|
Previous Posts
One Final Word
My dear friend Michele slipped into eternity on Wednesday, February 1. She was a remarkable woman who left a legacy of faith, determination, and love. For three years she courageously battled the ovarian cancer that eventually robbed her of her life. A few days before she died, one of her docto
posted 8:43:41pm Feb. 10, 2012 |
read full post
»
The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated
My husband told me that there are rumors that I've died. I'm happy to report that I'm still very much alive. My cancer has gone to stage four but we are controlling it with chemo, the cancer numbers are currently in the normal range. I've stopped blogging to concentrate on my daughters and writing a
posted 7:07:55pm Aug. 23, 2010 |
read full post
»
An update and a prayer request
Several people have asked about Michele's condition, and have promised to pray for her. On her behalf, I thank you for that. I spoke with her a little while ago, and she asked that I come here and tell you what's going on, and to ask you to pray for her. She isn't able to post here herself right
posted 4:55:36pm Apr. 06, 2010 |
read full post
»
Rest in peace, Internet Monk.
A man known in the cyber world as The Internet Monk, has died. Michael Spencer lost his battle with cancer tonight.
My prayers go out for his family and for all those who loved and will miss him. :(
posted 11:52:00pm Apr. 05, 2010 |
read full post
»
The peace that passes all understanding, pt. 1
I'm coming out of my normal hiding place to make a few comments.
The internet is a strange place. It is often a wonderful place, a helpful place, a unifying place. But it is also alienating, cold, and is the perfect medium in which to depersonalize others.
Through it, I have seen people reach out
posted 4:39:08pm Mar. 25, 2010 |
read full post
»
|
posted May 9, 2008 at 8:10 am
Probably similar in the US. The problem is that food is perishable, and you can only eat a certain quantity at a time. So unless you’re going to be hungry part of the time, some is going to get thrown out.
posted May 9, 2008 at 10:28 am
The yogurt has a refrigerator life of at least three weeks. The chicken can be frozen for months, and the ready to eat meals can exist for up to a 3 months (in case of frozen meals) or longer (in case of non-refrigerated).
Why on earth are they throwing away food that is fairly easily preserved? At they so lazy that they cannot plan a little better? Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever tossed out a whole chicken or a pre-made meal.
What a waste!
posted May 9, 2008 at 11:02 am
Well, the population of the UK is 60 million, so that’s only one chicken for every 11,000 people. If you live to be 11,000 years old, you would probably find some excuse to throw one away.
For the fozen meals, it’s one for every 136 people. Again, after 136 years, you’d probably look at a package of frozen pea soup or something, go “why did I buy THAT”? and toss it.
Alarmists use big-sounding numbers like this to hype things that are tiny on a globals scale.
posted May 9, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Given the ability, or lack of it, that the British possess when it comes to cooking, who can blame them? Even a people whom, as Victor Hugo put it, “God has been merciful to in that He has created them without taste buds,” can only stand so much.
Actually that’s a paraphrase. The real quote is “But God has been merciful to the British in that he as created them without taste buds.”
posted May 9, 2008 at 1:40 pm
ZZ: “Alarmists use big-sounding numbers like this to hype things that are tiny on a globals scale.”
Yes…food is such a small thing in the grand picture.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Potato_Famine
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
posted May 9, 2008 at 2:09 pm
RJohnson:
“Food has sometimes been a problem in the past, so every article about food waste MUST portend a huge imminent disaster”
Great logic.
posted May 9, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I assume that people are rational with their money and don’t buy food, let it spoil, and then throw it away in large quantities. At least this is the way the world works among the people I know.
So when a study confounds my expectations I assume that the study is flawed and not the people being studied. For example how would they measure how much food is discarded versus purchased? Unless they are dumpster diving on a massive scale I doubt an accurate measurement is possible.
I will agree there is a great deal of wasted food. But this is largely in the distribution chain because food spoils. You only need to look in super market dumpsters to see a lot of food past its sell by date. But I’d rather they throw that away then try to sell it to me.
posted May 10, 2008 at 9:38 am
“Unless they are dumpster diving on a massive scale I doubt an accurate measurement is possible.”
I wondered that myself. They said that some of the food was past it’s expiration date and others weren’t, how would they know?
posted May 10, 2008 at 10:18 am
“They said that some of the food was past it’s expiration date and others weren’t, how would they know?”
My guess is that they tried to use a sampling technique and then extrapolated the sample to the larger numbers. Getting a representative sample and properly extrapolating it is hard, and small errors can yield big errors in the final study.
Since the result is extraordinary a critical analysis of their study is in order. But the media likes controversial stories and isn’t picky about examining a study for possible methodological errors or intentional bias.