Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. Politics is tricky.

https://www.twz.com/air/chinas-aircraft-carrier-capability-just-made-a-stunning-leap-forward

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has demonstrated its ability to launch and recover aircraft from its first catapult-equipped aircraft carrier, the Fujian. Official imagery released by the PLAN today confirms that the new J-35 naval stealth fighters and KJ-600 airborne early warning and control aircraft are carrying out carrier trials, something that had not been seen until now. Meanwhile, we’ve also got a much better view of the J-15T single-seat carrier-based fighter launching and recovering aboard Fujian, having previously seen it in position for a catapult launch with its afterburners engaged. The sudden appearance of video of all three aircraft operating from the ship for the first time is something of a stunning revelation, one of many that has come this year from China’s air power portfolio. …

Try this Python script:

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
import os
from pathlib import Path

def watermark_from_filename(input_dir, output_dir=None, 
                           position='bottom-right', 
                           font_size=36,
                           color='white',
                           opacity=200):
    """
    Add watermark to images using their filename (without extension)
    
    Args:
        input_dir: Directory containing images
        output_dir: Output directory (if None, creates 'watermarked' subfolder)
        position: 'bottom-right', 'bottom-left', 'top-right', 'top-left', 'center'
        font_size: Size of the watermark text
        color: Color of the text ('white', 'black', or RGB tuple)
        opacity: Transparency (0-255, 255 is fully opaque)
    """
    
    # Setup directories
    input_path = Path(input_dir)
    if output_dir is None:
        output_path = input_path / 'watermarked'
    else:
        output_path = Path(output_dir)
    
    output_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    
    # Supported image formats
    supported_formats = {'.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.tiff', '.bmp'}
    
    # Process each image
    for img_file in input_path.iterdir():
        if img_file.suffix.lower() not in supported_formats:
            continue
            
        print(f"Processing: {img_file.name}")
        
        # Open image
        img = Image.open(img_file)
        
        # Convert to RGBA if needed (for transparency support)
        if img.mode != 'RGBA':
            img = img.convert('RGBA')
        
        # Create transparent overlay
        txt_layer = Image.new('RGBA', img.size, (255, 255, 255, 0))
        draw = ImageDraw.Draw(txt_layer)
        
        # Get filename without extension
        watermark_text = img_file.stem
        
        # Try to load a nice font, fall back to default if not available
        try:
            font = ImageFont.truetype("arial.ttf", font_size)
        except:
            try:
                font = ImageFont.truetype("/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf", font_size)
            except:
                font = ImageFont.load_default()
        
        # Get text size using textbbox
        bbox = draw.textbbox((0, 0), watermark_text, font=font)
        text_width = bbox[2] - bbox[0]
        text_height = bbox[3] - bbox[1]
        
        # Calculate position
        margin = 20
        if position == 'bottom-right':
            x = img.width - text_width - margin
            y = img.height - text_height - margin
        elif position == 'bottom-left':
            x = margin
            y = img.height - text_height - margin
        elif position == 'top-right':
            x = img.width - text_width - margin
            y = margin
        elif position == 'top-left':
            x = margin
            y = margin
        elif position == 'center':
            x = (img.width - text_width) // 2
            y = (img.height - text_height) // 2
        else:
            x = img.width - text_width - margin
            y = img.height - text_height - margin
        
        # Convert color name to RGB if needed
        if color == 'white':
            rgb_color = (255, 255, 255, opacity)
        elif color == 'black':
            rgb_color = (0, 0, 0, opacity)
        else:
            rgb_color = (*color, opacity) if isinstance(color, tuple) else (255, 255, 255, opacity)
        
        # Draw text
        draw.text((x, y), watermark_text, font=font, fill=rgb_color)
        
        # Composite the watermark onto the image
        watermarked = Image.alpha_composite(img, txt_layer)
        
        # Convert back to RGB for JPEG
        if img_file.suffix.lower() in {'.jpg', '.jpeg'}:
            watermarked = watermarked.convert('RGB')
        
        # Save
        output_file = output_path / img_file.name
        watermarked.save(output_file, quality=95)
        print(f"Saved: {output_file.name}")
    
    print(f"\nDone! Watermarked images saved to: {output_path}")

