ORGANAttempting to compare the United States to a large bank which was deemed a ‘systemic risk’ to the financial system in the latter half of 2008 is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. While the former can print money and raise an army to achieve its aims, the latter is hamstrung by regulators and [...]
Much ink has been spilled this week about the Solicitor General Donald Verilli’s appearance before the Supreme Court to argue that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is constitutional. If you haven’t listened to the oral arguments, you can do so on the C-Span website–they also include helpful on-screen indicators of which justice is asking [...]
is right on the money.
Remember when Steve Jobs died? Remember how Apple itself announced his death? We might come to see the late company man’s disintegration as his crowning managerial achievement. A less notable CEO’s family might have announced his passing through a friend or personal representative; Jobs’ own death was conveyed in much the same way a new [...]
One wonders whether the past week or so will go down as a watershed moment in early 21st-century history. The death of one of the avatars of late-20th century electronic consumer culture, the attempted assassination of a Saudi ambassador, and of as-yet-undetermined importance the ongoing protests in city centers around the Western world. ‘Occupy Wall [...]
Much ado about the ‘occupy wall street’ protests in Zucchotti park in lower Manhattan. As a way of expressing class resentment it’s only a difference in type (not kind, if the distinction matters to you) from the tea party protests and the muffled groans heard during John McCain’s concession speech at an Arizona country club. [...]
At first glance it’s difficult to tell what you’re watching with “Guy on a Buffalo”. Is this footage taken from some strange documentary or is it something made using the voodoo of Premier and After Effects? At one point he appears to punch a live cougar, let’s not forget riding a damn buffalo throughout the [...]
Six months ago I wrote about how Google defies the traditional boundaries between corporation and public entity: Google as a corporation defies the traditional hierarchical notions of control because of its seemingly self-consciousness moral behaviour (“Don’t be Evil” as a corporate dictum). Deleuze believes this to be a “horrifying” development, because it implies our collective [...]
How much is it fair to ask from our nation? Mere freedom? A job? A welfare check? For me this question isn’t so much difficult to answer because of politics but because of nostalgia. I do not think that I am unique for consulting my perceptions of the past in arriving at an opinion about [...]
This week’s meme is one I wish had grown a bit more popular, or even evolved somehow. However, it’s limited to just a picture and a video, both of which I found to be pretty amusing in their raw state. A Libyan rebel found his way into the royal compound and into Muammar Gaddafis bedroom. He [...]
Hometown politics: the truth is quite close to the surface in places like Albuquerque. An Albuquerque resident (and illegal alien) saved a 6-year-old girl from abduction last week. As his status came to light, the usual theatrics of hometown diplomacy (key to the city, first pitch at minor league baseball match) were surpassed by the [...]
I was annoyed by this piece in the opinion pages of this weekend’s New York Times: We prefer knowing to thinking because knowing has more immediate value. It keeps us in the loop, keeps us connected to our friends and our cohort. Ideas are too airy, too impractical, too much work for too little reward. [...]
A delightful piece in last week’s New Yorker about Michelle Bachmann. She’s quoted: He [God] is the Lord of all of life. Every bit of life, including sociology, theology, biology, politics. You name the area and walk of life. He is the Lord of life. And so, as we went back to our studies, we looked [...]
Take a look at these renders of Apple’s proposed new ‘campus’ in Cupertino. Boy, would I hate to be the planning commissioner forced to decide whether to approve or disapprove. I’m surprised no one has made aesthetic comparisons between the new building and the Pentagon: take away the tasteful synthetic Savannah and replace it with [...]
I can’t help but be somewhat unimpressed with the riots in London. There seem to be more news photographers than there are actual hooligans. My first thought (like any good ‘local, nutritious food’ fascist) is that the rioters’ relative lack of panache is down to their food. London in the 1970′s ate sausage and beans. [...]
Last week, I wrote that Public Organ would be taking a permanent siesta. Of its old form, this remains true. But even though I’m about to start Law School and as most of the old contributors pursue other things, my need to give aphoristic form to my assorted thoughts remains. Even though I promised Public [...]
You probably haven’t noticed that there haven’t been many new posts on Public Organ, probably because you haven’t been reading it. To the assembled non-audience, however, I offer this apology. Like Rabbi Loew’s famous Golem in the Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Public Organ will rise again when marginally-educated and high-brow audiences have nowhere to [...]
Malachi Rempen is a writer and genius formerly based in Lyon. He is now debased and uprooted. He seeks shelter here.
Malachi Rempen is a writer and genius based in Lyon. He blogs here.
Perhaps by dint of my age or station, or perhaps by neglect or a concerted outpouring of will, I have arrived at a life philosophy. I think about certain things during the day, sleep mostly dreamless nights, and live an unarguably comfortable existence, at a safe distance from my fellow man. My philosophy is this: [...]