Fernapple's Profile

How non-peer reviewed science makes it to the populous.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2021:

Could not endure the grammar, was the article written by a ten year old ?

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2021:

@JackPedigo It seems to have moved on anyway. I went back to try and give it a second go, but it had gone. If the author knows that it is ephemeral, he may just have cut and pasted from a paper.

"I never barked when out of season, I never bit without a reason; I n'er insulted weaker brother,...

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2021:

And here is Byron on a Newfoundland dog's grave. Enjoy. Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour, Debas'd by slavery, or corrupt by power, Who knows thee well, must quit thee with disgust, Degraded mass of animated dust! Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat, Thy tongue hypocrisy, thy ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2021:

@AnonySchmoose I liked the similar sentiments, given especially that Byron and Burns are in many ways polar opposites, who would probably have loathed one another had they met.

How non-peer reviewed science makes it to the populous.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2021:

Could not endure the grammar, was the article written by a ten year old ?

Fernapple replies on Nov 23, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 It is very like the output of drunks writing in haste late at night.

What is your definition of stupidity?

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2021:

It may not exist at all. Just as there is no such thing as dark, only a lack of light, and no such thing as cold only a lack of heat, so there may be, no such thing as stupid only too little thinking.

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2021:

@Matias, @p-nullifidian The cause and effects would be very important and the definition much less so. But since a definition is a immaterial human cultural construct, and genetics a material part of nature, they exist in almost completely different magisteria anyway.

What is your definition of stupidity?

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2021:

It may not exist at all. Just as there is no such thing as dark, only a lack of light, and no such thing as cold only a lack of heat, so there may be, no such thing as stupid only too little thinking.

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2021:

@Matias Yes darkness can be an lack of light, you can produce a photon of light, can you find a particle of dark ? As to your other questions. No to the first, yes to the second, to the third death does not exist, and no to the last one.

This comment was posted Online by anonymous poster.

Moravian comments on Nov 22, 2021:

We do need children, just not too many. Someone has to look after us in our dotage.

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2021:

No , there is the option of actively choosing death before we reach our dotage. And that also assumes that our children will survive, long enough, to be there in our dotage.

Moving outside the religious norms of past generations has brought us here:

Spongebob comments on Nov 21, 2021:

Who defines what "more ethical" means?

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2021:

Becoming more ethical and defining more ethical , are perhaps one and the same.

Freethought is a philosophical position that holds that ideas and opinions should be based on ...

mischl comments on Nov 21, 2021:

Ryo1, no name, no photo, no gender. Are you a troll?

Fernapple replies on Nov 22, 2021:

@Buck No he's from Devon, a small country almost attached to England, which thinks that it is independant. (Think Newfoundlanders.) (They are very inbred, which could account for the ears. )

I love to cuddle up with a good book or preferably with a woman who has read one. 😁😉

hankster comments on Nov 21, 2021:

both.

Fernapple replies on Nov 21, 2021:

@hankster Well don't get mapel syrup on the pillows.

I love to cuddle up with a good book or preferably with a woman who has read one. 😁😉

hankster comments on Nov 21, 2021:

both.

Fernapple replies on Nov 21, 2021:

Greedy. Besides at your time of life, how can you concentrate ?

We Live By a Unit of Time That Doesn’t Make Sense The seven-day week has survived for ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 21, 2021:

Its simple. Go for twenty eight day months. Then every month starts on the same day, and nobody ever needs to buy another calender. You then have thirteen months in a year which is three hundred and sixty four days, so you make new years day a public holiday which is not given a week day ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 21, 2021:

@Diaco Thats why I said. "in leap years you have two of them"

I encourage everyone to trade up your weapons for web puns.

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2021:

Groan.

Fernapple replies on Nov 20, 2021:

@Willow_Wisp Love you too.

is the universe 13.8 billion years old no matter what direction we're detecting?

David1955 comments on Nov 19, 2021:

Yes, and don't stop until you get to the restaurant at the edge of the universe. Questions like yours, and what does the universe expand into? are the kind of questions which, as they used to say in the 60s, "really blows my mind, man!"

Fernapple replies on Nov 20, 2021:

@hankster It may not have an edge anyway, because some cosmology says that space is so bent that if you keep going far enough in an unbending line, you will eventually arive back where you started.

My wife just completed a 40-week body building routine... It's a baby boy, weighing 7 pounds!

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2021:

Now you will be body building, while your brain melts though lack of sleep. Enjoy and congratulations.

Fernapple replies on Nov 20, 2021:

@Lilac-JadeCanada Yep, I read Sticks48 below after I posted, but thought that I would let it stand.

Schnitzel (meat in breadcrumbs) 😆

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2021:

Muesli and melon. Its breakfast time here in the UK.

Fernapple replies on Nov 19, 2021:

@Ryo1 Well there are a lot of people here, not all of them come from a country bordering on the UK.

Do you dance to this when you do your housework?

Paul4747 comments on Nov 19, 2021:

Who does housework? If I can still see carpet somewhere in the place, it's all good.

Fernapple replies on Nov 19, 2021:

Oh, I remember, there used to be a carpet in my house too.

Come to Britain.

Fernapple comments on Nov 17, 2021:

It is worth pointing out, that this is a Christian group doing the survey, and that the stats are only about Christians for the most part. So it is not the British population as a whole, since it ignores the large percentages of other faiths and none believers. It it hard to tell with some of the ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 17, 2021:

@Ryo1 Yes. I think that it is interesting that in the stats. (From Wiki.) over 7% are given as, "not stated". It could be, that an awful lot of those could be none religious, which would push, no religion, up to nearly a third.

Why not evolution?

Diagoras comments on Nov 16, 2021:

Couldn't an argument be made that anything humans do is a result of evolution? I think the same tribalism is what leads non believers to denial about the topic. Within most species typical and atypical behaviors can be found. Why would we be any different?

