I couldn’t let the frost kill the basil in my mother’s garden, so I cut the plants and have them...

Killtheskyfairy comments on Sep 16, 2020:

Can you share your recipe?

Fernapple replies on Sep 16, 2020:

Second that.

I got banned from FB for three days because I said, "Americans are gullible and stupid", referring ...

Fernapple comments on Sep 16, 2020:

Ugly, difficult to use, shallow and pretending to be a substitute for the web in order to fill the Zuks imperial dreams, why go there at all.

Fernapple replies on Sep 16, 2020:

@Sticks48 I know. I have to use it, because a business marketing group I am involved with, makes it a rule of membership.. But I retire soon, Yippee !

As if his idiocy were not already complete, now Trump claims that fallen trees "explode.

PondartIncbendog comments on Sep 15, 2020:

Squirrels did it. Those little bushy assholes!

Fernapple replies on Sep 16, 2020:

There should be a legal ban on selling them matches and lighters.

Another one of my heroes.

Fernapple comments on Sep 14, 2020:

Nice thought. Though technically wrong, since quite a few animals have been found which survived major breakages, in part due to social support.

Fernapple replies on Sep 14, 2020:

@Petter I would say so yes. Certainly care for the sick is a thing which, can and is, done easily within the family, and vastly predates civilization. I think that the idea that this represents civilization, comes from the same logic whereby, morallity comes from religion. Sad to say bad things about Lorajay's hero, but M. Mead has been so often discredited for so many errors, and so much fakery, that few take her seriously any longer.

Why you should worry even if you are young and fit. [theatlantic.com]

HippieChick58 comments on Sep 13, 2020:

Two of my 30ish kids had covid tests in the past week or so. Negative results thank goodness, and the one who was actually sick is feeling better. Apparently just sick, not covid. My oldest in mid 30s is expecting. It is very hard not to worry about them.

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@HippieChick58 Yes if you know what it is all about (microbiologist ) it tends to make you more careful, maybe it is you who should take instrution from her. I am fortunate in that I work from home anyway, and have taken to getting all my groceries delivered. I have to be super cautious, since I help to look after my nieghbour who is in her late eighties. It is not worth risking your life for groceries, you can always go without, if you can get the basics.

Why you should worry even if you are young and fit. [theatlantic.com]

HippieChick58 comments on Sep 13, 2020:

Two of my 30ish kids had covid tests in the past week or so. Negative results thank goodness, and the one who was actually sick is feeling better. Apparently just sick, not covid. My oldest in mid 30s is expecting. It is very hard not to worry about them.

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

At this time I would say don't be affraid to nag, remind and pester, better they think that mother is a pain, than they catch that, especially when pregnant.

Harvard Has Figured Out Why So Many Black People Are In Prison

Fernapple comments on Sep 13, 2020:

Why they never asked me. I could have told them that, in less than one percent of that time, for half the price.

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@freeofgod Sorry.

Not an evolutionary specialist, but was wondering about the evolutionary processes that goes from :...

jasen comments on Sep 12, 2020:

Start by investigating Bi-lateral Symmetry......

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@Word That is why the five point starfish is placed on a different evolutionary line to the bilateral animals.

Random thought over lunch.... after making bread. 🤔

RichCC comments on Sep 12, 2020:

You point out a serious thought. We're mostly all common folks. People almost always take themselves too seriously. I've been watching a *Great Courses Plus* lecture series called *The Other Side Of History* that tries to explore how poor people lived in antiquity. It's quite interesting. But...

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@RichCC Quoted in the Religious Naturalism group.

Here's an unresolved argument. Did Jesus really exist?

Paul4747 comments on Sep 12, 2020:

"Maybe" is as definitive an answer as will ever be given. Generations of Israeli archaeologists have been scouring that country looking for evidence of... anything, and although they've been looking mainly for evidence regarding the Mosaic stories, they also haven't found anything regarding Jesus. ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@Paul4747 Yes I agree. But my comment was not refering to the post about Jesus, only about the accuracy of the gospels, following a line in the comments. Good comment anyway.

The many beautiful stages of a Double Delight

Fernapple comments on Sep 12, 2020:

Beautiful. Is the dew natural or did you add it ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@Heidi68 Well done grabbing the moment.

The thing that gets me the most about religious people who keep saying Thank you Jesus, for all they...

Fernapple comments on Sep 12, 2020:

Jesus said that giving the message of god to none Jews, meaning inherited Judaism thought the traditional female line, was like giving the children's food to swine, (could have been dogs, memory fails a little.). It was st Paul and later converts who went against that and accepted gentiles. So you ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@Theresa_N Quite. So they would be his only true followers.

Here's an unresolved argument. Did Jesus really exist?

Paul4747 comments on Sep 12, 2020:

"Maybe" is as definitive an answer as will ever be given. Generations of Israeli archaeologists have been scouring that country looking for evidence of... anything, and although they've been looking mainly for evidence regarding the Mosaic stories, they also haven't found anything regarding Jesus. ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

There is however some evidence that the gospels are fake, in that they get both the history, and worse the physical geography of the holy land (Which can't be debated. ) wrong, in ways that people who lived there at the time could not have done.

