Greg Shaw
@zenmousegreg.bsky.social
(he/him) Physicist, software engineer, atheist, vegan, Zen practitioner, prog/dub/metal/punk/silence type. Englishman, pro-EU (UK needs to Rejoin ASAP). Oh, and cats. Definitely cats.
You can take the man out of the 1990s, but you can't take the 1990s out of the man! We went to see the ever-awesome Ozric Tentacles in York recently, and decided to paint ourselves up for it. Chronic pain was (not surprisingly) worse next day, but it was worth it! A wonderfully Ozricular night.
December 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM
You can take the man out of the 1990s, but you can't take the 1990s out of the man! We went to see the ever-awesome Ozric Tentacles in York recently, and decided to paint ourselves up for it. Chronic pain was (not surprisingly) worse next day, but it was worth it! A wonderfully Ozricular night.
Lincoln Cat is ten years old today. My daft little chonk! The cake was for me - Lincoln had some Dentabite treats. Happy birthday, Rincon Potato Sama, Linc-chonk, Mighty Lord Bongle Cat etc etc. #Cats
November 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Lincoln Cat is ten years old today. My daft little chonk! The cake was for me - Lincoln had some Dentabite treats. Happy birthday, Rincon Potato Sama, Linc-chonk, Mighty Lord Bongle Cat etc etc. #Cats
I wrote this joke, "The Well Tempered Minimalist Clavier", back in 2021. "My playing style? Well, it's pretty personal - I guess I combine elements of Bach and Cage. It took me a while to develop and shape it, but I'm pretty happy with my musical journey, yeah." #music #musician #baroque #minimalism
November 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I wrote this joke, "The Well Tempered Minimalist Clavier", back in 2021. "My playing style? Well, it's pretty personal - I guess I combine elements of Bach and Cage. It took me a while to develop and shape it, but I'm pretty happy with my musical journey, yeah." #music #musician #baroque #minimalism
Two questions about the Gill affair that all journalists ought to be asking Farage, but very probably won't.
“Did Nathan Gill ever say anything you disagree with in return for his bribes from a Kremlin stooge?”
“Did you, in your roles as his boss, friend, mentor & party leader, ever question his full-throated support for an enemy of the UK and if not, why not?”
You can have those for nothing, lads.
“Did you, in your roles as his boss, friend, mentor & party leader, ever question his full-throated support for an enemy of the UK and if not, why not?”
You can have those for nothing, lads.
November 22, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Two questions about the Gill affair that all journalists ought to be asking Farage, but very probably won't.
Today I made Mārwāḍī pālak kī dāl, which will feed me and my loved ones for a few days. It's very satisfying to make, and tastes incredible. Might have overdone the chillis - this batch will need to be stored in thick lead containers, and can drop a charging bull elephant at 200 metres. #vegan
November 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Today I made Mārwāḍī pālak kī dāl, which will feed me and my loved ones for a few days. It's very satisfying to make, and tastes incredible. Might have overdone the chillis - this batch will need to be stored in thick lead containers, and can drop a charging bull elephant at 200 metres. #vegan
My head was in a Japanese place - I'm going to have natto for dinner - and my gaze fell on a plant milk carton label with the English words "soya no sugars", which I initially read as "sugars of soya", before the English kicked in. Truly the Buddha said, "Where there is a sign, there is deception".
November 11, 2025 at 4:10 PM
My head was in a Japanese place - I'm going to have natto for dinner - and my gaze fell on a plant milk carton label with the English words "soya no sugars", which I initially read as "sugars of soya", before the English kicked in. Truly the Buddha said, "Where there is a sign, there is deception".
Just had my flu vaccine at my local pharmacy in Leeds. It cost me £20, but it's well worth it, to avoid unintentionally killing my 80 year old mother. She may have voted for Brexit back in 2016, but she doesn't deserve to catch flu off her eldest. Now we play the "will I/won't I get sick...?" game!
November 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Just had my flu vaccine at my local pharmacy in Leeds. It cost me £20, but it's well worth it, to avoid unintentionally killing my 80 year old mother. She may have voted for Brexit back in 2016, but she doesn't deserve to catch flu off her eldest. Now we play the "will I/won't I get sick...?" game!
