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 Ten Most Ridiculous Car Myths
(from Jalopnik) Cars are big, expensive, and sometimes hard to understand. That’s why, as Jalopnik readers found out, they are surrounded by crazy myths. These are our favorites. We’ve all heard the story of the secret carburetor that Big Oil kept from the public, but are there any other tall tales in the automotive world that we forgot?
Giant Spiders Have Invaded Georgia. Will They Spread?
(from the LiveScience)- Millions of giant spiders have invaded North Georgia, terrifying residents and spinning webs as thick as 10 feet deep… Porches, power lines, mailboxes and vegetable patches across more than 25 counties in the state have been draped with the dense, wheel-shaped webs of the bright-yellow Joro spider (Trichonephila clavata), an invasive species originating in East Asia… The first of the 3-inch spiders was spotted 80 miles northeast of Atlanta in 2014… Since then, the spider’s population and range have expanded steadily across the state, but nothing prepared residents or researchers for the number of spiders they would face this year…
What’s your political typology? Take the fun quiz!
We ran across this fascinating poll from Pew that breaks the country (and afterwards, the Parties) down into 9 political ‘typologies’. And guess what? THERE’S A QUIZ TO SEE WHERE YOU FALL! We have quibbles with many of the poorly worded questions, but the Dwyer Guinea Pig came up (perhaps unsurprisingly) as a Progressive Leftist. Where do you fall? And once you’ve found out, should you stay there?
The Interstate Bridge in the Big One
The Big One is still on the way, and our Portland bridges are NOT ready. The Interstate Bridge Replacement program is trying to raise awareness of how the Interstate Bridge react when it hits. They modeled the bridge during a magnitude 8+ Cascadia Zone earthquake, and it wasn’t pretty. The whole thing is a valuable and educational use of your time, but if you just want to see the Bridge collapse, FF to 2:30. So glad we’re earthquake-ready here in Sellwood! Follow our coverage of the Sellwood Bridge replacement, from one of the ricketiest bridges in the country to one of 3 earthquake ready bridges in Portland, by clicking here… https://tomdwyer.com/2017/newsletters/bridge-finished-2/.
