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warrioreowynofrohan · 2 years

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For Tolkien asks: 9 and 12?

I’ve already done 9 here, so I’ll do 12.

12) Tolkien's work contains a lot of interesting themes: devastation of war, things lost that cannot be restored, rebirth/renewal, holding true to one's companions even when it is darkest, and others. Which is the most important to you?

To me, it is, I think - and I’m sorry I can’t manage to put this in a different way, because I know virtually nothing about philosophy and it makes me feel I’m putting on airs - the Augustinian view of evil. The idea that evil is not a force or power in and of itself, but a corruption of or falling away from good. Fundamentally, a rejection of the idea that evil can be defeated through doing evil; a rejection of the idea of doing evil “for the greater good”. We defeat evil not by overpowering evil people, but by refusing to do evil; deprived of fuel, evil consumes itself. (Possibly expressed in the idea of Ungoliant literally consuming herself; I hadn’t thought of that before.)

This is clearest in The Lord of the Rings with Frodo and the Ring. Frodo is not a warrior; he is the one member of the Fellowship who never kills anyone. (And in that, a refutation of the idea that pacifism means “doing nothing.” It means doing things, to the point of sacrificing one’s life, that are not violence; condemnation of pacifism is an ugliness and a sickness in our society that claims, implicitly, that only violence can constitute meaningful action.) The “wolves, sheep, and sheepdogs” characterization of society infuriates and disgusts me, and Frodo stands as a symbol against it: he is none of the three. He saves the world through rejection of violence, through taking suffering on himself beyond the point of hope for renown, remembrance, or even success, and through mercy even when mercy seems foolish. Not by beating up the bad guys.

Now, Tolkien was not a pacifist, and there absolutely is war and combat in The Lord of the Rings as well. But in a less pivotal role than we might think. Even the last march of the armies against the Black Gate is not about fighting. They could have failed to slay a single orc or troll, and still achieved their end: distracting Sauron’s armies from the Ring-bearer.

The Silmarillion too, I think, expresses this principle, but in a different way: more in the characters’ breach of it than the observance. Materially, perhaps, the Noldor cannot overthrow Morgoth because his material resources and armies are more powerful, but in the larger view, they cannot defeat him because they are fighting a Manichaean war, devoted to the idea that taking up swords against evil will destroy evil. And, of course, the first things they do with those swords is to threaten each other and then to murder their friends. They are fighting for their own power and glory and realms, and so they fail, as they were warned in the Doom. Notably, when they do things that are not from this motive - like Fingon rescuing Maedhros, which is driven by compassion and mercy and forgiveness, and not done by force of arms - they can succeed. The rest is a holding action. (This is why I’m annoyed by AUs where Fëanor lives and the Fëanoreans and Fingolfinians team up and overthrow Morgoth early on. That’s not how it works. This is also why, even beyond the strategic and tactical considerations, I don’t think the Fifth Battle could have been won, absent a complete and utter change in orientation by the Noldor including, but not limited to, the renunciation of the Oath.)

Others who are not driven by power or glory or anger also succeed against evil. Lúthien and Beren enter Angband and retrieve a Silmaril without killing anyone; even Lúthien’s sleep-spell on Carcharoth expresses pity, not enmity. (Somehow I expect that if Beren had killed Curufin, things in Angband would not have gone that way. Evil infects.) Idril saves some of the people of Gondolin, because she is choosing to save the people, not the city.

The War of Wrath, one could say, is power versus power, and perhaps that is why it destroys Beleriand. But crucially, it is - must be - undertaken as an act of mercy and pity, for the remnants of elves and men, including the rebel Noldor, including the Fëanorean kinslayers. That’s what makes Eärendil central, as the person who can make that plea, even for the enemies who destroyed his home and people.

#tolkien #the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #eärendil #ask meme

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thefastarrow · 5 years

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Everyone was at home, or at least, that’s what you assumed. It was late into the night, the lab clouded in darkness with that far too familiar glow of LED lights keeping you company as you made your way down to the breach room, filled with excitement.

It wasn’t easy keeping things a secret in team flash, but with a rather lesser crew, since Barry had gone into the speed force, it was at least easier to sneak about. Of course, the fact that you were sneaking about and not simply telling your teammates, and friends, the truth had caused its own level of anxious guilt to take over you from time to time, but now was not the time for regret. He was almost here, and you were practically jumping with excitement.

You hadn’t bothered to dump your stuff in the cortex, making straight for the breach room where you could get to him as quickly as possible. It had almost become second nature by now, sneaking him back onto Earth-Two in the dead of the night so you could both spend some time together without the team or his daughter getting suspicious, and while, at first, it had been thrilling, you couldn’t help but wonder if this was how it would always be. Would you always be a secret he kept from the only person he truly loved? Would you always be hiding the fact that amongst all the pain and heartache the team had endured over the years, you had found someone you truly cared about? How long would it even last?

It was so easy to get lost in those thoughts, to lose yourself to what-ifs and thoughts of a future without him by your side.

But a bright explosion of light before you never ceased to bring a smile to your lips as you eagerly awaited his arrival. Blinding blues and whites seemed to take over the entire room, and your chest seemed too small to contain your beating heart. But just before he was visible, something you did not expect happened.

“Breach!” A far too familiar voice called from behind you, panic-ridden and clearly attempting to gain the attention of others. Your beaming smile was stolen from you with that single word, and you didn’t have to look around to see who had joined you. Cisco clearly had not left for the night.

A protective hand grabbed you, pulling you behind him as he readied the pulse gun in a manner you might have considered ironic were you not suddenly filled with fear of what might happen.

“Cisco, no!” you called out, attempting to grasp at the gun in an attempt to keep him from firing.

But it wasn’t your pull that caught his attention, but rather your very presence. With a quizzical gaze, Cisco seemed to finally take you in, dressed in a form-fitting dress that was far from your usual day attire, with hair and makeup done to perfection, he seemed lost to not only your appearance but the fact you were even there.

“Y/N?” he paused. If his tone hadn’t given away his confusion, his furrowed brows and the slight tilt of his head certainly did.

But you didn’t get a chance to answer or explain, the lights behind him were shining all the brighter and you knew you were done for.

