You give a differing opinion on someones post, they hit the like on your comment and then block ...

Fernapple comments on May 12, 2020:

Maybe they think that they have to hit the like button first, to highlight the post before they can use the block feature, or get to your profile.

This year The Keukenhof, the Netherlands fabled garden where tourist stream every Spring to enjoy ...

Fernapple comments on May 12, 2020:

That is spectacular. I have heard a lot about Keukenhof over the years, even seen photos, but that is the first time I understood what all the fuss is about.

Well my dalliance with the milk thistle is over.

Fernapple comments on May 12, 2020:

If you let it flower it self seeds everywhere and you are never rid of it. I gave a plant to a friend, and a year later I asked her if she would like another one, (its biennial). "No certainly not!" She said. "My husband fell over and landed in it, and I had to help him bath for a week." Looks like you have a beautiful garden, even without it.

They should reopen the economy. Right after they reopen the Whitehouse for tours.

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

I would not take a tour of the White House, you could come into contact with something infectious, deadly and nasty, or even catch a virus.

[vice.

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

Denial never made anything go away. You can not prove a negative, and you can not create a negative.

The Finger Lakes Region of NY can re-open on Friday, says the governor.

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

I would stay home until the numbers go down, not level out. If, and it is a big 'if' , your state puts in enough regulations to get the 'R' number below one. Then instead of exponential growth, you will get exponential shrinking, and as the death rate, which is what most people follow, trails perhaps two weeks behind the infections, then when the death rate has gone down markedly, it will be relatively safe to start taking a few careful risks.

Except Jesus in a potato. Those are legit

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

Boy that cat is really moving in the second picture.

Except Jesus in a potato. Those are legit

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

For interest. Many nineteenth century photos, are very detailed and pin sharp, because they used huge lenses, and big plates. It meant they had very poor depth of focus and the cameras were nearly immovable, but one thing they could do was pin sharp.

What do you think?

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

Sadly all my vices are very boring.

“It has been said that man is a rational animal.

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

Not sure who he was talking about when he said that, maybe its dated, I do not think that, humans being rational is a view that many hold to today.

On the 20th of May is my last day at work. Retirement here I come. Woohooo.

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

Congrats. And well done you made it, enjoy your well earned.

Hey fellow agnostics... what's with all the masked photos showing up here on the site?

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

Never understood why people want to update their photo at all. Surely consistency is the most useful thing you can have, in something which is designed to help people recognize you, and connect your posts and comments together.

Under the protection of "free speech", does that give the right to threaten a minority group?

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2020:

Criticize certainly, but threaten would be quite different. The old saying. " Your freedom stops at the end of my nose." Still works even when the impact is psychological, no one not engaged in a crime, should have pain or distress inflicted on them, including fear.

Nothing quite like the gift of being able to produce ATP.

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

Mitochondria, you would not get far without them. ( Hope I spilled that right.)

After weeks with coronavirus, a sick woman wonders when it will end - The Washington Post

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

Yes, sadly we forget when we keep seeing the deaths list, the vast amount of suffering that it brings even to lot of those many who don't die.

Morals.

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

It may well be that we all have to make up our own morals. But impulses in the direction of certain morals are certainly genetic, or they would not appear in many different animals, especially social species of mammals. They are however then culturally modified, sometimes to an extreme degree. Where wrong comes into it, is where religions and other institutions especially make the false claims, such as : 1. That they are the origins of morals. 2. That they have higher morals, because theirs alone are divine, therefore belittling the morals of others. 3. They push the cultural modification of the moral impulses until they no longer have any relation to their real evolved purpose. ( For example taking the natural aggression needed in protecting self and family, and persuading people that it should be used to kill, rape, maim etc. people who could really never be any threat to us. )

I know the species of pretty much all the birds that come to my yard but ran across this article ...

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

Very useful, I don't know if we have such a thing for the UK.

Ugh my biggest pet peeve from Christians.

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

The only reason for joining any theist religion, or staying in one, is so that you can enjoy an exclusive access to god, that you believe others can not have. Imagine a deist god/gods which is fair and unbiased, or even just disinterested, and religion vanishes in a poof of empty air.

Whether to laugh or cry?

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

Post needs more work.

"To affect the quality of the day, is the highest of arts" Richard Carlson

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

Two really good ones.

These photos are from a family reunion celebrating my wife’s aunt.

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2020:

Wow. That took some organizing.

“Judge nothing, you will be happy.

Fernapple comments on May 9, 2020:

That's a big hard ask. I think that I would add, 'try to', to those lines. Then it would perhaps be more in line with what real humans can manage.

Three White House Staffers Have Now Tested Positive for Coronavirus, Including Trump's Valet, Two ...

Fernapple comments on May 9, 2020:

The silent killer creeps closer. The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. E.F.

