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Category Archives: Food and Nutrition

Data – Information is Beautiful

“We love data. And we love getting data good and tight and comprehensive. The technical term for that is “juicy”. Juicy data. In fact, 80% of the work involved in creating an infographic is data-gathering, shaping and checking. Making the data juicy. So here, naturally, is a big-ass spreadsheet of all our best data.” You… Continue Reading

AI in Banking and Finance, October 15, 2023

Via LLRX – AI in Banking and Finance, September 15, 2023 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government reports, industry white papers, academic papers and speeches on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available,… Continue Reading

This Website Exposes the Truth About Soaring Food Prices

Wired: “A developer in Austria created a comparison website that helped open up the opaque world of food costs as regulators investigate the food industry. It didn’t take long for Mario Zechner to prove the government wrong. In May, the independent software developer was listening to a radio interview with Austria’s labor minister, Martin Kocher,… Continue Reading

For 40 years, Big Meat has openly colluded to rig prices

Pluralistic: “For 40 years, Big Meat has openly colluded to rig prices (permalink)…Let me tell you about Agri Stats. Agri Stats has been around since 1985. Every large meat packer pays to be a “member” of Agri Stats, and they each submit weekly, detailed statistics about every aspect of their business: all their costs, all… Continue Reading

The Lies in Your Grocery Store

The New Yorker [read free]: “…Most people accept the gimmicks of food labelling. One lawyer can’t stomach them…Sheehan, forty-four, specializes in consumer-protection class-action suits. Specifically, he focusses on packaged foods, and on the authenticity of their ingredients and flavors. Sheehan has sued the makers of frosted strawberry Pop-Tarts (dearth of real strawberries), Hint of Lime… Continue Reading

You Should Worry About the Data Retailers Collect About You

The Atlantic [free to read]: “…Smartphones gave stores even more refined information about their customers, facilitating new kinds of in-store spying that most people probably don’t even know exists. Mousetrap-size radio transmitters called beacons ping off apps on your phone and can track your location down to the inch inside a store, giving retailers granular… Continue Reading

A new tool to help governments with climate data

“To provide a starting point, our organisation, the Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE), has developed a new tool to help governments and their partners identify the kinds of data that may be most useful for climate action. The Climate Data for Adaptation and Resilience Typology (DART), which has just been published, describes more than… Continue Reading

The Lies in Your Grocery Store

The New Yorker [free link]: “…Spencer Sheehan Sheehan, forty-four, specializes in consumer-protection class-action suits. Specifically, he focusses on packaged foods, and on the authenticity of their ingredients and flavors. Sheehan has sued the makers of frosted strawberry Pop-Tarts (dearth of real strawberries), Hint of Lime Tostitos (absence of lime), Snapple “all natural” fruit drinks (absence… Continue Reading

America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow

“Overuse is draining and damaging aquifers nationwide, a New York Times data investigation revealed…Global warming has focused concern on land and sky as soaring temperatures intensify hurricanes, droughts and wildfires. But another climate crisis is unfolding, underfoot and out of view. Many of the aquifers that supply 90 percent of the nation’s water systems, and… Continue Reading

NASA’s High-Resolution Air Quality Control Instrument Launches

“A NASA instrument to provide unprecedented resolution of monitoring major air pollutants – down to four square miles – lifted off on its way to geostationary orbit at 12:30 a.m. EDT Friday. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument will improve life on Earth by revolutionizing the way scientists observe air quality from space.… Continue Reading

EWG’s 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce

“Nearly 75 percent of non-organic fresh produce sold in the U.S. contains residues of potentially harmful pesticides, EWG’s 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ finds. In this year’s guide, blueberries and green beans join our Dirty Dozen™ list of the 12 fruits and vegetables sampled that have the highest traces of pesticides. Any exposure… Continue Reading

Drought Center

“We’re the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The National Drought Mitigation Center’s mission is to reduce the effects of drought on people, the environment and the economy by researching the science of drought monitoring and the practice of drought planning. We collaborate with and learn from decision-makers at all levels –… Continue Reading