Fernapple's Profile

Sssssooooo, if god was/is/use to be without form and void, to the point that there was nothing ...

Davesnothere comments on Oct 18, 2019:

Conflates the TWO origin stories in Genesis, Chapter one and Chapter two. In one its "Male and female -- be fruitful and multiply" Chapter 2 is Adam and Eve. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 19, 2019:

@Seeker3CO Cattle in the King James at least may just mean quadropeds in general, just being an old usage. And I think that at one point even women are listed as cattle.

Something sad, but beautiful. Both the video and its content. [youtube.com]

Mermaidfantasy comments on Oct 18, 2019:

They did not mention that fact that bonobo's are the most sexual of all primates, even us. They are not monogamous and use sex as a way of bonding, stress relief and for pleasure. Thought I would add that little bit of knowledge about them. Very sad anyone would want to harm such a loving animal.

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2019:

Actually they did mention it right at the begining, but then said that that was not the subject of this video.

The importance of being literate...

allmighty comments on Oct 18, 2019:

Cheap and nasty.

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2019:

@Deb57 I think he may be talking about the so called dildo, not you. Perhaps the penny did not drop as not all men are familiar with womens styling products. LOL

I hate to say it, but in the last few months this whole site has become inundated with a lot of very...

Fernapple comments on Oct 17, 2019:

Discussion, debate, talk and conversation, are all great things, but are of no use if different people do not bring different things to the table. An echo chamber is just an empty box. We all hopefully learn from different opinions, and that learning helps to raise the standard of debate. While ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2019:

@Davesnothere Yep you got it. LOL Do you know I have to drive nearly seven miles to buy a pack of biscuits.

I hate to say it, but in the last few months this whole site has become inundated with a lot of very...

Fernapple comments on Oct 17, 2019:

Discussion, debate, talk and conversation, are all great things, but are of no use if different people do not bring different things to the table. An echo chamber is just an empty box. We all hopefully learn from different opinions, and that learning helps to raise the standard of debate. While ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2019:

@Davesnothere, @Stephanie99 Yep. Me too It is not a big issue, I would rather spend time in the gardening and photography groups.

I hate to say it, but in the last few months this whole site has become inundated with a lot of very...

Fernapple comments on Oct 17, 2019:

Discussion, debate, talk and conversation, are all great things, but are of no use if different people do not bring different things to the table. An echo chamber is just an empty box. We all hopefully learn from different opinions, and that learning helps to raise the standard of debate. While ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2019:

@Davesnothere Only deep backwoods by UK standards, not by US, in fact not remotely by US. LOL

Terry Eagleton Interview - Thanks, Matias for inroducing him here. Fascinating! [youtube.com]

Geoffrey51 comments on Oct 17, 2019:

He seems a bit fixated on Dawkins, Islam and Jesus. I don’t know when the interview was but he has taken the Islamic v the West red herring in both hands and run with it. He seems to object to Dawkins thinking which, now a bit tedious, does have value for Western critical thinking, whether ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2019:

@skado That is where the problem lies. A physicist may will be an expert on physics, but would not make statements biology or chemistry, or except in general terms, science as a whole. Therefore a theologian should not claim that there is a single essence of Christianity, in which he may indeed be an expert, and that his view therefore stands for all. Neither would an honest journalist claim to express the opinions of paper-boys, even though he is higher in the profession than them. In the interview he give the essence of Christianity as, the view basic that, altruistic ideology will get you killed by the state. Well I am sorry, but though you may well make a good case for that as a good interpretation of some parts of the biblical story, but that is just cherry picking of the worst sort. (And I know it is a short interview. ) Christianity is rich and complex and so is the bible, there is no one essence that fits all, any more than we have as yet a final single theory of everything in science. The fact that he feels willing to cherry pick his own favourite interpretation of a small part of that, and use it to represent the whole, speak exactly to the sort of intellectual dishonesty which is the religion lite position. Time after time you encounter exactly this deliberate ignoring of the bigger picture in order to justify religion lite. It speaks to the lowest form of intellectual dishonesty, and the lack of moral integrity which is religion lite. And the spoiled child, have my cake and eat it, or rather, have my sham authority without having to defend that which gives authority, or recognize that authority myself, mentality which is the rotten core of religion lite.

I hate to say it, but in the last few months this whole site has become inundated with a lot of very...

