I know I’ve said this before, but I believe the technical issues that have plagued recent editions of the Weekend Reader have been solved, thanks to the gentle ministrations of the person who has come to my assistance to solve these bugs every time I couldn’t figure them out myself — which is pretty much every time. Thanks, Cole. If you have missed previous editions and want to track them down — although I can’t think of a single reason why you would want to do that — they’re all up on the website, mikemcinally.com.

This is the weekend when we move our clocks forward an hour and transition to daylight saving time. I will spare you my twice-annual whining about how stupid (and dangerous) the clock change is and merely note that the solutions being proposed are increasingly odd, like the one from a Florida Republican who suggests we should just split the difference, adjust our clocks by a half-hour once and be done with it. (This sounds odd, but it does explain why — in a previous newspaper job — I worked with page designers in India who were 13-and-a-half hours ahead of me. And, yes, that means when I was working on pages at 2 p.m., those poor guys — and I think they were all guys — were working at 3:30 in the morning.) Our friends at The Associated Press have this story on the moribund efforts to do away with this time tyranny. And this report from “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on daylight saving time always makes me smile, even though it’s years old now (and I’ve linked to it before).

With sunny skies in the forecast for Saturday — but “chance rain then rain” in the forecast for Sunday, according to the National Weather Service — Oregon legislators decided they needed to wrap up this year’s short session Friday so they could enjoy a burst of sunshine, even though they could have worked through the weekend. Who could blame them?

As for what legislators accomplished, it was another busy short session. But if your main question is whether you’ll vote in May or November against the fee and tax increases the 2025 Legislature approved to pay for transportation — well, that question is headed to the courts. The hardworking crew at the Oregon Capital Chronicle has this summary of the session.

The Gazette-Times is reporting that Hewlett-Packard has announced plans to close its Boise campus by the end of 2027 — and that some folks here think Boise’s misfortune could be a big break for Corvallis. A memo sent to HP employees in Boise said that the company’s executive leadership is choosing to focus on collaboration “across our Western U.S. Innovation Centers and Labs in the Pacific Northwest,” which includes sites in Corvallis and the Portland metro area. A December 2025 story from the Idaho Statesman reported that about 1,700 people worked for HP in Boise in 2018, and chances are good that number is lower now. And it’s not clear how many of those people will be laid off — or how many might work remotely from Boise.

Still, it probably wouldn’t hurt Corvallis to be able to import a few hundred or so HP employees, assuming that they can afford to buy a house here. I also understand that many HP employees who got either laid off or quit stayed in Corvallis to start businesses here. But I wonder how many of our economic eggs we want to put in the baskets of companies that can decide with the stroke of a pen to shutter a location and move elsewhere. (In fact, close-eyed readers might pick up some similarities between the fate of HP’s Boise campus and some of the transformations that have occurred at its Corvallis location.)

Les Gehrett, the sports editor at the Gazette-Times/Democrat-Herald, has a new column in which he suggests that it’s not such a bad thing that the annual football rivalry game between Oregon State and Oregon is on hold at least until 2028. His argument, which should be apparent to any Beavers fan, is pretty basic: It’s just a not a fair fight anymore. (I tend to agree. I can only identify two reasons to play the game these days: One would be if Oregon writes a big check to OSU to come play the game at Autzen. The other is this: On those occasions when an Oregon State team is good enough to challenge the Ducks, a game against Oregon might be one of the few opportunities it has to get on the national radar — and that would be an essential part of getting a bid to a College Football Playoff. But let’s be honest: The rebuilding Beavers need to show first that they’re competitive in the rebuilding Pac-12 Conference, and that might take some time.)

To underline Gehrett’s point: When it became obvious to Oregon that OSU wouldn’t be able to play the rivalry game in 2026, the Ducks had an opening to fill in their 2027 nonconference schedule. Fortunately, perennial football power Western Kentucky was available.

Equally fortunate: President Donald Trump says he’s working on an executive order that will fix all the problems plaguing college athletics.

You’ve heard of these “prediction markets,” online sites like Polymarket that let people bet on the likelihood of real-life events like whether Kristi Noem would be the first member of the Trump cabinet to be fired (a winning bet, as it turned out) or whether the United States would attack Israel last Saturday (another winner!). Now, there’s evidence that some of these bets might be insider trading placed by people who have knowledge of, say, U.S. war plans. The Atlantic’s Saahil Desai explores the implications. (And just think how much money The Atlantic could have won on Polymarket with its Signalgate leak.)

As a longtime fan of office supplies, I was pleased to read about Kaeden Rowland, a print specialist at a Staples store in upstate New York. Rowland has earned viral fame through a series of TikTok videos featuring, yes, office supplies. And her smart employer has embraced her newfound fame, as The New York Times reports in this story. (As an aside, I get a similar buzz watching the videos posted by JetPens, the California site from which I purchase most of my writing utensils.)

Remember last week’s Reader, in which I told you that the races for the top Oscars were pretty much over? Well, the awards at last weekend’s Actor Awards (the new name for the Screen Actors Guild ceremony) may have given a boost to some dark horses. The AP’s Jake Coyle surveys the field, with about a week to go before the Academy Awards.

Speaking of the Oscars, I am still planning my annual contest in which I challenge readers to beat my mark at predicting winners. I’ll have a separate blog post up next week with details of how to enter.

That’s all for this week. Remember to stick it to our time lords by sleeping in an extra hour Sunday. So what if that makes you late for church? Your religious leader will understand.