Why billions of people won't eat pork (or why we don't know) - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

One reason not mentioned strangely is perhaps, xenophobia, hatred not of pigs, but of the people who eat them. The earliest and most basic part of all Abrahamic religions, and the period from which the law giving first stems, is the story of the Jewish Exodus. How a group of slaves came out of ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

@AnonySchmoose At a later date that narrative also suited the Arabs too, since they were also a desert people trying to steal land in the fertile areas of Mesopotamia and North Africa. And since it was already established and written down for them by the Hebrews, a given.

One of those, "I don't know if it's true, but it certainly sounds true."

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

I always assumed that he founded a gay community. No real evidence for that really, either.

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@redbai There is a lot of evidence for all of it, the trouble is that all of the evidence is contained within a two thousand year old book,, of no known authorship, with only a tiny few later editors known, no original date of publication, no original surviving texts, none of the later texts matching, a long history of alterations and the four main parts not agreeing, with no external confirming sources and the secondry internal sources further disagreeing. In other words, plenty of evidence, but the worst possible 'quality' of evidence you could get.

Richard Dawkins Puts Foot in Mouth Again With Tweets About How Eugenics “Works” | Hemant Mehta |...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 16, 2021:

Eugenics can't "work" because whether or not to reproduce and with whom to reproduce must, in any even remotely "free" society (certainly in any society *I* would want to live in), rank near the top of decisions one should be able to make for oneself. Yes, it could "work" in *theory*, if one had a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Behind-the-dog Oh I think you can blame all male aggression, not on females but on female preferences. We are entirely made by the opposite sex, at least as far as the environment's restraints will allow, and when those restraints are removed.

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

Poets who can write good poetry, usually can't read it well. ( No make that authors in general.)

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Beautiful.

If the last person to die on Earth is a Funeral home mortician, who would bury the survivors?

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 17, 2021:

A variation on old joke and I like this one better: A plane crashed exactly on the US and Canadian border. All people on board died. Should the survivors be buried on in the US or Canada? Or even this one: If a rooster sat the very top of a pitched roof and laid an egg, which way would the egg ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Yes but you wrote a 'place'. I would think that a jet powered town would make a much bigger hole than a piston engine village. LOL

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

Poets who can write good poetry, usually can't read it well. ( No make that authors in general.)

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 No sorry, I was not plain, I meant the painful businss of listening to someone trying to articulate, when they are only there because they wrote it. Writting and reading being too none overlapping skills. LOL

Richard Dawkins Puts Foot in Mouth Again With Tweets About How Eugenics “Works” | Hemant Mehta |...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 16, 2021:

Eugenics can't "work" because whether or not to reproduce and with whom to reproduce must, in any even remotely "free" society (certainly in any society *I* would want to live in), rank near the top of decisions one should be able to make for oneself. Yes, it could "work" in *theory*, if one had a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Behind-the-dog Yes all of that is very true, and I would not want to prevent the ending of all genetic diseases, just for dated moral judgements Perhaps governments will try to prescribe lists of what can be edited out of the gene pool and what can not. Though I doubt that would work in practice. In a sence we have all been doing, especially females, eugenics since the beginning of sex, what Darwin called sexual sellection. ( Peacocks tail's etc.) Unfortunately human females tend to favour, aggressively competetive males, and now that we have removed a lot of the dangers of aggression with medcine and health care ? Follow that line of thought.

If the last person to die on Earth is a Funeral home mortician, who would bury the survivors?

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 17, 2021:

A variation on old joke and I like this one better: A plane crashed exactly on the US and Canadian border. All people on board died. Should the survivors be buried on in the US or Canada? Or even this one: If a rooster sat the very top of a pitched roof and laid an egg, which way would the egg ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

It would roll into the hand of a nobel prize winning biologist of course.

If the last person to die on Earth is a Funeral home mortician, who would bury the survivors?

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 17, 2021:

A variation on old joke and I like this one better: A plane crashed exactly on the US and Canadian border. All people on board died. Should the survivors be buried on in the US or Canada? Or even this one: If a rooster sat the very top of a pitched roof and laid an egg, which way would the egg ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

What sort of place was that, a town or a village ?

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

Poets who can write good poetry, usually can't read it well. ( No make that authors in general.)

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Ok change usually to often. Much safer to employ and actor.

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

There will probably never be a war between humans and robots, as in S.F., because we will degenerate so far, that in the end the robots will just have to stop feeding us, when they get fed up.

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Possibly yes.

Richard Dawkins Puts Foot in Mouth Again With Tweets About How Eugenics “Works” | Hemant Mehta |...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 16, 2021:

Eugenics can't "work" because whether or not to reproduce and with whom to reproduce must, in any even remotely "free" society (certainly in any society *I* would want to live in), rank near the top of decisions one should be able to make for oneself. Yes, it could "work" in *theory*, if one had a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

Posted this above, but it may interest you. Eugenics will happen by default, whether people like it or not, and without government intervention. As in-vitro conception, gene editing and many other technologies become more available, rich people who can afford it will increasingly choose to have designer babies, perhaps with the real danger of creating a rich poor divide. And if governments try to regulate it, they will simply go to third world states to have the 'work' done under the table. In fact the genie (pun) may already be out of the bottle, it would not surprise me to know that back street genetic work, already takes place. And when once the genie is out of the bottle, there is no putting it back.

