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.

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

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.

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

Tony Schwartz

Verified account

‏@tonyschwartz Sep 18

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. 

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.

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 says, In 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.

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.

14 George Broussard and Duke Nukem Forever

I was grading a paper written by Jon Mark Allen for the SANS Technology Institute, an accredited cybersecurity graduate school, when I came across this section:

A good illustration of the consequences of clinging to a failing strategy is the fiasco of Duke Nukem Forever. After the perfect timing and exceptional performance of the original Duke Nukem 3D, George Broussard led the sequel project for its full duration of 12 years. Development in 1997 and progressed quickly enough and to such rave reviews that everyone believed it would be released in late 1998. But "Broussard was clearly obsessed with making his product as aesthetically appealing as possible", to the degree that the project switched gaming engines twice during development – essentially restarting from scratch each time. (Thompson, 2009) 

Mike Wilson, a former games marketer with id Software and 15-year veteran of the industry, suspects that Broussard was paralyzed by the massive success of Duke Nukem 3D. "When Duke came out, they were kings of the world for a minute," Wilson says. "And how often does that happen? How often does someone have the best thing in their field, absolutely? They basically got frozen in that moment." (ibid.)

Eight years into the project, the staff began to leave for fear that their careers would be completely spent on one game that would never ship. One developer said he left because he "was burned out after working on the same project for five years without any end in sight." Rafael Van Lierop, a creative director hired in 2007, when he saw what was happening, said "Wow, how many times have you been here, near the finish line, and you thought you were way out?" Broussard and company burned through their funding and were eventually forced to shut doors in 2009 without ever delivering arguably the most anticipated game ever (not) produced. (ibid.)

Well, everyone fails at some point, but nobody can deny that Mr. Broussard and Duke Nukem left their mark on America. This summary was based on a fantastic Wired magazine article by Clive Thompson. I really had to smile, sixteen years ago, I was working on a network data reduction project and we needed a visualization system for the analyst. When asked what I recommended, I replied, "Hire the Duke Nukem coding team."

I serve as the chair person for SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 on June 12 in Denver. I think George Broussard would appreciate the attention to detail and the efforts the staff and faculty go through to execute as close to flawlessly as one can get.

Bernhard Goetz

January 1981, Bernhard Goetz was attacked by three teenagers at a subway station.  Two of the three assailants managed to escape. The third spent just a few hours at a police station. Goetz was furious and, before the year was out, he applied for a gun permit.

According to Biography, "On December 22, 1984, Goetz entered an empty Manhattan train, carrying an unlicensed .38 caliber revolver. Also on the car were four teenagers: Troy Canty, Barry Allen, Darrell Cabey and James Ramseur. As witness testimony later stated, Goetz had barely taken his seat when the young men approached Goetz for $5. When Goetz refused, Canty responded, "Give me your money."

Suspecting he was being set up for another mugging, Goetz stood up and said, "You all can have it." Goetz started firing his revolver, wounding all four teens. When the train came to a stop, a startled Goetz ran out of the car and eventually fled the city, making his way to Concord, New Hampshire. Eight days after the shooting, Goetz finally turned himself into police."

Goetz was acquitted! The trial as told by Law2, "Attorney Barry Slotnick followed with the opening statement for the defense.  Slotnick painted his client as "neither Rambo nor a vicious predator," but rather as someone surrounded by threatening youths intent on robbing him and who, in response, took "proper and appropriate action."  He warned the jury to be skeptical of evidence presented by the two testifying witnesses, Canty and Ramseur because they had a motive to lie to further their pending multi-million dollars civil suits against Goetz.  He variously referred to Goetz's shooting victims as "hoodlums," "criminals," "savages," "punks," "low-lifes," and "thugs."  He told jurors that the four youths "assumed the risk that a citizen like Bernhard Goetz would lawfully, justifiably, fire a weapon in protection of his property." 

