Andrew Brown
@seatrout.bsky.social
Writer, journalist, — attempting simultaneous disillusionment and wonder. ex Guardian, ex Independent. Orwell Prize winner. Interested in trout, Christianity, tech, literature, journalism, Sweden, history. Less and less interested in politics of any sort.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Kill me now: some experiences of AI open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...
Kill me now
adventures with machine learning
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Kill me now: some experiences of AI open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...
Reposted by Andrew Brown
“(Premium users can also converse with Satan.)”
man talk about end of days…
www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/tech/re...
man talk about end of days…
www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/tech/re...
November 15, 2025 at 12:44 AM
“(Premium users can also converse with Satan.)”
man talk about end of days…
www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/tech/re...
man talk about end of days…
www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/tech/re...
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Really shocked to hear about the death of the brilliant Observer writer Rachel Cooke - what a terrible loss.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Remembering Rachel Cooke | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Really shocked to hear about the death of the brilliant Observer writer Rachel Cooke - what a terrible loss.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Reposted by Andrew Brown
at one point, i watched a cook county sheriff’s officer (who appears to be in charge) point out a priest in the crowd.
he and a couple officers then went into the crowd , dragged him into the street, and arrested him.
situation is still tense as crowd jostles with police to get into the street.
he and a couple officers then went into the crowd , dragged him into the street, and arrested him.
situation is still tense as crowd jostles with police to get into the street.
November 14, 2025 at 4:14 PM
at one point, i watched a cook county sheriff’s officer (who appears to be in charge) point out a priest in the crowd.
he and a couple officers then went into the crowd , dragged him into the street, and arrested him.
situation is still tense as crowd jostles with police to get into the street.
he and a couple officers then went into the crowd , dragged him into the street, and arrested him.
situation is still tense as crowd jostles with police to get into the street.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
"The licence fee makes the #BBC vulnerable to political pressure in a peculiarly damaging way, not just from politicians."
Read @seatrout.bsky.social's latest Viewpoint column 👇
Read @seatrout.bsky.social's latest Viewpoint column 👇
Viewpoint with Andrew Brown: BBC protects mass media from abyss of TikTok
‘Sometimes, I think that TikTok is best understood as China’s revenge for the Opium Wars’
www.churchtimes.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
"The licence fee makes the #BBC vulnerable to political pressure in a peculiarly damaging way, not just from politicians."
Read @seatrout.bsky.social's latest Viewpoint column 👇
Read @seatrout.bsky.social's latest Viewpoint column 👇
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Thanks to months of pitch rolling, the Labour government has now effectively told anyone paying attention that income tax rises are necessary, but they’re not going to do them because they’re politically weak. Let’s see how that plays!
November 14, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Thanks to months of pitch rolling, the Labour government has now effectively told anyone paying attention that income tax rises are necessary, but they’re not going to do them because they’re politically weak. Let’s see how that plays!
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Yay, the even worse option of lots of small taxes upsetting noisy lobby groups.
November 13, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Yay, the even worse option of lots of small taxes upsetting noisy lobby groups.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
We have chaos and Ed Miliband, they're just not evenly distributed.
November 13, 2025 at 1:15 PM
We have chaos and Ed Miliband, they're just not evenly distributed.
@jamesrball.com Has really important story here www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e... which shows, amongst other things, how few journalists have time to go back and look at the sources of contentious quotes carefully.
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Prescott himself doctored Trump quote in his anti-BBC report
A report alleging Panorama broadcast misleading Trump quotes contains misleading quotes itself
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
@jamesrball.com Has really important story here www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e... which shows, amongst other things, how few journalists have time to go back and look at the sources of contentious quotes carefully.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Happy beached whale dynamite day for all who celebrate
On this day 55 years ago, Oregon blew up a beached whale with 20 cases of dynamite.
The Exploding Whale: An infamous moment in Oregon history creates a strangely beloved icon
The infamous exploding whale incident occurred Nov. 12, 1970, in Florence, Oregon. A whale washed ashore on the Oregon beach and with no other means to dispo...
www.youtube.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Happy beached whale dynamite day for all who celebrate
Reposted by Andrew Brown
After the third Malibu and Coke...
November 12, 2025 at 1:06 PM
After the third Malibu and Coke...
Reposted by Andrew Brown
ok one last post -- oldheads are always going to "why is the web dying.... how can we get the kids invested in the free and open web"
bro the kids can't read. that's why the web is dying. first things first
bro the kids can't read. that's why the web is dying. first things first
November 11, 2025 at 6:49 PM
ok one last post -- oldheads are always going to "why is the web dying.... how can we get the kids invested in the free and open web"
bro the kids can't read. that's why the web is dying. first things first
bro the kids can't read. that's why the web is dying. first things first
Reposted by Andrew Brown
The worst you can accuse Panorama of doing is making a misleading edit – and I’d dispute that! – to make *a point that was true*.
