16 thoughts on “”

  1. you should be expecting this, but i'm gonna do it anyways..

    Will: Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll give it a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. So I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never had a problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number was called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some guy from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes the only reason he was over there was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish to scare up oil prices so they could turn a quick buck. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And naturally they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what do I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. Why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.

  2. I applied at the NSA, but I never heard back from them. One of my friends familiar with bureaucracy says that its likely no human has seen my resume yet. She still expects them to call me in 3 more months (6 months from when I applied)

    Sooner or later I'll go back for my Masters and then I'll try again. Although I'm really not sure I want to live near Ft. Meade, Maryland. Just like I want to work at JPL but I don't want to live in LA.

      1. Okay this is how I see it:

        Jon's consciense: But you are doing things that…
        Rest of Jon's brain: ooooh shiny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        Guess which half of my brain* tends to win.

        *Note that the term half may be incorrect, its probably more like a 90/10 split or worse with the higher part devoted to worshipping the shiny.

        1. That's what I like about telecom. The shiny doesn't typically* kill people.

          *Note that not properly routing 911 calls could kill people, but that's more of operator negligence rather than the gear itself.

      2. But how are you sure it was your intelligence that was used. If proper beyond Top Secret security systems are used you will never know because you'll lack the specific clearance to find out. There could have been hundreds or thousands of similiar intercepts which were used and not yours.

        Life's a bitch that way.

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