Hi all. Newbie here, first post. What is your greatest fear?

Fernapple comments on Jan 3, 2022:

Hello and welcome.

Why are there so many inactive groups?

Fernapple comments on Jan 3, 2022:

Yep agreed.

Isn't it very sad that the majority of people who "see the light" are blinded for life by religion?

Fernapple comments on Jan 3, 2022:

Lamping. You shine a light in the animals eyes, and then shoot it while it is standing there bewildered.

Yep, that explains it.

Fernapple comments on Jan 3, 2022:

Creepy.

Winter weather has finally arrived in my area.

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

Or does it mean, that it is not worth slogging through the snow, to listen to a couple of hours of someone reading third rate fiction ?

"If I were pressed for a one-word opposite of the Socratic method, a strong candidate would be ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

Relativism.

And you don't need a partner.

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

Get a life, and stop living in your fantasy world. That just never happens OK. Its gift wrapping porn, don't believe what you see on the internet, no man really has a pair of scissors that big, and you can't have five perfectly wrapped parcels in one night. Really !

I'm getting my booster shot on the 4th.

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

Good. I have had mine, but the sad truth is, that it does not make any of your body parts grow bigger. Sorry.

“I guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them.

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

But good people burn in their hearts at the sight or sound of any injustice, and therefore good people suffer. And that is the great injustice built into the nature of things.

Do you believe in living after death

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

I think that it is best, to get all your living done before death.

I will just let this sink in...

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

The god of the gaps, is just a gap.

“You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down”…………….Charlie Chaplin.

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

No but you may find a wild flower, and you can touch that.

Happy New Year, ya heathens!! 🥂🍾✌🎉🎊❤

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

Happy new year.

HaPpY New YeaR My Dear Friends and Colleagues! What does the upcoming 365 days hold for you; for ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

Fairly good, but perhaps a very USA centric list. In Europe where religion is more marginal, and there are stronger and more involved secular institutions generally. I would go for: - Do more work for your community and secular charities.

Why Pastors Are Joining the Great Resignation | Sojourners

Fernapple comments on Jan 2, 2022:

As moderates and thinkers leave, both the ministry and the congregation, it leaves the noisy and aggressive extremists increasingly in control. Which in turn drives away more moderates, and creates deeper divisions between the extremist factions, causing more aggression and extremism, further driving away more moderates, in an increasingly vicious feed back loop. And without any clear guidance, from the core Bronze Age early Iron Age ideology and texts, on how to deal with complex twenty first century problems, there is no agreed set of tools to fall back on.

It’s now 2022 in London, not going too bad so far! Happy new year 🥳

Fernapple comments on Jan 1, 2022:

You know the old one about the man who fell of the top of a fifty floor building, don't you ? And on every floor they heard him say. "So far so good."

Since Betty did not make it to her 100th birthday we'll have to settle for this review which is far ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 1, 2022:

The creation of Rose is as near to immortality as anyone can get.

Happy Arbitrary New Year! We stare a "new year" in the face.

Fernapple comments on Jan 1, 2022:

Sept. =seven, Oct= eight, Nov, = nine, Dec = ten, before those come the two extra months added by Julius Augustus, July and August, I always wondered where he got the names from ?

It sure identifies the weakest link!

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Because, in the middle of the night, it changes into a picture of two people having sex on the floor.

How about it?

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Scream at the top of your voice. "Its over !!!"

A few years ago, my sister suggested that instead of gift buying for everybody we do a Secret Santa ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Good for her, smart idea.

I went to sleep with the TV on again last night and when I woke up to turn it off I'm hearing this ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Religion sets impossibly high standards for forgiveness, as it does for sexual behaviour, and everything else. Because that way it knows that people are bound to fail, or at the very least struggle, so that they too will need the church for help and forgiveness, and then put their spare money in the box, rather than give it to an honest charity, who will really spend it on the poor and sick.

Life, Philosophy, and Everything In-Between: Whack A Hovind

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

There is no point in debating with K. H. at all. Since having seen a number of his appearances, it is quite plain that he must be well aware than he is spouting rubbish and that his arguments don't hold water. The point is, that he does not care, almost certainly because he does not believe a word of it himself, but he does believe that constantly reiterating what his victims want to hear, puts money in his bank account, and that's it. And if he can get a few none creationists and atheists to buy tickets too, if only just to mock, then so much the better, bank that as well.

