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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Note: Petroleum production includes crude oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, refinery processing gain, and other liquids, including biofuels. Barrels per day oil equivalent were calculated using a conversion factor of 1 barrel oil equivalent = 5.55 million British thermal units (Btu). The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States will be the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia. For the United States and Russia, total petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon production, in energy content terms, is almost evenly split between petroleum and natural...

Free Republic:October 6, 2013-U.S. Expected To Be Largest Producer of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hydrocarbons in 2013What are the ramifications of America's newly emergent status as the world's largest producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013?The conventional wisdom of America's preeminent status as global superpower being on the wane is a consensus difficult to deny even if one were to take the current wholly corrupt, dysfunctional, inept leadership out of the equation. It may very well be that the US economy has been irrevocably diminished, the reality of which would certainly take a toll on America's influence and...

Mormon is allegedly a prophet-historian who was the native American believed by Mormons to have written the Book of Mormon – the main religious text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism). Mormonism is a religion less than two centuries old, but in this short time it has managed to accrue a long list of embarrassments which the church leaders would prefer were kept silent. These embarrassments range from textual inaccuracies to scandals in the life of the founder, Joseph Smith. Of all religions, it’s difficult to believe this one has caught on given the long...

APPLE is the new most valuable brand in the world, according to a closely followed annual report. The report, to be released on Monday, is from Interbrand, a corporate identity and brand consulting company owned by the Omnicom Group that has been compiling what it calls the Best Global Brands report since 2000. The previous No. 1 brand, Coca-Cola, fell to No. 3. Not only has Apple replaced Coca-Cola as first among the 100 most valuable brands based on criteria that include financial performance, this is the first time that the soft drink known for slogans like “It’s the real...

2. “That just isn’t possible.” Always speak to your boss in terms of what can be done. For instance, rather than saying “We can’t get this done by Friday,” say “We could definitely get this done by Monday, or if we brought in some freelance help, we could meet the Friday deadline.” When you talk to your boss, think in terms of solving problems for her, not in terms of putting problems on her plate. 6. “It’s not my fault.” Are you a whiny 8-year-old or a take-charge professional? Assume responsibility and take steps to fix a problem that you...

Recently, Time magazine had an issue titled "The One Hundred Most Influential People Who Never Lived" where they ranked the most important fictional characters of all time such as Santa Claus, Kinta Kunta, Homer Simpson, etcetera. In your opinion, who are the five most influential fictional characters of all time?

-snip- 24. Power Line From practically the day they sprang into existence, blogs have been denigrated as trivial, inaccurate, and derivative. Untrained writers could never match the accuracy and depth of newspapers and network news. Power Line, a scrappy right-wing blog, turned that perception on its ear when it took down one of old media’s most venerable figures: Dan Rather. In September 2004, Rather and CBS News aired an explosive story about George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard. The report used military documents to show that Bush had received preferential treatment and performed poorly while failing...

With the NFL kicking off Thursday, I thought it a good time to consider the best coaches ever.  A couple of observations in advance: – these coaches aren’t the screamers;  they may be “in charge” guys but see that managing/coaching is a lot more than mantras and yelling; – these rankings aren’t based on my opinion; they take into account the team’s winning percentage during the coach’s tenure, the performance of the team before the coach arrived, the GM, the owner, the city, and expansion teams (the academic piece behind them is available here);   they aren’t perfect, as no such...

Even the most dangerous cities in America can have relatively safe neighborhoods, as there is more variation in crime within most cities than between cities. But using exclusive data developed by NeighborhoodScout, and based on FBI data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies in America, we here report those specific neighborhoods in America that have the highest predicted rates of violent crime per 1,000 neighborhood residents of all. Violent crimes include murder, forcible rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. These neighborhoods are the epicenters of violence in America, where social issues are likely to ignite into violence and spread.

United States residents have an extra reason to smile according to a recent report released by Columbia University's Earth Institute. According to their findings, northern Europe received the highest satisfaction and happiness ranking in life, while Egypt and a few others hit the lowest since the Eurozone crisis via background information from the 2013 World Happiness Report released Monday. When looking at a survey of over 156 countries, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden were ranked as the happiest places, and regions in Sub-Saharan Africa were noted as being the least likely places for overall life satisfaction, according to...

