{"id":5548,"date":"2010-08-20T06:28:08","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T10:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=5548"},"modified":"2010-08-20T06:30:56","modified_gmt":"2010-08-20T10:30:56","slug":"unrequired-reading-august-20-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-august-20-2010","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: August 20, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another week, another bout of Unrequired Reading. You really should get shots for this.<\/p>\n

Ray Kurzweil’s brain may be reverse-engineerable<\/a>, but the rest of us are way too complex for that.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Speaking of oversimplifying technology trends<\/a> . . .<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

You thought the BP oil leak was bad<\/a>? (Don’t get me wrong; it is<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The Life and Death of Meh American Cities<\/a>, as per Bourgeois Surrender.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Speaking of Big City<\/a> . . .<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I think Joe Sacco should get a greyhound instead<\/a>. Or two.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Sweet Zombie Jesus<\/a>!<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

When I used to drive Amy back to her NYC apt. via the Harlem River Drive, we’d laugh over the sign on Roosevelt Island for an apartment building called The Octagon. (It’s a Paul Rudd joke from Anchorman<\/em>.) Now I learn that the entire island has the most awesome trash disposal system ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Here’s a smart Q&A at Five Books with Brink Lindsey on conservatism<\/a>. As in, “not contemporary GOP wackiness.”<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Tenzing Norgay: you can’t spell “sherpa” without s-h-a-r-p<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another week, another bout of Unrequired Reading. You really should get shots for this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[26,1023,17,20,19],"tags":[1121,708,1120,987,1119,1122],"class_list":["post-5548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-fashion","category-politics-explicit","category-religion","category-urban-issues","tag-brink-lindsey","tag-derek-lowe","tag-futurama","tag-joe-sacco","tag-ray-kurzweil","tag-tenzing-norgay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1ru","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2742,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-oct-24-2008","url_meta":{"origin":5548,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Oct. 24, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"October 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Links . . . of the undead! Just click \"more\"! Don't hate the game! Uh . . . man-love the Haider! * * * Jeremiah: right! (And the graveyard is full of indispensable men, Mike!) * * * I don't know if I ever imagined, back in my college anti-hipster\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comic books & strips"","block_context":{"text":"Comic books & strips","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1578,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-july-7-2007","url_meta":{"origin":5548,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: July 7, 2007","author":"Gil","date":"July 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"You know the drill: lots of neat links after \"more\": Like most people, I assumed authoritarian China would overwhelm Hong Kong after the handover. Now I'm starting to think HK's capitalist fervor has infected the rest of the country. Happy 10th anniversary. * * * An Unrequired Reading post without\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Design"","block_context":{"text":"Design","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/design"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1446,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-apr-13-2007","url_meta":{"origin":5548,"position":2},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Apr. 13, 2007","author":"Gil","date":"April 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's my weekly round up links I didn't have the time or inclination to write about! It's the 21 biggest high-tech flops! * * * Heroin: a gateway to pancakes. * * * What makes \"literary fiction\" better than \"regular ol' novels\"? Michael Blowhard opines on the misconceptions of literary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4541,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-oct-16-2009","url_meta":{"origin":5548,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Oct. 16, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"October 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's snowing in mid-October! Up is down! Black is white! Links are here! Just click \"more\"! Self-sabotaging Higgs bosons of the future! (This was a much more interesting time-travel premise than the final issue of Planetary.) * * * Regretsy: the worst of Etsy! * * * NOPD = Not\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":4649,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-13-2009","url_meta":{"origin":5548,"position":4},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 13, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"November 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's another spooky Friday the 13th edition of Unrequired Reading, dear readers! Bad luck for you! Just click \"more\"! Eerie! I mean, \"Eero!\" * * * I was going to title MY novel, \"Ass Meat In France\"! * * * Subtraction rips up the \"Yankees buy championships\" meme by examining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1771,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-9-2007","url_meta":{"origin":5548,"position":5},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 9, 2007","author":"Gil","date":"November 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Unrequired Reading never rests, dear readers! Even when I'm in between business trips! (on to San Diego this Sunday)! Click \"more\" for more! What hath Jane Jacobs wrought? (the writer seems a little surprised that a human being can have thoughts and beliefs that don't all line up perfectly with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5548","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=5548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5549,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5548\/revisions\/5549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}