Fernapple's Profile

I just wanted to get some other opinions on this.

MsAl comments on Apr 27, 2019:

Yes definately I've also been accused of not being open minded because I refuse to agree with someone's ass backwards ideas, usually religious, racist or astrological in nature. I think "openminded" is just one of those dumb words people throw around to seem better than others.

Fernapple replies on Apr 28, 2019:

@Geoffrey51 Many thanks, I can work with that.

I just wanted to get some other opinions on this.

MsAl comments on Apr 27, 2019:

Yes definately I've also been accused of not being open minded because I refuse to agree with someone's ass backwards ideas, usually religious, racist or astrological in nature. I think "openminded" is just one of those dumb words people throw around to seem better than others.

Fernapple replies on Apr 28, 2019:

@Geoffrey51 Thank you it is always interesting to chase these quotes back in time towards the original. I have been spending a bit of time on trying to find the earliest use of the term "village atheist" but can not get very far to date.

I just wanted to get some other opinions on this.

MsAl comments on Apr 27, 2019:

Yes definately I've also been accused of not being open minded because I refuse to agree with someone's ass backwards ideas, usually religious, racist or astrological in nature. I think "openminded" is just one of those dumb words people throw around to seem better than others.

Fernapple replies on Apr 27, 2019:

R. Dawkins said. "If you are too open minded your brains fall out."

Here is a science podcast that talks about Krill that I really liked so I thought I would share it ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2019:

It looks more like an advert for a book. May be a good book but I expect real content in a link.

Fernapple replies on Apr 27, 2019:

@GuyKeith Thanks.

Do scientific and religious explanations necessarily contradict each other?

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2019:

S J. Gould said that religion and science can easily get along because they operate in different realms, but that is only true if both agree to stay their own side of the fence. Generally science does that, but of course religion does not.

Fernapple replies on Apr 25, 2019:

@TheAstroChuck Yes I think that there is bound to be some overlap, life is not that neat.

Business took me to Wrest Park in Bedfordshire this week, where they are restoring a Victorian ...

Alvinsmama comments on Apr 24, 2019:

That is absolutely beautiful. I wonder how old it is.

Fernapple replies on Apr 25, 2019:

A folly is a building made for fun serving no useful purpose, usually in a garden, and Victorian would be built in the life of queen Victoria, ie before 1901.

Business took me to Wrest Park in Bedfordshire this week, where they are restoring a Victorian ...

Rustee comments on Apr 24, 2019:

What is "a Victorian folly"?!?

Fernapple replies on Apr 25, 2019:

A folly is a building made for fun serving no useful purpose, usually in a garden, and Victorian would be built in the life of queen Victoria, ie before 1901.

Do scientific and religious explanations necessarily contradict each other?

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2019:

S J. Gould said that religion and science can easily get along because they operate in different realms, but that is only true if both agree to stay their own side of the fence. Generally science does that, but of course religion does not.

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2019:

@skado That is certainly true, the fence idea only really works with Gould's two realms theory.

Business took me to Wrest Park in Bedfordshire this week, where they are restoring a Victorian ...

Allamanda comments on Apr 24, 2019:

my home county! so nice to see.

Fernapple replies on Apr 24, 2019:

The park is next to the very pretty village of Silsoe. It looks like it has been neglected for a long time, but English Heritage are now starting to take it in hand and who knows what it will be like in a few years.

Bob Dutko's Seventh and Eighth Proof for God's Existence Refuted.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2019:

Even if science/history did prove parts of the bible true, that would still leave huge amounts that are false, which would only prove that it was not written by god or at the dictate of god.

Fernapple replies on Apr 22, 2019:

@johnprytz Its a close call but if I were a betting man I would put money on Gone With The Wind being the more accurate. LOL

Tucked away in the far corner of one of my rockeries, it’s a bit dry and shaded but these seem to ...

Redheadedgammy comments on Apr 17, 2019:

Are the pink ones Columbine? The White flowers are so pretty, what are they?

Fernapple replies on Apr 17, 2019:

@Lavergne Yes I have that too, it is another one which sometimes get talked ill of, because it spreads, sometimes I wonder if people have forgoten how to use a trowel, it is but a little trouble with something that spreads moderately, especially when they are so beautiful. Many people think nothing of going to the trouble to put staw and glass over tender things, what therefore is the cost of a little digging for someting equally lovely.

