This just a page for things that I've collected over time. Usually it's sometime that someone else has said, but calls to me. It rings true to my ethos and existence.

It's far from definitive and not organised well, but it's a start to capture what I believe in. This is a continuous work in progress. And no, I don't care if you disagree with anything on this page. It's for me.

I don't wear 🌈 items to tell you who's in my bed.

I don't wear rainbow items to tell you who's in my bed. I wear progress queer flags so the family across the street knows they are safe. So the couple in the restaurant know they aren't alone. So the boy who sees me notice him looking at dresses knows I won't judge. I wear because you make them hide.

This is why I wear these colours.

We have to keep fighting racism.

…there's been so many people that say oh it's better now than it was before.

Oh it's not as bad as it used to be, [but] that's not good enough are you getting stopped by a police on a daily basis? Are you not being allowed into certain shops on a daily basis? Are you crossing the road because you're color of your skin all of them things are because the color of someone's skin?

It leads me down the road to ask you the question:

Would you swap places with someone who's black in today's society would you?

Not the original video as it's been removed, but updated video includes quotes from the original

Dismantling oppression

[...] I think that we have to really do the hard work to truly understand systemic racism. I think that it is the obligation of the people that have created and perpetuate and benefit from a system of oppression to be the ones that dismantle it, so that's on us.

On designing the web

When thinking about creating the rules that would underlay the web:

I had to create a system with common rules that would be acceptable to everyone. That meant, as close as possible to no rules at all.

Simplicity always wins, and stripping as much back as possible is the way to that simplicity.

Is this the best a man can get?

I know this is (just) a marketing campaign, but it moved me to tears and I love the message it provides and it is one that I would happily play again and again in my head.

On political correctness

A man whose words I will always have time for, Stephen Fry takes the "other side" of the argument, and articulates why he doesn't believe political correctness works. This is just a short quote from an 8 minute clip, all of which is worth watching. Interesting and refreshing views.

My real objection is that I don't think political correctness works. I want to get to the Golden Hill, but I don't think that's the way to get there.

I believe one of the greatest human failings, is to prefer to be right than to be effective, and political correctness is always obsessed with how right it is without thinking of how effective it it might be.

Looking for the blank canvas

On December 31, 1995, Bill Watterson published the final 'Calvin & Hobbes' comic strip

Culture shifting

This is how culture shifts work - what we are prepared to accept and call out changes over time as our community values shift more towards inclusiveness and empathy and we raise our standards for the what we’re prepared to challenge or ignore.

All that we share

In a time where higher powers are trying to convince us that we should be afraid of each other, this advert (of all things) is a beautiful remind of all that we share.

When trying to sell (yourself)

To paraphrase Dale Carnegie:

Don't bait your hook with food you like. Bait your hook with food fish like.

– Jonathan Stark – 7 Feb 2017

How to be perfectly unhappy

But those feelings are ephemeral. Being "happy" implies permanence. It implies you completed all the prerequisites. And now you get to sit atop your giant pile of happy forever.

This comic, somehow describes exactly how I've always felt about being "happy". I've never been able to say, truthfully, that I was happy. I found this and it says what I've never been able to articulate.

👉 How to be perfectly unhappy 7 Oct 2016

Royce Mann, Age 14, "White Boy Privilege", Slam Poem

I could wish I had this much insight when I was 14. Instead, I'm learning from this kid and aim to pass this message on to my white privileged children.

How to counter biased systems

How to counter biased systems

I love this representation of how biased systems work, and how my neutral position would indeed not be neutral — Via twitter 9 Mar 2016

Find the right path for ourselves

This is such a good speech on having the right to choose your own path.

Via femisphere, point 15 17 Aug 2015

Explaining privilege

On privilege

Via twitter 5 March 2014

Being inspired to speak up

I've written before about how Emma Watson's UN address inspired me. I'll be showing my son & daughter this talk when they're old enough to understand.

Via United Nations on YouTube 22 Sep 2014

Safety, society and cars

Jack from Balmain, I salute you for the best cycling article comment ever

Safety, society and cars

Via twitter 15 Jul 2015

I'm sad

Southpark has some wonderful moments

Via @codepo8 16 July 2015