Okay, we're back we're live doing one of my favorite things in the world that is the military in Hawaii and today we're talking about aloha spark and you're going to be interested to find out what they do and who they are and and how they handle things you don't really expect. So this is really an important thing so we have a pilot among us. It's an eco sonic boat tipa boat boat tipa. Yeah, I get that right. So sonic nice to see your smile and face. You know, and I was always I always felt that pilots, pilots were different, different, like top gun, you know what I mean.  It's the truth of course which is probably a good thing. And Anthony calling calling off I get that right. Okay, and tell us tell us, you both the guys are officers you're both here, station in Hawaii party of course. And tell us, tell us about aloha spark actually anything. So sonic is best suited for aloha spark we work really closely together. I'm here on behalf of tron, which is sort of like a subset of aloha spark if aloha spark is all of innovation tron really focuses on software, and how we can use that solution set to solve problems. He called himself a geek but you're more of a geek than that aren't you, you would think and then the pilots show up and start putting you to shame. Yeah, when you're to love the whole world as a geek, I tell you the truth. It's the most wonderful thing we know about this I think that right, you can imagine. Yeah. So, okay, so the Air Force, you know you start out with the notion is the Air Force like every other military service these days. There's a lot of really high caliber of people there. Not only graduates of the academies, you know, but the OCS and who knows how they got to be an officer. And, and the question is, you know, innovation we need innovation American industry and for that matter, everything in America needs innovation. You guys are the innovation mongers. So, why do you have to be separated. Shouldn't there be innovation everywhere in every command in every unit. Why do you have to be separated as a separate organization. Sonic try that one. So that's an excellent question. And I don't necessarily think that we have to be separated. Right. But what always happens is the priority is the mission first and unless you take some subset of your manpower, set them to the side and say you people focus exclusively on innovation and bring an agile mindset to our airmen to make our kill chains more flexible you people will do it unless commanders in military sense or in the private sector unless the the managers of the CEOs up at the C-suite deliberately do that. Then what happens with innovation is a lot of times it just gets brushed under the rug it is a lower priority for everyone because it's not their main job. And so what we've done at 15th wing what our my boss has done Colonel Dobbles is a really fantastic job where he has laid us off to the side said you will focus on innovation because it's a priority for us. Okay, that's all reasonable. And sometimes it's a question to me anyway about the chain of command short story when I was in the Coast Guard. There was a ship that was involved Coast Guard ship was involved in a really tragic failed rescue. I was a lawyer and me and my typewriter my in my in my suitcase. They flew me out to this Coast Guard ship was off the East Coast. And I told the Admiral I rather than the captain of the ship I told him, you have you have to go to whatever I said you're down right now for the investigation. He said well you can't tell me what to do I get my instructions from the district. You know, look at this letter. This gives me operational control of your ship guy almost felt he fainted. What this young lieutenant had operational control of my ship tells me where to go. It was incredible. But it was, you know, necessary I suppose point is that the chain of command people are pretty jealous about their command prerogatives you know you see that all the time in every service. So when you walk in to the captain of the ship or the aircraft or the base and say look we have some ideas for you. How, how does that, how does that person feel about having an outsider come in and tell him what to do. So that that is a that is a wonderful question and Jay like I mean the answer is obviously you're asking a question about like human interaction. Obviously the question is very bright. So number one about command structure. I work for the 15th wing commander, and I operated his prerogative and the military command structure even with innovation is completely intact and it's something that the military cannot operate without. On the other hand, when I feel like you're broaching the subject of how do we approach someone and ask them to develop an innovative idea. Exactly. And they that that question runs the gamut right there are there are you know many commanders out there who are extremely supportive or like and you're like hey sir you know this airman sir man from this airman had this great idea I want to let you know this is what's going on can we run with it. You know a lot of commanders out there are like absolutely 100% go for it and that's completely to be expected. Other ones have actual operational constraints that they just that that are difficult for them to still come to their mission and support innovation because what we talked about a little bit earlier right. Our manpower is a finite resource in the Air Force. And if I'm coming up to you and saying sir I really need you to give me this airman to, you know, so I can work with him for 20 hours a week to get this project done. He may have very realistic real world constraints and not be able to allow that to happen. Right. And so that the response is completely very depending on on who exactly we talked to. Well you have to have good social skills to do this work. I mean I don't know if I have good social skills. I'm sure great social skills would absolutely help. But yeah, I try and do the best I can to be friendly and like well obviously convince them to put their resources in innovation. How about Anthony over here is he have good skills. Yes. Oh, well I said I said yes beforehand anticipating a different question. I, I just wanted to throw in that most of the time when we're interacting and bringing up ideas for innovation, we don't have to do a lot of pushing. It's more of pulling us along. And the pain point exists for the organization and innovation is how do you go about solving that. It's not often that we come in and just say you got to be doing things differently. It's usually like this thing has been driving us crazy for a while but there's all these different factors at play. How do we come up with a solution and as experts in innovation who have gone through the training on that we can teach the models that we know that lead to better solutions. And J what Anthony said is such a great point right it's it's not that we walk into units and say you must do this better. Right like in order for any successful like innovation we can just talk about the products that we bring to squadrons as just being a new startup out in the out in the free market right like people have to want to buy that and people have to want to change their daily habits to align with with whatever new product we have for them in this case it may be a new software solution coming from Anthony's team or it may be a 3D printed thing or a different process coming from my team. Both those are completely fine but we have to convince them to change the way they do things now and swap over to another set and usually those problems are self identified. They're like this is really painful let's involve a low house park and Tron and see exactly what we can do to fix it. No this design this reminds me of design thinking out of Stanford, which is a whole no way of way of thinking I think it and it's like when you have the skills, we have the technology, and you walk into somebody who might be your client say whatever the context is your client. And he tells you what he wants. And then you say women women women you don't really want that let me explain what you really want, because I am trained to listen to exactly what what is at the core of your need. Design thinking helps you do that kind of interaction, so that you come up with the assignment that really gets home on it, rather than the assignment that the in this case the commander feels is necessary, you go through the kind of process. I think it's a balance that you have to walk. You want to help find a better solution than anybody could come up with independently, but you also don't want to validate the people who are experiencing the problem. And a lot of times historically, we have people working on solutions that aren't intimately familiar with what's actually happened. And so they make assumptions or they work off requirements that didn't match the service members actual needs. And then we end up with something that's kind of diverted to you walk the line of design thinking, helping people come to better solutions, as well as taking what they're saying to you at face value and working to solve that. You guys, you guys with volunteer for this unit. Or was it, or is it something women in Coast Guard we had something called a wish list. You have that in the Air Force and was this on your wish list. I will, I will tell you how I got involved in innovation, and then Anthony can talk about about his path. This is not a typical job move in the Air Force. No, it doesn't sound like that at all. Yeah, I still don't know if it's like traditionally good for your career or not. I happen to love what I do so I'm just going to stick around doing it. When you tell them that you appeared on think that kawaii career will be insured. I write up the flag I'm telling you now. I am very excited, very excited for that I can't wait to be promoted to five off the show. The aloha spark used to be a one woman show for a while. My predecessor, major Susan week, she was the only person running it and she just looked like she was drowning and I'm like, Hey, can I help out? That's how I got involved. There's literally that simple as in the right place in the right time saw her stressed out and wanted to jump on board. And then we've just been growing ever since it's been it's been pretty exciting. And yeah, I literally just asked for it.  You've had the ability to innovate for your own selves to grow to grow the unit. Am I right Anthony?  