Tucked away in the far corner of one of my rockeries, it’s a bit dry and shaded but these seem to ...

Redheadedgammy comments on Apr 17, 2019:

Are the pink ones Columbine? The White flowers are so pretty, what are they?

Fernapple replies on Apr 17, 2019:

The white is Cerastium tormentosum or Snow In Summer. Some people say it is invasive, but in my garden it spreads but would not be a problem except if kept with tiny alpines.

I love butterfly gardening <3 <3 Red Admiral (Vanessa atalantis)

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Apr 17, 2019:

Beautiful! I am just now trying to get a butterfly garden going. Unfortunately, all the milkweed, butterfly weed, cone flowers, and stoke's asters I have planted are still tiny seedlings. It can't come fast enough, but I am trying to enjoy the process. I am learning more and more about flowering...

Fernapple replies on Apr 17, 2019:

They are all quick growing things don't worry.

A couple more of Madeira, the first shows rocks off the "Pan Handle" and the second just to show how...

ToolGuy comments on Apr 15, 2019:

Wow. Lovely scenes and good photography.

Fernapple replies on Apr 15, 2019:

Thank you.

A couple more of Madeira, the first shows rocks off the "Pan Handle" and the second just to show how...

VertLyfe comments on Apr 15, 2019:

I want to go there so bad.

Fernapple replies on Apr 15, 2019:

Its a bucket list place alright.

A couple more of Madeira, the first shows rocks off the "Pan Handle" and the second just to show how...

Lincoln55 comments on Apr 15, 2019:

Now that is a waterfall. beautiful.

Fernapple replies on Apr 15, 2019:

Yes, though I think it is one which is only there after rains, there was a big storm the night before.

Madeira.

dede18 comments on Apr 15, 2019:

fascinating! I'm a geology nut and appreciate the explanation very much ... wish I could go walk around there!

Fernapple replies on Apr 15, 2019:

@dede18 I added a couple more of Madeira and its geology that may interest you, on another post.

Madeira.

Cast1es comments on Apr 15, 2019:

Interesting . I thought at first of the great wall of China .

Fernapple replies on Apr 15, 2019:

It gives that image even more in life.

Madeira.

dede18 comments on Apr 15, 2019:

fascinating! I'm a geology nut and appreciate the explanation very much ... wish I could go walk around there!

Fernapple replies on Apr 15, 2019:

It is very easy, the whole island is very beautiful, and geologically wonderful, if perhaps a little over developed in parts. But where I took this photo is only a couple of hundred yards from the observatory, which can be reached by bus.

Forgot the name of this Beijing park but it’s local to where I’m living

LB67 comments on Apr 15, 2019:

Photo one is my favorite. I have noticed that in many of your photos of this area, the skies are grey. Is this an average thing, or a time of day/ year thing?

Fernapple replies on Apr 15, 2019:

I think it may be the famous Beijing pollution.

I've noticed that Pro-lifers love to invoke the Commandment "thu shalt not kill", taken from the ...

BillF comments on Apr 14, 2019:

I believe it was Elizabeth Cady Staton who commented on the fact the bible always says what the person wants it to, or something close to that. they pick and chose what they want to believe and will condem you to hell for disagreeing with them. A pox on all of them!

Fernapple replies on Apr 14, 2019:

And pick and choose something different tommorow if that suits them then, But they have god on their side, so it must be true.

My daughter,12, asked if she could go to church with a friend who invited her tomorrow.

Count_Viceroy comments on Apr 14, 2019:

Getting a few hours alone on a Sunday morning is worth it

Fernapple replies on Apr 14, 2019:

Nice to know that someone can be relied on to always put their own self interest first. LOL

Is there a place or places that you have been to, which are on your bucket list to go back to, even ...

Allamanda comments on Apr 14, 2019:

yes, I really want to go back to both St Helena and the Cape Verde islands, the first 2 places I went to when I 'ran away' age 18 on a sailboat, leaving apartheid South Africa. I have been back to the Cape Verdes actually but visited 3 different islands to the first 2. I also want to go back to ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 14, 2019:

Thank you that is just the sort of story I was looking for. The first two seemed quite strange until I got to sailboat from South Africa, then it became plain.

