Fernapple's Profile

Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.

Diogenes comments on Mar 19, 2019:

Are you hitting on "men" now? First thing in the morning even! LOL. Please laugh. Good to see you. Yesterday thought maybe I should have kept my opinions to myself. If something doesn't need to be said: solution, don't say it. 04:00 in the morning here and another sleepless night.

Fernapple replies on Mar 19, 2019:

I find that if I comment/post late at night, in a temper, after a couple of drinks or all three, people tend to tell me off the following morning. Maybe I'm dim but I just can't understand why they want to pick on me like that.

Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.

Diogenes comments on Mar 19, 2019:

Are you hitting on "men" now? First thing in the morning even! LOL. Please laugh. Good to see you. Yesterday thought maybe I should have kept my opinions to myself. If something doesn't need to be said: solution, don't say it. 04:00 in the morning here and another sleepless night.

Fernapple replies on Mar 19, 2019:

@Marionville Yes funny that , thanks to feminism the word "men", has now started to loose its old meaning of humans. I wonder if in the future a point will be reached where people can not understand older texts at all because that meaning is gone. The same thing has happened (not sorry about this either), with "England" which in a lot of old texts was equal to "British Isles" . I encountered at least one example recently when someone quoted an old book, about plants growing in England; and it raised a question from someone who said. "But it grows in Scotland and Wales too."

You just thought your food lasted a long time [smithsonianmag.com]

Charlene comments on Mar 18, 2019:

I'd like a taste..though not the 3,2k stuff..probably rancid by now..lol

Fernapple replies on Mar 19, 2019:

@glennlab Yes I wondered that, then how long before a celeb-chef tries it as a stunt ?

Just a reminder with spring approaching. Plant bee friendly ???????⚘❤

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

I always liked wild gardens with plenty of diversity and flowers, including insect plants and if insects eat some I am happy to let them in a mixed garden it is never too bad ad something always replaces the. Lawns are not only low on diversity but also high on labour and have a huge carbon and ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 19, 2019:

@itsmedammit Ah, Glechoma, we call it ground ivy here I had to look creeping charlie up, it is lovely to learn that it has other vernacular names, great name.

Hi all! I tried to share this in the "Gun Control" group".

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

Nothing showing here either.

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

@Robecology Yep that got me to it, generally I try not to involve myself with US politics on this site, since coming from the UK I don't think it is any of my business. But I will say the Obama certainly can express himself well and put the points over clearly in good plain English, it seems very refreshing. I think you know why.

Hi all! I tried to share this in the "Gun Control" group".

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

Nothing showing here either.

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

@Robecology Will do.

Ok, time to talk about hipocrisy, but this time in our own site.

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

Admin. does the work, and those who do the work have a right to say what they want to work with. Plus it would serve no useful purpose that I can see, while if it drove away just one member who I like to read and correspond with, (even if they are a prude ) then I should be sorry.

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

@Mofo1953 Of course and you are more than welcome.

Beads Found in 3,400-year-old Nordic Graves Were Made by King Tut's Glassmaker [haaretz.com]

Elganned comments on Mar 18, 2019:

Our ancestors were better-traveled than we ever imagined. Thanks for posting.

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

No hard borders in those days. Not that anyone would be thinking of making their borders harder today. LOL

A different type of Border Security from the Scientific Community [purdue.edu]

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

What about a wildlife corridor too. The old iron curtain in Eastern Europe is now a famous nature reserve which connects half of Europe with one wildlife friendly zone.

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

@glennlab Good.

Just a reminder with spring approaching. Plant bee friendly ???????⚘❤

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

I always liked wild gardens with plenty of diversity and flowers, including insect plants and if insects eat some I am happy to let them in a mixed garden it is never too bad ad something always replaces the. Lawns are not only low on diversity but also high on labour and have a huge carbon and ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

@Redheadedgammy It always seemed strange to me that you have a thing called the separation of church and state, which seems to stop the state interefering with the churches, ( even asking for taxes) but the churches feel free to attempt dictating to the state.

Just a reminder with spring approaching. Plant bee friendly ???????⚘❤

potteryguy2018 comments on Mar 17, 2019:

I planted amaranth and zennias in our school's Community Garden last year and I'll do more this year! We had loads of bees. I'm feeding the volleyball coaches bees. He has a domestic hive in his backyard two houses away.

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

It is said that single gardens can make little difference to honey crops, but because they offer diversity they are often vital to keeping the bees for starving in difficult times between major crops.

Just a reminder with spring approaching. Plant bee friendly ???????⚘❤

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

I always liked wild gardens with plenty of diversity and flowers, including insect plants and if insects eat some I am happy to let them in a mixed garden it is never too bad ad something always replaces the. Lawns are not only low on diversity but also high on labour and have a huge carbon and ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

@Redheadedgammy Until I joined this site I always thought that the US was at least in part, "the land of the free."

