Organizations are unknowingly harming their own growth and success with these three outdated ... [+] practices.

Despite having a seat at the table, most organizations still see HR as a cost center instead of a value-added business partner. Consequently, the fight for an increase in budget remains their next big battle. An organization that fails to invest in their HR department hinders the growth and success while diminishing its overall attractiveness. Whether organizations realize it or not, HR is a reflection of the company as a whole.

In order for HR to be successful in their role, they need to be supported. Investing in HR goes beyond their personal development. It includes the resources they use to recruit, develop and retain talent. A high-performing HR team brings a wealth of benefits to an organization with a key function focused on developing leaders from within.

Unlike HR, most hiring managers lack formal interview training and management skills. As a result, they make poor hires and contribute to employee turnover. HR is largely responsible for shaping a companys culture, promoting innovation and introducing new ideas to invigorate current practices. However, if an organization doesnt see value in investing in their development to broaden their knowledge, they perpetuate outdated practices.

Here are three outdated human resource practices that are holding companies back from achieving their highest level of success.

Limiting Diversity In Recruiting

Culture fit is a buzzword that has become outdated and is used as an excuse for hiring managers to hire people most similar to them. Since the new generation of workers entered the workforce, companies have been prioritizing a culture-driven workplace. Their goals is to hire candidates who buy into their vision and fit into their current culture.

Catie Brand, senior director, international HR & talent acquisition at General Assembly, believes culture fit is outdated and promotes inequality and bias in the workplace. She adds, organizations that promote diversity, equality and inclusion focus on culture add, not culture fit.

Cultural fit not only contributes to organizational monoculture, but it can create a toxic environment for those who dont fit in. Furthermore, it prevents organizations from being innovative, disruptive and creative. Diversity is what helps organizations thrive and outperform their competitors. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), organizations with diverse leadership teams are more innovative and have 19% higher revenue.

To measure the current teams behavior and understand blind spots, organizations can conduct a team assessment such as Predictive Index or TTI Success Insights to understand for which skills they need to hire. During the interview process, hiring managers should focus on how a candidates individuality and differences will add to the company and make it stronger. This will help them to hire the right people to close the skills gap and complement the team instead of resemble them.

Measuring Employees On Their Past

The value of reference checks remains a hotly debated topic across business. Most employers rely on them to make their final decision before hiring a candidate while some have them in place for no other reason than protocol and others believe theyre a waste of time. According to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), four out of five employers use reference checks as a formality in their recruitment process. Therefore, this results in them eliminating 21% of candidates after speaking with their professional contacts.

Monster, the global employment website, broke this down to see what information hiring managers hope to gain when conducting a reference check. They found:

36% of hiring managers want to learn more about a candidates past duties and responsibilities

31% are interested in learning about their strengths and weaknesses

11% want confirmation of dates of employment and job title

8% want to know about workplace accomplishments

7% want a sense of their preferred work culture

7% are unsure of what theyre looking for

This indicates a majority of employers use reference checks to find out information they should be asking during the interview. An interview is the time when hiring managers should dig deeper into a candidates background, experience and character to evaluate if they would be a good fit for each other.

When done correctly, reference checks uncover caveats about a candidates skills and background. If a candidate seems hesitant to release information, provide references or maintain a consistent story, reaching out to references can be a valuable asset that helps reveal the pieces theyre not telling. However, due to labor laws becoming more restrictive, most companies will only verify employment and provide the dates the candidate was employed.

Many organizations have restructured their interview process to thoroughly test if a candidate can do the job, how they interact with others, whether they have a positive or negative attitude and their eagerness to learn. Today, a typical interview process consists of a pre-employment assessment, a mix of behavioral and situational based questions and a case interview. Some organizations incorporate an all day onsite interview where the candidate interacts and works with the team.

A Not-So-Progressive Discipline Plan

The once effective progressive discipline policy has become one of the most relied upon tactics to push an employee out of an organization. The reality of someone surviving a performance improvement plan (PIP) is little to none.

Patty McCord, former chief talent officer for Netflix, spoke at Ceridians Womens Network Summit last month and declared its time to retire the PIP. She says, nothing is more crueler than putting someone on a performance improvement plan with the goal of getting rid of them. McCord went on to say organizations use PIPs as a way to signal to people theyre employment is coming to an end instead of working with them to figure out the root cause of their performance.

At that point, organizations commit themselves to creating a paper trail of evidence to prove their case and prevent potential litigation against them. Not only is this demotivating, but it instills fear in the employee making them cautious about their every move. McCord says this canhave negative consequences on the overall morale of a team.

Kevin Darn, relationship advisor and author, agrees and believes PIPs are used as a warning that an employee will be let go. He said very few employees are of the belief that performance plans are instituted for their benefit. When a performance improvement plan is genuine and used to help someone grow and succeed, the impact can be overwhelmingly positive.

Instead of relying on PIPs, Ben Crudo, CEO and founder of Diff Agency, suggests managers help employees work through failures and turn setbacks into stepping stones. Managers who invest in nurturing their current talent help transform them into loyal and engaged employees. While this isnt always the case, most times when employees are struggling its due to poor leadership or a bad hire.

Employees arent receiving the feedback, development and coaching they crave. Managers should be having difficult conversations on a real-time basis and working with HR to provide resources that help employees understand what they need to improve with an action plan on the results they expect. Its vital managers and HR come together with a strategy that best utilizes their tools and resources so they can best support the people they hire and set them up for success.

Read the rest here:
Why Culture Fit And These 2 Other HR Practices Are Hurting Your Business - Forbes

When first reading Tom Perrottas 2017 novel, Mrs. Fletcher, Kathryn Hahn was struck by what proved to be a telling choice by the author.

It was the dual stories that really intrigued me and that fact that she was written in the third person and the son was written in the first, Hahn said. There was something very interesting in that to me, the fact that this was something [Perrotta], a man, would want to dig into: the interior life of this woman.

The authors book, which formed the template for HBOs critically acclaimed limited series, switches perspective with each new chapter. The story starts in Eve Fletchers perspective, as the single mother packs up her only child, Brendan, for college, but its told through a disembodied narrator: Eve cried most of the way home. All shed wanted, from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, was a chance to let Brendan know what was in her heart.

