Further ruminations about Russian male life expectancy . . . There's also the question of misplaced concreteness of "life expectancy". Most of the Russian males whose life expectancy hypothetically declined so much are (miraculously?) still alive. Does the change in life expectancy reflect a measured decline in the health of these individuals? No. Although their health may well have declined, their "life expectancy" is based not on their own health but on other people's deaths. Some of that decline in life expectancy may also have come from the loss of previously projected improvements, rather than from actual increase of mortality. "Not only are things getting worse," the trends seem to say, "they are not getting better." This is a kind of double counting in which the chickens are counted before they've hatched and then counted again after they haven't hatched -- we only had one egg but we lost two chickens. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ #408 1035 Pacific St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4G7 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 669-3286 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
