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Stem cells are special cells in the body that can differentiate into a higher form of cells such as cell tissues and organs. There are different types of stem cells that are associated with a biological system such as heart stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are cells that can differentiate into any type of cell regardless of origin.
Hematopoietic stem cells are stem cells that comes from the bone marrow and in infants, in the umbilical cord blood, in an embryo or in peripheral blood in the human body. These stem cells can differentiate into many different types of blood cells such as erythrocytes, basophils, neutrophils and B-lymphocytes. Hematopoietic stem cells can also stop proliferating when it is unneeded.
HSCs (Hematopoietic Stem Cells) are used in treating blood based diseases such as lymphoma and leukemia. HSCs are transplanted to a patient after radiation therapy or chemotherapy to help the patient in recovering from the treatment. These cells either come from a matching donor ,a bone marrow transplant or harvesting the cells from the patient before the treatment
The studies presented advances in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) has addressed risks involving the procedure such as donor blood rejection and regression.
Presentations during the annual meeting include:
- Encouraging Outcomes in Older Patients (Pts) Following Nonmyeloablative (NMA) Haploidentical Blood or Marrow Transplantation (haploBMT) With High-Dose Posttransplantation Cyclophosphamide (PT/Cy)
- Equality of Access to Transplant for Ethnic Minority Patients Through Use of Cord Blood and Haploidentical Transplants
- Full-Intensity Transplantation and Short Telomeres Increase the Risk of Cognitive Impairment After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) – Results of a Prospective Longitudinal Study
- Donor-Derived Anti-CD19 Chimeric-Antigen-Receptor-Expressing T Cells Cause Regression of Malignancy Persisting After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Advances in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), once considered an effective yet risky alternative to drug therapy for blood cancer, has become more accessible and successful in a wide range of patients as a result of major advances in transplant strategies and technologies. Several studies representing these advances were presented today during the 55th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans.
HSCT is effectively used today as a form of "replacement" therapy for patients with hard-to-treat blood cancers, providing healthy cells from either the patient (autologous transplantation) or from a donor (allogeneic transplantation) to better equip patients to fight the disease on their own. Historically, clinicians evaluating a patient for transplant have sought to identify donor cells that are perfectly matched to the patient's cell type, which is considered to be the optimal approach to help ensure successful outcomes and to minimize risk of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a serious and potentially life-threatening complication that occurs when the donated immune cells attack the patient's cells as foreign tissue.
Today, researchers are challenging traditional assumptions about transplant eligibility and donor matching in an effort to expand the universe of patients who can benefit from this treatment while improving long-term success rates. New findings presented today indicate that with proper considerations, haploidentical (half-matched) transplants or transplants using cord blood cells can be viable, effective alternatives when a fully matched donor is not available. Researchers also contend that transplant outcomes can be further improved by identifying patients who are at high risk for certain complications, such as cognitive decline, or by employing post-transplant treatments to reduce their risk of relapse.
"The exciting research results being presented today underscore how transplants are becoming an increasingly successful treatment option for more patients with blood cancer than ever before," said Jeffrey Miller, MD, moderator of the press conference and Deputy Director of the Masonic Cancer Center and the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "Whereas transplant would not have been an option for many patients without a sibling or other perfectly matched donor even several years ago, exciting new strategies have afforded them the opportunity to gain significant benefit from this procedure today. As we are now able to focus our efforts on improving the overall patient experience and reducing the risk of relapse, the leading cause of death after transplant, we have greatly improved long-term survival outcomes for patients who before might not have had another treatment option."
This press conference will take place on Saturday, December 7, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. CST.
Video: Bone Marrow Transplant
Encouraging Outcomes in Older Patients (Pts) Following Nonmyeloablative (NMA) Haploidentical Blood or Marrow Transplantation (haploBMT) With High-Dose Posttransplantation Cyclophosphamide (PT/Cy)
To more fully demonstrate the utility of haploidentical bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplants (haploBMT) as an alternative to fully matched transplants, this study evaluated nonmyeloablative, related haploBMT (with post-transplantation cyclophosphamide) among patients aged 50 – 75 with poor-risk hematologic malignancies. Results of 273 such transplants performed at Johns Hopkins were compared to determine the impact of older age on outcomes. The two-year probability of progression-free survival was very similar among patients in their 50s, 60s, and 70s (39, 36, and 39%, respectively), as was the two-year probability of overall survival (51, 56, and 44%). Among these age groups, there were also no statistically significant differences in the risks of non-relapse death or severe graft-versus-host disease.
"The similarly positive outcomes we observed among patients in their 50s, 60s, and 70s clearly illustrate that advanced age need no longer be a significant barrier to successful outcomes after half-matched BMT," said study author Yvette Kasamon, MD, of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore. "These results underscore that a reduced-intensity, related haploidentical transplant should be considered a very reasonable treatment option for suitable patients up to at least age 75 who require a transplant."
Dr. Kasamon will present this study during an oral presentation at 5:15 p.m. CST on Sunday, December 8, in Rooms 208-210 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Equality of Access to Transplant for Ethnic Minority Patients Through Use of Cord Blood and Haploidentical Transplants
Previous studies have shown that minorities are poorly represented in international donor panels and therefore minority patients are often unable to find a suitable donor. While the number of registered donors has increased significantly in recent years and the use of cord blood and haploidentical transplants as treatment solutions for minority patients has expanded, the impact of these strategies remains largely unclear.
In an attempt to evaluate these advancements, this study followed 332 transplant patients who had been referred to Anthony Nolan Research Institute, the organization that manages the United Kingdom's stem cell donor registry. Three-quarters of the patients were white Northern European (WNE) and the remaining 25 percent were non-white Northern European (non-WNE) with similar underlying disease. Researchers sought to determine differences between the two groups in terms of achieving transplant as well as the time from donor search request to transplant. Surprisingly, there were no significant differences between the groups in the total number of patients receiving transplants when considering all sources (WNE 63% vs. non-WNE 56%). Compared to WNE patients, non-WNE had more cord blood (21 vs. 3%) and haploidentical transplants (10 vs. 1%), while WNE patients had more fully matched donor transplants (69% found a fully matched donor, while only 20% of non-WNE found the same). Researchers observed a slight difference in wait time from search request to transplant between the two groups (median 110 days for WNE vs. median 132 days for non-WNE); however, the data did not indicate whether the delay would impact outcomes.
"We are encouraged by our results demonstrating that ethnic minority patients' access to transplants has improved considerably, thanks to aggressive recruitment to global registries and data supporting use of new options like haploidentical and cord blood transplants," said study author Robert N. Lown, MD, of University College London Cancer Institute and the Anthony Nolan Research Institute in the United Kingdom. "While we are bridging the gap in access, our next step is to identify potential minority transplant candidates earlier to determine their eligibility and help them seek the right transplant option."
Dr. Lown will present this study during a poster presentation at 5:30 p.m. CST on Saturday, December 7, in Hall G of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Full-Intensity Transplantation and Short Telomeres Increase the Risk of Cognitive Impairment After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) – Results of a Prospective Longitudinal Study
While a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is often a lifesaving procedure, previous reports have associated transplant-related chemotherapy and radiation as having a negative impact on cognitive function. Seeking to explore whether transplants – and specifically the intensity of transplant-related chemotherapy and radiation – might be associated with cognitive decline, investigators conducted a prospective study, measuring cognitive function in transplant patients and healthy controls at similar intervals. In addition, the investigators measured the relative length of telomeres (protective protein structures on the ends of human chromosomes) in allogeneic HSCT recipients before transplant, hypothesizing that HSCT recipients with shorter telomeres would demonstrate reduced cognitive function after transplant.
To test their hypothesis, researchers assessed several cognitive parameters (e.g., multi-tasking, visual memory, recall) before transplant and at six, 12, and 24 months post-transplant in HSCT recipients and at the same intervals in the control group and found a significant association between shortened telomeres and reduced cognitive ability. Researchers also observed that those HSCT recipients who received full-intensity HSCT reported worse cognitive function than those who received reduced-intensity HSCT. In fact, the cognitive function in patients with reduced-intensity transplants remained comparable to that in the healthy controls. The cognitive decline observed was specifically linked to the shortening effect of these treatments on the length of telomeres.
"This study strongly indicates that patients who receive reduced-intensity transplants are generally spared from significant impact on their cognitive abilities, while full-intensity conditioning contributes to meaningful changes in multiple cognitive domains," said study author Alysia Bosworth of City of Hope in Duarte, Calif. "As our results isolate a specific group of patients who would be considered 'high risk' for cognitive impairment, including those who receive full-intensity transplants, it will be important for clinicians to evaluate and offer services to help these patients regain that function after transplant."
Ms. Bosworth will present this study during an oral presentation at 7:30 a.m. CST on Tuesday, December 10, in Riverside Rooms R06-R07 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Donor-Derived Anti-CD19 Chimeric-Antigen-Receptor-Expressing T Cells Cause Regression of Malignancy Persisting After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
This study examined the efficacy and safety of genetically modified T cells as treatment for B cell malignancies (blood cancers that affect the B cells, including certain types of leukemia and lymphoma) persisting after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The study focused on the use of these carefully designed attack cells in 10 patients who had persistent, aggressive disease after receiving one or more allogeneic HSCTs. Investigators removed T cells from each of the patients' healthy donors and then, in the laboratory, outfitted them with genetic machinery designed to target a protein expressed on the persisting malignancy (B cell antigen CD19) when infused in the patient. After receiving one infusion of modified cells with no other anti-cancer therapy, three of 10 patients experienced significant disease regression, with one patient achieving ongoing complete remission at nine months post treatment. A fourth patient had stable disease at 11 months post infusion. Importantly, none of the patients experienced graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and the most prominent toxicities were fever and low blood pressure, which resolved within two weeks.
"These results are particularly exciting because they show that small numbers of these modified T cells can cause regression of highly treatment-resistant B cell malignancies after transplant without causing GVHD, indicating a possible new treatment approach for those patients with limited options for their aggressive disease," said study author James N. Kochenderfer, MD, of the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. "We continue to evaluate ways to enhance the persistence of these T cells in the body while reducing toxicities to improve the overall efficacy of the treatment."
Dr. Kochenderfer will present this study in an oral presentation at 5:00 p.m. CST on Sunday, December 8, in Riverside Rooms R06-R07 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
American Society of Hematology
Encouraging Outcomes in Older Patients (Pts) Following Nonmyeloablative (NMA) Haploidentical Blood or Marrow Transplantation (haploBMT) With High-Dose Posttransplantation Cyclophosphamide (PT/Cy)
Equality of Access to Transplant for Ethnic Minority Patients Through Use of Cord Blood and Haploidentical Transplants
Full-Intensity Transplantation and Short Telomeres Increase the Risk of Cognitive Impairment After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) – Results of a Prospective Longitudinal Study
Donor-Derived Anti-CD19 Chimeric-Antigen-Receptor-Expressing T Cells Cause Regression of Malignancy Persisting After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
55th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition Meeting and Abstracts
Slowing Down Aging Process Through Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Molecular Protein Wnt5a
Cancer Stem Cells From Kidney Tumors Promises New Therapy In Treating The Disease
Treating Cancer With Killer T Cells Produced From Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)
Stem Cell Therapy Used as Treatment for Diabetes
Use of Gene Modified Blood Stem Cells Counteracts Toxic Effects of Chemotherapy


