Fernapple's Profile

It seems there are a lot of experts on COVID and mask wearing.

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2020:

It is best to follow the advice of the WHO, which is probably the most credible and widely sourced.

Fernapple replies on Jul 2, 2020:

@beenthere That is unlikely to affect the advice it gives out on the biology and technology. It is still a good go to for that since it is there that you will get the best meta- analysis.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

@skado Yes but you can only elliminate false causes. The effect remains for true causes, and it is a mistake to disparage the emotion as a whole because of false causes or false actions.

Who needs viagra? Heading to dunkin donuts right away!

LucyLoohoo comments on Jul 1, 2020:

And what will it do for me?

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

Well if you eat enough of them, you can get to look like you are pregnant.

Looking for friends with dry sense of humor, intelligence, and kindness.

MissKathleen comments on Jul 1, 2020:

What makes you think you’ll find them here? (lol...welcome!)

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

If she is looking for kindness and humour, especial 'humour' spelt in the correct manner, the she need only look dow this page to see why she will find them here. Not sure about the intelligence.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

@skado Sorry our comments seem to be leapfroging. We must be typing too fast. But anyway mine can stand for now, as long as you don't mind the rough punctuation.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

@skado Sometimes a fear can be a good drive. There is an old story, which may not be true. That in a fire adults run out of the building, but children hide under the bed. But not so long ago in England there was a fire in a tower block, the fire brigade put out the message that everyone should stay put and wait to be rescued. So that they could account for everyone. Unfortunately the fire spread much more quickly than anyone expected, and the result was that those who ran out of the building in fear mainly survived, while many of those who followed instructions were killed. The case of the children hiding under the bed, however has an interesting parallel in some of the stories I see coming out of the states today. Where I have seen the virus deniers saying that, taking anti- virus measures of any sort, is a result of cowardly ideology. Yet I have to wonder if that is not ironically exactly the opposite of the truth. Since sometimes it takes more courage to acknowledge a danger, and the fear of it, like an adult, rather than to hide under the bed and pretend that it is not real like a child. Fear is after all an emotion which is given us mainly to keep us safe, it is often unwise to ignore the advice of our emotions altogther, but it is also wise not to accept as we grow in understanding that we can not just take given custom as our world view in regard to anything not just what to fear. It is never the emotion that is our enemy, but the false triggers of that emotion planted in us by our cultures, especially when our cultures are built by those who would like to profit by engineering our folly, regards less of the harm to us.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

@skado No I think that is mixing up cause with effect. In doctrination with the false idea of a god is the cause of the fear of god, but the emotion of fear is the effect, and that is the same no matter what the cause.

Looking for friends with dry sense of humor, intelligence, and kindness.

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site and do check out the groups if you have time, there is something for everyone. I even think there are groups for humour, intelligence and kindness, where the self proclaimed hang out, though I would avoid those groups if I was you. (Being self proclaimed they are...

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

@anglophone Jesus, that's one hell of a burden to bare!

Hyper active ? [youtube.com]

Allamanda comments on Jul 1, 2020:

jeez, STOUT? It's STOAT.

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

Yes I noticed that, but I did not know if it was just the US pronuciation or the narrator alone. I also noticed that he got his rat mixed up with a snake at one point, I think the photography was much better than the voice over.

Christian Extremist: I’d Rather “Be Beheaded” Than Wear Federally Mandated Masks | Hemant ...

PondartIncbendog comments on Jun 30, 2020:

Ok then! Fine, have it your way. Guys,,,get the sword.

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

@bobwjr Good enough.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jul 1, 2020:

@skado Yes sorry did intend the coma.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@skado No, a fear can be overcome, but not abolished just like hate, though sadly unlike hate it does blow directly to shore , and so is little use. My point was that lessons in stearing from a good pilot help, but sadly there is more profit in keeping the passengers fearful and ignorant and the charts in the locker. The bottom line is that if we abolish all emotion and desire and let reason alone rule, then reason will tell us that we are happier dead than alive, and with no hunger or thirst, or lust for tastes we will just sit down and starve.

I posted this in natural history, but thought it would go well here too.

gearl comments on Jun 30, 2020:

Nice to see nature from across the pond.

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

Its a two way benefit. One of the reasons I love this site.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@skado There is nothing wrong with fear, if it keeps you from the cliff edge or the deep water. The real shame is on those who taught people to fear things that are harmless or do not exist, for their own profit and gain at their pupils cost. That is one of the ideas that I am pleased to say I hate. And if hate motivates me to fight it all the harder, then good. And if that means, "polluting one's own bloodstream with cortisol." Then so be it , I have no wish to live forever, I would far rather make a real contribution at the risk of burning out a little earlier, than live a life of appathy for a few days longer.

I managed to escape the lockdown today, for the first time in a fortnight.

