30th International Congress of Actuaries

Congratulations Mike Andrews!

Mike submitted the correct answers to the ICA 2014 Kakuro Puzzle and questions related to traveling to and around Washington, D.C., the ICA 2014 host city. Mike's submission was randomly selected as the recipient of the $250 American Express gift card!

Download the PDF of the solution to the ICA 2014 Kakuro Puzzles.

Acknowledgement

The ICA 2014 Marketing Committee thanks KrazyDad for granting permission to use these puzzles. For more puzzles, visit krazydad.com/puzzles.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee of ICA 2014, it is my pleasure to invite you to participate in the Congress as a top-level sponsor and exhibitor.

ICA 2014 will draw approximately 2,000 actuaries from around the world, including leaders of the actuarial profession from approximately 100 countries. Sponsorship of ICA 2014 offers a unique opportunity available to a limited number of companies who will enhance their stature through visibility and exposure at the Congress. Exhibiting at ICA 2014 is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with the decision-makers who use your products and services.

The Sponsorship Prospectus provides details on the ICA 2014 sponsorship and exhibitor program, including all of the benefits of participating.

We look forward to speaking with you regarding your possible participation as sponsor and exhibitor. If you have any questions, please contact Denise Fuesz at 847.706.3516 or send an e-mail to Sponsorships@ICA2014.org.

I hope that you will join us in Washington, D.C. for ICA 2014 by participating as a sponsor and exhibitor, as well as by sending delegates to the meeting.

Sincerely,
S. Michael McLaughlin
Chairperson, ICA 2014 Sponsorship Committee

Join your actuarial colleagues and peers from around the world for the International Congress of Actuaries (ICA) 2014, to be held 30 March through 4 April in Washington, D.C.!

The ICA 2014 Scientific Committee is assembling an agenda of topical sessions on key issues facing today's and tomorrow's actuaries. You are encouraged to participate in shaping the program by submitting relevant, leading-edge ideas, research, and insights that will help actuaries address the key issues facing their employers, clients, and the public.

The ICA 2014 Scientific Committee has issued the first Call for Papers and Presentations for the 2014 Congress, which is now available through the ICA 2014 Web Site.

Actuaries and non-actuaries interested in presenting a paper or making a presentation are invited to submit an abstract of their proposed paper/presentation to the Scientific Committee by the deadline of 30 September 2012.

The theme of the Congress is "Learn, Interact, Grow" and consistent with this theme, the Scientific Committee's goal is to provide an environment where attendees can learn new ideas by sharing concepts and approaches with other professionals from around the globe, while growing the body of actuarial knowledge and improving the tools used in an actuary's daily practice.

Whether you are a prospective author or presenter, or anticipate being a member of the audience, we invite you to join us in Washington, D.C. for ICA 2014 to renew old friendships, and make some new ones, while you continue to learn and expand your relevant knowledge to become more effective in our rapidly changing world.

Visit the Congress Program section of the ICA 2014 Web Site for the complete Call for Papers and Presentations and for more details on the Congress. Please contact David Core (dcore@casact.org) of the ICA 2014 Secretariat with any questions about the Call for Papers and Presentations.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates springtime in Washington, D.C. as well as the 1912 gift of cherry trees from Japan. The 2011 Festival has just ended, signaling the three-year mark until ICA 2014. The dates for the 2014 Congress (30 March to 4 April 2014) were chosen to coincide with one of the most beautiful times of the year in Washington, D.C. – springtime. This is when the cherry blossom trees that line the Potomac River are in full bloom.

To mark the occasion, ICA 2014 Puzzle #3 – Kakuro has been released.

Kakuro puzzles are a cross between a crossword and a Sudoku. Instead of letters, each block contains one of the digits 1 through 9. The same digit will never repeat within a word. If you add the digits in a word, the sum will be the number shown in the clue. Clues are shown on the left and right sides of "across" words, and on the top and bottom of "down" words.

Download the PDF of ICA 2014 Puzzle #3a and 3b. After you complete the puzzle, you will use digits from certain boxes in the puzzle to answer a series of questions related to traveling to and around Washington, D.C., the ICA 2014 host city.

