#IStandWithAhmed (or Inventing While Muslim is a thing?)

[Arctish]

The only people making that claim are peddling the Ahmed the Criminal Mastermind story. It's far-fetched and rather stupid, but some people seem to be very fond of telling it. You should call them out on it if you disagree so strongly.

Nobody claims that, certainly not here.

Wrong.

The claim that Ahmed built the pencil case clock as part of a successful ploy to create a media sensation, undermine anti-terrorism efforts, and/or to provide the foundation for a multi-million dollar lawsuit has been repeatedly put forth by several different posters.

You should re-read the thread. You'll find yourself among them.

The only ones claiming Ahmed's supporters are making that claim have constructed a straw man argument so they can have the pleasure of knocking it down.

The overwhelming majority of people talking about this issue understand that the clock was a simple device Ahmed put together in less than half an hour, the design and construction of which are neither remarkable nor relevant to the issue of his being taken from his school in handcuffs for the not-crime of bringing a pencil case clock to school.

Read the title of this very thread. And read how was media presenting it.

"#IStandWithAhmed (or Inventing While Muslim is a thing?)"

The media presented Ahmed saying it was a simple project that only took him 20-30 minutes to make.

The only people throwing the 'genius' label around are Ahmed's detractors who are pretending his supporters are the ones applying it to him. It's a classic example of a straw man argument. It's also a distraction that serves the purpose of dragging the conversation away from the question of how the police and school administrators should respond when a student brings in an unfamiliar device that is quickly determined to be harmless, and there's no evidence of an intent to break any laws or violate school policies.

 

[angelo]

I still think it's the Muslims playing the victim card as per usual. The authorities were only doing the job they are paid to do to keep people safe .

 

[zorq]

I take issue with your continued assertions that the only steps involved were unscrewing and "dumping" the parts in the case. Once again. Ahmed's pencilcase clock appears to be securely mounted to the pencil case (which BTW was never designed to secure clock parts). It's rather sloppy and/or deceptive of you to continuously ignore what may have been the most intricate step in the process when the very subject of this current tangent of discussion is the difficulty of completing the project.

What's intricate about screwing two screws into a pencil case? We don't even know if he actually screwed them all the way through, or just through the lining, but either way, it doesn't require more skill than using a screwdriver.

Unless it requires using another tool like a drill to make pilot holes... or attaching an additional mounting surface because perhaps the circuit board and digital display that fit snugly in their previous case had no convenient surfaces to support them in the new case....

In any case, of the three steps, 1.unscrewing, 2. transfering and 3. mounting, We have already determined, (and always known) that step 2 is trivial (which is why it is the only step Ahmed's detractors choose to glorify with a YouTube video.) And we all agree that using a screwdriver to unscrew some screws is a simple task suitable for a 3 year old. But securely fastening electronic parts to a new surface without damaging them often requires a little more thought and planning than just poke and twist. Which is exactly why I insist that step 3 may have been the most intricate step. Do you understand how it is likely the most intricate step now?

I agree with you that while there may have been other enhancements or repairs to the clock I also find that prospect unlikely, but not impossible. Of course that has always been my opinion and I don't actually see anyone arguing with you that there WERE other enhancements, only that there could be.

One possible "enhancement" is that the power cord coming out of the transformer seems to be taped which migt indicate that he had replaced it (or maybe he just taped an exposed part of the wire). But as far as the clock parts go, the circuit board looks factory made and doesn't seem to have any extra parts, any parts missing, or any other visible sign of being touched in any way beyond just dumping them on the case.

The digital display certainly shows signs of being attached deliberately and securely.

 

[barbos]

Ahmed team is ridiculous.

 

[angelo]

Should be interesting reading when the 15 mill claim comes up. If I were the judge I know what I would do with it!

 

[Jayjay]

What's intricate about screwing two screws into a pencil case? We don't even know if he actually screwed them all the way through, or just through the lining, but either way, it doesn't require more skill than using a screwdriver.

Unless it requires using another tool like a drill to make pilot holes... or attaching an additional mounting surface because perhaps the circuit board and digital display that fit snugly in their previous case had no convenient surfaces to support them in the new case....

In any case, of the three steps, 1.unscrewing, 2. transfering and 3. mounting, We have already determined, (and always known) that step 2 is trivial (which is why it is the only step Ahmed's detractors choose to glorify with a YouTube video.) And we all agree that using a screwdriver to unscrew some screws is a simple task suitable for a 3 year old. But securely fastening electronic parts to a new surface without damaging them often requires a little more thought and planning than just poke and twist. Which is exactly why I insist that step 3 may have been the most intricate step. Do you understand how it is likely the most intricate step now?

Just because it is the most intricate step doesn't make it that much more intricate. All you need is a sharp screw and a screwdriver. Plus, "without damaging them" is not proven: He may have screwed directly through the case, as there are no pictures of the box from the outside, or he may have just used the soft lining as a base whch does look a bit damaged. Or for all we know he didn't use the screws at all (although they are clearly there), and had taped or glued it.

I agree with you that while there may have been other enhancements or repairs to the clock I also find that prospect unlikely, but not impossible. Of course that has always been my opinion and I don't actually see anyone arguing with you that there WERE other enhancements, only that there could be.

One possible "enhancement" is that the power cord coming out of the transformer seems to be taped which migt indicate that he had replaced it (or maybe he just taped an exposed part of the wire). But as far as the clock parts go, the circuit board looks factory made and doesn't seem to have any extra parts, any parts missing, or any other visible sign of being touched in any way beyond just dumping them on the case.

The digital display certainly shows signs of being attached deliberately and securely.

It's hard to tell from a picture how secure that actually is. Certainly in the pictures of the clock after he got it back, Ahmed is holding it in a way that implies it's no longer securely attached, but that could have been done by the police.

 

[barbos]

The digital display certainly shows signs of being attached deliberately and securely.

And that would have been a great achievement for a chimp for example.

 

[dismal]

Sounds like you have some good arguments that these guys have yet to produce the exact model of clock that Ahmed unscrewed and dumped into a case.

Perhaps not surprising given the general lack of surviving Micronta clocks from the 1970's/80's available to them and the rate at which electronic components can change across production runs.

What I still don't see is any facts or evidence that are not explained by the hypothesis that Ahmed took a single clock, unscrewed it and dumped the parts in a case. Or any hypothesis more plausible than that.

I take issue with your continued assertions that the only steps involved were unscrewing and "dumping" the parts in the case. Once again. Ahmed's pencilcase clock appears to be securely mounted to the pencil case (which BTW was never designed to secure clock parts). It's rather sloppy and/or deceptive of you to continuously ignore what may have been the most intricate step in the process when the very subject of this current tangent of discussion is the difficulty of completing the project.

I agree with you that while there may have been other enhancements or repairs to the clock I also find that prospect unlikely, but not impossible. Of course that has always been my opinion and I don't actually see anyone arguing with you that there WERE other enhancements, only that there could be.

In one of those posts I did in fact acknowledge that to be fair it looked like he may have screwed the display into the case. If you think this raises what he did to the genius level of invention I would suggest that driving a couple screws is not actually that hard and do not see how it raises what Ahmed did to the level of "invention". He started with something that was far more functional in all aspects than what he created.

 

[angelo]

A good test for Clockbrat would be to hand him a small digital radio set out of its case, and see if he would even know wtf it is.