Storing Digital Data in DNA

Storing Digital Data in DNA
Technique One Day May Replace Hard Drives as Web Leads to Information Deluge

By GAUTAM NAIK


Scientists have used DNA stored audio and text on fragments of DNA and then retrieved them with near-perfect fidelity-a technique that may provide a way to handle data in the digital age. WSJ's Gautam Naik reports.

Scientists have stored audio and text on fragments of DNA and then retrieved them with near-perfect fidelity—a technique that eventually may provide a way to handle the overwhelming data of the digital age.

The scientists encoded in DNA—the recipe of life—an audio clip of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a photograph, a copy of Francis Crick and James Watson's famous "double helix" scientific paper on DNA from 1953 and Shakespeare's 154 sonnets. They later were able to retrieve them with 99.99% accuracy.

The experiment was reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.


Getty Images

A copy of Crick and Watson's famous "double helix" scientific paper from 1953 was among items scientists successfully encoded. Above, a DNA model.

"All we're doing is adapting what nature has hit upon—a very good way of storing information," said Nick Goldman, a computational biologist at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, England, and lead author of the Nature paper.

Companies, governments and universities face an enormous challenge storing the ever-growing flood of digitized information, the videos, books, movies and songs sent over the Internet.

Some experts have looked for answers in biology. In recent years, they have found ways to encode trademarks in cells and poetry in bacteria, as well as store snippets of music in the genetic code of micro-organisms. But these biological things eventually die.

By contrast, DNA—the molecule that contains the genetic instructions for all living things—is stable, durable and dense. Because DNA isn't alive, it could sit passively in a storage device for thousands of years.

Among today's data-storage devices, magnetic tapes can degrade within a decade, while hard disks are expensive and need a constant supply of electricity to hold their information, creating huge need for power for the "data farms" behind cloud computing.

DNA could hold vastly more information than the same surface volume of a disk drive—a cup of DNA theoretically could store about 100 million hours of high-definition video.

While DNA-based storage remains a long way from being commercially viable—high cost is one major hurdle—the scientific barriers are starting to fall.

Last August, researchers at Harvard University reported in the journal Science the encoding of an entire 54,000-word book in strands of DNA.

"The experiments are very similar," said George Church, a molecular geneticist at Harvard and senior researcher for the project reported in Science. "Because these are truly independent efforts, we've shown there's a real field here rather than just one group."

Both experiments encoded similar amounts of information and had roughly similar accuracy rates, according to Dr. Church.

The European Bioinformatics Institute is part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Europe's flagship life-sciences lab. The EMBL is funded by public research money from 20 European member states.




In their experiment, Dr. Goldman and his colleagues first downloaded onto a computer a 26-second clip of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, the sonnets and the other things to be stored. The data was in normal computer code—a long string of ones and zeros.

A software program devised by Dr. Goldman's team converted those ones and zeros into the letters A, C, G and T, the four chemical bases that make up DNA.

The single, long DNA-based string was chopped up into about 150,000 fragments, each 120 letters long. Each fragment contained about 100 letters encoding the data. The remaining 20 letters served as an index—instructions for later restoring the fragments in the right order.

The information was sent to Agilent Technologies Inc. A +0.81% of Santa Clara, Calif., where a laboratory machine used the data and appropriate chemicals to manufacture physical strings of actual DNA. Those fragments were shipped to Dr. Goldman's lab in England.

"I thought the vial was empty when it arrived," said Dr. Goldman. But the DNA was there—it lay like a speck of dust at the bottom of the vial, almost impossible to see.

After some lab work, the DNA was dispatched to an EMBL lab in Heidelberg, Germany. There, a DNA-sequencing machine fired lasers at the fragments and read their genetic code, yielding a computer file in the form of As, Cs, Gs and Ts.

Back in Hinxton, a computer program reassembled the fragments in the right order, and then converted them back into ones and zeros. When run on a laptop, those ones and zeros were interpreted as the audio clip, sonnets and other items. When the clip of Dr. King's speech was played back, it sounded just like the original version, said Dr. Goldman.

Plenty of challenges remain before DNA storage could become a cheap and reliable commercial process.

"In 10 years, it's probably going to be about 100 times cheaper," said Dr. Goldman. "At that time, it probably becomes economically viable."

Write to Gautam Naik at gautam.naik@wsj.com

What's Your Collar ID?

What's Your Collar ID?
Styles Abound, but Finding Collars to Fit the Occasion, Flatter the Face Is Knotty

By RAY A. SMITH
Charles Tyrwhitt

This abbreviated spread collar, which Charles Tyrwhitt calls a 'small business casual collar' falls in between dressy and casual.

What's happened to men's collars?

There are now not just spread collars but medium spreads and extreme spreads, and not just button-down collars but abbreviated button-down collars and short, rounded button-down collars.

There is the return of the snap-tab collar, which Hamilton, a 130-year-old high-end shirt maker in Houston, is aggressively promoting for spring.

Thomas Pink is among the brands launching "dressy" button-down shirts meant to be worn with suits and ties, traditionally a no-no.

The least familiar, and therefore most shocking to the eye, are the extremely short collars some designers have shown on runways over the past two years.
Associated Press

Harry Styles, a One Direction heartthrob, sports the club collar sans tie.

These new collar shapes and styles are in part due to the menswear industry's revival of looks that have long been out of fashion. For example, the club collar, with its abbreviated, rounded shape, is back.

The overall slimming down of the menswear silhouette calls for smaller collars. Designers and retailers also have been pushing clothes that fall somewhere in between work wear and casual wear, and adding more collar options along the way.

