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.
Portland Naked Bike Ride TIMES TWO!
Can you imagine anything more “Portland” than the Naked Bike Ride? Here’s something… the Naked Bike ride splintered because of squabbles between the organizers, and this year there are TWO opportunities for buff biking. The first one is from Umbrella, the original World Naked Bike Ride group, and happens on July 26. The second comes from a group that put together a last-minute Ride in 2024 and they’ll be baring all on August 9. If you want to know more, this article from the Oregonian clears up most, but not all, of the confusion.
Dry Ice Cleaning- Man, it’s cool!
We see some pretty nifty tech here in the auto industry, and a newish way to clean engines really blew us away. Dry Ice Cleaning is like using a standard water pressure-washer, but it’s fed by little pellets of Dry Ice that immediately vaporize on impact. No drip, no mess, just a cool fog and clean parts (even in the fiddly little niches) in the dirtiest possible environments. It’s really surreal (and oddly satisfying) to watch, so choose from any of the videos here, here, or here to get started.
Goodbye to Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers died last month at age 91. He was a journalist and political commentator whose career spanned 75 years, creating mountains of insightful, rigorous, detailed, and often controversial content. No matter his subject though, he was always widely respected on ‘both sides of the aisle’. Now, with NPR and PBS funding successfully gutted by the Trump administration, we thought it might be appropriate to say goodbye to an icon of what journalism can be at its best.
How to turn Elvis’ plane into an RV
Elvis had three planes, the “Lisa Marie”, a Convair 880, plus two Lockheed JetStars, “Hound Dog 1” and “Hound Dog 2”. The Lisa Marie and Hound Dog 2 are on display at Graceland but the Hound Dog 1 went to a Roswell storage area until it turned into a decayed husk. James Webb of the YouTube channel “Jimmy’s World” bought it for $234,000 with a strange goal… he wanted to turn it into an RV. And he did. He also documented the entire purchase, transport, rebuild, and showing-off process. This link will give you the short story, but click here to watch all (or a couple) of the 30 videos Jimmy took. Truly amazing!
