Seriously? The trauma? It's not that big of a deal. The kid is going to get laid as a result of this. He's already been invited to the white house. This kid is the most popular kid in the school district. Too bad he's suspended.
It's not a big deal because he's going to get lots of *poonaanee*......well I have to TOTALLY DISAGREE! One thing you have to remember from the teen's point of view was that he was building creating something INNOCENTLY to impress his teacher and for reasons unknown to him initially he's arrested and placed in handcuffs. I don't care what you say THAT trauma at THAT age is going to stay with him for the rest of his life. What happened to me has never ever left me and I was 18 at the time, no matter how much I tried to forget it still stays with and what SOME officers can do when and if they feel like it.
Peace
What happened to you was completely different than what happened this kid.
Things affect different people in different ways. Something that traumatizes one person is no big deal to another person.
True, IF I was a career criminal at 18, being arrested and in handcuffs it wouldn't be a big deal to me at the time. However, because I was never in that situation of a jail with bars, drunks, other officers passing by with teasing saying smart remarks. That shit traumatizes one for sure.
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Scott, seriously, sometimes you post dumb things. I'd love for your son to be held for 4 hrs without you being allowed to see him or know what the fuck is going on. And if you wouldn't freak out then sorry, you need to figure out some parenting skills. I don't think there'd be any parent in here who wouldn't freak the fuck out if that happened to their kid. Seriously man
When did I say his parents shouldn't have been freaked out? Of course they would. And of course I would. But in the grand scheme, it's not a big deal.
Imagine for one second that this is a bomb and nothing was done about it. What would you all say about the teachers and cops then? That they were incompetent.
Scott, seriously, sometimes you post dumb things. I'd love for your son to be held for 4 hrs without you being allowed to see him or know what the fuck is going on. And if you wouldn't freak out then sorry, you need to figure out some parenting skills. I don't think there'd be any parent in here who wouldn't freak the fuck out if that happened to their kid. Seriously man
Absolutely. When my kids were younger, and as they reached driving age, I explained to them that if they were ever stopped by the police they should comply with orders, but should never talk to them without me there. I told them that if they were ever questioned about anything to let the cop know that they would need to call me first, and I'd be there before any questions started. My daughter didn't drink until college, so in high school she tended to be a designated driver if any of her friends were drinking. She drove to a place where a party was happening to pick up a friend who needed a ride. The cops showed up as she pulled up, and she started to get questioned. She explained that she'd talk to them, but only after calling me and waiting for me to get there. They told her to be safe and sent her on her way. There is no way she would have sat for 4 hours being interrogated, and me not knowing about it. That isn't OK. And why the hell did it take 4 hours to make the determination that the device was a clock, and the kid wasn't a threat? Are they all a little slow down there?
"I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
His clock doesn't look like a clock and it was unrelated to a school project. Protocol must be followed because (unfortunately) we live in a day where kids shoot and blow up other kids in school.
Now he gets to meet the POTUS?
His clock, as we saw it in the photo (which may have been after police tampered with it) doesn't look like a clock to you. GF says it "looks like a bomb", but how many bomb have you seen, GF, outside of tv? What it looks like to us is less relevant than what a competent engineering teacher (who presumably could understand it) would have thought it looked like. I mean, I'm no engineer, but I don't see any explosives in there.
it doesn't matter what I think it looked like, his teacher and police did think it looked like a bomb. ....after police tampered with it ?????? why do you think they tampered with it ?...well maybe it looked like a bomb !!!! most people don't see a bomb until that last split second when their life is about to end or change.
Godfather.
It was another teacher who alerted authorities to the device his engineering teacher apparently knew what the device was....a clock. No problem with the other calling her superiors, she was apparently unfamiliar with the device. When one is not in the know, find those who are in the know.
I also do have an issue that he was STILL suspended AFTER it was quite clear that the said device was clearly a clock.
A Muslim teenager built a simple clock out of electronic components and took it to show his engineering teacher at school — but he was arrested when another teacher thought it looked like a bomb and alerted administrators.