Could we really know everything about reality, someday?

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2021:

One way to look at it is to ask. Are there some things which are inherently unknowable, however great the intelligence. Which it seems there are. For examples. 1. Anything which is infinite, such as the mathematical development of Pi, or 2. the largest prime. 3. Anything more complex than the ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

@Matias That is why it is unknowable. Perhaps I should have put the whole series is unknowable, but since it followed pi I assumed that was a given.

Why does the number seven appear in the Bible 735 times.

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2021:

One is singular and therefore special for that reason. The primes two, three, and five all produce products less than ten when multiplied together, while four, six, eight, and nine are products. Seven therefore, for people who count in tens, seems to have no obvious role, and stands apart. This ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

@waitingforgodo Sorry, when I said, "all produce products less than ten ", I meant all 'can' produce products of ten or less. The moon theory does not appeal much, since a lunar month is actually nearer to twenty nine and a half days, it is more likely that the cerimonial month of twenty eight days, was made to fit the magic four and seven numbers rather than the other way round.

Hindu Girls’ School Students Forced to Strip to Prove They Weren’t Menstruating | Val Wilde | ...

CuddyCruiser comments on Feb 15, 2021:

Sometimes you wonder........were these people born idiots or did they take lessons on how to become one? %@?£¥€§><

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

Some people are born a bit less able than others, perhaps, but for a real idiot you have to start training them from birth.

Some tiny things These aren't plants, animals, or even fungi (and certainly not bacteria or ...

racocn8 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

I'm guessing species of slime mold.

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

That is what I would have gone with.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2021:

He told me that, he is going to write a book, ( he said ) exposing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site. He said that he had now gathered enough information, on the secret cabal of gnostic atheists who control this site, to inform his book. So time to go.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@whiskywoman Yes sadly the anti - woo group is no more, used to like that group.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

David1955 comments on Feb 14, 2021:

May you be right. In 4 years I have only blocked 2 people, and he was one. His anti atheism was such he targeted everything I posted or commented on making absurd claims, with his compulsive-obsessive 'gnostic atheism' ranting. I have thick skin, just avoid problem people, and get on with it, but ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@David1955 I may have been one of the things which pushed him over the edge. He posted a poll, which was quite shamelessly designed to return false answers. I took him to task about it in the comments, when that failed I made this post, https://agnostic.com/post/575033/dear-members-regarding-polls-i-am-aware-that-members-here-are-generally-kind-helpful-and-willin which I am sure he saw and must have known refered to him.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2021:

He told me that, he is going to write a book, ( he said ) exposing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site. He said that he had now gathered enough information, on the secret cabal of gnostic atheists who control this site, to inform his book. So time to go.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@barjoe True I think that he gradually changed over time, though he did make a lot of posts so maybe he rose quickly.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2021:

He told me that, he is going to write a book, ( he said ) exposing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site. He said that he had now gathered enough information, on the secret cabal of gnostic atheists who control this site, to inform his book. So time to go.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@barjoe Yes quite serious, both in a message and several comments, if I remember right. He was a very sad damaged individual. He came here originally, to sell some woo, as I remember, ( He was a grand wizard, or some such thing. ) based on the worn out old idea, that if you have no god, then you must need woo. He did not, of course, get any takers, and some of the members were quite harsh, for which he had a little sympathy from me. But he then convinced himself that, nearly all the members perhaps, were not true agnostics but gnostic atheists who were lying about their true views, and he then started his campain.

The good box? Yea sure.

abyers1970 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

Your forgot one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill. God sure does a lot of that for it to be one of his commandments

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

No he did not, its the last one.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

David1955 comments on Feb 14, 2021:

May you be right. In 4 years I have only blocked 2 people, and he was one. His anti atheism was such he targeted everything I posted or commented on making absurd claims, with his compulsive-obsessive 'gnostic atheism' ranting. I have thick skin, just avoid problem people, and get on with it, but ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@barjoe A lot of his 'funny' stuff sadly had a hidden agenda, to forward his crusade against gnostic atheism. He would post stuff such as. "Do you believe in fairies ? In order to get responses that he could prove were inconsistent with peoples, views on god. Peoples views on god as he chose to strawman them, that is. I believe that he is going to write a book, ( he said ) expossing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site.

Reading Agnoticism by A.

think-beyond comments on Feb 14, 2021:

No. It's not so simple. AND I don't feel I have to explain. However, what I feel is missing is a definition of that God we either deny or believe in. Every time I read about someone automatically equating God with the Christian's (or any religion's), take on God, I think, "Wait a minute." That's a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

God, atheists/agnostics could be its favourite people. ( Only people who are not telling it about their imaginary friend, who does the job much better. )

Reading Agnoticism by A.