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World Bulletin / News Desk
Tor, the prominent system for protecting Internet privacy, said on Wednesday many of its users trying to reach hidden sites might have been identified by government-funded researchers.
In a note on the nonprofit's website, Tor Project leader Roger Dingledine said the service had identified computers on its network that had been quietly altering Tor traffic for five months in an attempt to unmask users connecting to what are known as "hidden services."
Dingledine said it was "likely" the attacking computers, which were removed on July 4, were operated on behalf of two researchers at the Software Engineering Institute, which is housed at Carnegie-Mellon University, but funded mainly by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The pair had been scheduled to speak on identifying Tor users at the Black Hat security conference next month. After Tor developers complained to Carnegie-Mellon, officials there said the research had not been cleared and canceled the talk.
Previous reports on the research had already raised alarms among privacy activists. Dingledine went further, warning on Wednesday that "users who operated or accessed hidden services from early February through July 4 should assume they were affected."
Those navigating to ordinary websites should be in the clear.
It remains uncertain how much data the researchers were able to collect and what will happen to that information, which would be of interest to intelligence agencies and law enforcement.
Hidden services include underground drug sites such as the shuttered Silk Road, as well as privacy-conscious outfits such as SecureDrop, which is designed to safely connect whistle blowers with media outlets.
Dingledine said the physical locations where the hidden services were housed could have been exposed, although probably not the content on them that was viewed by a visitor.
"Unfortunately, I cannot comment," lead Software Engineering Institute researcher Alexander Volynkin told Reuters.
Institute spokesman Richard Lynch declined to comment, while the FBI had no immediate response to questions about whether it would seek the data.
Defense Department spokeswoman Valerie Henderson said she did not know if officials there would have the right to raw research from the Institute.
"You have to know what organization and which individuals inside the Department of Defense might have set this one up," Henderson said.
Even if there is an overarching guideline about access to unpublished research, "the general rule may not apply," she added.
Tor is an anonymity tool designed to protect the identity of Internet users by routing traffic through multiple nodes around the world. It is used by human rights activists, criminals and others looking to evade surveillance.
Dingledine advised users to upgrade to the latest version of its software, which addresses the vulnerability that was exploited. He cautioned that attempts to break Tor were likely to continue.
Leaked National Security Agency documents show the NSA has logged the IP addresses of many Tor users and might have scanned emails for users living outside of the United States and its four closest intelligence allies, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, media in Germany reported this month.Güncelleme Tarihi: 31 Temmuz 2014, 15:16

subset: commoncrawl


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For really no other reason than they could (and to probably sell booze) the folks over at Robofun created an Arduino-powered computer keyboard that uses cans of Staropramen beer instead of plastic keys. Users at the Webstock conference where it was unveiled simply had to gently tap each can like they were using an on-screen keyboard to register a keystroke.
Taylor Lorenz Talks "Extremely Online"
As each key is pressed, instead of the mechanical click of a traditional keyboard, the satisfying sound of a beer can being open is triggered. The only sadness to come from this is that we'll never be able to buy one of our own, even if they rig a Bluetooth version that uses those tiny airplane bottles of booze instead of full cans. [Robofun via Engadget]