A resounding footstep drew the scientist’s attention from you as he half raised the rifle once more before stopping in shock. This was your chance, your small reprieve where you could explain why Harry was there, why you were dressed as you were, to make up some wonderful lie that might stop him from instantly spreading rumours amongst the rest of the team. But as you took in the sight of the man stepping out into your world, all words were far from your mind.

He was in black, that much was a norm, but what was not was the perfectly tailored suit, the crisp shirt that seemed to accentuate the sharp lines of his features, and if that hadn’t been enough, the bouquet of roses he held in his hand had certainly stolen your words away.

“Happy V-” he stopped suddenly, his sights narrowing in on Cisco. To the untrained eye, he may have seemed furious, and while you were certain that there was some level of fury within him at Cisco’s being there, you could tell there were far more emotions at play. The slight glance between you and Cisco, the fear and insecurity in his gaze, the way he chewed ever so slightly on his bottom lip and moved his weight from foot to foot gave him away. But he was never one to show his fears or anxieties, not when he could shelter them away with a well-practised mask of anger.

“Ramon,” he cleared his throat, attempting, and rather failing, at hiding the flowers from view. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Well, what did you- Oh ho ho!” Cisco cheered as realisation dawned upon him. Taking a few steps until he was right in the middle of the two of you, he turned from one to another as if watching a thrilling game of tennis, his grin growing with every movement. “Oh, now it all makes sense! You’re here to see Y/N! Oh man, I can’t wait to tell Iris and Wally this, they are going to flip!”

Your eyes widened almost comically as you finally caught Harry’s gaze, a mirror of your own fear. Panic pushed you both forwards, Harry easily gliding towards Cisco as you attempted to do the same, only to get your heel caught in one of the completely unnecessary tactile indicators that lined the floor. With an undignified yelp, you stumbled forwards, only to be caught by those familiar hands grasping your forearms to help right you.

“You alright?” Harry asked, with a level of concern few had ever been privy to. With a reassuring smile and nod, you huffed out a breath as you fixed yourself. But the moment was short-lived as Cisco’s laughter filled the air once more.

“Oh, this is going to be amazing!” Cisco clapped his hands in front of him, the pulse rifle hanging uselessly once more as he practically sauntered away from you, already halfway to the door. “Harry and Y/N secretly dating, Harry turning up with flowers on Valentine’s Day, a dramatic swoon before he catches her in a daring show of romance… Oh yeah, this is going to be fun!”

You were half ready to throw your shoes off and chase after him when his distant singing reached your ears. “Y/N and Harry sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-”

“Oh yeah, I’m going to kill him,” Harry sighed, drawing your attention away from your own murderous thoughts towards the man who still held onto you. But his gaze was not on you, nor on the doorway your so-called friend had just left through, but rather the somewhat demolished bouquet of flowers that littered the floor behind him.

“You brought flowers?” it was hardly the most pressing thought you had had in the past few moments, and yet, for some unknown reason, it was the only thought your brain could provide.

A heavy sigh fell from the scientist’s lips as he finally let go of you to pick up the fallen mess of flowers, half of which were mere stems as the petals had given way on their less than gracious fall to earth. With a particularly dejected frown taking over his features, Harry looked over the once pristine roses with utter disapproval. “I know Valentine’s Day is important on this Earth, I thought flowers would be nice.”

A soft smile graced your lips as you made your way towards him, pushing away the occasional petal on your way. “They’re still nice, just messy, I can do messy.”

A huff of laughter was all his reply as he handed you the disgraced bouquet with a somewhat sheepish smile. “So much for a perfect Valentine’s Day, huh?”

Humming gently in response, you gave him a smile of your own, one that you wished held the confidence you needed to encourage him. “Well, once we kill Cisco, or torture him into silence, we can get back to a perfect Valentine’s Day, what do you say?”

But there was no response. No words came from the usually verbose scientist. As the silence raged on, you grew uneasy, until you couldn’t help but meet his searching gaze. You had expected laughter, or at the very least that it would pull him out of his mind enough that you might find Cisco before he told everyone of your secret relationship. What you had not expected to see was a look of wonderment, as if Harry was trying to figure out a complex equation in your gaze.

A heavy blush was heating your cheeks and you desperately wanted to look away, but that was the thing about those gorgeous blue eyes, they were magnetic. Once he caught your gaze there was no power on heaven or earth that could pull you away. After a long moment, you couldn’t stand it any longer, you had to know what he was thinking that had him so very lost before you. “Harry?” his name came out quieter than you had intended, almost shyly, but it seemed to be enough to break him from his thoughts.

With a dry swallow, he took a moment, his gaze never leaving yours. “What if we didn’t?”

An anxious array of thoughts flooded your mind at those words; fearful thoughts of this being the end, of him deciding he had had enough of you, that the risk wasn’t worth the reward, that at the very least, your date night had been truly ruined before it could even begin.

“Didn’t what?” you asked with a dry throat, terrified to know the answer, but curious beyond anything else.

“What if we didn’t stop him? What if we just left? Just went on our way, had dinner, enjoyed Valentine’s Day and let him tell the others?” he spoke so quickly you weren’t certain you had heard him right. Were it not for the way his chest had puffed out subconsciously in a defensive manner, ready to fight for his opinion, you may have easily thought you had misheard him.

“You want them to know?” you asked in a small voice, insecurity and uncertainty plaguing your mind as you desperately tried to figure out what he meant.

“Do you?” he threw the question back at you almost instantly.

Of course you wanted them to know, you didn’t want to keep sneaking into the lab to meet with him in secret in the middle of the night, or breaching over to his earth only when Jesse wouldn’t notice, but that didn’t mean he wanted the same. You had been keeping quiet for so long now, and it had been for him, hadn’t it? Had he really thought this through? Was it even possible he truly wanted the secret to be out?

But then, if there was one thing you knew for certain, one thing anyone who had ever so much as come across him could tell, it was that Harrison Wells never did anything without thinking it through almost obsessively. If he was suggesting this, he meant it with full sincerity.

A beaming smile took over you once more, and you couldn’t help but duck your head in embarrassment as you felt it pull at your features. But for the second time that evening, words wouldn’t come to you. You were, quite literally, speechless.

