Does anybody know the median fatality age for Covid-19?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2020:

No, but it should not be hard to work out. Just take any of the commonly available samples of ages at death and average the result. Heres a link. Should not take more than five mins with a calculator. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/

“If God isn’t real, what's the point of living at all when one day you’re just going to ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2020:

Very good great overview. I would however say that the line. "Fear of the end was not eliminated, but it was alleviated to some extent." Is perhaps less than half the story. Since you could also add. "Fear of the end was also exacerbated to a large extent." Those who pretend to control the god/supernatural, use both the stick and the carrot, the stick perhaps more so. They love to say that religion is about moderating the fear of death, because that makes them sound benign, and ignore the fact that the small natural fear of death has been vastly exacerbated by thousands of years by them, pedaling scare stories that have seeped into the fabric of our cultures.

Mono Lake from a North 395 overview. Taken end of April, 2014 on a trip to Bodie, California.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2020:

Wonderful view, makes you feel like you could see half the universe.

Nature vs.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2020:

It is a false dichotomy, anyway. Beloved by those who are looking for oversimple answers, and who do not want to address the realities of the complex ways that our cultural and natural heritages interact together. One view or the other has always been favoured by extremist inhuman, cults and political movements, especially on the far left and right, who love to pose as the bringers of simple answers, to problems that people, who are not comfortable with themselves because of their hidden motives, do not wish to make the effort to address. Perhaps the thinking world has simply moved on. Though in the unthinking anti-intellectual world you can still find racist cults on the extreme right, who pedal the genetic view of human life, and see genocide as the ultimate answer. And you can still find some left wing dictatorships, where none compliance with the imposed cultural norm, still takes you down the road which leads to the death camp. The common thread being, that people who wish to pose before their followers as the final source of all understanding, have to promote oversimplified answers, because they can not allow anything which could open debate.

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2020:

The big trick is being able to tell the difference between fantasy and living.

Let's all stay in shape at home! Click on the link to see this amazing video... [facebook.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2020:

Now that is funny.

This looks like it is probably quite accurate!

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2020:

That's cruel, very cruel.

A brilliant message everyone needs to decipher during these challenging times.

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2020:

Very funny. But OK, so you have got too much time on your hands , and so now you have washed the cat and tidied your sock shelf for the third time, you are getting bored right ? LOL

"The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready he is to claim ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2020:

Believe you can delegate the responsibility to the institutions, and you can pretend to yourself that you don't have to take any.

When you make your bed, do you put the pillows over or under the comforter?

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

Best medical advice says that you should not make your bed, because that helps the bugs to breed and keeps them safe through the day, so that they are fit, numerous and well, ready to feed on you at nigh. Best thing is to spread thing out to air during the day. So I don't make my bed, not because I follow medical advice, but because I am a single man living alone, so I can be a lazy ass.

Finally a self help book for those who love to engage in discussions about religion on an Atheist ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

We don't argue theology here, we discuss it in a civilized way as a minor side interest. Because we are sane, pleasant, humane and polite. Then when we are let loose on the religious, we know our stuff, and can argue the hell out of them, because we are very nasty people in league with the devil.

“Life is often not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

Or sometimes you start with a wonderful hand, and play it rubbish.

Do you find this confusing?

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

Not the only confusing place. Question. Where can you walk south for a mile, walk east for a mile, walk north for a mile and then end up back where you started? And if you have an easy answer, then remember there are two answers to this question, so what is the other one ?.

“Factory farms are just as despicable as wet markets.” -Bill Maher [m.youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

Yep. Just what he said.

Anyone ever just get mentally fatigued and emotionally drained?

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

One of the great temptations of religion is that it offers easy answers and an easy source of community. Its never going to be as easy outside, but there is more to achieve, and real personal growth to be made, and real friends to be found. Not just singing, god does it for me, and people who pretend friendship to anyone who sits on the next pew. And while we have to be careful of hubris, I do think that those of us who took the hard path, are allowed just a smidgeon of pride in that, to keep us going, though the tough bits.