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Smashburger announced that, in celebration of National Burger Day on May 28, it will give away a free Classic Smash nationwide to anyone with the last name "Burger," or variations thereof.
According to WhitePages.com, there are approximately 21,687 people in the United States with the last name Burger and 1,530 named Hamburger.
Either way, burger lovers with variations of Burger—or Berger, Weinberger, Rosenberger, etc.—in their names will receive one free Classic Smash in recognition of the holiday that celebrates America's favorite food.
This offer is valid for redemption at all Smashburger locations in the United States. Proof of last name is required (i.e. valid driver's license, passport, or picture ID). Limit one Classic Smash per ID.
"Burgers are an iconic American food. We've been eating them for generations, and burgers are America's favorite food," says Tom Ryan, founder of Smashburger. "But just in the last five years or so, we have seen an explosion in people's interest to eat higher-quality burgers than the typical fast-food fare. And with the average person eating 43 hamburgers per year, there is cause for celebration of a national holiday or 'National Burger Day.'"
The brand recently opened its 200th restaurant and is now in four international countries, says David Prokupek, president and CEO of Smashburger.
"We saw the consumer trend in demand for quality burgers in the fast-casual segment a few years ago," he adds. "Our timing to introduce Smashburger couldn't have been better."
Opening its first restaurant in 2007, Smashburger came on the scene and now reports that growth and demand in this better-burger segment has never been stronger.
"We see a lot of runway ahead for more growth as people catch on that there is a better way to eat burger," Prokupek says.
At Smashburger, the secret is in the smash. It starts with 100-percent fresh, never frozen, Certified Angus Beef that is smashed on a 400-degree flat grill to sear in itsjuicy flavor.
To further the better-burger experience, its burgers are served on a toasted artisan bun and topped with a selection of the freshest produce, cheeses, and highest-quality condiments.
Smashburger's juicy burgers are served alongside its hand-spun Häagen-Dazsshakes, local craft beers, sides, and regional menu items.
Customers can also enjoy a selection of tender, marinated grilled chicken sandwiches, fresh-tossed signature salads, and a variety of sides, including rosemary and garlic–seasoned Smashfries, haystack onions, and veggie frites (flash-fried carrot sticks and green beans).


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Joel Spolsky has a very interesting account of what it was like working as a program manager for Microsoft in 1992. We don't want to ruin the story, because it's a really good one that you should check out for yourself, but the gist of it is that Bill Gates used to be extremely hands-on with his software developers.
It's something that only a real programmer can do, something that company heads who are more business-oriented (Ballmer, Jobs) can't, because they can't drill down and actually understand the nuances of the development cycle. As a former programmer, I have to say that Gates deserves a lot of respect (even if his management style was pretty dicky) for pretty much actually knowing everything that was going on in his company for much of his reign. [INC - Thanks Jae!]


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Commission on a Way Forward issues status report
July 27, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Commission on a Way Forward has released a status report to the Council of Bishops and the entire United Methodist Church (UMC), updating the church and the leaders on the faithful work of the Commission after four meetings. The 32-member commission is accountable to the Council of Bishops, which named the members following a mandate from the 2016 General Conference. The charge from the General Conference was for the bishops to find a way forward and for unity in the UMC on issues related to human sexuality. In releasing the status report, the Commission moderators Bishops David Yemba, Sandra Steiner Ball and Ken Carter said the status report was available in video and PDF form and can be shared electronically, in worship and in print. "We encourage all United Methodists to view this, to use it in worship. We encourage you to offer us feedback and prayer," the moderators said. The Commission has five more meetings to complete, with two of the meetings coming prior to the November meeting of the Council of Bishops. The final report will be issued to the Council of Bishops, who will then present the report to the 2019 Special Session of General Conference for action. Here is the link to the PDF version of status report from the Commission. Here is the link to the movie version of status report from the Commission. For more information on the Commission on a Way Forward, visit umc.org/wayforward.


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This exquisite cinematic music is ideal as background music for voice-over projects, corporate videos and presentations that require positive, lighthearted and yet serious atmosphere. The composition features philharmonic orchestra instruments such as piano, brass, strings and harp adding up in a constant crescendo to a powerful peak. The composition has an encouraging atmosphere of beauty and positivity filled with angelic harmonies.
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A crafty state senator has done something so wonderful that we should all be cheering while simultaneously smacking our foreheads, because why didn't we think of this earlier? The hero in question is Virginia senator Janet Howell. The Democrat wasn't happy with a proposed bill that requires women to have an ultrasound before they can have an abortion, so she attached a very special amendment to the bill.
Howell simply attached an amendment that requires men to undergo a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before they can be prescribed medication for erectile dysfunction. Genius. Here's what Howell had to say on the matter:
We need some gender equity here. The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we're going to do that to women, why not do that to men?
Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes! It's like Howell has single-handedly invented a twisted new Golden Rule of Politics: "Do unto others' nether regions as they would do unto yours." And from then on, the good men of Virginia realized it actually feels really terrible when the government tries to "protect" you from yourself, and women were free to do with their bodies whatever they damn well pleased and—screeeech. Dream sequence over.
Howell's amendment was sadly defeated—though narrowly, 21 to 19—and the rectums of Virginia rejoiced. Who, you might be wondering, would have voted against such an amazing idea? Why, Republican senator Jill Vogel, of course, the sponsor of the original ultrasound bill. Here's her rock solid reasoning:
I do believe that erectile dysfunction in this context is different from pregnancy.
In this context? It would be lovely if Sen. Vogel could elaborate on when ED is ever the same as pregnancy, but I digress. What matters is that Howell was happy with the way it turned out, and one hopes she will continue crafting such equitable legislation in the future.
The bill itself passed in a voice vote yesterday, and it's going to be formally voted on today. A similar bill in Texas has caused a logistical shitstorm for providers and patients alike, and it's being challenged in court. Perhaps sanity will prevail, and this ridiculous practice will someday be abandoned. But for now, let's keep our fingers crossed that Senator Howell's innovative approach to dealing with this nonsense will lead to a long string of similar "Shove It Up Your Ass" amendments in other states. After all, it is our Christian duty to make sure the men of this great land don't accidentally die of a heart attack while having medically-assisted sex with their wives or whomever else their sacred vows of open marriage permit.
Janet Howell, Virginia State Senator, Attaches Rectal Exam Amendment To Anti-Abortion Bill [HuffPo]
Image via Anton Gvozdikov/Shutterstock.


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Quake Live (previously known as Quake Zero) is a free FPS video game by id Software designed to run on x86-based computers running Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X or Linux that is downloaded and launched via a web browser plugin. It is a variant of its predecessor, Quake III Arena (Q3A). The game first appeared in 2007, entered an invitation-based closed beta in 2008, and an open beta began on February 24, 2009.
On August 6, 2010, Quake Live is out of beta phase, and is now live. Here is a quote from the official news, explaining the two versions of the game available now.
In addition to the 'Standard' free-to-play version, today we've announced our 'Premium' and 'Pro' subscriptions — adding new maps, game modes, and plenty more. Details below…
The Premium Subscription, which can be purchased for $1.99 per month, billed annually, includes:
* Access to 20 QUAKE LIVE Premium only maps at launch with more to come. Premium maps are a combination of brand new maps and frequently requested community favorites from previous QUAKE games such as Aerowalk, Theater of Pain, Japanese Castles, and Realm of Steel Rats;
* An all new 'Freeze Tag' game mode;
* Exclusive premium level awards;
* Create your own clan and join up to five separate clans;
* Custom QUAKE LIVE profile wallpaper; and
* Match statistics stored for six months.
The Pro Subscription, which can be purchased for $3.99 per month, billed annually, includes all of the premium subscription features as well as:
* The ability to start your own game server, specify a server location, determine the game mode and invite who you want to join you;
* With the Pro Subscription, you can invite three friends with Standard level memberships to play with you in any Premium level map;
* Exclusive pro awards;
* Create your own clan and join up to ten separate clans; and
* Match statistics stored for 12 months.
The QUAKE LIVE 'Standard' version is still free to play and includes friend lists, access to one clan, matchmaking, and stats tracking delivered through a web browser with over 40 arenas and five game modes.
Categories: Games


