Hopefully that was makeup, and acting. But yeah she seemed really old.
Heart rate and metabolism go hand in hand—and metabolism might even mess with time perception. Cats, for example, have a resting heart rate between 140 and 220 bpm, which probably explains why my cats zoom around the house like tiny tornados… at exactly 3 AM.
Some scientists think that animals with faster metabolisms (and usually quicker heart rates) might perceive time differently than we do. Research suggests they take in visual information at a higher “refresh rate” (aka flicker-fusion frequency). In simple terms, they see more snapshots of the world per second, making our movements seem slower to them. That’s why cats—and many other creatures—are great at spotting and reacting to rapid motion much faster than we can. Our world is like the slo-mo Matrix scene to kitties.
Time is flowing like a river to the sea.
What was that Star Trek (TOS) episode where creatures co-existed with our crew but they were just vibrating really fast?
I’m not familiar with that TOS episode, but it reminds me of Robert L. Forward’s novel Dragon’s Egg. The Cheela are tiny, sesame seed–sized aliens living on the surface of a neutron star, where gravity is absurdly intense (and clocks run slower in strong gravitational fields—time dilation, courtesy of Einstein). Because the Cheela’s bodies are adapted to these intense conditions, their biological processes happen blindingly fast. Their entire physical and biological systems evolved to function at hyperspeed, so they zip through metabolic processes so quickly that seconds for them can be entire eras for us. Meanwhile, to the Cheela, we move in ridiculous slow motion, like super-sloths in a cosmic comedy reel. It’s a work of fiction, sure, but the physics behind it checks out. Good book!
I remember in 88’ when the Traveling Willburys formed. A bunch of legendary musicians all past the peaks of their careers forming a group. Now and even then I thought of them as a bunch of old guys putting out some pretty good tunes.
Apparently “old” at the time was Orbison 52, Dylan 47, Harrison 45, Lynne 41, Petty 38.
I’m past all of them now at 55 and don’t consider myself old.
Yeesh, where’s that eye-bleach when you need it…
Similar theme on The Wild Wild West except the bad guy spilled alcohol on himself and the friction touched him off and he burned up real good.
When I was a teenager my dad flew by himself to another country to prepare for us to move there. In one month he found an apartment for us to live in, and a small business to run, all in a city we had barely ever visited. I admired him tremendously for that, thought he was courageous with the wisdom of long life experience.
I recently realized this all happened when he was 16 years younger than I am now.
Indeed cats have incredibly fast reflexes. I mentioned it here:
Cats are marvels of evolution, and they’re kinda cute, too. But, my 5 cats keep me on my toes. They sneak up, swipe the chicken nuggets off my plate, and scamper off before I even know what hit me. Little time accelerated bastards!
Have you looked into funeral insurance?
… just kidding. I’m probably older than you and still kicking.
For me, it’s the opposite. 2019, the last pre-Covid year, seems forever ago. And having come to parenthood fairly late in life (I’m 71, the Firebug is 17), I remember friends telling me that when they’re in high school or college or beyond, it’ll seem like just the blink of an eye since they were small. We adopted the Firebug in 2009, and that seems like the other end of time, eons and eons ago.
Similarly here: all my grandparents were born between 1898 and 1905, so they’d all be in their 120s now.
Teenager that was staying at our hourse for a couple days: Don’t you watch anything current?
My thoughts: This show is fairly current. It’s about 15 years old. When I was his age a show that was 15 years old would be something like… Oh, I get it.
Vaudeville?
I was reminiscing with my kids when they were young about how long a year felt when I was little, and how summer vacation stretched on forever… and realized “Hey, fun fact: a year is 1/10th of your life, but only 1/40th of my life.”
Another factor is that “70 is the new 50” kind of thing. We feel younger because compared to previous generations, our bodies act younger.
I remember my dad’s friends throwing him an Over The Hill party when he turned 40, and a lot of his crowd retired at 50 or 55. At which point they could barely climb up that hill that they were over.
My dad always wanted me to play golf: “You really should have a ‘lifetime sport’, son, that you can play in your 50s and 60s.” With an electric cart, of course.
Well, daddy-o, I’m in my 70s and playing soccer (all ages, we have kids from the high school varsity team and a lot of 30 and 40 year olds, and we all get very aggressive).
I still run and bike to other cities, none of which my folks (or certainly not grandparents) could do at my age. I blame my heart meds and this damn kale salad…
Fuck golf. 
My lifetime sports are bicycling and hiking.
It’s amazing what adequate childhood nutrition, a life of work in mostly safe, mostly non-physical labor, and modern meds can do.
Of course bad diet & lazy lifestyle can undo a lot of those gains.