You had to answer, had to give him some kind of clue as to what you were thinking, after all, Harrison Wells could handle a lot of things, but not knowing something was not one of them. So you did the only thing you could think of. Pushing yourself forward onto the toes of your precarious high heels, you pressed your lips against his in a gentle kiss.

“Let’s go have dinner.”

#harrison wells x reader #harrison wells imagines #harrison wells imagine #harrison wells #harry wells x reader #the flash imagine #the flash imagines #The Flash #imagine #imagines #reader insert #i wish i could make a gif for this but also i've made over 200 in the past 2 days so i am nooootttt giffing today

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years

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11/01/2019

Ezekiel 1:1-3:15, Hebrews 3:1-19, Psalms 104:1-23, Proverbs 26:24-26

Today is the 1st day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and here we are at another threshold. So, even as we approach the end of the week, here we go into the 11th month of our year together. And, boy, we've been moving through some transitions over this past week as we move in and out of different books. And today as we begin the month of November, we’re going to begin a new book, the book of Ezekiel. And this book and this figure, and some of the things that happen in this book, they’re very personally meaningful to me. In fact, my wife and I, we named our son Ezekiel. So, before we dive in, let’s kind of explore with the territory that we will be moving into as we go through this book.

Introduction to the book of Ezekiel:

So, we remember Jeremiah, right? That was the book before last. And we journeyed through basically a couple of decades of his warning, prophetic utterances and then we read the book of Lamentations and we felt and saw and witnessed those prophecies coming true. And, so, today we’re at the threshold, obviously of this new month and a new book of prophecy. So, Ezekiel as a person was a well-educated man, his loyalty to God was deep, his faithfulness to the traditions of his people ran deep. He came from a priestly family and like Jeremiah, he was often instructed by God to symbolically act out his prophecies. And to kind of understand the time period, Jeremiah prophesied a little bit before, but also alongside Ezekiel, so, somewhat contemporary. But whereas Jeremiah was prophesying from Jerusalem about the fall of Jerusalem, right, about surrendering to Babylon and living. Remember all these prophecies? Ezekiel was prophesying essentially at the same time from exile in Babylon. So, in some ways it's the other side of the coin where we get a, basically, a prophetic comprehensive view of the exile. Ezekiel lived in a climate of international struggle and upheaval. The Babylonian Empire had conquered the Assyrian Empire. Of course, it was the Assyrian Empire who conquered Israel, the northern 10 tribes. Now they've been conquered. Egypt and Babylon clashed within the land of ancient Israel, fighting over it because whoever got to possess that strip of land basically had control of the major trade routes between the lands to the north and the east and the continent of Africa. So, very, very desirable to control that piece of land. And at one point or another the Israelites had been allied with or…or subdued by all of these ancient empires, but Jerusalem had been destroyed. Rather, Judah would pay tribute and become a vassal that had change hands. All this happened during the generational decline in the kingly leadership that we were able to observe intimately as we moved through the books of Kings and Chronicles, right? Remember? We’d meet a new king and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And we’d meet another king and he did good in the sight of the Lord. But we saw the trend declining down to this point. And then in 597 BC, the Babylonians did subdue Jerusalem and they did begin deporting people and Ezekiel was among the first to go into exile. So, then several years later the king that the Babylonians had put in place, king Zedekiah who Jeremiah prophesied to rebelled against Babylon, which was contrary to Jeremiah's prophetic advice. And a in 588 then, the Babylonians came back and attacked Jerusalem and two years later they…they breached the wall and swept into the city and burned it to the ground and destroyed the temple of God. So, during Ezekiel’s earlier years in exile he prophesied about this. He prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed even as Jeremiah was prophesying the same thing from within Jerusalem. And after the fall of Jerusalem and the…and the temple was destroyed, the prophecies of Ezekiel transform into some of the most hope filled messages of renewal and restoration that we can find in the whole Bible. But that's not all there is to Ezekiel. Ezekiel contains depictions that are almost like science fiction, almost cinematic visions that are similar to the visions of Daniel or the visions found in the book of Revelation. And these similarities are often cross-examined in the apocalyptic study of the end times or eschatology. With the visions, for as much scholarship has been given to them, they had a profound effect on Ezekiel himself and we can see that, and we can open ourselves to it as…as we read them. So, if…if were able to approach this book and the imagery inside of this book from the perspective of what it speaks to our hearts we’ll be able to revel in the texture that…that is just out in front of us allowing it to speak more like a sunrise speaks, right, in…in poetry, rather than how the morning newspaper speaks for example. So, we’re gonna camp out in the book of Ezekiel for a little while. It holds a tremendous amount of promise for us in our day and it…it's one of the larger and most influential books of prophecy that are in the Bible at all. So, even though it's ancient, right, and was written thousands of years ago, these prophecies tell of the ultimate hope and blessing that God has for us when we do one thing, return to Him. And, so, we begin. Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 15 today. And we’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us here into this new month, the 11th month of the year. And it's amazing, the passage of time, but it's also amazing how profoundly You…You have worked inside of our lives so far this year. And it will be easy enough to think we’re on the home stretch, but You have so much more to speak. And, so, Father as we begin the book of Ezekiel and we move into all of this imagery, we invite Your Holy Spirit to speak it into our hearts. For example, we’re talking about Spirits today with wheels that a life is in four faces and they move straight forward and sideways and up and down, we can look for what this might have to do with our lives today and yet we read of those beings that were empowered by Your spirit and the Scripture says that each went straight forward. Wherever the Spirit was about to go they would go without turning as they went. Father, that is our desire, that is the posture of heart that we desire to have on this earth as we are empowered by Your Spirit. So, come, help us to go straight forward wherever the Spirit leads. We will go without turning as we go. Come into that today Lord because there are many sets of circumstances in all of our lives. There are thousands and thousands of stories that are being told within this community alone, and this means something to many of us. And, so help us to live into it. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is home base, and it’s always, we’re you find out what's happening around here.

