#average life span

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/thoughts-on-invictus/

Thoughts On Invictus*

Surrounded by books in a well-trafficked bookstore, I sat down to coffee with a former student.  We’ve been meeting this way for many years.  By now, he is in his early 70s while I am staring down at 87.  Happily, we are both in robust health, and I always look forward to our conversations, particularly on that day as he’d recently returned from a year in Japan.  As he related his experiences about life aboard, I noted he spoke in a  booming voice as though his words needed to carry to the back of a large hall. As we were seated at a  pedestal table no more than 3 feet apart, I took exception. “Why are you yelling at me? I can hear you perfectly well.”    My companion paused, his features creased in a puzzled expression. “I’m sorry.  I thought you might be hard of hearing.” He was right in his assumption.  I am hard of hearing which is why I wear earbuds that are as expensive as diamonds but without the glamor. At 104, my mother could hear a fly drop on a marshmallow at twenty paces.  Sadly,  I follow in my father’s footsteps.  His hearing loss began in his 50s. Even so, he refused to see a doctor and seemed to delight in forcing friends and family to shout at him. Rejecting his example, I take pity on those around me and wear my hearing aids when I’m in public.  The doctor says I should wear them all the time, but they make my ears itch.  In any case, my point about the difference between my mother and father makes one thing clear.  People don’t age in the same way.  Hopefully, my mother’s genes will bestow a long and healthy life on me but science gives me no assurance.  Genes, they say, have a  10-35% influence on longevity.  The rest depends on diet and exercise.    Those born at the tag end of the Baby Boomers and the generations that followed probably see 80-somethings as prehistoric.  Born before the advent of television, we are folks presumed to live in the shadows, figures bent like candy canes who shuffle about unobtrusively with the aid of wheelchairs, walkers, or canes.  Would it surprise them to learn that  Helen Mirren, age 78 and two years younger than President Joe Biden, made 5 films this year? (“Up/front Watch,” AARP, Aug/Sept. 2023, pg. 12.)   Or, that in his two years in office, Biden has fulfilled so many campaign promises historians predict he will be remembered as one of the country’s ablest presidents?  Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia’s Republican member of Congress, disagrees with that assessment.  She roots for Donald Trump,  age 77,  to win the 2024 Presidential election.  Not only blind to Trump’s age, his previous presidential failures, and the many court indictments pending against him, she insists a higher power works in his favor. God has plans much bigger than this.  (“They Said What?” FreeTought Today, September 2030, pg. 2)  If the past is a prelude to the future, I shudder to think what these plans may be. True, a significant swathe of the country shares Greene’s view.  Like her, they don’t have the force of the pulpit behind them, but they claim to know God’s will and are determined by means fair or foul to convert the rest of us to their religiosity. They proselyte on social media, shout their hallelujahs over public school and prison speakers (Ibid pgs. 5-6), as well at sporting events–any place where they find a captive audience. Nature thrives on diversity, but their God demands conformity.  With each book banned from a school or library, these zealots celebrate– as if free will and free thought were worthy of a public hanging.  By degrees, their successes rob the world of color.  Once invention, imagination, and originality become exiles, we find ourselves confined to a grey pallet– a place of shadows where fear and hatred are free to spin their mischief.    The average lifespan for our species is 74 years.  Measured in days, that represents 272,000 sunrises.  Compare this number to the life of our sun which will burn another 4. 57 billion years.  Given the contrast between it and ourselves, a question arises.  Can we afford to be profligate with our brief hour upon the stage? Whether young or old, rather than busying ourselves judging others, we’d do better to contemplate our common destiny and how our actions make either heaven or hell of the earth. The journey each of us takes may be private, yet we know it has public consequences.  A good rule of thumb might be to consider looking inward and holding ourselves accountable for the good or ill we do.  Only when we have shouldered that burden as a compass can we claim to be captains of our souls. *Poem by William Ernest, Henley

[keferon]

Will Jazz pull an avatar move and get his soul transfered to be a real mech at the end of the au??👀

I. Hm.

Either that or Prowl will have to face the fact that humas..uh....don't live very long.

