Before the germ theory of disease became popularly understood, it was common to believe that sick ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2020:

If God and, " the things we don’t know the natural explanations of yet" are synonyms" then you may use either. But the vast advantage of, things we don't know yet, over god is not only that it is more exact, but that it does not come with the vast evil baggage that the God word carries, including ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 10, 2020:

@skado Oh dear I can't believe that you areresorting to the 'ad populum' fallacy. But anyway you are on for the bet, I just hope there are humans left in two thousand years.

For success don't join the march, just go to the pub get drunk and fall on the tracks OK.

Robecology comments on Jul 9, 2020:

Silly argument; "Evolution: That Famous ‘March of Progress’ Image Is Just Wrong" No, it's not. It served a purpose to educate those who believed in a sudden "creationism"... Jordi Paps is just a headline -seeking sensationalist, IMO. - - - - - - It originated as a Time-Life ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@Robecology Yes I hear what you say, and it is true that my interest in the pop science, did stop me thinking about the religious implications, but I was sharing it on a site, which is hopefully not used by the religious much. On a public site, in the sense of used by everybody, I would certainly have not posted it.

For success don't join the march, just go to the pub get drunk and fall on the tracks OK.

Robecology comments on Jul 9, 2020:

Silly argument; "Evolution: That Famous ‘March of Progress’ Image Is Just Wrong" No, it's not. It served a purpose to educate those who believed in a sudden "creationism"... Jordi Paps is just a headline -seeking sensationalist, IMO. - - - - - - It originated as a Time-Life ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

Yes I like the image as well, always been fond of it. But like all such posts from the popular press they are only adding a small qualification, which is not new, but it being the popular press they are overstating their case and making too much of it. However the small qualifications are real and they may not be familiar to everyone, so I thought that the article was worth posting. Don't be put off too much by the style.

U.S. coronavirus cases rise by over 60,000, setting single-day record

AnneWimsey comments on Jul 9, 2020:

Anybody looking up "exponential"? I am talking to you minimizers/deniers here!

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

One of the main features of "exponential" is that it does not matter how low the level is at which you start, the water still gets above your head very quickly. It has been said that only one person in ten really understands exponential. There is an old story, if you put bacteria in a test tube, and they double in numbers every hour, such that they will fill the tube to the top after fifty hours. Question how much of the tube is full after forty eight hours ? You don't need to work it out it is only one quarter. In other words the tube is nearly empty, three quarters clear after forty eight of the fifty hours are gone. It catches up fast at the end.

Before the germ theory of disease became popularly understood, it was common to believe that sick ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2020:

If God and, " the things we don’t know the natural explanations of yet" are synonyms" then you may use either. But the vast advantage of, things we don't know yet, over god is not only that it is more exact, but that it does not come with the vast evil baggage that the God word carries, including ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@skado But religious literalists do gain from even the metaphorical reading of religion, wether you intend it or not, that is my whole point. Because you can not enforce boundaries within religion, and anything which helps even in a peripheral way to render religion as a whole respectable, has to carry some of the responsiblity for its worst excesses. And I did not say, that you had said that rape and murder were good things, now you are strawmaning me, that was a metaphor. To quote. "There is always going to be a place for using more exact descriptions and a place for using metaphorical abbreviations. It's unavoidable. It's how our language works. "

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Jinx5555555 comments on Jul 7, 2020:

How is religion counterbalancing animal instincts when it clearly follows them? The whole us versus them thing defines both religion and social animal groups.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@skado If there are no moral judgements required, why make a post about it ?

Today's hike: Mighty Mouse fights Devil's Club. Lanham Lake, WA

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2020:

Do you have a scientific name for Queen's Cup please ?

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@LiterateHiker Thank you, I will look it up, see if they will grow here.

Knaresborough in Yorkshire UK.

Lincoln55 comments on Jul 9, 2020:

Shame, shame. Got any more?

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

Watch this space, I posted these because my friend and I had our first day out yesterday as lockdown is eased, but I have lots on file.

Knaresborough in Yorkshire UK.

Lorajay comments on Jul 9, 2020:

Thank you, These are wonderful to look at. They also sadly remind this American ithat she can't go anywhere right now.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

The planes will fly again, not long.

