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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.
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I didn't say it's the only source.
I know, but you made it sound as if HN was giving you information that you couldn't have gotten from other sources, whereas in fact, in the particular case we're discussing, just reading the news would have been sufficient.
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> it really looks like he just moved the guts of an old clock into a new casing. He didn't really design any circuitry at all He's 14 years old and learning electronics—I'm not sure what light this sheds on anything?
It sheds light on the issue in that his parents likely orchestrated the whole thing.
1. He got a bit overexcited about his electronic puttering.
2. something goes here
3. It must be a scam.
I'm not sure what goes in the blank for you, but man, it must be a doozy.
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There are multiple comments in this thread that describe it. * He didn't really make a clock * His dad is an Islamic activist likely staging this whole thing for money and attention * His family intends to move to Qatar in order to be in a "more accepting" place * The kid was interviewed saying something about "soldering CPUs" or some crap. This isn't a 5 year old. He has no idea what he's talking about. TL;DR he's k…
none of which forced the school or the cops to march a kid out of the premises in handcuffs.
Perhaps, as one of the parent comments said, the situation turned out not to be clear cut.
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It sheds light on the issue in that his parents likely orchestrated the whole thing.
So this is your argument? 1. He got a bit overexcited about his electronic puttering. 2. something goes here 3. It must be a scam. I'm not sure what goes in the blank for you, but man, it must be a doozy.
The internals of another clock were put into a box. That's not electronic puttering.
Regardless of what you think about all the actors at play here, this is one of those stories to look back on that says... something... about the internet. A few million tweets led to media attention, discourse about schools and race, meetings with presidents and scholarships to prestigious universities. All good things and all was once again well in the world and the internet won. However, with time, more details com…
It's always been true of human nature: the desire to reach some sort of conclusion as quickly as possible.
Humans seem to have a lot of trouble with uncertainty, and when faced with uncertainty we tend to concoct narratives that are informed by our perceptions of reality. The danger of social media is that such narratives can spread quickly to others, and a mass delusion can be formed based on faulty or incomplete information.
This is a lesson that shouldn't be new to social media, because "proper" news outlets have made horrible mistakes in early reporting many times as well, but it's worth noting: never, ever blindly assume that you've heard the whole story, no matter what the source. This is doubly true if the story you're hearing seems to imply that one or multiple actors are a combination of incompetent and malicious that stretches credulity.
Humans make decisions for reasons, and although we all make mistakes, usually we're not malicious imbeciles.
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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…
"But it wasn't a hoax dude. It actually happened. He got arrested for pretty much _no_ reason whatsoever." The whole "homemade clock" claim is what was a hoax, regardless of any subsequent panic about its application. (If you aren't clear on the backstory, look it up. It's just a mass-production A/C-powered clock taken out of its case. For example, see: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICRONTA-Large-Red-Display-Digital-A...…
If you combine those facts to believe Ahmed's father completely set this up, then you can also just combine these facts to determine that people in that school district of Texas are probably just racists (the sister didn't do anything and got suspended, the brother did something that may have been grounds for suspension, but got arrested). People are willing to crucify Ahmed (who again I doubt had much choice if he was set up to do this) for the former, but no one cares about the possibility of the latter. I'm guessing the truth lies between these two extremes.
But again, if Ahmed's father set him up for this, then there should have been an investigation. And if he had been found guilty of forcing his son to stage some fake clock/bomb thing, well I'll go and sharpen my pitchfork for it. But as far as I can tell, kid was _arrested_ for what amounts to a clock he didn't make.
> 2) Lawyer letter stating, "Irving Police officials immediately determined that the clock was harmless" is false. Beat cops aren't qualified to make any such analysis; even things as innocuous as an unattended backpack get further analysis by specifically trained personnel.
If they did think it was a bomb, or didn't think it was but had no authority/knowledge to assess that it was a bomb, then it is even worse because it means there was a possible bomb on campus and they failed to evacuate the school. I think that was part of the anger that people felt about this case. Were they really thinking about the welfare of the rest of the children on campus or did they know it wasn't a bomb so were just kinda harassing Ahmed because they wanted to?
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So this is your argument? 1. He got a bit overexcited about his electronic puttering. 2. something goes here 3. It must be a scam. I'm not sure what goes in the blank for you, but man, it must be a doozy.
That's not his argument at all; he's claiming that his parents orchestrated it, not that he "got a bit overexcited." The internals of another clock were put into a box. That's not electronic puttering.
Then maybe you're a lot better at electronics than I am, but that would have qualified for me when I was 14.
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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.
I think there should be some kinda of punitive damage for the school because of their actions. I don't think it's $15 million. I also don't think a jury will award $15 million. And more likely the case may be thrown out or the school district will just settle to make it go away.
People in this thread are acting as though they were already awarded $15 million. I always assumed a jury ends up deciding the damages, if any, in civil cases like this. It's not an automatic $15 million if they prove their case just because that's what they asked for in compensation.
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I couldn't disagree more. Schools & cities both ought to live in fear of lawsuits to stop this kind of nonsense from occuring as a kneejerk reaction and give common sense an opportunity to prevail.
Living in fear of lawsuits is why we don't have climbing equipment in parks and diving boards in pools anymore. Lawsuits need to be scaled back and commonsense returned.
A little shocked I was downvoted here for sharing my opinion, are we really that intent on becoming a circlejerk? guess that's just the way things go eventually.