SoylentNews

I received this email this afternoon:

From: notices[at]slashdotmedia.com
2016-03-16

Dear Site User,

Fair processing notice - Data Protection Act 1998

We are writing to let you know that with effect from 27 January 2016, the Slashdot Media business, which provides online services through various web sites including Slashdot.org and SourceForge.net (the "Slashdot Media Services") has been purchased by SourceForge Media LLC of 1660 Logan Avenue, San Diego, California, 92113, USA ("we" or "us").

As a result your personal data have been transferred to us and will be used in connection with the continued provision of the Slashdot Media Services to you. Your personal data will continue to be processed fairly and lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 for the same purposes as those it was originally collected by Dice Career Solutions Inc and/or eFinancialCareers Limited including to:

* continue to provide you with information (by electronic means or otherwise) about other services we offer that are similar to those that you have already received or enquired about;
* carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
* provide you with the information and services you request from us;
* tell you about changes to the Slashdot Media Services; and
* ensure that the content made available through the Slashdot Media Services is presented in the most effective manner for you and your device.

Further information on how your personal data may be processed, who it may be disclosed to and how it will be stored can be found in the Slashdot Media Services privacy policy available at: http://www.slashdotmedia.com/privacy-statement/

You can ask us to remove all your account data, stop processing your personal data and to stop contacting you for marketing purposes at any time.
* For SourceForge.net, please contact us at sfnet_ops[at]slashdotmedia.com
* For Slashdot, please contact us at privacy[at]slashdot.org
* For FreeCode, please contact us at freecode-privacy[at]slashdotmedia.com
* For SlashdotMedia.com, please contact us at sfnet_ops[at]slashdotmedia.com

Please let us know if you have any queries.
Yours sincerely,
Logan Abbott
The team at SourceForge Media LLC

Their privacy policy does allow them to share your info with advertisers:

In order to effectively tailor our services, these Sites may sell your personal information third party consultants and business partners, including, but not limited to other lead generation companies (collectively “Third Party Contractors”) to collect, compile, organize, and market to you related services.

When you submit any personal identifiable information on a Site, we will obtain your consent authorizing the Sites to sell to Third Party Contractors, any and all personally identifiable information that is necessary to enable additional service offerings.

Hopefully this doesn't mean a spam bombardment.

I've been looking for a new job for a bit now, and Applicant Tracking Systems are the bane of my search. A long series of forms can take up to 20 minutes to fill out, and for what? So a human being can never even look at it?

iCIMS
Why do I need to enter a time zone setting for my account?
Why are there over 100 options, including "Antarctica/Casey (Australian Western Standard Time)" and "Pacific/Efate (Vanuatu Time)" when I've already given you my bloody postal code?
Why, when using my LinkedIn info to fill out your forms, do you need access to everything in my LinkedIn profile, including messages ya creeps?

LinkedIn
Why can't I limit what I share with other sites? Why is sending messages as me even an option?
Also, politics do not belong on LinkedIn. Don't kill your platform with offtopic noise, like memes.
Search options like my location and search radius should be remembered.

ClearCompany.com
Why can't I upload my resume from my PC instead of using Dropbox or Google Drive?

Glassdoor.com
Why am I automagically logged out when I close my browser?

Elsewhere, etc.
No, I'm not sharing my salary history with you. Not even if we are close to an offer. I'm not telling you what I made at the last 5 jobs in your tracking database, so don't make it a required field.
Recruiters, if you ask for an email in the posting, can you at least acknowledge you got it?
Why do I need an account and password and multiple forgot-password questions that are common?
No, I'm not giving you my mother's maiden name.
If you have a tracking system, why doesn't it email me when I'm rejected, or even list it as "not selected" when I check? It's like a black hole where I give info and get nothing in return.
The turnaround time frame on even hearing on submission can be in weeks or longer. Why not list when you're going to process the stack of resumes?

On a related note, I'd like to see employment law change so employers can give a reason why they reject a candidate without being sued. The only way I get any useful interview feedback is via agencies.

It's been a month since the Soylent News Folding@Home team was established, and we've made major strides. As of the time of writing, we are currently in 1684th place, and rising quickly. Thanks for everybody's participation!

