@laurenbeukes.com 's "The Shining Girls," a creepy-as-hell time-bendy serial killer riff.

I kept needing this, so I finally made it.

"Should one not ask of any public project … whether it (1) promotes justice; (2) restores reciprocity; … (4) favours people over machines; (5) maximizes gain or minimizes disaster; (6) favours conservation over waste; (7) is reversible or irreversible? Franklin, The Real World of Technology, 1990

This is so fascinating. Must read.

AI is revolutionizing the world! A Playstation now costs $5,000 and this is the last phone you will ever own.

"In some cases, our reporting found, ChatGPT continued to stoke users’ obsessions as they descended into unwanted harassment, abusive stalking behavior, or domestic abuse, traumatizing victims and profoundly altering lives."

Writing can be frustrating and exhausting, and sometimes it can feel like flying. Being able to articulate what I mean in words all the time has made me smarter and happier too. Writing a lot is deeply important and will change your life. Even if you think it sucks! It probably does at first!

I feel bad when I read people who say they hate writing, especially to the extent they’d let an LLM do it. Writing was the path to making me feel human and the emotional journey of doing it all the time fills me full of purpose. I refuse to believe I’m the only person who feels like this!

The world’s richest dickheads have bet enormous sums of money on a perpetual motion machine that few people like or want, and even fewer are willing to pay for. So now, they are going to lose a gajillion dollars. Hopefully it doesn’t also tank fuck out of pension funds or similar.

In about ten years the number of anti-trans articles per year has literally grown a hundredfold.

The way these questions are framed is utterly enraging but if you have the stomach for it please do it

still an hour left to fill this in!

Calling on other UK immigrants and pro immigration citizens, today is the last day (til 11.59pm) to fill in the public consultation on the proposed changes to Earned Settlement, most notably moving the timeline from 5 years to 10 years www.gov.uk/government/c...

OOFF! Just seen a preview of Dirty Business (Ch4 factual drama) on the sewage scandal. This will start a conflagration. Tears and fury. Could it spark a Post Office-style reckoning? I think it could. Watch it later this month. Kudos to the heroes Ash Smith and Peter Hammond from WASP

a great article you should read instead of the Washington post one: theracket.news/p/the-most-a...

Love a weird ocean critter with a cool name!

idk i think in a time when it feels like nothing matters & all is futile it might actually be time to double down and write your stories & make your paintings & sing your songs & do your art. create the things that make us human and share them.

As someone who had an extremely delicate sinus surgery in December 2024 I am extremely thankful it was before we had the stupidity to start offshoring the intelligence and accuracy of surgeons

Tim Allan, who just quit as Starmer's director of comms, was on the board of the trans-eliminationist hate group "Sex Matters", whose director of advocacy Helen Joyce urged transphobes to get through to "decision makers" so that the "numbers" of trans people could be "reduced." That's what they did.

Yeah I’m looking for my dog (girlfriend who has a restraining order against me and she has a dog) and here’s the picture of the dog (she walks this dog and I can use it to figure out her schedule) thanks for sending all footage my way

Books 13 & 14 of 2026: Zoo City, by @laurenbeukes.com ; The Joy of a Left Hand, by Liang Wern Fook. #yishreads #southafricanliterature #singlit

A self-driving car

A social media ban is effectively a ban on having friends who don't live nearby, which is what most under-16s use it for. For some kids, those friends are a lifeline

Friends! Tuesday, Feb. 10th, at 6:00 pm EST, @resistanceschool.bsky.social will host our very first virtual public salon! We will discuss the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and why the system erases white martyrs in the fight for civil rights. Register here: buy.stripe.com/28EfZi7VN6RA...

Palantir stock is falling again today. It's now down more than 25% over the past month.

In a time of book bannings, AI, and decreased library funding, the best thing you can do to support books is be very, very loud about them. @mollytempleton.com on how we can help the authors we love:

‘an elaborate piece of designer taxidermy’

Let’s not sacrifice our arts on the alter of generative AI! 86% of authors say GenAI has already reduced their earnings 72% of authors say job opportunities have already been cut 57% of authors say their career is no longer sustainable #JusticeForCreators and #TheWriterBehindTheWords

Fairly chilling article detailing the surveillance state we already live in. (Gift link) wapo.st/4bXee03

it's hard to explain how horrible and dangerous this app and the people who made it are but I tried: www.404media.co/app-for-quit...

This is just awful.

I figured this may start happening to new work - but never thought it may backdate. Thie will further exacerbate the exploitation of the marginal, the unmonied, the less known . ( ‘A.I.’, my arse, unless ‘A’ stands for ‘arse’)

I know it seems scarcely credible, but I've found another govt AI announcement to complain about www.gov.uk/government/n...

Re-upping this article in the Guardian Oz, about my research into the extreme harm being caused by Wes Streeting's puberty-blocker ban. UK mainstream media has collectively ignored my research (as I expected) but not the Guardian Australia. Needless the UK and US Guardian's didn't share it.

This is your regular reminder that the data broker industry must be destroyed.

For the geeks, the gallery-lates folk, and the quantum-curious. I'm talking physics and pop culture at Science Gallery this Friday eve, in this very timeline, with King's Philosophy of Science senior lecturer Alex Franklin and SCI-FI London's Louis Savy london.sciencegallery.com/sgl-events/f...

PAUL J McAULEY @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social - free London event on Tuesday 10th February! srfcfeb2026.eventbrite.com The Arthur C Clarke Award winner and all-round acclaimed sci-fi novelist will be reading, chatting and answering your questions at SRFC - do come!

Anthropic's plan to "destructively scan every book in the world" [free WaPo link] wapo.st/4rjXAMQ

Bye forever, WeTransfer.

Not sure how many folks from Cape Town follow me, but here's a geek themed event happening in about 2 week's time! The activity side of the event is a bit weird, I'll post details below. But there will also be a marketplace and folks are welcome to just come through to hangout and chill.

Thread: John has been having a bunch of health issues and now has rib fractures that will require time and rest Please consider chipping in Also buying all his books because they're fabulous and he's such a kind and amazing person

I know we're all seeing 87 unhinged things per day, but "guys if our multi billion dollar product doesn't start being useful for something, literally anything, the people might not appreciate us wrecking the planet over it anymore" is a truly bananapants thing to say out loud

Finished season 2 of Silo last night. Today's AppleTV free trial choice is the adaptation of @laurenbeukes.com 's Shining Girls.

crazy to think how i struggle to ask for any kind of help but the president of the united states asks "can i have your nobel peace prize?"

Cancel your Spotify subscription.

The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits. AI poses a grave threat to students' cognitive development. www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...

[interrogation] DETECTIVE: tell us the truth! ME: [smugly] I am. DETECTIVE: I'll have you know it's a crime to give false information to a police officer! ME: oh really? What if I told you my name was... MICROSOFT CO-PILOT??? DETECTIVE: [quietly] oh shit he's got us, that's completely legal

🚰 New EU-wide protections against PFAS in drinking water are now in force! This is a win for people, our waters and strong EU rules! 🎉 But for harmonised monitoring, we must defend the EU's Water Framework Directive - the cornerstone of water protection✊ More ⬇️ #ProtectWater #OneHealth #BanPFAS

lol