There are a number of sections to check out when you're checking out what's going on around here. The Initiatives section would be one place and the Community section where the Prayer Wall lives would be another place. That's where all the links for the different social media channels are etc. etc. So, be sure to check that out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible shop while you're at it. There are resources there for this journey that we’re on together.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. So, there's a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, as always if you have a prayer request or comment you can just press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top and start sharing your story or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that is it for today other than to say welcome to this brand-new month. Buckle up it’s going to be quite an adventure. But that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Kat from Wisconsin. I called in one other time I think a couple months ago, and I just want to ask for prayer for, well, you know, today seems like kind of a hard day. I don’t know why. Getting out of bed was just really tough today and I think about depression and how it really steals so much life from us and I just want to lift up specifically my brother who is…he’s a doctor and he just had a resident, a fellow resident, commit suicide. And I think it really shook him because he…he deals with those same dark thoughts. It just seems like that’s the…the enemy loves that and that’s…he just, you know, is putting his hands together in glee, thinking that he’s won and that he’s been victorious and you know that with God that’s not the whole story. But I just…I really pray…I guess I pray for those who are dealing with depression and other thoughts of ending their life. I just lift them up to God and I also want to just reach out on behalf of my brother too and I just thank this whole community. I’ve listened almost every day. I think I’ve missed a couple days but I’m, you know, here for the long haul for this whole year. And I just know there’s people on here that are so faithful in praying. And, so, I know God hears your prayer and I think it’s beautiful and I love…love hearing the prayers that the saints lift up. All right. Thanks so much everybody. Bye-bye.

Hey DAB family this is Byron out in Florida. I wanted to say hi to Mike Greenberg. Mike it was good to hear your voice. I’m so thankful for what you and Sarah Jane and tech people and of course the Hardin family do that bring us the DAB every single day that we all rely on so much. I’m so sorry for the unthinkable loss of what’s happened to your friend Dave and I pray for you and for him to be able to bring him some sort of comfort in this extremely difficult time. When you called you were fairly calm and composed but I get the feeling that to break a 10-year silence you must’ve been very broken up inside for your friend. And the Lord is broken up too. He hates death and all the darkness that consumes His children. And, so, I pray that in some way shape or form you’re able to express that sympathy to your friend and his family, that they might be comforted and find a way to move on in the Lord. I hope it’s not the last time we hear from you. Love you brother. Take care.

This is Candace from Oregon. I want to pray for adult children Maia and Kevin. Their parents called one after the other on the October 25th podcast. Thank You, Lord for these parents, for their hearts of love, for these dear, dear children. And thank You that Maia and Kevin, although they’ve been attacked by the enemy, they are people who want You Lord, they want the life that You have for them. And, so, I claim the full work of Jesus Christ on behalf of Maia, on behalf of Kevin. I rebuke all foul spirits, and every plan of the enemy I pray that it crumbles to dust and that these two emerge victorious because of the full work of Christ. Oh Lord, I pray that they walk forward bruised and battered but now healed with a renewed vision and with hearts filled with Your Holy Spirit and empowered by You Lord. Thank You, Lord for all that You have done on our behalf. Without You we can do nothing, but we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us. [singing starts] God our Savior is the sovereign Lord and we have strength [singing stops].

Hi everyone, it’s Christy again from Kentucky. I just wanted to say to Pastor Nick and Christine, just wanted to let you know that I am praying for your son Kevin who is bipolar and who’s now in critical condition and after stabbing himself. I’m praying for healing for him…for Kevin his body and his mind and his Spirit. Praying for travel mercies as you go from South Carolina to Michigan and also for provision when you get there. Mona in Dubai, I wanted to let you know I’m praying for your daughter Maia. She’s struggling in life. Also, for Chandra in Maryland, we stand in agreement in praying for children who are being bullied and who are contemplating suicide. Laura, I’m praying for you and your beautiful baby boy. Paul in Barcelona, I loved, loved, loved your message to Cindy. That is one of my most beautiful heartfelt stories in the Bible, when John reclines into Jesus so close, he can hear His heartbeat. Oh, one day Paul we will be there. Aaron in Oklahoma on praying for you and your wife. Max in Madison, praying for your depression brother and your anxiety. Grace in Tampa, praying __ for God’s will for your life. And Lisa in Sweden, praying for peace for your sister and her for her salvation. Maritsa, I’m playing for your sister Miguel and we are praying that you get a good pathologic…pathology report about his tumor. Asking for healing of the name of Jesus. Lola in Sidney your praying with you for the people who are fighting the fires in Lebanon asking that that is all gone and that no one would hurt __ or property destroyed. All right everybody. I love you guys so much. I pray each of you are having a most blessed and lovely day today.

Good morning I’m calling to pray for Pamela’s brother, Pamela from Christchurch who just called in. I just heard the message this morning. And I just first want to encourage you and tell you that a very, very dear friend of mine had a similar situation, a very kind and gentle man who had three sons and because of lies from his wife he was forbidden to see them and he paid child support faithfully every month. And as each son grew up and became an adult, they started to see the truth of the lies from their mother. And now all three boys have relationship with their father again, very close relationships, very close relationships. They’re a very close-knit foursome at this point and I just really what I encourage you and I want to lift up your brother. And just, Lord, I just lift up this man. You know his name and You know the circumstances and I pray Father that You would give him purpose beyond his children and that purpose would be You. Lord I pray that You would strengthen him when he feels weak, that You would give him the courage to go on, that he would trust You in the timing of the relationship with his children. And Lord I lift up the mother of these children and I pray Father that she would see that You are a God that will not be mocked, that so whatsoever a man says shall he also reap. And that goes for her choice at this point with her children to keep them away from their father. I pray Father that she would realize this quickly and very soon and that she would change and allow this relationship with their father to…

Hi family this is his little Cherry in Canada and I was scribbling in my journal this afternoon and it was about me but somehow it was also about Joe the worship leader in Seattle. So, Joe this is for both of us. Lord, look how kind You are how patient with me. Everyone who reads my story will stand in awe of You. Wow talk about generous they will say, those who can speak. The rest will stand and as I will. For once I will be oblivious to my issues, my stuff. I will simply be flabbergasted by the gentle way You care for me, the risks You take to trust me, the confidence You feel in my halfhearted yes. I will stand silent as the credits roll. You have written a masterpiece. My life and Your love, it’s disarming and mesmerizing the way the two tangle as one. And it’s all You’re doing. It’s You darling. You move as if it’s unrehearsed and how can it be. How do You do it? How wonderful are You? Thank You for this gasp that is Your faithfulness. I am so relieved that You are what matters. You are the hero, unmistakable, irresistible, so easily adored it’s like falling. Every eye is on You. Everyone has forgotten about me. What a gift that You are the God of my story. Frankly Lord I’m not sure how I’m doing in my relationship with You, but You are doing amazing in Your relationship with me.

