I thought Dr. Gold did plenty when he was alive.
A bit of Dr. Gold here:
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I am sure there was a great engineer that went into the field of typewriter design about 20 years ago. I bet he/she built the best typewriters ever.
I am also sure good, smart people went into the businesses of producing film cameras, cassette tapes, rotary phones, encyclopedias, floppy discs, maps/atlases, fax machines, dot matrix printers, phone books, alarm clocks, answering machines, calculator watches, newspapers, buggy whips, etc. etc. etc.
Well, 40 years ago.
Without any competition, Hermes 3000 typewriter is the best ever made typewriter in history.
You can sit down and try to convince me that it is not the case but I have dived into more than a 70 of these Hermes 3000 and the mechanics are amazing, the smoothness or softness of the keys is incomparable and the carriage return is light and easy.
Like a swiss watch, made in Switzerland and works like one, no mistakes, always on line, perfect prints, no numb fingers and long hours of effortless typing. All you need to worry about is what to type on these beautiful Hermes 3000.
Review included both, the curved model and straight edged models, but doesn’t include the later models made in the 70s.
Review will defiantly include the Hermes Media that as less options but same mechanism.
Finally, i would like to remind every one reading this typewriter article that my review is based on genuinely restored typewriters like the ones we rejuvenate in our workshop and this top 10 list is a personal review that i have created from typewriter repair experience.
With Gratitude,
Walid Saad
And Jeremy was practically a lone voice in the wilderness. At least, that was my perception as a non-pension actuary.
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Please stop posting pictures of adorable antiques I can’t afford to get addicted to collecting.
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Everything actuarial comes back to exams. Exams provide a measurable (notice I did not say objective) ranking system of worth. Back in the day pension actuaries could be credentialed with less exams, which implies they are less worthy. I don’t know crap about the current exam requirements but I could see the attitude being clung to by the weak willed tribe minds within the profession.
in the ao days, i think it was posted that being in pensions is less desirable than other fields. it tends to be more demanding, and it’s boring, so the more desirable candidates will go elsewhere.
i work with some brilliant people though, so i don’t think this is really true. i think people go where they get a job, and some people have a high threshold for the pain that is pensions so they just stay there.
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Maybe it’s just what you know. 
Insurance work sounds boring to me. Pension work can get boring too but there is enough variety in the projects I do that I’m rarely bored.
Boring stuff can be delegated.
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It’s only fewer exams if you just go for EA. I think people who get FSA and EA have more exams than insurance actuaries, but not sure under this current structure.
I know nothing about pensions (or life, or health). It’s a stupid comparison to begin with. Who can even make this comparison? Someone who’s worked in all LOBs?
Not to mention there are like a dozen main LOBs in P&C alone.
Under the current structure EA exams are part of the post-ASA FSA exams. However, shortly after ERISA was passed practicing pension “actuaries” could get their EA without taking any exams. I know a couple who are still around, although most aren’t working anymore.
then i wouldn’t count these people. that was just too long ago to count.
Pension work is really very interesting in comparison to other areas I’ve worked in and from what I’ve heard from my colleagues who’ve worked in other life areas.
Of course, pension actuaries work their behinds off under a near-constant threat of being downsized, so the boredom is a fine trade-off for me.
And now that I work in PRT, I get a lot of the interesting stuff of pensions without the stress, so it’s a win.