What experience and history teach is this, that peoples and governments have never learned anything ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

It is very like the quote. "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes." I do not know who said that, but even the slightest knowledge of history itself teaches you the truth of it. Which is why the worlds political establishments are so often opposed to the teaching of ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2018:

@Marionville Thank you.

Ten characters

AtheistReader comments on Nov 5, 2018:

Yeah, but not without Higgs Boson. Amirite, @Gurahl?

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2018:

@memorylikeasieve He has passed away now sadly, and did not live quite long enough to see his particles existence confirmed.

Ten characters

AtheistReader comments on Nov 5, 2018:

Yeah, but not without Higgs Boson. Amirite, @Gurahl?

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2018:

Higgs Boson is a priest?

My father passed away not long ago, one of the last things he did was to make, with my help, this ...

jacpod comments on Nov 4, 2018:

Beautiful craft work well done

Fernapple replies on Nov 5, 2018:

Thank you. He was A blacksmith in youth.

Nothing so absurd can be said, that some philosopher has not said it. Cicero.

brentan comments on Nov 4, 2018:

I suppose that's what you get for musing out loud.

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

@brentan Yes I know what you mean, and most of those people seem not able to read the posts properly in the first place. So with me posting in haste and them reading in haste, need I say more....

A Washington state lawmaker is under FBI scrutiny for writing a how-to guide on killing ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Nov 4, 2018:

Genocide is nothing new in Christianity. Moses ordered his generals to kill every last man, woman, and child in opposing tribes. When Christians sacked Jerusalem they killed just about everybody in the city. Religious zeal at its finest.

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

One instruction reads. "Every man, woman, child and every ANIMAL belonging to them." And it then goes on to add. "Excepting the young women who have not yet laid with a man, these you may keep for yourselves." Even Stalin/Hitler/Pol Pot did not go quite that far. This is the book you are supposed to use to teach children morality.

Is there anyone here that values the teachings of the bible, but rejects it's supernatural elements?

Fernapple comments on Oct 30, 2018:

There is one all important teaching you can get from the bible, if not find in the bible, and that is. Don't base your whole life on just one book, if you do read more than one book make sure they are not all derived from one book, and if you can only read one book try to find a better one.

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

@BBJong Wow thanks! You just taught me an Americanism (British) I did not know. Coolaid: I will remember that one.

Nothing so absurd can be said, that some philosopher has not said it. Cicero.

brentan comments on Nov 4, 2018:

I suppose that's what you get for musing out loud.

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

Oh yes. that is one of my failings, and it gets me into trouble all the time; I just can't do self control when an idea pops into my head. I really should not be on sites like this, except perhaps to give people a laugh.

Nothing so absurd can be said, that some philosopher has not said it. Cicero.

Eldovis comments on Nov 4, 2018:

That is putting all philosophers in the same sack ..

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

Not really, Cicero did say "some". Though I know there are a lot of people who would. Cicero was of course a Roman and there was at the time a zenophobic feeling that all philosophy was a Greek trick.

True it's disgustingly true!!!!

AbdullaUW comments on Nov 4, 2018:

I view religion as a bus for humanity, it took us to where we are and now it’s time to move by first leaving it.

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

We should have got off a couple of stops earlier.

True it's disgustingly true!!!!

MsAl comments on Nov 4, 2018:

Any time I hear"people from other religions going to hell" question put to someone they have always said that its OK as long as they follow some religion. Basically only I'm going to hell..

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

It is not logical. If you take the, "any other religion is ok" position, then you have to include deists, and the idea that the supernatural is a mystery, only perhaps, reached by spirituality. And if they do that, then all their claims that religion is the only source of morallity etc. go out of the window. Religion has to be exclusive and divisive, because in the end; the tribal " we are special" is all it has to offer.

True it's disgustingly true!!!!

SLBushway comments on Nov 3, 2018:

*Her religion didn't tell her that nonsense - that's her interpretation or the result of brainwashing from someone she turned to that didn't understand religious doctrine any more than she did.*

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

She got her information from someone who did not understand history either. ( If you want religion it is a good idea not to seek understanding or knowledge of any real subject.)

Why is 1.618034 So Important? [youtu.be]

MrLink comments on Nov 4, 2018:

But can I use it somehow to make a lot of money?