Mark013 comments on Jun 30, 2020:

Escape lockdown? I would think you could go out for a walk anytime as long as the social distancing thing is being followed.

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

You can now, but in this country there was a, just lifted, restriction on unneeded journeys. You were suppossed to stay within a mile of your house, except if going out for food once per week. And sadly the good walking woods are about five miles away. The rules were much more restrictive here than in the US.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@skado I don't think that you get to choose your emotions. If I saw someone beating a dog, my first emotion would be horror, then pity, and then anger. I would have no control of that, but I can control my acts and my thinking to a degree. So my act would be to do whatever I could to stop it. But my thought would be, why is this person doing this, what harm did they suffer that made them so unreasonable. It would not matter if that person was themselves a victim of unreasonable violence, who was damaged so much they were driven to violence themselves, or someone spoiled by overindulgence and entitlement to the point where they had never learnd empathy, my thoughts would still bring forth the next emotion of pity for them too. My anology of the boat with engine and rudder was perhaps not the best one. A better one would be a sailing boat, driven by the winds of emotion. You can not choose the winds, control them, or regulate their power, but by adjustin the rudder and sails, you can manage them and use them to go in the direction your reason tells you to navigate.

I managed to escape the lockdown today, for the first time in a fortnight.

Allamanda comments on Jun 30, 2020:

The magic of the everyday! Or what used to be the everyday...

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@Allamanda Thank you, I try. But at the end of the day I have always felt, that happiness can only depend on cultivating appreciation, and making a contribution if possible. What else could there be that could contribute to well being, beyond basic health and food etc.?

I managed to escape the lockdown today, for the first time in a fortnight.

Allamanda comments on Jun 30, 2020:

The magic of the everyday! Or what used to be the everyday...

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

Quite.

The Rabbit Outbreak | The New Yorker

Petter comments on Jun 30, 2020:

A virus that wipes out its host is not successful in evolutionary terms, unless it can jump species.

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

I think I have an itchy nose.

Recently, a trend has appeared to ignore punctuation.

WilliamFleming comments on Jun 29, 2020:

I searched in vain for a grammatical error in your post. It would have been fun to pounce on you. Congratulations...I guess.

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@Allamanda At least 'are' and 'we' instead of 'is' and us'. Though I would also like to see 'to be' after 'likely, and reasons instead of reason.

Namaste Brothers and Sisters I am a new member and i love to get in contact with Freethinkers, ...

t1nick comments on Jun 29, 2020:

I'm sure if you are being sarcastic or serious. If you're being serious I think you might have wandered onto the wrong site by accident

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@Marionville Oh. I have got it, a pit trap for donkeys.

All enmity is created by its owner's ignorance.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

so....if i am witness and opposed to someone beating a 🐕 and tell them to stop, its a result of my ignorance?

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@skado No I am sorry, that does not work. Reason alone is a merely passive state, only feelings provide motivation. A ship with a rudder but no engine still ends on the rocks. A person who is governed only by reason and logical morality, sees a person beating a dog, notes that they have seen a person beating a dog and that doing so is immoral, then walks on by. You can not divide the human brain into neat separate chunks, where this one part does emotion, this bit does morals, and this bit does reasoning, it is not that simple. Moreover enmity does not have to be directed at humans, it can be simply directed at, for example, the act of beating dogs, or an ideology. That is an acheivable state. How many of the greatest advances in human history, especially medicine , science, and social welfare were achieved by people who said, I hate it ? Perhaps nearly all of them. As the old saw goes. "Hate the act not the actor, the idea not the thinker."

Namaste Brothers and Sisters I am a new member and i love to get in contact with Freethinkers, ...

t1nick comments on Jun 29, 2020:

I'm sure if you are being sarcastic or serious. If you're being serious I think you might have wandered onto the wrong site by accident

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

@t1nick Smart. Was not the word I had in mind. LOL

Words disappear.

altschmerz comments on Jun 29, 2020:

I've had numbers disappear from posts in the past, and had to edit them back in.

Fernapple replies on Jun 30, 2020:

That is interesting, so I am not the only one.

So its not just the music, but also the travel, which I am really missing badly now, aren't we all, ...

brentan comments on Jun 29, 2020:

Oh, that smile! And Wagner is wonderful, of course.

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

Oh yes Wagner too.

Recently, a trend has appeared to ignore punctuation.

Fernapple comments on Jun 29, 2020:

Yes, but if you don't make errors, you will never catch a pedant, and I do like reeling in pedants. Nothing is more fun than watching pedants squirm and then sucking the juice out of them.

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

@Allamanda And. " The female of the species is far more deadly than the male." R. kipling.

Words disappear.

Cutiebeauty comments on Jun 29, 2020:

Maybe you have a setting switched on to hide offensive language??

