How do you want to die?

Thread Starter

count_volta

Joined Feb 4, 2009
435
I was walking around in a thunderstorm earlier and thought of the way Nikola Tesla died. It was definitely not worthy of such a man as him. He died alone, insane, forgotten, in the New Yorker Hotel.

The day after he died, the FBI took everything in his hotel because of potential information about weapons of mass destruction hidden somewhere.

So sad and pathetic. He should have died by being struck by lightning. Not being electrocuted by one of his inventions, but lighting. A natural event over which he has no control, but is still the physical force of nature that he mastered. Electricity. That was the only appropriate way for him to die.

Now think of the way Einstein died. In a hospital bed, solving solving solving equations with his notebook and pen literally in his hands until the last moment. After he discovered so much, he was trying to understand the mind of God and figure out the unified theory. That is worthy of him I think.

So here is a grim question for you. How would you like to die? We all have to someday. Obviously it should be when we are extremely old, but it should be in some cool exciting manner. Any ideas? LOL.

I would probably prefer to be struck by lighting or something at the ripe old age of 158. :D Electricity, the force I love, the force that will ultimately kill me. LOL.
 
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DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
I've actually put a lot of thought into this (call me strange if you like), and I decided long ago that I'd like to die at the age of 92 by being struck by lightning. However, I was told once that I'd die at the age of 54 by slipping on a banana peel and falling down a flight of stairs, but I'm not sure the source was credible :D:p
 

Thread Starter

count_volta

Joined Feb 4, 2009
435
I've actually put a lot of thought into this (call me strange if you like), and I decided long ago that I'd like to die at the age of 92 by being struck by lightning. However, I was told once that I'd die at the age of 54 by slipping on a banana peel and falling down a flight of stairs, but I'm not sure the source was credible :D:p
I wonder how many of us here would like to be fried by lightning? Perhaps I need to start a counter.

Actually I can increase my chances by retiring to Florida when I'm around 150 or so. Florida has more lightning strikes per year than any other state.
 

Thread Starter

count_volta

Joined Feb 4, 2009
435
chances of that happening are pretty slim...

at 92, DerStrom will be found wondering outside during thunderstorms hugging lonely trees...
Indeed. As I see he has an avatar of Tesla, he is also a fan. I swear if Tesla went around hugging trees in hopes of getting hit by lightning before he died, I would consider him less insane than the stuff he was doing just before he died....
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Statistics show you should be on a golf course, on Sunday, in the summer, for the best chance of being hit by lightning in Florida. Start learning golf, now.

As for me, I only hope to die quickly, to be healthy and sane until the day before the day I die, then check out in an instant. Lightning can do that for you. It knocks out the circuit breakers in your brain and you can be dead before you wake up. In my opinion, lightning is even better than being hit by a bus. Been there, done that, and you feel the bones break before you lose consciousness. Mark mine as a vote for lightning.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
Well I don't want to die in a bed, following a period of years in that same bed, having had someone else wipe my ass for me the whole time. I'd like to be useful until my last day. I would prefer to die quickly in an accident, maybe around age 80, or before, if I've lost a lot of my faculties. but you know, if I live to 100 and I can still get out in the garage and make stuff then that's a bonus, but I doubt it with my family health history. If I get put in an old folks home, I'll off myself.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
I would like to die peacefully in my sleep like my uncle, not screaming in terror like his passengers.

Failing that, having my head blown off on my 100th birthday as I climb out a twentieth-floor window trying to escape a jealous husband runs a close second. Slipping and falling to my death would be a close third.

But, given the performance of my retirement funds, my best guess is that once I get too old to work I will have to rely on my 401(k)itty plan -- hang a thick juicy stake around my neck and take a long stroll in the woods (or just take a nap out on the deck).
 

monster_catfish

Joined Mar 17, 2011
116
Personally I was hoping the very concept of death might be negotiable, but failing that I suppose I could settle for a cardiac while ministering to a pair of curvaceous and creative Japanese college girls in heat.

The only trouble with that end would be that having spent myself broke to organize the occasion, I might not actually die until after I get mugged on the way home.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
Have any of you ever been struck by lightning? Its not a very nice death. You belt, zipper, buttons and everything else metal burns into your body, your chances of dieing are around 30%. And once your hit, your odds of being repeatably hit go thru the roof. My uncles been hit 3-5 times. He's litterally a lightning rod.

If I had to pick a way to go I'd say ground zero of a huge asteroid.
 

gerty

Joined Aug 30, 2007
1,305
Back in the 60's a friend of mines little sister was struck twice by lightning.
Both times she was hit on the top of the head.
She was 12 when that happened, and the last time I saw her she was 19 and still had a approx 6 inch circle on top of her head on which hair refuses to grow.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
Back in the 60's a friend of mines little sister was struck twice by lightning.
Both times she was hit on the top of the head.
She was 12 when that happened, and the last time I saw her she was 19 and still had a approx 6 inch circle on top of her head on which hair refuses to grow.
Yah that happens too. I live in the lightning capital of the world so people get hit here all the time. Doesn't even make the news many times. But when your hit by lightning it changes the polarity of your body making you a lightning magnet. She's gonna have to becareful in storms her whole life. Closest I've gotten was 15ft from a strike. Made my hair stand on end.
 

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
Have any of you ever been struck by lightning? Its not a very nice death. You belt, zipper, buttons and everything else metal burns into your body, your chances of dieing are around 30%.
But if you're in that 30%, then it would be awesome, because you'd probably die on impact and won't feel a thing. You'll be dead before you hit the ground. That's how I'd like to go....:cool:
 

monster_catfish

Joined Mar 17, 2011
116
The sheer terror of my big encounter with lightning was magnified because I had foolishly paddled my dugout canoe out to an open-sided shed built on stilts in the center of a narrow creek, with a rain forest timber canopy above.

I thought the storm had passed as I set out, but the sky darkened in a couple of minutes flat once I was downstream, and the tempest was on before I could paddle back to dry land where the truck was. The flash and explosive bangs were simultaneous for a good few minutes, and there was a distinct burning smell in the air. I imagine the tin roof of the shed took a few strikes, yet somehow I didn't wind up a crispy critter that day.

Got a far healthier respect for Mother Nature now, and the slightest rumble on the horizon sends me scurrying indoors.
 

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
A few years ago I almost got struck. There was a severe thunderstorm here in Vermont, and it had finally quieted down. I hadn't heard thunder for about twenty minutes, so I decided to go for a little walk. I've always loved the smell and the feel of the outdoors after a big storm. Anyway, I had just made it to the bottom of my front steps when I saw this bright flash and heard the loudest crack of thunder I think I've ever heard. I swear I felt my hair stand up. I don't know exactly where the lightning actually struck, but I think if I was just a few more feet out into my open yard, I probably wouldn't be here talking about it today. I was lucky--I wasn't 92 when it happened :D

I still love going out during severe storms and chasing them around, but I'm a little more careful where I stand now. I don't want to be taken before my time :p
 

Brownout

Joined Jan 10, 2012
2,390
The flash and explosive bangs were simultaneous for a good few minutes, and there was a distinct burning smell in the air. I imagine the tin roof of the shed took a few strikes, yet somehow I didn't wind up a crispy critter that day.
The shed shielded you, providing a path around you for the current.
 
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