Fernapple replies on Nov 16, 2021:

The important point is that. "Religions were invented by criminals to control people and take their money." and, religions being "most likely adaptive". Are not in contradiction. My desire for large high cal. meals, is adaptive for life on the African savanna, where good meals were hard to come by. That adaption does not mean that today it is not criminal, for powerful food manufacturers to produce and market large amounts of junk food designed to be addictive, to an already obese population. We have come a long way from the centre of Africa where our adaptive traits evolved, and what was once an advantage may now be a disadvantage. While the adaptive desire for large meals does not specify any particular diet, either, so that all of the diets offered today around the world, may not be healthy, or contain only wild African game and roots. So it does not follow that today's religions have to be useful or adaptive, just because the early religions were. While the fact that there is hardly a single thing held by today's religions in common, proves that they have all moved very far for what they were originally. I would say therefore that the main reason that most sceptics do not credit religions with origins in evolution, if that is indeed the case that they don't, though reading these replies I have doubts, is that they simply do not know about some very obscure science which has very little bearing on their real interests, and does not really conflict with their views.

Why not evolution?

Tejas comments on Nov 15, 2021:

I'm not sure I understand the question. Evolution is a natural process that continues to exist as long as there are living organisms. Religion is man made, and without the existence of humans it is non existent.

Fernapple replies on Nov 15, 2021:

@MsKathleen Skado himself calls it the "capacity for religion" but the, capacity for, is not religion, any more than the capacity of my belly for large meals means that I over-eat.

Why not evolution?

p-nullifidian comments on Nov 15, 2021:

A distinction should be made, in my opinion, between the behavioral and biological sciences. Religion is mapped into the former, and while we may say that religions have changed over time, or even that human behavior has ‘evolved,’ there is no genetic information to be passed. In other words, ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 15, 2021:

@skado There is no language gene, complex emergent properties such as language, are aways the result of several genetically preformed characteristics, which themselves will almost certainly result from the effects of whole groups of genes interacting with each other, and with environmental factors. Siam cats, do have a single gene for dark fur, but it only expresses itself if they get cold during development, therefore it is perfectly possible to have a pale Siam cat, you just keep the kitten warm. There are therefore few inevitable paths leading to any inevitable aspects of religion, just as the needs we have to communicate can be filled by spoken language, writen language, and sign language, and as in the case of hermits, we do not even need to use language at all. Genetic determinism certainly exists, but it is never as simple or as inevitable as a 'gene' for language or a 'gene' for religion. And there is no reason to think that the genetic needs, for what is generally termed, religion, can not be filled by other means, just as written and sign language can fill the need for communication, just as speech, and bread from Canada can fill our hunger just as well as meat for the wildlife of Africa, we evolved to eat. So there is no reason to think that philosophy, science, litrature, arts, sport, nationalism, etc. can not meet our genetic need for religion.

Why not evolution?

Paul4747 comments on Nov 15, 2021:

There actually does seem to be an evolutionary bias to believe in invisible beings and conscious action on the part of inanimate objects, e.g. "That rock looks like it's going to fall on someone", "Those clouds are going to rain on us," "This car refuses to start when I'm late for work." This seems ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 15, 2021:

It was perhaps in The God Delution, and also in, Unweaving The Rainbow, but certainly R. Dawkins has widely recounted the idea, though, if I remember correctly, he did always say that he did not originate it.

Why not evolution?

Tejas comments on Nov 15, 2021:

I'm not sure I understand the question. Evolution is a natural process that continues to exist as long as there are living organisms. Religion is man made, and without the existence of humans it is non existent.

Fernapple replies on Nov 15, 2021:

@skado Because the idea that religion is an evolved trait, and the idea that, it was just a bad idea that someone made up, are not contradictions. Since the capacity and ability to make up bad ideas is and evolved trait, but that does not mean that they are not bad ideas. The same mistake appears most of all in your second point, asking if religion is just a product of criminals, which seems to assume that criminals are not themselves products of evolution. My desire to over eat, and put on weight , is a product of evolution, dating from the days when good meals were hard to find. But that does not mean that it is necessary, inevitable or good to overeat. My doctor tells me that if I put on weight, it will make me unfit, unhappy and shorten my life, so it is not good. I managed to stop doing it and lost weight, so it is not necessary or inevitable either. And the doctors reasons for saying that are many, but the greatest is the observation that people who do not overeat, are usually fitter, happier and longer lived. So is the observation that societies which are less religious, and more secular, are generally happier and score higher on every feature of societal health, such as life expectancy, low criminality, better education, fewer unwanted pregnancies etc. the list is endless.

The Benefits of Claiming "Atheism" for Atheists Should Not Be Ignored

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2021:

I have to hold my hands up and say that I do just the opposite. If I was bothered about labels, then I would put myself down as an Agnostic Atheist Broad Church Sceptic, but for the most part if asked I will just say atheist. Because it is simple and people tend to understand it, but I live in ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 15, 2021:

@MikeInBatonRouge thank you.

Meet the "bulldozer of the Aussie Bush," aka the Wombat, the fur covered Tank, the only marsupial ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 14, 2021:

Never met one but, I love the idea of Wombats, because we have such a lot in common; bad attitude, portly figure, nosy, and a strong tendency to turn round and show the world my big ass.

Fernapple replies on Nov 14, 2021:

@Triphid Only one of those two, I leave you to work out which.

Remember the adage if it’s too good to be true it probably is. [wjtv.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2021:

Link not available in Europe.

Fernapple replies on Nov 13, 2021:

@JackPedigo Thank you, that explains it.

I equate morality with religion and so I do not presume to have them as a godless one but I do have ...

