Greetings from Uganda I was chatting with some friends from Europe and they told me that most ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2022:

Hello. As it happened I just came across a video of the church I was telling you about, which is now reused as a shelter for walkers on a walking trail. This is where I live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zyaM1RS0zI

Fernapple replies on Dec 17, 2022:

@ChrisAine It is the "Lincolnshire Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty" , which in the UK is a legal land use designation just one step below national park.

Greetings from Uganda I was chatting with some friends from Europe and they told me that most ...

ASTRALMAX comments on Dec 13, 2022:

Check out the following link https://londonist.com/2016/07/the-london-church-that-s-a-swimming-pool

Fernapple replies on Dec 17, 2022:

It looks great too.

Greetings from Uganda I was chatting with some friends from Europe and they told me that most ...

Lorajay comments on Dec 13, 2022:

We have one that's been turned into a bed and breakfast but the outside just looks like a church. Here's some from the web. https://designwanted.com/7-churches-restaurant-interior-design-conversions/

Fernapple replies on Dec 17, 2022:

Great designs.

I just came across this, it shows a church near where I live, which is now disused due to falling ...

Betty comments on Dec 16, 2022:

The scenery is lovely and I gather the area is popular.

Fernapple replies on Dec 17, 2022:

It is rather good. It is on the edge of the "Lincolnshire Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty", which in the UK is an official class of land, one step below a national park.

I just came across this, it shows a church near where I live, which is now disused due to falling ...

Julie808 comments on Dec 16, 2022:

Oops, I must have blinked. Such serene scenery as the sun goes down! Lovely! Thanks for sharing!

Fernapple replies on Dec 17, 2022:

Look at 3.25 to 3.35 a rapid moving shadow at the end of the visible road.

I just came across this, it shows a church near where I live, which is now disused due to falling ...

Lorajay comments on Dec 16, 2022:

It's neat that the church is now a resting place for ramblers. I'm pretty sure I saw the hare.

Fernapple replies on Dec 17, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 Look at 3.25 to 3.35 a rapid moving shadow at the end of the visible road.

This from 1994 [facebook.com]

Druvius comments on Dec 15, 2022:

Spare me. Perpetual motion machines are nonsense.

Fernapple replies on Dec 16, 2022:

@puff No its both.

Why give people free will and then punish them for exercising this free will?

skado comments on Dec 15, 2022:

And yet, that is exactly what has happened. We were made with faults built in, and we suffer because of it.

Fernapple replies on Dec 15, 2022:

@skado A metaphorical reading alters nothing. Except that it give more freedom of interpretation for evilly intended to use. Religion interpreted metaphorically is still basically a source of fake authority used to justify things which its controllers can not justify by reason, debate, or appeal to popular judgement. There is no faulty construction, humans are evolved, not made or constructed, and evolution, because it exist in the real world, always falls sort of perfection, but it is value free, and therefore can never be faulty. If faults with it are therefore found, the fault is with the culture doing the finding.

Happy Winter from all the gods born on the winter solstice, aka "Christmas" in the modern world.

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2022:

I shall put in my usual couple of days worshiping Dionysus, the god of drink and wild parties.

Fernapple replies on Dec 15, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 The Maenads usually only really took apart men who defied them anyway. And I always try to be fully compliant.

Happy Winter from all the gods born on the winter solstice, aka "Christmas" in the modern world.

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2022:

I shall put in my usual couple of days worshiping Dionysus, the god of drink and wild parties.

Fernapple replies on Dec 15, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 Yes I remember them, I stay away from the woods, actually it is hard to get me away from the bar and the buffet.

Sometimes you can get all sorts of wild fanciful speculations about ancient history, which belong ...

LucyLoohoo comments on Dec 15, 2022:

I didn't watch the video....but it looks a LOT like an ancient Asian anchor!

Fernapple replies on Dec 15, 2022:

It is an anchor yes, though probably Mediterranian in origin.

"Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people." Multiple possible sources.

FrayedBear comments on Dec 13, 2022:

Tradition is a bequest from our forebear. To dismiss or discard it without knowing its true worth is not only ignorance but #stupidity. To attempt to demean it with derogatory figures of speech such as this is simply an attempt at justifying that #stupidity or ignorance, it is not an aphorism....

Fernapple replies on Dec 14, 2022:

@FrayedBear If it can be in either direction, it is directionaly neutral.

"Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people." Multiple possible sources.

FrayedBear comments on Dec 13, 2022:

Tradition is a bequest from our forebear. To dismiss or discard it without knowing its true worth is not only ignorance but #stupidity. To attempt to demean it with derogatory figures of speech such as this is simply an attempt at justifying that #stupidity or ignorance, it is not an aphorism....

Fernapple replies on Dec 14, 2022:

Not really, you are making a presumption that "peer pressure" is always a negative thing. Peer pressure can be both wise and positive, and if you take it as the neutral statement without the common association with negative impulses, then the quote is a simple statement of fact.

Frost not snow.

ADKSparky comments on Dec 13, 2022:

We’re finally getting winter. Our first real snowfall.

Fernapple replies on Dec 13, 2022:

Beautiful.

Back to the mask--not only for Covid, but RSV.

Julie808 comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Yep, I'm thankful that I live in an area where it's pretty common these past few years for the "elderly" in our community to wear masks, and we don't feel out of place at all. It's pretty much expected that some of us older folks have to protect our health, by wearing a mask when it makes sense to ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 12, 2022:

@Julie808 That's brilliant.