Brooks Brothers, which currently carries 10 collar styles, sells an English spread collar and a Londoner collar. (The spread, or collar width, on the English spread collar is 5 inches, while the Londoner is 6). There are tennis collars and golf collars, also known as club collars.

The upside: Men have more ways to communicate personal style through their shirts than color and pattern. The downside: Men who want to choose the appropriate collar for everyday or special-occasion events may need a scorecard.

Shirt makers and retailers recently began placing more emphasis on medium-spread collars, which work buttoned up with a tie but, conveniently, also can be worn with the top button undone and the collar falling neatly under the lapel of a sport coat without winging out.


View InteractiveMike Sudal and Joseph Shoulak/The Wall Street Journal

Banana Republic began re-engineering its shirt collars three years ago in pursuit of such a collar. The retailer conducted a series of wear tests where men wore the shirts with ties and different knots and then tried the same shirts with the top button undone.

Simon Kneen, creative director of Banana Republic, says the retailer also used a lighter fusable, or adhesive, in the collars to make them less rigid, trying to achieve collar "magic," Mr. Kneen says. "The magic is when the first button opens and the collar doesn't fly around your ears, which is never a good look."

Banana Republic calls the collar that resulted its "signature" collar—it is the collar shoppers will find on most of its non-button-down dress shirts.

Brooks Brothers, Hamilton, Thomas Pink and Turnbull & Asser say spread collars are their most popular, with medium or moderate spreads the top sellers, especially among men in their 20s to early 40s.

The sales reflect a man who wants to buy a shirt that can work with and without a tie. Traditional forward-point-collar shirts, are generally always worn with suits and ties, as the collars can look oddly long and pointy when the top button is undone.

David Elrod, a Dallas trial lawyer, says he prefers to wear forward-point collars with suits and ties rather than spread collars. "I try to dress more conservative in the courtroom," Mr. Elrod says. He wears spread collars while traveling with a sport coat and no tie.

But the 61-year-old says he would never wear a spread collar with a tie: "A lot of younger guys do that but most guys my age wear the more conservative point collar with ties."

Some traditional rules surrounding collars seem to be going out the window. Wearing a button-down collar shirt with a suit and tie has sometimes been frowned upon by purists. Yet men's fashion designers and fashion magazines have been showing button-down shirts worn with suits and ties in recent years.

Brooks Brothers launched a dressy button-down shirt in its higher-priced Luxury offering for spring. The retailer introduced button-downs in 1896 and they remain the clothier's second best-selling shirts, after Ainsley spread collars, according to Richard Cristodero, merchandise manager for men's furnishings.

Brooks Brothers decided to introduce a dressier button-down collar with a higher thread count and made with Italian-woven fabric in its Luxury shirt because sales staff had been getting requests from customers for such a shirt, he says. It is "something we were missing."

Men who choose a button-down shirt to wear with a suit and tie should consider a dressy fabric.

"Button downs are really American sport shirts, worn with a jacket and tie for an Ivy-League look or out of context with an Italian suit a la Gianni Agnelli," the late Fiat mogul known for his style, says Tom Julian, a New York-based men's style consultant.

Button-down collars usually work best when worn with a pair of slacks, or under a crew neck sweater. "A crew neck is a more casual American sportswear look and therefore, the American sportswear collar complements it best," says Mr. Julian, the author of two men's style guides. Button-down collars also work with a sport coat and no tie.

Another collar that goes well with a sport coat sans tie is the semi- or medium-spread collar as both "stand up on their own without a tie," and don't flare out.

Beyond point collars, Mr. Julian has a rule of thumb on which shirts call for ties: "The wider the spread on a shirt, the more it needs a tie." So shirts such as Thomas Pink's new extreme cutaway collar shirt, called Beaufort, or Brooks Brothers' Londoner should be worn with a tie. Also, the wider the spread, the larger the tie knot.

Shoppers should also consider a man's physical size. "A wide collar can broaden a narrow neck and face by drawing the eye outward," says Mr. Julian. "Conversely, a narrow-point collar can draw the eyes in and down when a man has a wide face and neck."

Tab and club collars, meanwhile, "are more novelty at this point, but fun for the more adventurous," he says. Pop star Harry Styles of boy band One Direction has been spotted wearing rounded club collars. Just don't try them with a V-neck sweater or crew neck, Mr. Julian advises. The collar is too short for either one, so the balance will be all wrong.

"A man wearing a slim suit or blazer with a narrow lapel to the office should opt for a narrow-point collar that is about 1 inch shorter than average to keep the lean proportions," Mr. Julian says.

That kind of collar might be too lean for a classic notch lapel sport coat, he says. A button-down would be more appropriate in that case. The proportions of a spread collar would work best with a double-breasted sport coat or one with wide peak lapels, he says.

Fans of a tweed sport coat with corduroy pants for the office should opt for the sporty feel of a button-down collar. For a dinner or drinks night, a spread collar pairs well with a sport coat or V-neck sweater and looks modern.




Nick Briggs/ITV for Masterpiece

'Downton Abbey' characters Matthew Crawley, left, and Lord Grantham wear stiff, detachable collars affixed by their valets.
The Era of Collar Sold Separately

There was a time when the most popular collar for a man was a detachable one.

Detachable collars, like the ones on TV's "Downton Abbey," were typically attached to the shirt using studs via a little button hole in the back of the shirt's band. Detachable collars also were often made of a stiffer material than the shirt so that the collar would "stand up," says menswear historian Alan Flusser. This was especially important with formal wear's "wing" collars.

Detachable collars also signaled social class. "You needed a butler or valet to help you put them on," Mr. Flusser says.

The idea for detachable collars was born out of the drudgery of 19th Century laundering practices.