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Nov 13, 2021:

WTF is secular humanism if not a morality system? Humans create morality. Religion is only a tactic for branding it and claiming some cosmic authority for that given brand.

Fernapple replies on Nov 13, 2021:

That's it in a nutshell.

I equate morality with religion and so I do not presume to have them as a godless one but I do have ...

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Nov 12, 2021:

I often say that I have no morals, but I am ethical. I also equate morals with religion, i.e. Christians claim that homosexuality is immoral, but it is not unethical. Adultery is not even unethical if all partners agree on the parameters. Ethics evolved from the need to protect the clan/tribe...

Fernapple replies on Nov 13, 2021:

The danger with that is that you risk giving up the ground to relgion, if you do not challenge their fake claim to be the sourse of morallity. Especially as most people will not understand/care about, the fine distinction between ethics and morals.

I equate morality with religion and so I do not presume to have them as a godless one but I do have ...

waitingforgodo comments on Nov 12, 2021:

Ethicists take the sword of Damocles and cut the Gordian knot without splitting the hair to the throne.

Fernapple replies on Nov 13, 2021:

Wow ! That takes the prize for, the most mixed metaphore of the month, without a doubt. I think that I will float downstream until cock crow, before I try herding those cats through the eye of the neddle.

I equate morality with religion and so I do not presume to have them as a godless one but I do have ...

LovinLarge comments on Nov 12, 2021:

Love that meme! I expect religion has conditioned us to equate morality with religion but in fact morality is rooted in philosophy not religion.

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

It is also a lot older than at least organized religion.

Buddah, Jesus, and Mohammed Stepped Into History... Or Maybe They Didn't

Storm1752 comments on Nov 11, 2021:

I marvel when I read things like in Wikipedia that the idea JC was a made-up myth has been thoroughly dismissed as a "fringe theory" and "the broad consensus" is this "person" most definitely did exist, no doubt about it. Then I read about the "evidence" supporting this nearly unanimous ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

@Storm1752 Love it well researched.

Buddah, Jesus, and Mohammed Stepped Into History... Or Maybe They Didn't

Storm1752 comments on Nov 11, 2021:

I marvel when I read things like in Wikipedia that the idea JC was a made-up myth has been thoroughly dismissed as a "fringe theory" and "the broad consensus" is this "person" most definitely did exist, no doubt about it. Then I read about the "evidence" supporting this nearly unanimous ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

@Storm1752 Yes, I would agree that the Roman forgery conspiracy theory is one of the better ones. Not all the theories are equal. But it is still mainly speculative, and we do not know if the forgers were inventing it as new, or were using lost earlier texts and myths to build on. It certainly has many of the qualities of a forgery, but you can have copies and fakes of earlier forgeries, and earlier texts rellating can be destroyed. Do not also forget, that the Flavians stole all the documents held in Jerusalem's temple, perhaps the only library of Jewish religious writing in the Holy Land at the time. What did they find in there ? What did they destroy ? What did they copy ? Why did they really take it ? Who else knew what was in there ? Who did they bribe to cover things up ? Was the Flavian Jesus an original invention, or was there a real Jewish leader who the Flavians wanted to eraze by substituting their own ? Or did the Flavian actually want to put the record square, in their favour, after someone else started promoting their own anti-Roman myth ? I would say, that even if we assume that the Flavians had something to do with it, we still have no idea what was really happening. Ps have another look at the debate we took part in with Skado a couple of days ago, I added another bit you may like.

“There is always going to be a reason to get irritated by people’s behaviour but if you can find...

Fernapple comments on Nov 12, 2021:

"I followed his gaze, and saw, coming down towards us on the sluggish current, a dog. It was one of the quietest and peacefullest dogs I have ever seen. I never met a dog who seemed more contented – more easy in its mind. It was floating dreamily on its back, with its four legs stuck up straight ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

@Marionville Innocent fun.

“There is always going to be a reason to get irritated by people’s behaviour but if you can find...

Fernapple comments on Nov 12, 2021:

"I followed his gaze, and saw, coming down towards us on the sluggish current, a dog. It was one of the quietest and peacefullest dogs I have ever seen. I never met a dog who seemed more contented – more easy in its mind. It was floating dreamily on its back, with its four legs stuck up straight ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

@Marionville It comes in the book, Three Men In A Boat, just after someone has persuaded them that it is safe to drink the river water.

Buddah, Jesus, and Mohammed Stepped Into History... Or Maybe They Didn't

Storm1752 comments on Nov 11, 2021:

I marvel when I read things like in Wikipedia that the idea JC was a made-up myth has been thoroughly dismissed as a "fringe theory" and "the broad consensus" is this "person" most definitely did exist, no doubt about it. Then I read about the "evidence" supporting this nearly unanimous ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

I have heard many different ideas about the Jesus figure, completely mythical, myth built on a small real figure, fictional, allogorical, historical, etc. the one thing that all the theories have in common, is that the tiny amount of confused messed up and doubtful evidence is not enough to support any theory. The real answer is that nobody has, or probably ever will have, the faintest idea what the truth is.

Ever wonder where Trumptards will lead us if given a free hand to destroy democracy and install a ...

anglophone comments on Nov 11, 2021:

I wonder in this day and age how such sexually psychopathic individuals end up in positions of power.

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

@SnowyOwl And always do.

Anyone know this guy?

barjoe comments on Nov 11, 2021:

They just made single use plastic bags illegal in Philadelphia. I do this everytime because I almost never have a parking spot in front of the house. They either make you buy a bag or bring your own. My local gives old school brown bags like back in the day. You have no choice but to make two trips....

