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Muslim teen Ahmed Mohamed creates clock, shows teachers, gets arrested

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Ash Small

Sat Sept 19 2015, 08:13PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

If they suspected even for a short time that it was a bomb surely they would/should have put the emergency procedures into action and evacuated the school, etc?

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Sat Sept 19 2015, 10:57PM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

He definitely did not "create" anything here, I agree that he re-packaged a clock.

The circuit board is all the evidence you need. He did not make his own cheap "Chinese" PCB and solder mask it. And the ribbon cable to the display, no, this was some clock to be seen from far away.

Who would make a clock for demonstration with a wall transformer attached like that? A hobbyist would have used a large battery pack.

He's just a kid with a really basic understanding of electronics.

Now what I have a problem with is "lowering the bar" for "creating" something by just re-packaging an existing item. It reduces engineering to, well... just stuffing some crap in a new box.

SK1701

Sun Sept 20 2015, 09:35AM

Registered Member #55960 Joined: Fri Jul 24 2015, 12:11PM
Location: Bangalore, India
Posts: 10

Very well said Hazmatt!
This article makes for an interesting read:

Ash Small

Sun Sept 20 2015, 10:24AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Well this is pretty much how I started as a kid.

We didn't have a lot to entertain ourselves with, and I was fascinated by 'how stuff works'. I started by taking stuff apart, but it was when I started being able to put stuff back together again and get it to work that the fun really started.

I used to 're-build' transistor radios and put them in different enclosures, for example, and I had motors and gear trains doing all kinds of stuff, maybe not 'useful' stuff, but still fun.

From 'his point of view', he's turned a pencil case into a clock......probably the first project he's actually 'got to work'.........We all started somewhere.

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Sun Sept 20 2015, 03:19PM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

Ash, that's not my point.

Yes we all started out this way. I was taking everything apart at 5 yrs. old, and it was a problem for my parents.

My point is, I wasn't "creating" anything. ("Creating" meaning constructing something from basic elements to make a finished good.)

He is trying to lean how things work, and that is fine.

The article is not written properly to reflect what he did, and that is what my point was.

If he had a breadboard with 7400 logic, and a bunch of wires everywhere, and a battery pack, and it looked like a rats-nest, then he would have "created" a clock. (this is my point)

Bored Chemist

Sun Sept 20 2015, 04:13PM

Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022

Whether or not he "created" a clock or not*, he certainly shouldn't have been arrested for what he did.

*
It seems to me that it's not clear where you draw the line, but my point is that the line doesn't matter.

Conundrum

Wed Sept 23 2015, 09:05AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4059

I made something like this when at secondary school, it was along the same lines (recased clock with Fresnel lens to magnify the LCD)
Worked quite well until some phool dropped it.

Signification

Wed Dec 30 2015, 10:04AM

Registered Member #54278 Joined: Sat Jan 17 2015, 04:42AM
Location: Amite, La.
Posts: 367

Well, When you haven't developed the skill yet, take something you are interested in and make your own container--perhaps re-arranging the face and using better 'buttons'. In reality--if you don't do this with a certain degree of care and proper handling: Nothing lights up when you flip it on!! The thrill of success at this (first) point in his hands-on field of interest can be quite encouraging only leading to the next more advanced steps. AND...remember, if it does not work after this natural first step (a REAL possibility!), determination will make a future engineer try again or seek help--perhaps discovering a grounding fault in the new case (the most probable cause of zero operation IMHO). ...and a great first obsticale to encounter and overcome with just a jumper wire!
Anyway, unless he just gives it all up and throws it in the trash (NOT an engineer's attitude), he WILL succeed! (hoping he overcomes this ordeal) There can be great encouragement in displaying a working device in which you simply successfully transplanted

He certainly won't repeatedly gut and recase!

Sulaiman

Wed Dec 30 2015, 01:53PM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

Random relevant bits;

The guys that take existing stuff, shuffle it around and re-package it
in general earn much more than the guys that designed the original stuff
so don't knock it !

(I was part of a design team for an automotive project that took about one year,
the designer of the logo on the product got 2-team-years income ! )

I used to be in industry, then research, then back to industry,
there is enough technology available for a wonderful world
there is little glamour or reward for actually producing stuff
it is time that rewards went to the makers/growers/workers.

(now I'm stuffed ! not only electronics and chemistry hobbies, a muslim-convert socialist too !
if you don't hear from me for a while please forward my emails to Guantanamo

While I was off work sick, one of my colleagues was 'modifying' a battery pack into a box,
another colleague came across the box, didn't know what it was, and reported it.
..... The fire brigade were certain that it was an explosive device
so allowed my colleague to carry it out to the car park !!!!!!!

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