Police in Irving, Texas, never suspected the device was an explosive device and did not alert the bomb squad, but they still arrested 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed because he could offer no “broader explanation” for his clock besides describing it as a device that measures time.
What do you think would happen if a white 14 year old built a nuclear reactor in his parent's home
What would be the reaction of the authorities. Lets see shall we?
When another 14-year-old boy built a nuclear reactor at his parents’ home he was invited to meet with officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Energy — who http://mentalfloss.com/article/28576/mad-scientist-month-whos-afraid-taylor-wilson offered their expert assistance, equipment and encouragement to apply for a research grant.
Taylor Wilson, who is white, entered his nuclear fusion reactor five years ago in a series of science fairs that eventually won him a trip to Switzerland, where he toured the Large Hadron Collider — the world’s largest particle accelerator.
The president also invited Mohamed to visit him at the White House after the Muslim teen’s story sparked national outrage over an apparent double standard. Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great. — President Obama (@POTUS)
Thanks for posting. Ya, there's NO bigotry in America or on these boards.
the last great act of defiance... "bigotry" has anybody thought to bring up racist yet ? because clearly that's all you guys have, the ol' stand by that keeps on working for you, originality is great !
His clock doesn't look like a clock and it was unrelated to a school project. Protocol must be followed because (unfortunately) we live in a day where kids shoot and blow up other kids in school.
Now he gets to meet the POTUS?
His clock, as we saw it in the photo (which may have been after police tampered with it) doesn't look like a clock to you. GF says it "looks like a bomb", but how many bomb have you seen, GF, outside of tv? What it looks like to us is less relevant than what a competent engineering teacher (who presumably could understand it) would have thought it looked like. I mean, I'm no engineer, but I don't see any explosives in there.
it doesn't matter what I think it looked like, his teacher and police did think it looked like a bomb. ....after police tampered with it ?????? why do you think they tampered with it ?...well maybe it looked like a bomb !!!! most people don't see a bomb until that last split second when their life is about to end or change.
Godfather.
It was another teacher who alerted authorities to the device his engineering teacher apparently knew what the device was....a clock. No problem with the other calling her superiors, she was apparently unfamiliar with the device. When one is not in the know, find those who are in the know.
I also do have an issue that he was STILL suspended AFTER it was quite clear that the said device was clearly a clock.
You guys are taking this way too personal. If it had been a bomb, he could have detonated it whenever he wanted. Should they have taken him into a room? Yes. But they didn't. This kids human rights weren't violated. He was a suspect with a suspect device. Get over it.
I believe he was held for around 4 hours and questioned without his parents or a lawyer present...I'm not a lawyer but that doesn't sound very appropriate.....and maybe his rights were violated.
I doubt they were, under the Patriot Act. I'm not sticking up for the cops, but they probably had a right to do what they did if they can claim that they suspected terrorist activity.
Even if it was determined early that this device was indeed deemed to be a clock. He never claimed that his device was nothing other than something that that tells time. I don't how he can be suspected of terrorist activity when his device was determined to be nothing other than a clock.
Peace
I don't either, but I'm sure the Patriot Act gives the cops an excuse anyway, unfortunately.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
His clock doesn't look like a clock and it was unrelated to a school project. Protocol must be followed because (unfortunately) we live in a day where kids shoot and blow up other kids in school.
Now he gets to meet the POTUS?
His clock, as we saw it in the photo (which may have been after police tampered with it) doesn't look like a clock to you. GF says it "looks like a bomb", but how many bomb have you seen, GF, outside of tv? What it looks like to us is less relevant than what a competent engineering teacher (who presumably could understand it) would have thought it looked like. I mean, I'm no engineer, but I don't see any explosives in there.
it doesn't matter what I think it looked like, his teacher and police did think it looked like a bomb. ....after police tampered with it ?????? why do you think they tampered with it ?...well maybe it looked like a bomb !!!! most people don't see a bomb until that last split second when their life is about to end or change.
Godfather.
It was another teacher who alerted authorities to the device his engineering teacher apparently knew what the device was....a clock. No problem with the other calling her superiors, she was apparently unfamiliar with the device. When one is not in the know, find those who are in the know.
