Never stare at the sun - Greenman's Blog

I just got spam from the Labour party ! Is there not some kind of law about this ?

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:55:18 +0100

Labour: I want to email you personally. We are the only progressive party in the UK. Please give us £10.
Me: What? Can you do this ? Vote for me spam ? Damn, you guys give me hope.

I quit (Wednesdays) !

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:50:15 +0100

Quitting a job is one of the best feelings ever, but just quitting one day is pretty darn good too. On my days off, I plan to hang out in the park with Woody and remember what it’s like to have friends.

So, if you also happen to not work on Wednesdays, or can manage your time in a flexible manner, I would really like to be able to spend time with people again - come visit. It has been too many years since I gave any of my time to the people around me.

If little Woody has taught me one thing ( he has taught me many ) it’s that work is not quite as important as I thought it was.

Quit - a bit.

Woody laughed for the first time. How about that ? The magic of being young and eveything new.

Thu, 13 May 2010 12:48:46 +0100

A picture of me taking a piss. Honest.

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:02:52 +0000

I never was much of a fan of art galleries, but this one I am proud of. I have always considered the bland white of a gallery to be a prison for creativity, a place to lock it away and stick a price-tag on it, but when the white cube is a toilet, it’s much more my game. In Feb 2005, the Space Hijackers set up a gallery in the loo of a pub, and had a party (as usual). It was actually our second such project, with the first one invading random toilets around london.

See more of the pics at Mike Cupcake’s flickr page.

Hmm, the birth of my son has slowed down my involvement in all sorts of projects, does this mean I am relegated to writing about things I did almost a decade ago?

Photo

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:01:31 +0000

Dorkbotlondon #67 - Gonna be a cracker. But then I always say that.

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Dorkbotlondon #67 - Gonna be a cracker. But then I always say that.

My son knew how to use the loo first time. How much more comes pre-installed ?

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:14:59 +0000

A small rant about consumerism, the story of Woody’s birth, a little bit of moralising and the obligatory baby photo.

I picked him up, help him over the loo and said “Psss”. And he did. He still does a regular bit of pooing in his nappy, but we do catch him a lot of the time. We’re getting better at recognising his signals. He knew how to drink from his mothers breast instantly, and he probably knows how to swim underwater - but we will wait a while before we test that. Instinct is amazing.

We forget how much comes for free. Our consumer society does not really want us aware of what is actually built in to who we are. Those who have worked to pull the wool over our eyes have conned too many into believing that, if it does not come wrapped in plastic it is not good enough. Food, health, entertainment, education, almost every aspect of life has been systematically dehumanised - at great cost to us all.

How do we raise a child to make the most of what he has within him ? If he knows all this stuff, what do we do to allow him to harness his abilities ? And, where is the line between encouraging a baby to do something and removing his own power to choose ? Am I helping Woody unleash his own potential by pushing him to do x or y, or am I imposing my will ? It’s so easy to become what you hate, in fact, I think it’s more than easy: You always become what you hate.

So, I don’t hate consumerism. I don’t like systems that cripple the power of the individual, but there are all sorts of good things about our western culture. I may generally rally against the medical system, but without it, Loolie would probably be dead.

Loolie’s labour began on Monday and Woody was born on Thursday morning, almost 90 hours later. We had everything set up for a home birth. Pool ready, incense, homeopathy, massage - but nothing worked. After two whole days of pain, we moved to the birth centre and we tried for another 12 hours before eventually going to hospital. Loolie was given an oxytocin drip and an epidural and then things worked… but not quite enough. Eventually the doctors booked her in to the theatre because Woody was just not out yet, and Loolie was starting to loose consciousness inbetween contractions. I was dressed in scrubs, ready for our worst nightmare, when a new shift of midwives decided that Loolie could do it without the doctors, Loolie got a second wind, joked with the small crowd around her, and pushed with everything she had. Woody arrived, eyes open, a little later.

Without the drugs, without the system I am so skeptical of, my life would be very different today. So, no, I do not hate the system, I just think there are ways it can be improved. It’s about balance, and seeing the bigger picture. Modern medicine and the society it is part of struggles to see how all the pieces fit together.

