Just a passing thought.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2021:

Yes it is also notable that in Europe, especially the UK, right wing parties, states and opinions are usually coloured blue, and left wing pink or red, which is just the opposite. Funny old world is it not.

Existence is overated

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2021:

Don't worry. Since nearly everything that ever lived is dead, and nearly all species are extinct, there is not much of it about.

Scary thought...

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2021:

Sorry to say that, I always found those who burned them alive more frightening.

A person’s ideological evolution varies with the person and his or her shaping experience.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2021:

That places you with the vast majority of decent, caring and thinking human beings on the planet. So you still have to be wary of the ad populum fallacy, but what the heck.

Not quite sure how to take this 'new' development but open to suggestions, etc, any way.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2021:

Move house.

Godless grifters: How the New Atheists merged with the far right | Salon.com

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2021:

So what. Nobody is ever perfect, if you waited for a perfect person to come along before you would consider any of their views worth listening to, then you would be sitting alone in perfect silence for a very long time.

As I’ve continued to free my mind from the 30+ years of brainwashing, and indoctrinated , There is...

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2021:

If you have an inerrant code to work from, then you gain two benefits. Firstly, you do not have to make any effort or think about any issues, address any moral questions, or find the strength to live with uncertainties. It is the ultimate, lazy and cowardly, get-out. While secondly, if you pick as your inerrant source a book, which is mixed up and ambiguous, complex and compiled from the writings of hundreds of authors, over centuries, then you can find in it justification for anything you want to believe just by picking the bits you want, or interpreting them. Yet you can then however claim that whatever you wish, has far greater authority than anyone else's opinion, because it is backed by an inerrant source, perhaps directly from god. You may notice that these two are in complete contradiction, and the second is not even logical anyway. But if you take a book which tells everyone they are correct on everything, however wrong they may be, and confirms that, by using its imagined absolute authority, then it is likely to be popular.

Is there a pseudoscience you absolutely hate? Why?

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2021:

That is a pretty good list. But there is of course no hard boundary between the two, so that one or two do have some limited scientific respectability. Such as fasting, without the brackets (body cleansing), which has some genuine scientific support.

Noah's Ark: The Story That Disproves the Entire Bible - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2021:

How very sad that someone, obviously not stupid or lazy, has to waste such a huge amount of time, on the trivial business of trying to disprove the literal truth of a very silly and very old mixed up story. I do hope he finds a worthwhile pursuit in life one day. Though perhaps helping other people escape is that.

New atheists are godless grifters? [salon.com]

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2021:

So what. Nobody is ever perfect, if you waited for a perfect person to come along before you would consider any of their views worth listening to, then you would be sitting alone in silence for a very long time.

My therapist told me "write letters to the people you hate and then burn them.

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2021:

Love that, best funny this week.

Outstanding.

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2021:

Yes these lines are really old, at least the nineteen fifties, but they are well worth repeating. But what is really sad is that every new generation of sceptics needs to keep reviving them, like there is no progress at all.

That’s what I hear.

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2021:

A human would get more factual information from sniffing a dogs ass.

Near enough to 4 weeks since I quit smoking, going well until I went out into garden and was ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2021:

You are too good to him.

I'm curious how many people have given up their home and bought a trailer to move around the ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 4, 2021:

I own a home, but it is a large family home, which I live in alone now, its too big and needs too much looking after, but down sizing and getting rid of the familiar is a big ask. I have thought of selling and getting a pair of tiny houses or living van/box/whatevers in two locations. So that I can escape the lousy and endless British winter for two thirds of the year, and come back for the summer, but then I think if I had two locations, would I give up traveling, which I love, and just go back and forth between the two. So perhaps stay where I am, and just buy a touring van and go traveling in the winter, when I retire ?

Banished for bleeding: Tribal Indian women get better period huts

Fernapple comments on Jun 4, 2021:

It reminds me of how the Nazis built a small number of model concentration camps, which they allowed the worlds press to visit, so that they could see how well the inmates were treated. Of course as soon as the press had taken their photos and left, the inmates were shipped off to real death camps.

Banished for bleeding: Tribal Indian women get better period huts

Fernapple comments on Jun 4, 2021:

The Buy-babble also says, that there should be a death penalty, for any man who sees a woman naked during menstruation. ( Guilty. So come and get me. )

More crude humor. Joking aside, this one's for the animal lovers mostly.