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aheliotech · 3 years

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5 Dangerous Phishing Attacks You Need to Watch Out For

New Post has been published on https://www.aheliotech.com/blog/phishing-attacks-watch-out-for/

5 Dangerous Phishing Attacks You Need to Watch Out For

Phishing attacks continue to be a major driver of data breaches, ransomware, spyware, credential theft, and other types of online attacks. No matter how big or small your company is, it’s not immune to receiving phishing emails or having an employee accidentally click on one.

In 2020, 96% of cyberattacks globally originated with a phishing email, and 75% of companies experienced phishing attacks.

Why has phishing remained such a threat to data and network security? It’s because it exploits human error very effectively. Phishing emails also continue to evolve as safeguards to stop attacks evolve.

For example, most phishing used to contain malicious file attachments that released a virus or other malware if opened. But as antivirus and anti-malware software got stronger, these types of attacks became less effective. So, phishing scammers switched tactics and now largely use hyperlinks to malicious sites or files. A hyperlink can more easily get past filters that are looking for dangerous attachments.

Educating your team on the best ways to avoid a phishing attack can significantly decrease your company’s risk of having a major security incident. Part of that training needs to include details on what types of emails to watch out for.

By knowing some of the most dangerous and commonly used phishing emails, users can better identify them when one is sitting in their inbox enticing the user to click.

Shipment Needs Your Attention

Seeing shipment notices in our email inboxes isn’t out of the ordinary. We get them for things like delivery notifications and delivery delays. Scammers take advantage of the commonality of shipment notices and use them as a cover for a popular phishing campaign.

The user receives an email that looks like it’s from USPS. Everyone receives mail from the post office, so they don’t immediately suspect it. Phishing emails will also use logos and signatures of the organizations they’re spoofing.

The email warns that there is some type of shipment issue that “needs your attention” otherwise the shipment won’t be delivered. The link is of course a fake that goes to a phishing website.

Update Your Payment Settings

Another scam that uses a fake login form and is designed to steal your personal information, including credit card number, is the fake “update your payment settings” email.

This can be spoofed to look like it comes from any type of vendor, including Netflix or Amazon.

Image courtesy of the FTC

It uses the tactic of urgency to get the user to react without thinking by noting that the account is on hold.

As with any unexpected messages with links you receive via email, you should never click the link. Instead, visit the company’s website from its web address, and log in to check your account that way. Or go “old school” and call them to ask if your account is really on hold or not.

Someone Just Used Your (Apple, Microsoft, etc.) ID

This phishing email scam is designed to steal someone’s login credentials to a popular site like iTunes or Microsoft. It masquerades as a helpful security warning that someone has just used your ID.

When the person clicks the link, they’re taken to a fake login form where the scammer can steal their ID for real.

Fake Purchase Order

Many companies have fallen victim to the fake purchase order scam. Who doesn’t want what looks to be a “large order” from a new customer? The email will claim that a large and urgent PO is attached, and it might even include the name of one or more of the company’s products in the body of the email to lend legitimacy.

Unfortunately, some employees might mistakenly think that if it’s that detailed to include the product name, then it couldn’t be a scam since they wouldn’t go to that trouble. But, in fact, they do. Scammers know that the more personalized a message is, the better chance it has of fooling the recipient.

The fake PO is usually a malicious file attachment that infects the user’s system with malware.

Holiday Schedule Link or Attachment

With the holidays right around the corner, one popular scam will be increasing in volume in the coming weeks. This is one where the scammer will spoof the email address of the company, so the recipients think the email is from a work colleague or a department in their organization.

The email will include a link or attachment of a “holiday schedule,” which is a seemingly innocent document, but one that anyone would open to read so they see what extra time they may get off during the holidays.

In this case, “ask before you click” is the best method. Ask your supervisor or someone in HR if there was actually a holiday schedule sent around before you attempt to open it.

Put Automated Protections in Place to Combat Phishing

AhelioTech can help your Columbus area business with safeguards like email filtering, DNS filters, and more to reduce your risk of a phishing-related attack.

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reds-self-ships · 3 years

Text

🔍 The Adventure of the Detection Club

Chapter 13: Witness Testimony & Cross Examination - Det. Athelney Jones and The Coroner

Table of Contents & Trigger Warnings

⚠ Chapter Specific Warnings: Contains allusions to spoilers for The Great Ace Attorney 2, as well as passing references made to blood and gore.

Detective Athelney Jones took to the witness stand, his trademark cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth and the end of it carefully targeted so that the ash fell into the breast pocket of his faded grey overcoat, the usual disdainful snarl on his face.

Dr. Yujin Mikotoba was as straight-faced as ever, having changed his medical get-up to his much more formal and fashionable dark blue western-style suit with a red cravat and gold pin and a black fedora hat with a white band around it.

Abidon spoke: “Will the witnesses state their name and occupation for the record?”

“I’m Detective Athelney Jones, part of Scotland Yard’s criminal investigative division, and I’m the detective that was assigned to investigate this particular case.”

“And I’m Dr. Yujin Mikotoba. I’m a professor of medical science at Imperial Yumei University, but I’m the current acting coroner on behalf of Scotland Yard.”

“Detective Jones,” said Abidon, “why is it that you believed Mr. Ninate, the defendant, to be the killer?”

“It’s as you’ve already explained, prosecutor—the defendant was the only one who had access to the scene of the crime at the time. Not only that, but we are confident that we are able to prove the defendant’s motive, means andopportunity for the incident.”

“Excellent. Please testify your reason for believing in the defendant’s guilt, detective,” said the Judge.

Witness Testimony

Motive, Means and Opportunity For Murder

“This crime is an almost perfect recreation of a so-called ‘locked room mystery’,” testified Jones. “At the crime scene there is a thick impenetrable door, with a recently-designed lock that is specially designed to break and become entirely unusable if anybody were to attempt to pick it or fiddle with it in any manner.