Currently, we have 33 active folders contributing 83 CPUs to the effort. We've completed a grand total of 2516 work units. Our top 10 folders are:

1. Beldin65
2. kurenai.tsubasa
3. tibman
4. LTKKane
5. Kymation
6. cmn32480
7. Runaway1956
8. SirFinkus
9. NotSanguine
10. crutchy_work

According to extremeoverclocking.com we'll be in the top 1000 in about 1.2 months.

Mediocrity loves company, and the way it leverages the weak-minded is through highly selective compassion. But so long as you have no memory, no power of reason and no experience of life, this selective compassion sounds, well, compassionate.
I have a new favorite word: mediocracy. It means ‘rule by mediocre people’. I like it because it describes one facet of what I call Total Insanity – or that system under which we are, for now, living.

Under a mediocracy there are no objective standards. There are just feelings. It can – and will – use them to justify everything from opening the floodgates to an invasion of Europe, to feeling the pain of a 52-year-old father of seven who abandoned his family so he could live authentically as a six-year-old girl.

By waving the flag of selective compassion, mediocracy is forever misty-eyed at some new reason to undermine real culture, decency, manliness, and discipline.

However, what it hates more than anything is achievement. It talks about achievement, but only in a bland, touchy-feeling sort of way. In reality, its achievements are merely expressions of new ways to facilitate being weak and deluded; or roundabout ways of expressing such things in terms of ‘compassion’.

New no-tackle rugby
When you understand the agenda, it all gets quite dull after a while. But I was amused to see where the guns of compassion have now fixed their sights: school rugby.

The problem with rugby – at least within the context of schools – according to the self-appointed gurus of gush, apparently, is tackling.

In a Guardian piece about a letter – one breathlessly entitled UK health experts call for ban on tackling in school rugby – we are told: “The letter is the first stage of a campaign that will include a petition on the change.org website which, if it receives 100,000 signatures, will trigger the consideration of a debate by MPs on the issue.”

Now the gush police love online petitions. You can get 100,000 people to sign practically anything if you make it sound worthy enough. So long as it doesn’t require any effort or financial input on the part of those whose buttons you are pressing, they will press yours in return to give you the votes you need.

The driver for this new round of tosh is the fact that ‘more than 70 doctors and health experts have called for a ban on tackling in school rugby games.’

Most people who read the article will just scan the list of names featuring the title Doctor and think it must be a good cause. But, in reality, the document has two core signatures: those of two professors in areas which sound more related to social engineering than to anything physical (Sport and Masculinities – whatever that is – and Public Health Research and Policy).

The remaining signatures are ‘supporting’, of which two are actual practicing doctors (i.e. people who receive patients).

The rest are academics in such hard-hitting disciplines as Institute of Human Identity (Dr. Charles Silverstein) and Health Inequalities Group (Robin Ireland). The closest most of these people will have come to a sporting injury will be a paper cut from picking up a dissertation from the wrong angle.

This, clearly, has nothing to do with rugby and everything to do with imposing yet more unreality on the human tribe.

I was not a rugby player myself; I preferred soccer and athletics at school. But I have played rugby, and I am bright enough to understand one of its key features: it is meant to hurt. That’s why boys play it.

Getting punched and kicked when you’re nine is no great tragedy. Living in a hermetically sealed, bubble-wrapped environment without punches and slaps and kicks until you are twenty-something, and having no chance to test yourself, to build up stamina, courage, strength and will: that is a tragedy.

By the time these social engineers finish with school rugby, there will be no goal posts; you’ll just pass the ball around in a big circle making sure everyone gets a turn – being particularly careful to see that people in wheelchairs get two turns. You’ll score a try by explaining how much you feel you deserve one. But it won’t be a try for your side. The points will be shared among the players on the basis of who is most deserving. And when it’s over everyone will get a medal.