Fernapple replies on Nov 4, 2018:

A lot of people have.

Is there something big out there? This video has a lot in a small space. [youtube.com]

Druvius comments on Nov 3, 2018:

We live in the Golden Age of space exploration.

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2018:

Very true it seems to get more exciting every day.

My father passed away not long ago, one of the last things he did was to make, with my help, this ...

Alvinsmama comments on Nov 3, 2018:

That's very attractive. I'm glad you and your father were able to do something together before he died. So sorry for your loss.

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2018:

Thank you, I have to try and keep it perfect now.

I posted this on another page but it is worth posting twice.

Charlene comments on Nov 2, 2018:

Another beautiful animal gone extinct because of human cruelty..??

Fernapple replies on Nov 3, 2018:

And when it stands on its hind legs to see its keepers face through the wire, you know that here was a creature with a social capacity, maybe who knows even like that of a dog. Yet we will never know what its behaviour could be, because the keeper, now suely himself long gone, was the very last person and perhaps one of the few who ever ineracted with a thylacine. The End.

The Final Sermon I Should Have Preached

Fernapple comments on Nov 2, 2018:

I read a stat. somewhere, (perhaps someone can help me there I would love to re-find it) that atheists are more common among the clergy than in the population generally, because they are usually better educated in the history of religion, but most of them just keep it secret.

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

@VictoriaNotes I am sure it is, forgive me but I was criticing the system not the people.

The Final Sermon I Should Have Preached

Fernapple comments on Nov 2, 2018:

I read a stat. somewhere, (perhaps someone can help me there I would love to re-find it) that atheists are more common among the clergy than in the population generally, because they are usually better educated in the history of religion, but most of them just keep it secret.

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

@VictoriaNotes Yes Its called dishonesty.

I posted this on another page but it is worth posting twice.

GuyKeith comments on Nov 2, 2018:

LInk broken

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

Done should work now.

I posted this on another page but it is worth posting twice.

Charlene comments on Nov 2, 2018:

Broken..

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

Done should work now.

I posted this on another page but it is worth posting twice.

GuyKeith comments on Nov 2, 2018:

LInk broken

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

Sorry will try to fix it.

I posted this on another page but it is worth posting twice.

Charlene comments on Nov 2, 2018:

Broken..

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

Sorry wuill try to fix it.

The Final Sermon I Should Have Preached

Fernapple comments on Nov 2, 2018:

I read a stat. somewhere, (perhaps someone can help me there I would love to re-find it) that atheists are more common among the clergy than in the population generally, because they are usually better educated in the history of religion, but most of them just keep it secret.

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

@TristanNuvo It is indeed that would be great.

What is the most underrated movie in your opinion?

powder comments on Nov 1, 2018:

Recognised as great but doubt many here have seen it, Citizen Cane.

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

That theme of lose, is something that no one seems able to do now, maybe the world has become too shallow to face mortallity any longer.

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me / The Quarrel of the Universe let be: / And, in some ...

Grecio comments on Nov 1, 2018:

I have no idea what this means, but my area is science and math. Maybe that is why.

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

You maybe need to know the context a bit, he was reffering to theological and philosophical thinking especially, the "wise" being ironic, and anyone who follows science has I think already left the "wise" behind.

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2018:

All lands are stolen, usually several times over, if you accept the idea of "race" and that a race can own land. Yet the idea of race is technically disproved by science, we are all one family more closely related and with less genetic diversity that the average family of chimps. And the Jewish ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

@genessa Yes that is my point, it is the people who hate who are unable to disentangle religious. racial and ethnic reasons for hating, you misread my post.

How a Jellyfish and a Sea Slug Illuminate the Mystery of the Self – Brain Pickings

SLBushway comments on Nov 2, 2018:

*Do you have a dating life - is this the kind of stuff you read for pleasure? I read the article attached to the link and came away thinking "I could have spent that 15-minutes doing a ton of things that would have been more pleasurable. More often than not the simplest answer is the right one - ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 2, 2018:

Yes I agree completely, ( see my comment below if you like).

