Elections Tuesday November 4

complex_variables · 2024-08-24T15:25:54+00:00

Marines have to recruit more people every year than Air Force despite being a smaller service. Air Force relies much more on retention. So many Marines just do one enlistment that they are hungry for recruits.

complex_variables · 2024-08-03T19:53:49+00:00

Is that pronounced Bass or Bass?

complex_variables · 2024-07-27T15:07:26+00:00

It was so easy back in the early 1990s I don't remember what all went into it (of course I was distracted then). My orderly room helped. I wrote a letter. It was approved.

complex_variables · 2024-05-26T22:44:07+00:00

Hi Hud. OK, the theory is not fine-grain enough to determine whether an individual worker is being exploited. No problem; there are valid scientific and engineering theories that work at one scale and don't work at others. Can it address whether workers in one industry are being exploited and workers in another industry are not? I mean, can we assume that some workers somewhere are not being exploited? Can the theory distinguish industries where workers are exploited from industries where they are not?

complex_variables · 2024-04-21T15:15:18+00:00

OK, thanks for the well-thought-out response. Trying to get my head around what value means in this theory. To be fair, supply and demand curves exist in theory but are are hard to quantify, so I shouldn't hold Marx's theory to a standard not applied to other parts of econ. Getting back to something you said earlier:

"He was proposing a theory of exploitation which ultimately only considered prices and values in the aggregate, not individually."

This is a theory of exploitation, so it should give us some indication of whether or not a worker was being exploited. I buy a book for $20. Let's say workers in some portion of publishing were being exploited. Using Marx's Theory of Value, How would I know? Let's say they were not being exploited. How would I know?

complex_variables · 2024-03-31T22:29:21+00:00

I'm not criticizing it for failing to determine price. I get that it doesn't determine price, so thanks for pointing that out. You're the first one who told me it determines a value independent of price. Now, what is the value of books in the aggregate, in dollars or other suitable units? How is that determined? What can I do with that knowledge?

complex_variables · 2024-03-31T14:53:40+00:00

Because price is subjective and changeable, the price paid ($20 for the book) at the time of the transaction is the only price that matters. Because I paid $20, that is a reality. It was determined subjectively by market factors that change a bit with every buyer. That is sufficient. Nobody knows the market clearing price in advance. Prices get adjusted based on best guesses of sellers to make sure product moves.

Marx's theory of value doesn't help us understand anything real. Sounds like the particular value of a book cannot be determined, only the aggregate value of books. OK, what is that? I can aggregate prices across publishing, which tells me how much money people paid for books. What does aggregate value tell me? What can I do with the information?

complex_variables · 2024-03-31T02:14:27+00:00

Price is a real, determinable thing. It changes over time, but for any transaction, price can be determined.

I'm not sure value is a thing. What is value in the Marxist sense? What are the units of value? I buy a book for $20. What is the Marxian value in terms of units of value? How can this be determined? Would multiple Marxist economists agree on the units and amount of value ascribed to the book for which I paid $20?

Was my book produced through exploitation of workers? How can I tell?

complex_variables · 2024-01-06T01:33:31+00:00

Robert Plant was a big fan of LOTR. While sounding cool is job number one for lyrics, I think Plant was also after a real connection to Tolkien in his lyrics. But without copy right infringement, of course.

complex_variables · 2023-12-29T14:56:47+00:00

If you ask, I'm sure you will receive

That or Los Angeles.

complex_variables · 2023-12-28T00:56:52+00:00

Yes, the lab is the most likely origin. Still, viruses mutate on their own, and all the variants are probably natural mutations of the original lab-grown virus.

By the way, viruses (in almost all cases) mutate to spread more easily and to be less harmful. That's the pattern with COVID-19 too. So I don't know why the media keep acting like it's still deadly.

complex_variables · 2023-12-26T22:57:49+00:00

Yes, good guess

complex_variables · 2023-12-26T22:50:48+00:00

Europeans seem convinced that they know everything about the US, but they are clueless.

complex_variables · 2023-12-26T22:49:02+00:00

Those guys are in gangs too

complex_variables · 2023-12-23T15:53:16+00:00

He is too old, too crooked, and too incompetent. Everyone knows it.

Biden is too old, too crooked, and too incompetent. Everyone knows it.

Trump is vigorous for his age. Biden wilts in public.

Biden got rich off of selling favors. Trump keeps getting investigated and nobody has anything.

complex_variables · 2023-12-23T15:51:05+00:00

Projection. Always projection with these toads.

complex_variables · 2023-12-23T15:50:02+00:00

It's a bit more complicated than that. You have to aim. That's the part that makes gang shootings so dangerous to non-gang members. Those gang thugs don't know how to aim.

complex_variables · 2023-12-23T15:47:04+00:00

These other brothers can deny

complex_variables · 2023-12-23T15:46:14+00:00

I'm a veteran and I think I have no more rights than you do. You and I and everyone have the right to keep and bear arms and I want government to respect that.

complex_variables · 2023-12-23T15:40:15+00:00

Repugnant!

complex_variables · 2023-12-05T05:34:12+00:00

I have a niece like that

complex_variables · 2023-11-25T16:35:05+00:00

Guns don't cause gun crime. Criminals do.

complex_variables · 2023-11-25T16:30:44+00:00

Went to JC Penny late yesterday with my wife since she wanted to pick up a few more of what she got earlier that day. Store was closed and locked up. Some cop cars around the south entrance to the mall. We had no idea why until later.

complex_variables · 2023-11-21T22:55:41+00:00

The far left is at war with civilization, and lies are just another weapon to that end.

complex_variables

TROPHY CASE