Sisters record album as outreach to God Video only at linky

This weekend, the New York Times' Nick Madigan called Florida a "hothouse of corruption," reporting the Sunshine State saw the greatest number of people convicted of public corruption between 2000 and 2010.That's technically true. But it's not the full story.To get a true sense of the most corrupt state, we need to know how many convictions there have been on a population basis.So we went back to Justice Department data cited by Madigan, to see which states saw the greatest number of convictions per 100,000 (Madigan actually appears to cite slightly outdated data; the latest covers the period between 2002 and...

Southern Methodist University has fallen off the Princeton Review’s list of “LGBT-unfriendly” schools after holding a top-20 position for a number of years. Texas, however, continues to lead the nation with three schools on the most-homophobic list, while having none ranked most-LGBT-friendly. The three Texas schools ranked LGBT-unfriendly are Baylor, Texas A&M and the University of Dallas. A&M also ranks No. 1 for most conservative students. The Princeton Review surveys student attitudes at hundreds of schools on a number of campus-related issues to help students find “best-fit” colleges. SMU officials have questioned whether their school ever belonged on the list....

Over the weekend there was a Twitter hashtag game, #NSAPickupLines, here's a collection of the 10 best/favorites... 

The summer of 2013 is over in a few days, and has had the fewest 40ºC (104F)temperature readings of any year in the last nine decades. There were only 832 40ºC (temperatures recorded in 2013, compared to 8,357 in 1936.

Yesterday we published a set of maps that came from a survey about what Americans think of other states. Essentially, each respondent was asked to answer a question with a state that wasn't their own, like which state is the drunkest, the nicest, the most arrogant. We looked at the data and decided to compress the 22 maps into one map. (click to enlarge) On this map, every state that won a superlative — first place in any question — has its claims to fame in bolded print. For instance, Colorado was the top vote getter in the Most Beautiful scenery category. 

Top ‘LGBT Friendly’ Colleges Offer 'Gender-Free' Bathrooms, ‘Queer Studies’ Minor August 22, 2013 - 1:17 PM By Melanie Hunter (CNSNews.com) – Campus Pride, a gay rights advocacy group, released its annual list of the “Top 25 LGBT Friendly Colleges and Universities” on Tuesday, which includes schools with gender-neutral bathrooms and a minor in “queer studies.” The top 25 schools had to achieve five stars in overall, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expression categories in order to be listed in the top 25. Each school also had to be 4.5 stars or above in eight LGBT-friendly factor areas. The final Top 25...

Barack Obama has been running around the country taking credit for an "economic recovery", but the truth is that things have not gotten better under Obama. Compared to when he first took office, a smaller percentage of the working age population is employed, the quality of our jobs has declined substantially and the middle class has been absolutely shredded. If we are really in the middle of an "economic recovery", why is the homeownership rate the lowest that it has been in 18 years? Why has the number of Americans on food stamps increased by nearly 50 percent while Obama...

The specter of libertarianism is haunting America. Advocates of sharply reducing the government’s size, scope and spending are raising big bucks from GOP donors, trying to steal the mantle of populism, being blamed for the demise of Detroit and even getting caught in the middle of a battle for the Republican Party. Yet libertarians are among the most misunderstood forces in today’s politics. Let’s clear up some of the biggest misconceptions.1. Libertarians are a fringe band of “hippies of the right.”In 1971, the controversial and influential author Ayn Rand denounced right-wing anarchists as “hippies of the right,” a charge...

Travel mag Conde Nast Traveler asked its readers to name (and shame) the friendliest and unfriendliest cities in the US and across the world. The "unfriendliest" winner in both categories was deemed to be Newark, New Jersey, which one reader say they would not recommend for anything except as "a cheaper/less busy airport to fly into while visiting other cities." Other winners and losers: -- The next four unfriendliest cities in the US? Oakland, New Haven, Detroit, and Atlantic City, which one voter calls a "pale shadow of Las Vegas." -- Globally, Islamabad, Pakistan; Luanda, Angola; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Lome,...