Yeah, so I took the squeaky wheel approach and I have saying we could do better until I fell into this new opening. Toronto has only been around for a couple of years and while we were going through the software process we figured out we needed somebody like me as a cyber officer to sign off on some security requirements. So they heard my name, you know, my hunger to solve problems and I ended up here. I think a lot of us just see how much better we could be doing in certain areas and keep fighting for a better solution. And then we end up in organizations like this. Well, so how far do you ride, do you ride the baby so to speak in other words, you evaluate the request or the problem, whatever it might be. And you come up with some conceptual program, the idea to solve the problem. And then who actually executes the idea. I guess it depends on the case doesn't it but can you can you tell me what you know what the experience you have is I mean, did you do you write it right down to the last inch, or maybe stop at some point and let them do it. That's a phenomenal question. There is so much packed into this question number one, there is no standard stereotypical root for the way a project starts from idea to completion. Right, we intercept projects from the very beginning of an idea sometimes not even idea sometimes people just griping about issues that they have at work. Sometimes we pick up a project like halfway through completion, right, sometimes we pick up a project from another base and we're like we want to do it here. In all cases, every single project is different because there is not one path to success we don't just like bring the team in but all right let's innovate this together and like snap our fingers magic happens and the solution pops out right. We have to talk about money we have to talk about the best approach we have to talk about how many people we need involved about how many iterations we need. So really, when I when I brief this I have a kind of in diagram it has a loha spark Tron right next to it some overlap because there are lots of projects out there that involves some hardware components some CPI component along with Anthony software component. And then there are just lines popping up from an all the different pathways we have the success, whether it's through something called the server program the sitter program whether it's through instant doing hacking for defense or x fours or one of their capstone to just a CPI event to just project coaching there is just a myriad of different ways so there is not a typical answer, we will find any way to take a project from here and get it to completion and we work on it for as long as people are willing to work on. You're collaborating you're collaborating and I got it about Anthony does software but what is a loha spark to and how does loha spark collaborate with the software guys. Well, technically that technically they work for me so collaboration is very easy. I'm making notes on this. The. So a loha spark does anything not software related we and we don't develop our own software, we will work with outside companies that have software if Tron doesn't have the capacity to develop a specific amount of code for us. But we do a lot of added manufacturing we do things like virtual reality training we do CPI we do just straight up project coaching, we will take an idea, find the appropriate software company and or source Tron to help work on it with us. And then we do a lot of the outside projects like hacking for defense we will run those projects, even if there is a software base. So we do everything except a straight up coding of software.  I think our most exciting work is really down to the last inch to the ones and zeros on the code and figuring out how to make it happen. We do do a lot of other stuff as well. Things that we call accelerator projects. So we're just helping people find new ways to do what they're doing. What made us different from just a spark cell is we have developers, we have user experience designers and project managers that take really good ideas, and then turn them into working applications that the warfighter uses. And so that's what happened with our biggest application Puckport, which is a collaborative live flight scheduling software. We had an idea, we work through the authorization process, and now it's in use at over 150 squadrons. That's a great success. It's not limited to Hawaii. It's not. It's spreading out and encompassing more mission sets and diving deeper into the ones that we're already in to take on more and more of the pain points that the scheduler space. Well, you've drawn up a very, you know, expansive view of the possibility of problems and, you know, as an outsider, it strikes me that, you know, the military has a lot of problems that are at the first of all, it changes. That's the first thing. It's not like it's static in any way. So, you know, you could solve a problem today and a week later there's another one that you never, you know, have heard of until a week later. But the other thing is, you're in a kind of a pressure situation. For example, for example, I would imagine that your organization had something to do with COVID over the past year, that people came to you and said, look, we want to protect the Air Force and the airmen and women, you know, from COVID. But give us some systems that where we can make sure that it's all working correctly and that we get the maximum, you know, protection and for that matter, the maximum vaccination and whatever, whatever is necessary. Have you had projects around COVID? Yes, we have. So one of the most exciting projects that we've had goes to show how much we've grown since we first started with Puck Board. It took a year to get to production, figuring out all the different technological and bureaucratic blockers. But with Stoplight, our COVID application, we were able to deploy something a week. What Stoplight did is took people who are manning entry control points at the medical group and giving out basically flyers saying, you know, have you been in contact with anyone with COVID? Do you have any symptoms? And then once they're all good, they let them through. That's a really routine process, perfect for software. So we were able to make a simple web app that doesn't require the storing of any personal identification information and put that up in a week so that instead of a person standing there, it's just a sign. It has a QR code and you go through the checklist and you're good to go. And that goes to show that we're not just coming up with something new and sticking with it. We understand that we're always going to be coming up with something new. And how do we respond to new things quicker and more effectively? Stoplight's a great example of that. It must be very stimulating to be able to do that. To have the, you know, the freedom, the latitude to do that and to have the gratification of knowing that your ideas have worked here, done what you wanted and that they have been, you know, used by people elsewhere. That's a kick. Absolutely. You guys have mentioned the whole thing about hacking, okay? Big issue in the news today. Very important and certainly it affects the military in the sense that we really cannot afford to have hacking on our federal government or our military. Have you had projects along those lines? And, you know, what is that issue like today? How much of a priority is it? I think we're in a good position there. What has been a challenge in the past is having to factor in security and defenses against hacking while wanting to incorporate new features and respond to the ever changing world. So what we did in response to that is build out an architecture that allows us to combine modern practices of DevOps that's combining development and operations with the security that the government needs to operate at. We call it DevSecOps and we follow the Air Force's Chief Software Officers DevSecOps reference architecture with all the software we deploy. So that's just a lot of words to say that every step along the process has security baked in and it's out of it. So when we do new features, we know via our tools that it's going to be secure and we can rest easy at night. Jay, I can't… Yes, Sonic, I want to hear your thoughts on this. I can't overstate this. Like the tactical advantage and the strategic advantage that Tron brings to the battlefield is like when they write a program, yes, it sounds easy to just deploy something on the App Store. It is not that case when you're working with the military. Our cybersecurity is the bedrock of what allows us to have a competitive edge over China and the Pacific, right? And so our cybersecurity has to be tight. And so the fact that Tron Hawaii can literally put a program out in a week and update it whenever they need to under these really stringent software requirements is absolutely incredible. And it is an ability that the Air Force has never had before. And these new software factories sprouting up Tron Hawaii, obviously being my favorite and being the only operationally focused software factory in the Air Force, they are redefining the way that we are able to iterate and be agile in a 21st century fight. It is so important what they do. And like I can't overstate this to anyone who doesn't have any software development. This is a complete game, Andrew, what Tron does. Thinking about game changes, I wonder if you have a reaction to what happened with, was it the colonial pipeline hack recently? The colonial pipeline was the object, although the government didn't admit that immediately, was the object of a ransomware attack. And ransomware, according to 60 Minutes, is something that you can get on a website organized in Russia real easy. And you don't have to code one line of code, you can do it with drag and drop with this website. Anyway, so, you know, big question is how do you stop this sort of thing. And until now, I haven't heard of anything where you shrug your shoulders, but there's no way to stop it. Well, the FBI, if you saw this last week, they were able to recover about half of the Bitcoin payment. Okay, and how did they do that? It's out of a serial on TV, it's out of a cable movie, I tell you. How did they do that? Well, they worked with the people who were about to pay the ransom. And somehow they were able to track the ransom. This is out of a movie. And so they didn't get it all back. I think it was $5 million altogether, but they got half of it, because they stepped into the line of payment somehow. I don't know how. And it seems to me that, you know, with some creative juice on this sort of thing, we can even solve that problem. Good for the FBI that they figured out how to get it back. Nobody had done that up to that point, except maybe you guys, I don't know. But it just shows you that there's this opportunity for