Fernapple comments on Oct 17, 2019:

Discussion, debate, talk and conversation, are all great things, but are of no use if different people do not bring different things to the table. An echo chamber is just an empty box. We all hopefully learn from different opinions, and that learning helps to raise the standard of debate. While ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2019:

@LucyLoohoo I don't I just try to treat them all alike and fairly, give honest answers, and sooner or later they turn into one or the other. Yesterday a couple of posts appeared from a level two, asking. Who is the father of atheism ? and When did atheism first appear ? I suspect leading questions, from perhaps an innocent posted because someone had tutored her into it, in the hopes of getting an answer which would lead them into being able to use the sad old , "Atheism is based on faith." argument. In reply I simply said that atheism is probably age old, has no father figure, is probably older than any existing religions, and gave a short history of it back to ancient times. If she was a troll, then she did not get anything she could use, and if she was a genuinely curious person then she got a few interesting starter facts to spark thinking or research. Same answer served either way. Does not work every time but 99%. I wanted to give you a link to the posts, but I see they have gone. Which is sad because it either means , she was a troll and she got deleted or did a runner, or she was mistaken for one, which is very sad because, I think that such people should be encouraged to a degree.

Who would be interested in having this done?

MsAl comments on Oct 17, 2019:

So.. they are removing the skin with the tattoo..?? If so, no. that's creepy. If not I'm not sure I understand what they are surgically removing..

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2019:

I understand that in Japan the gangsters have their skins dried and preserved to keep the tattoos, and that is an old custom. Perhaps this is something new, such as removing the ink from under the skin and transfering it to paper.

Terry Eagleton Interview - Thanks, Matias for inroducing him here. Fascinating! [youtube.com]

Geoffrey51 comments on Oct 17, 2019:

He seems a bit fixated on Dawkins, Islam and Jesus. I don’t know when the interview was but he has taken the Islamic v the West red herring in both hands and run with it. He seems to object to Dawkins thinking which, now a bit tedious, does have value for Western critical thinking, whether ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2019:

@skado Yes but in this video he does present himself as such. And christian theology is not physics. Physics is a dicipline with strict edges, and people can not self define as physicists. Whereas christianity is subjective and anyone can self define as a christian. Are you saying then that my village vicar is not a christian ?

I hate to say it, but in the last few months this whole site has become inundated with a lot of very...

Fernapple comments on Oct 17, 2019:

Discussion, debate, talk and conversation, are all great things, but are of no use if different people do not bring different things to the table. An echo chamber is just an empty box. We all hopefully learn from different opinions, and that learning helps to raise the standard of debate. While ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2019:

@LucyLoohoo Yes that may be true, and I get fed up with the same old arguments, nothing new and nothing even logical enough to be interesting. But I live out in the deep backwoods, where any sort of discussion with anybody about anything seems worthwhile. And you have to remember that among the vast hoards, will be many who are taking the first, and sometimes the last few, tentetive steps up the ladder out of the cesspit of ignorance, sometimes even an odd chance remark may be all that is needed to gain a couple of vital rungs, if you bother to talk to them.

Terry Eagleton Interview - Thanks, Matias for inroducing him here. Fascinating! [youtube.com]

Geoffrey51 comments on Oct 17, 2019:

He seems a bit fixated on Dawkins, Islam and Jesus. I don’t know when the interview was but he has taken the Islamic v the West red herring in both hands and run with it. He seems to object to Dawkins thinking which, now a bit tedious, does have value for Western critical thinking, whether ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2019:

@Geoffrey51 Yes perhaps I was not clear, I am not criticising his theological position either, only his assumtion that his theological possition and that of a few like him, is effectively the same thing as christianity. As to the Dawkins point he is perhaps being facecious when he says. " The only thing I know about Dawkins was that his wife was in Doctor Who." But it come over as saying. "I have not read him at all."

Terry Eagleton Interview - Thanks, Matias for inroducing him here. Fascinating! [youtube.com]

Geoffrey51 comments on Oct 17, 2019:

He seems a bit fixated on Dawkins, Islam and Jesus. I don’t know when the interview was but he has taken the Islamic v the West red herring in both hands and run with it. He seems to object to Dawkins thinking which, now a bit tedious, does have value for Western critical thinking, whether ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2019:

He talks about straw man versions of Christianity used by modern atheists, and then defends his christianity, which he says is the chistianty of a few theologians like himself in resent times. So let me get this right, taking christianity to mean the broard spectrum of christianity, that the vastly greatest number of chritians follow today, and that everyone followed for the previous two thousand years, is straw maning christianity, but pretending that the christainty of, an almost none existant minority, in the last hundred years is the real thing, is not a straw man argument. PS. Why single out Dawkins after saying that he knows almost nothing of Dawkins.

So I've recently been looking at the Bible again, and I found a lot of things that contradict, and a...

