Fernapple's Profile

Every single human being on the planet was born an Atheist.

skado comments on Jan 28, 2023:

Intuitively, this seems true to the point of being not only obvious, but irrefutable. Clearly, no one is born Muslim or Buddhist or Christian. The same can be said of language. No one is born speaking French or Russian or Swahili. But I’m not aware of any scientific school of thought that ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 28, 2023:

How nice to know that you are. "not aware of any scientific school of thought that considers the teaching of local culture, be it language or religion or folkways, to be child abuse. There is no medical or scientific support for this claim." Perhaps you should tell the W.H.O. they are clearly on the wrong track, and would surely welcome the benefits of your wisdom in these maters. See link. https://www.who.int/teams/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-research-(srh)/areas-of-work/female-genital-mutilation/health-risks-of-female-genital-mutilation

TWENTY FIVE THINGS NOT TO TRUST: 1.

Fernapple comments on Jan 27, 2023:

Any one who says. "A deeper truth."

Fernapple replies on Jan 28, 2023:

@Gwendolyn2018 Exactly, re. also relativism and alternate truth.

........................ WHAT GOOD IS ART ?

Fernapple comments on Jan 27, 2023:

Art is wonderful, beautiful and wonderful, I love it. ( Which is the problem.) Because like beautiful things it is dangerous, and not to be trusted, most of all it should never be believed in, as a source of truth, for as a religion promoting dogma it is at its most dangerous. And like any god, ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 27, 2023:

@Redheadedgammy Sorry, it is the BBC.

I've got one question. If "god" told Mike Pence to run for president?

anglophone comments on Jan 25, 2023:

The man is an imbecile. Nothing more needs to be said.

Fernapple replies on Jan 26, 2023:

The sky daddy is certainly an imbecile, but secretly I think that M. Pence may be one too.

Last one from Epicurus for a bit, so I thought I would end with a contentious one.

Diogenes comments on Jan 26, 2023:

But there is something to be said about the IQ of a person that would marry someone that didn't have enough cognitive activity to form their own opinion.

Fernapple replies on Jan 26, 2023:

Oh I don't think that he meant, that she could not form her own opinion, even those with very little cognitive activety form those, all too easily. Rather that she was keeping her true opinion hidden.

Last one from Epicurus for a bit, so I thought I would end with a contentious one.

Mcfluwster comments on Jan 26, 2023:

I feel that might be based on the personal experiences of Epicurus . I would prefer to see you keeping your E-quotes coming contentious or not. They can be very revealing.

Fernapple replies on Jan 26, 2023:

Will do soon.

SARCASM WARNING: It’s Not a Gun Problem—Americans Are Just Super Extra Evil, Crazy, and Stupid ...

MyTVC15 comments on Jan 25, 2023:

This is sarcasm people!

Fernapple replies on Jan 25, 2023:

Sorry myTVC15, it seems the irony was lost on some of those who read it, and especially on those who did not read it properly.

Eating chicken without killing chicken? Would you eat lab grown meat? [bbc.com]

Fernapple comments on Jan 25, 2023:

Try anything once.

Fernapple replies on Jan 25, 2023:

@waitingforgodo Love that tune though, however many times.

"We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.

Diogenes comments on Jan 25, 2023:

I would rather have a "meal" of cheese and crackers and have an enlivening conversation with someone of interest- than to sit down to a glutinous spread- with someone who was talking about their last glutenous 'feast'.

Fernapple replies on Jan 25, 2023:

Epicurus also said. "Only send me a pot of cheese and I shall feast."

Academic vs Scientific | ARMACAD

Fernapple comments on Jan 25, 2023:

Science is a relatively new word. As indeed is "academic" which is a Romantic usage, referring to the school of philosophers in Athens led by Plato and Aristotle, which gained its name because the members met in an arcade. Those who practice science were always referred to as, "natural philosophers"...

Fernapple replies on Jan 25, 2023:

@ASTRALMAX That is very true. Science was perhaps at its strongest in the past, when it was in the hands of the gentlemen and lady amateurs who were independent at least, or the old teaching institutions, who imposed little on what they did. Those were the golden eras from which science still gains a lot of its credit. But a lot of modern research could simply not be funded that way, so science had to become a competitive game at the upper levels, and has lost some of its independence for a dollar. But there are still some old fashioned institutions, and some amateurs, the three types are not mutually exclusive, so those others can still hold science to its integrity, and hopefully it will not lose all its creativity. Science as we know it, if it loses its way, may be replaced in time by a new branch of philosophy, which will take up the empirical torch, but you will not take away its acheivements so far. Nor do I think, if we can maintain good education, will the theocrats be able to put the empirical cat back in the bag, now it has grown so strong. You still have to worry about America especially, but there is no law which states that the empirical tradition can not change it geographic home. And I feel that even in America the current rising tide of anti-education and theocracy will soon reach its high point, and face a reaction, from the moderate majority.