"Jurors voted to acquit Goetz on the four attempted murder charges on the theory that, while he wanted to end the real or imagined threat posed by the teenagers, he lacked the motivation to kill them.  In the words of one juror, Goetz might have been reasonable or unreasonable in his feeling that he was trapped, "but he didn't go out hunting." The most difficult deliberations concerned charge 11, assault in the first degree against Darrell Cabey.  The fifth bullet fired by Goetz, the one that paralyzed (a most likely seated) Darrell Cabey, was hard to excuse.  The jury debated whether Goetz had time to conclude that whatever threat the youths presented were effectively ended by the time he went over to Cabey and, according to his own confession, said, "You seem to be doing all right; here's another," before firing his final shot.  Some jurors noted that Goetz's account contradicted several other witnesses who described the shots as coming in rapid succession.  The "rapid succession" theory allowed jurors to accept the defense argument that Goetz effectively went on "automatic pilot" after he fired the first shot; the five shots were all really one event."

"In a 2004 interview, CNN's Nancy Grace asked Goetz, "Do you ever wish you had just given them $5?" Goetz replied, "I think it would have been the better thing for me, in my life, if I had just given them all my money, even though they might have pushed me around and beat me up for a second."  But Goetz then added, "But I think it was good for New York City.  What happened was very good for New York City because it forced them to address crime."

Goetz certainly left his mark on America, Wikipedia remarks, "After reaching an all-time peak in 1990, crime in New York City dropped dramatically through the rest of the 1990s. As of 2006, New York City had statistically become one of the safest large cities in the U.S., with its crime rate being ranked 194th of the 210 American cities with populations over 100,000. New York City crime rates as of 2014 were comparable to those of the early 1960s.

Goetz and others have interpreted the significance of his actions in the subway incident as a contributing factor precipitating the groundswell movement against crime in subsequent years. While that claim is impossible to verify, Goetz achieved celebrity status as a popular cultural symbol of a public disgusted with urban crime and disorder." 

Goetz would love to visit SANS Rocky Mountain 2017, as an engineer focused on the details of security, he would be amazed at how much the defensive cybersecurity community has accomplished without the use of a .38.

I. M. Pei - Famous architect

Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Guangzhou, China in 1917, the son of a prominent banker. He moved to New York to study architecture and established his first architectural firm in 1955.

Pei became famous for designing the Bank of China Building in Hong Kong and the Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris. Many of his best buildings may be found in the United States, including the Four Seasons Hotel on 57th Street in New York, the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, the National Gallery of Art's East Building in Washington, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. These light-flooded structures are powerful and impress with exceptional clarity.

Students attending SANS Rocky Mountain will be able to visit one of his wonders. Historic Denver, "The idea to create a mall on 16th street in Denver began as early as 1959, but was not given serious consideration until 1971. Following years of planning and construction, the 16th Street Mall, designed by the internationally renowned architectural firm I.M. Pei & Partners of New York, opened on October 4, 1982 to a crowd of over 200,000 people. The main features of I.M. Pei’s design include poly-chromatic granite pavers, wide sidewalks, and a central tree lined corridor flanked by iconic lighting fixtures. Now, decades later, the 16th Street Mall has evolved into the veritable “heart and soul” of downtown Denver and a top visitor attraction in the metropolitan area. Its free shuttles serve an average of 55,000 commuters and tourists per day, creating significant wear and tear that jeopardize the original design and materials. However, in May 2008 a panel of experts from the Urban Land Institute declared the 16th Street Mall to be “public art of the highest international quality,” and strongly urged Denver to fix, not physically modify, the Mall."

Sadly, despite all of his incredible achievements, most news stories seem to be about the attack he suffered, According to the NY Daily News, "Eter Nikolaishvil, 28, “forcefully twisted” the 98-year-old icon's arm at his Manhattan townhouse on Dec. 13, 2015, according to court papers. Nikolaishvil agreed to complete eight anger management sessions. Prosecutors said Pei and his family were consulted on the plea offer that was made to the former employee."