The next chapter starts in the first person, literally with the first word: I was a little dazed when we headed out to dinner, Brendan says, and everything that follows is from inside his head: Id been dreaming about the ability to do what I wanted; my mom; four of us. But for the show, both Perrotta and Hahn knew they needed to balance out those two viewpoints.

If we could figure out getting from Eves third person in the novel if we could squirrel it into the first person together that was going to be a really interesting collaboration and journey, Hahn said.

That was a real concerted effort and very much a focus of Kathryn and the directors: It is a show about this womans intimate life and there a lot of sex scenes, often solo, and it was just really important to say, This is not a show thats going to cater to a male gaze. Theyre sexual scenes, but theyre not sexy or titillating,' Perrotta said. I was totally on board with that, but I think in terms of what those scenes actually looked like, they were really figured out between Kathryn, the director, and the intimacy coordinator. And I was pretty much like, That sounds great.'

Kathryn Hahn in Mrs. Fletcher

Sarah Shatz/HBO

The author and actor quickly earned each others trust, meeting over lunch to discuss the part I remember all I kept saying to her when we met was like, I know what you can do. I know that youd be great at this. I just wanted to know that she wanted it! Perrotta said and each growing more excited about the adaptation through the others engagement.

I was enormously bolstered by his curiosity, Hahn said. I knew he was aware that [the production] needed to be surrounded by a lot of women and a lot of diverse voices. Knowing how aware he was, I was enormously bolstered by that. [But] because hed written it, I was very excited by his curiosity.

Hahn also had confidence in herself. At a time when awareness of whos writing womens roles is at an all-time high, the actress wasnt worried about Eves story stemming from a mans imagination.

It wasnt [a concern] to me because I knew that if was cast in it, then it would be me as the person, she said. I knew by the time it got to my [characters] personhood, it would be a collaboration. So I wasnt worried about that. I knew I would take care of myself. And at that point, I knew Nicole Holofcener was around to direct the pilot, and I also knew there was going to be an incredible group of women writers.

Also a producer on Mrs. Fletcher, Hahn worked closely with her directing team (including Holofcener on the pilot and Liesl Tommy, Carrie Brownstein, and Gillian Robespierre helming the other six episodes) and the predominantly female writing staff to focus Eves perspective in each scene. As Eve becomes more curious about the wide world of internet pornography and starts to put her wants first in the bedroom, Hahn made sure the scenes showing her characters porn habit were purposeful and clear.

Kathryn Hahn in Mrs. Fletcher

Sarah Shatz/HBO

We wanted to make sure what the porn was giving her was landing in a specific way into the real world; how were they releasing out into the world in a specific way, what she was gaining in specific ways, or what they were teaching her how they were moving her forward or into new paths, Hahn said. Its such a personal relationship with porn that one has, usually. Sometimes theres a partner who you can share it with, but usually its such a deep and personal path, and for her it really was. It was something that was so taboo and something that she thought she was never allowed to look at; it was such a Pandoras box to open up, so a lot of it was digging into what that relationship actually meant.

That started with Eves first glimpse of it, as she lays in bed, mindlessly scrolling for ideas of what to do with all her new free time, and she accidentally clicks on a porn site.

Thats such an important moment because its the first moment for her on this path, and that was definitely Nicole and I playing with [her reaction], Hahn said. [Its] not like Eve is turned on, but more like shes drawn in to this light. It was a new world of possibility more than it was [just porn]. It feels a little bit more existential to me. Porn is such a jumping-off point for her search for authenticity or just who she is underneath it all. So a lot of those scenes of her by herself, the thing that was imperative to me and all of us, that it was just her finding pleasure for herself and not anyone else. I was very proud of that.

Through thoughtful consideration like this and her astute attention to emotional details, Hahn has made Eves journey into more than just a mid-life sexual awakening. Her instincts lead her to make new friends, go after new opportunities, and expand her appetite for life, not just sex. In quick, addictive, half-hour episodes, Hahn and the team around her build incredible empathy and excitement around a personal, internal story. The interior life of Eve Fletcher is as fully realized as they come a first-person experience that everyone can share.

Mrs. Fletcher airs new episodes Sundays at 10:30 p.m. on HBO.

Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.

Read more here:
Mrs. Fletcher: Kathryn Hahns Brilliant Performance Stems From a Key Change to the Book - IndieWire

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CollegeNET, Inc., a leading provider of web-based on-demand technologies for higher education, today released the 2019 Social Mobility Index (SMI), a data-driven analysis that ranks four-year US colleges and universities according to how effectively they enroll students from low-income backgrounds and graduate them into well-paying jobs.

Schools with Strong and Sustained Social Mobility Track Records

As in 2018, public universities in California both the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems dominate the 2019 SMI rankings, accounting for more than half of the Top 20 spots this year. Four of those schools (California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; California State University, Fresno; California State University, Long Beach; and California State University, Stanislaus) have ranked in the Top 20 for six consecutive years.

The CUNY system in New York City placed five schools in the 2019 SMI Top 20, including Baruch College, which continues to hold its #1 ranking for the fifth consecutive year.

Winston-Salem State University, in North Carolina, has ranked in the SMI Top 20 for five of the past six years.

Advancing Social Mobility on Campuses from Coast to Coast

In addition to the top performers above, other schools advancing social mobility include:

Rutgers University, Newark (Top 30 ranking for the past three years and #12 ranking in 2019); Wichita State University (Top 10 percent ranking for five of the past six years); University of California, San Diego (Top 10 percent ranking for the past five years); Notre Dame de Namur University, in Silicon Valley (Top 20 percent ranking in 2019); Old Dominion University (Top 10 percent ranking in 2019); New Mexico State University (Top 20 percent ranking in 2019); University of California, Santa Cruz (Top 10 percent ranking in 2019); University of California, Irvine (Top 5 percent ranking in 2019); and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Top 20 percent ranking in 2019).

The 2019 SMI now benchmarks 1,458 schools.

The Top 20 SMI Schools, 2019 Rankings

CUNY Bernard M Baruch College

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Fresno

CUNY Queens College

California State University, Channel Islands

California State University, San Bernardino

California State University, Long Beach

California State University, Stanislaus

CUNY Brooklyn College

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

California State University, Northridge

Rutgers University, Newark

Texas A&M International University

CUNY Lehman College

California State University, East Bay

CUNY Hunter College

California State University, Bakersfield

California State University, Fullerton

California State University, Monterey Bay

California State University, Dominguez Hills

Read more about the 2019 SMI rankings and methodology here.

