What are your honest thoughts on astrology?

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 10, 2019:

Astrology is nonsense, "Hogwash," my grandfather would have called it. In its generalizations many people can find what they would like to find, as in reading tea leaves, I suppose. I would guess that those who believe in it, like the religious, want to believe that the universe is logical, that it has a meaning that can be understood in detail and has a special place in its "heart" for us.

Milky Way over Yellowstone

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 9, 2019:

Darn nice pic!

Trump has some of the dumbest solutions to things that aren't really a problem.

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 9, 2019:

The GOP has loooong used voter fraud as an excuse to engage in voter fraud!

“The President of the United States Says It’s Okay”: The Rise of the Trump Defense ...

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 9, 2019:

The Empty Orange is a cancer, feeding on the sickness that is hate, and enabling, nourishing, it.

If anyone has the slightest inclination that all this BS will end on 01/20/21.

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 9, 2019:

His "core" supporters will not abandon him, but with the impeachment hearings coming up, with farmers loosing markets, with the coal industry going nowhere fast, he may have more of n uphill struggle than you anticipate. still, one can not rule out standard GOP voter fraud.

I am reaching out to some of the more experienced gardeners out there.

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 8, 2019:

If you have the patience, tip them into a jar, or tuna fish can, with rubbing alcohol in it, they will not survive. I had to do this to save an infested Harry Lauder Walking Stick bush, some years ago.

Trump has succeeded, beyond his wildest dreams! Both Venezuela and Uruguay have issued warnings to...

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 7, 2019:

It is really special to be such an "Exceptional" country!

There is a surge of scientific denial in America.

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 7, 2019:

If this continues long enough, Mr. Ronald Reagan, the earliest traitor in the W.H. that I know of, he of the line in a speech, calling facts "...just annoyances.," and evolution "just a theory," a comment inseretd into a speech by a believer in fairy tales on his staff, will rise up and be "Born Again" and go on to rule the world in the name of his blotto wife! NOT! The current traitor in the W.H. is gathering up the momentum that Reagan, and Newt the Gingerich created for spreading anti-scientific gibberish, and taking it to an entirely new level. Gingerich was the leader of the "What acid rain?" crowd 25, or so years ago. The GOP ran with that denial, until lakes began to die...wait for it...because of...it's coming...acidification. Wow! Who would'a a thunk? Did they ever apologize? Does the bear shit in Times Square?

This is chillng! And unfortunately very accurate

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 6, 2019:

Eric Fromm, a concentration camp survivor, and a psychologist , introduced this unofficial (not in the DSM) diagnosis to characterize Hitler. It does fit he whom I call "The Empty Orange" perfectly. "Empty" because there is no center, no substance, within, never has been.

Sad but true

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 5, 2019:

As per EMC2's comment, it appears that with no Muller report to complain about, and nothing that he can newly blame on Hillary, his true, rancid, self is becoming very visible. Five Texas representatives have announced their stepping away from re-election, and, just maybe, with the exception of the hypocritical Evangelicals, he will poll amazingly embarrassing numbers in 2020. History is NOT going to be flattering to Mr. "I'm the best thing there ever was!"

McConnell Lifted Russian Sanctions!

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 5, 2019:

McConnell is a traitor! His country is Money and Power, rather than the U.S.A.!

Should tRump be held as accesory to mass murder?

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 4, 2019:

Indeed! But, do not hold your breath.

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BirdMan1 comments on Aug 4, 2019:

Yes, the Dunning-Kreuger effect was identified a good while ago, and it appears to explain a lot about the Trump supporters, including my son-in-law, who told me, a while ago that he did not even listen to what Trump had been saying, but lied the idea that he was upsetting people on both sides of the political spectrum, and that was enough for him! Now, in the run-up to the 2020election, he has a new flag flying at the front of his house. It says "Trump 2020, No More Bullshit!" He's too stupid to realize that the BS has been emanating from none other than Trump, and his medi supporters, from the get-go!!!!!

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, by Hannah Arendt__ Last night I ...

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 4, 2019:

I will put this on my book list. A psychology professor, at Long Island University, in the '60's, was Gustsve Gilbert. I believe I might have met him once, no real clim to fame, but he was a psychologist at the Nuremberg, not Eichman's, trials. I have noted numerous people, over the years refering to Arendt, but have not read her as yet.

Continuing to "flower" my new nest, we bought 2 hyacinths, some vinca, and dianthus.

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 4, 2019:

None of that seems to be working. I see no thumbnails, no green upload indicator, nada. So, I'm hollering!

Newt Gingrich just gave away the game - The Washington Post

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

The Newt paved the way for Dumpy's "Fake News," was there 25 , or so, years ago!