Sadanty comments on Oct 17, 2019:

All religious texts, back to the beginning of of the creation of religion have the same problem. It is inherent. I see them more as an effort in creative writing focusing on morality tales and norms.

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2019:

True, though a lot of the babble is poliitical propaganda too.

Paris zoo exhibits the world's weirdest living thing | TreeHugger

Charlene comments on Oct 16, 2019:

Learning, obviously , depends on a central nervous system, life is amazing!

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2019:

@bobwjr No, you mean the other way round, having a central nervous system does not mean that you can learn.

This has not been my best year for plants (gone too much) but the natives are still beautiful.

Cast1es comments on Oct 16, 2019:

Clementis ?

Fernapple replies on Oct 16, 2019:

They were said to represent the crucifiction, with three nails and a crown of thorns etc. a common case of religious empirialism, trying to claim everything, even botany.

What is the difference between Baptists and Catholics?

PickledRick comments on Oct 15, 2019:

Back when I was forced to abide by my parents catholic theological beliefs there was a priest who smoked ciggies and drank a lot. He died in bed when the rectory burned down, possibly from smoking in bed while intoxicated. Or so the rumor claims.

Fernapple replies on Oct 15, 2019:

Obviously his god wanted him, and quick. I wonder at what point disregarding health and safety, stops being a way to show contempt for this temporal life, which may be good in their eyes, and starts being slow suicide which is a sin. LOL

Please provide your definition of the phrase "common sense".

Fernapple comments on Oct 14, 2019:

It can mean a lot of things depending on the person using the phrase and the subject. Usually it is most used by people who have it the least. Sometimes it is just another cheap anti-intellectual shot, like "geek", "nerd" and "bluestockings", but if there is any thing called common sense which ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 14, 2019:

@slydr68 Getting a bit old fashioned now, but it does have some charm, at least more than 'Geek' etc. Perhaps never used in the US but often used in the UK. A bluestockings, is a female academic and intellectual, so called because it was thought that they wore thick woollen blue stockings, to cope with the cold in academic institutions. When truly feminine women, of course, wore fine silk or nylon, in pretty colours. It is of course horribly sexist as well as anti-intellectual.

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the ...

Fernapple comments on Oct 14, 2019:

And the need to do what everyone wants as well.

Fernapple replies on Oct 14, 2019:

@MissKathleen Well said.

[sciencenews.

Robecology comments on Oct 13, 2019:

The video "shows what happens"...but it's still a computer-generated video...not the actual photographs.

Fernapple replies on Oct 14, 2019:

Did not give a time scale either.

[yesmagazine.

Robecology comments on Oct 13, 2019:

It's not Menohorror, or Menodamnation...it's just "menopause" ...a pause, or tapering off of the menses cycle. Maybe we just should let go of the "stigma"...

Fernapple replies on Oct 14, 2019:

@AnonySchmoose The Freedom.

Should trump's mouth be washed out with soap?

WilliamFleming comments on Oct 13, 2019:

I hear those expressions a lot, and I am to the point of not even noticing. There is a sharp divide however. Those who are religious and attend churches seldom or never say naughty words. Trump is not very religious. That “F” word, so common on this forum however, is one so disturbing to me ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 14, 2019:

@Remiforce Same here, I worked in a factory for a while in youth. Would not take like that now.

Should trump's mouth be washed out with soap?

WilliamFleming comments on Oct 13, 2019:

I hear those expressions a lot, and I am to the point of not even noticing. There is a sharp divide however. Those who are religious and attend churches seldom or never say naughty words. Trump is not very religious. That “F” word, so common on this forum however, is one so disturbing to me ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

@WilliamFleming No, I did not know any of those words until I came on this site. LOL. But seriously no, I guess I may have been a bit po faced as a child, and always thought that a little childish, plus beating children was still fashionable here when I was a kid.

Should trump's mouth be washed out with soap?

WilliamFleming comments on Oct 13, 2019:

I hear those expressions a lot, and I am to the point of not even noticing. There is a sharp divide however. Those who are religious and attend churches seldom or never say naughty words. Trump is not very religious. That “F” word, so common on this forum however, is one so disturbing to me ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

"From a strictly rational perspective words ought not matter much." That is true, interestingly I am told that in some languages, Japaness for example,, there are no bad words, all words are regarded as polite.

H. G. Wells on the Roman empire, anything sounding familiar ?

Marionville comments on Oct 13, 2019:

All that and ....hubris, the downfall of many an empire!

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

There are over fifty reasons listed by some people, see mcgeo52 below, but there is no doubt that hubris was behind most of the.

