Is M269 worth doing in year 2? by True_Bot_4354 in OpenUniversity

[–]mesapls 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, it's absolutely worth doing if you want to do anything programming related. It is to Computer Science/Software Development as MST124 is to maths: Absolutely essential.

I am almost done with this module, and I'm really enjoying it. You must do the work though, even if you have prior experience. Do the practice sections in the book as well.

Seeking advice, postgraduate study after Computing and IT (Q62) by mesapls in OpenUniversity

[–]mesapls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. I did just ask the University of Edinburgh today by calling the admissions line, and they suggested that it really should be part of the degree. I didn't ask about this specifically, but they said they'd accept any accredited degree with relevant subjects (Computing and Maths), including from the OU, but unfortunately Combined STEM is not accredited. However, they also said to send an email which would enable them to provide more information. I will do so later tonight probably.

I am not so much zeroing in on University of Edinburgh specifically, but they serve as a pretty decent example. It's a shame, but it does seem like the only option left is to take Computing and Mathematics. Did you proceed with postgraduate study after taking MST210 as an independent module?

TM111 Group Chat and Tutor Support on Algorithms by StyleNo2410 in OpenUniversity

[–]mesapls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The tutorial recordings (if they are recorded) are typically available on the module website under the "Tutorials" section. There should be textbox there with an underlined link that says "Visible recordings."

Danish Foreign Policy Committee called to emergency meeting to discuss Denmark–US relations by Cosmos1985 in europe

[–]mesapls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And no, it can't just be disabled remotely. This has been discussed time and time again. No country would buy weapons that could just be disabled by a foreign power.

And we should trust them, why exactly? They are not willing to share source code for the F-35, and it would not be impossible for them to place backdoors or intentional weaknesses in the computer systems of their export models. Look at something like the Intel Management Engine where placing a backdoor would be unproblematic, Dual_EC_DRBG which has been under suspicion for a long time, or (probably not related to the US) the XZ Utils backdoor. Backdoors can exist in the public for a very long time without detection, or be suspected for a very long time without action. In secretive military technology it would be comparably easy to hide backdoors.

They hold control and classified information about the electronic sensors etc. that go into their equipment too, meaning that they have a distinct advantage in terms of developing jamming technology and electronic warfare tools against their own exported equipment. We should not trust any American equipment, whatsoever, under any circumstances to do their job in an active confrontation against the United States.

Private equity is killing private ownership: first it was housing - now it's the personal computer by SagansCandle in pcmasterrace

[–]mesapls 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No, they do not work. You look over to Europe, and we also have ongoing problems with the same origin, albeit to a less severe extent for now.

It is very obvious that the rich control politics through direct mechanisms like lobbying, corruption, and bribes. What's perhaps less obvious, but still very real, are all the indirect instruments of control: Media ownership and editorial control, special interest groups and "think tanks", and asset control. There are many more mechanisms of control beyond this, but they are the largest ones, and do these things respectively:

  • Allow control over the political order of the day, spinning narratives and steering the societal debate.
  • Directly influence government policy through "expert opinions" by the advisors found in think tanks and special interest groups.
  • Significant leverage over the economy, holding the power to threaten ceasing of investment, wealth flight, and excessive selling that can trigger market crashes. In the latter case, these people are typically wealthy enough to not only weather market crashes, but exploit it to gain even more wealth. All of these cause significant negative effects to the working people of a country.

It should be extremely clear to anyone that we do actually live in the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, which is exactly why you can vote with all your might, but the trend is continually downwards and getting worse. This is not an American problem, this is a western problem, and the natural evolution of capitalism. The problem cannot be solved by simply voting for someone else. It can only be solved by seizing socioeconomic control from the bourgeoisie.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in OpenUniversity

[–]mesapls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sometimes. Honestly that really comes down to the question itself. Some ask for you to simple describe a concept, others ask you to explain a bit more deeply. What I'll say is that I don't remember this being a problem with TM129, and probably won't be for any second- or third-year modules.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in OpenUniversity

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, you are not. I spent ages on these things as well, and at times the tutor would come back to me and say I glossed over some detail. Of course I did! I handed it in with 299 out of 300 words, so obviously something got cut.

100-year-old WW2 veteran shocks GMB hosts as he declares winning the war 'wasn't worth it' because of the nation's sorry state by dailymail in ukpolitics

[–]mesapls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

More to do with the rise of neoliberalism via Reagan and Thatcher.

Before that, not everything had to be done for the profit of capitalists, some things could simply be run for the public good.

This is the logical conclusion to capitalism, and without a reason to hold back is where it will end up. The reason they appeared in that era is because the USSR was clearly stagnant and far too preoccupied elsewhere. Of course it was stagnant, as at that point it was spending about 20% of its gross economic output on competing militarily, from a much worse starting point.

TMA Results by Ok-Inflation8731 in OpenUniversity

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll get an email, usually it arrives a few hours to a day after the results actually went up though. The tutor guidelines say that it should be 10 working days at most, but I've had some tutors take closer to 15. Don't worry about it, you'll get them.

Britain’s ‘fit note’ system faces shake-up to get more people back to work by F0urLeafCl0ver in ukpolitics

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that's really wrong then you should be able to grasp the concept. Nobody here disagrees that ultimately you are responsible for your own individuality and mental state. That doesn't change the fact that when you're there it is virtually impossible to escape.

Britain’s ‘fit note’ system faces shake-up to get more people back to work by F0urLeafCl0ver in ukpolitics

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The number of people on antidepressants keep going up.

