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!
Tour the Poulsen House
Hey you! You know who you are. You’ve driven across the Ross Island Bridge for years and when you’re heading East, if the fog’s clear and the light’s right, you’ve seen the beautiful (now blue) Victorian house standing guard over the Willamette. You’ve been curious… you know you have. Well, good news! It’s the 5000+sqft Poulsen House, it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, and you can take a tour. Click here for the photo gallery that caught our attention, or here for a historical writeup. Lust over the hardwood floors, fall in love with the ornate metal and glasswork, and that view of Portland you’ve wondered about? They’ve got it. Enjoy!
Dolly Parton’s Comin’ ta Oregon, Ya’ll!
(from ImaginationLibrary.com)– “Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts over 2 million free books each month to children around the world.” Now, Oregon’s getting its own library card. “During the 2023 legislative session, under Senate Bill 5506, $1.7 million was appropriated to DELC to help administer and expand the program statewide. The state’s investment in the Imagination Library is allowing local partners to quickly launch book deliveries to as many children as possible across the state. The books delivered monthly are free to all children and families who sign up for the program.” Click here for Oregon’s announcement of the program, and here to visit Dolly’s Library!
The Anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens Eruption
May 18, 1980 saw the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, one of “…the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history.” We have several links for you to remember the day…
- Mount St. Helens, Forty Years Later: How NOAA Monitors Volcanoes From Earth Orbit (NOAA.gov)
- NASA Earth Observatory- Mt. St. Helens (NASA)
- Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption still causing destruction (EarthSky.org)
- Mt. St. Helens 1980 Eruption (USGS.gov)
- Predicting volcanic eruptions 43 years after the Mount St. Helens blast, (Washington State Standard)
- Mount St. Helens: How the Worst Volcanic Eruption in US History Unfolded (FOX Weather)
Civil Asset Forfeiture is still a thing… thanks, SCOTUS
(from Reason.com) “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that… property owners in civil asset forfeiture proceedings have no due process right to a preliminary court hearing to determine if police had probable cause to seize their property.” That ruling cemented another layer of the (in our humble opinion) abusive, unconstitutional, fascist, criminal practice of Civil Asset Forfeiture. Click here to read the report on the latest SCOTUS decision from Reason.com, and click here to read OUR report on Civil Asset Forfeiture, why it’s unambiguously evil, and how it’s desecrating the rights of our people every day. Our article is from 2014 (updated 2017) but is still sadly, sadly, sadly relevant today.