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

@Cutiebeauty Could well be my end I don't know what the default settings are on a lot of my programmes.

Words disappear.

maturin1919 comments on Jun 29, 2020:

First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the respect. It's the key to life.

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

No, telling lies is the key to life, those are what you get to steal when you have opened the safe. LOL

Words disappear.

Allamanda comments on Jun 29, 2020:

I saw your post and also your comment with same piece, at 2 different times and there were no words missing!

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

Funny,I kept going back and they were certainly not there. Maybe its my computer or service provider.

"The story I’m about to share with you about Joe Biden is special — in fact, I’m fairly ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2020:

I try not to bother with the US political stories on here too often, since its not really any of a Brits' business, and usually to an outsider they are a bit dull anyway. But that was well worth reading, nice story.

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

@Jolanta What happens everywhere is everyones business to some degree. As the man said "No man is an island. Therefore send not to know for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee." But I just stay away because the site has a US majority, and I can not hope to understand the US as well as they do, so do they really want to be lectured by the ilinformed. ( Though of course the outside view can be useful. )

Words disappear.

hankster comments on Jun 29, 2020:

that doesn't make any sense to me. I could see no reason that would be edited on purpose. I do remember there was a time when some kind of bug was interfering with some words. but I can't remember what they were but it wasn't those.

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

Yep, I wondered if we, in part because we are a dating site, had a programme to spot prostitution, which could look for certain combinations, or if we are being use by such a programme from another site.

A three in one joke.

Larry-new comments on Jun 29, 2020:

The most successful of all scams, ever. First, start with something to sell. Eternal life works.

Fernapple replies on Jun 29, 2020:

Especially since what you are selling does not cost you a penny, and you never get any come backs from the buyers. (They are dead.)

The garden is coming to its first full flush now, so I took a little walk round.

MarkWD comments on Jun 27, 2020:

Love your garden. England, was it? It looks like you have quite a generous parcel to work with. Any chance to get you to do a tell-all, how long have you been working on it, what was it to start with and so on?

Fernapple replies on Jun 28, 2020:

@MarkWD I love Annies site it is really informative. And a great insight into gardening in another land. I am sorry she had to trade in a rough area, I have been lucky that way, just a quiet village. I will read more when I get the time, have to go now.

"Think of yourself as dead.

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2020:

Big ask.

Fernapple replies on Jun 28, 2020:

@Mitch07102 The important thing is to try, and not to be hung up by our inevitable limited success. And of course your first point, about defining 'properly' is a good one, because of course we are only reading Aurelius in translation anyway, we do not know what relation the word or words he used truly have to the one chosen by the translator.

"Think of yourself as dead.

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2020:

Big ask.

Fernapple replies on Jun 28, 2020:

@Mitch07102 Because first you have to decide what you mean by properly, a question which has engaged some of this planets best minds since at least the sixth century BCE, without any final conclusion being reached. Then you have to have the ability to do so, and the will to avoid all distractions. It is like all of the many thousands, and perhaps even millions of people, who every year emerge from hospital, having nearly died, who swear that they will now live every day as if it was to be their last. They hardly ever, with only perhaps a few one in a million exceptions, if that, do succeed. Because, firstly it is just too hard, secondly the pull of old habits is strong, thirdly we forget you can not keep one idea to the front of your brain all the time.

The garden is coming to its first full flush now, so I took a little walk round.

MarkWD comments on Jun 27, 2020:

Love your garden. England, was it? It looks like you have quite a generous parcel to work with. Any chance to get you to do a tell-all, how long have you been working on it, what was it to start with and so on?

Fernapple replies on Jun 28, 2020:

@MarkWD I too grew up with a greater love of nature than gardens. In fact we lived in the country and I practically spent my childhood running wild in the woods. My family were in horticulture and farming, but I decided to go in for gardening and design, in part because it was a job which kept me close to nature. But I grew fed up with the preasure and the traveling involved in garden making for other people, so I decided to start a plant nursery as a side line, hopefully to provide an additional income, so that I could cherry pick my jobs for other people. The house and garden were chosen for that reason, being a very small bungalow in a large plot with a water supply. However the nursery was very successful, and when my wife died I felt the need for a change of direction, so I gave up the garden business altogether and made the nursery my only job, though with a display garden on the side. The garden is of course a natural wildlife garden, but it is extremely popular with the visitors, and now as I move into retirement, and following the death of my father and only employee, it is perhaps going to change again, becoming an open garden with a small nursery rather than a large full time nursery with a garden. Will send you something private by message.

What kind of favorite tree is in your yard?

Fernapple comments on Jun 27, 2020:

Wonderful tree looks really great being free standing. I don't really have a favourite tree, in part because I don't have any free standing ones, but I am very proud of my small wood which I planted myself, over twenty five years ago. There is nothing very rare in it just common birch , ash and ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 27, 2020:

@Allamanda Been there and bought the teeshirt.

