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 necessarily 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!
The 50 Most Beautiful Places in Oregon
This is one of the most ambitions articles we’ve ever heard attempted… where does one even START to make a list of the ‘most beautiful places in Oregon’? The folks at the Oregonian tried to tackle it by “…considering three criteria: natural beauty, diversity and majesty. In other words, places that are beautiful, with different kinds of things to see, and that inspire that sense of awe and wonder.” You’ll rightly wonder at their choices but you’ll definitely enjoy the gorgeous pictures. Make sure you get out and see every place on this list in person!
Help Make Your Dog (and others!) Live Longer
Dog years are about 6 to 12 times shorter than ours, but science is trying to change that. Researchers from several schools including the University of Washington School of Medicine are doing a multi-year study of aging in dogs, and you can help. If you’d like to enroll your dog in this 50-state study just click here and answer some questions about the dogs’ health and life, send in a saliva sample, and you’re in. Studying dog aging can identify biological and environmental factors that can extend their lifespan, and the info the doctors get from studying our best friends can be applied to humans as well.
Oregon Gained Over 400,000 People In The Last Decade
Governor Tom McCall gave Oregon one of it’s most iconic slogans… “Come visit. Don’t stay”. But as word of our northwest paradise leaks out, fewer people are getting the message and more… a lot more… are staying. Research from Portland State University shows that “Since 2010, more than 400,000 people have moved to the state. And between 2018 and 2019 alone, Oregon’s population grew by 41,100… Portland continued to see the most growth of Oregon cities. Oregon’s three most populous counties—Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas—accounted for almost half of the state’s growth last year.”
Why We Believe Lies… Even When We Know Better
Washingon is a case study in believing lies, especially these days. Every day brings new lies from Trump and the rest of the Trumpets, each systematically debunked, yet each staying on the pile of stuff they’re building their case on. Why don’t these lies disappear? Evidence points to the idea that our brains prefer a complete-but-wrong understanding to an incomplete-but-right understanding. Just correcting a lie isn’t enough because we each built our understanding of why the world works based on that lie, so changing just that one point hasn’t changed the tapestry our brains wove to include it. But it’s not just ‘them’, it happens to all of us… and there are ways for all of us to fight it.