[frickingnerd]

okay, i never really give game recommendations, BUT-- you guys should def check out our life: beginning & always!

it's a free visual novel/dating sim on steam & it's not too long either! i'm currently playing it & am considering writing for it once i open requests again! so like-- if anyone actually knew that game, that'd be so cool 👉🏻👈🏻

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Do mermaids in The Little Mermaid live far longer than humans, or do they have the same life span as humans? 🤔 In the original TLM, mermaids lived approximately 300 years, so I wonder if the same rule applies to the Disney version of the tale.

[mychemicalplatonicrelationship]

"its a painless procedure with a low rate of failure but very few patients survive" top surgery

[frogfemur]

More modern university au thoughts

Laios (26)

- Masters in Wildlife Biology

- was inspired by Steve Irwin growing up, attempted the accent and everything (he got better at it but it's still awful)

- works part-time at the zoo; loves being with the wolves and plays with them like dogs

- joined the military straight out of high school to get out of his parent's house but left after basic training

- absolutely has a fursona (it's a gray wolf with eagle wings (✨️majestic✨️))

Kabru (22)

- PhD in Forensic Psychology

- has wanted to become an FBI profiler since his foster mother (Milsiril) used to be an FBI agent investigating terrorism before early retirement (he thought she was so cool if overbearing and over protective)

- working on his dissertation (how certain paraphilias are linked to violence and aggression towards women)

- lost his parents in a domestic terrorist attack (one Milsiril was investigating)

- can't cook to save his life and is generally messy (in multiple ways lol)

Falin (23)

- Masters in Herpetology (but likes to dabble in ornithology)

- also working on conservation efforts and educating the public of endangered species (she met Marcille while volunteering at one of these while in high school)

- nearsighted but is always misplacing her glasses so is always squinting (at some point Marcille gets her a glasses chain)

- also works at the zoo with Laios but mostly in the reptile house

- volunteers during her spare time with Marcille still

Marcille (24)

- PhD in Biomedical Engineering

- working on her dissertation (development of novel biomaterials for tissue engineering)

- lost her father at an early age due to organ failure

- has an interest in the occult

- a low key pyro

Izutsumi (17)

- senior in high school

- works part-time at Senshi's to take orders (she's not allowed to do anything else)

- Senshi kinda adopted her

- Shuro's father took her in, but she was always running away

-Senshi caught her digging through the dumpster behind Chilchuk's pub and fed and talked to her

Chilchuck (45)

- runs a pub near the university

- has trivia nights every week and workshops once a month on labor laws and employee rights

- divorced but on good terms with his ex-wife (they meet up for some gossip)

- his 3 daughters (twins meijack and flertom (25) and puckpatty (22)) live in the area and like to swing by

- multilingual (chats up some of the foreign exchange students)

Senshi (44)

- owns a food truck that likes to park at the lot across from Chilchuck's bar

- at first chilchuk thinks he has a rival but now regular drinking buddies

- likes to have the group stop by to try his more exotic dishes (Laios especially enjoys them)

- used to travel the world and eat whatever was available

OG post

other post

[probably-not-a-rutabaga]

what are the ages of the mutanimals?

so,, none of them really know for sure,,, so they kinda had to guess (except mondo)

slash - probably like, mid to late thirties?

mona - 19-21

mondo - 16

alopex - 18-20

tiger claw - late twenties or smth

[stars-and-soda]

Can I just say I hate the glass child community as someone with a disabled sibling.

[youbutstupid]

Idk who needs to hear this but 30 isn’t old. 40 isn’t old either. Stop being shocked that a 40 year old is ‘ageing so well!’ Because bestie they’re just ageing, believe it or not 40 actually isn’t an old age to be so no wonder they still look relatively young. Adults aren’t washed up once they stop being 29

[slimyenemy]

idk who knows how it's supposed to work really but horror games are usually just such a survival grind to me like it's kinda grating??? lol

[champ-wiggle]

'She is so old': One-eyed wolf in Yellowstone defies odds by having 10th litter of pups in 11 years

By Patrick Pester, published June 3, 2024

Wolf 907F recently gave birth to her 10th litter of pups, which researchers say is likely a Yellowstone National Park record.

