Wodan-Faste Daeg 3

 As we slip into 72 hours I am somewhat surprised at the lack of hunger.  Food seems like a foreign concept though I still truly believe that I like food in a true fat boy fashion... 

Today was an interesting day to fast, as here at work there is food everywhere.  I do feel the need to reiterate that my fasting is not about weight loss... while I have put on a few more domesticated happy pounds since I have been back from Hawaii, I don't feel a pressing need to drop a bunch of weight. My overall fitness goals include me being about 204 pounds.   I am still under 200 at last check.  The last couple of years my weight goals had been to drop down to around 190 and add 15 pounds in Muscle mass.  While in Hawaii last year I had dropped down to 182.   I seem to have less appetite in warmer climates... I also seem to be rambling. 

Today's Rune is Ansuz.  It is a Rune of knowledge, eloquence, and inspiration. 

Wodan-Faste Daeg 2

 44 hours into my fast... 

Yesterday at about the 24-26 hour mark I was very pulled by food... not that I felt hungry but that I wanted food, because my body was used to it. 

Today I awake somewhat more clear, with definite feelings of energization.   My system has started expunging its wastes and clearing itself.  I drink a lot of water, tea, and a bit of coffee.   Not the cleanest but I don't feel it detracts from my endeavor. 

Todays rune was Inguz representing Fertility and potential.  Signifying that a situation I am in currently has occurred before and I should put energy into resolving things differently. 

I plan to workout today... or run depending on the temperature outside. 

Wodan-Faste Daeg 1

Several moons back, while on a spiritual journey in a deep breathwork sound healing, I received a vision quest of a  9-day fast as a physical and spiritual metamorphosis tool.  Inspired by Odin's self-sacrifice of himself to himself, his hanging from Yggdrasil for 9 days and 9 nights, without food or water, pierced by Gungnir his spear.  He is said to have peered down into the fathomless depths of the well of Ord of which the tree of life grows out, seeking to attain more profound knowledge, ostensibly of both himself and the cosmos.  I seek wisdom on my shamanic journey, spiritual clarity, autophagy of my body, and to kick my 50-year-old metabolism into turbo!

While foregoing food and water... hanging upside down... and piercing myself with a spear is not an approachable goal... I can gather certain corollaries from my experience, and indeed the act of a 9-day fast is a sacrifice of myself to myself, as my body must consume itself to survive. 

I will venture to art, music, yoga, study of the runes, exercise, and other feedings of my soul to further this endeavor. 

Today's rune was Perthro... signifying what is hidden... seems appropriate as I venture into the mysteries. 

May 15 10:00am, 20 hours fasted!

The Compassionate Orator

Recently, I was witness to a lengthy frustrated rant about having to express the same concepts over and over, to different groups, that may or may not contain the same people.   While I understand the emotions that prompted the rant, the high-jacking of the meeting did not help the group understand the problem at hand, or move us quicker to a solution.

This brings me around to the point of this article.  Who is responsible for ensuring a message is understood?

When in the hold of impassioned or complex thought do we too often dismiss our listener?  Are they thick, slow, unintelligent?  Probably not.  If they are someone you work with, or are doing business with, there is something that has got them where they are at, they bring some piece of puzzle to the table.  That aside, what we often forget is that the onus is on the speaker to convey meaning, not on the listener to comprehend.  Make no mistake the listener has an active role in the process, and must remain engaged, but if we are not crafting our message so that the listener or listeners comprehend, take away, and hopefully socialize our message, we are not meeting our obligations as the presenter or subject matter expert.

A few things to remember in our quest to being understood:
1. Make less assumptions - Don't automatically assume everyone has the same foundations, take things back to the 50,000ft view, and then bring your focus in on the specifics, after you have established a common baseline.
2. Be Patient and Answer Questions often - Get over the need to get everything out before you're interrupted.  If one person has questions or need clarifications, it is undoubtable that others do as well.
3. Socialize your message - While you probably only have a set amount of time to get your information across, ensure that you have done your piece to build solid documentation, or at least some foundational information.  A good synapse of the issue at hand in a meeting request, or presentation description will go a long ways to getting everyone on the same page, but this requires that you do some preparation to back up the discussion.

Overall, acting with consideration, and reacting with compassion will go a long ways to ensure that your message is received as intended.

Yours in Security,
JustinTM

Being Green

This isn't an article on espousing the intricacies of "Hulk smash", or the joys of being a Jolly Green Giant, instead I want to talk about team inclusiveness.  One of the many takeaways I came away from Army basic training with, was that we are all "Green".  It is a philosophy meant to eliminate bias and discrimination in the ranks, but it can be broken down to mean that we have a shared experience. It’s a mantra that since I wear the same uniform as you, your color, creed, orientation, or religion, are irrelevant to the fact that we are same, and in this together. Its a determination that you trust me to have your back, and I know that you have mine.  

This isn't just a phenomenon that is isolated to the military experience.  Whatever uniform or hat you wear, look around at those that are sharing the experience with you.  We are in this together; we share the same concerns and issues.  If we remember to keep this mindset, then maybe, just maybe, we may make that little extra effort to treat each other with the respect we deserve, and that keeps teams functioning well.  

Yours in Security,

JustinTM

Information on a Linux vulnerability was publically disclosed last week, and was widely distributed yesterday.

The CVE-2017-2636 vulnerability affects the majority of popular Linux distributions including Ubuntu, RHEL 6/7, Fedora, SUSE, and Debian.

http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/57194/hacking/cve-2017-2636-linux-kernel-flaw.html

The vulnerability is in the N_HLDC Linux Kernel driver and can exploit a double free memory bug to allow for escalated privileges on the system.

The vulnerability can be verified using system test calls with google’s syzkaller fuzzer.

All major releases have a security patch available, and the recommendation is to patch as soon as possible.

Parting the Veil

Hats off to Rob Graham @ errata Security for a great blog post that shares some great CLI tools for the infosec crowd: http://blog.erratasec.com/2017/01/the-command-line-for-cybersec.html#.WIhBpFMrKpp

The past week has been quite fruitful,  I was able to add the CompTIA Project+ and the Cisco CCENT Certifications.  The CCENT was a result of taking the ICND1 exam, the first of 2 exams towards a Cisco CCNA.  I am also halfway to attaining the Linux+ certification.  My plan is take the next Linux+ exam (LX0-104) to complete the pair, and then move on to the ICND2.

Last week I also built my first Boot-to-root Virtual Machine, the goal was to create a vehicle for sharing my resume that would cause me to stand out.  I haven't had a response yet, but once I know that the my clues have been found, I will post the link and a walk-through.  It was terribly basic,  but a good beginning.

Yours in Security,
Justin