In 1820, a housewife in Troy, N.Y., whose blacksmith husband insisted on a clean shirt each night to attend evening events, decided to cut off the collars and attach them to the body of the shirt with strings, according to Mr. Flusser, who recounts the story in his book "Dressing the Man." This way, a wife could clean just the collar, rather than laundering the entire shirt.

The collars caught on with other housewives and eventually commercial producers began making and selling detachable collars. "There were companies that just made collars," Mr. Flusser says. Men could have many different collars for one shirt, he says.

Detachable collars started to fall out of favor between World War I and World War II with the introduction of washing machines as well as cloth rationing. Also, men's style traditions such as wearing white tie, which usually called for wing collars, began to loosen and events requiring starched formal collars declined.

--Ray A. Smith

Write to Ray A. Smith at ray.smith@wsj.com

5 Ways to Succeed in Any Economy

5 Ways to Succeed in Any Economy

BY GRANT CARDONE | December 12, 2012



image credit: Shutterstock

The more difficult the economy, the greater the opportunities -- but only for those who are strong, well-prepared and persistent. Many people are fixated by national or even global economic doom and gloom. Many wait for a magic fix, only to realize it will never come.

We are now in what I like to call an “eat what you kill" environment, where the people who win are those who take the initiative without waiting for permission to create their own success.


Here are five ways I have found to ensure success in any economy:

1. Depend on no one.
Success will elude you until you realize that no one is the cause of your problems and no one can ensure you will achieve your goals. Your destiny is up to you and no one else. I began on the path to making a real difference in my professional life only after I decided I would not take the crumbs the government doles out through unemployment benefits and would get a job no matter what I had to do. As a college graduate schooled in accounting, working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was not my idea of a job, much less a career. But because I was willing to dowhatever it took to begin producing and making a difference in my life, I gained the confidence that led to major career advancements.

2. Assume the economy will not improve.
Be on full alert DEFCON 3 and do not take anything, especially the security of your job, for granted. You need to make yourself so valuable to your employer that there is no way the company could consider firing you. The new economy demands a shift to an entrepreneurial mindset that goes beyond the scope of work in your job description. The most powerful thing you can do is to figure out how to drive revenue or contribute to the bottom line. You also might consider taking on a second job or starting a side business from your living room. Have a meeting about your career and finances with your family and let them know they need to pull together with you and may need to make sacrifices.

3. Become more active.
When I started my first company, I experienced so much resistance due to a tough economy and other factors that little by little I felt like giving up. It wasn’t until I tried making 30 or 40 sales calls a day instead of just three or four that I began developing traction. After that, I took a hard look at everything else I was doing and set targets to increase the activity in my struggling business tenfold. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you aren’t already working hard, but you could make a big difference over time by finding ways to get even more done. For example, you could plan your workflow better, put that new efficiency app on your smartphone or set limits on time spent in meetings.

4. Be bright.
The future is brilliant for those who are positive. Be the most optimistic person in the game, and that will separate you from others more than anything else. We live in a world rocked by a thousand little shocks interspersed with periodic economic and natural disasters. And at no time in our history, have I seen so many people turning to vices designed to relieve stresses and strains. Now, it seems that people who stay positive and have a can-do attitude are the exceptions. But you can be one of them by staying focused and learning to smile no matter the circumstances.

5. Become omnipresent.
Now is the time to be everywhere, to be seen and talked about. Obscurity is the single biggest challenge in business. You can’t succeed if potential customers don't know you, or existing clients are not thinking of you often enough. The good news is that you have more opportunities than ever to become omnipresent thanks to social media. I write a blog daily, create five videos each week, contribute at least 200 original posts on social networks every month, as well as continue to use traditional press releases, advertising and direct-mail marketing campaigns. The upshot: More prospects now reach out to us than my sales team contacts through outbound calls.

A stagnant economy is not something anyone would wish for, but let this be an opportunity for you to stand out and take market share. Don’t be afraid to show the world how passionate you are and how unwilling you are to take “no” for an answer. Know that you, your attitude and your ability to cut through the noise around you will determine your destiny.

9 Proven Sales Tips for Introverts

9 Proven Sales Tips for Introverts

BY GRANT CARDONE | January 3, 2013




image credit: Shutterstock

Meet me at a party and I won't have a lot to say. Sit next to me on a cross-country flight and I may not say a word to you the entire trip.

I am an introvert.

It has never been easy for me to start a conversation with people I don't know. But you wouldn't know it if you saw me on a Google Hangout, in a TV interview or at one of my sales seminars. When I got out of college I was terrified to go on a job interview until I realized employers weren't going to come to my house and hire me. At 23, I sold cars for seven years and never got comfortable saying hello to a customer. Yet I still figured out how to reach the top 1 percent of all the salespeople in the auto industry.

We can all be introverts or extroverts, depending on the situation. I know people who would be viewed as extroverts at a party they host, but when they are guests at a party where they know no one, they appear to be introverts. As a professional speaker and educator, I become extroverted in order to deliver information, but when I attend seminars I am much more introverted.

So, how do you become extroverted in a sales situation when you are not naturally comfortable with it?

This is what I do to step out of my comfort zone:

Get passionate. I become so excited about what I'm selling that I have to share it with the world. Becoming passionate about your product or service makes you less interested in how you are perceived and more concerned about showing excitement about what you have to offer.

Do one thing a day that you fear. It’s very important for me do the things that make me most uncomfortable. You need to be courageous and make a point of facing your fears, no matter how big or small. The single scariest thing for me was visiting my customers or prospects in person. So that is exactly what I did first thing every day to get over my fear. It instilled courage in me, belief in myself and changed my focus from limitations to possibilities.