The garden is coming to its first full flush now, so I took a little walk round.

MarkWD comments on Jun 27, 2020:

Love your garden. England, was it? It looks like you have quite a generous parcel to work with. Any chance to get you to do a tell-all, how long have you been working on it, what was it to start with and so on?

Fernapple replies on Jun 27, 2020:

No problem. I have been working on it twenty five years, and it was an empty field when I started. Some of the trees were pot grown by me before moving here, so they were quite large when planted. There is a water course runs down the side, so that it was possible to tap into that to create the natural pond, which is the main feature, though not shown.

As Confederate Statues Come Down, It's Worth Remembering That the Civil War Wasn't the Only American...

Fernapple comments on Jun 25, 2020:

Interesting as a Brit. I know very little about US history anyway, good read. Nothing is ever as simple as popular myth makes it. It also explains the common question, often asked about G. Washington especially. How could a slave owner be a champion of democracy ? If the Revolutionary War was fought...

Fernapple replies on Jun 26, 2020:

@MissKathleen Yes I know that.

"The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.

brentan comments on Jun 25, 2020:

I think the world is ugly and bad by its very nature rather than any religion or ideology. My son is reading Beyond Good and Evil at the moment and I hope he can tell me what the world might be like in Nietzsche's eyes if there was no Christianity.

Fernapple replies on Jun 25, 2020:

Oh I do not agree with that. I think that good and evil, are human cultural constructs, which simply do not have any meaning outside of human culture itself. The world therefore, meaning all of nature apart from that small human tiny sub set called human culture, is simply neutral. It is only a human centric view which, wrongly projects ideas like good and evil on to the universe.

Today's hike: gorgeous wildflowers and not enough carbs.

LiterateHiker comments on Jun 24, 2020:

More Tweety's Lewisia.

Fernapple replies on Jun 25, 2020:

I like the second photo especially, it sets the flower in its environmental context perfectly, and makes me yearn for days in the hills.

The Evolutionary Mismatch Hypothesis: Implications for Psychological Science .

Fernapple comments on Jun 24, 2020:

Sorry but what is new about any of this is hard to see. It may be news in creationist communities.

Fernapple replies on Jun 24, 2020:

@skado Yes true. Grumpy early morning sorry.

God damn f'n climate-change denying catholics!!!

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2020:

The Catholic church has a long history of pursuing an enlightened agenda towards both scientific and environmental issues, at least when compared to most other Christian sects. Probably because they had their fingers burned so badly early on, when the first conflicts between religion and natural ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 22, 2020:

@TheMiddleWay OK fair enough. Is that the best you got, a crit of my first throw away joke line, and nothing about the rest that's very sad, or did you not bother to read it.

God damn f'n climate-change denying catholics!!!

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2020:

The Catholic church has a long history of pursuing an enlightened agenda towards both scientific and environmental issues, at least when compared to most other Christian sects. Probably because they had their fingers burned so badly early on, when the first conflicts between religion and natural ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 22, 2020:

@TheMiddleWay No its not, at all like that, at all that is wa totally false anology. It would be more like saying the black lives movement, 'would', be phony if it said that it was OK to kill black people, as long as the whites employed black people to do the killing. The problem we have, is that you have a USA centric world view. In the US it is perhaps easy to see the harm that is done by extremism, especially evangelical extremism, and I note that one of your former posts, posits the idea that extremism is the only enemy of everyone. Which it may be, to a large degree, but not the only one. And that in turn may make it seem to you, that the old establishment churches and religions are innocent and benign by comparison, but that is far from the case. Beyond the boundaries of the US the so called moderate and old established religions are much more obviously dangerous and harmful. Not because of intolerance and zealotry, but because of greed, and corruption. Churches such as the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and C. of E. are often completely lost in corruption, and deeply bedded in the most corrupt and decadent parts of many political institutions across the world. From where they do massive harm by milking wealth from and regulating the behaviour of the poorest and most vulnerable of both people and communities. Indeed they all follow a basic business model of grabbing wealth from the week and poor by selling delusions often harmful delusions about birth control and the environment, which do vast harm, especially in the underdeveloped world. And even in places such as Britain where the corrupt church is part of the government, and uses that power to control education and much else. Then of course, yes, they do promote greatly their charitable works as the foremost part of their public image, because of course they are a most wonderful smoke screen behind which the corruption and greed can hide, and the charitable works are perhaps their most cynical and false action of all. Because much of the poverty, poor health care and hardship they pose as offering to cure, was created in the first place, by their own greedy robbing of the poor from whose pockets they never remove their hands, and their promotion of anti-science, anti-environmental and anti-health policies. Yes such churches are often tolerant, but the gangster does not care what colour your skin is, or what quirks you have, as long as you are able to pay the protection money. Greed and corruption can be the greatest source of false tolerance and kindliness there is. And yes before you says it, I am aware that their environmental awareness is improving, but they still trail, and that does not excuse the legacy, nor does it excuse the vast legacy of poverty they have created in the world.