Fernapple comments on Jun 4, 2021:

That cute little ass will get a lot of likes, but I think it is not really your own ass, you fake. That ass is just too cute to belong to you, I bet that ass belongs to a super model or some one like that.

please write down the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this photo of this man of ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 3, 2021:

Sharp teeth. But I fail to see the point of the question.

"Trump is telling people he thinks he'll be 'reinstated' as president in August, according to a ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 3, 2021:

Will that be the first example of someone running a country from prison, I wonder ?

Hi Everyone (that I actually like) My computer had a reset and it blew away my old connection as ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 3, 2021:

You should be still able to log on to your old account with any other computer, did you not write your log in details down ?

30 Rarely-Seen Historical Photos You Probably Won't See In History Books (New Pics) | DeMilked

Fernapple comments on Jun 3, 2021:

Wonderful collection.

Donald Trump or Eric Cartman. Choose?

Fernapple comments on Jun 3, 2021:

I choose neither thank you.

Egrets in the mist, dawn ant Gilbert riparian Preserve.

Fernapple comments on Jun 3, 2021:

To start the new day with a quiet pause, is a great gift. Looks like the egrets know how to do it, though that is probably a quite false impression, they are probably waiting impatiently for the first fish.

“All evil actions that men undertake are done either at the prompting of greed or under the spell ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 3, 2021:

That was a long time ago, perhaps an almost innocent age, before things like religious fundamentalism.

Right-Wing Pastor Tony Spell Says Judges Who Ruled Against Him Are ‘Against God’ ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 2, 2021:

What else would he do. Anyone who is against me, is against god, because god always agrees with me. ( Because I told him to. ) I loved watching the video, especially the supporter behind him who looks to be completely drunk. Probably needs to get that way before he can do the job. LOL

An opinion.

Fernapple comments on Jun 2, 2021:

Yes some people find the idea of chaos, or even random chance within limits, frightening. And when you add that fact to the obvious and often stated origins of animism, that the only way early people could explain things beyond understanding was to imagine that everything had a brain just like a human one, then the origins of the supernatural, become very clear. Then you add the fact that some people will pretend, first to themselves and then to others, that they can control, or at least understand those minds better than others, and you have started religion. Some say that prostitute is the oldest profession. But Con-Artist/Priest, they are the same thing, may be even older.

Does This Count? [nature.com]

Fernapple comments on Jun 2, 2021:

Great stuff.

General, Hellos & Goodbyes Well my friends and co site users, it’s time for me to leave.

Fernapple comments on Jun 2, 2021:

PS don't forget to put out a request for someone to take over your group in the group, it looks like a good active one.

General, Hellos & Goodbyes Well my friends and co site users, it’s time for me to leave.

Fernapple comments on Jun 2, 2021:

Been lovely reading your input, sorry to see you go, especially as you are my nearest active member. But don't forget you don't have to leave just become inactive, your group will be deleted automatically after a while, and you can still look in occasionally. Best wishes with the living.

If Mary had Jesus, and Jesus is the lamb of God, does that mean Mary had a little lamb?

Fernapple comments on Jun 2, 2021:

That may have been the original joke in the nursery rhyme, a lot of nursery rhymes have very adult beginnings.

Another Oklahoma crazy story.

Fernapple comments on Jun 1, 2021:

If you were married to a pastor, what would you do ?

I believe that the actual number of deaths directly attributable to covid are a small fraction of ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 1, 2021:

Almost all deaths in any country or year are the result of more than one cause, but here in the UK, ( where incidentally there is no extra money going to hospitals, ) we have good stats for a higher than usual mortality. And that is despite the inevitable reduction in things like, road deaths caused by the stay at home/stay local orders, and winter flu deaths reduced by the social distancing, hand cleaning and mask wearing orders.

I... I just can't...🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Fernapple comments on Jun 1, 2021:

That's what they all do metaphorically

Yes,why, just do what you're told.

Fernapple comments on Jun 1, 2021:

And certainly don't question the authority of those doing the telling.

The other day I went into one of those big-box antique stores, the kind with forty or fifty separate...

Fernapple comments on Jun 1, 2021:

I don't really think, that a shop doing a customer survey, is quite Fascism, but Big Sister can be very intimidating its true. LOL

infinity

Fernapple comments on Jun 1, 2021:

My LEAST favourite, has to be homeopathy. The more dilute it is the stronger it gets !~#?!?~#?

With 2.

Fernapple comments on Jun 1, 2021:

Very good, And please don't ever loose your rage and anger, rather take it and use it to make things happen.

"It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a higher standard of living that ...