I also do have an issue that he was STILL suspended AFTER it was quite clear that the said device was clearly a clock.
Peace
clearly a clock......really ?
Godfather.
Please tell me and everyone else you have a pic of the clock BEFORE the cops got their hands on it. Notice how I spelled "their" GF. Just trying to help you out. But please share the pic with all of us because all I've seen is a briefcase made to look like a bomb after the authorities realized how silly they look and had to do something to make it look like a bomb.
His clock doesn't look like a clock and it was unrelated to a school project. Protocol must be followed because (unfortunately) we live in a day where kids shoot and blow up other kids in school.
Now he gets to meet the POTUS?
His clock, as we saw it in the photo (which may have been after police tampered with it) doesn't look like a clock to you. GF says it "looks like a bomb", but how many bomb have you seen, GF, outside of tv? What it looks like to us is less relevant than what a competent engineering teacher (who presumably could understand it) would have thought it looked like. I mean, I'm no engineer, but I don't see any explosives in there.
it doesn't matter what I think it looked like, his teacher and police did think it looked like a bomb. ....after police tampered with it ?????? why do you think they tampered with it ?...well maybe it looked like a bomb !!!! most people don't see a bomb until that last split second when their life is about to end or change.
Godfather.
It was another teacher who alerted authorities to the device his engineering teacher apparently knew what the device was....a clock. No problem with the other calling her superiors, she was apparently unfamiliar with the device. When one is not in the know, find those who are in the know.
I also do have an issue that he was STILL suspended AFTER it was quite clear that the said device was clearly a clock.
Peace
clearly a clock......really ?
Godfather.
Did you read the post. Yes clearly a clock AFTER he was suspended and sent home, by then GF it was again clearly determined to be a clock. Now do you see what I was saying.
Peace
Post edited by g under p on
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
His clock doesn't look like a clock and it was unrelated to a school project. Protocol must be followed because (unfortunately) we live in a day where kids shoot and blow up other kids in school.
Now he gets to meet the POTUS?
His clock, as we saw it in the photo (which may have been after police tampered with it) doesn't look like a clock to you. GF says it "looks like a bomb", but how many bomb have you seen, GF, outside of tv? What it looks like to us is less relevant than what a competent engineering teacher (who presumably could understand it) would have thought it looked like. I mean, I'm no engineer, but I don't see any explosives in there.
it doesn't matter what I think it looked like, his teacher and police did think it looked like a bomb. ....after police tampered with it ?????? why do you think they tampered with it ?...well maybe it looked like a bomb !!!! most people don't see a bomb until that last split second when their life is about to end or change.
Godfather.
It was another teacher who alerted authorities to the device his engineering teacher apparently knew what the device was....a clock. No problem with the other calling her superiors, she was apparently unfamiliar with the device. When one is not in the know, find those who are in the know.
I also do have an issue that he was STILL suspended AFTER it was quite clear that the said device was clearly a clock.
Peace
clearly a clock......really ?
Godfather.
Well they know it's a clock now. Are you arguing they don't? That the kid is still suspended (assuming that's true - I'm only going off of this thread), that is absolutely terrible. I don't understand how that could possibly be the case. Surely they aren't upholding the suspension still.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Whatever, I don't think this kid was violated. I'm sure he was scared and his parents were horrified. I highly doubt this event turns this kid into a terrorist.
This biggest injustice here isn't handcuffs. It's why this kid is still suspended from school.
Do you guys actually think that this would have turned out any different if a white kid built this clock?
You obviously didn't read g under p post
Yea, I did. All of them. I read them, and fully understood what he wrote.
So why ask? Didn't he post about a white kid making a nuclear reactor or something to that extent? Wasn't he white?
So what g under p writes is clearly the opinion of everyone?
Omg, he included a fucken link. Dude, just stop.
Unlike others I like to back my shit up, especially on subjects of race. thanks
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Whatever, I don't think this kid was violated. I'm sure he was scared and his parents were horrified. I highly doubt this event turns this kid into a terrorist.
This biggest injustice here isn't handcuffs. It's why this kid is still suspended from school.
