The Lounge's "Random Questions That Don't Need Their Own Thread" Thread

[AlamoVampire]

On 3/10/2024 at 8:27 PM, AstroWolfie said:

question: how do they train MWDs? I know it's at an air force base, but how? Is there a specific regimen they follow, and why they also have 2 first letters in their names (for example, jjeb or vval)

They are trained at Lackland Air Force Base San Antonio. I dont know specifics, but I know its likely similar to Basic Military Training but canine related with likely branching out to speciality like say bomb detection or similar. Beyond that would be blind speculation.

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new page!

Edited March 18 by AlamoVampire

[DDE]

Normally, oversized replicas like this are associated with hazing for loss of a weapon (and I know at least one photograph where this was done with the deadliest weapon of them all - a navigator's slide rule).

However, I've just stumbled over a garbage-tier source that claims these were a US WWII-era fully mechanically functional teaching aid for increased visibility in large classrooms. Is there truth to that? It's something not trivially googled for.

Edited March 21 by DDE

[TheSaint]

3 hours ago, DDE said:

Normally, oversized replicas like this are associated with hazing for loss of a weapon (and I know at least one photograph where this was done with the deadliest weapon of them all - a navigator's slide rule).

However, I've just stumbled over a garbage-tier source that claims these were a US WWII-era fully mechanically functional teaching aid for increased visibility in large classrooms. Is there truth to that? It's something not trivially googled for.

Yes, actually, the M21-M24 Training Aids. They were double-sized, cutaway replicas of military small arms. They were constructed out of balsa wood and aluminum sheeting, to make them lightweight, so they were very flimsy. I remember seeing them at gun shows when I was a kid. There aren't a lot of them left these days. They're highly collectable.

[StrandedonEarth]

Good opinion piece. True stuff. 

Things Used to Work in This Country — The New Atlantis

Sorry, no actual question here, figured this thread was a good enough place...

[TheSaint]

2 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Good opinion piece. True stuff. 

Things Used to Work in This Country — The New Atlantis

Sorry, no actual question here, figured this thread was a good enough place...

One of the fondest memories I have is hanging out in the garage with my dad, listening to Vin Scully call the Dodgers game on my dad's little transistor radio.

[AlamoVampire]

Requesting the wisdom of those smarter than I in computer programs and the voodoo that makes them go and do things.

I wanted to play Elite Dangerous as its been a hot minute since i last played. Its via steam so its regularly updated in the background. When i went to launch it i noticed that my shortcut was a bit borked. “Run as Admin” option was missing. But Open was still there. I go to open it and a new launcher (got updated sometime while i wasnt playing) and i logged in. I hit Play. Nothing. Button went grey for a few seconds then went back to normal. Did that a few times no luck. I went into windows explorer then into the drive steams on then found ED. I ran the exe from the folder and same deal, but this time i got a funky error. Vcruntime140_1dotdll was declared missing. I searched my pc via windows explorer and found many iterations across many places. I copied a version from flightsim and transplanted the copy. Why/how did that work? Why/how did that dll go missing in the first place? No viruses or anything on my pc… thoughts?

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[AlamoVampire]

are there any contract law attorneys that are also fellow forum members? If so, can we chat in private about something?

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[SunlitZelkova]

Okay, so today I had a conversation with a person in which they defined a free market as follows. "They are about voluntary exchange of goods and services.  The pricing is whatever the parties involved negotiate and the fact it is voluntary means that both are "profiting" from their respective points if view otherwise they would not make a deal."

To me, this sounded like barter, as I was taught a free market was the following:

"an economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses." -Definition from Oxford Languages.

I tried to offer my opinion to this person on the definition of "free market." But we couldn't really get across to each other. I was honestly confused about their definition. I'd simply never heard "free market" defined that way. It sounded more like barter. See the definition of barter:

"to trade by exchanging one commodity for another : to trade goods or services in exchange for other goods or services" -Definition from Merriam-Webster online.

At first this person talked about price, but then insisted money had nothing to do with a "free market" and that it was all about "value." So even someone exchanging 1 pound of salt for 1 pound of milk could be considered an exchange within a "free market," under this person's definition of a free market.

But that sounds like barter, right?

I had no intention of making the conversation unpleasant. Whether I was stonewalling him or they were stonewalling me I can't tell. Maybe we mutually refused to understand each other. In any case, I was told I was "trying very hard to misunderstand."

Can someone define what a free market is for me? Was I in the wrong here?