As a diversion from my recent posts about human evolution, I’d like to get opinions on a literary ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

I am sorry to say that, nature does not have intent or purpose. Nemesis is just a human invention, like all the other gods.

It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

I don't know if it is known globally, but here is an old saying in the UK. " Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Yesterday I saw a palm tree with a totally curled trunk...is this a man- made thing?

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2020:

It does not look like it blew over, perhaps it is a genetic growth defect ?

Will protecting 30 percent of Earth prevent the extinction crisis? | Science News

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2020:

Anything is better than nothing, since we can not turn the clock back, we have to as much as we can.

Beliefs. What are beliefs?

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2020:

It is natural and perhaps healthy for the immature to fear the unknown, though it is something you naturally grow out of with time and experience. But if some cultural institutions like religions can grab people early enough, and block any learning until mental habits are frozen. Then they can keep that fear alive and even grow it, while at the same posing as the solution to fear by filling the gaps with fake answers they dream up. Its called the 'God of the Gaps' sometimes.

Uhm, yeah.

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2020:

The stock exchange is also a casino, where people place bets on rich peoples feelings.

With all the world's chaos, and all of us trying to deal as best we can, while remaining untouched...

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2020:

I have heard of a few thanking god for the virus. It seemed that according to them, it was only going to kill the ungodly, and was a punishment for doing things like promoting gay rights and atheism.

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2020:

Prophetic certainly.

How old were you when you first realized you were skeptical of divinity?

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2020:

Eleven to twelve.

Oh dear You can’t protect people from themselves [npr.org]

Fernapple comments on Apr 26, 2020:

So whatever his intent, he has now caused direct harm, not just by misjudgment, incompetence, or political means shared with the political collective, but directly himself by his own words alone. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Sadly a suppose he has political immunity against law suits.

Would you like to understand reality?

Fernapple comments on Apr 26, 2020:

At a certain level of physics it is held, by many people very expert in atomic physics etc., that matter and information are the same thing, and that our perception of things effects their existence, yes. But that effects nothing in our lives or futures, since we, our lives and everything in the world that we know, are emergent properties of many of those things working together, and it is only the qualities of those emergent properties that mater to us, effect us, or that we can ever understand. Therefore such ideas a irrelevant to human life, as lived. So the answer has to be a big. **So what**.

"Going Clear Scientology And The Prison Of Belief.

Fernapple comments on Apr 26, 2020:

I have heard several times that L. R. Hubbard himself admitted that his religion was a fake, but that does not seem to have stopped the faithful.

Always glad to not waste money.

Fernapple comments on Apr 26, 2020:

I filled mine in. 1st Stay home. 2nd Stay home. 3rd Stay home. 4th Stay home. 5th Stay home. Etc.

Oh look, they're pretending that they are not giving North American First Nations People "smallpox" ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 26, 2020:

Your link did not work but I entered it in a search, and the article, which is very good, is there. Perhaps you could copy and paste it again.

Sharing amusing spam message :p :p Has anyone here ever gotten text message spam?

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

Could be breast milk. LOL

Bach: BWV 1002 Sarabande (transcribed from violin to guitar).

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

The second one is certainly more of a joy to listen to, but not knowing very much about guitars I am not sure if that is the player or the guitar.

IBM develops new battery made from seaweed. [goodnet.org]

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

Sounds almost too good to be true, but I will watch the space.

I do believe Trump is a psychopath and has zero empathy.

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

If he was being literal, he was being a stupid ass. If he was making a joke, it was a very bad joke, and therefore, he was being a stupid ass. No difference either way.

Gnostic Atheist, Agnostic Atheist, Agnostic Theist, or Gnostic Theist?

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

No vote for, could not care less.