I don't think anyone said this event will turn him into a terrorist, I certainly will not. He may not have been violated but I pretty sure this incident has produced some trauma to him that he will not forget.
The suspension I clearly don't understand either unless the school is trying in some odd way to teach him a lesson to not build anything again and NOT to bring it to school without school permission.
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
At 10, he built his first bomb. At 14, he made a nuclear reactor. Now he’s 17…
Taylor Wilson makes people nervous. While his beanpole frame and Justin Bieber–esque haircut suggest he’s just a harmless kid, his after-school activities paint a far more ominous picture. At age 10, he built his first bomb out of a pill bottle and household chemicals. At 11, he started mining for uranium and buying vials of plutonium on the Internet. At 14, he became the youngest person in the world to build a nuclear fusion reactor. “I’m obsessed with radioactivity. I don’t know why,” says Wilson in his laid-back drawl. “Possibly because there’s power in atoms that you can’t see, an unlocked power.”
Shouldn’t teams in hazmat suits descend on Wilson and shut down his operations before someone gets hurt? On the contrary, there are people in the government who think that Wilson is key to keeping this country safe.
“The Cold War is really when nuclear physicists got their shot, and those people are all retiring,” points out one of Wilson’s mentors, Ron Phaneuf, a professor of physics at the University of Nevada in Reno. “I think the U.S. Department of Energy is a little concerned that the motivation of young people to get interested in that kind of science has waned. I think that’s one of the reasons doors have been opened to Taylor. He’s a phenomenon, probably the most brilliant person I’ve met in my life, and I’ve met Nobel laureates.”
When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security heard about Wilson two years ago, officials invited him to their offices to hear more about his research and determine whether or not it could be applied toward their counter-terrorism efforts. Because Wilson was only 15, they weren’t expecting much, but Wilson came prepared. After shaking everyone’s hands, he announced, “You know your building’s radio-active, right?” The pager-sized Geiger counter attached to Wilson’s belt was beeping, an indication that the granite surrounding them contained unusually high amounts of uranium—not enough to be harmful, but enough for Wilson to raise a few eyebrows.
“Their own building was radioactive and most didn’t know it,” Wilson says. “That’s when they started to take me really seriously.”
THE YOUNG FUSIONEER
This was from my link....
Do any of you think if this was Ahmed or some other Middle Eastern Muslim teen he would've been treated the same way?
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Oh he was violated all right. He was forced to do a perp walk in front of the other students to the patrol car. At 14 that's EVERYTHING. For a freaking clock. I've heard on the news that he won't be going back to that school...looking for a new one. I hope they'll be able to find one with intelligent people teaching and administering. grrrrrr.
Oh he was violated all right. He was forced to do a perp walk in front of the other students to the patrol car. At 14 that's EVERYTHING. For a freaking clock. I've heard on the news that he won't be going back to that school...looking for a new one. I hope they'll be able to find one with intelligent people teaching and administering. grrrrrr.
It's a walk thousands of people take on a weekly basis. He's not the first person to have handcuffs put on and turn out to be innocent.
I agree, be won't be going back to that school. I dont blame him.
Two years before Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to his suburban Dallas high school, Kiera Wilmot, then 16, brought a science-fair experiment to her school in Bartow, Florida. After she mixed toilet-bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a water bottle—an extremely popular YouTube science experiment (1,430 results right here)—the lid popped off and smoke poured out.
Though there were no injuries or property damage, administrators at Bartow High School contacted the police, who arrested Wilmot and led the 11th-grader, an honor student with no history of disciplinary problems, off in handcuffs. Sound familiar? “It was literally one week after the Boston bombing and I was being compared to the Boston bomber,” she told a local news station.
Wilmot, who is black, was suspended for 10 days and recommended for expulsion. She was also charged with two felonies, though—after great public outcry—these charges were later dropped and her record expunged. After completing her junior year at an alternative high school for troubled kids, Wilmot returned to Bartow High School, which is 60 percent white, her senior year and graduated on time.