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

@Julie808 A few years ago in Turkey I stopped in a supermarket, and not having many items, I thought that I would carry them out in my arms. But the young lady at the check out spotted this, took them of me, and insisted in packing them into a bag for me. The young lady at the next checkout even came over to help her. (It was a slow day.) Then they gave me big smiles and opened the doors for me. Silly old foreign man. Obviously does not know how supermarkets work !!!

There is a difference I think between atheism/agnosticism/non-belief, on the one hand, and ...

Storm1752 comments on Nov 10, 2021:

So you're asking: if a religious group, say, believes something which isn't (literally) true, as an adaptation which enhances its ability to survive and reproduce, why would I have a problem with it? I wouldn't. What is this thing that isn't literally true? Is it true in any sense of the word? ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 12, 2021:

@Storm1752 No I agree with you, the system is not broken and Skados sentimental clinging to the only real broken bit of it, is a serious mistake. While ignoring the most common modern usage of the word religion and exchanging it for an ancient out modded usage, is just an attempt to tap dance round the real issues. It ignores, or even seems completely blind to the very real progress which is being made in, secular ideology, human rights, environmentalism, socialism, democracy, nation states, internationalism, health, secular philosophy, science and law etc. While trying to rename the whole of human culture with the name of religion, is just a cheap devious shabby trick, typical of a certain low type of apologist, with whom Skado seems to be enthralled, to abolish the very real difference between a real ideological sub-group and all the others and regain religion it its centrality, which it has justifiably lost, just by an Orwellian renaming game. ( Like changing Facebook to Meta.) Even if it can be justified by a trivial reference to an ancient and forgotten historic usage. ( And yes I am aware that "usage", could be seen as an appeal to the, ad populum, fallacy, but I think that usage is more applicable in this case than an appeal to the fallacy from authority, especially ancient authority, "must be true if its old" .) The future of religion, real religion, and especially theist religion, is to become increasingly, (as we can observe happening ) the ideological wing of organized crime, and the home of the dangerously antisocial. For the simple reason that, religion has only ever been able to prosper because it provided an alternate view to mainstream secular culture, without that it has no place in the market. And as all the other modern cultural institutions, increasingly, come to agree on certain moral and ideological standards, religion has nowhere else to go, and nobody else to attract save the criminal.

There is a difference I think between atheism/agnosticism/non-belief, on the one hand, and ...

Storm1752 comments on Nov 10, 2021:

So you're asking: if a religious group, say, believes something which isn't (literally) true, as an adaptation which enhances its ability to survive and reproduce, why would I have a problem with it? I wouldn't. What is this thing that isn't literally true? Is it true in any sense of the word? ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

@Storm1752 Not genetic superiority, but genetic advantage, that is to say an advange in passing their genes on to the next gereration. And no Islam did not establish a great empire because of its greater science, art and high culture, the biggest growths in the empire were made by primitive followers of the prophet in the first hundred years after his death. Religion and the zeal it generated, was certainly the main driving force, and the main reason why the established empires failed to stop the Arabic expansion, was because the new religion offered to free any slaves who joined, and the slave owning empires fell like dominos before its liberal agenda.

So a nurse from my work is quitting to become a full time youth pastor.

TheMiddleWay comments on Nov 11, 2021:

You, or rather your nurse, need to define what is meant by "improve" for the challenge to make any sense.

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

Yes, otherwise it leaves the issues open for the 'nurse' to redefine the criteria after the event, as well as being vague for onlookers.

“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.

Pralina1 comments on Nov 11, 2021:

Struggling w this . Especially with sick people 🙄🙁 Just walked away from someone , here w acute pancreatitis do to alcohol , pain controlled now so he insist to have food . I explained about 8 x that this is not an option . He will vomit and be in pain . He insists that I am not to tell him ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

Sorry you are having a bad time. But sometimes onlookers will be able to tell the difference. And sometimes you just don't have a choice.

There is a difference I think between atheism/agnosticism/non-belief, on the one hand, and ...

KKGator comments on Nov 10, 2021:

Being an atheist and an anti-theist, I can tell you precisely why I loathe religion. I used to have a "live and let live" attitude about religion. As long as they kept their beliefs to themselves, I had no issue. However, too many believers have actively made a career of trying to force what ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

@KKGator As Skado says. What "mechanism churchgoers have at their disposal to correct the behavior of people who only happen to attend the same church ?" They have only one, which is to leave the church themselves, in the hope that the evil doers in the church will only be left with a stump of a church, starved of resources.. And that is what they are doing arround the world in increasing numbers. Which has the effect though, of leaving the churches and temples etc. increacingly in the hands of the immoral (evil if you like) minority. Which in turn drives away more moderates, until religion becomes a purely criminal and immoral activety. That is its destiny. Unfortunately for Skado his sentimental attachment to religions past and long faded glories, only allows him to get as far as understanding, "mechanism churchgoers have at their disposal to correct the behavior of people who only happen to attend the same church." But not to face the future.

There is a difference I think between atheism/agnosticism/non-belief, on the one hand, and ...

Storm1752 comments on Nov 10, 2021:

So you're asking: if a religious group, say, believes something which isn't (literally) true, as an adaptation which enhances its ability to survive and reproduce, why would I have a problem with it? I wouldn't. What is this thing that isn't literally true? Is it true in any sense of the word? ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

To answer that I can perhaps just quote the reply I just gave above. You do not have to go as far as science, to demonstrate the adaptive and genetic advantages that religion has brought to many. History will do. There is no doubt, that for example, many Arabic male gained a considerable genetic advantage from the establishment of the Islamic empire, and that the resulting boom in the access gained to female slaves and forced marriages, helped their genetic success. While economics would show that, the wealth and power generated by the professions of priest, witch doctor etc., always helped males to gain access to more and better sexual partners, and that even the priestess may to a less extent have gained genetic advantages, such as higher grade male partners and more resources enabling more social success and higher survival rates among her children. But it is a two edged sword, because there is also no doubt that, the monastic tradition for example, did do a lot of harm to the breeding success of many.

