Good morning, welcome to sunday links, my weekly break from the blog to link to some things I've been enjoying. Typically I write every day. One recent post you might enjoy is The Horse Armor Retraction. It's a short story about frog-boiling, and about going back in time to fix a mistake.

🥇 Thanks to maya.land for sponsoring the blog! If you'd like to learn how to support my writing and get a shoutout here too, check the sponsors page. 🥇

article

Toward a Neuroqueer future: An interview with Nick Walker (PDF link)

In this interview, Autism in Adulthood’s Associate Editor Dora M. Raymaker interviews Nick Walker about the state of neurodiversity scholarship and practice, past, present, and future. Nick Walker is a queer autistic professor of psychology, a cofounder of the worker-owned publishing house Autonomous Press, a longtime participant in autistic culture whose ideas have influenced the emergent fields of neurodiversity studies and critical autism theory, and a transdisciplinary scholar whose work explores the intersections of neurodiversity, embodiment, queer theory, and transformative practice.

podcast

You're Wrong About: The Dyatlov Pass Incident

Breaking with tradition this week to recommend a video for your ears. This is one of my new favorite YWA episodes. Sarah talks to Blair Braverman, a long-distance dogsledder, about an incident in 1959 "in which nine experienced ski hikers fled their shelter and ran into the frigid night for reasons unknown." They talk about why we tell each other stories that make us afraid to go outside, our tense relationship with the outdoors, and why it makes us feel better to believe in Bigfoot.

music

Boris & Merzbow - Sun Baked Snow Cave

The roar of a (gigantic) wheel as it turns uncontrollably. I vaguely recall it in a warm snow cave. A boom like a chorus of thousands of cicadas heard under the sun. Such a story deserves to be born.

game

Here's how to play toll-free detective: dial a 1-800 number spelling out a word on the keypad. If the number has anything to do with the word, you get a point. If it's a sex hotline, insurance company, or any other random unrelated business, you don't.

For example, 1-800-FLOWERS would get a point if you didn't already know about it. 1-800-PANCAKE leads to a roboprompt about insurance, which has nothing to do with pancakes, so it's not worth anything.

You can use more than 7 numbers—anything after the 7th just gets ignored—but every number has to represent a letter. Multiple words are okay, but probably not a good strategy. E.g., 1-800-FINGERELEVEN¹ is a valid play, but not 1-800-FINGER11.

Play solo or take turns with a friend. Play until you get bored.

International players: I don't know how toll-free numbers work outside the US, sorry

Oh wait, this isn't a link. Shit. Uh... click here for game 🦝

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1. I have not actually checked to see if this is the official Finger Eleven hotline; if you think this is a good play, feel free to use it. Also maybe this rule doesn't need to exist? idk, ignore it if you want↩