I spoke with Wilmot—now 19 and a sophomore at Florida Polytechnic University majoring in mechanical engineering—this morning about Mohamed’s predicament. She said that her first reaction was anger: “I honestly thought, ‘How could this happen to somebody else?’ ”
Islamophobia has been cited as a (or the) factor in Mohamed’s arrest; did race play a role in Wilmot’s? When asked if she thought she would’ve received the same treatment if she’d been white, Wilmot said, “I’m not sure.” And then, after a judicious pause, “No, probably not.”
When she returned to Bartow High her senior year, Wilmot said, “There were a few students who started a beef with me, they’d say stuff like ‘next time you plan to blow up the school, let us know’ and that kind of thing,” but the administrators who’d called the police on her never apologized or even acknowledged the incident to her face.
“I still have people who harass me about it and call me a terrorist, but I’ve moved on,” Wilmot said. And some good has come from her arrest, too: “I got a scholarship to space camp and got to meet Homer Hickam,” former NASA engineer, “who’s my hero,” Wilmot said.
Does she have any advice for Mohamed, now the most famous 14-year-old MIT aspirant in the country? “I’d like to tell him that he’s got to move forward and rise up out of this,” she said. “He can show everyone he can’t be brought down by what happened and make something good of this.”
Like, say, the invitation Mohamed received from President Obama to attend Astronomy Night on the South Lawn of the White House next month? Yeah, that’ll do.
His clock doesn't look like a clock and it was unrelated to a school project. Protocol must be followed because (unfortunately) we live in a day where kids shoot and blow up other kids in school.
Now he gets to meet the POTUS?
His clock, as we saw it in the photo (which may have been after police tampered with it) doesn't look like a clock to you. GF says it "looks like a bomb", but how many bomb have you seen, GF, outside of tv? What it looks like to us is less relevant than what a competent engineering teacher (who presumably could understand it) would have thought it looked like. I mean, I'm no engineer, but I don't see any explosives in there.
it doesn't matter what I think it looked like, his teacher and police did think it looked like a bomb. ....after police tampered with it ?????? why do you think they tampered with it ?...well maybe it looked like a bomb !!!! most people don't see a bomb until that last split second when their life is about to end or change.
Godfather.
It was another teacher who alerted authorities to the device his engineering teacher apparently knew what the device was....a clock. No problem with the other calling her superiors, she was apparently unfamiliar with the device. When one is not in the know, find those who are in the know.
I also do have an issue that he was STILL suspended AFTER it was quite clear that the said device was clearly a clock.
Peace
clearly a clock......really ?
Godfather.
Did you read the post. Yes clearly a clock AFTER he was suspended and sent home, by then GF it was again clearly determined to be a clock. Now do you see what I was saying.
Oh he was violated all right. He was forced to do a perp walk in front of the other students to the patrol car. At 14 that's EVERYTHING. For a freaking clock. I've heard on the news that he won't be going back to that school...looking for a new one. I hope they'll be able to find one with intelligent people teaching and administering. grrrrrr.
I know you don't post much or like to respond to posts but what is the difference between a kid being suspended or expelled for bringing a toy gun or even as simple as praying at school, after all the school shootings that have happened don't you think using a little caution is called for ? kid's his age and younger have killed grown men, the school and the people who spotted this "home made clock" should be praised for looking out for the safety of the other students and faculty...wouldn't you think ?
Comments
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Imagine for one second that this is a bomb and nothing was done about it. What would you all say about the teachers and cops then? That they were incompetent.
Godfather.
Godfather.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Godfather.
This biggest injustice here isn't handcuffs. It's why this kid is still suspended from school.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
The suspension I clearly don't understand either unless the school is trying in some odd way to teach him a lesson to not build anything again and NOT to bring it to school without school permission.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
gawker.com/obamas-drone-program-probably-would-have-killed-ahmed-t-1731145274
At 10, he built his first bomb. At 14, he made a nuclear reactor. Now he’s 17…
Taylor Wilson makes people nervous. While his beanpole frame and Justin Bieber–esque haircut suggest he’s just a harmless kid, his after-school activities paint a far more ominous picture. At age 10, he built his first bomb out of a pill bottle and household chemicals. At 11, he started mining for uranium and buying vials of plutonium on the Internet. At 14, he became the youngest person in the world to build a nuclear fusion reactor. “I’m obsessed with radioactivity. I don’t know why,” says Wilson in his laid-back drawl. “Possibly because there’s power in atoms that you can’t see, an unlocked power.”
