Description: This article provides comments on some of the economic and demographic forecasts in the 1976 OASDI Report Social Security.

Description: This paper, presented at the Eastern Spring Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held March 24-25, 1960 in Washington, D.C., provides the results of an experience study of first year lapse and “default” rates on ordinary insurance, where the author, Norman F. Buck, has defined “default” rate as a rate including the sum of first year lapses, not takens, and cancellations as of the issue date. The paper includes written discussion and the author’s review of the discussion. From the 1960 Transactions Vol. 12, No. 33.

Description: This article shows the census of pre-1889 actuaries in North America.

Description: The article highlights the Northampton Table which is the earliest mortality table to be constructed especially for life insurance premiums. It contrasts the life expectancies of the Northampton Table with those of population tables one and two centuries later.

Description: This is an editorial warning about the escalating costs of Medicare as outlined in the 1983 Annual Report of The Board of Trustees of The Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. The editorial ends with a question asking what the actuarial profession, and its members individually, ought to be doing that they aren’t already doing?

Description: This is about The Federal Register of October 18, 1982 announcement by the Veterans Administration concerning USGLI premiums. The premiums were based on the American Experience Mortality Table at 3 /2% interest which overestimates mortality and underestimates the interest rate. This article discusses the ramifications of this.

Description: This featured several amusing references to the actuarial profession in various venues including an open letter, a story and a play.

Description: Our distinguished colleague Oswald Jacoby had never reported Alan Truscott in The New York: Times held a hand in tournament play as potent as the one he picked up on March 22nd. From The Actuary VOL. 16. No 6

Description: Headquarters having kindly sent the data, we are able to display the spread of new Fellows’ ages. The data is from 1981 and prior.

Description: This article is about war mortality from an 1859 copy of The Spectator, by the Institute of Actuaries, J.I.A. 8 1859, 268-284.