[AlamoVampire]

@SunlitZelkova When you swap goods and or services for other goods and or services without the exchange of money is barter. But this link goes in depth. I dont think your interlocutor was right.

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[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Okay, so today I had a conversation with a person in which they defined a free market as follows. "They are about voluntary exchange of goods and services.  The pricing is whatever the parties involved negotiate and the fact it is voluntary means that both are "profiting" from their respective points if view otherwise they would not make a deal."

To me, this sounded like barter, as I was taught a free market was the following:

"an economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses." -Definition from Oxford Languages.

I tried to offer my opinion to this person on the definition of "free market." But we couldn't really get across to each other. I was honestly confused about their definition. I'd simply never heard "free market" defined that way. It sounded more like barter. See the definition of barter:

"to trade by exchanging one commodity for another : to trade goods or services in exchange for other goods or services" -Definition from Merriam-Webster online.

At first this person talked about price, but then insisted money had nothing to do with a "free market" and that it was all about "value." So even someone exchanging 1 pound of salt for 1 pound of milk could be considered an exchange within a "free market," under this person's definition of a free market.

But that sounds like barter, right?

I had no intention of making the conversation unpleasant. Whether I was stonewalling him or they were stonewalling me I can't tell. Maybe we mutually refused to understand each other. In any case, I was told I was "trying very hard to misunderstand."

Can someone define what a free market is for me? Was I in the wrong here?

I guess your differentiation is confusing to me. Barter is a form of exchange which trades goods and services directly without the use of currency. That's all that the term describes. It makes no assumptions about any other conditions in the exchange. A free market is an economic system in which the pricing isn't fixed by an outside entity such as a government or guild. It's easy to envision a system which is not a free market that uses barter, where the commodity exchange rates are artificially fixed. If the dairy guild mandates that all guild members must trade one gallon of milk for one pound of beef when trading with members of the butcher's guild, then you have a economic system that uses barter that is not a free market. The members are bartering, they're exchanging goods directly without the use of currency, but they aren't free to decide their exchange rates, their "prices", for themselves,

So when you say, "That's not a free market, that's barter," you're comparing apples and oranges. They're two different terms that are used to describe two different aspects of an economic system. It would be like pointing at a car and saying, "That's not a Volkswagen, that's red."

[kerbiloid]

The non-free market is when the prices are dictated to you by other people from the administration, having their own market interests.
The free market is when the prices are dictated to you by other people from the competitive market community, having their lobbists in the administration.
Don't confuse them.

Of course, the free market allows the parties to exchange the goods in any different ratio, to let them either pay more or get less.

[magnemoe]

12 hours ago, TheSaint said:

I guess your differentiation is confusing to me. Barter is a form of exchange which trades goods and services directly without the use of currency. That's all that the term describes. It makes no assumptions about any other conditions in the exchange. A free market is an economic system in which the pricing isn't fixed by an outside entity such as a government or guild. It's easy to envision a system which is not a free market that uses barter, where the commodity exchange rates are artificially fixed. If the dairy guild mandates that all guild members must trade one gallon of milk for one pound of beef when trading with members of the butcher's guild, then you have a economic system that uses barter that is not a free market. The members are bartering, they're exchanging goods directly without the use of currency, but they aren't free to decide their exchange rates, their "prices", for themselves,

So when you say, "That's not a free market, that's barter," you're comparing apples and oranges. They're two different terms that are used to describe two different aspects of an economic system. It would be like pointing at a car and saying, "That's not a Volkswagen, that's red."

Sounds a bit like an video game economy, in games you might so expensive loot you have to buy something from the store to be able to sell it, you can then sell this back later. Central planning require high control  so would probably work much less well before the printing press and the phone. Note the US used central planning for big businesses during WW 2, it worked well, it would break down over time but its an tool. 

Free marked is that you have many sellers and buyers. You want to buy an computers, its many options, select the one who fit your need, 
If you are on an plane and want an beer your numbers of suppliers are limited, granted the plane has to carry the beer and the extra fuel to carry more cargo but they are also the only seller. 

[TheSaint]

50 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Sounds a bit like an video game economy, in games you might so expensive loot you have to buy something from the store to be able to sell it, you can then sell this back later. Central planning require high control  so would probably work much less well before the printing press and the phone. Note the US used central planning for big businesses during WW 2, it worked well, it would break down over time but its an tool.

Well, yeah. I meant it as an illustrative example, not as a good idea.

[LHACK4142]

Anyone know the name of the song playing at 2:35 in this video (which is very cool and that you should watch the entirety of)?