You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
0.08 percent
Amazon began overhauling Whole Foods on Monday — its first day as owner — by slashing prices. Amazon’s entry into the $800 billion supermarket biz has been fascinating, especially looking at its effects: Wal-Mart has added more fresh fruit; Costco more organics. Investors are reacting too. Kroger stock is down 37 percent this year (although, it was essentially flat yesterday), and Sprouts Farmers Market’s stock dropped 10 percent on Monday alone. Amazon shares rose 0.08 percent. [Bloomberg]
“100 percent” cheese
A U.S. judge dismissed a whole pile of litigation against Kraft Heinz, Target, Wal-Mart and Supervalu on Monday. Customers had sued for misleading Parmesan cheese labeling, claiming that “100 percent grated Parmesan cheese” obscured the fact that the cheese also contained a bunch of percents of wood pulp. In throwing out the lawsuits, the judge pointed to the ingredients clearly listed on the back of each container, and — because the law is where pedantry goes to thrive — said that the 100 percent claim “could also be taken to mean 100 percent of the cheese was Parmesan or that the Parmesan cheese was 100 percent grated.” [Reuters]
15 percent
Share of homes in Harris County (which includes Houston) that have flood insurance, according to National Flood Insurance Program figures. This means that many homeowners could be on the hook for repairing and rebuilding homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey. [KTLA]
$43 million
Xtera Communications scored a $43 million military contract to lay a 750-mile fiber-optic cable connecting the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Puerto Rico. Its meant to back up the current cable running from Guantanamo to South Florida. [Miami Herald]
20 ring crossings
The Cassini probe is just over two weeks away from ending its mission, and has only two more crossings of Saturn’s rings left on the docket before NASA throws it into the planet’s surface. The spacecraft finished its 20th crossing on Sunday. [NASA, @CassiniSaturn]
Looking to bookmark Significant Digits? Say no more.
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.