the NSA

[Rebelnerd]

...actually has a pretty good museum. who knew?

although i gotta say, they really did go for the most creepy, orwellian architecture for their HQ building. think a huge black glass block surrounded by a shitload of razor wire and cameras. even their museum had warnings about video surveillance posted all over the place. and yes, i did make it out alive :biggrin: . one funny thing though, their was a huge memorial statue for soliders who had won a medal or something like that, and the only NSA guy said "Allen Brown-identity witheld." why even put the guy on the fucking monument if you can't say who he is? also, it was only a decade or two ago when they even acknowledged their own existance. and now you can go to the gift shop and buy golf balls and that say NSA on them.

[Nah]

I may be an ignorant australian.....but whats the NSA?

[Bob Dole]

National Security Agency. The ones responsible for the warrantless wiretapping.

[Darthmat]

Wow, Rebelnerd ifiltrates the enemy base and makes it out alive....
but dud you leave fingerprints? Hairs? Other forms of DNA? If so.... it was good knowing ya. :(

Just messing. But that sounds interesting.... who did you go with?

[Rebelnerd]

lol, no, the museum's not actually inside the NSA building. that would be a bit of a security risk. it's situated in what used to be a motel just outside the complex of government buildings, next to a display of spyplanes. but you have to drive by the main building, and all i can say is...damn. not a good way to boost morale among antiestablishment types. there's enough security there to keep out a small army.
as for fingerprints, although i'm sure there's actually not much security in the museum itself (i doubt it's a big al Qaeda vacation destination), i did try to keep a low profile, just as practice. just little things like looking inconspicuous and not looking up while learning how to use the Enigma machine since there was a video surveillance warning over it.

ps. i went with my grandparents. they're much more cool about this stuff than my parents. hell, my grandpa even took me to the NRA museum when i visited them alone. and he let me play with his vast array of knives and machetes in his office and told stories about the Armenian Genocide that can give you fucking nightmares.



all in all, it was a good vacation. [/reminiscing]

[SoulRiser]

That sounds like fun... also, what is the Enigma machine?

[youvebeenthunderstruck]

The Enigma Bandits!

[Rebelnerd]

it was an absolutely badass Nazi code machine that took ages for the Allies to crack, and Hitler was probably pretty fucking pissed when they did.

here's a pic from the museum

[Alucard483]

We only cracked it becasue of the U-505 capture. The sub contained a enigma machine that we reverse enginered and craked the code with. Had the sub not been damaged and stranded then we would have never figured it out.