my ego wants to kill me, and my pride wants to help it

Robecology comments on Feb 18, 2022:

Being a nihilist I get it....but some day you will be getting married and then it will be decision/ego time; Chose wisely...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

Sadly it probably is not about ego, or pride, but an even more basic emotion, bordom. The speed drunk monkey will probably destroy the world just to have a few more seconds playing stupid games. And is too lazy to learn to entertain itself with learning to appreciate the world around it, which costs nothing.

"It is curious that while good people go to great length to spare their children from suffering, few...

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2022:

Could not agree more. And as the good party times for the human race are almost certainly coming to an end, and the future is probably bleak to a degree we have never seen before. That is more true than ever.

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

@Matias No I don't know him. I will look him up thanks.

Perhaps some day. Could it be done safely? It would be amazing! What else is retirement for? 😁

FrayedBear comments on Feb 17, 2022:

That's if you get out of Cape Town alive!

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

Looking at that route, there would be a lot more to worry about than Cape Town.

Perhaps some day. Could it be done safely? It would be amazing! What else is retirement for? 😁

FrayedBear comments on Feb 17, 2022:

That's 3.09 mph. x 561 days @ 8 hours per day.

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

Best to allow at least a couple of years, to be on the safe side.

Who takes vitamins in large quantities?

ChestRockfield comments on Feb 18, 2022:

The problem is the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K. The rest you can just pee out.

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

My father always used to joke that beer was called vitamin "P" because you pee it out very quickly.

Do we need religion to create a moral society? - Ask A Bitchface II

Julie808 comments on Feb 18, 2022:

Agree, good answer! For those who didn't click on the link, the answer was: "I don't think religion has anything to do with morality. If you're doing the right thing because your religion told you so, that is not moral → that’s ‘obedient’. If anything, I actually think religion is ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

Religion is the realm of the immoral. Because it is the only human intellectual system which demands no proof or justification for ideas. If you want to justify an idea philosophicaly, then you must prove that it is logical, scientifically that it is supported by evidence, politically that you can get a majority vote for it. So if you have an idea which is immoral and impossible to justify, there is only one place you can go to find support, friends, and an echo chamber. So that religion naturally becomes the go to for the immoral and anti social.

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

Sticks48 comments on Feb 17, 2022:

I know l have always enjoyed my up close and personal relationships with beavers. 😁

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

Now why do I get the idea that this involves one of you biting the pillow ?

[youtu.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2022:

Great, one of the best short satires we had in a long time. Would it be possible you could post a text of the lyrics ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

@fishline79 Thanks for he warning, but I do have a bookstore locally who manage to get me American books at little extra charge, I don't know how they do it but it works. Sadly I am barred from Amazon.

Two four-year-olds, a boy and a girl, compare their bodies.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2022:

Two four-year-olds, a boy and a girl, compare their bodies. Says the boy as he lowers his pants, “Ha ha, I have this and I bet you don’t!” Replies the little girl as she lowers hers. “I bet, you never knew that Catholics and Protestants were this different !”

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2022:

@yvilletom So are Catholics, they just have to tell the priest all about it in great detail afterwards.

I don't find it lonely at all but I suppose some people do and for those people there is church.

Sgt_Spanky comments on Feb 17, 2022:

This is actually a valid question: why don't atheists come together to celebrate their shared rationality and practical worldview. I think it's because we have no dedicated structures to gather together. Xians have over 300,000 churches they can meet in while we'd have to rent thelocal Kiwanis Hall...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

@ASTRALMAX True, but of course that means that there is no unifying direction for the collective culture either. And sometimes a unity of direction is a good thing even if it is the wrong direction, at the very least it stops dangerous divisions developing. In modern America today we see that happening along lines of race, class, and politics, but the divisions are perhaps made even worse, by the fact that, the same fault line which divides the nation along those lines, is exactly the same fault line which divides those who get their understanding and morals from religion, and those who get their understanding and morals from secular education. In the end if you want to avoid violent and destructive civil strife, there is something to be said for promoting a single moral direction, perhaps not to the degree of becoming oppressive, but certainly to the point where most people hold enough of an affection for most of it, that they can reach compromise on most things. And if you are going to promote a single set of values, as the main if not the only, direction for your society. Then unfortunately you are forced to pick one and one only, because the point of directions is that you can never go in two at once. And if you are going to pick one, then I would choose the best one if you can, which to my mind means the ideals of reason, which are philosophy, scepticism, secular education and yes science.

[youtu.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2022:

Great, one of the best short satires we had in a long time. Would it be possible you could post a text of the lyrics ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

@fishline79 Thank you.

I don't find it lonely at all but I suppose some people do and for those people there is church.

Sgt_Spanky comments on Feb 17, 2022:

This is actually a valid question: why don't atheists come together to celebrate their shared rationality and practical worldview. I think it's because we have no dedicated structures to gather together. Xians have over 300,000 churches they can meet in while we'd have to rent thelocal Kiwanis Hall...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

@ASTRALMAX The real new religion is the commercial media, it is shallow, cheap, demands no effort, and is short on intellect, perfect. Why would you require religion or science ?

I don't find it lonely at all but I suppose some people do and for those people there is church.

Sgt_Spanky comments on Feb 17, 2022:

This is actually a valid question: why don't atheists come together to celebrate their shared rationality and practical worldview. I think it's because we have no dedicated structures to gather together. Xians have over 300,000 churches they can meet in while we'd have to rent thelocal Kiwanis Hall...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay Its hard to define a group by a negative. There are not many, we don't play golf societies, either.

