It’s the weekend of the Ides of March and the world is falling apart all around us, and we’ll get to all of that this weekend, but first — did you see this breaking news about cats?

According to the cat desk at The New York Times, a team of Japanese researchers has come up with new insights into how cats are able to seemingly land on their feet when they fall. Judging by the illustration for the story, the work mainly appeared to involve a series of researchers — graduate assistants, probably; thank God for graduate assistants — dropping a cat from a height of about 3 feet onto a padded floor and then examining slow-motion footage in which the cat, again and again, lands on its paws. Oh, you want to know about the insights gained from this research? Are you sitting down? Turns out that cats have a particularly limber portion of their spines that allows them to correct their orientation midair. And science marches on.

You remember that old saw about how truth is the first casualty in war? (The quotation is often attributed to the Greek playwright Aeschylus, but there’s dispute about that.) Regardless of its origin, the line seems particularly appropriate now that the war in Iran enters its third week: The war is generating hundreds of false AI-generated videos, which are getting wide play on social media, of course. The Times analyzed hundreds of these fake videos for a story that just underlines the importance of checking your sources thoroughly when browsing online.

Speaking of Iran and President Trump, have you wondered why so many news outlets seem to get different interviews with the Leader of the Free World? Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker at The Atlantic explain: It’s because almost every journalist in Washington has the number to Trump’s cellphone. And Trump doesn’t seem to mind taking the calls. As a White House spokesperson tells Scherer and Parker: “President Trump is the most transparent and accessible president in history. The press can’t get enough of Trump, and they know it.”

This week’s long read comes from the Times: It’s a detailed story outlining the recent bleak history at The Washington Post. The story details Jeff Bezos’ apparent plan to use everything that worked for him at Amazon to make data-driven decisions about getting the Post to a break-even point. And while it makes sense to try to stanch the paper’s financial losses, I’m not sure the way to do it is to constantly measure the cost of producing each one of what a Post executive termed “story-units.” (The Post has laid off some 350 of its 800 journalists, although there is some indication that the paper is quietly reaching out to certain laid-off employees to see if they’re interested in coming back.)

Meanwhile, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, who jumped ship from NPR to join the Times a few years ago, reports that the Times newsroom now has some 2,300 journalists. (Add in the staff at Times-owned sites like Wirecutter and The Athletic, and the number is closer to 3,000.)

If you’re just catching up to the long-running controversies surrounding the Coffin Butte Landfill, this Oregonian/OregonLive story by Gosia Wozniacka does a good job of explaining the record $3 million fine the state levied this week against Valley Landfills, a subsidiary of Republic Services. But, as the Gazette-Times’ Cody Mann reports, many of the people who fought against the proposed expansion of the landfill suspect that Republic will just shrug off the fine and maintain business as usual.

A new pilot program from the Oregon Legislature will have legislators reviewing the effectiveness of bills that they helped to pass. Granted, the program offers a temptation for lawmakers to give themselves high marks — but if they’re serious about seeing what worked and what didn’t, the program could be useful. Shaantha Nanguneri has the story for the Oregon Capital Chronicle.

Maybe here’s one of those bills that could use such an evaluation: One of the feel-good stories from this year’s short session was a bill to buy Abiqua Falls, a waterfall near Silverton that had been put up for sale by the Mount Angel Abbey. The bill allocated $2 million to buy the property — but, as Jamie Hale reports in The Oregonian/OregonLive — the full cost of the purchase, including badly needed maintenance on the trail to the waterfall, could end up totaling more than $8 million. And it’s unclear which state agency will operate the site.

The FBI last week raided the home of a Eugene man who had posted videos protesting actions taken by U.S. Customs and Enforcement agents. Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the posts by Gabriel Charles Reed “urged people who own guns to confront” ICE agents in their neighborhoods or to “‘burn something down’ rather than simply hold signs, shout or film federal officers.” Reed said the search warrant he was shown reported that he was under investigation for inciting a riot. At week’s end, he had not been charged.

Let me be blunt: The real purpose of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (The SAVE America Act) is to restrict access to voting. The bill “solves” a voter fraud problem that does not exist. And, if it passes, it’s going to force you to track down documents you possibly haven’t laid eyes upon in years to register to vote in federal elections.

Saturday is Pi Day — March 14 — during which we commemorate the mathematical constant (3.14 … and so on … and so on). Have you ever wondered about the origins of this magical day? No, neither have I — which is why I found this Associated Press story so unexpectedly engaging.

Are you struggling with the picks in your Oscar pool? I’m here to help: Earlier today on the blog, I posted my predictions for all 24 Oscar categories — and issued a challenge to readers to try to beat my mark. One winner could claim a $25 gift certificate to Darkside Cinema. Entries are due by 2 p.m. Sunday. The Oscar show gets underway at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday and ends sometime Monday — March 23.

A new category in this year’s Oscars is for best casting — that is to say, the motion picture that has assembled the best overall cast and not just one or two outstanding performers. The right casting is magic when it happens — and disastrous when it doesn’t, which is why this Times feature about casting decisions that didn’t work is so much fun. Enjoy!

That’s it for this weekend. President Trump — give me a call! You know the number.