innovation, even in something that doesn't look like this opportunity for innovation. Thoughts? I've got a lot of it. Anthony, as a cyber officer, once again, go ahead brother. Well, I'll say as a cyber officer, I think that's a little outside of my scope. But, you know, drilling into the thought that you had there, there is definitely room for innovation, pretty much in every aspect of the military. I think it's something that, and the government, that we are embracing more and more, and I'm so excited to see the leadership and the workforce buy into it. And I think that it's going to produce outcomes that we never imagine. Well, that happened here. So one thing that strikes me, a couple of thoughts that I like your view of this is number one is, although you don't find this so much in the civilian community, the military community find a lot of training. You find training. You know, when I was in the service and my observation of people in the service over the years since is they do get trained. There are classes about this, that and the other thing before you know it, you have a PhD and you haven't, you had to have the PhD, because that's the way it got set up. And likewise, you know, we talked before about the changes and the new things happening. And you guys have to be at the cutting edge because you have to know more than your clients about to solve problems. You have to bring to the table, more than just, you know, an innovative spirit, you have to have, you have to have knowledge, you have to have technique, you have to have resources about how to solve problems. So, my question is, when Anthony or any of the other staff around you son, you know, goes through the daily or weekly or annual experience, you must have plenty of training for them. Because they have to be up current on everything that's available right.  Should we devote our resources to trying to make sure that every single airman knows all the latest technology and all the latest like theories on how to solve problems. I don't think so. I think that is a losing in ballgame where the net, we, you know, because of the explosion of information and the global interconnectedness is just getting wider and wider and wider. What we need, and this goes directly to what Anthony was talking about a little bit ago, is we need airmen who are comfortable innovating. We need airmen who have an agile mindset who when a problem is put forward in front of them. No big deal. We're going to sidestep around this and we're going to, and we're going to keep going right that builds flexible kill chain. That makes it so whatever effects we need on target will actually happen because our airmen are used to doing that. And there are several ways we do that. I want to highlight one of the programs that that Anthony's Anthony's team is pushing so aggressively, and it's the STI the software development immersive right you talk about this ransomware attack. That is bad. Right. And what the military needs is they need airmen and soldiers and Marines who have software fluency who have a cybersecurity fluency. Right. And so one thing the Air Force is investing heavily on which Anthony's team is is spearing is the is this in education this immersive education on software development. And we can find the airmen who have that natural neck just like you said who want to know more than everyone else who stay up late and are on, you know, think tech wise webcast you know just just watching the old episodes and have that passion. We need them to be working for the Air Force in a software capacity or an innovation capacity in order to stay ahead of the competition. The way we do this we find passionate people give them an agile mindset and then put them in a position where they can make decisions. And that's what we're trying to do here. What's an agile mindset and agile mindset to number one. So agile mindset to me. Everything's focused on the customer, and we iterate iterate iterate iterate iterate iterate until funding stops for people are done. Right. Like, we test it. It didn't work. No, okay, test it again. We test cheap and fast and it's, it's this startup mentality this lean thinking mentality. That's what I think when I, when I talked about an agile mindset. I want airmen who are faced with the problem. All right, let's try something else. Develop five minutes of a solution. If it worked good, we're going to keep building on it. And obviously that's what agile software development does. That's what Anthony's team does. That's what Thomas Edison did. That's excellent. It doesn't work. Yeah, that can be more powerful than a correct assumption because it more narrowly confines your ideas of the world. It's science, isn't it? It's what it is. Agile has a lot of basis in science and doing the scientific method, taking your assumptions and then testing them in the real world. I mean, I think it's very useful for any military command organization to have this kind of resource available to it. I was, you know, I was wondering, I asked you beforehand whether other services have adopted the same approach or not, or whether other services have alternatives that go to the same place. Is this happening? I mean, if it, if it's, if it's happening in the Air Force, it should be happening elsewhere. Every service has some sort of innovation component to it. I'm obviously biased, and I don't want to speak necessarily to specifics about what the other services do. I will just say that the Air Force doesn't the best. I'm very proud of what we do. I'm very proud of AFWORKS and the effort that they push forward. And the fact that operational units across the Air Force have their own spark cells who focus solely on innovation. The other thing that I'm proud of is Tron Hawaii, who is that right now they are expanding, right? They are the first software factory that was part of an operational wing that is out there to solve wing problems and not Air Force level problems or big problems. It is, I'm going to solve wing problems and it's this grassroots theory. And Tron Hawaii is now expanding and filling out Tron nodes across the entire DoD. The Air Force is very focused on this grassroots up, enable airmen across the Air Force from the lowest level, and let's see what happens. That's the way the Air Force is approaching it, and I'm a huge fan of it. Well, it sounds like it's not only internal, internal systems, internal problems, but also external, because you can, you know, you can take data and make something of it. And figure out solutions that have a geopolitical effect or intelligence effect. And that's, that's got to be part of it. So, Anthony, we're almost out of time here and I want to ask you one more question and that is this. This is, this is such a vitality in you guys, I'm so impressed actually. You know, is this a good job for somebody outside the Air Force to think about getting into. I mean, if I, if I have a little experience if I'm excited about software programming and what have you, problem solving, is this something where I could, I could, I could get into, I could get into Tron and have what you have. How do I do that. If you're a person who is excited about solving problems, and you want to contribute to the United States, then more than ever the military and the US government are looking at ways to incorporate your contributions and work hand in hand. In the past, we've had a hard time translating commercial victories into government victories because of the processes that we're separating us. With programs like the Small Business Innovation Resource, the SBIR, and efforts and innovations efforts in general, we're focused on both fields, private and public working together to push what the US is capable of and how we can serve the citizens in new ways. So work with companies that are working with the military or with the government and look for new ways to push them and to push us, and we'll both achieve new heights. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. All right, this is so important to me. It's, it's, it's this thing right here, the, how do people get involved. Number one, to your point, Jay, if you'd like to join the Air Force or you'd like to join an organization like Tron, and you're, you're, you're committed to the United States is a huge life decision. Yes, please do. If that's not your cup of tea, that is okay. We, the Air Force works with small businesses across the globe, across the United States on the daily basis, right? Go to lowhousepark.com, get in touch with me if you want to hear about things like the Small Business Innovation Research Grant or the STTR, which is a public-private partnership. You can have an impact in the security of the United States and working with the greatest men and women in the world, the men and women in the United States military, even if you don't want to join the military. You can help us close the, the, the gap, the technology gap between the private sector and the Department of Defense and federal government. You can help us do that and you can do it from the comfort of your own home with your own business and still have a, have a pretty healthy profit margin, right? There are business opportunities out there and we are out here to prove to the world that the United States Air Force is not anti-business and we are a great investment for people who are on the leading edge of technology and innovation to come work with us. You mentioned they could get in touch with you. How do they do that? You want to give us your lowhousepark website or some place? Absolutely, lowhousepark.com. Our contacts information on there. I love talking to people, no matter who you are, even if you just want to chat about what I believe about innovation, like just give me a call, send me an email. Yeah, go on there and I'd love to have a conversation, especially with, with companies in Hawaii. Thank you, Sonic. Thank you, Anthony. I must say one thing strikes me is I'm into public service. I believe the government is us and we are the government and we need to do public service in one way or the other and keep the country in the right place. And your unit, your work that you do is very, at least to me as an observer, stimulating and important and you represent not only the country, not only the Air Force, but you represent your clientele commands. You are giving benefit in all directions and thank you for doing that. Thanks for having us, Nick. Thank you, Anthony. Thanks for giving us this platform, Jay. I really appreciate it. Obviously, we're passionate about America and about innovation and those two things are perfect work for a lot of parking. You could have fooled me.


