
Before I Die... - Dysiode
http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/
======
corin_
Photo #5 shows a man writing "tried for pi" and I badly wanted to know what
the ending was. Hilarious that it was "tried for piracey" (as shown in #9),
given he is genuinely dressed as a pirate.

Awesome overall idea, too.

~~~
gpambrozio
Pillaging. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=pillaging>

~~~
blhack
If it makes you feel better, that's what I thought it said too.

Also: Shame on you HN. This person not only answered the question (in a way
that they thought was truthful, oops, they were wrong), but linked to a
definition of the word.

Now they're at -9 karma overall (their user). Anybody who downvoted this or
the comment below it: you probably shouldn't ever complain about HN turning
into reddit.

~~~
chc
He's being downvoted for either not reading or willfully ignoring the comment
he replied to. There wasn't even a question in the first place. I'm not sure
why you think expecting people to at least read before replying is a
Redditism, and I don't see how linking to the definition of a word is supposed
to excuse it. It was a pretty objectively poor answer.

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iamwil
It's not inspiring unless it moves people to action. I hope those that wrote
on there are on their way to figuring out some way to make their dreams and
goals come true.

~~~
Dysiode
It's a step in the right direction. It prompts people to think about something
worthwhile and could easily become an ice breaker within a community. At the
very least it may spark an idea in someone who reads it. "What does it really
mean to 'make a difference'?" That can segue into powerful thoughts. Even the
simple action of physically presenting a hope or dream can be motivating.

Of course, it's always up to the person to act but I find it's easier to work
toward a goal when my spirits are high and being surrounded by hope has an
uplifting effect.

~~~
sundarurfriend
I had always thought this kind of 'motivational' attempts are too simple-
minded to work. Then one day, while under a lot of pressure and
discouragement, I happened to see a man on the road with a T-shirt that said
'Never give up', and it really made a difference in my mindset.

So, I now believe that tiny things like this can mean a lot to someone who's
on the edge and can turn them around.

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s00pcan
This is the least scary way you could write "Die" on a wall 81 times.

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zarprey
What a great use of a neglected space. Really inspiring project. It'd be great
to do a timelapse of people writing on the wall. The variety of people would
be interesting to see.

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sagarun
Another interesting social project from the same person
<http://candychang.com/post-it-notes-for-neighbors-2/>

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Kilimanjaro
Hmm, great idea for a web project that can go viral real quick.

~~~
mryall
Unfortunately, beforeidie.com seems to be registered to someone who isn't
interested in using it.

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staunch
...begin receiving life extension therapy? ;-)

~~~
Prolorn
... sign up for cryonics?

~~~
Eliezer
That's what I was going to write.

~~~
mazuhl
Here's the problem I have with cryonics: in what future do they need to
defrost people from the past for another other than freak show/historical
novelty? There are so many problems the defrosted will have:

* no skills for their new environment * no money * billions of warm-bodied, warm-blooded other humans already there * suffering from lonliness knowing everyone you've ever known is dead

Unless the defrosting process is great and there's going to be gene therapy,
and it won't be for maybe the first few hundred/thousand people, you'll be
disabled, diseased or still suffering from whatever killed you in the first
place.

~~~
rjshade
You could spend all days coming up with possible reasons for not defrosting
cryonics patients in the future. However you need to remember that no matter
how low a probability you assign to your successful defrosting, this will be
strictly greater than the probability of successfully being alive in the
future if you go with the default, non-cryonics option of irrevocable
destruction.

~~~
MediaBehavior
Ay, me... so little confidence in reincarnation within HN ;)

"The body of B. Franklin, Printer (Like the Cover of an Old Book, Its Contents
torn Out And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding) Lies Here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be Lost; For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More
In a New and More Elegant Edition Revised and Corrected By the Author. "
--Benjamin Franklin (self-authored epitaph)

Edit: updated to show his _final_ version.

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ksullenberger
Interesting to come across this shortly after watching a video of Steve Jobs's
commencement speech to Stanford students.

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked
myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am
about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in
a row, I know I need to change something."

~~~
thasmin
He may have this luxury because he's ridiculously wealthy and controls his
job, but most people have to worry about tomorrow. They're really different
goals. I'm going to do things today that will improve the rest of my life. I
wouldn't go to work on the last day of my life, but I did it today and I'll do
it tomorrow.

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mgkimsal
Found this - not quite as good, but lots of pics:
<http://www.beforeidieiwantto.org/usa_other.html>

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jrockway
Everyone has hopes and aspirations. What's troubling is realizing that you
have an aspiration that you will never be able to fulfil.