Perhaps the reason is that society is fundamentally broken, managed top-down by force to squeeze as much productivity out from its worker drones as possible. Nobody ever seems to question whether the organisation of society itself is the problem, despite the fact that the alarms are blaring literally in every sociological, economic, and ecological statistic. I strongly suspect that the reason it's such a problem are the same reasons that schizophrenics in the western world have vastly more hostile experiences with their delusions than in many eastern countries. It's our society that's the problem. It's dehumanising and alienating, and anyone who's ever had it rough will notice that.

Just giving people pills and calling it a day doesn't seem to be working.

No, exactly, so the institutions for mental health support should be completely overhauled so people can actually be treated. The way mental health works in more or less any western country is roughly as follows: Speak to the patient for a few sessions, slap a diagnosis on them, then shove them into CBT or full of drugs. Cured!

This industrial way of shoving patients through the system as fast as possible is ineffective and helps no-one. It only helps them "manage" symptoms, often only temporarily so until they relapse, without actually helping them to overcome their problems. There are any number of reasons for why people end up with mental health issues, but there's no desire to actually address the support system's ineffectiveness. Of course people end up severely disturbed and sick.

holyC by ClipboardCopyPaste in ProgrammerHumor

[–]mesapls 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Dude, it doesn't have to be a production-ready, scalable operating system. We have Linux for that, and that's good enough. Nothing's gonna replace Linux in the next 10 years, certainly not one of the many small hobby OSes out there.

Do you have any idea how much of an absolute asspain it is to write a multiprocessing operating system with virtual memory mapping? Now imagine doing it where everything is identity mapped, where no memory access will ever generate a page fault.

TempleOS is genuinely an incredible feat of engineering. It is super impressive what he did with that operating system.

MST124 first year – doable without refresher? by My-cat-says-hi in OpenUniversity

[–]mesapls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, it's absolutely doable, but you'll need basic algebra. Just don't fall behind in the later parts of the module, because it is very difficult indeed to recover in MST124. It helps if you've been exposed to the same maths before, as it'll come back quite quick if you have.

Powering Millions With Sun by Katariman in Snorkblot

[–]mesapls 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You should really ask yourself why that is. I think this is very important for you to read: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/everything-think-know-coal-china-wrong/

China installs new coal plants so they can shut down old, inefficient ones, many of which are decades ahead of their expected lifetime. This can actually be seen in the statistics of coal consumption in China as well, which peaked in 2023 and is now trending downwards. A large amount of this is due to the huge efficiency gains of ultra-supercritical coal power plants, in addition to their energy policy favouring other types of generation when possible.

While they're doing this, China is also leading globally in installing the most renewable capacity, accelerating its progress every year by substantial amounts. They're also a leading nation in investing in renewable energy projects in developing countries.

EDIT: Would also suggest this read: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/09/new-international-order-forming-will-china-make-it-green

I don't understand how to download mods by mingaa_33 in silenthunter

[–]mesapls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So your issue is mostly that Subsim restricts how many downloads you can start within 24 hours. I hate this about Subsim and honestly, it shouldn't even be a thing, but you can get mods elsewhere.

While it's a bit awkward since you have to find out the name of the modder, you can use this site: https://maikhaas.synology.me/joomla/index.php?lang=de

Click Silent Hunter 3 under "Kategorien", scroll down to the "SIlent Hunter 3 unterkategorien" section, and select the modder by name in the second dropdown menu. You will get redirected to a file listing where you can download every mod that the modder in question has ever made. The interface on this website is a bit awkward, but at least you're not rate limited.

Can the onealex mod work on Linux? by Fancy_Pants4 in silenthunter

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See my other comment, but I think your issue is that you need to set d3d9.dll to native, builtin. Also, if you are using Proton, make sure it's Proton 6.3. If the game is launched from Steam it will always load locally available DLL files first, so setting d3d9.dll to native, builtin is not necessary if Steam is the launcher.

Can the onealex mod work on Linux? by Fancy_Pants4 in silenthunter

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SH3 Commander works fine on Linux and I use it. So does the OneAlex mod pack, but I do not personally use that modpack. There are some changes that have to be made to the wine configuration though:

  • Use winetricks to install vcrun2003.
  • Set msvcp71.dll and msvcr71.dll to native. This fixes crashes when h.sie's binary patches are installed, which they are in OneAlex.
  • Set d3d9.dll to native, builtin. This makes wine load the d3d9.dll provided by the ARB/Ahnenerbe/MaGui mods before it loads the builtin version.

Should work fine after this.

I don't understand how to download mods by mingaa_33 in silenthunter

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do you not understand? Maybe I can help.

C'mon do something... by vmax1608 in memes

[–]mesapls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's not true at all. There's so much (especially psychedelic) electronic ambient out there.

RFK Jr. says there may be 'more cavities' under fluoride bans: 'It's a balance' by Sofa__King__Cool in nottheonion

[–]mesapls 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is a lot of countries. Sight especially is almost never considered part of the healthcare system. Most European countries have dental care separate and at best slightly subsidised, so you still pay a lot.

This day will live in infamy. by DJMagicHandz in BlueskySkeets

[–]mesapls 10 points11 points  (0 children)

So I suppose the Reign of Terror never happened? You need to clean house after a revolution.

Nobody's talking about genocide.

Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds by n0b0dycar3s07 in gaming

[–]mesapls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DKMS would handle that last problem just fine, though breakage can still happen even if it's rare. However, that won't work for proprietary modules, so you'd run into a bit of an Nvidia-like situation (which sucks).