Kids these days

Last week, I was on the subway for the commute home. There were two kids, probably 12 or 13 year sold, standing by the door. As we neared a stop, the older of the two casually leaned forward and spat on the door. No reason, just wanton disregard for public propriety, property and hygiene. I caught the kids I and glared (okay, I may have mouthed "you little fucking shit" at him), which much amused the little fucker to no end. Now, this morning, I read about some guy getting assaulted at random by a mob of tweens in Washington, D.C., while no one lifted a finger to help. It got me thinking:  are kids shittier today?

Kelly Grant, debunked

The Globe writer takes aim at the Toronto Environmental Alliance's comparison of Transit City to Rob Ford's transit plan and fails, spectacularly.

The nut graf:

Would Transit City really serve that many more riders? Sure, if you base your map-doodling on a version of the plan that’s mostly unfunded and mostly dead, especially now that Mr. Miller has vamoosed.

The trouble with TEA’s map and with the Pembina Institute figures that underlie them, is that the numbers include whole lines, or parts of lines, that Queen’s Park hasn’t committed to funding yet. In a city where we once filled in a subway hole we'd already started digging, unfunded crayon lines on a map are meaningless.

The problem? Ford's Sheppard subway extension has yet to recieve Ontario's blessing. As it stands, its apples to apples.

Wrapped up in books

Another 2011 target to hit: read these books. I'll add more as I go.

1. The Extra Man — Jonathan Ames
2. The Bicycle Diaries — David Byrne
3. The Food of France — Wayverly Root
4. Girl Crazy — Russell Smith
5. The Cloud Atlas — David Mitchell
6. Nikolski — Nicholas Dickner
7. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running — Haruki Murakami
8. Juliette, Naked — Nick Hornby
9. Never Let Me Go — Kazuo Ishiguro
10. Super Sad True Love Story — Gary Shteyngart
11. Freedom — Jonathan Franzen
12. Chronic City — Jonathan Lethem
13. Girls to the Front — Sara Marcus

*updated August 25, 2011