aaronleafdotcom: Archive

“We have had trouble communicating our intentions to the public, especially in recent days,” said Frot. “If we offended or shocked people — particularly in the English community — we want you to know that it wasn’t intentional and we want to make a sincere apology for that.” —

Quebec Soccer Federation reverses turban ban - Montreal - CBC News

Can someone more knowledgeable about Quebec tell me what all this weird double-talk is about? Is the Quebec Soccer Federation actually trying to spin this as just another episode in Anglo cultural hegemony? Are you trying to tell me there was no French-language criticism of the turban ban?

Jun 15, 20130 notes

Jun 11, 2013215 notes

Play

Jun 10, 20130 notes

#technology solves everything

“The American government, and its democracy, are flawed institutions. But our system offers legal options to disgruntled government employees and contractors. They can take advantage of federal whistle-blower laws; they can bring their complaints to Congress; they can try to protest within the institutions where they work. But Snowden did none of this. Instead, in an act that speaks more to his ego than his conscience, he threw the secrets he knew up in the air—and trusted, somehow, that good would come of it. We all now have to hope that he’s right.” —

Edward Snowden, the N.S.A. Leaker, Is No Hero : The New Yorker

Toobin is revealing himself to be a smug sack of establishment bullshit. Perhaps he was before? I tend to skip any of the inside-politics stuff in the New Yorker. Or anywhere for that matter. The Slate Political Gabfest is another source of meaningless “beltway analysis.”

Knowing more about the corrupt inner workings of Washington doesn’t give Toobin, or anyone, a moral advantage over the rest of us.

Jun 10, 20131 note

#politics #NSA #Washington

Jun 08, 2013289 notes

Jun 08, 20132 notes

Recently

I got a flu shot for the first time ever last fall and it sustained me until two weeks ago when I caught an uncomfortable sore throat from my significant other then took a twelve hour train to Toronto to plan a wedding.

At one point, lying in my Toronto bed with the humidity at maximum, I thought maybe my Malaria was coming back but I talked myself out of it and then dreamed of serrated edges until five in the morning.

I started the summer semester last week with a class on toxic chemicals and their regulation. I haven’t taken a science class since high school and, halfway through the first lecture, had to ask what a chemical was. It was either that or take out my phone and Google it. Not sure which one makes me look dumber.

Now I’m at home reading everyone’s tweets about the fun New York things they’re doing and I’m planning on cleaning up a bit. Feeding the cat perhaps.

Jun 08, 20133 notes

“The West Bank is often in the limelight making political headlines, not gastronomic ones. But hidden beneath political and religious agendas, are a small group of artisans turning out various boutique edibles.” —

Kosher Traveler: Inside the West Bank

Haaaaaa oh =(

Jun 06, 20130 notes

Jun 06, 201325 notes

“The second consequence was that Toronto’s tight-knit Somali ethnic community became angry. The Canadian media seized on the Star’s repeated description of the owners as “Somali men involved in the drug trade.” The story quickly became about Rob Ford and his “Somali crack dealers,” and the Star’s public editor subsequently criticized the paper for “going overboard” on the references to the Somali community. We don’t know for certain the citizenship or immigration status of the video’s owner, but shortly after the story broke, the intermediary told me: “We’re all Canadians.” —The Rob Ford Crack Video Might Be “Gone”

Jun 04, 20131 note

Jun 02, 2013449 notes

Jun 02, 20137 notes

#rivers #trains

Jun 02, 20131 note

#leopard print #fashion

“By the way, would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split, and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of barroom vernacular, this is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed but attentive. The method may not be perfect, but it is all I have. I think your proofreader is kindly attempting to steady me on my feet, but much as I appreciate the solicitude, I am really able to steer a fairly clear course, provided I get both sidewalks and the street between.” —

Editorial Manners 101: Raymond Chandler Tells The Atlantic Off | Brain Pickings

Ha, love this.

May 25, 20132 notes

“The former Klansman, who agreed to answer questions by e-mail on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Kathy Ford was close to the movement, but he said he couldn’t recall meeting any of the Ford brothers. He described hanging out in the Fords’ basement and being snubbed by Doug Sr. when Ms. Ford invited him to a party on the family boat. Her father, the former Klansman said, clearly did not approve of his beliefs, while she was engaging and fun but hardly a committed soldier in the race war.” —

Globe investigation: The Ford family’s history with drug dealing - The Globe and Mail

The Globe’s investigation into the Ford family’s links to drug dealing is the most delightfully outrageous thing you will read on the scandal.

aaronleafdotcom

June 2013

13 posts

May 2013

49 posts