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2018:

All lands are stolen, usually several times over, if you accept the idea of "race" and that a race can own land. Yet the idea of race is technically disproved by science, we are all one family more closely related and with less genetic diversity that the average family of chimps. And the Jewish ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2018:

@GarethYes, and It is I think an error to make too much of the difference between racial, religious an ethnic hate, we may do so but people who hate often do not, it is all one to most of them.

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2018:

All lands are stolen, usually several times over, if you accept the idea of "race" and that a race can own land. Yet the idea of race is technically disproved by science, we are all one family more closely related and with less genetic diversity that the average family of chimps. And the Jewish ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2018:

@genessa Yes that it quite true. But to many of the people attacking Jews their motive is racial, and saying that I do not approve of attacking people for reasons of race, does not mean that I approve of attacking them for other reasons either.

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

MsAl comments on Nov 1, 2018:

I have noticed that alot here. It makes me sad. Some are hateful toward religious people and some seem to use that as an excuse to veil racism. I noticed it in a thread after that earthquake in Guatemala where the people were grieving and praying because their families and homes were lost. Also ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2018:

Whatever people believe because of religion, even if they believe that they should hate others, they are still victims of religion and are to be shown pity not hatred back. It is good to oppose ideology but not the people who are its prisoners.

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2018:

All lands are stolen, usually several times over, if you accept the idea of "race" and that a race can own land. Yet the idea of race is technically disproved by science, we are all one family more closely related and with less genetic diversity that the average family of chimps. And the Jewish ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2018:

@273kelvin I do indeed, that is why I am on a site for people who reject tribal and ideological claims, especially those made with no evidence.

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2018:

All lands are stolen, usually several times over, if you accept the idea of "race" and that a race can own land. Yet the idea of race is technically disproved by science, we are all one family more closely related and with less genetic diversity that the average family of chimps. And the Jewish ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2018:

@jacpod The chimps have another lesson for us, since most chimps, who are our closest relatives, are born white and turn black at maturity. Some things are very superficial.

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2018:

All lands are stolen, usually several times over, if you accept the idea of "race" and that a race can own land. Yet the idea of race is technically disproved by science, we are all one family more closely related and with less genetic diversity that the average family of chimps. And the Jewish ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2018:

@273kelvin You still do not seem to realize that I am not disagreeing with you, please try to read more carefully. When I said what is happening in America I was talking about the shootings, (topical) not about the Jewish community.

There are posts here about the recent shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh.

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2018:

All lands are stolen, usually several times over, if you accept the idea of "race" and that a race can own land. Yet the idea of race is technically disproved by science, we are all one family more closely related and with less genetic diversity that the average family of chimps. And the Jewish ...

Fernapple replies on Nov 1, 2018:

@273kelvin That's my point, that the justification for what the Nazis, Russians, Spanish, Turks etc. did/does not exist. Nor does the justification for what takes place in America now exist.

If you support shutting down a site because it's members are allowed to promote anti-semitic views ...

Fernapple comments on Oct 30, 2018:

It should always be the last resort to stop people voicing whatever they wish, however evil it may be. Because if it is hateful, then let it be seen in the clear light of day, and let it be exposed to reasoned counter argument, you will not always win but you will some of the time, while forcing it ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 30, 2018:

@OwlInASack No I did not say that it would win, only that any other way only makes it worse.

I hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it when I sorrow most, ‘‘Tis better to have loved and ...

Fernapple comments on Oct 30, 2018:

My wife fell ill when we were engaged, we had to rush the wedding forward in case she died quickly; but fortunately she had a long period of remission, and was healthy enough to travel and visit people for some eight weeks. (I drove her round.) Then she went down fast at the end. The marriage only ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 30, 2018:

@Marionville Good, I am glad you found someone, in many ways it must be much harder to loose someone when you have built up a mutual life over many years.

I think that this one could be very useful if someone has just been negative about your post, or ...

IamNobody comments on Oct 30, 2018:

And yet those critics keep trying to bring down the confederate ones (Not a critic to your quote by any means, just an ironic fact)

Fernapple replies on Oct 30, 2018:

I think the irony adds a lot. It would perhaps be fun to ask people which statues they would most like to pull down. Do you have one?

Is there anyone here that values the teachings of the bible, but rejects it's supernatural elements?