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/334733-education-mediocrity-rugby-feelings-compassion/

Imam Mohammed writes:

Following are excerpts from Sahin's article, titled "Monkeys Evolved from Humans." [2]

"Chromosomal Anomalies" In Monkeys "Have Never Led To The Birth Of Human Beings Or Of Monkeys Resembling Human Beings"

"Monkeys are animals that look like humans. Humans have 46 chromosomes and monkeys have 48. Since these chromosomes are similar in structure, these species can transfer from one to the other. When we, physicians, examine anomalies in chromosomes, we find that human chromosomal anomalies lead to the birth of humans similar to monkeys, as in cases of microcephaly, in which newborns resemble monkeys in form, intelligence, behavior, and social life. Such [deformed humans] must be kept under strict control. The numbers of such cases is not negligible.

"In monkeys too there are chromosomal anomalies, but these have never led to the birth of human beings or of monkeys resembling human beings. We understand from this that humans are not derived from monkeys, but that monkeys come from humans. There are many factors in the creation of such anomalies, among them divine, environmental, and chemical."

"Those Among You Who Violated The Saturday [Sabbath] Prohibitions... Will Become Miserable Monkeys [Koran 5:60]"

"Our God, the Creator of the universe, has also confirmed these truths. 'You know those among you who violated the Saturday [Sabbath] prohibitions. For them it is said that they will become miserable monkeys [Koran 2:65].'

"Also: 'Whomever Allah has cursed and punished, and those He turned into monkeys, pigs, and Satan worshippers, occupy the worst place [in His eyes], and they are perverts that have deviated from their path [Koran 5:60].'

"'And when they became arrogant and did not change their ways, they were told to become low and contemptible monkeys [Koran 7:166].'

"The [Koranic] verses above show us that monkeys have come from humans. Allah always tells the truth."

The Theory Of Evolution Is "An Opinion" By "A Jew Called Darwin"; "The Gorillas And Chimps Living Today In The Forests Of North Africa Are Cursed Jews"

"The theory of evolution was put forward by a Jew called Darwin. Therefore, it is an opinion. The aim of this theory is to turn the non-Jews away from their religion, to harm their faith, and to make them suspicious about their religion. Darwin, being a Jew, believed, lived, and was buried according to his religion. His real targets were the Muslims. Most likely, Darwin knew about these Koranic verses. In the Holy Koran, Allah responded very well to these perverts.

"Jews, who are well organized in the world's financial and scientific institutions, are so powerful that they terrorize the world of science. Through propaganda and through the reiteration of this nonsense, they have brainwashed and imposed this opinion as a rule, and sold this deception as scientific reality. Even some ignorant theologians have believed the propaganda of this theory...

"I believe that the gorillas and chimps living today in the forests of North Africa are cursed Jews. They are perverted humans that have mutated. This thought is much stronger and scientific than Darwin's theory. But we the Muslims, who believe this, do not have banks, money, or the organization inside the world of science [like the Jews have]. Neither do we have propaganda outlets, in order to scream this truth. But we have our intellect, we have our faith, and we have our Allah. Alhamdullillah [with the grace of Allah]."

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/9008.htm [memri.org]
http://www.antisemitismwatch.com/tag/seyfi-sahin/ [antisemitismwatch.com]
https://www.rt.com/news/332514-turkey-darwin-jews-monkeys/ [rt.com]
http://www.diken.com.tr/vahdet-yazarindan-tersine-evrim-teorisi-afrikada-yasayan-sempanzeler-lanetlenmis-yahudi/ [diken.com.tr]

The caucuses? There's something wrong there.

Hillary got schlonged in New Hampshire, but she came away with more delegates than Bernie? What's up with that? Did Hillary pay for all those delegates in advance?

Ohhh, so THAT is why she's been getting zillions of dollars for prostituting herself to foreign interests! Makes sense now!

Hey, you really need to look into the corruption at Demcratic headquarters. Find out who got all that money for the delegate sale!

Ya know, this is mildly humorous. So few people understand why Trump is so popular. Prepaid delegates explains a lot of that. People are tired of the elites deciding in advance who is going to be president. We, the people, are quite tired of choosing between a shit sandwich or a shit sandwich. You don't understand it, Shrillary doesn't understand it, the DNC doesn't understand it, nor does the GOP understand.

We are simply tired of the corruption.

Super delegates my ass.