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GM looks to Encore small crossover to expand Buick's reach
General Motors Co is counting on the new Encore small crossover vehicle to bring more new customers to its premium Buick brand.
The Encore, which went on sale in U.S. show-rooms last week after launching last fall in China, is the fifth vehicle in the Buick brand, joining the larger Enclave crossover and the LaCrosse, Regal and Verano sedans.
Buick's U.S. sales rose 1.6 percent last year to 180,408 vehicles, a six-year high for the brand. But LMC Automotive senior analyst Joe Langley says it has a tough road ahead.
"Buick still remains a small player in the market and faces many challenges," he said. "While a good strategy to try and have Buick serve the entry luxury market, it will come under pressure as well-established brands with far greater prestige enter the space over the next several years, such as BMW , Mercedes-Benz and Audi .
"Buick is already having a difficult time carving out a place in the market and the down-market push by the German luxury brands will make that mission that much more difficult," Langley added.
LMC expects GM to add another small crossover and a compact hatchback within a few years, with the Encore's annual sales hitting about 30,000 vehicles. The brand's overall U.S. sales are expected to top 280,000 vehicles in 2017, according to LMC.
Buick executives did not reveal what sales volume they expect the Encore to generate, but they anticipate it will help further boost demand at Buick.
"There's a lot of momentum in this brand," Tony DiSalle, Buick marketing vice president, said at an event outside of Detroit.
DiSalle told reporters he expects the Encore's conquest rate, or the percentage of buyers new to the brand, to match that of the Verano, which is above 50 percent. The brand's overall conquest rate has risen to just over 43 percent last year from 28 percent in 2007.
Buick officials see the Encore's primary rival as the Volkswagen Tiguan, but they also mentioned the BMW X1 and Nissan's <7201.T> Juke.
Over the last five years, the average age of Buick buyers has dropped seven years to 57, Buick officials said. The Encore is targeted at young professionals and empty nesters, marketing officials say.
DiSalle said GM expects the segment in which Encore competes, small and mid-sized crossovers, to add more than 350,000 sales in the United States over next three years.
Marketing for the Encore, which will start in earnest in March with a campaign during the NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament, will emphasize Encore's maneuverability, flexibility to accommodate people and their cargo and technology, said Lloyd Biermann, marketing manager for Buick crossovers. The company expects 60 percent of the vehicle's buyers to be women, he said.
The Encore, which is built in South Korea on the same vehicle platform as the Opel Mokka available in Europe, has a starting price of almost $25,000.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Dan Grebler)


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WASHINGTON – A House committee has asked the Homeland Security Department to provide documents about an agency policy that required political appointees to review many Freedom of Information Act requests, according to a letter obtained Sunday by The Associated Press.
The letter to Homeland Security was sent late Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It represents an early move by House Republicans who have vowed to launch numerous probes of President Barack Obama's administration, ranging from its implementation of the new health care law to rules curbing air pollution to spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Associated Press reported in July that for at least a year, Homeland Security had sidetracked hundreds of requests for federal records to top political advisers to the department's secretary, Janet Napolitano. The political appointees wanted information about those requesting the materials, and in some cases the release of documents considered politically sensitive was delayed, according to numerous e-mails that were obtained by the AP.
The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to ensure the quick public release of requested government documents without political consideration. Obama has said his administration would emphasize openness in providing requested federal records.
According to Issa's letter, Homeland Security's chief privacy officer and FOIA official told committee staff in September that political appointees were simply made aware of "significant and potentially controversial requests."
Mary Ellen Callahan told them that political appointees reviewed the agency's FOIA response letters for grammatical and other errors and did not edit or delay their release, the letter states. She also told the committee that Homeland Security abandoned the practice in response to the AP's article, according to Issa's letter.
On Sunday, Oversight panel spokesman Frederick Hill said Issa sent the letter "because the committee has received documents that raise questions about the veracity of DHS officials" on the matter. He did not elaborate.
Issa asked the agency to provide the documents by Jan. 29.
Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler said Sunday that his agency reduced its backlog of Freedom of Information requests last year by 40 percent, and has handled more requests for records than any other agency. He said the department follows Obama administration policy and has not withheld or edited any records that agency lawyers considered appropriate to release.
Chandler also said Callahan did not tell Issa's committee that the policy had been changed because of the AP's story.
Last summer, officials said fewer than 500 requests were vetted by political officials. The department received about 103,000 requests for information in a recent 12-month period.
The agency's directive said political appointees wanted to see FOIA requests for "awareness purposes," regardless of who had filed them. The AP reported that the agency's career employees were told to provide political appointees with information about who requested documents, where they lived, whether they were reporters and where they worked.
According to the directive, political aides were to review requests related to Obama policy priorities, or anything related to controversial or sensitive subjects. Requests from journalists, lawmakers and activist groups were to also to be examined.
Under a new policy last summer, documents are given to agency political advisers three days before they are released, but they can be distributed without those officials' approval.


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While many of us associate Thanksgiving with crisp cold air, berried branches, turning foliage, and chrysanthemums, not everyone has to go over the river and through the woods to get to grandmother's house. Some just take a barefoot stroll along the beach, perhaps collecting a few shells along the way. If I were spending the holiday at my house in Florida here is how I would like my table to look.
Beach Inspired Table Settings
Not only is it coastal inspired, but it is a cleaner, less cluttered and simpler look. This also matches our lifestyle down in Florida which is completely opposite from our hectic, fast-paced life in New York.
Use found objects as well as treasured keepsakes to create the look you want. Keeping the colors soft and using monochromatic single variety flowers will provide a sense of calm.
Write each guest's name on a sand dollar and tuck a single cymbidium orchid behind it for a chic place setting.
Have a beach inspired Thanksgiving!


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[XVortex] pulled off a pretty incredible firmware hack. He managed to get a firmware upgrade for Synology running on a QNAP machine. These are both Network Attached Storage devices, but apparently the Synology firmware is better than what QNAP supplies with their offerings.
The nice thing is that this is not a one-off hack. You can download the raw image and give it a spin for yourself. A few words of warning though. It will only work on models which use the Atom and ICH9R chipset, you're out of luck if you have one sporting an ARM processor. You will also need to format the drives once the new firmware is flashed so do this before you fill them up.
This harkens back to the days when DD-WRT was first being run on Linksys routers. We don't remember if that started with upgrade image hacks like this one uses, or if the source code was available (Linksys was compelled to release it once it was proven they were in violation of the GPL).
See a proof video of this hack after the break.
[Thanks ZeroQI]


