14 Year Old Irving, TX Technology Student Arrested for NWB (Nerding While Brown)

So I haven't put anything up here in a good long while. Sorry kids, I've just been busy. You know, life and everything. So you can imagine it's something fairly noteworthy that would make me pull out the keyboard and put some digital pen to paper without delay.

See late last night there was something I saw on my social feeds that took my mind through a number of degrees of pure fire. I only had the energy to pen a handful of tweets as a preliminary rant but this is something I still woke up mad about in the morning. A 14 year old student was arrested for bringing a homemade clock into school to impress his teachers.

OK. So on its face, regardless of any additional facts this is an absolutely ridiculous headline. Now let's add some details - the student's name is Ahmed Mohamed and the school district is Irving Independent School District in Irving, Texas.

Ahmed is a budding technologist and tinkerer and the clock in question is a basic circuit with 4 seven-segment displays - 2 for the hours and 2 for the minutes. Anyone that has even seen anything similar can tell you it is a pretty basic circuit that executes the simple function of counting. However when he showed the clock to his engineering teacher (his engineering teacher), Ahmed was advised not to show it to anyone else. When it beeped in English class, he took his invention to show his teacher afterwards. Her response? That it "it looks like a bomb." The clock was confiscated and later he was pulled from class to a room where officers were waiting to interrogate and search him.

One even remarked "Yup. That's who I thought it was."

"...Yup. That's who I thought it was."

The officers weren't there to tell him his clock was cool. they were there to accuse him of trying to build a bomb while the school threatened him with expulsion. Soon afterward he was escorted out of the school in handcuffs by police, taken to a juvenile detention center, fingerprinted and had mugshots taken.

Ahmed tinkers and creates a number of inventions at home, and was part of his school's robotics club in middle school and was looking for ways to continue that interest as the high school year began. Watch his video interview below from the Dallas Morning News:

In the interview he states that he wasn't able to talk to his parents until after the interrogation and they could collect him from the juvenile detention facility. "I went home and talked to my parents about it because I couldn't call my parents during the interrogation," he says before he explains his digital clock - you know, since this incident tells us that some people don't know what digital clocks are, and every timed seven-segment display is wired like a "movie bomb." He goes on to detail the demoralizing and dehumanizing process he then went through as authorities tried to trump up his basic tech project into an act of terror.

We're living in an era now where young students across the country are being encouraged to pursue projects and knowledge in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math). And that's exactly what this was. It was a kid with a lean for technology. And while it should have been fostered and encouraged, the elements of a stereotype attached to a name and a shade of skin color are what made this different. Lets's be honest now - if this was about a stereotypical-looking American kid named Billy and not a brown kid named Ahmed, it would have been a gold star and a "way to go" instead of cuffs and fingerprints.

That's right kids, Texas. Where you can arm your kids with assault rifles, but God forbid a brown student interested in technology conducts a technology project in a school district that brags about their "top digital district" award.

This isn't the first case of educational authority criminalizing minority curiosity. A 16-year old Florida honor student was expelled in 2013 for an outdoor science experiment, and in addition to that arrested and charged by the Assistant State Attorney with possessing or discharging weapons or firearms at a school and possessing destructive devices. Both are felony counts where she would have been tried as an adult. The criminal charges were dismissed, but the felony arrest takes five years to clear from a record, according to her lawyer.

Curiosity should be for everyone, especially America's young people. These are our future scientists and engineers that will push American ingenuity and technology forward. In addition to that, what Ahmed had to go through is the nightmare for brown people across the country. It's incidents like this that erode the trust of American minorities in authority - harmless and innocuous events being picked up by people in power and puffed up to make it look like they're fighting the good fight for the security of our country against the dangerous scourge that is a 14 year old kid. Congratulations Texas, you made him say this: "It made me feel like I wasn't human. It made me feel like a criminal."

No kid should have to shoulder that.

The engineering teacher should have been able to tell authorities that it was in fact just a clock and there was nothing nefarious about his project.

And to preemptively counter arguments on "well maybe it's not about being brown," let me stop you right there and explain something. Everyone that looks like Ahmed has gone through several incidents or experiences in the last 15 years that change how they see the world and the society, by making us very aware of our name, and the tone of our skin, and the immediate fear of that difference leading to ill consequence. How do I know? Because I've been there. Thank the universe that it was nothing as severe as what Ahmed had to go through this week, but these kind of events change a person, and I say that as an adult. I cannot imagine how it would possibly impact a child.