The most mysterious star in the universe | Tabetha Boyajianhttps://youtu.be/gypAjPp6eps

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

I recall the excitement around the discovery of this star and the hypothesizing frenzy that it kicked off.

The volcano Raikoke, which last erupted in 1924, expelled an enormous ash plume on June 22.

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

Wow! Amazing angle, and shot!

By Dave Wilson The Eel River, and of course the Milky Way!

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

So, just where was that picture taken? As in So, where is the Eel river?

By Dave Wilson The Eel River, and of course the Milky Way!

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

Marvelous picture!

Did you know Scorpio used to be even bigger?

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

Didn't Orpheucis once belong in what is now seen as Scorpio?

Reading While Listening (RWL).

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

I do not listen to audio books, either, but my wife likes to take one when we travel by plane.

Reading While Listening (RWL).

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

@MrLink I have read it, and found it most interesting. His book "Sapiens," is on my list,as well.

With the current trend of the far right moving into the forefront of many countries aroudn the ...

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 2, 2019:

I'm familiar with a different version of this quote, but find it chillingly prescient,as Marionville stated! If that edition of the book cost $1.50, as stated on the cover, it was out a long time go.

What is the best way to determine a watermelons ripeness ?

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 1, 2019:

Being new in Florida, 3 weeks, now, we went to a local garden store and bought several plants for the small front yard, a small common bromeliad, a salvia, a confetti lantana, and something else that i'd never encountered before. It has clusters of beautiful pink/red flowers, grows to about 2 feet tall, but I can not recall its name. i think it starts with oxa, or oxo, not oxalis. Anyone have an idea/ Of course, I could go back to the garden center and take a look.

The wild Chicory is just going over in the hedgerows now.

BirdMan1 comments on Aug 1, 2019:

I love to see the chickory growing wild at the edges of roads. It has such a lovely color. It is a relative of lettuce, btw.

What is the reason to live? What are we living for?

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

Freud and Betty Friedan came up with similar answers, a century apart. Freud asked the question, "What does man want/" He answered by saying man wants "Arbeit," or work. I believe he meant this in terms of what gives purpose to us, what defines us, and, especially in his time men (remember that he lived in a very paternalistic time and culture) defined them selves by what sort of work they did. If you asked a fellow "Wat are you?" he'd not answer that he was an uncle, father, husband, etc. He would say that he was a laborer, a doctor, a shoemaker. Betty Friedan did a very long, rather immersive study, and published her answer in 1993. The book was called "The Fountain of Age," and her answer was that people want something to look forward to, that that gave them purpose. It could be anything that resonated with the person, from being involved with grandchildren, to wanting to be the best origami expert on one's side of the Mississippi, but something to want to wake up for.

Anyone have book recommendations?

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

"Man's Search for Meaning," by Viktor Frankl.

Another good site worth checking out- [atheistrepublic.

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

Friedrich was one hell of a deep thinker!

The Buddleja is also out now, called the Butterfly Bush it is covered in them.

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

That is one gorgeous photo of a gorgeous butterfly. I had a butterfly-bird perennial garden for years, in New Jersey, USA, until moving from that house 6 years ago, and expect to have a smaller version thereof, in my new residence, in Florida. The only problem with Buddleia,here, is that it is not native, and the birds spread the seed all over. I used to go out regularly and dead-head the spent flowers.

Sin or not, if yes, why?

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

@Manka77 I believe that there is a passage, in the bible, about not spilling one's "seed" on the ground, but have always taken this to be a population's wish to add more people to it. At the rate the human race is growing, now, perhaps masturbation ought to be encouraged allover the place.

What gives your life meaning? Why keep going? (just curious)

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

Purpose gives life meaning. Connection to others does so, as well. You might take a look at "Man’s Search for Meaning," by Victor E. Frankl. We happen to be here, so we might as well be here, and involved in the lives of (select?) others.

Why Evolution Is True … I never realised that there was still so much opposition to science.

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

@PontifexMarximus Starting with Ronald Reagan's comment, "Facts are just annoyances," and seeing the ridiculous encouragement of stubborn intentional idiocy by Trump, we have been shown yet another (besides vulgar racism) side of the underbelly of the American culture!

I went to a funeral week before last.

BirdMan1 comments on Jul 31, 2019:

I went to a memorial service, last week, much of the family of the deceased are Born Again Christians, and the service was essentially done by a substitute pastor. A freethinking friend, who is our link to the family, could not stop apologizing for the virtual "word salad" Mr.Rent-a-Pastor presented. The fellow was rambling, and talking nonsense, towards the end, before 3 of us walked out together, he was, I think they call it "Fishing for souls." Gibberish was flowing from his mouth. I do not know how many people bought into it, but most seemed quite attentive.