Be so persistent you get criticized for it. In life and in business, especially sales, you won’t become successful if you never get criticized. Follow up on customers so much that they actually complain about it, and once they do, keep following up until they admire you for your persistence. If you believe in your product, company and yourself, then you will be willing to insist—and risk being criticized for it.

Say hello to everyone you pass. I refuse to walk past any person without acknowledging him or her. I force myself to look everyone in the eyes and say hello. This builds a muscle enabling me to decide at will when I want to be extroverted, whether in a sales call or other situation.

Observe people for their differences. After a series of failed sales calls, you may start to see all prospects as likely rejections. What you need to do is take a moment and observe how people are different from one another. This will stop you from thinking that everyone is going to respond the same way your last few prospects did.


Force yourself to be in public. Step out of your home and office often so you can socialize with people. When I move to a new city, I will go to the same place over and over until I am comfortable and know everyone there. I have done this same thing with my children, bringing them to the same grocery store every morning until they could talk to the people working there as family.

Deliver public speaking engagements. The only way to become comfortable speaking to people is to get in front of audiences. Join a supportive group such as Toastmasters International where everyone is learning how to speak in front of others.

Stay busy. When you're constantly on the go, you don't have time to be uncomfortable. You have to ask for help, get help and talk to people because you are running from one sales meeting or event to the next. So, get moving.

Help other people make sales. Anytime I go a few days without making a sale for myself, I immediately offer my help to other salespeople because it’s a great way to get outside yourself. After several failures to close, a salesperson can become introverted and anxious. But by working with someone else's prospective customers and having nothing to lose yourself, you will feel more relaxed and regain your confidence. Once you score a sale for someone else, it’s back to your own prospects again.

3 Golden Rules of Negotiating

3 Golden Rules of Negotiating

BY GRANT CARDONE




image credit: shutterstock

The art of negotiating escapes most of us, even good salespeople, because few take the time to correctly understand the word and follow the golden rules of negotiating.

The first and biggest error is a misunderstanding of the word. When I ask people at my Closers workshop what the word “negotiating” means, I get answers like, "how good a deal can I get" and "how cheap can I buy." For many people, it’s a process of painful tactics of stall and overcome or a give and take mostly involving the surrender of price and terms.

“Negotiate” comes from the Latin negotiatus, which is the past participle of negotiari, and means to carry on business. This original meaning is critical to understand because the goal of negotiating is to continue doing business by conferring with another to arrive at an agreement.

So, scrap the notion that negotiating means lowering the price to reach an agreement. A lower price does not make for a better deal; it only makes for less margin for you and your company. Your goal is to come to an agreement about a proposal, and the way to do this is to build value in your offer. The solution your product or service offers is the focal point of negotiations, not the price.

Here are three of my 12 golden rules, which I won’t allow myself to violate in any negotiation, whether simple or complex:

1. Always Start the Negotiations. You must initiate the process because whoever controls the start of the negotiations tends to control where they end. If you let the other party start negotiations, you will be constantly giving up control, often without even realizing it. For instance, when you ask someone what his project budget is, you are allowing him to start the negotiations. You will then spend your time chasing his number rather than finding the best solution. When I sit down to work out an agreement on the numbers involved in the decision, I will even interrupt to prevent the other side from controlling the starting point. Sounds bizarre, but that is how important starting the transaction is. I once had a client who wanted to offer his terms upfront. I politely said, "Excuse me, I appreciate your willingness to tell me what you can do and would like just a moment to share with you what I have put together for you. If it doesn't work, then please tell me." This allowed me to control the starting point.

2. Always Negotiate in Writing. I see so many professional salespeople make the mistake of discussing and working on the terms of an agreement without ever committing their ideas to a written agreement. But the purpose of negotiations is to arrive at a formal written agreement, not tell a story or spend time talking. From the first moment I make a proposal, I refer to a document that is being created in front of the client. It includes all the points of agreement and becomes real to the prospective customer. Negotiating first and then having to create a document adds unnecessary time to a transaction. But if you build your written agreement as you negotiate, you are prepared to ask for a signature the moment the decision to buy is made.

3. Always Stay Cool. The negotiation table can be loaded with agendas, egos and emotions. Great negotiators know how to stay cool, providing leadership and solutions, while the rest of the room becomes insanely invested in personal agendas and useless emotions. Crying, getting angry, name calling and blowing off steam may make you feel good, but such behavior will not benefit you while negotiating. When the rest of the room gets emotional, stay cool like Spock and use logic to negotiate and close.


Read more stories about: Sales, Negotiating, Grant Cardone

The Brazilian Treehopper may be the strangest creature we’ve ever laid eyes on

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The Brazilian Treehopper may be the strangest creature we’ve ever laid eyes on
Robert T. Gonzalez

Because holy crap, just look at that headgear. Everyone, meet Bocydium globulare. Better known as the Brazilian treehopper, B. globulare excels at living a solitary life, hanging out on the leaves ofglory bushes, and head-sphering its way into your nightmares.

The Brazilian treehopper is 100% real, but the image up top is of a beautifully crafted model, created by legendary science sculptor Alfred Keller (1902—1955). Over on Why Evolution is True, Jerry Coyne reflects on a 2010 Nature profile on Keller (warning: paywall), his sculptures, and the utter weirdness of B. globulare.

"The first thing a biologist does on seeing a model like this is think, 'This can't be real,' and resorts to some Googling," writes Coyne. "Sure enough, it's a real insect."