Here's to me the worst part about it - how will this story affect other young minority makers, tinkerers, scientists and engineers in their comfort level and perceived ability to share and work on something with their teacher or the world without threat of consequence? the country's nerd hearts must have simultaneously broke when they read "he's vowed never to take another invention to school again."

I wonder how me and my tech loving cohorts would have fared in life if teachers called cops whenever we had physics lab?

If this is a case of a prohibited item being brought into school then ok, I get it. But I get it proportionally. Punish him accordingly if that's the case. Maybe detention maybe for not following the student handbook? 1 day suspension at worst? Definitely not suspicions and accusations of a bomb or hoax bomb.

See more of how people around the country stand with Ahmed with the twitter hashtag #IStandWithAhmed.

System Administrator Appreciation Day and the DC Universe [tf charts]

Crazed Hope. Iron Will. Cool Tech.

The way I see it based on how the DC Universe runs - not only what I do but what we all do.  There will of course be a post to follow today on the importance of Sysadmin Day, but for now, to all the professional nerds out there, Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day! It's by your work that the digital age is made possible.

And to you non-techs that rely on them, thank your local pro nerd today!

Cosplay and Reality - A Day at Comic Con vs A Day at the Golf Course

Would you ever guess that there would be anything similar between going to comic con and going out to play a round of golf?  On one hand you have a citywide celebration of geekery, with comic and sci-fi icons signing pictures and a flood of citizens of geekdom overtaking a convention center.  On the other hand, you have an outdoor sport traditionally played in a country club environment - calm, quiet and finishing with a drink and a cigar at the clubhouse. Go ahead, try to come up with some similarities.  I'll wait.

So what did you come up with?  Nothing?  I suppose that's fair.  You may find it easier to build a fire with two sticks and pure rage than to succeed in this ridiculous exercise.  But after witnessing what I did at my last round of 18 at the local golf course, I sat down on my couch and drew one parallel.

And I'll get to it in a second.  First let me address what I know what some of you may be thinking.  Those who know me personally know I'm a pretty massive geek.  Massive of course both in the sense that I am not only a large man, but also can sit through a Marvel movie marathon for over 15 hours and thoroughly enjoy myself, regardless of the risk of potential muscle atrophy or heart attack from the sheer volume of popcorn consumed.  So golf?  Really?  Well kids, it can't be all pure geekery 24/7 (don't panic!).  I mean we all have to have to do other things.  Having a day job for one, even if it exists for the sole purpose of supporting our geeky habits.  Granted mine is one where I'm paid to run computer nerd operations for my company, but still, while it may not be directly obvious to some, a well-rounded geek serves him or herself way more than one who doesn't know anything other than geek culture.  I try to play golf whenever I can.  I handle business like a damn professional.  And I roll a barbarian in Diablo III.  The majority of my world is based in reality.  How else could I go by my tagline of tech boss by day and nerd hero by night?  Ethics, man.  Come on.

But business? Sports? What the hell is this?  I thought you were a nerd hero!  Well deal with it.  In D&D they call it multi-classing.

And as it has been pointed out to me, that reference is why my nerd hero status is never called into question.

So back to comic cons, golf and cosplay.  Cosplayers at a comic con dress up as their favorite characters from nerd culture - be it a game, comic book, tv series or movie.  Strolling the show floor in costumes ranging from shabbily thrown together rags to masterfully crafted costumes that would make you swear that they jumped out of the pages of a comic book or off of a movie screen, it's always fun to see.  Believe it or not, I see the same thing on the golf course.  Folks step up to the first tee in everything from a simple polo and pants to a full on branded PGA tour getup, complete with a Bubba Watson pink driver.

The real surprise to me was which out of these two groups is actually more grounded in reality.  From my experience, contrary to what many may think, it's the comic con cosplayers.  Let's look at an example - I got a picture of a couple at Wizard World Philadelphia dressed like Green Arrow and Black Canary.  Their costumes were pretty good, and in the picture you'll notice the lovely young lady cosplaying Black Canary was posing as though she was hitting us with a canary cry.  But she knew it was just a pose, and that she wasn't about to demolish any of the booths around us or incapacitate any guests.  You see, Black Canary is a comic book character and I'm pretty sure she knew that the costume didn't come with superpowers.