Fernapple comments on May 31, 2021:

But of course, for those politicians who do not have what it takes to make things work at home, blaming foreigners and going to war, is a good get out of jail card.

Dude was a lady and more

Fernapple comments on May 31, 2021:

Some of your best.

There is a strange inconsistency in the progressive ideology of "Social Justice Theory": We are ...

Fernapple comments on May 31, 2021:

To take it to its extreme level for the sake of argument. What about species ? What if I decide that I am a dog or a cat, rather than human ? I suppose that the question really generalizes as. To what extent does an individual get to define themselves, and to what extent are we defined by society as a whole ? The one obvious answer, is that a thing, or human, may be defined in several different ways for different purposes, by different people. As for example. For tax purposes a car may be defined as a road worthy vehicle, when I use it to drive, and taxed accordingly. But the tax authorities may define it as and exhibit, when it is in a motor museum, and decide not to tax it. So it should be possible, that for example, a human may define themselves as Female, for the purposes of sexual relations, yet be defined as Male, by a sports association for taking part in sports. But that requires that people are able to be honest, even when self interest is a stake, and that people accept that life can be complex and that you can not always have simple hard and fixed definitions of everything. But that would require people to use their brains, and sadly they are usually very unwilling to do that.

There is a strange inconsistency in the progressive ideology of "Social Justice Theory": We are ...

Fernapple comments on May 31, 2021:

Yes social justice theory is itself just a cultural construct, and your point is far from being the only fault to be found with it. Though it has to be said that "none existent" and "fluid" are not at all the same thing.

“Historical amnesia is a dangerous phenomenon, not only because it undermines moral and ...

Fernapple comments on May 31, 2021:

Brilliant way to put it. Everyone worth talking to knows the old. "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat its mistakes." In its several forms, but that reinforces it by approaching from a fresh angle.

Thou shalt take up 2 parking spaces just like jesus desires.

Fernapple comments on May 30, 2021:

Yes, but if you wanted to prove to the world, that you are stupid, selfish and arrogant. Would Jesus loves me stickers, or taking up two spaces be the best way to do it ? ( Asking for a friend. )

I don't want to believe. I want to know. - Carl Sagan

Fernapple comments on May 30, 2021:

I will even prefer not knowing. Since an honest clear, don't know, is a lot better as a starting point than a bad answer.

HOW did he get the cats to LIKE a bubble bath? THAT'S what I'D like to know... [instagram.com]

Fernapple comments on May 30, 2021:

Link closed.

Is gender assigned at birth or is it learned through nurturing and environment?

Fernapple comments on May 30, 2021:

In most things in human life, nature, nurture, indoctrination, disease, nutrition and education, interact in complex ways, to make people what they are. Thinking that any aspect of the human condition from gender, to politics or whether you are religious or sceptical, is determined by one of a simple duality of either genetics or culture, is buying into a vastly oversimplified picture. The two sides of which are usually, as with all oversimplifications, promoted by people with political and religious agendas.

But not as weird as mine.

Fernapple comments on May 30, 2021:

Is this a store selling sat-navs ?

That always made me crazy.

Fernapple comments on May 30, 2021:

It is wise to remember that the cult leaders who send them out. Having often done the same thing when younger. Are well aware that they will face hostility, and that the hostility will reinforce the view in them, that respect and friendship can only be found within the church. It is not about converting you, but about getting them to believe that the world outside the church is a hostile and frightening place. Therefore be the nicest person they ever met for as long as possible, before you drop the bomb that you are a hard line (from their point of view ) sceptic. That is the best way to sow doubt.

Workplace training discussed harassment in the workplace.

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

Pitfall traps for donkeys. (You may need to think a second or two about that one.)

Anti-Evolution Christians Are Mad That Jane Goodall Won the Templeton Prize | Hemant Mehta | ...

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

They are getting desperate, they can't find a way to make any faith fools look worthy of a prize. But I am surprised she would stoop low enough to take it.

How do I turn on my messages?

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

You have to go to the sites own message box, it should be a mail envelope at the top of the page.

After a long time, I told my hot coworker how I felt.

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

I hope your kindness will be rewarded with a suitably cold shoulder.

Really?!!!

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

Hello and welcome. The main thing which drives people to religion is laziness. Being told what to believe and letting someone else pretend to think for you, is the ultimate form of mental indolence, and therefore religions greatest gift.

The best revenge is success, wouldn't you say?

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

No happiness. But success is a good second.

Former Muslims where you at?!

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

Hello and welcome. There are a few on here, though the site tends to be dominated by former Christians, because of its USA geographical centering.