“By three methods we may find wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by ...

Fernapple comments on May 9, 2020:

Great quote, though someone did post it before about two days ago.

Freeze warnings past Mother's Day!! Unheard of here in the Miami Valley.

Fernapple comments on May 9, 2020:

Big freeze on the way here in the UK too, we are told. Plus a drought and all the nurseries/garden centres closed because of a virus which does not affect plants (irony). Great time to garden. But then it is never is all good when you garden, the living planet was just not designed as a hobby for humans.

Archaeological findings provide key proof of Chinese civilization origin Source:Xinhua Published: ...

Fernapple comments on May 9, 2020:

Link broken sorry.

May your troubles be less; Your fortunes be more; and nothing but happiness, come through your door.

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

Thanks for the good wishes in these times, here is something for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8u4VLk0iTI

May your troubles be less; Your fortunes be more; and nothing but happiness, come through your door.

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

Thanks I will buy that.

Why Your Christian Friends and Family Members Are So Easily Fooled by Conspiracy Theories ...

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

All very true, but none of it is as important as the fact that, if your personal standards of truth are so low that you will accept one form of rubbish, then you will accept lots more.

Religion to me is just living between your ear, pretending it extends further than that, and acting ...

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

Yep. That's very true.

All I can say is... Bravo!

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

I really hope that what her husband said her, that cause the upset, was, not to smoke weed

“You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb ...

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

Maybe women have more taste. Having said that, there are for example a couple in the White House, and well smart may be an overstatement, but........

The mind is the the only thing that has developed to name, or label itself?

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

Near to profound. Not quite. "I think therefore I am." But close.

Total irony

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

There is an old story in Europe which I never really believed. That Americans don't do or understand irony. Maybe I was wrong.

Is it just me and has Agnostic become a colossal bore?

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

Its US centric, bound to be former christian centric too. But I am not too fazed by that, to me it a different exotic culture, with strange quirky habits, even if the politics does get a bit boring after a while. LOL

The Search for Planet-Friendly Protein | Yes! Magazine

Fernapple comments on May 8, 2020:

I will have a go at anything, but not something fed on 'dangerous pharmaceuticals', there are too many of them in things like chicken, salmon, and honey to start with. And can you really trust the companies, who would produce them, not to make mistakes or take short cuts, that would let the chemical through.

To sleep, or not to sleep, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The ...

Fernapple comments on May 7, 2020:

You don't need apologies, I think that W.S. would love it. But I bet you wrote that after drinking too much coffee.

Is there any Arabs here ?

Fernapple comments on May 7, 2020:

Hello and welcome. There are a few but they tend not to make it plain, there is a map app. on the site which shows roughly where people live.

Ancient Swiss Find.

Fernapple comments on May 7, 2020:

Do they make replicas, where can I get one ?

"What are we doing this for?": Doctors are fed-up with conspiracies ravinging ERs

Fernapple comments on May 7, 2020:

Not all religions date from before the middle ages.

oh my covid

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

No. 1 Difference between the short sharp shock, and the long slow burn.

Ah, Spring! Morning check of the floral "children " 🥰 (Again, loading sideways for some ...

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

Just love the way you get them to grow out of the vertical wall like that. Sorry bad joke but great photos.

How are we going to really get rid of the grip of this virus?

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

All very true. Like you and a lot of people I like to qualify 'Survival of the fittest.' which was not Darwin's originally and the one I go for is. 'Survival of the best fitted, in the short term.' 'Survival, of the quickest adapting, in the long term.'

You never know when a frog family is watching you.

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

Wonderful shot, just being out there and thinking to look up deserves credit alone.

Can we declare 'war' on social media postings proclaiming that the only solution to the Corona virus...

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

Nice rant, hope it helped.

“Ballot papers don’t determine who leads; they determine who takes which position.

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

Sad but true.

Safety versus freedom. Make of that what you will. Any thoughts?

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

The dead are not going anywhere or doing anything, thats a pretty big reduction in freedom. Some people gain a little freedom, some people get to have none at all.

my corona fun

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

Number four especially is great, it would been even funnier if I had seen it five weeks ago, but you can't have everything.

"All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

Sadly anything with the word, cafe, in it, seems like a romantic dream of lost love right now. Can you smell the beans, hear the chatter and the tinkle of forks and spoons.

I went downtown to capture the tulips before they gave up the ghost.

Fernapple comments on May 6, 2020:

Great photos. I especially like the apple though the railing shot, it tells a story, at least to gardeners.

Yesterday was like Xmas as I unwrapped some display items that I had not seen for 10 years and got ...

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2020:

Neat. Just neat.

Ok so I'm not sure how many parts of the country are getting it but the My Pillow guy is hawking ...

