It seems ironic that here in God's green country (or Goddess's, if you swing that way), the heist of choice for auto-parts thieves is the catalytic converter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter]. The Columbian of Vancouver, Wash., reports on the trend [http://www.columbian.com/news/loc
Portland's rep is growing as a place with nurturing soil for small-house snazzy designers – of clothes, furnishings, jewelry, urban spaces. An item on ULTRA [http://www.crosscut.com/portland/6242/Portland%27s+fashion+mavens+revel+in+the+city%27s+growing+rep/], the city's heard-it-here-first design W
The rap on Oregonians: Cut us and we bleed green. Yeah, sure, when we're not indulging in public displays of affection for trees, we're recycling old Volvo parts into useful household items. Even if that's true, it doesn't mean we're swallowing green propaganda whole. Not any more, anyway. As the Po
Maybe you haven't noticed, but most urban coffee shops have doors that are relatively easy to open when exiting with full hands. Most of the time they have some kind of push-bar thing [http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6145897-description.html] you activate with a shove of your hip.
Back in the 1960s, Ralph Nader got rid of all the pointy instruments inside cars and nagged automakers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed] into adding seatbelts. (Mom sold the Corvair.). Next, cops got huffy if you had one little beer open anywhere in the car. (Dad's Saturday errands
