Lunch Walk 3 Jul 2014

It had just stopped raining an hour or two before lunch today and it looked like the skies were clearing, so I chanced a walk. The temperature was in the low 60's - almost too cool for short sleeves - but walking kept me warm enough. The macro lens got another workout today, although I wish I had a long lens along for a couple of opportunities - the first of which was this little hopper:

Fortunately, he let me get fairly close. This image is cropped down about 50%. The rest of the photos are unedited jpegs straight out of the camera. Check my Flickr photostream for processed images.

Then I encountered this damselfly:

This moth was drying out on a tree:

The wild raspberries are ripening:

A couple flies and a beetle of some sort (which was quite a challenge to get a good image of):

Some Black-eyed Susans, one with a bug:

Experimenting with water on foliage:

Thistles are starting to bloom as well:

Finally, a couple of Turkey Vultures were soaring near the trail head. This is the other opportunity for which I wish I had a long lens.

Lunch Walk 2 Jul 2014

I decided to forgo the birds today and try a macro setup: a Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM macro lens with a Kenko Pro 1.4x mounted on my 6D body. It was quite windy, though, making close-up macro work difficult. No IS means bumping up the ISO to 640+ so I could get decent shutter speeds with the smaller f-stops.

Despite the wind, there was no lack of subjects: butterflies, flowers, insects, and a couple of plants for grins.

I could have spent all day on these Banded Hairstreak butterflies. I wish I had brought along a reflector because the shadows are quite harsh at mid-day!

A Tawny-edge Skipper in the vicinity:

Another flying insect:

A couple of damselflies:

Wild raspberries are starting to grow:

And this, apparently, is what the damselflies and other insects do to the foliage:

Spider and Butterfly

If you browsed my Flickr Photostream, you would find that butterflies and other insects are a favorite macro subject. There is an abundance of these critters right in my own backyard. Last night, after eating dinner on the patio, I found a spider that has built a web between the porch railing and the grill:

Then I had some fun chasing this Red Admiral butterfly around:

Lunch Walk 25 Jun 2014

The diversity of wildlife that can be seen from the small strip of land I walk at lunch never ceases to amaze me. Today, I spotted a Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker.

Lunch Walk 19 Jun 2014

Still cloudy and a little wet from this morning's rain but today's walk was fruitful for making photographs.

There were Robins galore out picking their lunch from the grass. It wasn't hard to get a couple photos. I'd have taken more but I'm kind of bored of Robins.

Lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, too. This couple were both collecting food, probably for a nearby nest of chicks.

Then, there was this Baltimore Oriole. I had to stick around a while to get these.

Some plant life:

This guy was just crossing the path some distance up.

And, finally, there were a fair number of moths, butterflies, and damselflies about.

Edited images are now on my Flickr site.

Lunch Walk 16 Jun 2014

It was around 80 degrees today during my lunch walk. Not a lot of birds today besides a few Jays that were too coy to be photographed. So today's images were mostly of flora. I did sight a moth I haven't noticed before - a Clymene Haploa Moth, it turns out. I was so focused on the interesting wing pattern that I completely missed seeing a spider in the frame until I was editing the photo for publishing (you'll probably have to expand the pic to see it).

Clymene Haploa Moth

Evening Walk at St. Hugo of the Hills

I took a walk with Kathleen to St. Hugo's - about a mile and a half from our home. It was getting late and the sun was setting. A perfect opportunity to try some low-light photography. There are a couple fountains there that I'd like to photograph at dusk, when the sky is dark, maybe using some light painting techniques. But for this walk, I was just scouting out subjects. Here are a few snaps:

Lunch Walk 06 Jun 2014

Starting to see more flowers blooming and a variety of butterflies. I haven't been able to photography any butterflies yet for a couple of reasons: 1) I haven't carried my trusty 100mm macro lens and 2) they're just too darn fast!

Lots of Robins today. One of them even let me fairly close while he posed for me.

My first Cedar Waxwing sighting of the year:

That same feisty Red-winged Blackbird, protecting the nest - got him in flight today.

And a funny little squirrel:

Also spotted a hummingbird sitting on a high-up branch - too far and too back-lit to get a good image.

Lunch Walk 03 Jun 2014

When the weather is nice, I like to take a nature walk during my lunch break. I get some exercise but my real motivation is the opportunity to make some photographs. I'll make images of just about anything that catches my eye - flowers, wildlife, objects, and especially birds. I've become increasingly interested in bird photography.

Until now, I've been using an old Canon EF 75-300 f/4-5.6 II (non-USM) lens on my new 6D body. I've got my eye on a new super-telephoto zoom and I'll most likely end up with a Canon 100-400 very shortly. I'd really like to try the new Tamron 150-600 but it just has not been available. Besides, I think I'm going to want the faster AF the Canon offers, even at the loss of reach. I've read that a Kenko 1.4X PRO extender will still allow AF to work on the 100-400, so that could be an option for regaining the extra reach.

Today, I captured a Baltimore Oriole - a new sighting for me. I also got a feisty Red-wing Blackbird, a Blue Jay, and Song Sparrow. The following images are jpegs straight from the camera - no editing whatsoever. (Check my flicker stream for more refined images.)

Baltimore Oriole

Blue Jay

Song Sparrow

 Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird - he's got his lunch!

Embedded Systems Virus?

I posted this in response to a question on the LinkedIn Embedded group:

I was thinking if it is possible to inject some virus in a micro-controller based embedded system?

As we move toward the Internet of Things (or pervasive computing, or ambient intelligence, or ...) there appears to be a convergence toward standard interfaces, whether these interfaces are widely published or not. Look at the automotive industry. Every modern car has dozens of embedded systems that are interconnected (via CAN or some other network). Connectivity with the World at large is becoming more affordable and common (e.g. GPS navigation, Wi-Fi internet, and over-the-air services like OnStar and Sync). Also consider that a computer does not necessarily have to be connected to the internet to be vulnerable to attacks -- in the "old days" viruses passed from machine to machine on floppy disks (aka "sneakernet") and today we still use portable media (i.e. USB drives). 

To answer the OP's question: is it possible to inject some virus in a micro-controller based embedded system? I believe it is *possible*. Perhaps not likely at this moment but we are fast approaching a time when the likelihood of attacks on embedded systems will dramatically increase. There have, to date, been a few academic studies on hacking into automotive systems and these have proven successful to some extent. Automotive companies (most notably GM) are now taking a serious look at cyber-security and we can expect to see stringent security (as well as safety) requirements for at least the most vulnerable modules for model years as soon as 2016. 

As far as non-automotive micro-controller-based embedded systems, they are all around us - and SPECIFICALLY connected and accessible. Every smartphone (iPhone, Android, etc.) is such a device. Also, we are becoming more and more dependent on "the cloud" -- what if a way was discovered to "poison the pool" by infecting the cloud?I'll bet there have already been some serious attempts!