A Tale Of Woe!

Lora Zill

Hackers Doing Their Thing...

EDITOR’S ARIA


THIS TIME, a tale of woe. It begins with a facebook  notice: “Did you make this purchase?” NO.

A hacker had added their email to my account and kicked me off. Fifteen hundred friends, gone. I followed every procedure FB offered, codes, update ID, new logins, to no avail. I finally gave up. To add insult to injury, my TOS page was included. The hacker marked it “permanently closed.”


An online pet store notified me that my order was on its way. WHAT ORDER? Another hacker had added their address to my account and used my stored credit card for a purchase. I called and stopped it, and looked up the “new” Reading, PA address. An empty lot.

 

By that time I was frantic, deleting every stored credit card in every account I could think of. Gone. Gone. Gone. I was up to the wee hours changing bank and retirement account passwords and applying for a new credit card number.


Oh, and did I mention the extortion email? The hackers had my timesing email and an “old” password. I felt a chill until they claimed I watched porn online and had to pay $600 in bitcoin to a bitcoin wallet or they would post the porn online. I turned them in to the FBI.


Not much about creativity and poetry this time. I still haven’t recovered mentally or emotionally. My personal information was stolen in a huge data breach last year, so I had already contacted credit bureaus to stop any fraud. Someone in IT told me, “Wait until hackers use artificial intelligence.”


I hope my story saves someone the anxiety and trauma I experienced. I suggest strong passwords, two factor authentication, and making sure your security question answers aren’t in social media. Update any “old” passwords. It couldn’t happen to me until it did. I admit to using checks more than ever, and they can be altered too…


So if you follow TOS on FB, I may be reopening an account soon. If you get another Friend Request it’s for real. But I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t trust it. Who knows anymore? There has to be a Greek myth or two that describes our relationship with technology. There’s plenty in the Bible that describes it. Technology in the hands of sinners...what could go wrong?



Thanks for listening, and here’s to a fast approaching Spring with all of its God-given promise.

   Lora Homan Zill, Editor

 

Finding Common Ground

By Lora Zill • June 10, 2025
This is a subtitle for your new post

Flannery O'Connor and Eclipses

By Lora Zill • January 7, 2025
Anticipation for the Solar Eclipse

Creating Magic

By Lora Zill • January 7, 2025
The Magic Of Grands

From Tent to Camper

By Lora Zill • January 7, 2025
Onward Ho! to the PA Wilds

Mentorship in Poetry and the Arts

By Lora Zill • February 16, 2024
Reflecting on Mentoring and Being Mentored

Parsing Language

By Lora Zill • February 12, 2024
Parsing Language

A Woman Of A Certain Age

By Lora Zill • February 12, 2024
A Woman Of A Certain Age

Preparing for Authentic Delivery

By Lora Zill • February 12, 2020
I thought I'd share something I found utterly fascinating. One of my favorite “old movie” actresses is Olivia de Havilland—she of Gone With the Wind fame, and two time Oscar winner—who is a woman of faith in the Anglican tradition. She lives on, at 103, and has served as a lector (one of the first women to do so) at the American Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. The conversation between her and her interviewer, Right Reverend Pierre W. Whalon, centered around why Christians read the Bible in church. I was interested to learn how she would prepare for her Scripture reading for worship. She would print the verses in large type and then mark them up with “underlines, semi-colons, and other diacritical marks.” Ms. de Havilland shared that the punctuation marks help her to “get the right inflection.” She “wrestles with the text to find its underlying architecture.” “You have to convey the deep meaning, you see, and it has to start with your own faith.” She works to understand what the text means to her and then how to best communicate that to the congregation. “First I always pray.”* I think the insights for writers/poets and lovers of God’s word are many. Those of us who agonize over where to put a comma or a period (or no punctuation at all!) now have our “why” confirmed. Those of us who engage in public readings of the Scriptures are challenged to devote the time and energy to practicing the language, wrestling with the truths of God’s Word so we can be authentic in their delivery. I pray you would meet with God and share your discoveries with us through your poetry in 2020. My best to you and your loved ones. Full Essay on Olivia de Havilland: *”Reading the Bible as a Statement of Faith” by The Rt Revd Pierre W. Whalon, Ph.D. in Anglicans Online: anglicansonline.org/resources/essays/whalon/deHavilland.html 10 February 2012.

Planning with Intention

By Lora Zill • July 16, 2019
I am shopping for a new planner. Simplicity rules now, with monthly calendars and space for daily “to do” lists. But increasingly I feel like I want to be more intentional in the choices I make in my daily living and setting goals. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of planners, with so many varieties of emphasis. Monk Manuals seem more spiritually reflective (obviously!). Panda Planners and Full Focus Planners add spaces for goals, habits, and affirmations. I discovered the Bullet Journal which uses simple symbols to distinguish events, tasks, and insights and sort them from “completed” or not. There are lots more. * I’m looking for ways to focus and not get so distracted. I am organized to a point, but need to improve. Seems counter-intuitive, but I’ve read that creative people function better when they’re organized and operate by a schedule. They don’t wait for the Muse to show up, they show up at their desk and work. It seems from the Scriptures Jesus was very intentional about how he lived and conducted his ministry. He didn’t have a “planner” as we know it, He was submitted to the Planner. I think God wants us to live intentionally, too. Do you do your creative work according to a schedule? Why? If you use a planner, I’d be interested in which one you use and why you like it. Thanks for your ideas. Lora Homan Zill, Editor *I get no compensation from these mentions.

What's Found in a Translation

By Lora Zill • November 13, 2018
The NIV Bible has been my “go to” for study and devotion for 40 years. But I have discovered another translation I also love and heartily recommend to you, my dear readers. It’s called The VoiceTM (Thomas Nelson, 2008) and describes itself as “A Scripture Project to Rediscover the Story of the Bible.” What makes this translation unique is that it isn’t just a work by Biblical scholars. It is a “collaboration among scholars, pastors, writers, musicians, poets, and other artists.” The heart of the project is to create a version of great artistic value— holistic, beautiful, sensitive and balanced—as “fluid as modern literary works,” while remaining true to the original manuscripts.* A favorite feature is how the Gospels are formatted like a screenplay. The Voice also renders passages more dramatically, e.g. John 1:1-3: “Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God….His speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating, all things that exist were birthed in Him…” (Italics indicates words not directly from the translation but which may have been obvious to the original audience.*) voice bubbles True Confessions, I still prefer the NIV’s magisterial and mysterious Logos (λογος): “In the beginning was the Word….” But The Voice’s dynamic rendering grabs me in a more emotional way and helps me think more creatively about who Jesus is. If you’re looking for another Bible translation that appeals to the artist and poet in you, give this a try. A NT version is also available. I’d be interested in your reaction. To Him whom we worship as the Word and the Voice. Lora Homan Zill, Editor