A man from Whidbey Island wants to meet me. I hit him with logic.

QuidamOutrepont comments on May 24, 2021:

Logic can hit you hard when you don't follow it. Traffic is also quite an issue in the greater Montreal area where I live. Montreal is located on a large island in the middle of the Saint Lawrence river. The downtown area is half way on the southern side of the island. The suburbs are elsewhere ...

Fernapple replies on May 24, 2021:

Love that first line, very good to quote.

Despite the title this is not just about the US, the general issues are worth thinking about.

yvilletom comments on May 23, 2021:

Hm-mm, did my listening to 25 minutes of that make me any smarter? I heard no one say, “If they do X, I won’t have a paying job.”

Fernapple replies on May 23, 2021:

@yvilletom Actually they did say that, perhaps you missed it.

Adorable Viral Video Shows Dog Doing Yoga With Her Owner

Fernapple comments on May 21, 2021:

Magic. But not a dog, she is a collie, they are a breed above.

Fernapple replies on May 21, 2021:

@barjoe Very close.

This is interesting.

KKGator comments on May 21, 2021:

Nicely done. I'm in favor of most things that enrage believers. Keep poking the bear.

Fernapple replies on May 21, 2021:

Poking bears, may not be a good metaphore to use on a post about pornography. Especially if the bear enjoys it. LOL

And another from Edward Fitzgerald. This one is quite well known and is more romantic than most.

Marionville comments on May 20, 2021:

It really is Omar Khayyam who should be given the credit, it is from his Rubaiyat ...Fitzgerald was the translator.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2021:

@Marionville Well I did list him on the first post a week or so ago.

Views of Granada, Spain, taken from the Alhambra.

Budgie comments on May 20, 2021:

Love the colours and openness of the first photo.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2021:

It was a cool day in the autumn of the year, and the air was clear, crisp and bright for Spain. Towards the end of the day the light started to fade and most of the tourists had gone, so that the place was empty and quiet, and it was possible to imagine the view being much as it was all those years ago when the Sultans ruled.

And another from Edward Fitzgerald. This one is quite well known and is more romantic than most.

Marionville comments on May 20, 2021:

It really is Omar Khayyam who should be given the credit, it is from his Rubaiyat ...Fitzgerald was the translator.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2021:

Not really, Fitzgeralds translation is usually given as a paraphrase, it only takes Khayyam as a starting point. In part, because no one is sure that many of the verses usually atributed to Khayyam are really by him, or that the assemblages published later are in any way true to the original, it may be that only a handful of original verses survive. Fitzgerald also alters the meaning giving an agnostic flavour to the poems praising of eathly joys, and questioning of heavenly rewards, especially, in the wine metaphore. For while Khayyams wine is probably used mainly as a metaphore for the rewards of Islamic mysticism, or at least that is what he intended the imams to think, Fitzgerald sees it as a real alternative choice.

Wait... Aren't human beings mammals?

hankster comments on May 20, 2021:

the bronchial colonic system is seldom discussed. makes me wonder if an ass mask should be required under certain conditions. also seldom discussed.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2021:

According to the UK government. Yes you could spread corona virus though exhalations from the anus. If you can smell it, you can catch it.

My simple stone trough of Alpine Phlox, gives all its worth at this time of year.

tinkercreek comments on May 19, 2021:

Those are beautiful, especially with the burgundy backdrop - is that sweet potato?

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2021:

No, its Lysimachia a Loosestrife.

If a humanist (or other) believes in evolution then they are eating cousins, brothers and distant ...

Fernapple comments on May 19, 2021:

Vegans are also eating cousins, since we are also related to plants as well, though not quite as close. And there is no proof that plants are not to a slight degree sentient. Indeed a live plant is arguably a lot more sentient than a tranquilized animal, which has been drugged, say, before ...

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

@RonWilliam53 I thought of combining salt and drying, but thought it may prove a bit technically demanding, you could perhaps also use light smoking, by burning some of the more common inedible bushes, and the smoke keeps the flies off while you do it. All that smoked meat is not that healthy, but we are talking a survival diet here.

One of the dominant plants in our area is the Oil Seed Rape crop.

Marionville comments on May 19, 2021:

It certainly looks great...seeing a great sea of yellow as far as the eye can see.

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

Yes I could have just gone for the flat yellow fields, but I thought that the cottage was pretty and gave the scene scale and variation.

My simple stone trough of Alpine Phlox, gives all its worth at this time of year.

Cast1es comments on May 19, 2021:

I dearly loves what ever you're veen feeding it .

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

It hardly get anything, that is what it likes.

If a humanist (or other) believes in evolution then they are eating cousins, brothers and distant ...

Fernapple comments on May 19, 2021:

Vegans are also eating cousins, since we are also related to plants as well, though not quite as close. And there is no proof that plants are not to a slight degree sentient. Indeed a live plant is arguably a lot more sentient than a tranquilized animal, which has been drugged, say, before ...

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

@AnneWimsey You cut him into strips and hang them in the bushes to dry.

Religion sells an invisible product

skado comments on May 19, 2021:

I think you’re talking about psychologists. No religion I know of requires payment for their services. Accepting voluntary donations is not “selling”.

