MP calls for ban on tattooed preacher who 'cures' cancer by kicking people in the face

There really are some wacky people out there! Today it was revealed that an evangelist who kicks followers in the face, claiming his violence will cure them of cancer, is to tour Britain this month. Do people like this really exist? It's enough for an evangelist to wheedle money out of unsuspecting victims (we've all seen the Steve Martin movie about such con men) but this is quite a step up to actually being physically assaulted at the same time!



Unsurprisingly, this evangelist's proposed visit has provoked outrage and demands that he be banned from entering the country. Tattooed preacher Todd Bentley,  who as a 15-year-old was convicted of a sex attack on a boy aged seven, claims God uses him as an instrument to heal the sick, and is urging the frail to attend his shows. 

The former drug user, who is Canadian but based in the United States, even laughs about his ‘healing’  techniques. In one show he treated a man claiming to be suffering from colon cancer by planting his knee hard into the victim’s stomach. The man fell to the floor in agony.
 
Two questions naturally spring to my mind. Why would anyone, especially someone with an incurable illness, pay money to have themselves physically assaulted and thus hurt in order to rid themselves of this disease? And, secondly, who but a complete nutter would charge for such a service and laugh while administering it? The mind boggles sometimes, it really does!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183860/MP-calls-ban-tattooed-preacher-cures-cancer-kicking-people-face.html?ITO=1490

Cows also 'have regional accents'

You couldn’t make this stuff up! I blogged about goats before that can have accents relative to where they were brought up and their own peer groups. Apparently, cows also have regional accents like humans, language specialists have suggested. They decided to examine the issue after dairy farmers noticed their cows had slightly different moos, depending on which herd they came from. 


John Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the University of London, said regional twangs had been seen before in birds. The farmers in Somerset who noticed the phenomenon said it may have been the result of the close bond between them and their animals. Farmer Lloyd Green, from Glastonbury, said: "I spend a lot of time with my ones and they definitely moo with a Somerset drawl.

"I've spoken to the other farmers in the West Country group and they have noticed a similar development in their own herds. It works the same as with dogs - the closer a farmer's bond is with his animals, the easier it is for them to pick up his accent."

Prof Wells felt the accents could result from their contemporaries. He said: "This phenomenon is well attested in birds. You find distinct chirping accents in the same species around the country. This could also be true of cows. In small populations such as herds you would encounter identifiable dialectical variations which are most affected by the immediate peer group."

Dr Jeanine Treffers-Daller, reader in linguistics at the University of the West of England in Bristol, agreed that the accent could be influenced by relatives.She said: "When we are learning to speak, we adopt a local variety of language spoken by our parents, so the same could be said about the variation in the West Country cow moo."

Umm...I'm now wondering what London cows sound like or cows from Northern ireland?

Fresian 1: Alright Dave, that there patch a grass is a bit sinewy. Try some furver up by da fence.
Fresian 2: You're 'aving a laugh int ya? tried it yesterday guv - tastes like nat's piss!


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5277090.stm