Word comments on Feb 14, 2021:

Can god be an atheist?

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

No but they could be its favourite people.

[youtube.com] Singing Cat!

Fernapple comments on Feb 14, 2021:

Clever and articulate. And I say that even though. 'I am not a cat!'

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@TheoryNumber3 That is the one thing that struck me too. LOL

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools , because they have to say ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2021:

Yes but they are happy fools.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2021:

@Marionville Tough. If I want to say it, I am going to say it !!

The next conspiracy theory! 😄

barjoe comments on Feb 12, 2021:

You have to live before you can die.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2021:

Birth is a terminal condition.

RE: Gina Carino's termination from Disney's "The Mandalorian" We should really examine the tweet ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2021:

In the UK if you got fired for saying things like that, you could easily bring a suit against your employer. Just for fun though, I could answer her question with. The difference is, that you can change your political views, but not the culture of your birth. Having said that I don't know that it...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2021:

@TheMiddleWay No I did not say your culture. I said the culture you were 'born into', very specifically, meaning not the culture you choose. In other words the culture pseudo-race that the Nazis would put you in, not the one you chose yourself, that was the point.

Today I drove by the local drug store to view that GMC Yukon again and see if the owner still has it...

Word comments on Feb 11, 2021:

You ask, "What is wrong with people?" People exist, if people didn't exist, nothing would be wrong with them.

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2021:

Sometimes, Word, you come out with wisdom so profound it makes my heart leap.

Seeing lots of posts about the dairy industry today and remembering things I learned about the dairy...

Lorajay comments on Feb 10, 2021:

It sounds like every cafeteria should start providing lactose-free milk as an option. I am lactose intolerant as are my children.It seems to be hereditary. Many of my older aunts have done all kinds of ancestors.com research and black and brown ancestors were not recorded but there may have been a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2021:

Lactose intolerance is not just found in people of African decent, in fact tolerance is not the norm.

We finally got snow yesterday, lots of people all over the country are knee deep, but we escaped ...

Gmak comments on Feb 9, 2021:

I’d gladly share some of Iowa’s winter weather with you. Currently, it is -22C with ~2 feet of snow. Not the coldest winter weather ever, but perhaps the snowiest.

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

Thanks, but if we are lucky minus five is about the lowest we get, and that is more than cold enough for me.

We finally got snow yesterday, lots of people all over the country are knee deep, but we escaped ...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 9, 2021:

Is that a beehive in the foreground of the first photo?

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

No, sadly its only a cover over a cooker/firepit.

We finally got snow yesterday, lots of people all over the country are knee deep, but we escaped ...

Mcflewster comments on Feb 9, 2021:

I bet your view adds value to the house!

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

A little, but it is an old house, with not many modern features, that knocks the value down a little.

So, this morning in my email i receive a strongly-worded punishment from Admin about my remark on ...

zeuser comments on Feb 8, 2021:

Humor is a touchy area here. I've been called out on what I thought were innocent and funny posts, but everyone has a different perspective. Some people delight in tearing apart anything that's a joke, picking apart the logic to something that is just a fucking joke. I've taken to labeling any ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

I tend to use, LOL though I do not like it, seems like laughing at your own jokes, but sometimes I just have to do irony, and you know what happens to people who do that.

The greatest trick the satanists ever pulled: They may be truer to the words of Jesus than most ...

Storm1752 comments on Feb 9, 2021:

They have erroneously labelled themselves Satanists, thereby ruining whatever "message" they were trying to impart.

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

No big loss. There are lots of groups for those who come out of religion, from Pastafarians to Humanists, there is a niche for all, whatever they call themselves.

Winter flowers in the snow.

Cast1es comments on Feb 8, 2021:

At first I thought it might be forsythia and crocus , but on closer look it isn't . What are these ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 8, 2021:

Witch Hazel, Hamamelis, and Winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, no relation to the true Aconites.

Posted this I the nature group, but thought you may like it too.

Flowerwall comments on Feb 7, 2021:

What time period? It appears from mid twentieth century? Very nice.

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

Main period 1915 to 1921.

In the UK we never quite had the equivalent of the US Audubon, but we do have Archibald Thorburn.

girlwithsmiles comments on Feb 7, 2021:

How lovely. Last Summer we resided in a village where an artist called John Ferneley once lived. His horses were beautiful, but he did some other scenes of Country life such as this, from art.uk.org

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

Beautiful.

A conspiracy is simply 2 or more people telling a lie.

Word comments on Feb 7, 2021:

You say, "The term conspiracy theory attempts to discredit honest people by claiming that 2 or more people never lie as a team." Trying to understand: if I am an observer, and I claim "conspiracy theory " about 2 people "over there somewhere", are you saying I am calling them liars because I ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word, @DangerDave Word, bothers with people, even people like me, and there is no harm in that.

