Brian Gongol
Rising rice prices cause dietary changes
Liberians, for instance, are starting to eat pasta in place of rice. That, it appears, is a big cultural change. The World Food Program says this is the biggest food crisis it's ever encountered. Moreover, there's no way to separate a spike in food prices from a spike in energy prices -- after all, food is simply energy for human consumption. And since all energy (except perhaps nuclear power) comes ultimately from the sun, the only difference between food and fuel is really how the solar power it stores is delivered. Unfortunately for the US, we're in a negative feedback loop on energy prices, and breaking out of it won't be pleasant. We're going to have to pay more for energy as time rolls along, whether we choose to do so passively (by paying higher prices dictated by the world market) or actively (by investing in new means of capturing energy and conserving it).
Small company gets hit with intellectual property lawsuit, but fights back like a big firm
The budgetary future is anything but rosy
Ohio, for instance, is facing a common triple-threat: Medicaid costs (which come from the budgets of the individual states) are rising rapidly, while public education and the corrections system are also costing more. Meanwhile, we're on the verge of seeing lots of people exit the workforce, which will probably hurt income-tax receipts in a lot of states as well. Meanwhile, oil prices continue to rise and Congress continues to ignore the pending calamity of entitlement spending. It's not a good recipe for Ohio or Iowa or any other state.
Reservoirs along Missouri River are six years of rain away from normal
