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"Blue Zones" were considered places where people have exceptionally long lifespans. It turns out they are not real. It's people committing pension fraud. (www.ucl.ac.uk)

submitted 2 months ago by InevitableSwing@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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[-] propter_hog@hexbear.net 40 points 2 months ago

But most people don’t lose count of their age...

You would be amazed. Looking at the UK Biobank data, even people in mid-life routinely don't remember how old they are, or how old they were when they had their children. There are similar stats from the US.

Can verify. I'm closing in on 50 and I forget my actual age all the damned time, as well as the ages of my family members.

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 25 points 2 months ago

Man I’m in my 20s and it takes me a second and I’ve gotten it wrong before. It completely makes sense to me that people in middle age would forget.

[-] Babs@hexbear.net 16 points 1 month ago

I do some quick math using my birth year, and when people ask how old I am I reference eastern european countries that no longer exist.

[-] propter_hog@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago

My go-to will be Yugoslavia from now on, haha

[-] Babs@hexbear.net 14 points 1 month ago

Back in my day we had two Germanies and one Soviet Union, and that's the way we liked it!

[-] bazingabrain@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago

wow you actually witnessed the USSR ending? Damn, mustve been really fucking sad kitty-birthday-sad

[-] propter_hog@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago

At the time it wasn't, because I was raised by two cucked right-wing nutjobs who took me to Reagan and Bush rallies where military planes would fly over and they'd play I'm Proud To Be An American and shit like that. I was an adult before I started to wake up out of that stupor. Ironically, it was how they raised me that started my journey. My parents raised me as a evangelical Christian, and it was the dichotomy between what the Bible said and what the politicians and preachers were saying that started me on the path to recovery.

[-] Pentacat@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

You’re almost me, except we were a different flavor of Jesus-brained.

[-] propter_hog@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

Jesus-brained is exactly what I'd describe my childhood as. My partner came from a similar background, and we just tell people we were in a cult because of how far it was from mainstream Christianity.

[-] Pentacat@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

I was around when it happened but I didn’t know it was sad until I went there a decade later and listened to stories from people who lived there. People were really good at describing how empty and fearful life felt for them when it fell. I had to stop and recalibrate.