Here's an unresolved argument. Did Jesus really exist?

barjoe comments on Sep 12, 2020:

There's no evidence that Jesus ever walked the earth. The evidence against him is that all "historical" references are early 2nd century. Folklore. All of the gospels are plagiarized from the writings of Titus Flavius Josephus, born Yosef ben Matityahu, a Jewish general who defected. He made two ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@Fletch Therre are no others that refer to anything remotely close to the biblical Jesus no. He is purely a creation of the gospels. But you have to remember that there are a number of none cannonical gospels, most of which describe a very highly mythical Jesus, which would seem to indicate that you are really dealing with a much older myth, which probably began long before the biblical dates. For all of them you have to ask however, how much credibility can really be given to writings for which we have, no dates of publication, no original manuscripts, no named editors or copyers, no location of origin, no original authors names, (Even Math, Mark, Luke, John, were not added until several centuries into the Christian era, and even the church admits they are fake.) which get both the history, and worse the physical geography of the country they were supposedly written in wrong, in a way no one who had been there could, and which contradict one another, even after the more extreme versions are dumped by the chuch, in a desparate attempt to make some logical sense of them.

Absolutely perfect

Fernapple comments on Sep 12, 2020:

I suspect you are. But saying so in public is generally considered sexist.

Fernapple replies on Sep 13, 2020:

@Lorajay I see. I thought that there had to be more to it, you are not usually one of those who posts short click bait. Strenthens the assumption "Absolutely perfect" though.

Random thought over lunch.... after making bread. 🤔

RichCC comments on Sep 12, 2020:

You point out a serious thought. We're mostly all common folks. People almost always take themselves too seriously. I've been watching a *Great Courses Plus* lecture series called *The Other Side Of History* that tries to explore how poor people lived in antiquity. It's quite interesting. But...

Fernapple replies on Sep 12, 2020:

@RichCC PS may I quote this please ?

Random thought over lunch.... after making bread. 🤔

RichCC comments on Sep 12, 2020:

You point out a serious thought. We're mostly all common folks. People almost always take themselves too seriously. I've been watching a *Great Courses Plus* lecture series called *The Other Side Of History* that tries to explore how poor people lived in antiquity. It's quite interesting. But...

Fernapple replies on Sep 12, 2020:

@RichCC I think, don't be too intimidated, the common things can also be the most profoundly beautiful and meaningful, if you only train your appreciation to understand it. At the very least if you do Get up, make the bed, eat, drink, work, have some sex, listen to some music, go to bed, sleep, repeat. then you also by so doing join into a great community, I may not be going to live for millenia but the things that I do and share in doing, are nearly immortal, fundamental things. Sorry for waxing all woo, there but I think that there is more to that thought than just woo.

Here's an unresolved argument. Did Jesus really exist?

barjoe comments on Sep 12, 2020:

There's no evidence that Jesus ever walked the earth. The evidence against him is that all "historical" references are early 2nd century. Folklore. All of the gospels are plagiarized from the writings of Titus Flavius Josephus, born Yosef ben Matityahu, a Jewish general who defected. He made two ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 12, 2020:

Actually some scholars say, that the two references made to Jesus by Josephus, are later forgeries put into his work after his death. Because they do not appear in some early copies, and are writen in a different syle. So even that is doubtful.

Random thought over lunch.... after making bread. 🤔

RichCC comments on Sep 12, 2020:

You point out a serious thought. We're mostly all common folks. People almost always take themselves too seriously. I've been watching a *Great Courses Plus* lecture series called *The Other Side Of History* that tries to explore how poor people lived in antiquity. It's quite interesting. But...

Fernapple replies on Sep 12, 2020:

Yes but even that is a distortion in a way, because. "lacks of good food and clean water and even the slightest understandings of health and social practices. " Were mainly the dramatic bits which actually only impacted their lives now and again, for the most part their lives were just ordinary exactly like ours. Get up, make the bed, eat, drink, work, have some sex, listen to some music, go to bed, sleep, repeat.

Given the Machiavellian tendencies of governments do you think that they will miss the opportunity ...

Fernapple comments on Sep 12, 2020:

Given the incompetence of governments, do you think that they are capable of creating and managing a plan like that ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 12, 2020:

@Austin-Cambridge My thought is , how would we persuade government to invest in a national DNA data base. Given that there are a lot of advantages for everyone except the government.

Given the Machiavellian tendencies of governments do you think that they will miss the opportunity ...

Fernapple comments on Sep 12, 2020:

Given the incompetence of governments, do you think that they are capable of creating and managing a plan like that ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 12, 2020:

@Austin-Cambridge They have a lot more to gain from subverting elections, and it is something they understand.