H. G. Wells on the Roman empire, anything sounding familiar ?

mcgeo52 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

That and lead in their food and water. Of course we don't have lead in our water. Not in the good ol' US of A.

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

PS. You may have a lot of funny things in your water. LOL

H. G. Wells on the Roman empire, anything sounding familiar ?

mcgeo52 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

That and lead in their food and water. Of course we don't have lead in our water. Not in the good ol' US of A.

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

Glad you mentioned that, because it is of course a wonderful new addition to the list of over fifty reasons that have been found for the decline of Rome, including climate change, monetry inflation, christianity, the cost of repeated civil wars, crop failier, political upheavals beyond the borders etc. many of which were not known or understood in Wells days. But interestingly he was in this case talking about a much earlier phase, and the decline of democracy and the republic, though no doubt the seeds of the fall of empire were sown then. In fact that is his main theme. But of course perhaps the main reason for the fall, was simply that it outgrew itself, the bigger it got the less Roman it became, and the further away and the less important to most people in the empire, Rome itself became, until at last the core was just a funny little sidelined city, to be fought over as a prize by the many foreign kings who lived within its borders, each declaring themself emperor, and getting zero respect from the others.

“If you do good, people will accuse you of having selfish ulterior motives.

IamNobody comments on Oct 13, 2019:

We do good because it makes us feel good about ourselves. If people accuse us of selfish motives then likely they are not completely far off.

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

@Marionville Yes getting a bit off topic there, but it was more about IamNobody's comment than the main post.

I was happy to meet a fellow member tonight.

Fernapple comments on Oct 13, 2019:

Good for you. Don't think I will ever meet another member, I live right out in the rural backwoods, at least by UK standards.

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

@OwlInASack Yep Ripon is quite a way, two hours at least. I have thought, in the past, of messaging all the local members just to see if any are still active, and ask if they want to do an anti-christmas lunch if I get enough replies. But we are very thin on the ground in Linc's, and there seem to be a lot of fossil acounts on the site.

“If you do good, people will accuse you of having selfish ulterior motives.

IamNobody comments on Oct 13, 2019:

We do good because it makes us feel good about ourselves. If people accuse us of selfish motives then likely they are not completely far off.

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

@Marionville Perhaps. But for example, is it easier to steal something you don't want for the trill, try to conceal what you are doing, and then evade capture, or do you just flash the plastic and give it to a homeless person?

“If you do good, people will accuse you of having selfish ulterior motives.

IamNobody comments on Oct 13, 2019:

We do good because it makes us feel good about ourselves. If people accuse us of selfish motives then likely they are not completely far off.

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

@IamNobody Come on, we know full well that you are not half as nasty as you pretend to be. Personal hygene may be another issue but since we have only met on line I can not comment about that.

“If you do good, people will accuse you of having selfish ulterior motives.

IamNobody comments on Oct 13, 2019:

We do good because it makes us feel good about ourselves. If people accuse us of selfish motives then likely they are not completely far off.

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

No, that's only a bit rue. A lot of the time we do good just because we have to do something, and life is dull, and sometimes because doing bad is a lot more effort.

A pastor at a church I went to w/my grandmother when I was a teen said that "reading Revelations is ...

creative51 comments on Oct 12, 2019:

That would be quite a book to do that. But the modest amount of reading I have done it, there seems to be no such effect. Oh well, it is what it is, a book of myths interspersed with names of real places and names of historical figures. BTW that technique is Fiction 101, spice up your fiction by ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

It actually gets a lot of its geography wrong, not as bad as its history, but still way out. Possibly because the writers did not live near the sites they wrote about, or they had never left their own villages.

Why do they worship?

Hominid comments on Oct 13, 2019:

Out of a sense of awe. Ask me how I know...

Fernapple replies on Oct 13, 2019:

How ?

Just brought to my attention by an American correspondent is this 2 year old Deutsche Welle posting ...

altschmerz comments on Oct 11, 2019:

THIS is why we need the nausea reaction back!!

Fernapple replies on Oct 12, 2019:

Best thing left is 'sad'. Sadly.

Three points to go for level eight and this post should do it. :-)

skado comments on Oct 11, 2019:

Order a size bigger. They are small.

Fernapple replies on Oct 11, 2019:

@WilliamFleming If you don't identify as atheist or agnostic, then wear it. And tell people you are complex.

"Never ask more of fortune than she is able to grant.

Marionville comments on Oct 11, 2019:

Yes he bit off more than he could chew a few times..eventually meeting his Waterloo! To mix up my metaphors with my idioms!

Fernapple replies on Oct 11, 2019:

Keep mixing and then give a good stir.