Dietl comments on Oct 30, 2018:

You assume that there are "the teachings of the bible". But the book contradicts itself numerous times and then there are multiple interpretations. By ignoring the supernatural you are cherry picking and when you choose which part you like you add another layer of cherry picking. Sorry but this ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 30, 2018:

That about sums it up.

There's a few quotes I live by: Every man is my better in that I might learn from him.

Fernapple comments on Oct 30, 2018:

Yes I like that quote. It is very similar to, I think it came from Cicero. " There is no book however bad you can not learn something from it."

Fernapple replies on Oct 30, 2018:

@Diogenes Very true we often learn just as much if not more from bad people, even if we only learn don't be like that. I knew a really nasty person once, they ended life sad, lonely, disappointed and frustrated. That can be the bad luck anyone can get, but if you are negative then you bring the bad luck to yourself.

The Ginkgo in the garden now is just coming up to full colour, I hope this weeks winds are not going...

JackPedigo comments on Oct 23, 2018:

Wow, I will think about planting that in my area.

Fernapple replies on Oct 30, 2018:

@JackPedigo Super web page, thank you.

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells

brentan comments on Oct 29, 2018:

I suspect that education has taught us more reasons to hate each other than understand each other.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

True, I think that H.G. W. may have had an optomistic view of education, he was after all a teacher himself. And I am also sure that he was thinking mainly of political education, preventing conflict. But I think that most people today would see it as being about technical and economic understanding, racing with environmental destruction, but I do not see great harm in taking it either way.

Just thinking that my dog loves me more than I love him, I feel shame. Konrad Lorenz

Lincoln55 comments on Oct 29, 2018:

I have been in that relationship. If you are not in love, move on. Life is too short.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

@brentan It no doubt it has a whole complex of emotions which are hard for us to understand, but K. L.s point was that whatever they are, they are far stronger, at least in the primitive breeds that he was using, than the human attachments to dogs. And while it is very wrong to see human emotions and values in animals, anthromorphizing them without trying to visualize the world from their perspective; it is equally wrong to think that their feelings are greatly different from ours, firstly because there is no evidence for that, and secondly because evolution tends only to tinker to the minimum with successful plans when once they are running. It is difficult for evolution to throw out a good design and start again from scratch, since most of the first generation would simply die. Therefore it tends to modify existing plans to the minimum amount needed, which is why we inherit a backbone from proto -fish and ear bones from bony-fish jaws, and four limbs from early amphibians etc. It is hard to see any reason why therefore the emotional life of most social mammals should differ greatly, closely related as they are. Moreover there is a danger with that view of falling into speciesisim, including the belief held by many theologians that animals have no feelings at all or only 'primitive' ones, in order to put humans, and their followers especially, on a pedestal specially privilaged in their relationship with god. That is a view which eventually leads to the belief that only religion can impart morality, to racisim and in the end to all the evils of theocracy.

The first of the winter colour is now showing in the garden, with Jasmine, Lamium, red crab apples ...

JackPedigo comments on Oct 28, 2018:

Really nice crabs. I have one tree but it has purple leaves and tiny (berry sized) fruit.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

@JackPedigo I don't know Centennial, but it depends what you mean by edible, all crabs are edible in the form of clab apple jelly etc. but most are not good to eat raw, and they can be used to add colour/sharpness to dishes made with cultivated apples.

Just thinking that my dog loves me more than I love him, I feel shame. Konrad Lorenz

Lincoln55 comments on Oct 29, 2018:

I have been in that relationship. If you are not in love, move on. Life is too short.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

@Lincoln55 Yes true.

Just thinking that my dog loves me more than I love him, I feel shame. Konrad Lorenz

Lincoln55 comments on Oct 29, 2018:

I have been in that relationship. If you are not in love, move on. Life is too short.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

Yes, in context I do not think he meant that he did not love his dog, quite the reverse; he just meant that a human being is not capable of loving as much as a dog is.

Just thinking that my dog loves me more than I love him, I feel shame. Konrad Lorenz

Marionville comments on Oct 29, 2018:

He also said “There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog.”

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

Yes that is even better.

Is This Taboo?