Franz von Stuck ( German 1863 - 1928 ) Salome 1906 .

Fernapple comments on Dec 11, 2022:

Very nasty piece of nineteenth early twentieth century misogyny. And I suspect racist too, the deliberate choice of a black person in the shadows to represent immorality if not actual evil, is sick to an extreme degree. ( Technically weak as well. )

Fernapple replies on Dec 12, 2022:

@LenHazell53 Really, I would have said that the picture just encapsulates exacty the racial prejudices common to almost all history paintings of around 1906, where black people were often used in such paintings because they were considered "exotic". And where black people are almost always cast in the roles of servants/slaves. With the here additional factors, that the black person is placed very low and subserviant in the picture, and made to merge into the shadows in a sinister way along side the bloody trophy, as though she were meant to embody evil.

Back to the mask--not only for Covid, but RSV.

Julie808 comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Yep, I'm thankful that I live in an area where it's pretty common these past few years for the "elderly" in our community to wear masks, and we don't feel out of place at all. It's pretty much expected that some of us older folks have to protect our health, by wearing a mask when it makes sense to ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 12, 2022:

Could that be thanks to the Asian cultures on the island ?

Franz von Stuck ( German 1863 - 1928 ) Salome 1906 .

Fernapple comments on Dec 11, 2022:

Very nasty piece of nineteenth early twentieth century misogyny. And I suspect racist too, the deliberate choice of a black person in the shadows to represent immorality if not actual evil, is sick to an extreme degree. ( Technically weak as well. )

Fernapple replies on Dec 11, 2022:

@LenHazell53 Perhaps, but did Franz von Stuck know any of that ?

Franz von Stuck ( German 1863 - 1928 ) Salome 1906 .

Fernapple comments on Dec 11, 2022:

Very nasty piece of nineteenth early twentieth century misogyny. And I suspect racist too, the deliberate choice of a black person in the shadows to represent immorality if not actual evil, is sick to an extreme degree. ( Technically weak as well. )

Fernapple replies on Dec 11, 2022:

@hankster They did not have lady trimmers in those days, be greatful you live in the twenty first century, life was pretty horrible in the near and distant past. LOL

I wish that pets lived longer, living cost less, cake did not make you fat, and that people were not...

Pralina1 comments on Dec 11, 2022:

Man , I can handle the rest , although I will prefer everyone to afford decent lives / education / health , but I do wish pets die just one day b4 I do . Younger and idiot me , I used to say “ I rather die than seen him / her going “. And that was my take for favorite humans too . 30 yrs later...

Fernapple replies on Dec 11, 2022:

But there is no life at all if you don't care, you obviously do care, so you will have a lot of living to do. Do you know these words from Gibran, (Sadly a Christian appologist but never mind. ) All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.   But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

PRESERVATION OF SUBJECTION I came upon this phrase recently and it took me on reading and research ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2022:

It helps, and is certainly a lot of it. Then there also may be a complimentary negative side, since we do not always have the courage to make our own choices, so it seems good to have them made for us, and we may be too lazy and distracted to do our own thinking and study, so it is comforting to be ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 10, 2022:

@ChrisAine And our current will and courage.

Money saving tip. Change your light bulbs.

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Or stay in bed until daylight.

Fernapple replies on Dec 10, 2022:

@K9Kohle789 Yes but a puppy is a light in your life anyway.

Do you give money to the red kettle bell ringers outside every store?

Fernapple comments on Dec 8, 2022:

In the UK they claimed for many years to be a major help to the homeless. A few years ago the BBC ran a documentary on shelters for the homeless. In which they sent people round to rate the provisions for quality, and the Salvation Army came out bottom, little more than barns where you could lie on ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 10, 2022:

@Jolanta It is true that any provision is better than none. But the sad fact is, that as soon as they were expossed, they very rapidly found the money to improve. The fact is that they had been spending on promoting their christian dogma, and did not really care about their homeless provisions which they had not improved for a century.

Civil wedding Vs Traditional wedding.

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Traditional and Civil, are not exclusive. If by traditional you mean Christian Religious, then say so, it is a fairly new tradition, far less old than the marriage customs of some cultures, or even some of the borrowed customs it incorporates. So it hardly counts as much more traditional than ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 9, 2022:

@ChrisAine That is very true and perhaps sad. But in the UK, the law treats women who cohabit and share an economic dependence with partners as nearly the same as wives, and men are expected by the law to support their children and their mothers, regardless of whether they were married or not.

Money saving tip. Change your light bulbs.

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Or stay in bed until daylight.

Fernapple replies on Dec 9, 2022:

@Jolanta For most of human history we had little or no effective lighting, people went to bed at dark, and got up at dawn. Sometimes they would spend sixteen hours a day in bed, or in some cultures more, just to keep warm and do work which could be done by tapper light, we often today forget how lucky and spoilled we are.

Civil wedding Vs Traditional wedding.

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Traditional and Civil, are not exclusive. If by traditional you mean Christian Religious, then say so, it is a fairly new tradition, far less old than the marriage customs of some cultures, or even some of the borrowed customs it incorporates. So it hardly counts as much more traditional than ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 9, 2022:

@Buck It is just the state and the church, spotting that they have a serious rival in the family, and family life, and trying to neutralize it by taking control of it, or pose falsely as its creator.

Do you give money to the red kettle bell ringers outside every store?

