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

This is a really scary look into the future...

We've all seen the Hollywood movies like I-Robot and others where we learn that robots will play an ever greater role in our lives. And given that almost every household has a microwave, toaster, refrigerator, TV and maybe a car, it's quite believable that in the future we will all have our own personal robot as well. But would you really want be sitting in your living room with your dead wife, son, grand mother or husband having conversations about Coronation Street as if everything was perfectly normal and they weren't actually dead?

According to an article in the Daily Mail, it may sound too Jetsons to be true, but the Terasem Movement Foundation in Bristol, Vermont, is betting that personal robots will be a huge part of the lives of future generations. The robots, they say, will be able to download people's personalities, serving as avatars and assistants to busy professionals and in some cases, replacing those who have been lost.

The foundation's prized possession is Bina48, one of the most sophisticated humanoid robots ever built, capable of independent thought, emotion, and even being interviewed by the MailOnline.

Bruce Duncan, 57, has been working with Bina48 for two years. During that time, the two have become close friends, sharing their everyday lives with one another. Bina48 was made by uploading a real person's mindfile - or a compilation of memories, beliefs and feelings. Before Bina48 was 'born,' a flesh and blood woman named Bina Rothblatt was interviewed for more than 20 hours.

That conversation, which touched upon topics throughout her childhood to her career, was then transcribed and uploaded to an artificial intelligence database. 'That gives her a personality,' Mr Duncan said. 'She's very philosophical. She has favorite movies and music and poems. Sometimes she's very humorous. She can tell jokes.'

For me, the most interesting and at the same time the most scary aspect of this is the fact that we may end up with a situation where a loved one has died and we are left living with a robot that has had all the mind data uploaded to a robot. Think how eery that would be sitting in your living room with your dead wife, son, grand mother or husband? Wouldn't you lose sight of what was real and what was programmed into a computer? It might becaome like the difference between dreaming and the real physical world which can often seem the same.

As Mr Duncan says, over time, the technology will be less expensive and more important. 'There are a lot of things that can happen. One of them for sure, might be a legacy,' Mr Duncan said. 'If your grandmother dies and she's built a mindfile, you might be able to talk to her for years and years afterward and have conversations with her.' There are also legal ramifcications too as to what status these creatures would have should something go wrong and e.g. a house fire was caused by a malfunctioning robot.

Another application of the technology is education.'Students can learn about Abraham Lincoln by talking to his avatar,' he suggested. Other greats, like Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Susan B. Anthony could be accessible to history students across the globe. 

The good side of this is that museums would be like the movie Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller where the robots could actually look like a character from history and could be involved in asynchronous conversations with young children and adults keen on finding out about that period in history and that person's part in it.

I guess it's like anything new: we fear it because it is the unknown, but if it really is the future, then there's nothing we can do but embrace it. Like the clever man said, there's nothing more dangerous than an idea that's ahead of it's time! Amen to that!

Read more:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175721/Rise-Machines-Meet-Bina48-robot-tell-jokes-recite-poetry-mimics-mankind-startling-ease.html?ITO=1490

Is this the luckiest man alive?

Watch the video. It's really amazing neither of the two vehicles actually hits him!

Nine-year-old ‘Irish Messi’ signs for Barcelona

Now that's a great thing to hear: an Irish lad is going to be another Messi or even George Best! Because, let's be honest, the Irish football team have not been great of late and, with the old guard of Robbie Keeane and co having seen better days, it's good to hear that some young blood is making his way steadily towards a professional career in football, probably in Spain.

Photo - Paddy Cummins 

Dublin schoolboy Zak Gilsenan, 9, has been snapped up by Spanish outfit Barcelona after impressing their scouts in a trial. Gilsenan scored seven goals in the trial to beat a field of 400 young hopefuls to join the FCB Escola football academy. The academy is part of a world-renowned training facility in La Masia which has led the Catalan giants to dominate European football in recent seasons and produce talent of the quality of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.

Gilsenan's father Stephen told the Irish Sun the family were so excited by the news that they are now planning to emigrate to Spain to help Zak fulfil his dream. "We were living in Australia when Zak was spotted by Spurs, who were running football camps over there," he said. "We came home with the intention of letting Zak go to Spurs, but in the meantime we had a call from Barcelona. One of their former players saw him playing in Oz and recommended him to Barca. "They offered Zak a trial in May and it was a great experience. It consisted of over 400 boys from all over the world. He was asked back in June when it was cut down to 90.

"Then in a match between the top 16 players, Zak just ran riot and scored seven goals. He was phenomenal. Then we heard back two weeks ago and they offered him a spot. "People say we are mad, but in Barcelona he will be educated in the best footballing techniques. "All we can do is go and see how it develops. We know it's ruthless over there. We don't want him turned into a machine, we just want him to enjoy it. It's his dream to play for Ireland."