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

No I am sorry, but you are confusing taking money with selling. You may sell a product for many things, payment in kind or other products, prestige, political influence, sexual favours, cultural influence, housing, and yes, the opportunity to collect voluntary donations from people under heavy social pressure. Plus it is factually incorrect, several churchs do in fact charge members regular fees, and most charge for important social rituals such as funerals and weddings, where attendance is a social compultion. ( i.e. They only make the charges volutary, for the more voluntary rituals.) In many theocracies churches and temples recieve tax payer donations, and even tax exemptions are 'de facto' donations by other tax payers. (It is true, yes, that social rituals like weddings and funerals, are voluntary, in that you can go without them, or go to other institutions for them, but most churches impose heavy penalities, both social and supernatural, for those who do.)

“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to understanding, and ends with reason.

Fernapple comments on May 19, 2021:

No, I think that it is not that simple, sometime our senses and understanding may overrule our reason. For example when experimental evidence (e.g. science ) overrules the results achieved by pure reason. (e.g. philosophy). I suspect that Kant is showing his weak underbelly and his prejudice here.

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

@Marionville Yes but you can reason from a misunderstanding just as well as from an understanding. I am sorry but the whole reason for the invention of science/natural philosophy, and with it the scientific experimental method, was because of the failings of pure reason ( classical philosophy ) alone.

So.

BDair comments on May 18, 2021:

I have eaten health food all of my life. I don't want the vaccine, because I have eaten health food all of my life.

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

@BDair You say. "Injecting an experimental genomic therapy, with numerous possible adverse side effects, and as yet unknown long term effects, for a virus that will cause little or no harm to the vast majority of humans is pseudo-science." And how do you know, that the virus itself does little or no harm, and has no long term side effects. Let me guess, you have a time machine, and have just returned from 2050. Since that is so, can you also please quote directly stats about the long term effects of the vacine, since by 2050 they should be in the public domian. ( Or could it be that you are applying a different logic, and values to the vacine and the virus ? )

Biden smiling, Trump removed: Paris wax museum reopens to new political reality.

freedom41 comments on May 19, 2021:

Now, if that could happen to the real thing.

Fernapple replies on May 19, 2021:

You never know they may even melt him down. LOL

How many of you became atheists because you were "Holy Ghosted"?

xenoview comments on May 17, 2021:

When my prayers went unanswered I would belame myself for not being good enough.

Fernapple replies on May 18, 2021:

That's how the con works. Yep.

Imagine throwing a Book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes on the table in front of a kid .

p-nullifidian comments on May 17, 2021:

“Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.“ Thomas Paine

Fernapple replies on May 18, 2021:

You should repost that in the Quotes group, its a good one.

"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that ...

Tejas comments on May 17, 2021:

Half of them have nothing to do with morality. Very ironic

Fernapple replies on May 18, 2021:

Yes there are only realy five.

Another one from E. Fitzgerald.

Diogenes comments on May 17, 2021:

A point is made. At least the sky is real; it is not some invented 'sky-daddy'.

Fernapple replies on May 17, 2021:

I think that that is the point yes.

It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise.

PondartIncbendog comments on May 16, 2021:

I've always said, drag it out in the sunlight and beat it with a stick. No wait,,,,,,,that's vampires............

Fernapple replies on May 17, 2021:

Vampires ? I though you said that was Republicans ?

So a question.

Triphid comments on May 14, 2021:

"Worship Science," No not actually worship it but TRUST in it, rely upon it, understand as well as make good use of it, then that would be a very BIG Yes. As to "going on a scientific pilgramage" WHY on Earth would one need to do so when absolute EVERYWHERE around you there is the Wonders of ...

Fernapple replies on May 15, 2021:

Great answer. It is certainly true that everything we meet is a phenomenon made more wonderful by the understanding science brings. Yet sometimes as humans we can easily become distracted by the shallow banallities of human culture, and we need to find a discipline or structure to help us to concentrate, the suggestion therefore is, that one pleasant and easy way to do that, would be to deliberately celebrate and ritualize science itself, which is after all the most refined and advanced part of our human culture.

So a question.

David1955 comments on May 14, 2021:

Well, since you ask, I have a confession to make. I'm something of a graveyard hag: I like to visit graves of famous people, and scientists and thinkers as well as others i like or admire, including celebrities. Now, as i am far away, I have to do this virtually, typically by following people's ...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

I quite understand. In part the question was inspired by my stuck at home frustration because of the virus.

So a question.

HelenRoseBuck comments on May 14, 2021:

Exploring, curiosity, study... I do it as much as possible

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

Good for you.

So a question.

RussRAB comments on May 14, 2021:

I wouldn't describe it as a pilgrimage, but I have made trips to go see some sites that might fit within your description. Mostly when I was younger, I went to Yosemite National Park in California to see the Devil's Post Pile, to Sequoia National Park to see the giant Sequoias, and to the White ...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

On my bucket list.

So a question.

DenoPenno comments on May 14, 2021:

This sounds nice but I do not have time for it. Single - no. As a couple - yes.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

Traveling with two is always more fun. But alone is better than home alone, I think, and staying home is certainly the best way to remain alone.

So a question.

girlwithsmiles comments on May 14, 2021:

Rather enjoyed the Eden project and would like to visit Findhorn. As a child my favourite place was the London Science museum and I’ve enjoyed other science museums too. But also like learning human myths and legends, which suppose could be considered anthropology.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

I have been lucky enough to visit the back rooms of the Natural History Museum several times with friends who worked there, but a a child I also visited the science Museum as well, must go back as an adult. The Eden project is also an unfulfilled must.

So a question.

Moravian comments on May 14, 2021:

Definitely natural phenomena. Visiting national parks like Yosemite, Sequoia and the Grand Canyon tops any man made structure.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

Yes I would include those on my bucket list too, the Sequoia especially, since plants are my thing.