Aloha and welcome to the Cyber Underground. I'm your host, Dave Stevens, and today we've got a lot to talk about. We're going to cover a lot of ground, a lot of dangers, a lot of things that are out there looking for you, trying to open up a back door and open up your life and phone home. With me today, I have Hal Corcoran, guest host, been promoted. Host today. Hal Corcoran, he's an assistant professor at Capulani Community College for the University of Hawaii. Welcome back. Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me back on the show. Oh man, I love it. So, audience, we teach together at a Capulani Community College. Hal does mostly the networking stuff. I do mostly the network security ethical hacking line, the cybersecurity stuff. And we have a great time and I love having him on the show because he has so much knowledge, especially when we talk about the cybersecurity ethical hacking kill chain when it comes to getting inside your network and pivoting to another system. So, we'll talk about that. Right here in our studio, one of our new guests right here in front of us is Alexa. And she's listening right now. Alexa, play. Alexa, pause. But there's some problems with Alexa. She's voice activated and she does just about everything you want now and she's getting more and more abilities as she gets software upgrades from Amazon. But let's ask her a question. Alexa, are you secure? I'm not sure about that. So this could be a problem. Yeah, it's not, I'm not sure about it. It's plausible to not be able to do it. So let's just demonstrate Alexa mute. Okay, so this is Alexa on mute. You see a little yellow line and then it disappears. However, you can see it's still blinking. So if I say Alexa, she's going to come to life again. But there's a little button on top. Show these buttons on top, power and mute. You can manually mute her. You get a red circle. You should get a red circle here. Give me the red circle. There we go. So now she's muted. Now, according to the literature that I read, that turns off the microphone. Again, it's according to the literature that comes with the device. So I cannot promise you this thing is not listening to you. Here's the problem, ladies and gentlemen, do you want a device in your home that listens to everything you say and probably caches it, which is a small memory amount inside the device. So you could be talking about something that's incredibly personal or tragically nefarious, planning a murder, and it's all right there. And apparently the police know this and they're already trying to subpoena these devices. Yeah, so this is, it's a benefit and it's not a benefit to society. And the reason I want to put this front and center is because Alexa can do so much for you. It also learns about you. So it's got a little bit of artificial intelligence there. And it's phoning home to Amazon using their big, massive data servers and giving them all your searches. So just now we heard a little bit of Jimi Hendrix Wuduchile. And that's one of my favorite guitar licks. But now Amazon, if my account was in this Alexa, Amazon would now know I like Hendrix songs. So now when I log into my account on Amazon, I'm going to see probably Hendrix music, Hendrix memorabilia, t-shirts, whatever, all around the sides. And that's my advertisements now, right? That's not just listening to what you're saying. It's collecting information about you. Right. And from a hacker's standpoint, if I can hack this, I can listen in to everything that you do, everything that you say when you're within a voice range. That's right. That's remarkably scary when you think about people are voluntarily putting in surveillance equipment in their house and giving control to somebody else.  Right. But you're essentially opening yourself up to that by having this activated and running in here. Unbelievable. Right. You know what's scary is, say I was a criminal and I made the FBI's most wanted list and they're looking for me and they found me, but they wanted to collect evidence and I got this on in my house, stupidly. And they hack into it. Now they can use this as a surveillance device because they can do that with phones. Why not Alexa? It's just another type of tap. Right. And they didn't have to plant anything. It's there. It's working for you. All they'd have to do is make sure that they don't make a trigger in there that tips you off. You know, maybe you logged in with your profile accidentally and it plays classical instead of Hendrix. Then I'd be really suspicious. Right. But this could be in several rooms of your house. They have the echo dot now when you can order things from this and the little sub Alexa's, the smaller ones that you can put all over your house and you can control your entire house with this. You can also hook it in. There's APIs now. You can hook this into systems that control things in your house. Smart home. You heard about the heating systems and alarm systems. Doorbells, cameras. Right. Why would that be bad? Because it opens a hole where someone can get in and now monitor or control all of those devices within your house. That's right. So they don't want to mess with you. They turn the heat up in your house. They want to rob your house. They can unlock your lock remotely. And they know we're not there. That's somebody they can listen and watch to see if anyone is home at that time. Right. You can the perfect robbery. It's just the perfect robbery, right? External cameras would probably show you if your neighbors are home. Internal would show you I don't know why people do this, but they install internal cameras in their security systems. Internal cameras, ladies and gentlemen, internal cameras are monitored by security companies and can be monitored via the internet by you. But if someone hacks your account, they can monitor your house from the internet while you're home and you don't know it. Just food for thought. If you're installing a security system. But Alexa can do enough damage. What convenience do we get from her? She can she can actually get airline tickets for me now, I think. No, is that she has your credit card can do purchases. I think that would be bad, though, because I don't think she differentiates between voices. So if I'm logged in here, and I give this device my credit card information, I think one of my kids could walk up and say, Alex, I want to go to Paris today. Yeah. When that credit card information is transmitted back to Amazon, is it encrypted? What type of encryption? My God, I hope so. I don't know. Yeah, if it's in the clear because if it's in the clear, you're in poor shape, right? Especially most people don't know that Alexa is a wireless device. You don't plug it into your network. It's not wired. So a wireless device, if you're going to take the wireless down to its its lowest tech, what you're looking at is a radio and a radio transmits in all directions at the same time. And it really does not care if things are encrypted or secure. It just broadcasts. So if you're listening into a wireless broadcast, say you're at Starbucks, you got Wireshark Open, that's the tool we talked about a little while ago, and you're gathering packets. The things that aren't encrypted as we showed could be your username and password, could be a credit card, your credit card data, the number, the date, that little CCV code on the back of the card, and that's all they need to be up and running, right? And your zip code, right? Actually, Amazon will actually ask you your address now, I believe you got to put in the address for the credit card. So they're asking for more information. I hope they would do it. To their credit, I mean, they're actually taking another step there. But Alexa can be an incredibly wonderful device and incredibly dangerous device. Yeah, would you ever put this in your house? I would put it in my house, but I would keep it disabled, except when I was actually, actually listening to it, I didn't think I would just let it run in the background, you know, to have this listening device is always listening to everything that I'm doing and saying it would kind of make me feel kind of creepy to have it. What would you feel like if you walked into a hotel room or Airbnb and there's an Alexa sitting there? Yeah, that would that might be a little disturbing. Yeah. Can I order a room service? Send me send me up a cheeseburger. Right. That would be great. On the other hand, anybody can be listening, right? Okay, so these are dangerous. Let's talk about other dangerous things on your network. These connect wirelessly. Let's talk about stuff that you might voluntarily, accidentally put on your own system. So there's tons of ways that this can happen. A lot of ways you need to do something on your computer. You don't have any commercial software on your computer to do something.  So you download something for free, right? And free software. This is an anomaly and kind of an oxymoron. How would you do this? It's, it's, it doesn't make sense to give away something for free unless you're getting something back. Right? So when people are giving away something for free, how do they usually pay for it? They ask for donations, or there's some secondary thing attached to it that they hope you're going to buy or pay for. So some advertising too. Yeah, they can feed advertising, right? Sometimes they let you use it for a limited amount of time. And then at the end of that time, they ask you to pay for it. Or they might give you a reduced functionality. Say, well, if you paid for this, boy, you could do so much more. You get the pro version. Exactly. And there's a lot of good free software out there. That's that's good for, you know, a lot of different purposes.  Noodle accession is a wire shark. Yeah, no, they asked they might ask for a donation, but there's no advertising. No, I think they run some training and things like that that they might pay for. They publish books, they make money. Yeah, that way. And they publish books, but the tool itself has completely free Firefox. I've used it for years. Yeah. I trust it. I don't know if I should, but I trust it. Trust it as much as I trust any of that as much as I trust anything. Yeah.  And not like the music rap, but like a rapper like Christmas rapping. And this is a technique hackers can use to attach their malware, the nefarious program to a legitimate executable, right? So when you launch that legitimate software, you're also launching their malware, and it always operates in the background. So this could be like a Trojan horse where it's a legitimate good piece of software, but something is hidden inside. Right. Like, like in the movie, you know, where Brad Pitt is hiding in that, in that horse where there's plenty of sort of way to rape and destroy. And so it looks great on the outside. And it works great. But inside there could be that there could be something nasty, you know, hiding. Right. And they have so let's say we got a Trojan, and there's a number of different things this Trojan could do. If somebody just wanted to mess with you, like some of the things you might see are your screen turns upside down, your mouse pointer is now left and instead of right, you know, what they might change the default language in Windows, right? So you're looking at Slavic or something, right? You don't you don't understand anymore. That's actually happened to me in a change to Chinese. And, you know, I could probably get by with Roman characters, and I could see the letters and I could kind of piece it together. But the pictures they use the little pictograms and Chinese, those symbols, I have no idea. I just I don't those people must be so smart, because I could never speak that language or write those things. But that that would really confuse me. And I would have a rough time getting away from that. And the problem is once you change those back to what you want, that program can go right back and change them again. And you're stuck some more. So that could be one thing they can do. What's another thing they might do?  And they have to go back and change it back again. And sometimes they're really stubborn. So you go back and change it. And then the next time you restart the browser, it changes it back again. It's a continuous struggle. You got to take out whatever you installed. Yeah. So that the terrible thing is that sometimes legitimate software vendors will do this and it's not a Trojan. Most notably Java will do exactly that you install Java if during the install procedure, most people just go next, next, next, next, next. But one of those screens says, Hey, would you like to make Yahoo your search engine? And would you like to update all this other stuff? And if you don't uncheck the box, they just if you just brought if you just brought to accept accept accept you've now changed your search engine and probably several other options on your system, right, which are hard to fish out.  