Fernapple comments on Dec 8, 2022:

In the UK they claimed for many years to be a major help to the homeless. A few years ago the BBC ran a documentary on shelters for the homeless. In which they sent people round to rate the provisions for quality, and the Salvation Army came out bottom, little more than barns where you could lie on ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 9, 2022:

@Jolanta Undoubtedly, but every other charity was able to do better.

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 8, 2022:

That is one way to interpret that metaphor yes, as the brave venture into the unknown. But religious cults often use the same argument to persuade people away from land. Sometimes losing sight of the shore, is called madness. And the collective madness of those who collectively lost sight of the ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 8, 2022:

@Marionville My own version of that metaphor, was inspired by the story of the cabin boy in Moby Dick, who goes mad after being afloat alone in the ocean.

Take a little stroll in a Irish woodland.

MizJ comments on Dec 7, 2022:

https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/2024 Have you seen tree ferns? The ones in New Zealand are amazing, hiking in the forests there was awesome.

Fernapple replies on Dec 7, 2022:

@MizJ Thank you.

Take a little stroll in a Irish woodland.

MizJ comments on Dec 7, 2022:

https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/2024 Have you seen tree ferns? The ones in New Zealand are amazing, hiking in the forests there was awesome.

Fernapple replies on Dec 7, 2022:

Yes I have a couple in the garden, but going to New Zealand and seeing them in the wild, is a big wish on my bucket list.

I posted this on another website in response to the many Christians who espouse the opinion that ...

Garban comments on Dec 6, 2022:

🤪😈🤘👹 Sounds like we heathens are the only ones allowed to enjoy ourselves at Christmas!

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

And the other three hundred and sixty three days.

I can't speak to all religions and religious beliefs but in my experience I think what keeps many in...

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

That is very true. But of course religions and religious texts are also usually contradictory, vague and nebulous, so they can be and are interpreted however you want. Which means that you can still have the changes you want, but can reject the rest, and still pretend to yourself and everyone else, ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

@FvckY0u That is also true, though of course they have almost infinite choice in the first place.

I can't speak to all religions and religious beliefs but in my experience I think what keeps many in...

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

That is very true. But of course religions and religious texts are also usually contradictory, vague and nebulous, so they can be and are interpreted however you want. Which means that you can still have the changes you want, but can reject the rest, and still pretend to yourself and everyone else, ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

@FvckY0u You can make it say whatever you want, and then still claim that you have the backing of god. The perfect friend for the toxic narcissist, intent on having his/her way regardless of everyone else, always agrees with you and has absolute authority.

"Tradition, is peer pressure from the dead.

FrayedBear comments on Dec 6, 2022:

Tradition is also the bequest or inheritance from the dead. As I told & asked the Australian Parliament quite a few years ago - "A wise man once said -"Only a fool discards or allows his heritage to be sold without learning its dimensions, composition, function, worth and true value". Are you a ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

Yep, peers can press you to do and enjoy good things as well as bad, yet the judgment that the quote only refers to bad peer pressure, is not inherent in the quote. What it is perhaps saying though is that both good and bad things can come out of the cultures of the past, just as they can out of todays culture, because the people of the past were made of the same stuff, both good and bad, as we today.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

DenoPenno comments on Dec 6, 2022:

IF religion ever goes away it will be replaced by some other nonsense that might and could be equally as bad. Looking back on religious history shows this because you can see the monster it has become. One extremely good example is now -- "Jesus is the reason for the season." Believers all go with ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

I will repeat what I said to Dany below, you are quite right that bad things may fill the space. The replacment does not have to be good, though I do think that if you go to the trouble of replacing a thing, then it is likely to be, at least, better suited to your time. And while Qanon, trumpers, antivax and any other conspiracy theory may be even worse in some ways than religion, they do lack the one weapon from which religion gets most of its power and support. Which is that of fake authority. Religion gains a lot from the fake authority of old texts, tradition and of course a literal belief that it has the authority of gods or spirits. While Qanon etc. have to fight for their life in the market place of ideas alongside all the rest. And that is of course, why they try to aline themselves with religion, to grab a share of that fake authority. Which mainly comes from the mistaken belief that, old equals to wisdom, though as a friend on here commented this week. "Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people." So that religion is doubly dangerous, because it is the main support and weapon provider, for all crackpot ideologies and where their leaders try to position themselves.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

waitingforgodo comments on Dec 6, 2022:

If it goes away on some funny day Then we may as well throw the son away All the the pigs that flew in the godson sky When the ruse was new and the myths were nigh And the daze was young and the nights belong To a muse that stood not for right but wrong If it goes away If it goes away If ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

Great lyrics, she could have used those better than the original. Are they Yours ?

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

FrostyJim comments on Dec 6, 2022:

Religion may be an evolutionary trait? In this revised cult classic, the author offers a systematic, scientific argument that shows why belief in God is an inherent evolutionary mechanism that enables us to cope with our greatest, universal terror-death. Originally published in 1996, Matthew ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

Yes I am aware of that theory, though a main part of the point of my post is that mythos, and god like qualities, can be found in many spheres besides theistic religion. I should perhaps in my post have been more exact, and used the term, theistic religion, since that is what I was refering to, but it makes my point even stronger, that most religions in the past, such as animism, managed to fill the brain's god gap, without the need for a personal theistic god, or religious texts and authority.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

Danny928 comments on Dec 5, 2022:

I've thought about this and if religion religion goes away something will replace it. However, the list presented is good but rather optimistic. Just look at the past couple of years. Qanon, trumpers,, antivax and any other conspiracy theory. Why learn when faith is so much easier? Maybe it's just ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 6, 2022:

