When shoppers see images of farms on packages of food in the supermarket, it shows sprawling green fields with animals happily grazing away. The reality of today's farms is that they look more like factories than that ideal pastoral scene on the packaging. In recent years, documentaries such as Indigestible: The Film, Cock Fight, and Food Inc. have raised awareness on the dark side of the agribusiness. These films show how factory farming is inhumane and is ruining the concept of the traditiona...

Utility companies throughout the nation are rapidly adopting “ smart meters," devices installed at their customers' locations that enable information about electricity consumption to be tracked and sent to the electricity provider. By aggregating the data from millions of consumers, companies can gain an idea of how people use electricity throughout the day, enabling them to respond quickly and efficiently to changing market conditions. At the same time, these companies can reduce their costs ...