After the awesome series of Democrat election victories in the USA, which have cheered me up immensely, I'm now awaiting the first vexatious "lawfare" lawsuits ordered by Felon 47, to challenge some or all of them. It'd be great if he didn't try, but he has form here, and he's mentally ill enough.
November 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM
After the awesome series of Democrat election victories in the USA, which have cheered me up immensely, I'm now awaiting the first vexatious "lawfare" lawsuits ordered by Felon 47, to challenge some or all of them. It'd be great if he didn't try, but he has form here, and he's mentally ill enough.
This is a welcome antidote to my catastrophising that "all young British men are radicalised by TikTok into voting for Farage, we're all doomed." It's not true. Yes, men are a little more likely than women to vote Reform, but age makes no difference, and the vast majority of all ages would not.
While the dominant narrative is that young men are the most likely to turn to Reform UK, the evidence does not support this.
Most British young men reject the far right - UK in a changing Europe
Emilia Belknap and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte explain their analysis on the demographics of Reform UK voters in the UK. They argue that while the dominant narrative is that young men are the most likely...
ukandeu.ac.uk
October 31, 2025 at 11:28 AM
This is a welcome antidote to my catastrophising that "all young British men are radicalised by TikTok into voting for Farage, we're all doomed." It's not true. Yes, men are a little more likely than women to vote Reform, but age makes no difference, and the vast majority of all ages would not.
"This Be The Verse" popped into my head earlier today. And then look what the Internet threw my way. This is amazing!
October 30, 2025 at 10:28 PM
"This Be The Verse" popped into my head earlier today. And then look what the Internet threw my way. This is amazing!
At last, I've arranged my kept lecture notes from uni neatly in ring binders; they'd languished in big undifferentiated A4 sheafs for 32 years, after the catastrophic trauma and depression of my final year. This feels like healthy acceptance, no longer stabbing at an old wound. Might even read them!
October 29, 2025 at 2:16 PM
At last, I've arranged my kept lecture notes from uni neatly in ring binders; they'd languished in big undifferentiated A4 sheafs for 32 years, after the catastrophic trauma and depression of my final year. This feels like healthy acceptance, no longer stabbing at an old wound. Might even read them!
I tried to explain to the cats that, due to the end of daylight saving time, they got the benefit of an extra hour in bed this morning, but it means that they have to wait that extra hour for dinner. They weren't buying it. #Cats
October 26, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I tried to explain to the cats that, due to the end of daylight saving time, they got the benefit of an extra hour in bed this morning, but it means that they have to wait that extra hour for dinner. They weren't buying it. #Cats
I've just donated to the crowdfunder for this (link in thread below). I remember how gobsmacked I was by the Russia Report, which said that UK security services hadn't investigated possible (highly likely) attempts by Russia to interfere with UK elections, because UK governments never asked them to.
NEW: Russian interference case heads to Europe's 'Supreme Court'
Ex-MPs with @the-citizens.bsky.social take landmark case to Grand Chamber.
Case claims UK govt in breach of law for refusing to investigate foreign interference.
1/
www.thenational.scot/news/2556145...
Ex-MPs with @the-citizens.bsky.social take landmark case to Grand Chamber.
Case claims UK govt in breach of law for refusing to investigate foreign interference.
1/
www.thenational.scot/news/2556145...
UK Russian interference case heads to 'Europe's Supreme Court'
THREE former MPs have lodged a case with “Europe’s Supreme Court”, accusing the UK Government of failing in its duty to protect elections from…
www.thenational.scot
October 22, 2025 at 12:51 PM
I've just donated to the crowdfunder for this (link in thread below). I remember how gobsmacked I was by the Russia Report, which said that UK security services hadn't investigated possible (highly likely) attempts by Russia to interfere with UK elections, because UK governments never asked them to.
Today I'm living the Brexiter dream. I found some old filament lightbulbs when clearing out the cellar in 2022; today I have installed a proper old British 60 W bulb in the front room. Free from the interfering Barmy Brussels Bureaucrat nannies at last, a freeborn Englishman, free to waste energy.
October 21, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Today I'm living the Brexiter dream. I found some old filament lightbulbs when clearing out the cellar in 2022; today I have installed a proper old British 60 W bulb in the front room. Free from the interfering Barmy Brussels Bureaucrat nannies at last, a freeborn Englishman, free to waste energy.