Wolf 907F walking past a trail camera in Yellowstone National Park. (Image credit: Yellowstone Wolf and Cougar Project)

The alpha female of a Yellowstone gray-wolf pack has defied the odds by having a 10th litter of pups at the age of 11.

The one-eyed wolf elder, named Wolf 907F, gave birth to her latest litter last month, the Cowboy State Daily reported. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) have an average life span of three to four years, so it's rare for them to reach 11, let alone have pups at that age.

Wolf 907F has given birth to pups every year for a decade straight since she became sexually mature, which Kira Cassidy, a research associate at the Yellowstone Wolf Project, said is likely a record for the wolves of Yellowstone National Park.

At age 11, Yellowstone’s Wolf 907F has lived more than twice a wild wolf’s average life expectancy. In this photo from April, she was pregnant with a litter of pups that she’s since given birth to. (Courtesy Yellowstone Wildlife Project)

"Every day, I expect that she might die just because she is so elderly, but I've been thinking that for the last few years, and she keeps going," Cassidy told Live Science.

Cassidy has calculated that only about 1 in 250 wolves in Yellowstone make it to their 11th birthday, with just six recorded examples since wolves were reintroduced to the park in 1995. The oldest of all of these great elders lived to 12.5 years, according to the National Park Service.

Wolf 907F lies in the snow in Yellowstone in 2015. (Image credit: Kira Cassidy/NPS)

Wolf 907F is the oldest wolf to have lived her whole life in the park's Northern Range, where there is more prey but also more competition from other wolves. Wolves rarely die of old age in the wild, and in Yellowstone National Park, the biggest threat is other wolves.

"In a protected place like Yellowstone, their number-one cause of death is when two packs fight with each other," Cassidy said. "That accounts for about half of the mortality."

One of Yellowstone's oldest wolves, Wolf 907F is pictured here with her pack last year. She's the gray collared wolf on the lower left. (Courtesy Yellowstone Wildlife Project)

Wolf 907F is the alpha female of the Junction Butte pack, which has between 10 and 35 members at any given time. Cassidy noted that this is a large pack — the average wolf pack size is about 12 individuals — and that reduces the risk of being killed in territorial fights. Wolf 907F's experience also gives her pack an edge.

"Packs that have elderly wolves are much more successful in those pack-versus-pack conflicts because of the accumulated knowledge and the experience that they bring to that really stressful situation," Cassidy said.

Wolf 907F has likely boosted her pack's survival chances outside of battle, too. Cassidy noted that the Junction Butte pack rarely leaves Yellowstone's border and that Wolf 907F is "savvy" when it comes to things like crossing roads and avoiding humans.

Wolf 907F, Yellowstone's aging matriarch at 11 years old, only has one eye. She's the fourth wolf to pass by this trail cam. (Courtesy Yellowstone Wildlife Project)

What makes Wolf 907F even more impressive is that she does all of this with only one functioning eye. Researchers aren't sure what happened, but her left eye has been small and sunken since before she turned 4. "You would never know [when] watching her," Cassidy said.

Like other elders, Wolf 907F takes a back seat in hunts now that she's older, and she spends most of her day hanging around with the pack's pups. Cassidy and her colleagues have counted three pups in her current litter, which is smaller than the average litter size of four to five but not surprising. A 2012 study of Yellowstone wolves published in the Journal of Animal Ecology found that litter size declines with age.

"The fact that 907 is still having pups is amazing, and her litter being small is expected given that she is so old," Cassidy said.

A few of Wolf 907F's offspring now lead packs of their own, but most of her pups never reach adulthood due to the perilous nature of being a wolf. However, Wolf 907F and the others in the park don't seem to live like death is on their mind.

"They are happy to be with their family going from day to day," Cassidy said. "Even if they have injuries or are missing an eye or something really stressful is going on in their life, they move through that stress and go back to seemingly really enjoying their life."