He continues:

The second thing one asks is, "What the bloody hell is all that ornamentation on the thorax?" (Note that the "balls" on the antenna-like structure aren't eyes, but simply spheres of chitin.) A first guess is that it's a sexually-selected trait, but those are often limited to males, and these creatures (and the ones below) show the ornaments in both sexes. [Art Historian Martin Kemp, an expert on visualization in art and science] hypothesizes-and this seems quite reasonable-that "the hollow globes, like the remarkable excrescences exhibited by other treehoppers, probably deter predators." It would be hard to grab, much less chow down on, a beast with all those spines and excrescences.

Note, though, that the ornament sports many bristles. If these are sensory bristles, and not just deterrents to predation or irritating spines, then the ornament may have an unknown tactile function.


Full size



See more photos of living treehoppers like the one pictured above — along with several other photos of membracids, the headgeared group of insects to which Bocydium globulare belongs — over on Why Evolution Is True.

See also: this gallery of weird treehopper insects, courtesy of New Scientist, and this series of amazing membracid photographs by photographer Patrick Landmann.
Tip of the peduncular hat to Maria!
Top image of a sculpture by Alfred Keller; photo of live treehopper by Patrick Landmann

FYI: Why Would Someone Create A Fake Internet Girlfriend?

FYI: Why Would Someone Create A Fake Internet Girlfriend?
Put some people in front of a screen, and they won't always reveal the most truthful information.
By Colin LecherPosted 01.18.2013 at 5:30 pm3 Comments


Manti Te’o US Presswire

This week, Deadspin broke the news that Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend--one of the most heartbreaking sports stories of last year--was a hoax. The fake girlfriend was created by a 22-year-old guy named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Turns out, Tuiasosopo might've engineered other false personalities, too. We had to ask: What would make someone do that?

The short answer is, some people look at the internet and, subconsciously, see a chance to experiment with identities, free of consequences. Those people can be shy or outgoing, cheerleader or geek, but there seems to be some kind of personality type that changes when given a megaphone and the shelter of anonymity. We don't know who, exactly, will be the ones to open up--it's even debatable if it's an "opening up" or a chance to act out of character--but for some reason, there's a small segment of the population that's prone to deception, given the right forum.

Sure, everyone lies a little. Technology has--and has always--helped us fudge the truth. Jeremy Birnholtz, an assistant professor at Northwestern University, studies so-called "butler lies," small fibs created by the ambiguity of technology or gadgets in the vein of a butler telling a visitor the master isn't available. Running late? Tell your friend his text didn't go through; he's got no way to pin it on you, anyway. A face-to-face conversation takes away some of that ambiguity.

If we wanted to extrapolate to bigger lies, we can look at a related, widely cited theory about anonymity: the online disinhibition effect. It's worth reading the entire article, but the short version says giving people a platform--especially one where they're invisible--is enough to make them act out. What we can't say for sure is who's going to exhibit the effect. The paper's author, John Suler of Rider University, explains why:
Personality styles [vary] greatly in the strength of defense mechanisms and tendencies towards inhibition or expression. People with histrionic styles tend to be very open and emotional, whereas compulsive people are more restrained. The online disinhibition effect will interact with these personality variables, in some cases resulting in a small deviation from the person’s baseline (offline) behavior, while in other cases causing dramatic changes. Future research can focus on which people, under what circumstances, are more predisposed to the various elements of online disinhibition.

One of the pillars of Suler's theory is the "minimization of status and authority," the idea that everyone is equal in front of a screen.One of the pillars of his theory is the "minimization of status and authority," the idea that everyone is equal in front of a screen, and it makes sense that someone less concerned with authority might be more likely to lie.

What's more, Birnholtz explains, social media has made lies more viable by changing our expectations for truth. He says the leading theory of online identity used to be reminiscent of the old New Yorkercartoon: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." In other words: people use the web to try out a different identity.

But recent research shows that's not what's happening, Birnholtz says. People, for the most part, just want to be themselves online. In fact, the truth is the rule, not the exception, for the most popular forms of social media.

That guy with a throw-away account in the comments section or on Reddit could be a doctor, sure, but most people aren't banking on that. Take Facebook. It's a supremely self-correcting ecosystem. You can lie, but the expectation for truth is high enough that the lie will be pointed out. In other words, so many people aren't lying that users are primed to expect the truth. All of those fake share-this-to-donate-money links on the social web keep getting shared for a reason.

It's a tangled web we weave: Yes, (some) people are more likely to act out, and deceive, on the internet. Today's internet is more widely self-correcting, but at the same time, a subconscious expectation of truth might make us less prepared when a lie does come. Might not be such a bad idea to always assume you're talking with a dog.Put some people in front of a screen, and they won't always reveal the most truthful information.
By Colin LecherPosted 01.18.2013 at 5:30 pm3 Comments


Manti Te’o US Presswire

This week, Deadspin broke the news that Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend--one of the most heartbreaking sports stories of last year--was a hoax. The fake girlfriend was created by a 22-year-old guy named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Turns out, Tuiasosopo might've engineered other false personalities, too. We had to ask: What would make someone do that?

The short answer is, some people look at the internet and, subconsciously, see a chance to experiment with identities, free of consequences. Those people can be shy or outgoing, cheerleader or geek, but there seems to be some kind of personality type that changes when given a megaphone and the shelter of anonymity. We don't know who, exactly, will be the ones to open up--it's even debatable if it's an "opening up" or a chance to act out of character--but for some reason, there's a small segment of the population that's prone to deception, given the right forum.

Sure, everyone lies a little. Technology has--and has always--helped us fudge the truth. Jeremy Birnholtz, an assistant professor at Northwestern University, studies so-called "butler lies," small fibs created by the ambiguity of technology or gadgets in the vein of a butler telling a visitor the master isn't available. Running late? Tell your friend his text didn't go through; he's got no way to pin it on you, anyway. A face-to-face conversation takes away some of that ambiguity.