You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ...

Diogenes comments on Mar 18, 2019:

Well good ol' C. S. may have had somethings right, but it isn't this one This is a platitude. For example, this may be an exceptionally evil example but when a German youth was indoctrinated by the NAZIs and he murdered people, could he change what he had done in adulthood? No, and he could never ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

A lot of the quotes on this page come over as platitudes to me too, and most of the rest as tautologies. You can quote me on that. LOL

Some aerial shots from last season (2018)

Fernapple comments on Mar 17, 2019:

Beautiful shots. What river is that ?

Fernapple replies on Mar 18, 2019:

@Hominid Thank you, it looks a great river for a walk.

Does beleif in god justify how much should people be allowed to spend on end of life care?

mordant comments on Mar 16, 2019:

The only valid justification in my view of expending a lot on attempting to stay alive with cancer or any other serious health issue is whether it offers any quality of life that's acceptable to the sufferer. Western medicine assumes everyone wants to fight at all costs to have more time, ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

@mordant Yes I agree. I don't think that religion is responsible for all of it, only that it made it worse. Nor can anyone ever hope to put exact figures on it how much of the fear is inherent and how much cultural. Yet I would still estimate that a very large part of it is culturally aquired, if only because what awareness would we even have of death without culture. And yes, I do know that some advanced social animals such as elephants do seem to show some understanding of mortality.

all of does believed in God show your god to me

CallMeDave comments on Mar 17, 2019:

ok

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

@Amisja Yes but as the question asked, she may well be his god/godess. ( No scrub that. Go for it Amisja; the pleasure of seeing a Lancastrian in full attack mode is just too much to miss.)

Does beleif in god justify how much should people be allowed to spend on end of life care?

mordant comments on Mar 16, 2019:

The only valid justification in my view of expending a lot on attempting to stay alive with cancer or any other serious health issue is whether it offers any quality of life that's acceptable to the sufferer. Western medicine assumes everyone wants to fight at all costs to have more time, ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

@mordant Very true although I do not think it is as simple as just chicken and egg, because there is a third case which is, grew side by side in symbiosis, which is where I would put my money (no certainties). For although we certainly started with a small fear of the unknown, the real terror is certainly religions fault, since we have a natural fear of things which may harm us, like animals with large teeth and high places, which served well enough to keep us safe in our primitive past, a highly evolved fear of death, which is an abstraction anyway and not therefore easy for evolution to work with, was needless.

all of does believed in God show your god to me

RedneckProfessor comments on Mar 17, 2019:

Female rabbits are referred to as "does"; as are female deer. I'd imagine the god of does would look something like this:

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

@RedneckProfessor Too slim and elegant to be a rabbit especially a Flemish giant, and the ears are too long.

all of does believed in God show your god to me

RedneckProfessor comments on Mar 17, 2019:

Female rabbits are referred to as "does"; as are female deer. I'd imagine the god of does would look something like this:

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

Great picture really love it, but isn't it a hare rather than a rabbit ?

Churches open their doors to businesses in order to survive

webbew1 comments on Mar 16, 2019:

Just great. As if corporations running our government weren’t bad enough. Now they’re oficially running the church’s as well? We already knew they had their dirty little fingers in the church’s business in a round about way because of their heavy influence on government officials, but...

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

It is also worth noting that the churches are usually big stockholders in most large corporations.

Does beleif in god justify how much should people be allowed to spend on end of life care?

mordant comments on Mar 16, 2019:

The only valid justification in my view of expending a lot on attempting to stay alive with cancer or any other serious health issue is whether it offers any quality of life that's acceptable to the sufferer. Western medicine assumes everyone wants to fight at all costs to have more time, ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

I agree with your post on everything, except that I do not think that you can absolve religion, especially christianity, from its responsibility. Most of our modern thinking in the west is still basically Abrahamic or post Abrahamic, including our attitude to death which is still seen as an evil, rather than as the neutral thing it is. ( Here in Europe where some countries allow choice the main opposition still comes from churches. ) The proof of this is the many religions, for example pre-christian Europe, which have taken a quite different approach to death, and even celebrated the act, and hopefully if secularism enjoys a long period of dominance we will start to do the same in time. The main reason of course why christianity leads to an exagerated fear of death, is because it uses all irational fears to control people and get money in the box, therefore anything it can do to make those fears worse is seen as a good thing.

Orangutans face complete extinction within 10 years, animal rescue charity warns | The Independent

Fernapple comments on Mar 16, 2019:

Sadly, even if they do live on, it could well be that they will end in the same state as tigers, where it is said there are more in zoos and private collections than there are in the wild. And they are the most wonderful creatures, I do not believe in animal rights on the whole, but I do think that ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 17, 2019:

@SkotlandSkye I do see all animal as equal the point was not believing in hu,man rights either.