No that is very true, the replacment does not have to be good, though I do think that if you go to the trouble of replacing a thing, then it is likely to be, at least, better suited to your time. And while Qanon, trumpers, antivax and any other conspiracy theory may be even worse in some ways than religion, they do lack the one weapon from which religion gets most of its power and support. Which is that of fake authority. Religion gains a lot from the fake authority of old texts, tradition and of course a literal belief that it has the authority of gods or spirits. While Qanon etc. have to fight for their life in the market place of ideas alongside all the rest. And that is of course, why they try to aline themselves with religion, to grab a share of that fake authority. Which mainly comes from the mistaken belief that, old equals to wisdom, though as a friend on here commented this week. "Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people." So that religion is doubly dangerous, because it is the main support and weapon provider, for all crackpot ideologies and where their leaders try to position themselves.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

barjoe comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Why would religion need to be replaced? There is nothing in religion that would fulfill any of my needs. It's worthless.

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

@barjoe Lovely. I always wanted to be a happy hermit myself when I was young, unfortunately it did not come to pass.

What is worst, compliance theory or conspiracy theory?

Fernapple comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Conspiracy theory, is usually too crude to be true, but occasionally gets it right. The other is just the way the human world works and always has. Nor are the two mutually exclusive.

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

@Castlepaloma Very true indeed.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

Lorajay comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Joseph Campbell's definition of why religion exists, makes it obvious to me why religion hates good government. A fair and benevolent government easily does a way with many of the needs religion fulfills. I think this is one of the reasons the Scandinavian countries have less religion adherents.

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

Yes you can almost trace a line, through good democratic government on the "Y" axis and religion on the "X" , which would go on a clean diagonal.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Joseph Campbell identified four functions of mythology. They are: "1. ...the first function of mythology [is] to evoke in the individual a sense of grateful, affirmative awe before the monstrous mystery that is existence 2. The second function of mythology is to present an image of the cosmos, ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

A very good summation, I love the rigour of it. Though for Awe, I go first more to evolution and the wonders of life which stem from the algorithm of chemistry working though natural selection rather than the stars, which are still awesome, but not my first choice, each to his own. And I am happy that there is enough myth to be found in movements like environmentalism and philosophy, to replace that which we could lose if religion, ( Meaning only traditional and especially theist religion. ) goes. So I would be perhaps more optomistic than you seem to be, if it did happen, though I doubt it ever will.

I'm about 100 points from level 8. Not that it matters anymore, sure don't get much out of it.

glennlab comments on Dec 4, 2022:

no 8

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

I love number one. Do you mind if I quote you ?

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

barjoe comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Why would religion need to be replaced? There is nothing in religion that would fulfill any of my needs. It's worthless.

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

Perhaps, and the more you can do without then the more you can freely enjoy. But most humans do find some value in the four things that I listed, "communities, logos, romantic mythos, and rituals," and I was talking in general terms.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

Garban comments on Dec 5, 2022:

All of your alternatives are preferable to religion in my opinion. But I think any belief can be corrupted when people use that belief to define themselves, in the worst case justifying demonizing non-believers. Most atheists don’t feel the need to demonize the average believer but we have our ...

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

On the other hand the spectrum of belief, and false belief, can move on. Few people for example today in the western world at least, think that illness is caused by demons, and most would accept that it is caused by germs. Which is in itself an real example of progress. Even if some corruptions, such as believing that diseases are created by chemists in order to sell drugs, do exist. Some ideas are better than others, even if corrupted.

If religion was ever to go away, then it would need to be replaced, by things that will fulfill our ...

CuddyCruiser comments on Dec 5, 2022:

It will ALWAYS exist. Even if all present forms are eradicated, there will always be future delusions to replace it……even if only a small minority goes with it.

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

Very true. good point. ( Though I in the first line, I was only speaking hypothetically to set up my comment on the current state of religion. I would not assume that it is going to magically vanish. )

It’s a wise woman…

Fernapple comments on Dec 5, 2022:

"It is a wise woman, who knows the father of her child." Old English saying.

Fernapple replies on Dec 5, 2022:

@Killtheskyfairy I wholly agree. I posted it as an example of outdated patriarchy.

I agree fully.

skado comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Must have skipped biology class.

Fernapple replies on Dec 1, 2022:

Yes for once I wholy agree with you. But, religion does indeed need to go away, but it also needs to be replaced, by things that will fulfill the same social, cultural, economic, emotional biological needs just as well, if only because if it is not, then it will only come back. And fortunately there are masses of things that are waiting to step forward and do so, whether it be, environmentalism, science, philosophy, social justice, the rule of law, secular morality, democracy, free debate, the arts, free media, secular charities, or social clubs etc. all of which offer their own community, logos, mythos, and rituals, to more than equal those of religion. The great crime of religion is not that it does not often succeed in fulfilling human biological needs, but that it stands in the way of things that will fulfill them much better, and provides a platform for those who do not want human needs to be better met.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

Fernapple comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Even if that is a thousand poor Peters to pay one rich Paul.

Fernapple replies on Dec 1, 2022:

@MsKathleen Certainly not.

Humanists hold that ethical values are relative to human experience and need not be derived from ...

puff comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Why do all ethical values seem to need to be founded in one species only, humanity, when life on Earth contains so many others? Ethics, human ethics, do not concern them?

Fernapple replies on Dec 1, 2022:

There are though some ethics which are found across many species, such as support and protect relatives, avoid incest etc.