I just got lucky, finding Baruch Spinoza's Ethics on Audible.

AnneWimsey comments on Jan 24, 2023:

Jews do not 'excommunicate'...that is a strictly Catholic concept.

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2023:

Correct, strictly speaking he was shunned.

The last scientist who worked in the Alexandria Library was a mathematician, astronomer, physicist ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 24, 2023:

I would not say avoid the film "Agora", about her life, for it does capture some of the spirit of the times, but it is a wildly inaccurate depiction the facts of her life and times. Worth a look if you take your sceptical head with you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora_(film)

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2023:

@David1955 They also made her thirty or forty, when she was in fact in her sixties at her death. And they had her working on the heliocentric solar system, for which there is no evidence, I suppose they thought that the maths she did was too difficult for the audience.

"In old age, we all regret not having killed laziness in ourselves." Epicurus.

Mcfluwster comments on Jan 24, 2023:

This confirms that one does learn from being lazy . But having revealed our losses do we action the cure? Well the rest of society is trying to make us give up anything risky or dangerous like sky diving and even driving [too much bouncing of the kerb {sidewalk} etc] . One actually learns better by ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2023:

That was Epicurus exactly, I think you would have got on.

“The ‘60s are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free, and the rock ‘n’ ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 24, 2023:

The sixties were also horrible, housing and schools were cold and damp, the teachers beat the s##t out of you, travel was difficult, public transport was dirtier than modern cattle trucks, Christian dogma was dominant, the food was inedible and everything not actually illegal, was expensive and ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2023:

@Marionville Yes you were the generation that perhaps got the best out of the sixties, I was only twelve when they ended.

Some really beautiful animals, and their history.

Budgie comments on Jan 23, 2023:

I am doing evolution with my class so thanks this will be very useful.

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2023:

Pleased to help.

"In old age, we all regret not having killed laziness in ourselves." Epicurus.

ASTRALMAX comments on Jan 23, 2023:

Probably a true reflection on his personal life. However, contrast that with the words of Bertrand Russell: "Time that you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time."

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2023:

@FrayedBear I also find that prevarication is big help, in finding the best way forward. Invariably a few months thinking about it gets better methods and results.

"In old age, we all regret not having killed laziness in ourselves." Epicurus.

ASTRALMAX comments on Jan 23, 2023:

Probably a true reflection on his personal life. However, contrast that with the words of Bertrand Russell: "Time that you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time."

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2023:

@ASTRALMAX Oh, I really like hard work. "I could sit and watch people doing it all day." Jerome K. Jerome.

"In old age, we all regret not having killed laziness in ourselves." Epicurus.

Willow_Wisp comments on Jan 23, 2023:

Why do I always get to have a different experience. I'm old, and I regret not getting enough time on my ass, and working so hard I'm physically damaged from it. I think Epicurus had a posh life, what a GD diva!

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2023:

He certainly did have a posh life.

"In old age, we all regret not having killed laziness in ourselves." Epicurus.

ASTRALMAX comments on Jan 23, 2023:

Probably a true reflection on his personal life. However, contrast that with the words of Bertrand Russell: "Time that you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time."

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2023:

If you don't ever learn how to do leisure, especially early, then you will reach your grave without ever having a meaningful exprience, is very true. But perhaps Epicurus, who appreciated leisure most of all, was meaning too lazy to take leisure properly.

"In old age, we all regret not having killed laziness in ourselves." Epicurus.

Sticks48 comments on Jan 23, 2023:

I appreciate my laziness. Most people l know who don't have that bit of laziness seem to spend a lot of time doing "busy work", a mostly useless non-productive waste of time. Stop and enjoy your "lazy".

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2023:

If you don't ever learn how to do leisure, especially early, then you will reach your grave without ever having a meaningful exprience, is very true. But perhaps Epicurus, who appreciated leisure most of all, was meaning too lazy to take leisure properly.

"In old age, we all regret not having killed laziness in ourselves." Epicurus.

KateOahu comments on Jan 23, 2023:

Quite the opposite, “I” regret not having taken more leisure.

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2023:

Yes I could go with that. See Sticks below.

"If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor, if according to people's ...

