Ahmed Mohamed, His Clock, and the Curious Turn of Events

New submitter poity writes: After the news first broke of the 9th grader getting cuffed for scaring school officials with what turned out to be a digital clock, Ahmed Mohamed has experienced a surge of popular support — hailed as a genius and a hero, with college scholarships, internship offers, and even an invitation to the White House by President Obama himself. Now, amid rumors of possible racial discrimination lawsuits against the school and local police, some people have begun to more deeply scrutinize the details of the case, especially on the tech side with regard to the homemade clock in question. Recently, a writer at the creative site Artvoice posted a remarkable analysis of Ahmed's clock project, which raises new questions about the case and the manner in which people and the media alike have reacted. The linked analysis posits that Ahmed's clock started out as another clock, rather than a box of parts, and Ahmed can be said to have repackaged rather than "invented" a wholly new clock, but acknowledges that "none of us were there and knows what happened."

Comments

I liked the cartoon that read:

[The Real Dr John]

Child invents Islamophobia detector.

Re:I liked the cartoon that read:

[Cajun Hell]

What the fuck are "suspicious wires?" I have a drawer containing assorted lengths of wire, and if some of them are suspicious, I want to know about it.

Re:'Built'

[FranTaylor]

I would have been more impressed if he'd actually built a digital clock from scratch.

Does he need to gather up beach sand to make silicon chips or is it okay if he uses a pre-made chip?

If he uses a pre-made chip, does it need to be blank or can he use a dedicated clock chip?

maybe he also needs to mine the copper for the wires?