Q:202821 So why was it deleted? EDIT: I found an old post where I used it – here it is:

Fernapple comments on Oct 11, 2019:

Yep, the emoji list was longer once, but not unmanageable, I keep asking for a 'thank you' as well, but so far no good.

Fernapple replies on Oct 11, 2019:

@altschmerz Yes I miss that one too, and I have used it, Only once or twice mind.

Do people just know know about this site?

Remiforce comments on Oct 9, 2019:

Hide behind a avatar & screen handle & use a VPN to hide your IP. Hopefully nobody will find out who you are

Fernapple replies on Oct 10, 2019:

@Triphid Remiforce comes from the US and I think they are planning to bring burning back.

Sage words for the depressed.

Fernapple comments on Oct 10, 2019:

Beer.

Fernapple replies on Oct 10, 2019:

@altschmerz You can get that in Belgium, its a traditional beverage there. Sadly not here in the UK as far as I know. Though one reason for prefering beer is that I am intolerant of chocolate, only tiny amounts allowed, thankfully not beer.

Ok today's minor feature.

Fernapple comments on Jun 25, 2019:

I see antifred is fairly high on my list, bet a few more of you have got him too ? There you go antifred.

Fernapple replies on Oct 10, 2019:

@LimitedLight Antifred was a theist, who got kicked out a little while ago for being a troll. Sadly however of all the michief makers who came to the site, he was by far the most fun, generally polite, and often pleasant. Although he came to oppose he was regarded with pleasure by many members, and treated as a sort of mad uncle in the attic. His posts could often be very sharp, but then sometimes quite mad and rambling, ( I think a chemical was involved. ) Some of us will miss him.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

Remiforce comments on Oct 9, 2019:

One of the main tenets of Buddhism is that suffering, which includes unhappiness, comes from attachment which is caused by desire. Desire can be for good things, like winning the million dollar lottery, or for avoiding bad things, like old age, sickness, & death. As long as we have desire we have...

Fernapple replies on Oct 10, 2019:

Yes that is just it, and one of the best summing ups of the basic problems of the modern human condition I have read in a long while.

I wonder which company is responsible for this outrage - [effa.org.au]

Fernapple comments on Oct 9, 2019:

Does it matter which, are there any that would not ?

Fernapple replies on Oct 10, 2019:

@FrayedBear True. And that effects the cultures of the others perhaps.

JESUS DIED FOR YOUR SINS! Don't you just love it when Christians spout, "Jesus died for your ...

skado comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Of *course* it's crap if you interpret it literally. But it wasn't "intended" that way. It's intended (consciously or otherwise) to be symbolic of certain very real psychological processes. Theists who are literalists (most) miss the perennial (universal) relationships in those stories. Atheists...

Fernapple replies on Oct 10, 2019:

@skado No as you say. "You don’t have to be a genius psychoanalyst to write poetry that resonates with your fellow humans for millennia,". But writing poetry that resonates and has deep psychoanalytic meaning, especially if taken metaphorically, and believing in the literal truth of what you write, are not mutually exclusive. Indeed someone who writes with a strong belief in the literal truth of their words, is more likely to tap into deeper meaning. Also as you say the authors could not have been aware of the "enlightenment thinking we take for granted" and in the absence of that, it has to be asked how else were they to see the world, except through the lens of their own time and the literal truth of the widespread beliefs of those times. Even today they are geniuses indeed, who can escape their own cultures. And that is the deepest problem, which is that, as you also say. "Evolution doesn’t change much in two K years." People in the past were indeed just like us, and do you see huge numbers of books of metaphorical poetry being written today, and especially not having a major effect on society, in a world where books of any type, would have to be published in large numbers because of the large scale of the modern publishing industry. Yes there are one or two, I have seen several times on this site people quoting K. Gibran for example, but they are not many. For the most part most modern writing is everyday, and the vast volume of modern writing, by far the greatest part and sometimes the most influential part, is tabloid trash. The most important books of the last century, arguably, Mine Kampf, Das Capital, and The Protocols of Zion, none of them great poetic works. And the proof of this is surely is in the content, that the bible is filled with exactly the same sort of tabloid trash you can read in most cheap newspapers today, and yes of course you can with profit, read deep metaphors about the human condition into the contents of the tabloid papers, for the trashiest literature does indeed tap deepest into our inner secrets. It is not that people in the modern age are more advanced intellectually than people in the Bronze Age, for I believe that most progress is an illusion and that it is the curse of humans, to repeat the same mistakes of the past over and over again. It is not that I see the people of the past as different from us, quite the opposite, they were just like us, it is rather that the opposite view seeing books like the bible as having great intended metaphor, is guilty of setting up a 'Golden Age' myth, when the world of the past was the world of great heros and giants. Also it is true that we do not know who the original authors were. What we do know however, is that all the books of the bible passed through the hands ...