Maybe we can all get some sleep now...

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

I once stayed in a small guest house, for one night. The couple in the next room kept the bed banging against the walls and the floor popping, on and off all night. At breakfast in the morning they were nowhere to be seen, sleeping it off, I guess. But the hotels owner had obviously heard it, even at the other end of the building. She told me she was very sorry about the noise. Which I said, was sweet, since it was hardly her fault. She said. "Yes but I should have known, when they said they had come for a party, but they were not dressed for going out."

OK you sort-of religious...answer me this;

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

Because he likes to see things die, pointlessly and in frustration, thats how he gets his kicks. Come on, you have known god long enough to know that, read your buybabble. LOL

Here's your guaranteed smile for the day!

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

OK I smiled. You obviously have the power.

Yesterday got the second dose of the Pfizer Covid vaccine, so far so good...

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

Sad to say, I had a second dose eight days ago, and it took about four days for the side effects to arrive, but they are very mild so you could be lucky.

Every religious group that I know of has some kind of weird dogma that to me is beyond reason.

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

And you intend to solve this how ?

Recently I have seen some discussions on this site claiming that it is human nature to always want ...

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

There is little doubt that human nature can be hugely subverted and manipulated by human culture, and the fact that there are so many different cultures, which produce so many differing attitudes to so many different aspects of life, proves that, without any further evidence. That of course does not mean that human nature is unimportant, only that it is flexible, which to a degree is what you would expect, a nature which was inflexible would not serve the purposes of survival very well. One aspect which people have noted before, is that the level of human on human aggression, may depend inversely on the degree of threat from the physical environment. Where the environment is extreme, ( food widely scattered, and its supplies unpredictable, high danger from cold etc. ) such as that of your Inuit example, while the human population is thin meaning that the threat from strangers is rare. It repays people and their culture to show a high level cooperation. While in situations where there is a good food supply, high population and only a few avoidable threats from the environment, the threats from humans may well assume a greater relative proportion. (Including disease of course, a threat greatly lessened by hostility to strangers.) And that of course, is the state brought about by civilization. Especially in environments rich in resources, such as the Fertile Crescent, the Indus Valley the Yellow River etc. While the threats from humans will become even greater as technological advances, including the technology of government, and increasing material inequalities and weapons inequalities both within cultures and between different cultures. And it is certainly observable that organized warfare, and genocide are at least only possible for advanced civilizations. Human nature is adaptable, yes. And human culture is a very powerful agent for changing it.

Today's hike: discovered new wildflowers blooming.

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2021:

Envy, it has been a cold spring here and the roses are still a month away. Do you get many annoying insect types, in those woods as s the summer goes on ?

Qwop? dop? or cj!

Fernapple comments on May 28, 2021:

Mine would not exist at all.

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, it is the parent of all ...

Fernapple comments on May 28, 2021:

I always though about, appreciation, the same way. But I suppose that they are actually synonyms in many ways.

Christians and kink/BDSM I keep reading about "real" Christians and how sex is determined by ...

Fernapple comments on May 28, 2021:

I wonder if there is one called sacrilege sex ? You know, wanting to have sex in a church, preferably on the altar, or in the aisle. Asking for a friend. LOL

Cancer-causing chemical found in 78 sunscreen products The independent lab that made the finding is...

Fernapple comments on May 28, 2021:

Costs next to nothing to wear a hat. Saves money, saves time slapping it on, prevents sticky residues, and now it seems prevents cancer.

Good morning to everyone.

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

Welcome, enjoy the site.

Morning walk.

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

Sunshine. I sometimes think that sunshine is all that is needed for happiness, you were very lucky.

“The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by ...

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

If you are shameless about making fake claims, then you may as well claim everything.

Who else misses this guy’s humor?

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

For once I think that it is possible to improve on George. It should be. The 'FIRST AND' last refuge of a man with no answers and no arguments.

Is it better to stay silent?

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

You have to remember that C. D. trained for the church, and was always shy of challenging the status quo. However great as a thinker and a naturalist, he was still at the bottom a Victorian country parson.

I used spot remover on my dog. Now I can't find him.

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

Reminds me of he story about the youth, who covered himself in invisible ink, and then went out to rob a bank.

'Elections have consequences': Biden officials unrepentant after purging Trump cronies ...

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

Another broken link.

Why the Sun’s Atmosphere Is Hundreds of Times Hotter Than Its Surface – 80 Year- Theory Finally ...

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2021:

Sorry, broken link.

I love this photo!

