Tag Archive | kosmos

A Free and Open Internet For All

Apr30

netneutralityNet Neutrality

Did you know your ability to access internet data is under threat? Seriously. You might lose your FREE access to a variety of websites, information and more if the FCC continues to back the desire of ISPs to charge for access.

Today Senator Elizabeth Warren posted a warning on her Facebook page concerning the pay-for-play policy being considered by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

On her post, Sen. Warren wrote:
“We don’t know who is going to have the next big idea in this country, but we’re pretty sure they’re going to need to get online to do it. Reports that the FCC may gut net neutrality are disturbing, and would be just one more way the playing field is tilted for the rich and powerful who have already made it. Our regulators already have all the tools they need to protect a free and open Internet – where a handful of companies cannot block or filter or charge access fees for what we do online. They should stand up and use them.“

What’s at issue?
There are many places online to read about both sides of the issue. But who do you trust? I’d be more inclined to lean toward Wikipedia (Wikipedia:Net Neutrality) than some of the PC blogs and online magazines. Everyone has a slant to the issue. So I kept researching. Continue reading →

The Business of Spirituality : Tune In

Apr26

Mindful MeditationThe Ænigma Project – Mondays 9 PM Eastern

Join Paul Cagle and his co-hosts Sushi and Springwolf (that’s me), as we share our research, knowledge, insight and humor of the spiritual and paranormal on  The Ænigma Project.

04/28 Our Topic This Week:
The Business of Spirituality
We talk about business in the spiritual world with Guest Christine Andrew from CoSozo Radio Network. What she has learned about running her own business, how others can get started with their dreams in business and what pros and cons to look out for. If you’re thinking of turning your spiritual passion into a career, this is a great show to tune into. There’s something for everyone as we discuss the practical and offer a few lessons learned from our own experiences.

Christine offers insight, information and inspiration on her radio shows hosted on the Cosozo Radio Network. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Be part of the Ænigmite Crew and play “Truth or Tale”, see if you can tell the stories that are real, from those that are made up. And find out what the latest strange or paranormal is being talked about for the week as we discuss the “News of the Day”.  Learn more at Springwolf Reflections: The Ænigma Project’s April 28th, 2014 show The Business of Spirituality.

Continue reading →

Morning Dew

Apr25

The Faery Festival

Once a upon a time, the Faeries of Bellaruesk planned a summer faery art festival in the deep hollow of the woods. To protect their celebration from Mother Nature, they asked the forest spiders to build a canopy over their meadow. The spiders worked through the night and weaved a beautiful fine web over the entire village. As the sun rose between the trees, the warm rays sparkled and danced upon the Morning Dew. The tiny droplets transformed the early light of dawn into brilliant colorful beams beneath the woven web, turning the Faery land into lovely rainbows sent from above.

~ Springwolf © 2014

Фотограф: Вадим Кондратьев. Photographer: Vadim Kondratyev.

Фотограф: Вадим Кондратьев ~ Photographer: Vadim Kondratyev

© 1997-2014 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf's Kosmos. All Rights Reserved.
© 1997-2014 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf’s Kosmos. All Rights Reserved.

Living With Wolves

Apr22

The Sawtooth Pack

In 1990, Jim  Dutcher was given captive pups and a permit to set up a 25 Acre Wolf observation camp in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, where Living with Wolves” was filmed. He was later joined by his wife, naturalist Jamie Dutcher and together they lived with the wolves for six years. The Dutchers spent their time, filming, documenting and living amongst these wolves in their natural habit, studied their habits, personalities and family characteristics. Their experience was turned into a beautiful documentary about the Sawtooth Pack.

The “Sawtooth Pack” were later sold to the Wolf Education and Research Center,(a non-profit organization he founded) in conjunction with the Native American “Nez Perce” and moved to northern Idaho.

© 1997-2014 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf's Kosmos. All Rights Reserved.
© 1997-2014 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf’s Kosmos. All Rights Reserved.

 

We Simply Love Racing

Apr6
20090911-08

Our Little Man At Our Local Track – Richmond! September 2009.
He’s been a Ryan Newman fan for a long time, but jumped at the chance to get in Carl Edwards Nationwide Ride!

It’s NASCAR, Everything Else Is Just A Game!

We are simple fans of Nascar, and racing in general. Sprint cup, NNS, Dirt, Late Models, Sprint Cars etc. Our “home” track is Richmond International Raceway. What better place to have as your “hometrack”?