A conspiracy is simply 2 or more people telling a lie.

Word comments on Feb 7, 2021:

You say, "The term conspiracy theory attempts to discredit honest people by claiming that 2 or more people never lie as a team." Trying to understand: if I am an observer, and I claim "conspiracy theory " about 2 people "over there somewhere", are you saying I am calling them liars because I ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word Conspiracy theory is very tempting because it appeals to one of our most basic insticts, laziness. It addresses many problems with the world, but in fact most of the worlds problems are much more simply addressed by understanding the role that greed, stupidity, incompetence and laziness itself play. However, if you try to face up to the role of those things play, then you come up against two problems. Firstly that we all play our part in the worlds greed stupidity, incompetence and laziness, we could all make more effort to educate ourselves, give more to others etc. and facing up to our own share in it all, is hard. Secondly, the webs of greed and stupidity etc are often complex and hard to untangle. Which is why conspiracy theories appeal especially to the lazy streak in people.

A conspiracy is simply 2 or more people telling a lie.

Word comments on Feb 7, 2021:

You say, "The term conspiracy theory attempts to discredit honest people by claiming that 2 or more people never lie as a team." Trying to understand: if I am an observer, and I claim "conspiracy theory " about 2 people "over there somewhere", are you saying I am calling them liars because I ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Thirst2learn No I do not agree, with that. The term conspiracy theory was NOT made up, to discredit honest people pointing out actual conspiracies. In its modern popular meaning it was created to point up, and mock, a very large number of fake conspiracy theories, of which there are far two many, often contradictory, for them all to be true. The fact that on now and again, a theory about a real conspiracy may get caught in the same net, is just an unfortunate side effect.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

Word comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Long novel with several questions. You equate "religion" with crime but you also talk about ancient, classical influences that have merged to bring us to where some people's understanding is today. First, I bring up "religion" definition from one of those old sources. Religion ... pure and...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word All text is about knowledge, but not all of it is about true knowledge.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

Word comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Long novel with several questions. You equate "religion" with crime but you also talk about ancient, classical influences that have merged to bring us to where some people's understanding is today. First, I bring up "religion" definition from one of those old sources. Religion ... pure and...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word No, I am saying that much of it was created before philosophy, and that people like John, who came later near the end, created philosophy, because they themselves found that it, and much else like it, did not philosophize.

Commission rules sexual orientation discrimination illegal in Florida

FrayedBear comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Will that effect Trump's residency?

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

Playing golf to forget that nobody, including your wife, wants to go to bed with you, is not, sadly for him, a sexual orientation.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

Word comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Long novel with several questions. You equate "religion" with crime but you also talk about ancient, classical influences that have merged to bring us to where some people's understanding is today. First, I bring up "religion" definition from one of those old sources. Religion ... pure and...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

I see no reason to use the biblical usage of religion, the Christian Bible has no especial authority on the usage of words in the English language. Quite the opposite, if anything I am using the original Latin meanings. Though as stated to Sakdo above, I am using it in this sense to mean all parts of human cuilture which are not philosophy or science. And yes it may be true that. "Religion ... pure and faultless is this: to help widows and orphans in need and avoiding worldly corruption. James 1:27 " May be a good thing where it exists, but it is a tiny and shrinking part of religion as a whole, and 'religion impure and promoting faults of every sort', is far bigger, more powerful and growing, and will always in the end swamp, religion pure and simple.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

skado comments on Feb 6, 2021:

The world hasn’t agreed on a definition of “religion” yet. So until we do, there is no way to determine whether it is synonymous with any other word. Untruth is not as useful as truth, and often causes harm. That much we can agree on. But “crime” usually designates an act punishable ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word I am refering to all religion as a whole. Even including pseudo religions such as the arts.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

skado comments on Feb 6, 2021:

The world hasn’t agreed on a definition of “religion” yet. So until we do, there is no way to determine whether it is synonymous with any other word. Untruth is not as useful as truth, and often causes harm. That much we can agree on. But “crime” usually designates an act punishable ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2021:

Agreed, no one has agreed on a definition of religion, which is why everyone, including me, is free to use their own, and in this case, I am defining it as every part of culture which is not philosophy or science, using philosophy to mean any thought system which respects logic. And I have no wish to outlaw religion, that would be like saying. "let us outlaw roads, because people commit road crimes." And anyway, in this case I am refering to moral crime, not legal crime. Though of course the two are intimately related, and the destructive effect that religion has on morallity, no doubt leads to legal crime in many cases..

I’ve become a fan of YouTube (only for viewing) and I saw a crazy show.

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2021:

In the UK a person who wanted to talk to the Prime Minister, once mailed themselves to Number Ten Downing Street.

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2021:

@JackPedigo Yes if I remember right, they were received by the police officer on the door, but the Pm did come out for a photo call.

Something very easy, that most of us can easily do for ourselves, which makes a big difference, and ...

girlwithsmiles comments on Feb 4, 2021:

True, but it will more achievable when the days are longer.

