By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 17, 2026 | You’ve heard of “bucket lists,” a list of goals, dreams, and experiences a person hopes to achieve in their lifetime, specifically before they die or “kick the bucket.”
Where does the term come from? It’s believed to stem from old, dark, or obscure settings, potentially related to slaughtering animals or suicide methods where a bucket was kicked away. One of the first public use was, we learn from the Internet, by screenwriter Justin Zackham in 1999. It was widely popularized by the 2007 movie The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, which follows two terminally ill men completing their wish lists.
The term became widely used in the early 21st century and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013.
We ran across a local fellow the other day, who recently put together his own bucket list he hopes to accomplish, by visiting the local area. While most of us haven’t produced our own bucket lists so far, let’s take a cursory view of his, which may give some of us ideas.
Here with comment, is his Bucket List:
- Go to Red’s Corner in Tucker to browse for books in Tucker, Ga.
- Go to Northside Atlanta Benevolent Association on Saturday morning for breakfast and fellowship.
- Go to Stone Mountain for Georgia Native Plant Society GNPS volunteer work.
- Go and visit the Beltline in downtown Atlanta.
- Go to the Computer Museum in Roswell.
- Meet up with a (named) friend for coffee.
- Walk into Stone Mountain Park. (This might be best said to “visit Stone Mountain park and take a stroll.)
- Go to Greenville, South Carolina for a couple days.
- Norcross is planning an arboretum, a botanical garden at its Pinnacle Park off Brookhollow Parkway. Go visit it.
- Visit and learn more about the Norcross Tree Preservation Board. Talk with Norcross City Arborist Shahin Khalili.
- Visit with Trees Atlanta to learn more.
- Visit old growth forests nearby, such as Chicopee Woods Hall County; Fernbank Forest Dekalb County; and Little Mulberry Park Gwinnett County.
- Take select recyclables to the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials.
- Donate to thrift stores near Special Kneads in Lawrenceville.”
That’s his list. You can tell by his list that our friend is curious, has given some thought to what he wants to see and learn more about in our area of the world and has already started working on that list.
We would enjoy many items on his list. And the good part is that at several locations on this list, we bet you could buy a Pistachio ice cream cone.
Panic Buttons: where did they arise?
We learn from the Internet: The concept of panic buttons emerged in the mid-20th century as a simple but effective way to signal distress. Early systems were typically hardwired into a building’s infrastructure and connected to local law enforcement or security teams.
Chrysler is generally recognized as the first automotive corporation to incorporate panic buttons into their vehicle key fobs in the 1970s, aiming to enhance driver security against carjackings and emergencies. While individual inventors developed early, separate car alarm technologies, the integration of a panic button on a remote key fob evolved alongside keyless entry systems developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
These buttons were designed to allow drivers to instantly trigger a car’s horn and lights to attract attention during emergencies.
Now you know.
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