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After more than 30 years on the charts, comedian-singer "Weird Al" Yankovic earns his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as "Mandatory Fun" debuts atop the list. The album is the first comedy set to top the chart since 1963, and logs the largest sales week for a comedy album since 1994. "Mandatory Fun" was released July 15 through Way Moby and RCA Records, and sold 104,000 copies in the week ending July 20, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was promoted by a well-receiveddaily viral video campaign that launched Monday, July 14. Starting with his parody of Pharrell's...

The Habit Burger and In-N-Out lead the pack. Chick-fil-A also has lots to squawk about. Turns out nobody’s loving it. The standard McDonald’s hamburger — the one that claims to satisfy “billions and billions” — finished dead last in a new Consumer Reports taste test. The Hamburglar’s favorite meal earned a score of just 5.8 out of 10 from the magazine’s readers, putting it far behind West Coast chains The Habit Burger Grill and In-N-Out Burger, which scored 8.1 out of 10 and 8 out of 10, respectively. The top fast food burger available locally was Five Guys Burgers and...

Data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime shows the most up-to-date available homicide rates per 100,000 people for the most populous cities of 137 countries. The Americas overtook Africa as the region with the highest murder rate in 2012 – with eight of the world’s 10 deadliest cities found there 10: Kingston, Jamaica. (Murder rate: 50.3 per 100,000 people in 2011) The UNODC numbers capture intentional homicide, defined as 'unlawful death purposefully inflicted on a person by another person'. A total of 328 people were murdered in Kingston in 2011 – significantly down on previous years. Photograph: David...

The New York Times bestseller list hasn't waited a millisecond to put Hillary Clinton's book atop its influential chart after just a week of sales, but has totally ignored another top-10 hardcover from noted conservative and critic of President Obama, Dinesh D'Souza. His new book, on sale for three weeks, isn’t just absent from the top 10 lists already set for the next two Sundays, but totally missing from the list of the nation’s top 25 nonfiction hardcovers despite having sales higher than 13 on the latest Times chart.

I don’t believe it’s a stretch to say that the South is the most misunderstood region in the United States. Everywhere I go (even sometimes here in the South!) I run into misconceptions about this area. I’m proud of the region I call home, and I wish everybody could know the South that I’ve experienced my whole life. So I’m glad to get the chance to clear up some of the stereotypes and generalizations. Here are the ten things that everybody gets wrong about the South.10. White Southerners Still Haven’t Gotten Over The Civil War. There’s a notion that we...

Neurosurgeon and notable conservative speaker Dr. Ben Carson's most recent book has made it to the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' best sellers list. Dr. Carson's One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future, debuted on the "Hardcover Nonfiction" list at No. 1 last week and remains so this week. In the Hardcover Nonfiction category, One Nation is trailed by French economist Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century at No. 2, and Mariano Rivera's memoir, The Closer at No. 3. One Nation also is found at No. 2 for the "Combined Print and...

With an opening weekend take of $28 million, Tom Cruise’s new sci-fi film “Edge of Tomorrow” — which debuted June 6 — did even worse than his last sci-fi movie, 2013’s “Oblivion.” In the last eight years, Cruise has had only one hit (2011’s “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”). It looks like he’s nearing the end of his run as a major movie star, though we’ll see how “Mission: Impossible 5” does when it comes out next year.

When (not if) will we get the world's first trillionaire, and who shall it beThe world will get it first trillionaire in (drum rolls here please…) 25 years. That’s according to economic forecasters (they’re paid to do such things you know) and even as no one – that is, no one person – is even close to being a trillionaire, the widening disparity between the haves and have-nots means that, by 2040, the world is likely to see its first trillionaire (we’re talking US dollars here). #1 Bill Gates The current titleholder of the world’s richest person is obviously in...

London is home to 72 of Britain’s 104 sterling billionairesLondon has more billionaires than any other city in the world, and Britain has more billionaires per head of population than any other country, new data showed on Saturday. The survey of Britain’s super-rich compiled for the Sunday Times newspaper is likely to prompt debate in a country where many still struggle financially and where food banks are a fact of life, despite economic growth recently returning to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crash.

