Top 10 Casualty Actuarial Stories of 2004   The year 2004 produced a wide variety of news stories that affected casualty actuaries. We have compiled a list of the top ten such stories based on our annual survey of CAS thought leaders.  Continued...

From the President: Find Your Voice   How are Gary Dean, Rick Gorvett, Shaun Wang and I unique among casualty actuaries? If your first answer is that we are all dashingly handsome, I would have to question your judgment, at least regarding some of us. If you answered that we are all dedicated volunteers...that is true, but that hardly makes us different from many other CAS members.  Continued...

International Actuaries Address Concerns over Profession's Integrity and Credibility   MONTRÉAL, Pq.—The actuarial profession in several countries is developing new rules and standards to affirm its integrity and competence to the public, attendees of the 2004 Casualty Actuarial Society Annual Meeting were told here during the general session, "Actuaries and Actuarial Issues Around the World."  Continued...

Opinion: Ensuring Effectiveness  The new year brings revisions to our early exams, including two innovations—computer-based testing (beginning with Exam 1 later this year) and validation by educational experience for economics, corporate finance, and applied statistical methods. Continued...

Brainstorms: The Power of Analogies  A well-constructed analogy can be a powerful explanatory tool. Years ago, I stumbled on to the idea of using a target shooting analogy to help explain credibility concepts. Even if a person has never fired an arrow at a target, the concept is clear and understandable  Continued...

Editors' Note: Check Out Our New Look!  Change is good, every ten years or so, whether we like it or not. We hope you do like the new layout and format of The Actuarial Review! Continued...