Here in Broken hill, N.

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Happy new year.

Christians are balking at the the revised Bible.

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

The KJ is the favourite of the howling at the moon brigade, exactly because it is the most confusing, which enables the maximum number of interpretations to be placed on it. Plus for the right wing conservatives, it was a rewrite, (not a translation ) deliberately made by right wing conservative authors, to please a right wing conservative government which was then in power in England.

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

My favourite thought, is that the real source of happiness is, "appreciation".

Religion is not just something you believe.

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

It is religion itself, especially the traditional theist religions, which are in need of redemption. Religion is not a fixed point, and it is perfectly possible to invent new religions ad lib, as Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard did with great success. But fortunately perhaps, the new religions which prove most successful, are almost always those which rise from multiple sources, from the grass roots, as it were. I therefore suspect that the next great religion that will come to the fore, will be the environmental or "Green" religion. Exactly perhaps, because it addresses directly the problem of the consequences of the agricultural revolution, and the later industrial revolution. The green movement already shows many signs of morphing into a religion, including the invention of many dogmas which are not found in, and go beyond, its scientific justifications alone. This is to my mind at least no bad thing, since at least it is a giant leap forward on theism. And as the traditional theist religions increasingly morph into no more than, sad attempts to render, right wing prejudice, fascism, and crime, sacred, and provide them with a platform for propaganda. In the end, conflict will become inevitable. The next great religious war, ( And sadly it will probably be a real shooting, people bleeding in the streets, war, even more bitter than the capital v. communist Cold War. ) will probably be between the environmentalists and the theists. While those who have, sentimental attachments to theism, just because it has the fake glamour of being old and traditional, will only lend support and respectability to the fascist and criminal right in the long term.

That Microsoft Account Team Email Is Probably A Phishing Scam.

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Microsoft sends out so many phishing scam notices of its own, I just ignore them anyway.

Be aware, be very aware please, the Faithfools, aka Christfools, Jesusnuts, etc, etc, have a NEW ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Religion is the use of fake authority, the most common form perhaps, of what is known as the fallacy of "argument from authority". And the great thing about allegory is that it allows them even more scope for, interpretation, which means that their religion, can be even more, just whatever they want it to be, yet still claim the fake authority that is supposed to belong to religion. "My very muddled and contradictory holy book, which can be interpreted to say almost anything you wish. (Which is why its popular. ) Tells me, that I may do anything that I want to. And that trumps all your counter arguments, because its holy and sacred, ancient and perfect." Becomes. "My very muddled and contradictory holy book, which can be interpreted, OR READ ALLEGORICALLY, to say almost anything you wish. Tells me, that I may do anything that I want to. And that trumps all your counter arguments, because its holy and sacred, ancient and perfect."

Should Pluto be a planet again?

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

The taxonomy of planet, like all taxonomy is not a part of science, but only a form of classification, which is a tool for filing in the service of scientists, but not science, and is always subjective. Nobody is therefore being anti science, if they choose to disagree with the I.A.U. and use their own classification, and I believe that even within the I.A.U. the vote was very close.

Wishing everyone a happy new year. Cheers.

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Thank you, and have a great year yourself.

I suppose we knew their sentences were a sham....😒 [yahoo.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Thank you for bringing this story back up to date.

I suppose we knew their sentences were a sham....😒 [yahoo.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

Given that Saudi is miles of barren scrub, and there are no bars, no free media and no free female company, living in a luxury villa in a compound, is about as good as it gets. I suppose they may miss the camel races.

What do you say to religious proselytizers?

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2021:

In the UK we get more of the JWs, and at this time they have a, "Do not enter the house, only stand on the door step. " policy. Presumably, so they can't be corrupted. I wish we had a much colder climate, I would keep the talking forever.

Xmas in the south

Fernapple comments on Dec 30, 2021:

Good selection today.

I'm sentimental, what can I say. ;)

Fernapple comments on Dec 30, 2021:

Just a pity her coward of a partner, did not have the courage to face his.

Premiering on PBS stations tonight: EARTH EMERGENCY This revealing film examines how human ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 30, 2021:

Says. "Video not available."

Not exactly keeping the faith.

Fernapple comments on Dec 30, 2021:

Its the only reason for which god exists.