Most people on this site are probably from a western Christian background, therefore you may be ...

Julie808 comments on Nov 11, 2021:

Maybe that's fine and good in a city atmosphere, but different regions might have different attitudes toward some introduced animals which disrupt the harmonious environment. On the small island of Kauai, stray cats are a nuisance. They kill the endangered birds and also leave diseased ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

That is just the sort of input I was hoping tho stimulate with this post.Thank you. I know that the islands of all places have great problems with introductions, but it is pleasing to hear about conservation entering popular culture.

“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.

FrayedBear comments on Nov 11, 2021:

Nor open your mouth & prove that you are a fool.

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

Actually I am not the least bit bothered by how foolish I may look. I long since reached the point of, what I would call, (Perhaps wrongly even foolishly.) matrurity, where I am not bothered by my public image, save as sometimes a practical tool worth keeping to a degree, to be used for gain.

Most people on this site are probably from a western Christian background, therefore you may be ...

Diaco comments on Nov 10, 2021:

hmm, I just have to mention this, it's about the culture, not religion, in this case, Islam is so vague about most things, like animals, you can find so many different Interpretation and quotes from the Quran, Mohammad, and Imams( Imams in Shia Branch ) about animals. for example about Dogs, some of...

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

That is right, this is very much about the Turkish/Ottoman tradition, which is very different from the Arabic one.

Once thought to be as extinct as an honest Politician, this earliest ancestor of most eels has been ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2021:

Name please. Or even better a link.

Fernapple replies on Nov 11, 2021:

@Triphid That must be why I always get such a rough ride, never have had much of that.

Once thought to be as extinct as an honest Politician, this earliest ancestor of most eels has been ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2021:

Name please. Or even better a link.

Fernapple replies on Nov 10, 2021:

@Triphid Go on you are brilliant, don't let the self defined smart kids tell you otherwise.

I hope this isn't considered being nosy, but I have been wondering about our fellow member ...

Spinliesel comments on Nov 5, 2021:

`I am not dead yet. Made it home from the family funeral event but had some serious side effects from a new prescription that was supposed to make me all better. Seeing my doctor in about an hour, I promise to get better soon and keep in better touch. Spinliesel is Antje

Fernapple replies on Nov 10, 2021:

Good glad to have you back.

More on my favourites, you need to watch this when relaxed for a while, (its an hour) but it is ...

Willow_Wisp comments on Nov 9, 2021:

I feed from 30 to 40 crows twice a day at my office. I was shocked they can eat so many peanuts, but just like me feeding them it's just an excuse for us to study one another.

Fernapple replies on Nov 9, 2021:

Well done you, that is beautiful.

How a country teaches or inculcates belief at an early age?

Castlepaloma comments on Nov 9, 2021:

The odd justice happen to keep the system afloat Most part it is an un-justice system about money and power. More for them and less for most of us.

Fernapple replies on Nov 9, 2021:

Justice is in pratice an impossiblity anyway, the justice "system" is a religious body which is encouraging people to follow an impossible dream. Perhaps it is an essential of government that it should pose as a provider of justice, to gain enough support to govern, but no government has ever been successful in practice.

Can anyone give me the number of times the phrase "put to death" is in the bible?

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2021:

Interesting. Why would you want to know, please ?

Fernapple replies on Nov 8, 2021:

@mattbullis I would love to know how many times it uses the word "knew" in the so called biblical sense.

Please send roasted and salted Cashews, NOT peanuts please.

creative51 comments on Nov 8, 2021:

Facebook banned me for actually doing nothing! I had an account, made no posts, no comments, just looked at others posts. So they kicked me off in April of this year. I do not miss it one bit.

Fernapple replies on Nov 8, 2021:

You can get that, Wow !!

Religion is great for the greedy lazy narcissist, because it is the one thing which justifies ...

Julie808 comments on Nov 7, 2021:

Agree with your assessment, though I had never thought to articulate it in such a way. Surrounded by New Age nuts in my community, I have found they seem to demand some sort of elevated respect for believing trees talk to them, or that the universe has found them a parking spot. Calling some ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 8, 2021:

Yours is a very good assessment, and based in first hand experience which is useful. Thank you.

Religion is great for the greedy lazy narcissist, because it is the one thing which justifies ...

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Nov 7, 2021:

I must admit I have not spent much brainpower sorting out the failings of new age religion. Yanni music, people fawning over crystals, and pop guris styling themselves as eastern mystics while speaking in riddles to avoid any scrutiny against their actual lack of profundity was all enough to ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 8, 2021:

You are obviously a strong person to survive the encounter. I just picked out one small feature that they all have in common, from a safe distance, addressing the whole mess is just too much.

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; ...

skado comments on Nov 7, 2021:

To whatever extent we attempt to modify our level of kindness beyond our instinctual impulses, we are practicing “religion”.

Fernapple replies on Nov 8, 2021:

@Marionville What is to be seen here is a very crude example of false equivalence, probably double false equivalence. As in. My cat is black , therefore all black things are cats and all cats are black. Since because some parts of religion are cultural modifiers creating wider altruism, it does not follow that all cultural modifiers of that type are religion, or that all religion, even all religious cultural modifiers are of that type. ( Many religious modifiers actually promote hate, for one example, some may be neutral.) Therefore the statement. “You are doing religion.” Is quite bogus for several reasons. What you can certainly take away from this is, just how destructive and corrosive to the human personality religion and especially apologetics are. Such quite crude tricks and pathetic attempts at, what is basically little more than linguistic sophistry, are common in religious apologetics. So that many people who live in the echo chambers of religion, especially religious apologetics, become so accustomed to such deceptions, and to the continuous habit of self deception, which is a daily custom. That in many of the saddest and most pathetic victims, their personalities are eroded to the point where they are no longer able understand let alone use such basic human qualities as honesty or critical judgement.

