Monday, October 10, 2016

David Bronner - Current leader of Bronner Soap

No doubt you have heard of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. And that is a great story and he was a great American character. However, his grandson David, (the man who successfully sued the DEA for seizing hemp seeds), has every bit as much impact on America.

Rather than me quoting tons of the article, here it is or maybe it is here, not sure who copied who. But seriously, it is a great read. The company is guided by six principles.

Dr. Bronner would have loved to visit SANS Rocky Mountain 2017, in the same way depending on who you talk to there are between 14 and 18 ways to use Bronners, the knowledge students will gather have multiple applications.


Wednesday, October 5, 2016

George H. Stevenson founder of Stevenson WA

There was another famous George Stevenson in the UK that specialized in trains, maybe you have heard of Stephenson's rocket.

The  town  of  Stevenson  got  its  name  from  two  early  businessmen,  George H.  and
brother Momen  Stevenson,  who  bought  the  land,  much  of  it  originally  part  of  the  Shephard
family’s donation land claim, and platted the town in 1891.

The  Stevenson  Land  Co.  was  incorporated  in  1893  (No.  3  in  the  county  auditor’s
files or articles of incorporation) with George H. Stevenson, George Bell and Seymour Bell
as directors and a capital stock of $24,000, (which was the purchase price of the original town).

At this time, the country seat was the town of Cascades. In a dispute over rent, the county records from Cascades were relocated to Stevenson at which point it became the county seat.

The “big flood” of 1894 brought water almost up to F
ront Street, but did no actual
damage.  In  fact,  it    set  off  one  of  the  biggest  salmon  runs  in  history  and  Mrs.  Minnie
Stevenson is said to have made over $2,000 with the use of a dip net

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Patrick Henry - Patriot

When you think of Patrick Henry his famous quote flashes in your mind, "I know not what others may choose but, as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

And in truth he was a harp with one string, that string was liberty. He had grave concerns about the constitution and spoke out against it in its current form "Your President may easily become King: Your Senate is so imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed by what may be a small minority; and a very small minority may continue forever unchangeably this Government.

His concerns and oratory for the anti-federalist position helped bring about the amendments that became the bill of rights. "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
 Henry served on the committee in the Virginia Convention of 1776 that drafted the first constitution for the state. He was elected governor the same year and was reelected in 1777 and 1778 for one-year terms, thereby serving continuously as long as the new constitution permitted.

In his later life Henry’s views and ideas started changing, (possibly due to the French Revolution). During the 1790s, Henry started supporting Federalist policies of Washington and Adam.

 Henry showed strong support for John Marshall, (chief justice, leader of the Federalist party), and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates as a Federalist after being urged by George Washington to stand for the post. Henry died before he could serve this assignment.

As both Anti-Federalist and Federalist Henry left his mark on America, (and fathered over 15 children). He would have loved SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 where the spirit of patriotism is alive and well.


Saturday, September 24, 2016

Tony Schwartz - American Writer

Tony Schwartz is the ghostwriter of the Art of the Deal, Donald Trump's autobiography. In the book Trump talks about his ability to "adjust" truth.  “I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.

The book, turned out to be a windfall for Schwartz and a source of power for Trump.


According to the New Yorker. "More than a million copies have been bought, generating several million dollars in royalties. The book expanded Trump’s renown far beyond New York City, making him an emblem of the successful tycoon. Edward Kosner, the former editor and publisher of New York, where Schwartz worked as a writer at the time, says, “Tony created Trump. He’s Dr. Frankenstein.

Fast forward to September 19, he is hardly a fan, this is a post on twitter

What Trump is most missing is any conscience at all.  He can lie, distort and spew hate with a straight face. He cares about none of us.


The Wrap, posts his advice for the upcoming Clinton/Trump debate" “You break down his persona by showing how he’s really not nearly as intelligent as he says he is and would like to be,” Schwartz told the New York Times’ podcast “The Run-Up” on Friday. “He can’t avoid repeating himself. He can’t stay focused on a subject for very long.”

“I’d be very calm, direct, and unflappable but relentless  — and I mean relentless — over 90 minutes in calling out every time a line came out of his mouth,” Schwartz went on to say. “I’d call out his repetitions calmly, unflappably but confidently.”

Since his ghostwriting success, he has proven himself not to be a one trick wonder writing several successful books, His energy project BIO says, Tony's most recent book, The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. His previous book, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy Not Time, co-authored with Jim Loehr, spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into 28 languages. In 2013, Tony launched a biweekly column for the New York Times titled “Life@Work.” Tony is a contributor to numerous publications including The Huffington Post and Harvard Business Review, and for three years, he wrote the most popular blog on HBR.org.

Tony would love SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 where the students and faculty are all in to study and share cybersecurity. Stephen Northcutt is Director, Academic Advising for SANS.EDU. 

Friday, September 23, 2016

Emma Gatewood - Appalachian Trail thru-hiker

(By way of Suzy Northcutt) In 1955, at the age of 67, an Ohio farm wife named Emma Gatewood became the first woman to solo thru-hike all 2,026 miles, approximately 5,000,000 steps, of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. This mother of 11, grandmother of 23, trekked in canvas Keds; she had no backpack, no tent, no sleeping bag, no campstove, no GPS, no cell phone… 

And then she did it again, straight through. And a third time, in sections.

