What You Leave Behind
footsteps in beachsand
This week saw the passing of famed hacker Kevin Mitnick, who passed at the age of 59 from pancreatic cancer. Fuck cancer.<br>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).<br>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.'<br>Some of the exaggerated stories of his exploits even fueled some hysteria:<br>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<br>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).<br>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 .'<br>I started to ponder this back in April, where I mentioned:<br>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.<br>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.<br>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<br>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.<br>What do you want to leave behind ?<br>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.<br>To wrap up the week, I wanted to share this advice from Kurt Vonnegut.<br>It says it all.<br>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. "<br>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!<br>New Gear! 🛍️<br>Available now at the Makoism store - our newest shirt: "I put the FU in FUN ".<br>two killer new shirts!Available in all sorts of colors, hoodies and even toddler sizes . Because, they always put the FU in fun.<br>Mind Benders 🤯<br>What does it look like when they ask 100 random people to scream as loud as they can?<br>Quotables 📚<br>I totally dug this image:<br>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.<br>[via mastodon.social/@Sheril/110718354044433618 ]<br>Brain Dump 🧠<br>Here are a few articles and videos that resonated with me over the last week:<br>As we approach summer, today I learned the...