Picture of Eter Nikolaishvili from NY Daily News story

He is also famous for the Centurion Condominium at 33 West 56th Street in the heart of Manhattan. PRNNEWS says, "Pei, now the world's most celebrated living architect, looks back at 70 years of groundbreaking architectural work across the globe. "Still, New York is the most exciting city in the world. It is pulsating with life - and architecture is the mirror of life," says Pei.

I.M. Pei would love to visit SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 where the courseware and instruction has the light and clarity he always sought for and a peek at the mall wouldn't hurt. And all those beaming projectors would certainly remind him of his greatest work, Pyramide du Louvre.

Ivo Zadarsky

Ivo is an American character that was born in Communist Czechoslovakia. His initial claim to fame is chronicled by his Ivoprop company, "3 A.M., August 4, 1984 - A young man, working in starlit darkness, feverishly completes the assembly of a homemade trike aircraft. Carefully, he points the wheels in the direction of Vienna, thirty miles away on the other side of the Czechoslovakian border The silence is finally broken by the starting of a two-cylinder Trabant auto engine and the quiet swishing of the propeller sound swells to a blare as the shadowy delta-wing moves forward across the plowed field and lifts off. Ivo Zdarsky is on his way to becoming the first refugee to successfully fly a homebuilt aircraft over the Iron Curtain to freedom."

He sold that plane to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin, "It is one of the most frequently visited museums in Berlin, with 850,000 visitors in 2007. Through its presentation of the many ways in which people tried to escape East Germany, it aims to bring that period of history to life and ensure that it is not forgotten. At the same time the museum has been criticised for having too little space for the exhibits, the way they are presented and the explanatory texts that accompany them are considered out of date and ideologically biased. A critical examination of western propaganda in the cold war and especially on the subject of the Berlin Wall is non-existent."[Wikipedia].

Ivo founded a propeller company, (One of his props is on its way to Mars as the first interplanetary Ivoprop), and is now an inventor in Utah. Ivo would love to visit SANS Rocky Mountain where he would be in an environment with other creative successful Americans.

Paul Robeson

One of the great American characters that created the land of the free that we live in is Paul Robeson. We may not agree with everything that he believed in, but we don't come from his circumstances either.

According to Archives.gov, "He was the son of a former slave, born and raised during a period of segregation, lynching, and open racism. He earned a four-year scholarship to Rutgers University, making him the third African American to attend the school. There he was a member of the prestigious Cap and Skull Honor Society, played four varsity sports (baseball, football, basketball, and track), won speech and debate tournaments, and managed to graduate valedictorian of his class. After graduation, Robeson applied his athletic abilities to a short career in professional football. Aside from his prowess on the gridiron, he earned a law degree and changed the direction of his career. His legal career was cut short, however, after a secretary refused to take dictation from him solely because of the color of his skin. He left law and turned to his childhood love of acting and singing. Robeson starred in Shakespeare's Othello, the musical Showboat, and films such as Jericho and Proud Valley. He was one of the top performers of his time, earning more money than many white entertainers. His concert career spanned the globe: Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Moscow, New York, and Nairobi.

Robeson's travels opened his awareness to the universality of human suffering and oppression. He began to use his rich bass voice to speak out for independence, freedom, and equality for all people. He believed that artists should use their talents and exposure to aid causes around the world. "The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice," he said. This philosophy drove Robeson to Spain during the civil war, to Africa to promote self-determination, to India to aid in the independence movement, to London to fight for labor rights, and to the Soviet Union to promote anti-fascism. It was in the Soviet Union where he felt that people were treated equally. He could eat in any restaurant and walk through the front doors of hotels, but in his own country he faced discrimination and racism everywhere he went."

