Latin Americans born into Roman Catholic families have increasingly left the faith for Protestant churches, while many others have dropped organized religion altogether in a major shift in the region’s religious identity, according to a survey released Thursday. MORE

According to a survey by tech giant Cisco Systems, about a fourth of professionals ages 18 to 50 would leap at the chance to get a surgical brain implant that allowed them to instantly link their thoughts to the Internet. The study was conducted on 3,700 adults working in white-collar jobs in 15 countries. MORE

“This fire is quite mysterious because it is not caused as a result of an electrical fault or bush burning. One just notices that fire from nowhere will start burning and before you know it, it has started destroying houses.
“This incident started mysteriously about a month ago, but no life has been lost since the outbreak. I don’t know the meaning of this strange fire which cannot be traced to a cause,” the acting district head said. He, however, insinuated that the fire outbreak, which, he said, was abnormal, could be a spiritual attack on the town, calling on residents to continue to offer prayers to God to put an end to the incident. MORE

Armenia threatened ‘grave consequences’ after Azerbaijani forces shot down a military helicopter, sparking fears of a major escalation in the conflict over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.

The downing of the helicopter belonging to the army of the breakaway ethnic Armenian region is the most serious incident on the Karabakh border since a 1994 ceasefire ended a bloody war that cost 30,000 lives. MORE

Washington National Cathedral, known for presidential funerals and other major spiritual services, will host a Muslim prayer service for the first time Friday. MORE

US President Barack Obama came in second.

Russian President Vladimir Putin came in first.

For one, he has a remarkable grip on power. He became prime minister in 1999. That gig lasted until 2000, when he switched to president, which lasted until 2008. Then he became prime minister again — until 2012. He then went back to being the president of Russia, an office he’s held since May 2012. MORE

The new story on Yahoo News is called ‘Did The Gates Of Hell Open Up In Moscow?’ after Moscovites smelled the strong smell of sulphur, hydrogen sulfide and other ‘oil products’ in the air. This 2nd linked story from the website English-Russia from 2009 warns us that an ancient volcano is buried under Moscow…a volcano that, despite being dormant many years, still could go off, leaving the entire city buried. MORE

“Does the Pope really think Boko Haram needs a heart-to-heart convo about tolerance? Is he nuts? Attacks, massacres, forced conversions of Christians, forced marriages and sharia: the protocol Boko Haram has been told in ghastly detail by the few fortunate survivors. Jihadists are slaughtering Christian children, kidnapping young girls and selling them in slave markets to Muslims, targeting teachers and doctors, and the Pope thinks it’s a lack of inter-faith dialogue?” MORE

The Montgomery County Board of Education on Tuesday voted to strip the names of Christian and Jewish holidays from its school calendar amid complaints from the parents of Muslim children seeking recognition for Islamic holidays.

The schools still will be closed on the holidays, but the board voted 7-1 to move the religious references from the calendar.MORE

“This is not just a slippery slope on which the appellants wish to set us, it is a bottomless pit into which they desire to throw us. It is clearly within a state’s right to define marriage between and man and a woman when that licensing restriction passes rational basis review.” MORE

The first major snowstorms of winter have dumped more than a foot of snow across parts of the Midwest, freezing hundreds of students out of their school classes and causing chaos on the roads.

More than 500 crashes were reported Monday, as the worst-hit parts of states including Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas were coated with up to 16 inches of snow.  MORE

The managers Name is Erik and he’s had enough of “Bruh, Ratchet, Chill & Turn up” he’s decided to create a list and not serve anyone talking slang or entering his establisment with their pants down

Where is this Chick-fil-A and why don’t I have one near me?

On Monday, November 17, 2014, Pope Francis will host a global ecumenical conference featuring Muslim leaders, pagans, and Chrislam founder Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in California. The official website says that the Colloquium is sponsored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, and
 the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. MORE

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago released on Thursday internal files of 36 priests who church officials found had sexually abused children.

The files, which were released online, and other documents released in January show how the archdiocese dealt with abuse allegations during the past six decades, including the practice of moving priests accused of abuse to new parishes. MORE

Research scientists have demonstrated a new technique for generating electrical energy. The new method can be used in harvesting energy from mechanical vibrations of the environment and converting it into electricity. Energy harvesters are needed, for example, in wireless self-powered sensors and medical implants, where they could ultimately replace batteries. In the future, energy harvesters can open up new opportunities in many application areas such as wearable electronics. MORE