Brian Gongol
![Agriculture](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/ag.png)
It still would have been a much better year had it rained and had there not been such an extraordinary drought. In some places, the conditions are worse than in the Dust Bowl.
![Computers and the Internet](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/comp.png)
A tablet in the 7" size range would compete with the Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7, which both go for $199.
![Iowa](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/iowa.png)
Labor-force participation rates are high, unemployment is low, and people aren't retiring as quickly as elsewhere -- which is interesting, considering the signs already showing that there are serious worker shortages in a number of skilled work fields
![News](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/news.png)
![Computers and the Internet](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/comp.png)
That is, do they freehand enough, or do they rely too much on CAD? Michael Graves thinks they're too quick to abandon pen and paper.
![Humor and Good News](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/haha.png)
"You can't treat the working man this way! One day, we'll form a union and get the fair and equitable treatment we deserve. Then we'll go too far and get corrupt and shiftless, and the Japanese will eat us alive!"
![Computers and the Internet](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/comp.png)
![News](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/news.png)
![Business and Finance](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/biz.png)
...some banks might actually send trucks full of cash across the border, just to keep businesses afloat
![Weather and Disasters](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/wx.png)
![Business and Finance](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/biz.png)
The surprise, perhaps, is that the number isn't larger.
![The United States of America](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/usa.png)
The United States' order of precedence -- who gets introduced ahead of whom