David Peach

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  • Opportunist racism of my morning commute

    Yesterday morning I was witness to a bit of casual racism which really got me annoyed and ready to rage at the dickhead who uttered it. There were no bad words used but, nonetheless, his confused intent got to me.

    The Setup

    The train was pulling into the station as I was waiting to board it with my fellow commuters. I have come to recognise a few of the people who are regulars on my train. One of which is a young lady I tend to notice, as she also gets off at the same station as me at the other end.

    As we were boarding, another lady squeezed herself and her travel bag between the first lady and the train in order to get on quicker. The affected lady didn’t seem bothered as she wasn’t barged or anything.

    However, a man stood just behind me decided to pipe up and make his thoughts heard.

    The utterings of the opportunist racist

    Man to lady : “I think she wants to get on there.”

    The lady smiled politely.

    Man to lady : “She must be important as she’s got her bags.”

    Again, the lady acknowledged him but didn’t reply.

    Man to lady : “You can tell she’s not British”.

    You can tell she’s not British. Like… What the fuck? The lady who squeezed ahead didn’t say a word and to be honest, didn’t seem phased at all by his comments. And while I don’t condone squeezing past people in order to get their seat on a train, I condone even less any excuse for racism.

    Firstly there was nothing about the woman to indicate she wasn’t British (whether she actually was or not is completely irrelevant). Secondly, I don’t even know if this idiot knew what he meant by the term “British”. I can guess what he thinks it means though.

    In Closing

    It really annoys me when people who could otherwise be smart, have this unfounded ideas of “us and them”. The seeds of which are usually planted by the mainstream media or in people’s filter bubbles in Facebook, twitter et al.

    We as a people can solve so many complex ideas and theories, we can put people on the moon, but we can’t all get along in an open and friendly manner.

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  • Faith in humanity restored

    I write this post on just another commute into work. The journey in is almost always uneventful, albeit for the occasional train delays and cancellations. However, today was different and my faith in humanity, and what we can accomplish, has been restored – and all from one simple interaction with a stranger.

    I pretty much always get a seat on my train due to where I get the train from – one of the only benefits to my journey. Today the train was particularly busy and some people needed to start standing. One of these people was a lady who I noticed had two heavy bags with her.

    Out of an automatic response to this I offered her my seat. She replied, “Only if you’re sure?”. I stood up for her and she accepted with thanks. Now, I’m not telling you this to show how much of a gracious person I am. No. I tell you this because of what came next and how it made me feel.

    So I stood up for her and she sat, put her bags down, and the train continued on its journey. A few more stops down the track some seats were freed up – I took the opportunity to sit down, where I then proceeded to zone out to Hante’s latest album – it’s great and you should take a listen. Anyway, I digress.

    When the train later pulled up at a further stop many people got off. As the train emptied I felt a hand on my shoulder – the same lady was stood over me smiling and said to me, “Have a lovely day”.

    I smiled, replied in kind, and she went off on her way.

    This small interaction between two perfect strangers highlighted to me the difference that can be made at the smallest level of society – embracing these tiny interactions in a positive way and always being willing to help, or offer help, to those around us. By acting in this way, creating change at the smallest level, we may help to affect positive change at higher levels.

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  • For the many not the few…

    I’ve not long got back from voting in my first ever General Election. Then after about ten minutes of trying to decide whether or not to put some money on Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister, I closed the browser window – I just don’t have faith in this country to put the right person in power. I really do hope I’m kicking myself tomorrow for not having put that bet on.

    I’ve never been a politically-minded person and as such had never voted in any capacity until the Leave / Remain vote last year. This is something I have made a conscious decision to change as of this week. It really is important to get off your ass and vote for the people that you want to represent you over the following four years. Just sitting back and saying “My one vote isn’t going to make a difference” or “They’re all the bloody same” just isn’t good enough. It’s lazy and it’s dangerous.

    For my recent political awakening I have Russell Brand to thank with his Under the Skin podcast and Trews video series. Him and and his guests have opened my eyes up to see past all of the sensationalist bullshit that floods the news stands every day. I also have a new appreciation for more ideas around me as well questioning things that I hear; not always taking what I hear at face value.

    Here is the video of Russell Brand urging people to register to vote. In the past I had the impression that Russell was a complete idiot. He’s now one of my biggest influences online as well as being one of the sanest political voices out there. Thanks Russell!

    If the Conservatives gain power for the next four years, I believe that this country will enter a spiral into an abyss of fear, eroded human rights and regret.