This fawn looks so tired 😪

Fernapple comments on Sep 11, 2020:

Maybe its got the Phlox. (Sorry could not resist that one.)

Fernapple replies on Sep 11, 2020:

@Boomtarat03 Phlox the name of the flower rhymes with pox. Silly old man joke.

Two different theories about birdsong.

Boomtarat03 comments on Sep 11, 2020:

While I am watching this I feel sleepy, because of the bird's sounds, it is nice to an ear☺ Sparrow is so noisy 😅

Fernapple replies on Sep 11, 2020:

Loveliest sound in the natural world, after perhaps waves on the beach.

My lemongrass bushes are sad looking.

Fernapple comments on Sep 10, 2020:

Hopefully all your hard work will pay off. I grew some one year, from the shoots I bought in the supermarket, but sadly they are not hardy in the UK even in a greenhouse.

Fernapple replies on Sep 10, 2020:

@Zoohome Will do, certainly going to have another go next year.

Nora Ephron ,a atheist, stated in her autobiography the thing she regretted leaving behind when she ...

AnneWimsey comments on Sep 10, 2020:

My dogs

Fernapple replies on Sep 10, 2020:

Sadly they would miss you too.

Astronomers find no signs of alien tech after scanning over 10 million stars An Australian ...

Druvius comments on Sep 9, 2020:

My suspicion is that life like ours is an evolutionary dead end. As technology continues to advance, sooner or later it will be possible for an individual to build a doomsday device. The end won't be much later.

Fernapple replies on Sep 9, 2020:

It may not even be deliberate, it is quite possible that there is a doomsday technology, the danger of which can never be forseen, by the technology that comes before it. And if that is so, then every technologically advanced culture is doomed.

How are you all?

Fernapple comments on Sep 9, 2020:

Fine thank you, good weather here, soon be time for beer. How are you doing ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 9, 2020:

@beerhungry Great thank you. Seems like a very meaningful expression of a sibling relationship.

How are you all?

Fernapple comments on Sep 9, 2020:

Fine thank you, good weather here, soon be time for beer. How are you doing ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 9, 2020:

@beerhungry Well done. Are you going to share a few snippets on here ?

Quite short but just a lovely sound. [youtube.com]

rogerbenham comments on Sep 9, 2020:

Exquisite. Exactly as it should be performed! Thanks so much! When I was 15 I sang Sheep May Safely with a viol da gamba and a spinet. Half way through something collapsed on the spinet and I sang the rest just with the viol. After restoration of course we did it again. I think there might have ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 9, 2020:

That sort of thing happens a lot when you are 15. LOL

So many conservative people bemoan the children of today and their lack of respect.

Fernapple comments on Sep 7, 2020:

Think there may be a word or two missing from your title. recommend an edit, I know what you mean but it does not read well.

Fernapple replies on Sep 9, 2020:

@Lorajay Well done, champion.

An interesting list; 20 most prosperous countries (as of 2019) [insider.

Fernapple comments on Sep 8, 2020:

I have read that one of the best things that a government can do for an economy, is to introduce a high minimum wage, in part because the spending power of large numbers raised out of poverty lifts the economy far more than the spending of rich people, which is slower and less likely to stay within ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

@Jetty Empoyers who rely on low wages to prop up bad businesses won't like it certainly. But that only creates more trade for the good businesses, its a win win.

It really really saddens me knowing that many children were raised in a household where religion was...

Fernapple comments on Sep 8, 2020:

Passing on cultural heritage may be inevitable, but there is no reason why cultural heritage can not include a sceptical view. To those who would say that indoctrination is not child abuse, I would say that one of the symptoms of child abuse, is that the abused are often made to feel life long ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

@TheMiddleWay Yep OK. Score yourself a point. LOL

Amazing how the things work out.

Fernapple comments on Sep 8, 2020:

Welcome to the blocked club, well done. Never heard of him though.

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

@creative51 Would seem so, I have just read his bio. I do though sometimes wonder if there are not two different sites here, because people are often mentioning things people have done and how bad the fighting is, and I never see any of it.

I guess we should all strive to keep an open mind?

Word comments on Sep 8, 2020:

Does this mean everyone should have a bullet put thru their brain to have an open mind?

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

I think that is the intended joke, yes. A bit sad really to think that extreme cynisim is somehow clever.

Dave Daubenmire: Refusing to Serve Me Because I Won’t Wear a Mask is Like Racism | Beth ...

K9Kohle789 comments on Sep 7, 2020:

As written in story: "Being Black is not something you choose. Being ignorant and dangerous is. If Daubenmire refuses to wear a mask, then he’s putting everyone else in danger". Hope he enjoys karma and he gets the virus.

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

@JeffMurray Yes it is perhaps the most persuasive of all religion, since it comes directly from our pattern making instincts. It is hard for an animal hard wired to see pattern, not to fall for correlation equals causation.

It really really saddens me knowing that many children were raised in a household where religion was...

