THINGS to do
...before you die
In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. - Benjamin Franklin
The rest of your life is up to you. But, remember that you have only a limited amount of time before you go.
So start making a list of all the things you want to do before you die. Then start doing them. Right away. You never know how much longer you have left...
Take Action
Think about all the good you might to do before you die.
Make a list of things you would like to do to address some of the world's big problems.
Your list can be as long or as short as you like. The problems are those you believe important. The actions are what you want to do to address them.
Put the list somewhere where you can see it. Make sure you do at least one thing on the list each month - and try to do everything before you die.
Find Out More
A list of 100 simple things to do: http://brass612.tripod.com/cgi-bin/things.html
Grow a Brain is a website all about things to do before you die, with lots of links: http://growabrain.typepad.com/growabrain/things_to_do_before_you_die
Read these books:
2DO Before I Die: the do-it-yourself guide to the rest of your life, with ideas and case studies, by Michael Ogden and Chris Day, Little Brown
100 Things to Do Before You Die, ideas from scientists put together by Valerie Jamieson and Liz Else, Profile Books
Some things you simply must do
Here are three things you simply must do:
- Scour the night sky for comets, with the chance of following Halley or Donati and having a comet named after you.
- Extract your own DNA. Spit gargled salt water into diluted washing-up liquid and slowly dribble ice-cold gin down the side of the glass. The spindly white clumps that form in the mixture are, basically, you.
- Measure the speed of light by melting chocolate in a microwave oven. You measure the distance between globs. Various calculations produce the answer. You can still eat the chocolate afterwards.
From "100 Things to Do Before You Die", ideas from scientists put together by Valerie Jamieson and Liz Else, Profile Books.
...and three more things
- Write your name in atoms at IBM's Almaden research laboratory, San Jose, California. While you're saving up to go there, simply go and see an atom by visiting a university lab with equipment to trap and cool atoms. Barium is best.
- Help nail a murderer. Register ahead with Tennessee's body farm and donate your corpse. It will be left out in the open to decompose before a trainee forensic scientist gets to work on it. An estimated 100 murderers have been convicted as a result of this training.
- Become a diamond. LifeGem of Chicago, Illinois, will take a few grains of your cremated remains, subject them to high pressure and temperature. You emerge from the process 18 weeks later as a sparkling one-carat diamond.
From "100 Things to Do Before You Die", ideas from scientists put together by Valerie Jamieson and Liz Else, Profile Books.
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Here are three things to do before you die:
- Extract your own DNA. Spit gargled salt water into diluted washing-up liquid and slowly dribble ice-cold gin down the side of the glass. The spindly white clumps that form in the mixture are, basically, you.
- Measure the speed of light by melting chocolate in a microwave oven. You measure the distance between globs. Various calculations produce the answer. You can still eat the chocolate afterwards.
- Become a diamond. LifeGem of Chicago, Illinois, will take a few grains of your cremated remains, subject them to high pressure and temperature. You emerge from the process 18 weeks later as a sparkling one-carat diamond.
Ideas from scientists for "100 Things to Do Before You Die" (Profile Books). Make your own list of the 100 things that you would like to do.