My partner and I have been fans since we were in our teens. That was a very long time ago and enough said about that. He was born and raised in Charlotte and cheers on his hometown favorite DaleJr.

My guy is The People’s Champion, 3-Time Champion Tony Stewart. Became a diehard Smoke fan since his first win in 1999 at, Richmond of course.

And our man-child decided he was a Ryan Newman fan at the tender age of 5. We walked into a Nascar store at our local mall and within 5 minutes he was pulling the T-shirt of what was to be his favorite driver. The #12 Altel shirt for Ryan Newman. Continue reading →

Baby Wolf’s First Lesson

Apr5

wolfhowlsLearning To Howl

Wolf researcher Shaun Ellis, best known for his “A Man Among Wolves” documentary film helps to teach a baby wolf how to howl!

When we brought Merlin home from the Wolf Rescue, he was already talking with the pack. But all babies have to learn how to communicate with their families. Wolves have a complex language with varying yips, yelps, barks, whines and of course howls. But even the howls aren’t all the same.

Like any baby a, wolf pup begins learning how to communicate with the pack as soon as it begins to recognize sound. Even though howling comes naturally to wolves, they still need to learn the subtle language of their pack. No different from a baby born in the U.S. or one born in France. We all have differences in the language we use to speak with others in our region or pack. All babies mimic their parents and I believe wolves are no different in that respect. Continue reading →

RSCA Tracking

Mar31

trackingTools and Manual Tracking

As I mentioned in the RSCA Methodology overview, there are many tools on the market to help you perform tracking and reporting for regulatory compliance. I strongly suggest you invest in one of these tools and share it with your Internal Audit, SOx Audit and IT Compliance organizations. Having a single source for your tracking and reporting needs saves a great deal of time, and will cut down on the miscommunications between these organizations.

Most audit software companies have tools that will track all these data types and more. They also provide multi-user authenticated signon where project leaders and managers who own actions plans can update their the status of their assigned remediation items directly.

If however, your organization simply cannot afford these tools, you can perform the tracking and reporting through a manual process using MS Excel spreadsheets. If that’s the method you chose, there are specific data types to keep track of. Continue reading →

The RSCA Process

Mar31

processProcess Documentation

The Risk, Security & Compliance Assessment (RSCA) approach is used to evaluate the current state of security and compliance activities for SOx remediation initiatives. RSCA is a three-step methodology that covers Planning and Data Collection, Risk and Security Assessment, and Tracking and Reporting.

Each organization has their own Audit process to define the scope of an audit, the methodology for implementing that audit and how findings are reported. When findings fall into the realm of GRC, they should be handed off to a RSCA team for tracking and oversight for remediation.

See my IT Governance section for more information about IT Audit, and Governance, Risk Management & Compliance (GRC) and Risk, Security & Compliance Assessments (RSCA).
Continue reading →

RSCA Methodology

Mar30

riskRisk, Security & Compliance Assessments

The RSCA approach is used to evaluate the current state of Security and Compliance activities for SOx remediation within a business. RSCA is a three-step methodology designed to manage and provide oversight for business risk and compliance. But keep in mind that neither SOx nor RSCA are designed to eliminate all risk. They are designed to ensure risks are known and either corrected or accepted.

To that end, RSCA addresses your companies governance through:

  1. Planning and Data Collection
  2. Risk and Security Assessment
  3. Tracking and Reporting

These steps have been implemented at many large corporations facing large remediation initiatives. But it’s a method that can be easily scaled to any size business. These steps help to ensure both your business and IT processes are being adhered to, identifies gaps or risks that need to be resolved, tracks those resolution efforts and provides a method of reporting through each chain of command necessary for Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) Assessments.

See my IT Governance section for more information about IT Audit, and Governance, Risk Management & Compliance (GRC) and Risk, Security & Compliance Assessments (RSCA).

Continue reading →

Segregation Of Duties

Mar30

sodRoles & Responsibilities

Segregation of Duties (SOD) is one of the biggest issues to hit IT organizations. Especially for those that have been in business for 40 years or more. Companies typically start out with open environments that relied on developers to implement new code straight into production. Many organizations have no change management or change control tools to help strengthen and secure their development, testing, implementation into production and subsequent maintenance changes and emergency fix processes.

Compliance initiatives have done away with the same ole procedures and now require organizations to maintain stronger and more restrictive control over their IT environments. Those that don’t make efforts for control, end up with significant deficiencies called out by their auditors. Continue reading →