Captain_Feelgood comments on Sep 8, 2020:

I'm guessing most of us here grew up with some sort of religious influence,,, and yet we all grew out of it,, grew to realize it's faults and how to deal with it... Otherwise, we wouldn't be here... CAN I GET AN AMEN!! 😁👍

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

That's OK for you, but what about them many who do not escape, for whom religion continues to be a hardly endurable burden thoughout their life.

Weirdest Passages You've Read?

LiterateHiker comments on Sep 7, 2020:

A lifelong skeptic, I never bothered reading the Bible. In elementary school, I scoffed at ridiculous Bible stories. Realized the Bible is just a book of stories or fables written by men. Like Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

@LiterateHiker To Fairy Tales

Weirdest Passages You've Read?

LiterateHiker comments on Sep 7, 2020:

A lifelong skeptic, I never bothered reading the Bible. In elementary school, I scoffed at ridiculous Bible stories. Realized the Bible is just a book of stories or fables written by men. Like Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

Not at all like Grimm's Fairy Tales, they are quite a good read, even for an adult.

Dave Daubenmire: Refusing to Serve Me Because I Won’t Wear a Mask is Like Racism | Beth ...

K9Kohle789 comments on Sep 7, 2020:

As written in story: "Being Black is not something you choose. Being ignorant and dangerous is. If Daubenmire refuses to wear a mask, then he’s putting everyone else in danger". Hope he enjoys karma and he gets the virus.

Fernapple replies on Sep 8, 2020:

@JeffMurray Sadly yes, I am joking. Its a funny thing we Brits do, I know that it annoys the majority American members here, but we just can't help ourselves. Its in our cultural DNA.

Dave Daubenmire: Refusing to Serve Me Because I Won’t Wear a Mask is Like Racism | Beth ...

K9Kohle789 comments on Sep 7, 2020:

As written in story: "Being Black is not something you choose. Being ignorant and dangerous is. If Daubenmire refuses to wear a mask, then he’s putting everyone else in danger". Hope he enjoys karma and he gets the virus.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

Karma is in very short supply.

So many conservative people bemoan the children of today and their lack of respect.

Fernapple comments on Sep 7, 2020:

Think there may be a word or two missing from your title. recommend an edit, I know what you mean but it does not read well.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

@Petter Yep that was my guess too.

So many conservative people bemoan the children of today and their lack of respect.

Fernapple comments on Sep 7, 2020:

Think there may be a word or two missing from your title. recommend an edit, I know what you mean but it does not read well.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

@Lorajay No I think there is still some missing.

Happy Labor Day to All!

girlwithsmiles comments on Sep 7, 2020:

Really? The weekend was started here by a Nottingham company who found that letting their staff have 2 days off made them more productive. I didn’t know that was what labour day was all about.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

Its the US, they don't know where Nottingham is.

Weirdest Passages You've Read?

Lightupmylife comments on Sep 7, 2020:

Ezekiel 23:19-20 NET Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. She lusted after their genitals as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

She sounds interesting. Asking for a friend.

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.

Fernapple comments on Sep 7, 2020:

No I don't agree with that, very often political power clashes with the ruling intellectual force.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

@Freedompath Strange quote from Marx, since he was trying to create an intellectual revolution to birth a political revolution. Sounds almost as though he was telling himself that he was wasting his time.

Hi , why isn't it possible to browse currently online members?

Fernapple comments on Sep 7, 2020:

You can go to members and look for the ones with the green dot. It is a bit harder than having a specific list, but not much.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

@MissKathleen Thank you point or dot taken.

A small part of a perhaps vast lost history ? [getpocket.com]

Killtheskyfairy comments on Sep 7, 2020:

Thank you for sharing. There were so many other good articles on that site I enjoyed as well.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

Yes they keep sending me links.

A small part of a perhaps vast lost history ? [getpocket.com]

Cast1es comments on Sep 7, 2020:

Who'd have thought . A signifigent change in how the war was fought and won , due to an unrecognized female scientist , who earned her degree , but wasn't given the recognition for having earned it , so males could continue the myth that women are second class citizens , and not equal in ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

Yes not exactly new is it.

Are you a humanist?

Word comments on Sep 7, 2020:

I don't like the word "human".

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

Well you don't have to be one if you don't want. PS how is the search for accomodation going ?

Are you a humanist?

Matias comments on Sep 7, 2020:

I did not finish because the quiz is not serious. it is sooo obvious which answer you have to chose in order to be on the good side. (I do not have to do quizzes in order to find out that I am not a humanist - unless you define *humanist* as *trying to be a nice person*)

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

Yes but the point is not to choose the right answer, but the honest one. Very often with these things you will find that they give you a 'correct' or 'good' score, no mater what answers you give, since they are just click bait to draw you in. So I ran it twice, the first time giving honest answers, and the second time making half my answers random. The first time it said, yes you are a Humanist and the second tiime, "Its not for you." So it would seem to be for once and rarely an honest quiz.

Jebus H.