Gorillas and God: Evolutionary Roots of Religion by Dr.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2022:

Sorry it may be interesting, but the pay wall is just too much.

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

@skado No, thanks will give it a go.

Why is an abuser still working as a priest? [bbc.com]

ChestRockfield comments on Feb 16, 2022:

Why was an abuser working as president for 4 years?

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

@JeffMurray Small joke. I meant that for that, there could be some in the maga cult members writing you name on a bullet right now.

Why is an abuser still working as a priest? [bbc.com]

ChestRockfield comments on Feb 16, 2022:

Why was an abuser working as president for 4 years?

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

I hope you are a fast moving target.

I don't find it lonely at all but I suppose some people do and for those people there is church.

Sgt_Spanky comments on Feb 17, 2022:

This is actually a valid question: why don't atheists come together to celebrate their shared rationality and practical worldview. I think it's because we have no dedicated structures to gather together. Xians have over 300,000 churches they can meet in while we'd have to rent thelocal Kiwanis Hall...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2022:

The Xians have a thousand year start. But we have begun, perhaps more so here in Europe than in the US, we do have secular learning groups, like the University Of The Third Age, public libraries, many secular charities all with shops on the high street, atheist groups, some of which in this county often perform weddings and funerals, perhaps more than church ones now, and web sites like this of course.

Why, yes we will.

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2022:

Well I would hope to survive long enough, to view a few more pretty ladies in tight vests before I kick the bucket. Are you not going to post a photo of you modeling it for us ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2022:

@Sookiesue Nice pic, and it did turn out upright.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2022:

@Alienbeing If there is an objective basis for morality then show one, many wise people have been searching for one for centuries, if you have got one then I am sure the world would love to hear it. Many have tried, from Plato, and Epicurus to Nietzsche, and all failed to some degree. I am sure that if you have one, then the Noble peace prize, at least, is a given, and that is a lot of money . The nearest that anyone ever did come to finding one, that I know of, was Kant, with his universalization principle, and that is certainly not very strongly objective. Yes adulthood is all about acceptance, it is the about the acceptance of the gradual losing of our delusions. Beginning with the central, and most childish one, which our parents care instills in us, that we are the centre of the universe, and that universe exists for us. Which is an inevitable delusion, since the only universe we know as children, is our parents, and we are, unless we are very unlucky, the centre of that. We then find that, the children at school will not want to be with us, and we will not receive attention, unless we have something to offer. And when we have accepted that, and that serving the community is our only way to succeed in gaining something worthwhile. Then we have to learn to accept that the community, family and friends, we devote ourselves to, is itself is of no importance in the great scheme of things, and may be swept away by by as little as one politicians signature on a piece of paper. And so it goes on, until we learn to accept that all of human life is trivial to the greater universe, and we have to accept that even the greatest humans, and our heros, can not hope to leave a legacy that will outlast a few trivial millenia. And finally we have to learn, to accept, that any cynical view which understanding of the triviallity of our lives that may lead us to, and with it, the idea that evil is of equal worth, to good. Does not buy us any freedom or joy either, and that therefore, giving to our community and fellow creature on this planet, does not make us moral heros or any great thing like that, but that we must do it, just because the freedom that evil suppossedly gives is just a delusion too, and that we are good and should try our very best to be good, simply because there is nothing else to do.

Humans are conditioned by nature, as an evolved survival strategy to save time and energy, back in ...

AnneWimsey comments on Feb 14, 2022:

To use a pejorative like "lazy" when All creatures practice using less calories (to increase survival) is not accurate at all! To use the term "cowardly" when 99.9% of the time it is the safe & sane thing to do because Any injury, for Any creature, before doctors/hospitals, almost always meant ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2022:

@AnneWimsey You are looking at it perhaps from a trans-Atlantic point of view. You see, sometimes I forget that it is an international site, and in the UK using words like that would mainly be seen as humour and affectionately ironic. It may have been better to say something like, humans are conditioned by nature. There altered it now, is that better.

Humans are conditioned by nature, as an evolved survival strategy to save time and energy, back in ...

Matias comments on Feb 14, 2022:

I lie can be convoluted and complex (like some conspiracy theories) And a truth can be simple and easy to grasp, like for example the basic ideas of Darwinian Evolution.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2022:

@AnneWimsey Yep sorry my mistake, we need to remember the gays, and you forgot some of the Communists. See it not easy, but that is in part what makes it worth doing.

Humans are conditioned by nature, as an evolved survival strategy to save time and energy, back in ...

Matias comments on Feb 14, 2022:

I lie can be convoluted and complex (like some conspiracy theories) And a truth can be simple and easy to grasp, like for example the basic ideas of Darwinian Evolution.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2022:

@Matias Quite, but if it is simplified is it still, always, a truth ? For a perfect example your. "The Nazis killed about 6 million Jews during WWII" is a simpification of a statement which could also include "plus between 250,000 and 500,000 Romani and Sinti, and large numbers of disabled." Then to know if it was a lie or not, you would then have to inquire what the motivation of the person doing the simplification was. Were they just being lazy themselves and or trying to make it easier for other people. In which case it is a truth, but only a part truth. Or did they have a reason to leave those out. Many Romani claim that that part of the story is often deliberately left out, by racist people who want to deny them their rights and don't want them to get recognition and simpathy. Which may be true or not, but if it was, then it would make the simplification then a deliberate lie. But here is the centre of my point. Because in addition, if the person doing the simplification, as a lie, was aware, even unconciously at the back of their mind, that a simplified story is more likely to be passed on and propagated more widely than a more difficult complex one, and thought that was a good thing. Then they would be deliberately exploiting that human bias in favour of simplification, to propagate their message more widely.

