Dumpert is the LAST website I expected to see on HN on #1. This is brilliant.
Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
71–80 of 103 posts
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was specifically in the context of criticizing someone who would be widely perceived as pro-gay. As in "I mostly support the same issues as this guy, but he's hurting his cause." I'd be just as likely to say "I like black people, but hurts the public image of black people and the cause of civil rights", sure. I'm fine with Trump comparisons except please the 1980s Trump, not the current one.
> I'd be just as likely to say "I like black people, but hurts the public image of black people and the cause of civil rights", sure. Wow, I think you are hurting the cause that is your credibility.
Do you really think a member of a visible group acting badly doesn't hurt the overall image of that group? I agree individuals have every right to act as they please, but if you are the only e.g. Sikh in a Midwestern town, and no one there has ever met a Sikh, and you are a good person, people will generalize and believe Sikhs are good people. (This is why I as a white American in the Middle East would tip really well, be polite to everyone, help people who had broken down cars by the side of the road, etc.)
If you are a political activist campaigning for a cause (which drive through guy was), and you aren't aware that people will make generalizations based on your behavior, you will not be an effective campaigner. This is why e.g. Mormon missionaries dress well, are polite and friendly, etc.
If you are a member of a large group which is well represented in a population, you are less likely to be someone's only contact with that group, and thus generally less influential, but even then. This is why companies and organizations have policies about what members of that organization can do or say in uniform or when identifiable as a member, even when clearly off duty (so it couldn't be taken as an official statement).
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are plenty of people that desire money more than following their ethics.
And NSA is where the money is? Always thought federal institutions payed less than private initiatives.
I always assumed the NSA was one of the notable exceptions since they would have to attract the smartest people.
That said, how smart can they be if they got way too enamoured of just collecting everything rather than analyzing it properly...
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#74Not sure if we should be joking about what could easily be (or become) the thing that ends democracy.
Even in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe there was democracy. There were election held, with very little fraud. I remember my father taking me to the voting booths when I was a kid - there were only red and orange ballots inside (the orange were the Communist party subsidiaries the Farmers Party). Communists won 80% of the votes the farmers 20. We had elections, we had democracy, we could vote. We lacked freedom a…
When people say "democracy", they don't actually mean "one party democracy".
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are obviously saying that because you are pissed. And deep down inside you are hoping that they won't be able to recruit bright young people. But the truth is, economy is a bitch, unemployment rate is high, if they actually pays well, I'm pretty sure bright people will still join them, whether they are young or old.
I feel horribly cynical for saying this, but: if you like playing the long game, this is actually a great time to join the NSA. Their ability to source talent is probably at an all-time low. One way or another, their reputation will probably rebound within a decade, and you'll have it all.
> their reputation will probably rebound within a decade
Really?
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
And NSA is where the money is? Always thought federal institutions payed less than private initiatives.
I always assumed the NSA was one of the notable exceptions since they would have to attract the smartest people. That said, how smart can they be if they got way too enamoured of just collecting everything rather than analyzing it properly...
Smart people have plenty of blind spots, just like normal people.
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel horribly cynical for saying this, but: if you like playing the long game, this is actually a great time to join the NSA. Their ability to source talent is probably at an all-time low. One way or another, their reputation will probably rebound within a decade, and you'll have it all.
> their reputation will probably rebound within a decade Really?
It's perfectly plausible. Such cycles are the way of things.
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#78I'm a little bit curious why the operator wanted his contact info, and repeatedly asked for it, knowing full well that it was a ridiculous call. It makes me wonder if taxpayer dollars would have actually been spent investigating him.
I wondered the same thing - my conclusion is that it's an intimidation tactic.
You came to that conclusion because you knew that the operators don't ask contact info for every caller as standard procedure?
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#79[x] Forgot your password?
Call the NSA.
Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
> their reputation will probably rebound within a decade Really?
It's perfectly plausible. Such cycles are the way of things.
I'm not going to make predictions for the future because you know as little as me, but I'd be shocked and horrified if they did unless there were sweeping changes that made the NSA and its foreign equivalents more acceptable.