Redefining the Notion of Prestige in Higher Education

Founded on the principle that growing economic disparity in this country is the most pressing problem of our time, the SMI seeks to redirect the attribution of "prestige" in our higher education system toward colleges that are advancing economic opportunity and social mobility.

Unlike other college rankings that are aimed primarily at helping students select a college, says CollegeNET President Jim Wolfston, the SMI helps families and policymakers determine which colleges are addressing the national problem of economic mobility. Administrators have a better chance to help strengthen US economic mobility and the promise of the American Dream if they can identify and learn from colleges that are skilled at doing this.

Given that the US is now the least economically mobile among developed nations, says Wolfston, it is irresponsible to say an education institution is better because it has a huge endowment, or because it admits students with higher SAT scores which are most tightly correlated to family income. It is irresponsible to say an institution is better because it drives up admissions application counts, turns away more students and then boasts about selectivity. In todays world, where the American Dream is threatened, real prestige must accord to universities that educate and advance all motivated students, regardless of their economic background. This is the prestige that the Social Mobility Index seeks to promote.

Higher Educations Vital Role in the Learning Age

Higher Education is the most important asset in the Learning Age, adds Wolfston, who recently delivered a keynote address at Old Dominion Universitys Social Mobility Symposium. If we can distribute this vital asset across the economic spectrum, we can optimize our nations human capital development, prepare the next generation for citizenship and ensure social and economic opportunity. Most importantly, by rejecting the current trend toward on-campus economic homogeneity, a higher education institution can offer its students the chance to encounter a more challenging mix of people with diverse ideas, perspectives and backgrounds. Collisions with the unexpected and unfamiliar are what best sharpen and prepare innovative minds. Thus, economic inclusion is not only a solution to a social justice issue, it is an optimizing strategy for training tomorrows innovators.

Acknowledging Institutional Excellence

CollegeNET acknowledges schools that are advancing social mobility through innovative programs. CollegeNET presents the annual Social Mobility Innovator Awards to student success leaders from US colleges and universities at the Social Mobility Summit an annual forum on economic inclusion and best practices for student success held in Portland, Oregon, each summer. CollegeNET recently published an e-book that describes best practices from student success professionals pioneering innovative programs that support underserved and underrepresented students academic, personal and financial needs. Further, CollegeNET sponsors regional conferences to debate and discuss social mobility issues. Recent on-campus events have been held at the University of California, Irvine; the University of California, Santa Cruz; the University of California, San Diego; Wichita State University; Winston-Salem State University; and Notre Dame de Namur University. CollegeNET-sponsored student success events are scheduled to take place at Rutgers University, Newark and New Mexico State University in 2020.

See the original post here:
Sixth Annual Social Mobility Index (SMI) Highlights Performance and Pitfalls as Attention to Social Mobility Grows Among US Colleges and Universities...

As PC gamers we're used to running into big problems with our games: crashes, freezes, conflicts, game-ending bugs, and major performance issues. But sometimes it's the little problems that irritate us the most. A minor issue can pop up and, over time, turn into a major headache in what is an otherwise fun and enjoyable gaming experience.

It could be something as simple as a small issue with a game's audio, loading screens that just take a bit too long, or a tiny, occasional hiccup in your framerate that nags at you like a persistent mosquito, slowly stressing you out until you're a seething ball of rage. And sometimes we spend more time trying to solve this one little issue than we do playing the game, leading to even more frustration.

Which brings us to our question this week: What minor issue completely ruined an otherwise great game for you? You'll find our answers below and we'd love to see yours in the comments.

I had a lot of fun goofing around Remedy's Kafka-does-the-X-Files spookhouse, or at least I did until it was undone by the true enemy: persistent stuttering. And before anyone jumps in with their voodoo fix, trust me, I tried them all. Some helped a little, but none eliminated the periodic microstutter that left me never able to trulyrelax into the game's rich stew of telekinetic combat and bonkers conspiracy lore.

In the end I had to switch down to DX11, saying goodbye to all the fancy (and frame-rate-hogging) ray-tracing. And still it wasn't smooth. Eventually I found myself holding my breath waiting for the next hitch. The stutter haunted me like Poe's Tell-Tale Heart heart but in the form of an unignorable performance issue. I know that the problem is really with me. That a normal person would be able to overlook such a small issue and appreciate the overall experience. But reader, I am not wired that way. And I suspect neither are you.

I was really excited for this game, but when I finally got my hands on it, all the dialogue in cutscenes was just a second out of sync. It may seem like not that big a deal, but as any student of comedy knows, when it comes to gags, timing is everythingthis bug totally ruined that. It bothered me so much that I ended up putting the game down completely shortly after the first mission.

For months I kept an eye out for patches, loading up the game fresh each time one installed and finding to my disappointment the problem persisted. As I recall I even made some angry posts on theSteam forums, raging about the devs cruelly failing to fix this obviously crucial bug.

Of course, it turned out to be my fault. My PC at the time was overclocked, and somehow that was making the game run slightly faster than the audio could keep up with. I turned down my settings and it worked fine. Sigh.

I used to play games on a 486SX that ran at a whole 25 MHz, so I have a high tolerance for performance issues. That said, I won't play any of the modern Total War games on a PC without an SSD. The loading times are ridiculous otherwise, and there's a lot of loading when you're switching back and forth between the campaign map and individual battles.

At the end of The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, the narrator tells the tale of how you saved the world and what happened as a result of the choices you made. But something went funky with my audio when I reached the endgame, so all I got was a roaring static noise, and since there were no subtitles I had no idea wtf happened. My moment of triumph, stolen away by a loud:

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Ruined" is probably overstating it, but man, I was pissed.

So it's not a performance issue with the game itself, necessarily, but a problem with the invisible logic of existence, a personal performance issue. There was a period of time in which I was pretty damn good at Mortal Kombat. MK9 roped me back in, and as a fresh college graduate, I had a bit of spare time to practice. It was this whole thing, a void of time suddenly open to me, the first opportunity to think about and practice anything besides school: I'll get good at a fighting game, I thought. I watched all the YouTube tutorials, studied professional matches, practiced combos on a fancy arcade controller. I was good.