ASTRALMAX comments on Jan 22, 2023:

I do not know for certain but think that Epicureanism and Daoism probably originated around the same historical period.

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2023:

@MsKathleen Thank you, you may over estimate me, but I try to make useful/amusing gifts of knowledge when I can, and at least I get a warm glow from knowing it is valued.

"If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor, if according to people's ...

Mcfluwster comments on Jan 22, 2023:

Priorities IS the secret of life

Fernapple replies on Jan 22, 2023:

@Mcfluwster That is sad, but It does not take long to get to four no.

"If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor, if according to people's ...

ASTRALMAX comments on Jan 22, 2023:

I do not know for certain but think that Epicureanism and Daoism probably originated around the same historical period.

Fernapple replies on Jan 22, 2023:

They are from more or less exactly the same time yes, Epicurus and Laozi may even have had overlapping lifetimes, though several thousand miles apart. And of course they have very similar views, you could perhaps say that the civilizations of the old world, were ready for those ideas at about that time.

"If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor, if according to people's ...

LenHazell53 comments on Jan 22, 2023:

I am quite fond of Epicurus as a philosopher.

Fernapple replies on Jan 22, 2023:

Me too. Especially since he was all but atheist.

Well the world turns, and strange things happen.

Pralina1 comments on Jan 22, 2023:

Man 🙁 I had a lengthy discussion w my sister last week ( face time ). My sister is the brains in the family , the doctor , and I am lazy AND a freak 🤡 All my life I ate nothing than nuts , tomatoes and mozzarella and goat cheese , bread , pasta , tones of olive oil / lemon / vinegar , steak ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 22, 2023:

My thoughts exactly. I try to eat the best stuff when I easily can, in part because I tend to like the Med diet anyway, but I do not bother much at all.

"If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor, if according to people's ...

Mcfluwster comments on Jan 22, 2023:

Priorities IS the secret of life

Fernapple replies on Jan 22, 2023:

How come you are on level four ?

Church of England apologizes for treatment of LGBTQ people “For the times we have rejected or ...

KKGator comments on Jan 21, 2023:

I don't believe them. They're lying.

Fernapple replies on Jan 21, 2023:

Well he also said, that they were not going to recognize same sex marriage at the same time !?

Well the world turns, and strange things happen.

JackPedigo comments on Jan 21, 2023:

All of these are a part of my diet (except the fish). One can get the omega's from flax seed. One thing consistently not discussed is the fact some people's body reacts to certain foods and that reaction can cause inflammation. I took, what is known as a blood anti-gen test. It showed a high ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 21, 2023:

Good advice.

"Not what we have, but what we enjoy constitutes our wealth." Epicurus.

Garban comments on Jan 21, 2023:

I’m with Horace: “As for me, when you want a laugh, you will see me in fine state, fat and flourishing, a hog from Epicurus's herd.” - Quintus Horatius Flaccus - Letter to Tibullus

Fernapple replies on Jan 21, 2023:

Speaking as a nice well fattened old porker from Epicuruses herd, I shall be quoting my trough filler a lot more soon.

Well the world turns, and strange things happen.

Garban comments on Jan 21, 2023:

Mackerel is one of the few fish I don’t care for. King Mackerel especially, yuck. I need to try Edamame, it doesn’t sound appealing, but my taste buds aren’t in my ears. All the other recommendations are regulars on the menu.

Fernapple replies on Jan 21, 2023:

@AnneWimsey Yes that was the one I did not know. Thank you, I will look it up.

Free For All

Fernapple comments on Jan 21, 2023:

I have not blocked anybody. If you don't like their posts or comments, it is easy to ignore them, but sometimes even the worst trolls post something interesting, so why miss out.

Fernapple replies on Jan 21, 2023:

@LovinLarge That is the other reason why I did not block anyone, you have to meet them head on now and again, if only so that anyone else watching, gets to see the obvious holes in their arguments. (OK, so the site's toxic narcarssist runs away with his fingers in his ears, at the sight of me, but if people are not ready for personal growth, that's not my problem. )

Well the world turns, and strange things happen.

LovinLarge comments on Jan 21, 2023:

Will have to try mackerel one day.

Fernapple replies on Jan 21, 2023:

Try smoked, its very tasty, and the smoking is slightly unhealthy, so you don't have to feel too guilty about going against your principles by taking health advice. It worked for me. LOL

Another world, filled with wonderful things. Alien beauty. [youtube.com]

Julie808 comments on Jan 20, 2023:

Fascinating! Yes, some of those fungi do like like sea corals! Nice that his love of photographing the fungi is helping the mycologists. I'll have to finish watching it later. Now it's time for my evening walk. :-)

Fernapple replies on Jan 21, 2023:

@Julie808 It is a long one yes, but I thought worth the time. Fun-gee would be the way here in England, but this is Australian of course.

