Reason for the season…

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2022:

Amen, to all that.

John Cleese's Classic 'Silly Walk' Burns More Calories Than a Normal Gait, Study Finds ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2022:

Well yes, your normal gait would probably be the one which burns the least calories.

These are nuns I can get behind.

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2022:

Good for them.

The fossil record is a logical counter to the Xstian notion that the planet Earth is only around ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2022:

There is a real holy book, and strangely it is written with only the letters T A G C , but it tells a story going back three and a half billion years at least. And now we are beginning to read it, it tells us many things we could never have known before. Such as the fact, that at some time about forty thousand years, a man and a female Neanderthal met for sex in the forests of central Europe. Or that about seventy thousand years ago, we nearly died out, probably because the volcano Tambora caused a global catastrophe, so that only a tiny remnant population struggled through in central Africa, with just one surviving female linage. ( Please remind the Bible belt racists, that we are all the children of a black woman, they will love that little factoid. ) Now that is cool too.

It may seem like an ordinary thing but it's an achievement for me to be the first Ugandan on this ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2022:

You are welcome, if you are interesting you soon go up the ranks.

Happy Winter Solstice from Alaska!

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2022:

May the returning sun bring you joy with it.

Trump business losses sharply reduced his tax bill [bbc.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2022:

Of course.

That’s a boat load of cookies!!!🥹

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2022:

I recommend, a three speed hand drill with a three jaw chuck, and a one tenth inch clean cut flange ended wood bit, with the dill set to the lowest speed and torque settings. Use a piece of hardwood not softwood as a base when making the cut. This usually results in a nice neat clean hole in the belt.

Most likely, I posted this last year, but being a creature of some habit, am doing so again.

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2022:

Happy Yule, and may the returning sun bring you joy.

The Real Reason for the Season. Happy Winter Solstice & a New Moon soon.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

Great photos. And may the returning sun bring joy to you too.

Whatever your hemisphere…

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

And may the returning sun bring joy to you.

[washingtonpost.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

Yes it has been on here before. Seems they shot him full of arrows.

Trump paid no federal income tax in 2020. Anyone surprised?

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

No.

Israeli archaeologists excavating 'Jesus midwife' tomb The Israeli antiquities authority says ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

Big grand tomb, midwives must have earned really good money in those days then, not like today. (Irony.)

I hope this is not my last post.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

Hang on and fight hard, there are a lot of people who really value you.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: DO THIS Every Morning To Find Happiness & Meaning In Your Life

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

"How to be a wonderful engaging communicator." Quoting the interviewer, near the end.

Wishing everyone in the site a Happy Winter Solstice.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2022:

Happy ancient festive season, celebrating the return of daylight and warmth, to you too.

I love it🥰🥰🥰

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2022:

You don't mean that some of your local governments are at last, giving up on their horrible addiction to grass shaving ?!!! Welcome to the twenty first century USA. ( Well there are a few other things, but lets not be negative. )

I can think of an exception... But watch out..you're warned!!

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2022:

Hard to find clients for a lot of them though, could be standing outside blocking the pavement for a long time.

IMAGINATION IS THE CLOSEST TO BEING GODLIKE Imagination is the living agent of all human ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2022:

I don't know that imagination always wins over will. Most of us can imagine robbing a bank, but most of us have the restraint not to do it.

The truth of being green

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2022:

And when you factor in the losses during transmission down the power lines ? In countries where all the power is green energy perhaps, but there are not many of those yet, however if you do not sometimes move forward you will never improve.

It's a mental illness, it's always those who already have too much that can never get enough.

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

I also remember seeing a study, which said that poor people give a bigger percentage of their income to charity.

Tell me with whom you share a coffee and I will tell you who you are.

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

My friends, especially the ones from my village.

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, then you’ll have to settle for the ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

Yes, but the ordinary can be profound.

As an Atheist do you still choose to listen to Christmas music?

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

No. Not because it is Christian, but just because most of it is horrible.

Ok... you can uncross your eyes now

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

M. Monroe, though at first I thought it looked like D. Trump. That's what can happen when you get old.

I was trying to figure out someone's complicated insurance—a strange brew of higher math and, ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

Nice rant, I feel for you.

Neighbor Shoots Black Airbnb Guest Simply Walking To Grocery Store - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

In a country which values not only racism but also gun addiction.

In reference to the image meme; If you were raised a theist, what (approximate) age were you when...