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2020:

One quick one, for fun, can't be serious. It does not matter how unlikely it is that humans exist, since we don't know how many failed universes and worlds there are out there, where we don't. And if there are billions of failed worlds, with only humans on this one, then this one would have to be the one we are at.

Ok so I'm not sure how many parts of the country are getting it but the My Pillow guy is hawking ...

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2020:

I though it may be fun, since I have nothing better to do, to look for the holes in his arguments. But I am sorry to say that my maths is not that good. I lost count. LOL

Male odors. The difficulty of describing "essence of man.”

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2020:

On both sexes I like the smell of soap. It makes a woman smell freshly laundered, which is sexy, ( Just want to crumple that fresh linen.) and it makes a man smell organized and disciplined, which makes him trustworthy.

Here are some attempts at catching stills of swallows in flight. Think it's easy?

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2020:

Well done. Lovely old roof too, I wonder how many years the swifts have been coming back to it ?

I just had a look at my calendar, and it seems I got home and started my quarantine 6 weeks ago, so ...

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2020:

Looks like the dream of a tropic garden.

OK....so it's Monday; and I'm bored; and I like a laugh...please share!

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

I love the last two especially. Heres a few for you. https://agnostic.com/post/492311/while-you-are-in-lock-down-you-may-have-time-for-a-laugh-some-of-these-did-it-for-me-https-ww

Where do you think we are, on the slide to fascism? [johnpavlovitz.com]

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

And that was written a year ago.

Sitting here watching the world burn, it's sad that through doing so I finally have some hope for ...

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

You have certainly diagnosed the true disease OK. But I think that the cure may kill the patient.

Hello, I am Muhammad.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

Do write a bio, people will take your posts more seriously then, and welcome you.

Hello, I am Muhammad.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

Hello and welcome. Enjoy the site, and if you have time do check out the groups there is everything there.

We may rethink the idea of crowded cities.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

Or we may just do what we always do, which is forget quickly and slip back into the old habits.

A longtime Bird admirer, if inspired by my Great-aunts.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

My mother wanted to try a bird bath, so she got one and placed it in the garden. Sadly for her the birds did not show any interest in it at all. Which was odd, because you could often hear dozens of happy birds splashing and showering in the village stream, just twenty feet away. LOL

George Takei jokes that he's' 'starting a rumour' coronavirus turns you gay

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

Oh that is an easy one, getting some people to swallow that is not much of a challenge at all. Not in a world where some people swallowed the Five 'G' causes the virus.

Not many left who remember WWII, but we do need old people.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

I wonder if culture really changes with the generations that much, or will today's young start to develop those same habits as they grow older and mellow.

Not many left who remember WWII, but we do need old people.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

You almost make me feel proud to be getting old. I only wish that I could live up to the standards set and demanded by my contemporaries. Still one bad apple in every barrel.

How much will it matter whoever gets the vaccine first ?

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

Is there a link to go with that ?

80 degrees yesterday with plenty of sun.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

They look so good you could eat them. Over half an inch of rain, how I wish, we are almost into an unseasonal drought here in my part of the UK.

The Manners Pig: How did you teach your child(ren) table manners?

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

Setting a good example is the greatest power we have, nothing could be worse than saying one thing and doing something else. Not only is the lesson undermined by a bad example, but the example that is set is that it is OK to be insincere, which is perhaps the worst thing that you can teach. In have no experience of childcare, but I sometime wonder if it would ever be possible, that on a bigger scale, institutions like governments would learn that their greatest power is in example. That no amount of legislation will ever improve a nations life one half so much, as being insincere, shallow, conflict hungry and greedy harms it.

Taken May 3rd, 2020 at Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

You are a month ahead of us here, thank you a nice reminder of what is coming.

The walls are now up on the 10' x 30' green house that I am building out of some leftover 25M rebar ...

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

Great project, enjoy the winter greens.

Hi ya all.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2020:

It is Pulmonaria or Lung Wort, which means the same thing in English, also sometimes called soldiers and sailors, because the flowers come in both pink and blue, like the old English army and navy uniforms. Lung wort comes from the idea that the spots on the leaves were like diseased lungs.

Atheists most politically active group in US, survey finds - The Christian Post

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

To leave religion, as most in the US have to to become atheists, you have to care. And if you care about one thing you generally care about most things. Small pat on the back.

Do you feel you are a middle-income, middle-class person? That is unlikely. [ted.com]

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

The big cultural difference it seems is not between countries, but between income.

I hope this isn't a majority of the protesters but it's an element.

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

It could well be fake, but having said that, a knowledge of history can not be taken as a given among such people, and I strongly suspect that they are quite close to holocaust deniers and other such crazies, she may not even know what it means, so who can tell.

What are the most effective ways adults are recruited to religion and how do we stop them?