She didn’t set  out to make history, she only told her children that she was going ‘out for a walk.’ She didn’t even know that reporters had begun following her progress soon after commencing her walk. When asked why she did it, she offered simply, “Because I wanted to.”

In the 1950’s only 14 thru-hikes were recorded. This decade alone there have been more than 4,000. http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/community/2000-milers

Emma’s walk brought attention to the Trail, and to hiking, and to dogged determination to complete what is started. Many a hiker has since noted, “I was ready to give up but if Grandma Gatewood could do it…”

We just never know how we might inspire others with what we do. No matter how crude, or pedestrian, our early attempts should be we might be laying a foundation for others to build on. Someone has to start, and keep moving forward, and not give up.


Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ben Montgomery tells Emma’s story in his book, “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail.”  It’s an easy read, and rather inspiring. 

Emma Gatewood would have loved the pace at SANS Rocky Mountain 2017, June 12, Denver where aspiring energizer bunnies just keep going and going for six or more days. Stephen Northcutt is Academic Advisor for SANS.EDU.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Booker T Washington - Negro Statesman



History.com sums up his achievement as an American Character, "Born a slave on a Virginia farm, Washington (1856-1915) rose to become one of the most influential African-American intellectuals of the late 19th century. In 1881, he founded the Tuskegee Institute, a black school in Alabama devoted to training teachers. Washington was also behind the formation of the National Negro Business League 20 years later, and he served as an adviser to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft."

PBS saysIn September 1895, Washington became a national hero. Invited to speak at the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Washington publicly accepted disfranchisement and social segregation as long as whites would allow black economic progress, educational opportunity, and justice in the courts. "The wisest of my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than artificial forcing. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than to spend a dollar in an opera house."

This is the analogy he used in his famous speech, "A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: “Water, water. We die of thirst.” The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A second time, the signal, “Water, send us water!” went up from the distressed vessel. And was answered: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A third and fourth signal for water was answered: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River."

Booker T would have love to visit SANS Rocky Mountain 2017, June 12, Denver, were faculty and students alike are focused on casting down their buckets where they are so the SANS promise, what you learn at Rocky Mountain, can be used the day you get back to work.

Stephen Northcutt is director, Academic Advising at SANS.EDU.


Wednesday, September 14, 2016

D. Mark Hegsted - Hero or sugar pusher?

According to his NY Times Obit, Hegsted was a serious proponent of nutrition:

In the early 1960s, Dr. Hegsted experimented with dietary changes and their effects on levels of harmful cholesterol in the bloodstream. He and others investigated the role of saturated fats derived from meat, eggs and other sources, polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats and dietary cholesterol. The researchers developed a mathematical model, known as the Hegsted equation, to predict the effect of fats consumed in food on an individual’s serum cholesterol.

Nutrition.org highlights his stint in government:

In a second career, Hegsted went to Washington, DC, in 1978 to serve in the newly created post of Administrator of Human Nutrition in the US Department of Agriculture. During his tenure, the US Department of Agriculture issued the Dietary Goals for Americans. This basic dietary guidance, which was intended to educate the general public, ignited a firestorm of protests from friends and foes alike, revealing the intense tension between the scientific community, industry, and politicians. Interestingly, despite the remarkable controversy the document created and its eventual retraction, the Dietary Goals for Americans was the forerunner of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and although the wording changed over the years the basic concepts remain relatively intact to this day.



However, a report released today by ars Technica says that, at least in the early years at Harvard he was in the pocket of the sugar industry:

According the documents, the SRF enlisted Fredrick Stare, then chair of Harvard’s Nutrition Department, as a member of the trade group’s advisory board. Stare then put the SRF in touch with D. Mark Hegsted and Robert McGandy, members of Stare’s department. Hegsted would later go on to be the head of nutrition at the USDA. (All three researchers as well as Hickson are no longer alive.)

By 1965, the SRF funded “Project 226,” which would have Hegsted and McGandy—supervised by Stare—write a literature review that downplayed sugars’ role in heart disease and shifted blame solely to saturated fat. In return the researchers received a total of $6,500—the 2016 equivalent of $48,900.

During the write-up, which wasn’t published until 1967, the SRF’s Hickson was in frequent contact with the researchers, asking to review drafts and reminding them of the SRF’s interests. In one response to Hickson, Harvard’s Hegsted wrote, “We are well aware of your particular interest in carbohydrate and will cover this as well as we can.” After several delays in the writing, Hegsted reported to Hickson that they had to “rework a section in rebuttal” every time a new study came out supporting a link between sugar and elevated cholesterol levels.

In her editorial, Nestle concluded that “the documents leave little doubt that the intent of the industry-funded review was to reach a foregone conclusion.”

Hero, scoundrel or both, he certainly left his mark on America and American nutrition. In fact, the Hegsted equation is still in use today.

I serve as the chair person for SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 on June 12 in Denver. I think D. Mark Hegsted would appreciate the way the security researchers that make up the faculty tirelessly search for root cause. And several of our equations such as risk = threat x vulnerability are still in use today as well.