Humans are conditioned by nature, as an evolved survival strategy to save time and energy, back in ...

yvilletom comments on Feb 14, 2022:

Judgmental much? Yes.

Fernapple replies on Feb 14, 2022:

No lazy and cowardly are not judgemental, that is not what the post is about, I accept them as a given and am even proud to call myself lazy and cowardly , and think that the world would probably be a better place if people were more of both. The point is, that things which are part of our nature and are often useful, can under some other circumstances be exploited and used against us.

Humans are conditioned by nature, as an evolved survival strategy to save time and energy, back in ...

AnneWimsey comments on Feb 14, 2022:

To use a pejorative like "lazy" when All creatures practice using less calories (to increase survival) is not accurate at all! To use the term "cowardly" when 99.9% of the time it is the safe & sane thing to do because Any injury, for Any creature, before doctors/hospitals, almost always meant ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 14, 2022:

Oh I do not hate my species for being lazy and cowardly, in fact lazy and cowardly are qualities I admire, and in nature I do not even regard them as pejorative. Lazy and cowardly are not judgemental, that is not what the post is about, I accept them as a given and am even proud to call myself lazy and cowardly , and think that the world would probably be a better place if people were more of both. The point is, that things which are part of our nature and are often useful, can under some other circumstances be exploited and used against us.

Humans are conditioned by nature, as an evolved survival strategy to save time and energy, back in ...

Matias comments on Feb 14, 2022:

I lie can be convoluted and complex (like some conspiracy theories) And a truth can be simple and easy to grasp, like for example the basic ideas of Darwinian Evolution.

Fernapple replies on Feb 14, 2022:

Yes. But the point is that sometimes a lie can be made deliberately simple, because that is known to be more appealing than a complex answer, whether that be a complex truth or a complex lie. While the truth is either complex or not, and can not be changed.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 14, 2022:

@Alienbeing There is no objective basis for morality, believing something is moral, "IS" the only proof of morality, and it is a purely subjective one. Adulthood is about acceptance, and accepting that your most dearly held beliefs are purely subjective, and without grounding, is perhaps the most important piece of that acceptance. We have been having this conversation now for a long time, and if you had any objective proof of morality, you only needed to bring it out, and I would gratefully accept that the conversation is over and I was wrong and have learned something. For myself I accept at least two basic arguments for morality, which I live by. The first being that there is no doubt that we all have moral instincts, such as empathy, pity and revulsion. And that those moral instincts must have an evolutionary origin, and are therefore are rooted in natural law, which should inform our choices, and that it is moral therefore to listen to our moral instincts. The second is. That if I grant a prerequisite, such as it would be better to live in a happy world, and that being kind and generous to everyone without special favour, is likely to help bring that about. Then it is moral to be kind and generous. But I have to admit that neither is in any way, an objective proof. The first because it is nebulous, and does not directly lead to any defined laws. And the second because it requires a prerequisite, "it would be better to live in a happy world", and as I said to themiddleway at the beginning, I can only derive morality given a prerequisite, and that means it is not truly objective.

Can you choose what to believe?

Fernapple comments on Feb 14, 2022:

At best, you can only choose from the selection offered to you by your brain via your own experiences, and those ideas offered to you by your own culture. Which means that the ideas of cultures you have no contact with, and ideas which no one including yourself have ever thought of, are forever off ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 14, 2022:

@ASTRALMAX Yes agreed. I deviated somewhat from the subject along my own paths, but you are much closer to the answer August1 wanted I am sure.

Northern hemisphere ?

Killtheskyfairy comments on Feb 13, 2022:

Spanish guitar, dance, and food are amazing! I spent two unforgettable weeks there!

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

@Killtheskyfairy Do try some Fado music, if you have a bit of spare time, its a bit of an acquired taste but it soaks into your inner being.

I think it was posed not 'shopped but awesome either way

Diaco comments on Feb 13, 2022:

immediately :D

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

So we know where you were looking then. LOL

I think it was posed not 'shopped but awesome either way

racocn8 comments on Feb 13, 2022:

About 23 seconds.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

Yep, about the same. My excuse is that I do not usually fixate about those areas.

Northern hemisphere ?

Killtheskyfairy comments on Feb 13, 2022:

Spanish guitar, dance, and food are amazing! I spent two unforgettable weeks there!

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

Only about tens days for me, but I have spent a lot of time in the next door Portugal. I am half convinced that for all the fancy theories about the cause of happiness, it only really needs warm sunshine, but that may be just a view from a damp gloomy little island in the north.

Mainly fun, but an interesting plant all the same. [youtube.com]

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Feb 13, 2022:

Does it deter deer? I am trying to imagine a garden application. Could add it to poison oak garden, I suppose. 🌵

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

I don't know if it keeps deer off, but in north Africa they use Prickly Pear as hedging to keepanimals out. So maybe.

Did religion give an advantage to pre-industrial revolution societies?

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2022:

Some religions may have, some may have been harmful and a few may have totally destroyed their societies. Societies, states and cultures, in the past especially, were many and varied, as were religions. Some say that for example, ( It is debatable. ) the ecology of Easter Island was destroyed, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

@Garban my pleasure.