text:
Michael C. Hall Analyzes His Dexter's Mind, Part 2
Podcast Transcription
[Opening music]
Steve Mirsky: This Scientific American podcast is brought to you by audible.com, your source for audio books and more. Audible.com features more than 100,000 titles including Kevin Dutton's The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success and Richard Panek's The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality. Right now audible.com is offering a free audio book and a 1-month trial membership to the Scientific American audience, for details go to audible.com/sciam.
Steve Mirsky: Steve Mirsky here. Welcome back for Part 2 of the conversation between psychologist and author Kevin Dutton and actor Michael C. Hall, TV's blood-spatter expert and suppressor, Dexter, recorded at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. You'll also hear Tim McHenry, the Rubin's Director of Public Programs and Performance. Again, the Rubin specializes in the art and culture of Himalayan Asia, which is why Buddhist issues come up in the context of the conversation.
Kevin Dutton: A lot of people say to me, "Well, what's it like being around a psychopath?" Now you've been around, you've done your research and you've been around some of these - some of these - guys.
Michael C. Hall: I've - I've, like I said, I've watched some documentaries, read some books, transcripts of interviews but I didn't seek out any actual psychopaths [crosstalk] --
Kevin Dutton: Okay.
Michael C. Hall: because I thought it might throw me off my game.
Kevin Dutton: Yeah, okay.
Michael C. Hall: I mean it might freak me out.
Kevin Dutton: Yeah, that's a fair point, yeah.
Michael C. Hall: So I didn't, yeah.
Kevin Dutton: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Michael C. Hall: You know?
Kevin Dutton: Okay, when you're around these guys there is a really palpable vibe. They do have an aura and it's the same aura. I've also done quite a lot of work with Special Forces soldiers, many of whom who are actually along the psychopathic spectrum, quite far along the psychopathic spectrum. They are ruthless, they are fearless, they are focused and mentally tough and for obvious reasons but the vibe that you get when you're around psychopaths is very similar to the vibe you get around Special Forces soldiers and that there is - don't get me wrong here, there's - a real sense of positivity, of anything's possible. These are guys with no moral brakes, okay?
It's like driving a car with no brakes, you know? If you've got a really fast road, it's fantastically thrilling but the problem is that these guys - and one of these guys actually said this to me when I interviewed him, he said, "You know, what you're saying is the car's too good for the road," and it's very true. Psychopaths, in a sense, have got all these positive qualities but they've got too much of a good thing. They've got all of these qualities turned up to max and so when you meet these guys there is a sense of anything's possible, you know? If you say, "Well, you know, we all come up with reasons not to do things" but actually when you're around these guys, it's, like, well, you know, why not, you know?
Kevin Dutton: That's the kind of default setting.
Michael C. Hall: Yeah.
Kevin Dutton: "Why not" and that's actually really refreshing.
Michael C. Hall: Because they're not infused with or invested in negative possibilities [crosstalk] --
Kevin Dutton: That's exactly right
Michael C. Hall: or potentialities.
Kevin Dutton: Yeah, yeah.
Michael C. Hall: It's just like, "Ehh, it doesn't matter."
Kevin Dutton: And we can all - in everyday life, we can all - we can all do that. I mean, in simple situations like if you're at work and you wanna put in for a raise, you know, most of us think, "Oh, well, I don't really wanna do that because what if I don't get it? What will the boss think of me if I don't get it? What will my fellow employees think of me if I don't get it?" Well, you know, folks, psychopath art.
Kevin Dutton: Just go, just go, focus on the benefits of getting that, right?
Michael C. Hall: Yeah.
Kevin Dutton: You know and actually just go for it and don't think of - and of course what you get then is you get that confidence, Michael. You get that kind of confidence and the more confident you are, the more chances ironically that you actually have of getting it, you know?
Michael C. Hall: Yeah and confidence in that sense isn't necessarily about believing that the outcome will be positive, it's not caring if it's negative.
Kevin Dutton: That's exactly right.
Michael C. Hall: It's not being invested in that.
Kevin Dutton: Absolutely right, just don't focus on the negative, on the negative side effects and that's what psychopaths are very good at. Sometimes they don't focus on the negatives and they get things completely wrong so that's why psychopaths are extremely cool under pressure when the rest of us might be terrified because, actually, they're just focused on the reward that they're getting. That's why in the Second World War, a colleague of mine has a theory that a lot of great fighter pilots actually were very high along the psychopathic spectrum. These were guys that flew very dangerous missions despite the fact that actually they could be killed and these guys had great kill ratios so, you know, this kind of focus on the reward doesn't really work in certain professions. The other thing is next time that you're faced with a difficult situation, you know, just think to yourself, "Well, what would I do if it didn't really matter that much to me," okay?
So you know this is something that Dexter could tell you. I mean you know just kinda what - if I wasn't frightened, if I wasn't so damn frightened what would I do, and then when you just taken a step back and thought about that, well, just do it, you know? Just - the Nike slogan - "Just Do It," you know?
Kevin Dutton: So that's another way that people can kinda use that Dexter mindset, I think, in everyday life.
Michael C. Hall: Make it work for you.
Kevin Dutton: Yeah.
Kevin Dutton: The Dexter Manifesto, I think.
Michael C. Hall: Yeah, I've been wondering what I'm gonna do when Dexter is over and I think maybe it'd be like self-help book.
Kevin Dutton: I think you should.
Michael C. Hall: Do a little [crosstalk] --
Kevin Dutton: I think I beat you to it there.
Michael C. Hall: [Laughter] You're right, yeah.
Kevin Dutton: I think you should come to Oxford and be a psychologist, I think.
Michael C. Hall: Yeah, you wanna do it together, 50/50?
Kevin Dutton: Yeah, we can do that!
Michael C. Hall: 70/30.
Kevin Dutton: 70/30, yeah.
Kevin Dutton: [Laughter]
Tim: Of course Michael could become a Buddhist monk. That seems like a possibility.
Michael C. Hall: [Laughter]
Tim: So now is the real test of who the psychopaths in the room are and you shouldn't fear rejection of your question. Be totally confident and focused. We've got microphones on either side of the house so raise your hand if you want to ask a question and we'll try and get to as many as possible. Yes, Nancy?
Nancy: Hi, I want to talk about something that you have not spoken about at all and the fact that Dexter has a son, [crosstalk] --
Michael C. Hall: Yes.
Nancy: which drives me crazy, as a mother.
Kevin Dutton: See, Psychopath Number 1, she's all of a piece.
Nancy: How is possible that he has this son, although he's always shipped off to Orlando, [crosstalk] --
Michael C. Hall: Right.
Nancy: which also drives me crazy but it's, like, you know, does he really have the capacity to love this kid and plus when he was loving Rita, did he really, you know, what [crosstalk] --
Michael C. Hall: Did he really?
Kevin Dutton: Right.
Nancy: How compartmentalized is that?
Michael C. Hall: I think the fact that he was married and the fact that those kinds of questions make you crazy is a part of what I like about the show that - no, that - and that intrigues me about the character and maybe you could speak about this but I think he is interested in understanding what human emotion is and what genuine connection is. I don't know that he quite feels but I think it's a fundamental part of what - or it's the fundamental part of what - doesn't allow him to continue to tell himself or anyone else that he's not real. I mean he's not made of circuits and wires. He's a flesh-and-blood person and there's this evidence of that. It's also something he - that really does a number on his desire to control his environment or his world or his person because he - can control himself and what's inside but now that there's - and I mean, I think, as a parent, maybe you could relate to that, this sense that all of a sudden there's this person for whom you're responsible and you can't control them in the same way that you control yourself but, yeah, as far as the fact that he's conveniently absent from the scene for weeks on end that's really a question for the writers.
Tim: Let's take somebody on the other side of the house, thank you.
Audience: Yeah, this has been a lot of fun so I have a question about nature-versus-nurture. I think it's really interesting that, in Dexter, correct me if I'm wrong, but he's turned into a psychopath by seeing his mom chopped up in front of him and so is his brother and so I wonder if that's sort of deliberate on the part of the show and, Kevin, I guess the question for you is what's the evidence that psychopaths are born versus made?
Kevin Dutton: Okay, shall I take that one [crosstalk] --?
Michael C. Hall: Yes, please.
Kevin Dutton: Okay.
Michael C. Hall: All right.
Kevin Dutton: It's a great question. There's evidence to suggest that there is a genetic component to psychopathy. The evidence hovers around about 50-percent genetic component and a 50-percent environmental component but when we talk about whether it's nature or nurture, the argument has kind of moved on a little bit from that. It's a little bit more complex. There's now a sub-discipline of genetics called epigenetics and this is another way in which the "Dexter" show is ultra-real, it's really founded in scientific fact, and that is that imagine that - well, you could have a psychopathic gene.
Let's just simplify it and say it's one gene. It's not. It's a whole conglomeration of genes. Let's say you've got a psychopathic gene. That doesn't necessarily mean that you're gonna be a psychopath.
What that means is you have the propensity to be a psychopath but you need environmental triggers to maybe set that gene off. Now those environmental triggers are almost invariably traumatic childhoods, okay? So we've got the Dexter scenario right there so either abuse or a traumatic scene or violence or something like a traumatic experience in childhood. Now this always gets a bit complicated but I have an analogy to use to explain this. Imagine that our genes are like the text in a book, okay, and that book is lying closed on a library shelf, okay?
Now that information - that text - is not going to come alive. It's not going to have any impact if that book remains closed. It's only going to work if someone comes and opens that book and reads it so, for the person opening the book and reading, that's the environmental trigger, okay? So that's what makes the information come live.
Tim: Now another question here.
Audience: Yes, hi. My question is about - first of all I think you're phenomenal but my question is about - Dexter's relationship with his father [crosstalk] --
Michael C. Hall: Yes.
Audience: and what is it in him, given who he is, that he wants to - even after his father is gone - seek his father's approval and, along the same lines, if that's the case, what allowed him to throw out the code and the blood slides, this last episode?
Michael C. Hall: Well, I think what allowed him to do that was there are a lot of things alive in him but if anything trumps anything else it might be self-preservation and I think he recognized that if he continued to collect those trophies that it would make him that much more vulnerable and I think that getting rid of them also coincides with the desire to be a grownup and to relinquish childish things and, as far as Dexter's father goes, I mean, that's - he has -- this internalized relationship with his father that I guess I can relate to -- my father passed away when I was young - and it's really not his father anymore, it's him. It's a conversation he's having with himself, you know? We tell ourselves stories about who we're talking to but it's really just us and I think he seems to thrive on some sort of internal conflict. He has a desire to lean against something and he, perhaps, resents that the thing that's kept him safe is something that was given him, you know? He wants to own himself in a way that he can't quite do because his father gave him this code so he has, many times over, learned the lesson that adhering to it is the right thing to do but there's this simultaneous desire to rebel against it and lean against it and the relationship, the internal relationship he has with his father never really lands.