I get his newsletters. I don't know why, I've thought several times about unsubscribing. He whores himself to various corporations, pushing junk that almost nobody needs. Tactical pens? Today, it's a tactical crossbow. Ehhhh -

But, he does make some observations that are spot on the money. Today's email:

  Hillary Lost Because She Lied
By DICK MORRIS
Published on DickMorris.com on February 11, 2016
New Hampshire exit polls in the Democratic Primary indicate that Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton among self-described liberals by 60-39. Okay. But he also beat her among moderates and conservatives by a nearly identical 60-37 margin.

They also show that among the one-third of all voters who said "honesty and trustworthiness" were the most important qualities of a candidate in determining their vote, Sanders beat Clinton by 95-5.

  These data indicate that Sanders' victory was not the result of an ideological vote for a socialist but was due to a personal repudiation of a liar. It was Hillary's dearth of personal ethics and her lack of veracity, not her political ideology or her issue positions, that led to her smashing defeat in New Hampshire.

So when Hillary sought to co-opt and plagiarize Bernie's rhetoric in her concession speech, she did nothing to solve the problem that brought her low. Nor will any shift in her message or beheadings of her staff do much to help her.

It is not her position on the banks, TARP, Glass-Steagall, or campaign finance reform that is dragging her down. It is her email scandal, Benghazi, and her personal speeches for fees that are causing her candidacy to crash.

Hillary can change her issue positions as frequently and as totally as she changes her hair style. She can flip on the Keystone Pipeline and flop on the Trans Pacific Trade Deal. But she cannot go back and delete her lies, evasions, half-truths, and distortions. They live on video tape and in our memories, ready to spring to life as soon as she lies again.

This personal reputation is not something a new consultant can fix. All the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put Hillary back together again.

New Hampshire means Hillary is outed. It's downhill from here.

I've taken the liberty of setting up a folding@home team for Soylent News. In case you aren't familiar with folding@home, it's a distributed computing project that simulates protein folding in an attempt to better understand diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington's.

There is more information on the project here, which explains it much better than I could.

Clients are available for Linux, OSX, and even Windows (if you swing that way), so come join our botnet!

That Other Site's team is ranked at 1817, so we've got some catching up to do.

On a personal note, my Dad carries the gene markers for Huntington's disease, and will eventually succumb to it. Research like this is very helpful for understanding, and hopefully developing treatments for it.

tl;dr Our Soylent News team ID is 230319

With the new ownership at the old green site looking to improve things there, I hope we have a similar discussion going on here someplace. My guess is it is happening on IRC. The underlying code seems pretty solid, so there isn't much in the mechanics I'd change.

One thing that concerns me is our delay in posting threads compared to them. It seems fairly consistent they have the first strike over 80% of the time when running similar stories. If you read both sites, and I'm assuming many still do, why would you want to re-read threads on a topic you saw earlier in the day or even a day or two before? Shouldn't our goal to be the faster, more intelligent version of a Slash-based site?

The news latest round of Yahoo layoffs broke yesterday evening, February 2nd. Slashdot posted the story this morning yet the story here is sitting waiting in the queue, and isn't going to appear on the main page until tonight. So if I want to comment, I have to either wait on it, or go post on the green site, or elsewhere. That's not what I want to do.

So, looks like the 16.02 site upgrade is mostly going to be a features upgrade rather than a bugfix upgrade, though there's some of that as well. There's one thing going in that there's an outside chance may annoy some people though: the new mobile layout. To be very clear on this, the mobile layout will be served to anyone with a horizontal screen (not browser window) resolution of 800 pixels or less. The only way you'll see it on your desktop is if you're still running 800x600 or lower resolution, in which case you really should get with the whole 21st century technology thing.

We're going to be doing the site upgrade the first weekend of February but if you want to give it a look early head over to https://dev.soylentnews.org/ and have a look around. Bear in mind we ain't foisting beta code on you lot with this, we're foisting pre-alpha code that took all of maybe half an hour to do up on you. This is not what the finished product will look like, it's just something to make life easier on mobile users while we write up something that doesn't suck. If it sucks too hard and you all bitch that you want the old layout back though, it's a matter of minutes to fix and revert until we have something worth calling a proper mobile interface.

Let me know what you think here.