Is there a place or places that you have been to, which are on your bucket list to go back to, even ...

Swanky comments on Apr 14, 2019:

I would love to return to the southeast coast of India called Chennai. In 2003, I attended a women's rights conference in New Delhi and froze my ass off. I had a week remaining after the conference,and I consulted with a travel agent to put me on a plane to somewhere where it's warm. Chennai and ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 14, 2019:

That sounds lovely, thank you.

The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.

MojoDave comments on Apr 13, 2019:

Write drunk, edit sober. E. Hemingway

Fernapple replies on Apr 14, 2019:

Oh how I wish, that some on this site (including me ) could remember the edit bit.

I would like to address the AMERICAN DREAM! There is no american dream, it was an extreme economic ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 13, 2019:

While I mainly agree with you, the term, "American Dream" predates that. Here's Wikipedia. The term "American Dream" was apparently invented in 1931 by historian James Truslow Adams; he was referring to "That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 13, 2019:

@aahouck49 Ps James Truslow Adams was a historian of some importance certainly not an economist, and very difficult to confuse with John Adams if that is who you are thinking of. He first used the "American Dream" in his book The Epic of America first published in 1931. He is usually credited with the phrase though of course there could be earlier.

I would like to address the AMERICAN DREAM! There is no american dream, it was an extreme economic ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 13, 2019:

While I mainly agree with you, the term, "American Dream" predates that. Here's Wikipedia. The term "American Dream" was apparently invented in 1931 by historian James Truslow Adams; he was referring to "That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 13, 2019:

@aahouck49 I am happy to do reseach on anything where needed, but I would have thought that on something as trivial as the origin of a quote, Wikipedia would be more than good enough. And can you please explain what the rest of this has to do with my comment.

Are human rights universal or linked to a particular culture? -

Fernapple comments on Apr 13, 2019:

When people use the rights word, what they usually mean is that certain values are thought by them to be beyond debate, since I do not believe that anything is ever beyond debate, I find it hard to take that without at least a qualification or two. If there is a universal discovered morality ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 13, 2019:

@Matias No it will just be a different set of "rights" perhaps by some other name, such as the freedoms from capitalist oppression or whatever they choose to call them. But the idea of objective morality however fake, and of the state as the provider of such is too useful as propaganda to be abandoned ever.

I just posted a sunset picture here.

Fernapple comments on Apr 13, 2019:

The "My Groups" button keeps coming and going too, part of the fun of this site is that I think that the servers sit on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle, strange things happen, and sometimes even large objects disappear, only to pop back again in an old dated form when you had thought they were gone...

Fernapple replies on Apr 13, 2019:

@ToolGuy Could be.

What really turns people on (Explained by science) [youtube.com]

LetzGetReal comments on Apr 12, 2019:

Pets are chick magnets, lol, being kind to them, friends and family as well. Scents in terms of a natural scent, I concur. Light or none of colognes. The worst smell is strong cologne over strong, B.O. I like brown eyes, personally as this is opposite of my father, ;) Blue eyes did stand ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 13, 2019:

Agree about the presenter, I am a hetro male but could listen to him for ages.

the quaintest pub in Chislehurst, Kent, UK, ?

Amisja comments on Apr 12, 2019:

Theres tons of pubs like this here.

Fernapple replies on Apr 13, 2019:

@magicwatch Yes, but Amisja lives in that funny strip of land between Yorkshire and the Irish Sea.

the quaintest pub in Chislehurst, Kent, UK, ?

Amisja comments on Apr 12, 2019:

Theres tons of pubs like this here.

Fernapple replies on Apr 12, 2019:

I see, taking money from the Lancashire tourist board again are we.

The closed mind of Richard Dawkins

TheAstroChuck comments on Apr 11, 2019:

While Dawkins is often brash and undiplomatic, Dawkins is not closed minded. Grey states: "The theory of evolution by natural selection is treated not as a fallible theory—the best account we have so far of how life emerged and developed—but as an unalterable truth, which has been revealed to...

Fernapple replies on Apr 12, 2019:

@RoadGoddess Perhaps only on this one occasion, to tell the truth he may be the most respected academic in the whole western world, I could google him, but to be honest if he writes such twadle I really don't care.

