thanks lisa - I just found a product I think will make keeping or getting my sofa clean a lot easier, so that is something. And I found a store in NY that sell a bunch of this stuff, so I need to get up there one day this week.

Tonight I am bagging yarn and washing summer skirts/dresses. jealous, I know.

I would say potential lifespan has not changed a whole lot, but a lot of obstacles to reaching that potential lifespan have been removed. Vaccinations, antibiotics, more reliable food supply, sanitation, etc...

A speaker at this year's global health council conference said that humanity at large could have over 60 years life expectancy given clean water, sanitation, and reliable, safe light at night (to enable things like cleaning up after sick kids at 3 am without burning the house down).

Someone suggested I go to the date wrecks site for a laugh...and while I'm not a particularly nice person, I found the whole thing to be merciless bullying.

Am I losing me edge? Softening up?

It's just, "here, look at this dork and how icky he is."

Or a mook or whatever. It's just, posting their pictures and everything seems icky.

I know a number of people who think we live a lot longer today than we did a few hundred years ago. But that number really changes if you compare people that made it past 30 then and now.

Yeah, the whole "average life expectancy was 32 so you were middle aged at 13!" thing. You don't even have to go to 30 - if you look at life expectancy for the cohort who make it to 5 the flaw in that thinking becomes obvious.

Infant mortality rates must have been utterly horrendous, given how many people made it to their 50s and older in the middle ages.

It are varmisch outside! Even Morbo is upset.

Infant mortality rates were and are a significant factor in life expectancy, but so are other factors. For example, compare the life expectancy of people in Ethiopia and Malawi:

Ethiopia:

Life expectancy at birth m/f (years): 55/58

Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births): 123

Malawi:

Life expectancy at birth m/f (years): 49/51

Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births): 120

Ethiopia has a slightly higher infant mortality rate, but also a higher life expectancy. In this particular case, one of the key factors is HIV:

Ethiopia, Adult HIV rate: ~2.25%

Malawi, Adult HIV rate: ~12.0%

(Figures from the World Health Organization.)

Related to Bill O'Rielly, I hate it when people say that doing something "lowers the risk of death". I am pretty sure my risk of death is 100%

That's my pet peeve too!!

Yeah, a lot of how modern life expectancy is higher than it was a couple hundred years ago is attributable to lower infant mortality and childhood disease.

You know, I hadn't really thought about that. Now I feel kind of dopey.

California-istas, your state's problems have been solved.

Phew! Now we can go back to worrying about fluoridated water.