A Modest Construct

¶ The Omnivore’s Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan: Publisher: Penguin; Year: 2006; Pages: 464

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of The Omnivore’s Dilemma until I heard it referenced as something that White People Like in… Stuff White People Like. In a turn of events which is far too easy to ridicule, I read it.

Like many of its ilk, The Omnivore’s Dilemma taps a particular sort of (White?) guilt about the inevitable consequences of a modern, technologically-advanced culture. Think of it as Cat’s Cradle, but instead of world-ending weapons, we’re talking instead about the financial perils of agricultural monocultures, the oversaturation of corn as a foodstuff, and the heady thrill of having to shoot your own meat.

¶ Friday Random Ten CLXXIV

The “Avoiding Crowds” edition.

October Tide – [Rain Without End #03] All Painted Cold
Samuel Barber – [Orchestral Works, Volume 3 #06] [op. 28] – III. Pas de Deux (A Corner of the Ballroom)
Low – [The Great Destroyer #03] Everybody’s Song
Neurosis – [Given to the Rising #02] Fear and Sickness
Elend – [A World in Their Screams #01] Ophis Puthôn
Solefald – [Red For Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part 1 #02] Survival of the Outlaw
Agalloch – [Ashes Against the Grain #03] This White Mountain on Which You Will Die
Regina Spektor – [11:11 #07] wasteside
Sigur Rós – [Ágætis Byrjun #05] Ný Batterí
Sufjan Stevens – [Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State #06] Tahquamenon Falls

§3386 · November 28, 2008 · (No comments) · Tags: Friday Random Ten, memes, music

¶ Wednesday’s Word: million

million: n. The cardinal number 1,000,000
billion: n. The cardinal number 1,000,000,000
trillion: n. The cardinal number 1,000,000,000,000

We’re all pretty familiar with millions and billions and trillions. But what you may not know is that until 1974, a British billion and an American billion were two very different numbers.

¶ Information Systems and Perceived Locii of Control

See this in PDF format; revised 28 October 2008.

As a professional working in Information Technology, I often encounter hesitation and trepidation on the part of functional users to engage my employer’s information system, an ERP system known as Banner. The engagement of technology—especially for older generations of users, in which was not inculcated the idea of information systems (i.e. the Internet) as pleasurable or entertaining—has been a focus of information systems and organizational behavior research for some time. In much the same way as MacGregor’s landmark work (Montana & Charnov, 2000, pp. 251-52) split the concept of innate employee behavior into two extremes—essentially wicked and lazy on one end, earnest and self-actualizing on the other (“Abrahamic,” to borrow Herzberg’s phrase)—so traditional IT adoption research has rather myopically divided all impetuses for system use into either endogenous or exogenous antecedents of behavior.

¶ Friday Random Ten CLXXIII

The “Impending tryptophan” edition

Liquid Tension Experiment – [Liquid Tension Experiment #11] Three Minute Warning Pt. III
Paatos – [Silence Of Another Kind #06] Procession Of Fools
The Flower Kings – [Unfold The Future CD1 #01] The Truth Will Set You Free
Insomnium – [Above the weeping world #07] Last statement
Foo Fighters – [In Your Honour CD2 #10] Razor
Blindside – [A Thought Crushed My Mind #11] Nothing But Skin
The Tea Party – [Seven Circles #03] One Step Closer Away
Kayo Dot – [Choirs Of The Eye #02] A Pitcher Of Summer
In Flames – [The Jester Race / Black Ash Inheritance #11] Goliaths Disarm Their Davids
Anton Bruckner – [Symphonie Nr. 7 / Te Deum CD2 #07] Te Deum – IV – Salvum fac. Mooderato – Allegro moderato

§3344 · November 21, 2008 · 1 comment · Tags: Friday Random Ten, memes, music