Fernapple comments on Sep 7, 2020:

I think that it is very unlikely that Zuckbook has trained his bots. to understand quotation mark, or that he even cares. Pity you did not quote Goebbels, I think that Zuckbook is using him as a model.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

@WilliamCharles Thats because he has not put much thought into how the net works, and the reason for that is because he only cares about appearances, the net is a sham.

During the geography class on the Eastern Mediterranean, the teacher asked Little Johnny, "What are ...

Fernapple comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Venetian. The Phoenicians were noted for inventing phones.

Fernapple replies on Sep 7, 2020:

@Triphid Forgot that one, though some people do say they were a bunch of phonies. LOL

“If you pluck the chicken one feather at a time, no one will notice, including the chicken” ...

bobwjr comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Yeah the fascist philosophy , and Trump's agenda

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

I don't know Mussolini may have been that smart, but I am not sure Trump is.

Is religious belief fueled in part by class prejudice and snobbery ?

girlwithsmiles comments on Sep 6, 2020:

They probably just realised that you weren’t one of the sheeple :(

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

Yep certainly, if you are not going to put anything in the plate.

Is religious belief fueled in part by class prejudice and snobbery ?

SKH78 comments on Sep 6, 2020:

I have gotten lots of contempt from church people because I don't earn enough money, I don't look pretty and I don't wear expensive clothes. I was dragged to snobby churches as a kid and listened to many sermons telling me that poor people are lazy. The well to do have found god's favor. If you ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

Yep, even worse, if you pray hard enough and donate enough, god will make you rich, so if you are poor you must be a sinner.

Is religious belief fueled in part by class prejudice and snobbery ?

Willow_Wisp comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Let it go. Japanese bouncers didn't let me in Japanese club's in Japan because I wasn't Japanese. I don't think about it except when reminded of the problem category I call "trivial."

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

Oh I did not care, it was just an amusing example of something I have seen so many times before, and it was the complete contrast with the smiling congregation that made it so striking.

Is religious belief fueled in part by class prejudice and snobbery ?

Spinliesel comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Or maybe they were just exhausted from an hour's with of work, singing, and dancing and holding the congregation's attention. That can wear you out. You probably looked content and well-fed and not in need of anything.

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

Very Christian of them. No this was certainly a sneer, I have seen it so many times before from christians.

Is religious belief fueled in part by class prejudice and snobbery ?

Petter comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Were the priest and warden perhaps in an illicit liaison?

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

I wondered about that, male concubine. Perhaps, chior boys do grow up, and some may be sucked in, (sic LOL) for life.

Is religious belief fueled in part by class prejudice and snobbery ?

anglophone comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Translation: "Why the fuck weren't you in the congregation?"

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

In most cases that would be true, but I was clearly foreign, having said that the churches empire has no boundaries its true.

“Evil isn’t the real threat to the world.

Fernapple comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Stupid, and sometimes just the effect of unforeseen consequences, when even the most intelligent could not be expected to understand what they truly did.

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

@Marionville And the ones who promote stupid in others, in order to use them more easily.

Are you conditioned? If so in what ways? Please share. [quotes.justdharma.]

Fernapple comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Why would I not wish to be controlled by circumstances ? I am here to live, and to interact with the world in which I live.

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

@FrayedBear Yes I think it was R. Dawkins who said that. When the Soviet Union caved in, one of the main reasons people gave for not abandoning the idea of global communism, promoted by the Russian empire, was the whine. "But that would mean we have wasted our whole lives." To which the only answer is. You are not the first or the last, it happens, get over it.

So, if we placed a satellite six hundred billion miles out in space (tenth of a light year)focused ...

Fernapple comments on Sep 6, 2020:

If It focused its camera on the microwave background radiation, nearly to the big bang. If it focused it on earth, one tenth of a year for light to reach it, and one tenth of a year for the message to come back to us therefore about seventy days. But since it would have to journey to its position at...

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

@PondartIncbendog I am assuming an unmanned satelite, since it says 'we' as in collective us. Still if there was a job on offer, and it gives you a chance to get a tenth of a light year from here. Hm, think about it.

I constantly watch/listen to this at least once a week.

Fernapple comments on Sep 6, 2020:

She needs the sceptic community badly. Its a pity we can't send her a message about sites like this.

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

@prometheus Guess what. I went, and all credit to the atheist/agnostic community, she already has over two hundred and eighty comments, nearly all offering good advice and support. Did not really doubt she would. Give ourselves a pat on the back ?

I constantly watch/listen to this at least once a week.

Fernapple comments on Sep 6, 2020:

She needs the sceptic community badly. Its a pity we can't send her a message about sites like this.

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

@prometheus Thought of that and may do so.

Even as an atheist, I believe that evil exists.

