Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times.....Asian Proverb.

Fernapple comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Must get traveling again, before my time runs out..

Do we know if Socrates was a historical character or a literary device used by Plato?

Fernapple comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Several other people of the time like Xenophon also mention him, that's not proof but it does give you confidence.

Unintentionally Valuable - BionicDance [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Why do they never understand that the bottom line is, no mater what the value, even if our survival and the survival of the whole universe depended on god, that would not magic him into existence.

A few more pictures from my walk in the desert.

Fernapple comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Breath taking, what wonderful country to live by.

@Admin - when did we lose the Nauseous emoji?

Fernapple comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Perhaps they are cutting the list so that there is space for some new ones. I won't miss , Shrug, and I hardly ever used Nausea, but on the couple of times I did it was perfect. Who would want to be on this site anyway if you can't troll the odd woo merchant.

I went out in the desert looking for flowers today.

Fernapple comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Beautiful, that is the first time I have seen California Poppy in the wild, we grow them here a a half hardy annual. And is that the Lupine called Blue Bonnet or is it another one ?

People always talk about going into outer space… yet our earth is just a giant space ship, ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

I have heard that the earths speed though space is such. that we have not yet made a rocket fast enough to come to a stop.

Ancient people travelled hundreds of miles from all corners of Britain to take part in feasts at or ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

It seems to have been an age of peace and stability, which ended in the iron age.

Don't know if this qualifies for Woo! or not.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Love it very good.

"Einstein and Hawking: Unlocking The Universe" produced by the BBC for the Science Channel.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Yep, and guess what. The world is flat and only six thousand years old, and he sun goes across the sky in a small boat each day and spends the night in a cave. It may well be that the ideas of Einstein and Hawkins will need to be corrected in the future, that is the way both science and human progress work, but it is unlikely now that they will be turned over completely and they will never be valueless. And to answer one of your questions with one piece of evidence. (Only one because I do not have the time to waste on all of them , not because they can't be answered. ) The reason we know that space bends is because. When objects like planets pass behind other large objects with big gravity, the apparent speed of them can be observed to slow down and speed up as they go in and out of transit. If you wish to obtain your own instruments and make the measurements again, you are welcome. Until then it is best to remember that. "I can't understand it." Is not the same as. Its not true.

I have spent my entire life living in the moment.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Went the other way, spent my life chasing goals, now know that was a waste of time and learning to live in the moment.

Which one is the best? I like the black and white.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

BW has more punch, so I go for that, but if the intention is to make the baby look lonely and vunerable, then all the cold blues in the color do that better.

Really wish people would quit using their "cultures" as justification for ANYTHING.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

It is as bad a mistake to believe that culture is a source of truth just as much as with religion, both are just as good at promoting lies. We should all recognize that we are all victims of our cultures, and should do our best to reason our way out of them.

Excuse me, is spring coming soon?

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Bring him in and let him warm them by a radiator.

There's a story behind this, but I'm not sure I want to hear it.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

I suppose they don't want you to wash it in the sink either.

You can always tell when a politician is lying, or doesn't really believe in their defense of the ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Think its called the Gish Dash or something like that. But I love it as well, when theists try to get none believers to concede that they can not disprove the existence of god, by defining god in really vague deistic terms that are practically meaningless. And then suddenly they are talking fast about their own Bible/Koran etc. based god, hoping that no one will spot or else pick up on, the big leap they just made.

Tots and Pears people, tots and pears...

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Only usually fatal to near relatives.

The Anniversary Waltz also known as Waves Of The Danube.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Warm and jolly ideal for a cold and very windy day.

More antivaxx logic, for your dining pleasure!

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Very good. And of course that assumes that the dangers of vax are as real as those of food.

“To me - old age is always fifteen years older than I am”.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Many happy returns. Don't worry too much about getting older, based on experience I am happy to be old, and enjoying it, and I am sure you will be when you get there too.

Unpleasant Design - When Bad Design is Used Hide Problems - Extra Credits [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Its not as bad as targeting the homeless, but many car parks also have maximum hight frames on the entrances, despite the fact that there are no overhangs on the inside. They are of course there to stop trucks and caravans using them, especially overnight. But it also of course means that only car owners, ( no manual workers please ) can use them. Does not matter if the truck driver has an elderly or sick passenger, who needs the rest room, a baby needs changing, if the driver, especially a female, feels safer in a car park than on the road side, or the extra miles and fuel needed for someone with a high vehicle to go shopping, etc.

A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can put on shoes.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

The only good thing is that the truth can be refound again and again, but every lie has to be a new invention. Maybe though that is why they sell so well, because with no concentration span we love novelty.

Safety first and other face palm moments - part 2

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

I really do hope that he is wearing goggles under that box but given what you showed in your other posts.......

Did I make a difference?

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Best meme for weeks, that is all you need to know in life that really matters.