Somehow, though, he never left the mark on history that he deserved. According to Biography.com, "Robeson published his biography, Here I Stand, in 1958, the same year that he won the right to have his passport reinstated. Robeson again traveled internationally and received a number of accolades for his work, but damage had been done, as he experienced debilitating depression and related health problems. Robeson and his family returned to the United States in 1963. After Eslanda's death in 1965, the artist lived with his sister. Robeson died from a stroke on January 23, 1976, at the age of 77, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

Or, as Archive.gov puts it, "To celebrate, Robeson gave his first New York concert in a decade at a sold-out Carnegie Hall. But the years of struggle had taken a personal and professional toll. Negative public response and the ban on his travel led to the demise of his career. Before the 1950s, Robeson was one of the world's most famous entertainers and beloved American heroes--once being named "Man of the Year" by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Despite all his accomplishments, Paul Robeson remains virtually ignored in American textbooks and history."

Take a minute to listen to his version of Old man river from Showboat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s 

Paul would have loved SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 with so many talented and committed instructors.

Fiorello La Guardia

According to the Jewish Virtual Library,  though he was Jewish, "he allowed the public to identify him as Italian, not Jewish, even under the most tempting of political circumstances. When issues of Jewish interest came up in New York or national politics, however, the "Little Flower" was an ardent advocate for Jewish rights. As mayor of New York, he was one of Hitler’s most outspoken opponents.

LaGuardia was born in Greenwich Village in 1882 to Achille Luigi Carlo LaGuardia, a Catholic, and Irene Luzzato Coen, who had been raised in an observant Jewish home in Trieste. In 1880, the couple emigrated to the United States. After their third child was born, Achille joined the U.S. Army. The family was sent to remote outposts in South Dakota and Arizona. In 1898, Achille became gravely ill from eating "embalmed" rations supplied to the Army and died four years later. When Fiorello LaGuardia was elected to Congress in 1922, the first bill he introduced called for the death penalty for "scavengers" who supplied tainted food to the military. The bill did not pass, but LaGuardia never lost his Progressive disgust for government corruption or the ability of "the interests" to escape justice."

As the Britannica puts it, "La Guardia was elected to the House of Representatives as a progressive Republican in 1916, but his term was interrupted by service as a pilot in World War I. He was returned to Congress in 1918 and, after serving as president of the New York City board of aldermen in 1920–21, was reelected to the House in 1922. He was reelected four more times, and in the House he opposed Prohibition and supported woman suffrage and child-labour laws. He cosponsored the Norris–La Guardia Act (1932), which restricted the courts’ power to ban or restrain strikes, boycotts, or picketing by organized labour.

In 1933 La Guardia ran successfully for mayor of New York on a reform platform, supported by both the Republican Party and the upstart City Fusion Party, that was dedicated to unseating Tammany Hall (the Democratic organization in New York) and ending its corrupt practices. As mayor, La Guardia earned a national reputation as an honest and nonpartisan reformer dedicated to civic improvement.

And the airport? According to Wikipedia, "The site of the airport was originally used by the Gala Amusement Park, owned by the Steinway family. It was razed and transformed in 1929 into a 105-acre (42 ha) private flying field named Glenn H. Curtiss Airport after the pioneer Long Island aviator, later called North Beach Airport.

The initiative to develop the airport for commercial flights began with an outburst by New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia (in office from 1934 to 1945) upon the arrival of his TWA flight at Newark Airport – the only commercial airport serving the New York City region at the time – as his ticket said "New York". He demanded to be taken to New York, and ordered the plane to be flown to Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, giving an impromptu press conference to reporters along the way. He urged New Yorkers to support a new airport within their city."

La Guardia appreciated honest and hard work so he would have fit right in at SANS Rocky Mountain 2017.

8 John Jacob Astor - America's first millionaire

Astor was actually born in Germany, according to Historynet, "The third son of a butcher, John Jacob was born in Walldorf in the Duchy of Baden, Germany, in 1763. His father was a ne’er-do-well, but his mother was industrious and frugal to the point of parsimony, though the family often went in rags. The eldest son, George, left home for England, where he set up in the musical instrument business. The next son, Henry, soon departed for New York City where he became a butcher like his father. John Jacob remained at the small family holding until 1780; by then his mother had died and his father had remarried. When relations between John Jacob and his stepmother became strained, he left his father’s house with what money he had to seek his fortune. He headed out on foot for the Rhine Valley."