# Example usage:
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Watermark all images in current directory
    watermark_from_filename(
        input_dir=".",
        position='bottom-right',
        font_size=48,
        color='white',
        opacity=200
    )

To use this script:

1. Install Pillow: pip install Pillow

2. Save the script as watermark_dates.py

3. Run it in your image directory:

   python watermark_dates.py
   

Customization options:

• position: Choose where the watermark appears
• font_size: Adjust text size
• color: ‘white’, ‘black’, or RGB tuple like (255, 0, 0) for red
• opacity: 0-255 (lower = more transparent)

While the team working with Dogs of Chernobyl was investigating the blue dogs, they came upon an old portable toilet, or porta-potty.

“We are suspecting that this substance was from an old portable toilet that was in the same location as the dogs; however, we were unable to positively confirm our suspicions,” says Betz.

Thanks to the photos of the blue dogs that have a geotag, the team accurately pinpointed the location of the dogs in conjunction with the portable toilet.

Many portable toilets contain a blue liquid that serves as a deodorizer, and they suggest the dogs may have rolled in it. However, until the team can catch and analyze one of the blue Chornobyl dogs, they won’t know for sure what caused the blue fur.

https://archive.is/yEjhR

In a major breakthrough for the digital rights movement, the German government has refused to back the EU’s controversial Chat Control regulation yesterday after facing massive public pressure. The government did not take a position on the proposal. This blocks the required majority in the EU Council, derailing the plan to pass the surveillance law next week. Jens Spahn, Chairman of the conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said in a public statement: “We, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, are opposed to the unwarranted monitoring of chats. That would be like opening all letters as a precautionary measure to see if there is anything illegal in them. That is not acceptable, and we will not allow it.”

…

For this who need more then a headline.

For the first time ever, the top two “ports” for U.S. merchandise trade are airports.

This is particularly counterintuitive given that the nation’s top three trade partners largely rely on border crossings (Canada, Mexico) and seaports (China) and account for more than one-third of all U.S. trade.

Through May, New York’s JFK International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport ranked first and second for the value of their trade, according to my analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data.

…

The Russia bans gasoline exports measure will start on 29 July and, for the first time, apply to fuel producers as well. Interfax reports that the Kremlin announced the full restriction to stabilize the domestic fuel market amid peak summer demand. Liga notes that the ban could also be prolonged into September if the situation does not improve.

Sanctions on Russian oil and refined products have cut export revenues and reduced access to parts and buyers. At the same time, the war drives enormous military fuel consumption, while Ukrainian attacks on fuel facilities and transport routes disrupt production and logistics. These pressures collide with seasonal demand peaks from farming during summer, creating domestic shortages. To keep enough fuel for internal needs, Moscow has turned to export bans as a stopgap measure.

Everyone doing all they can to stop the scourge… Even with 100 year old water cooled machine guns.

Alternative link https://archive.md/PZYua

…

Local and out-of-state businesses with global revenues of $5 million or more will need to pay those producer fees to help pay for recycling services, like helping local hauling companies purchase new trucks and recycling bins. Funds will also help local governments administer the program and educate ratepayers about what is or isn’t recyclable.

This new recycling system came out of legislation passed in 2021. That law was a response to a global recycling disruption that began in 2017, when China — the world’s largest importer of recyclables — stopped accepting several types of waste due to high levels of contamination.

Since then, more domestic companies have cropped up to fulfill the nation’s demand for a place to recycle their trash, particularly plastics — according to Kim Holmes, executive director of Circular Action Alliance, the nonprofit charged with collecting and administering producer fees.

“There is no struggle in finding end markets,” Holmes said. “We have homes for all of the materials we currently have.”

The law requires recyclables to go to “responsible end markets” — that is, businesses that recycle materials in a way that doesn’t have major environmental or public health consequences. The statewide recycling list is based on materials that have such end markets.

For those who have read the Galaxy’s Edge series, I can only think of the appointees (aka 'Points). Political appointed officer who often end up getting the legionaries killed and lack the combat prowess/skill to be in the officer position they exercise.