Your Thoughts on Philosophy

PondartIncbendog comments on Jul 9, 2020:

You want my Philosophy on Philosophy? Hmm.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

Yes please, you know I like your thoughts on everything.

“Science seeks the truth, and it doesn’t discriminate.

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2020:

Or, you get nearer to truth the harder you work at it, and the more you are prepared to give up for it.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@Marionville Nor me. Though I am told that it depends very much on the science you follow and the insitution which called you a scientist. Good morning both.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Jinx5555555 comments on Jul 7, 2020:

How is religion counterbalancing animal instincts when it clearly follows them? The whole us versus them thing defines both religion and social animal groups.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@skado So. "counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating civilization." is not a moral act then ? Nice to know that you favour our animal instincts over the teaching of religion as the basis of civilization. I knew you would come round one day. Or how does. "counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating civilization." Differ from the usual religious pseudo morality ?

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Jinx5555555 comments on Jul 7, 2020:

How is religion counterbalancing animal instincts when it clearly follows them? The whole us versus them thing defines both religion and social animal groups.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@skado Sorry but. "Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating civilization." Posting that and then commenting. "Just for the record, I have not claimed that religion is the origin of moral behavior. " Sounds very like back pedaling. And. If it is not the origin, of morality, then it just serves the natural moral impetus, as every other human intstitution does. In which case it is either pointless, or its practises and rituals can be replicated without its favouring of the ultra conservative and criminal elements of the human condition.

Just curious what subject is more favorable.

Fernapple comments on Jul 8, 2020:

Maths, because it is not possible to understand any other subject, especially philosophy and psychology, without a deep knowledge of maths, it is the key to understanding. PS. I am no good at it.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@FearlessFly Ok here's a controversial one. The biggest enemy of wisdom and understanding after apathy, is not stupidity but pseudo-education. Or to use some old maths, the set of those who have Majors, and the set of those who never learned anything useful, have a large overlap.

So what happened to the 'R' number then, which was so important just a couple of weeks ago, has ...

Mcflewster comments on Jul 8, 2020:

It was not local enough. I have no idea how they actually reach those numbers though. It should be as local as your local pub. Science is now investigating transmission through the air( as other viruses are) as opposed to droplet transmission ( transmission by droplets is where the coughs and...

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

It almost seems like our government is trying to engineer the second wave. If they really want people to come out and start spending money to kick start the economy, why don't they come out with strong firm regulations on masks and social distancing, so that people do so safely. Instead of, "Oh well if you feel like it." advice. Or are they still trying to hide possible damage to their image, caused when they ignored the advice of and the information coming from the W.H.O., to cover the fact that they were unable to organize the supply of enough masks. In other words, their image comes before public safety. I like this may make it a post.

I had to go to our Botanical Gardens today to pick up 2 fruit tree seedlings - so took some snaps of...

cs10 comments on Jul 8, 2020:

Fixed.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

@Allamanda Don't bank on it.

I had to go to our Botanical Gardens today to pick up 2 fruit tree seedlings - so took some snaps of...

cs10 comments on Jul 8, 2020:

Fixed.

Fernapple replies on Jul 9, 2020:

Well done.

Just curious what subject is more favorable.

Fernapple comments on Jul 8, 2020:

Maths, because it is not possible to understand any other subject, especially philosophy and psychology, without a deep knowledge of maths, it is the key to understanding. PS. I am no good at it.

Fernapple replies on Jul 8, 2020:

@AmyTheBruce That's exactly how I feel.

Some time i wonder if all the Christians are going to snap someday and gather all the nonbelievers ...

desertastronomer comments on Jul 8, 2020:

Get a grip, Tim. You can't really believe that we would repeat the Inquisition, would you?

Fernapple replies on Jul 8, 2020:

Yes.

I had to go to our Botanical Gardens today to pick up 2 fruit tree seedlings - so took some snaps of...

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2020:

Lovely gardens. And I really like the way they get the plants to grow out sideways like that, never seen that landscape gimmick before.

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

@Allamanda Teasing, but yes, that is cheap of me, because the buttress roots are truly wonderful.

