If you get laid off through no fault of your own, you don't owe $.

I'd have to go back and check my contract (you do sign a contract), but I believe you only owe $ back if you can't get a job at all, are unclearance-able, or get fired for cause.

Wow, good ol' Cyber Corp! I entered the program (the one in Tulsa, it's also at other schools, but Tulsa is the "heart" of the program) in January 2003 and had my MS in Comp Sci in 3 semesters, graduating in May 2004.

You're able to go to school full-time because they pay for your books, tuition, AND give you a stipend for housing/food/living either on or off campus. And that buck goes pretty far in Tulsa (I think my 2 bed, 2 bath appt was $550/month).

I went through the NSF-version of the program. The DoD version was for military personnel only (I think?) who wanted to get a better degree.

I was one of the few that didn't go to NSA. Wasn't comfortable with being a super-spook (especially during the Bush years), so I went to a more "benign" agency. You MUST make sure that you'll be able to get a security clearance before you sign up, because if you get selected for the program, go through it, and then can't get a job because you're not clearable, you owe ALL the money back (like $40K or so). However, I had one arrest with a suspended sentence (minor pot possession) and was able to get a Secret clearance with no trouble, though YMMV.

TU (University of Tulsa) has had an Information Assurance program since loooong before it was popular (very early 90s?), so they've had time to build up talent and are VERY well connected in terms of getting you a job. You're pretty much guaranteed a job at NSA. I know several folks who went there and enjoy the work. I know several others who didn't and left for the private sector after their "time as up".

It's a "scholarship for service" system for paying back your tuition/stipend. If it takes you 3 semesters to get your degree, you have to work for the Fed Gov for 18 months to be fully "paid back". Then you can quit the Gov and go work for a contractor and make big $ since you're already cleared. I stayed in Fed service for 2.5 years and then went back to the private sector.

Feel free to ask me any other questions. It was a great deal and I'm so happy I was able to get a free MS out of it.

Hmm, maybe I will do a bit of analysis there.

One thing about Virginia: It is a VERY special case in that huge numbers of people there are employed either directly by the Federal Government or through very large federal contractors. The Virginia economy always does fantastically because of this, has home values that bounce back more quickly after recessions, etc.

Same goes for Maryland, but to a lesser extent.

And the highest percentage of minimum-wage and sub-par wages, I'm sure.

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar.

The 1st says "Pour me a beer"
The 2nd says "Pour me 1/2 of a beer"
The 3rd says "Pout me 1/4 of a beer"
The 4th says "Put me 1/8 of a beer"

The bartender, seeing the infinite number of mathematicians still waiting to order, says "OK, here you go everyone" and pours two beers.

Really? He won all the same states he did in 2008 except for NC and IN.

This is certainly as good, or better, a "mandate" than Bush received in 2004.

"I've earned political capital, and I intend to spend it"
--W, 2004

TFA said the land was indeed owned by Magana (22 acres).

"Mendoza and Magana asked Callahan to throw out the video evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds, noting that "No Trespassing" signs were posted throughout the heavily wooded, 22-acre property owned by Magana and that it also had a locked gate. "

Garbage is a special case. By putting it at the curb, you're "relinquishing control" of it and saying you don't want it anymore. But a cop CANNOT come onto your property and search for evidence (sans warrant) on your property in a container that is not clearly a garbage can.

I live in Illinois, which is a 2-party state when it comes to AUDIO recording. Which means both the recorder AND the recordee must be aware a recording is taking place.

Let's say these cameras have microphones. And since these cameras are placed WITHOUT a warrant, the police get no special protection (ability to wiretap). So would the cops be guilty of wiretapping by recording audio without my consent without a warrant?

Starship Troopers? NO WAY.

That movie is a masterpiece, dripping with satire. A PERFECT tribute to Heinlein and his crazy jingoistic views.

Directed by the same guy who did RoboCop, ALSO dripping with satire.

If you're going to get a Fed security clearance of any kind, you're going to *start* the process by filling out this form (127 pages, although large parts are skipped for most people):

http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf

Just so you know the kinds of questions they start with. It gets more invasive from there. They generally only care about the last 7 years of your life, however.

Oh, and skip to page 96 if you want to get to the "what drugs have you done?" part.

Girth, not length, is the important factor.

Same goes for telescopes!

http://www.economist.com/blogs/lexington/2010/10/estate_tax_and_founding_fathers

With Thomas Jefferson taking the lead in the Virginia legislature in 1777, every Revolutionary state government abolished the laws of primogeniture and entail that had served to perpetuate the concentration of inherited property.

Jefferson cited Adam Smith, the hero of free market capitalists everywhere, as the source of his conviction that (as Smith wrote, and Jefferson closely echoed in his own words), "A power to dispose of estates for ever is manifestly absurd. The earth and the fulness of it belongs to every generation, and the preceding one can have no right to bind it up from posterity. Such extension of property is quite unnatural."

Smith said: "There is no point more difficult to account for than the right we conceive men to have to dispose of their goods after death."

That is all.

Lameness filter.