Somehow stumbled on this site on the web, it sounds really interesting.

Amisja comments on Mar 16, 2019:

Why just females? Theres tons of interesting chaps here. Just start chatting Vince. Anyway hows Surrey. I know thats down south somewhere and a bit posh. Well anywhere is posher than East Lancs. As for the wine or beer...it'll have to be a gin please. Welcome though...

Fernapple replies on Mar 16, 2019:

I have to admit that if you think everywhere is posher than East Lancs, then you don't know Grimsby.

Orangutans face complete extinction within 10 years, animal rescue charity warns | The Independent

Fernapple comments on Mar 16, 2019:

Sadly, even if they do live on, it could well be that they will end in the same state as tigers, where it is said there are more in zoos and private collections than there are in the wild. And they are the most wonderful creatures, I do not believe in animal rights on the whole, but I do think that ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 16, 2019:

@SkotlandSkye Yes, the main reason for not beleiving in animal rights is not speciesism, but because I do not believe in "rights" on the whole, since I do not believe in absolutes, except one which is that nothing should ever be beyond debate, even rights. In practice however rights work very well, but if you take them too literaly then they are as frozen as religious dogma, and we would still now be recognizing peoples rights to own slaves.

The Bible As A Work Of Historical Fiction.

lpetrich comments on Mar 16, 2019:

Some of the Bible is well-established history, like the Dual Monarchy era. We know that from independent sources, though even there, one has to be cautious. Consider Sennacherb's siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. We have a stele prepared by some of his propagandists. What does it say? It brags about...

Fernapple replies on Mar 16, 2019:

Yes it is not as simple as pure fiction, after all it does not come from any one source. I think that the nearest equivalent would be a scrap book of press cuttings, made by several people over a long period. Some fact, some fiction, some letters, some news reports, some scholarly history, bit of poety etc. You may confirm some bits half confirm others and guess at the most part.

"Einstein and Hawking: Unlocking The Universe" produced by the BBC for the Science Channel.

Fernapple comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Yep, and guess what. The world is flat and only six thousand years old, and he sun goes across the sky in a small boat each day and spends the night in a cave. It may well be that the ideas of Einstein and Hawkins will need to be corrected in the future, that is the way both science and human ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 16, 2019:

@johnprytz True, but it is not the planet which speeds up and slows down, only the appearance, the photons follow a curved path, and photons have no or next to no mass.

The spring flowers if not the spring weather are out in the garden now so the season is moving on, ...

RichieO comments on Mar 16, 2019:

All our spring flowers are finished thanks to warm spell a few weeks back, even the daffs are done now...

Fernapple replies on Mar 16, 2019:

Over here the Daffs are just starting with many buds still to open.

"Humans are often said to be intensely tribal.

Fernapple comments on Mar 15, 2019:

Interesting, you may find this a good read too. https://www.pnas.org/content/115/2/245 The only thing that the two do not address, which I think comes into the picture, though I have nothing more than hunch, is the effects that weapon technology has on aggression. Making inter group aggression ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 15, 2019:

@Matias it is not just that but also the stronger could also kill the weakling, but that would leave his family/tribe smaller and weaker.

To show desire for dating or community on your profile?

buckeyehoppy comments on Mar 14, 2019:

I suppose I'm here more for a like-minded community. If I was to strike up conversation or meet with a lady, that is something to be open to. But this doesn't seem to be so much a "dating" site as it is a community for those who question or a skeptical of the existence of an omnipotent deity. If ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 15, 2019:

I asked once if anyone ever got a date though this site, and it seems by the replies I got that there have been weddings children and all sorts. I assume therefore that if you click on the communtity in your bio that the whole dating thing takes place on another level, perhaps by email, that you just don't see.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

webspider555 comments on Mar 15, 2019:

I only live on the Kent borders of London and have never been to Norfolk, must make an effort to have a look round this year

Fernapple replies on Mar 15, 2019:

You will like it I think, though these are the north fens in Linc's around Boston/Spalding. Cambridge is wonderful too of course.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

Nevermind345 comments on Mar 14, 2019:

As soon as I see beautiful countryside with no telephone wires, stores or cities in the distance then I know its somewhere over the rainbow

Fernapple replies on Mar 15, 2019:

Sadly there are all three of those, they are just not in my photos. Having said that though, most of the Fenland towns like Boston and Spalding are small, old and pretty. The high times were the 17th and 18 centuries and a lot of the very fine achitecture dates from then.

@Admin - when did we lose the Nauseous emoji?

Admin comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Yeah, we trimmed down the list as many of them got less than 1% and the list looked cluttered. Meh.

Fernapple replies on Mar 15, 2019:

@chilehead9 Exactly.