We know Coca-Cola and Pepsi are profitable soft-drink giants, but one of these two companies is significantly better than the other at keeping customers loyal and engaged with the brand. Although the soda industry is made up of dozens upon dozens of beverages choices, chances are good that the soda you last consumed was made by either Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) or PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), which absolutely dominate the industry.

I conducted an informal survey of over 30 persons, simply asking them to name the most influential evangelicals in America today. Though my choice of the respondents was subjective, I do have confidence that the men and women who gave me these names are very knowledgeable about the evangelical scene in the United States.The respondents represent a cross section of denominational and non-denominational churches and entities. From my perspective, those I surveyed are clearly evangelicals themselves. Among the criteria I gave them, I included the following: Limit the responses to Americans.The names must represent living persons.Name at least eight persons.Only...

Chick-fil-A has surpassed KFC as the top chicken fast food chain.  Chick-fil-A's sales in 2013 passed $5 billion, compared with KFC's $4.2 billion, reports Venessa Wong at Bloomberg Businessweek. Chick-fil-A has 1,775 U.S. stores, while KFC has 4,491. Despite a smaller footprint, Chick-fil-A's average sales are more than triple those of its larger competitor, Wong writes. And Chick-fil-A achieves these results despite being closed on Sundays for religious reasons. Wong illustrates a couple of reasons for Chick-fil-A's success. 

If you’re hoping to escape from big city crime, look elsewhere. These places actually defy the stereotype of smaller cities being safer. When you see small towns on TV and in movies, they’re almost always idyllic places where the American dream is thriving and neighbors all know each other. That, and unless you’re watching a whodunnit, no one’s ever the victim of a crime. In reality, small cities are surprisingly similar to all the others, meaning that there are good ones and bad. While the Movoto Real Estate Blog has been writing lately about America’s safest places, we thought we’d...

Disney's Oscar-winning Frozen has become the top-grossing animated film of all time, surpassing the $1.063 billion earned by fellow Disney/Pixar title Toy Story 3. Frozen now occupies the No. 10 spot on the list of the biggest global blockbusters and is the first billion-dollar title from Disney Animation Studios. It has earned $398.4 million domestically and $674 million internationally for a total $1.072 billion.

Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050s, the Normans began to build motte and bailey and ringworks castles in large numbers to control their newly occupied territories in England and the Welsh Marches.1 Caernarfon Castle Caernarfon Castle (Welsh: Castell Caernarfon) is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when...

Conservative colleges provide an important counterbalance to the progressivism and liberalism that pervade so much of American higher education. For students raised with traditional moral values, who favor limited government, who adhere to free-market economic principles, entering the world of higher education is too often an alienating experience. For conservative students, it can be a challenge to find a college or university that embraces—or even tolerates—conservative values in its curriculum and student life. This ranking of the best conservative colleges in America helps conservative students and parents to find a school in keeping with their conservative values and commitments.Ranking Guidelines...

Now this is precious. $6.2 billion and counting. That's how much films based on J. R. R. Tolkien's books have made in all at the box office so far. And there's still one part of The Hobbit trilogy to come. The Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) and The Hobbit are also on the list of Top 10 best selling books of all time - LOTR at No. 2 with 150 million copies sold. The Hobbit is No. 6 with 100 million copies sold.

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been suffering from slow economic activity for years, as well as from increased competition from online retailers. The rise in store closings is a prominent sign of their struggles. Weakened companies cannot afford the real estate and personnel costs that go along with supporting hundreds of unprofitable locations. The clearest proof of the problem was Radio ShackÂ’s recent decision to close more than 1,000 stores. Radio Shack is hardly alone. During that last several years Gap has closed 20% of its locations. Even MacyÂ’s, which has forecast strong earnings and is considered the most successful of the...

Many Americans consider obesity one of the nation’s most important health issues. Many also battle themselves with the problem every day. According to a recent report, 27.1% of all Americans were obese last year, up from 26.2% the year before. While many in the United States continue to struggle with their weight, the problem is more pronounced in the southeastern part of the country. Six of the 10 states with the highest obesity rates last year were located in that part of the country. Mississippi was the fattest state in America, with 35.4% of its residents considered obese. Based on...

2014 Talkers Heavy Hundred!