Fernapple comments on Oct 29, 2018:

Even more strange is the fact that marriage is nearly the only contract you enter into, in which most of the people entering it have no say in the writing of its terms, because they are dictated by the church/state. And this is doubly odd, because it is perhaps the most personal of all contracts.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

@ealbers That is the worst.

Is This Taboo?

Jolanta comments on Oct 29, 2018:

There are those who will respect it and those who wont. It is up to the individuals that it affects. Once upon a time a woman had to be a virgin and a man was supposed to be experienced, rather one sided in my book.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

Also not possible without prostitution, if you think about it.

7 Ridiculous Feats of Strength in the Animal Kingdom - SciShow [youtube.com]

Cast1es comments on Oct 28, 2018:

Animals , are equal to comic super heros .

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

Generally more intelligent too.

All too willingly man sees himself as the centre of the universe, as something not belonging to the...

Diogenes comments on Oct 29, 2018:

Solipsism: As a metaphysical position, solipsism goes further to the conclusion that the world and other minds do not exist. That would seem to say, that his wife is a 'thing', that he owns, and that, being his third wife, will vanish, as soon as his tiny brain wills it.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

Solipsism is yes the ultimate in arrogant ego trips, most people manage to dismiss it out of hand as irelevant to normal life, if they think of it at all, only the most egocentric cling to it; so it is of course built into Christian theology.

The first of the winter colour is now showing in the garden, with Jasmine, Lamium, red crab apples ...

JackPedigo comments on Oct 28, 2018:

Really nice crabs. I have one tree but it has purple leaves and tiny (berry sized) fruit.

Fernapple replies on Oct 29, 2018:

Yes there are a lot of types that you can collect this one is Red Sentinel, and it is in every way from the flowers in the spring to the fruits which last all winter a first class choice, really good in the snow; a good gold one is Golden Hornet.

If you want begin understanding yourself at the most basic, then this is a good watch.

Heraclitus comments on Oct 28, 2018:

But this could be the real "Adam and Eve" story that got mythologized.

Fernapple replies on Oct 28, 2018:

I do hope that is irony, since surely the historic gap of 200,000 years would be far too long a time for any folk tradition to survive. And it is worth mentioning while on the subject that the bible/koran strangely make no mention of DNA, which is odd because an all seeing god must have known about it. Not to mention germs, the solar system etc.

The first of the winter colour is now showing in the garden, with Jasmine, Lamium, red crab apples ...

FrayedBear comments on Oct 28, 2018:

Looks good.

Fernapple replies on Oct 28, 2018:

Thank you, we are lucky with our climate here, some colour stays most winters through.

Who's a person who inspires you?

Varn comments on Oct 27, 2018:

My ‘Boss,’ and what a treat.. After a lifetime in the working world, finally, I can choose who I care to give more than I receive… Though like a big brother I never had, he’s decided to retire. Wants me to work with him on some home projects, I’m honored.

Fernapple replies on Oct 27, 2018:

Good for choosing someone real.

Did the Bible make you an Atheist?

Fernapple comments on Oct 9, 2018:

No arrogant theists, and especially some of my school teachers made me an Atheist. (Including one who tried to teach his pupils that animals had no feelings or emotions, only mechanical behaviour which just seemed to replicate human emotion, and that therefore it was wrong to feel empathy for ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 27, 2018:

@NoMagicCookie Yes It was just theistic school teachers, that is what I meant, though this was a long time ago and most school teachers were theistic in those days. I am of course talking about the UK where the separation of church and state was never a fact, and indeed R.E. was the only subject teachers were compelled to teach.

What makes/made you happy today?

Hebert54 comments on Oct 26, 2018:

Waking up.

Fernapple replies on Oct 26, 2018:

Another day!

God’s Intelligent Design?

Fernapple comments on Oct 26, 2018:

Number 4. "Juxtaposition of the food tube and the air tube and thus people can (and do) choke to death - " You could add that most other animals do not suffer from this feature. If he could get it right for them ?

Fernapple replies on Oct 26, 2018:

@johnprytz That's it, I think, but don't quote me, that it is because we had to lower our larinx inorder to speak in a more refined way.

Would you consider yourself difficult to get along with, deal with, or live with?