At age 11, Yellowstone's Wolf 907F - the gray wolf in the center of this photo from 2020- has lived more than double the typical lifespan of wolves in the wild. (Courtesy Yellowstone Wildlife Project)

[feelinsheepish]

/ I once again find myself reconsidering the ages of Terrance and his fam along with HOW they age >>

[homunculus-argument]

You know what fantasy stories don't use enough? Different measuring scales, and confusion caused by them. Because before the metric system, practically every place and culture had their own measures for weights, lengths and distances. It would be fun to add that into a story for added realistic cultural confusion.

The average dwarf is four or five feet tall, but not in human measures. Yeah they're still shorter than humans but the dwarf foot (and the namesake measure of length) is bigger in proportion to their body. "Is that in dwarf feet or human feet?" is a common question to hear on construction sites, wherever human carpenters and dwarf masons are working together.

A dedicated local Common Misconception Historian has a pet peeve about the whole "princess Featherblade was only 12 years old when she led the attack on Marshland Halls" -myth, because the historical recordings on the human side are off. While she was remarkably young, that myth came about back in the day when humans were still trying to apply "dog years" to elves, and in an elven life span, 120 years is not a direct equivalent to a 12-year-old human.

A whole culture whose smallest unit of weight loosely translates to "about as much as an apple", and varies from region to region depending on the size of local apples. These people are famed for their alchemists, whose uncanny ability to simply measure their ingredients by heart, making their recipes essentially impossible to replicate. This famed skill is a matter of survivor bias - the ones that don't have that knack ten to explode into fine mist.

[boppityb00]

People will be like “life is short” then complain when they have to wait FIVE MINUTES FOR SOMETHING

[ixylle-d-from-the-stars]

Deathworlders everywhere but in Space

This is sitting in my brain because I haven't seen anyone else do this, but take a second to think about this: There are other deathworlders in space, terrifying ones, huge monster orc things. They are massive and nightmarish and impossibly strong. So thats why humans stand out. Thats how we survive. Human's are terrifying because we aren't built for one biome, one climate or even one planet. We aren't necessarily the strongest or fastest or scariest looking, but we're built to survive fucking everything. What if other deathworlder's are almost always only made to survive in one climate? (similar to some of the most deadly predators on earth currently) All the other deathworlders are terrifying, yes, but the second they step off their planet they're weak. Massive aliens of hulking muscle but their planet's gravity is a lot lower than the standard, so they barely meet the average strength bar whenever they go outside their gravity zone. Aliens that have venomous spikes all over their body and look gnarly as shit but their venom has practically no effect on 99% of discovered intergalactic species. Deathworlders whose planet is the nether from minecraft IRl, but they can't survive in any other temperature for any amount of time because their body just can't handle the cold and regulate their temperate (or, vice versa for tundra species). Aquatic species that are kraken-like nightmares, giant sirens and deadly squid-like beings. But they can't leave their home at all, because theres a very specific chemical makeup of their water that isn't currently found within their life-span distance travel. Deathworlders that genuinely can barely survive off planet and are frail compared to even the most docile prey species whenever they have to travel. Their called deathworlders because going to their planet is certain death, but if they leave they'll be meeting death just as quickly. And then along come humans, and everyones like, oh, another deathworlder, nothing to worry abou- wait. These guys dont seem to loose any of their natural strength off planet... and their fast and strong... and- AND THEY CAN SURVIVE IN PRACTICALLY ANY CLIMATE IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE??? HELLO? Oh and of course their predators. Of course most of their planet is completely uninhabitable for most of us. Mhm, yep. thats fair. Totally Basically, deathworlders are a thing, the more common 'terrifying alien monster' type, but their harmless because they can't survive like everyone else. They can't thrive like humans can. It scares the shit out of everyone for a wholeeeeee while, after all, no one ever expected a deathworlder that doesn't die.