But my friend's nephew dragged my ass through the dirt, the button masher from my worst nightmares. I've loved and lost, I've trippedand busted my head on the pavement, I watched my dog die. Nothing really feels as bad as an 12-year-old kida voice cracking, next summer's acne invisibly vibrating in the air around him, a tiny head on a pile of long and thin limbs, their stupid fucking facebeating you, no sweat, at a fighting game. Kid just mashed. All my practice, wasted. You can't predict the devil's next move. I knew that I could take my skills to a grounded competitive scene and have fun, feel validated. But just knowing all it takes is an open-palm slap to undo months of work? Nah. Fighting games are over for me.

In playing the Witcher 1 Enhanced Edition years ago I was constantly at odds with its skills screen. Every time I had points to spend on upgrading Geralt's abilities I might as well have rolled a die to find out if I'd get stuck in the game's menu. At least 1/3 of the time I tried to level up or meditate I'd find everything on the screen unclickable. The Witcher would refuse to respond as if the game itself were roleplaying as its stone-faced protagonist.

Eventually I'd either force quit to desktop or click furiously enough times that the menu would wake up and remember its one job. Times when I could open the skill menu and have no trouble at all were so few and far between that I remember being actuallyexcitedthat it worked. It didn't ruin the entire game for me, but if you ask me about The Witcher on any given day I can guarantee this is the first thing I'll mention remembering about it.

Not a performance issue, but a design one. I would get put into the game map every time, a slaughter farm-esque arena with generators and big meat hooks dripping with blood. There wasn't a way to select which map you wanted to play outside of a private match. It's totally random, or supposed to be anyway. (Actually, I last played Dead by Daylight so long ago, I don't think there were many maps to begin with.)

The first several times I played a match I got put into the same map, which got old real fast. The game has evolved since then, adding new maps as DLC content, but the only way you can increase your chances of getting a certain map is to use an offering, which are specificobjects thrown into the campfire to convenienceThe Entity to give you what you want. Cool concept, but there's still an issue with getting the same map over and over again,even when you use an offering and have all the DLC content. I'm not sure how the game's matchmaking process works, but it seems like if you get matched with someone who only has the base game, you're going to get put into the same map no matter what.

So, long story short, I stopped playing Dead by Daylight because it got repetitive in a not-so fun way.

For a while, while playing Destiny 2's framerate would, for lack of a better word, hiccup. This wasn't performance-related either: no matter where my character was, or what I happened to be doing, the frameratewould hitch every few seconds, but would still register as 60 FPS. I think I even nuked my windows installation from orbit in an attempt to rectify the situation but to no avail.

This is admittedlyone of the larger caveats of PC gaming, as you can spend just as much time trying to rectify some minor issue as you can actually spend with the game itself.

I'd truly love to spend more time in GTA Online, but the process of joining a session is always a frustrating one for me. It'll seem like I'm in but I'll get that overhead view of the city and the camera will just hang there for ages as it continues searching for a session. Eventually it'll give up and kick me into singleplayer mode for maybe one whole secondjust enough time for the camera to find Michael in the cityat which point it will yank me back up to the sky again and then deposit me in GTA Online properly. Once I'm in, it runs great and I have a good time playing, but the long wait and brief dump into singleplayer mode is excruciating.

I don't know why it happens. I don't know why it can't find a session until the very moment it gives up looking and stuffs me into Michael, but it happens nearly every time and it's the main reason I rarely even try to play GTA Online.

Read the original here:
What minor issue ruined an otherwise great game for you? - PC Gamer

The following 'success story' was submitted to OrilliaMattersby the Orillia Area Community Development Corporation:

Starting a business in an already crowded industry can be daunting for some. For Brandon Peacock, it was an exciting opportunity to carve out his niche and break away from the crowd.

Unlike most gyms, Peak Performance is a studio focused on functional fitness, quality movement, and elite personal training.

Being a former employee of Anytime Fitness and Barrie Athletic Club, Peacock saw the need for business professionals to have access to an elite gym where they could receive high quality training.

Peacock sayshe wanted to create something exclusive for his clients.

In order to start his new concept, Peacock knew he required financial support and a solid plan.

Susan Stacey, Loans Officer at the Orillia Area CDC, worked with Peacock to develop a financial plan, secure a loan, and develop projections.

She asked me questions that I never even thought about. Her advice was extremely helpful and made me think about things from a different perspective, he said.

When Peak Performance got off the ground, Peacock began to work exclusively with business professionals, improving their overall fitness through core prep, mobile strength training, rehabilitation, and body mechanics.

He worked with each client to develop a personalized plan for their body in order to help them achieve their fitness goals. His brand was built on providing a high quality service to his members.

After two years in business, many of Peacock's clients had asked him about training their children in sports, so he reached out to Taylor Bazinet, a certified athletic trainer and performance coach, to bring an athletic component to the gym.

The Orillia Area CDC stepped in again and provided Bazinet with funding to buy into Peacock's business as a partner, and expand the gyms overall offering.

Over the years, the CDC has introduced us to so many influential connections in our community helping us to grow our customer base. They are phenomenal.

In just a few short years, Peacock and his partner Bazinet have experienced rapid growth and success. They have already expanded their business once, adding 1,200 square feet to the building in 2017, and are looking at an additional expansion later this year.

Through his journey, Peacock learned the importance of creating a well thought-out plan.

Doing a lot of research to understand the market, working hard every day and not being afraid to ask for help from the Orillia Area CDC were all vital to making this gym a reality," said Peacock.

To get in touch with Peak Performance, call705-826-1169 or visit their website.

For more information on the Orillia Area Community Development Corp. (CDC), please contact info@orilliacdc.com or visit http://www.orilliacdc.com

See original here:
Strength of CDC helps Peak Performance flex its muscles - OrilliaMatters

Synthetic biologists working on a U.S. Army project have developed a process that could lead to a new class of synthetic polymers that may create new high-performance materials and therapeutics for Soldiers.

Nature Communications published research conducted by Army-funded researchers at Northwestern University, who developed a set of design rules to guide how ribosomes, a cell structure that makes protein, can incorporate new kinds of monomers, which can be bonded with identical molecules to form polymers.

