acidreflux
Originally uploaded by raccuia.
I've been working on what I call the Villain/Affliction project. I thought that names of common illnesses sounded like comic book villains. Here is Acid Reflux.
This is a project that has been slow to come to fruition. It will, as the story unfolds, talk about my experiences as an academic and biases against visual texts - both external and self-imposed. The comic book format references some of the other works discussed - Palestine, Persepolis, and Maus - and supports the notion of alternative methodologies such as visual auto-ethnographies.
Click to see a larger version
Click to see a larger version
It is interesting to read/watch mainstream news these days. It seems there is some strange myopic syndrome wherein those who run mainstream news outlets are unable to see the economic situation outside their own luxury. When it hurts the middle class to gas up or, now, by weekly groceries, the story is pretty big. The housing market has been in meltdown and banking, now, is suffering similar fate. Yet the stories we get are more often than not concentrated on the suffering in the financial markets.
This isn't anything new. A couple of articles online, however, hint at the scope of the damage and the seriousness of this:
• Marketwatch has a commentary on how, with all the bailouts, America is becoming a 'socialist' state. The argument here is that the free market abuses have, ironically, brought about the conservatives' nightmare - social programs. The problem I find with this article is that it fails to mention that those really benefiting from the social programs are the banks and the lenders who are the very people who got us into the mess in the first place. This is all done at the taxpayer expense, right? Is the problem really being solved?
• I love this rant about the notion that shareholders must see a profit. Writer Daniel Davies yanks back the curtain on a crappy system that doesn't work and has serious ramifications for workers.
• Finally, Dan Schechter lays it all out and tells us that instead of praise for rescue of capitalism we should be rethinking and rebuilding a post-capital society.
This isn't anything new. A couple of articles online, however, hint at the scope of the damage and the seriousness of this:
• Marketwatch has a commentary on how, with all the bailouts, America is becoming a 'socialist' state. The argument here is that the free market abuses have, ironically, brought about the conservatives' nightmare - social programs. The problem I find with this article is that it fails to mention that those really benefiting from the social programs are the banks and the lenders who are the very people who got us into the mess in the first place. This is all done at the taxpayer expense, right? Is the problem really being solved?
• I love this rant about the notion that shareholders must see a profit. Writer Daniel Davies yanks back the curtain on a crappy system that doesn't work and has serious ramifications for workers.
• Finally, Dan Schechter lays it all out and tells us that instead of praise for rescue of capitalism we should be rethinking and rebuilding a post-capital society.
There has been a lot of press in the last 24 hours about Cuil, a new search engine created by former Google employees.
While I welcome any challenge to the Google empire, I tried Cuil this morning and was really very disappointed. It claims to search gajillions of pages but couldn't find the breadth or depth that, erm, Google does. For one search, it also list 2000 or so results but couldn't display them all and only gave me two pages of results.
I hope Cuil's creators rectify these problems so that they can live up to the hype they've received.
While I welcome any challenge to the Google empire, I tried Cuil this morning and was really very disappointed. It claims to search gajillions of pages but couldn't find the breadth or depth that, erm, Google does. For one search, it also list 2000 or so results but couldn't display them all and only gave me two pages of results.
I hope Cuil's creators rectify these problems so that they can live up to the hype they've received.
RANT: In an era when we are facing so many problems, it seems ridiculous to me the press that the new iPhone is getting. Give me a break. God did not open the heavens and put that piece of telephony/computing tech on earth to change our civilization for the better. But you'd never know that from what you read/see/hear. Yes, it is an interesting device but every friggin' day it seems there is an interesting new piece of technology introduced. It's all fetish. The new iPhone is a product that a company is selling for profit. Get over it. Buy it if you must but, please, look at the bigger picture and be creative. Demand more from those who will profit from it. What is the point of having a phone with seamless internet connectivity if the internet itself is threatened by corporate control?
Ok. It's 9pm on Sunday. Reading the economic news is definitely not for those with heart conditions. It seems that we are in for some very stormy weather. I can't help but to think (from looking at the Asian Markets tonight) that we are in for something serious tomorrow.
As with all things Bush administration, it never ceases to amaze me just how awful it can get.
As with all things Bush administration, it never ceases to amaze me just how awful it can get.