It's always swinging back and forth. I don't know if that really answers your question but as far as the nurture side of things for Dexter you could argue that, without Harry, Dexter would've become like his brother and would've killed indiscriminately or you could argue that while he experienced a real trauma with his mother's murder that the real abuse was done by his father. I like the world of the show in as much as there are all these coins with flipsides and both arguably true and, given time, sometimes simultaneously.
Tim: I've got question right over there.
Audience: Thank you. I love your show and I watch it, religiously. I find it interesting the correlation between addiction, which we haven't really discussed too much and Dexter's character and also I guess it's a two-parter for you both, how much does Dexter rely on the addiction side of what he does, in and out, and is that breakable and, outside of the realm of psychopathic tendencies, and have you ever really studied the psychopath's brain versus the addict's brain and do they correlate so that - and - if an addiction is broken, can you unwind that behavior?
Kevin Dutton: Yeah, there has been work done looking at psychopathy and addiction. Addiction: Psychopaths do get very addicted to substances and that actually comes right back to something that I touched upon earlier. It comes back to the fact that psychopaths are extremely reward-driven, okay? They are extremely focused on the positives from getting the rewards so, on the basis of that it wouldn't be too difficult to predict that actually psychopaths would possess more of an addictive personality than others and when we look at psychopaths, especially the kind of the less-intelligent psychopaths, the ones with the lower IQ, become more addicted. There is a real prevalence of addiction and substance abuse within -- especially alcoholism and drug abuse within - psychopaths.
Now there was a wonderful study done not so long ago, a couple of years ago, which looked at what happens in the brains of psychopaths compare dot the brains of normal people when they are given positive stimuli so the researchers put psychopaths in a brain scanner and they put a load of - bunch of - normal people in the brain scanner, and they gave them a shot of speed - amphetamine, okay - and they wondered. They looked at what happened. Now we know that the reward circuits of the brain - again, not to get too technical with you but the circuits that drive pleasure and reward in our brain - are run by a neurochemical and neurotransmitter called dopamine. It's the dopamine circuit and so what you would predict, if psychopaths really were more reward-driven, when they get a shot of the amphetamine or of the speed, there should be more activity in that dopamine-run brain circuit compared to normal people, and that is exactly what the research has found. In fact the activity in the psychopath's dopamine reward circuit was four times greater than it was in the circuits of the normal people who were given a shot of amphetamine. I wanted to sign up for that study, funnily enough but I'm not sure which camp I would fall in but, actually, yeah, there is that.
The very fact that psychopaths are reward-driven makes them far more prone to addictive kinds of behaviors than non-psychopaths and, of course, that also gives them their focus that we were talking about earlier, Michael, you know? Dexter's kind of drivenness, you know? That, itself is an addiction, you know?
Michael C. Hall: Yeah, and I think Dexter is definitely on an addictive cycle with his particular indulgence and has certainly given over to the first step. He definitely recognizes his powerlessness and there seems to be no hope that he's going to be rehabilitated.
Tim: I think we should return to the Bering Strait analogy and make a very clear distinction I think between psychopaths and Buddhist monks because a Buddhist monk, for example, would regard any sort of addiction as an attachment and, of course, their role is to abjure attachment [crosstalk] --
Kevin Dutton: Sure, yeah.
Tim: in any shape or form but what they do share is it seems -- and this word has come up a lot, even in the questions - is focus, and focus seems in the result of at least three of the sessions that we've had so far in this series, focus delivers a form of contentment and happiness. Can you speak to that?
Kevin Dutton: I think that's absolutely right. Yeah, I think that one of the things that Buddhists and psychopaths both have is that focus. Now I've just actually come back - as I was saying to you, I've just come back -- from a trip to Dharamsala, which is in Northern India where you have - it's the - Seat of the Dalai Lama and it's basically there's a very large Tibetan community there and it's very strange, actually, because I went up and tested these expert Buddhist meditator monks, high, high in the mountains, and one of the things that I asked them was, "If I want to be happier in my life, what should I do," and, almost to a man, they all said that actually focusing on the impermanence of life, focusing on the fact that we could be gone tomorrow, is a great kind of concentrator of the mind on getting rid of material possessions, getting rid of attachments. Now I think the difference between psychopaths and Buddhist monks - that's not to say that there aren't some psychopathic Buddhist monks [laughter] thought not that I came across there but I didn't test for that [laughter] but one of the things that we find is that actually focusing, psychopaths tend to be very mindful. That's another they have in common with Buddhist monks because they - the impermanence of existence is something that psychopaths - also feel, you know?
Psychopaths have a devil-may-care attitude to life, here-today-gone-tomorrow so they're not that different, in that respect, to Buddhist but the difference between psychopaths and Buddhist monks is that Buddhist monks live in the moment and they savor that moment. Psychopaths live in the moment and they seize it. They seize for all it's worth. They seize it for their own personal gratification. They squeeze ever last drop of gratification out of every second whereas a Buddhist monk lives in the - an expert Buddhist monk mediator lives in the - moment but doesn't squeeze it out, it's they savor it so that Bering Strait analogy I think works.
Again they're very close but they both live in the moment. They both don't have many attachments but they have completely different kind of takes on it.
Tim: We have time for maybe three questions. Oh goodness, all right.
Audience: Kind of a follow-up to the sort of Bering Strait and the Buddhist monks, one of the things you mentioned, back to, like, the lizard-brain idea is that psychopaths don't have insight into, like, their ability to, like, detect weakness or to detect the handkerchief or whatever it - so when you're talking about the monks and the microexpressions and that lie detection, do they have insight into that? Can they unpack for you what they're doing when they're breaking or slowing time down or how they perceive it?
Kevin Dutton: They don't, no. They don't have any insight into, like, slowing time down. What we did discover was the Buddhist monks would say something like - and quite a few of them said this, they would say something like - "I can tell that this person has a deep inner pain and therefore I believe that they're telling the truth" as opposed to maybe the people who were faking it and they would say, "No, there doesn't seem to be a real pain there" but precisely what they were looking at, in terms of decoding that pain, is different.
Audience: Yes, my question is what do you think Dexter's definition of happiness is and is he happy?
Michael C. Hall: I think that Dexter has moments of happiness or moments of contentment at least, probably immediately following killing someone but they don't last very long. I think Dexter has - just as he's surrendered to his powerlessness regarding his compulsion to kill I think he has - also relinquished any hope for happiness. I think his idea of contentment or of happiness, rather, would be one in which he wasn't driven by this compulsion and that's a part of what makes him kind of a tragic character.
Kevin Dutton: I've met a few psychopaths in my time - one or two of them - and it's very rare, it's rare that I've met a psychopath that would actually, you know, actually says, "I don't really wanna be a psychopath." Actually, they're actually quite happy the lot of psychopaths because they just don't see a problem with it. They're very mentally tough, they're very non-anxious and actually if you think about that, you know, "we don't have any anxieties, I don't give a damn what people think of me," you know, actually that's not a bad kinda gig to get, really, is it? Even if - even when - you actually deal with a moral fallback, you know? We've all seen psychopaths in court sentenced to life imprisonment or even death and they just smile nonchalantly, you know?
That's the worst possible outcome we could all imagine, you know? We'd all go to pieces but, you know, you get psychopaths sticking the finger up to the judge and going off laughing, you know, so they are actually very mentally robust, nothing gets them down.
Michael C. Hall: I think the story of the show is someone who's unraveling in a way. The Dexter who we meet at the very beginning of the series is happy and only when his appetite for something he never thought or imagined possible, his own humanity, is whetted by this emergence of his - of a - character who turns out to be his brother does his whole construct start to unravel and, yeah, he's happy for a second there.
Tim: Hmm, gentlemen, I want to return to this decisive nature of the psychopath and make yet another correlation between those and Buddhist monks because I - actually the number of monks that I've met here the museum and elsewhere, in the Himalayas, also showed very little dithering tendencies. I mean they go straight for what they want and I remember we brought 13 monks over from the Kingdom of Bhutan a few years ago for this Bhutan exhibition and they did demon-subjugation dances all around the city. These gentlemen had never been on a plane, never been on an elevator, never been on an escalator, you know? They had never been outside their monastery or, indeed, their country, where those things largely don't exist, and I remember meeting them at the Y where they were [laughter] staying, right? Very, very frugal bedding situation but - and I got in the elevator with them and I knew what floor they were supposed to go to but I was there trying to work out which one was 21.
They were already there, you know? I mean they had absolute focus and just precision of action, which was amazing to me, even in that small instance.
Kevin Dutton: I'll give you another brain study, Tim, on that, which basically backs up that point. There was a study, which has been done looking - well, actually a number of studies, it wasn't the same study and the same pattern of brain-activation has been found in Buddhist monks when they're making decisions, psychopaths when they're making decisions under pressure, life-and-death situations, like the train - like the trolley - problem we were talking about earlier and also - and this is the key - the same brain areas are active when you look at experts who - either videogame-player experts or sports people who - are in a state of what's called flow, when they're in - and you might've heard this term in the media, when they're in - the zone, when they're just performing optimally. The same areas, the same pattern of brain-activation are found in those three kinds of people: Sports people when they're in the zone, psychopaths when they're making decisions under extreme pressure and Buddhist monks when they're in a state of compassionate meditation. Same brain links all three, very intriguing.
Steve Mirsky: Kevin Dutton's book is The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success. You can get it as your free audiobook by taking advantage of the offer at www.audible.com/sciam. Thanks for listening to this psychopath extravaganza. For all your science news, go to our website, www.scientificamerican.com, where you can find Citizen Science, which describes big research efforts that need the eyes, ears and computers of interested people like you and follow us on Twitter, where you'll a tweet whenever a new article hits the website and our Twitter name is @sciam, S-C-I-A-M. For Scientific American's Science Talk, I am Steve Mirsky. Thanks for clicking on us.
[End of Audio]