As Wikipedia tersely puts it, "He entered the fur trade and built a monopoly, managing a business empire that extended to the Great Lakes region and Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific coast. Seeing the decline of demand, he got out of the fur trade in 1830, diversifying by investing in New York City real estate and later becoming a famed patron of the arts."

From history.com, we learn, "Quickly learning all he could about the growing American fur trade, Astor made numerous trips to the western frontier, and by the end of the century, he had become the leading fur merchant in the United States. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Astor moved aggressively to exploit this huge new territory for its furs. Although Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the territory brought back the disappointing news that there was no easy water passage across the continent to the Pacific, Astor was nonetheless convinced that a Pacific Coast operation could profitably sell its furs to the huge China market. In 1810, he created the Pacific Fur Company. Within two years, his men had established a trading post named Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River (about sixty miles northwest of modern-day Portland)."

John would have loved to visit SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 to see for himself how the west has grown up since his day.

And his beloved deep water port Astoria, they are doing just fine. Wikipedia reports, "Today, tourism, Astoria's growing art scene, and light manufacturing are the main economic activities of the city. Logging and fishing persist, but at a fraction of their former levels. It is a port of call for cruise ships since 1982, after $10 million in pier improvements to accommodate these larger ships. To avoid Mexican ports of call during the Swine Flu outbreak of 2009, many cruises were re-routed to include Astoria. The residential community The World visited Astoria in June 2009.[28] The town's seasonal sport fishing tourism has been active for several decade and has now been supplanted with visitors coming for the historic elements of the city. The more recent microbrewery/brewpub scene and a weekly street market have helped popularized the area as a destination."

Homer Ramsdell - Industrialist

Homer Ramsdell, an interesting personality by any measure, not only made his mark on Denning’s Point on the Hudson river, he left his mark all over New England. He purchased the majority of Denning’s Point in 1872 and was trying to control access to it by 1876 by raising gates and posting a trespassing notice in the September 22, 1877 Fishkill Standard. Good luck with that, residents of Fishkill Landing, Matteawan and Brynesville had been using the point for clam bakes, boat racing and other activities involving alcohol as long as anyone could remember.

In 1880 Ramsdell began construction of a very large brickyard, (brick factory). The area, you see, had large deposits of clay and some sand, the stuff bricks are made from. This was long before the era of environmental impact statements, so Ramsdell engaged in land sculpture widening the neck of the peninsula using fill that was hauled in.

However, the locals were upset that a large manufacturing facility was going up ruining their party spot, so Ramsdell’s house was robbed and arson occurred on several occasions, as well as an attempt to sabotage the primary machine; Homer was not deterred. Respected by some, detested by others, he continued to develop the factory until his death in 1894. His obituaries show he did a lot more than make bricks he was a true 19th century industrialist.

The trustees of his estate reopened the point to recreation by the locals after his death and the attacks stopped.  In 1925 David Strickland, a certifiable racist, updated the brick making machinery to a new design enabling the brickworks to turn out 400,000 bricks a day.  It is interesting to stop and think about how many homes and buildings have the well known <DPBW> logo.

Homer would have loved SANS Rocky Mountain 2017. He proved during his lifetime that he could do anything he durn well wanted to do. The majority of hands on activities at Rocky Mountain are done using virtual machines where the student can do whatever they durn well choose to do.

I don’t know if Homer knows it, but locals won big time in the end. Denning Point today is a New York state park.

Jacob Lawrence - Famous American Painter

Post based primarily on Story Painter, the life of Jacob Lawrence by John Duggleby

America is the country that it is because of the characters that live, (and lived) here.  This story was told by John Duggleby, won a Carter Woodson and Smithsonian award so it amplifies Jacob’s amazing life. If you have never heard of Jabob Lawrence, a Google images search will bring a smile to your lips.

