I'm firmly on the side of autism in this war on autism.

jfc this is fucking ridiculous: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

it me

Month 13 of not working: got paid $250 for doing an interview take-home assignment, immediately spent it all at lego.com.

This dystopia we're in just keeps getting dumber. www.theverge.com/news/719184/...

I'm here for the surprise shoegaze shoutout in the new Megan Abbott novel.

Fascists are setting the U.S. on metaphorical fire and there is a literal genocide happening in Gaza. But it's okay, brave New York Times contributors are taking on the truly important issues of today!

End of July update: news of Robert Wilson's death has inspired me to listen to songs from Tom Waits' The Black Rider on repeat all day. youtu.be/t0h7qFRvBMI?...

Nothing to see here, just Google AI straight up lying to me about a Robert Creeley poem. And giving me a totally different wrong answer every time I reload the page.

"The Nazis... imagined their targets would self-deport. Once the myth of self-deportation collapsed, they turned to more punitive measures. On Tuesday, Noem similarly noted the Everglades camp was meant to frighten immigrants into self-deporting. 'If you don’t,' she said, 'you may end up here.'"

Nothing makes me miss being at Google more than public-facing outages. The SRE urge to know what's going on behind the scenes of a major incident will never die. www.reuters.com/business/goo...

Cat status report: New Cat wants to be exploring outside her safe room all the time. Big Cat desperately wants to herd her back into the safe room. I'm remembering the days when all I had was a pair of bonded littermate cats and life was easy.

Oh hey it's my birthday, which means it's also: * six years since I had my last drink * nine years since my first day working at Google * twelve years and one day since my last day working in a library What is time even, etc. etc.

Status update: six days before my 46th birthday, doing image searches for soft butch haircuts.

Lucy and Jack: October 2023 vs May 2025

20 years ago today, I arrived in Atlanta the day before starting my first post library school job at Emory. I went to a grocery store and was very excited to find diet Cherry Coke in 2 liter bottles. Took a photo in the kitchenette of the Extended Stay America in Decatur to celebrate.

"MYTH: Some people with autism may never work. FACT: That’s awesome, good for them." theonion.com/autism-myth-...

Fuck this shit www.yahoo.com/news/preside...

I very much want to experience this giant dumpling filled with six baby dumplings: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Just chilling (on the tiny couch that @kristyeverington.bsky.social's cats didn't want anymore).

"These are kids who will never pay taxes" is giving real "life unworthy of life" vibes. There was a direct line from the U.S. eugenics movement to Nazi era "euthanization" (murder!) of disabled people. Not enough people know about this history. It's grim as fuck. We need to shut this shit down.

The other documentary I didn't know I needed is the documentary about the East Village Ukrainian restaurant Veselka, and its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With narration by David Duchovny. youtu.be/-nOYF8vYYtE?...

I would like 100% less fascism please.

Secret Mall Apartment is the documentary I didn't know I needed. Highly recommended: secretmallapartment.com

Who even wants this. Seriously, who is this for? www.theverge.com/news/645986/...

Orthodontic things I did not know existed when I signed up for braces, all of which I have gotten in the past 13 months: open coil springs, bite blocks, bite turbos, power chains.

Middle-age braces, month 13 update: there are power chains even tighter than the power chains I got back in February?? And if they don't close my gaps quickly enough, they'll put on two layers of power chains next month??

There's a gorgeous bonded pair of Maine Coons available for adoption at Marin Humane. As their profile says, "they are a lot of cat", but if you know anyone who's interested, send them our way: marinpets.shelterbuddy.com/animal/anima...

Sure, the economy might be melting down, but I just got Wordle in 2 and reached Queen Bee in Spelling Bee on the same day. Dreams can come true.

#AutismAcceptanceMonth starts tomorrow. Please don't give to Autism Speaks; their $$ rarely supports autistic people/families, and their 'awareness' work portrays autistic people as burdens, not humans. From @autisticadvocacy.org, a good org to support instead. autisticadvocacy.org/considerthef...

As someone who used to be a librarian / archivist, I can confirm that this is really grim! IMLS grants to libraries and museums fund a lot of important work.

Achievement unlocked: have been volunteering with cats at Marin Humane for 6 months, have not brought home any additional cats. And there have been some VERY good cats.

the most powerful of pineapples

If the US blocks access to HRT, ADHD drugs, and SSRIs, I cannot begin to describe to you how much all of the tech sector will screech to a halt. The internet is built and maintained by trans people, people with chronic depression, and the neurodivergent. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Also: the Stonewall riots would literally not have happened without trans people. This historical revisionism in service of transphobic ideology is disgusting.

"But there are so many more cases of autism than there were 30 or 40 years ago" -- nope! There are more *diagnoses* of autism. Because the diagnostic criteria expanded as we started to better understand all the ways that an autistic neurotype can present itself.

"Autism is a developmental disability—and disability is a natural part of human diversity. Autism is something we are born with, and that shouldn’t be changed. Autistic children should get the support they need to grow up into happy, self-determined autistic adults."

Dear spiky acupressure mat: where have you been all my life??

Linkding (github.com/sissbruecker...) is a nice alternative to Pinboard for anyone who's willing to self-host. Because fuck transphobes.

Thanks to @saragoud.bsky.social and @thebulletin.org for lending me their platform. US national security and economic stability are at risk so long as DOGE officials are meddling in codebases they do not understand. The systems must be restored to a known-good state. bsky.app/profile/sara...

This headline is quite the choice.

So, uh, the world is on fire and everything is terrible, but at least I finally made the switch from Goodreads to StoryGraph? So if you want to creep on everything I've read since mid-1998, have at it: app.thestorygraph.com/profile/aime...

Current mental state: it's beta blockers versus my rising resting heart rate / pervasive sense of doom, and the beta blockers are losing.

We fought so hard with employee collective action to get these *bare minimum* ethical principles into place, and now they're being gutted. www.wired.com/story/google...

Without downloading new pics where you at mentally?

It's January, which means I'm remembering how much I legitimately love doing my taxes! Sometimes I think that "some kind of tax professional" should be my third career act. And then I remember I didn't take a single math class in college.

Every day we stray further from god's light: techcrunch.com/2025/01/17/g...

Today's greatest out of context phrase: "viral schnitzel party".

I'm one joker away from getting the final achievement in Balatro and this is the most motivated I've been for anything in months.