COVID-19 Omicron variant may protect against severe Delta infection, research suggests ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 29, 2021:

Nice to have it official, but not really a big surprise.

“Nothing of real worth can ever be bought.

Fernapple comments on Dec 29, 2021:

Opportunity can be bought, and it is a prerequisite for all the others.

Child Covid hospitalizations are up, especially in 5 states Children have been hospitalized at ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 29, 2021:

Lower levels of vaccination in children of course.

Enjoy your food....

Fernapple comments on Dec 29, 2021:

Zero tolerance for speciesism.

Maybe written in a spanglish language, but I think its about HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Fernapple comments on Dec 29, 2021:

Have a happy new year.

Cui prodest?

Fernapple comments on Dec 28, 2021:

It is a false assumption that anyone always needs to gain.

Hypothesis: The part of human nature that predisposes us to belief in gods (ToM and HADD, etc.

Fernapple comments on Dec 28, 2021:

Yep. Though I think that there could be several wired in parts to that, not just one. Animism, for one looking for intelligent agents behind any mystery, which may be derived from the false positive wiring. And neophobia, which was once a very useful survival strategy, and probably several others I can't think of yet.

“There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the...

Fernapple comments on Dec 28, 2021:

And yet that only happens because the earths rotation, and its orbit do not line up. There may be planets which follow even tracks around their stars, where there live aliens who have no idea of what the word, seasons, could mean, or even that such things exist. From very simple things often there emerge very complex and wonderful products.

Geeeesh, what’s a guy gotta do to level up around here, pose naked!?!?? 😎

Fernapple comments on Dec 28, 2021:

Wait till you get to eight, and they send you the big invoice for usage.

A little exposure will orientate people on religion and it’s actual purpose.

Fernapple comments on Dec 28, 2021:

In the UK we do not have, what you call in the US, separation of church and state, so that most state schools in the UK, are affiliated to a religion. And for many years religious education was the only compulsory subject on the school corriculum, we are now, compared with the US at least, an almost secular society, with little or no active church attendance for most people.

Just harvested greens from my cold frames on Christmas Eve day here in Maine, zone 4.

Fernapple comments on Dec 28, 2021:

Hello and welcome, do enjoy the site. We love garden posts.

What Christmas Carol do you dislike the most and why?

Fernapple comments on Dec 27, 2021:

Oh little town of Bethlehem. Its just so twee from the first line, makes my skin crawl.

lol.. Perhaps something to chew on. If the universe has no beginning, then it has no edges

Fernapple comments on Dec 27, 2021:

That is even included in some versions of the Big Bang theory.

Beau of the Fifth Column - Let's talk about political theories of everything.

Fernapple comments on Dec 27, 2021:

At the root of all religion, including conspiracy theory, is the fallacy of seeing an intelligent agent behind anything which can not be explained, simply because learning to live with not understanding and learning to live with the idea of chaos, is too hard for some.

Destiny

Fernapple comments on Dec 27, 2021:

A pointless question, about three fictions. And even if free will and destiny did exist, it would only matter to believers, since you can only sin, in the sense of place a stain on your soul, if you have a soul. Therefore what causes you to supposedly sin, is of no interest here.

How many Believers perceive Atheists and it's not surprising since they don't understand the logic ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 26, 2021:

I hope that many "Believers perceive Atheists", its bad enough them not liking or understanding us, without bumping into us in the street because they can't see us.

The current state of the Covid pandemic in America: Many Americans have been vaccinated but ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 26, 2021:

Well perhaps you are not all that bad, I do seem to remember that D. Trump did change him mind about vaccines. So perhaps not mad just understandably confused. Stupid as well, but that is another issue.

I haven’t posted a post in a few days.....so here goes nothing.....😎

Fernapple comments on Dec 26, 2021:

PTSD ?

Why are our symbols for "Toys" so weird and old?

Fernapple comments on Dec 26, 2021:

Very true and interesting. Although it has to be said that there is a far simpler and perhaps more basic reason for it. Which is that symbols are by their very nature retro, and have to trail behind the times, simply because it takes time for them to be adopted by culture and become conventions. Much as mainstream education always trails ten or twenty years or more behind the latest scientific, political and historic thinking, simply because a time lag is inevitable.

I love this guy!

Fernapple comments on Dec 26, 2021:

Very true. Though in fact, the earthly tyrants are there behind the god, from the start.