There are some people who minimize the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak by comparing it — ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

We are a little ahead of you on the curve in the UK, and for a while last week Covid was killing more people, than all other causes put together, doubling the death rate.

Yesterday hiked from arid, shrub-steppe to a high green ecosystem.

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

Beautiful photos.

blanket octopus [youtu.be]

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

Very interesting. But I think that I prefer the human version of sex.

I went out in the desert today to look for cactus flowers so that I could subject you people to ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2020:

Wonderful flowers, but those desert landscapes are truly awesome, beautiful area to live.

💯👍🏿I agree with this

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

The great gift of religion, which makes it a popular product, is that it says that, you can give up on the effort of thinking.

Who knows what the word "Hindu" means? Even Hindus don't know. Lol

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

It was an insult word invented by the invaders of India. But think for a second, does anyone know what Christian, Mohammedan or Jew mean. Ask a million different believers and you will get a million different answers. Except that they will all agree on one thing, which is that their version is the correct one, because it comes with the authority of god.

It is interesting that some of our so called experts are saying that the virus can only survive ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

Yep, it may not spread in the pool, but it sure will spread in the pools car park.

What happens after death?

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

The thing about mortality, is that. If you have a life of suffering, then there is a limit to that suffering. And if you are one of the lucky few who gets a life of joy and fulfillment, then you will not lose the joy in satiation and boredom. Either way it is better to have a limit set. As to meaning I do not think there is any, but meaning certainly is not an prerequisite to happiness, many of the greatest thinkers have found, that the greatest joy is not in the pursuit of meaning, but merely in the appreciation of "being there". For myself I aim to do the best I can to enjoy life , to appreciate the world and its people, and to try to help as many of them do the same as I can. If there is a god who looks down on us, then surely that is the best any fair god, will expect. (Not talking about the stupid monster in the Bible.) And if there is no god, then what else can you do ? Either way it makes no difference. Some theists will say that without god/meaning, a life of self indulgent hedonism and evil doing, but that is just boring, and does nothing for yourself or anyone, only a fool would choose that. And usually it is only those fools who have been sold the idea that they will get another chance, who try.

When, in 1775, Sheridan wrote his play, "The Rivals", he created a character called Mrs Malaprop, ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

My favorite Malapropism. " Q. Do you think that men want to play the field more than women ? A. Yes, I guess men are just naturally polygynous, and women are just naturally monotonous."

When, in 1775, Sheridan wrote his play, "The Rivals", he created a character called Mrs Malaprop, ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

I hope not, when gone best forgotten to my mind.

Researchers Predict Potential Spread and Seasonality for COVID-19 Based on Climate Where Virus ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

Yes that was the theory at the beginning. And a lot of Northern Hemisphere countries were hoping it will slow down in the summer.

Landscapes — 1: Tollymore Forest Park, Northern Ireland, 1969.

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

Beautiful photos.

What can one do with a person who is too ignorant even to realise that he is ignorant?

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

I think we should hold a contest for people to try and find the most stupid Trumpism of all. I would not have believed this one if it was not the BBC reporting it.

What can one do with a person who is too ignorant even to realise that he is ignorant?

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

It was chlorine gas, but near enough.

Read a comment that said being "atheist" was claiming there is no god.

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

It is usual to split atheists into two groups, the so called soft atheists, who do not believe there is any reason to believe that god exists, and hard atheists who believe that there is certainly no god. The latter being a very rare minority, since it means that you must think that you can prove a negative, which while not strictly true is at least courageous. But hard atheism is widely used as a strawman to misrepresent most atheists by some theists. Not giving a hand hold, for theistic apologists to delude the innocent with, is perhaps the best reason for using the term agnostic, but for myself I do not care much for labels and am happy to be called anything you like. (Yes even that. )

No words needed.

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

In effect yes.

William Shakespeare's birthday! To celebrate, I shot this photos of his birthplace house in ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2020:

Young women in the sunshine wearing flared trousers. Boy, where did those days go ?