So a question.

kiramea comments on May 14, 2021:

On my bucket list is seeing places like Machu Pichu, Göbeklitepe, and the Nazca Lines. I won't because I don't have the money and I'm not healthy enough to visit them. I am also hoping to be alive to go and see the rocket lift off for the first human Mars mission. I also want to be alive to ...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

You never know you may make some of them, while there is life oppotunity often comes.

So a question.

anglophone comments on May 14, 2021:

That is a very interesting question. Past visits: The Royal Observatory at Greenwich Kew Gardens The stromatolites at Hamelin Pool The Corinth Canal Coral at the Great Barrier Reef Clifton Suspension Bridge Cornish engines Snowy River power station Future visits: The Grand Canyon The...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

Wow that is some list. You are certainly a scientific pilgrim of the first water, and alone prove my case that such a thing is possible. thank you. My somewhat more limited list includes only Kew Gardens of your first list, but I have been to Jodrell Bank as well as the Royal Society building and the back rooms/labs of the Natural History Museum. My bucket list includes Down House, Selbourne, The stromatolites, Tropical rainforest anywhere, and The Burgess shale.

People have to stop judging others and stop having a superior attitude towards others.

Fernapple comments on May 14, 2021:

Is an arts degree anything but a degree in snobbery ? Or is that just inverted snobbery ? Discus.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2021:

@barjoe You are trying too hard to be nice. Come on step up to the plate. LOL

The UK is set to update its legislation to declare that animals are sentient beings that are capable...

barjoe comments on May 13, 2021:

Not sure about the livestock aspect of the law. People have to eat.

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2021:

It is not to stop the export of meat, but only of live animals, so that they do not have to suffer long voyages, and road journeys, or slaughter in countries where animal welfare is not taken so seriously. Besides which of course, and I am sure the government has thought of this, (Indeed it may be the real reason.) meat has a higher price tag as an export, because of course the jobs and proccessing are kept this side of the border.

SENSE & REASON CAUSE & CONSEQUENCE These are the only things one can rely upon.

Mcflewster comments on May 13, 2021:

I would like to replace all four with just one - SCIENCE. I know I am biased and my messages have been confusing. I also know that people in general have one our two favorite teachers and then DO NOT LISTEN to the rest, which is making me feel a bit crazy . Is that the same as being insane? The ...

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2021:

And besides the obvious benefits of science providing qualified knowledge directly. There is I would say, an even greater, if unmeasurable because it is too subjective, side benefit, which is that long familiarity with science, trains the mind into good habit and ways of thinking, even about subjective issues.

"Why should these Palestinians, who have lived in Jerusalem for hundreds of years, be evicted from ...

JackPedigo comments on May 13, 2021:

There exists a Christian group that actively pay for Jewish/Americans to relocate to Israel (supposedly when the Jewish people and Palestinians fight a war it will confirm prophesy and will spell the 2nd coming). A Jewish religious group welcomes this money. In response to this influx of outsiders, ...

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2021:

@WilliamCharles Nausia omoji still missing.

I posted this in the nature group, but since they are all in the garden, I though you would like to ...

AnonySchmoose comments on May 13, 2021:

Vernal emissaries. Did you grow them or are they wild? My garden has ferns, and some grow themselves. 🤣

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2021:

Most are planted by me, though some like the Matteuccia have spread and sown themselves.

Spring and the ferns start to emerge with: Matteuccia the shuttlecock fern by the water side, the ...

Boomtarat03 comments on May 13, 2021:

We have these in the Philippines, all of these things 😊 we used to call these "Paco" but there are some that can be eaten. The dark green color where can be found in the water. 😊

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2021:

Great reply thank you interesting. But do be careful and only eat them when they are prepared by an expert. Since though some are edible some are toxic, and you need to be sure which ones you are eating.

Of course instead of people being made in God's image Jesus was made in a real person's image.

HelenRoseBuck comments on May 12, 2021:

This is misinformation. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jesus-modeled-on-borgia/

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2021:

There is no proof at all but Cesare was actually used as the model, what is more likely is that the modern image of Jesus was emerging at about that time, and of course it followed the then popular fashion, of what a handsom man should look like was used. While Cesare, being a fashionable man would also tend to follow the same look, in the pictures of himself, though being the supermodel of the time, he may also have influenced the look, to some degree.

A local person must have pinned this quote, from the Agnostic poet E.

Surfpirate comments on May 11, 2021:

Just off the top of my head and purely from memory: Ah Love, would that thou and I with Fate conspire, To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire Would not we rend it all to bits and then Remould it nearer to the heart's desire? or Life is but a checkerboard of nights and days Where ...

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2021:

Lovely. All life is there.

This is an appropriate video for Agnostic.

skado comments on May 11, 2021:

Good episode. I like Kuhn, but he, like just about everyone, is still stuck in the notion that those are the only three options, and that we must choose one of them. “If we are asking the wrong question, what would be a better question?” If I understood the speaker correctly, we don’t ...

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2021:

Yes could not agree with that, more. I noticed right at the start of the video, he gave out to his first collaborator a whole list of properties that he thought defined god, which seems to me to be quite the wrong way of going about it. If only because he is not really asking what are the benefits of being a theist, atheist or agnostic, but rather what are the benefits of those with regard to a very specific god. Or to use their cutain analogy, he is already saying what he wishes to know is behind the curtain.

Satanic temple against corporal punishment.

crazycat329 comments on May 11, 2021:

Abusive, degrading, and often used when the person wasn't even guilty of what they were being accused of. It should never be allowed. I still remember clearly the day in first grade where one of the kids in my row was coloring on my shoe. I was sitting there trying to be a good girl as I was taught....