He was born to a poor African American family in 1917 at a time most people of color lived in the South. But change was afoot, the greatest move North since the Civil War itself.  His parents Rose and Jacob found that life in the North was not easy, jobs were scarce.  His father left the family when he was seven leaving his mother to care for him and his brother and sister.  His mother left to find work in New York, but didn’t have enough money to send for her children for three years, but finally the kinds rejoined her in Harlem. Jake struggled in school and play with other children, but found peace in art. He developed a folksy style that depicted life in the 1930s in Harlem. Great speaker/historians like Allen and Seyfert and other speakers in Harlem were the source of his inspiration and education.

People began to appreciate and show his works, not in powerhouse galleries or museums at this point, but the Harlem YMCA and library. His big break was a government program called The Easel Project. He was being paid to paint. Those paintings are lost sadly.  Nevertheless, with the time to focus on art, he began to develop campaigns or a series of related paintings to tell a story.

In 1940 he began the series that would make him famous, the Migration of the Negro. A year later he married his fellow art student Gwen. The series was found by gallery owner Edith Halpert and soon after purchased by the New York Museum of Modern Art and Phillips Collection in Washington DC. After a stint in the US Navy where Carlton Skinner noticed his talent and added painting Navy life to his official duties. He continued painting, Halpert continued selling and he was soon recognized not as a black artist, but a great artist and this being the 1940s was a great, (and needed), contribution to our culture. In 1970 he did a portrait of Jesse Jackson for Time magazine.

In the same way art teachers in Harlem had encouraged and guided him in his youth, Jacob gave back by teaching art including at the University of Washington where he became a full professor in 1971. His great honors include being invited to attend and paint Jimmy Carter’s inauguration and having a painting chosen by the Pope for the Vatican.

Jacob would love attending SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 to tell the story of the creative and skilled subculture of cybersecurity professionals. Stephen Northcutt is Director, Academic Advising at SANS.EDU.

Kim Rich, author of Johnny's Girl

Kim Rich was born in 1958 to John, (Johnny), Rich, a real Alaskan character that left his input of this great nation. He was married to Frances Ann Chiaravalle, a striking woman that sometimes worked as an exotic dancer, prostitute and B-Girl, (convincing gentlemen to purchase expensive drinks on commission). Johnny, may be best described as a gambler, but he tried a number of businesses and schemes including concert promoter for B.B. King. At the time of his death he owned two massage parlors and a firearms resale business.

While he certainly left his mark on Anchorage Alaska, his daughter, Kim, almost certainly left a larger mark and qualifies as a true American character. She graduated from Alaska University Anchorage with a degree in journalism and did the research to tell Johnny’s story. This became a book, a movie and a play, titled Johnny’s Girl, that gives insights into Johnny’s life, the seedy underworld he operated in and Anchorage Alaska in the rough and tumble 70s and 80s.

The book is of the genre memoir. According to the author,

"Memoir writing is a search for  'what happened' and more importantly, 'why' it happened.  Why did one's parents fall in love?  Why did they marry?  What was it like when they had me?

Memoir writing is also a search for justice.  This can mean justice on a personal level or a societal level or even justice in the arena of the courts.  But true justice can only be obtained through an accurate and fair -- as much as possible -- exploration of the 'what happened' and again, the 'why.'"

Kim Rich would really enjoy flying from her home in Texas to visit SANS Rocky Mountain2017; as a student of culture, I am sure she would enjoy getting to know the security researcher field.

Stephen Northcutt is director of Academic advising at SANS.EDU, an accredited cybersecurity graduate school.

Edward Warren - First American Aviator

According to Aviation Wings, "“With the steady fortitude of an old voyager,” 13 year old Edward Warren acknowledged the crowd below with a “significant wave of his hat.”   Attached to a tether, Warren flew upward on the first “American Aerostatick Balloon” before a “a numerous and respectable Congress of People.”  After the flight, Warren disappeared into obscurity." Suzy Northcutt, upon reading the story remarked, "Ha! I’ve raised teenagers. I know exactly what happened to Edward Warren. He’s STILL grounded!"