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; ...

skado comments on Nov 7, 2021:

To whatever extent we attempt to modify our level of kindness beyond our instinctual impulses, we are practicing “religion”.

Fernapple replies on Nov 7, 2021:

@skado That is invalid because there are, and always have been, many other cultural modifiers besides religion, all of which will produce that effect. Including nationhood, trade, shared artistic endevour, moral philosophy, and civic community, to name but a few. To claim all of it for religion is therefore, quite bogus, and since all of the above have historically now far exceded religion as promoters of altruism, and continue to prove more successful, out of date.

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; ...

Mcflewster comments on Nov 7, 2021:

I kind of like that.

Fernapple replies on Nov 7, 2021:

Yes me too.

There is a growing movement among the medical world, about the benefits of nature to health.

Julie808 comments on Nov 7, 2021:

There's some truth to that I believe. I'm lucky to be able to live, work, walk and bike with breathtaking scenery all around me. Sometimes I feel like my heart is going to burst with joy at such beauty, fresh air, pleasant wildlife sounds. I enjoy watching the colors change in the sky as the world...

Fernapple replies on Nov 7, 2021:

SSounds like a wonderful way to live. May you long enjoy it.

Exactly....

LucyLoohoo comments on Nov 6, 2021:

"God" isn't really ''useless'' if you're looking for a tool to control the masses. That's his biggest value...control of others.

Fernapple replies on Nov 7, 2021:

@Lizard_of_Ahaz He was one of the tools the priests used to justify their false authority, now he is not working so well, a lot of would be fake leaders are dropping him, and just keeping all the other props that religion offers the con-artist. Its called new ageism.

It is not the flags and banners which kill you and win the battle.

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Nov 5, 2021:

I like to imagine your 2nd paragraph. In fact, prior to the pandemic, I was attending monthly meetings doing just that. They DO exist. I am sure no one here is the slightest bit shocked to hear my group here is actually a secular humanistic Freethinkers group. The problem is, though, such ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 6, 2021:

Well done. It is a tall order and my second para. was mainly hypothetical to throw light on just how the first is so extremely stupid. As I said to Mcflewster below though, in the UK we do find that as the churches fade at least the specialist, ( geeky if you like ,) clubs do grow, it may not be ideal, but it is something better than church.

Really stupid FaceBook robots at work.

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Nov 6, 2021:

Where's that face-palm emoji when you need it?

Fernapple replies on Nov 6, 2021:

I don't know if FB have one. LOL

1. There is something alive, down on the ground in my garden. 2. Problem solved, terminated.

Mooolah comments on Nov 5, 2021:

Cats are master predators & millions of wildlife perish at their prowess. My neutered, Zoot Suit, exits the dog door. He has a collar with bright orange hazard tape circumnavigating it. Birds see color. He also has a semi loud bell to warn the rodents. He usually brings me live prey as a baby ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2021:

I don't keep a cat of my own. The one in the photo is from next door, they are lovely animals but the effects they have on wildlife is too much.

"No man is capable of causing great evil without thinking he is doing the right thing.

JackPedigo comments on Nov 5, 2021:

It has been, rightly, said that no one can handle the idea they are bad. Everyone, no matter how much death and destruction they cause, they do feel, somehow it is for a good cause. My former wife, a strong Christian and also having bi-polar disease, once tole a small group of us that she knows ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2021:

Not sure, I often feel that I have done bad things, and do not think of them as forgivable, I just hope that that on ballance the good things have more value. To use the most banal of all historical comparisons. I often like to think of Europe's great twentieth century dictators. For while, I am sure that Hitler certainly did think that he was in the right and was doing good. Stalin I am also pretty sure, knew that a lot of his actions were evil and harmful, but decided to carry on anyway. The fact that he avoided visiting the country in later life, quite deliberately, because the famines he caused were far worse in rural areas, and he did not wish to face them, kind of proves it.

It is not the flags and banners which kill you and win the battle.

Mcflewster comments on Nov 5, 2021:

It won't happen unless YOU( meaning every reader ) makes it happen. It is a good idea. Things do happen but never in the way you expect. Do you think this would happen in the Greta( i.e young ) community i.e unfettered by us oldies?

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2021:

No, I do not think it has the remotest chance of happening. The only reason for the second part, which is purely hypothetical, was to put the negative comment in the first part in prespective. But to a lesser extent it has happened in the UK, and may happen in even to those unlucky enough to live across the pond, but it tends to be more specialist, hobby, clubs which benefit as the churches decline, no bad thing but not the big idea.

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken" Oliver ...

Diogenes comments on Nov 3, 2021:

Okay, everyone knows who Ollie is- but what is this about?

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2021:

@Diogenes Though Oliver was not beheaded until after he was dead.

It is not the flags and banners which kill you and win the battle.

AnneWimsey comments on Nov 5, 2021:

Umm, it sounds great, until you think about the red-hatted MAGA--fools who would no doubt show up

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2021:

No, it is only a comment on what is wrong, not something that could ever happen.

1. There is something alive, down on the ground in my garden. 2. Problem solved, terminated.

Triphid comments on Nov 5, 2021:

You have a cat to 'terminate' garden intruders, I have Joanna the Goanna she turfs unwanted pest out of the gardens IF they are not edible and even scares door-knocking Religio-tards away if she gets half a chance.

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2021:

@Triphid All females have that. LOL

1. There is something alive, down on the ground in my garden. 2. Problem solved, terminated.

Triphid comments on Nov 5, 2021:

You have a cat to 'terminate' garden intruders, I have Joanna the Goanna she turfs unwanted pest out of the gardens IF they are not edible and even scares door-knocking Religio-tards away if she gets half a chance.