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2021:

Not defending corporal punishment. But. "often used when the person is not guilty," appies to all punishments, and always will. If you got that lesson from school then you learned something important, which many people never learn.

I didn't realize the charismatic Bibles were larger now I know why they have all these extra rules.

hankster comments on May 11, 2021:

had a preacher try to tell me once that the King James version of the text was the only "scriptural" and "true" rendering of gods word. he was way gone crazy.

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2021:

For truly it say. Doth it excel the spirit, which is the way of the God your Lord, as is it found, as the dog sniff his behind, more better than the man. For surely is it writ in ye olde funny language.

I didn't realize the charismatic Bibles were larger now I know why they have all these extra rules.

Barnie2years comments on May 12, 2021:

They are all works of fiction anyway. You get just as much moral guidance from Aesop’s Fables, and it’s a better read.

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2021:

Better moral guidance from Aesop's Fables. At least they had just on author and managed to be self consistent. But thinking about it, that of course is why people go to the bible, Because it does not give good moral advice, but is so completely ambiguous, so that you can give it any meaning you want, but then claim that the bible supports your views.

A local person must have pinned this quote, from the Agnostic poet E.

girlwithsmiles comments on May 11, 2021:

Sorry to be a pain but...in looking for more quotes I discovered these. So Edward Fitzgerald translated Omar.

Fernapple replies on May 11, 2021:

Very nice copy, some beautiful editions have been made over the years.

A local person must have pinned this quote, from the Agnostic poet E.

Diogenes comments on May 11, 2021:

Who is this poet? It isn't F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I could be wrong!

Fernapple replies on May 11, 2021:

Edward Fitzgerald was a nineteenth century English poet, whose more famous work is a paraphrase of Omar Khayyam the ancient Persian poet. He reworked the islamic mystics poems, giving them a strongly agnostic twist. I will post some more as people seem interested.

A local person must have pinned this quote, from the Agnostic poet E.

Robecology comments on May 11, 2021:

Sweet! More by her, please?

Fernapple replies on May 11, 2021:

Ok will do. Though it is a him, the female person, is the one the seat is there to comemorate I think.

Praise the Lord for that!

glennlab comments on May 11, 2021:

Ruth.

Fernapple replies on May 11, 2021:

I am not sure that is really true, we really don't know who wrote it. But if there is one book which was is almost certainly writen by a man, then it has to be Ruth, and a very misogynistic patriarch of a man at that. Come on. The main function of a woman is to pick up after men, literally, "Ruth the gleaner", and to look after her mother in law. LOL

This made me start looking for the steepest hill to be built on . . .

Robecology comments on May 10, 2021:

That's partly the result of telephoto compression...but I say that not to minimize the amazing ability of humans to build things on steep - if not apparently impossible terrain. Perhaps we can make this strand a challenge...show us your best images of buildings done on steep terrain...Here's a ...

Fernapple replies on May 11, 2021:

@1950debris Steep Hill Lincoln, at one in seven overall, one in three at the steepest part, is worth a look also, in part because Lincolnshire is not usually thought of as hilly, and also because it is part of the high street. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steep_Hill

I'm an Atheist, more over a antitheist.

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2021:

Psychoactive substances may have been part of the mixture in many cases, but they would be by no means needed to kick start religion. Humans are perfectly able to make mistakes, see things that are not there and invent things to deceive others, without chemical help. We are only of very limited ...

Fernapple replies on May 10, 2021:

@praytothemilkjug Certainly your feeling are a good guide.

This made me start looking for the steepest hill to be built on . . .

Robecology comments on May 10, 2021:

That's partly the result of telephoto compression...but I say that not to minimize the amazing ability of humans to build things on steep - if not apparently impossible terrain. Perhaps we can make this strand a challenge...show us your best images of buildings done on steep terrain...Here's a ...

Fernapple replies on May 10, 2021:

You may like Knaresborough , steepest near me.

I'm an Atheist, more over a antitheist.

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2021:

Psychoactive substances may have been part of the mixture in many cases, but they would be by no means needed to kick start religion. Humans are perfectly able to make mistakes, see things that are not there and invent things to deceive others, without chemical help. We are only of very limited ...

Fernapple replies on May 10, 2021:

@praytothemilkjug Yes but I did not say it did not play a part, only that there would have been religion even without it.

Has anyone else notice, that you have to click on photos these days, to stop them being fuzzy ?

girlwithsmiles comments on May 10, 2021:

Doesn’t seem to effect my ancient phone for some reason.

Fernapple replies on May 10, 2021:

You probably only see the fuzziness on a good large screen, if your picture quality is low anyway you wont see it.

I found this pinned to the end of a log seat during a walk today, though the older members may value...

Robecology comments on May 9, 2021:

What's that screwed on to? Lovely poem.

Fernapple replies on May 9, 2021:

Old bit of log.

- How do you drink your whiskey? - I take a sip in my mouth and then swallow.

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2021:

Take a sip, yes, but don't forget to swirl it round and suck in air to get the full flavour.

Fernapple replies on May 8, 2021:

@guntis Best practice certainly.

A question to the senate.

girlwithsmiles comments on May 8, 2021:

No, many a true thing said in jest. In my experience if you’re poking fun and misunderstood others often point it out before you get the chance. But will use 😉 to indicate am being cheeky 🙂

Fernapple replies on May 8, 2021:

Yes but does that not take a lot of the fun out of it, surely half the point of being sarcastic/ironic, is getting a laugh when someone does not get it.