UpsideDownAgain comments on Sep 6, 2020:

All living organisms have an instinctive sense of self preservation and reproduction that supersedes most other concerns. Humans are no different. We have the capacity to realize that we are shooting ourselves in the foot, but the problem is that capacity doesn't always result in actuality. ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

The truly terrible thing, at least from a human poit of view is, that the two main requirements of successful reproduction seem to be, low intelligence and a high level of selfishness. This means that we will probably evolve to be far less social, and far less inteligent, and It may happen quite quickly in just a few centuries. Eventually a point will be reached wjhere we no longer have the intelligence or social unity to overcome even a small problem, then we go extinct, we we have not already. THe sad thing is that by then we may have all but destroyed everything else on the planet. Of course it maybe that we will find a place for gene editing and eugenics, and use those to prevent that. But it is also possible that those things will only ever be available to a rich, technically advanced minority, which means that we will effectively split into two species. We may then survive, but at what cost to the planet.

Coining of the word “agnosticism”: [science.jrank.org]

Willow_Wisp comments on Sep 5, 2020:

The reason agnostics are so rare is because humans are only just now learning to embrace the concept of "I don't know." Look Egyptian and Babylonian math would have been a lot easier if they had a "0" place holder but they weren't that intellectually developed. "I don't know" is a life place ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

Good metaphore, a little more work on the text and it would make a good post.

I have access to 4 or more browsers on my computers.

Fernapple comments on Sep 4, 2020:

Try updating Firefox, the latest one shows your most visited sites on the home page with icons, by default.

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

@DenoPenno Could be an issue with your device.

Pedantry

FearlessFly comments on Sep 5, 2020:

I care little for 'cultural norms', but would you say that pedantry is a benefit to Critical Thinking (i.e words matter) ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 6, 2020:

Yes they do mater and as a means of communication they have to be as exact as possible. To quote myself in the article. "if you wish to set high standards for yourself, at least if makes you happy to do so, then I will praise your precision and your dedication more than anyone." My post is really about not making pseudo gods out of them, which means thinking that they are sources of truth on their own.

I know winter is coming on for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and it been a poor summer, ...

Boomtarat03 comments on Sep 5, 2020:

Hokkaido is a really nice and extremely wonderful place, I've been there several times but never had the chance to see this kind of birds ☺

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

You are so lucky, I would just love to visit Japan, I am so bowled over by its beauty and stories of its wildlife.

So you can save carbon and oil, the cost of a lawn mower, get great exercise, and impress your ...

HippieChick58 comments on Sep 5, 2020:

It looks like an incredible workout. The barefoot look makes me cringe.

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

I was going to comment on the wonderful things it could perhaps do for the figure. But then I though better of it, because the feminists on here might misunderstand. LOL

Having moved away from the Co-operative bank as i lived too far away, I’m thinking about moving ...

AnneWimsey comments on Sep 5, 2020:

Credit Unions!

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

A UK thing, they are like clubs, they give loans to and only take investment from their members, they are none profit making, charge low interest and belong to the members. They are regarded as part of the charitable sector, speciallize in lending to vunerable people, and exist to make exploitive money lending by, what I think you call loan sharks, unviable.

So you can save carbon and oil, the cost of a lawn mower, get great exercise, and impress your ...

Spinliesel comments on Sep 5, 2020:

This is how we harvested hay. We kids walked behind the man with the scythe and gathered it up and tied it together with bunches of green grass and set it up in teepees to dry. The scythe is the most frightening tool on the farm, right behind the bull castrator. Sheep and goats make much more ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

@Spinliesel And this young lady is doing it in bare feet !

So you can save carbon and oil, the cost of a lawn mower, get great exercise, and impress your ...

Spinliesel comments on Sep 5, 2020:

This is how we harvested hay. We kids walked behind the man with the scythe and gathered it up and tied it together with bunches of green grass and set it up in teepees to dry. The scythe is the most frightening tool on the farm, right behind the bull castrator. Sheep and goats make much more ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

Having said that, which is certainly true. I used to love using one, there is and almost sensual pleasure in sweeping through the grass.

Could the Big Bang be wrong?

nicestuff comments on Sep 5, 2020:

What intrigues me is the future of the universe. If the universe is sufficiently massive, then the expansion will eventually halt and the universe will shift into reverse gear and begin contracting, leading ultimately to a Big Crunch. The universe at the end of the Big Crunch may presumably be in ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

The big crunch or the big freeze are I believe the two main possible outcomes. But I am also told that even if they do eventually take place, then it will only be in the very far distant future, and that there will be billion upon billions of years in which the universe will be the cold universe inhabited only by black holes before then.

So you can save carbon and oil, the cost of a lawn mower, get great exercise, and impress your ...