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

Sorry this will be a long one, I can't make it shorter. I took a more convoluted route, since like many in the UK I was raised as only a nominal Christian, with little real contact with the actual faith. I did however grow up thinking that people who embraced such a selfless value system, as that preached by Jesus, must be basically very good people, though my family cast doubts on the validity of the more extreme forms. I did however, like many in the UK, where the schools were largely controlled by the church, end up going to a Christian school. Where I was sadly disillusioned, to find that many who preached and followed Christianity, were often in fact quite horrible people, and their professed Christian values shallow. While being raised to ask questions and respect science and evidence, I soon found it hard to believe literally as I was asked to. Especially so, after my school teachers forbade the reading of the classical literature of Rome and Greece. Because, they said, it was wholly out of date, immoral, and of no worth in the modern Christian world. So of course being a child, and being told not to do something, I read all of them I could get. I only half understood them, and I do not now, agree with much of what I read, but they did tell me, that there were alternate views to the Christian dogma, and that the Christians did not have a monopoly on virtue. (Also that my school teachers told lies.) I was then, at about thirteen or fourteen, introduced to the metaphorical cult, where religion is seen as a metaphor, not to be taken literally, but to be interpreted as containing deep wisdom, ( Often hidden and cryptic wisdom. ) which is today, the main cult among the English clergy. And for a while it seemed to resolve all the problems. But then at higher education I met a school master, perhaps the most horrible and dishonest of all people I ever met, who espoused the metaphorical cult as his main ideology, but used it to justify the most horrible extremes of racism, class bias and sexism. At which point I learned that wisdom could not be based on interpretation alone, and that things which are most open to interpretation, but are still treated with respect as supposed sources of deep ( Magical.) wisdom, are the natural intellectual weapon of the criminally minded. And I became aware of the deep dishonesty of a clergy, who preached literal belief to the congregation on Sunday, and reaped the benefits of that, while talking the metaphorical cult among themselves on weekdays. Who poured scorn on science, yet made claims that their wild metaphorical interpretations came with the same rigour, and the same value as science. The relativists, many different ways of seeing the truth, but all equal, view, and that hard work, courage and ...

An interesting opinion piece, clearly identified as an opinion piece by RT.

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

Which ever side wins, even if one side does win and the conflict does not last forever, as some do. Some large section of the civil population will suffer ethnic cleansing and worse. That is a given, it can not be avoided either way. But if it goes on forever, then both sides will suffer endlessly. Therefore it is simple maths, that it is better to accept that one or another crime against humanity will happen, and endeavour for a quick end. While given that Russia is the primary aggressor, and has shown itself more willing to commit more serious crimes, it is reasonable logic to support the Ukraine, as the lesser of two evils. Not good but just the lesser evil.

Religious beliefs

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

No. Because it almost inevitably has the opposite effect. If people have real knowledge, and the willingness to help humanity, then they will try to share that knowledge, by reasoning, free debate and education etc. and as a last resort they may use, things like, tradition and superstition as leaverage, because the fake authority of those things can be powerful in persuading people. ( Its sometimes called the fallacy of proof by authority.) But only as a last resort, because people with good ideas will usually believe that honesty, evidence and reason are enough. People however who hold to bad ideas, especially the criminally intended and those who do not even believe themselves, that their ideas can be supported by reason, evidence, science and open debate etc. Will naturally reach for the fake authority given by religion, tradition and superstition. It is their first go to choice, in part, because it is usually so muddled that it can be interpreted to mean anything you want however crazy. Which is why there is a deep sibling connection, between religion and anti-social, anti-science and even criminally immoral ideals. Which may not have mattered much once, but as secular philosophies such as the social contract and science advance, those opposed to all education, intellectual growth and human advancement, will increasingly make religion their own. While with our increasing numbers and technical power making us more dangerous, the need for science, evidence, education, good democratic debate and reason grow ever more critical with time.

Group photos….

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2022:

Five gingers in a row. Did you know that when the Vikings raided and traded across Europe and the North Atlantic, one of their most valued trade goods were ginger cats. They sold for a fortune. The reason was that at that time, the ginger colour form was a new mutation, no one had ever seen one before, and they became for a while the most valued and fashionable of pets, and the Vikings had the only breeding stock.

It’s been a minute…

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

And your mother said that you failed the interview, but somehow her letter got lost.

I Know There Is No God.

