Alas ... the average life expectancy in the US was only 35 years back then

That's a completely misunderstood figure. If most adults were dying before 35, then why would they set the minimum age to run for President at 36. That would be like us setting it at 80 since the current life expectancy is slightly over 79.

The age at which people "die of old age" has been remarkably steady throughout recorded history, with people living to be 100 years rare, but far from unknown -- just like it is today. The low life expectancy "from birth" has always been dominated by infant mortality. Even if you look at data for life expectancy for people that reach just one year old, it gets much closer to today's numbers. Conversely, if you look at the remaining life expectancy once someone reaches 25, there haven't been major improvements over time.

 

I have Birth and Death records that date back past the 19th century all are well within 70 to 80 years old. They were of course farmers, more food better life expectancy I would guess.

kv

 

I have Birth and Death records that date back past the 19th century all are well within 70 to 80 years old. They were of course farmers, more food better life expectancy I would guess.

kv

I would venture that it's not so much a case of more food -- a lot of research has shown that once the basic dietary needs are met, that more food correlates with shorter life expectancy -- as much as a matter of a very physically active lifestyle.

 

I would venture that it's not so much a case of more food -- a lot of research has shown that once the basic dietary needs are met, that more food correlates with shorter life expectancy -- as much as a matter of a very physically active lifestyle.

Yes, Farm work is active lifestyle, but to eat more than you need is waste. He was a Dairy Farmer, he produced enough to feed his children, but also provide for those just arriving after crossing the plains.

kv

 

Birth and Death records that date back past the 19th century all are well within 70 to 80 years old.

My records are small and not accurate. I have walked through graveyards looking for relatives. I like looking for trends. In the 18xx I found many graves of children that did not live long enough to be counted. There was a large number of small graves, often not given a name, with ages of zero to two. My grandmother was not given a name until they thought she would survive. (2) There were often a large number of children all died in January or February of the same year. That correlates to a cold winter.

Usually there would be a large number of markers at 1940-45 & 1915-18 & 1861-65 & in Bates County large numbers of people in 1850s. I can't remember the years, but the flue killed the young and old in some years.

If you were rich and lived in town you could live to 80 or 90, but many did not.

 

https://hechingerreport.org/the-impact-of-this-is-economic-decline/
The number of 18-year-olds is about to drop sharply, packing a wallop for colleges — and the economy
America is about to go over the ‘demographic cliff’

 

https://hechingerreport.org/the-imp...t.org/the-impact-of-this-is-economic-decline/
The number of 18-year-olds is about to drop sharply, packing a wallop for colleges — and the economy
America is about to go over the ‘demographic cliff’

Not just the US, but practically the entire western world, and an important part of the East

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/careers/j...b-a-s-are-struggling-to-land-jobs/ar-AA1xexyH
Even Harvard M.B.A.s Are Struggling to Land Jobs

Landing a professional job in the U.S. has become so tough that even Harvard Business School says its M.B.A.s can’t solely rely on the university’s name to open doors anymore.
Twenty-three percent of job-seeking Harvard M.B.A.s who graduated last spring were still looking for work three months after leaving campus. That share is up from 20% the prior year, during a cooling white-collar labor market; the figure was 10% in 2022, according to the school.
“We’re not immune to the difficulties of the job market,” said Kristen Fitzpatrick, who oversees career development and alumni relations for HBS. “Going to Harvard is not going to be a differentiator. You have to have the skills.”

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/careers/job-search/americans-kiss-job-hopping-goodbye/ar-AA1yoZx6
Americans Kiss Job Hopping Goodbye

The U.S. job market is still solid. But more workers are staying put, because the chance to trade up to a better job is rarer.

Americans quit 39.6 million jobs in 2024, down 11% from the year before and down 22% from a recent peak in 2022, according to Labor Department data published Tuesday. The share of employees who quit their jobs each month has fallen below the prepandemic level, and some economists expect more decreases ahead.