The closed mind of Richard Dawkins

Count_Viceroy comments on Apr 11, 2019:

What's the criteria for determining what is literal and what is allegorical in the Bible? Don't fault Dawkins for responding to a healthy chunk of Christians who take the Bible literally.

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

@Count_Viceroy Very true. Actually using fictional evidence as a basis for your world model is no better however you use it.

The closed mind of Richard Dawkins

CK-One comments on Apr 11, 2019:

There are is a wide spectrum of believers and most are closer to the literal description in the Bible. One cannot blame Dawkins for taking them at their word.

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

What relevance to the debate between fundamentalism and science do the others have anyway ?

The closed mind of Richard Dawkins

TheAstroChuck comments on Apr 11, 2019:

While Dawkins is often brash and undiplomatic, Dawkins is not closed minded. Grey states: "The theory of evolution by natural selection is treated not as a fallible theory—the best account we have so far of how life emerged and developed—but as an unalterable truth, which has been revealed to...

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

I feel sure having read the article that the journalist has a hidden agenda, because Dawkins has also been very critical of "relativism" especially among pseudo-intellectuals, and I strongly suspect that this is where the writer is coming from, but is not showing his true colours.

The closed mind of Richard Dawkins

Count_Viceroy comments on Apr 11, 2019:

What's the criteria for determining what is literal and what is allegorical in the Bible? Don't fault Dawkins for responding to a healthy chunk of Christians who take the Bible literally.

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

What relevance to the debate between fundamentalism and science do the others have anyway ?

The closed mind of Richard Dawkins

brentan comments on Apr 11, 2019:

I think of him as the 'David v Goliath' figure who took on an organisation single-handedly and won. I read two of his books, The Selfish Gene and the The Extended Phenotype, and they are truly wonderful books. No doubt, he will come to be seen as a stepping stone among others who took us forward in ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

You should also read "Unweaving the Rainbow" for his thoughts on religion and human culture if you can, and "The Blind Watchmaker", is pure fun.

I had just posted that I was disappointed that my tulips were all "greens" this year and no ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 11, 2019:

Lovely pictures. The last one looks like a poppy obviously, could be a Meconopsis or a Papaver, maybe Meconopsis cambrica some times called, Papaver cambrica, the Yellow Welsh Poppy, but don't trust me on that.

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

@Lavergne If it is what i thought it was then you will hardly need to propagate, it is nearly a weed.

Yuval Noah Harari: What explains the rise of humans? | TED Talk

JackPedigo comments on Apr 10, 2019:

We think we control this world but in the end it will be the victor. Unfortunately, it is our large and increasing numbers that are conflicting with our collective corporating . We are not talking about tens of thousands but billions and those billions are starting to reduce the planets resources to...

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

Our fictional model of the world is not an accurate one matched to reality, because there are large gains in profit and power for some to be made by distorting it. Yet people will still beleive in the model until reality slaps them dead.

OK so this is maths yes but this really does tell you a lot about the world in which we live, and it...

Mitch07102 comments on Apr 10, 2019:

Always remember: 1/2 of the people you meet in a randomly distributed group have an IQ of 100....or less.

Fernapple replies on Apr 11, 2019:

And over 90% of the people you meet have more than the average number of legs.

Yuval Noah Harari: What explains the rise of humans? | TED Talk

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 10, 2019:

It’s a great video which offers pertinent insights about humanity. I enjoyed the humor also. I wonder if the word “fiction” is the correct word to use in connection with mass human cooperation. Take money for example. It is true that a dollar bill has no intrinsic value, but that misses the...

Fernapple replies on Apr 10, 2019:

Yes, but we are only able to communicate concepts because we use a lot of little fictions, i.e. words which are the components of the language used to comunicate them. Each word, (apart from to a degree a few like cough or bang which do sound like the thing they represent) is itself a little fiction. All human culture uses fictions to model things, but that does not affect the reality of those things, only the way we model them. Just as our individual brains, use fictions in turn, to model the world according to the information gathered from our senses. For example there is no such thing as the colour green, it is just a symbol our brains use to represent things which reflect only certain waves of light in the middle of the visible spectrum. And so the letters D, O, and G, are used to represent our four legged friend, but it is a complet fiction that the three letters have anything to do with canines, in fact if you turn them around then, GOD ! Yet of course the real danger is that, since our cultures are at second hand from reality, not locked into objective truth but just fictional models, then it is much easy for people to bend models to their will than realities. I can turn dog into god just by typing, and back again, but I can also create a Dog God, just as easily and then tell people it is true, especially if those people make the mistake of thinking that language, because it is hallowed by tradition, contains truth in itself, which many people do.