I had some one put it to me very interesting about what a ghost and such could be.

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

There is a stat that people are more likely to see ghosts when they are very relaxed. So when you are half sleeping you are half dreaming perhaps ?

I do, however, have a "No Solicitation" sign...

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Someone posted the other day that they had a charge per min listening fee posted on the door, with, "you must pay up front before we start".

Safety first - part 1

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

You find some good ones.

Safety first and ?‍♀️ moments - part 3

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Gardening too, Madeira.

I'm just having a rant because I can! I've just agreed to do a difficult 12 and a half hour shift...

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Rants are OK.

Saved this a few years ago from the Internet, as a gardener it raises a big chuckle ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Great joke but not for everyone. Only a gardener would know that it is best to let your plants be a little dryer in the winter.

Sorted a big box of old pictures. Scanned a few...

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Sounds like a wonderful youth.

This Octopus's Dreams (Maybe) Were Written All Over Its Body [livescience.]

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

So let me see. An octopus can never be alone because it has several brains in one body, and it sees both in black and white with its eyes and in color with its skin at the same time. And they say it is hard to see the world through the other humans eyes !

High School Pic Challenge! For some of us it's been many many years so this might be fun to post ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Use mine as my icon. Went bald at eighteen, certainly don't look like that now. Actually I am glad I don't look like that now, he looks too much like D. Trump, at least I grew out of it.

Can someone put Gareth to bed?

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Look, just comfort yourself with the thought that you have some nice weather over Manchester way sometimes and it certainly does not rain hard every day. Last time I went to Manchester it was a beautiful calm sunny day, I could not have enjoyed the row over from the mainland more.

Creation stories the world over often have features common in other creation stories.

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

If you create nine vague categories everything will fit one or more of them. I will now go make myself a cup of tea, fits 8. Sorry I see my girlfriend put the kettle on for me, fits 7.

Heard on our classic music station, "Wise men sometimes make mistakes, but fools can, at times, get ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Most of the time, who would know the difference anyway.

Red-crowned cranes in Japan by Fuji Tang

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

That's a wonderful photo. If it is not photo-shopped, then it took a lot of care and time to get that just so. Looks like a ritual dance to the sun.

The post about using tires for making raised beds reminds me of my raised beds.

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Good friend.

Stag horn ferns.

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Great post, he has some lovely designs on his page, gardening which is plant led the best sort , and especially epiphytes, of which we have few in the UK. A dream is to visit the tropics to see them one day.

Make Yourself a Solution, Not a Problem - IIT Delhi Students with Sadhguru, 2017 - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

No I do not think this is woo. Some of it may be idealogical, some may be banal, but it is not woo.

NASA Weighed the Wind Billowing Out of the Cigar Galaxy, and It's Unbelievably Massive [space.com]

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Yet why do some galaxies behave like that when many like ours don't ? Is it just age, or the lack of a central black hole, or a bigger black hole ? Like all the good things in science it leaves me asking more questions.

"I am a sworn atheist and therefore from my point of view the Talmud or the Koran don't constitute ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 11, 2019:

I think you may be preaching to the converted. But its a nice quote.

anyone up for using skype?

Fernapple comments on Mar 11, 2019:

Not with a face like the one I got landed with.

True. So true.

Fernapple comments on Mar 11, 2019:

Would it were only blindness and not madness, heart break, loneliness and cruelty.

Say WHAT?!

Fernapple comments on Mar 11, 2019:

I am not neutral, I fizz and react when in contact with people lower down the scale.

For me... assassination of JFK.

Fernapple comments on Mar 11, 2019:

The Death of Winston Churchill.

Woo alert! Another example of the species, although you almost have to expect Woo! in the Philosophy...

Fernapple comments on Mar 11, 2019:

Wow, has anyone ever tried one of those sentence generation programs, which make gramatical sentences out of random words ?

Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.....Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

Fernapple comments on Mar 10, 2019:

Wow! That is a great post, but even so it is hard to believe it is Newton since from what little I know of him, it is said that he was certainly one of histories least tactful people, and he made enemies hand over fist.

Beautiful after a rain

Fernapple comments on Mar 10, 2019:

Wonderful photo. What plant is that ?

Did you know this? I didn't know this! How to eat a pineapple. [facebook.com]

Fernapple comments on Mar 10, 2019:

Neat way to do it.

Reason, Observation and Experience — the Holy Trinity of Science — have taught us that happiness...

Fernapple comments on Mar 10, 2019:

Can't argue with that.

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.....Frank Tyger (1929 - 2011).

Fernapple comments on Mar 10, 2019:

"Do what you love, and you will never need to do a days work in your life. " Not sure who said that.

Read a good book yesterday and wanted to pass it along.

Fernapple comments on Mar 9, 2019:

Well things may have moved on a little, in my day in the UK, (long time ago) if you had an original thought, the teachers would slap you.