The programme aired without anyone seeing any issues with the edit. It was on iPlayer for a year without complaints. Donald Trump *did* incite Jan 6th.
The programme aired without anyone seeing any issues with the edit. It was on iPlayer for a year without complaints. Donald Trump *did* incite Jan 6th.
Tory culture spox demanding the BBC "grovel" to Trump is baffling. Who is this supposed to chime with?
Just a bizarre line that no one who doesn't use X would ever think.
Just a bizarre line that no one who doesn't use X would ever think.
November 11, 2025 at 8:54 AM
The worst you can accuse Panorama of doing is making a misleading edit – and I’d dispute that! – to make *a point that was true*.
The programme aired without anyone seeing any issues with the edit. It was on iPlayer for a year without complaints. Donald Trump *did* incite Jan 6th.
The programme aired without anyone seeing any issues with the edit. It was on iPlayer for a year without complaints. Donald Trump *did* incite Jan 6th.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
I am very much looking forward to this book.
Advanced read giveaway of the essay collection on the history & craft of science fiction & fantasy that Jo & I have coming out in spring! Pacing, plot, What Is Genre?, flying grapefruit, evolution of printing tech, impact of international translation, and much more!
(This giveaway is US only, alas)
(This giveaway is US only, alas)
Goodreads giveaway for Trace Elements!
@adapalmer.bsky.social is very interesting, science fiction is very interesting, sometimes when it isn't a Monday morning even I can be a bit interesting -- if you use Goodreads, sign up in the hope of a free copy of our book
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
@adapalmer.bsky.social is very interesting, science fiction is very interesting, sometimes when it isn't a Monday morning even I can be a bit interesting -- if you use Goodreads, sign up in the hope of a free copy of our book
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
November 10, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I am very much looking forward to this book.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Filling out a banking form that asks for my occupation, and in what I am choosing to consider as a sign of the times, "journalist" is not a selectable option, but "cryptocurrency" is
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Filling out a banking form that asks for my occupation, and in what I am choosing to consider as a sign of the times, "journalist" is not a selectable option, but "cryptocurrency" is
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
apnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Can’t wait to hear fuel duty get frozen again in the budget in ten days or so!!
Govt scraps all electrification investment. Midland Main Line to stay forever diesel Leicester Nottingham Derby Sheffield. Hugely embarrassing and inexplicable
www.ft.com/content/5ecd...
www.ft.com/content/5ecd...
UK transport secretary says full electrification of railways ‘not affordable right now’
Heidi Alexander says focus will be on other projects such as HS2
www.ft.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Can’t wait to hear fuel duty get frozen again in the budget in ten days or so!!
Reposted by Andrew Brown
It is possible to recognise that Watson's treatment of Franklin was despicable and at the same time to acknowledge that Matthew is right.
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 8, 2025 at 10:25 AM
It is possible to recognise that Watson's treatment of Franklin was despicable and at the same time to acknowledge that Matthew is right.
Reasonably happy that after a couple of hours' work, and with the genuine assistance of Claude, I have managed to get a usable first cut OCR of a blurry typescript from 1956 using MS cloud AI. I know a trained typist could have done 16 pages faster by hand.
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reasonably happy that after a couple of hours' work, and with the genuine assistance of Claude, I have managed to get a usable first cut OCR of a blurry typescript from 1956 using MS cloud AI. I know a trained typist could have done 16 pages faster by hand.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
Elon Musk is not set to become the world's first trillionaire because this pay package has a bunch of preconditions he will never meet. The 600,000 people he killed are dead for real, though.
The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.
November 7, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Elon Musk is not set to become the world's first trillionaire because this pay package has a bunch of preconditions he will never meet. The 600,000 people he killed are dead for real, though.
Reposted by Andrew Brown
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
I've been having some innocent fun with Voltaire and James Marriott: open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...
Can a nation of atheists exist?
Voltaire versus liberal democracy
open.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 AM
I've been having some innocent fun with Voltaire and James Marriott: open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...
Reposted by Andrew Brown
like a huge bird-murdering machine
Of all the many details in this brilliant piece on the insane Saudi Neom project, I think this is my favourite.
The graphics alone make it worth a click.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
The graphics alone make it worth a click.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
November 6, 2025 at 9:46 AM
like a huge bird-murdering machine