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Fernapple

Man, 67, Lincolnshire, UK

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Paleontology, Archeology, and Anthropology

Jul 15, 2020Jul 2020

A very old mystery, and perhaps we have to accept that some mysteries will never be solved, but at least that gives us freedom to speculate.

A really wonderful group of animals, and though only eight in number they are still very important. A great piece about how they evolved.

“The speed drunk monkey acts faster than it thinks.” Donald C. Peattie. I posted a post on the main page based on this quote, but if you do not know Peattie he was a US author who wrote mainly about botany and the green world, in what I think was...

"Men who experience false visions, but who are unable to understand how they are produced, are understandably apprehensive, and they convince themselves that these visions were created by the gods." Diogenes of Oinoanda. Second century common era.

The unseen hidden apocalypse, taking place now. Had you not noticed that, there are far fewer bugs on your car windscreen than there used to be. OK some of that could be sampling error, modern cars have better airflow and so deflect more, but a lot ...

Meetings of the XXXX committee were perhaps not always enjoyable, but they were in there own way very satisfying. The only down-side being that they involved me in a long journey to London, which meant taking first a car and then two changes of train. Since everyone traveled a long way, there was always a lot of pressure on the time, and things were rarely completed as well as we would have liked. One day we were discussing a document which was to be sent out, but the debate got suck at a ...

Despite the frost and snow the spring bulbs just keep pushing through. They do not grow like most plants by dividing and increasing the number of their cells, but by inflating their existing cells hydraulically so that they become much larger, it is...

A remarkable find, see an old face.

Nature always designs the best gardens, and animals strike the best poses. ( Had a day off today, and took some snaps. )

A bit up and down, but worth a listen perhaps, even if it is an old issue.

What happens to the world without humans, perhaps even radiation is not as bad as human beings.

When you are young, and simple things seem enough.

Patience rewarded on both sides.

Healing and the beauty of the lost.

If you are worried that face masks may become fashionable, it could be far worse.

OK just cat picture but only this once I promise.

"Tradition, is peer pressure from the dead." Originally posted by our own Glenlab on this site, from a billboard.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is a prison. H.D. Thoreau I will post this one with a link too, well worth five mins.

We are all missing travel now, just take five minutes for a walk. It is not just the wonder of the individual things in nature, but the way that so much connects, and the places, history and beauty that taking an interest in it can take you to, not ...

The Greater Reed Mace, are now beginning to burst open, and shed the seeds that were made last year, alongside the Grantham Canal. They are even more impressive than the furry seed pods when closed, or the modest wind pollinated flowers. The Reeds ...

Some very topical thoughts and advice.

1 comment

Small Business Owners & The Self Employed

Jul 29, 2019Jul 2019

Posted by Fernapple

I do a lot of my business on line and by mail order. Fortunately not all of it, because mail order can be a pain, so it should not be undertaken lightly. If you try, you will have to learn to live with a percentage of people each year who can not ...

Come on ladies, you have to admit that at least he's trying.

Another one from E. Fitzgerald.

One thing that I have noticed, is that many of the people who say they believe in homeopathy, and even spend money on the products, fail to make the distinction between it and herbal medicine. Some herbal remedies of course do work and many are part ...

Thought that this would go here as well as on the garden group. Because one of my favourite weeds, the garlic mustard is just coming into flower in the rough hedge bottom adjoining my neighbors field. It is a very common weed in the UK, but I like ...

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me / The Quarrel of the Universe let be: / And, in some corner of the Hubhub coucht, / Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee. Edward Fitzgerald./Omar K.

This one seems to be an ad redirecting to a website, I do not know if that is ok or not .

We have strong gale force winds today, it will be a shame if all the colour goes from the Ginkgo before it really reaches its peak, but there will be next year perhaps, and so far so good.

“The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.” ― William Wordsworth

It looks like it is not only squirrels who raid bird tables. Spotted this through the kitchen window.

"There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and has his senses still." Henry David Thoreau Sadly there are so many, who lack the one or the other.

You may laugh at the early parallel origins of the sex industry and adult toys, perhaps, but the wonderful and strange byways down which natural selection can lead some creatures, is truly beautiful.