Well. it might have, could have, maybe just would have.

Fernapple comments on Mar 9, 2019:

For a sperm, it is a multi-trillion to one shot, not much of a life.

"Western people don't care about life or death.

Fernapple comments on Mar 8, 2019:

Sanctions are usually aimed at governments, often supposedly for their performance on the human rights of their people. And who suffers from the effects of sanctions, would that be the governments or the people ? Don't think too long.

PLEASE don't blow up this post with idiotic comments and joke replies.

Fernapple comments on Mar 8, 2019:

Wood pellet fuel.

A Mathematician Wrote a 'Hipster Equation' to Figure Out Why All Hipsters Look Alike ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 8, 2019:

This is great fun, but at the risk of being too serious. It could be that people who adopt an alternative subculture early in life, assume they have been and are original already, so they stop questioning things. A sort of Dunning Kruger effect of ideology. And given some of the ones I know.....

I had a trully upsetting and shocking experience today.

Fernapple comments on Mar 8, 2019:

Very sorry to hear that, and more than sorry to hear that you are upset by it , as you naturally will be. But you must keep the stiff upper lip both for the sake of your students, and because if you allow it to ruin even a small part of your life, then you are letting the racist bullies win a small victory, since they no doubt would like to hurt you for your crime in their eyes of not being racist, nearly as much as they would like to hurt your students.

Thought I might show you something from my stone pickings in my fields, I know what it is, do you?

Fernapple comments on Mar 8, 2019:

I know what I think you want us to guess, but my vote would go to flint.

And I don't like bugs at all, sigh.

Fernapple comments on Mar 8, 2019:

I have managed a very large garden and a plant nursery now for over twenty years using only organic methods. Sometimes there is the odd white patch on a leaf, but that is it, and nobody but me ever seemed to notice.

How many of yall believe in a historical Jesus? And why?

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

Neither he grew from several stories told about several people. Most myological figures start that way, because people find it easy to remember stories but harder to remember names, so one name gradually gets attached to several stories.

The more we try not to conform, the more we conform to the others not conforming .

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

Always did. True none conformity is invisible to all but history.

What is your favorite word or phrase quirk?

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

I do not have any personal ones, but I love some of our local dialect words. Such as "clarty", which means half way between firm and softly sticky, like cake mix. And also "nesh" which means over sensitive to the cold, as in. "My illness has left me feeling a bit nesh."

After graduating from university with a rather good degree, my eldest son has struggled to find ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

He will find something, the one thing about Aspergers is that you can not do nothing. But why limit him to a job have you talked to him about starting a business, Anyone can do it, and not all businesses need high social skills or a large investment.

This seems so common sense, but so many people refuse to see it.

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

The bottom line on fairness/justice is that it can of course never be achieved. BUT having said that, you are either working towards it or you are not, and if you are not, then what else could you possibly be doing with your life that is worth the effort.

This seems so common sense, but so many people refuse to see it.

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

I was always a devotee of chaos theory anyway, not only is everything due to luck, but luck is too complex to ever be understood as well.

I really don't know why we keep celebrating Christopher Columbus when he was clearly a Johnny come ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

His real discovery was the Atlantic wind patterns, the trades and the westerlies. Many of the people who came before, including perhaps fishermen from northern Europe, who possibly were already using the Grand Banks and therefore almost certainly knew of Newfoundland, would of course have kept their discoveries secret.

OMG IT'S ME.

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

Story of my life. If the green romance grabs you.

Everything is blooming, budding & turning green! Are you as excited as I am?

Fernapple comments on Mar 7, 2019:

Lovely photos.

How to prevent falls on steep descents

Fernapple comments on Mar 6, 2019:

The first three work well for going up hill too.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 6, 2019:

From a man who slowly degenerated into an alcoholic wreck as life went on. Sad.

Works like a charm every time.

Fernapple comments on Mar 6, 2019:

A lot like. Totally failed as the government of a nation state, blame "the" foreigners.

Why do many of us see beauty in nature?

Fernapple comments on Mar 6, 2019:

We are evolved animals, who evolved to live in nature and therefore to understand which bits are good for us and which bits are not.

Hello!!! I am Jamie from Oklahoma.

Fernapple comments on Mar 5, 2019:

Welcome, and I hope you will make it back to the UK again one day. Though sadly this does not seem to be a very active group, but sometimes it can be interesting.

It's not admitting defeat, it's admitting that it was an impulsive childish and stupid idea from the...

Fernapple comments on Mar 5, 2019:

I have loads of impulsive, childish and stupid ideas, in fact most of mine are. But I never voted for Trump.

Build someone up.

Fernapple comments on Mar 5, 2019:

I love it very true, and good way to make a contribution to the world, and that's the only good and real way to raise your own self esteem.