I’m an atheist but I want to ask a serious question.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

Yep, if you like sitting in church during a service, or only putting up a Christmas tree, or reading mythology, its all fine. Because if you don't believe, then it is all meaningless, and if its meaningless it can not harm you. Just don't put too much money on the collecting plate. Actually I have a problem, in that, I like visiting old buildings and in England there are many lovely old churches you can visit/shelter from the rain. But I always think that I should put something in the box to help keep the roof in repair, yet I know that a donation can not be ring-fenced for structure only and could be used to promote religion, so I give nothing but feel mean.

Only 1 in 50 catholics can ace this religious test. Can you? [women.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

Yep 100%, about average for atheists, I would think. LOL

Alrighty then, things reopen so they can sell goods & services & save the economy.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

No sadly they are not. Having said that, it is true that, the Black Death was followed by an economic boom a year or two down the line, as people spent their inheritances and a shortage of workers raised wages. But it is not going to be that good this time.

Irresistible - "Some of the preachers are saying God will prevent you from getting it.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

Has that actually been heard ?

As people stay home, Earth turns wilder and cleaner.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

Sorry it says. "Unavailable due to legal reasons."

Right now, here in 2020 A roll of toilet paper is worth more than a barrel of oil.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

Well we are getting there, perhaps. Personally I would far sooner use toilet paper than try to wash my back side in crude oil, but whatever floats peoples boats.

Doing my first shift testing people for covid tomorrow wish me luck .

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

Well done.

funny stuff

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

Now those are very funny. Even if I do have to give up drinking and get out more.

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2020:

If art does not tell you something new about nature, perhaps including human nature, what good is it ? And how is the artist going to do that unless they have looked ?

On this day for us to demonstrate support for environmental protection, I would like to bring up how...

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Sad to say that it is true. Because of course the Middle Eastern sky god religions grew in a part of the planet where nature is at it most harsh and inhuman, among the nomadic shepherds who only saw flocks as having any value, and the old men who controlled those flocks as the masters to be obeyed. In the desert there is no choice of lifestyle, no fishing communities, no logging, no farming, you are a warrior fighting to control the flocks in a world without hiding places, you therefore obey the tribe and it leaders or you die. So the religion reflects their small local and narrow bleak world. It is also sad because of course it is illogical in their own terms. "How can you claim to honour God, yet despise his creation." If you are a creationist and a believer in the end times, then surely you can not celebrate the worlds destruction. To win gods approval surely you must use your last breath as the flaming darts fall, to still protect the last bird or flower, and show thereby you value his creation even at the end. But then logic was never a big thing with religion.

Happy Earth Day folks.

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Loads of lovely native wildflowers, grown for our local nature trust to use in restoring their nature reserves.

Is anybody else sick to the back teeth of hearing the American President condemn the WHO and the UN?

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Yes, but he has to have someone to blame for his own failings, and a long as his main supporters swallow it he is happy. We just have to hope that the number of his main supporters is slowly going down, as the ones on the fringe quietly slip away, and start to pretend they never knew him. Personally its got so bad that when I hear that voice on the news, I just switch to another channel. ( Actually I would do that anyway because I don't have a lot of patience, and why hang around for the second word in the sentence, got a sock draw to sort. )

CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus is likely to be even more devastating - The Washington...

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

The trouble is that most of the people who understand that, will already be on board. The ones who really need to understand that, have their fingers in their ears.

It is amazing how touchy some folks are around here (SOME, not by any means ALL).

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

A lot of them don't even read carefully. For example you can write. "Some people say. The earth is flat." You will then get a three paragraph, ( assuming they know how to use paragraphs ) chapter and verse, on why the earth is spherical. Which just leaves you wondering. Did they read the phrase, 'Some people say.' I suspect that the points hounds, who only read quickly and then put down a shallow comment for points are the worse, but some are just flaky. You just have to shrug and get on with your day.