Something's different. Something's different. Something's not not right here. Yeah, so that's that's one of the things that can happen. And the other one could be nefarious. They want to control your computer. They want to make you a zombie device or part of their botnet. So they can remote control your computer to do things like denial of service attacks on other computers. So if they control, they get the software on a million computers, a million computers all going to one spot at one time on the internet will crash almost any server right away and and stop that system from working. So that's another a botnet controller or a nefarious storage device. So they're using you to store files that might be used for bad purposes.  You're liable, right? We're going to talk more about that. We're going to take a little break and pay some bills, come right back until then stay safe. Hello, everyone. I'm DeSoto Brown, the co host of Human Humane Architecture, which is seen on Think Tech, Hawaii every other Tuesday at 4pm. And with the show's host, Martin Despeng, we discuss architecture here in the Hawaiian Islands and how it not only affects the way we live, but other aspects of our life, not only here in Hawaii, but internationally as well. So join us for Human Humane Architecture every other Tuesday at 4pm on Think Tech, Hawaii. I just walked by and I said, what's happening guys? They told me they were making music. Welcome back to the Cyber Underground. I'm your host, Dave Stephens. And we've been talking about malware and how it gets onto your system with your help right here with me, Hal Cochran from Capulani Community College. Welcome back from the break. Those are great commercials. Yeah, I'm sure we'll see them when we review the reels. We've been talking about Alexa and how people will put this device behind their own firewall, which gives people an opportunity to hack this device and be on your network.  And one of the things that we should talk about is what happens to, like our anonymous friend, we're not going to put out that person's name. We will tell you this, this happens quite a bit to the elderly, I must say, because they, they came into the world not knowing about computers and they retired probably before computers became prevalent in the workplace. So their knowledge of computers is quite limited. And it's a wonderful device to get on the internet, search, purchase stuff. But then they tend to trust it a little bit too much. And let's let's run through the scenario. Our anonymous friend somehow got one of these pieces of software in a system, we don't know how. And a message popped up and said, warning, your computer's been infected. Please call this number right away and we can help. And it's just a one eight eight eight number. And he called. And of course, somebody with an accent that sounds like a region that might have a lot of help desk support in it answered, we won't tell you what region, but I'm sure we can all figure that one out. And so it sounded legit. So we walked through the process and the person asked, can I get remote access to your system so I can clean your system from here? And our friend said, yes, that sounds okay. And so you got remote access to the computer. And of course, he knew the person to log in knew exactly what to take off the system to make it seem like the damage was gone. And then But what did he add in while he was there? That's the part that we can't what do you do? At that point, you know that somebody might have left something behind. What are they after? Do you think they're probably leaving a back door so they can come back in later and take control of that machine. As you said, use it as part of a botnet or, you know, spamming the machine, or I've seen one where someone had actually actually had a web server with a fake baking site and was collecting mastercard numbers on on somebody else's computer and they had no idea that any of this was going up. Yeah, and it's hard to find I showed up and took the FBI showed up took the PC as evidence and also lost the computer to get away. Yeah.  You have no data and no computer. And you got to start from scratch. So what do you do? I mean, if you walk through that process and someone says, Oh, you shouldn't have done that. What's probably going on now is someone can control your computer. What would what would your advice be? The only the only absolutely sure way to get rid of this unknown malware because we don't know what was left where it was left. The only true sure way is just to completely wipe out that computer and reinstall it and start from scratch. Yeah. Sure. Out of that, you can try antivirus programs and and and malware removal and anti root kit type of software. But and if you're lucky, maybe you'll get the bad stuff off, but you you don't know for sure. So the problem with the software that you use to get the stuff off your computers is that they have to have a known attack in the past with the same signatures, same properties, same file names and so forth. And they use that to run the scan and pull that stuff off your computer. However, there isn't a various software out there that we just heard about. I could not believe this one because I used to use this when I first started the computer company, millions and millions of users see cleaner. Not only did people install this software, but see cleaner installed what's called a secondary payload. So a secondary payload is a different executable from the original. And it's installed to do something different that you can't detect. And it's usually named something different. If they're really smart, they put in a mutating string property. So it propagates itself and deletes its old one every couple of days. So you can never trace it. And it changes its process ID. So you can't find it in something like the task manager in Windows. One of the ways that I usually track stuff like down. Most people will have nefarious software try to imitate a known program that comes with Windows. So you might see if you open up your task manager, notepad exe is running. But then you look in your taskbar and there's no notepad. Yeah. So what is going on here? So that that's one of the clues. What's bad about C cleaner is not every version was infected. There was just a few versions and you can find them on the web. It's a long trailer numbers, the major, minor and revision numbers. But what's bad about that is only a few numbers got infected. And they got infected from the manufacturer from the producer of the software. That's a vast right? How do you think they pulled that off? It was I was only from August into September. Those those versions that were downloaded there in that time by the ones that were infected. And this software had a digital signature that the signature is supposed to prove that nothing has changed. There's nothing bad hidden in here. This is the original software directly from the software vendor. But someone was able to get this malware in at the vendors before it was signed. So it was signed with the malware in it. So it had to be some kind of someone with inside access that was able to add this malware at the compilation stage when they're building the software before it gets signed and then put out onto the $1 site. So look the legitimate to everybody. Absolutely. This is not the first time it's happened. Apple had this. I could not believe this. So their free development software is called Xcode. And you can download off the the Apple website. And that's always legitimate from the Apple website. However, other people were offering that. And sometimes the Apple website slows down. There's a lot of downloads during the about September when the new stuff comes out every year. And so other people were offering, Oh, you can download it from us. What happened was a I believe it was a Chinese group had replicated that software that Xcode software decompiled it. That means they broke it open. They ripped something out and put their own code in there and padded the the characters so it would be the exact same size as the old executable. So the signature that was originally used to verify that code was still valid. And then they recompiled and put it up for download. Now people downloading this, the software would still work. You could use Xcode to create iOS apps on the iPhone iPad and the Mac. Here's the exception though. Those compilations that you made and you produced to make iOS apps, the apps that you distributed and were put on other people's phones or iPads would phone home and give you remote access. So you're just you're unwittingly just spreading this malware for right. That's right. And and usually so people know out there when when you make a iOS app, you got to give it back to Apple and they examine it. And they say yes or no, it can go or it can't go. And we all assume they're looking for security holes. This one got through. So it had the signature. It had the signature. It was it was just fine. So you never know what's going to get through the front door. Now in the CC cleaner, the here's the unique properties, right? We just found out CC cleaner went in there and installed a secondary payload and that payloads job was to try to go to other we're doing a pivot right. It's going to it's trying to get into a system to specific companies, Google, Sony, couple others, tech giants, there was a list of 18 of them. So let's talk about what we can do if we get CC cleaner in there with with the criminals, we get CC cleaner in, we deliver the secondary payload, we actually get into Google. We're behind the Google firewall, we're installing someone's PC, and we're trying to pivot. What are we doing? You think we're trying to infect Google sites, any Google software? What if we could get, you know, our malware into Google Chrome? How many millions of people download that right, right? It's just a wide open opportunity to spread our malware even further. What about just sitting there looking around? Data, Google, do you think Google collects any data? There might be some data. I don't know one or two pieces maybe. Yeah. So there's I think volumes and volumes of data on billions of people. And what was when I had a kidney stone? I mean, I know everything about me. That's so sad, right? And I think when we talk about like the Equifax hack, they were hacked by the same hackers in March. And then again, they realized that by July, right? In that time, I've been asked, Well, what the heck were they doing? Why didn't they just start ripping out data? And I said, Well, they didn't know where the data was when they got in there. So that couple of months might have been them pivoting through the systems in the network, looking for that right server, and then taking the data out. The biggest problem to me is, the data should have been encrypted inside the firewall to because we're supposed to do defense in depth. So it's another Equifax fail, right? Their systems and passwords weren't updated. Adobe struts hadn't been updated in the two and a half, three months between the patch date that got released in March. And when they got hacked, they didn't they didn't release that and update it. And then on top of that, they didn't have their database encrypted. It should have been encrypted. And it should have been on its own private, so more heavily secured network, right, right. Shouldn't have been out there with, you know, people's desktop. So with this, you know, sales department or anything. That and that's a big problem. The companies make that big network. And they say, cool, we're up and running. But then the marketing guys can see it, the sales guys can see it, the CEOs can see it. Everyone can see the data you don't want anybody to see. That's a bad thing, right? Well, this went so fast. We're almost out of time. Yeah. Let's just say Capulani Community College is going to have a wetwear Wednesday for those of you local residents out here. Come on out to Capulani Community College at the Copico building. We're going to be doing a wetwear Wednesday presenting our program at Capulani and what we're doing in cyber networking databases and programming. We'll have heavy poopoos and some bentos for you mainland people out there. What that means is organized foods, plates of food, right? All right. Thanks for being with us and join us next week, everybody. Until then, stay safe.