Forget the symbolism of martyrdom and righteous devotion to blind faith, do you not find it utterly ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2022:

I don't know, I live in the UK and you hardly ever see that here.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

@Matias There are a few, but I live in the country where being nominal Anglican is still the only option. Have not seen a cross openly round anyones neck for ages.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

@Alienbeing No they were both moral, they may have been mistaken about their ideas, but they were moral. And that is the point, morallity can be mistaken and misguided, because there is no objective basis for it save what our culture tells us, since our cultural addiction is more than strong enough to override our natural instincts for things like empathy, and pity.

You know what? OCD just doesn’t play fair, man.. 😫

glennlab comments on Feb 12, 2022:

That used to work for me, but I've lost the sense of shame my grandmother instilled in me.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

Me too.

It just blows my mind that after thousands of years of evolution and intellectual advancement, ...

skado comments on Feb 12, 2022:

Beliefs don’t have to be factually true in order to be adaptively true.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2022:

Yep, if you toss a coin it can tell you the correct way to turn at a road junction, at least half the time. But fortunately we live in an age of maps and statnavs.

Ain't religion grand!?

TheMiddleWay comments on Feb 12, 2022:

I recently came upon judges 19. In that story, a man has guests over and a mob shows up wanting to rape the male guest. The owner of the house, and sense that this request, said why don't you take my daughter instead and the man's concubine? To which the mob agreed and raped them throughout the ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

Yes the basic story appears at least twice, the bibles other problem is that it tends to repeat itself. ( You would think that the scribes had not got their act together and were randomly plagiarizing each other. When everyone knows that god wrote it all. )LOL

Where there's a will ...

NostraDumbass comments on Feb 12, 2022:

You mean her

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

No the females always get it right, just like the human ones, did you not know that.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay Give it a couple more attemps then I quit.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

@Alienbeing No, but what we are saying is, that we can not prove that our view of what is moral and what is not, is any more valid than anyone elses. So the burden of proof is on you who claim that you can. As you say the argument that something is moral just because a culture does it, does not hold water, and so neither does your argument that just because you and your culture hold that murder is immoral prove that it is so, nor even does my or your feeling that I think that it would be far better to live in a culture that does. To an ancient Aztec the argument that you would let the earth dry up and the crops and all the people starve, because you are not willing to kill a single stranger , would seem immoral. The question is, what argument would you use to persuade an Aztec that he was mistaken and killing was immoral, without first disproving his persupposition that it was demanded by the gods, and replacing it with your own presupposition that it is better to minimize murder because minimizing pain is always a good thing.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay, @Alienbeing Oh I can easily see that is immoral, What I am saying is that, I can not PROOVE that it is immoral.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay Yep that is another good example. Though I think that the human sacrifice one is a little stronger, since war has always had a slightly wquestionable reputation, while religious rituals have often been seen as the hight of morality.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

@Alienbeing No I am not saying that murder is OK, just that there is no absolutist argument for saying that it is not OK. Since I am playing devils advocate for the relativist possition, that there is no reason for regarding, our post Christian view of murder as a morally certain sin, as in any way having privileged status, over that of someone like an ancient Aztec who regarded it as a moral obligation.

When you don't know shit

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2022:

Yes but a horse , a cow and a deer don't all eat the same stuff.

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

@GoodMan Of course, and my comment was intended a funny, certainly not serious, even though it is true.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2022:

@Alienbeing You are missing my point which is. That I don't have to prove that murder is moral, the Aztecs who believed in it as a holy ritual already did that.

"Contention is better than loneliness" is an Irish saying. Your thoughts?

Marionville comments on Feb 11, 2022:

I can understand the thinking behind this saying and actually think I agree with it. Loneliness is a crushing condition that eats away at the self esteem and well-being of a person and can lead to mental breakdown and suicide. Being friendless and lonely should never be compared to being ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

Yes but on the other hand, there are people who remain in abusive relationships, for years having there self esteeme crushed, often by one sided contention, Just because of the fear of lonliness and rejection.

Scientism is defined as the view that science and scientific method are the best or only objective ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2022:

Well if you like to be open minded, then there are other ways of looking at that too. For example you can take the historical view. That once almost all of human culture was religious. Which is to say that, all culture was received wisdom or folly handed down traditionally and only justified by ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@racocn8 That is very true.

• X-Men is about civil rights.

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2022:

Perhaps the very earliest, Superman, started out fighting the Nazis during the war, and the joke was of course that he was supposed to also be an ironic stab at the Nazi ideal of the racial superman and master race. So that an alien master race was set against a false master race. That enabled quite...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@Toonman SJW ?

Is morality objective or subjective?

Tejas comments on Feb 11, 2022:

Morality is subjective. As for absolute vs relative, from my knowledge very few things can be considered absolute. I don't know if anything is 100% wrong all the time but some things come to mind. Torture, genocide, indiscriminate killing and corruption just to name a few. I wouldn't say they are ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay Will look that one up. Thanks.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Tejas comments on Feb 11, 2022:

Morality is subjective. As for absolute vs relative, from my knowledge very few things can be considered absolute. I don't know if anything is 100% wrong all the time but some things come to mind. Torture, genocide, indiscriminate killing and corruption just to name a few. I wouldn't say they are ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay Yes I can go with that form of relativism, at least. PS. Have you ever read, Being Good, A Short Introduction To Ethics. by Simon Blackburn, it is perhaps a little basic for you, but I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in moral philosophy, and it is quite a short read so not a big time waster.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Tejas comments on Feb 11, 2022:

Morality is subjective. As for absolute vs relative, from my knowledge very few things can be considered absolute. I don't know if anything is 100% wrong all the time but some things come to mind. Torture, genocide, indiscriminate killing and corruption just to name a few. I wouldn't say they are ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay I have always held that there are no absolutes, but at the same time I can not (As you know, we have been here before. ) embrace relativism. Because if you accept that all ideas are equal and that none ever get any nearer to any objective truth than any others, then you become by definition anti progress. Since if there can be no improvement, then there is no point in experiment, research or learning. As with many things I think that your avatar name The Middle Way, is also the, best way. If only because it is the hardest and nothing was ever bettered without effort , work and courage.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Alienbeing comments on Feb 11, 2022:

You illustrate that you don't know the difference between Moral and Social Acceptability. You also don't seem to know that morals deal with a very limited aspect of life. Morals deal only with taking a life, or taking property. Everything else is either Ethics or Social Acceptability. Sex is not...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

Not at all. Many cultures have justified murder, including and especially human sacrifice. Which was especially regarded as highly moral, by the people who lived in those cultures.

Is morality objective or subjective?

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2022:

I think that morality is subjective, until you have determined the objective or purpose to which you intend to put it. As in, a saw is just a piece of metal until you decide to cut some wood, then it becomes a wood saw. So morality is both subjective and objective, depending on whether you view it ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@TheMiddleWay Yes I am. It is a problem with the English language, a thing with which I have never had a great relationship. But I think that you have well understood my meaning, well done.

‘The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2022:

I always thought that the main danger actually comes from just simple incompetence. As in the old one about. "Never ascribe to malice, that which can be accounted for by simple stupidity."

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@FrayedBear My hot tap gives cold water, and the cold tap hot, the hand basin slopes the wrong way, (because he refused to measure the hight, said he could guess it. ) so that a puddle builds up at the back against the wall. ) I tried fixing that myself but he had taken too much of the hight of the pedastle to allow more than a partial fix.

Scientism is defined as the view that science and scientific method are the best or only objective ...

Charles1971 comments on Feb 10, 2022:

Okay... so... if we say that science does not hold all the answers... what are the alternatives? Religion? Metaphysics? Astrology? Voodoo? Homeopathy? The paranormal? Alchemy?

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2022:

@darren316 The whole point of science is that it accepts the idea of an unknown, that is how it differs in the most part from religion. Without the unkown there would be no point in doing scientific research and science would come to an end.

The bad news is that the effects of bad years may last for decades, the good news is that things ...

Canndue comments on Feb 10, 2022:

Remember…it is always darkest before it turns totally black…

Fernapple replies on Feb 10, 2022:

So true. Stocking up on candles this year.

‘The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2022:

I always thought that the main danger actually comes from just simple incompetence. As in the old one about. "Never ascribe to malice, that which can be accounted for by simple stupidity."

Fernapple replies on Feb 10, 2022:

@FrayedBear That's a mixture of apathy, incompetence and over confidence. The plumber who fitted my bathroom suffered from that big time, could have done it better myself, and I thought I knew nothing about plumbing.

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2022:

A great truism. Word salad hides smelly fish.

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2022:

@Marionville I was thinking apologists with pseudo intellectual pretentions like Jordan Peterson, but I can go with yours too.

What is your fantasy wedding spot, if you were ever to get married or renew your vows?

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2022:

I think that I would lean on a competent organizer, like yourself, I could not do better than that. Though this spot on a nature reserve in Turkey, would be a good second best. ( My friend and traveling companion in the foreground.)

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2022:

@Julie808 It was winter of course so few leaves and flowers, I bet its even better in spring.

What is your fantasy wedding spot, if you were ever to get married or renew your vows?

Cast1es comments on Feb 8, 2022:

Now that we know where to find beautiful back drops for wedding photos , where should we go to find the absolutely best princes charming ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2022:

I'm in the UK. LOL

We don’t need God.

ASTRALMAX comments on Feb 8, 2022:

It is interesting but not surprising that you use the word ‘stalemate’ which a word that usually refers to games or game theory and a word frequently used in complaintive tone by those who feel that they should have won. “The game metaphor is used by the LSE and the Harvard Business School...

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2022:

@skado Yes but, science, moral philosophy, education systems, nation states, legal systems, and a basic ad populum conscensus are also all products of the human collective unconscious as well as the conscious. The big difference being that since they include the conscious as well, they also produce, and are expected to produce justifcations and reasons for their claims. They do not as religion does therefore provide a ready tool for the criminally immoral, to create a self justifiing system which can be use to support anything they wish.

We don’t need God.

Fernapple comments on Feb 8, 2022:

First I am convinced, that a single overarching morality for everyone, or even a single way of achieving that, would be a bad thing, because there is nothing healthier than free debate. And the gods eye view, just moves the problem back one step. Because if people can't agree on right and wrong, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2022:

@JeffMurray, @skado Reply to Jeffmurray. Yes I agree fully with that. Most people are moral by nature, and have a full set of moral instincts, like empathy, discomfort with dishonesty and revulsion at suffering, so they do not go arround raping, stealing and murdering or even want to, while the small number of individuals who are damaged or suffer a genetic weakness tend to be criminal anyway, regardless of the legal or religious institutions pronouncements on morality. Also skado's argument, confuses how we arrive at a moral philosophy as a society, with how we teach and enforce that moral code when once it is framed. I would hold that the state, the international community of states, the state's schools, and it legal systems are much better ways to teach and enforce morals than the churches, if only because they are institutions, larger, more complex and hopefully more under democratic control, therefore less likely to be corrupted by criminally intended groups and individuals. For example the USA recently survived, without a huge lot of difficulty, a coup attempt by a small group, would a church have survived so well, indeed I think that several churches have already fallen.