Realistically we have many other direct commission officers such as the medical, engineers, legal, etc. What’s really different here is they are not requiring the full 5 week Direct commission officer basic course .

Great write up and analysis, very clear with concise points. I would also agree with your thoughts, but even apart from that bias I appreciate the detailed response!

Reminds me of the bugging of the new embassy in Moscow. A fun read about it in Air and Space Forces Magazine: Cleaning the Bug House.

…“Mr. Ambassador, these are the plans that disclose how the bugging of your embassy took place, and these are the instruments that were used,” said Bakatin. “I want them turned over to your government, no strings attached.” Strauss was dumbstruck, according to an account of the incident he gave later that year. After years of denial, the Soviet intelligence arm was admitting its role in one of the most notorious espionage incidents of the 1980s: It had packed the new US Embassy office building in Moscow with sophisticated listening devices. The edifice’s structure was so riddled with bugs that some US counterespionage experts described it as nothing but a giant microphone.

Interesting you say viral pathology and immunology. Can you expand on what you mean on that a bit? I find it a useful analog for what’s going on.

I like this concept and I feel like that a step along the way as it is essentially what’s happening. The EULA’s, TOS’s, SLA’s, etc are all contracts, which should be negotiable by both parties and allow the individuals or groups to define value, be that monetary value (the $5) or something in trade. Some how we the masses skipped over the negotiation, and are left with an almost binary choice either accept and use it or not. (You could sue, or protest, or etc, but without standing or a large following this is not effective for an individual.)

So whilst’ I agree, I also think it might be more useful to focus on the reason the information is valuable.

And one last point here, is that these all stem from the way we as humans are built. Although we are capable of rational though, we often do not make rational decisions. Indeed those decisions are based on cognitive biases which we all have and are effected by context, environment, input, etc. It’s possible to overcome this lack of rational judgement, through processes and synthesis such as the scientific method. So we as citizens and humans can build institutions that help us account for the individual biases we have and overcome these biological challenges, while also enjoying the benefits and remaining human.

Great cause and one that reaches to the heart of what I see as impacting much of the governmental and societal disruption that’s happening. It’s a complex and nuanced issue that is likely to take multiple prongs and a long time to resolve.

Let me start by again generally agreeing with the point. Privacy is necessary for reasons beyond the obvious needs. Speaking to the choir here on a privacy community. I think it’s worth listing the reasons that I understand why Americans are generally dismissive of the need for privacy protections. I cheated here, and used an LLM to help, but I think these points are indicative of things to overcome.

• Convenience > confidentiality. Nearly half of U.S. adults (47 %) say it’s acceptable for retailers to track every purchase in exchange for loyalty-card discounts, illustrating a widespread “deal first, data later” mindset. Pew Research Center

• “Nothing to hide.” A popular refrain equates privacy with secrecy; if you’re law-abiding, the thinking goes, surveillance is harmless. The slogan is so common that rights groups still publish rebuttals to it. Amnesty International

• Resignation and powerlessness. About 73 % feel they have little or no control over what companies do with their data, and 79 % say the same about government use—attitudes that breed fatalism rather than action. Pew Research Center

• Policy-fatigue & click-through consent. Because privacy policies are dense and technical, 56 % of Americans routinely click “agree” without reading, while 69 % treat the notice as a hurdle to get past, not a safeguard. Pew Research Center

• The privacy paradox. Behavioral studies keep finding a gap between high stated concern and lax real-world practice, driven by cognitive biases and social desirability effects. SAGE Journals

• Market ideology & the “free-service” bargain. The U.S. tech economy normalizes “free” platforms funded by targeted ads; many users see data sharing as the implicit cost of innovation and participation. LinkedIn

• Security framing. Post-9/11 narratives cast surveillance as a safety tool; even today 42 % still approve of bulk data collection for anti-terrorism, muting opposition to broader privacy safeguards. Pew Research Center

• Harms feel abstract. People worry about privacy in the abstract, yet most haven’t suffered visible damage, so the risk seems remote compared with daily conveniences. IAPP

• Patchwork laws. With no single federal statute, Americans face a confusing mix of state and sector rules, making privacy protections feel inconsistent and easy to ignore. Practice Guides

• Generational normalization. Digital natives are more comfortable with surveillance; a 2023 survey found that 29 % of Gen Z would even accept in-home government cameras to curb crime. cato.org

Having listed elements to overcome, it’s easy to see why this feels sisyphean task in an American society. (It is similar, but different other Global North societies. The US desperately needs change as is evident with the current administration.) Getting to your question though, I feel like the real rational points to convey are not those above, but the reasons how a lack of privacy impacts individuals.