Democratic Socialist. BythePeopleForthePeople NotMeUs Bernie2020 FeeltheBern

Fernapple comments on Mar 5, 2019:

Socialism says, “place more faith in the state”. The only trouble with that is that, in many nations placing faith in the state means placing your faith in an institution far more cruel, ruthless and exploitive than the worst of capitalist corporations.. Socialism only works well in states which are well educated and highly democratic, where people have real control over the state in which they invest their hopes and wealth. Which is why socialism works well in countries like Switzerland and Denmark. The more education and democracy you have the more socialism you can enjoy, but the democracy has to be maintained. Especially since there is another form of economics, in which the political and economic establishments are one and the same, and it is called feudalism, into which socialism automatic degenerates in counties which have weak democracies. Which is why socialism works badly in countries like Venezuela.

15 Psychological Facts That Will Blow Your Mind! - TopThink [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Mar 5, 2019:

Love the way he does the graphics.

The Hubble Space Telescope Has a New Camera Glitch [space.com]

Fernapple comments on Mar 5, 2019:

Given that it has done so much for so long, I think that the world has had good value from Hubble already, a few glitches now are not a big deal.

Improvement Suggestion - Can we split the Grrr/Dislike into two emojies for a post Like vote?

Fernapple comments on Mar 5, 2019:

I think that would be good, though I asked for a "thank you" emoji but got nowhere despite support.

There is nothing in the whole frame of man which seems to me so unaccountable as that thing called ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 4, 2019:

Burns knew nothing of course about evolution by natural selection, which would not become widely understood for another hundred years. Moreover he worked for the Revenue, which is likely to give you a strange view of the human race !

Well, this was a weird glitch.

Fernapple comments on Mar 4, 2019:

Quite a few words like that especially if you use UK English, get flagged by the spelling thing.

This must be the right place to ask this question.

Fernapple comments on Mar 4, 2019:

The ancient Romans used sponges on sticks, which they then cleaned by dipping them in salt water. Unfortunately they often used the same salt water more than once!

My favorite quote by Christopher Hitchens: "The four most overrated things in life are ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 3, 2019:

Cricket, French cooking, Hollywood films and tomatoes.

"Ye" wasn't really a word - we just used to use a single letter for the "th" sound, called thorn, ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 3, 2019:

The Ye, is often combined in popular culture with "old" with an "e" as in "Ye olde mobile phone shop." And people often pronounce the "e", yet it make sense to spell old with a silent e since the "o" vowel is soft. Who I wonder made us change the spelling.

Your shitty childhood isn't an excuse to be a shitty person.

Fernapple comments on Mar 3, 2019:

Yes and if you are a shitty person more shit sticks to you.

Just know that

Fernapple comments on Mar 3, 2019:

It usually is.

Gun slips from waistband, shoots man in genitals

Fernapple comments on Mar 3, 2019:

He was lucky, most hit a leg artery and die of blood loss.

This must be the right place to ask this question.

Fernapple comments on Mar 3, 2019:

Certainly a really interesting question and some really interesting answers too. No problem with posting it, good post.

The infamous "chat" has been a hot topic around here recently.

Fernapple comments on Mar 1, 2019:

Never got involved with chat, the few times that I clicked on chat to see what it was like I was the only one there, so I gave up.

Woo alert! "The biosphere is calling to you via ultrasonic energy. Can you hear it?

Fernapple comments on Feb 28, 2019:

Full cream woo alright.

Felix Mendelssohn.

Fernapple comments on Feb 28, 2019:

Not a Mendelssohn I knew, great.

Dual senate?

Fernapple comments on Feb 28, 2019:

Would anyone really bother with both, I doubt it, then you would just have two going their own ways.

I realise that by and large Real Estate Agents are greedy bastards but this latest missive, even in ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 28, 2019:

Obviously someone has profit-sized a bright future for themselves.

Concrete. Savior or villain? [theguardian.com]

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2019:

A lot of carbon is produced in the making of cement.

Possessions are like flying birds, never to find a permanent dwelling.

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2019:

A lady in my village acquired a small inheritance and she spent it on a lifetime membership in several clubs she liked. She said it was the best thing that she ever did, because the very next year her house burnt down and she lost everything except of course her social investments.

Awaiting flooring installers today.

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2019:

Its been done yes, but I would not restrict yourself to indigenous plants, most food plants cause little environmental damage if grown on a small scale, and that cat is out of the bag anyway. And since you will be growing mainly food plants, which means a narrower range of plants anyway, the local wildlife will probably benefit from a bit more diversity, even if it is artificial.

Yesterday's model. A spontaneous shot of a cute dog?

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2019:

The best models are timeless.

Growing old

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2019:

Always did, went bald by eighteen, often mistaken for brothers.

“It is our suffering that brings us together.

Fernapple comments on Feb 25, 2019:

If only life was that simple.