Warren is considered the first American Aviator. The man behind the balloon is Peter Carnes. According to Famous Daily, "Peter Carnes, a lawyer and tavern keeper from Bladensburg, Maryland, read the storied reports of the Montgolfier’s experiments with hot-air flight. Carnes was inspired to recreate the experiment himself, and announced in the local papers he would launch his own balloon."

  According to the Washington Post:
200 years ago Peter Carnes tried to be the second American to fly in a balloon for a paid audience. The spectators in the Philadelphia commons watched in awe as the 200-pound man rose about 20 feet. But a shift of wind pushed his ingenious machine into a wall, breaking the chains and dropping him to the ground.

Many in the crowd had not seen Carnes fall, and so were horrified when the balloon, which had continued to climb more than a mile, caught fire. They assumed that the pieces of platform and furnace that dropped from the sky were Carnes' body. 

As it turned out, Carnes landed unhurt in a prison yard and chose to end his ballooning career with that spectacular July 1784 episode.

Peter Carnes, inventor, risk taker, researcher, would have been quite at home at SANS Rocky Mountain 2017, where the storied faculty have many of the same traits. Stephen Northcutt is Director, Academic Advising for SANS.EDU, an accredited cybersecurity graduate school.

Dan White - Twinkie Defense

NOTE: this is cross posted to my information warfare blog, because it is such a strong perceptor. Dan White shot and killed the first openly gay elected official in America, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. He was a tortured soul and ended up committing suicide. According to Biography, "During a videotaped confession, White came across as a pathetic man who was barely able to explain why he had assassinated his colleagues. His defense lawyer, Douglas R. Schmidt, claimed White had acted in the heat of passion and not out of malice. He made a plea of "diminished capacity," due to extreme stress in White's home life and depression. Describing White's emotional state, psychiatrist Martin Blinder, one of five defense therapists, explained that in the days leading up to the shootings, White grew slovenly and abandoned his usual healthy diet and indulged in a diet of sugary junk food like Coke, doughnuts and Twinkies instead.

Newspapers across the country picked up on a great headline, and today the term "Twinkie defense" is a derogatory label implying that a criminal defense is artificial or absurd."

In 2016 America is starting to normalize gay, lesbian, transgender, lifestyles. Part of that is increasing focus on so-called hate speech, (Hate speech is speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or other traits.). You can trace the roots of that particular perceptor campaign to On November 27, 1978 and the murder of George Moscone, (as in the Moscone convention center). While it gave that cause a focus point and it is true that Dan White was anti-homosexual, most of the data indicates this was more about money, a job position.

The other key point is the so-called "Twinkie defense".  According to Wikipedia, ""Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White."

Wikipedia is not exactly correct here. The so-called "Twinkie defense" got the charge reduced from pre-meditated murder to manslaughter and White served five years in prison for the murder of two men. According to Snopes, "Even though White had entered City Hall carrying a gun loaded with especially lethal ammunition, climbed through a basement window to avoid metal detectors, evaded Mayor Moscone's bodyguard, reloaded after killing Moscone, and walked across City Hall to find and gun down Harvey Milk, the jury found that White's actions were not premeditated."

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the "Twinkie defense" is there were no Twinkies. According to SFGate, "The "Twinkie defense" is so ingrained in our culture that it appears in law dictionaries, in sociology textbooks, in college exams and in more than 2, 800 references on Google. Only a few of them call it what it is: a myth.

"I don't think Twinkies were ever mentioned in testimony," said chief defense attorney Douglas Schmidt, who recalls "HoHos and Ding Dongs," but no Twinkies. In fact, the cream-filled confections were mentioned, but only in passing. Junk food was an insignificant part of the defense. The matter was raised briefly in testimony by Marin psychiatrist Martin Blinder, one of five defense therapists."

