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!
What would “Big Government” actually look like?
In the first US census in 1790, the US boasted 3,919,023 people (with the usual sad qualifications of who counted as ‘people’). The US House of Representatives at that time was 105 members, or 1 rep for every 37,324 people. Today, with 331.9 million people, we have only 435 representatives… 1 for every 762,989 of us. Citizens United and the Corporotocracy aside, our representation is only a twentieth of what it was. To have the same representation as at the Founding we’d need 8,892 Congressional representatives but we’ve been stuck at 435 since 1911. Why? In part, unbelieveably, because of the physical size of the Capitol building. Adding the full 8900 would require a new building, but we could refurbish the existing Capitol to hold 1,725 representatives, or 1 for every 192,405 people. Not perfect, but a four-fold upgrade! What would a new Congressional chamber look like? Click here to take a look at what Big Government, or at least Bigger And More Representative Government, might look like.
How Finland’s winning the war on misinformation
One of the sections of our big “Propaganda” article this month is on ‘Fighting Back”, so a real success story in fighting propaganda caught our eye. Finland has successfully fought Soviet and Russian propaganda for years, and is continuing to win. Why? How? Here are four answers… “Here’s Why Is Finland Able to Fend Off Putin’s Information War?” (Foreign Policy), “Finland’s secret weapon in the fight against fake news: its kindergarten children” (The Telegraph), “Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy” (CNN), and “How Finland starts its fight against fake news in primary schools” (The Guardian). SPOILER ALERT: (It’s the kids!)
You ain’t from around here, are you?
Fireflies or lightning bugs? Soda, pop, or coke? Drinking fountain, water fountain, or (shudder) bubbler? It’s not news that different things have different names in different parts of the country, but the differences are so distinct they can be mapped. That exactly what statistician Josh Katz did in his series of liguistic maps. There are plenty to choose from, just click here, here, or here to get started. (BTW, no matter what the maps show, the correct terms are lightning bug, coke, and water fountain.)
The Tom Dwyer Vault of Venom
From 2009 to 2020 our newsletter had a column called “News To Make You Furious” where we called attention to some jaw-dropping stories that just weren’t getting the attention we thought they deserved. When we closed our Fountain of Fury we didn’t just bury those stories, we locked them up into an archive of abuse… a Vault of Venom, if you will. If you’ve never read “Furious” and have the fortitude, maybe you’d like a peek behind the door as well. Dig in to slavery, kiddie prisons, prostituting Jesus, police abuse, or genocide, then to relax a little you can brush up on elder harvesting, media consolidation, mafia banks, or SCOTUS decisions. And, as you lie there sobbing, guess what? You’re just getting started!