A question to the senate.

ToakReon comments on May 8, 2021:

The problem is that a great deal of 'seriously believed bullshit' is so ridiculous that it is completely impossible to differentiate it from sarcasm. You'll often find a total dickhead using EXACTLY the words that a sarcastic non-dickhead would use. In that case unless you happen to know which ...

Fernapple replies on May 8, 2021:

On a planet where poplutation is measured in billions, there are enough people, that no mater how crazy your dream/nightmare, there is someone out there living it.

So Facebook.

girlwithsmiles comments on May 7, 2021:

Needless to say you responded with a strong, ‘no thank you’ ?!

Fernapple replies on May 8, 2021:

Not on offer. But I was able to cancel the "update" with a little effort.

There is an article in the New Yorker that is about UFO's.

Fernapple comments on May 7, 2021:

I would seek medical help. Since, while it may just be possible that visitors will one day arrive here from another solar system, it is so highly unlikely that we, as the only sample we have, will ever reach other star systems, even imagining impossibly advanced technology, it is very unlikely that ...

Fernapple replies on May 7, 2021:

@David1955 I would never have said that UFOs don't exist, in fact such is the human capacity to see things, which are not there, or mistake things for other things that it would be surprising if there were not any. But we are not talking about UFO sightings, but actual contact on the ground. While in the opposite direction if there really were E.T.s out there close by, then you would expect that the first plausable evidence would come not from earth but from astronomy, radio finger prints and the like yet we see nothing, so the opposite goes that you must explain the Fermi paradox.

Attn: Admin I've posted nicely at least six times before, now I'm making a demand: we want a ...

Fernapple comments on May 7, 2021:

Puke, Thumbs down, Bye Bye and Thank You.

Fernapple replies on May 7, 2021:

@Sgt_Spanky We are supposed to have that, the plain face one, why not swap that for a stronger sad face, and keep a neat four additions, to make a three by four group, neat.

Taxonomy is a very subjective business, perhaps the most subjective in all science.

racocn8 comments on May 6, 2021:

Are lies alive? (They spread by infecting their hosts, living as a parasite until they use the hosts body to reproduce...)

Fernapple replies on May 7, 2021:

Ah, basically the R. Dawkins meme theory. I would hold that, yes they are alive, if not organic, since I would define life as anything which replicates and is subject to natural selection. I would in fact go even further than Dawkins and say that, not merely individual units of culture, memes, are alive, but that human cultures as a whole are living parasites of human minds, which evolve to become ever more infectious and dangerous. So that for example. When you see people going to war because of incompatable cultures. What you should in fact see is, two parasites fighting for territory, and using some of their host humans as amunition.

Nature is the best gardener/landscaper I know!

Mooolah comments on May 6, 2021:

I let nature decide how my garden develops. I try not to resist nature & use natural forces to develop the design. Native plants, pollinators, & points of interest all supplied by ecosystem. & each year it is different as plants come & go & multiply. The most rewarding hobby in the world. Habitat ...

Fernapple replies on May 6, 2021:

Wonderful.

ANOTHER KEYBOARD BITES THE DUST.

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2021:

How big are her paws ?

Fernapple replies on May 6, 2021:

@Spinliesel Oh a lot harder to train then. Best get a room with a lock on the door. LOL

“The Christian religion, not only was at first attended by miracles, but even at this day cannot...

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2021:

If you survive life without a logical sceptical brain, that's a miracle.

Fernapple replies on May 5, 2021:

@altschmerz Ah yes but survival implies continuing to live. Do Christians have a life ? (At least a mental one ? )

Has anyone else considered the possibility that religious festivals in the distant past, only ...

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2021:

Sorry, but not a new idea, people have been aware of the obvious cheat for centuries. The ancient Greeks even had a legend about how the Gods were cheated out of the best share. According to which. When the first burnt offering was made, the gods got to choose which bits were theirs and which ...

Fernapple replies on May 5, 2021:

@Surfpirate Just never drink the Kool-ade. Its psycho active.

Wombat? Close enough.

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2021:

Warthog. Its trying to hide its ugly face.

Fernapple replies on May 4, 2021:

@GeorgeRocheleau Just a wild guess.

A tub of margarine fell on my foot three weeks ago and it still hurts.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2021:

If your feet are not healing well, it is a good idea to get your sugar levels and blood pressure checked. I don't want to worry you, it may be nothing, but it can be a symptom of serious underlying disease, poor circulation and slow healing in the feet are one of the first signs.

Fernapple replies on May 4, 2021:

@barjoe Ah I see. Should have noticed its under Silly Random Fun.

Someone again asked if agnostics are scared to say they are atheists.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

If god speaks in the forest where no one hears him, what difference does his mere existence make ?

Fernapple replies on May 4, 2021:

@rainmanjr Or is the exact equivalent of does not exist.

He doesn't even want to hear about that "common ancestor" crap...

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2021:

And some apes are good looking, unlike humans, horrible lanky bald things, with just odd tufts of hair, in exactly the places you would not want tufts of hair. Ugh.

Fernapple replies on May 3, 2021:

@bbyrd009 Hair is fine, its just having funny little tufts of it here and there, and bald everywhere else. Especially when they are in your arm pits, up your nose, down your ears and in your groin, plus round your mouth if you are male, all the places that are sweaty greasy and food stained. You think that is good design ? LOL

Can you spot the Copperhead Snake on the path.

Alienbeing comments on May 2, 2021:

I looked, I enlarged and looked again, I don't see a snake.

