Life expectancy

He's standing up way too straight and the skin around his eyes is way too young for someone nearing 100... I bet he's in his late 50's or early 60's in this photo and no doubt he made up a lot of impossible stories that he told his family.

 

Frank Eaton - Wikipedia

So the answer to my question is YES, the media sucked, even in the 1950's. Fact checking is hard, math is hard, and even just having a good editor is apparently super difficult.

 

Returned from about a week away from all this, only to find that no one has posted any actuarial tables (here is one among many):

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

While it may be of interest to actuarialize (not a word) racial (ish) groups, more to the point would be to consider how medical status broadly defined moves us towards longer or shorter. And if we do not like our prospects, things we might do to extend them.

Ones recent ancestors' attainments count for something, but less than many 'things we might do'. Right there is where it may get hard. Do or not do. Contrary to Yoda, there is try. It would also be hard to distill related medical literature for one's own use.

Treating the question as a red or blue state thing compels me not at all.

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The SSA link says 72-yr-olds like me can expect 12.8 more on average. That is more than my personal guess of 10.

I have returned from a week in Japan having eaten much fish, some very tasty but some not. If the latter could add 6 months for me, I might decline. I also ate excellent Wagyu beef that might subtract 6 months of lifespan (if consumed on the regular), posing a more difficult choice.

 

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