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

I do not think that they do recruit many.

How are you finding happiness during the pandemic?

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

Very true. and I hope you keep well. Though sadly I have to say that I am not so certain about the long term outcome as you, people do forget and fast, old habits, especially the bad ones, have a strong pull. But I love the line. "Having self-acceptance while treating others with compassion leads to a happier life. " I think that I will quote that on the quotes group page.

"I will not die of stupid," Leonard Pitts wrote. Agreed.

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

Good short well written article. I like it that some of the anti shut down people were quoting the stat. about cars. " Meantime, there's Dr. Phil, opining on Fox "News" that "45,000 people a year die from automobile accidents," Well that must have been a few days ago, because it has already gone way past that, and still counting.

"I will not die of stupid," Leonard Pitts wrote. Agreed.

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

Yes, but sadly, you can still die of someone else's stupid.

[space.com] Covid isolation effects on air qualities

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2020:

Its a dramatic change certainly, and in just a few short weeks, I am told that people on the plains of India can see the Himalaya for the first time in many decades. But will it continue to have any effects long term.

Does anyone know of anyone that converted to Christianity because of its wonderful teachings.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

I don't know anybody who has converted to Christianity at all, its fading fast here in the UK. For a short while we had a US tele-evangelist channel on our TV, but it went because it got nowhere. Most people who stay in religion though seem to do so as just a social convention.

Protests against coronavirus stay-at-home orders dishonor US veterans

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

It says that the author is a bronze star. The sad thing is that the main person that matters in all this, has contempt for veterans and most everyone else, went out of his way to avoid becoming one himself, and the nearest he gets to bronze is his skin toner. I don't usually comment on US politics here , because coming from the UK, I figure it is none of my business really, but sometimes the bile sticks and needs shifting.

The Way We Spend Money Will Change Post-COVID — 5 Industries That Will Not Be the Same | ...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

Interesting but no real big surprises. Could have guessed the list really, what about the high street, clothing, and the garden centre trade.

Robert May, former UK chief scientist and chaos theory pioneer, dies aged 84 Friends and ...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

Fell in love with those diagrams years ago, never even knew that May was still alive.

Why herd immunity is a bad thing

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

Good post. Yep. Herd immunity in this sense with this virus, simply means. 'Let it run its course, and kill as many as it can.'

Facebook post today: Nobody will get more than 10/15 on this Jesus test.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

Nobody ever knows religion like an atheist.

This is photograph of my working on a quilt she made for as a wedding present for our son and his ...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

That is a really great design too.

Sounds right!

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

What are the other four laws ?

Last night I got surprised by a family of 6 owls in my front yard, this is the only half decent pic ...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

Good try anyway, the shadow picture is a striking effect.

2 suggestions:::: For the websites::::: 1: disable the absolutely worthless spell checker.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2020:

The spell checker works brilliant for me, I think that it must be your device.

Hiking up mount High West, Hong Kong. There are 0 Covid-19 cases today in H.K. and New Territory.

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2020:

Well done Hong Kong.

just some funny stuff

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2020:

Love the second to last. Why do they tell you to test your smoke alarm regularly, just cook something !

Getting real about the virus

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2020:

Must be an old meme. Its more than sixty thousand now, and still counting.

Why Religion Is Not Going Away and Science Will Not Destroy It

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2020:

The religion ver. science, so called conflict, is a straw-man argument anyway. Religion is not directly anti-science, and many religions have meshed well with many parts of science. What religion is, for the greater part, is anti -education, not merely science, but history, philosophy, economics, medicine, secular morality, global culture, and even physical geography sometimes, as well as science. And it is inevitable, that those people in power, who gain their power from being anti-education, ( Which is most people in power, since nothing frees and empowers the individual like education, from the Pope, to the commercial enterprise selling shoddy products, to the abusive husband telling his wife lies about the police, most power depends on ignorance. ) will put up a long hard fight to preserve ignorance. There will be many bounce-backs reverses, and regains, and there is no certainty that reason and education will win in the end. A century is not long.

How do you rationalize the paranormal?

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2020:

We call things not understood by the human rational mind, 'paranormal', so that by definition they can not be understood by the rational mind. So like Sakdo you just label them unknown, or unexplained.

Egyptian shipwreck [sciencealert.com]

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2020:

Herodotus has always been thought of as unreliable, seems that was not always the case.

By asking to be paid for materials, did I violate an unspoken rule?

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2020:

Can i order two hundred please. LOL

Anyone around.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2020:

Shall be out this evening sorry.

“Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat”...........Jean-Paul Sartre.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2020:

True. But sometimes the boat needs a good rocking.

I found out Elon Musk is an idol to a lot of people. I lost all respect for the guy. [twitter.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2020:

Be sure it really is him.