Fernapple replies on May 3, 2021:

@JohnOwen1 Thanks, I did get it in the end.

Can you spot the Copperhead Snake on the path.

Alienbeing comments on May 2, 2021:

I looked, I enlarged and looked again, I don't see a snake.

Fernapple replies on May 2, 2021:

It is hard even when I looked at the answer below.

I was brought up in a Christian home and became a Christian at eight years old, as time passed i ...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

Hello and welcome to the site. I think that your first line says it all. Can you really become a Christian at eight ? ! What does an eight year old understand about theology, history, life, and what knowledge did the eight year old you have of the world or any alternate belief systems, to make a ...

Fernapple replies on May 2, 2021:

@NostraDumbass Then they set up a set of impossible guide lines/rules, which you are forced to break. then they tell you to feel guilty, and then they tell you that they have the magic power to make the guilt go away. For a suitable payment in money, arse kissing or sex, of course. Good scam if you can work it, and they do a lot of the time.

I like to watch evangelist performances, nice manipulative psychology lessons.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

No thank heavens, it is enough that I waste such a lot of time on this site. OK, joke , but yes you can learn a lot from them, and then you start to be aware of just the same methods being used everywhere. Every animal has a special adaption, the hare runs fast, the falcon flies fast, the lion is...

Fernapple replies on May 2, 2021:

@guntis That is the point.

When we see a beautiful flower, bird or tree, and find wonder, we also of course appreciate, the ...

waitingforgodo comments on May 2, 2021:

An ape agape in awe stands to applaud.

Fernapple replies on May 2, 2021:

Some of us are blessed with DNA so good, we can even appreciate alliteration. ( But don't worry its a secret kept just between those of us with the mutation, so I won't tell. )

Is there truly any difference between a "cult" and a "religion".

ToakReon comments on May 1, 2021:

Not really. Both religion and cult have the same basic characteristics. Both are controlling. Both are based on bullshit. Both claim virtue while wallowing in foulness. Both exploit the gullible. It really is a struggle to find a characteristic that either one has that the other ...

Fernapple replies on May 1, 2021:

Here is mine. "A religion is a cult that has managed to get itself political power." Even if that is only in the default sense that political figures have to show it some slight respect.

"an agnostic is an atheist without balls" agree or disagree?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

I am an atheist to all the gods of religion, because I can prove to my own satisfaction, that they do not exist. However there are deist gods, and beliefs in possible super-natures, so vague, that their existence or not can not be proved. So that while I am quite certain they probably don't ...

Fernapple replies on May 1, 2021:

@David1955 Worth remembering though the addage. "Wisdom is the willingness to seek nuance." ( Also leg pulling. Since I know you don't need to know that. )

"an agnostic is an atheist without balls" agree or disagree?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

Oh no , not that boring old thing again !

Fernapple replies on May 1, 2021:

@David1955 Very well put.

I really don't know what this is about but it's been bouncing around in my head a lot lately.

skado comments on Apr 30, 2021:

We are a two year old who is trying to raise itself.

Fernapple replies on May 1, 2021:

But not trying very hard.

"an agnostic is an atheist without balls" agree or disagree?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

Oh no , not that boring old thing again !

Fernapple replies on May 1, 2021:

@David1955 Yes I like a bit of good debate, if you do too try Skado, he is wonderful for a good debate, You can find him in the religious naturalism group. Having said that, I do not really do the atheist agnostic debate, but like to call myself a broard spectrum sceptic, and while we are talking about boring, he is my usual answer why. ABOUT MUFFINS. I see that the issue of Atheist/Agnostic has been rearing its head again, as it does every few days, so since some people find this a bit tiresome, I thought that a post on muffins would be more interesting. Suppose for a minute, and for the sake of argument only, that there is a god, and an afterlife, including heaven and a hell; and that the god chooses whether people go to heaven, or if some go to hell, in fact the whole theist deal. Not only that, but the criterion on which the god makes the choice is based on the type of muffins they eat. ( Note: “eat” not prefer, this is not about free will or anything like that.) People who eat lemon muffins go to heaven and people who eat chocolate muffins go to hell, with limbo for those who don't eat muffins at all, naturally. Would that make a difference to your life ? Would you give up your chocolate muffins for an eternity of joy, and all the lemon buns after death you could ever eat ? Perhaps you would. But there is one vital thing that I forgot to mention about this god, which is that; this particular god, does not tell you about his thoughts on muffins, or how they affect your after life, in fact it keeps the whole thing a big secret just to itself, so that you have no way of knowing which muffins you have to eat. Then in that case, of course, you could not make the appropriate changes to your life, or save your soul anyway. In fact muffins, the gods preferences and even that god, would not impact on your life at all. The point is this. That a gods, souls, the afterlife etc. have no effect on anything, unless that god, or someone who knows, tells you about it, and you therefore have some knowledge of god's cake prejudices. Making this the big difference between religion, which pretends to offer knowledge of god the afterlife etc., and none belief which does not. Which is why the difference between atheists, humanists, agnostics and even deists, is so small and unimportant by comparison, because none claim any knowledge of gods preferences, and it is the pretence of fake knowledge, and of god given authority, which makes the big difference. Compared with that the differences between atheist and agnostic, even deist, are trivial to the point of vanishing.

"an agnostic is an atheist without balls" agree or disagree?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

I am an atheist to all the gods of religion, because I can prove to my own satisfaction, that they do not exist. However there are deist gods, and beliefs in possible super-natures, so vague, that their existence or not can not be proved. So that while I am quite certain they probably don't ...