The Snakes Head Fritillaria, Fritillaria meleagris, also known as the dice box, are coming into ...

Cast1es comments on Apr 10, 2019:

Don't think I've seen those before .

Fernapple replies on Apr 10, 2019:

Realy good spring bulbs, should be available in most countries.

The Snakes Head Fritillaria, Fritillaria meleagris, also known as the dice box, are coming into ...

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Apr 10, 2019:

Sounds like a kind of butterfly we have here.

Fernapple replies on Apr 10, 2019:

Yes it does, it is said that the name means dice or dice box, both names may come from the same root.

Yuval Noah Harari: What explains the rise of humans? | TED Talk

Novelty comments on Apr 9, 2019:

I think other animals make up stories of their own, we've all seen dogs dreaming and moving in their sleep, so they have their stories they just can't express them.

Fernapple replies on Apr 10, 2019:

Yes but dogs don't have abstract language which they can use to infect others.

Ever had the experience of stumbling across something really significant while just playing with ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 9, 2019:

Well that is a bit of a letdown, so what was the idea then?

Fernapple replies on Apr 10, 2019:

@wordywalt Good idea, well worth quoting again, thank you. On the last subject, I think as well that American interventions were doomed to failure due to short termism as well, it takes fifty years to win a war, to change hearts and minds, and yes to get societies on the way to nation states building industries and welfare systems, quick campains intended to impress voters at home will never work.

Seriously, guys, this is very important advice...

ProudMerrie comments on Apr 8, 2019:

Dave Barry said you should never ask a woman if she's pregnant unless you see the head emerging.

Fernapple replies on Apr 9, 2019:

That's like the old first aid advice. " You can never assume someone is dead until, either a doctor tells you so, or you can see daylight all the way acroos betwen the head and the shoulders."

Does anyone recognize this plant. It's flowering for the first time.

Fernapple comments on Apr 9, 2019:

Tradescantia.

Fernapple replies on Apr 9, 2019:

@CeliaVL It is the purple form do you know the name of the cultivar ?

A months worth of exposures of phases of the moon.

Tomfoolery33 comments on Apr 9, 2019:

Did you take these?

Fernapple replies on Apr 9, 2019:

@MsDee Sometimes called the Hogarth curve or the curve of beauty I think. Wonderfull clear skys someone must have.

The "three natures" of Homo sapiens - - - Our first nature consists of innate feelings, ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 9, 2019:

I think that that seems very true, and should make a good read. Although I would think that religion belongs in second nature not first, the only way in which religion stems from the first nature is because of our much more generalized trend to see false positives in preference to false negatives, ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 9, 2019:

@Matias Yes , you said religion in your post, so I though I would provide an example of one of the sources of religiosity.

Does anyone recognize this plant. It's flowering for the first time.

Fernapple comments on Apr 9, 2019:

Tradescantia.

Fernapple replies on Apr 9, 2019:

@OwlInASack It is a large genus but I think this is Tradescantia zebrina, though not certain, sometimes known as Inch Plant. named after John Tradescant, the seventeenth century botanist.

A few hours of cold & wet spring clean-up, weeding and spreading wood chips all comes into ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 8, 2019:

Have you ever eaten them, or are they for decoration ?

Fernapple replies on Apr 8, 2019:

@tinkercreek Great, ferns are my favourite plants too.

Has there been such a thing as "moral progress" in the history of mankind?

Fernapple comments on Apr 7, 2019:

I think that there are two questions here not one, since by moral progress do you mean, are humans getting better at following moral codes, or are we developing better moral codes. If it is the first, then no, because that is about human nature which only changes on evolutionary time scales, and...

Fernapple replies on Apr 8, 2019:

@Matias Yes you may call them norms or values if you wish, but the difference is that "codes" ,implies something coming from culture as oppossed to something coming from our evolved nature, which was the distinction I was was making, but the difference is small so I am happy with those. And yes, to your second point that is a very good summing of what I meant by subjective.