All right, in a previous video we had looked at the scapula and the clavicle, and so today actually we're going to look at the bones of the, basically the arm. And these are going to be the humerus, the ulna, the radius, the carpal bones, metacarpals, and then the flanges, and then another video will show you the, basically the lower extremities. But we'll start off with the humerus, and if you look at the humerus, a few things that you'll notice, once again make sure that you understand your directional terms, because there are going to be certain features at the superior side, and the inferior side, as well as the anterior and posterior side that we'll be looking at. The humerus, at one end it has this kind of roundish end called the head of the humerus, and it's basically attached to a very, to a neck, so any time you have a head you have a neck, and you'll see this particularly if you want to orient it properly, you'll notice that the head of the humerus is always going to be facing medially, which tends to make sense because the glenoid cavity of the scapula is going to be facing laterally. So the head of the humerus in particular is part of the ball and socket joint called the shoulder joint. Also at the superior side, just past the head of the humerus is the greater and the lesser tubercles, and these are basically attachment points for muscles. On the shaft region or the diaphysis you have this roughened area called the deltoid tuberosity, and you can kind of feel it if you pick up a bone, and this is actually an attachment point for a muscle called the deltoid. At the inferior side, if you look at just the anterior inferior side, you'll notice several processes. On the lateral side you have the capitulum, and a small process here called the lateral epicondyle. These are both attachment points for muscles. On the medial side you have the trochlea, notice it kind of looks like a pulley. If you've seen a pulley it kind of has this little spool-like structure and some, basically some thread that you can kind of use to lift very heavy things. Also on the medial side you have this medial epicondyle, and this one is actually very prominent. If you really kind of feel on either side of your elbow, you'll notice there's two prominences, and the bigger one is this medial epicondyle. The trochlea of the humerus is going to fit in with another feature on another bone called the ulna, and the feature that fits into is the trochlear notch, and you'll notice that basically the trochlear notch of the ulna is rotating around the trochlea of the humerus, and so this is actually one of the articulation points of that elbow joint. Now on the posterior inferior side of the humerus you'll notice this deep depression here. This is called the alecronon fossa, and the alecronon fossa is going to be where a feature once again on the ulna called the alecronon fits into, and this alecronon on the ulna is actually the point of your elbow, which obviously you can easily feel. And so, you know, these two features, the trochlea and then the alecronon fossa, are part of that elbow joint. Now looking at the lower part of the arm, we essentially have two bones. We have the ulna, and then we have on the medial side, and then we have the radius on basically the lateral side. And this is medial and lateral when essentially you hold your arms in anatomical position. So if you were to, the radius would always be here along your thumb side where the ulna would be here along basically your pinky side. Looking at the ulna for a second, some features that you see of this that have already been previously pointed out is the alecronon, once again that's the point of your elbow. The trochlear notch, which always reminds me I think of some of those nature programs where the snake is being milked for poison, that kind of always reminds me of that. But the trochlear notch, which is rotating around the trochlea, so the ulna does articulate with the humerus, it also you'll notice articulates with the radius. It's a little hard to see, but you can see that there's a point right here on the proximal end where the ulna and the radius would actually rotate around each other, which would allow us to basically rotate our forearm here. Looking at the radius, two points to note is that it has a very flat head that will easily help you to distinguish it from the ulna. The other feature point is the radial tuberosity, which you can kind of see right there, it's just this process below the radial head, and this is an attachment point for an important muscle in your arm called the biceps brachii. Kind of continuing down the arm, we've got the carpal bones, and you'll notice that there are eight carpal bones, now three of these, one, two, three, are going to articulate basically with the radius and the ulna, and then the others are going to articulate with the bones of your hands, which are called the metacarpals. Now they each do have individual names, but for the purposes of this video and for the class, you just need to know them as a group rather than the individual names. So just recognize these as carpal bones, you'll notice that they're sort of cube shape, they are considered short bones because they don't have these well-defined ends in shaft regions. Looking in the hand, you'll notice that the metacarpals, and there are actually five metacarpals per hand corresponding to basically your five fingers, because each metacarpal you'll notice is attached to a bone associated with your finger. We start counting the metacarpals based on which one is associated with the thumb. Well, how do you know which one's associated with the thumb? Well, that's where you have to look at the bones in the digits themselves. These in the digits are called phalanges, and notice that each finger has three phalanges, but the thumb has two. So if you can recognize the digit that has two phalanges, then you know where to start counting, and then it becomes easy. It's just metacarpal one, metacarpal two, metacarpal three, metacarpal four, metacarpal five. Traditionally, these have been written as Roman numerals. And if you look at the bones of the digits, you've got your phalanges. Singular version of this is phalanx. With the thumb, you have a proximal phalanges, and then a distal phalanx. Now with the fingers, then you have just proximal, middle, and distal phalanges associated with each of the fingers. And so that actually completes the discussion of the bones of the arm.


and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control, which is now. Thank you very much. Will the court please call the roll? Call for a date? 16 present. Next, I'd like to ask you to please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from our last meeting, Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to approve the minutes of the previous council meeting. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Those minutes are before us right now. Is there any discussion? Sena, will the clerk please call the roll and the minutes? 16 ayes. Next, I'll turn it over to the city attorney for resignations. Thank you, Your Honor. Mayor received an email from Vicki Hall, advising that she needs to resign from the Shboygan Sustainable Task Force as the environmental organization member as she's moving out of state. Thank you, Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to accept and file. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Any discussion? Sena, will the clerk please call the roll? 16 ayes. Motion passes. Going on to council appointments. Confirmation of one. We don't have one. We've got the confirmation of one. The confirmation of council appointments. Hereby submit the following appointment for your consideration. Aurora Bonilla to be considered for appointment to the senior activity center commissioned to fill the unexplored term of Sheriff Powell Vang, whose term expires for 2018-2014 signed by the mayor. Thank you, Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to confirm. Second. Thank you for that motion to confirm the council appointments. Any discussion? Sena, will the clerk please call the roll? 16 ayes. Motion passes. Next, we'll go on to the public forum. Any clerk? Thank you. First this evening, we have Jason Peters. Jason, are you here? Could you come on up to the microphone, please? I was just up to a little bit, is that right? I was gonna tell you that, yes. All right. I need your home address, Jason. Here, it's on 1225 Kauffman Avenue. Okay, that's... All right. Good evening, my name's Jason Peters. It's kind of hard for me to be up here because growing up, my father gave me some good advice. He said, Jason, show me, don't tell me. A lot of times, people can tell you a lot of things, but they won't really do them. With this Army Foundation, the members we have on our board, I can tell you, I associate myself with people who do things that they say. I'd like to use a little analogy. I'm sure everybody in here is wrong my age, so we've all seen the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And I'm not talking about the Johnny Depp version. I'm talking the original, Gene Wilder. And Mr. Mayor and council members, to me, you're the Willy Wonkas. And the Army Foundation, we're your workers, we're your oompa-loompas. But seriously, there's 50,000 citizens of Sheboygan who deserve a golden ticket to go into that Chocolate Factory, otherwise known as the Sheboygan Armory. And it's up to you who have the key to open it up.  So council members, I ask you this, what if you sell the armory? Or let's say a half a million dollars. 10 to 20 years from now, when people are driving through, are they gonna remember a dime where that money is? What if you turn it into a bolt storage or a place where special people can park their Corvettes in the wintertime? What 10, 20 years from now, what are they gonna say? Daddy, what's that place? Oh, that's a great bolt storage. But what if you take a chance on us and we fail? There's no blood on your hands. There's no guilt in your hearts. We have to live with it. We killed the armory. But when we succeed, you notice I said when we succeed, you take all the credit. That's politics 101. Put yourself in a no-lose situation. In closing, I'm gonna tell you what I learned in life. I'm the kind of person, you want to throw me to the wolves? I'll come back and leave in the pack. And what I mean by that is Mr. Mayor, I read the paper. I've lived in this one county all my life. I've lived in the city since 1999. I've heard on the radio, you stating you're gonna meet with us. It's been over a month.  