It wasn’t Magic Dragon Lady, was it?

People at work always assume i’m 20-26 years old. People who are actually that age always talk to me as if i’m that age. The other day i talked to an electrician, he was 23, and his co workers were younger than him. Like they played call of duty on their phones on their break. Sometimes just in between breaks, which i don’t care, but they were super behind and that’s why i had to talk to the guy. I told him that they really need to hurry up, they are behind and if they are not finished this week, it’s gonna ve real expensive. He looked at me for a few seconds, dabbed, said something i did not understand and ran off ro do his job. I never felt that old in my life, are people still dabbing? A day later, they pulled me into a conversation and i legitimately had no idea what they are talking about, and i usually at least have some clue. I told them that i’m 41 and have no idea what you mean. They then proceeded to actually talk to me like a human.

Some of the dumbest people I know are 25

Or, to quote LCD Soundsystem:

Sound of silver, talk to me
Makes you want to feel like a teenager
Until you remember the feelings of
A real-life emotional teenager
Then you think again

I never felt my age, so whatever.

I learned this summer bristlecone pines are among the longest lived life forms on earth. The oldest known non-clonal tree in the world is a bristlecone pine, named Methuselah, in California over 4800 years old. Its exact location is a closely guarded secret since the last oldest tree, also a bristlecone pine, was accidentally cut down.

Yeah I was surprised to learn as well that a lot of trees grown for lumber only live for 15-30 years depending on the species. At some point it just won’t grow as fast anymore and it’s better to cut it down and replace it with a new tree that can grow fast again. Some might take longer, but that increases the price a lot, so the demand for those is shorter.

The average lifespan of trees is also relatively short in relation to their maximum age. A tree takes up a lot of room, not just in terms of size, but also in terms of access to the sunlight and nutrients. So the big trees we see are the survivors, for each of those probably at least 100 smaller trees didn’t make it. Trees can also easily die due to disease, infestations or other mishaps. Some trees like elm could live a very long life, but depending on the region usually don’t make it past 100 because the chance they get a disease or fungus that kills them within that time.

Even when not grown as a crop, alders, willows, and birches tend to have a more ‘human’ lifespan, around a century or so.

Then on the other end of the spectrum, there are trees like yews, sequoias, and bristlecone pines, which live for millennia.

I suppose all stars visible to the human eye have got to be at most the order of magnitude of 1000 ly away.

Well, you could say Dennis!