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  • Let’s talk about the term ‘Terrorist’

    Over the past three months the United Kingdom has witnessed some horrific acts of terrorism. The ones I am specifically referring to here are the Westminster attack on 22nd March 2017, the Manchester arena bombing on 22nd May 2017, and the London Bridge attacks of 3rd June 2017. These are disgusting, unforgivable acts of terror. One of the issues surrounding these, as well as other similar events, that I find frustrating – other than the events themselves, of course – is how the word ‘Terrorist’ or ‘Terror Incident’ gets used.

    Seven people have been killed and dozens injured during attacks in two closely connected areas of London on Saturday night. The police are treating the attacks as terrorist incidents.

    From the Guardian website report on June 2017 London Bridge attacks.

    Officers – including firearms officers – remain on the scene and we are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise.

    From the Guardian website report on March 2017 Westminster attack.

    Terrorist

    The below definitions taken from Dictionary.com

    noun

    1. a person, usually a member of a group, who uses or advocates terrorism.
    2. a person who terrorizes or frightens others.
    3. (formerly) a member of a political group in Russia aiming at the demoralization of the government by terror.
    4. an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.

    adjective

    1. of, relating to, or characteristic of terrorism or terrorists:
      terrorist tactics.

    Let’s not mistake what is happening in these events: people are commiting horrific acts of violence and desctruction; killing, harming and scaring many innocent people – they are, by definition, terrorists. However, within the media you will find quotes like the ones above, discussing how incidents are only being treated as terrorist incidents. One even goes as far as to say “[…] until we know otherwise”. I mean, with all the facts currently available at the time, nothing could change the fact that it is a terror incident.

    What do they really mean?

    I think what they are really talking about is the origin, nationality and agenda of the attackers. While this is important to find out in the context of the investigations, it makes no difference to the fact that that person, or persons, are terrorists. Plain and simple. If a Christian fundamentalist goes into a crowded place and kills a bunch of people, they are just as much of a terrorist as if a Muslim person did the same – any religeon for that matter (or none). The origin, nationality and agenda of the attacker(s) makes no baring on the outcome they are aiming to achieve.

    So why is there such a reluctance to classify an incident, like those mentioned above, as terror incidents until further information is gathered? When the events in question so blatently are.

    I was first woken up to this way of phrasing such news by Akala on Frankie Boyle’s Election Autopsy 2015. I have timestamped the link but I strongly urge you to watch the whole discussion.

    Continue the discussion

    I am not a politically savvy person; these are only my initial thoughts when reading the news of these tragic events. I encourage you to reply if you feel I am completely missing the point in what the news is trying to say. This post isn’t written to just try and get people angry. If anything, I’d like it to get people to think.

    Thank you for reading.

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  • Ear, ear – Changes in acceptable cinema violence

    Back in 1992 Quentin Tarantino released his directorial debut : Reservoir Dogs. Although this is considered a modern classic of cinema, and rightly so, many people lost their shit when this film came out.

    The most notable reason for the hostility towards the film was the infamous ear-cutting scene performed by Michael Madsen’s Mr Blonde on Kirk Baltz’s Marvin Nash – even though the act itself is performed off-screen.

    Last night I went to see a recent film release: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (don’t judge me), which itself had a scene with somebody getting their ear cut off. The cutter even talks into the severed ear just as Mr Blonde does. King Arthur, however, is rated as 12A and I bet it wont be denied a video release for three years.

    What does this say about modern cinema, or about us as people?

    Now I’m not somebody who has any complaint about cinema violence – I bloody love it. It’s fun to watch and unless you have trouble differentiated fantasy from reality, or have an already-existing mental condition, is not going to make you want to replicate violence in the film. If you do find yourself wanting to act out certain scenes, please seek medical advice (I mean this sincerely; I’m not trying to be funny).

    I’m not a student of Psychology or Film, but I did find it interesting – when watching that film last night – just how the levels of acceptable graphic content have changed in twenty five years. I think we have generally become a lot more decensortized to graphic content in films – I would make the assumption that it’s due to the inherently graphic nature of the world around us. Also the abundance of visceral imagery shared on social media as shocking events and atrocities occur across the globe.

    Let’s face it – the modern world is a great deal more horrifying than any film that could be released (All the ones I have seen at least).

    It’ll be interesting, perhaps even scary, to see where those levels are in another twenty five years.

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  • Going through old books – memories of times long past

    Yesterday I finally got round to sorting through a load of old books of mine that I have collected over the years. To anyone watching from the outside these will just look like a mess of old books on varying subjects – Clive Barker novels; Derren Brown-recommended psychology books; Music Theory and scale books. To me, these represent certain pockets of my life so far; different interests that have grabbed me and become an obsession at one time or another.

    Sorting through these books is the first time in a long time that I have reminisced about times gone by, if only for the moment of time it took to carry them upstairs.