1 comment

Academic (e.g., Science)

Aug 26, 2023Aug 2023

Posted by Fernapple

Just listen to a slow gentle story, by a great story teller. I love the point about, how we keep getting it, so wrong, so often. And of course a laugh at the end.

A seasonal look at birds in winter, and their amazing stories of survival. Some great and beautiful footage too.

This came up on another post. What a marvelous piece of adaption. But warning this is a horror movie in effect, not for the over sensitive or those with weak hearts.

When we see a beautiful flower, bird or tree, and find wonder, we also of course appreciate, the wonderful patterns of DNA, programed by billions of years of natural selection, which must exist within the creature, which is expressing itself though ...

It is easy, to make seventeen friends in one year. But to keep one friend for seventeen years, that's an accomplishment. Anon

This may not be the last eating babies joke, but it may not be a joke any longer just delicious.

This story of a discovery made by a true individual, in the high romantic days of science, reads well. Even if to my mind it is very patronizing to its female and working class subject.

A party from the county gardeners trust was the last group visit of the year to the garden yesterday. The weather was good and they greatly enjoyed it, then sat in the sun with tea, coffee an cakes. From this point my only contact with other ...

This is from a video but still worth quoting. We should not pretend to know what no one can know, like religious people commonly do, that is a lie too. Aron Ra

I think this is a really well observed video, so much can be got out of a simple subject.

A little known but truly wonderful country, and some truly wonderful animals. Sadly no flying, but warning, film contains serious cuteness and eye candy.

The power of just looking.

The evolution of wood, perhaps one of the if not the greatest steps taken by life on land.

On an industrial estate near me. It is located near the Humber river and the driftwood is local.

1 comment

Science, Health & History Tidbits

A story of something very old, and how it was found by someone very young. I love the tales of deep time.

The Mahonia bealei ( It may be Mahonia x media, help with that would be appreciated.) is coming into flower now in the garden, it is I think one of the best winter flowers, with the almost perfect rosettes of flower spikes on top of the foliage ...

Is there not a deep significance in symbiosis, and how widespread and varied it is. The river of genes flows, and many streams mix in the current. Lichens. Also in Natural history.

Sound effects. Just speaks for itself literally.

Phygelius is only on the edge of being hardy here. I have to grow it by the stream, which being spring fed and warm all year keeps a little frost away. And sometimes you get a late flower or two after the main show and just for a while before the ...

Arriving there is what you’re destined for. But don’t hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you’re old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way, From Ithaca by C.P.Cavafy

Just one of those small encounters, that happen every day. But I wonder how long it will take them to learn to do this when a car comes.

Getting though the cold, till spring. If you are good you can get it early.

I post this here, which I originally got for another group, but while the talk by S. Harris is good, I just love the power of the simple graphic image, it may be a bit corny, but well executed and thought through.

Thanks to several weeks of quite warm weather through the new year, the catkins on the hazels are early this year with us here in the UK. They look good now in the winter sun but we are just about to get the frost and snow hard. Not flowers as such ...

Two different theories about birdsong. My own thought as ever is that the two are not mutually exclusive.

Autumn may be on the way now, the Elder shrubs are beginning to turn with us here in the UK, they are always the first. A lot of people think of them as dull because they are fairly common, but if you know how to appreciate what is important and not ...

When one journey ends a bigger one begins. The return of one wolf. (Good ten mins read.)

It has been an exceptional year for blossom with us, especially the common Hawthorne of the field and hedgerow. It starts snow white, but then fades to off white before becoming pink as it dies. (Also in gardeners.)

Why not take a gentle half hour out, to listen to U. Goodenough, talking about what is possibly the seminal work on religious naturalism. ( Interestingly, note that there is a cut made by the slightly theological interviewer, at around 24 mins, and ...

Is there a place or places that you have been to, which are on your bucket list to go back to, even though it is hard to get, where are they and why ? really do have a good reason for wanting to know.

1 comment

Science, Health & History Tidbits

Dec 7, 2021Dec 2021

Posted by Fernapple

Sometimes even a house can tell stories.

It has been a very strange autumn here in the UK. For weeks it was exceptionally mild even into the early winter, then it suddenly changed to very cold, overnight, at the beginning of December, with the sort of temps we usually don't get until ...

The wonderful sound of spring, coming soon in the north I hope, but the struggle ( literally ) for survival at it most brutal.