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2021:

Wonderful. Does she have a sister ?

"No man is capable of causing great evil without thinking he is doing the right thing.

p-nullifidian comments on Nov 4, 2021:

I trust we can agree that evil people will do evil, whether or not they believe in the correctness of what they are doing. So perhaps Socrates was contemplating the evil that otherwise good people do? If so, this sentiment was furthered by Steven Weinberg, in his now famous critique of religion: ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2021:

Yes that was in part who I had in mind when I sellected the quote.

Transgender and transrace - what´s the difference?

Fernapple comments on Oct 29, 2021:

They are quite different. Since as race is a purely cultural idea, there can be no biological reason for wanting to change the race you were said, by culture, to be born into, since biology only exists in the real material world and can never be a part of a purely human cultural construct. (You ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2021:

@JeffMurray No just expounding on your idea.

I'm so so sorry to do this friends but I have to leave you for ever, I've finally found the TRUE ...

bobwjr comments on Nov 4, 2021:

Has it been verified

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2021:

Yep, I will verify it, I saw it earlier this morning. So if it is the same post after at least three hours it must be true, because you can't question ancient wisdom can you......?

Strange, mysterious and incestuous ways - maybe just the sort of logic that you have to believe in ...

Lorajay comments on Nov 4, 2021:

Well my racist grandfather explained it to me. He said when they went out to the Land of Nod they married monkeys and that's where black people came from. Of course that actually could be used to justify the fact that we all came from Africa and we all have the same ancestors. I immediately asked...

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2021:

Even biology says that we are all decended from mitochondrial eve, so whichever way you jump, there is an aweful lot of incest.

I'm so so sorry to do this friends but I have to leave you for ever, I've finally found the TRUE ...

racocn8 comments on Nov 3, 2021:

Self-referencing statements often give rise to logical paradoxes. As example: "Is your answer to this question "no"?

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2021:

Or. The second half of this sentence is correct, but the first half of it is false.

Transgender and transrace - what´s the difference?

skado comments on Oct 29, 2021:

The article linked below claims that the issue is based on which action more severely undermines the effort to correct intergenerational injustices. If, for example, reparations for Blacks were being considered, should one qualify for reparations simply by “feeling” Black, when neither they nor...

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2021:

@TheMiddleWay Yep I think that is a good, and accurate summing.

Transgender and transrace - what´s the difference?

Fernapple comments on Oct 29, 2021:

They are quite different. Since as race is a purely cultural idea, there can be no biological reason for wanting to change the race you were said, by culture, to be born into, since biology only exists in the real material world and can never be a part of a purely human cultural construct. (You ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2021:

@JeffMurray Will have to give your several points some thought, and get back to you. But with regard to the suffering of animals, I think that you have first to ask if suffering in general is not a natural and normal part of life, and if it is not just a human religious delusion that it can be avoided. For all creatures including humans have to die and be consumed by others in the end. In the Western world we may, ( it is debatable, ) have found the resources and technical means to reduce human suffering to a degree. It is debatable, since our attempts to prolong life indefinitely, may really only be adding to and prolonging suffering. It is probably also a delusion, that we can extend suffering free life to all of humanity, or even find the resources to maintain the levels of health and material comfort we now enjoy in the West in the long term. What is certain, is that we will never be able to do that for all of animal life, and even if we were to do so, nature would in time simply find ways of readjusting the balance, such as evolving creatures with lower pain thresholds. ( Which will happen to us too given time.) Therefore morally and practically, it is almost certainly needful to distinguish between two different types of pain and distress, the types which are natural, even healthy and inevitable, and those which are unnatural and needless. Which is where I think many animal rights groups go wrong, especially in their criticism of meat eating and hunting etc. because they forget that every animal has to die, almost all die long before old age sets in to any depth, if one animal does not die another must do so to prevent over use of resources, and nature does not care at all how much pain and discomfort death entails. The only agent of death which does care, is the human hunter and farmer, most of whom take care to kill with as little pain and distress as possible. ( I am speaking of Western Europe here, it may be different in the USA. ) So that human hunting and possibly even farming, at the point of killing, is almost certainly a net reducer of suffering. ( To a buffalo a well aimed bullet is certainly less hurtful than being pulled down, lamed and disemboweled while still alive, by the wolf pack. ) For that reason I think that killing and eating, which are perfectly natural anyway, are a distraction from the main issues, which really should be the suffering caused by animal keeping, especially things like factory farming where animals endure lives of almost permanent distress. And even pet keeping where often loving owners,who are nonetheless quite ignorant of their animals real needs, put animals though whole lifetimes of suffering. Despite often being animal rights activists, even vegans, who would rightly be horrified by dog ...

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken" Oliver ...

Diogenes comments on Nov 3, 2021:

Okay, everyone knows who Ollie is- but what is this about?

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2021:

From a letter to the Church of Scotland, I believe about changing sides from Parlimentarian to Royalist. (They were looking for the best deal for the church of course.)

The unexamined life is not worth living. Attributed to Socrates.

Diogenes comments on Nov 3, 2021:

"Not worth living"- well I would prefer not to examine mine too studiously. An' poor old Soc, if one sticks to telling the truth, they may end up drinking the hemlock cocktail.

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2021:

Very true.

The unexamined life is not worth living. Attributed to Socrates.

Marionville comments on Nov 3, 2021:

…as long as that examination doesn’t turn into navel-gazing!

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2021:

Yes I think that that is one of his more pompus ones, perhaps.

