We’ve reached the third Friday in March and also the official beginning of spring (in the northern hemisphere).
More of the world is working from home this week. My husband’s place of work has cut down on hours, so he’s not having to leave the house as many days each week. That has a marginal decrease on my anxiety, and for now we’re trying really hard not to worry about economics.
Meanwhile, welcome to the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five (pandemic-free) stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about responding to the pandemic, five stories about the pandemic, one story in a category of its own, and five videos (plus notable obituaries and some things I wrote).
Stories of the Week:
The Cold Crowdfunding Campaign: Save the Girl and Save Me From Having to Toss Her Out of the Airlock. A superb parody…
Stop With the Superhero Babies! It Never Works.
Fossil ‘wonderchicken’ could be earliest known fowl.
How thin, delicate butterfly wings keep from overheating.
What scientists learned after firing a small cannonball into a near-Earth asteroid.
This Week in News for Queers and Allies:
Inventor of the world wide web: the internet isn’t working for LGBTQ women.
‘Intertwined with the Trump Administration,’ Anti-LGBT Hate Groups Rose Sharply in 2019.
This Gay Historian’s Book Club for the Coronavirus Quarantine Could Help Save Us All.
Trans Judge Candidate Wins, Anti-LGBTQ Congressman Loses in Illinois.
A quarantined gay man played piano on his balcony for neighbors. Then someone brought out the sax.
This Week in Responding to a Crisis:
Grocery store workers in Minnesota classified as emergency workers.
Trump signs major coronavirus relief package meant to ease burden of pandemic.
Idaho GOP ignores coronavirus in favor of requiring medical tests for transgender student athletes.
California Gov. Newsom issues order for entire state to stay at home due to coronavirus.
This Week in COVID-19:
The Impact of COVID-19 on Air Quality in US Cities.
Warning: Turns Out Coronavirus Is Dangerous To Millennials, Too.
Italy’s coronavirus death toll overtakes China’s.
This Week in Finally:
Tulsi Gabbard ends White House bid, endorses Biden. It’s not that I want everyone to rally ’round Biden already, it’s just that I really wanted her out: “She had also become the subject of widespread skepticism among national Democrats, often rebuked for her past anti-LGBT rhetoric, isolationist brand of diplomacy and 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom she declined to label a war criminal despite the dictator’s use of chemical weapons to attack his own people.” There were only three candidates still in the running in last week’s mini-Tuesday… and still she came in sixth place. For good reason!
In Memoriam:
Actor Stuart Whitman Dead at 92.
Things I wrote:
Sunday Update: Please stop hoarding!
Picard tries to start mending all the “Broken Pieces”— the new series takes a Lovecraftian turn.
Confessions of a (supposedly) Veteran Remote Worker.
Videos!
Coronavirus II: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):
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Stephen Colbert: No Red States Or Blue States, Just 50 Anxious Pale States:
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ELM – Golden (Official Video):
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Sam Smith – To Die For (Acoustic):
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Lisa Loeb – Sing Out:
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