Has there been such a thing as "moral progress" in the history of mankind?

Quarm comments on Apr 7, 2019:

Moral progress is tied to economic largess, education, shared heritage and many other positive factors. The sad thing is moral decay reverses many of these same gains due to war, lack of education, greed, selfishness etc. Humans think technology somehow defines progress, I think technology allows ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

Yes I also think that technology creates the wealth needed to fund education, which is one of the driving forces of moral growth. While the two of them together drive aspiration which is the other main one.

Science suggests that people are only aware of 5% of the activity in our brain.

Fernapple comments on Apr 7, 2019:

Those exact figures have been questioned, but there is certainly a lot which goes on behind the scenes. You are for example, not conscious of your brain regulating your heart beat and your body heat. Or the vast amount of work that your optical system does to clean up and sort the inputs that come ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

@Cast1es Yes if you don't callenge yourself you can sleepwalk through life. LOL

"If God has a plan, then why the fuck is everyone praying all the time?"

MsDemeanour comments on Apr 7, 2019:

God's a narcissist. He wants the adulation

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

@MsDemeanour Yes I know, I was just engaging light heartedly, but it is important to be aware of the huge vanity and self importance of those people all the time.

"If God has a plan, then why the fuck is everyone praying all the time?"

MsDemeanour comments on Apr 7, 2019:

God's a narcissist. He wants the adulation

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

No god is a fiction and therefore does not have wants, it is his priests who want second hand adulation.

There's so much CO2 in the atmosphere that planting trees can no longer save us ...

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 6, 2019:

The article is based on misconceptions. Plants take CO2 out of the atmosphere, and along with hydrogen and water and light they manufacture food for their own use, some of which is consumed by other organisms. When that food is consumed, every last molecule of the carbon that was made returns to the...

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

@WilliamFleming You are basically right and the contribution of trees etc. is small, but new and replanted forests will absorb a little until they reach a state of balance, and small amounts of fossil carbon are still being laid down in for example, peat bogs. It did not end with the Carboniferous. Though it is a small effect that will not make any real difference while peat bogs are themselves under threat from human activeties.

The Marsh Marigolds, Caltha palustris are flowering in the garden pond now.

Cast1es comments on Apr 6, 2019:

They're lovely ! Had never heard of those before .

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

They are a UK native, you may not have them, though they spread so easily I would be surprised.

Why do so many member of this site spend so much time talking about religion on this site?

Fernapple comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I don't think that they do, if you get out into the groups you will find people posting about all sorts of things, and hardly a mention of religion. It is only on the front page that you find that, perhaps because that is the entry port for what is a mainly anti-theist community. If you stand ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

@Storm1752 THank you, I think that my last was to be adressed to both you and wordywalt but it seems both read it anyway.

20% of Tennesseans believe Creationism should not be taught in public schools. Only. 20. Percent.

Jprice422 comments on Aug 19, 2018:

I know, that’s nuts. I’m a transplant here, and love the lakes, mountains and Music. But I have a hard time living among people who don’t believe in evolution and still say prayers before every event in PUBLIC schools. I started dating a very attractive and successful woman that I was ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

I had that from a lady. So I said. Camel, cow, rabbit ? Sadly she did not think it was funny.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Fernapple comments on Apr 6, 2019:

I wonder who did they get to pose, a good Darwin look-a-like.

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

@WilliamCharles Yes could be.

This may not be news to American members, but it should be interesting to the rest of us, Did ...

chazwin comments on Apr 5, 2019:

Such "Ages" have more to do with archaeological taxonomy than socially emically recognisable shifts in behaviours or social structure. Fact is people of any age do not know they are part of "an age". It was possibly Vere Gordon Childe that was responsible for this emphasis on economic materialism. ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