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

I have never seen credible evidence either way, therefore I remain agnostic on the issue of whether a god exists or not. However to stir the pot a little I will say that, I do not think it an important question, with any value even as a question. Since the existence or none existence of a god would make no difference to anything. I think that muffins are much more interesting. ABOUT MUFFINS. Suppose for a minute, and for the sake of argument only, that there is a god, and an afterlife, including heaven and a hell; and that the god chooses whether people go to heaven, or if some go to hell, in fact the whole theist deal. Not only that, but the criterion on which the god makes the choice is based on the type of muffins they eat. ( Note: “eat” not prefer, this is not about free will or anything like that.) People who eat lemon muffins go to heaven and people who eat chocolate muffins go to hell, with limbo for those who don't eat muffins at all, naturally. Would that make a difference to your life ? Would you give up your chocolate muffins for an eternity of joy, and all the lemon buns after death you could ever eat ? Perhaps you would. But there is one vital thing that I forgot to mention about this god, which is that; this particular god, does not tell you about his thoughts on muffins, or how they affect your afterlife, in fact it keeps the whole thing a big secret just to itself, so that you have no way of knowing which muffins you have to eat. Then in that case, of course, you could not make the appropriate changes to your life, or save your soul anyway. In fact muffins, the gods preferences and even that god, would not impact on your life at all. The point is this. That a gods, souls, the afterlife etc. have no effect on anything, unless that god, spirit, or someone who knows, tells you about it, and you therefore have some knowledge of god's cake prejudices. Making this the big difference between religion, which pretends to offer knowledge of god the afterlife etc., and none belief which does not. Which is why the difference between atheists, humanists, agnostics and even deists, is so small and unimportant by comparison, because none claim any knowledge of gods preferences, and it is the pretense of fake knowledge, and of god given authority, or even the authority of tradition which makes the big difference to the religious and secular views. Compared with that the differences between atheist and agnostic, even deist, are trivial to the point of vanishing.

The psychology of science denial, doubt and disbelief: [youtube.com] (36 minutes long)

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

Yep, things don't just change rapidly in science, in the video they came out in praise of Twitter, which since then, has of course been sold to someone who wants to take it back to the stone age.

Germ theory denial in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic: [sciencebasedmedicine.

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

Good overview. Though a lot of it is well known. I always myself think that there is a wonderful irony, in the for profits/anti big pharma denial. Since perhaps yes, big pharma may make huge profits out of drug and vax. But do they not see that if big pharma went away, then the so called alternatives, of diet supplements, air cleaners, environment enhancers, crystals etc. would still be, (And are.) sold for big profits, probably by the same people. If big pharma were really only motivated by profits, regardless of the lack of evidence for the usefulness of the product, or even its harm, then they would sell you crystals too.

If you created the higher power "government " which is imaginary and followed its orders OR You ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

God is a word without fixed meaning, it can mean anything you want it to. Therefore there would be no difference between a higher power government and a god, they are the same thing. Just as if you overvalue and over respect them, you can make the equivalent of a god, and therefore a true god, out of tradition, culture, art, sport, political ideology, and even religion itself. I know some who worship religion, as an institution, mindlessly , though they claim not to believe in a literal god, yet in worshiping religion, (Which is what they are doing.) they make it into just the same sort of fake idol, with the same failings, as a theist god.

Massive Berlin Aquarium Bursts, Flooding Streets With 1,500 Tropical Fish : NPR

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

Yep. The the Cardinal fish did it because his Cod told him to.

Whats the difference between a man made God and a man made government?

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

When nobody claims that government is infallible, and you can change it if you don't think it is good enough, then those are two big differences, and it is usually called democracy. While claiming that the government is infallible is called totalitarian, and then there are no big differences.

Black cats…

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

Funny how things change, in the UK black cats are said to bring good luck.

Integrating Living Organisms in Devices to Implement Care-based Interactions - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2022:

I think I will still get a puppy or a kitten.

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

Faithless feeling: Does a lack of religion really 'knock color out of life'?

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2022:

You can go out into the world, and seek all the colour it has to offer, but that requires effort, thought and courage. Or you can sit in the church and watch a childish black and white puppet show, which will be explained to you, it is shallow, tacky, unreal, and the colours are false, but you will need to make no effort, give no thought, and show no courage. The main motivation for religion is laziness.

I can solve a Rubik’s cube in 17 seconds, but get befuddled every time I load the ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2022:

I am not quite as fast as you with the Rubik's Cube. Thought usually it only takes me about twenty minutes, as long as the glue does not run out before I have finished sticking the labels back.

One of the magic roundabouts in the UK. A nightmarish image for Americans. 😆

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2022:

Things like that are great for locals, who know how they work. But not so great for visitors, especially if you get in the wrong lane at the start, which is easy to do because they paint the arrows on the road surface, and that of course means that vehicles are on top of them. Doh !