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

Clever metaphor, raining under the brollies, yes that could stand for a lot of things.

U gonna have to hear me out , Sorry friends , But here we are 🙄😂 I moved back to ED/ ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

People often think. WELL done. But hardly ever bother to rouse themselves and say it, so if they do, you can be sure it is really well meant.

The Ring of Fire Ivanka Trump Thinks Playing Stupid Will Save Her From Investigators ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

Ugh.

Today's hike: "Where's Kathleen?" Worried, they searched my home.

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

Hiking with a group, and walking alone or with just one friend, are all quite different experiences, but all three are very rewarding. I usually walk alone, but there is nothing I like better, than going out with a club I belong to. It is a botany group, so I sometimes get impatient, because they do not go very fast and they stop every few hundred yards, but you can have wonderful fun in just five miles, and it is great to walk with an objective.

“Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity.

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

That is a good one. The first part is a fairly common sentiment, that you have heard in many different forms before, but the grave metaphor, lifts it quite out of the ordinary, and brings a real originality to it. (Plus it gives me an excuse to carry on being the worlds biggest bore. LOL)

And a quote: ”A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

Yes I have always thought that that was the best explanation of the Fermi paradox. And we may not even be that safe, just counting existing threats, is not enough, you also have to think about as yet undiscovered technologies. There only needs to be one, just one, undiscovered technology which is both planet destroying, and whose dangers can not be foreseen before hand, out there. Waiting for every technically advanced species to discover it, and every planet with technology is fated to end in with a great sad accident, and no way to escape it.

LOL, made me giggle

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

They forgot to add the stat about. Over a hundred times , more people were taken to hospital in America last year with things stuck in their throat, than starved to death. They like a good stat, do the antivaxxers.

Flowers surviving our monsoon Spring.

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2021:

Great photos, and it looks like things have survived even if damaged. I have heard about your rains this spring, we have had an exceptional spring in the UK, with very cold weather and frosts every night for a month longer than usual. And now it rains. Still there is still time for some summer yet.

I think that good aim would be an important factor.

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

As far as I know, plants don't urinate ?

I am so worried about a family of crows that live at my office.

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

Leaving food is doing an awful lot. Young birds often fly into cars and windows, but they do usually recover especially if the parents are still there. Don't be temped to pick it up though, because not only will it perhaps do more harm than good, but also because crows can recognize individual humans, and pass the knowledge on culturally, so if you touch a young one you are marked for life.

If someone has already posted this, sorry for the repeated info.

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

If you are into religion, you are into fake claims, so whats to stop you.

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must ...

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

Not sure that is possible, by nature the mind is undisciplined. While if it was not, then it would cease to be creative and original. Certainly human mental culture, taken collectively, if undisciplined, will fail to produce effective and truthful models of reality, and there is a clear benefit to using systems of research with disciplining frameworks, when attempting to formulate public models of reality. It was after all, the conspicuous failing of undisciplined, human cultures, such as religion, to produce good models of how the world works, which drove people to create, first philosophy, which attempted to bring thinking within the framework of mathematical logic, and then to invent natural philosophy, (now known as science) which added the experimental method and the use of experimental evidence as extra safeguards. But of course those only apply to public thought. While if you are refer to thought crime and thought sin, they are almost certainly impossible to prevent, and rather pointless to do so. Since there is no discredit to me in thinking of doing something wrong, if I then immediately decide, it is wrong, and refrain. But of course imposing that injustice, is of course the whole point of the religious trick. By setting up impossible targets to ensure that people must fall short, religions ensure that there is a never ending demand for their services as forgivers, and the great con trick rolls on.

I am speechless

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

Stick around, sooner or later someone here will push your start button.

Fake prophet says Good will Punish Doubters and Disbelievers With Insanity

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

He is good at what he does, he manages to speak without actually saying anything specific for a long time, and when he has to, he drifts off into the vague realms of metaphor. So that the believers will lap it up, and every one will go home thinking. "His thoughts agree exactly with mine, great guy." When in reality apart from vague metaphorical threats, about what god may do, which can be interpreted many ways, he says nothing.

that suspension of disbelief thing is way out of hand for many, but most all of us have tried it.

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

Nobody is perfect at anything, not even sceptics, but the important thing is to keep on trying.

Generation X more loyal to religion

Fernapple comments on May 25, 2021:

Quite likely, that was the the time of a big down turn in educational standards, before the modern reforms began to kick in.

10 Reasons Why Walking in Nature Will Make You Happier • Calmpreneur®

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2021:

Also, it helps you get away from all those annoying bipedal apes, for a while.