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2021:

@girlwithsmiles Some lovely places for walking round you. Nottingham, are you in the country or the city ?

Something very easy, that most of us can easily do for ourselves, which makes a big difference, and ...

wordywalt comments on Feb 4, 2021:

For over 15 years I walked 3 to 5 miles a day through our neighborhood and surroundings ones. It was good for me in many ways. It helped me to stay fit and helped me to control my diabetes. It also enabled me to see what was doing on in the area and get to know people in the area. I was known in...

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2021:

Sounds like living the dream, well done.

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2021:

@skado Actually I have just viewed the results. In fact the results seem to be both shambolic and accompanied by inarticulate text. So it would seem there was either little interest or thought put into it, because he did not care or have any real interest, or it expresses his disappointment with the results.

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Feb 4, 2021:

@skado Good, obviously the bias in the questions, which may not have been deliberate, was not enough to tip the result. Perhaps he did get what he came for. Good luck to him in his search.

"Be happy for no reason, like a child.

henthabox comments on Feb 2, 2021:

I get the idea alright. But that is a trick I have not learned.

Fernapple replies on Feb 3, 2021:

Nor me. If I was to lose my health for example, I would be very unhappy. I think that some people just get lucky, and are born with happy child like genes, and others are not.

The back story perhaps, and what the KGB may have done. [theguardian.com]

powder comments on Feb 2, 2021:

OK, critical thinking time. That the KGB was interested in recruiting Trump is very plausible and they no doubt had a file on him. But did the FSB (which replaced the KGB when the USSR fell in 1991) continue the contact? I seriously doubt it, especially during the Yeltsin years when Russia was a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 3, 2021:

Yes that is very true, good thoughts thank you. Altough I suspect that within the Russian intelligence services there was a great deal of continuity even through the Yeltsin years, since they are and were very independent, and of course, well linked to the mafia. I do not doubt that Trump was 99% a home grown product, the treasonable links are important not to excuse America, but to show how low its its chosen figure head had sunk, without anyone noticing.

For anyone who still doubts this is a pandemic: More people died of covid in the state of California...

Fernapple comments on Feb 2, 2021:

You should also, not forget that that is, after, taking measures to reduce transmission. In the UK it is said that, we average about eight thousand deaths each year from winter flu, without taking serious precautions. We are now at a hundred plus thousand, covids deaths, times twelve, and that ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 3, 2021:

@Paul4747 Sadly the latest video to go viral in the UK, shows our chief medical officer, a none political appointment and a highly respected scientist, being insulted in the street by a moronic youth shouting 'liar' at him.

Will it end, or just fade away and keep coming back?

Julie808 comments on Feb 2, 2021:

As long as people continue to travel and move about giving the virus new hosts, it will be with us unless it's found that the vaccinated folks can't transmit the virus asymptomatically. Because travel is big business and governments (such as in Hawaii) tend to give in to demands of the travel and...

Fernapple replies on Feb 2, 2021:

Well said, especially the last line.

A most excellent idea

powder comments on Feb 1, 2021:

Plus it's a great way to keep political leaders to account, recognising when they are sprouting bollocks

Fernapple replies on Feb 2, 2021:

And the advertizing industry.

"Be happy for no reason, like a child.

LiterateHiker comments on Feb 1, 2021:

I disagree. Born an ebullient optimist, I am an energetic, resilient and happy person. I find the wonder and joy in life. The infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand, the joy of tasting a juicy, ripe peach. Intense, playful, passionate and determined, I have fun every day. I love hiking...

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

@LiterateHiker Then I think that you and your aunt, have/had exactly the happy like a child, mind the author is talking about.

Biggest Contradictions in the Bible.

Triphid comments on Jan 31, 2021:

There are many including, " Thou shalt not make graven images," ooops the Catholics in particular have screwed up on that quite badly, "Thou shalt keep the Sabbath Holy unto Me," Chrustians still have NOT figured out which actual DAY is the Sabbath, " Thou shalt NOT have other Gods before Me," ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

@Triphid Oh perhaps I have been misinformed. I understood that it was a late addition.

"Be happy for no reason, like a child.

LiterateHiker comments on Feb 1, 2021:

I disagree. Born an ebullient optimist, I am an energetic, resilient and happy person. I find the wonder and joy in life. The infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand, the joy of tasting a juicy, ripe peach. Intense, playful, passionate and determined, I have fun every day. I love hiking...

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

Well true, even if you did go blind and lame, you would still have memories.

"Be happy for no reason, like a child.

1950debris comments on Feb 1, 2021:

Hmm, broadly agree with this. But some reasons for happiness might just be unstealable.

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

They may not be stealing, it could go by accident or mallice.

"Be happy for no reason, like a child.

Fernapple comments on Feb 1, 2021:

And do good unto others, because ? Well why not.

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

@josephr Going to quote you in the quotes group.