The following member has just joined g:1151.

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Members do come back after a year or more, and they sometimes become really active again, and they may have good reasons for being away, it would be hard for some who has spent months in hospital seriously ill to come back and find their account deleted. I am with you that keeping dead accounts is not good, but it needs to be a long time before they auto-delete, say two years at least.

“I am an atheist, out and out.

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

If it works for you, I am happy for you. I always say that I am a broad church sceptic, because if people have rejected religion then I think that is by far the most important thing, beside that the issue of whether there is a god or not is trivial in my view.

Not happening today...

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Have you told your wife that ? LOL

Woodward Dream cruise 08/2018 1.

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Keep posting, keep commenting, keep sane.

Why Bats Are One of Evolution’s Greatest Puzzles Paleontologists seek the ancestors that could ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Great story. But one thing that it does not address is the on going debate about whether they evolved twice, once for the small insectivorous species and once for the fruit bats, which was an idea once, but which has been questioned I believe.

"The Liar Tweets Tonight" - A Song Parody

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2020:

Usually the 'song' remixes posted on here are not that funny, and I don't always open them. But that one is genuinely good.

This is how it feels

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2020:

True, but I am not sure it is the same people, doing both, not always anyway.

Mark Steel, a British comedian and writer, posted on YouTube about a year ago, speaking about Trump.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2020:

Er ? So why is this posted in Silly Random and Fun, surely this is serious political commentary ?

Mozart Fantasia in D minor.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2020:

Lovely music. And I love the small town civic hall, feel of the video.

Freak Out About half an hour ago, I started coughing.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2020:

Had the same effect with dry digestives the other day, best avoid those too.

Trump just tweeted that he is going to sign an executive order freezing all immigration into the US.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2020:

Not quite true, the USA has not as yet the highest rate per head of population, which is what truly matters, though it is fast getting there.

"I cannot understand how any one can be a sceptic sincerely and on principle.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2020:

Yes, the world was filled with things that Rousseau had not got the character to understand, like how to be a responsible father for one. Being prepared to be deceived, rather than, learning to be mature enough to live with the unknown, is humanities greatest failing, behind not just religion but very crack pot political movement, every dictator and even anti-intellectualism.

These were taken last August.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2020:

Great shots, especially the woodpecker.

Some Ohio coronavirus protesters using anti-Semitic symbolism - cleveland.com

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

Why am I not surprised.

This morning I went to Browse for the first time and clicked on Members.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

Never got round to reading members profiles, other than a quick look sometimes to see what part of the world they come from, since that may alter how I understand their posts and comments. ( Would you believe it, they acctually let people from Australia on the site!)Maybe I should, could be interesting, thanks. I will start with yours perhaps.

Scenes from the kitchen I thought I would share.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

Well observed. Is that the thirteen line squirrel in the first photo ? Those of us who have gardens are so lucky in these lock down days, I have the greatest sympathy for anyone restricted to a flat in the city.

What are we missing?

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

I would agree that the churches have a big pull, in being able to provide a quiet sitting space and coffee shop on every high street.

Well, it seems to me that some of those pesky, annoying God-bothering Kerb-side Preachers have not ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

Yes, you bet you and the lady in the shop did the right thing. You could have saved a life or even more than one.

Moral Compass

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

Several people have mentioned the golden rule, which is the best, and to that I would add if in doubt the universalisation principle. Which is the posh name for every grandmothers. "How would it be if everyone did that." And if still in doubt, then your feelings, which are just the inherent genetically programed moral instincts, which have to be the base line of all moral systems, even the Christian one, before it was distorted by people manipulating it for their own self interest.

A poem of survival written in 1869, and reprinted for the 1919 pandemic.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

Great find. I wish that I could be quite as confident about a good outcome as the poet. Love the photo too.