Sunday morning early I was driving home from Saratoga County.

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2021:

Eating porridge, and reading maps while driving, also not recommended. Passing on information from a friend. LOL

I was greatly relieved this evening when i was very concerned that my night vision was fading out ...

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2021:

Empathy. Given the age range on this site, I think we have all been there.

"What are you supposed to do with all the love you have for somebody if that person is no longer ...

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2021:

Yes I think you should try to keep it alive, even though it may sometimes hurt. It is complex and I would have to give it thought and get back to you perhaps, the only thing that I can do for now is tell you my personal experience. My wife to whom I was only married a short while, died when we were still quite young and very passionately in love. But in one way I have been quite lucky, because my wife's biggest life's passion was for her work in caring. She worked out of the local doctors surgery looking after elderly people, and was very pleased to tell me often, just how wonderfully rewarding she found that work. Since then as it happens quite by chance, it occurred that I gained a best friend who is quite elderly, so that our friendship involves me in some caring tasks. I take her shopping, to the doctors, cut her grass take things to the waste tip, see that she gets a social life, etc. I also do a few other things for the older community in my area as well, though none of this was planned. I sometimes think that, fortune has given made me continue my wifes mission, and that maybe she would look over my shoulder with a smile if she were still here. My friends main interest was in travel, it was the great passion of her life, until she became too frail in the last couple of years. But she reawakened my interest in travel, which had lapsed because for a long time, while I was busy building my business, and had persuaded myself that I did not need it. But I now realize that it is my greatest passion too, and I guess that therefore she has given me a living legacy which will last.

At the stream’s edge.

Fernapple comments on May 23, 2021:

Lovely, simple shots of a complex environment.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Fernapple comments on May 23, 2021:

No. I think that both can work and also that they can be complimentary. Though I do appreciate where Proust is coming from, and it is true, just not the whole truth.

I guess limitations should be a study in itself.

Fernapple comments on May 22, 2021:

The more knowledge we acquire the smaller our brains get in proportion. So we long passed the point of knowing everything. But there are many forms of knowledge. Look at it this way. The the earth is only 24,000 miles round aprox, so you could walk round it in a couple of years, or at least do the equivalent, since there is no continual land mass, so you could quite easily do the mileage many times in one lifetime. But, because of the square law, the land area of the earth is about fifty five to sixty million square miles, which means that if you wanted to walk though the centre of EVERY SQUARE MILE, doing just a single one mile length, and thus view every square mile at first hand. It would take you five thousand years. Quite impossible. And at that you would only have walked through the centre of each one, which means that you could not say that you knew it well, there would be whole masses of stuff down side streets ( a million bars you may never have a drink in ) in hollows on the moors, ( billions of flowers you would not see at that speed ), or hidden in woods, creatures living out their whole lives, you would never have seen. While it is said that in every spadeful of earth you care to dig up, you could in theory, ( its a bit complicated ) with care, find three new species. And that is just the surface of this tiny planet, which is only one millionth the size of its sun and only the fifth largest planet in the solar system. The realms for even physical exploring therefore, are just vast beyond imagining. Yet is not that exciting, rather than depressing, because it means that not only could we never come to the end of our personal learning, and the joy of finding new things, the challenge is just too vast. But also that, we need never come to the end of finding things which no one else has ever known or appreciated, or will do again. Go out into a wild meadow and find a flower, note where it is, what it does, if it has strange marks on any leaves, or find a wild mouse in the woods and watch what it does of five mins, or sit in a bar one night and list the names of all the people there, uniquely on that one night. None of those things will happen again, and a year later perhaps, maybe less, things will have changed so they never could happen again. Which means that each of those experiences is unique to you, an piece of knowledge nobody else will ever have, and that you have given appreciation to some wonder of life, that without you, would never have been appreciated or known by anyone. I think that makes ordinary life a wonderful chance to be special. And think perhaps on this, the other day you made a post in which you said you were lost to hope. Well this is a very long post, perhaps too long you would say. But consider...

If some men are doctors and some doctors are tall, does it necessarily follow that tall doctors are ...

Fernapple comments on May 22, 2021:

Are but. If rabbits live in rabbit holes, and a rabbit's hole is its anus. Does that mean that a rabbit lives in its own anus.

The 12 Stages of a Book Hangover

Fernapple comments on May 22, 2021:

All the really good books I ever read, always repaid me with a second read, so no. Though I do tend to read too fast the first time perhaps, ( find out where it goes,) so I need a slower second read to take it in.