Just like it says, Popcorn Shorts is about the kind of things we think are really interesting, but don’t really need a large article to explain them. From the sublime to the ridiculous, check in here for crunchy bits of info you’ll love to munch. By the way, much (but not all) of our delicious Popcorn comes from articles we’ve posted on our Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook, please stop by and “Like” us and we’ll keep a fairly-constant-but-not-frequent-enough-to-be-annoying stream of these coming to your virtual door!
Progressive Radio returns to Portland
This deserves more than one of our Popcorn Shorts slots, but you deserve to know about it now and we haven’t had a chance to write a full article on it… PROGRESSIVE RADIO IS COMING BACK! The first station of the new Cascade Eductional Broadcasting Stations is KXRY-FM 91.1, and it will be carrying Thom Hartmann, Carl Wolfson, and a new show by ex-mayoral-candidate Jefferson Smith. The station will go on-line on Halloween and on-air as soon as they can find a permanent site for their transmitter. Check out this link for the full Willamette Week story.
Why you shouldn’t text and drive
According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, drivers who are texting are 6 times as “impaired” as drivers who are drunk. In a world where many people don’t see their own impairment even when drunk, however, that’s a comparison that may be a little abstract. This powerful video tells the stories of texting drivers and the lives they destroyed. If you have a teen who needs some convincing on not texting behind the wheel then this is a must-watch for them. If you yourself occasionally text a little, we bet you won’t be doing it again.
Houses that are “winning” Halloween
Do you trick out your house for the treaters? You probably don’t go all-out like this, or if you do your neighbors probably hate you. Some of these are just head-shakers as you wonder who would do this to their homes, and others are ideas you’ll probably want to build next year. The stand-out winner is the video of the “dancing” house… if you’ve seen the video of the Christmas house dancing to the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra you’ll have the general idea, but this Halloween version is still well worth watching.
5 real things science can’t explain
Many people think science has answered all the big questions already. As big fans of science we’d like to believe that, but we know scientists will be the first to tell you that there are still things that puzzle them. Here are 5 things still looking for scientific explanations. Some are specific phenomena like the “Klerksdorp Spheres” but others are big-picture concepts like the Placebo effect. Science is a joyous exploration of the mysteries of our universe, and this will give you 5 glimpses into what still makes that exploration so exciting.