Will it end, or just fade away and keep coming back?

yvilletom comments on Feb 1, 2021:

Viruses other than covid were doing what they do from about the rime that life began, eons before human life began. I understand that human DNA contains evidences of those struggles.

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

Yes introns and jumping genes. It is said that they may even have helped with our evolution, by giving us the power to use genes in bits, so that a few genes can be used for many purposes, among other things.

I am at level two! Wondering if I have joined atheist or Scientology?👣.

Fernapple comments on Jan 31, 2021:

Hello and welcome. We are a very board group here.

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

@Marionville broad. Though sometimes just a little.

Biggest Contradictions in the Bible.

Triphid comments on Jan 31, 2021:

There are many including, " Thou shalt not make graven images," ooops the Catholics in particular have screwed up on that quite badly, "Thou shalt keep the Sabbath Holy unto Me," Chrustians still have NOT figured out which actual DAY is the Sabbath, " Thou shalt NOT have other Gods before Me," ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 1, 2021:

Good points. Though actually the eleventh comandment, there are eleven. Thou shalt not make graven images. Is a late addition by protestants, not found in early editions.

“I’m an atheist, and that’s it.

Fernapple comments on Jan 31, 2021:

Best one yet.

Fernapple replies on Jan 31, 2021:

@Marionville My thought exactly.

Good Saturday morning, all you "heathens".

girlwithsmiles comments on Jan 30, 2021:

Oh gosh, that just reminded me of an awful vegan I served at a wedding one evening. I’d been taking special care to go out of my way for him but when I asked if he’d be having cake and he said not if it had aborted chicken foetuses in. At that stage I asked another member of staff to deal with ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 30, 2021:

The whole vegan business has its heart in the right place. ( Heart metaphoically. ) But its head in a lot of bad propaganda and disinformation. One who posted on here, said that one reason for not eating honey, was that. When queen bees are artificially inseminated, the male bees are killed by squeazing their insides out. Which ignores two things. Firstly that, very few queen bees are artificially inseminated, and most back yard beekeepers don't do it. And secondly that, Ripping the males insides out, so that they die, is exactly what a queen bee does, when they mate naturally. And there were dozens of such examples in the post, which was obviously copied from a website.

Just an interesting story about two plants.

Behind-the-dog comments on Jan 29, 2021:

Love that accent! That was fun, thanks. I grew up with a backyard overrun by English ivy. Interestingly, though my parents (who still live there) have done nothing to get rid of it, it is nearly all gone. It might be interesting to explore how that came to pass...

Fernapple replies on Jan 30, 2021:

In the UK it is regarded as a great ecological boon, since it provides, a last late autumn feed for bees and moths, shelter for many creatures and some of the most valuable winter berries for the birds.

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Jan 29, 2021:

@skado No I had no wish to have it or him removed, and it is possible that it may be true. In which case I think that sceptics are big enough to live with it. It does not matter how you get nearer to the truth, only that you do so and continue to do so. I am still only saying that I don't think he will learn anything from it, he came looking for confirmation, was careful to make sure he did not get negative results, and so will get what he came for.

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Jan 28, 2021:

@skado How he spins it may not be important. If, as it probably will, it gets into the hands of the hate preachers, who, working on the principle of Gorbels. If you want to get your followers to commit atrocities then you must first make them stop seeing the enemy as human. They will invert it to. 'Sceptics are so unnatural/lost to god, they can not even manage to be human enough, to have good relationships with their fathers.'

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Jan 28, 2021:

@skado I would love to think that was true, but sadly a, 'worldview well grounded in reality', gives little protection against wild eyed thugs waving guns and the only book they ever read.

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Jan 28, 2021:

@skado The only threat is that it will be used by those wanting to promote theocrasy, as amunition to undermine sceptics especially in the views of their followers.

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Jan 27, 2021:

@skado Did not mean it would hurt you. I meant it is not likely to help his education, though you never know, maybe.

[agnostic.

Fernapple comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I have got a feeling that his survey, is so obviously a load of c##p, that he has not had many if any takers anyway. Let him stay, he may just learn not to take theist propaganda a face value, you never know.

Fernapple replies on Jan 27, 2021:

@FrayedBear That's right, so the only thing to do is not to fill it in, but the fact that he is still almost begging for members to do so, proves that members have more sense anyway.

[agnostic.

Fernapple comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I have got a feeling that his survey, is so obviously a load of c##p, that he has not had many if any takers anyway. Let him stay, he may just learn not to take theist propaganda a face value, you never know.

Fernapple replies on Jan 27, 2021:

@FrayedBear Actually, I managed to get a look at the survey without completing it. And he will certainly get the results he wants anyway, because the questions are rigged so that they can provide only one outcome. For example, one question reads something like. 'Did your father pray with you, read the bible with you or say grace before meals ?' Obviously if your answer is no. Which in most former Christian countries outside the US. Like Canada and the UK, which he is specifically targeting, is the answer 99% of people will give, because who does that any more ? Then that can clearly be interpreted as both: did not have a good relationship with/spend time with father, and not religious. If he really wanted an honest answer, then why not just ask two questions. Did you have a good relationship with your father ? Are you a Christian believer ? The other eighteen are clearly rigging.

