Cool stuff that’s too small for a big article
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!
Teddy Bear Wheels
We were sitting down with a friend, Eric, for breakfast and he told us about the used Subaru his wife just bought. She’d gotten a good deal on it but the feature that sold it for her was one we hadn’t heard of… Teddy Bear Wheels. Not hubcaps or covers, but the steel wheels your tires mount on. They are much in demand with a set going for about $1000 on the InterTubes. Eric told us one reason they’re in demand- they never need to be balanced. He said the reason was when they were originally designed they had to be so careful with the weight balance because of the asymetrical design that they were precisely dialed in. Our shop manager had to shoot that idea down… differences in the rubber tire, not the wheel, could require weights to offset the imbalance… but we still thought it was an interesting auto feature you might want to know more about. Here’s several sources to get you started…
“…Then You Realize Your Wheels Are Teddy Bears” from CarThrottle
For those wondering about the Teddy Bear wheel balance, from 6heavy0kevy4 on Reddit
Rare Mazda Koala Wheels Are Like Ronal Teddy Bears From Down Under, fromTheDrive
Awesome, Bizarre or Ugly? // Teddy Bear Wheels, from Speed and Sound on YouTube
Buy YOUR Teddy Bear Wheels here, from Google
Portland Auto Instructor wins Educator of the Year
(from PortlandTribune.com) “Sometimes things that feel too good to be true are true. Jay Kuykendall, Portland Community College Automotive Service Technology Program instructor, was named the 2024 Mitchell 1 Educator of the Year by the North American Council of Automotive Teachers. “When I was first contacted, I thought it was a scam,” Kuykendall said. “Why would they pick me when there are so many great automotive instructors out there? Now I feel like I need to work harder to live up to the award, not for myself but for the students here at PCC…”
Bears Gone Bad- INSURANCE FRAUD!
(from ABCNews) “Four individuals were arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to defraud their insurance companies by claiming a bear had damaged their vehicles — when in fact it was a person in a bear costume attacking the cars. The suspects were all Los Angeles-area residents, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon by the California Department of Insurance…”
Cute story, but guess what? THERE’S VIDEO!
Researchers successfully potty train cows
(from Science.org) “Why not just potty train the cows?” That’s what a radio jockey asked animal behaviorist Lindsay Matthews during a 2007 interview about how cow urine harms the environment. The question was in jest, but it got Matthews—a researcher at the University of Auckland—thinking. Now, nearly 14 years later, he and colleagues have accomplished what many thought impossible: They’ve taught nearly a dozen calves, which normally pee and poop at random, to “hold it” and urinate in a specific location. Yes, dear readers, the bovines learned to use the bathroom. The new finding is far from a parlor—or pasture—trick. If applied to the 270 million dairy cows across the globe, it could put a serious dent in the toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases produced by bovine waste…”