50 Things Basically Every Single American Believes Are Completely Normal But Are Actually Very, ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 20, 2023:

Interesting list yes. It would be nice to know though which countries the comments came from.

Fernapple replies on Jan 20, 2023:

@David1955 So did I, but Europe being very variable, it would be nice to be more specific, since some of the things listed are true of some parts of Europe, but not others.

“The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.” ― Delos Banning McKown

Fernapple comments on Jan 16, 2023:

The silent and the non-existent also sound very alike. Do not go to god for advice.

Fernapple replies on Jan 18, 2023:

@Mcfluwster And not an especially bright or honest human at that.

A Big Step Towards Hydrogen Fuel Out of Thin Air—Just Like a Plant [goodnewsnetwork.org]

vocaloldfart comments on Jan 17, 2023:

Gladstone qld has just built it's own hydrogen plant. operational who knows when. there is presently a lot of kafuffle about the production of hydrogen. Apparently there are two sorts of hydrogen. Green hydrogen and some other kind. Then you have hydrogen fuel cells, which seem to be as easy to ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 18, 2023:

Here you go all the gen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zklo4Z1SqkE

I don't know why I assumed this site would be better than facebook.

yvilletom comments on Jan 17, 2023:

Naming-calling is a form of violence - verbal violence, and one of those ancient Romans said violence arises from powerlessness.

Fernapple replies on Jan 18, 2023:

Those who know they can not win the arguments, reach for their weapons.

A Big Step Towards Hydrogen Fuel Out of Thin Air—Just Like a Plant [goodnewsnetwork.org]

vocaloldfart comments on Jan 17, 2023:

Gladstone qld has just built it's own hydrogen plant. operational who knows when. there is presently a lot of kafuffle about the production of hydrogen. Apparently there are two sorts of hydrogen. Green hydrogen and some other kind. Then you have hydrogen fuel cells, which seem to be as easy to ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 18, 2023:

The "other kind" I would think, simply means using fossil fuels as the energy source to split the water. So still the same greenhouse gas, perhaps even more since the system willl involve some energy waste, you just get to use the hydrogen in the city streets, and generate the polution in some distant power station, much like none green electric.

One reason I love talking economics with my son, a respected economist, is that I know his opinions ...

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Jan 15, 2023:

Yes. I know nothing of rocket science, so I rely on scientists with good reputations in the field for information. The crocks are easily weeded out for educated people in any field. My field, literature, is subjective, but not many people outside of academia argue about literature. On the other ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 17, 2023:

@Gwendolyn2018 And I am told that they added the eleventh comandment, just to annoy the Catholics. As well as the final verses of the Song of Solomon, the ones which tell you that it is in fact a metaphor for the so called, love of god, in case anyone thought that it was just a romantic/soft porn, poem.

"Never sleep with someone who doesn't want to show up on the streets with you." Aristotle.

Marionville comments on Jan 17, 2023:

That’s a great quote…and you can turn it round the other way too!

Fernapple replies on Jan 17, 2023:

In my case that would leave me very lonely on the streets.

One reason I love talking economics with my son, a respected economist, is that I know his opinions ...

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Jan 15, 2023:

Yes. I know nothing of rocket science, so I rely on scientists with good reputations in the field for information. The crocks are easily weeded out for educated people in any field. My field, literature, is subjective, but not many people outside of academia argue about literature. On the other ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 17, 2023:

@Gwendolyn2018 And of course most of the fundamentalists prefer the King James, which is arguably at least , by far the worst, most miss translated and even rewritten version you can get.

An interesting point, don't you think?

lerlo comments on Jan 16, 2023:

What am I missing? The answer to both is are people selfish? But the main difference in the questions is stealing is illegal, hoarding is not. It's up to the state to regulate rationing in serious situations. However as you probably know, mandating masks to protect Society still resulted in ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 16, 2023:

Hoarding has been illegal in my country on several occasions.

What world awaits Gen Z? | Malcolm Gladwell x Brain Bar

Fernapple comments on Jan 16, 2023:

Moderate quite good, though I have doubts about whether the sports analogy works for real life, quite so perfectly as he claims.

Fernapple replies on Jan 16, 2023:

@rainmanjr It seems to in the video, but I am just always wary of analogy and metaphor, you can use those to prove anything.