In solving problems 'In general' how useful is the phrase.

Fernapple comments on Oct 9, 2019:

Not at all. It is far too vague and banal to be of any use in complex real world situations, and why prioritize humans anyway.

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

@Mcflewster It is perhaps not true of this site and its sister site. But Humanism as originally created meant a more human centric and humans first movement, than mere atheism, including the belief that humans are the most important thing in the universe. Not something that I am not at least agnostic about.

What one book would you keep?

ToolGuy comments on Oct 7, 2019:

My set of books. The Great Books of the Western World.

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

You mean you wrote all the great books of the western world. I knew we got some great people on here but WOW.

Australian Green's Party ridiculed

Marionville comments on Oct 9, 2019:

We must remember that no party has a monopoly on making stupid statements...ALL parties are guilty of this. Both of these ideas are equally ridiculous! Btw...Why did you feel the need to post this twice?

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

@FrayedBear Yep, I noticed a lot of times posts by many people come up twice. Just one of those funny things that happen here, you have just got to love this site. Long may it breed gremlins.

In solving problems 'In general' how useful is the phrase.

Fernapple comments on Oct 9, 2019:

Not at all. It is far too vague and banal to be of any use in complex real world situations, and why prioritize humans anyway.

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

@Mcflewster Yes, not a Humanist, not with a capital letter anyway, while I have a great deal of respect for the movement, I did choose Agnostic.com, and not Humanism.com..

Australian Green's Party ridiculed

Marionville comments on Oct 9, 2019:

We must remember that no party has a monopoly on making stupid statements...ALL parties are guilty of this. Both of these ideas are equally ridiculous! Btw...Why did you feel the need to post this twice?

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

Its funny, I once had a post where I could not decide which catagory it should go in, so I thought, post it in both. But the site gave me a slap, and a pop up, told me that was naughty and you should not do it.

JESUS DIED FOR YOUR SINS! Don't you just love it when Christians spout, "Jesus died for your ...

skado comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Of *course* it's crap if you interpret it literally. But it wasn't "intended" that way. It's intended (consciously or otherwise) to be symbolic of certain very real psychological processes. Theists who are literalists (most) miss the perennial (universal) relationships in those stories. Atheists...

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

@LenHazell53 I think that you are right, and that there certainly was no intent on the part of the original writers to write allegory, in part because they were people just like us, and I don't know about you, but none of my friends have written a deep allegorical novel in the last few years. But in skado's defence, I have to say, that I do not think he is saying that the metaphors are not modern interpretations, mearly that he wishes to keep his right to use them that way. My problem is however, with continuing to view them that way in the modern religious tradition, not with acedemic study. From personal experience I have known people who claimed to view those stories as just metaphor, yet still found no problem in still using that metaphor, in one case to justify the most extremme anti palestinian racism, and in another the complete negation of human and animal rights. Metaphor is of course open to any interpretation you care to give it, always subjective, and it is therefore the most dangerous of all the routes to truth save blind faith.

JESUS DIED FOR YOUR SINS! Don't you just love it when Christians spout, "Jesus died for your ...

skado comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Of *course* it's crap if you interpret it literally. But it wasn't "intended" that way. It's intended (consciously or otherwise) to be symbolic of certain very real psychological processes. Theists who are literalists (most) miss the perennial (universal) relationships in those stories. Atheists...

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

@skado You say. "It did not “take hold” in conscious awareness perhaps, but one could argue it hasn’t really taken hold yet in any but the most esoteric circles." I would say that it has taken hold and that it is quite an old well established view, held by many. Because unfortunately the problem is that it is not just limited to academic "esoteric circles". If it was, I would have no problem with it, but in fact is that it is widespread and deep rooted in many church establishments. Yet here is the rub. When a literal believer, of which there are many, gets up from the pew and reaches out to put money in the collecting box, does the priest say. "Stop before you do that, you do understand the metaphorical meaning of the verses I just read, don't you." No, of course not, and that is the heart of the problems. First the massive dishonesty, especially towards the huge numbers of often poor and vulnerable people, who are often led into making huge contributions of time, effort and money they often can not afford, and which could make big differences to them and in their communities, by those who only fake their belief. Secondly because the supporting of religion by such people, normalizes and extends the scope of religion, thereby creating the vast pool in which the fundamentalists, often of the worst type, swim. The metaphorical believers can not absolve themselves form the harm that religion, including the literal kind, causes indeed they are at the core of it. And thirdly, because of the massive lazy failing of those within religion and taking the metaphorical view, to educate, which should be everyones responsibility. And yes I have studied religion as metaphor and enjoyed it as a study and learned much from it, but if someone asks me are those stories true, then I reply, not in any way, though you may use them as poetic understandings of human nature, but you can use any myths for that.

