Storm Warning: Ike’s Impact Could Go Far Beyond Hurricane Season

Instead of ramping up production to over 2 million barrels per day as once dreamed by the Departments of the Interior and Energy, Gulf of Mexico production is likely to fall to a low of a million barrels per day by 2013—a third lower than the region’s production prior to the 2005 storm season.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com The real problem is that thanks to hurricanes, the Gulf of Mexico will never live up to its promise as a mother lode of U.S. domestic oil production, leaving the country even more vulnerable to imports. Then the question becomes—imports from where? That’s the argument laid out in a new report from Jeff Rubin at Canadian investment bank CIBC World Markets, the guys who earlier this year projected $200 oil. Three years after Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf still hasn’t recovered its pre-2005 production levels, CIBC notes. Thanks to rapid production declines at existing fields and huge delays getting new fields operational, official U.S. government forecasts for the Gulf’s role in U.S. oil production are wildly overblown, Mr. Rubin says:

Canadians are the Biggest Foreign Buyers Of U.S. Homes

Good news for homeowners?

clipped from www.google.com The strong Canadian dollar and the American housing downturn have led many Canadian investors to buy properties in the U.S., June Fletcher writes in today’s Wall Street Journal. Fletcher found that Canadians made up the largest portion of foreign buyers of U.S. homes between May 2007 and May 2008. At 24% of all foreign buyers, that’s double the percentage of the year prior, Fletcher writes, citing the National Association of Realtors. Fletcher’s House Talk column today also touches on the Canadian influx.

New “Green” Designation Available for Realtors

Three day class or online. Walla, you are a green specialist.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com A new tool is now available for investors looking to buy a so-called “green” building, a property that has environmentally-friendly features like energy and water efficiency and that produces minimal pollution and waste. A new program instituted by the National Association of Realtors(R) has begun certifying brokers as green specialists. Brokers can earn the designation from NAR’s Green Resource Council by taking three days of courses or completing the program online at their own pace.

Good Mark Wahlberg read in the NY Times

Also talks about Entourage

clipped from www.nytimes.com It even happens at church, which Mr. Wahlberg attends regularly. “Young, old, men, women, black, white, everywhere I go,” he said. They all want to know about “Entourage.”

Google Chrome: Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

clipped from www.google.com One box for everything   New Tab page   Application shortcuts   Dynamic tabs   Crash control   Incognito mode   Safe browsing   Instant bookmarks   Importing settings   Simpler downloads   Download now

M1+ Real-time Earthquakes, Past 7 Days

Display real-time earthquakes and plate boundaries in Google Earth. Earthquakes will be broadcast within a few minutes for California events, and within 30-minutes for world-wide events. Earthquakes refresh every 5-minutes in Google Earth.

clipped from earthquake.usgs.gov Earthquakes colored by age Earthquakes colored by depth Go to ShakeMap page. Virtual Tour of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Interactive tour of San Francisco Bay Area faults and earthquake history featuring ground-shaking maps, historic photographs, quotes from earthquake survivors, and more. Go to 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Google Earth page. San Francisco Bay Region Geology and Faults Geologic maps Quaternary Faults Geologic maps Quaternary Faults

Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, 5 months pregnant

Caught this over on the Triangle. Follow the links in the clip or hit the Triangle for more.

clipped from blogs.thetriangle.org The 17-year-old daughter of McCain running mate Sarah Palin, is 5 months pregnant, according to news reports. Palin’s daughter, Bristol, will keep the baby and marry the father, CNN and The New York Times reported. According to NYTimes.com, the Palin family made a statement saying “Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”