It seems odd that a drought could affect the lives of so many people living so far from the land. A hundred years ago a drought would have meant failed crops, sick or dying livestock and hardship for everyone. These days we depend less on the weather to meet our immediate needs but we still suffer the effect of long-term wet and dry seasons. Even as floodwaters inundate parts of the Midwest drought continues to be a concern throughout the southeast and southwest.

Despite what bloggers may say or what the government is hesitant to admit, the United States is in a recession and consumers and businesses know it. The latest round of unemployment statistics not only revises the numbers for January and February but also indicates the largest number of lost jobs since 2001. In all 232,000 jobs were lost since the beginning of the year and by most accounts that number is expected to rise.

Forbes magazine has dubbed Charlotte one of the most miserable places to live. However the city was in good company ranked along side sites such as Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia. The criteria was based on several factors including unemployment, personal tax rates, commute times, weather and crime.

In truth such a declaration is merely a grab for attention and to sell a few magazines. The survey compared 150 of the largest metropolitan areas and ranked them against one another. In relative terms it not surprising that both New York and Los Angeles live up to their reputation as more violent and crime ridden than other cities. However violent crime aside the surprising statistic that forced Charlotte to the top of the list was the sad state of job creation in the region.

According to the article while the local population has soared 32% job creation has not kept pace with unemployment up more than 50%. What is unclear from the text is what this jump is attributed to. Locals are readily aware that high paying white collar jobs have brought many to the area while the eroding blue collar base has greatly contributed to unemployment. Of course the least surprising statistic is the regions tendency toward violent crime. Outside of the city is seems that Charlotte too lives up to its reputation just like New York and LA.

America's Most Miserable Cities

Imagine living in a city with the country's highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate. As an added kicker you need more Superfund dollars allocated to your city to clean up contaminated toxic waste sites than just about any other metro.

Unfortunately, this nightmare is a reality for the residents of Detroit. The Motor City grabs the top spot on Forbes' inaugural list of America's Most Miserable Cities.

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Some IT folks are just total jerk asses. I was talking with a friend of mine over the weekend who is involved in a legal situation (he's the lawyer) with a former IT contractor who essentially erased confidential information and reset all the passwords in the system. Situations like this aren't uncommon and businesses have to take strong measures to counter malicious activity from former employees.

In most cases larger organizations have a strict security policy whereby all access codes and credentials are deactivated, company property is confiscated or turned in, and ex-employees must sign a written statement saying that they have purged all confidential data from their systems. In more extreme cases a company may go so far as to probe and scan all internal systems in search of logic bombs or other malicious pieces of code, however this practice is rare.

A fine example of how things can go wrong, and better yet the consequences of doing so, is illustrated in the recent account of man who was sentenced to 30 months in jail for planting destructive code in his former employer's computer system. The plot was eventually discovered when the logic bomb failed to "detonate" or execute correctly at the preset time. When asked why he did it the perpetrator stated that he thought he was going to get laid off. Fortunately for the company the guy wasn't as good of a programmer as he thought.

Regardless such behavior tarnishes the reputation of every honest IT worker in the market. I've witnessed and experienced and ever encroaching noose of distrust and precaution when dealing with both systems admins and business owners. This is unfortunate because for any IT project to be successful you must have a large measure of trust and respect from all parties involved. In some way the ever increasing rash of "hacker" stories have contributed to the silent distrust often reserved for those handling large sums of money or the keys to the department vending machine.

Though the accounts are sometimes comical to those of us in the technical world, we must be aware that the proposition of an attack from within can be terrifying to the uninitiated. Heck, it's scary even to someone who knows the risks and procedures all too well. In truth the only option we have to is to conduct ourselves in a professional manner and to make every attempt to root problems before they escalate. Then again that is really the charge of any professional who's given the keys to the kingdom.

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