Another story from the deep past, but with some interest for todays world. [youtube.com]

Robecology comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Anton's videos are good...but not great. He needs to slow down and articulate...you can see that his videos start and stop...he's trying to say too much in too short a time.

Fernapple replies on Oct 9, 2019:

True, but I love the quirky happy enthusiasim of them.

new ideas on sea-level rise - [theconversation.com]

Fernapple comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Of course the melting of ice sheets are not the only, and possibly not the biggest contributers to sea level rise, the expansion of water due to the higher temperatures of the seas also adds perhaps more.

Fernapple replies on Oct 8, 2019:

@Allamanda Interesting, never thought of that.

new ideas on sea-level rise - [theconversation.com]

Fernapple comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Of course the melting of ice sheets are not the only, and possibly not the biggest contributers to sea level rise, the expansion of water due to the higher temperatures of the seas also adds perhaps more.

Fernapple replies on Oct 8, 2019:

@Allamanda I would be very doubtful about any source which claimed that thermal expansion has no effect, even if it is smaller than melting, since if the globe warms it can not do anything else. That would break a lot of natural laws.

new ideas on sea-level rise - [theconversation.com]

Fernapple comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Of course the melting of ice sheets are not the only, and possibly not the biggest contributers to sea level rise, the expansion of water due to the higher temperatures of the seas also adds perhaps more.

Fernapple replies on Oct 8, 2019:

@Allamanda There you go found this. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2680/new-study-finds-sea-level-rise-accelerating/

new ideas on sea-level rise - [theconversation.com]

Fernapple comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Of course the melting of ice sheets are not the only, and possibly not the biggest contributers to sea level rise, the expansion of water due to the higher temperatures of the seas also adds perhaps more.

Fernapple replies on Oct 8, 2019:

@Allamanda No sorry I can not remember the souce, it was someting I heard a long time ago, but a search should soon turn something up.

Four things that never return: the spoken word, the speeding arrow, the wasted life, and the ...

Fernapple comments on Oct 7, 2019:

Very old quote though, I think that in one form or another it predates D. K. by centuries.

Fernapple replies on Oct 7, 2019:

@Marionville Think I heard that it was originally a native American saying.

A bit of reality.

JeffMesser comments on Oct 7, 2019:

no, THIS is reality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d4ugppcRUE

Fernapple replies on Oct 7, 2019:

@Moravian He's posting it as a comment on a lot of posts.

Leviticus 20:13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of ...

genessa comments on Oct 6, 2019:

that is a pretty interesting translation too. the original is not nearly as specific. of course the new testament and the hebrew bible are NOT the same book. anyway, the population was perceived to be pretty small and local i imagine, even smaller than it really was. i guess someone was pushing ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 6, 2019:

@genessa I know. And boy are you not missing anything.

Leviticus 20:13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of ...

genessa comments on Oct 6, 2019:

that is a pretty interesting translation too. the original is not nearly as specific. of course the new testament and the hebrew bible are NOT the same book. anyway, the population was perceived to be pretty small and local i imagine, even smaller than it really was. i guess someone was pushing ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 6, 2019:

As passing interest. The King James says, "if a man lie with".

[msn.

Beowulfsfriend comments on Oct 6, 2019:

I doubt much happens. This is an all too common occurrence. On a smaller scale, cities like New York and Washington are owed millions in fines. Those with immunity act like royalty from the Middle Ages. Every once in a while in a high profile case like murder, the offender's nation will cut them ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 6, 2019:

I like, "act like royalty from the Middle Ages" although 'like', does not really apply. The rules about diplomatic immunity, go back deep into the nineteenth century and beyond, and were very much created in an age when royal privilege was still a real issue and attitude, which extended to other members of the political establishment. So it really is part of the middle ages, still haunting us.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

SeaGreenEyez comments on Oct 5, 2019:

Before I got to the advertising part, my thoughts went straight to big pharma and the totally lacking/lagging "mental health care" system in America. No one benefits from unhappiness more than the people selling their brand of EPIC fail cures for unhappiness than those people/corporations. 😔...