Men's/Women's clothing The day after I put all my clothing in the dumpster due to the mold I ...

anglophone comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Welcome to the sexism that is baked into the clothing industry. (Peevish joke: Why can I never find any brassieres in the Men's Department?)

Fernapple replies on Nov 30, 2022:

I know. When men start to get to a certain age, and everything starts to sag downwards. LOL

Weird religious news: Thai Buddhist monks defrocked and expelled from temple after all were tested ...

David1955 comments on Nov 29, 2022:

Having lived in Thailand I can assure you that not all monks in temples are good holy people. There have been monks charged with crimes and all kinds of things. Sometimes crooks and creeps run into temples and monk-up in order to " make merit' for bad deeds (Buddhist baloney) and avoid punishment. I...

Fernapple replies on Nov 30, 2022:

@Beowulfsfriend I am told that a lot of degeneration set in at the time, when the government allowed service as a monk to count as your national service. Many saw that as the easy option, when compared to the armed forces or the police etc. and you know the easy option never attracts the best people.

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 28, 2022:

God only behaves the way that his inventors want him to behave. And if his inventors were happy with reality, then they would have no need to invent him. God is just the name we give to our own excessive ego and narcissism.

Fernapple replies on Nov 29, 2022:

@ecowellness Yes I am talking only about the god inventers and sellers, not the buyers. Though to a degree all are buyers and sellers, for even the believers follow for narcissistic reasons, such as the belief that death should be feared, because "I " matter.

"Seek progress, not perfection." Anon.

Diogenes comments on Nov 29, 2022:

Enough progress- and one achieves perfection.

Fernapple replies on Nov 29, 2022:

Near perhaps but not quite, nothing is ever absolutely perfect, and a good job too, because that would stifle life. The big mistake though is to get very near to perfection, and then think that change always equates to improvement.

"Seek progress, not perfection." Anon.

Pralina1 comments on Nov 29, 2022:

That’s a hard one 🙁

Fernapple replies on Nov 29, 2022:

I think that it means that you should regard perfection as the ultimate target, but be happy that you will never get there.

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

David1955 comments on Nov 28, 2022:

Which God is this now? I assume this post is to stir the hornets nest, and/ or get points, so I'll take it as tongue in cheek. Does the 'atheist world' include agnostics? You know how touchy they can be about that.

Fernapple replies on Nov 29, 2022:

@skado But Spinosa's god includes the reaching of morallity through reason and the study of reality, you have said that you don't believe in that, therefore you can not believe in Spinosa's god.

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

waitingforgodo comments on Nov 29, 2022:

If reality is indistinguishable from god, and reality exists (paraphrasing your observations) then does that relegate god to a redundant, tautological synonym for existence and all the theanthropic chauvinism to pretentious, unrealistic delusion? Asking for a friend. Love ya stuff.

Fernapple replies on Nov 29, 2022:

@waitingforgodo Sorry no. I am perhaps guilty of using a local usage on an international forum. I do not know if you know the perhaps British English expression "nailed it", which means, got it exactly correct.

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

waitingforgodo comments on Nov 29, 2022:

If reality is indistinguishable from god, and reality exists (paraphrasing your observations) then does that relegate god to a redundant, tautological synonym for existence and all the theanthropic chauvinism to pretentious, unrealistic delusion? Asking for a friend. Love ya stuff.

Fernapple replies on Nov 29, 2022:

You nailed it.

These Mysterious Fungi Belong to an Entirely New Branch on The Tree of Life: [sciencealert.com]

racocn8 comments on Nov 28, 2022:

Surely one of the biggest puzzles is how we only have DNA-based life, and no serious variations. The puzzle (for me) is that for all the billions of years, if ET could travel here, they surely would have contaminated the planet with their own biochemical brand of microbes. That we haven't found any ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 29, 2022:

There is of course the "RNA World" theory. Which is still to a degree valid. Which says that life may have begun based on RNA, and then switched to DNA when it evolved to that stage, because DNA was more stable and more efficient. If that is so, then life did once exist in a none DNA form, as a few arguable forms of life, including some not usually thought of as life, such as some viruses, still are wholly or mainly RNA based today. It is possible therefore that all organic life, if it exists, across the entire universe, would probably discover DNA, sooner or later, and switch to that, because it is the most efficient chemistry available for organic life.

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

Ryo1 comments on Nov 28, 2022:

You seem to suggest that it is a 'fact' that God (I presume that it is the Christian god) and reality behave exactly the same way and that the theist and atheist worlds are yet to notice that 'fact'. On what basis you suggest that God and reality behave exactly the same way, and how, may I ask?

Fernapple replies on Nov 28, 2022:

@Ryo1 Religions thrive on obscurity, it is called the god of the gaps, and if there is no gap to hand to hide your god in, then you just use a little obscurity to create one. It is a cheap trick that would be gurus use all the time, and in some circles they get away with it.

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

Garban comments on Nov 28, 2022:

God is a fabrication to explain reality we don’t YET comprehend.

Fernapple replies on Nov 28, 2022:

@Mcflewster Especially exact synonyms, if a word has no extra meaning why bother with it at all.

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

Ryo1 comments on Nov 28, 2022:

You seem to suggest that it is a 'fact' that God (I presume that it is the Christian god) and reality behave exactly the same way and that the theist and atheist worlds are yet to notice that 'fact'. On what basis you suggest that God and reality behave exactly the same way, and how, may I ask?