FrayedBear comments on Sep 5, 2020:

My first job for the borough parks department when 14 or 15 included learning how to use & sharpen the English scythe which is held into the shoulder & pivoted around the front of the legs by moving with the lower arm only. Here in Australia I eventually acquired a European style similar to that ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

Yes I have done some sything myself but nothing like that in the videos. That young man is Olympic Gold medal standard. I guess unless you have done some you can not really understand how good it is. While the quality of the young womans work is just outstanding, truly beautiful, (The work and the young lady both. )

At least 42 cases pertaining to blasphemy were registered across Pakistan in a single month, ...

yamaha45701 comments on Sep 5, 2020:

Back in the late 70s, a friend was there on business for 6 months with his wife. He traveled through a number of other countries. He remarked that Pakistan was, by far, the most sour, no one smiling on the streets country he had ever seen. He told me people just did not seem happy, unlike other ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 5, 2020:

In a theocracy, which it virtually is, religion has to generate misery, otherwise it can not pose as the power which will rescue you from misery.

Why do we like distant train whistles?

Fernapple comments on Sep 3, 2020:

Good question. Right now anything that reminds me of travel makes me sad.

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

@dannydreamer Quite, which is exactly what I am missing now, the lockdown in the UK is much more restrictive.

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ - The Atlantic

David1955 comments on Sep 4, 2020:

The question for me is not why he says these things, because it is plain to see that he is a worthless individual, but why do millions of Americans continue to support him, no matter what?

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

@David1955 You also perhaps have to take into account the effects of, capitalist consumer culture. In order to make the greatest possible profits, many Americans it seems, have been conditioned to see their happiness and own personal worth as entirely dependent on what they buy. That certainly promotes a toxic individualism in those who fall into the trap.

Can an atheist be a proud Secular Christian?

creative51 comments on Sep 3, 2020:

Secular Christian is an oxymoron. Sort like being a sensitive murderer.

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

@TheMiddleWay Yes thats alright, I understood, the last comment was just for fun. Good answer.

Can an atheist be a proud Secular Christian?

creative51 comments on Sep 3, 2020:

Secular Christian is an oxymoron. Sort like being a sensitive murderer.

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

@TheMiddleWay Good answer. But would the Pope agree with that, is it not a prime tenet of Christian theology, that every thing a Christian does is a Christian act.

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ - The Atlantic

David1955 comments on Sep 4, 2020:

The question for me is not why he says these things, because it is plain to see that he is a worthless individual, but why do millions of Americans continue to support him, no matter what?

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

@David1955 That may be very true.

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ - The Atlantic

David1955 comments on Sep 4, 2020:

The question for me is not why he says these things, because it is plain to see that he is a worthless individual, but why do millions of Americans continue to support him, no matter what?

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

Someone already answered that on this site today. https://agnostic.com/post/530810/lbj-had-it-right-explains-trump Though I would add. That to a degree the problem is also with the metropolitan political establishment, who stopped even giving the impression that they were listening to the white working class, perhaps because they were affraid of appearing to play that very game. But of course not listening, or even apprearing not to listen, soon gives the impression of contempt, and nothing makes people want to look down on others quite as much, as feeling they are looked down on themselves. It is a self reinforcing cycle.

Can an atheist be a proud Secular Christian?

creative51 comments on Sep 3, 2020:

Secular Christian is an oxymoron. Sort like being a sensitive murderer.

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

@TheMiddleWay Does that mean then that the Pope believes that, if he dies while taking a shit, he won't go to heaven.

Pedantry

TheMiddleWay comments on Sep 3, 2020:

I've been called a pedant innumerable times in my life because, as a teacher, I like being through in my explanations. I also often excuse myself for being pedantic when I know my explanation will be too long but, in my opinion, necessary. In your opinion, how can one give a through explanation ...

Fernapple replies on Sep 4, 2020:

As stated. "if you wish to set high standards for yourself, at least if makes you happy to do so, then I will praise your precision and your dedication more than anyone." Indeed if the person used as an example in the first paragraph had, as I say, used more pedantry at the begining the problem would not have occurred Precision is not pedantry or not as I am using the word in this article, which is not being exact, but rather failing to be aware of what is relevant and what is not, and therefore confusing cultural norms with truth. It is perhaps very much the same thing as, believing that words have meanings not usuages. (Though there is more to it than that.)

Trumpers vs isis

Fernapple comments on Sep 3, 2020:

One lot are going left to right, and the other lot are going right to left ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 3, 2020:

@FrayedBear Yes but I look up to the pole star, you look up to the southern cross. And if you look down a well in Aswan on mid summers day, you don't see any shaddows, which means that Cliffe Richards backing group never played Africa.

Trumpers vs isis

Fernapple comments on Sep 3, 2020:

One lot are going left to right, and the other lot are going right to left ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 3, 2020:

@FrayedBear Thank you. Though I should perhaps add that, at least one of them is going the wrong way. Since surely they are both headed to the far right.

An old story.

MissKathleen comments on Sep 1, 2020:

Wonderful story. I have never encountered ANY drunkards who “made their way forward very carefully” anywhere, and I question the ability of an elephant to “wander silently...into the trees softly and quietly”. But I do think you ARE “a good judge of wisdom”.

Fernapple replies on Sep 2, 2020:

@MissKathleen No I did not miss the compliment, but I did forget to thank you for it, sorry, so thank you. Though comments not written literally, may get replies that are not written too literally.