Kitchen Tips That Save Time and Effort. ([)]

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

Sorry the link does not work.

Fernapple replies on Jun 21, 2020:

@AnonySchmoose No still no joy.

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

zeuser comments on Jun 20, 2020:

Simplistic, but a classic quote. I don't think Mencken meant for this to be taken as objectively true, but rather as a comment on the tendency of people to look for the simplest answer as a reflex. Occam's Razor may well be inclined to respectfully disagree on principle, if not on substance.

Fernapple replies on Jun 21, 2020:

The many false and misunderstood versions of Occam's Razor that are in circulation, are all prefect examples of this priciple.

a wonderful graphic of sizes of land masses, nations, etc.

dede18 comments on Jun 20, 2020:

@Fernapple and @Allamanda I went in search, because it does not show Africa and I wanted to know why not. Still puzzled, it only shows the various countries within Africa ... Africa is HUGE, want to see it compared! In any case, go here ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 21, 2020:

@dede18 Looks like even the Sahara desert is as big as the USA.

I encourage quite a lot of wildflowers in the garden.

Cutiebeauty comments on Jun 20, 2020:

What is that in the last pic? Edible greens?

Fernapple replies on Jun 21, 2020:

No its the foliage of the second flower, it has a motled staining on the leaves.

Have you ever been offended by being an agnostic or atheist?

oldFloyd comments on Jun 20, 2020:

I agree with the others here, except Fernapple, but then again I use a deodorant.

Fernapple replies on Jun 20, 2020:

Never thought of that.

Illusions are everywhere not only in temples and churches/.

Geoffrey51 comments on Jun 19, 2020:

Probably best to stay away from theatre, films, TV and literature then.

Fernapple replies on Jun 20, 2020:

You forgot, newspapers, books, artgalleries, television.

What's the stupidest reason for not wearing a mask that you've heard?

BudFrank comments on Jun 19, 2020:

Trump should get a Darwin Award, except those are usually reserved for someone who does as a result of their own stupidity.

Fernapple replies on Jun 20, 2020:

He could be given an honoury Darwin Award, for those who cause the deaths of others.

I believe that happiness is the supreme goal in life rather than obeying the orders of the non ...

Cyklone comments on Jun 19, 2020:

Happiness is overrated. I think a hedonistic lifestyle is rather empty. Fulfillment makes more sense to me.

Fernapple replies on Jun 19, 2020:

I think that just depends on how you define words. To my mind fulfillment, is much more aligned to what I would mean by happiness than hedonism anyway.

What Path do You Walk?

yvilletom comments on Jun 18, 2020:

Not that path. The greenery to either side is okay; the overhead is not okay.

Fernapple replies on Jun 19, 2020:

@jonvan It has to be trees, because there are green things by the path, and cathedrals are dead spaces where nothing grows or lives, except human vanity.

A very obvious question, but some interesting answers. [youtube.com]

RoyMillar comments on Jun 18, 2020:

I always love earning these new ideas,ones schooling never ceases

Fernapple replies on Jun 18, 2020:

I usually just pick out what I like myself, glad it tunes in with other people.

I you wish to know how well your country is doing controlling the virus.

Marionville comments on Jun 18, 2020:

I think the U.K. falls into the same category as the USA...too little testing and testing the wrong people!

Fernapple replies on Jun 18, 2020:

On one seems to ever point out that, although some countries like the US and Brazil have had more deaths total, (Ignoring China who are almost certainly not telling the truth.) we are still the world leaders in deaths per million, or percent.

The garden seems to be going through a pink phase this month.

Lavergne comments on Jun 16, 2020:

Mine goes thru a "purple" phase very early on. Siberian Iris, pansies, ajuga, grape hyacinths, bearded iris, clematis and then the hostas... The reds and yellows and oranges come a little later on - with the heat - and the white hydrangeas are the perfect counterpoint to all that color......

Fernapple replies on Jun 16, 2020:

Yes mine goes yellow, white, purple/blue and then pink, but ends back at white and yellow again.

The garden seems to be going through a pink phase this month.

MarkWD comments on Jun 16, 2020:

You are obviously making your plants happy. Peonies are one of those who do not like my mild climate but I enjoy seeing them when I can. I am very intrigued by that ground cover too. I wonder how long a bloom season it has? Lamium has never done well for me, I'm guessing because of our dry ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 16, 2020:

Thank you, what an interesting reply. The Phuopsis flowers for more than a month with me, and would probably flower again, I think, if I were to cut it down after flowering.