The foursome in front of me last weekend at the golf course were altogether different.  They were playing from the blue tees (see geek translation: "hard mode") and were dressed the part, so it would appear to onlookers that they actually knew what they were doing.  They stood behind the tee staring at their $50-per-box golf ball on the tee for roughly a minute.  Set up their stance for another.  Then they took their backswing, swung it through, and drilled the hell out of the ball... exactly 100 feet straight to the right into the woods.  It's like bringing out your old Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers cartridge, blowing into it with your version of whatever ritual we all had loading the game into the console, starting level 1-1, and running directly into the first pit.

See these guys were in fact cosplaying - instead of dressing like characters from a game or comic, they were dressed up like the pros playing on the PGA Tour, with a stark difference.  Where our Black Canary cosplayer didn't actually think she would knock me out with a canary cry, these guys sincerely thought that they were going to crush it onto the green for an easy birdie, just like they do on TV.  They did the same thing on putts - squatting to read the green for no less than 90 seconds before lining up to try knocking the ball into the cup.  And then miss.  Not by a little either - it wasn't even close sometimes.  And I bet after finishing the 18th hole they kicked back in the clubhouse talking about how awesome they were.

So while the comic con cosplayers were the ones getting odd stares on the train from the suburbs down to the convention center, the ones that have actually lost touch with reality can be found at your local golf course.  Because what's really insane?  Donning a fun costume for a few days of geeky fun?  Or truly believing that buying that set of Razr X Musclebacks is going to let you pitch and chip like Phil Mickelson?

Philly Geekend - Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con 2012 for a Casual Attendee

This weekend I was able to make it out to the Wizard World Comic Con Philadelphia - a weekend every year when nerds from the area descend upon the city of brotherly love to celebrate comic nerdery in all its forms.  Now before I go on about it let me say three things.  (1) I'm pretty sure no one considers me "press." I'm not sponsored by anyone nor was I going to the convention on behalf of any organization.  It was just me going for fun.  So despite the number awesome guests that were attending the show, I didn't shell out for any VIP sessions, panels or photo-ops.  After admission and the stuff I bought, I wasn't about to spend a few hundred dollars more.  (2) I really should have broken this down into Saturday and Sunday and posted each day, but I didn’t, so I apologize for how long this is going to be.  And finally (3) My day job requires me to, well you know, be there, so I was only able to attend on Saturday and Sunday, not the whole 4-day stretch (which I do regret to some degree).  But even attending for only two days, I got to meet some cool people, have some interesting discussions with artists and exhibitors, spotted a few celebrities, and of course saw some decent cosplayers, as one comes to expect from a comic con, of course.  After waiting about 40 minutes to pick up “advance tickets” I thought would save me said 40 minutes, I was finally wristbanded and on my way in.

I got to have some good conversations with some comic people about art, comics, and the industry in general.  The first one was with Greg Horn, artist extraordinaire responsible for a long list of outstanding covers for a number of publishers including Marvel and DC, most recently for DC's Blackest Night series and Wonder Woman #600.  He's done work for Top Cow and Image as well, and is currently doing some cool stuff for Zenescope (that's him on the right channeling his best Galactus).  I bought a couple of prints that were for sale – a sweet Arkham City rendition of Joker and Harley Quinn and another featuring Wonder Woman as a Star Sapphire from Blackest Night.  Picked up his art books too.  But what made the encounter cool was that he actually talked to me at length on the side of the booth while he was signing stuff for other people (which he did for no charge by the way).  On top of comics in general I was surprised to find that he was very up on his Indian legends, namely the Mahabharata, and told me the story about the publishing and abrupt halt to the comic book that was going to be made from that legend.  It's a shame it was stopped too, because his knowledge and sketches for it were fantastic, even to someone like me who's well versed in Mahabharata legend.  So on top of doing some of my favorite covers in all comic-dom, it was nice to see that he's a super cool guy too.  In fact, you should check out some of his art.

Jeff Kaufman from Big City Comics was the next long conversation I had.  I went to the booth to find out more about Big City's graphic novel Terminal ALICE, and it spun into talking about not only comics, but movies too - mostly the art of the head fake and the twist.  Apparently there were a lot of people that finished Terminal ALICE and didn't "get it," ultimately prompting Kaufman to change his nameplate from "Writer" to "Writer/Douche" as the title on his nametag.  What was interesting about this discussion was him recounting his experience visiting Normandy in France and drawing inspiration for one of his comics - because apparently according to the locals Steven Spielberg did the same thing to get inspiration for Saving Private Ryan.  He then showed it to me, and after looking at it for a while I came to the same conclusion he did, that the Normandy beach scene from X-Men Origins: Wolverine could have been a shot for shot copy and paste.  I'm looking forward to getting through Terminal ALICE to see for myself, because according to Kaufman, he gives the reader everything they need to figure it out, and I don’t intend to lose.

