For future hackers

nsa.gov

25 points·nose··11 comments

I just finished the software engineering course at the University of Maryland online. A little after my first year into the program, I got an email out of the blue from the NSA. The email said that because of my GPA and the school I was attending, I qualified for a full-ride scholarship plus $15k a year stipend for my undergrad + grad school.

The only think was, I'd have to let the NSA dictate what classes I took, every summer belonged to them, and I'd owe the NSA 1 year of work for every year that I took the scholarship.

I ran away.

Some of the puzzles on the brainteasers page are are fun - http://www.nsa.gov/kids/games/games00001.cfm

That's one of the curious parts about the whole thing. Any mind capable of the brain teasers, or even grasping the rudimentary explanations of cryptography found on the site, is likely to be quite unimpressed by "D-Dog" and "Crypto-Cat".

Half the site says "Nova", the other half "The Electric Company", and its all put on by the NSA? The dissonance hurts my brain. Sigh My tax dollars at work.

I always wondered if it was a secret communication channel. Because a semi random puzzle could easily send messages. Or it could just be setup to wast other governments time looking for such.

Has anyone here done an NSA math program, like the one that happens over summer?

Fuck the NSA.

Fuck the police? http://youtube.com/watch?v=A05uvpG3cLs

Is this some kind of onion-esque joke?

I don't even know how to respond to this... some sort of personal stack overflow.

The more I think about it, the worse it gets.

Anyone else getting Mercury Rising flashbacks?

"We're the CryptoKids and we love cryptography!"

Haha. It's like a parody of itself.

Its bad enough that TV commercials brainwash kids.

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