October 2026 releases

Make it so

In memoriam Sir Patrick Stewart, 1940 to 2026

Sir Patrick Stewart, smiling a little, in a dark jacket and a white shirt against a black background.
Photograph by Tommy Garcia, from Sir Patrick Stewart's official Instagram account

Why

October's releases are dedicated to Sir Patrick Stewart, and to my daughter Ioana, who has loved Jean-Luc Picard since she was a child.

For years, the two of us watched The Next Generation together in the evenings and talked through each episode afterwards. Sir Patrick died on 28 October. The next day she wrote about him: A chair left full.

October was the busiest month Respira has had. One person built all of it, and I wanted the month to carry a name that means something to my family.

This is a dedication, not a campaign. There is nothing to buy here. The list below is what I can give: a month of careful work, named for the order he gave from the chair.

His family's statement remembered "the dignity, compassion and humanity he brought to every role". I can't say it better.

Mihai

What a ship taught a plugin

A starship drawn in thin warm lines, a broad saucer and two long nacelles, gliding calmly across the paper.
The ship, as the page remembers it.
  • A ship moves on a clear yes from the chair. Respira changes a site only after a person says yes.
  • A crew joins by its own name. Teams join Respira by company email.
  • A voice stays calm when the screen is loud. Results come in plain words, and a split test ends in one sentence.

The crew badge

An empty captain's chair drawn in thin warm lines, with a small green plant on the seat.

A small chair and the words Enterprise crew, October 2026, under your plan in the dashboard sidebar. Only you see it. Every account can claim it, here or in Settings.

His causes

If you want to do something in his name, this is where he put his own.

  • Refuge, for women and children who live with domestic abuse. He was a patron, because of the violence his mother lived through at home.
  • Combat Stress, for veterans' mental health. He supported it after learning, while researching his family, that his father, a soldier, had lived with post-traumatic stress.
  • The International Rescue Committee, for refugees. He spoke for it in 2019.
  • Amnesty International, for human rights. In 2006 he made a short film for it against domestic violence.
  • The University of Huddersfield, where he was Chancellor. He served from 2004 to 2015 and gave his name to a scholarship for postgraduate study into domestic violence.
  • Wags and Walks and the ASPCA, for dogs. He and his wife Sunny fostered pit bulls through Wags and Walks in Los Angeles, and in 2021 the ASPCA gave him its Pit Bull Advocate and Protector Award.

“Violence is never, ever a choice that a man should make.”

Sir Patrick Stewart, Houston, 2013

Make it so, after a yes.

Every release note from October is on the releases page, and the split tests are on the Murmur page.