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.

I truly knew Repugs were nasty and cruel when (i think under Reagan) they tried to get relish and ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2022:

Yuck. Ketchup is nearly all sugar.

What do you suppose the light source was on day number one of creation, since the sun wasn't created...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2022:

It may have helped generate the modern idea of Lucifer, ( Lucifer means light. ) as a fallen angel, the idea that the first thing God, the god of goodness, creates, is his opposite the god of evil. Though it is much mixed up with Greek and Egyptian mythologies in the usual tangle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer

Seasons Greetings from zefrank1 [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2022:

Wonderful. "To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour." W Blake. ( Great lines, although sadly Blake himself perhaps never really understood the significance of what he said himself. Being lost in Christian apologetics, he thought that the wonders of the small were proof of natural theology. But taken on their own, the words say it all. )

I’m old enough now to remember when our representatives in congress spent the better part of their...

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2022:

Surely nobody is that old !

The worst thing about World Cup Soccer:

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2022:

Really rubbish acting, on show every night.

“If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2022:

Now that is wishful thinking !

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

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2022:

I live in a very rural area, in the UK, and so we do not have many which have been changed into cool things like discotheques. Most, like the one photographed in my own village, end up as private houses. Though a very old one in the next village has been changed into a shelter for hikers on a walking trail which passes nearby.

Oh now this is going to work out JUUUUST fine. 😂 Gotta put a wring on it first kids. [bbc.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2022:

Hypocrisy as well as theocracy. "Lets make it just for the locals, would not want to affect the tourist dollar. Hell most of our corruption money comes from the tourist trade."

Okay, I was taking some courses online at a Christian University.

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2022:

But. Every Christian is telling lots of lies, about how they have this big special friend in the sky. who nobody else can see.

The Invisible Man and The Invisible Woman got married.

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Groan.

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Very true, I do love B. R.. Although it has to be said, that you can be angry on behave of others, if you catch someone teaching that two and two are five, (especially if they don't believe that themselves, and/or are doing it for selfish ends ) then you may be quite justified in feeling anger.

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

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Always was a good idea in the modern world. And has been commonplace in parts of Asia for years, where it is seen as quite a normal and respectful health measure.

The winter solstice has been a key religious date, most likely since pre-history, because it's the ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Interesting, but I do think that some of the years on the chart are a bit questionable. Hermes 400 BCE, for example, Hermes was a Greek god who's origins go back into long lost prehistory at least.

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. )

Who Was The Real Mary Magdalene? Art's Scarlet Woman (Waldemar Januszcsak Documentary) | Perspective

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2022:

Sadly it says. "Video not available."

When the winds are out of the Northeast this ocean side bidet can be extremely refreshing and ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2022:

That is really annoying, I will now spend the rest of my life wondering. Did someone build that as a joke, or did it originally have another purpose ?

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 told. The really important thing that I think is worth taking from that last paragraph, is the word "complimentary", because of course few things happen in the world for single simple reasons. But the irony is, that we are always looking for single simple reasons, and for exactly the same reasons we look to leaders, we want to be lazy, and we want a plain easy to understand world because that takes away doubt, which makes us fearful. So that it is not just human leaders we worship even though they are not worthy of worship, sometimes it is very base ideas that we treat as heroes too. When wishes and fears both drive in the same direction, it is hard to change tracks.

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 civil, which in the west goes back to the Roman Republic, three centuries before Christ.

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Not sure about that, certainly those are good ways to happiness, but there are others. Just seeing the sun come out from behind the clouds, makes me happy, though I have done nothing to make it happen. And though it is ephemeral, so is all happiness.

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Sadly there are many who have neither, through no fault of their own. Its a good joke but it would be a cruel set of values.

If someone bases his/her happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

That is very true. The true secret of happiness is appreciation of everything, and knowing the true values of small things.

Regular Fox News Guest Caught Trashing The Network On Hot Mic | HuffPost Latest News

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

If you can sell your reputation and honesty, get a good price.

Money saving tip. Change your light bulbs.

Fernapple comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Or stay in bed until daylight.

Public libraries aren't censoring Kirk Cameron. He just wants attention.

Fernapple comments on Dec 8, 2022:

He is making his own advertising. You send out two hundred applications, forty nine say no because they are closed that day anyway, or they already have a booking, and out of those one said no for idealogical reasons. So you only count those fifty, and you only talk about that one, and wham bang you are a victim.

