It’s Friday! We’re already up to the fifth Friday in March!

Most of the week has been so normal that it is a bit unsettling. The weather has settled down a bit after a week or so of much warmer than normal temperatures. On the other hand, we are well on our way for it to be one of the driest Marches on record. I wish we would stop breaking all these weather records, but with the climate going the way it is, I think we all know that isn’t going to happen.

Anyway, welcome to the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five (IMHO) stories of the week, five stories about technology, five stories about science, five stories about awful people, and five videos (plus things I wrote).

Stories of the Week:

Otterly Wonderful News: Valkyrie gives birth to four river otter pups!

The Fake Sex Doctor Who Conned the Media Into Publicizing His Bizarre Research on Suicide, Butt-Fisting, and Bestiality.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma agrees to $270M settlement with Oklahoma.

Gun advocates request for temporary emergency stay from Supreme Court denied as bump stock ban looms and Federal bump stock ban goes into effect Tuesday.

Morgan Freeman Converted His 124-Acre Ranch Into A Giant Honeybee Sanctuary To Save The Bees.

This Week in Technology:

Microsoft leads the way in banning April Fools’ Day pranks.

Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app .

Facebook Bans White Nationalism and White Separatism.

How Google Wiped a Neighborhood off the Map.

The Internet’s Phone Book Is Broken.

This Week in Science:

A mathematician found a solution to the much-studied problem 33 = x³ + y³ + z³.

Hemimastigophora is a novel supra-kingdom-level lineage of eukaryotes.

Huge fossil discovery made in China’s Hubei province.

X-ray chimneys in the Galactic Centre.

Kuiper Belt dust may be in our atmosphere (and NASA labs) right now.

Awful, Deplorable People:

Slur-Spewing White Men Open Fire on Biracial Children Walking to Buy Candy: Sheriff.

AG Barr is engaged in ‘the biggest con’ this prosecutor has seen ‘in a long time’ — here’s why.

Mueller Report Summary Shows William Barr May Have Fallen For Russian Covert Operation, Former CIA Agent Says.

Why is Devin Nunes suing over Twitter parody accounts?

It’s Bigger Than Mueller and Trump – Trumpism follows a historical pattern: Whenever black people make progress, white people respond forcefully..

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 8/23/2019: More pictures, more words.

Confessions of a bergamot addict.

Narrow horizons and frozen minds — or sf/f shouldn’t be an old boys’ club.

Videos!

Rachel Maddow hilariously ridicules Mike Pence’s lie about going to the moon — while cutting NASA budget:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Stephen Colbert mocks Utah’s Sen. Mike Lee’s senseless :

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Trevor Noah tries to make sense of Jussie Smollett’s dropped charges:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Who Is Pete Buttigieg and Why Is He Killing It in the Polls?:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Steve Grand – Disciple (official) – TW, this song is about addiction and self-destructiveness and is more than a bit disturbing:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)