[blakeja]

Funny you should put it like that. Now that actual pictures of the "digital clock" are available, that is first time I have seen a clock built into a metal suitcase that, golly gee, somewhat resembles a bomb.

Ya'll are being absurd. That kid new what he was doing, I did stupid shit like that when I his age...worse in fact, these days I would have made national headlines if I had been caught. So I know what I am talking about here.

He may be be a smart boy, but you put that briefcase in any Hollywood movie or video game and they would call it a bomb. If he was really building a clock it would at least somewhat really resemble a clock.

Bear in mind, I am a strong opponent of the rising police state and slow creep of tyranny that I hope is becoming obvious to even the more ignorant sections of the populace. But this...come on guys, call a spade a spade.

[wpietri]

Pssst: You do not live in a Hollywood movie or video game.

Here in the real world, he biggest recent terrorist incident in the US, the Boston Marathon bombing, used a backpack. But nobody is suggesting that kids be arrested for bringing backpacks to school.

And yes, the kid knew what he was doing: bringing in one of his hobby projects to show his teachers. Which is exactly what we want students to do. The problem is that the teachers didn't know what they were doing.

[Turing_Machine]

"that is first time I have seen a clock built into a metal suitcase"

Pencil case, not a suitcase. When I was a kid, I used whatever case I could come up with for my projects. Cigar boxes, whatever.

I understand that Altoids tins are quite popular with the young tinkerers of today.

[Gigablah]

"Metal suitcase"? "Briefcase"? It's merely the size of a pencil box. In fact, it IS a pencil box. Call a spade a spade.

[kitwalker12]

I'm so annoyed that NO ONE is mentioning THIS fact. It's a pencil box people

[mikeash]

In what way does it resemble a bomb, exactly?

[AjithAntony]

I was skeptical until i saw the picture. If there was no other context it looks pretty suspicious. If you left this thing unattended at bus stop you bet there would be a bomb squad on it.

But now that we are all familiar with pencil box clocks, one could easily mimic this design for a real bomb. A block of c4 would work nicely as the transformer core.

[wpietri]

It does not "look pretty suspicious". You suspect it. Suspicion is a process that happens inside your head, and is not intrinsic to the object.

We can agree that the device would look unfamiliar to many. But that people treat unfamiliar things as scary is up to them.

As I mentioned elsewhere, the biggest recent bombing in the US left a backpack behind. Others have used briefcases, trucks, and even a Christmas present:

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/04/16/the-10...

So if you are serious about security, then you should call the bomb squad for ordinary objects left behind at bus stops.

Of course, nobody getting the vapors about this incident is serious about security. If they were, they would not have carried Ahmed's device around the school building. If they thought it was a bomb, they would have stopped touching the device, evacuated the area, and called the bomb squad.

The actual problem here is not Ahmed's clock. It is teachers and administrators who think their irrational fears are far more important that kids' educations.

[mikeash]

Suspicious how, exactly?

I mean, you're right that if you left it unattended at a bus stop the bomb squad would show up. But the same is true of a cardboard box or a backpack. Nearly anything looks suspicious if you leave it sitting around. That's not a reasonable criteria for "resembles a bomb," especially when it wasn't left sitting around.