Brabec Bulletin Tidbits on Life
September 17, 2025
How Hackers are Leveraging AI for Stealing
Copyright Laws for Old Family Photos
The Importance of Reading
Remembering the Canine Heroes of September 11
Winners of Nature Photographer of the Year
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How Hackers are Leveraging AI for Stealing
My writer friend, Gail Sas—an excellent researcher on health and fitness—has published a definitive update on how to be more aware of the hackers, scammers, and thieves who are stealing millions of dollars through text messages, emails, and phone calls. “Unsuspecting consumers are deceived over and over again with the same schemes, failing to realize that scammers are infinitely creative in making them believe they are offering something new and lucrative.”
Gail’s rundown on the many ways that AI is making this problem so much worse is a sharp reminder of the importance of staying up on how criminals are using AI to target our hearts and wallets through fake images, ads, and videos. You might want to pass this Tidbit on to someone who doesn't understand how quickly the world is changing because of technological advances, and AI in particular.
P.S. See also “AI Cyber Attack Statistics 2025” to see how quickly hackers have leveraged AI to develop more advanced phishing campaigns, theft of passwords, and deepfake attacks.
Copyright Laws for Old Family Photos
That old family photo may be copyrighted, so before posting it online or including it in a book, be sure to get permission from the family to avoid a potential legal issue. This article, “What Are Copyright Laws for Old Photos?” offers in-depth information you should know. This excerpt gives you a starting point:
“For a photo to be eligible for copyright protection, it must have been created after 1978 and registered with the US Copyright Office before being published or distributed. Without proper registration, the image may not be eligible for copyright protection and could be subject to unauthorized use by someone else. Before 1978, any image created before was not eligible for copyright protection due to a lack of technology at the time they were created.”
The Importance of Reading
“You have to assimilate. If you read, you’re letting someone else say something to you. And you have to refute it, assimilate or dispute what the person has brought to your consciousness. You can synthesize a lot of things. Those are some of the things that have helped me be a better coach. A more experimental coach.” − Phil Jackson, former coach of the Chicago Bulls, a noted bookworm and spokesman for the Literacy Foundation
Remembering the Canine Heroes of September 11
Steve Dale of Steve Dale Pet World was the only reporter who successfully got permission to interview several search-and-rescue dog handlers and their dogs working from the piles of debris from the World Trade Center and those resting in a tent across from the damaged Pentagon.
If not for him, we would not have this heart-touching tribute to the dogs who suffered, risking their lives to try to find anyone in the rubble still alive. As Dale writes in this article, “Sadly, no dog was able to discover a living survivor at Ground Zero, but they served several unexpected functions. While none of the deployed dogs were trained as animal-assisted-therapy dogs, they helped boost the spirits of firefighters, police officers, and many others on the scene, and also served as comfort dogs.”
His print stories in Dog World and other publications of accounts from dog handlers on the scene were followed by powerful radio interviews that woke up the media, leading to a national awareness and appreciation of search and rescue dogs and their handlers. We’ve all seen them at disaster sites around the world, but none have been given the recognition the hero dogs of 9/11 received, thanks to Steve Dale. Visit “The Steve Dale Pet World Blog” to stay up on the latest news and information for pet owners.
Winners of Nature Photographer of the Year
The 1440 Daily Digest regularly posts its favorite animal photos. But in April 2023, they brought all the winners of Nature Photographer of the Year together, giving us dozens of amazing prize-winning photos on which to feast our eyes. Photo categories include Birds, Mammals, Other Animals, Plants and Fungi, Landscapes, Underwater, Nature Art, Humans and Nature, Black and White, Animals Portraits, and more.
I spent an enjoyable hour looking closely at several mind-blowing photos. Each includes a statement and story about the photograph, which adds greatly to the enjoyment you’ll get from spending time on this year’s list of winners.
One photo brought back sweet memories of growing up on a farm with a wooded area that led to a creek winding through. It was here that Mother used to go swimming with me and my sister Mary in tow. A scene still imprinted on my brain is of the patches of Bluebells along the creek bed and among the trees, a wild flower I’ve rarely seen since. This once prompted me to journal, “Where have all the bluebells gone?” Well, the photo of “Bluebells and Beeches” by Richard Verroen answered my question. There are a lot of them in Belgium, and this photograph is one I saved to my computer so I can see them any time I want.
This online collection ends (scroll to the bottom) with the winner of the Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award, Lea Lee Inoue. She presented a charming collection of photos of a Round-Tailed Ground Squirrel Family that carries a wonderful message with it. About the photo, Inoue said something that every animal lover will relate to:
“My hope is that through photography I can show [how] all animals think and feel emotion. With this understanding, love and respect is developed for the natural world. Conservation is the natural effect of this endearment. This is a paradigm shift in thought—that conservation can begin early, at a ground level—with each person awakening to the natural world. With this realization comes animal respect, conservation, and welfare.”
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