From The Daily Stoic on Why wear a mask?

Amzungu comments on Jun 15, 2020:

I struggle to understand why this is such a difficult concept for people to realize. It is such a small, painless act, yet can do so much good. Seems like a no brainer to me.

Fernapple replies on Jun 15, 2020:

Even if it achieved little or nothing, and it does a lot more than that, what is the cost ?

Red Lion: Archaeologists 'find London's earliest theatre' - BBC News

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

What fun that must have been. After ten weeks of lock down the idea of going to a pub outside town for a social drink and an outdoor stage performance, seems like a wonderful treat, and a distant memory in more ways than one. And in those days all you could catch was the black death, fleas, lice,...

Fernapple replies on Jun 15, 2020:

@Magister Hey. WE have good weather here in the UK . Last year I counted at least two days.

What Are The Odds?

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

One small point, Muslims do not believe that hell is for all eternity, only until you are cured or punished enough. Infinite punishment for finite sins is only in the Christian tradition.

Fernapple replies on Jun 15, 2020:

@Gareth Seems I have been listening to too many muslims. I have not read it myself, and should have guessed they are into cherry picking and interpretation just as much as xians.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm and perhaps a giggle or two

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

So when my wife used to get me to help her with her bra, was that a ploy then ? Boy you learn something every day.

Fernapple replies on Jun 14, 2020:

@whiskywoman Oh, it was certainly that.

As COVID-19 continues to make news with the number of infections and number of deaths, a little ...

Allamanda comments on Jun 13, 2020:

It would be a very good thing if we could start to see statistics and studies on how many people, and who, have serious damages. At the moment the greatest numbers still seem to be immune or very mild cases, by 10x the serious cases resulting in death and injury. Maybe 20x.

Fernapple replies on Jun 13, 2020:

@Allamanda It could linger in the system at a low level difficult to detect for a long time, slowly doing damage, or do damage which is not seen at first. Many diseases have done things like that Syphilis, AIDS, leprosy etc.

As COVID-19 continues to make news with the number of infections and number of deaths, a little ...

Allamanda comments on Jun 13, 2020:

It would be a very good thing if we could start to see statistics and studies on how many people, and who, have serious damages. At the moment the greatest numbers still seem to be immune or very mild cases, by 10x the serious cases resulting in death and injury. Maybe 20x.

Fernapple replies on Jun 13, 2020:

We do not of course know yet, if there are any long term effects for those who only have mild symptoms.

I got this for the Natural History group, but thought it so good it could go here too.

LetzGetReal comments on Jun 12, 2020:

I knew some of this but this presentation helps to better connect the dots regarding genetics. Working as an animal caregiver plus doing occasional training, I learned perhaps more from my clients than them from me. A lot of them have some degree of PTS and how to handle this can differ greatly from...

Fernapple replies on Jun 12, 2020:

@LetzGetReal Here you go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2z6eCCNtOk

I got this for the Natural History group, but thought it so good it could go here too.

LetzGetReal comments on Jun 12, 2020:

I knew some of this but this presentation helps to better connect the dots regarding genetics. Working as an animal caregiver plus doing occasional training, I learned perhaps more from my clients than them from me. A lot of them have some degree of PTS and how to handle this can differ greatly from...

Fernapple replies on Jun 12, 2020:

Yes that's a great comment thank you. Of course domesticating modern wolves in a modern setting is probably quite different from what happen then. Because, as the video pointed out, the original domestic wolves came for a now extinct sub-species, whose behaviour may have been much more human friendly than modern wolves. And also because the first domesication was probably not done in one go, but slowly over perhaps several centuries, giving lots of time for both species to learn and perhaps even genetically adapt. While in close knitted hunter gathering communities people would likely spend more time on their close relationships, including those with other species, than we do today. Charmingly I do remember seeing another video about a dog/domestic wolves grave, dating from twenty thousand years ago, where the dog was buried with ritual. Will see if I can find it again.

@Admin -- I have just received 50+ notifications from LatinAmericanCupid.

TheMiddleWay comments on Jun 11, 2020:

It's a reasonable conclusion but if more and more of us say that it hasn't happened to us, the more you should look for sources outside this site. To whit, I've never received any spam or membership or anything that I could reasonably conclude came from my association with this site. My guess...

Fernapple replies on Jun 12, 2020:

@evidentialist It does not follow, I have recieved spam mail about all sorts of things from car insurance to web-site designers, though I have never searched for either on line. And I have certainly had dating spam from long before I joined this site, and I have certain never searched for that. These people get your details and address for all sorts of places, the number one method being supermarkets, where they study what you buy and then 'read' it to tell them what sort of person you are. Often using truly crude sexist, racist and ageist assumptions. As in, male buys food but not female sanitary wear, assumption, must be living alone, needs a date. It is that crude, devious and intrusive and that widespread.

