It looka like a bomb

I thought the school overreacted initially but after googling images it looks nothing like a clock??? Where the hell does it tell you the time or is there a dial. It looks more like a briefcase bomb. I think I can kind of see in the red part that it looks like numbers would be there. But that could also look like a timer on a bomb.

 

Considering that the kid's father has been an activist who was seeking out the media spotlight before, can one completely rule out that the whole stunt was meant to provoke the reaction it got? I am not saying this is what happened, but quite clearly, they managed to get this whole event quite some media attention. It just seems a bit weird, when I was in school, nobody ever brought anything that looks anything like that to school unsolicited, and then they had the media on hand really, really quickly. Certain people and/or groups are very good at staging situations where they seem to be victimized. Certainly seems like the kid is taking full advantage of the situation now.

And yes, I can see how one could have thought this looked like a bomb. Someone (GlenDice?) posted something with several photos of bombs and this thing next to it, and I think many people would not have been able to tell what was a bomb and what wasn't. Add a little bit of acting weird/suspicious to the situation, and I can see how it makes people feel uneasy.

Anyway, clearly the kid did not do anything illegal and there was no reason to handcuff him. But now the family seems to be enjoying the situation and making the best of it for them.

Edit:

I found the picture GlenDice posted (spoilered) and resized it.



Certainly looks more like a bomb to me than a clock. Where would it even display time?

 

Perhaps the part that displays the time isn't facing the camera?

Does this look like a bomb?

 

Did they ever say why the kid brought the "clock" to school to begin with? Was it for a school related thing or was it just for kicks?

 

Have you folks never seen an LED clock?

 

I am totally ignorant when it comes to any electrical wirings, so I wouldn't be able to tell a bomb from whatever. But the thing is, so are many/most other people as well. And then I guess the question arises, why does someone bring something like that to school unsolicited, apparently acts in a way that has some people concerned (seems like everyone is assuming they must all have been complete idiots, is this the most likely scenario or is it as likely that the kid was acting in a way that gave rise to some concern?) and then is apparently so well-prepared to make a big media story out of it?

 

The big red thing is the digital clock screen. Not sure if its the quality of the photograph or the angle -- its hard to see the numbers.

And I think if you just added a random photograph of the inside of a computer and put it in that collage, it would be equally as difficult to distinguish to a layperson.

 

Someone already posted a better pic of it. It's not a briefcase. It's more like the size of a pencil box. The way the photo was cropped show a misleading image, and maybe on purpose.

 

Well it's not even just that, you don't have to do very much to a clock to turn it into a bomb. Actually you can make bombs out of a ton of innocuous things. Is it a cell phone, or a bomb?

Anyway, still no one has said why the kid brought it to school in the first place. It would be pretty scummy if someone had their kid do this to try and generate a scandal.

 

How is that even close to a bomb? What exactly do you see in there that can possibly be detonated to cause harm?

 

All I know is his whole Muslim family is getting off on all the attention. I particularly liked how they took a selfie with everyone all grins as they went to meet their lawyer over possible legal action they can take. I'm sure he feels totally wronged by everything that happened. It's a national tragedy.

 

There are four "8" outline on it. It's off that's why you can't see the number, but it's quite easy to see the outline. The red LED is probably around 2" x 1" in size.

Here is a 1.2" 4 digits LED:

 

Then you're unqualified to say that something looks like a bomb.

To show his science teacher what he made.

I don't see how any of this is apparent.

Occam's razor: A nerd built a clock to show his science teacher. His English teacher saw it, called the authorities, and they overreacted. You think a 14-year-old science geek had an ulterior motive to mess with everyone's head?

 

Since his father is politically-minded, he may have had connections. Once you make the right call and this thing gets out into social media, its not hard for it to develop into a big media story. I mean, its an interesting story, to say the least.

I see that you're basically asking the question of what's more likely: the kid's dad happens to be politically-minded and fairly quick to act against such a perceived injustice, or that his father purposely directed him to take something that looks sort of like a bomb to school and create a fuss. I'll go with the first one.

 

They can look like all sorts of things. Add an explosive compound and a few extra wires and components and the kid's clock could be an actual bomb.

That's not really the point here though, the issue here is if the kid or kid's folks were trying to cause a controversy or if it was just an honest naive mistake by the kid bringing his home made clock to school for seemingly no reason and his parents and the media pouncing on it.

 

Self-victimization as part of propaganda is not unusual in certain groups. Not saying that this was necessarily planned beforehand, but that can also not be totally ruled out. And they certainly seized the opportunity.

Again, how did this become such a huge media story so quickly?

 

Why did the English teacher then ever get to see it?

 

The alarm beeped. Please read the story.