Illegal Immigration Part 2

Where are we going to get our orange pickers and landscapers? It is a fact of life these days; most of the low paying manual labor jobs are going to immigrants both legal and illegal. I have a hard time distinguishing the difference between the two. My personal experience is they are hard working people who are trying to get ahead.

Last year when I closed on my new house in Maryland I had a little issue. My back yard was grape vine and briers. At first I would go out there with a brush ax and work an hour or two each day trying to clear a way down to the water. I made very little progress when I happened to spot a landscaping crew working. I started chatting with the owner of the company and asked him what he would charge with to clean up my back yard. To make a long story short, it was the best $500.00 I ever spent. This company brought in twenty workers (all Latin) and a bobcat. By the end of the day my yard was clear and I was finally able to enjoy my view of the water.

Were these workers illegal? I am going to guess yes they will. But all were very respectful and busted their ass to get the job done.

Later Dive / Fly / Ride / Sail Safe
-Rob

Illegal immigration part 1

I would be so nice if the problem of illegal immigration was simple to solve. There are really a number of issuers that need to be addressed.

Social Security name number mismatch. If an illegal immigrant comes to this country and tries to get a job they are going to need a social security number. Frequently a SSN is acquired and the illegal immigrant continues to use their real name. The upside of this is the employer pays into to social security under that name, but the benefits are not applied to the real owner of the social security number. Currently these funds go into a holding fund until it can be determined where the money should be applied. At this point in time, the holding fund has about $585 Billion. Yup, that’s right over ½ of a Trillion dollars sitting there in the government coffers just waiting to be used.

You would believe the government would be happy to have all that extra money floating around. Now I would like to find out what happens to the money once it is determined that it was put there from illegal immigration. I would also like to know, how much money goes into this holding fund every quarter. And what has been the trend over the past ten years. What percentage of the fund is actually moved over to the real owner (i.e. A person gets married and does not change the name with SSA.)

There is much more to come, like what if the illegal immigrant uses the correct name with the SSN? (i.e. Identity theft.) There is a lot to consider there. Because W2’s will be generated on that SSN, the IRS will get involved because they believe someone is under reporting their income.

Later Dive / Fly / Ride / Sail Safe
-Rob

Virgin America more information

I just went to Virgin America's website and entered a flight from Washington DC (IAD) to Las Angeles (LAX). First Class round trip the total fare is .... $898.00!!!!

I have been waiting for this to come for a long time.

Later, Dive / Fly / Ride / Sail Safe
-Rob

Virgin America Airlines vs. Us Airways

Perhaps it’s time I visited the issue of airlines. I get on airlines more times then I care to count. There is one thing about flying domestic in the US, “service sucks.”

On Virgin Airlines

Now, Virgin America is coming to the US, flying between NY, LA and San Francisco. One thing I enjoy is flying on Virgin Atlantic. If I have to go to London, I’ll drive over to IAD and take Virgin Atlantic. It’s a pleasure to fly with them. Virgin Atlantic makes me feel like they actually care about me.

Now, apparently Virgin America is going to be offering a hi-tech airplane. Ethernet ports at the seat, the ability to text people in other seats and the ability to charge your hand held devices at your seat. This and I don’t know how texting people at other seats is going to go, but I have a feeling a lot of new friends will be made on flights. Offering satellite TV, MP3 library, audio books and pay-per-view movies will only make the travel more enjoyable.

I have a feeling that Virgin America will have the same customer service model they have on Virgin Atlantic. Care about the customer and the customer will return.

Sr. Richard, I live ten minutes from BWI, please add Baltimore to your route.

On American Airlines

One year and a half ago Candy and I flew to Hawaii on American first class. Hey, I’m 6’3” if I have to be on an airplane for more then a couple of hours I need my leg room. Anyway, on the leg from BWI to Chicago, the first class cabin was mostly empty. The flight attendants went back into the coach cabin and got every person in military uniform and invited them up to the first class cabin. So here is an 18 year old Army Private sitting across from me and the flight attendant treated him like he paid for the first class ticket. In all the flight attendants brought four service people to the first class cabin. For this reason, I will continue flying American Airlines for a long time to come.

On US Airways

Last night, Candace and I started planning our upcoming vacation. US Airways had sent us two $400 vouchers for our troubles on about having us stuck in Philly last March for two fricken days. Well Candace believes we should use the vouchers on our next vacation. Hey she’s a CPA and watches our money very closely. As soon as she brought up the US Airways website, I had a reaction that I have never had before. I just kept saying NO, NO, NO until she closed the site. We can give the vouchers to our worst enemy’s and I would feel sorry for them. US Airways customer service model is be rude and what ever happens don’t help the client.

Here is my email to US Airways after the Charley Foxtrot last March.

Saturday March 17, 2007

Dear Sir or Madam,

On March 16, 2007 my fiancé and I planned to travel from BWI to DEN. Because this trip was more then the range of my Navion, we booked the flight on US Airways. I will not go into all the sorted details of the Charley Foxtrot this trip has been. However I will touch on a few of the customer service issues we encountered.

1) When we got to Philly, we boarded our flight to Denver. This time I was lucky, because the flight was full, I was seated in the first class section. Being the “gentleman” I am, I offered the first class seat to my fiancé who told me to take it because of my 6’3” frame. That and we were not going to be seated together anyway. The pilot pushed back from the gate and attempted to get to deice. Long story we never made it to Denver and never got off the ground. Hey, I would not have took off in that mess either.