If we wanted to extrapolate to bigger lies, we can look at a related, widely cited theory about anonymity: the online disinhibition effect. It's worth reading the entire article, but the short version says giving people a platform--especially one where they're invisible--is enough to make them act out. What we can't say for sure is who's going to exhibit the effect. The paper's author, John Suler of Rider University, explains why:
Personality styles [vary] greatly in the strength of defense mechanisms and tendencies towards inhibition or expression. People with histrionic styles tend to be very open and emotional, whereas compulsive people are more restrained. The online disinhibition effect will interact with these personality variables, in some cases resulting in a small deviation from the person’s baseline (offline) behavior, while in other cases causing dramatic changes. Future research can focus on which people, under what circumstances, are more predisposed to the various elements of online disinhibition.

One of the pillars of Suler's theory is the "minimization of status and authority," the idea that everyone is equal in front of a screen.One of the pillars of his theory is the "minimization of status and authority," the idea that everyone is equal in front of a screen, and it makes sense that someone less concerned with authority might be more likely to lie.

What's more, Birnholtz explains, social media has made lies more viable by changing our expectations for truth. He says the leading theory of online identity used to be reminiscent of the old New Yorkercartoon: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." In other words: people use the web to try out a different identity.

But recent research shows that's not what's happening, Birnholtz says. People, for the most part, just want to be themselves online. In fact, the truth is the rule, not the exception, for the most popular forms of social media.

That guy with a throw-away account in the comments section or on Reddit could be a doctor, sure, but most people aren't banking on that. Take Facebook. It's a supremely self-correcting ecosystem. You can lie, but the expectation for truth is high enough that the lie will be pointed out. In other words, so many people aren't lying that users are primed to expect the truth. All of those fake share-this-to-donate-money links on the social web keep getting shared for a reason.

It's a tangled web we weave: Yes, (some) people are more likely to act out, and deceive, on the internet. Today's internet is more widely self-correcting, but at the same time, a subconscious expectation of truth might make us less prepared when a lie does come. Might not be such a bad idea to always assume you're talking with a dog.

8 Ways to Come Up With a Business Idea

8 Ways to Come Up With a Business Idea

BY JANE PORTER




The start of the year is a great time to gear up to start a business. But, of course, you first need to figure out a winning concept. "You have to come up with a lot of ideas to be successful," says Stephen Key, cofounder of the website inventright.com based in Glenbrook, Nev., and author of One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs: Live Your Dreams and Create Your Own Profitable Company, (McGraw-Hill, 2012).

Key, who has licensed more than 20 products in the last 25 years, says he generates ideas by finding different ways to engage his mind, from walking the aisles of stores to brainstorming about holes in the marketplace.

Here are eight techniques from Key and other experts that could help get your creative juices flowing:

Ask yourself, "What's next?"
Successful business ideas are often ahead of the curve. Think about trends and technologies on the horizon and how you might move into those areas, says Sergio Monsalve, partner at Norwest Venture Partners, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital group. He suggests, for example, thinking about innovations related to the living room and home entertainment systems now that companies like Apple are developing new television technologies. "What can that mean in terms of new ways to live in your house and be entertained?" he says.

Related: How to Turn a Worthless Business Idea into a Million-Dollar Startup

Do something about what bugs you.
When Colin Barceloux was in college, he thought textbooks cost far too much. In 2007, two years after graduating, he decided to take action and founded Bookrenter.com, a San Mateo, Calif.-based business that offers textbook rentals at about a 60 percent discount. What began as a one-man operation created out of frustration now has 1.5 million users and 200 employees. "You just have to look at what frustrates you," he says. "There's your business idea right there."

Look for new niches.
Your business idea doesn't have to reinvent the wheel. Take a look at what some of the big players in an industry are missing and figure out if you can fill the gaps, Key says. In 2003, for instance, he started the company Hot Picks, now based in San Jose, Calif., after realizing the major brands in the guitar pick industry weren't offering collectible novelty picks. Key designed a skull-shaped pick that filled an empty niche and was sold in 1,000 stores, including Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven. "The big guys leave a tremendous amount of opportunity on the table," he says.

Apply your skills to an entirely new field.
Think about your skills and whether they might be useful in a new area, suggests Bill Fischer, professor ofinnovation management 
at IMD
, the top-rated Swiss business school, and co-author of The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make them Happen (Jossey-Bass, 2011). Consider, for example, JMC Soundboard, a Switzerland-based company that builds high-end loudspeakers. Jeanmichel Capt invented the speaker by applying his experience building guitars as a luthier, using the same resonance spruce to create a loudspeaker that produces a high-quality sound and looks like a sleek wood panel. There's also Providence, R.I.-based Dear Kate, a company founded by Julie Sygiel, who used her training in chemical engineering to create a stain-resistant, leak-proof underwear material that active women can use without worrying about menstrual leakage during a workout.

Related: Zipcar Timeline: From Business Idea to IPO to $500 Million Buyout

Find a category lacking recent innovations.
When coming up with ideas, Key likes to identify markets that haven't had many recent innovations. For example, when he realized there were few new developments in the product information label business, he created Spinformation, a label consisting of two layers—a top layer that rotates with open panels through which you can see, and a bottom label that you can read by spinning the top layer over it. Companies needing to fit more information about a medication, for example, could use the extra label space for the details.

Make a cheaper version of an existing product.
Companies often get their start by offering customers an existing product at a lower price. Take Warby Parker, an eyeglasses company launched in 2010 by four business school friends. The New York-based business sells prescription glasses, which are typically priced at $300 or more, for $95. Since its launch, it has grown to 100 employees.