    I also couldn’t help but think “What if I’d stayed on that particular path?”, for a given collection of books. For example, as I started to get into Web Development seriously, learning guitar kind of took a back seat to that. Although I do still play, I don’t put in ten hour sessions anymore. Partially due to the fact that I can’t get away with three day work weeks anymore. Boo hoo for me, right? But I can’t help but imagine how much more I could have progressed with the guitar had I stayed on that path.

    Then there was my whole Derren Brown phase, where – after reading one of his autobiographies – I bought and read most of the books he recommended in it. I practised memorisation techniques; trying to read peoples true intentions through involuntary eye movements. I could even look through a deck of cards, with one card removed, and tell you instantly which one was missing.

    But don’t get me wrong, I’m not regretful of how things came to be – after all it brought me to my lovely lady. Plus it’s not as though those things are gone, they just need to be awoken once again.

    What things do you own that trigger memories of your past?

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  • Retracing my steps with The Walking Dead

    The Walking Dead is one of my favourite ever TV series. Dark; brutal; gut-wrenching – it’s everything you could possibly want in a series. You may know it already but for the benefit of those who don’t, The Walking Dead is based on a long-running comic book series of the same name.

    Since the finale of Series 7 recently, I have decided to re-read the series from start to finish (or at least up to the latest issue).

    The TV series is different enough from the comics to enable you to enjoy each for their own merits. Many characters are in both, however, some have vastly different life spans. Some characters in the TV series even perform certain actions that completely different people did in the comic.

    I always remember when an old boss of mine, who is still a friend, telling me about his excitement for Negan to arrive. This was back in series 4 when the Governor was the big bad and Negan was a long way off. He used to say how evil he was, but still how charming. How right he was.

    If you get the chance, I strongly recommend you picking up The Walking Dead compendiums and checking them out. If you are a fan of the series you will almost certainly be a fan of the original source material.

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  • The 5am Habit

    My usual morning routine consists generally of getting up twenty minutes before I’m due to leave for the train station, rushing out and getting to the train barely on time.

    However, for the past five days I have been forcing myself into a new routine – getting up at 5am; nearly two hours before I’m due to leave the house. This morning I have found the habit to have reached the next level, as I woke up naturally at 4:57am.

    Getting up that extra bit earlier has given me more time in the day to get the things done I want to get done – including writing on this website.

    The next step is to plan out the morning during the night before so that I can get up and get stuff done efficiently. This means that anything I would have done on that day’s evening gets done in the morning before work instead.

    Getting stuff done before work gets me in a better mood as I feel I have already accomplished some personal goals before my regular day has even begun. Anything else I get done through the day or evening is then a bonus.

    I recommend to anybody wanting to get personal stuff done, or even if you have any hobbies you want to commit more time to, to get up earlier and get them done in the morning.

    p.s. I was inspired to begin this new habit whilst listening to The 5am Miracle Podcast.

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  • Big bang in Birmingham

    During the Second World War many bombs were dropped on the city of Birmingham. Known as the Birmingham Blitz, this three year span did a great deal of damage to many buildings in and around the city. Not only that but thousands of people were either seriously injured or killed. According to the Wikipedia page around one fifth of the high explosive bombs failed to detonate.

    Today in Aston, Birmingham one of those unexploded bombs was detonated in a controlled explosion, after being discovered more than twenty four hours previous.

    Due to the location of the bomb, the main Birmingham expressway and the train line I use were closed off. Normally when news of cancelled trains hits me I immediately get annoyed with my working location – being from the other side of Birmingham. However, I couldn’t help but be fascinated that a bomb from the World War 2 air raids had lay dormant all this time, waiting to be discovered.

    Although this could have been potentially very disastrous for many people, it’s still an interesting piece of history to be uncovered.

    How many more undiscovered bombs remain to be found?

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  • Searching for the perfect side project

    I seem to keep running around in circles looking for the perfect side project to work on. I just cant decide on which direction to go – and once I think I have I’ll end up doubting myself and changing my mind soon after.

    I am a Web Developer by trade and, like many other developers, love the idea of having some sort of side project I can work on and potential earn a second income off.

    I guess that’s one of the reasons I keep writing on here, my personal site. It sort of is a side project, except one that I’m not building as such – merely writing on it every now and again.

    I don’t even know why I’m writing this post to be honest with you. It’s sort of me working it out in my head as I write, in a vein effort to try and make a decision.

    Even if I do make a decision I’ll probably change it soon after. Also it’s possible that… damn my dinner’s burning!

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  • On blaming others when you’re feeling down

    Starting the day in a down sort of way

    Feeling out of sorts, for whatever reason, is never a nice thing – especially when it’s the first day back at work after a four day Easter weekend. This is how I found myself today.

    It didn’t help the fact that I’d had nothing to eat either until 7pm, except for a sausage roll from Greggs. This wasn’t out of being too busy or choice; I simply didn’t feel hungry.