Can Viruses Travel Between Planets [youtube.com]

Allamanda comments on Jun 10, 2020:

why astro- ? meaning star! why not extro- or planeto- or xeno- or... It makes it sound as silly as astrology.

Fernapple replies on Jun 11, 2020:

@Allamanda And also ask yourself why micro planets are called asteriods ?

Can Viruses Travel Between Planets [youtube.com]

Allamanda comments on Jun 10, 2020:

why astro- ? meaning star! why not extro- or planeto- or xeno- or... It makes it sound as silly as astrology.

Fernapple replies on Jun 11, 2020:

From Astronomy.

How would you know if you were being subjected to a mass campaign of information, especially of a ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

The first thing I always ask is. Who gains from this.

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

@Flowerwall One sided is certainly a good clue. Another is lack of nuance, and qualification, it is human nature to be lazy, a good thing once, active brains use a lot of food, and when apes like us had to earn our food on the plains of Africa, at great risk and effort, conserving it was useful. But today looking for easy simple answers is a sad legasy of our evolution, very close to being one sided , lack of detail and nuance therefore is one. Certainty another, for much them same reason, people who think honestly and value truth always doubt, while confidence again denotes lack of care and effort, plus perhaps, a strong wish fullfilment drive, which shows motives other than the pure wish for truth, such as the wish to impress, or to avoid fear of the unknown. (Good word, 'perhaps' rarely used by the untruthful, qualifiers are generally good signs.) But do not undervalue the distrust everything possition. Because being mistaken, even honestly mistaken, is our default state. It is like the old argument about religion. There are at least ten thousand gods, and a hundred thousand sects worshipping those gods, most (Most another good word.) of which claim to be the only true religion. And as the saying goes, they can all therefore be wrong, but only one of them, at most, can be right. Human culture was for the most part built by people who started with errors but then rather than throw the old errors out when problems arose, chose to add more untruths to plaster over the cracks. Because the alternative of throwing out the old errors and starting again, takes courage and effort. So that in the end human culture becomes a vast pile of untruths, with just the odd truth in there by accident, and all the lies piled on top of one another in mutual support. Try researching "adding epicycles" if you have time. Human culture is simply not a good guide if you are looking for truth. Also if you have time Richard Dawkins on religions as viral infections of the mind, is well worth looking into, though I think that he is mistaken in limiting the theory to religions alone, and not seeing all of culture as a series of viral infections.

How would you know if you were being subjected to a mass campaign of information, especially of a ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

The first thing I always ask is. Who gains from this.

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

@Flowerwall Perhaps sadly, I am always in a questioning frame of mind, fortunately I am a natural sceptic, I trust nothing and nobody anyway. Therefore I always assume that everyone lies by default, and that everything I am told is untrue, then I put it to the, 'who gains' test, and if I can find no actual reason why someone gains, then I assume a possiblity that it may be true. But my default possition is to assume everthing is untrue.

[finance.

Redheadedgammy comments on Jun 10, 2020:

Yeah Fuckerberg just wants to promote “open dialogue “. Wish everyone would delete their Fakebook page!!!

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

@Redheadedgammy And a really bad platform at that. I mean why do people think that cluncky ugly complicated site is fun, some people grouch about this site not working as they like, but its a dream compared to face book. And fuckerbook clearly wants to take over the web and make it his own domain.

This is the work of 'missionaries' in all likelihood from the USA.

dermot235 comments on Jun 10, 2020:

An appalling spectacle. Like something from the middle ages in Europe. Children looking on at this barbaric act of "justice". Evangelical Churches from the US have been promoting a particularly poisonous and hateful form of Christianity around the globe. Not just in Latin America but in Africa too. ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

And don't forget Australia where missionaries are getting native people to destroy their cultural heritage. Not perhaps as bad as killing people, but still showing the same sort of hate and contempt.

[finance.

Redheadedgammy comments on Jun 10, 2020:

Yeah Fuckerberg just wants to promote “open dialogue “. Wish everyone would delete their Fakebook page!!!

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

Could be the begining of the end.

Engineer, Physicist, Mathematician: An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician were on a train ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

A psychologist, a biologist, a mathematician and a theologian sit outside a cafe drinking coffee. Across the street a man comes walking down the road, and meets a woman who was coming in the opposite direction. They kiss and and disappear into a building, then a minute later they come out again with...

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

@Julie808 Keep asking the questions, that's what life is all about. And the worst thing that can happen is that you get slapped by a school teacher. (Well ok you can be stoned to death in some countries, but lets be resonable.)

The question is “What is the basis of reality?