[agnostic.

skado comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I signed up to be notified of the survey results. I suspect he will find no significant correlation, which might be a positive contribution toward his education. I don’t think we have anything to fear from information.

Fernapple replies on Jan 27, 2021:

Actually, I managed to get a look at the survey without completing it. And he will certainly get the results he wants, because the questions are rigged so that they can provide only one outcome. For example, one question reads something like. 'Did your father pray with you, read the bible with you or say grace before meals ?' Obviously if your answer is no. Which in most former Christian countries outside the US. Like Canada and the UK, which he is specifically targeting, is the answer 99% of people will give, because who does that any more ? Then that can clearly be interpreted as both: did not have a good relationship with/spend time with father, and not religious. If he really wanted an honest answer, then why not just ask two questions. Did you have a good relationship with your father ? Are you a Christian believer ? The other eighteen are clearly rigging.

[agnostic.

Fernapple comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I have got a feeling that his survey, is so obviously a load of c##p, that he has not had many if any takers anyway. Let him stay, he may just learn not to take theist propaganda a face value, you never know.

Fernapple replies on Jan 27, 2021:

@FrayedBear Oh yes. 'Keep your enemies close.'

Humanists UK, Atheist Alliance International or National Secular Society?

Marionville comments on Jan 26, 2021:

I have no experience with any atheist organisations in the U.K., and although I did flirt with the idea of joining Humanist U.K. at one time, I never did. The National Secular Society may prove to be a better fit for you if you feel the need to join an umbrella group. I’m a lifelong ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 26, 2021:

@tsallinia What Marrion said, ditto.

Posting on here is like therapy to me.

AnneWimsey comments on Jan 25, 2021:

I see nothng to be gained by stirring the anthill. Not so long ago it was considered the height of rudeness to bring up either politics or religion in social conversation!

Fernapple replies on Jan 26, 2021:

@Cyklone You can resort to personal insults as well, though that may not count as polite.

Jackdaws and my next doors chimney.

Behind-the-dog comments on Jan 25, 2021:

I read many years ago that Jackdaws can (how to put this?) *understand* numbers up to six (apparently researchers are reluctant to say that they "count"). Here's a better, brief explanation I just found on a [website describing some cool crow ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 26, 2021:

good article. Yes Corvids are among my favourite birds too.

“Man’s inhumanity to man, makes countless thousands mourn!”.

Fernapple comments on Jan 25, 2021:

It is a freezing cold day in Jan here, miserable, so something summery. Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes, Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise; My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream, Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. Thou stockdove whose echo ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 25, 2021:

@Marionville Very sweetly sung. Though it is only the first verse, and there are about seven in all.

FFS "There is no evidence of a pandemic" says anti vaxxer

Fernapple comments on Jan 24, 2021:

I am sure there are a few of those. But without a citation of your source, or a link, what are we to make of it ?

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2021:

@Petter Sorry. 'Without'. Put it right.

I was just lucky enough to get close, for a couple of quick, hand held long zoom shots, which don't ...

Hathacat comments on Jan 24, 2021:

Have you ever seen a pigeons nest? They just throw a couple twigs and call it done. Not even protected from the pictures I saw. Them N.Y. pigeons are thugs, lol.

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2021:

@Hathacat I think that their numbers may be the problem. Originally when they were few in number, they would nest on rocky ledges, and other such places, where nest building may not have been needed. But since they are so common thanks to humans giving them agriculture which they love, they are short of nest sites, which suit their limited building skills.

I was just lucky enough to get close, for a couple of quick, hand held long zoom shots, which don't ...

Hathacat comments on Jan 24, 2021:

Have you ever seen a pigeons nest? They just throw a couple twigs and call it done. Not even protected from the pictures I saw. Them N.Y. pigeons are thugs, lol.

Fernapple replies on Jan 24, 2021:

Yes, they are one of the worst, and they do often lose chicks and eggs, which fall through or drop over the side, so it is not like it did not matter.

When folks don’t understand why it’s a big deal that Harris is the Vice President(no matter your...

Fernapple comments on Jan 23, 2021:

Are the pictures in the right order, I can't work it out ?

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2021:

@Barnie2years Well I am from the wrong side of the pond. Its comforting to know it got some Americans too, though you did work it out without help, well done.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”.

Fernapple comments on Jan 23, 2021:

But so often the matches are damp.

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2021:

@Marionville That is true, and I was also thinking of a very, horrible religious education teacher I had, who was trying to pedal the most banal fundamentalist drivel, while belitling every other human endevour.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”.

Fernapple comments on Jan 23, 2021:

But so often the matches are damp.

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2021:

@Marionville Actually I think that a lot are filling the pail, to deliberately put the fire out.

When folks don’t understand why it’s a big deal that Harris is the Vice President(no matter your...