Yes that is very true, though as I read it, it is the main issue which the video attempts to address. One of the reasons that the idea of ages, is so deeply rooted in education and popular culture, is of course because, the ages idea, dates right back into the nineteenth century, (If you disregard the classical ages of the ancient Greek Roman world ) when the understanding of history was in its infancy, and people were just begining to grope their way through the mists using the evidence of early archaeology, to try and find some structure in the past. Structure perhaps being a nineteenth century obsession, and much of modern scientific history has been about adding nuance to that and exploring how messy history really is, which I find endlessly fascinating. And of course, education tends to reflect the historical narrative of discovery, to use as its structure for teaching children, so that for many people who never progress very far into the sciences, that early schooling becomes their framework for understanding. That may not be a good thing for the popular understanding of history, but in biology in many countries it has proved disastrous, with many people being schooled in plant classification and anatomy (early developments ), yet never reaching evolutionary theory, which was usually only taught to advanced classes, yet which is of course at the core of the subject, and the main source of even begining to understanding it at all. And sadly I am sure that the churches had a hand in making sure the teaching was framed that way. Thank you for your comment and hope I have not gone on too long, but I find the history of science itself a very interesting subject.

Kids More Likely To Be Molested At Church Than In Transgender Bathrooms

SeaGreenEyez comments on Apr 5, 2019:

Of course!!! (Did anyone watch the video at the bottom of the story? The Arch Bishop of St. Louis didn't know it was a crime for priests to have sex with children. *OH FFS!* *smfh*)

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

I guess that if you make your living telling lies all the time, then you get to think that it is a normal thing to do, can't tell what is true any longer and/or think that you will always be able to get away with it everywhere, and you will never see that it makes you look like a clown in other situations.

Why do so many member of this site spend so much time talking about religion on this site?

Fernapple comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I don't think that they do, if you get out into the groups you will find people posting about all sorts of things, and hardly a mention of religion. It is only on the front page that you find that, perhaps because that is the entry port for what is a mainly anti-theist community. If you stand ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

@wordywalt A very few of the groups are self-reinforcing divisions, but not many, I joined ten and nearly all the members of all of them, take part fully in the whole of this site. The groups simply reflect the range of members interests. While if anything the main page is just a speciallist goup in itself which reflects the common thread that connects us, and is really only a introductory starter page; if you never leave that you will never understand this site.

For a lot of folks today, their "identity" is the most important anchor in this confusing, messy ...

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I feel left out. I can’t think of an identity for myself. Well, I’m sort of an ethnic Cracker but not a very good one. I know! I’ll be a member of the class of confused, bewildered people who have no identity other than as conscious beings! I’ve already been trying hard to promote myself...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

@WilliamFleming Done.

For a lot of folks today, their "identity" is the most important anchor in this confusing, messy ...

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I feel left out. I can’t think of an identity for myself. Well, I’m sort of an ethnic Cracker but not a very good one. I know! I’ll be a member of the class of confused, bewildered people who have no identity other than as conscious beings! I’ve already been trying hard to promote myself...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

If I start a confused, bewildered, old persons "neo-community" would you like to join that ?

For a lot of folks today, their "identity" is the most important anchor in this confusing, messy ...

Amisja comments on Apr 5, 2019:

This post is very Western and probably middle-class centric. For a start I take issue with the whole choosing to be trans thing. Being trans is rarely (if ever) a matter of choice. Lifestyles in general are far far less about choice and far more about your situation. For millions and millions of ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

Well said. And sorry I don't get the ident thing, too busy living for that. And what is it about being an activist which stops you being a citizen, surely being active makes you a better citizen.

I've learned of atheists throughout history.

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Apr 4, 2019:

Do you mean "Democritus"? Actually, the Greeks did not see gods as all knowing, all powerful, or all loving. Can you give a source for that quote?

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

@Wallace Yep that's the one I heard, I don't know where the one at the top came from but suspect that it is just a miss quote.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

"Whereas great ape social relations are based mainly on competition and dominance, with a dash of cooperation,." Sorry this is a terrible straw-man argument, just about every social species has a "we" concept. There is only one difference between human society and those of the other social animals, ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

@Gmak I am sure I will read his book and it is unfair of me to critique his work without. But. Firstly Chimpanzees are known to cooperate when patrolling the boundaries of their territories, and also when hunting, where they even show organized division of labour. These would be quite impossible without a concept of “we”. Indeed it would be almost impossible for any social animal to even function at the most basic level without the idea of we, think just of the simple. “ There are more/less of them.” Which must be at the bottom of all group conflict. These are well known and accepted fact in commonplace knowledge. One of the main reasons why pseudo-science takes hold, is the human tendency to want single simple answers, despite the fact that life is never that simple. No animal exists in the niche it does for any one single simple reason, least of all humans. It is natural for those who instigate ideas to overrate them, and that is forgiveable but this is at best a very weak idea anyway.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