2) After four hours, we returned to a gate and started getting acquainted with US Airways customer service model. In summary, it was every man for himself. US Airways passed out an 800 number to call to get rebooked. Customer service picked up my and Candy’s calls in four to eight minutes. This was good but after getting a person on the phone we were quickly put on hold. My record hold time was two hours and fifty minutes when the battery finally died on my cell. Fortunately, I also decided to stand in a customer service line. By the time I got to the agent (three hours forty minutes) I was informed that I should be rebooking through the 800 number. He was not there to rebook, only to inform people of what their options are. I now remember the union mantra, “It’s not my job.” And I got to tell you, US Airways employees have this one down to a science.

3) I witnessed three separate occasions of a US Airways “Customer Service” Agent yelling at a customer. Number one: A child who has never traveled by air and was traveling alone walked up to a customer service agent in the C terminal to ask “what should he do.” The agent proceeded to yell at him and told him to go to the end of the line. Her rant at this child went on for over two minutes. (at the current rate, he would have gone through the line in about five to six hours) Number two: A lady traveling with three children between three years old and six years old was brought to tears by the same customer service agent who saw fit to yell at the child. This agent was more interested in telling us that it’s not her job, not her responsibility and not her fault we are stranded. Candace and I finally got to a customer service rep who booked us on a flight out to Charlotte the next day connecting to Denver. Wonderful. When we arrived at the airport this morning our Charlotte flight was canceled along with all but one of the Charlotte flights. Then number three happens. At the Customer service desk in the C terminal for US Airways, a Customer Service Rep comes out of the office and starts yelling at everyone who was in line. Asking “Who here has a problem, do I need to get security down here?” We all (about 50 of us) responded that “we all have a problem.” Well, he stormed off telling the crowd, “its’ not my job, not my responsibility and tuff luck.” Someone told him, enjoy your last day on the job. His response was, “I’m union, they wont fire me.”


Now what has happened, US Airways seem to be hiring the cheapest customer service reps they can find. This saves money so the executive staff can get more bonuses. US Airways has no way of dealing with rescheduling flights in an efficient manner. There was no communication with the customers on what was going on, Passing out a flier telling you to call an 800 number is not communication. Especially if no one at the 800 number is willing to help the customer.

How did this turn out for Candace and I? Well, we rented a car, drover back to Baltimore. I called Southwest and booked a flight for us tomorrow. So, Candace and I will get to Denver, only a few days late.

Robert Lockard

SOA facts

SOA Facts - Yea I got this from Tom Kytes blog.

Later, Dive / Fly / Ride / Sail Safe
-Rob

Filed under the heading of daaaaaa

Anyone think texting while driving is a good, idea please raise your hands. Okay you people of have your hands up, please move out of my state. In face would you please move no less then one thousand miles away. No wait, can you head to another continent?

I am trying to come up with an answer as to just why would someone text while driving. Now I admit it, I have sent text messages while sitting at a stop light and while sitting in traffic that is at a dead stop. In all of these situations, the car was not moving and I was rather confident that the car would not start moving anytime before I finished typing my message.

Later, Dive / Fly / Ride / Sail Safe

-Rob

IRS and Social engineering attacks.

I can apply every CPU (Critical Patch Update) that Oracle comes out with. I look at parts of the database that are not secure such as powerful packages that are granted to public and then revoke privileges on those packages. But what I can’t do is get people to be smart on the phone.

The IRS IG did a simple audit of security. Call a user and convince them to reset their password.

Here is how the attack goes:

Attacker: Hi, I am with the help desk and trying to track a problem with the network, can you log into your account so I see what is going on?

Attacker: Okay what are you typing now.

User: I’m typing my user name

Attacker: tell me each key stroke:

User: user name

Attacker: okay now what are you typing:

User: my password.

Attacker: I don’t see it, can you temporally reset your password to password? Here is how you do it.

User: okay

The user has now been hacked. Not all attacks involve exploiting bugs in the software. Frequently the attacker exploits bugs in the wetware. The willingness to help is a big problem when it comes to security.

If someone calls you asking to help. Get as much information from them as you can. What phone number can I reach you at? Who do you work for? If they are not willing to give you that information, call your security group. If they do give you the information, lookup in the employee directory the name of their boss, call him/her and confirm they do work for them and what they are asking. Then call the person back to help. But never give out your password or reset your password. If that person is truly with the help desk, they can reset your password for you and in many cases become you on the system.

Read the IG’s report, the percentages of people who gave up their password are staggering

http://www.ustreas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2007reports/200720107fr.pdf

Under cover reporter outed at Defcon

In my business I take systems security very seriously. I am always looking for ways to crack my own systems so I can secure them better. Conferences like Defcon and Black Hat provide the tools people like me need to make my data more secure.

Michelle Madigan of NBC “Dateline” attempted to infiltrate Defcon to get video of someone admitting to committing a crime and to “out” a federal agent. Only she is the one who go “outed.” Defcon has strict rules about filming people without their permission.

Why am I not surprised her cover was blown even before she got on the plane to Las Vegas? She is a 20 something producer working for NBC and she is walking into a place filled with people who are paranoid about security. Now, “Dateline” may be good at catching predators, people who may not be the sharpest tool in the shed. The people at Defcon and Black Hat are about as sharp as they come.

What really surprises me is the people at Defcon offered her to get a press not once but four times. And she still did not realize her cover was blown.

Later, Dive / Fly / Ride / Sail Safe

-Rob