My neighbors barn My beautiful pony A little birdie who decided to make a nest in one of my bird ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2020:

I think that 'some pretties' may be flax or *Linum*.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - T. S. Eliot

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

A lot of ladies, have smacked me over that one. LOL

In the absence of theism what are the big questions in life you contemplate?

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

I wonder about many of the 'big' questions sometimes, but I think that the biggest thing that it is possible to do, is to learn to be comfortable with, I don't know, as an answer. And also to know the difference between knowing and speculating. Since speculation is a fine servant and entertainer, but a very bad ruler. That I think is the biggest difference between religious and secular thought, religion teaches people not to be happy with not knowing. It feeds the fear of the unknown just as it feeds that of death, in order that it can pose as the giver of answers. Which is of course why it is forced into defending fake and false answers.

Once upon a time, "life" was defined as the ability to replicate, but no longer.

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

The R. Dawkins theory of viral religion, it needs alway to be given nuance but it is certainly true. How things are classified as life or not, is based on data and scientific knowledge, but of course where the line is drawn is completely subjective, so that you are as free as anyone to classify a virus as alive or non alive, as you wish, on theory or hypothesis is affected by classification. Just as you are just as entitled to keep calling Pluto a planet if you wish, classification is not science but merely scientific culture.

Here is a trivial, unimportant bit of data that made me smile today.

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Another ten thousand and you can have a really big party. Or a small one if Covid is still at it.

God gene

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Some people postulate that there is a single gene which promotes religion, it is very bad genetics, since single genes alone rarely promote anything, not even hair colour, genes usually work in groups, and secondly because it over states genetic determinism.

The evolution of religion: Why belief systems are literally false and metaphorically true .

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Equally often metaphorically false as well.

“Confidence is ignorance.

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Often but not always.

[msn.

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

The average teenage boy, given the chance, could and would, happily father about fourteen children a week. Fortunately most teenage and older females have the measure of them, but occasionally some get through the net. Sadly in Darwinian terms, being stupid enough not to understand how contraception works, is the best strategy available to humans now, so that the next giant evolutionary leap forward for the human race, will be, to become really stupid. ( This is not altogether a joke, there is some evidence that human brains have been shrinking since the agricultural revolution. )

Broadband, WiFi, smartphone, iPhone, laptop, tablet, email, SMS, text messaging, Skype, Zoom, ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

True, though it is also true, that some of the people running the internet, are mainly just trying to think of better ways to fleece us.

Everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

No and no. Be glad when the time comes, that life is finite is a blessing. It puts an end to suffering for those who suffer, and gives purpose, drive and relief from satiation for the lucky few who find a life of joy and fulfillment, immortality would be a curse.

What are atheists for?

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

I could happily indulge in a bullshit comment like most of the honorable members here. But being the pain in the behind that I am, and just for the sake of pedantry, I will bother to add that. Genetic determinism is a real thing, but one which should not be taken too far. Genetics only specifies vague preferences, such as laziness or hyperactivity, from which our other cultural preferences grow as emergent technological devices. We did not evolve a preference for playing golf, there is no gene for golfing, and certainly, some people did not evolve a preference for golf, so that there would be an undiluted pool of more active persons available to play soccer, and thus raise the quality of football as a game.

I am of the species Homo Sapiens, of the genus Homo, of the tribe Homini, of the subfamily of ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Hello and welcome to the site, enjoy. Thank you for telling us about yourself, I now have a good idea exactly what you look like. Sadly I am not sure that we are going to evolve any more in a positive way, most of the signs are that humans are declining.

Corona virus has shown us once again how useless religion is.

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Hello and welcome to the site. Yep, the combination of virus and stupid is a perfect storm.

Does anyone have any luck or can share a method to grow onions and garlic?

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2020:

The biggest common mistake a lot of people make, is to plant the sets too deep. They really want to be perched on the surface of the soil, push in just enough to keep them in place, no more. Free draining soil in good light and air.