When someone starts brow beating you with their religion what do you do ?

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2020:

Sadly I usually do nothing but leave. I really should engage with them, but then you have to be very careful to be extra polite and charming. Because you have to remember that they have probably been sent out by their cult to be annoying, so that people will threaten and insult them and their ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

@AmyTheBruce I believe the send them out to fail method of indoctrination is a well recognized thing, which has been written up in some fairly mainstream medical/psychology papers. Another member gave a link to one of them some time ago, if I can still find it, it was a long time ago I will pass you the link. Yes the asking questions, is the thing, charming and polite was just an coment on the way to do it best of course.

“Middle age is youth without its levity, and age without decay”............Daniel Defoe.

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2020:

Let the good times roll.

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

@Marionville I have known people who had one, and then being careful went for decades without another.

“Middle age is youth without its levity, and age without decay”............Daniel Defoe.

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2020:

Let the good times roll.

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

@Marionville Sorry to hear that, take care and live for now.

I have always feel that I was denied a life.

Fernapple comments on Jul 6, 2020:

I can tell with further search that: You have enough education to type a post. You have a internet link. Enough health to sit at a computer. You have connection to a global site where you can encounter many other people. Those are really big gains, which put you ahead of ninety nine percent, of all ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

@Leslie00 I am sorry about your pain. My mother had long term constant pain for over ten years, and although we never really got on, it was hard not to have sympathy when she had to go through so much.

“Middle age is youth without its levity, and age without decay”............Daniel Defoe.

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2020:

Let the good times roll.

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

@Marionville Not according to D.D. until the decay sets in. And in my case, ( OK its sad about the teeth. ) but everything else is just fine so far. In fact I am fitter, in the sense of can run longer, jump higher etc., than I was at twenty five.

Wedding guests stripped Gro's garden without permission.

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2020:

Some people just don't see taking growing things as stealing, even though they may have involved more direct effort from the owner than things which are just bought. A couple of year ago my friend and I visited a public garden in the next county. While we and several other people sat on some ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

@Jolanta I was with my friend, who was frail and elderly, so I contented myself with pointing it out to one of the keepers later. Which was a bit of a feeble thing to do, I admit I should have made a fuss at the time. But you have to remember I am British, so I don't think it normal to talk to people without being introduced, let alone tell them what I think.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Jinx5555555 comments on Jul 7, 2020:

How is religion counterbalancing animal instincts when it clearly follows them? The whole us versus them thing defines both religion and social animal groups.

Fernapple replies on Jul 7, 2020:

I agree. Accepting the belief that religion is the origin of moral behaviour, is swallowing religions worst and most blatant piece of deception. Morality entered religion late, long after it was established as a part of human life. And that morality can only have come from two places, either god or humans, since it did not come from god, (or at least not if we do not believe in god, ) then it had to come from humans, and if humans could easily imbue one of their institutions with it, then there is no good reason to suppose that they can not do it for any institution. And the obvious fact that many political and charitable institutions now provide a moral leadership to the world, with a morality which far excels that of religion, is good evidence for that.

Some time ago the electrical company dug up my driveway entrance to bury a cable.

Allamanda comments on Jul 6, 2020:

I always had heard opium poppies were blue! Had a look on google and many are mauve, so that may be translation from a language that does colours differently?

Fernapple replies on Jul 6, 2020:

Pink, white , red and mixed colours are available, though I think that the purple is the wild form.

This morning's views....

Fernapple comments on Jul 6, 2020:

I wish I could grow Monarda, it just does not seem to like my soil.

Fernapple replies on Jul 6, 2020:

@Lavergne Do you know Bridal Veil does fine for me.

A small bonus from the virus.

