Earth Day Visit To The City, San Francisco

Finally, I got to pay a visit to San Francisco on Earth Day last week.  To be exact, my short excursion included a stop at the Civic Center where a dance event marking the Earth Day was happening, and a hike in the Golden State Park where hatching herons supposedly could be seen.  Before that weekend, a lot of disturbing things already happened upon us: the Heartbleed exploit on HTTPS websites, data breach disclosure at more companies, ferry accidents in Hong Kong and South Korea, lack of progress with Ukraine situation.  I am not the most optimistic person, but I was hopeful that the Earth Day weekend would be better.

How did it turn out? Well, let me just say that I am still savoring the experience after a week even though I missed hatching herons.  Here are a few things I captured through my lens.  I was not able to see anything reflecting a cybersecurity threat, a ferry or airline disaster, or the shadow of cold war.  Maybe that is the beauty and power of the nature? I feel recharged so that I can go back to my cause of fighting advanced Malware threat at Cyphort.  I hope you enjoy these moments as well!

Enjoy Earth, enjoy dance, do Earth justice and smile!

Enjoy Earth, enjoy dance, do Earth justice and smile!

Different colors, different kind of beauty

Different colors, different kind of beauty

Just enjoy the scenery, Chckling 4 & 5 will catch up soon!

Just enjoy the scenery, Chckling 4 & 5 will catch up soon!

I like water, but I like up here now!

I like water, but I like up here now!

Elephant Appreciation

It’s been a long time since I last shared with you through my lens.  My excuse is that I have been busy working with the Cyphort team (http://www.cyphort.com). We have just successfully released the Panther 1.0, offering the first effective, practical, and affordable solution for continuous monitoring and mitigation of modern threats for enterprises.

Luckily I was able to take a 10-day family vacation in Africa, blending deep into the natural game reserves and getting really close to the wild lives.  I feel the impulse to share again and will try to do so in the coming weeks.  Elephants are on my mind today.

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The first thing coming to mind in mention of an elephant is “big”, which becomes apparent with this lonely male elephant standing next to the tree. When we first approached it in the jeep, it flapped his ears, blew the trumpet, and postured to charge at us; the experienced driver quickly went in reverse a little and revved the engine a little, as if to say “Ok, big guy, no harm intended but be nice!”  As shown in the next two pictures, the elephant showed us the power of his tusks against the tree trunk and his true size by standing right next to the tree. Honestly, we really did not need more convincing.  We learned that indeed, elephants are safe from the threats of lions and cheetahs.  The size and strength matter!  We encountered many herds of elephants in the Greater Kruger Game Reserve area, ranging from lone male to several dozen in herd with many babies.  We witnessed many occasions of “giant affection”, as captured by this last picture.  So next time, you’d better not complain that your big nose is in the way 🙂