Shortlife countdown clock
By Ben Everard. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
Life is short! Why not buy a clock that counts down until your expected death, paralysing you with fear and indecision as you watch what’s left of your time on Earth drain away? Or you could see the countdown as a warning and use it to motivate you to get out and do the things you’ve always wanted to do. It’s up to you.

When you buy the Shortlife clock, you supply your date of birth, country of residence, and sex; from that, Dries will calculate your estimated life expectancy based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO); the user just needs to add the time and date. We like the idea of this; it’s a little like having a voice on your shoulder saying, “remember you are mortal”.
Program a robot arm, with Raspberry Pi and Python code
Ben is the Editor of HackSpace magazine. When not wrangling words, he enjoys cycling, gardening, and attempting to identify wild mushrooms.
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