Shouldn’t teams in hazmat suits descend on Wilson and shut down his operations before someone gets hurt? On the contrary, there are people in the government who think that Wilson is key to keeping this country safe.
“The Cold War is really when nuclear physicists got their shot, and those people are all retiring,” points out one of Wilson’s mentors, Ron Phaneuf, a professor of physics at the University of Nevada in Reno. “I think the U.S. Department of Energy is a little concerned that the motivation of young people to get interested in that kind of science has waned. I think that’s one of the reasons doors have been opened to Taylor. He’s a phenomenon, probably the most brilliant person I’ve met in my life, and I’ve met Nobel laureates.”
When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security heard about Wilson two years ago, officials invited him to their offices to hear more about his research and determine whether or not it could be applied toward their counter-terrorism efforts. Because Wilson was only 15, they weren’t expecting much, but Wilson came prepared. After shaking everyone’s hands, he announced, “You know your building’s radio-active, right?” The pager-sized Geiger counter attached to Wilson’s belt was beeping, an indication that the granite surrounding them contained unusually high amounts of uranium—not enough to be harmful, but enough for Wilson to raise a few eyebrows.
“Their own building was radioactive and most didn’t know it,” Wilson says. “That’s when they started to take me really seriously.”
THE YOUNG FUSIONEER
This was from my link....
Do any of you think if this was Ahmed or some other Middle Eastern Muslim teen he would've been treated the same way?
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
grrrrrr.
I agree, be won't be going back to that school. I dont blame him.
Two years before Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to his suburban Dallas high school, Kiera Wilmot, then 16, brought a science-fair experiment to her school in Bartow, Florida. After she mixed toilet-bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a water bottle—an extremely popular YouTube science experiment (1,430 results right here)—the lid popped off and smoke poured out.
Though there were no injuries or property damage, administrators at Bartow High School contacted the police, who arrested Wilmot and led the 11th-grader, an honor student with no history of disciplinary problems, off in handcuffs. Sound familiar? “It was literally one week after the Boston bombing and I was being compared to the Boston bomber,” she told a local news station.
Wilmot, who is black, was suspended for 10 days and recommended for expulsion. She was also charged with two felonies, though—after great public outcry—these charges were later dropped and her record expunged. After completing her junior year at an alternative high school for troubled kids, Wilmot returned to Bartow High School, which is 60 percent white, her senior year and graduated on time.
I spoke with Wilmot—now 19 and a sophomore at Florida Polytechnic University majoring in mechanical engineering—this morning about Mohamed’s predicament. She said that her first reaction was anger: “I honestly thought, ‘How could this happen to somebody else?’ ”
Islamophobia has been cited as a (or the) factor in Mohamed’s arrest; did race play a role in Wilmot’s? When asked if she thought she would’ve received the same treatment if she’d been white, Wilmot said, “I’m not sure.” And then, after a judicious pause, “No, probably not.”
When she returned to Bartow High her senior year, Wilmot said, “There were a few students who started a beef with me, they’d say stuff like ‘next time you plan to blow up the school, let us know’ and that kind of thing,” but the administrators who’d called the police on her never apologized or even acknowledged the incident to her face.
“I still have people who harass me about it and call me a terrorist, but I’ve moved on,” Wilmot said. And some good has come from her arrest, too: “I got a scholarship to space camp and got to meet Homer Hickam,” former NASA engineer, “who’s my hero,” Wilmot said.
Does she have any advice for Mohamed, now the most famous 14-year-old MIT aspirant in the country? “I’d like to tell him that he’s got to move forward and rise up out of this,” she said. “He can show everyone he can’t be brought down by what happened and make something good of this.”
Like, say, the invitation Mohamed received from President Obama to attend Astronomy Night on the South Lawn of the White House next month? Yeah, that’ll do.
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Godfather.
Godfather.