America’s past slowly disappearing
No, it doesn’t have to do with covered bridges, old growth forests, or a vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Hostess, makers of Twinkies (immortalized in the since debunked urban myth that they have an indefinite shelf life), Ding Dongs and other comfort foods, is part of the culture of America. You drive into any convenience store, and there are shelves of the stuff. I admit to not either liking or having a Twinkie in years (quite possibly since college), but I know exactly how they taste.
And Eastman Kodak, once the power of Rochester, NY, and whose ubiquitous yellow and red film was everywhere. Now, we think of film as being quaint (though in Hollywood, Kodak still makes a significant percentage of film stock, since many top filmmakers still prefer film to digital). I learned how to develop Ektachrome and Kodachrome slides, taking almost all my photos on slides up until the early 2000′s. In fact, I was cleaning out some old boxes, and I found several rolls of exposed Kodachrome, which I could have developed, but the cost was too high, and given the 10 year old age, I wasn’t sure that I’d get good quality.
Anyways, these two brand names are part of the cultural memory of the United States. But they are disappearing, for Hostess, because we should be eating less processed, high sugar foods, and Kodak, because they stumbled in the transition from analog to digital (though they hold many of the key patents in digital photography and filmmaking).
I guess Whole Foods and Apple are their replacements these days, but they’ll be replaced by something new and better when the next generation replaces us.
Polling pastors on evolution | NCSE
Polling pastors on evolution–National Center for Science Education
There are a few interesting points regarding this poll:
- The poll was commissioned by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, a rather conservative Christian denomination. I’m concerned about the inherent bias.
- Protestants in various parts of the country have different beliefs about science and evolution. This poll may be biased towards Southern US churches, where more literal beliefs in biblical myth is more prevalent.
- Of course, this polling does not include anyone outside of the US.
- The first question was “I believe god used evolution created people”. About 24% agreed with that, over 72% disagreed. Of course, that’s a loaded question, because a pastor might accept evolution and not think a god was involved, but it’s hard to tell without the real data.
- Interestingly, only 46% thought the earth was 6000 years old, whereas 43% disagreed (although, not sure if they thought it was 4.5 billion or something else).
- One minor, but very annoying point. One does not believe in evolution, since belief implies acceptance with or in spite of evidence. Evolution is a theory (and in science, a theory is essentially a fact) based on mountains of evidence. It does not require evidence, it requires acceptance of the evidence, or rejection of the evidence based on denialism, ignorance, or belief in an alternative explanation–or all three.
There are churches that accept evolution as is. Jews, Catholics, and most mainstream Protestants (such as Anglicans) were, of course, excluded from this poll, and would have skewed it toward “pastors” supporting evolution. Of course, anti-evolution (or evolution denialism) is so prevalent these days, we probably shouldn’t be surprised by this poll.
By the way, if you aren’t, follow the National Center for Science Education. They keep everyone updated on important issues in science education in the USA.