An old story.

MissKathleen comments on Sep 1, 2020:

Wonderful story. I have never encountered ANY drunkards who “made their way forward very carefully” anywhere, and I question the ability of an elephant to “wander silently...into the trees softly and quietly”. But I do think you ARE “a good judge of wisdom”.

Fernapple replies on Sep 2, 2020:

Alchohol can wear off quickly, and has different effects on people, however it is just a story, in some less PC versions of the story they are not drunks but blind men, I went with drunks though because it makes the story work better, though that is not all that important. However the one thing that many people who know wild elephants say that is most notable about them, is their amazing skill of moving silently through the forest, and disappearing quickly without trace. I have read that several times from different sources.

Life in Lockdown

Fernapple comments on Sep 1, 2020:

Yep can't argue with that, though you did miss out beer.

Fernapple replies on Sep 1, 2020:

@FrayedBear No one needs a husband or wife either, if they are content and occupied, but its good to have insurance in case you do run out of things to do.

"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone ...

WilliamCharles comments on Sep 1, 2020:

A-yup.

Fernapple replies on Sep 1, 2020:

And that says it all.

Landscapes — 1: On the Moralana Scenic Route, South Australia, 1987.

Fernapple comments on Sep 1, 2020:

Do you know by any chance what the blue flowers are in one, please ?

Fernapple replies on Sep 1, 2020:

@Coffeo Thank you that is really interesting, at first I thought they were perhaps Blue Bonnets, Lupin.But then I though no they do not look right or in the right place.

[rawstory.

LenHazell53 comments on Aug 31, 2020:

Error 404! The page you requested does not exist or has moved.

Fernapple replies on Sep 1, 2020:

@sassygirl3869 Not really, it could have been taken down for legal reasons ahead of the trial. Defence will claim it is not possible to get a fair jury who have not been perjudiced by seeing things like that. Actually they probably still will, and he will be set free on that technicality to the joy of the extreme right.

A harrowing report on a raped, pregnant, ten year old girl. [english.elpais.]

HippieChick58 comments on Aug 31, 2020:

Sorry, I can't even read stuff like that, It would break my heart and make me mad, and my anxiety is sky high anyway. 5 years ago I would have read it. 5 years ago we didn't have Bunker Bitch and I didn't have granddaughter.

Fernapple replies on Sep 1, 2020:

The main points you have to know, so as not to read the sorry details, is that she did get an abortion. But that she had to cross a state border, aided by her grandmother, to do so, because a judge and the doctors in her own state were too intimidated to award her one there, despite it being legal.

I'm glad to have found this community! It is good to have access to like minded individuals.

ZantiMisfit comments on Aug 31, 2020:

Welcome to the Community! "Enter freely of your own will and leave some of the happiness you bring." -Stoker :)

Fernapple replies on Aug 31, 2020:

Love that quote.

An aged (wo)man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clasp its hands...

Fernapple comments on Aug 31, 2020:

Happy birthday. The sweetest of chestnuts do not ripen till last, and wear the most tattered garments, it is the kernel grown inside that counts.

Fernapple replies on Aug 31, 2020:

@MissKathleen Its me, just wrote it.

Aliens; why should we "listen" for them? Have they ever visited us?

Fernapple comments on Aug 31, 2020:

Good read thanks.

Fernapple replies on Aug 31, 2020:

@Robecology Don't worry, it only went up last night, so most people wont have seen it yet.

OK, Solve this puzzle:

altschmerz comments on Aug 30, 2020:

How about Indonesia?

Fernapple replies on Aug 31, 2020:

Good bet.

7 Things that PROVE God is Real is an article written six years ago by J.

Sgt_Spanky comments on Aug 30, 2020:

Can't get enough of these Xian arguments in favor of God? Here's an additional **6 Things that PROVE God os Real**, article written by Lesli White. A couple of them overlap with the 7 Things article so there's really only 3.5 new things here. ...

Fernapple replies on Aug 30, 2020:

I think the first four, i.e. the wonders of nature, kind of prove that god, at least the god of the 'buy-babble' does not exist. How could the stupid dick in the book, who does not even have basic social skills and can not write clearly, design those things.

7 Things that PROVE God is Real is an article written six years ago by J.

KKGator comments on Aug 30, 2020:

Those who profess a belief in deities are often truly impossible to reach with logic or reason. They like their delusions and are loathe to give them up. Many of them will go to great and ridiculous lengths to protect them. I do not take any of them seriously, and seldom even bother to listen ...

Fernapple replies on Aug 30, 2020:

@Sgt_Spanky Well im mainly with KKGator, but ten out of ten for patience, if you can still manage it well done.

What is something (besides religion) commonly believed to be true that is actually not?

RobinGray comments on Aug 30, 2020:

Modern decorating practices: Gray and white = classy (boring and conformist) Brightly colored by individual taste = bad (express yourself!)

Fernapple replies on Aug 30, 2020:

@RobinGray Wow , beautiful.