Allamanda comments on Jul 6, 2020:

I think we're way too far down the road for this to actually matter, it's a useful stopgap/awareness measure, but the real problem is habitat encroachment by humans. Until we demarcate and enforce the wilds as wild, literally not even for hikers etc. this is the unstoppable march to extinction... ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 6, 2020:

Yes it is a hard thing to say, but a lot of the money, time and matterials poured into wildlife rescue is completely wasted, and would be far better spent on habitat protection. The one exception though being things like the pangolin, which are not short of habitat but are being over harvested.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Paul4747 comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Let me work on that for a minute: "*Civilization* is a set of practices that counterbalance our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating *our fellow human beings*." I prefer this version, since religion in general (and especially in its earliest forms) merely codifies tribal taboos ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 6, 2020:

@skado But that gap is far better filled, and is slowly being filled by secular movements. Ritual, community and well being are growing into the gap from many quarters. From secular charities, citizen science, envirionmental groups and health care etc. In the UK where we are much further down the line than the US, it is impossible that the church, where in our village a small group of elderly facsists, ( They get four or five on a good Sunday. ) gather each week to try and convince themselves, wrongly, that they are not selfish and bigotted has any real 'spiritual' (whatever that mean,) worth left, nor since it has not put forward a new good idea for a hundred years, that it has any interest in filling the gap.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Paul4747 comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Let me work on that for a minute: "*Civilization* is a set of practices that counterbalance our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating *our fellow human beings*." I prefer this version, since religion in general (and especially in its earliest forms) merely codifies tribal taboos ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 5, 2020:

@skado Yes but ritual is something that you can have and develop without religion, and as I said part of the reason why secularism is often not addressing all needs, is because of the lazy assumption that these things are religions job. Which leaves a gap as religions fade and move towards the darkness.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Paul4747 comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Let me work on that for a minute: "*Civilization* is a set of practices that counterbalance our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating *our fellow human beings*." I prefer this version, since religion in general (and especially in its earliest forms) merely codifies tribal taboos ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

@skado If it is not literal it is not religion, since if you take it metaphorically, then there is no need to be loyal to any one religion, they can all be plumbed for whatever good bits they contain metphorically, what you have if you take it metaphorically is only academic study. And in any case that does not hold water, since the secular wold onf thought has already taken on board all the good ideas found in religion, The only parts remaining to religion which are found in it and not in secular thought, are the bad bits.

Relativism the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2020:

There are lots of other good arguments against it as well. For example that it is anti-progressive, since if there is no absolute truth, then there is no point in looking for one. So that relativism which seems at first to be ultra liberal, because it is inclusive, in fact proves to be ultra ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

@Word Quite that's my point.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

dahermit comments on Jul 3, 2020:

Only in regard to the first sentence (I am not going to read the rest), it is not true. Religion does not need to exist in order for civilization to be orderly. It only needs a few pragmatic laws. Aside from that, "animal instincts" do not mean disorder. If one observes a troop of primates one ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

@dahermit I saw a programme on orangutans a while ago, and the keeper said. "Everyone thinks that they are placid, slow and easy going. And they are until they get going, and then they are Sumo wrestlers with teeth."

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 4, 2020:

They demand freedom for the media to provide them with confirmation of what they would like to think, if they were not too lazy to do their own thinking.

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

@thinkwithme Sadly most can not be bothered with that.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

dahermit comments on Jul 3, 2020:

Only in regard to the first sentence (I am not going to read the rest), it is not true. Religion does not need to exist in order for civilization to be orderly. It only needs a few pragmatic laws. Aside from that, "animal instincts" do not mean disorder. If one observes a troop of primates one ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

Agree with all of that, except that I would amend it by saying that the social structure of most of our fellow primates are not quite as crude as that. Most dominant males in most social primates, hold their possitions due to complex political connections, usually including friendships with other powerful males, and the support of the female collective. I understand however that your statement was main a simple one designed to refute the post, and that by saying that I am just pedantically nit picking, sorry.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Secular_Squirrel comments on Jul 3, 2020:

The belief that civilization has been achieved is a delusion under specific contexts. Civilization: The stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced. The consideration that we are at such a state in social and cultural development is the ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

Beautiful.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Paul4747 comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Let me work on that for a minute: "*Civilization* is a set of practices that counterbalance our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating *our fellow human beings*." I prefer this version, since religion in general (and especially in its earliest forms) merely codifies tribal taboos ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

@skado No it does not meet most peoples needs, but it is a complete delution to believe that religion provides an alternative. Indeed the main reason that the secular world, especially its education system fails to meet those needs in most people, is because of the tradition of thinking that it was the job of religion to fulfil those needs. Therefore there has for a long time been an assumption, that the secular powers that be need not bother to address those needs in an organised way, despite thse fact that religion's complete failure to do so leaves a gapping hole in western thinking, and that its failure has now become obvious to everyone.