Submit the solution to Puzzle 3a and Puzzle 3b to win a prize. Of the correct entries submitted to both puzzles, one will be selected at random to receive a $250 American Express gift card. The deadline for responses is 31 July 2011. The puzzle solutions and an announcement of the winner will be posted in August 2011.

Acknowledgement

The ICA 2014 Marketing Committee thanks KrazyDad for granting permission to use these puzzles. For more puzzles, visit krazydad.com/puzzles.

Congratulations Alan Lange!

Alan submitted the correct answers and was randomly selected as the recipient of the $250 American Express gift card!

Solution:

Encoded Notes from a Congress Scout

We happen to arrange these things in pairs. -Paris
Kyoto would have been a lovely choice. -Tokyo
So much to do, I munch my lunch upstairs, -Munich
While listening to songs for solo voice. -Oslo

The house masseur rubs less the less you tip. -Brussels
A key worn on a chain may open doors. –New York
My arm did ache, my fist could scarcely grip. -Madrid
I liken his complexion to a boar’s. –Helsinki

We must select a venue—nothing more. -Rome
We’ve always made smart choices in the past. -Amsterdam
A moth locks in on neon from a store. -Stockholm
I think ten moral thoughts and stand aghast. -Montreal

The brain is brimming—ha! It always does. -Birmingham
What was decided, then? Well, nothing was. -Washington

A sonnet was sent to the ICA 2014 organizers by the IAA representative who scouts locations for the Congress. He has been scouting locations since 1895, and boy, is he tired. He’s a little loopy, too. Each line of his sonnet contains the encoded name of a city where the Congress has been held, including, appropriately enough, the city that will host the next one in 2014.

Read the sonnet, and then submit the puzzle solution to enter a drawing to win a prize! Send the list of fourteen cities in the order they appear in the sonnet to info@ica2014.org by the new extended deadline of January 31, 2011.

Of the correct entries, one will be selected at random to receive a $250 American Express gift card. The correct answers for the puzzle and an announcement of the winner will be posted online in early February.

Congratulations to the puzzle winner Jan Buschardt for correctly solving the ICA 2014 Sudoku!

Selected at random from the pool of correct entries, Jan combined clue answers with traditional Sudoku methods to correctly provide the puzzle's hidden phrase: March2014. As the winner of the puzzle, Jan will be awarded a $250 American Express gift card.

Download Puzzle to try your hand at the sudoku.

View the Puzzle's Solution.

ICA 2014 will be held exactly four years from now. The dates (30 March to 4 April 2010) were chosen to coincide with one of the most beautiful times of the year in Washington, D.C. – springtime.

This is when the cherry blossom trees that line the Potomac River are in full bloom. The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates springtime in Washington, D.C. as well as the 1912 gift of the cherry trees from Japan.

The 2010 Cherry Blossom Festival is underway, and anticipation is building for the forecasted peak bloom dates of April 1-2. Visit the Festival web site to learn more.

The Washington Post web site also has a lot of useful information and beautiful pictures from the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Download Puzzle

In order to complete this Sudoku puzzle, you'll first need to solve some or all of the ten clues listed below the diagram. The answers to the clues employ only nine different characters, which will be entered into the diagram according to the grid markings shown. Most Sudokus employ the numerals 1 through 9. This one uses 4 numerals (0, 1, 2, and 4) and five letters (A, C, H, M, and R). The clues will only yield 31 of the diagram's 81 squares. The remainder must be completed using ordinary Sudoku logic: each of the nine characters will appear once per row, once per column, and once per outlined 3x3 box. None of the clue answers will be entered into the middle row, row e. When the diagram is properly completed, however, this row will provide pertinent information regarding the next International Congress of Actuaries, which will be held in Washington, D.C.

Entry Rules

See all that ICA 2014 and Washington D.C. have to offer. This video, released by the International Congress of Actuaries, outlines information on ICA 2014 as well as providing information on a variety of activities in the D.C. area.