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Every 8 Years, Your Chances of Dying Double

  
Analysis, Education, Life
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Robert Krulwich revisits the mysterious but true Gompertz Law of Human Mortality, named for the British actuary who had originally discovered this mathematical fact back in 1825.

via NPR:

Obviously, when you’re young (and past the extra-risky years of early childhood), the chances of dying in the coming year are minuscule — roughly 1 in 3,000 for 25-year-olds. (This is a group average, of course.)
But eight years later, the tables said, the odds will roughly double.  ”When I’m 33 [the chances of my dying that year] will be about 1 in 1,500.”
And eight years after that…the odds double again: “It will be about 1 in 750.”
And eight years later, there’s another doubling. Looking down the chart, you’ll see that keeps happening and happening and happening. “Your probability of dying during a given year doubles every eight years.”

A helpful, if horrifying, chart:

death chart

Excellence Is A Drive From "Inside"

  
Education, Life
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excellence793681A gentleman was once visiting a temple under construction. In the temple premises, he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he saw, just a few meters away, another identical idol was lying.

Surprised he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statutes of the same idol”. “No” said the sculptor. “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage”. The gentleman examined the sculptor. No apparent damage was visible.

“Where is the damage” asked the gentleman.

“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol. Where are you going to keep the idol”.

“The sculptor replied that it will be installed on a pillar 20 feet high. When the idol will be 20 feet away from the eyes of the beholder, who is going to know that there is scratch on the nose?” The gentleman asked.

“The sculptor looked at the gentleman, smiled and said “God knows it and I know it “.

The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not. Excellence is a drive from “Inside” not “Outside“.

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