"These findings are an exciting step forward to achieving sequence-defined synthetic polymers, which has been a grand challenge in the field of polymer chemistry," said Dr. Dawanne Poree, program manager, polymer chemistry at the Army Research Office. "The ability to harness and adapt cellular machinery to produce non-biological polymers would, in essence, bring synthetic materials into the realm of biological functions. This could render advanced, high-performance materials such as nanoelectronics, self-healing materials, and other materials of interest for the Army."

Biological polymers such as DNA, have precise building block sequences that provide for a variety of advanced functions such as information storage and self-replication. This project looked at how to re-engineer biological machinery to allow it to work with non-biological building blocks that would offer a route to creating synthetic polymers with the precision of biology.

"These new synthetic polymers may enable the development of advanced personal protective gear, sophisticated electronics, fuel cells, advanced solar cells and nanofabrication, which are all key to the protection and performance of Soldiers," Poree said.

"We set out to expand the range of ribosomal monomers for protein synthesis to enable new directions in biomanufacturing," said Michael Jewett, the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, professor of chemical and biological engineering, and director of the Center for Synthetic Biology at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering. "What's so exciting is that we learned the ribosome can accommodate more kinds of monomers than we expected, which sets the stage for using the ribosome as a general machine to create classes of materials and medicines that haven't been synthesized before."

Recombinant protein production by the ribosome has transformed the lives of millions of people through the synthesis of biopharmaceuticals, like insulin, and industrial enzymes that are used in laundry detergents. In nature, however, the ribosome only incorporates natural amino acid monomers into protein polymers.

To expand the repertoire of monomers used by the ribosome, Jewett's team set out to identify design rules for linking monomers to Transfer ribonucleic acid, known as tRNAs. That is because getting the ribosome to use a new monomer is not as simple as introducing a new monomer to the ribosome. The monomers must be attached to tRNAs, which are the molecules that carry them into the ribosome. Many current processes for attaching monomers to tRNAs are difficult and time-consuming, but a relatively new process called flexizyme enables easier and more flexible attachment of monomers.

To develop the design rules for using flexizyme, the researchers created 37 monomers that were new to the ribosome from a diverse repertoire of scaffolds. Then, they showed that the monomers that could be attached to tRNAs could be used to make tens of new peptide hybrids. Finally, they validated their design rules by predictably guiding the search for even more new monomers.

"With the new design rules, we show that we can avoid the trial-and-error approaches that have been historically associated with developing new monomers for use by the ribosome," Jewett said.

These new design rules should accelerate the pace in which researchers can incorporate new monomers, which ultimately will lead to new bioproducts synthesized by the ribosome. For example, materials made of protease-resistant monomers could lead to antimicrobial drugs that combat rising antibiotic resistance.

The research is part of the Department of Defense's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives program, supported by ARO, in which Jewett is working with researchers from three other universities to reengineer the ribosome as a biological catalyst to make novel chemical polymers. ARO is an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Army Research Laboratory.

"It's amazing that the ribosome can accommodate the breadth of monomers we showed," Jewett said. "That's really encouraging for future efforts to repurpose ribosomes."

Research paper

Related Links U.S. Army Research Laboratory Space Technology News - Applications and Research

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

Read more from the original source:
Army project may lead to new class of high-performance materials - Space Daily

This is the fourth of a series of blog posts looking forward to the British Library exhibition on Buddhism, 25 Oct 2019 23 Feb 2020

The Buddhist rainy season retreat or Buddhist lent, which started on Dhamma Day last month (17 July), is used by many Theravada Buddhists to enter the monastic order, Sangha, for the whole three months of the Buddhist lent. Ordination can also be for a shorter or longer period of time, depending on personal circumstances and decisions.

The practice of monastic ordination goes back to the time of the historical Buddha. Soon after he attained enlightenment, the Buddha founded a community of disciples called the Sangha. He started to form his bhikkhu-sangha with only five monks; but because of the rationality of the Dhamma he soon gained a large number of followers.

Yasa, the son of a rich man, joins the monkhood to become the sixth bhikkhu after the Buddhas five chief disciples. Fifty of Yasas friends followed his example and joined the Sangha. Burmese manuscript, 19th century. British Library, Or 14553, f. 2

The Sangha is central to Theravada Buddhism. In the context of Buddhist monasticism, one who enters into a monastic life should for all purposes aim at the extinction of the three root causes of suffering (dukkha) ignorance, aversion and greed in order to put an end to the cycle of rebirths (samsara). Monastics shave their heads, wear robes in a shade of yellow, orange or ochre, study the Buddhist doctrines, observe a particular number of precepts depending on their religious advancement, practice meditation and spread the Dhamma, the Buddhas teachings. Eight requisites (attha parikkhara) allowed to a monastic include three yellow, orange or ochre robes (i.e. the lower loincloth, the upper inner robe and the large top robe), an alms bowl, a razor to shave the head, a needle for mending clothes, a water strainer, and a cloth girdle.

The eight requisites of monastics and some additional items like a ceremonial fan and a shoulder bag for travelling are normally donated by the lay community as acts of merit, along with food, medicines and objects for daily use. Making merit is at the centre of Theravada Buddhism and shapes the interaction between Sangha and the lay community. High levels of merit-making are regarded as a sign of peace, happy relationships and prosperity within the community or the entire country.

The Sinhala Ordination was introduced into Burma from Sri Lanka in the 12th century. In 1423 CE, twenty-five monks from Chiang Mai and eight monks from Angkor travelled to Sri Lanka and brought the Sinhala Ordination to Thailand. In 1476 CE, twenty-two monks from Burma were sent in two ships to the island. They were duly ordained by the Mahavihara monks at the consecrated sima (ordination hall) on the Kalyani River, near Colombo. Upon the return of these monks, King Dhammaceti (1471-1492 CE) built the Kalyani Sima in Pegu (Bago), where monks from neighbouring countries received their ordination.

In mainland Southeast Asia, two types of ordination ceremonies are held in the sima: ordination for novices (pabbajja), and ordination for monks (upasampada). To become a novice, the follower has to recite the Ten Precepts as well as the Three Refuges of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. In order to become a monk, the Sangha or monastic community will perform the upasampada ordination on fulfilment of the five conditions: Perfection of a person, Perfection of an assembly, Perfection of the sima, Perfection of the motion, and Perfection of the Kammavaca. The most senior elder leads the assembly for the newly-ordained monk, while selected monks will recite the upasampada Kammavaca ordination text taking great care with articulation and pronunciation.