Now when I said before that there were some awesome guests and I spotted some celebrities, I mean that there were some awesome guests.  Stan Lee, one of the godfathers of modern comics was there, indirectly causing me to be immobilized in a crowd of people waiting to stand in line for a picture or autograph.  I did see him but couldn't get close enough to snap a photo, as I didn't shell out the $80 to do so.  A friend of mine got to meet him and have a couple of his comics signed, and said he was a pretty funny guy.  When he asked Stan the Man how he was doing, his response was "Well I'm here, so I THINK I'm doing OK."  To be honest I expected no less after we’ve all seen his usually comical cameo in Marvel movies, not to mention his role in one of the funniest scenes in Mallrats.  This con was kind of a Mecca for Star Trek fans too.  I believe this was the first time that all of the captains from the different Star Trek shows (Shatner, Stewart, Brooks, Mulgrew, Bakula) were together in the same spot at the same time.  I was able to see them all, but wasn’t about to fight the mobs to try and get through.  And on a side note – Patrick Stewart is aging extremely well.  Must be all that time he spent with Q.

Then there was the original Hulk Lou Ferrigno, Thor's Chris Hemsworth, Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panatierre, the original Buffy Kristy Swanson, and a bevy of wrestlers headlined by CM Punk, who commanded the longest lines for anything I’ve ever seen in my life.  And I have to tell you, after seeing a guy like Paul Bearer in character for so many years, seeing him chilling at his booth texting was something that was exceptionally amusing to me.

In contrast to guys like Stan Lee and Greg Horn, there were a lot of artists and publishers that were relatively small scale, and a couple of webcomic artists that I've never heard of before.  I got to talk to the guys from web series Sean and Such, about a guy named Sean (but you probably guessed that) trying to run a pet store with his ridiculous coworkers.  I also spoke with the guys from inkbbot.net, who work with a mission I can get on board with – to make comics as ridiculous as possible.  They run a bunch of webcomics at their site, the one capturing my attention most being Casey the Pillowfighter.  Think 300, but he fights with a pillow.  I picked up a print copy of it and the artist, Louie Chin, was cool enough to sign it next to a sketch of me on the inside cover that he did in about a minute unbeknownst to me.

And let’s not forget 30 Rock’s Dot Com talking presidential run in 2016.  Why not 2012?  Because in his words, President Obama is a “black superhero.”  And let’s be real folks, there’s a good chance I may be running mate.  Dot Com / Brown Town 2016 – has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? And I finally met Katrina Hill, the Action Flick Chick herself at the GeekNation booth.

There were some tremendous cosplayers there as well - some of these folks really went all out to get the look of their favorite comic/movie/tv/game character.  From characters ranging from the Dude to Lollipop Chainsaw's Juliet (who by the way gives Jessica Nigri a run for her money) there were characters there dressed to the nines.  

Then there was the GeekNation launch party Saturday night.  They shut down the Field House to the general public for a nerd-only party celebrating the beta launch for GeekNation.  Complete with drink specials named “Thor’s Hammer” and other superhero-themed libations, this might have been the largest collection of nerds I’ve ever seen inside a bar at one time.  The best part about the whole thing was that while people were being turned away at the door, I was told by the bouncer “You’re good sir, go on in” after seeing the Green Lantern logo emblazoned on my chest and wristband.  Actually that’s a lie.  The best part was having a shot with “Super Bikini Girl,” one of the models from the Superhero Photography booth.   All very strange though – a private party where nerds got the VIP treatment and the sports bros got the boot. I met some fun people in there too, including some folks from SuperHeroStuff.com, who was a big sponsor for the night along with the fine people from Zenescope.

All in all it was a good time for a casual con attendee.  The bulk of all of this was on Saturday, and there weren’t nearly as many people there on Sunday.  Which was true for cosplayers as well. Next year I may actually take part in some of the panels and go for the full four days, because something tells me I’m missing a lot on opening day and day 2.

You can see the rest of my photos and more cosplayers here.  Some Spaceballs in there, The Big Lebowski, and a bunch of comic characters in there.  And if you are any of these people or know who they are, let me know so I can post your name for credit.