• Political micro-targeting & democratic drift
  Platforms mine psychographic data to serve bespoke campaign messages that exploit confirmation bias, social-proof heuristics, and loss-aversion—leaving voters receptive to turnout-suppression or “vote-against-self-interest” nudges. A 2025 study found personality-tailored ads stayed significantly more persuasive than generic ones even when users were warned they were being targeted. Nature

• Surveillance pricing & impulsive consumption
  Retailers and service-providers now run “surveillance pricing” engines that fine-tune what you see—and what it costs—based on location, device, credit profile, and browsing history. By pairing granular data with scarcity cues and anchoring, these systems push consumers toward higher-priced or unnecessary purchases while dulling price-comparison instincts. Federal Trade Commission

• Dark-pattern commerce & hidden fees
  Interface tricks (pre-ticked boxes, countdown timers, labyrinthine unsubscribe flows) leverage present-bias and choice overload, trapping users in subscriptions or coaxing them to reveal more data than intended. Federal Trade Commission

• Youth mental-health spiral
  Algorithmic feeds intensify social-comparison and negativity biases; among U.S. teen girls, 57 % felt “persistently sad or hopeless” and nearly 1 in 3 considered suicide in 2021—a decade-high that public-health experts link in part to round-the-clock, data-driven social media exposure. CDC

• Chilling effects on knowledge, speech, and creativity
  After the Snowden leaks, measurable drops in searches and Wikipedia visits for sensitive topics illustrated how surveillance primes availability and fear biases, nudging citizens away from inquiry or dissent. Common Dreams

• Algorithmic discrimination & structural inequity
  Predictive-policing models recycle historically biased crime data (representativeness bias), steering patrols back to the same neighborhoods; credit-scoring and lending algorithms charge Black and Latinx borrowers higher interest (statistical discrimination), entrenching wealth gaps. American Bar AssociationRobert F. Kennedy Human Rights

• Personal-safety threats from data brokerage
  Brokers sell address histories, phone numbers, and real-time location snapshots; abusers can buy dossiers on domestic-violence survivors within minutes, exploiting the “search costs” gap between seeker and subject. EPIC

• Identity theft & downstream financial harm
  With 1.35 billion breach notices issued in 2024 alone, stolen data fuels phishing, tax-refund fraud, bogus credit-card openings, and years of credit-score damage—costs that disproportionately hit low-information or low-income households. ITRC

• Public-health manipulation & misinformation loops
  Health conspiracies spread via engagement-optimized feeds that exploit negativity and emotional-salience biases; a 2023 analysis of Facebook found antivaccine content became more politically polarized and visible after the platform’s cleanup efforts, undercutting risk-perception and vaccination decisions. PMC

• Erosion of autonomy through behavioral “nudging”
  Recommendation engines continuously A/B-test content against your micro-profile, capitalizing on novelty-seeking and variable-reward loops (think endless scroll or autoplay). Over time, the platform—rather than the user—decides how hours and attention are spent, narrowing genuine choice. Nature

• National-security & geopolitical leverage
  Bulk personal and geolocation data flowing to data-hungry foreign adversaries opens doors to espionage, blackmail, and influence operations—risks so acute that the DOJ’s 2025 Data Security Program now restricts many cross-border “covered data transactions.” Department of Justice

• Social trust & civic cohesion
  When 77 % of Americans say they lack faith in social-media CEOs to handle data responsibly, the result is widespread mistrust—not just of tech firms but of institutions and one another—fueling polarization and disengagement. Pew Research Center

Alternative link