There are 227 monastic rules for a bhikkhu (monks) and 311 monastic rules for a bhikkhuni (nuns) as described in the Vinaya Pitaka under the section of Patimokkha, which includes abstaining from eating after midday and refraining from handling money. After the death of King Suddhodana, father of the Buddha, the widowed queen Mahapajapati Gotami went to the Buddha and asked him to allow women to be fully ordained. The Buddha initially refused her request as the reality of living nunhood posed a hardship for the women. After the Buddhas disciple Ananda pleaded, the Buddha granted the request of Gotami on her promise to accept certain important rules to qualify her for ordination. Gotami, the Buddhas foster mother was the first woman to be ordained in Buddhism to become a bhikkhuni. After Gotamis ordination and the ordination of her five hundred followers, more and more women became nuns during the life time of the Buddha.

Although there is currently no formally acknowledged Order of Bikkhuni in Burma, Thailand or Laos, upasika (women who take vows) play important roles in society. They shave their heads, wear light yellow or white robes, keep eight or ten precepts, study the Buddhist doctrines, practice meditation and spread the Dhamma. They are also educators for women who wish to become upasika. They help carry out religious rituals and ceremonies, and they give support to elderly women, widows and orphans who are left without family. Currently, there are strong endeavours to revive full ordination of women and to get formal acknowledgement of the bhikkhuni-sangha in several Southeast Asian countries. It is said that the bhikkhuni-sangha and ordination of nuns in the Theravada tradition had died out about 1000 years ago. Nonetheless many manuscripts containing the entire Bhikkhuni-patimokkha were still produced in Southeast Asia during the 18th and 19th centuries, and this leads to the question as to why this was done, if the Order of Bhikkhuni had indeed been non-existent for centuries.

San San May, Curator for Burmese Jana Igunma, Lead curator, Buddhism exhibition

This post was previously published on bl.uk and is republished here under a Creative Commons license

Have you read the original anthology that was the catalyst for The Good Men Project? Buy here: The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Lines of Modern Manhood

All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.

Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.

Photo credit: Istockphoto.com

The Asian and African Studies blog is written largely by curators in Asia and African Studies, but also includes contributions from colleagues across the Library, with occasional guest contributions. The blog focuses on the extraordinarily diverse collections in Asian and African Studies which constitute one of the worlds finest resources for the study of Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

See the rest here:
Monastic Ordination in Theravada Buddhism - The Good Men Project

Looking Glass, Rorschach, and the Question.

Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by HBO, DC Comics, and DC Comics.

In Little Fear of Lightning, the fifth episode of Watchmen, Looking Glass eats beans from a can.

Its a minor detail in an episode that also features psychic squid attacks and clone dog incineration, but for fans of the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic books on which the show is based, it is a significant detail. When Looking Glass, aka Wade Tillman (Tim Blake Nelson), shovels cold beans into his mouth, readers recall a similar meal enjoyed by Rorschach, the nihilistic detective from the original comic.

Bean dinner is only the latest connection Watchmen has drawn between the two characters, from their mercurial masks to their dire assessments of contemporary society. As a detective for the Tulsa Police Department specializing in psychological profiling, Looking Glass drives one of the most memorable scenes in the series first episode, in which he interrogates a member of the white supremacist group the Seventh Kavalry. Sitting in the Poda circular interrogation room whose walls project charged images, including Klan rallies, Gen. Custer, and the American flagGlass asks his prisoner a series of probing questions. The blur of images on Glass silver mask recall the amorphous blobs that cover Rorschachs face and give him his name, and if the connection was not clear enough, the sequence ends with one last image on the Pod screens: a blot from a Rorschach test, the same one Gibbons and Moore use in a chapter about Rorschachs origin.

Damon Lindelof and co. trouble a clear analogy between Glass and Rorschach by making the latters presence more clearly felt in the form of the Seventh Kalvary. Fully embracing the racist undertones of Rorschachs conservatism, Kalvary members wear discount versions of their heros black-and-white mask and quote from his journal as if its Scripture. But unlike other characters in the new series, Glass does not appear to be a hatemonger in disguise, nor does he even seem to adopt his predecessors violent ways. Glass does not prevent his partner Sister Night (Regina King) from brutalizing suspects, but he doesnt participate either. He doesnt mince words when describing the shortcomings of his murdered friend and colleague Chief Judd Crawford (Don Johnson), but he doesnt deny the sorrow he feels at his friends loss. In the series first five episodes, Looking Glass has been less a ruthless truth seeker and more an aloof voice of reason, one whose most effective interrogation technique is forcing his subjects to look into their own eyes.

A detail in Little Fear of Lightning reminds us that, despite the superficial similarities between Looking Glass and Rorschach, these are two very different men. As Wade kisses a potential love interest, episode director Steph Green momentarily cuts to a medium shot, which captures the lovers holding each other in silhouette outside a bar. Wade indulges in some very un-Rorschach-like behavior here, and not just because he kissed someone smoking a controlled substance (tobacco, which is outlawed in the world of the show). The image of entwined lovers is a motif Gibbons laces throughout the comic, one that Rorschach describes in less than romantic terms when it appears as graffiti: Silhouette picture in doorway, man and woman, possibly indulging in sexual foreplay. Didnt like it. Makes doorway look haunted. Where Rorschach sees depravity, Looking Glass sees tenuous acceptance.

We have not yet been given a plot reason for the physical similarities between Looking Glass and Rorschachis Wade a fan, or does he see himself as Rorschachs mirror image? But we can trace both of them back to Rorschachs comic book forerunner, the Question.

The brainchild of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, the Question is a faceless crime fighter in a blue fedora and trenchcoat. Conceived for Charlton Comics Action Hero line, the Question gave Ditko a platform to espouse his Ayn Randian objectivist politics: Whenever news anchor Vic Sage uncovered a mystery, he punched his way to answers as the Question, content to let evildoers suffer horrible fates as the just reward for their poor decisions.