    As a result of my mood and lack of food I ended up feeling lackluster and hazy.

    Reflecting back through the day

    On reflection, during the train journey back home, I replayed certain points of the day and realized just how much of an ass I must have come across. I mean, I pretty much kept to myself and just cracked on with my work. But when I discovered someone had played an innocent prank on me I think I took it a little bit to heart. Miserable bastard, I think the term is.

    There were other little moments too, which I wont go into specifics about, but let me just say that I was a bit of a “cranky-pants”, as my lady would say.

    I can only put it down to a mixture of a lack of sleep the night before, lack of food and knowing that my hamster Moomin is approaching the end of his little life.

    Do better next time

    This is no excuse however. I can simply learn from this and do better moving forward.

    I write this not only because I have promised myself I’ll blog every single day for a year, but in case there are any other people out there with similar experiences. This life is, if nothing more, a string of experiences and knowing that others have similar issues from time to time can help us all through.

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  • Productivity and breaking out of prison

    More running tonight down the same canal route as Tuesday. I think I’m getting back into the swing of training again. Just need to start making a habit of getting back down the gym three evenings a week.

    Been looking at productivity tools today too. I think i need to start organising my life in a structured way to actually get the things i want to get done, done.

    Got to see the second episode of the new Prison Break series too. Some classic Scofield moments in there – it’s good to be back on the break train. 

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  • Achy thighs and inappropriate gym clothes

    After my initial moan about being confronted with Elasticsearch yesterday, today i have actually been looking into it – learning it in order to get the job I’ve been tasked with finished.

    I don’t know why, but i tend to get that gut reaction most times i am confronted by something foreign to me. I think it may stem from a frustration of not knowing something and then, within a work context, worrying about how long it’s going to take me.

    No running tonight, which I’m thankful for. My thighs are aching slightly from yesterday’s 2.5 kilometre jog. Yes, I’m that unfit. It’s hard to think that I’m actually going to be doing a full Marathon in October – or at least attempting it.

    At the time of writing this, I’ve just seen a guy wearing a gym training hoody that reads “Train Hard, Fight Easy”. I’m not sure it’s wise walking around Birmingham with that printed on your top. You’re just asking for trouble from those looking for a fight, surely?

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  • Stretching before running

    One of the annoying things about web development, is having to learn completely new paradigms every now and again. I’m all for improving my skills and being more efficient in my work, but when i have to halt to have to learn a whole new separate thing, it grinds my gears a bit.

    The idea I’m talking about today is something called Elasticsearch. Yet another data access methodology and one that I’ve never had to mess with before. Don’t get me wrong I’m not hating on the technology, I would simply rather not have to learn this whole new way of searching data.

    I’m easily confused.

    On a more positive note i have started taking steps towards actually building my first online product / service which i think could be very handy for a lot, if not all, bloggers. It’s something I built for myself and thought about how others could benefit from it too.

    Stay tuned for more info as it develops.

    Tonight I’ve been enrolled into a run up the canal by my lady. Although i felt a sudden drive for it this morning, that has since passed after my tiring over one of the most boring tutorial videos I’ve ever watched – about the aforementioned Elasticsearch. I’m sure she won’t let me shirk my running responsibilities and I’ll be jogging round the block in no time.

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  • A quarrel of rooks and first world war pigeons

    A quarrel of rooks and first world war pigeons

    Where most people tend to enjoy the sun’s hot rays on days like today, i tend to get a little bit crabby. My girlfriend refers to me as a Honey Badger. It’s not intentional, i simply am not one for heat. I’d rather be colder than warm.

    This year however we have bought some sun lotion, so as not to have a repeat of my horrific ordeal of extreme sun burn last year.

    We thought we’d go for a quiet afternoon at Middleton Hall today, however hundreds of other people had the same idea. Turns out there was a plant fair on, which meant my lady was in her element.

    After being allowed 2 entry tickets for 1 due to our lack of physical money, we took a wander through the hall on the way to the fair. En route we wound up talking to a nice elderly man who was running a nice display of World war one memorabilia. Now i was in my element.

    I find the subject of World war one both interesting and humbling. The man had lots of interesting information about the articles he had bought with him including a spiked item designed to puncture horses hooves on the battlefield​. Pretty brutal. Other interesting information included the other animals used during the first world war – including pigeons. In fact they even created a medal specifically for them – the Dickin Medal – which 32 of them were presented with.

    After meaning to do it for a long while, we also finally joined the R.S.P.B. Down at the Middleton wildlife reservation a helpful lady helped us join for just £7 a month. It’s feels nice to be giving something back.

    Apparently also otters are now on the incline – no longer as endangered as they once were. So that’s good news. We didn’t spot any however. I guess they’re all tucked away in their homes.

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