It wasn’t long ago that a revved-up U.S. labor market kicked off a frenzy of job switching. People jostled for better pay, better perks and more flexibility. Businesses obliged, since they were eager for workers as the economy reopened from the pandemic. The supercharged effect of the pandemic largely wore off this past summer, ending the hottest job market in a generation.

 

https://www.reuters.com/markets/com...cut-1800-jobs-automotive-weakness-2025-03-06/
Thyssenkrupp to cut 1,800 jobs on automotive weakness

 

I very deliberately chose an "Institute of Technology" instead of a university. It was both because of my interests and also largely because I had no desire at all for that "university experience". I had already attended a large state university for a year and I was not at all impressed with any portion of that education, nor much of the atmosphere. Nor being a "guppy in the ocean". That university had over 5000 students, including the graduate classes, attending that campus, with well over 3000 being freshman. The Technical Institute was much smaller, with no graduate school at all.
Tuition was rapidly rising in my tenure, it more than doubled during my years there.
More recently it was expanded to be a full university, with a graduate school program. And the first new degree was an MBA, the enemy of engineering.
When I investigated the cost of attending I found that after 30 years the tuition price was now over 30 times what it had been when I graduated. that was fifteen years ago. And they are wondering about why applications are dropping off!!

Why all of the layoffs?? Perhaps the contributions of so many engineers were not large enough to justify their compensation!

 

I very deliberately chose an "Institute of Technology" instead of a university. It was both because of my interests and also largely because I had no desire at all for that "university experience". I had already attended a large state university for a year and I was not at all impressed with any portion of that education, nor much of the atmosphere. Nor being a "guppy in the ocean". That university had over 5000 students, including the graduate classes, attending that campus, with well over 3000 being freshman. The Technical Institute was much smaller, with no graduate school at all.
Tuition was rapidly rising in my tenure, it more than doubled during my years there.
More recently it was expanded to be a full university, with a graduate school program. And the first new degree was an MBA, the enemy of engineering.
When I investigated the cost of attending I found that after 30 years the tuition price was now over 30 times what it had been when I graduated. that was fifteen years ago. And they are wondering about why applications are dropping off!!

Why all of the layoffs?? Perhaps the contributions of so many engineers were not large enough to justify their compensation!

A total enrollment, including graduate students, of 5000 students but yet a freshman class of 3000? Really? 60% of all the students are freshman? Is that a typo? Did you mean over 50,000 students, perhaps?

Could you describe what you mean by an "Institute of Technology"? The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear that is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which definitely qualifies as a university. Usually, a university that is referred to as a Institute of Technology (or, equivalently, as a polytechnic institute) is a university that is heavily focused on engineering and scientific research, usually at the graduate level. I'm wondering if you mean what I've always heard referred to as a trade school, a lot of whom use the phrase "technical institute" in their name. Of course, in either case, university or trade school, there's a huge variety ranging from excellent to crappy.

 

OK, the school with that huge ratio, NOT A TYPO, was LSUNO, and it accepted all who could pay for their admission. And the loss rate of those not making it was very high.
The Technical Institute ONLY offered engineering degrees, except for also an industrial Management degree for those unable to pass engineering courses. THAT was what made the difference. No degrees in literature or history or any of those that a big university will deliver. NONE of the standard liberal arts areas. The result was that the focus was much narrower. And so the instructors could be much more qualified.
BUT eventually the quest for greater profits led to the expansion, starting with adding graduate courses for those unable to be engineers. Naturally then, the very first Masters was an MBA.

 

https://fortune.com/2025/03/25/gen-...training-higher-ed-worthless-degrees-college/
Over 4 million Gen Zers are jobless—and experts blame colleges for ‘worthless degrees’ and a system of broken promises for the rising number NEETs

“In many cases, young people have been sent off to universities for worthless degrees which have produced nothing for them at all,” the political commentator, journalist and author, Peter Hitchens slammed colleges last week. “And they would be much better off if they apprenticed to plumbers or electricians, they would be able to look forward to a much more abundant and satisfying life.”