A cool yule to one and all!! ❤

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

And to you. Or if you prefer, may it be hot and steamy.

Some natural art for our big holiday.

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

It says. "Video unavailable." Sorry.

I'm new here.

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

hello and welcome, enjoy the site, and do check out the groups if you have time, there is a lot there.

For those closet Atheists, here's one for you.

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

It probably wont. So no envy there.

Beatus et Laetus Sol Invictus Die.

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

Yes but he goes away a night, just when you need him most, co's its dark then.

If someone whispers in your ear 'Believe In Yourself' that's good advice, but if someone whispers in...

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

The reverse of course is true. A sceptic questions even themselves. Whereas a believer in God believes they are right all the time, because. "God always agrees with me, and he can't be wrong."

Happy Newtonmas

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

Not until the fourth of January.

I know I'm being pedantic, but I don't like describing myself 'godless'.

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

I usually describe myself as old, ugly, blue eyed and bald, same as I would if I was religious.

To all my friends on Agnostic.

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

"Beware the ides of March. " Good cheer my friend.

The main reason that I ditched religion was that it was way too confusing of who I was supposed to ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

I knew a dog once, and she loved virtually everyone and most creatures, but boy, did she hate squirrels. And I don't mean, wanted to hunt them. I mean really, snarling, foaming at the mouth, hair bristling, total all out rage. We never did find out why.

Some of the loony members of this forum seem to think that everything is black or white but the ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

All masks will give some protection, because they all, in effect, increase the distance and the number of obstacles between two people who may exchange the virus, some better than others. But it is not really a question for doctors. How small particles like moisture droplets and viruses circulate and spread in the air, and how many of them are likely to be stopped by various filters with various degrees of sealing and baffling around their edges, is really a physics problem, which should be put to physicists and engineers. Who will probably tell you that the issues and problems with modeling it all, are far to complex to give even a close answer, and that your best choices would be simply to look at the statistics and see what happens in practice. But the bottom line is, that masks are a virtually zero cost from of protection, and that even if you hung one in the air three feet away from an infected person, some of the viral particles are going to lodge on it, not enough to be important, but some. How many, has to do with things like inverse square law and the static electrical charge of both the particles and the mask, plus the size/mass of particles, air temp, wind speed, humidity and a hundred other things. But since I suspect that most anti-vaxers/anti-maskers are too lazy to bother trying to understand any one of those, so it would be a waste of time talking about them anyway.

How To Start Your Own Religion [thoughtcatalog.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

Everybody creates their own religion in those terms, even the members of mainstream religions, since no two believers will have exactly the same view of their religion's meaning.

Wishing all my agnostic friends a holiday full of love and peace.

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

Have a good time, and a bright new year. ( Be sure to get drunk before you go to church, I find it helps you to get through the service, and for some reason you tend to get invited to fewer return visits. And besides, the wine they serve is really awful, and really tiny mean amounts.)

The Story Of Christmas

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

Surely he would know. After all he raped his mother, without breaking her virginity, into getting pregnant with himself to give birth to himself, which may be incest, but which presumably results in a child with two sets of chromosomes , although if he had two sets, then he would not be himself, but half Mary. While if he had only one set that would be parthenogenesis, which would not make a viable fetus, but would not be incest, but then it would not be parthenogenesis, because you usually have to be female to do that, and you get a female child never a male. If he can't work it out, I am sure I can't. But then according to the O.T. he did not know how to selectively breed goats either, so maybe he did not understand it after all. Which is odd because he designed it. OH well, I give up.

Scientists discover an ancient oceanic reptile that evolved exceedingly fast

Fernapple comments on Dec 25, 2021:

Interesting article. It has been said before that size change seems to be one of the quickest things for evolution to achieve, things get very large and very small quite quickly.

God spoke to me today and told me I was the second coming.

Fernapple comments on Dec 24, 2021:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site.

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men. - Plato

Fernapple comments on Dec 24, 2021:

Charisma is the ability to influence without logic. Quentin Crisp

Are your dreams logical?

Fernapple comments on Dec 24, 2021:

A bit of both really, though often they do relate a little to what is happening in life at the time, they are usually quite unrelated and rarely logical, but some of the more memorable ones are. What I find really strange about dreams though is how easily they are to forget, even quite vivid or disturbing dreams that are fresh in the mind when you wake up, can not be recalled at all by mid day.

