{"id":1635,"date":"2007-08-24T04:53:47","date_gmt":"2007-08-24T09:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-aug-24-2007\/"},"modified":"2007-08-24T04:55:24","modified_gmt":"2007-08-24T09:55:24","slug":"unrequired-reading-aug-24-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-aug-24-2007","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: Aug. 24, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The links just keep coming, dear readers!<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/innovate\/content\/aug2007\/id20070817_793066.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Whither the skyscraper<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bldgblog.blogspot.com\/2007\/08\/architectural-sustainability.html\" target=\"_blank\">Wither the skyscraper<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>When is a rescue not a rescue? <a href=\"http:\/\/jeffmatthewsisnotmakingthisup.blogspot.com\/2007\/08\/when-gamma-of-beta-begins-to-lose-its.html\" target=\"_blank\">When Goldman Sachs does it<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>Go, <a href=\"http:\/\/bldgblog.blogspot.com\/2007\/08\/derinkuyu-or-allure-of-underground-city.html\" target=\"_blank\">underworld<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>An added benefit of NetFlix: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.subtraction.com\/archives\/2007\/0820_little_shops.php\" target=\"_blank\">avoiding snotty video-store clerks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/id\/2172229\/\" target=\"_blank\">R. Kelly \/ Trapped in the Closet phenomenon<\/a> gets weirder all the time.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>I leave you with one of my favorite cartoonists, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tcj.com\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=667&amp;Itemid=48\" target=\"_blank\">Roger Langridge<\/a>, on art: &#8220;Yeah, well, rereading it, I just thought &#8216;anus scab&#8217; didn&#8217;t sound funny; it didn&#8217;t have a ring for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The links just keep coming, dear readers!<\/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":[25,27,26,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-big-business","category-comics","category-literature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-qn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3794,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-apr-17-2009","url_meta":{"origin":1635,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Apr. 17, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Friday! Go enjoy some links! Just click \"more\"! Get to the point! (the comments are weirdly entertaining on this one, too) * * * Rubber stamp much? (In related news, they should have known the Reflipe W. Thenuz story was a fake when the byline was attributed to Norm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":560,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/fight-the-future","url_meta":{"origin":1635,"position":1},"title":"Fight the Future","author":"Gil","date":"June 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"It's unfortunate that the NY Observer's article-links go dead so quick, and don't get reposted to a free archive setup. Otherwise, I'd like to Ron Rosenbaum's recent columns on the folly of the Freedom Tower. Ron's argument against the tower is simple: who in their right minds are going to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Nicolai Ouroussoff\"","block_context":{"text":"Nicolai Ouroussoff","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/tag\/nicolai-ouroussoff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15139,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-478-rebecca-mead","url_meta":{"origin":1635,"position":2},"title":"Episode 478 &#8211; Rebecca Mead","author":"Gil","date":"March 21, 2022","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 478: Rebecca Mead \"There's a sense of layered history in London, and you can see it written into the streets. You can walk in London and see a skyscraper on one side of you and the Roman wall of the city on the other.\" New Yorker contributor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;literature&quot;","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/meadcomp.jpg?fit=1066%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/meadcomp.jpg?fit=1066%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/meadcomp.jpg?fit=1066%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/meadcomp.jpg?fit=1066%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/meadcomp.jpg?fit=1066%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17844,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-664-glenn-kurtz","url_meta":{"origin":1635,"position":3},"title":"Episode 664 &#8211; Glenn Kurtz","author":"Gil","date":"November 18, 2025","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 664: Glenn Kurtz \"It's a profound question: What are we looking at? If you keep asking that question in a naive and cunning way, it will draw out the history of the world.\" Who were the men who built the Empire State Building? Glenn Kurtz returns to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/kurtz2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C513&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/kurtz2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C513&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/kurtz2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C513&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/kurtz2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C513&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/kurtz2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C513&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1106,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/this-week-in-unrequired-reading","url_meta":{"origin":1635,"position":4},"title":"This week in Unrequired Reading","author":"Gil","date":"September 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Stories that have been sitting in my RSS feed this week: Tim Cavanaugh of Reason magazine muses on the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: And finally, [Star Trek is] a story of a powerful belief in what the franchise represents: the right of individuals, through machinery, weaponry, or barehanded intelligence,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2633,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/crisis-of-infinite-mixed-metaphors","url_meta":{"origin":1635,"position":5},"title":"Crisis of Infinite Mixed Metaphors","author":"Gil","date":"October 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"From this morning's NYPost: The seismic jolt sent through global stock markets yesterday has ratcheted up the pressure on Fed chief Ben Bernanke, New York Federal Reserve Bank President Tim Geithner and SEC chief Chris Cox - three pivotal players who had hoped for a period of post-rescue bill calm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Business&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635","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=1635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}