Fernapple replies on Nov 28, 2022:

And if god did behave in exactly the same way, why would anyone want one, why not just call it "reality" and be done with it.

I have been studying Humanism for a number of years.

Mcflewster comments on Nov 28, 2022:

The study is really about how much everyone understands "Humanism". agnostic or not. I also believe that the fears of Humans form a great source of jokes.Especially the toilet ones.

Fernapple replies on Nov 28, 2022:

@Mcflewster It is the threat which is seen as ridiculous. So you would make a joke such as. "Hostile aliens from another planet are cominng to get the Humanists, and have set out across space, armed with their highly advanced weapons, to exterminate us all. They will be here in just two billion years." It may not be very funny but it shows how it would work.

I have been studying Humanism for a number of years.

Mcflewster comments on Nov 28, 2022:

The study is really about how much everyone understands "Humanism". agnostic or not. I also believe that the fears of Humans form a great source of jokes.Especially the toilet ones.

Fernapple replies on Nov 28, 2022:

All jokes are about fear or tension, you build up the tension during the story, then the punch line releases it. The observational joke by reminding you that you have successfully faced the same threat many times before. The racist, sexist, ageist etc. joke, by telling you the threat is made to someone you don't care about. The ridiculous joke by making the threat seem silly. And so on.

What if we are wrong?

skado comments on Nov 27, 2022:

No “if” about it. There is obviously *something* out there. And, whatever “it” is… it is the source of our existence. We didn’t invent the universe - it invented us. Most major world religions caution against becoming overly confident that we know God’s nature. Most major ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 27, 2022:

"Most major world religions caution against becoming overly confident that we know God’s nature." That is not true, the whole point of religion is the claim to know something, religions which made real relativist statements would cease to exists as religions, and become at most deism. At best most religions are only warning against the personal search for truth, in case it presents a challenge to their dogma.

Hi guys ♥️ I have been avoiding like hell to make a real post for months and I am trying to ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 27, 2022:

Relax, eat healthy, remember you are loved, and don't take anymore shit from anyone. You can tell them that's under doctors advice now.

Fernapple replies on Nov 27, 2022:

@Garban That's the idea.

"We do what we know — and when we know better, we do better." Anon

ChestRockfield comments on Nov 27, 2022:

I wonder, then, how the phrase "You know better!" arose. 😝

Fernapple replies on Nov 27, 2022:

Some of us are slowwwwwww learners.

That wolf character from the red riding hood story didn't really sound like that bad of a guy to me.

Pralina1 comments on Nov 27, 2022:

The Woolf was the only form of life w morality at this hideous , absolutely hideous story I f hate that story 🙄 Mother of girl : who the fuck let’s their very elderly mother to live alone in the woods , and sends food once a week ? What an ass Mother : who sends a 8 yr old to the woods ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 27, 2022:

An alternate view of the story is to see the wolf as a metaphor for a paedophile. He does after all not immediately eat her, but instead asks her to get into bed with him.

"Not everything is either 'good' or 'bad,' but there are a lot of things that are just neutral.

LenHazell53 comments on Nov 26, 2022:

Depends very much on context and circumstance If I say please don't shoot me when you have a gun to my head and you say no that is not "Just Neutral" If I say are you going to shoot me when you have a gun to my head and you say yes that is not "Just Neutral"

Fernapple replies on Nov 26, 2022:

Yep that was what I thought too.

The biggest problem with Christianity in my opinion is that all the Christians think they know the ...

dumasarok comments on Nov 25, 2022:

* "Faith" is defined by me as belief without evidence. My neurons don't work that way.

Fernapple replies on Nov 26, 2022:

Or even, despite evidence.

When I had my doubts about my own religion I decided to do some research.

Moravian comments on Nov 25, 2022:

The supposed "evidence" in the writing of Josephus is known to be faked and was inserted by others after his death so the only evidence that Jesus existed is from the gospels written many years after his death. The gospel of Mark was the first to be written and the others are thought to be copies ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 25, 2022:

The new testament god is not really much better. Jesus still supported the old laws, it claims, still promoted genocide, sexism and racism, and created a death cult, which worshiped a mass extiction event in the imagined future as a good thing.

I have always thought that nature had health benefits, whether you "forest bathe" or like to do ...

waitingforgodo comments on Nov 24, 2022:

Wholly shinrin-yoku Is that petrichor which I smell before me? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/forest-bathing-nature-walk-health

Fernapple replies on Nov 25, 2022:

Great article and a good sellection. My bucket list is just gettting longer and longer.

So the world cup is underway in Qatar.

FvckY0u comments on Nov 23, 2022:

Democrats support Biden. Republicans support Cruz. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. Soccer is no different. Enjoy the games if you are into it and don't if you aren't.

Fernapple replies on Nov 24, 2022:

@FvckY0u No only that they should not vote for both parties.

Another false headline re covid.

vocaloldfart comments on Nov 24, 2022:

One doth wonder. The common cold kills 180.000 people a year in AUSTRALIA. That equates to a 5% mortality rate. The Spanish flu has a similar mortality rate in AU. Covid mortality rate worldwide is estimated at 0.0045% There has been a recorded rise of deaths from "other " causes not ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 24, 2022:

@Kurtn At my estimate then, about half the deaths in Australia are caused by the common cold.

So the world cup is underway in Qatar.

FvckY0u comments on Nov 23, 2022:

Democrats support Biden. Republicans support Cruz. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. Soccer is no different. Enjoy the games if you are into it and don't if you aren't.