Fernapple replies on May 1, 2021:

@David1955 That is OK, I wrote in haste and could have been more plain. But I know you well by now, having read many of your comments and posts, I understand your atheisim and respect it greatly.

What is "a night with ebon pinion" anyway?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

It is that which precedes. "Dawn placing her rose tinted fingers in the sky, over a wine dark sea."

Fernapple replies on Apr 30, 2021:

@bbyrd009 Sorry if you don't like it, but I much prefer Homers pagan dawn just before the reasoned day of Greek culture, to some self centred christian brooding.

The number of new cases leveling off, daily deaths falling and remaining low, the estimated number ...

luckytobealive comments on Apr 30, 2021:

and now post the average flu deaths every year.....

Fernapple replies on Apr 30, 2021:

@luckytobealive Got ya. LOL

The number of new cases leveling off, daily deaths falling and remaining low, the estimated number ...

luckytobealive comments on Apr 30, 2021:

and now post the average flu deaths every year.....

Fernapple replies on Apr 30, 2021:

Eleven thousand aprox, which is about ten percent of the Covid deaths in the last twelve months. But of course the measures taken against Covid have in all probability reduced the Flu deaths as well, since this has been an exceptionally low year for flu deaths. A bonus if you like.

Who is the originator of the theory that the Covid vaccines are being administered to change DNA?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

May have been more than one person. It is a fairly obvious stupid joke, that it would not be surprising if several different idiots thought of it. And such is the nature of the inter-net that every stupid joke is going to be taken seriously by someone, and then spread as fact to the gullible who ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 30, 2021:

@Ryo1 Yes that as I say is the trouble with the way the net works, someones stupid joke becomes a truth to the next idiot. Still probably always was the way. I am told that some girl once told everybody that god got her pregnant, she probably thought that was a good laugh. But look at the trouble that caused.

"Sunday School: A prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

And so that the parents can go home after church for sex. The churches wanted more children to fill the pews, so it encouraged its livestock to breed.

Fernapple replies on Apr 30, 2021:

@HLMenckenFan It is not just a thought. In the old days, when many of the poor and even middle classes, lived in one or two room housing with large families and worked twelve plus hour days. It was an unspoken understanding, that the church would look after the children on the one afternoon per week they got free, for the purpose of, so called, marital duties.

The most dangerous place on Earth | The Economist

Druvius comments on Apr 29, 2021:

Another horrifying fossil from the misbegotten Cold War. Sadly until we live in a world where the great powers recognize self-determination, situations like this will be cause for disagreement and war. I think the parties involved should sit down and negotiate a settlement, that certainly has to be ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 30, 2021:

Unfortunately the idea of self determination in this case is complicated by the fact that, Taiwan claims that it has the legitimate government of China, and that it is mainland China which is the break away state. And should therefore surender itself to Taiwan.

Is there anything worse than religion's impact on humanity ever?

Pedrohbds comments on Apr 29, 2021:

yes, many things. Ultra nationalism, plagues, tyrannical dictatorships with military and intelligence resources, colonialism, industrialization of slave labor and the list go on.

Fernapple replies on Apr 29, 2021:

@Pedrohbds Yes but I did not say that religion was exclusively evil. Only that it played a part in most of those evils at some time. Though I would add. That religion does tend to evil, (I don't truly believe in absolutes like good and evil anyway.) and is often the choice of evil doers when looking for support, because it is fairly easy to justify good ideas, using reason, appeals to instictive morallity and history, but it is much harder to support evil that way. So that for those wanting to promote evil ideas, religion which does not have any safe guards, such as the appeal to reason found in philosophy, and /or the appeal to evidence, found in real history and science, is the natural tool to use for those with difficult ideas to promote. Especially as it claims absolute authority, (Every criminals greatest wish.) yet its tool for enforcing its authority is an entirely imaginary one, god, which being imaginary can be reimagined to say anything those who control it wish, yet wonderfully from their point of view, without any loss of authority or prestiege. And that is to some degre supported by the fact that most of the really powerful religious movements, base their god on old texts, Bible Koran, etc. which are often highly complex, muddled and capable of almost total reinterpretation, to say anything you wish, however immoral and unsupported. Which no doubt accounts for their popularity and growth, being such useful tools to anyone regardless of their views, is a great selling point. And sadly if the world progresses, as it certainly seems to with better education etc. So that secular morality moves forward and becomes more advanced, while goverments and politics become increasingly the tools with which human use to express compassion for the rest of the human race. Then the trend will surely be for religion to become increasingly the default tool of the evil alone, because that is the only share of the market left to it, its future looks very bleak.

Unearthing the True Origins of the Bible - YouTube

rainmanjr comments on Apr 28, 2021:

So it looks, to me, like Canaanites (and, therefore, IsraELites) broke from Philistine culture both in the practices of circumcision and eating meat (particularly pork). I would wonder if the environmental iron age break came from disease/illness from pork, and other unclean (or thought to be ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 29, 2021:

Perhaps. But it actually says that they did not "adopt" the "new" practice of eating pigs which the Philistines brought with them. So it may not include any truly rational reasons, such as health and hygiene, as the appologists would perhaps like to argue. It could just have been zenophobic. "We are not going to adopt the new fangled ideas of these new people who are invading our land."

Is there anything worse than religion's impact on humanity ever?

Pedrohbds comments on Apr 29, 2021:

yes, many things. Ultra nationalism, plagues, tyrannical dictatorships with military and intelligence resources, colonialism, industrialization of slave labor and the list go on.