With millions of Gen Zers waking up each day feeling left behind, there needs to be a “wake-up call” that includes educational and workplace partners stepping up, Jeff Bulanda, vice president at Jobs for the Future, tells Fortune.

 

Certainly, at that time, the technical institute WAS VERY FOCUSED on engineering. AND it happens that the demand for engineers has remained high for quite a few years. What was great for me was that it has always been my great interest as well.
The fact is that there are those folks who "do engineering as a job" but it is only for the paid hours.
There is another group that ARE ENGINEERS, 24/7/ 360. They are always engineers who fortunately get paid for doing it 8 hours a day, but often do it 20 hours a day, awake and asleep. Having employment doing what you like to do is a great life. Certainly some challenges happen, but beating those is a big thrill.

 

There is another group that ARE ENGINEERS, 24/7/ 360. They are always engineers who fortunately get paid for doing it 8 hours a day, but often do it 20 hours a day, awake and asleep. Having employment doing what you like to do is a great life. Certainly some challenges happen, but beating those is a big thrill.

+1

 

Certainly, at that time, the technical institute WAS VERY FOCUSED on engineering. AND it happens that the demand for engineers has remained high for quite a few years. What was great for me was that it has always been my great interest as well.
The fact is that there are those folks who "do engineering as a job" but it is only for the paid hours.
There is another group that ARE ENGINEERS, 24/7/ 360. They are always engineers who fortunately get paid for doing it 8 hours a day, but often do it 20 hours a day, awake and asleep. Having employment doing what you like to do is a great life. Certainly some challenges happen, but beating those is a big thrill.

Very much agreed. Every couple of months I used to have to spend an hour or so picking up all of the engineering texts that were on the on the headboard of my bed or stacked on the floor next to it because it got to the point that I didn't have any place to set my current night's preferred reading when it finally came time to close my eyes.

I used to tell engineering students that there is no requirement that they have a passionate love for engineering, but that they will be competing against people that do.

 

They got caught. I'm sure they are remorseful about that.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/29/nx-s1-5344434/charlie-javice-convicted-defrauding-jpmorgan
Startup founder convicted of defrauding JPMorgan Chase of $175M by faking firm's success

Frank's chief software engineer, Patrick Vovor, testified that Javice had asked him to generate synthetic data to support her claim that the company had more than 4 million users.
...
"I told them I would not do anything illegal," Vovor told jurors.

Seeking to dent Vovor's credibility, defense lawyers suggested he was resentful that Javice didn't want to date him. He denied that.

Prosecutors said Javice ended up paying a college friend $18,000 to create millions of fake names with pedigree information. The results were sent to JPMorgan's third-party data provider, but testimony showed that firm never checked to ensure the people were real.

 

https://ccwd.hecc.oregon.gov/Layoff...braNova Systems - Remote Oregon Employees.pdf

In accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), Title 29,
Chapter 23 of the U.S. Code and Oregon WARN, ORS 285A.516, we are writing to inform you that
SambaNova Systems located at 2200 Geng Road, Palo Alto CA 94303 will permanently reduce the
number of employees.
It is anticipated this layoff will take place on April 22, 2025. The number of employees affected is 76
employees. 60 employees are in Palo Alto, California. 16 employees are at remote sites, including in
Oregon. A list of the effected positions, the number of effected employees for each job title, and the
location is below.

https://sambanova.ai/

These AI startups are cratering.

 

I have worked at a few start-ups over the years, and it seems that universally they are all either just a few steps from a big success or a bad crash. All it takes is one error, and crash! The last fatal error that I saw was in having an outside design house create a design based on a sales person's inadequate understanding of the project's requirements. That was due to not having engineering involved to determine the actual requirements. An MBA does not qualify anybody as an engineer!!!!!