So if you think I'm a little upset, I am. Because here's another reason. I saw the spaceport get a dollar a year lease for seven years and the city taxpayers paid for the heating? We're not asking for that. I seen what the quarry did. A Madison firm-based dollar a year lease, all profits go to them. We're not asking for that. We are citizens of Sheboygan. The ones that you're supposed to represent, we're asking for a dollar a year lease and we'll pay all the cost. I have so many people lined up that want to help us, pay for it, and I can't do anything because I can't get access. If it was up to me, I wouldn't wait until October. I would say, oh, Army Foundation, it's yours right now, here's the keys. So it's common sense, common counsel. You know, there's one or two that I know are against us and calling us names behind our back or whatever, that's fine, that's fine. But I'm hoping the rest of you will follow the people that voted for you and I saw the polls in the press. It was double what they have for us. So please just think about it and vote for your people you represent. Give us this chance and open it up so people can have their golden ticket. Thank you. Thank you, Jason. Next on the list is Joanne Scribner. And Joanne, can I have your home address please? Three Seneca Trail. Okay, and you have five minutes. I couldn't say it any better than Jason just did. So I'll just add some of my own personal comments. Having been born somewhere around 1949, so that makes me kind of old school, proud of it, just love that. But the thing is about the Cheboygan Armory, I was born in Cheboygan County. So all the events that I remember, the Harlem Globe Trotters, my parents took me and my brother to the Armory. When we were kids, high school, elementary, to the Army concerts, Navy concerts. Not that long ago, a couple years ago with the UW fifth quarter marching band was here at the Armory. Guest flow trees quite recently. It's where the polar bears hang out when they need to warm up. So many events at the Armory. We are Cheboygan citizens. How many of you 16 Alderman here are from Cheboygan County? Glad that you're here, if you're not. But we, the Cheboygan County residents who have been here all our lives have a lot of really good memories at the Cheboygan Armory. The North, South, basketball, games, teen dances. This morning I printed 45 pages that Bill Wongam and former Alderman Cheboygan County historian wrote up all the different stats from the beginning how the Armory was actually found. In 1940, May 13th, the Cheboygan County Council resolution submitted for construction of the Armory. 1940, March 19th, they approved plans to build the Armory. Armory was dedicated 4th of July, 1942. The list goes on and on to all the bands, stars, and politicians that were at the Cheboygan Armory. I was there in the 60s when Vice President, I think he was Vice President at the time where he was running, Nixon was here, Richard Nixon, Bill Steiger of Oshkosh, GOP, he's gone now, but he was politician along with, and Nixon was here. Other, Humphrey was here, Hubert Humphrey, Democrat. Non-partisan kind of building, you know. A dollar a year, that's a no-brainer. There are just so many memories. Buccaneers, you probably saw a classic reunion last year 4th of July parade. Sharp, precise, those guns and flags, they twirl really well, snap, precision. That's how the Buccaneers were, remember them? They were here, they were like the top drill team as far as my opinion, the accents were also good. Precision, snap, guns twirling around in the air, flags twirling across the room. Sharp at the Armory. Harlem Globetrotters, as I said, power lifting, Lakeland College, Muskie basketball games, I went to Lakeland College. I went to the Muskie Games before I was at Lakeland College, Festival Trees as I mentioned. So my plea should bring common counts, and I did talk to, I called each one of you, all 16 of you, and I really am strong about one issue I call all of you, and not just Don and Susie. And I did call Don and Susie first because I always call my reps first. But I left messages with you guys and some of you responded back with my phone calls, and it seemed like most of you that called back were on board with saving the Armory for a multi-use building for activities like it was in the past. I talked to Mayor Mike too, about the same thing. I think Mayor Mike's on board too with keeping the Armory as a multi-event building like it always was, a dollar a year, how can you go wrong? I'll save the Armory, the Armory Foundation Committee that's ready to take on the heating expenses and things like that. No brainer, both storage place, more condos? No, Armory, Festival Trees, events, basketball games, that's all I can say. I just really hope that the Common Council of Shewegan will decide to keep the Shewegan Armory as the Shewegan Armory a place for events. Thank you. Thank you, Joanne. Next would be Paul Gruber. Paul, if you could come up, please. Paul, can I have your home address? 508 Bullard at Boulevard. Okay, and you will have five minutes, sir. Well, I'm not gonna take it all. I've lived here for about 45 years. My wife and I moved up here, raised three children, went to a lot of events at the Armory, it was very well enumerated. There are lots of neat things that went on at the Armory. The reason we moved up here was because there's so many wonderful people, lots of great organizations, a lot of unique things in the city of Shewegan, county of Shewegan. Looking at it unemotionally, I really feel, looking at it, is there a reason for keeping that building just because we've had all those good times in it? I can enumerate a lot of other buildings in the city here also that have had a lot of good times, and if there isn't a real worthwhile cause, I don't know why we'd really need to keep them. It's not unique architecturally at all. There have been other buildings, public library, the Bank of Shewegan, some of those that were more architecturally unique. So I just think that that site has better potential than it does with that existing facility there, and with ultimately probably what would cost structurally to take care of it. So I really believe that nowadays with the, there's so much demand for our not only tax dollars, but for our donations to many different organizations that there's really much better potential use for those dollars elsewhere rather than in that building. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. Next would be Mike Brunette. Mike, if you could come forward, please. And Mike, can I have your home address? 1925 South 26th Street. Okay, and you will have five minutes, sir. Cool. This was gonna be a TV type-E thingy, but bandwidth for your guest thing doesn't support it, so get your clothes on glasses together, and then I have to wing it. But basically, if you don't know by now, it's on the Armory. What you're hearing right now is question mark in the Mysterians, one of the many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, yeah, instead of play it at the Armory on a monthly basis through the Cadet Youth Organization. And it's about history, huh? It's about history. History. History, the Prangy Fire. History. Don't know. History. Can't destroy those. Garden toys. Oh, but buildings, they go. And it's like this, I'm not really sure, but I think it's from the old Leather Place Fire. I'm not really, I can't get a good tag on it, but that's one of our other big parts of history in Sheboygan. And it's like, but history moves on, moves out, like the interurban rail car. And it's like, what I'm interested in, well, we don't need no stink in history. I don't even see an Armory. I see an Auditorium. It's never gonna be used as an Armory again. That's just what it's called, but development. We got plenty, Armira Corporation, a buck. What happens for a buck? Huh, bold storage. Cookly. People. It's all about the people. It's not about us. It's about our kids, your kids, your grandchildren. It's not about us. People. Why are they important? Well, let's see. Thomas Industries says people are the heart of a company is it's people. It's people. Boom, they're gone. And it's like, let's move on. Oh, the future, I love the future. That's where I'm going. What do we got? Ah, this is an architect's rendering from a little place that's called, heck, the Municipal Auditorium and Armory. Boom. It's fading, fading quick. Not because there's anything wrong with it, because people see it as the only spot in Sheboygan for development. And I'll argue at this point, I'll pause a second, but as far as that architectural significant, that place kicks butt completely on anything in town. That roof, that structure up above there, there's not one point on those beams that supports over 200 pounds. And it's like, here's the future. Spaceport, we're rocking stuff up. Spaceport, oh, what could go wrong? And it's like, how about a two-seated pole plane? Vertical takeoff and landing. Stick some money into that. Oh, not looking good, not looking good. What about the now? Now, we have this building now. We have this building now. And it's like, right now, we know that it's gonna cost 9,650 according to a meeting that was just held recently, just to drain the pipes on it. I mean, we got the numbers, it's all up on our site, telling people about the numbers, the actual numbers for heat, this, that, history, future, you name it. You don't have to remember what our site is. Type in Sheboygan, you know how to spell that. Type in Armory, you know how to spell that. Click on what it's ever out there. You're coming to our site, one way or another.   Click around, look, it's not about today, it's about the future. And it's like, the last thing we need is to tear down that building and throw up the Lottie Cooper over there. And that's all I got. Thank you, Michael. And lastly, we have Bob Cheesebro. Can I get your home address, please? 