Spanish football is enjoying unprecedented success, with Barcelona and Real Madrid amongst Europe's pre-eminent sides and the international team winning successive European Championships on either side of their 2010 World Cup triumph. Much of that has been ascribed to their coaching of young players — and the major clubs leave no stone unturned in their search for the best young talent. Earlier this year Barcelona signed Takefusa Kubo, dubbed the 'Japanese Messi'. If the club has unearthed two more young players to match the Argentine's achievements, they'll still be doing all right 10 years from now...

One for all parents? Mobile phone feature teaches parents how to make teenagers tidy their rooms

This is one for all the parents out there: an app that teaches parents how to make teenagers tidy their rooms. As most parents know, telling stroppy teenagers to tidy their rooms is often a waste of breath.

But help is at hand thanks to a new app which teaches parents and teenagers negotiating skills for use in arguments at home. The ‘Close My Deal’ app gives parents useful hints on how to approach their children and gives teenagers suggestions on how to compromise.

It works by posing scenarios which could spark an argument,  and prompts the user  to choose from a range of answers to the problem. It then scores users on their choice and gives tips on how to improve their negotiating style. Both sides can also get ideas for ‘concessions’ they can make to secure a deal, for example the teenager offering to unload the dishwasher every night or go without pocket money for a month.

Creator Clive Rich, 52,  a business negotiator, said: ‘In my experience, negotiating with a stubborn teenager is every bit as difficult as trying to win a boardroom deal.’

As part of the app users can choose from a range of answers before being scored and then get feedback on how to tackle each situation and improve their negotiation style. Both sides can also get tips on the ‘concessions’ they can make to secure a deal. They include the teenager offering to unload the dishwasher every night or go without pocket money for a month, or parents agreeing to pay for concert tickets if a teenager attends an elderly relative’s birthday party.

The web app also gives users an insight into their personal ‘negotiating style’. By completing the profiler section users can find out if they subconsciously use demanding or aggressive behaviour during negotiations and receive instructions on how to adapt their approach. After a 25-year career brokering multi-billion corporate deals Mr Rich now hopes his new app – launched this week – will eventually bring an end to the family squabbles.

Technology's power: Could a simple computer program turn your teenager into the perfect child? (File picture)

What amazes me is that parents think their children have time to clean their rooms! How can they possibly fit that in with all the competing technology out there from smart phones, tabs, laptops, not to mention their busy schedules like hanging out in bars and clubs and whatnot. Aren't today's parents being just a little bit selfish asking their kids to take responsibility for cleaning their rooms? Answers on a  postcard to...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2173447/The-app-domestic-bliss-Mobile-phone-feature-teaches-parents-make-teenagers-tidy-rooms.html?ITO=1490

UEFA under fire for faking ‘crying fan’ footage

Why do we seem to be increasingly living in a world where getting one over on people is not only considered the norm, but actually laudable? When we go shopping, we are bombarded with offers designed to deceive us or at least trick us into thinking we are getting a better deal than in fact we are. There are many other examples of this in today's world, too numerous to dwell on here from bankers who steal from us then expect us to pay their bills to photoshopped images that make us believe that women are actually blemish free and thus more beautiful than they really are. The latest is from a bastion of football sports.



European football's governing body UEFA has sparked outrage after it emerged that they manipulated footage of fans during the Euro 2012 semi-finals.People across the world were touched when cameras zoomed in on a German fan in the crowd crying after Mario Balotelli put Italy two goals ahead in the first half of their match last week.

ESPN commentator Adrian Healey even referred to the woman as he covered the game for American TV, saying it was "too early for tears" since there was the best part of an hour left in which the sparky Germans could fight their way back into the match.There was just one problem: the woman - a fan from Dusseldorf called Andrea - hadn't started crying at all, and was stunned to receive text messages from friends back home asking why she was blubbing with so much football left to play.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/29880900

It turns out that Andrea had actually been overcome by emotion during the singing of the German national anthem before the match. The footage was recorded, then cut into the live feed sent to broadcasters around the world after the Italians went 2-0 up.

It turns out that it was not the only instance of UEFA pulling such a stunt: they also broadcast footage of Germany coach Joachim Loew jokingly pinching a ball from a ball boy during the group stage match against the Netherlands. It turned out that Loew wasn't relaxed and having fun during a key match against arch-rivals, but merely joshing with him during the pre-match warm-up.

So again, I repeat the question: why are we so intent on cheating each other and misleading others in our daily communication? Can it just be about money this manipulation of our thoughts? Or is there something more sinister going on?

Read more:  http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/uefa-under-fire-faking-crying-fan-footage-110329796.html