I have a large heirloom garden in the back yard that usually includes a variety of popcorn. Some of it is better than others, but OR’s holds up fine, overall.
I use a Whirly-Pop, and have never washed it. Wipe it out with a paper towel, done. I don’t know what all the complaining about cleanup is about.
As far as buying popcorn that’s not “Orville’s,” if you’ve got a Whole Foods or another locally-focused store nearby, I’d start there. Both the tiny organic store that’s next door to me and Whole Foods carry nice organic stuff in bulk, that’s something like $1.25 a pound. Since I eat a lot of popcorn, and it’s kinda hard to wash, I decided to go organic (potatoes, too).
Regarding staples and forks in the microwave:
A typical microwave oven operates at 2.45GHz. A bit of mathematical manipulation on the relationship of frequency to wavelength (insert funny greek letters here) leads to the conclusion that a wave in a microwave oven is about 122 millimeters or 4.8 inches long.
That makes a staple more or less invisible to / unaffected by the wave. A fork, however, is the right size to get very hot, likely hot enough to start the paper on fire.
From the “well, crap…” file:
I just got back yesterday from visiting my girlfriend’s family. In Indiana. 700 miles from here. And twenty minutes from this Amish Country Popcorn place.