We don’t need God.

Fernapple comments on Feb 8, 2022:

First I am convinced, that a single overarching morality for everyone, or even a single way of achieving that, would be a bad thing, because there is nothing healthier than free debate. And the gods eye view, just moves the problem back one step. Because if people can't agree on right and wrong, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2022:

@JeffMurray Yes I agree fully with that. Most people are moral by nature, and have a full set of moral instincts, like empathy, discomfort with dishonesty and revulsion at suffering, so they do not go arround raping, stealing and murdering or even want to, while the small number of individuals who are damaged or suffer a genetic weakness tend to be criminal anyway, regardless of the legal or religious institutions pronouncements on morality. Also skado's argument, confuses how we arrive at a moral philosophy as a society, with how we teach and enforce that moral code when once it is framed. I would hold that the state, the international community of states, the state's schools, and it legal systems are much better ways to teach and enforce morals than the churches, if only because they are institutions, larger, more complex and hopefully more under democratic control, therefore less likely to be corrupted by criminally intended groups and individuals. For example the USA recently survived, without a huge lot of difficulty, a coup attempt by a small group, would a church have survived so well, indeed I think that several churches have already fallen.

Baptisms invalid - priest used wrong words.

Fernapple comments on Feb 8, 2022:

The link is broken sorry. But based on your description, I would say that if the priest is a true literal believer himself then he has no choice, and he is at least honest, even if deluded. If he is not a true believer however, then he is committing a far worse act of dishonesty by leading ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 8, 2022:

@Druvius Thank you.

The end times for religion - Freethought Now

xenoview comments on Feb 7, 2022:

TLDRA!

Fernapple replies on Feb 8, 2022:

???????

Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 7, 2022:

Interesting view from a very interesting man. Not sure that I can really agree, since many equations made within mathematical models made at that time, have been subsequently proved by experiment and observation. While science does allow for the building of hypothesis, as long as they are subjected ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2022:

@yvilletom Yes but experimentalists often prove theorists ideas for them, there is a relationship as well as competition.

The apologist and the ax murderers accomplice.

Matias comments on Feb 6, 2022:

That´s a very Christian idea behind this story: that we are all sinners.

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2022:

@Matias That's fine, by me at least, though I know that some members here would not like that. I at least don't have a problem with that, only when people make claims that they are 'certain' that religion is a needed positive and there are no alternatives.

The apologist and the ax murderers accomplice.

AnonySchmoose comments on Feb 6, 2022:

IMO, the apologist is a hypocrite. If his religion has mainly good people, then he should accept responsibility for ensuring that religious people know the difference between literal belief/fundamentalism with its hating mentality and ethical belief with its reasoned behavior. The apologist implies...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2022:

You are very correct, in fact I would say that a lot of apologetics is just the business of making a philosophy out of hypocracy. Great insight. Though I did not intend that the apologist in the story was the same person as the accomplice, or people having knowledge of each other, but rather two different people with the same faults, perhaps I should have made that more plain. Anyway your reading of it is great.

Mainly fun, but an interesting plant all the same. [youtube.com]

Lorajay comments on Feb 6, 2022:

I think I saw some when I went to the Arizona desert near lake Havasu but I thought they called him something else but I do remember people saying don't walk anywhere near them they will reach out and grab you.

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

Yes he went on to say that the buds come off, in order to get the plant spread, and showed a Pack Rat, I think, who used the buds as a sort of barbed fence to keep snake and other pedators out of its hole.

The apologist and the ax murderers accomplice.

Lorajay comments on Feb 6, 2022:

The people that do not address the root cause of these heinous acts help perpetuate them. A friend was saying he watched CNN's story about the Oklahoma City bombing. I still resent the fact that there was not more public outrage and analysis of the fact that the murderers were gun loving right wing ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

You take care of yourself, your country needs people like you.

The apologist and the ax murderers accomplice.

BufftonBeotch comments on Feb 6, 2022:

This is why I am not understanding why they are not charging all the j/6 seditionists with murder since people died. Normally if you even in the car if a felony happened and somebody died you are charged with murder as well as the person who fired the gun. Oh wait, they are all white.

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

Sad but true. I am sorry to say it, but the more I watch the news and the longer I spend on this site, the more I start to think that the US is really a very primitive society, which will have to start moving a lot faster if it is going to catch up with the rest of the developed world..

The apologist and the ax murderers accomplice.

racocn8 comments on Feb 6, 2022:

Well, there's the rub. One is a deluded psychopath. The apologist is a full blown sociopath who not only lacks any empathy, but is intent on gaining power derived from violence and wrongdoing. Sound familiar?

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

Yes very.

The apologist and the ax murderers accomplice.

Matias comments on Feb 6, 2022:

That´s a very Christian idea behind this story: that we are all sinners.

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

Sorry that was not really the intent, it was more to point out that there is a particular group who may be worse than we or they think. Perhaps I did not make myself plain, but I was trying to entertain as well.

"Behind every not so great man, is a really much better woman.

Robecology comments on Feb 6, 2022:

There you go again with calling yourself "stupid"....Please stop that? You are FAR from stupid.

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

Sorry, it is my English ironic pride, which is a bit pompus of me really. I will try to heed your advice.

The apologist and the ax murderers accomplice.

ChestRockfield comments on Feb 6, 2022:

Wrote this a long time ago. I think I even posted it here because I remember getting into a ridiculous argument with TMW (who I won't bother tagging because he refuses to talk to me anyway) about it. It is quite possible that religious moderates are not only part of the problem, but the biggest ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

That is very close to the point I was trying to make. But you do it better and more completely than me, though I was trying to entertain as well, which may be a compromise too far.