“The only person who had access to a key for this impenetrable door was the defendant himself—something that he’s admitted to already. The key that the defendant owns is the only copy in existence.

“As for motive and means, the defendant, who has anger issues already; given that he’s become aggressive towards officers, such as myself, on numerous occasions—”

“—I have not! And if I did it was probably bloody well deserved!”

The judge hit his gavel. “The defendant will remain quiet whilst the detective testifies!”

“As I was saying,” Jones continued with a sniff, “I’m no alienist or whatever fancy titles they have out there these days, but I would likely guess that Mr. Thomas told the victim that he was going to refuse payment or something which caused the defendant to fly into a rage.

“With that, he grabbed the closest thing to him, which was that skull over there, and used it to knock clobber the victim over the ‘ead until he stopped twitching about. At least that’s what I’d reckon anyway.”

“The prosecution makes a rather compelling argument,” said the judge with a nod. “But this is, indeed, the most peculiar kind of case that we’re examining at the moment.”

“HOLD IT!”

“Milord, may I ask the defendant a question?” asked the first juror, pulling a pair of goggles over her eyes.

“Juror #1? Er, yes, well I suppose you might as well…”

“OK defendant, what kinda lock are we talking about?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Well?”

“Well it’s a new-ish one, got it installed directly from Chubb.”

“And what’s the name of it?”

“Eh?”

“What’s the model, what’re we talking about?”

“I think it was model #813 or something like that, miss. But what’s that got to do with anything?”

“I know it well. See, I’m an engineer myself and I’ve installed that kind of lock before. I can vouch for that Detective Jones’s statement that it’s designed not to be picked or fiddled about with. So I could definitely say I’ve made up my mind anyway. Guilty!”

With that, she knocked a rather heavy-looking metal drill upon the jury’s bench and sent a fireball soaring through the air and into the “guilty” side of the scales, tipping it further towards the prosecution.

“I, too, have experience in these locks, and they are incredibly fiddly little things,” said the fifth juror, “So I would say myself that this defendant is almost certainly…Guilty!”

The fifth juror launched another fireball, with the scale tipped increasingly in favour of the prosecution.

“It’s only three out of six, Mr. Naruhodo. That’s only fifty per-cent,” said Susato quietly.

“I, er, have specific experience in handling locked rooms myself,” said the sixth juror, playing with her hair. “And if it means that there was absolutely no way for anybody else to get into the room besides the defendant, there was no way for anybody to get inside of the room besides the defendant…Guilty!”

Another fireball was launched into the scale, tilting it over two-thirds towards the prosecution.

“Or maybe now it’s sixty-six per-cent,” said Susato. “Either way, we’ve not lost yet. We still get to launch our cross-examination!”

“You’re right,” said Ryunosuke, stroking his chin with his hand. “There’s definitely some way we might be able to contradict that annoying detective’s testimony. And who knows…maybe your father will prove to be of some help as well…”

Dr. Yujin Mikotoba winked at Ryunosuke quietly.

Cross Examination

“So you say, Detective Jones, that you believe the defendant to have anger issues,” said Ryunosuke. “Why do you think that is?”

“Well given the tirade of oaths he swore at me and several police officers when we were arresting him, and throughout this investigation, I think that’d be rather obvious to me, wouldn’t you agree, defence?”

“I…well…I’m not very well-up on my English swear words, detective…”

“Well if I weren’t in court right now, I’d teach you one. A two-word phrase, the second one’s ‘off’.”

“Detective Jones, there’s no need for any kind of foul language in this courtroom – be it properly verbalised or implied!” called the judge.

Detective Jones seemed flustered for a moment, his cigar almost dropping from his mouth and into his pocket, but he just about managed to catch it with his hand. “Oh! Er…understood milord…forgive me, I’d forgotten myself for a moment there…”

But it was then that something seemed to “click” in Ryunosuke’s mind as he slammed the bench with his hands.

“Detective Jones, it appears that you’ve not only forgotten yourself in your behaviour in the courtroom…”

“What the devil are you on about, defence? I’m doing almost everything I should be doing!” The business end of Jones’s cigar smouldered furiously.

“Objection!”

“You appear to have forgotten something that occurred during the course of the investigation yesterday—was it not revealed yesterday that someone else might well have had access to the room? A third party, that is?”

Some ash crumbled into Jones’s breast pocket as he suddenly remembered: “Uh oh.”

“‘Uh oh’ indeed, detective,” said Ryunosuke with his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face. “Surely you remember yesterday, it was discovered that there were at least two keys to the room, and not just one?”

“This is not a matter that the prosecution is aware of, milord…Detective Jones, would you mind filling us in?” said Abidon with a raised eyebrow.

“Yesterday, the police apprehended someone attempting to enter the crime scene unlawfully, but as it turns out, it was a member of the Detection Club itself, who we’re now holding in custody. An ‘Arthur Conan Doyle’, sir. He claims to have had access to the room at some point in the hours before the discovery of the victim’s body, wanting to use some special ink that belonged to the defendant. It was when he spilled some of the ink that he left, later to return to the scene of the crime yesterday in an attempt to clean it up.”

“I see…” said Abidon, adjusting his glasses. “And why was I not informed of this fact until now?”

“Well we’ve been very busy down at the Yard of late, sir, dealing with a large number of appeals related to the Professor incident of a few months ago. So much so we’re practically drowning in paperwork.”

“Still—whether the prosecution was or wasn’t originally aware of this fact doesn’t change anything!” cried Ryunosuke. “The defence asserts that the very existence of this ‘second key’ could be proof that a third party—perhaps even Mr. Doyle himself—could have been responsible for the murder, and not the defendant!”

The judge moved to speak: “That’s an excellent po—”

“HOLD IT!”

interjected Detective Jones. “Milord, as a precaution, I’ve already personally seen that this matter is investigated, as a matter of personal pride.”

“Once again, detective, I’m unable to show a full appreciation of this fact seeing as I was, once again, not informed of this matter. However,” added Abidon, “given that your annual salary review meeting is due to take place next week, I’m sure you’ll appreciate my recommendation for the outcome.”

More ash from the working end of the detective’s cigar crumbled into his breast pocket.

