So the latest news is that this is not a home-built clock. There is good evidence that he just took apart a store-bought clock and stuffed it in the pencil box. I've taken a closer look at the pictures and I believe there is more going on here.

I'm not one to get excited about conspiracy theories. This doesn't need to be a vast right-wing or left wing or islamic conspiracy. I bet this is a kid who probably made something as a prank and brought it to school. It quickly got out of hand and rather than fess up he pretended he built it from scratch.

Surely the police must have come to the same conclusion, which is why he was eventually released. In light of the new information that the clock wasn't really invented, I'm going to hold off on my opinion as to what the appropriate response by police should have been for now.

When I was a kid in the 80's I made an S.O.S sign on some bark while playing in the back woods. I was just playing, but later my older brother found it and showed it to my mom. My mom took my brother with the sign to turn it into the sheriff just in case. Nobody ever asked me if I made it, but I certainly wasn't going to fess up to it now that the police were involved. Now had my mom asked all of her kids if this was something one of us made, I would have said something, but not after the over-reaction. I bet Ahmed is in the same pickle. He made something foolish, got caught in a lie and now has to continue the lie because he's in too deep.

The question now is will anybody notice the lie and get him to own up now that the geek community has made such a fuss over him and lavished him with gifts.