Andra Filipescu

Caitlin KALINOWSKI over X I resigned from OpenAl. I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn't an easy call. Al has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. This was about principle, not people. I have deep respect for Sam and the team, and I'm proud of what we built together.

OpenAI head of robotics just resigned over company deal with the Pentagon saying…

“Surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got”

Alan Cumming, Bowen Yang Help Launch Necessary Foundation to Support LGBTQ Filmmakers "There is, in this moment, enormous political pressure to delete queer people from American media, and that includes young filmmakers who are being shut out of the industry,” said executive director A...

Hello I am very excited about this

Image of an orange and silver vessel, floating in the artic.

Image of an orange and silver vessel, floating in the artic.

Image of an orange and silver vessel, floating in the artic.

Image of an orange and silver vessel, floating in the artic.

Appreciation post for the French Tara Polar Station
(@fondationtaraocean.bsky.social), a drifting scientific base designed for long-term Artic missions to study biodiversity and the effects of climate change.

More info: fondationtaraocean.org/en/schooner/...

If you ever want to read a paper for free and can't find it otherwise, email the lead author and politely ask for a copy. You will not be bothering the person. You will in fact make their whole entire day. I have had scientists get so excited I asked they sent me everything they ever published.

🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work.

This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public.

Please spread the word.

🧵 1/4

Harrison Ford: Life Achievement Award Acceptance Speech | 32nd Annual Actor Awards YouTube video by Netflix

When you have the chance, please take the time to watch Harrison Ford's remarkable, beautiful Life Achievement Award acceptance speech. #ActorAwards

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV_2...

Worried about freedom of speech? Then what’s happening at the Open University should terrify you | Owen Jones The OU has capitulated to a pro-Israel lobby group about the use of the term ‘ancient Palestine’. The wider context is impossible to ignore, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

Here's the latest attempt to erase Palestine from history.

The free speech warriors are silent.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Shadow of a Dead God Fans of Jim Butcher and Scott Lynch will love this snarky fantasy mystery. It was only supposed to be one little job - a simple curse-breaking for Mennik Thorn to pay back a favour to his oldest frien...

I had forgotten that I'd put Shadow of a Dead God in the Smashwords sale, but I apparently did, so you can get it for $1.49 or equivalent on Smashwords for the next week!

Dan Simmons, noted racist, has died. He wrote Hyperion, which contained a good short story and then a lot of other words, which many of us read anyway because it was the Nineties and Waldenbooks had a limited science fiction section.

Edward Scissorhands and The Social Construction of Johnny Depp YouTube video by Little Shop of Ali

Made a video about Edward Scissorhands and Johnny Depp! Here you go!

youtu.be/wQKincT8_sw?...

After considerable soul-searching, I feel compelled to withdraw from the BAFTA emerging talent judging panel. The organisation's handling of the unfortunate Tourette's N-Word incident last night at the awards was utterly unforgivable. I cannot and will not contribute my time energy and expertise to an organisation that has repeatedly failed to safeguard the dignity of its Black guests, members and the Black creative community. This is particularly unfortunate given that this year's cohort boasts some incredible Black talent, especially one of my favourite shows of 2025 "Just Act Normal". However, when an organisation like BAFTA, with its own long history of systemic racism, refuses to acknowledge the harm inflicted on both the Black and disabled communities and offer an appropriate apology, remaining involved would be tantamount to condoning its behaviour. I hope BAFTA leadership comprehend the damage they and the BBC have caused and take the necessary steps to ensure their production staff are inclusive enough to prevent such an issue in the future. Yours sincerely, Jonte Richardson

Black filmmaker Jonte Richardson says he is stepping down as a BAFTA judge:

Tourette syndrome activist John Davidson says Bafta told him ‘any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast’ Davidson said he ‘can’t begin to explain how upset and distraught I have been’ over slurs he shouted during the award ceremony

So the BBC promised Davidson and StudioCanal (who made I Swear) that any swearing tics would be edited out from broadcast, and instead they left them in despite a two hour delay, and even put a fucking microphone right in front of him to ensure they picked it up - he was sat at the back of room.

When I saw the news story about the girls school being bombed, one of my first thoughts was about how unlike American physics, Iranian physics is 50% women at the undergrad level and how some of those girls who had been murdered were going to be physicists one day

"In Paris, France, water is 100% municipally owned and the customer satisfaction rate of the publicly owned Eau de Paris ranges from 90-96%."

THE CHRISTOPHERS | Official Trailer (2026) 4K YouTube video by JoBlo Movie Network

I've not been on socials much these days. But I'm very proud of this little movie - in particular because of the utterly spectacular performances of Ian McKellen and Michael Coel. It was a small film, written and shot on spec. It opens in NY and LA April 10.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8eT...

Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy I have made the leap from literary fiction to fantasy – for those who think it’s mere wish-fulfilment, here’s why we need that thing with the dragons

This is a good article www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

Screen shot from Paul Embery’s X account: Respect to this police officer. Confronted by radicals demanding the arrest of a Christian preacher on the grounds that Whitechapel "is a Muslim area" she was calm and professional and gave them short shrift. Let's see more of this from the police. Has a video of a woman police officer talking to a group of Muslim men

This clip is all over the other place and has made its way onto GB News and Talk TV so I’ll do a bit of an explainer here too!

The clip doing the rounds is of a fantastic police officer telling a group of Muslim men that a Christian preacher nearby is entitled to freedom of expression.

🧵
1/19

People might bring up Vincent van Gogh as an example of a painter who did great work in spite of, or because of, his suffering. I like to think that van Gogh would have been even more prolific and even greater if he wasn't so restricted by the things tormenting him. I don't think it was pain that made him so great, I think painting brought him whatever happiness he had. —David Lynch

I think about this quote from time to time

This is a beautiful and moving story:

Levine did not have concerns while making the movie but has developed a fuller understanding of the trans experience in the ensuing decades. "It's just over time and having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture and the reality of the meaning of gender.", says the actor, "It's unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it's fucking wrong. And you can quote me on that.".

I don't believe I've ever seen Ted Levine speak so candidly about his regrets of portraying Buffalo Bill in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He and some of the crew on the film were asked about the film's cultural transphobia by The Hollywood Reporter.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Jinx and Vi depicted facing one another in an Art Nouveau style.

Art Nouveau study

Notice how the popular media narrative has moved on, while people on the ground in Minneapolis are still struggling and crying out that things are as bad as ever. This is how fascist regimes operate — overreach, recalibration, normalization. Get louder, not quieter.

Babylon 5 Is Now Free to Watch On YouTube | Cord Cutters News In a move that has delighted fans of classic science fiction, Warner Bros. Discovery has begun uploading full episodes of the iconic series Babylon 5 to YouTube, providing free access to the show just...

If y'all want to get your sci-fi groove on without having to buy into a streaming service...

cordcuttersnews.com/babylon-5-is...

the loss of the World Service would be a tragedy and huge lost of soft power for Britain

UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule Protest group’s co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws

Wow!

Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report.

This is a *big* legal win.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

A court has ruled that the government's authoritarian ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.

Time to stop criminalising the people protesting a genocide - and start ending the UK's complicity.

"Moderna's CEO announced the company will no longer invest in new Phase 3 vaccine trials for infectious diseases: 'You cannot make a return on investment if you don't have access to the U.S. market. Vaccines for Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and shingles have been shelved.” 9:12 AM Feb 12, 2026 604.8K Views

In terms of what cures are being lost:

- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

a scene from an illuminated manuscript by John Skylitzes in which a woman is stabbing a man with a spear in the first panel. In the second panel, a group of men are handing over various things to the woman who stabbed said man in the previous panel

for no reason whatsoever, I am bringing out my favorite 12th-century illumination today, which depicts

1) a Thracesian woman killing a Varangian Guard who tried to assault her

and

2) his comrades praising her and giving her all of his stuff for her very understandable and justifiable actions 🙏

Star Trek discourse around Starfleet Academy depresses me, man, everyone’s just turned their brain off. Even commentators I usually like have slid into full CinemaSins mode, hating on the show through shallow, surface-level nitpicks. It’s not that you can’t dislike Starfleet Academy, I like it, but that’s not the point. The problem is how the hate campaign has dragged the level of intellectual engagement straight into the dirt. Nobody wants to go against the presumed consensus that it’s a bad show, so instead of actually engaging with what it’s doing, they watch with their pencils out, making a checklist of inconsequential bullshit so they can justify saying they hate it, rather than grappling with anything the story is actually saying. And the thing is, the show is interesting: it’s engaging with diaspora, racialized and marginalized community history-building, and liberal state institutional violence. You can argue about whether it handles those topics well or not, but they’re worth engaging with. But nah, people just want reheated 60s Trek with zero thought. And in five years we’re just going to get Star Trek that goes, “Oh hey, this alien race that’s a metaphor for queer people are actually human too, too bad we realized it too late, we feel sad now. Ah well, onto the next planet with a race of metaphorical Black people us Western folks can learn from and pity.” That might’ve been chill in the 60s, was already dated by TNG in the 90s, and had fully curdled into neoconservative Bush-era propaganda by Enterprise in the 2000s, but hey, glad we’re going back to that.

Public service email to everyone heading into the UK at the end of this month who isn't a UK or Irish citizen. The ETA requirement for UK entry is coming and isn't receiving enough advanced coverage. Don't get caught in the ensuing chaos:

homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/electronic-t...