“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 shore, while swimming through the ocean of human culture, without any scientific instruments for navigation, is called religion.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

Fernapple comments on Dec 8, 2022:

I think that the first four are very debatable, but I agree that there is a general truth in the last, indifference, or as I would term it, lack of appreciation, is the opposite of life and happiness.

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 pallets side by side.

INDONESIA BANS SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE: Indonesia’s Parliament has approved a new criminal code ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

"You are not going to have sex, unless the government tells you to have sex." PS. Anybody up for a little anarchy and defy the government, my place tonight about eight ?

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, that you are solid and ultra conservative when you want to.

If you were to create a fictional character to serve as a metaphor for the entirety of reality, what...

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

Sadly I can not. Since it has already been done many years ago. Plato's cave dweller. A creature so drowned in the products and outputs of its own culture, it can neither move nor see.

Trump saying he didn't say what he did say.

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

Can he even remember anything he said ? Without a video, even quite smart people find that hard.

Anyone else who sees this douche appear on TV advertising Scientology feel compelled to talk to the ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

Fortunately I have not seen him. We do not get a lot of television religion in the UK, but sadly there is just one channel that America exports to us, and even that makes me feel ill.

We all see what we want to see in most pictures.

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

My thumb after filling my walls with insulating foam. How did you get that picture ?

Even with emphasizing the difference between the national debt and the deficit, it's obvious that ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

Even the stock exchange and the money markets, at least here in the UK notice. The last Conservative budget, sent both into free fall.

Ukrainian drones strike two different Russian air bases deep inside Russia. [bbc.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 6, 2022:

So, according to the Russians, they were successful at defending themselves and falling debris from shot down drones lightly damaged two aircraft, BUT, four people were killed. Does not add up, sounds like doublespeak to me.

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

Fernapple comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Well done. ( Eight is when they send you the invoice for usage. )

Indonesia is fast becoming a bastion of evil: [abc.net.au]

Fernapple comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Marriage is not a moral issue. Marriage is a contract between two parties, in which those who get married, sign a contract with the state to allow the state to regulate family life, and sex. Once it was the temple or church, now it is the state, due to a slight shift in the ownership of power.

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.

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.

Jonathan the tortoise, world's oldest land animal, celebrates his 190th birthday - CNN

Fernapple comments on Dec 4, 2022:

Great story.

I agree fully.

Fernapple comments on Dec 1, 2022:

No I do not agree. Yes 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 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.

Avi Kwa Ame to be designated as national monument

Fernapple comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Great, that is one beautiful mountain.

We start with the attack on Xmas Carols and Season's Greetings, then we strike at the Nativity ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Sign me up. Ready to go over the top anytime.

A disaster and a disgrace…

Fernapple comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Even on this side of the pond.

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.

Census 2021: Minority identify as Christian in England and Wales for the first time ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 30, 2022:

That's it then, the bishops will have to leave the house of lords.

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

Fernapple comments on Nov 30, 2022:

Sadly it is probably the same with you that it is in my country. In that there is a deeply sexist assumption that mens shorts are for work and sports, and that womens shorts are for show. Worse, is that fashion and sports sorts are often much poorer quality than work shorts, even men's. I therefore like to get my shorts, even those for walking and leisure, from a builders merchant/tool store. They are much stronger and have more useful pockets.

Running in winter battling cold winds.

Fernapple comments on Nov 29, 2022:

I adapted a workshop spark mask as a face protector for cycling. It does not insulate, but it does keep the wind off, in very cold areas it will also perhaps need wiping to stop it misting and freezing. I had to sow extra buttons on to the hat of course.

Tastes like chicken..

Fernapple comments on Nov 29, 2022:

Speaking as an agnostic atheist, can I ask ? Did it taste anything like baby ?

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

Fernapple comments on Nov 29, 2022:

No. God does not equal reality. God = reality + X. X being, whatever the person using the word god, cares to add to reality. And R + X can never equal R, that is just silly.

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.

What if we are wrong?

Fernapple comments on Nov 28, 2022:

Giving it a name, is what religion is all about. Since religions are in the business of selling the idea that they have private knowledge of "IT, which has to be different from all the others, because without a difference between the models they have nothing to sell . And in giving that name, if there is an "It", then they all take a step away from "It", towards a false "It" of their own making.

“The ego is the veil between Humans and God.” - Rumi

Fernapple comments on Nov 28, 2022:

No, excessive ego is what makes you believe, that you have special privileged access to gods and the understanding of them.

Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.

Fernapple comments on Nov 27, 2022:

And get scratched.