Fernapple comments on Jan 23, 2021:

Are the pictures in the right order, I can't work it out ?

Fernapple replies on Jan 23, 2021:

@tinkercreek Oh of course they are VP's I was thinking they were presidents, that is why I could not work it out. Stupid.

Despite the cold, the spring bulbs are still forcing their way up.

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Jan 20, 2021:

Informative botony lesson! 🌷

Fernapple replies on Jan 20, 2021:

Thank you, I know its technical, but I always hope that gardeners take a real interest in their plants.

Edited to be less rude, because I can be a rude prick and I want to work on that.

Fernapple comments on Jan 18, 2021:

I wonder who would want to read such things. I type fast and loose then often have to go back, even when I notice things after people have liked/commented. A record such as. "Today Fernapple corrected five spelling mistakes, added three commas and seven full stops, deleted two commas and changed a ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 20, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Good. PS Don't let anyone tell him he can't do empathy either.

Edited to be less rude, because I can be a rude prick and I want to work on that.

Fernapple comments on Jan 18, 2021:

I wonder who would want to read such things. I type fast and loose then often have to go back, even when I notice things after people have liked/commented. A record such as. "Today Fernapple corrected five spelling mistakes, added three commas and seven full stops, deleted two commas and changed a ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 20, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Sounds like your grandson and I could be twins. One thing I am sure you do not need to know, but I will say it anyway, is. DO NOT EVER, let anyone write him off or limit his opportunities because of his autism. If needed, fight his corner like the most fierce tiger gran who ever lived.

Edited to be less rude, because I can be a rude prick and I want to work on that.

Fernapple comments on Jan 18, 2021:

I wonder who would want to read such things. I type fast and loose then often have to go back, even when I notice things after people have liked/commented. A record such as. "Today Fernapple corrected five spelling mistakes, added three commas and seven full stops, deleted two commas and changed a ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 19, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 I am borderline autistic and have the concentration span of a nat, sorry gnat. Probably the nightmare student.

Edited to be less rude, because I can be a rude prick and I want to work on that.

Fernapple comments on Jan 18, 2021:

I wonder who would want to read such things. I type fast and loose then often have to go back, even when I notice things after people have liked/commented. A record such as. "Today Fernapple corrected five spelling mistakes, added three commas and seven full stops, deleted two commas and changed a ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 19, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 There were two ! Will do that one too. Hope Jeff is writing all this down.

I have a suspicion that @Thirst2learn and @imback are the same person.

Fernapple comments on Jan 19, 2021:

Don't think it is against the rules, but is that not one of the things the points system is supposed to be there to discourage ? And I know this is social media where the normal rules don't apply, but are you sure it is a good idea to air mere 'suspicion' in public.

Fernapple replies on Jan 19, 2021:

@creative51 Why don't you just mail them and ask them ?

Edited to be less rude, because I can be a rude prick and I want to work on that.

Fernapple comments on Jan 18, 2021:

I wonder who would want to read such things. I type fast and loose then often have to go back, even when I notice things after people have liked/commented. A record such as. "Today Fernapple corrected five spelling mistakes, added three commas and seven full stops, deleted two commas and changed a ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 19, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Done. You see it works.

I have a suspicion that @Thirst2learn and @imback are the same person.

1of5 comments on Jan 18, 2021:

Multiple people sharing 1 brain isn't as uncommon nowadays as you might think.

Fernapple replies on Jan 19, 2021:

Explains a lot. Especially if they each get a different part.

I would like to suggest that ALL ideological echo chamber groups on this site be removed o removed.

Joanne comments on Jan 16, 2021:

I can see a point here. I really dislike how almost everything is some sort of group. There are times when I would like to reply to a post, but I have to join the group to do it. And, quite frankly, I don't want to join certain groups. Another problem, as I understand, is that a person can be ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 17, 2021:

@Joanne Don't think there is any technical limit on how many times you can join/leave a group, but the group can block you yes. So what if you have told them what you think for once.

Does anybody know what happened to @Donotbelieve?

altschmerz comments on Jan 17, 2021:

She stated that she was leaving the site, if I recall correctly.

Fernapple replies on Jan 17, 2021:

Yes can confirm that. She got fed up and said she had had enough.

I would like to suggest that ALL ideological echo chamber groups on this site be removed o removed.

Joanne comments on Jan 16, 2021:

I can see a point here. I really dislike how almost everything is some sort of group. There are times when I would like to reply to a post, but I have to join the group to do it. And, quite frankly, I don't want to join certain groups. Another problem, as I understand, is that a person can be ...

Fernapple replies on Jan 17, 2021:

The easy way that I use is. Join the group, make your comment, then a couple of days latter, leave the group.

I hope someone can identify this Happy fella.

LenHazell53 comments on Jan 14, 2021:

Is it just me or does that look like an old fat Jimmy Carter

Fernapple replies on Jan 15, 2021:

Yep, that is what I thought.