Related Video: Warby Parker and Inspired Vision

Talk to shoppers.
To come up with an idea that meets people's needs, there's no better way than by talking to shoppers. If you are interested in mountain bikes, hang out in the aisles of sports and bike shops and ask customers what they wish they could find in the marketplace. If you're interested in developing an e-commerce business, consider sending an online survey to potential customers to learn about their needs and interests.

Play the mix and match game.
Walk up and down the aisles of a drug, hardware or toy store combining two products across the aisle from each other into one, Key says. That should spark quite a few ideas, but be prepared for most of them to be bad. "You will come up with all these horrible ideas, and every once in a while you will find some brilliant idea out there," he says.

Read more stories about: Business ideas, Starting a business

6 ways to kill your chances in the interview

6 ways to kill your chances in the interview
January 17th, 2013
By Susan Ricker


From applicant tracking systems toappropriate résumés, there are more than enough hurdles to overcome before making it to the interview in a job search. However, this may feel like the greatest challenge for some job seekers, as many have come out of interviews without the slightest clue how it went.

CareerBuilder surveyed hiring managers to find out what’s going on in job interviews and why a promising candidate for a job may not get picked. Six major factors were a part of why interviews go badly for some, and while these mistakes may not seem substantial on their own, the job market is still too competitive to allow these simple errors. Learn from these six ways to kill your chances in the interview and how to avoid certain death.

When asked to identify the top detrimental mistakes in job interviews, hiring managers reported:

Mistake No. 1: Appearing disinterested is a top turnoff, according to 62 percentof employers.
Tip: Body language and how you respond to the interviewer’s questions may be sending a different message than what you mean. Be attentive during the interview, sit up straight and make eye contact with your interviewer. Also take your time responding to give thoughtful answers that will make it clear you’re interested.

Mistake No. 2: Answering a cell phone or texting – 60 percent
Tip: As soon as you enter the company’s building or the site for your interview, turn your phone off and put it away. While it may be tempting to use your phone while you’re waiting or leave it on silent, don’t risk your chances of getting the job because you wanted to check your phone. Give your attention to the interview and focus.

Mistake No. 3: Dressing inappropriately – 60 percent
Tip: While what you wear on the job will vary by industry and company, the standard and most appropriate look for a job interview is a business suit or a version of “business casual,” a collared shirt and dress pants. You should look and feel professional so both you and the interviewer can focus on your answers and not your clothing.

Mistake No. 4: Talking negatively about a current or previous employer – 58 percent
Tip: Interview answers walk a fine line between appreciating your past employers and making it clear that this job opportunity is preferable. Stay positive during your interview and concentrate on how your past roles and employers have prepared you for this current role, and if you do have a negative experience, keep your answer short and end on a positive, like what you learned and have done better since.

Mistake No. 5: Failure to make eye contact (72 percent) or smile (42 percent), bad posture (38 percent) and a weak handshake (28 percent)
Tip: While a certain amount of stress is understandable for an interview, do your best to appear confident and friendly by preparing for your interview and practicing your answers ahead of time. When you feel adequately prepared, your confidence and smart answers will wow the hiring manager.

Mistake No. 6: Not providing specific examples – 34 percent
Tip: When answering your interviewer’s questions, remember that they’re trying to make a smart business decision about who to hire. While you may feel that you’re the most creative, capable and task-oriented candidate, it’s better to provide quantifiable proof of your worth, like how much new business you brought in or the top ways you saved your company money.

What else can job seekers do to prepare for interviews? “A job interview can be one of the most nerve-wracking experiences out there, so it’s important to plan and practice,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “Have a friend run through a mock interview with you, asking questions you think will come up and some curve balls you’re not expecting. Thoroughly research the company ahead of time and draft responses that incorporate your accomplishments. The more prepared you are, the less likely you are to run into mishaps.”

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Firearms Refresher Course

Ben Ferguson Show

Firearms Refresher Course
1. "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~Thomas Jefferson
2. "Those who trade liberty for security have neither." ~ John Adams
3. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
4. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
6. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.
7. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.
8. Know guns, know peace, know safety.
No guns, no peace, no safety.
9. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
10. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
11. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
12. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.
13. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
14. What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you NOT understand?
15. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.
16. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves to the government, criminals, and street gangs.
17. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

"I love this country, it's the government I'm afraid of."

Magnifications of sharp objects

Hypodermic Needle with blood

Sewing Needle before and after

Bee Sting and Needle

Rattlesnake Fang

Blood cell on needle tip

Hypodermic Needle with blood cells

Record Needle

Hedgehog Quill

Record Needle

Mosquito Mouth

Hypodermic Needle

Hypodermic Needle

hypodermic Needle piercing skin

Hypodermic Needle

Spider Fang

Staple in paper

How to Answer the Top 10 Interview Questions

How to Answer the Top 10 Interview Questions




By: Jennifer Kumar

We all know that good preparation is the key to success at interview. One aspect of this is thinking through the type of questions you are likely to be asked and having a killer answer up your sleeve. To get you started, we have compiled a list of the top 10 most comon questions asked at interview and some pointers on the kind of approach you could take to answer them.

1) “Tell me about yourself”

Here, your ability to think on your feet is being tested with a deliberately vague and open ended question. Simply outline several of your strong points and accomplishments and don’t be disconcerted if the interviewer remains silent when you pause. If you get really stuck think how your best friend would describe you! If you are relatively new to the job market, tell them about your educational achievements. Excellent grades, academic prizes or winning a scholarship are all good qualifications. Extra-curricular activities can also be selling points for some jobs. When you’ve run through your strong points, briefly sum them up then stop talking. If the interviewer continues to pause, stay silent and patiently wait for the next remark. He or she may be mulling over what you’ve said, or be testing your reaction to stress.