text:
I am a Canadian travelling to South Africa for two weeks. My flights, rental car and hotels are pre-paid. Obviously I'll want to have some money to spend on food, entertainment and unforeseen costs while I'm there.
My question is, how much cash should I bring? Carrying cash around is a bad idea but my limited experience is that travelers cheques are a pain to get cashed and are not accepted anywhere other than banks.
Will my mastercard (issued by a Canadian bank) serve me well? I understand that it should work at ATMs, but will it be accepted at stores, gas stations and restaurants?


text:
Started this discussion. Last reply by Laarnie De Guzman Oct 28, 2013. 5 Replies 0 Likes
sunnybodies has not received any gifts yet
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:33pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
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Please join me.
Posted on January 1, 2010 at 11:40pm 0 Comments 0 Likes


text:
A damning new report into the work practices at developer Silicon Knights has claimed that as few as five staff remain at the studio.
The extensive Kotaku report in which the claim is made investigates the turbulent development of X-Men: Destiny and makes a host of claims about the structure and management of boss Denis Dyack.
"I am certain that if you contacted former and current Silicon Knights employees and offered them anonymity, you would receive evidence of an appalling antipathy from management towards the employees, publishers, and the quality of their games," one insider claimed
Another added: One source described SK president Denis Dyack as a man who has repeatedly stated to the company that artists are 'a dime a dozen' and can be replaced. The same source described Dyack as a man who proudly smiles in staff meetings and describes his role as a 'benevolent dictatorship'. Dyack is SK; SK is Dyack. They are one and the same — a single unchanging entity."
The report goes on to claim that throughout the development of the X-Men title the studio was instead pushing resources into a concurrent project – a sequel to its biggest critical hit Eternal Darkness.
It claims that Dyack would order the deliberate missing of targets and milestones in a deliberate extend to increase funding and extend deadlines – a plan that backfired when X-Men: Destiny publisher Activision went live with a release date for the game in a trailer that prominently featured Silicon Knights branding.
"SK didn't take the development of XMD seriously the entire time I was there," one source claimed. "They were working on anEternal Darkness 2demo that they could take to publishers. While I was there, they were even siphoning off staff from my [XMD] team to work on it.
"By putting the SK logo on the project for the first time publicly, Activision forced SK to start taking it seriously. But by then, it was pretty much too late. Behind the scenes at Silicon Knights, things changed drastically after the trailer was released. Once Activision had made it clear that they would ship whatever the developer supplied them, on time, with SK's name on it, management reportedly put all hands on deck.
"The entire company was refocused to work onX-Men. At this point, they also started instituting a mandatory six-day-a-week, 10-hour-a-day minimum crunch. That lasted, and got worse, until they shipped."
Also in the report are accusations of huge staff turnover, with 25 resignations reported in a single six-month period. For some former employees, it became 'a bit of a sick game' to come into work each Monday and see how many more people had resigned," another whistle blower added.


