What You Leave Behind

This week saw the passing of famed hacker Kevin Mitnick, who passed at the age of 59 from pancreatic cancer. Fuck cancer.

For those that don't know of him, at one time, he was considered one of the 'most wanted' computer hackers; he was sought after for 'gaining illegal access to about 20,000 credit card numbers; causing millions of dollars in damage to corporate computer operations; and stealing software used for maintaining the privacy of wireless calls and handling billing information' (more here).

And, while spending five years in prison for wire fraud, there was no evidence he actually used any of this for financial gain, and that 'his activities were high stakes but, in the end, a harmless form of play.'

Some of the exaggerated stories of his exploits even fueled some hysteria:

One led prison officials to put him in solitary confinement for nine months because they feared he could start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone, emulating a modem "to hack NORAD and trigger a ballistic missile." - ABC News

His speciality was in social engineering, the art of where 'he would impersonate company employees to obtain passwords and data' where he claimed 'how susceptible even the most locked-down information systems are to a slick con artist impersonating an IRS agent'. His book, The Art of Deception, is a fantastic read (and in my anti-library).

Switching topics, since returning from a fantastic few days at the Do Wales 2023 journey, I've been thinking a lot about the general idea of 'what we leave behind.'

I started to ponder this back in April, where I mentioned:

A mindset shift I've tried to strive towards consciously is that you should 'leave things better than you found them.' You can apply this to any aspect of life - a relationship, work, treating people/nature, cleaning up after yourself, doing the laundry, mentoring people, etc.

As I process the conversations, experiences, and wonderful people from across the world that I met and sink in what I experienced in Wales, there are so many lessons and shifts of perspective that I don't even know where to begin.

We don't create the meaning of our life — we discover it.

We each have a unique reason for being, which can be adjusted or transformed many times over the years.

We all have the capacity to do noble or terrible things. The side of the equation we end up on depends on our decisions, not on the condition in which we find ourselves. - Ikigai

I've begun to correlate Mitnick's legacy to a broader idea I've been considering. It's that we all eventually stumble down the path of life, and to 'discover your meaning,' you need to spend time focusing on the impact you make on your surroundings.

What do you want to leave behind?

While this can center on actively engaging with others, I've realized how important it is to appreciate and acknowledge things around you. Just stop for a minute. Breathe. Take some time to notice and express gratitude for people, things, and situations that bring joy to your day.

To wrap up the week, I wanted to share this advice from Kurt Vonnegut.

It says it all.

But I had a good uncle, my late Uncle Alex.

He was my father's kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life-insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well- read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy.

So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

SO I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "if this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

If you enjoy these posts, you can buy me a coffee ☕️, check out my store or just share my work. If you'd rather just keep up with my daily ramblings, follow me via your favorite RSS reader, via Mastodon or keep reading my posts on this blog. Your support is much appreciated!

New Gear! 🛍️

Available now at the Makoism store - our newest shirt: "I put the FU in FUN".

Available in all sorts of colors, hoodies and even toddler sizes. Because, they always put the FU in fun.

Mind Benders 🤯

What does it look like when they ask 100 random people to scream as loud as they can?

Quotables 📚

I totally dug this image:

About 109 billion people have lived & died. Each grain of sand represents 10 million. This stunning data visualization of human life by Max Roser was published in 2022. Today there would be 805 green grains representing 8.05 billion people living on Earth.

[via mastodon.social/@Sheril/110718354044433618]

Brain Dump 🧠

Here are a few articles and videos that resonated with me over the last week:

• As we approach summer, today I learned the perfect way from this video how to pick a sweet watermelon. From the guide, the darker yellow field spot on the melon (where it was resting on the ground) usually means it was on the vine longer and is fuller of flavor. Other ways include giving it a knock with your knuckles and listening for a hollow/deep sound, or if you see any black spots on the melon, its where sugar is seeping out and indicates a perfect sweet watermelon — [via How to Pick a Sweet Watermelon]
• I still have every first-run issue of Akira wrapped in plastic, so I can't believe it's been 35 years since Katsuhiro Otomo's epic anime film hit the screens. What only can be called one of the most influential anime of all time, it's immeasurable the effect it's had on pop culture — [via 35 Years Later, Akira's Impact Is as Strong As Ever]
• An excellent, insightful piece on friendship and the stamina some of them require — [via How to Not Break Up With Your Friends]
• I've been on a Tetris kick since the AppleTV+ film dropped a few months ago, and I've been enjoying playing it again on the Gameboy emulator. While I know folks who have been obsessed with it, I wasn't aware of the "Tetris Effect," - which 'occurs when people devote so much time and attention to an activity that it begins to pattern their thoughts, mental images, and dreams.' — [via The Tetris Effect: how four simple tiles can help anxiety and reshape your brain]
• While I'm not sure I agree with everything in this post, the idea of incentives changing over time into competing, or possibly conflicting, is an exciting idea to noodle on — [via Incentives Rule The World]
• I don't know what to say except that 20 slices of cheese on a bun with no patty describes 2023. — [via Too much: Burger King’s new offering in Thailand has no meat and 20 slices of cheese]
• From one of my latest favorite finds, 'Everything is Bullshit,' I enjoyed this 'list of problems with the idea that humans are primarily interested in useful truth' and why our brains are generally wired to enjoy bullshit — [via You Will Find This Interesting]
• Speaking of bullshit, the meaning of life is bullshit too. — [via The Meaning of Life Is Bullshit]
• On the heels of Google search, and now the world being consumed by the latest AI of the week, a look at how the Internet 'is full of self-styled experts in my field who claim to have the One Weird Trick that will change your life completely.' In other words, people generally overrate their competence on something simply because they have access to knowledge. — [via Google Isn’t Grad School]
• I enjoyed this article on memories, in particular 'flashbulb memories,' which are memories defined as ones that come from learning about some shocking event and how they degrade over time. But, the confidence in their accuracy remained high. Fascinating read. — [via What Are Flashbulb Memories?]
• In previous posts, I've mentioned the concept of an anti-library. The Japanese word for this is 'Tsundoku,' which translates to 'reading pile.' — [via 'Tsundoku,' the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language]

This Weeks Vibe 🎸

Tired but can't sleep?

Well, now the Legal Lullabies website takes it to the next level by 'lulling yourself to sleep with the soothing white noise of your favorite tech giant's terms of service.'

Listen to the ToS from Instagram, TikTok, etc., and have that restful night that's been escaping you.

https://www.zzzuckerberg.com/

Be well. ✌🏻