This hits the mark so well. I'm tired of politicians claiming that they're listening to "legitimate concerns" from the extreme Tommeh/Farridge minority and their legions of Russian bot supporters on social media, while ignoring everyone else. Xenophobia isn't a legitimate concern.
![1
Nurse:
It’s become a real problem in this area
2
Nurse:
We’ve seen the whole community lost to addiction
3
Show a building sign posted:
Westminster ‘X’ Addiction Clinic
With various Westminster people or looking at their phones outside it
Nurse:
Ministers, Spads, Researchers…
4
Nurse:
Most mornings we’ll get a call about someone acting strangely
[Nurse on phone taking a call]
Ok - we’ll be right over
5
Nurse:
We just have a gentle chat
[Nurses approach a minister –Robert Jenrick? - standing in the Palace of Westminster
Minister:
I understand your concerns…
6
Nurse:
Are you OK love?
Minister:
Yes I’m just hearing legitimate concerns from real voters
7
Nurse:
That’s a robot, a Nazi and a poorly-disguised Russian
[Show that the people he is talking to are precisely these characters]
Nurse 2:
Give us your phone, love
8
Nurse:
At the clinic we put them in a Grass-Touching Pod, with a real voter to talk to
[We see them back at the clinic, holding the minister's head and pushing him into a glass isolation booth with a grass floor. And it is a baffled looking woman, on a chair, ready to talk to him.]
9
Minister:
YOU MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING CIVIL WAR
[woman looks baffled]
10
woman:
I just want a bus service
Minister:
LOOK AT MY FLAG
[produces a St George's flag]
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreicahofq6s4xow7vowj7dx6odw6ejdwr4kwcmzta7qwi4hg2nvywji@jpeg)
October 20, 2025 at 2:56 PM
This hits the mark so well. I'm tired of politicians claiming that they're listening to "legitimate concerns" from the extreme Tommeh/Farridge minority and their legions of Russian bot supporters on social media, while ignoring everyone else. Xenophobia isn't a legitimate concern.
I decorated the "Spitfire Stash Tin" as a Christmas present last year, starting with an old ClimbOn hand lotion tin from my rock climbing days. Colours based on Airfix's 1:72 Spitfire Mk I kit. 1:72 decals by Printscale. Tin by ClimbOn. Art by me. #HistScaleModels
October 13, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I decorated the "Spitfire Stash Tin" as a Christmas present last year, starting with an old ClimbOn hand lotion tin from my rock climbing days. Colours based on Airfix's 1:72 Spitfire Mk I kit. 1:72 decals by Printscale. Tin by ClimbOn. Art by me. #HistScaleModels
Just got a spammy cold call from someone who said they were from "blockchain support" and called themselves Mervyn Bunter. Hahahahahaha! Little did they know that, as a teenager, I was obsessed with Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey stories, so anyone allegedly called Mervyn Bunter can fuck off.
October 13, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Just got a spammy cold call from someone who said they were from "blockchain support" and called themselves Mervyn Bunter. Hahahahahaha! Little did they know that, as a teenager, I was obsessed with Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey stories, so anyone allegedly called Mervyn Bunter can fuck off.
Reposted by Greg Shaw
It occurred to me that, if Felon 47 were removed from office due to mental incapacity, via the 25th Amendment, then of course he wouldn't go willingly - so imagine what his social media output would be like after he'd been deposed. He'd openly call for (another) armed revolt by his supporters.
October 10, 2025 at 9:50 PM
It occurred to me that, if Felon 47 were removed from office due to mental incapacity, via the 25th Amendment, then of course he wouldn't go willingly - so imagine what his social media output would be like after he'd been deposed. He'd openly call for (another) armed revolt by his supporters.
Volunteering at front of house at #Autisticon2025 today, with all four "communications preference" colour pin badges to show that I'm staff. Autisticon is lovely! I'm absolutely shredded now, from all the people, but it was worth it, and I have two days of doing nothing to help me recover. #Autistic
October 10, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Volunteering at front of house at #Autisticon2025 today, with all four "communications preference" colour pin badges to show that I'm staff. Autisticon is lovely! I'm absolutely shredded now, from all the people, but it was worth it, and I have two days of doing nothing to help me recover. #Autistic