2) “What qualifies you for this job?”

Employers are looking for a fluent description of your background. To impress the interviewer with your quickness and intelligence memorise the key facts and dates on your CV, then prepare some success stories for each and drop them in casually as though they were spontaneous thoughts. Always make your opening line your most major achievement – it is often what makes the biggest impression.

3) “Why do you want to work for this organisation?”

Being unfamiliar with the organisation will spoil your chances with 75% of interviewers, according to one survey, so take this chance to show you have done your preparation and know the company inside and out. You will now have the chance to demonstrate that you’ve done your research, so reply mentioning all the positive things you have found out about the organisation and its sector etc. This means you’ll have an enjoyable work environment and stability of employment etc – everything that brings out the best in you.

4) “Why do you wish to leave your present job?”


By: Mathieu Bouchard

Never say anything negative about your present employer and don’t mention money as a motivator either. The interviewer will reason that if you’re prepared to leave one organisation for money, you might leave his/her company if another waved a bigger pay cheque in front of you. The safest track to take is to indicate a desire for greater responsibility and challenge, or the opportunity to use talents you feel are under-used. Make sure your abilities are relevant.

5. “Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?”

Replying ‘in your chair’ is dangerous!

A few managers might be intrigued or amused but many will be annoyed by your arrogance or intimidated by the fact that you may be right. Mentioning any specific goal can be risky as it may not fit into the career path in that particular organisation, or may cause concern that you’ll be discontent until your goal is achieved. Instead, frame your reply along these lines:


I would hope that by then my hard work and enthusiasm would have led to increased recognition and responsibility within the organisation.

6. “What sort of salary are you looking for?”

When you’re talking about money, never describe your salary demands as what you actually need but rather as what the job is worth. Always give a range (e.g. £40,000 to £45,000). If you’re unsure of what the job should pay give your current salary and state “but money isn’t my motivation for changing jobs”. Since organisations use your current salary as a guide line as a basis of what to offer remember to include bonus, annual raises if you are about to receive one etc.

7. “What are your weaknesses?”

The best “weaknesses” are disguised as strengths, such as “I dislike not being challenged at work”. Another good approach is to mention a weakness that is irrelevent for the job or one that can be overcome with training. Try to keep these to one weakness, explaining why you think it is a weakness and what you are doing to overcome the problem – a well thought out strategy you have developed to deal with the issue will turn this potentially tricky question into a positive.

One common variation on this question is to ask about any problems or failures you’ve encountered in previous positions. In describing problems, pick ones you’ve solved and describe how you overcame it. Show yourself to be a good team player by crediting co-workers for all their contributions. To distance yourself from failure, pick one that occurred earlier in your career when you were still learning. Don’t blame others – simply explain how you analysed your mistake and learned from it.

8. “What’s the worst problem you’ve ever faced?”

Here the interviewer is offering you the two ways to trip yourself up:
First of all, the question doesn’t confine itself to the workplace, so there is temptation to reveal a personal problem. Don’t! Restrict yourself to employment matters only.
Second, you are being asked to reveal a weakness or error again. You must have a good response ready for this question, one which shows how well you reacted when everything depended on it.

Always show a problem you have solved and concentrate your answer on the solution not the problem.

9. “What are your strengths?”

Your answer should highlight the qualities that will help you succeed in this particular job. (Back up each point with something specific). Give examples and quantify how your strengths benefited your previous employers. You should also demonstrate reliability, and the ability to stick with a difficult task yet change courses rapidly when required.

10. “How would you describe a typical day in your current job?”

You are eager to look good but don’t make the common mistake of exaggerating your current position. Mentioning some of the routine tasks in your day adds realism to your description and show that you don’t neglect important details such as paperwork. Put yourself in the interviewer’s place as your answer. When you’ve been doing a job for years it becomes second nature to you, and you must be aware of all the tasks you undertake. You should spend a few days making notes of your activities at work to regain an outsider’s perspective. Try to show that you make good use of your time, that you plan before you begin your work and that you review your achievements at the end of it.

Gill Buchanan is co-founder and director of Pure Resourcing Solutions, which specialises in permanent and temporary recruitment and retention solutions in the Accountancy, Financial Services, HR, Marketing and Office recruitment markets. Gill has gained over 20 years specialist recruitment expertise working in Sydney, Australia and in Cambridge.

How to Answer the Top 10 Interview Questions The Undercover Recruiter - Recruitment and Career Secrets Revealed

The 11 Fastest Growing Industries In The U.S.

The 11 Fastest Growing Industries In The U.S.
By Business Insider
Posted Jan 11th 2013 @ 7:36AM




By Sam Ro


Sageworks, the financial information company is out with its list of fast growing industries in America.

"With manufacturing having played a pivotal role in the economic recovery, it's no surprise that several manufacturing industries are among the strongest growing over the last 12 months, based on current estimates," they write.

"It's possible that those are tied together as businesses have started to use some of their cash to invest in needed equipment and upgrades," said Sageworks analyst Brad Schaefer. "All of those took really big hits in 2009 because companies weren't investing in a lot of equipment."



More: 10 Most Stressful Jobs In The U.S.Of the top 11 industries, employment services stands out as the one requiring the least amount of manual labor.

"I see the employment services industry doing fairly well again, just because a lot of people are still uncertain about the economy and the political atmosphere, which contributes to businesses hiring temporary or contract workers instead of full-time employees," said Schaefer. "I don't think that's something that'll go away for the next year."

Here's a table of the jobs: