pogoism

(via Queerty)

It’s from 1992, but it’s still relevant.

When you hear from anti-gay folks that your sexuality is a choice… When you hear from these folks that your civil rights struggle is after “special” rights… When you hear that you are less than, second-class, undeserving… Imagine a world where the opposite is true. But this video isn’t for you. It’s for the naive, ignorant set of folks still clinging to their Bibles to rationalize their hatred and intolerance to you. And it is excellent. Share it.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

– Albert Einstein

I miss this stuff too…

Harland and Wolff Cranes, Belfast (Photo by flickr user Jax60)

St. Anne's Cathedral (Photo by flickr user SheepGuardingLlama)

Queen's University, Belfast (Photo by flickr user jazzmoose)

Botanic Gardens, Belfast (Photo by flickr user donnamarijne)

I really miss this stuff.

Oast Houses, Barming (Photo by flickr user llamnudds)

All Saint's Church, Maidstone (Photo by flickr user notquitetrish)

Leeds Castle, nr Maidstone (Photo by flickr user Mike Franklin Photography)

Ye Olde Thirsty Pig (Photo by flickr user nogbad the bad)

Some church in Boxley, nr Maidstone (Photo by flickr user Feuillu)

The Reno Rodeo was in town a few weeks ago. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was actually a really enjoyable night – great atmosphere, fun, family feel, and all round good entertainment. Here’s some pictures…

It’s more obvious here in Reno than it is in the UK, but y’know that smell you smell before the storm? That kind of musty smell? I’ve always wondered what it is, but when I always forget to google it when I get to a computer…

Well, it’s ozone and soil bacteria! Go listen here (don’t worry, it’s only 4 minutes).

Photo via Flickr user nebraskasc.

Ryanair in their infinite wisdom have suggested people could stand on short flights, if it meant the flight price was free, or 50% of the full fare. They’ve even gone so far as design some “vertical seating”. In true Ryanair class, they’ve changed their corporate song to “I’m Still Standing”. Gotta be better than this, though…

So, would you stand on a short flight, if it meant standing for free, or 50% of the fare? I know I would… Comment me, and let me know!

This is late news, but I really wanted to write something about it…

Every few years, the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland surveys the population of Northern Ireland to determine how people feel about different minorities in the country, and the results of their latest study are frankly shocking.

Here are some of the results:

• 51% would mind having a Traveller as a neighbour or as an in-law, and 38% said they would mind having a Traveller as a work colleague.
• 35% would mind having a close relative in a relationship with a lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) person, and 23% said they would mind having an LGB person as a work colleague or neighbour.
• 28% would mind having a migrant worker as an in-law, and 23% and 22% respectively would mind having a migrant worker as a neighbour or a work colleague.

Seriously. That means, assuming I have 2 neighbours, the chance is almost 50% that one of them will have a problem living next to me, as a gay man. That’s ridiculous. Why on earth should it matter to anyone if their next door neighbour is gay or lesbian?! I can usually see things from other people’s points of view, but in this case, I really can’t fathom it.

Most of the negative views in the survey were towards Travellers (28%), but LGB people weren’t far behind, at 21%, and Eastern European migrants at 20%. Given the trouble last month, where migrants were effectively forced out of their homes, that doesn’t bode well for the gays.

To make all this even worse, when ECNI did the last survey, the number of people who minded living next to a LGB person stood at 14%. Now it’s 23%. That’s right, it’s gone up. How does that happen?! How does bigotry and discrimination go up?!

It’s not so bad though, and I certainly don’t want to portray Northern Ireland as a bigotted hell-hole. From my own two years of living there, I’ve experienced very little in the way of discrimination, and I certainly feel safer being myself in Belfast than I do in my hometown, 30 miles away from London.

Last weekend was Independence weekend, and our last three-day weekend of our time here.

Emily, Peter and I headed to Pyramid Lake for some camping on Friday afternoon. After a mad scramble trying to find exactly what beach everyone else was on, we luckily bumped into Katie on the road, who directed us to the right one. We lugged all our stuff (which, as usual, was far too much) down the steep, sandy hill, and added it to the pile of food. The tent we needed to erect was the same one as last time – the tent which has a pole which has split. Not too much of a problem you might think, but if your hand goes anywhere near this pole, immediately 30 teeny-tiny bits of bamboo implant themselves in your skin. Most unpleasant. especially when you have to camp for 2 days.

So, wonky tent erected, and hoping to God that the thing wouldn’t collapse on top of us in the middle of the night, we set about putting up the volleyball net. Someone had the genius idea of doing this in the lake, so we spent a good chunk of the afternoon attempting that. Eventually, we gave up, and did it on the dry sand instead, by which point no-one had the energy to play anyway.

Then came car-getting-stuck-in-the-sand no. 1. It wasn’t so much stuck in the sand, as raised off the ground from the middle. It took a while to get it out, but we did it in the end. After that, we all had some well deserved drinks, and sat around chatting for the evening and watched some of the (illegal) fireworks over the lake.

Next day we got up, packed up, and left before it got too hit. We were all dirty and tired anyway. After a quick shower and food-buying, we set off to Zephyr Cove at Lake Tahoe. It was fun, we hung out on the (private) beach where we could see the two sets of fireworks. The ones from South Lake Tahoe were probably the best I’ve ever seen. Oh, and btw, Lake Tahoe is seriously one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, even with it covered with white, jock, rich kids.