My wife calls me a “pack rat” because I keep a few items from my childhood, high school and college days—OK, six boxes’ worth of stuff. I find it difficult to throw things away because it can be fun to reminisce about the past; and for me, it is much easier to do this when I have a concrete object to help jog the memory. ...By Steve Finn

We welcome several new authors from outside our accustomed pool of member contributors. ...By Rich Junker and Paul Ramirez

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) has decided to dedicate staff to maintain and enhance the electronic database of actuarial tables that was originally created by our section about 15 years ago. At the same time they converted the table data format to XtbML, the extension of XML developed by our section in cooperation with ACORD. …By Stephen J. Strommen

Microsoft Excel has become an essential tool for the modern worker, and each successive release has provided more efficient ways for users to crunch their data. In Excel 2013, part of its latest Office suite upgrade, Microsoft has placed increased emphasis on business intelligence (BI) functionality. ...By Michael Koploy and Rob Collie

Contract-level Monte Carlo is the new normal for the insurance industry. This article demonstrates how it works in practice. ... By Osmo Jauri and Timo Penttilä

End-user computing (EUC) applications (such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access and others) continue to present challenges for organizations. On the one hand, EUCs provide a great benefit by allowing users to directly manage, control and manipulate data. Unlike SAP, Oracle and other enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications that facilitate the automated and integrated flow of transactions and data, EUCs are neither ponderous nor difficult to modify. ...By Michael Juergens, Tom Donohue and Clayton Smith

Actuaries have been using spreadsheets for a long time; spreadsheets are getting more powerful with every upgrade, but our demand is even higher. ...By Andrew Chan

Beginning with this issue, we will be including excerpts from Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer. ...

By CompAct Newsletter Your help and participation are needed: Articles, book reviews and other information on technology useful to actuaries are needed! All articles will include a byline to give you full credit for your effort. An annual prize is awarded for the best article of the year. If you would like to submit or discuss an idea for an article, please contact Richard Junker or Andrew Chan. Submissions for future editions are also welcome!Submission deadline is June 1 for the July 2013 issue.

It’s that time of year again, when the air finally starts to warm in the Northern Hemisphere and a young actuary’s fancy turns to running for SOA leadership roles. A great place to start? The SOA Tech Section Council! First, the nitty-gritty: Expressions of interest are currently being taken by the SOA until May 31, 2013, here: http://www.soa.org/professional-inte...sion-form.aspx Some info on what is involved in being on a Section Council in general: http://www.soa.org/professional-inte...-councils.aspx The efforts of council members are critical to the overall section and contribute to the success of the SOA. What’s in it for you? Networking—During a three-year council term, a member is likely to establish contacts with dozens of new people: fellow council members, Board Partners, and staff from a variety of geographic locations, companies and work experiences. Leadership skills—Serving on a council is a relatively “safe place” to practice your skills of negotiating, recruiting, delegating, and mentoring. A goal of the SOA is to ensure it is also a learning experience for those who volunteer. Professional education—Council members have the opportunity to hear breaking news about the profession and developments at the SOA. Through webcasts and meetings members can learn new techniques and share industry know–how. About the Tech Section Council in specific—the types of activities that have been done by the Tech Section Council include: - Planning sessions for SOA meetings (we have a Speed Chess session coming up at the Life & Annuity Symposium in Toronto—Toronto-area actuaries, it’s open to non-symposium attendees as well—follow the link for more info!). - Sponsoring (and co-sponsoring) webcasts on topics such as spreadsheet best practices. - Conferring with SOA staff on tech projects within the SOA. - Running contests (Apps for Actuaries app idea contest, co-sponsor of Actuarial Speculative Fiction contest). - Publishing CompAct, the section newsletter. If you’re not sure if you’re ready to run for section council, I highly recommend becoming a friend of the council, which mainly involves sitting in on the monthly phone calls and getting involved in projects. We always have something afoot, and love having more help! I am currently a friend of the council for the Technology Section. Another way to get involved with the council is writing articles for CompAct or helping with its publication. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss privately. Mary Pat Campbell, FSA, MAAA, is life analyst for Conning Research & Consulting, Inc. She can be reached at marypat.campbell@gmail.com.