{"id":1101,"date":"2006-09-04T08:54:21","date_gmt":"2006-09-04T13:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading\/"},"modified":"2006-09-04T08:54:21","modified_gmt":"2006-09-04T13:54:21","slug":"unrequired-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stuff I meant to post about in the past week:<\/p>\n

Writing about restaurants in New Orleans (with a go-to mention of Finis Shelnutt):<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cWhen people are still mucking out their houses, chefs are living in FEMA trailers, and others are finding out they are going to get screwed by their insurance company, I don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t want to be the guy who is writing about how the foie gras is not quite up to snuff,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Why bashing Wal-Mart is not a good strategy for the Dems:<\/a><\/p>\n

By restraining inflation, intense competition of the sort that Wal-Mart provides eases pressure on the Federal Reserve to do the job with higher interest rates. Note the paradox: At one level, intense competition destroys jobs, as some companies can’t compete, but the larger effect is to increase total job creation by fostering favorable economic conditions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Get your picture taken with Jesus.<\/a><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

NO,LA: It’s the civil engineering, stupid!<\/a><\/p>\n

Why didn’t the Corps design a consistent, redundant system? In large part, the reason was foot dragging — or worse — by pols on the state, local, and federal levels. In some cases, political opposition prevented the Corps from seizing land to build sturdier foundations. Plus, Louisiana’s local levee boards were lousy stewards. Levee officials were political animals, not engineering experts, and sometimes proved more interested in running ancillary “economic development” projects than working with the Corps to make sure the levees were up to their task. (It’s not because New Orleans is poor and black: the levees protect New Orleans’s richer, whiter suburbs too.) In addition, the Corps warned that many of New Orleans’s manmade canals, obsolete for years, should be closed or at least gated -\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to no avail. Moreover, when the Corps, along with state officials, came to understand that wetlands restoration is a vital part of the flood protection system, not a tree-hugger’s afterthought, Congress balked at spending the required $14 billion over several decades for coastal restoration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The Chinese village of Dafen is like the opposite of William Gaddis’ The Recognitions<\/em>:<\/a><\/p>\n

In just a few years, Dafen has become the leading production center for cheap oil paintings. An estimated 60 percent of the world’s cheap oil paintings are produced within Dafen’s four square kilometers (1.5 square miles). Last year, the local art factories exported paintings worth \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c2\u00ac28 million ($36 million). Foreign art dealers travel to the factory in the south of the communist country from as far away as Europe and the United States, ordering copies of famous paintings by the container. [. . .]\n

Some five million oil paintings are produced in Dafen every year. Between 8,000 and 10,000 painters toil in the workshops. The numbers are estimates: No one knows the exact figure, which increases by about 100 new painters every year. But it’s not just professional copy painters who are drawn to Dafen — graduates of China’s most renowned art academy also come here. They complete only a small number of paintings a month and earn as much as \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c2\u00ac1,000 ($1,282).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

A guy used the graphics engine of the computer game Half Life to make a video tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house.<\/a><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Go see Little Miss Sunshine<\/a> when you get the chance. We caught it yesterday. So did a couple of children sitting in the row behind us. They were less than 10 years old, and I’m sorta wondering if their mom noticed the “R” rating on the movie, or just thought it would be a fun flick about children’s beauty pageants, with that guy from The Daily Show. She may’ve been a little surprised when Alan Arkin was snorting heroin in one of the opening scenes. Anyway, it was a really wonderful flick, with a punchline that almost had us crying with laughter.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

And have a good holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stuff I meant to post about in the past week: Writing about restaurants in New Orleans (with a go-to mention of Finis Shelnutt): \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cWhen people are still mucking out their houses, chefs are living in FEMA trailers, and others are finding out they are going to get screwed by their insurance company, I don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t want … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Unrequired Reading”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22,27,8,17,20,3,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-big-business","category-new-orleans","category-politics-explicit","category-religion","category-suburbs","category-urban-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-hL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1057,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/bush-saves-new-orleans","url_meta":{"origin":1101,"position":0},"title":"Bush Saves New Orleans","author":"Gil","date":"July 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night, we had CMT's Hee Haw Weekend Marathon on while Amy worked up a dose of Emeril's spicy tomato glaze. My parents didn't watch Hee Haw much when I was a kid, although my dad developed an unhealthy attachment to Willie Nelson in the 1980s (unhealthy inasmuch as he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1114,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/will-on-wal","url_meta":{"origin":1101,"position":1},"title":"Will on Wal","author":"Gil","date":"September 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"George Will on the Democrats' strategy of attacking Wal-Mart: Liberals think their campaign against Wal-Mart is a way of introducing the subject of class into America's political argument, and they are more correct than they understand. Their campaign is liberalism as condescension. It is a philosophic repugnance toward markets, because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":943,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/take-it-to-the-bank","url_meta":{"origin":1101,"position":2},"title":"Take it to the bank","author":"Gil","date":"May 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Robert Reich, Clinton's secretary of labor, argues for Wal-Mart's inclusion into the banking\/credit field: I say, let Wal-Mart under the tent. Commercial banking is now one of the stodgiest and least-competitive parts of the American economy. Fees and prices are way too high. Service is lousy. The industry needs a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1326,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/im-the-agent-orange-of-change-agents","url_meta":{"origin":1101,"position":3},"title":"I’m the agent orange of change agents","author":"Gil","date":"February 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This article on BizWeek about the downfall of Wal-Mart ad exec Julie Roehm makes for entertaining reading. And it's worthwhile to note that advertising people really do talk like this: Wal-Mart, she says \"would rather have had a painkiller [than] taken the vitamin of change.\" What has she learned? \"The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1159,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/dont-win-ben-steins-money","url_meta":{"origin":1101,"position":4},"title":"Don’t win Ben Stein’s money","author":"Gil","date":"October 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Ben Stein on making money: You make money by making money for people who already have money. This is another reason finance is such a well-paid field. One good day\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s work for a man who has a $100 million account you are trading is worth far more than a lifetime\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":694,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/heading-in","url_meta":{"origin":1101,"position":5},"title":"Heading in","author":"Gil","date":"October 15, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"We're heading for NO,LA in a few minutes. We spent yesterday visiting Amy's extended family, and hearing lots of stories about the last few weeks.There were plenty of tales about the day-to-day disruptions, the massive lines at the Wal-Mart, the limited menus and lack of napkins at some restaurants, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}