Fernapple replies on Nov 24, 2022:

That is true to a degree, if you are a soccer fan then I see no reason not to watch the games on TV since the TV companies will go there and transmit them anyway. But many fans are going in person, and buying Qatar goods and product, which is not really taking the good with the bad but more like giving a donation to the party you do not like, in exchange for a hat with a logo, when you could buy a sun hat in your local store.

So the world cup is underway in Qatar.

ChestRockfield comments on Nov 23, 2022:

Did you watch John Oliver's episode on this? It's brutal. Fuck FIFA and fuck soccer.

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2022:

Not yet but I will follow your lead.

Do bees play, now there is a question ?

ChestRockfield comments on Nov 22, 2022:

Here's another question: where do yellowjackets go to the bathroom?

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2022:

I have no idea ?

Do bees play, now there is a question ?

Garban comments on Nov 22, 2022:

The article calls them bumble bees. Are they social ones or the solitary ground bees? Social creatures seem to have an affinity for play, it’s just hard to imagine an evolutionary benefit for social bees to play. Interesting.

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2022:

The British Bumble Bee is a social bee, though only with single season collonies, the queens over winter alone and then start a new nest in spring.

Some sad news for Agnostics Members….

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2022:

She should certainly receive my condolences, I thought I had not seen much of her good contributions for a while.

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2022:

@Lilac-JadeCanada Good to hear, take your time .

I have slight reservations about Humanism as a movement, but this promo from the British Humanist ...

Mcflewster comments on Nov 22, 2022:

Please note that the BHA no longer exists with that name . In re-branding, it has become Humanists(UK) and is even more logical and progressive in many fields

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2022:

Thank you. I get their email news letters, though I am not a member, so I do know that but sometimes I forget.

I have slight reservations about Humanism as a movement, but this promo from the British Humanist ...

barjoe comments on Nov 22, 2022:

I don't like organized "beliefs". My atheism is personal to me.

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2022:

@barjoe Yes your situation in the US is the exact opposite of ours here of course. In that, in the US the churches have a lot of popular support, but, in theory at least, no political power, and are using their popular base to push for political power. Where here in the UK they have a lot of historical political power, but almost no popular support, and they are trying to use that political power to win popular support.

I have slight reservations about Humanism as a movement, but this promo from the British Humanist ...

barjoe comments on Nov 22, 2022:

I don't like organized "beliefs". My atheism is personal to me.

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2022:

And you are welcome, you are just as free to keep your atheism private, as people are welcome to keep their religion private if they wish. (Though they often don't.) But I think that we do have to be greatful, to those secularists who are willing to organize, since government and the media mainly only respect organized oppinions, and without some organized voice, we give the debate, and the lions share of the power, to the religions by default.

I have slight reservations about Humanism as a movement, but this promo from the British Humanist ...

Marionville comments on Nov 22, 2022:

I’ve never been motivated to join the BHA…however I can see the point they make of needing some cohesive voice which can represent the “secular’ view in debates regarding societal issues. Particularly as a counter-balance to the religious views which are often given more weight than they ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2022:

Yes I agree about the need not to basically give up the floor to religions in all issues, just by default, being very important. I am glad to hear that you were well pleased with the celebrant, I have no personal experience with them, but I do know that the religious/Christian celebrants vary a great deal , and I have gone to services where to whole thing was very bad indeed, even after you allowed for the Christian content. I would imagine that the Humanist celebrants may well be more conscientious, and are more likely to put in the effort needed, to create something which really refers to the departed's life in a meaningful way.

Why the Ten Commandments have No place in public schools!!! We are NOT a Christian nation, hence ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2022:

And yet in Northern Europe where many countries have state churches, Christianity is almost gone, and exist only in nominal largely harmless forms. While in America where it was privatized and therefore set free, it still thrives, and in its worst forms.

Fernapple replies on Nov 20, 2022:

@floWteiuQ Thank you.

there is no one here to talk to

waitingforgodo comments on Nov 20, 2022:

Pay no attention to the other sexual deviants below, I'm the one you want. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itRFjzQICJU

Fernapple replies on Nov 20, 2022:

No don't, you will regret it.

“Nature has given man one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear twice as much as we ...

waitingforgodo comments on Nov 20, 2022:

Clearly indicative of the welll known fact that a woman spoke first and elected to exercise the right of reply when the listening was none too compliant. I can hear clearly now my reign has gone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHxhQPOO2c

Fernapple replies on Nov 20, 2022:

Love that song.

Why the Ten Commandments have No place in public schools!!! We are NOT a Christian nation, hence ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2022:

And yet in Northern Europe where many countries have state churches, Christianity is almost gone, and exist only in nominal largely harmless forms. While in America where it was privatized and therefore set free, it still thrives, and in its worst forms.

Fernapple replies on Nov 20, 2022:

@floWteiuQ I think also, that the idealizing of capitalism, to the point of rejecting all social responsibility, may also help to keep people childish. Since spoiled children are the most needy and the most inclined to think that merely buying what is on offer, over and over again, is the route to happiness. That is therefore a type of personality encouraged by both the producers of material goods and the profit making churches, since that way they get to both sell the most goods, and the most shallow, cheapest and easily produced of goods and ideals. A lack of critical judgement is what the market wants more than anything.

So Twitter now regards a picture of a meteor as being "intimate": [bbc.

Petter comments on Nov 17, 2022:

How about the photo of a cow in a field also flagged as "intimate"?