Let's never forget that Christmas is more than presents and decorations, it's the time of year when ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

No they were not married, they were betrothed.

Why his mumbo jumbo shows no logic anywhere

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

According to the book, it was actually god who. "Hardened Pharaoh's heart." So he took away Pharaoh's free will, in order to make it happen.

"Night at the Creation Museum" Will Change Your Mind About Absolutely Nothing

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

The Creation Museum has nothing to do with changing peoples minds or selling a message. It is just about selling tickets for money, to creationists who want an easy undemanding day out, which is not going to change anything, and sceptics who are going to laugh , but are still going to spend money. E. H. has taken part in enough debates with non creationists over the years, to know which are the, almost good, arguments on the creationist side, and which are absolute rubbish. Yet he still keeps pedaling all of them. Because he is probably not even a believing creationist himself, but he knows what sells tickets.

I know, I know, I'm a blimming hypocrite. 😆 Season's greetings to you all!

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

They are not Christmas gifts, they are Yule gifts, they are part of a far older tradition than Christianity and the Christians stole the festival. Enjoy your Yule.

I've been trying to get divorced for 5+ years, so it no longer applies to me, but funny nonetheless.

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

They do that all the time, its just that it get louder and more annoying with time.

Isn't that special...

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

Actually, they just celebrate the fact that the earths orbit and rotation don't match. Its a bit like a train, it rattles a bit, apparently none of their gods could get the tracks level.

HAPPY FESTIVUS! I've got a lot of problems with you people.

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

Oh good. We love a problem to solve.

The vaccine-hesitant can't even take the vaccines at this point and hope to evade Omicron.

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

Although even one dose offers some protection, especially against extreme symptoms.

If everything around you seems dark, look again. You may be the light. Rumi

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

Yes but my wick is getting smaller, and limper, with age and overuse.

'It wasn't hard' he says, the cheeky bugger.

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

Wonder what he would have got, if it was hard ?

Man Charged w/Stealing 58-Foot-Long Bridge - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

In the Natural History Museum, London, England, there was for many years the skeleton of a dinosaur ( Diplodicus I think ) which stood in the main hall, upright and articulated. The very last bone from the tip of its tail was stolen, and so it had to be replaced with a replica, made of plaster. In fact the theft took place again and again every few weeks, so often, that the Museum ordered multiple copies and kept a box of them.

At long last we know all that we could learn from history, and that is that people learn nothing ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2021:

That's very true, actually about the first thing you learn from any in depth study of history, is that the human race keeps making the same mistakes over and over again.

By the end of this week, we will have 9 more seconds of daylight.

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2021:

I shall not hold my breath. (Although, thinking about it, even at my age, I think I could manage nine seconds. )

Happy Winter Solstic It's going to be a long night.

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2021:

Groan.

An angel even an atheist can believe in!

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2021:

Best wishes for the season.

You just never listen do you! Don't say you weren't warned!

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2021:

Don't think that you will come round and do my laundry either, if my washing machine breaks.

I post this every year and no need to change the tradition! Happy Solstice.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2021:

And all happiness of the season to you too. P.S. You put it very well, a perfectly formed essay.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2021:

Well the days of easy travel seem to be over, so I guess it is going to become a far more prejudiced, bigoted and narrow-minded world. Travel especially flying may not have been good for our carbon footprint, but it did broaden the mind.

I liked reading this.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2021:

Sagan always worth reading.

“Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2021:

Sounds like the concluding paragraph of an interesting book.

In Christianity...

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2021:

Well he has not said much for a long time. lol

The habit doesn't make the monk.

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2021:

No but bad habits can.

Pope Francis condemns domestic abuse as "almost satanic" [bbc.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2021:

Religion is a form of domestic abuse.

Focusing on being "a survivor" is not living.

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2021:

If living means happiness, or something like it, then I would say that there are two categories of things needed for it. One is the prerequisites, such as freedom for need, bordom, illness ( including depression ) and fear etc.. But that only brings comfort, the opposite of discomfort, which simply leads to contentment alone. And the second category is appreciation, which includes appreciation of self, ( attainment ) and appreciation of the world, and its gifts, ( taste ). Surviving is merely to attain the level of comfort, and effort is required to attain happiness.