I want to fly a fully-loaded 777. I want to sleep with every member of my
favorite all-female band. These things are never going to happen. Does that
mean my life is a failure?

~~~
djcapelis
Do you honestly think you could never fly a fully loaded 777 if it was the
most important thing to you?

This project isn't about whims, it's about dreams.

~~~
Peaker
Your argument doesn't work quite as well on his other "aspiration" :-)

~~~
khafra
I didn't see any requirement there for consent or remaining uninjured and un-
jailed.

Of course, the thing about actual human values is that we satisfice instead of
optimizing. That's a good thing.

~~~
Dylan16807
I would argue that the term 'sleep _with_ ' implies consent. Even without that
it's a wording issue of the goal, not a case of satisficing. Flying the 777
probably is.

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mrleinad
How long 'til someone creates a cool site with this idea? I bet less than a
week..

~~~
joss82
Challenge accepted:

<http://www.challengelistcreator.com>

Actually it was started like 3 weeks ago.

It's (very) rough around the edges, but usable.

~~~
mrleinad
Tired of giving the same advice over and over again. Don't make me open my
e-mail just to give you feedback about your site. You have a webpage! Create a
form and receive feedback right from it!

Other than that, looks promising. Some aesthetic changes would do good, but
looks nice. Consider OpenID or OAuth, to gain traction from social networks.

~~~
joss82
Thanks for your advice.

It's on the top of my todo list.

Just after some real life stuff.

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spencerfry
This is genius. Need this in every city.

~~~
sagarun
I want to post this in my facebook page, tag all my friends and ask "what do
you wanna do before you die?". It is always nice to know what your friends and
family want to do before they die :)

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nhangen
Fantastic project, and it's also a fascinating social experiment. Many people
talk of changing bad situations, but this is a case of using art and
engineering to make a solid attempt.

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InfinityX0
The less I sit and ponder about the meaning of life and what I'm doing and
what to do in the future, the happier I am.

Before I die, I don't want to contemplate what I want to do before I die. Not
to say I'm not achievement-oriented, because I am, I just associate "before I
die" type statements with similar "what if?" personalities - although
obviously "what if?" is a concrete statement while "before I die" still leaves
room for change, which can inspire hope - although it most often won't inspire
action.

~~~
zecho
I think the juxtaposition of hope and inspiration on an abandoned building
exemplifies NOLA.

And before anyone pounces on me: I love New Orleans more than any other city
in America, warts and all, which is something that makes this piece even
better to me, if it causes action or not.

If anything, it's a good reminder that people you may have never met, people
right in your neighborhood have hopes and goals and even a sense of humor.
It's easy to forget that in a crowd, and this kind of puts it right in front
of people in a shared space, as a shared piece of art.

I think it stands pretty well on that point alone.

~~~
Dysiode
Absolutely! I love anything that reminds me that all those people around me
are people too.

Who knows, maybe the Internet could benefit from the occasional Before I
Die... entry. It would make for an interesting social experiment to randomly
display an entry from a fellow community member (or it could be negative
depending on the amount of spam, but an experiment is an experiment!).

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sharmajai
I think the biggest reason that draws people to the board is the anonymity of
the response.

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gcr
This is exactly the kind of thing my art professor would love. Interesting!

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rokhayakebe
I found this project a few weeks back and loved it. Almost posted it here. I
would love to see a web version of it or at least aggregating tweets with a
hashtag like #b4id

~~~
corin_
I feel like a bit of a snob for having this opinion, but I do have it, so
might as well write it: If a hashtag like that ever got any traction then the
results would be horrible. Hashtags like that attract so many morons and
idiotic tweets, like one I saw the other day "#thingsblackpeopledontsay" (or
something like that).

I've never seen any hashtag that wasn't shit except those based around
events/people/etc. For example #Dodgers during a baseball game, or #Libya.

All other hashtags, the ones based around tweeting on a random idea, result in
a load of shit. I don't want to read idiots tweeting "#b4id fukk loadsa hot
bitches", thanks.

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wicknicks
Totally liked the "Before I Die... Make a difference" message.

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hammock
I did come across this a few days ago and thought it was cool. Would not have
expected something like this to make the front page of HN.

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testingisageek
Wish we had this in our city pluse I like the idea the othe guy said about
having a time lapse that would be really neat great work.

~~~
Kliment
Do it! Material cost is minimal, put up a board and some chalk and see what
emerges.

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GrayRoark
Nice! This is like a wall bucket list: <http://bucketlist.org/>

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mhb
Somewhat similar:

<http://littlegreatideas.com/willyou/>

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topijo
Before I Die... I want to have truly lived.

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zelandpanther
Before I die I want to have a great life.

