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!
Power (and knowledge) to the pedalers!
Portland is a leader in livable communities, and one of the main anchors of livability is clean, convenient transportation. We’ve poured lots of money into bike lanes and mass transit, but is it working? For some Portlanders it is, and a new project from MIT can give you a clue to whether you’re one of the lucky ones. Click a point and the map will instantly tell you which parts of the city are quickest to reach by walking (green), biking (yellow), public transit (blue), or driving (red). It’s a completely new, eye-opening way to look at our city, and it may make you get off the couch and join your friends on their daily bike commutes!
When you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go… to Japan
The Japanese fascination with high-tech extends to something pretty low-tech in most American homes… the toilet. Japanese engineers have created toilets that measure body fat, glow in the dark, play music, and relieve odors, and all these features and more were on display at the “Toilet- Human Waste and Earth’s Future” conference in Tokyo. The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Tokyo’s OMSI) put on the show. Click here for a photo essay that lets you follow little Japanese schoolchildren in their poop hats down the ultimate throne, or click here to get some of the more pungent details.
![Popcorn-Solar]](https://tomdwyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Popcorn-Solar-150x150.jpg)
How much solar power is enough?
Just for fun, how much space would it take to supply the world’s 678 quadrillion Btu total energy demand of with solar panels? The picture at left shows the space necessary to supply the world, the EU, and Germany. The largest red square (world supply) is about the area of Spain, which is big, but look at it a couple other ways… If we built solar farms at the same rate we’re destroying worldwide forest, we’d be done in 3 years. It’s half the size of farmland in China, 1/18th the size of the Sahara, or 10 times the number of worldwide golf courses. This page puts the potential for solar energy in perspective, and also offers good news for renewables like wind and hydroelectric as well.
Getting to know the Caliphate
It may be a little more serious than you’re used to from PopCorn Shorts, but this is a timely link worth checking out. As we mentioned in Tom’s Tidbits this month it’s been just over a year since ISIS announced its existence, but they’ve already swept through Iraq and Syria and are establishing a “Caliphate” in the region. Sounds scary, but is it? Maybe. The only way to know for sure is to know what’s actually involved with a Caliphate, and how likely ISIS is to achieve it. McClatchy News has a great primer with definitions, maps, and analysis. Did you know that part of the “Caliphate” declaration is intended to target Al Queda’s funding sources? Read this article, and that will just be the start of what you know.
