The experimental lifetime systematics of the 36 long-lived quark and particle metastable ground states is displayed graphically on a logarithmic global alpha-grid spaced in powers of the fine structure constant alpha ~ 1/137 and centered on the pi± lifetime. The hadron lifetimes separate into four non-overlapping lifetime groups, each dominated by a single quark flavor. These in turn divide into slow flavor-breaking electroweak decays and fast flavor-conserving paired-quark and radiative decays, separated by alpha^4 lifetime gaps. The long-lived electroweak subgroups feature contral lifetime (CL) bands that map onto the alpha-grid lines, plus particles that are displaced by factors of 2, 3 or 4 from the CL. The quark lifetime dominance rule is c > b > s. The neutron and muon lifetimes lie on the global alpha-grid. The tauon lifetime fits into the c-quark lifetime group.