The first five days after the weekend are always the hardest.

1 comment

Academic (e.g., Science)

Jan 20, 2021Jan 2021

Posted by Fernapple

Despite the cold, the spring bulbs are still forcing their way up. The interesting point is that, unlike most plants which grow by dividing and increasing their cell numbers, the spiring bulbs increase their size, by inflating their existing cells ...

So I have a question please. I have a friend who is very elderly, and she would like to get skype, or something like it, so that she can talk to her grand and great grand children. She only has a landline at this time and no previous experience of ...

1 comment

Science, Health & History Tidbits

Nov 22, 2018Nov 2018

Posted by Fernapple

History of some wonderful animals.

Spain is trying to show a lead in pushing back environmental degradation. And may be having some success.

I don't want to burden you with yet more problems, but this one should not be forgotten.

1 comment

Science, Health & History Tidbits

Nov 14, 2019Nov 2019

Posted by Fernapple

Love science bits which still leave some question unanswered. Enjoy.

The often sad story of partnership in research, with our closest allies, told in a few short biographies.

1 comment

Science, Health & History Tidbits

Feb 3, 2019Feb 2019

Posted by Fernapple

Something to think about perhaps, you hear a lot about this but don't often see hard facts.

Although getting quite rare in many parts of the UK, hares are still fairly common near me, and in the next county of Yorkshire where this film is shot. I have often seen boxing, especially at the end of winter, but only twice really long bouts like ...

A story very close to home, sometimes in it.

Suppose I told you that buying wine could help create jobs, protect wildlife and prevent pollution ? Here is the full story.

Something very beautiful and not often seen on video, even if not at all friendly. You can i suppose be pretty when you are strong, that must be a law of life.

Just discovered and could be gone very soon, you wonder about how many things there are that we missed before we killed them. But enjoy the cute video, of mother and child.

A link to an article about a forest, but not one where you could go for a walk. The Giant Kelp forests, growing in the seas around the world, and how important they are, with some beautiful photographs. The big surprise for me was the map, I had no ...

1 comment

Anthropology and Archaeology

Nov 14, 2019Nov 2019

Posted by Fernapple

The very early dawn of perhaps one of the world great thought systems, and a beautiful couple of objects.

1 comment

Science, Health & History Tidbits

Nov 28, 2020Nov 2020

Posted by Fernapple

Posted this in Natural History as well, but it goes well here too. Communicating to embryos, even at a cellular level perhaps. The Smithsonian.

Hello. So the only thing that I think I know about Religious Naturalism, comes from reading a book called The Sacred Depths Of Nature, by Ursula Goodenough, many years ago, is this the same thing ?

Wild Geese, Mary Oliver. You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I ...

To see the world through another's eyes, or walk a mile in their shoes. (Or paws.) Realy great article about senses and world views.

Despite the cold there are a few winter flowers out with us now, especially the Hellebores and the Snowdrops. But there may be something which you may not have noticed before. Which is that a lot of winter and early spring flowers like these, take ...

Two videos about rewilding ancient forest. If you can find time to watch, they both contain some beautiful images. And the contrast between the two from opposite sides of the Atlantic where the problem are quite different is striking. ...

A new look at how minerals form, puts life at the centre of earths geology. And creates a new classification method for rocks, which doubles the number of types. Will it catch on ?

How nature can help to clean up rivers too.

I had this conversation with RichCC on another post, and thought it would read well here since it relates to Religious Naturalism. RichCC You point out a serious thought. We're mostly all common folks. People almost always take themselves too ...

The road goes ever on. The ecology of our transport system, well worth a read.

Went into town today for some shopping. This is Louth from the surrounding fields, some time ago it was voted the best small market town in England, what it still has though is the tallest medieval parish spire in the country, and in the winter sun ...

Change is perhaps the only constant.

You can take the beaver out of nature, perhaps sadly, but you can not so easily take nature out of the beaver.

One of the strangest creatures, just got even stranger it seems.

Portrait of a village. South Dalton in Yorkshire, UK. I can do these again now we are not all under house arrest because of the virus at last. 1. It can be seen from a distance, though unfortunately the spire is only Victorian I think. 2. some Mock...

How to get to be very old. I love stories about deep time.

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Agnostic, Atheist, Humanist, Secularist, Skeptic, Freethinker

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