“(Oh dear…it looks like Detective Jones isn’t exactly expecting a positive outcome from that meeting…)” thought Ryunosuke.

“Er anyway—we were able to confirm Mr. Doyle’s alibi with a Mr. Inkwell, who runs a stationary shop on Oxford Street that is frequented by Mr. Doyle and other members of the Detection Club, who said that the witness visited him around the estimated time of death to procure a bottle of ink remover.

“However the witness had to return straight home immediately after purchasing the ink, according to his secretary, Mrs. Turner, as he had a number of patients to attend to at his own practice over on Upper Wimpole Street.”

“I see. Excellent work, detective. However, it unfortunately doesn’t make up for your uncharacteristic breach of proper procedure and due process.”

“In that case, the prosecution’s case still stands rather firmly,” said the judge, adjusting his own white powdered wig.

“And in that case, the defence would like to resume its cross-examination,” said Ryunosuke.

Prosecutor Abidon sneered. “Well I can’t see anything productive that will come of it, but the prosecution otherwise has no objections – if the defence will concede to the truth of the matter that is if nothing new can be proven.”

“Detective, please resume your testimony then, please,” ordered the judge.

“Well there’s nothing more for me to say, really. Just that the cause of death was rather obvious, in that we allege that the defendant did savagely hit the victim over the head repeatedly with the skull, quite a bit after a point where anyone could say the man was deceased.”

“Anybody at all, you say?”

“Yes. Anybody; be they a police detective, a defence attorney, a medical doctor or Joe Bloggs off the street; would be able to see that repeated blunt-force trauma to the skull was the clear-cut cause of death.”

Dr. Yujin Mikotoba quietly hummed to himself, carefully stroking his moustache.

“’Scuse me!”

“Professor Mikotoba, do you have anything to say on the matter?” asked Ryunosuke.

“Mm? Oh…please, young Ryunosuke, we’re not in university at the moment. ‘Dr. Mikotoba’ will do just fine,” he said with a warm smile.

“(In what way is that any less formal?) OK then, Dr. Mikotoba, do you have anything to say on the matter? You looked as though you were rather deep in thought there when Detective Jones mentioned that, quote; ‘repeated blunt-force trauma to the skull was the clear-cut cause of death’.”

“Well that’s because it is!” said Jones with a start. “…Isn’t it?”

“That’s the issue. You see, I have previous experience with dealing with poisons and in working in pathology – I was a student of Dr. John H. Wilson, actually – but anyway, part of what my time spent studying has been poisons and a new method of post-mortem examination.

“Mainly – I’ll try and cut the jargon as much as I can, I promise – ways of studying injuries acquired post-mortem.”

“Injuries acquired post-mortem?”

“Yes. The human body can still trigger certain reactions after death as decomposition begins. And the body can be injured after death too—which can affect a corpse or cadaver differently compared to those who are still living.

“I’ve been spending quite a lot of time over the last day examining the body and the so-called murder weapon, the one that is in the police and prosecution’s official custody at this time, may not necessarily be the one that caused the death of Mr. Thomas.”

A fit of murmuring erupted around the gallery.

“B-But!” protested Jones, standing over the man next to him, “you’ve mentioned before that the victim was beaten with that skull. I mean even a blind man could see that at fifty yards away!”

“Yes, the victim was beaten with the skull, rather savagely I might add. But! Having examined the injuries, I have reason to believe that these injuries may have been applied after death and not at any point before it.”

“In other words, there may have been a different cause of death, Dr. Mikotoba?”

“Precisely, young Ryunosuke. I’ve not yet had the chance to officially confirm the cause of death.”

“And if you were to speculate, doctor?” asked Abidon.

“To speculate?”

“Yes. Clearly you believe you may well be onto something, so would you please inform this court of what cause or causes of death you’re investigating?”

“Well,” responded Dr. Mikotoba, adjusting his hat, “I believe that the cause of death may well be related to my other ‘speciality’. Poison, that is.

“I conducted an examination of the victim’s fingernails and there were clear signs of changes in pigmentation—that is, the colour—of the fingernail, and the particular smell of garlic around the lips, yet there was no signs of the victim having consumed garlic prior to death, according to the contents of his stomach.

“As such, I have reason to believe that Mr. Harris’s cause of death was not blunt force trauma as the initial post-mortem examination might have shown it to be. Instead, I have reason to believe that the cause of death in this matter was arsenic poisoning, given the presence of the by-product, arsine.”

The gallery began murmuring again.

“Arsine? Isn’t that the name of that London-based football club?”

“No, that’s Arsenal you wally! Arsine is the name of that French thief!”

“No, that’s Larsene Aupin!”

The judge hit his gavel several times. “Order! Order! There is no need for any kind of running commentary from the gallery!”

“Surely if a different cause of death has been prescribed by the medical examiner in this case,” argued Susato, “this means that it is now rather unlikely for Redford to have used been the actual culprit!”

“Yeah! I haven’t been to the chemist of late, and even then I wouldn’t go anywhere near arsenic unless I had to…dreadful stuff…”

Prosecutor Abidon chuckled.

“If that is to be the defence’s argument, then the prosecution would like to present what could be considered a key piece of evidence that is yet to have been considered by this court, and a piece that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, will prove the defendant’s guilt beyond any kind of reasonable doubt!”

The remaining jurors who had yet to cast their vote all seemed to sit further forwards in their seats.

“Recovered, yesterday from the scene of the crime,” said the prosecutor, taking out a brown envelope from underneath the prosecution’s bench, “was a particular belonging of the defendant – namely one that had been put away into the storage room in the headquarters of the Detection Club.”

“H-Hey!” cried Redford, standing up in the dock. “What are you doing! Get your hands off of that! That’s private!”

He was immediately restrained held back into his seat by two bailiffs.

“The prosecution would like to admit this manuscript into the court record—‘Fizzing Arsenic’ by Redford Ninate – written by the defendant in his own handwriting. A piece of writing that proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that the defendant did know how to conduct cyanide poisoning and obscure the cause of death. In this case, through beating the victim’s corpse in such a way that it is rendered unidentifiable by the character in the novel!”

“Gah! Redford, why didn’t you tell us you’d written such a thing?!” exclaimed Ryunosuke.