Morning all

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2022:

Sorry, not from the US. Who are the "blue stripe gang" please ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

@whiskywoman, @nogod4me Thank you, that is probably it, we have that here too, but with all the complex American symbolism like Red Hats going around, I was not sure.

Morning all

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2022:

Sorry, not from the US. Who are the "blue stripe gang" please ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

@whiskywoman Thanks anyway.

I haven’t posted here in ages, but I do stick around on several Athiest sites.

dumasarok comments on Feb 6, 2022:

Many self described atheists have never been Christian. I have never in my life had any theistic beliefs, Christian or otherwise. I personally prefer the term non-theist for myself. Why would you believe that the the term " ex- Christian" tells the entire story? Aren't you pre-supposing way too ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

@EyesThatSmile I am very glad you have found happiness, may it long continue.

I haven’t posted here in ages, but I do stick around on several Athiest sites.

dumasarok comments on Feb 6, 2022:

Many self described atheists have never been Christian. I have never in my life had any theistic beliefs, Christian or otherwise. I personally prefer the term non-theist for myself. Why would you believe that the the term " ex- Christian" tells the entire story? Aren't you pre-supposing way too ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

I think that she is only proposing to use it for herself.

What are the major differences between government - especially in a more ancient context - and ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2022:

I don't really know why you posted this as a question, since that seems to be quite a good summing up of the history anyway. Unless you are being purely rhetorical . I would perhaps however add that, religion was probably quite late on the scene when it came to making rules to live by. Firstly, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2022:

@RussRAB Yes agriculture certainly played a major part, and especially towards the end, if you think about it irrigation, which was much needed in many of the often dry river valleys where the larger states often began. Since irrigation meant large scale planning and the allocation of both duties and rights. Irrigation may indeed have been the very first agricultural technology, even before ploughing and sowing, people may have noticed that pouring water from wells and rivers on to the dry ground, made more stuff grow, providing more green food and seeds for both humans and livestock as well as attracting wild game to hunt.

What are the major differences between government - especially in a more ancient context - and ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2022:

I don't really know why you posted this as a question, since that seems to be quite a good summing up of the history anyway. Unless you are being purely rhetorical . I would perhaps however add that, religion was probably quite late on the scene when it came to making rules to live by. Firstly, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

@RussRAB I think you are making good progress with your thoughts. Another one that you may like to consider is the role played by trade in the building of early societies. Our instinctive moral frame work evolved, as I think most people would agree, to help improve the survival of extended families who shared genes in common. How did they then become extended into larger groupings ? I think that trade was probably was the thing which created the first social networks, emerging from the trade networks. For example. Say that the people who live on the beach start to trade some of their shells, used for tools and their fish, with the people who live in the hills, for their furs to keep warm in the winter. Then they will soon get to recognize individuals, knowing them and valuing them, especially if they trade fairly, as assets. Then the first time that, say a person from the beach sees a person from the hills in need, it could be hunger a threatening wild animal or some other danger, they will act. In part because they value a good trade partner as an asset, and in part because, through trade they have got to see this individual as literally, a familiar face, and therefore effectively an member of a now further extended family. So for the first time moral behaviour extends beyond the genetic family. I think that the role played by trade in the development of early society has not yet been fully realized.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2022:

I would also remind you that humans have a genetically evolved liking for high calorific foods. Because we evolved when calories were hard to come by. But that does not mean that we are obliged to eat large numbers of cheese burgers each day, that the people who do, are doing themselves or anyone ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

@skado Only trying to be helpful.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2022:

I would also remind you that humans have a genetically evolved liking for high calorific foods. Because we evolved when calories were hard to come by. But that does not mean that we are obliged to eat large numbers of cheese burgers each day, that the people who do, are doing themselves or anyone ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

@skado Using this post and your last as a quick sample, small of course, and being fairly subjective as to which replies counted on which side. Of those commentors who did not agree that religion has an evolutionary origin, (There were not many a lot were neutral and/or did not address the subject at all.) they recieved an average of about point nine likes, by my rough count. Whereas those, like some of mine, which agreed that religion has an evolutionary origin, got one point eight seven five likes on average. About two to one. It is a tiny sample of course but given that any post by you is likely to attract a larger number of negative viewers, just because its you, I think that is fairly good in favour of acceptance of the evolutionary origins. Though it is of course small and subjective, so no two people are likely to get the same figures.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Danny9 comments on Feb 4, 2022:

Well I believe that religion was a byproduct of human being themselves. It builds connection with in the tribe. Dancing and singing is also part of it. The spiritual events became more complicated and started adding harmful ceremonies and beliefs.

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

But are not hmans themselves products of evolution and their genes ?

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

xenoview comments on Feb 4, 2022:

Religion and gods are the tools used by religious conmen to get money and control people.