One reason I love talking economics with my son, a respected economist, is that I know his opinions ...

LovinLarge comments on Jan 15, 2023:

Trumpers are the worst. They don't understand or appreciate the significance of expertise because none of them have any. Trump himself has none. A good example is how they've berated Dr. Fauci throughout the pandemic because someone having devoted their lives to developing a body of knowledge is ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 16, 2023:

@LovinLarge I just wrote this for Gwen below. None of us can have a deep knowledge of everything, or even most things, and therefore when dealing with subjects of which I have no deep knowledge, which is most of them naturally. I fall back on the default position of using whatever seems to be the consensus among the acknowledged mainstream experts. While, where there is dispute among even them, I try to look for the side which seems to be using the best methods, using my experience in the fields which I do know to tell me what works best. The problem is, that when you have reject education in principle, as something that is a threat to your world view, then you can not use either of those methods, or even admit to yourself that there could be such things as methods. And rejecting education is sadly for many a tribal issue, where membership and status in the tribe depends upon the degree to which you are anti-education.

One reason I love talking economics with my son, a respected economist, is that I know his opinions ...

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Jan 15, 2023:

Yes. I know nothing of rocket science, so I rely on scientists with good reputations in the field for information. The crocks are easily weeded out for educated people in any field. My field, literature, is subjective, but not many people outside of academia argue about literature. On the other ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 16, 2023:

None of us can have a deep knowledge of everything, or even most things, and therefore when dealing with subjects of which I have no deep knowledge, which is most of them naturally. I fall back on the default position of using whatever seems to be the consensus among the acknowledged mainstream experts. While, where there is dispute among even them, I try to look for the side which seems to be using the best methods, using my experience in the fields which I do know to tell me what works best. The problem is, that when you have reject education in principle, as something that is a threat to your world view, then you can not use either of those methods, or even admit to yourself that there could be such things as methods. And rejecting education is sadly for many a tribal issue, where membership and status in the tribe depends upon the degree to which you are anti-education. I tend to find that my knowledge of the bible is quite good, not great, but quite good when compared with most of the American Christians I hear from. That is probably because in the UK , the schools are/were often Christian, and like many in the UK, I was therefore taught about the Bible in school. Yet here is the strange thing. That does not seem to have prevented, and may even have helped, the UK to become very secular.

You get one life to live, don't waste a minute of it on your knees, praying to an imaginary sky ...

racocn8 comments on Jan 15, 2023:

That is the downside of Pascal's Wager that is never mentioned, wasting the one life you have living in a state of threat, delusion and hatred of everyone else.

Fernapple replies on Jan 16, 2023:

The other downside to Pascal's wager is. If there was a god/supernatural/second life/higher intelligence/great unknown, whatever, surely it would prefer atheists anyway. After all we do not tell it what to do, pretend to speak in its name to fool others, or set up imposters in its place.

Types of Atheists (Psychology of Atheism Part 1) - YouTube

silverotter11 comments on Jan 15, 2023:

I sure wish my Dad were still here. I know what I can't be bothered with (like church and that dogma) but I've never considered there was such a range of terminology to explain it all. I suppose it depends on how important it is to each person. My Dad studied the Bible. He said to me one ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 16, 2023:

The more false the product you are trying to sell, the more attractive you have to make the advert, and that applies to the high and sacred arts as well. Therefore the better the art the more you should distrust it as a source of truth.

Let's get personal.

ASTRALMAX comments on Jan 14, 2023:

Around the age of ten years it was decided that I would attend Sunday school for religious instruction. It had been agreed between our parents that a friend and I would go there together. We deliberately walked slowly because neither one of us did not want to spend and hour reciting religious ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 15, 2023:

That's not so much a fun fact, as a, smart kid well done.

Some really beautiful animals, and their history.

Diaco comments on Jan 14, 2023:

Awesome! love this 😍

Fernapple replies on Jan 14, 2023:

Thank you.

The Asshole Hypothetically speaking there's a person named John.

Beowulfsfriend comments on Jan 13, 2023:

Zorasterism, while not a major religion, Freddie Mercury was born one, does not seek out nor allow converts. Those would be my kind of neighbors. Plus, they used to put the dead out to be eaten by animals, mostly vultures. When I visited the large Baih'i temple in Chicago, I was surprised to ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 14, 2023:

Yes there are a few like that, the Samaritans for one are very famous thanks to the Bible story, though in reality thanks to their no converts rules, there are now only a few thousand left.