The Question and his fellow Action Heroes made appearances over the following decades, but they didnt reach wider audiences until DC Comics acquired the rights to Charltons character in 1983, just as Alan Moore began writing Watchmen. Barred by DC from using the new properties in their superhero deconstruction, Moore and Gibbons made their own analogues, and thus the Question became Rorschachgiving Moore opportunity to draw out and critique Ditkos worldview.

Looking Glass has been less a ruthless truth seeker and more an aloof voice of reason, one whose most effective interrogation technique is forcing his subjects to look into their owneyes.

Watchmens legacy has so defined its source characters that the Question is now commonly written as an unpleasant nut. But in 1987, the same year Watchmens final issue was published, writer Dennis ONeil and artist Denys Cowan launched a Question series with a very different take on the detective. The first issue begins like a Ditko-era tale, with Vic Sage discovering a new wrong and punishing evildoers as the Question, but it ends with him being shot in the head and left for dead. Somehow, Vic survives, and the next 40-plus issues follow the Question as he abandons objectivism for the more peaceful and complex precepts of Zen Buddhism. ONeill and Cowan never show Vic fully completing his transformation. Hes in a constant state of growth and failure, highly conflicted about his superheroic methods. During his meditation states, or when hes debating with his mentor Aristotle Rodor, Vic controls his anger and disavows violence. But when investigating crimes around the city, he constantly feels compelled to fight and even kill, to give criminal scum what they deserve.

ONeil and Cowan acknowledged their characters tangled lineage in 1988, with an issue in which Vic reads a copy of Watchmen while on a plane. Though impressed by the heavy stuff he finds, Vic drifts off to sleep and dreams that he is Rorschach. Although a man in the dream sacrifices himself to save Vic, this hybrid character cannot call him a hero. Maybe there are no heroes and no villains, either, Question/Rorschach opines. Maybe there is not one damn villain in the world.

Thats a concept unfamiliar to not only Rorschach and Ditkos Question, but to superheroes in general. Whether it be Green Arrow, with whom the Question teams later in that issue, or Looking Glasss partner Sister Night, superheroes make distinctions between good guys and bad guys, between the moral good of harming a villain and harming the innocent. But while Vic gets into a fight in nearly every issue of his 80s series, ONeil and Cowan never make him a clear hero. Hes a broken man who cant always tell the difference between himself and the villains.

In the original Watchmen, Moore and Gibbons imagined superheroes as sad people who use costumed adventures to avoid their problems. That concept returns in Sister Night, the protagonist of Lindelofs remix. Sister Night isnt just a good cop looking for justice; shes a deeply violent woman whose simplistic morality obscures her bad deeds.

Little Fear of Lightning shows us that Looking Glass is less like Sister Night or Rorschach, and more like ONeil and Cowans Question. The episode opens with a flashback to young Wade as a Jehovahs Witness missionary in 1985, certain that the world is about to end. But it ends in 2019, with Wade, whos spent three decades living in constant terror that the interdimensional squid that nearly destroyed New York will return, learning that it was all a hoax. Disillusioned and shattered, he betrays Sister Night and delivers her into the clutches of the FBI. As they come to take her away, Wade looks up at his partner and asks, Is anything true?

Thats something Rorschach would never ask. Nor, it seems, would Sister Night or any of her fellow costumed cops. These heroes see right from wrong, and would never compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon.

But as we watch Wade pull the silver mask over his sorrowful face, we know that Looking Glass cannot believe in such certainties. He doesnt have answers. He only has questions.

Link:
How the Question's evolution from right-wing vigilante to Zen Buddhist inspired Watchmen's Looking Glass. - Slate

As Jennifer Aniston broke the Internet by joining Instagram and getting 1.4 million followers in the first five hours, causing the site to crash, and as millions of fans around the world celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the television series Friends this fall, theres one thing worth noting:

Not every Buddhist is a fan.

To many of us, the show was a rolling mental health crisis, says Boston Lama Surya Das, the founder of the Dzogchen Foundation and author of the new childrens bookThe Yeti and the Jolly Lama, (When the legendary Yeti terrorizes a small Tibetan village, the local lamaa cave-dwelling, meditating hermitshows us howgenerosity,patience,and asense of belonging can turn an Abominable Snowman into an adorable one.)

According to Das, who is called The Western Lama by Tibets Dalai Lama,The Friends are silo-ed city apartment dwellers who dont travel, relate to whats outside their area, and seem to have little or no social conscience or ambitions and aspirations. They are often petty and immature, have little or no health consciousness or environmental concerns, dont seem very creative or talented, and their friendships and loves are all they seem to have.

They are rarely if ever in the moment.

AND JOEY DOESNT SHARE FOOD.

The exception, says Das, might be the loving, kindness-filled Phoebe, typecast as the groups airhead.

Phoebe is free and unedited, spontaneous and delightful, goodhearted, Das says. Perhaps the best Buddhist term that might apply to her is the famous and controversial crazy wisdom that the Buddhist pioneer Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche coined and used to great effect in the 70s and 80s.

According to Das, Phoebe has what Tara Wagner of The Daily Positive calls radical honesty.

Instead of taking responsibility for other peoples emotions and reaction, she was radically honest

When faced with a direct uncomfortable question she never sugar-coats things to avoid causing awkwardness or embarrassment, he says. Instead of taking responsibility for other peoples emotions and reaction, she was radically honest, believing that the truth will set you free, even if it makes people angry. (Your collective dating record reads like a whos who of human crap.)

And she clearly has great karma, says Das. In The One With the Thumb, when Phoebes bank gave her $500 and a clock radio by mistake and refused to take it back, she gave the money and clock to a crazy homeless woman, who bought her a can of soda to thank her. The soda contained a severed thumb, and the soda company gave her $7,000 in compensation, says Das. Talk about what goes around, comes around.

WBTV

Coincidentally, a friend of Das in France was over-credited 2,000 Francs by her bank in the 80s when he lived there for eight years in silent contemplation in a Tibetan cloister. She asked the Elder head lama, a Tibetan, and he said: Keep it, unless they ask for it back. Use it generously for good deeds. You mustve done something to receive this little boon.