216 Euclid. And you'll have five minutes, sir. Okay, thank you very much. I'm a resident of Sheboygan, a lifelong resident. I was born in 1937 and I graduated from North High School in 1955 and as it happened, it rained that year and the ceremony was held in the Armory. I also attended college and majored in history for the record, so I'm not impervious to the past and respecting the past and what we can learn from it. I also attended the University of Michigan where I got my master's degree in business administration. I've attended my past games of the Sheboygan Redskins. I've attended, I graduated in the Armory. I went to a concert that was put on by Bobby Vinton and I attended a number of South High basketball games in the Sheboygan Armory. All these events in my past are very memorable to me, but I remember the events, I don't remember the place. And quite honestly, in my view, the Sheboygan Armory is not an architectural wonder that is worth preserving. It's an unoccupied building right now and it's not an attractive building on our landscape and it has cost the city money to maintain that building. Next of all, I just wanna tell you that in my history, as a citizen of Sheboygan, I have worked on many fundraising events and most recently I have worked to raise money for the construction of the addition to the Salvation Army. I've worked to raise money for the refurbishing of the Sheboygan YMCA. I'm presently working to raise money for Elizabeth Ann Seton to renovate that building and I've worked on the Sheboygan United Way. There are, I can tell you, there are many, many organizations looking for money and that money is from private organizations is not easy to come by. There's a lot of donor fatigue in our community with all the good causes that exist for people that wanna raise money for ongoing programs or for new initiatives. And for that reason, I am, as a citizen, opposed to keeping the Sheboygan Armory and I would advocate that it be demolished. No disrespect for the people who are in the Armory Foundation but I would question whether they have the ability and the wherewithal to go out on an ongoing basis and maintain that building and the condition it's in. And nor do I think that the city of Sheboygan, the county of Sheboygan, the state of Wisconsin or the federal government should donate any money or spend any money for the preservation of that structure. Thank you very much. Thank you, Bob. Thank you very much. Next is Mayor's Announcements. We just heard from several citizens speaking about the Armory and our public forum and last week the Common Council approved a request for proposals which is intended to make this a very fair process and how we can best plan for the future of the Armory and the Armory site. The proposals are due by October 31st and our purchasing agent can be contacted for an RFP. Thus far, 58 RFPs have been mailed out to those who have requested a copy and has been placed in the Sheboy, ad will be placed soon in the Sheboygan Press which will run several times. And in addition, they've worked with the SCEDC to send out an email to contacts they have who are interested in developing projects in cities like Sheboygan. If anybody would like a copy, they can call the purchasing department at 459-3469 to request an RFP. And just to comment on the meeting, not soon after this issue was brought up by the Armory Foundation at this council meeting, the Strategic Fiscal Planning Committee made a recommendation to this council to take a different direction rather than entertaining these in an individual basis. They wanted to have all the RFPs come in so they could be equally given consideration. So I'm willing to meet with you gentlemen anytime but the council has kind of tied my hands as far as the direction and this is where we're gonna be going and all of these will be evaluated after they're submitted on October 31st. At the last common council, there were also some questions about the HVA systems at the Armory and the possible damage if they were taken offline. If there's no objection, I'd like to have David Bebel come and give us an update on that. David, would you please step forward? Thank you, Mayor. I think at the last meeting there was a lot of concern about if we shut that building down, damage to that building, and we reiterated the council that evening that was not our intent is that we wanna preserve that building and keep it in its current condition if all possible. We went out and got some quotes and we employed a professional mechanical engineering firm to look at that. After evaluating the costs, we think it's prudent to just keep the heating and ventilating systems operating through this interim phase while you're reviewing these proposals to keep the building's integrity in shape. And that's what we're gonna be doing and we'll be continuing our normal maintenance as we have over the years. Thank you very much, David. Next, we'd like to talk about the spring primary election. This will be held on Tuesday, February 18th, and it's only for three wards in the city of Sheboygan. The city clerk has decided to have wards two, three, and 12 at one polling location, which will be at the first congregational church at 310 Bluff Avenue. This is the only, for the primary, the polls will open up at seven and close at eight. The ballot contains only one office for county board supervisor for district two. Next, I'd like to ask Andy Resch and Brian Willidson to come to the podium. At a recent wastewater operators association annual conference, two of the staff of the Sheboygan wastewater treatment plant were recognized with awards. The Wisconsin Operators Association is comprised of over 2,000 wastewater treatment plant professionals serving municipalities and industries throughout the state. The city of Sheboygan's wastewater treatment plant was hit hard over the last few years with losing nearly half of its staff. Many of those people who left had over 20 years of experience. This especially hit our operator staff losing 80% of our experienced operators. The two new members of the Sheboygan operation staff are Brian Willidson and Andy Resch. Both of these fellows applied for and transferred from the DPW staff to wastewater treatment plant to begin a new career as wastewater treatment operators. Neither of them had any past experience in the environmental fields and thus took on this new challenge with nervous excitement. Tom Tuco who is the laboratory technician for the wastewater treatment plant for 27 years and a plant operator for the five years before that had the opportunity to listen, to work, and to help educate both Brian and Andy in their new field. While working in the lab he was able to watch them go from nervous newcomers to coming full-time plant operators running the full daily operation and functions of the plant. Both Brian and Andy learned not only the basic operations but also voluntarily immersed themselves into more detailed aspects of the operation. Brian and Andy both with a good foundation and understanding were running general plant processes including wasting, return rate changes, digester control, disinfection, and many internal laboratory tests including pneumonia tests, chloride residual, orthophosphorus, pH, and microbiology identification. They not only helped each other learn about their new field but also to use their knowledge to help other employees who had not much more experience than they had. As employees at the Sheboygan Municipal Building before coming to the wastewater treatment plant, Andy and Brian often requested and joined working together as a team. Brian and Andy both started at about the same time at wastewater and continued their teamwork helping each other to understand and learn the aspects of this new field. Because of this they were nominated to the Wisconsin Wastewater Operators Association Board and their supervisor requested for a special variance from the norm in the presentation of this award to only one person. But rather if chosen for the newcomer of the year that both Brian and Andy received the award together because of their accomplishments as a team and for bringing their strong attitude of teamwork to the Sheboygan Wastewater Treatment Facility. So I get to represent these awards to Brian and Andy. Thank you guys, thank you very much for all your work. Let's give him a hand. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. At this conference former wastewater treatment manager Dale Dore was also recognized with the George Brunner Award for outstanding contributions to wastewater technology in the state of Wisconsin. The Sheboygan Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant was featured in the cover of the December issue of the clarifier, the state magazine and a full write-up is inside of their net zero energy achievement. Let's give Sharon Teetson and all of her staff at Wastewater Treatment a hand for the great work that they do. Okay, next we'll proceed to the consent agenda. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to accept and to file all ROs, accept and adopt all RCs and put all resolutions and ordinances upon their passage. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. That'll include items 2.1 through 2.18. Any discussion on any of those items? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the consent agenda? 16 ayes. Next we'll proceed to reports of officers. Item 3.1 through 3.3 will lie over. Items 3.4 through 3.12 will be referred to various committees. And then proceeding to resolutions. Resolution 4.1 will lie over. Resolution 4.2 will be referred to salary and grievances. And resolution 4.3 will be referred to public works. Under reports of committees, 5.1 is an RC by finance recommending authorizing a transfer of appropriations, establishing an appropriation for industrial parkland improvements. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to accept and adopt and put the resolution upon its passage. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. The resolution is before us. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll and 5.1. 16 ayes. Motion passes. 5.2 is an RC by finance recommending referring a document submitting a communication from Meals on Wheels asking to purchase a piece of land immediately north of the property that they purchased last year that will be referred to the city planning commission. Under matters laid over, 6.1 is Geo number 49 of 1314 by Alderman Vanderweel and Van Akron amending the general ordinance 17-13-14 granting the internet systems ink the privilege of encroaching on the portions of city right away for installing fiber optic cable in order to correct the description. Alderman Vanderweel. I move that the ordinance be put upon its passage. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll. 16 ayes. Motion passes. Next, I'll turn it over to the city attorney for other matters. 7.1 is an RO submitting a communication from the state of Wisconsin Department of Corrections on behalf of Brian Kufas requesting a waiver from the sex offender residency restrictions in order to be placed in a TLP located at 1123, 1125 North 14th Street or 930A Michigan Avenue based on availability. That will be referred to public protection and safety. 7.2 is an RO by the city clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015. That will be referred to law and licensing. 7.3 is a communication from the state of Wisconsin Department of Corrections requesting a waiver for the sex offender residency restrictions on behalf of state inmate Martona's Wallace in order to be placed in a TLP at 930A Michigan or 1123, 1125 North 14th Street depending on availability. That will also be referred to public protection and safety. Next is a closed session. Alderman Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to convene in closed session on the exemption provided in section 19.851E Wisconsin statutes for the purpose of deliberating the purchase of public property where competitive and bargaining reasons require a closed session. Second. Thank you for that motion. In second, I'm going into closed session. Clerk, please call the roll. 16 ayes. We'll take a five minute recess and then reconvene in closed session.