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Hated More Than Andrew by Older Brits—Poll

Fernapple comments on Jan 13, 2023:

Actually no, a lot of us Brits think that they are all a waste of space.

Fernapple replies on Jan 13, 2023:

@barjoe I know. That's what you get for using social media, lots of unneeded information on minor celebs, who did little or nothing to earn their celeb status. LOL

Warning.

ChestRockfield comments on Jan 12, 2023:

1. I will likely never vacation within the US again. For the cost of just the hotel in the US, I can get flight, hotel, transportation, food, and alcohol in Jamaica... and have better weather. 2. Everything is failing here. I would not be surprised at all if we stopped being a democracy some ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 12, 2023:

It is rare that you are actually sad to find out that you were right, but I happened to me today.

Take a deep breath and remember: even the roughest days get better Good morning.

LovinLarge comments on Jan 11, 2023:

Again, agnostic or atheist?

Fernapple replies on Jan 12, 2023:

@LovinLarge The more time I spend on this site, where the majority are from the USA, the more I start to think that the USA is a broken society, and a failing democracy. The other day someone posted, about there being no cheap hotels in the USA like there are overseas. Well yes, because it seems to me that, in the USA, most people, especially the poor and middle income people, are not encouraged to travel, so of course there are no hotels for them. That no doubt, helps to keep people from widening their horizons and broadening their minds. Which is great if you want a nation of mindless drudges, who work, get their pay, go back spend it where they earned it, and never question anything. But, in Europe many companies, and institutions actively encourage travel. So that taking your vacation, especially abroad, is almost, compulsory, and you would be seen as strange with poor promotional prospects, if you did not show an appetite for widening your horizons. Generally speaking has nobody ever noticed that trying to restrict and discourage travel, is what countries like North Korea and the old Soviet Union did ? Presumably in case anyone finds out that it is possible to improve on the workers paradise, and woe betide, by how very much. ( I like this may post it just to get the hornets buzzing. LOL )

This applies to UK. No idea what happens anywhere else.

Fernapple comments on Jan 11, 2023:

Yes, it is called animal hygiene, in case they are carrying diseases, that could transmit to others. At the moment we have an outbreak of bird flu, so you would not be able to walk your parrot past a chicken farm, but nobody told the sparrows of course.

Fernapple replies on Jan 11, 2023:

@Jolanta Yes it is very sad. When I was a child in the UK, growing up around farms and villages, the "cheap cheap" of sparrows, was the perminant background sound track to our days. Now you rarely hear them. I am told that in part, it is due to modern farm practices, farm hygiene means that there is no spilled grain about these days, so they have lost a major food source.

Take a deep breath and remember: even the roughest days get better Good morning.

LovinLarge comments on Jan 11, 2023:

Again, agnostic or atheist?

Fernapple replies on Jan 11, 2023:

@LovinLarge It is sad to hear about your friend, especially since a bad diet can actually cause depression, making it perhaps a self sustaining cycle.

Take a deep breath and remember: even the roughest days get better Good morning.

LovinLarge comments on Jan 11, 2023:

Again, agnostic or atheist?

Fernapple replies on Jan 11, 2023:

In the UK terriers are much respected, because of the way they don't let go when once they have got their teeth in. Its a thing we greatly admire.

Psychologist Stanley Milgram found that 80% of people do not have the psychological and moral ...

SeaGreenEyez comments on Jan 11, 2023:

Huh? This is America. We don't take orders unless we're working in the service industry, being harassed by the police, paying attention to a doctor, or in the military. I'd suggest this story is deeply flawed from the outset (or onset, depending on who's English language you're using.) 🙄

Fernapple replies on Jan 11, 2023:

@Castlepaloma I agree with your basic line, but a small correction of fact. There were at least six other democratic republics at the time the American Constitution was written, some of which continue to this day.

There are thousands of religions around the world.

skado comments on Jan 8, 2023:

Humans did not make the universe. The universe made us. People of all cultures recognize this obvious fact, and give that system which created us various names according to their respective language, tradition, and time period. Early civilizations personified the system as a god or gods. ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 11, 2023:

@Garban And when we realize that there are no big purposes, then we know that belief in big purpose, is vanity and narcissism, and that those failings are the main trade of religion. Build up the vanities and people will obey you and pay, to have those vanities confirmed, over and over again. So, as they say. Being none religious, we are free to choose our own purposes. Which must by definition be small, so that humanism is by definition a philosophy of humility. Yet here for fun is an irony. Suppose for one second, hypothetically, that there is a creator, though one who has probably not revealed any purpose to us. Then what can we discern is most likely to be pleasing to it, if pleasing it matters at all ? After the possible givens, such as be kind, the only thing I think that seems likely, is that we should appreciate its creation as much as possible, down to the smallest detail. And what are we doing when we create our own small purposes, if not appreciating its creation down to the smallest detail ? Therefore being an atheist could be the most pleasing thing to the creator. Nice joke ?

