Walking. It’s sometimes the best way to think. Maybe I’ll reach the office, maybe I won’t.

The birds escorted me through the park. It felt a bit special - but I think they are just hungry.

I had just stopped for a moment next to the pond. I had my headphones in my pocket and thought it might be nice to use them. I put the vegetables down on the bench and reached into my jacket. I think this was a signal.

In a matter of seconds I was surrounded by birds. Ducks first, they are fast and cunning, pigeons second. A hundred expectant eyes and fresh, shiny winter coats. Even the pigeons were looking bright. They did not quite understand when I told them I had no food.

Eventually the ducks worked it out. They wandered off, keeping one eye on me, but another looking for fresh sources of sustenance. The pigeons however were much more optimistic.

I got the white buds into my ears, the gods of shuffle woke Chet Baker and he started to sing something appropriate and I continued the walk home. The pigeons came with me. Every few steps, those I had passed would fly up and land a a little ahead. As I moved, it was just a continuous flurry of white winter wings. And they did not give up. They came with me all across the park. For a little while I was the bird man.

Once upon a time, North America’s passenger pigeon was the most abundant bird in the world. There were up to 2 billion in a flock. Now there are none.

I love the idea of software that runs on humans.

As Open source software projects grow the cost of communication grows even faster.

At some point in the life of the project the energy required to develop the community process becomes greater than what is needed to develop the software.

In order for any kind of open project to succeed, the “social software” must be developed as a fully fledged part of the process.

exactly two women at the openhardware conference. This is a problem. #openhw

I have a great belief in the big ideas behind open source. Although the modern version of all this has come from a traditionally male dominated software world, I really think that there is something very female about it. It is very important to break this male / female divide.

So much of any open source project has nothing to do with technology. There is absolutely no need for the gender gap here, we just need to change how we communicate what it all means.

Insurance. One of the great scams of the modern world. As a South African, I have been trained to get medical insurance, but for the last seven years I have been pumping money into the coffers of evil money launderers for what seems to be absolutely no reason.

I think it’s time to stop.

Learning to use my brain is taking a little longer than expected. I had assumed that it would all just come naturally, but that does not actually seem to be the case. Slowly, and only with a lot of effort, am I learning to bring my mind under my comtrol.

Beginning the process of learning to meditate is one of the most important things I have done in my life. After a few years of regularish practice, I am starting to get the hang of thinking. Its great! (but I am still an amateur)

Notes on Open Source

I think I am becoming more and more sceptical of technology as I get older. Sometimes it’s best just to use pen and paper. For my last presentation, I just scanned in the pages from my notebook.

Notes on Open Source