“Because I didn’t think it mattered!” he replied. “And anyway, it’s a work of fiction. Just because I write murder mysteries doesn’t make me a murderer mysteriously, now does it?!”

“That is true…Milord! This defence contests this evidence as being completely circumsta—!”

“Hold it!”

“Milord, I believe that we may have come to the conclusion of this matter,” said the fourth juror, tenting his fingers as he smoked his pipe. “For we have eliminated the impossible and what remains is what is the most probable of truths. The defendant…is a poisoner!”

He hit his hand off of the bench and a fireball went soaring through the air and into the “guilty” side of the scale.

“There’s just one juror left who hasn’t found Redford guilty,” said Susato, who was now beginning to sound rather anxious herself. “That gentleman sat in the middle…”

“Is it just me or does he look rather familiar…?”

“Now that you mention it, he does, but I just can’t…wait…isn’t that…?”

The two said at once: “Soseki-san?!”

As if on cue, the third juror, Soseki, shouted:

“持て！”

The cats that were clambering all over him and his kimono seemed to be otherwise unaffected by such a shout.

“Milord! I’ve been listening to this case for quite some time now—as much as I’ve not wanted to be here—and I believe that I’ve arrived at my own conclusion…”

Soseki began to strike various poses.

“The defendant! Is! Guilty!”

With a karate-style chop of his hand on the bench, a fireball flew through the air and landed in the guilty side of the scale, finally tilting it all the way to the right and releasing a belch of flame into the air.

(G-Guilty?! There’s no way I’m about to let it end like this…I have to get a Not Guilty verdict, no matter the cost!)

Ryunosuke hit the defence bench with both hands. “Milord! The defence requests its immediate right to a summation examination of the jury’s findings on the case!”

The judge rolled his eyes, wondering why he himself ever believed that the case might have been an open-and-shut one and he might’ve gotten to go home early that day.

“I’ll allow it. The defence may begin its summation examination. Is the jury prepared?”

The first juror replied, revving a large metal riveting machine into the air. “We’re ready and revving to go, milord!”

“Excellent. The floor is yours, defence.”

#the adventure of the detection club #OTP: Red Dragon #fanfiction #self insert fic #tgaa 2 spoilers #story #murder mystery

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haroldgonzalles · 6 years

Text

POS Upgrades: What Retail Stores Should Do With Outdated Equipment

Is retail the leader in data breaches? People mistakenly think it is. The truth is financial institutions, healthcare, and government agencies are where most breaches occur. However, retail is in the top 10. The problems are numerous. Retailers may not realize they need powerful firewalls and point-to-point encryption when transmitting credit and debit card details.

Think of the devices you use for sales. You may use a printer for contracts and applications if your retailer offers a store credit card. Smaller stores may use smartphones or tablets with a plug-in card reader for credit and debit card transactions. Computers and cash register terminals are also common. All of them are capable of storing details like card numbers, names, addresses, contact information, and SSNs. This is where recycling can go wrong if you’re not careful when getting rid of old store equipment.

Retailers who upgrade their point-of-sale electronics often don’t realize they must recycle outdated equipment in a very secure manner. If you’re bringing it to your nearest recycling center without asking questions, you’re making a mistake. You need to take a closer look at electronics recycling and data destruction.

Don’t All Businesses Know That?

You would think with the media attention on cyber theft that retailers would know security is important. Some have made errors that have led to breaches and theft of customer information. Here are some of the recent ones.

In one case, several stores were victims when an online support company was breached. Retailers that used [24]7.ai include Best Buy, Delta Airlines, Kmart, and Sears. Payment card details may have been taken in this breach.

Clothing retailer Forever 21 had a problem with POS terminals that left payment card numbers, expiration dates, and card verification codes open to hackers. The system was exposed for more than six months.

The grocery store chain Raley’s lost a computer during an incident. That pharmacy computer contained data including the health records of 10,000 customers. The stolen computer had data containing customer’s health issues, current and past prescriptions, full names, dates of birth, and addresses.

As more and more consumers become victims of theft due to data breaches and theft. It’s important that retailers start taking better steps to keep this information safe.

10 Steps the FTC Says Are Vital for Any Business

The FTC gets reports when there are breaches and thefts that affect consumers. To prevent your business from being on the long list of companies that have been targets, they recommend every company take time to take 10 steps to keep customer’s data private.

Set up firewalls and monitor for intrusion attempts.

Use professional security software to avoid malware and other threats and keep it updated.

Create secure passwords.

Only give a select number of trustworthy employees that password.

Use encryption when sending any customer data.

Limit remote access to your store network.

If you must store customer details, secure them in a very safe place.

Limit paperwork and store what is necessary in locked files and cabinets.

Verify that any suppliers use the same protective measures.

Don’t connect computers that don’t need to be connected to each other.

There’s one step they left out. When you’re recycling outdated computers, registers, and other POS equipment, be very careful about how you get rid of it. Don’t let employees take it home without having the data destroyed.

How Do You Recycle Old POS Equipment?

It’s time to replace your outdated cash registers and other POS terminals. You can’t trust just anyone to do it. You need to make sure that data destruction is used to make it impossible for anyone to access hard drives and steal data. Typically, this is done through one of three methods.

Wiping – Wiping uses software to delete all information on a drive. If it’s not done correctly, it is possible to get the information back.

Degaussing – This is the method the NSA recommends. It uses magnetic fields to demagnetize drives, which eliminates all data. It also destroys the hard drive from being useful.

Shredding – Shredding involves a giant shredder that grinds the device into small pieces. Think of it as being very similar to a paper shredder, but it is used on hard drives and other internal computer components. Shredding ensures 100% of the data is physically destroyed.

Once the data is destroyed, old POS equipment can be broken down into components for recycling. Metals like copper and aluminum get recycled as metal. Plastic pieces and metal casing are other items that get recycled.

Why take a chance? ERI is a leader in outdated retail equipment processing and recycling. We work with Best Buy, Costco, Walmart, and other leading retailers. Use our services and you protect the environment, your company, and, most importantly, your customer base. Complete ERI’s online contact form to learn more about recycling electronics.

POS Upgrades: What Retail Stores Should Do With Outdated Equipment published first on https://schrottabholung.weebly.com/

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