"Whereas great ape social relations are based mainly on competition and dominance, with a dash of cooperation,." Sorry this is a terrible straw-man argument, just about every social species has a "we" concept. There is only one difference between human society and those of the other social animals, ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@Matias No I have not read it and it may be unfair of me to judge before doing so, but the whole thing smells of woo with a hidden theist agenda. The fact that as you say he sites hundereds of studies, makes me suspect cherry picking. As to language, there is some albeit questionable evidence that many animals are capable of understanding human language to a limited degree, therefore the origin of language may be on more than a quantitive rather than a qualitive effect, plus perhaps some physical changes such as changes in the shape of the larinx which makes sound production easier. There is also the factor of abstraction and that language may develop for the mental ability to lie.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 4, 2019:

What comes to mind are team sports, something uniquely human so far as I know. But don’t forget that we are bettered in social cooperation by ants and bees. It would vary, depending on the environment, but maybe there is an optimal degree of cooperation, and too much of it has a negative ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

Don' forget that too much may be the start of war in the first place.

"Alternative" medicine and pet care. [skepticalinquirer.org]

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

One other possible though not very likely problem with herbals that they did not mention, is that some herbs especially if give often over a long time, may prove mildly or seriously toxic. It is well to remember that many if not most of the active chemicals that plants store in their tissues, are ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@Elganned Quite, you nailed her response exactly. I will have to remember the horse shit one, that's a good one.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

"Whereas great ape social relations are based mainly on competition and dominance, with a dash of cooperation,." Sorry this is a terrible straw-man argument, just about every social species has a "we" concept. There is only one difference between human society and those of the other social animals, ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@Elganned Yes, but I have seen filmic evidence of a chimp bringing a stone for another to crack nuts with. While fires etc. are only advanced technology that we enjoy because of the teaching and organizing qualities of language. When talking about ideas and motivations you are getting into the realms of subjective judgements, and it is very easy to "spin" what looks like theory out of a slight and subjective judgement.

So this religious group came door knocking(should be illegal) and where going on about how gods so ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

Don't you will get arrested. Instead tell him that you would be glad to attend one of their meetings, and listen to them tell you about god. But unfortunately times have moved on, so you can not. Because and while in the past it was quite acceptable for people to go into the poor house and the then ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@irascible Good question. Don't give them money.

Classic Sartre . . .

Fernapple comments on Apr 3, 2019:

Don't see anything satirical in that, it just about as plain a truth as you can get. And also remember that if you can't govern well, give everyone fair rewards and fix the problems at home, then you can always blame foreigners, and if that does not work then you can always ship people out to fight ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@callmedubious Sadly its not new, it is what all dictatorships and failed democracies have always done, countries mainly make war abroad because that's easier than fixing the problems at home.

If Russia hadn't entered Syria and Asad regime fell, we might have seen Islamic State forming ...

CeliaVL comments on Apr 3, 2019:

Assad was as democratically elected in Syria as US presidents are in the USA. Syria is the only secular state in the Middle East and needs to be supported as a bulwark against Islam. The only thing the US is interested in getting control of oil resources. Destroying viable countries and creating ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 3, 2019:

@CeliaVL And winning votes back home by seeming to do something and even declaring "victories" when all that has really been done is a little random vandalism.

Lux Aeterna.

Fernapple comments on Apr 3, 2019:

Its "Nimrod" I thought Lux Aeturna was the name of the piece, and then thought that's some Elgar I never heard of before. LOL

Fernapple replies on Apr 3, 2019:

@Marionville Yes very beautiful, and I assume that Lux Aeturna is the group.

Does anyone recognize this flower bud, it's about 3 inches in diameter?

mzbehavin comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Magnolia bud or Tulip Tree bud.

Fernapple replies on Apr 3, 2019:

I would go for magnolia because the leaves are magnolia like though, they certainly are not tulip tree leaves.

Next time the like button wont work, just mellow and look at the scenery.