Cardinal George Pell dies in Rome aged 81 after hip surgery; former Vatican finances chief was ...

David1955 comments on Jan 10, 2023:

I'm inconsolable with grief. How can I get through the rest of the day. Oh no wait, that's Tony Abbott. Pell once told Richard Dawkins and an audience that he thought we evolved from Neanderthals. In his case I think that was about right.

Fernapple replies on Jan 11, 2023:

No Neanderthals were way smarter than that.

There are thousands of religions around the world.

skado comments on Jan 8, 2023:

Humans did not make the universe. The universe made us. People of all cultures recognize this obvious fact, and give that system which created us various names according to their respective language, tradition, and time period. Early civilizations personified the system as a god or gods. ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 10, 2023:

@Garban Very true. And since ever religion assigns a different purpose to creation, then we have at least five possibles. 1. There is no purpose, so they are all wrong. 2. There is a purpose, but it is not known, so they are all impostors. 3. There are many purposes and truth is relative, so that freeing yourself from religion and becoming agnostic/atheist, is just as viable a route to enlightenment as any other. 4. There is only one purpose known to only one religion, so you have to take a ten thousand to one bet, and creation and/or the creator is politically and racially motivated in dispensing truth. 5. Religion is a metaphor which needs to be interpreted, to extract deep hidden truth which is equally as viable as science, but only when interpreted and carefully cherry picked, and so, any narcissist may be a prophet. Did I am miss one ? I am sure I did, please input.

I love human ingenuity. Including Russian.

vocaloldfart comments on Jan 9, 2023:

Good idea. I wonder if it will take off?? Imagine the police planting fiberglass cutouts. Be better than the revenue raising method they use now to keep the road toll down.. Speeders or drunks would never know if they passed a cutout or a cop car until it is too late.

Fernapple replies on Jan 10, 2023:

Yep, someone near me painted an old wreck to look like a police car and parked it in the end of his drive.

There are thousands of religions around the world.

skado comments on Jan 8, 2023:

Humans did not make the universe. The universe made us. People of all cultures recognize this obvious fact, and give that system which created us various names according to their respective language, tradition, and time period. Early civilizations personified the system as a god or gods. ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 9, 2023:

We used to have a common bat here in the UK. called the Pipistrelle. Then it was discovered that it was in fact two species the common type and a smaller one. Until 1999, the soprano pipistrelle was considered as conspecific with the common pipistrelle, but then they made the discovery and so they gave the new species a new name, Pipistrellus pygmaeus keeping the old name Pipistrellus pipistrellus for the larger of the two. Usually, changes of names represent real improvements in knowledge and understanding.

Re-introducing myself - anyone remember me?

Fernapple comments on Jan 6, 2023:

Welcome back, I do remember you, and its still quite fun here. I do not think that it matters one little bit what words you do or do not use, as long as you are careful to ensure that you define the meaning of your words each time you use them. Especially so if your usage deviates from the ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 6, 2023:

@MarkWD That is exactly my gardening too. That certainly looks a wonderfu;l border.

My first time having a serious discussion with a Christian friend.

hankster comments on Jan 5, 2023:

if a person is happy I hesitate to mess with it unless they try to share their happy.

Fernapple replies on Jan 6, 2023:

My possition exactly.

West Coast storms hitting again. This one is bigger.

Mooolah comments on Jan 4, 2023:

Batten down the hatches

Fernapple replies on Jan 5, 2023:

@PondartIncbendog Just have another drink.

We're not human beings having a spiritual experience.

xenoview comments on Jan 4, 2023:

What do you mean by spiritual being? Can you prove that we are spiritual?

Fernapple replies on Jan 5, 2023:

Everything always seems bigger in the dark. Switch the light out, or use an ill defined term, and your speculation can be as big as your vanity wants to imagine it.

We're not human beings having a spiritual experience.

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Jan 4, 2023:

That indicated that there is something beyond being "human" and spirits exist outside of a body. They don't. What is your definition of "spirit"?

Fernapple replies on Jan 5, 2023:

Everything always seems bigger in the dark. Switch the light out, or use an ill defined term, and your speculation can be as big as your vanity wants to imagine it.

We're not human beings having a spiritual experience.

