{"id":712,"date":"2005-10-03T22:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-04T02:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vmalt\/?p=712"},"modified":"2005-12-05T21:06:15","modified_gmt":"2005-12-06T02:06:15","slug":"happy-new-year-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/happy-new-year-3","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks for sticking around, dear reader! I just wrapped up the October ish, just in time for the Jewy New Year! Shana tova!<\/p>\n<p>Sorry I haven&#8217;t written much lately. There were plenty of things I could&#8217;ve written about, like these two items:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Al Qaeda or Al Capone?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>What is up with all these <a href=\"http:\/\/www.adetocqueville.com\/200509261800.j8qi0m127462.htm\" target=\"_blank\">car-bombings in Lebanon<\/a>? Did the Federation leave a copy of &#8220;Chicago Mobs of the Twenties&#8221; behind after their last trip?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">In Drugs We Trust, or, The Crank-Driven Life<\/span><\/p>\n<p>After Brian Nichols went bananas and killed a bunch of people in an Atlanta courthouse, he took Ashley Smith hostage. The &#8220;nice&#8221; narrative was that she pulled out a copy of &#8220;The Purpose-Driven Life&#8221; and helped talk Nichols into surrendering after they read a chapter called &#8220;Using What God Gave Me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, <a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/wireStory?id=1165044\" target=\"_blank\">she was using a little more than that<\/a>. When Nichols asked her for some weed, Smith said she didn&#8217;t have any. Fortunately, she had some crystal meth stashed away, so Nichols was able to party down some, and Smith was able to rededicate her life to God, since Nichols bogarted her stash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks for sticking around, dear reader! I just wrapped up the October ish, just in time for the Jewy New Year! Shana tova! Sorry I haven&#8217;t written much lately. There were plenty of things I could&#8217;ve written about, like these two items: Al Qaeda or Al Capone? What is up with all these car-bombings in &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/happy-new-year-3\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Happy New Year!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-bu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16795,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-588-randy-fertel","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":0},"title":"Episode 588 &#8211; Randy Fertel","author":"Gil","date":"May 6, 2024","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 588: Randy Fertel \"The paradox of spontaneity is that it's rhetorical while claiming to be free of rhetoric.\" With WINGING IT: Improv's Power & Peril in the Age of Trump (Spring Publications), author, professor & philanthropist Randy Fertel explores the role of improvisation & spontaneity in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/fertel2024comp.jpg?fit=1035%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/fertel2024comp.jpg?fit=1035%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/fertel2024comp.jpg?fit=1035%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/fertel2024comp.jpg?fit=1035%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":902,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/i-knew-it-was-the-coptics-all-along","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":1},"title":"I knew it was the Coptics all along!","author":"Gil","date":"April 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's an article about the \"Gospel of Judas,\" replete with some great quotes: \"Whether or not one agrees with it, or finds it interesting or reprehensible, it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s an enormously interesting perspective on it that some follower of Jesus in the early Christian movement obviously thought was significant.\" \"It really would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8303,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-look-day","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":2},"title":"Podcast &#8211; Look Day","author":"Gil","date":"October 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show: Sam Gross - Look Day \"One thing I tell young cartoonists: a magazine is like going out on a date, and a book is like getting married. If you're going out on a date, you don't need a lawyer. If you're doing a book, you get a\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sgrosscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sgrosscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sgrosscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sgrosscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sgrosscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9658,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-169-david-mikics","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":3},"title":"Episode 169 &#8211; David Mikics","author":"Gil","date":"May 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #169: David Mikics \"These days, we tend to think of identity as something chosen; we put on certain masks or we identify as this or that, culturally, ethnically or politically. Bellow is interested in something much more basic: who we really are.\" David Mikics joins the show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Chicago&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Chicago","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/chicago"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/mikics2016comp.jpg?fit=1124%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/mikics2016comp.jpg?fit=1124%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/mikics2016comp.jpg?fit=1124%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/mikics2016comp.jpg?fit=1124%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/mikics2016comp.jpg?fit=1124%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":835,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/from-buttman-to-superman","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":4},"title":"From Buttman to Superman","author":"Gil","date":"February 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"VM contributor and all-around good guy Tom Spurgeon recently posted a neat review of a Superman comic on his comicsreporter.com site. I don't read much in the superhero genre anymore, but I've been a comics reader since I was a little kid. I'll flip through issues on the newsstand, trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":372,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":5},"title":"ObservationsI've now spent a minimum\u2026","author":"Gil","date":"September 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"ObservationsI've now spent a minimum of several days in three European capitols in the past 5 weeks. Here are two things I've noticed:Europeans only have two kinds of Coca-Cola: Coke and Coke Light (Diet Coke). A couple of places had Vanilla Coke, but it was rare. This contrasts with the\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\/712","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}