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, most (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!
Age, not politics, is biggest predictor of who shares fake news on Facebook
A study from Princeton and New York University found that people 65 years of age and over are seven times more likely to share fake news than those aged 18-29. “Political scientists tend to favor explanations based on stable, deeply held partisan or ideological predispositions. It is possible that an entire cohort of Americans, now in their 60s and beyond, lacks the level of digital media literacy necessary to reliably determine the trustworthiness of news encountered online.” Researchers looked for links to a list of narrowly defined fake news sites and a list of fake news sites debunked by fact checking organizations. They also found conservative users were more likely to share fake news…
China puts Humanity on the Dark Side of the Moon
On January 2, 2019, China took humanity back to the moon. Their Chang’e 4 lander touched down in the Von Karman Crater in the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. The “Jade Rabbit #2” rover will spend several months on the surface doing a range of science tasks (their plant package DID sprout, another first, but died soon after). If you haven’t been paying attention, then here’s just a few links to get you started…
- See Stunning Moon Photos from China’s Lunar Lander, National Geographic
- China’s National Space Adminstration, website on SpaceTV
- China Makes Historic 1st Landing on Mysterious Far Side of the Moon, Space.com
- China lunar rover touches down on far side of the moon, state media announce, CNN
- China’s Moon mission sees first seeds sprout, BBC
78% of US workers live paycheck to paycheck
The partial government shutdown that began Dec. 22 has left approximately 800,000 federal workers in financial limbo. Around 420,000 “essential” employees are working without pay, while another 380,000 have been ordered to stay home. In some cases, the furloughs have forced government employees to tap into their savings, rely on credit cards or crowdsource funds to make ends meet. But government workers are far from alone in feeling stressed about not getting paid. Nearly 78 percent of American workers say they’re living paycheck to paycheck. Women are particularly vulnerable: 81 percent of them report living paycheck to paycheck, compared with 75 percent of men…
Watch the world burn. Share it with your friends.
Climate Change is a huge topic, and it can be hard to understand what all the doomsday statistics are telling us. Sometimes it takes a different way of looking at things to understand just what’s going on. This video is only :37 long, but it shows the problem in a way statistics, photos, or even time-lapse photos can’t. The video shows temperature anomolies by country from 1880 to 2017 with ±1° and ±2° events highlighted. At first, everything’s pretty calm… a record here-and-there. As time passes the events come thick and fast, and the last few years look spectacularly grim. Remember that these aren’t projections… they’ve already happened. And remember to share the shock with your friends.
