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Comment by ryanlol | Hacker News Reader

What the hell is a fake bomb? How does a schoolteacher know what a "bomb" looks like? Are we talking about an IED here? That could be literally any fucking thing.

I really doubt that this clock looked even remotely like any of the industrially made ready-to-use explosives.

Sometimes I can't help feeling like some people should be forcibly removed from the gene pool.

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The ignorant portion of our society thinks bombs have flashing lights and tick thanks to Hollywood. In reality anyone wanting to do harm is not going to make their bomb noticeable.

It reminds me of the Aqua Teen bomb scare back in 2007 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare

Even then, for an IED to actually be of any use it needs to have an explosive compound, likely in a container of some kind.

Anyone with half a brain would understand that you can't just magically make circuitry explode. That's a whole new level of ignorance, they teach this stuff in elementary school for gods sake.

This isn't a "whole new level" of ignorance. If you think so, then you probably don't understand how stupid a significant portion of the population is. There are people out there who think that Google, Facebook, so on, are actually on their computer. It makes complete sense that some people think a bomb looks like some caricature envisioned for the audience's benefit in a movie or TV show. Many people's entire lives revolve around motion picture entertainment of some sort.

> Anyone with half a brain

That's the problem right there. These people have let their common sense be overtaken by their sense of fear, they're so afraid they aren't thinking.

That's why going after a 9 year old or MIT student with a t-shirt[0] makes sense, because they literally aren't thinking straight because they're so convinced there is a threat around every corner (thanks mass media!).

[0] https://boingboing.net/2007/09/21/mit-student-arrested.html

Unfortunately, entertainment is making people think everything can explode:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadeOfExplodium

> they teach this stuff in elementary school for gods sake.

Haha. No, they don't. Not anymore at least.

There was also the MIT student with an LED shirt that walked into an airport wearing it.

http://boingboing.net/2007/09/21/mit-student-arrested.html http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/06/03/mit_stu...

I'm pretty sure the apology was for a more lenient sentence.

Of course, the best part about that Aqua Teen "bomb scare" was how the guys that were charged for putting up blinking LEDs (and their lawyer) handled the press: "That's not a hair question".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2fGzmphx4U#t=44

Well, people have thought LED signs were bombs...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare

Incidentally, I was in Shenzhen (China) a short while ago, and signs like those were everywhere, and the sight of bare electronics not uncommon; but given that it's a huge centre of electronics manufacturing, I'd guess that almost everyone is accustomed to seeing such things.

"Are we talking about an IED here? That could be literally any fucking thing."

"Student arrested for bringing backpack to school"

How can they think that the clock was a bomb when it is ticking up rather than down.

And they didn't even call the bomb squad. Evacuated the school, etc. So I doubt they were even that concerned it could potentially be a bomb.

From a Dallas News article, Ahmed said “He said, ‘It looks like a movie bomb to me.’” FTA it's unclear who "he" is. I think it's the principal.

we don't know wether the teacher made the bad call. (s)he could have updated the principal to ask if it's ok to demo electronics projects in a K-5, only to have the principal think it's a bomb. let's trust everyone until they give a reason not to.

If you really want to tie them in knots, get a bunch of small "Amazon"-type (empty) cardboard boxes, and write "BOMB" in bold letters with a magic marker on the sides. Distribute the boxes in slightly-hidden spots, like Easter eggs. Fun times!

EDIT: Thanks Mike, that's a great improvement!

Make three boxes. Label them BOMB 1, BOMB 2, and BOMB 4. Put them in various places around the school. Grab some popcorn and a comfy chair.

Wow, what an evil plot.

You shouldn't be caught sitting in your comfy chair eating popcorn though...

And then die slow death from NSA interrogation, great plan.

And then you will complain when they bring charges against you.

For something like this, "I never imagined the authorities could possibly be this stupid" ought to be an affirmative defense.

They have certain obligations by law and you would certainly pay a fine for wasting their time. A judge would not have much sympathy for a clown.

I'm well aware of what would actually happen. I'm not talking about that.

What do the cops ever do with their time that isn't a waste? They only rarely and incidentally protect anyone from any actual threat. Mostly they hassle, ticket, menace, and otherwise inconvenience the public. If they all went on strike next week, violence and mayhem would decrease.

Right, there are no criminals, that is all just made up by the police-industial-complex.

2/3 of them are. If you doubt it, look at any international comparison of incarceration rates.

80% of crime goes unsolved, but if you have never lived in a bad neighborhood you might misunderstand.

You think "bad" neighborhoods are arguments in the police's favor? I guess you've never had your door knocked down in the middle of the night...

You claimed most criminals were setup by the cops, it seems very unlikely you have had any interaction with either side.

The "industrial-complex" you invoke includes all institutions that create, support, and perpetuate it. Maybe the cops don't write the laws, maybe they don't bargain the pleas, at any rate they don't join LEAP until retirement. The vast surplus of "criminals" in USA, that has existed nowhere else and at no other time in all of human experience, has been manufactured by the industrial-complex, for its own purposes.

Like other rational people who live or have lived in USA, I have minimized my interaction with both "sides" to the extent that I've been able. (Although frankly I elicited more sympathy for a stolen bike from an admitted bike thief than I did from any cop.) If you drop another "you just don't know how it is to be a cop" whinge on us, I'll be forced to assume that you are a cop or in the immediate family of one.

Tis quite sad that all family of law enforcement is by default impunged. But prejudice knows no bounds.

This is an actual bomb threat. Fun, but probably a felony.

Well, yes. I'm not saying anyone should actually do this. But it's fun to imagine.

Only in the USA would this pass as an actual bomb threat. Seriously...

Depends, my country had a long history of phone bomb threats, by students to delay or postpone exams. They were taken seriously - the classes were dismissed and the bomb squads checked everything.

Fun fact, making this suggestion is probably illegal in Canada.

You liar, that fact is not fun!

That'll get you arrested.

Instead, label them BOX 1, BOX 2 and BOX 4 and put "geo-location circuity" (it doesn't have to work, just make it look like it could) in it and place those at various points in the school, preferably with visible wires.

Then you can claim that you were trying to build your own local mini-gps to monitor your movements throughout the day.

Same popcorn value, less time in prison.

Aren't lots of bombs in cartoons represented as clocks? Maybe that's how.

Not just cartoons but media in general. Pick a movie with a bomb involved, it's probably a mess of wires and electronic components along with a digital clock of some sort.

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