Fernapple replies on Apr 29, 2021:

Yes, but is there any one of those things that religion does not have a hand in, or contribute to ?

Logic puzzle

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2021:

Yes, because Mary is either married or unmarried. If Mary is married, the married Mary is looking at unmarried Peter. And if Mary is unmarried, then married Paul is looking at unmarried Mary.

Fernapple replies on Apr 29, 2021:

@Julie808 " If I can help someone. "

Logic puzzle

girlwithsmiles comments on Apr 29, 2021:

If it’s THE Peter Paul and Mary I can find evidence that Peter was married, but Mary wasn’t. But there is also no evidence that scenario is specifically them. So in conclusion, not enough information for a firm decision 😊

Fernapple replies on Apr 29, 2021:

Yes, because Mary is either married or unmarried. If Mary is married, the married Mary is looking at unmarried Peter. And if Mary is unmarried, then married Paul is looking at unmarried Mary.

Logic puzzle

Tejas comments on Apr 28, 2021:

Yes

Fernapple replies on Apr 29, 2021:

@bbyrd009 Yes, because Mary is either married or unmarried. If Mary is married, the married Mary is looking at unmarried Peter. And if Mary is unmarried, then married Paul is looking at unmarried Mary.

[jpost.] Egyptian tombs before pharoahs

barjoe comments on Apr 29, 2021:

So age of the pharaohs was after 1500 BC? That means the alleged Exodus in the Buybull took place only 3500 years ago?

Fernapple replies on Apr 29, 2021:

No, you miss read it I think. It say the Hyskos period ended 1500, that was an interuption in the middle of the pharoahonic era.

First flush of green just coming on the trees, and a bright spring sky.

Surfpirate comments on Apr 28, 2021:

We have had a very early spring here in southern Ontari, Canada - the view out my window looks much the same as yours and we are usually 6 weeks behind the UK.

Fernapple replies on Apr 28, 2021:

Has been a very cold spring here. In fact the last month has been colder than most of the winter.

Israel Is the World’s Most Vaccinated Country. Why Are Cases Rising?

Petter comments on Apr 26, 2021:

Vaccines are only part of the solution. Social behaviour is also important, such as stopping large gatherings and ensuring that it is not only Israeli Jews, but also the Palestinians and ultra orthodox Jews in Israel who are vaccinated.

Fernapple replies on Apr 26, 2021:

Plus Israel has about ten times the population density of the USA, in short it is, literally, very crowded. You can hardly realistically compare the two. And also 79 per hundred thousand, while a little higher than the USA is still very low, the sort of low level that most countries would regard as a great success, and clear proof that their methods were working. While only five thousand deaths would be a dream for most countries. And Israel does also have a large uncounted population, which means that their figures are often skewed. If you believe in vaccine or not, these are pointless stats., just given the sort of interpretation usually used to fool the unwary. Not really any better than the old, "more than the usual number of legs" proof.

If god were real, the god of the bible's death toll would be 3 to 20 million people and quite a few ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2021:

Small qualification. The plagues of Egypt, god sent a satan, (there may be more than one ) to do the job for him. So they both did it.

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2021:

@Triphid I think that the Maat rules were more ethical guidelines for intellectuals, than actual laws that would have impacted much on a peasant tradition, maybe the hypothesis is still good. I will try to find my source again, you have to be very careful when dealing with biblical related history, you can easily get apologists posing as real historians, even when dealing with generally good sources like the BBC.

Am I the only one who has adverse reactions to some posters but instead of blocking them, I continue...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

Never blocked anybody, I came to learn and the weirder they are the more I learn, and the more I think they need help sometimes.

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Oh I love the ones who wont give up especially, nice long debates.

Coat them with chocolate and give them out for Halloween?

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

Its very true. The secret is, that you can not buy a Brussels Sprout. You have to grow your own, by the time they reach the shops, all that was once good about them is long gone, they keep good for a couple of hours at most after picking.

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2021:

@AnneWimsey No a fresh sprout is a completely different thing to a shop bought one.

A man I deliver parts to still thinks that Trump is really president and going to reappear at any ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2021:

The one question that conspiracy theorists alway never seem to think about is. Yes, but why would anyone do that anyway?

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2021:

@Sticks48 Yes I especially like it when they say that 'science' and 'Darwinism' are conspiracies, and then have to come up with an explanation for why, which are often truly comical, and usually dissolve into. "Its all the devils work." In the end. Which then I supposse leads to the old question of, what motivated the devil in the first place anyway, given that he knew god personally, must have understood the master plan, etc. But that is just too crazy I just don't want to go there.

This is an old film of K.

JackPedigo comments on Apr 23, 2021:

Verrry interesting and brings back a memory of a long ago trip to an avian sanctuary. The man who ran it had lots of interesting stories. He would make an annual trip to Alaska armed with a portable, battery run incubator and some clear nail polish. The natives had hunting Geese as a part of their ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2021:

Great story, thank you. I used to know a farmer near here who had an imprinted swan which followed him around its whole life, I don't think that he ever found a way to break the bond.

A man I deliver parts to still thinks that Trump is really president and going to reappear at any ...

Beowulfsfriend comments on Apr 23, 2021:

There was a time when people like that were taken to the hospital.

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2021:

But then the right wing families decided that , keeping mad children in hospital, or making the state build hospitals, was just too expensive, (for them anyway). So the they hit on the idea off. We will just turn our mad, uncontrolable and unwanted children out on the streets, tell them they are free, and let the liberal left pick up the pieces if they want to.