[evermarch]

“like the geese, we really did mate for life.”

an interesting thing about the sotr epilogue is that, despite its placement in the early years post-war, where haymitch would be in his mid-40s, it feels like it’s set at the end of his life. his tone is reflective. he speaks often in past tense. he talks about lenore dove coming to him, and he uses her language, saying that he’s not sure he’ll be in the “old therebefore” much longer. how his liver’s destroyed and he’s not sobering up, even if he’s not drinking for the same reasons.

but this is the same book where we saw one poor little girl transformed into another. the same series where skin grafts grow easily in a lab. where “genetic manipulation” class is part of the core curriculum before university. where mutts with practically supernatural abilities are designed at will. where the capitol populace has a notable substance abuse problem. in my mind, there’s no way transplanting a liver, a regenerating organ, particularly in a district whose new industry is medicine, isn’t possible.

so, to me, haymitch isn’t near the end of his life unless he chooses not to pursue a future. which he very well could. as he says, “when my time comes, it comes, but i’ve no idea when that will be.” but i think there’s a lot of evidence that he would choose to stick around. or at least, to try. namely, his lenore dove telling him he can’t go to her yet. because he needs to look after his family. and geese, for one thing, have an average life span of 10, 15, 20 years.

whether haymitch is or is not at the end of his life, i think it’s clear that he has not and does not intend to marry or have children beyond katniss and peeta. but i think the wording of the line which best establishes that is notable. “lenore dove likes it best [in the meadow], and I’m content where she’s content. like the geese, we really did mate for life.”

when he reflects on the life he’s already lived, he uses past tense. when he talks about his life now, on his reasons for sticking around with katniss and peeta, haymitch uses present tense. lenore dove exists in both places. throughout the epilogue, she exists in the present. she grows older with him. so i think it’s interesting that haymitch uses past tense tense for this one line. “we really did mate for life.”

that’s not to say that haymitch ever “moves on,” because that’s a false characterization of people who lose their loves in the first place. however, i think this line is past tense because it makes this question, like the rest of haymitch’s life, ambiguous. it also opens up discussion on what “mating for life” means. it’s a statement which implies exclusivity, but i don’t think necessitates it. because it’s not true that geese mate for life. they mate until one dies, after which the surviving goose mourns and then finds a new partner.

there’s room for a version of haymitch, who lives many years past the epilogue, who finds romantic attachment again.

if he does, he would not be replacing lenore dove. he would not be disgracing their romance or defiling their love. and 16 year old haymitch, believing he’s about to die, caught in the throes of the exploding tank and grief over ampert’s death, knew it, too. he was “furious” with himself that he didn’t tell lenore dove to “move on” from his death, because he was terrified of her living out her life haunted by his death. even while he desperately clung to her as he faced his imminent end, he was hoping she’d go on without him.

to love someone like all-fire is to love them enough to let them be free to go on after death. and that’s how haymitch loves lenore dove. and that’s how lenore dove loves him, too, because she is his goose. except haymitch has never been free to go on. the life haymitch was terrified for lenore dove to live is exactly the life he does live. from the end of the book, we know that he is doomed to repeat the 16th year of his life over and over again for 25 years. there’s no reprieve until katniss and peeta come into the picture.

yet, the epilogue’s tone is entirely different. it’s melancholy, but hopeful. he is no longer the 16 year old boy living in a repeating cycle of his own tragedy. when he next revisits it, it’s on his own terms. from that point on haymitch is finally allowed to grow up. to live a life in the “after.” to truly enter his mourning period. for someone new to join him in this new life would not mean he leaves behind lenore dove, or that she’s no longer his mate. because we know lenore dove stays with him, and will continue to stay with him, always.

and it’s likely that anyone with whom he finds comfort in his remaining years would carry someone with them, too. there’s no shortage of people who lost their loves in panem, whether from the war or before. there’s no shortage of people who would understand that his love likes it in the meadow. because maybe theirs tells stories around the fireplace in a creaky house in the seam. or fashions snares in the woods around district 12.

maybe 5, 10, 15 years in the future, when his geese are all grown up and two new goslings hatch, he’ll be an example of a different kind of love. of how new love is not a dilution of the love that was lost. of how lost love never dies, even as life goes on. of how love is not finite.

regardless of whether haymitch finds something resembling romantic love again, i am at least comforted by the thought that his end is much more peaceful than we dreamed it could be. because he has a family again. and because lenore dove is with him, too. and, no matter how long it takes for him to leave the old therebefore, she’s waiting for him in the next world.