bombs" were actually used to arr…

> Using the term rent-seeking is a bit over the top unless you really believe this entire thing was staged.

I'm currently inclining to believe that, but that's beside the point. The whole nation stood in their defense, they got so high up the chain that even POTUS got interested personally, and now they're suing for $15 million?! Rent-seeking is a little light word for that IMO.

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#85

Post by TeMPOraL »

foldr wrote: post #83
TeMPOraL wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it so? This thread is one of the reasons why I come to HN. It turns out that yet another important story of this year was utter fabrication and lies. I wouldn't know about it if not for HN, and would keep believing falsehoods.

That point of view on the story has been covered all over the mainstream media. E.g.: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/22/clock-controversy...

I don't read mainstream media. Too much bullshit. If something is important enough, it'll pop up on HN - usually with the people in the know pointing out all the blatant lies made by the news source.

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#86

Post by foldr »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #85
foldr wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That point of view on the story has been covered all over the mainstream media. E.g.: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/22/clock-controversy...

I don't read mainstream media. Too much bullshit. If something is important enough, it'll pop up on HN - usually with the people in the know pointing out all the blatant lies made by the news source.

Well, sure, if HN is your only source of information, then you wouldn't know anything if it wasn't for HN.

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#87

Post by shubhamjain »

jonlucc wrote: post #11
jaxomlotus wrote: post #9

Sorry, that seems opportunistic. I felt bad for him, but no way he was scarred to the tune of $15 million. Even the bad experience had a major upside - he was offered an internship to Twitter and an invitation to the White House. Schools are budget-deprived enough without adding frivolous lawsuits to the mix. In this case everyone involved in suspending him should have been seriously reprimanded and an apology given…

I think this is how you get schools to care and avoid doing the same in the future.

Is there anything seriously wrong in how school reacted? Quoting New York Times,

> He said he took it to school on Monday to show an engineering teacher, who said it was nice but then told him he should not show the invention to other teachers. Later, Ahmed’s clock beeped during an English class, and after he revealed the device to the teacher, school officials notified the police, and Ahmed was interrogated by officers.

> Ahmed wasn’t accused of making a bomb – he was accused of making a look-alike, a hoax. And be honest with yourself, a big red digital display with a bunch of loose wires in a brief-case looking box is awful like a Hollywood-style representation of a bomb. [1]

[1]: http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engin...

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#88

Post by TeMPOraL »

foldr wrote: post #86
TeMPOraL wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't read mainstream media. Too much bullshit. If something is important enough, it'll pop up on HN - usually with the people in the know pointing out all the blatant lies made by the news source.

Well, sure, if HN is your only source of information, then you wouldn't know anything if it wasn't for HN.

I didn't say it's the only source.

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#89

Post by unprepare »

jonlucc wrote: post #11
jaxomlotus wrote: post #9

Sorry, that seems opportunistic. I felt bad for him, but no way he was scarred to the tune of $15 million. Even the bad experience had a major upside - he was offered an internship to Twitter and an invitation to the White House. Schools are budget-deprived enough without adding frivolous lawsuits to the mix. In this case everyone involved in suspending him should have been seriously reprimanded and an apology given…

I think this is how you get schools to care and avoid doing the same in the future.

I think this is how you create poor educational outcomes for the students in an entire district.

Losing 15 million dollars is not a loss most school districts will be able to withstand - that would likely mean the closing of schools, consolidation, larger class sizes, teacher pay decreases, etc.

But yeah, costing a community of people 15 million dollars sure will teach the four or five people actually involved a valuable lesson.

Re: Ahmed Mohamed: 'Clock boy' seeks $15m from city and school

#90

Post by unprepare »

serge2k wrote: post #25
jaxomlotus wrote: post #9

Sorry, that seems opportunistic. I felt bad for him, but no way he was scarred to the tune of $15 million. Even the bad experience had a major upside - he was offered an internship to Twitter and an invitation to the White House. Schools are budget-deprived enough without adding frivolous lawsuits to the mix. In this case everyone involved in suspending him should have been seriously reprimanded and an apology given…

> Schools are budget-deprived enough without adding frivolous lawsuits to the mix. I'm sorry, in what way is this frivolous?

In that it removes 5 million dollars from a school district's budget.

A school district that serves thousands of children, primarily minorities.

I am shocked that there is anyone saying that those children deserve poorer educational outcomes because of this incident.

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