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CoolLED is seeking to increase its sales resource by recruiting a Field Sales Manager to continue the development of its business. The opportunity is for a dynamic and enthusiastic individual with technical or business experience to make a significant contribution to a fast-growing company. The principal task is to further develop sales of new industry-leading products in key markets for the company. This exciting role will involve regular travel in order to develop relationships with key resellers and influential end-users.
This is an exciting new position which will attract candidates who enjoy working in a business environment and relish regular travel.


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LSDF Online Storage: WebDAV
WebDAV or Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) allowing to access files over the internet. WebDAV access to the LSDF Online Storage is provided via a cluster of servers reachable at the URL https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu or davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu depending on the client used.
- 1 Prerequisites and Restrictions
- 2 Using WebDAV from a Web Browser
- 3 Using the DaviX Command Line Client on Linux and Mac OS
- 4 Connection with via File Manager on Linux
- 5 Mounting a WebDAV Share on Linux with davfs2
- 6 Using WebDAV on Windows
- 7 Public Shares
- 8 External Links
Prerequisites and Restrictions
Please note the following requirements and restrictions when using the LSDF WebDAV service:
The WebDAV protocol in general does suport the listing of special files like symbolic links, i.e. symbolic links present in the LSDF file space will not be listed with most of the tools described on this page. Nevertheless it is still possible to access the content behind symbolic links. Therefore, it is recommended to access project directories directly, e.g. when mounting them in the file system or mapping them as network drives.
Using WebDAV from a Web Browser
To access the starting page enter the following URL in your web browser
Project directories are accessible at the usual location:
where <OE> is the name of your organizational unit, e.g. kit, bs, fiz ...; "<inst>" is the name of your institution, e.g. scc, iai, ...; <PROJECTNAME> ist the name of the project. Your home directory is accessible at the following URL:
where <USERNAME> is you username: xy1234, bs_abcd,....
Using the DaviX Command Line Client on Linux and Mac OS
The DaviX project provides a library and a set of client tools for file management over HTTP-based protocols. The command line client tools can be either installed as a regular package in you linux distribution, e.g. in RedHat based distributions with
$ yum install -y epel-release $ yum install davix
or from the home page of the DaviX project.
Listing a Directory
The content of a directory or individual files can be listed with the following command:
$ davix-ls -l davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/xy1234 Basic authentication - server is asking for username and password: Login: xy1234 Password: -rwxrwxrwx 0 10485760 2019-05-20 09:29:18 a_small_file
Copying Files
To copy a file (e.g. testfile) from the WebDAV share to you local directory:
$ davix-get davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/xy1234/testfile testfile Basic authentication - server is asking for username and password: Login: xy1234 Password: Performing Read operation on: davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/xy1234/testfile [==================================] 100% 10MiB/10MiB 0B/s
Recursively Uploading Files
The following example shows how to recursively upload files with 6 transfers in parallel:
$ davix-put -r6 a_directory davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/xy1234/a_new_directory Basic authentication - server is asking for username and password: Login: xy1234 Password: Populating task queue for a_directory/ Files processed: 0
Recursively downloading files
Files and directories can also be downloaded recursively. In the following example a directory tree will be downloaded recursively with 6 transfers in parallel:
$ davix-get -r6 davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/xy1234/a_new_directory downloaded_dir Basic authentication - server is asking for username and password: Login: xy1234 Password: Crawling davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/xy1234/a_new_directory/ Files processed: 1
Connection with via File Manager on Linux
A number of different linux file managers support WebDAV shares natively. Among others these are
- Nautilus (Gnome)
- Dolphin/Konqueror (KDE / Kubuntu)
- Thunar (Xfce / Xubuntu)
To mount a LSDF WebDAV share (e.g. a project directory) with Nautilus follow the steps outlined below:
- Open Nautilus.
- Click + Other Location on the left hand pane.
- In the text box Connect to Server enter the URL to your project folder davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/<OE>/<inst>/projects/<PROJECT>, where <OE> is you organizational unit and <PROJECT> is the name of your project directory, e.g. davs://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/projects/myproject
- Click Connect
The share will be mounted on the local system and accessible both in Nautilus and from the directory /run/user/<UID>/gvfs, where <UID> is the id of your user account.
davfs2 is a file system driver that allows mounting a WebDAV server as a local file system, like a disk drive. This way, applications can access resources on a WebDAV server without knowing anything about HTTP or WebDAV. davfs2 does extensive caching to make the file system responsive, to avoid unnecessary network traffic and to prevent data loss, and to cope for slow or unreliable connections.
davfs2 has a system wide configuration file /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf and a user configuration file ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf. The user configuration file is used in addition to the system configuration file when invoked by a normal user. Documentation on all options can be found in the manual page.
On CentOS or RedHat like systems install the package davfs2 which is available in the epel repository:
$ yum install -y epel-release $ yum install davfs2
Mounting (as root)
To mount an LSDF WebDAV project or user share issue the following command as root:
$ mount.davfs https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/<OE>/<inst>/projects/<PROJECTNAME> <MOUNTPOINT>
where <OE> is the name of your organizational unit, e.g. kit, <PROJECTNAME> is the name of the project, and <MOUNTPOINT> is a directory. For example:
$ mkdir /mnt/my_lsdf_project $ mount.davfs https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/projects/myproject /mnt/my_lsdf_project Please enter the username to authenticate with server https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/ or hit enter for none. Username: xy1234 Please enter the password to authenticate user fg9068 with server https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/ or hit enter for none. Password:
As an alternative it is possible to preconfigure a WebDAV mount. For the project mount described in the example above you would have to add the following line to the file /etc/fstab:
https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/projects/myproject /mnt/my_lsdf_project davfs rw,noauto,user 0 0
User authentication information needs to be stored in the file /etc/davfs2/secrets:
$ cat /etc/davfs2/secrets | grep os-webdav https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/projects/myproject /mnt/my_lsdf_project xy1234 ***
Afterwards create the mount point directory and mount the share with the command $ mount /mnt/my_lsdf_project
Unmounting (as root)
To unmount a mounted WebDAV share issue the following command:
$ umount.davfs /mnt/my_lsdf_project
Mouting (as normal user)
To mount a share as an unprivileged user, the user account needs to be a member of the group davfs2:
$ usermod -a -G davfs2 xy1234
The mount has to be defined in the file /etc/fstab. To mount a project directory add for example the following line to the file:
https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/projects/myproject /mnt/my_lsdf_project davfs rw,noauto,user 0 0
User specific authentication information can be stored file '~/'.davfs2/secrets:
$ mkdir ~/.davfs2/secrets $ chmod 600 ~/.davfs2/secrets $ cat ~/.davfs2/secrets https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/projects/myproject /mnt/my_lsdf_project xy1234 ***
To mount the share issue the command
$ mount /mnt/my_lsdf_project
Using WebDAV on Windows
To mount a LSDF WebDAV share (e.g. a project directory) and map it to a drive in windows follow the steps outlined below:
- Open a File Explorer and select This PC on the left hand pane.
- In the Menu select Computer => Map Network Drive.
- Click Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures.
- Click Next
- Click Choose a custom network location and afterwards click Next.
- Enter the URL to you project folder https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/<OE>/projects/<PROJECT>, where <OE> is you organizational unit and <PROJECT> is the name of your project directory, e.g. https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/kit/scc/projects/myproject
- Click Next
- Enter a name for the network location and click Next
- Click Finish
Scientific data in LSDF storage projects can be shared publicly with HTTPS/WebDAV. Public projects can be reached under the URL https://os-webdav.lsdf.kit.edu/public. Please contact the LSDF support to publish an existing storage project.