What Wisconsinites Know ... about ethanol

There's a survey out that measures what folks in Wisconsin think about ethanol.  I know, your first response is who cares about Wisconsin and who really cares about ethanol.  Get passed that.  In a report about the research, down in the story, is a bit about what people know:

Respondents' actual knowledge about ethanol was also mixed. While ethanol does, in fact, burn cleaner than gasoline, only 53 percent believed this to be the case, while 41 percent thought the two were about the same and 6 percent believed ethanol burns dirtier that gasoline.

On a similar theme (that theme being what people in the frozen north think), there's this story about Canadians "befuddled about debt."  As the lede reports:

There’s yet more evidence that Canadians are clueless about when they might realistically be free of debt. And the current low interest rate environment is to blame for that, according to consumer debt survey by Manulife Bank of Canada.

I find it strangely comforting when others are as confused as those of us in the U.S.

Or Wisconsin, which I'm told is somewhere in Canada.

Pop vs Soda vs Coke

It's been a long time, in blog years at least, since I revisited this topic, but it's a good one so let's fondly recall the raging debate not about budget deficits and job creation but instead about something truly important -- how to correctly refer to a soft drink.

Below you'll see the map that looks at how people around the country refer to soft drinks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc.).  You can also go directly to the site (mislabeled popvssoda when we all know coke is the correct generic term) and read up on the methodology, see better choices on mapping, and so on.  It's cool.

The red is coke and found mostly in the South.  Blue is soda, used largely in the northeast.  Green is pop and is found in the vast middle of the country.   There's also a state-by-state table form of the data for the geeks among you.

Want to dig deeper?  There's a map that breaks it down by U.S. counties, which I used for a 2008 column that correlated this data with presidential voting. My column is slow to load, at least for me, but you can read it here.  And why wouldn't you? 

I'm thinking of predicting the presidential primaries or 2012 election with these data.  It takes a lot of work to pull off but might be worth a little statistical fun.  I'll keep you posted and if I do it, it'll probably run on some online news site as well as here.

The label's geographic differences do roughly fit a cultural, or even ideological breakdown.  Left and right coasts, they agree, and tend to be more liberal.  The South is more conservative and therefore could never use the same term as those Yankees and Left Coast types.  Folks in the upper Midwest, etc.?  They gotta have their own thing too as representatives (or so they'd say) of real America. 

But as a child of the South (grew up in Tennessee, have lived in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and now Georgia), I can only refer to soft drinks as coke.  Yes, even if it's a (ugh) Pepsi.

Unless of course we're talking about Sun-Drop, the greatest soft drink every made.

What Afghans Don't Know

What is this 9/11 thing of which you speak?  That may be the response of most Afghans, according to this Atlantic Wire mention of a Wall Street Journal story.

According to a survey of 15- to 30-year-old men in the two southern provinces where President Barack Obama sent the bulk of American surge troops, 92% of respondents said they didn't know about "this event which the foreigners call 9/11" after being read a three-paragraph description of the attacks.

 They must really wonder what the hell we're doing there.

Anti-Science

Why do certain people hate science?

A day after the leading contender for the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama said he doubts all the science about global climate change, you have to wonder why mostly conservatives want to doubt science.  Is it because they don't like the answers objective scientific scrutiny provides?  Probably. 

Which brings us to this excellent Forbes article from a week or so ago.

Anti-science ideology isn’t completely new in the U.S. — there is a dismaying history of irrational, pseudoscientific, or downright anti-scientific thinking and political culture here. But it seems to be gaining momentum — even as it runs counter to America’s scientific and technological strengths. Such strengths, in fact, underpin our economic and political strengths.

Leading GOPer Rick Perry stumbled badly last night in answering a question about global climate change.  Despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary, he's certain his take is the right one.  "Galileo got outvoted for a spell," he said.  Yes, Gov. Perry, except it was religious leaders, not scientists, who outvoted him.  Perry may very well be the eventual nominee, but let's not put him in the high IQ category. This is a guy who managed a "D" in economics.  At Texas A&M.

The Republican Party can do better.  Not only better than Perry, who I think will not only win the nomination but also be a serious challenge to Obama, but the party can do better when it comes to science rather than attacking scientists.  You don't like the answers?  Find another job than public office.

Crazy People

The American Community Survey is a vital tool by the Census folks to help us understand ourselves, how our demographics are changing, and even how we're doing economically.  But then again, you get crazy people like this who really do need to buy a clue.  I love his "supposedly randomly picked."  Paranoid, much?  Or just statistically challenged?

In this vent, are you truly required by law to respond?  Oh yeah, just like the Census.  As they note:

Yes. You are legally obligated to answer all the questions, as accurately as you can.

The relevant laws are Title 18 U.S.C Section 3571 and Section 3559, which amends Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221.

Your answers are important. As part of a sample, you represent many other people. Find out how each question helps your community, your state, and the federal government in questions in the form and why we ask.

I suppose you can argue that you only want to obey the laws you like.  Then again, how can you dislike us knowing as much about ourselves as is possible?  The data are all made public, for crying out loud.   It's not as if they're collecting secret data on you, though I suppose for some folks they also see black helicopters flying around their house at night.

It's Survey Friday

And now in honor of Friday (and my birthday) I give you my favorite surveys from today's news:

• Divorcing couples in the U.K. are increasingly likely to hide assets.
• Only one-in-five Americans use a meat thermometer to check the temperature of their burgers.
• Half of sports enthusiasts don't known when to use ice or heat with their bumps and bruises.

On the divorce thing, of course I'm gonna hide assets.  The key to the story above is people think it's happening more often than it used to.  Probably so.  On the meat one -- I just cook the hell out of a burger and assume I'm okay.  On the sports thing ... got nothing for you.  Try to avoid sports that don't include bending elbows and liquid consumption.

Have a helluva holiday weekend.

Health Knowledge

A bit obscure, but here's a brief bit about what people know about their own health -- specifically about their cholesterol.  Survey says: only a third know their own cholesterol level.

Shamefully, I don't know mine.  At least not lately.  The survey found only two-out-of-five know high levels can cause  atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries).  For you non-math majors, that means three folks out of five don't know this.

I did at least know that one (he said, sitting in his office chair, letting plaque build up).