It’s that weekend when we all have to tromp through our houses and turn back by one hour all of our clocks — not to mention all the devices that tell time in one form or another — as we swing from daylight saving time back to standard time. My position on this time tyranny is well-known by now, but just as a reminder, here’s a link to the now 10-year-old classic “Last Week Tonight” piece on daylight saving time.

I suspect that some of you — optimists that you are — might be pondering what to do with that “gift” of an extra hour you gain when the clocks swing back from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday. Well, first, I find your optimism charming, although perhaps a bit misguided here at the end of 2025. Second, it’s not an “extra hour” — it’s an hour that was stolen from you in March! The Associated Press checks in with a timely (I know, and I’m sorry) article about what happens to your body when it “falls back” an hour.

You could spend the extra time this weekend gathering donations of food — or cash — for your local food bank as concern grows about the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program running out of money amid the federal government shutdown. It is true that judges have ordered the Trump administration to fund SNAP, but even though the administration says it will comply, it doesn’t seem particularly eager to do that — and, frankly, it doesn’t seem all that concerned about the impact to lower-income Americans. (And, yes, President Trump, some Republican voters are SNAP recipients.)

I suggest cash donations, by the way, because it allows food banks to use their purchasing clout to really stretch every buck. And keep an eye out for neighbors who could use a home-cooked meal or two or a little helping hand.

And, as The New York Times reports, SNAP is just the tip of the iceberg here: Federal funding cuts to programs like WIC, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Head Start are slicing substantial holes in our already-frayed safety net — with cutbacks to Medicaid waiting in the wings.

Here’s a very impressive Times interactive package about the health risks firefighters face from wildfire smoke. The Times sent a team of journalists to the Green Fire in northern California this July — and brought sensors to monitor the levels of harmful particulate in the smoke. The Times reports that scientists with the U.S. Forest Service have long advocated for monitoring air conditions at wildfires and limiting shifts when conditions are unsafe, but the agency has ignored the recommendations.

Remember the flap earlier in the year when The Associated Press declined to go along with Trump’s decision to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America? No? Hardly anybody else does either, in part because the name change hasn’t really caught on, as Nieman Lab reports; most news outlets are still calling it the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe this is a small victory against authoritarianism, but a win is a win.

The Trump administration formally presented its “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to nine universities; seven (quite properly) declined to sign it. At the risk of oversimplification, the compact essentially asks universities to swap their academic freedom for a vague promise that the schools will be first in line for federal funding. Even assuming that universities will remain united against Trump’s attacks (unfortunately, a big “if”), that won’t stop the attacks. Writing in The Atlantic, Aziz Huq argues that the era of lavish federal support for universities is over — but he thinks higher education can adapt.

Should we be worried about reports from Colorado that rabbits are growing horns? The Associated Press dispatched two reporters to cover the story, and came to this conclusion: Probably not. But you’ll notice that the story doesn’t quote any rabbits.

The news is better for salmon in the Klamath River: About a year after the last of four hydroelectric dams on the river was demolished, salmon have returned to their historic spawning grounds in the tributaries of the Klamath. It’s a remarkable bit of recovery — and it’s stunning how quickly it’s occurred. Still, questions remain about funding and water quality, the Times reports. Again, however, the reporter fails to quote any actual salmon.

A terrific World Series wraps up Saturday night, and I have reconciled myself to the near-certainty that the Dodgers will prevail, with Shohei Ohtani striking out 27 Blue Jays, somehow reaching base 20 times and selling a World Series record amount of popcorn to patrons between innings. It’s been a good season for Major League Baseball — and all of the changes the game has made in the last couple of years (the pitch clock, the larger bases) have paid off. But Jonathan Lemire of The Atlantic frets that a looming labor disagreement could undermine all that progress.

It’s a birthday weekend, so it’s time to feel — well — older. In the words of a Paul Simon song, “I hung one more year on the line.”

But here’s something that made me feel even older: This year marks the 50th anniversary of Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years,” his 1975 Grammy winner that includes the title song with its classic Michael Brecker sax solo. The Wall Street Journal recently ran this appreciation of the album, and — to be fair — the author has a legitimate point about the relative weakness of the songs on side two. But three of those side-two songs still are pretty solid: I like “Gone at Last” and “You’re Kind” and I always play “Have a Good Time” loud on Nov. 2, for reasons that will become apparent after you hear the first line of the song. Phil Woods has a great sax solo right at the end.) The album also contains one of Simon’s underappreciated masterpieces, “I Do It for Your Love.” But, still: When the album was released in October 1975, I was a senior in high school, and that was a long time ago.

Next week, we’ll all be a week older. But let’s gather back here anyway to compare notes.

And here’s a confidential birthday shoutout to the Weekend Reader’s Washington state-based reader, who will need to wait until Monday to play “Have a Good Time.”