Anyway, that’s my little rant for today. In summary, Woody has been using the loo since he was a week old, I am deeply grateful to the doctors and midwives that helped us bring Woody into the world, and, the most likely reason for the three and a half day labour was the fact that Woody just wanted to share a birthday with his dad!

PS. Aneeta made woody his amazing green jumper. She is also a knitting teacher, so, maybe she could teach you!

Greenman on the BBC

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:30:16 +0000

Greenman on the BBC

Being born in England, my great fear was that my child would be unable to dance. Forget mozart, lets drum!

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:44:48 +0000

Please forgive my very obvious prejudice. I am an African, and I tend to pour scorn on the dancing ability of Europeans. Sure there are a few exceptions, but most struggle to bust a move without being completely out of their heads…. and even then it’s iffy. Anyway, I do feel that there are some serious disadvantages to not being born on African soil, and the lack a sense of rhythm is one of them. (Possibly the biggest.)

People say that Mozart is good for babies. I took a look on Spotify and goddamnit there are a gazillion “mozart for babies” CDs. I could not find one “drumming for babies”. This looks to me like it could be a symptom!

I actually did have a go at playing some Mozart. Unfortunately the advertising world has completely destroyed the poor fellow’s legacy and my head just becomes filled with images of washing up liquid and cars and needless household appliances. I could not take more than a few seconds.

So, instead of playing Woody Mozart, pulled out The Drummers of Burundi and we did some dancing. That felt much better anyway. As long as I am diligent, I can atone for the crime of being born a European. ;-)

I missed this @spacehijackers adventure, but, it truly is...

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:13:40 +0000

I missed this @spacehijackers adventure, but, it truly is another great work of art.

When the pupil is ready the master will appear.

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:48:26 +0000

My main objection to having a baby was the feeling that it was a sign I was getting old. For many years I was sure that becoming a parent would mark the end of my youth, that it would mean I had forgotten all those things that only The Young know. Then, one day, I realised that the very problem itself provided the solution.

If I was worried that I would lose the knowledge of what it meant to be young and free, I would need a teacher to keep me in shape. Becoming responsible for the development of a human life is no small thing, but, the small (human) thing also has much to share.

We have a deal, I help my son navigate his path to adulthood, and he makes sure I don’t forget that not everything has to have a purpose.

What kind of birthday present is this? As life struggles to...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:20:05 +0000

What kind of birthday present is this? As life struggles to return to some level of normality, I’m left with so many questions.The kind of questions that you can’t easily answer when you are as close to exhausted as you have ever been.

We escaped hospital on Saturday. Hospitals are not places to enjoy at the best of times, but when you are super protective of a new life, and have not slept in a week, they are some kind of pseudo-sterile hell. Loolie had had enough, and they were forced to oblige.

So now we are at home, working out how to deal with poo. Loolie has to also get used to the feeding part, but I am mainly on poo duty. He is so delicate, seems so fragile, that you have to keep reminding yourself to breathe. We are slowly getting the hang of it, but there is a long road ahead.

So far sleep has been OK. Wrap him up tightly and fill his tummy, and he’s happy. He is sometimes awake, but can lie there for hours pushing against host swaddling and staring into space.

We’re happy. Tired (I think I mentioned that), but happy. But, I am just ignoring the mountain of dirty dishes.

Goodbye naughties and welcome twenteens! I’m off to spend 10 days in silence....

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:40:05 +0000

Goodbye naughties and welcome twenteens! I’m off to spend 10 days in silence. http://is.gd/5sDdM

It sounds scary at first, doing absolutely nothing for a whole ten days, but once you have been through it, it’s the best holiday ever. Ten days to actually stop and rest. When last did you get a chance to do that ?

The first time I did it, I learned to sleep for the first time since my teens. Try it. It’s amazing.

I actually bought a track on Itunes: “Killing in the name of” is now mine, again.

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:20:48 +0000

I actually bought a track on Itunes: “Killing in the name of” is now mine, again.

Santa does bail-outs

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:49:39 +0000

Santa does bail-outs

Video

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:25:41 +0000

Walking. It’s sometimes the best way to think. Maybe I’ll reach the office, maybe I...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:45:40 +0000

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...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:10:52 +0000

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.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:00:42 +0000

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...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:15:56 +0000

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.