According to Das, it is hard to quantify karma, but the general principle of sowing what you reap applies: Who the You is and in what decade or lifetime is part of the mysterious equation.

it is hard to quantify karma, but the general principle of sowing what you reap applies

Perhaps Phoebes good Karma was in return for the loving kindness she showed by acting as surrogate mother for her half-brother and his wifes triplets, Das says, or for the care she gives to animals, another Buddhist value.One of the most relatable things about Phoebe is her passion for animals. Not only is she a vegetarian, but shes also against fur unless its a family heirloom, of course, says Das. And we are forever indebted to Phoebe for the Smelly Cat song.

As to rest, says the Lama, Phoebe clearly had some major Buddhist beliefs. In The One With The Cat, Phoebe found a cat that she believed was the reincarnation of her mom.Reincarnation is not only a major tenet of Buddhism, but of Hinduism and many New Age philosophies as well. It was nice to get a shout out to the countrys many religions, even if the writers did mean it mockingly, he says.

Das recalls a recent tweet of composer Lin-Manuel Miranda:

He hopes if the Friends ever do reunite, they will strive to be present and want more.

Meanwhile, heres some helpful Buddhist practices that might help the rest of the gang:

Joey: Could use and start with focusing meditation like Mindfulness of Breathing, a concentrative and mind-quieting meditation practice. Sometimes called Breath Watching, and even using breath counting in zen sitting if needed.

Ross: Buddha Manjusris Wisdom mantra chanting (co-meditation with sound and prana), for sharpening discriminating awareness and developing discernment and wise judgment.

Rachel: Equanimity and detachment meditation, observing impermanence and the ephemeral and contingent nature of things

Monica: Loving-kindness benevolence meditation (Metta), wishing well for others and developing empathic compassion for others as just like ourselves in wanting and needing what we do and suffering from ignorance, anxiety, doubt and insecurity.

Chandler: Mindful anger management and The Sacred Pause (consider before you (re)act.)

The Friends were played by actors Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer (and with Paul Rudd).

Lama Surya Das is the best-selling author of Awakening the Buddha Within and a leading voice in Western Buddhism. The founder of the Dzogchen Center in Cambridge, Mass., his latest book is a childrens book called The Yeti and the Jolly Lama. Tibets Dalai Lama calls him the Western Lama. He is a resident of Cambridge, Mass.

Read the original post:
'Friends': Phoebe, the Buddhist Beacon in an Otherwise Rolling Mental Health Crisis - LIVING LIFE FEARLESS

Its the end of the semester, final papers and projects are piling up and youre ready to pull your hair out. Mental health is just as important as physical health, stress is never good and sometimes the best thing to do is just relax.

Finding a way to relax is easier said than done, but music can easily help students destress before finals and is one of the most accessible stress-relieving tools. Thanks to the advent of streaming, music for stress relief is affordable, you can listen to it while you study and it wont force you to break a sweat like a run would.

Whether you decide to study, relax or even sleep to these, you should throw on these albums recommended by The Spectrums arts desk and let all your stress and anxiety wash away with the music.

John Martyn - Bless the Weather (1971)

British folk singer John Martyns tranquil voice sounds and feels like a gentle breeze on a cool summers night. Bless the Weather is the audio equivalent to a trip to the spa, as soothing melody after soothing melody melts away your worries.

The music here is simply gorgeous and infinitely comforting - as if the songs were written specifically for you by a close friend. Without raising its voice above a whisper, Bless the Weather seamlessly blends folk, jazz, blues and psychedelia to satisfy a wide variety of listeners. This album is an absolute must-listen for those seeking relaxation.

Jesu - Conqueror (2007)

Courtesy of Hydra Head Records

Conquer your stress with this fantastically unique record that melds lush soundscapes with massive waves of guitars. Songs like Transfigure, Stanlow and Medicine completely envelop the listener in comforting blankets of synths, guitars and ethereal vocals, while tracks like Weightless Horizontal and Brighteyes induce a serene, trance-like state.

Conqueror, at times, boasts riffs that rival the density of the heaviest bands around, but the album never betrays its beauty and calming atmosphere. Turn the volume up as loud as you can tolerate and give in to Jesus Conqueror to allow its otherworldly magic to take effect.

Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten (1991)

Courtesy of RC Records

Serene and gentle music will certainly help alleviate your concerns, but sometimes you need to put on some seriously p----d-off jams and let it all out. Suffocations seminal death metal release Effigy of the Forgotten is the perfect rage-infused album for this.

This record is 37 minutes of blissful brutality. It is even cited as the first album to feature slam riffs, and oh boy does it slam. By the end of the opening track Liege of Inveracity, youll be ready to run straight through a wall.

After the closer Jesus Wept, that 10-page English paper youve been stressing over will seem like an anthill compared to this mountain of riffage. Do yourself a favor and let Suffocation suffocate all of your stress and anxiety.

Aldous Harding - Designer (2019)

Courtesy of 4ad Records

The second album by New Zealand folk artist Aldous Harding is one of the most meditative and relaxing albums of the decade. At times, it recalls the rootsy pop rock of The Beatles (aka The White Album), the third Velvet Underground album and even occasionally Bon Ivers work.

The instrumental palette is always tasteful, with acoustic and electric guitars, reserved drums, peppy basslines, strings and Hardings soft vocals. Opener Fixture Picture is the clear highlight, but on tracks like Zoo Eyes, Harding shows off her impressive vocal range and ability to create some of the best music for just chilling out to.

Plus, this album has some of the most peculiar but greatest music videos of all time attached to it.

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1992)

Courtesy of Apollo Records

Have you ever needed to get in the zone and just get a paper or study session over with? Have you ever needed a soundtrack to go along with it? Look no further than electronic artist Aphex Twins magnum opus.

Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is 74 minutes of hypnotic, cold and clinical music unlike anything that came before it. Contrary to the title, almost none of it is ambient music and is closer to early EDM if anything.

It sounds like it was recorded in a cave converted into a lab where microbiologists perform some of the most complex experiments thinkable. Its also relatively danceable, believe it or not.

Go up to the fourth or fifth floor of Lockwood, get a desk, put this on your earbuds and watch your productivity skyrocket. Its gotten me through more marathon paper sessions than I can count.

If this album doesn't satisfy your desire for productivity, try his slower and more disturbing 1994 album Selected Ambient Works Volume II. Its almost three hours of creepy ambient music but just as good for getting work done.

The arts desk can be reached at arts@ubspectrum.com.

See original here:

Five albums to reduce your stress - University at Buffalo The Spectrum