Fernapple replies on Oct 6, 2019:

Yes, that's very true. It is one of the things we are a little protected against in the UK, because of the National Health Service. Yet we have still had cases of doctors being bribed and placed under all forms of preasure to over prescribe.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

DSGavde comments on Oct 4, 2019:

As much as I loathe the primary purpose of advertising to push products on the gullible target market, I also think that there is no feasible substitute to create effective product awareness for non essentials as well as otherwise. On the flip side, looking at the expenditure on advertisement ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

@DSGavde Yep, that's it>

Of all the arguments for the existence of a god or gods, what is the best one you have ever heard?

CapriKious comments on Oct 5, 2019:

"What if you are wrong?" It is about the only point you can win with me and if the person cannot go there themselves you have better idea what kind of belief you are dealing with.

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

Yes, but even if there is a god, we are still all wrong including them. Because, of all the tens of thousands of gods out there, and millions of sects who claim to be the only true way to that god, what is the chance that any one person has hit by chance on the right one. A very low statistical chance, stastically meaningless in fact, and statistically meaningless is the same as wrong. And if you add the possiblity that, god if it exists, may be a hidden deist god, who never revealed itself to anyone, and who may think that setting up fake gods in its name is the worst thing humans can do. Then they are lost.

CNN refuses to air 2 Trump campaign ads over "demonstrably false" claims

BD66 comments on Oct 4, 2019:

Why would Trump advertise on CNN anyway? Anyone who watches that network would only view it as a reminder to go out and vote against Trump.

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

Delusion.

Is any body my age here? I am 23.

Fernapple comments on Oct 4, 2019:

In my own deluded mind yes, but my birth documents say 62.

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

@drowsydragon34 Welcome and enjoy, there is a great diversity of people here so I am sure there are some at 23, but if you go with the flow and poke into the hidden corners, like the groups, there is lots to find.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

Marionville comments on Oct 4, 2019:

I agree with the thrust of your argument, and concur about the Advertising Industry being responsible for promoting unhappiness. The debt incurred by those pursuing the ever newer and trendier, in order to be at the forefront of what is current is another factor in the increasing unhappiness in ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

Yes I just posted this on Denopenno's coment above but it is valid to yours too, especially sadly for the young. I have never had more than a moderate income, yet I find that many people I know on much higher incomes than myself are much less solvent. And then they often pressure themselves to the point where they turn to drink etc., which not only makes them feel worse in the long run, but also adds another expense wasting their incomes.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

DenoPenno comments on Oct 4, 2019:

Ads I see want to ask if you are driving a car you are unhappy with. They also ask if you want to get rid of that clunker. Medical ads are similar when they ask if you have certain pains and then make impossible claims for simple over the counter meds. Advertising is all there is anymore and we are ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

Yes I have never had more than a moderate income, yet I find that many people I know on much higher incomes than myself are much less solvent. And then they often pressure themselves to the point where they turn to drink etc., which not only makes them feel worse in the long run, but also adds another expense wasting their incomes.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

DSGavde comments on Oct 4, 2019:

As much as I loathe the primary purpose of advertising to push products on the gullible target market, I also think that there is no feasible substitute to create effective product awareness for non essentials as well as otherwise. On the flip side, looking at the expenditure on advertisement ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

Not always perhaps. Do not forget that, a cheap watch may well be better made and engineered than a much more expensive designer brand name product. Buying a brand name, may well just be buying a myth, just as unreal as any god.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

callmedubious comments on Oct 4, 2019:

there is no secret to happiness. it's very transitory. anyone who is not on drugs & not so busy that they don't have time to be alone & think can't possibly be happy except for brief periods.

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

Yes I agree with that. Pain and happiness are the mental carrot and stick, which nature/evolution plants in our programming to make us run, and to pursue complex goals like finding mates and gaining social status. If we ever truly escaped one or gained the other, then we would stop running, and then the two would not serve their purpose. Yet that perhaps does not prevent social and commercial institutions, from making things worse.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

bleurowz comments on Oct 5, 2019:

IMHO, Advertising and religion don't create unhappiness, they feed on what's already there. When people are feeling empty and lonely, instead of doing the more difficult thing of facing what's going on with them, or even accepting that unhappiness occurring sometimes is a normal part of the human ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 5, 2019:

I think that may be true to a very large extent, but is not offering quick fix solutions which don't work just the same in the end.

The secret of happiness is often said to be many things, such as living in the moment, awareness, ...

ZantiMisfit comments on Oct 4, 2019:

I think everyone's idea of happiness changes over time, depending on what phase of life they're in. But your example of advertising and consumerism made me think of a line from *Walden*, "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."