Castlepaloma comments on Jan 4, 2023:

When spiritual is the 99% unknowns. How is it possible if a human even knows its a spiritual being or high energy being? Or when it's weaker side of a human, is experiencing more ignorance and choas then anything esle. Could be a silly question, I'm sure I will get plenty of silly answers from ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 5, 2023:

Everything always seems bigger in the dark. Switch the light out, or use an ill defined term, and your speculation can be as big as your vanity wants to imagine it.

We're not human beings having a spiritual experience.

The-Krzyz comments on Jan 4, 2023:

“Spiritual” has become one of those words given so many meanings (often based on convenience) that it is left with no meaning at all. That’s besides the unfortunate historical baggage the word is burdened with, which I assume many of us on this site would rather leave behind.

Fernapple replies on Jan 5, 2023:

Everything always seems bigger in the dark. Switch the light out, or use an ill defined term, and your speculation can be as big as your vanity wants to imagine it.

West Coast storms hitting again. This one is bigger.

Mooolah comments on Jan 4, 2023:

Batten down the hatches

Fernapple replies on Jan 5, 2023:

@PondartIncbendog Enjoy, but get plenty of food and candles in first.

How cool is that! The incredible ocean statue of Neptune (Poseidon) in Gran Canaria, Spain.

The-Krzyz comments on Jan 4, 2023:

Wonder how many surfers he has skewered over the years … 🤔🏄🏻🔱😧

Fernapple replies on Jan 4, 2023:

Hazard to shipping.

A sad but true observation on today's social-media driven world: "The reason is because ours is ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 3, 2023:

Mainly true, but be careful not to glorify the past. Schools in my day, half a century plus ago, existed mainly to suppress education, and to propagate ignorance, there was just as much disinformation about then as now, it just cost more money to get it, and it was called education. I was for one, ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 4, 2023:

@MizJ I guess that there will be formal taste, but what that taste will be I could not begin to speculate. Future-ology is no science, and is alway little better than fortune telling, but I would guess that wearing socks with sandals will be all the rage.

"So be aware that the priests, by means of terrorizing threats, will seek to cause you to fall away ...

Mcfluwster comments on Jan 3, 2023:

True. Now how do we bring back reasonable reason to the church?

Fernapple replies on Jan 3, 2023:

@Diogenes There is no logic in infinite punishment for finite sins, even Mohammed understood that. Which means that either their god is illogical, or the people who made him up, were not of the brightest.

“Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of ...

Pralina1 comments on Jan 3, 2023:

Friends are EVERYTHING 🙌♥️🙌♥️🙌♥️

Fernapple replies on Jan 3, 2023:

“Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.” “It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us.” ― Epicurus ( Who Cicero may himself have been quoting, because he often did. )

"So be aware that the priests, by means of terrorizing threats, will seek to cause you to fall away ...

Mcfluwster comments on Jan 3, 2023:

True. Now how do we bring back reasonable reason to the church?

Fernapple replies on Jan 3, 2023:

You don't, because that is not the purpose for which the church exists. Reason is self justifing, it does not need a church or a god to explain it, you only need a church or a god if you have something unreasonable to promote. And as or if reason, evidence based science, and education advance to explain more to more people, so it is increasingly only those with something untrue/criminal to sell, who need churches, so the chuches grow ever more unreasonable with time.

"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.

Fernapple replies on Jan 3, 2023:

@johan17 Thank you, I stand corrected.

“Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.

FrayedBear comments on Jan 2, 2023:

And several thousand years later Cipolla refined it with "an intelligent person benefits both themself & others with their decisions & actions"

Fernapple replies on Jan 2, 2023:

When they can.

Sometimes I think that well intentioned had work should just be appreciated for its own sake, ...

Julie808 comments on Jan 1, 2023:

We all gotta do what we have in our instincts to do, even if we don't have a reason, it seems!

Fernapple replies on Jan 2, 2023:

Well he does have a reason, after all, winter may be coming, and his new family need to be protected against the cold, while the house is clearly leaking, he can hear it when the taps are running or the bath is emptying , got to look after the home.

Would you prefer that this site be more welcoming to religious people, or screen them out more ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 1, 2023:

Yes please, I love to talk and debate with any opinion. But it also has to be kept in mind that this is a refuge for some people, so that while diversity is good for people like me, it should not be gained at the expense of making an unfriendly site to those who need the community, and the religious...

Fernapple replies on Jan 2, 2023:

@David1955 Indeed I quite agree, that is my possition exactly.

Sometimes I think that well intentioned had work should just be appreciated for its own sake, ...