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

You are both quite correct, because that religion is part of an evolved mechanism, and also a tool used by conmen to get money and control, are not mutually exclusive.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2022:

I would also remind you that humans have a genetically evolved liking for high calorific foods. Because we evolved when calories were hard to come by. But that does not mean that we are obliged to eat large numbers of cheese burgers each day, that the people who do, are doing themselves or anyone ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

@skado Oh come on, I can't believe that you could seriously make that argument. Firstly because the individuals vers. universal, is a childish dichotomy, such as only twelve year old would use to try and wriggle round a criticism. Since anyone approaching adulthood would realize that the group "members" also includes the categories, majority, large majority and significant minority, and not expect to get away with such a pathetic excuse. And secondly of course posts like this, of which you have made several, are bound to attract the, probably small, even numerous, but loud minority who do oppose genetic predisposition. As well as some of those who simply do not understand it. In fact I would say that if I were writing a paper on how fallacies develop, I could do little better than to site these posts as perfect example of how confirmation bias is achieved.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2022:

I would also remind you that humans have a genetically evolved liking for high calorific foods. Because we evolved when calories were hard to come by. But that does not mean that we are obliged to eat large numbers of cheese burgers each day, that the people who do, are doing themselves or anyone ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

@skado That is very ironic given that this whole post is about straw-maning the members, as people who do not believe in genetics.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2022:

All things in human culture ultimately stem from evolved genetics. No problem with that. The important point to realize, is that that includes, atheist and agnostic views as well as all religious views. And since religious views include just about anything that you could possibly imagine, with no ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

@skado That is fair enough.

The evolved nature of human psychology is apparently such that most of us are predisposed to ...

hankster comments on Aug 11, 2021:

maybe religion played a part, but I'm figuring "money" was at the center of any "co-op" of human endeavor.

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2022:

I would say, trade, not money. Trade preceeds money, which is just there at first to enable trade, and probably began long before both money, before organized religion and long before organized religion saw that getting involved in moral issues was a route to profit and power.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2022:

All things in human culture ultimately stem from evolved genetics. No problem with that. The important point to realize, is that that includes, atheist and agnostic views as well as all religious views. And since religious views include just about anything that you could possibly imagine, with no ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

@skado PS. I am addressing your opinions not the science, so opinion is valid.

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Aaron70 comments on Feb 4, 2022:

The onus is on you to provide evidence of your argument, not the other way around butt munch….🤠

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

Very true. The old epistomological truth. "The burden of proof is with those making the claim."

In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2022:

All things in human culture ultimately stem from evolved genetics. No problem with that. The important point to realize, is that that includes, atheist and agnostic views as well as all religious views. And since religious views include just about anything that you could possibly imagine, with no ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

@skado My first line should make it clear that I do not consider it likely that any such papers exist, and if they did I, and you can find some, would remind you that the very first priciple of science for which I have the greatest respect, is that science can be wrong, which is the main reason why it deserves respect. My second reply explains quite clearly why I am not wasting time on that. And this is not oppinion just a correction of epistomology.

Religion is evolution’s protection against ‘extinction-due-to-evolutionary-mismatch’, just as ...

AtheistInNC comments on Jan 31, 2022:

With the advent of technology, all the benefits of religion can be had WITHOUT religion now. The human race won't go extinct without religion at this point. We need to deep six every religion. The sooner the better. Religion kills.

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

@AtheistInNC You are right, but Skado is not a merely closet Christian, the direction in which he is trying to lead is a great deal darker even than that.

SCIENTISTS GENERALLY AGREE…

Toonman comments on Feb 3, 2022:

Notice how Skado clammed up the minute rational people chimed in?

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

Yes. Will message you.

"It is not so much our friends help, that helps us, as the confident knowledge that they will help ...

waitingforgodo comments on Feb 4, 2022:

Thanks for the inspiration to learn a little about Epicurus.

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

My pleasure.

It's been a tough winter but it's that time of year again where Canadian Gardeners start putting ...

AnneWimsey comments on Feb 4, 2022:

But, the snow will cushion your fall when you slip on the underlying ice! Such a whiner!

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

Yes but the wind blows the snow off the ice, so that you can land hard after all, and the snow piles up where you don't want it, so that you have to walk on the ice. And I love to whine.

"It is not so much our friends help, that helps us, as the confident knowledge that they will help ...

waitingforgodo comments on Feb 3, 2022:

The patron saint of "drunkards, whoremongers and gluttons" was more than just a pretty plate.

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2022:

He was indeed. And I am sorry to be a pedant, but in case some here should not spot your irrony. "The patron saint of drunkards, whoremongers and gluttons" idea, was a Later Christian propaganda originating in the time when Epicurian philosophy was still possing a threat to Christianity, and is quite the opposite of the truth. Epicurus lived and preached a life of almost extreme austerity, in which self indulgence was to be reduced to nothing, and which inspired the Christian Monastic and aethetic traditions. His main connection with pleasure was that under Epicurianism, misused pleasure was seen as the main source of misfortune, and the control of desire was seen as the main virtue. The emphasis on pleasure in the philosophy gave the early Christians however the tool they needed to do their usual trick of turning things upside down, to create a black propaganda, which survives to this day but is the exact opposite of the truth.

"It is not so much our friends help, that helps us, as the confident knowledge that they will help ...

waitingforgodo comments on Feb 3, 2022:

Struggling with dinner ... again. Start with a mirepoix of eudaimonic, ataraxia and aponia .

Fernapple replies on Feb 3, 2022:

I thought that I had achieved ataraxia and aponia and was practically eudaimonic, then I found this site and discovered that I may have an epithumia for taking hedone in murdering some of its members.

North Korea Hacked Him. So He Took Down Its Internet | WIRED

FvckY0u comments on Feb 2, 2022:

Very interesting article. Brings up the question that if the US government is attacked by a hacker working alone but is a citizen of say Russia does the US consider that a Russian attack? So in this case if NK is attacked by a citizen of the US does NK consider it a state sponsored attack? ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 3, 2022:

Future headline. "Toxin levels in hacker's car still too high, for safe investigation. Corroner said." LOL