This is brilliant and depressing [scheerpost.com]

Barnie2years comments on Nov 3, 2021:

Every civilization dies at some point, be it the Romans or the Incas, the Greeks or the Turks. Our clock is ticking, we have been advancing for more than 250 years and our age is showing. The enemies within are almost always stronger than the enemies without. And with the rest of the world suffering...

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2021:

Yes there are far bigger monsters waiting to ravage Western civilization and the globe, than just the failing of Americas capital military partnership, which now increacingly seems just a small local matter when viewed globally. Except for the harm the dying beast could do, and has perhaps started to do, in its death throws.

Finished a quilt I started last spring. It's called "ponds."

Fernapple comments on Nov 2, 2021:

Wonderful. I would love to have that on my bed.

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Oh well, no worries, I spent my last million on booze and loose women, and the rest I just wasted.

Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid ...

Marionville comments on Nov 2, 2021:

Or think they do!

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2021:

I think that we can assume that that is what was meant, even given the translation from ancient Greek, it would be hard to lose that irony.

"Understanding a question is half an answer." Socrates.

waitingforgodo comments on Nov 1, 2021:

I'm enjoying the Socratic epigrams: what Socrates wrote is similar to what Jesus said.

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2021:

Socrates would have been perhaps, the most talked about thinker in the Eastern Mediterranean at the time of Jesus, and Greek ideas were at the hight of fashion with the Jews then, so most educated people would probably have known him well. I am not saying that the gospel writers were plagiarists, but if it looks like a fish, feels like a fish, and smells like a fish..........? Plus all that we know about Socrates thoughts comes second hand, from the writings of other philosophers like Plato and Xenophon, and his great fame started when he was put to death by the state, he earn a lot of prestige because of that. I am not saying that the idea for a basic literary format could be borrowed, but …......?

I have a friend that is falling in love.

barjoe comments on Nov 1, 2021:

I have friends who get like that and a few months later they are moping around all devastated. Why even bother?

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2021:

Yep. I think that real love grows slowly over time, especially by giving your hearts to other things together.

I have a friend that is falling in love.

Sticks48 comments on Nov 1, 2021:

I know exactly what you mean. People on here can say what they want about life is better alone, but for me a life shared is way better, period.

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2021:

Could not agree more. Any thing shared is way better, and your pleasure in a loved ones joys is always twice that you take in your own.

Anyone know why my photos display upside down or sideways when I post them?

Fernapple comments on Oct 31, 2021:

This site only displays photos landscape fashion, always has, just crop the images to be wider than high.

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2021:

@FrayedBear Well done. It never worked for me.

Transgender and transrace - what´s the difference?

Fernapple comments on Oct 29, 2021:

They are quite different. Since as race is a purely cultural idea, there can be no biological reason for wanting to change the race you were said, by culture, to be born into, since biology only exists in the real material world and can never be a part of a purely human cultural construct. (You ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2021:

@JeffMurray Ok lets try. To tell the truth I can not see much reason at all why, race and sex/gender are different, both are based in genetic biology and both have social/cultural constructs built onto them. The main difference is just a quantitative thing rather that a mater of quality, in that race is controlled by very few genetic differences. (Hence he reason why skin colour is even better because the genes are smaller in number and quite definable and measurable in the morphotype. ) While sex/gender is a whole chromosome at least. The main difference therefore is that we can identify race, especially the blending of race, easily. Indeed are forced to do so, since it is plain that a person of intermediate race will have parents belonging to different races, and most of the time an obvious intermediate colour and appearance. Where persons of intermediate sex/gender will have parents of both sexes just like everyone else, plus the most obvious morphological differences are typically hidden due to cultural custom, at least in the west. As also, are the mental differences which are entirely private within the brain, ( there probably being few if any important mental differences between races, because of the tiny genetic changes. )Therefore it was my contention that the difference between race and sex/gender is that; the differences between sex/gender are large and mainly concealed, while the differences between races are small but in plain sight and obvious. (This must be so, since small differences would only become culturally significant if they were obvious, we do not for example, commonly divide people into groups based on the ability to curl tongues , since though it is a genetic difference, it is for the most part invisible.) It follows that obvious differences will be well accounted for by our culture. While concealed differences will not, leading to both shame, (Which makes it worse, we do not like to address what we don't see or understand.) and to frequent errors and misunderstandings in what is hidden complex and little addressed by culture, and the proof of that, is that we make large artificial differences, such as dressing differently, to exaggerate what is concealed. Given therefore that our cultures make little attempt to address sex/gender differences realistically, but use a huge smoke and mirrors artificial displays to create false differences, and that we like simple either or results, ( being lazy humans ) it follows that vast numbers of errors will occur in assigning people to sex/gender groupings. My contention is that most ( none religious at least ) people are able to recognize that cultural failing, and that therefore there is tolerance of those which to ask for some readjustments in the labels that society attaches to ...

Transgender and transrace - what´s the difference?

Fernapple comments on Oct 29, 2021:

They are quite different. Since as race is a purely cultural idea, there can be no biological reason for wanting to change the race you were said, by culture, to be born into, since biology only exists in the real material world and can never be a part of a purely human cultural construct. (You ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2021:

@JeffMurray I am not really interested in the realities, since in this case they are for the most part plain and banal, Matias asked a question about cultural perceptions, and that is all I am really interested in addressing.

What the fuck is with FB?

Fernapple comments on Oct 31, 2021:

The only reservation I have about this site is, that it runs on FB software, I hate to think that the pathetic little Zuc is making money out of it.

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2021:

@Lorajay Yes I agree, and am certainly not mad with anyone, I think that this site is wonderful, and now that you tell me there is no conection to FB my last reservation is gone.

What the fuck is with FB?

Fernapple comments on Oct 31, 2021:

The only reservation I have about this site is, that it runs on FB software, I hate to think that the pathetic little Zuc is making money out of it.