Do we know if Socrates was a historical character or a literary device used by Plato?

St-Sinner comments on Mar 14, 2019:

This article suggests that there seem to be surviving references to Socrates from at least four other comic playwrights: Eupolis, Emeipsias, Theopompus, and one who is anonymous. So Socrates was real is the consensus among scholars. ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

Having detractors may be better evidence than supporters.

Do we know if Socrates was a historical character or a literary device used by Plato?

Matias comments on Mar 14, 2019:

When you think about it does not make any difference, because Platonic philosophy is not built on Socrates' existence (unlike the existence, death and resurrection of Jesus, which is of utmost importance to Christians)

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

Quite, the works make sense on their own without theological interpretations.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

Allamanda comments on Mar 14, 2019:

I'm originally from Bedfordshire on the edge of the Fens, and adore the Norfolk Broads - this was nice to see!

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

They should be a world heritage site.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

Jnei comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Some people say the Fens are boring. Anyone who says so needs to travel deep into the flat landscape, far away from the nearest village, and spend the night. Sounds from miles away carry surprising distances when the land is so flat, and far-off lights can look startlingly close - it's a weird ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

@RavenCT Sometimes it is said that he appears in the daytime as a tall hansom and very charming man, who invites lone travelers to follow him down quite roads in the evening, then when the sun sets he changes into the black dog and drags them into the drains to drown.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

RavenCT comments on Mar 14, 2019:

I never see land that flat. I wonder if I'd freak out? lol We just don't have land like that in the Northern US - glaciers. I don't even remember the South being quite that wide open - but I only saw some of it.

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

And both the roads and the rivers run dead straight, some people say it drove one of our poets John Clare mad. Maybe in the deep south Mississippi perhaps ? And some people do say the the Fens either drive people to god or the devil, nothing in between. But where you go if you are coming from this site I don't know. Fenland river.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

Jnei comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Some people say the Fens are boring. Anyone who says so needs to travel deep into the flat landscape, far away from the nearest village, and spend the night. Sounds from miles away carry surprising distances when the land is so flat, and far-off lights can look startlingly close - it's a weird ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

It certainly is different. And if you have not seen it Oldrids Brewery make a very strong beer named after Black Shuck.

@Admin - when did we lose the Nauseous emoji?

Admin comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Yeah, we trimmed down the list as many of them got less than 1% and the list looked cluttered. Meh.

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

The brake pedal is less than 1% of your car. But.....

@Admin - when did we lose the Nauseous emoji?

snytiger6 comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Also gone is the "shrug" and "yawn" emoji So it appears they just elimated some of the "less popular" emojis. I keep saying we need a "WTF" emoji. @Admin Perhaps we how have room for one? many times it seems like "WTF" would be the most effective response. It might be cool to indicated the...

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

I asked for Thank You as when someone answers a question for you. Maybe.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

Cast1es comments on Mar 14, 2019:

Are the fens , the same thing as the moores ?

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

No the Fens are drained marshland the moors are deforested hills.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

LetzGetReal comments on Mar 14, 2019:

I like the second one a lot. What exactly do you mean by human drained, as in dredged?

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

Human drained. That's a history, but to keep it short. Back 1600 it was wet marsh like the Everglades, but in the seventeenth century all the rivers were straightened and made wider, then gates were fitted at the river mouths, which only opened outwards to let water out but not let the sea back in. Banks were put down the sides of the rivers and on the coast. Then pumps, windmills to start with, were used to lift the water into the raised rivers. It was all done by hand of course and took thousands of workers, and it was done in the face of both Malaria and armed opposition from many locals who made livings from fishing and hunting. The fens perhaps some 3000 plus square miles should really be one of the wonders of the world, like the Pyramids or the Great Wall of China.

Work today meant driving fifty miles across the Fens, the flat, low lying and human drained lands of...

btroje comments on Mar 14, 2019:

places like that , you look at the sky

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

You do, and you don't need weather forecasts, you can see it coming a couple of hours away.

Religion must end

Matias comments on Mar 13, 2019:

Religion is based not on lies but on illusion and fiction. In order to qualify as a lie, the person telling it must know that it is not true, but the vast majority of religious people really believe what they tell us about their god, about heaven and the rest...

Fernapple replies on Mar 14, 2019:

@Matias I will see what I can do. Another thought of course is that most clergy, at least in the mainstreeam churchs in Europe, are quoted as saying that they regard the Bible as allegorical and not literally true, but do they tell that to the people in the pews ?

Can someone put Gareth to bed?

Fernapple comments on Mar 12, 2019:

Look, just comfort yourself with the thought that you have some nice weather over Manchester way sometimes and it certainly does not rain hard every day. Last time I went to Manchester it was a beautiful calm sunny day, I could not have enjoyed the row over from the mainland more.