By the way, Hostess brands, the maker of Twinkies has really turned their business around, according to the Washington Post, "Where the company just five years ago had 8,000 employees — 75 percent of whom were represented by unions — the company now says in filings that it has a “streamlined employee base” of roughly 1,170 workers. That workforce is the shadow of a once-vast empire, which shortly before its troubles totaled 22,000 workers across more than 40 bakeries." How do they do it? Robots make the Twinkies and HoHos. They are now planning for an IPO.

Stephen Northcutt is director for Academic Advising at SANS.EDU and serves as the chair for SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 in Denver starting June 12, 2017. Hostess is led by billionaire C. Dean Metropoulos who drove the move to automation. I think he would appreciate the degree of cyber-security automation in the courses we offer.

Shetamia Taylor - protected son in Dallas shooting

A few weeks ago Kathy and I watched the movie Protocol with Goldie Hawn, where she is shot trying to prevent an assassination and is thrust into the spotlight. I wonder what will happen with Shetamia Taylor, will she be able to use her fame to effect change, or will if be 15 minutes of fame. Only time will tell, but one thing is certain, she is one of the characters that make America the country that it is.

She gave a television interview a couple hours ago and made some very cogent points. As the mother of four black kids, after so much senseless violence, she sat down with her sons and said if you are dealing with the police be respectful and comply. Right now tensions are high on all sides.

Another important takeaway from her interview was when they heard the first shot they weren't sure what it was, it was so close to the 4th of July. The second shot tagged an officer that told her, "he has a gun, run".

In Hawaii, we refer to a perceptor, that has a strong emotional response as follows, "that gave me chicken skin". When we got to the part of the interview where she was laying on her son to project him and told the officer she was hit and he jumped on top of her, that gave me chicken skin. And other officer at their feet, another covering their heads, still more lined up along the wall. This is a strong and much needed word picture for the time we are going through.

Then she saw another officer get shot and the grief Shetamia exhibits is clearly genuine. They managed to extract Shetamia and her son in a squad car to the hospital and she talks about praying all the way, she was separated from her other sons and then she expresses gratitude, "I'm thankful for the Dallas Police Department. When she refers to the shooter she says, "I'm sorry that person thought that it would be OK." and does not mention him by name; nice. We are all very busy, but if you have the chance to watch and share the video, please do. This is the message we need to dwell upon.

Shetamia is a true American character. And I hope that she has more than 15 minutes of fame. I tossed her name into Google before announcing this post on Linkedin and all I could find were stories from July. If you know where she is today, what she is doing, how she is doing please leave me a comment.

Stephen Northcutt is the chair of SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 in Denver 6/12/17. Normally, I base the evening talks on just cybersecurity, but if you know someone in law enforcement in the Denver area that can give a credible talk on what to /not to do when there is a shooter, please introduce us, seems like this is happening a bit too much.

1 James Otis Kenyon - Dentist, arsonist, famous high quality wine

This is a new blog devoted to some of the characters that made our country great and helped forge that special personality of a very special country, the United States of America.

We will start with James Otis Kenyon. If you are from Eastern Washington, you probably think of Otis Canyon as a wine and you would be right. But the wine is named after the man.

He was a dentist in Milton Freewater and wasn't making a lot of money. When another dentist moved into town, he responded by burning his shop down. His family divorced and disowned him, he went to the Eastern Oregon Mental Institution for less than two  years, "where he was a model patient who spent his time doing dental work on the other patients and staff[NWNEWS]. The word is that his family pretended he was dead and never spoke of him. However, his grandson, Stephen, found him and they were close until Otis death at 101 years of age.

The winery uses his name and for good measure, if you order their wine, they throw in a book of matches. Otis would have loved visiting SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 because of its matchless course lineup and instructors.

I serve as chair for SANS Rocky Mountain 2017, June 12 in Denver. I think Otis Kenyon would have loved to visit as we share his sense of competitiveness, (though we don't burn our competition down, at least not that way).