Relativism the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2020:

There are lots of other good arguments against it as well. For example that it is anti-progressive, since if there is no absolute truth, then there is no point in looking for one. So that relativism which seems at first to be ultra liberal, because it is inclusive, in fact proves to be ultra ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 4, 2020:

@Word No but that is not true. True and false are not alway complete or unmixed, there are few absolutes in the real world of humans . I have a bucket with two pints of milk in it. Statements: He has a container with between one and three pints in it. He has a container with between one and a half, and two and a half pints in it. He has a container with liquid in it. He has a bucket with white liquid in it. He has a bucket with a liquid which is not water in it. He has a bucket with a liquid which is both water and fats in it. He does not have a cardboard box. He has a rounded container which is not cardboard. He has something that a calf would like. He has something that a hungry calf would like to drink. And so on. None of the statements are untrue, but none of them tell you the exact truth about what I have, but in each pair the second statement is more accurate, and this is just a simple thing like a bucket of milk.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Paul4747 comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Let me work on that for a minute: "*Civilization* is a set of practices that counterbalance our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating *our fellow human beings*." I prefer this version, since religion in general (and especially in its earliest forms) merely codifies tribal taboos ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 3, 2020:

@skado Well at least different time zones takes the pressure of replies. That'l do hope.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Paul4747 comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Let me work on that for a minute: "*Civilization* is a set of practices that counterbalance our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating *our fellow human beings*." I prefer this version, since religion in general (and especially in its earliest forms) merely codifies tribal taboos ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 3, 2020:

@skado Yes my village cafe, which generates well being and a feeling of community, all of which is quite real.

A couple of people on here have suggested that masks are not necessary if you maintain "6' apart".

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2020:

The bottom line is simple. The more you do, the more you stay alone, the further apart you stand, and the more barriers to droplets you stay behind (screens masks), the safer you and everyone else is. And the more people there are who do more, even mindlessly when the risk is tiny, the sooner it ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 2, 2020:

@girlwithsmiles With the distance thing of course you are into inverse square law at the very least. Which says that on a sphere, or any shape for that matter, doubling the distance mutiplies the surface area by four. Which means that, at the very least, doubling the distance reduces the concentration of droplets, to a quarter, in fact it is better than that because more droplets drop to the ground under gravity over distance as well.

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 2, 2020:

@skado The habit of disparaging emotion is a culturally inherited one, which it is good to be wary of , since it has been deeply inbedded in our culture so long that it distorts even the post religious world view nearly completely. Because it is at the core, if not the core, of the Abrahamic and theist deception. The trick being to make people feel guity about their animal nature, that animal nature being made to take the blame for all that is wrong, ( which is easy because nature has no champions, ) and create the sham that there was another and better alternative, which of course there is not, which they held the keys to.

"Religion is a practice that counterbalances our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating ...

Paul4747 comments on Jul 1, 2020:

Let me work on that for a minute: "*Civilization* is a set of practices that counterbalance our animal instincts for the purpose of accommodating *our fellow human beings*." I prefer this version, since religion in general (and especially in its earliest forms) merely codifies tribal taboos ...

Fernapple replies on Jul 2, 2020:

@skado "Culturally driven behaviors generally require only outward compliance with established standards. They don’t, and can’t, outside of authentic religious practice, address, guide, fortify, or enrich inward concerns related to meaning, mood, attitude, and relative emotional buoyancy. " Of course they can, and perhaps far better than religion which is burdened with its history.

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 2, 2020:

@skado My point is that it is not the emotion that you should blame, but the false reasoning which triggered it in the first place. If you wish to remove the cause then you have to address the misunderstandings or false cultural assumptions behind it.

Has anyone read and suggested The Teachings of Don Juan? What do you think of Castaneda?

Word comments on Jul 2, 2020:

never read Don Juan, but if he had a sequel would it be called Don Two?

Fernapple replies on Jul 2, 2020:

Groan.

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.