Fernapple replies on Nov 18, 2022:

@Zealandia Well there you go, All over including a face mask, with just a wet nose and tongue showing out, in that obvious attempt at an erotic and deviant turn on. Shocking.

So Twitter now regards a picture of a meteor as being "intimate": [bbc.

Petter comments on Nov 17, 2022:

How about the photo of a cow in a field also flagged as "intimate"?

Fernapple replies on Nov 17, 2022:

Did you not notice. The cow did not have even a pair of pants on !!!!!

If there were a god, I would not be bombarded with information about the Kardashians every time I ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 16, 2022:

If there is a God, I hope for his sake that I am not made in his image. And I sure as #### hope the Kardashians are not.

Fernapple replies on Nov 17, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 And sadly that is what our whole society is devoted to promoting, shallow and self centred. Since the shallow and self centred are most likely to believe that they can buy happiness, and are therefore easiest to sell to.

Recent Bronze Statues Unearthed In Tuscany

Fernapple comments on Nov 14, 2022:

Where , when, why, how, by who ?

Fernapple replies on Nov 15, 2022:

@FvckY0u Thank you.

Why do atheists hate God?

Fernapple comments on Nov 14, 2022:

God is a synonym for the, "argument from authority fallacy."

Fernapple replies on Nov 15, 2022:

@Mcflewster Thank you. The God lie may have other uses, but I have noticed that perhaps its most common is as a debate blocker and concealer of holes in evidence and arguments. You want to get to the next bit because you don't have evidence or reasonable argument, drop god in to fill the gap, he is not only a thing which hides in gaps, ( The god of the gaps. ) but also a gap filler.

Holden Caufield always expects the world to be better than it is.

Ryo1 comments on Nov 10, 2022:

Doomsday believers are also bad.

Fernapple replies on Nov 10, 2022:

Yet if you truly believe in god the creator, then you are, are you not, duty bound to love, honour and protect the creator's creation, and protect your god given environment, right up to the worlds very last second. Surely the true believer guards the wayside flower against harm with their own body, for a few more seconds, even as the light of the approaching meteor fills the sky. Or am I being too logical again ?

Perfect camouflage! 🦋

LiterateHiker comments on Nov 9, 2022:

I see a tree.

Fernapple replies on Nov 10, 2022:

Try looking to the right of the bump about two thirds of the way down, and look for a regular pattern in a slight arc.

A grad student just told me that Julius Caesar brought Christianity to England in 55 BCE; she wanted...

Fernapple comments on Nov 4, 2022:

Actually if she quoted the date 55 BCE and did not know why it was changed from BC, and what BC meant in he own Christian tradition. You have a second reason to lay your head on the desk.

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 Thank you. This side of the pond he is regarded as one of the American greats of the Transendentalists nearly the equal of Emerson. If your BF is correct, then I don't see that it matters much, it is sad however if he is quoting an urban myth.

A grad student just told me that Julius Caesar brought Christianity to England in 55 BCE; she wanted...

Fernapple comments on Nov 4, 2022:

Actually if she quoted the date 55 BCE and did not know why it was changed from BC, and what BC meant in he own Christian tradition. You have a second reason to lay your head on the desk.

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 Perhaps you could tell me something unrelated, but about how history and literature are taught in the US. Do you ever teach, or do you know, if Henry David Thoreau is still to some degree taught in American schools, and if so, is it mainly as a naturalist/travel writer ? In the UK he is mainly remembered as a social and political philosopher, for Walden and Civil Disobedience, yet I have heard that in American schools he is only taught as a naturalist ? Which seems strange and perhaps a little sinister, given the challenge his social and political views would be to the American establishment, you have to wonder if the bias is not intended.

A grad student just told me that Julius Caesar brought Christianity to England in 55 BCE; she wanted...

Fernapple comments on Nov 4, 2022:

Actually if she quoted the date 55 BCE and did not know why it was changed from BC, and what BC meant in he own Christian tradition. You have a second reason to lay your head on the desk.

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 Yes Anglo Saxon era is the alternate name we use here too.

Ban the Bible from libraries. I have never read the Bible. Is this true?

AnneWimsey comments on Nov 4, 2022:

Yes,verbatim.Also Lot (the "righteous one" whose wife turned to a salt pillar) having sex with his daughters afterwards...although it was a-okay beause they got him drunk...... Also King David lusting after the wife of Uriah & having the guy sent to a War Front & placed where he would be ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2022:

And the Levite who kicks his concubines body, because she had the termerity to die on him, after he let the men of the town gang rape her.

A grad student just told me that Julius Caesar brought Christianity to England in 55 BCE; she wanted...

Fernapple comments on Nov 4, 2022:

Actually if she quoted the date 55 BCE and did not know why it was changed from BC, and what BC meant in he own Christian tradition. You have a second reason to lay your head on the desk.

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2022:

@Gwendolyn2018 Traditional in the UK at least the Medieval era only starts in 1066, 410 t0 1066 being called the dark ages, although that is going out of fashion now. There is however some evidence that there were Roman Christians in Britain, but that they were driven out of the country, England at least, by the pagan Anglo-Saxons after the Romans left, and the country with had then to be reChristianized.

Is there a way to see the results of polls? If so, how? Thanks

Fernapple comments on Nov 3, 2022:

Usually they just appear automatically if you open the post.

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2022:

@Captain_Feelgood No as far as I know that is all you get, members get to see how they personally voted, so you could ask them even at later dates.