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

That depends. If you define the word 'God' as having the same meaning as the word 'Knowledge' then the statement. "I don't know." Is the same as. "There are no gods." And since most people do define god that way, at least by, ad populum they are the same. OK that is a joke, but, he serious ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

@WilliamFleming There is certainly a basis which is beyond our comprehension at this time, (The standard model is far from finished or correct in all details.) and it is possible that it can not be resolved by us, since brains evolved to solve the problems of survival on the plains of Africa, simply may not be able to understand the universe. Yet we do not know, it could all be resolved next week by a scientist/philosopher via perhaps the most trivial and basic of discoveries. (Realistically unlikely.) And of course since understanding, especially final complete understanding seems important to we humans, now at this time, we are bound to think of it as the great mystery, and the god issue, etc.. The big danger however in such terms, is in giving those who would promote religion a hand hold on our collars. It then becomes very easy for them to say. 'You see they are interested in god.' And then to take that as permission to use sceptics own positions as support for their theist views, often by distoring the original meanings completely. That happened to Einstien himself, who made use of the god word a couple of times methaphorically, with no intention to mean diety in any way. Yet just doing that, has made him an icon in some theist quarters, where he is held up as a near saint, and an authority proving even the most extremme forms of theism. Which is certainly something he never intended, would hate, and which sadly buries completely the real valuable meanings he intended.

Was Jesus a man who became mythicized or a myth that became historicized or something else?

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2020:

Why not both. Or all three, because you can also throw in, that there may have been several persons involved and some deliberate falsification. Its just a mess, and anyone who thinks that they can unpick the threads after all this time, and the many attempts deliberately made to hide the truth over ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

@PondartIncbendog Sorry I only do muffins.

Was Jesus a man who became mythicized or a myth that became historicized or something else?

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2020:

Why not both. Or all three, because you can also throw in, that there may have been several persons involved and some deliberate falsification. Its just a mess, and anyone who thinks that they can unpick the threads after all this time, and the many attempts deliberately made to hide the truth over ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 10, 2020:

@Atheist3 No I think the issue of. "Is there a god." Is perhaps the most acedemic of them all, with no real importance, here's why. (I phave posted this several times so appologies if you have seen it.) Suppose for a minute, and for the sake of argument only, that there is a god, and an afterlife, including heaven and a hell; and that the god chooses whether people go to heaven, or if some go to hell, in fact the whole theist deal. Not only that, but suppose, the criterion on which the god makes the choice is based on the type of muffins they eat. ( Note: “eat” not prefer, this is not about free will or anything like that.) People who eat lemon muffins go to heaven and people who eat chocolate muffins go to hell, with limbo for those who don't eat muffins at all, naturally. Would that make a difference to your life ? Would you give up your chocolate muffins for an eternity of joy, and all the lemon buns after death you could ever eat ? Perhaps you would. But there is one vital thing that I forgot to mention about this god, which is that; this particular god, does not tell you about the muffins, or how they affect your afterlife, in fact it keeps the whole thing a big secret just to itself, so that you have no way of knowing which muffins you have to eat. Then in that case, of course, you could not make the appropriate changes to your life, or save your soul anyway. In fact muffins, the gods preferences and even that god, would not impact on your life at all. The point is this. That a gods, souls, the afterlife etc. have no effect on anything, unless that god, or someone who knows, tells you about it, and you therefore have some knowledge of god's cake prejudices. Making this the big difference between religion, which pretends to offer knowledge of god the afterlife etc., and none belief which does not. Which is why the difference between atheists, humanists, agnostics and even deists, is so small and unimportant, by comparison with the great gulf between them and theists, because none claim any knowledge of gods preferences, and it is the pretence of fake knowledge, and of god given authority, which makes the big difference. Compared with that the differences between atheist and agnostic, even deist, are trivial to the point of vanishing. It is the pretence of knowledge, the bible, koran etc which is all important, god is trivial when compared to that.

Philosophy is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat.

Allamanda comments on Jun 9, 2020:

are we not ascribing quotes any more?

Fernapple replies on Jun 9, 2020:

@Gatovicolo Actually I think that last bit is much better and sharper than the bit in the post.

The question is “What is the basis of reality?

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

That depends. If you define the word 'God' as having the same meaning as the word 'Knowledge' then the statement. "I don't know." Is the same as. "There are no gods." And since most people do define god that way, at least by, ad populum they are the same. OK that is a joke, but, he serious ...

Fernapple replies on Jun 9, 2020:

@WilliamFleming Yes it is complicated, but that's about it. In fact I go even further than being discomfort with people using god for the unknown, I find that even terms like "the great mystery", are too specific for me, since they imply that it must have know properties like greatness.

Consider this: people have used religion to justify and advance their agendas since the earliest ...

Moravian comments on Jun 8, 2020:

Of course the theists will point to Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao as atheists who killed millions. They may not have been religious but they were still following a perverted ideology which is really the same thing.