LiterateHiker comments on Oct 26, 2018:

"You need to dumb down your conversation," a man said within 10 minutes of meeting. "Men are intimidated by your intelligence and class." I was appalled. "Speak for yourself," I replied. "Obviously *you* are intimidated by my intelligence. I refuse to act stupid to mollify the insecure ego of a ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 26, 2018:

@graceylou A huge disappointment to my parents too, you choose the people you get on with you do not choose your parents, therefore you are no more likely to please them than you are any random stranger.

This one is really thought provoking, and you are free to have as much fun speculating as you wish.

phxbillcee comments on Oct 25, 2018:

Just as in the end of the Cretaceous, the die off of the dinos, I think it is a host of factors that led to the Cambrian Explosion. Very probably all of the ones mentioned here, but possibly some other factors we haven't discovered yet. We've made great strides in our understanding, & have filled in...

Fernapple replies on Oct 25, 2018:

Exactly, that is what make it so much fun, we just keep learning more all the time and yet there is alway still more yet to wonder and speculate about. Like the Cambrian post a lot.

I certainly claim the title of “nerd” .

Renickulous comments on Oct 25, 2018:

Nerds are the best people

Fernapple replies on Oct 25, 2018:

They care about and are interested in things, what could be better!

A thought crossed my mind and I'd like the input/opinions of others on it.

CommonHuman comments on Oct 24, 2018:

I think they're scared. I think they genuinely believe that only the thought of a deity father figure prepared to smack you down is the only thing preventing more mass murders, cannibalism, chaos, basically rampaging Ids. They're worried one or more of us could snap at any moment and run around ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 25, 2018:

They meet with a hard sell that they have the only way to morallity every week, because that is what makes power and money for the people who control the churches. It is like someone going into your garden, picking the apples of your trees, and then ringing your doorbell to sell you some fruit.

What is the funniest gift you have received?

Fernapple comments on Oct 24, 2018:

Not perhaps funny ha-ha but funny kind of sad. An old lady gave me a copy of the New English Bible, because she though that an atheist/agnostic, was someone who had difficulty with the old fashioned language in the King James version.

Fernapple replies on Oct 25, 2018:

@DaringDavid Good idea, and you could go round hotel rooms and put markers in all the bibles there.

@terrylove mentioned something he reads every day as an inspiration.

Fernapple comments on Oct 24, 2018:

I read something on a coffee shop wall nearly every week. But I especially like. Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of spring ,/ The winter garment of repentance fling: / The bird of time has but a little way, / To fly - and Lo! the bird is on the wing. E. Fitzgerald.

Fernapple replies on Oct 24, 2018:

@SukiSue Speaking as one well into the second half, enjoy, it is often the best.

Atheists - Less Vices

AtheistReader comments on Oct 24, 2018:

“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” ― Elizabeth Taylor

Fernapple replies on Oct 24, 2018:

@WarmFluffy Not everyone agrees what is vice and what is virtue, Many consider blind faith a virtue. And I find it very unwise and annoying.

Watch this one and wonder if we will get lucky. [youtube.com]

dalefvictor comments on Oct 23, 2018:

We need to know what it is fusing as it gets to iron it goes immediately.

Fernapple replies on Oct 24, 2018:

I see, you would think that there would be some sort of spectral evidence available for that?

"When you are not able to forgive an indiscretion against you, you give that person power over you.

SukiSue comments on Oct 23, 2018:

I may be famous and you just haven't figured it out yet! ?

Fernapple replies on Oct 24, 2018:

Oop's!

The Ginkgo in the garden now is just coming up to full colour, I hope this weeks winds are not going...

RussRAB comments on Oct 24, 2018:

Beautiful! Fall colors aren't as vibrant in Texas as I remember as a kid growing up in Ohio. Something I miss.

Fernapple replies on Oct 24, 2018:

That's good, people usually think that we can not match the US for fall colour on this side of the sea, but we do get a few odd displays worth noticing, glad you liked it.

Shipwreck found in Black Sea is 'world's oldest intact A Greek merchant ship dating back more ...

Jnei comments on Oct 23, 2018:

This got me wondering what the oldest *non-intact* shipwreck ever found is. It turns out it's a site just off the coast of Dokos in the Aegean, and dates to 2700-2200 BCE - so it's potentially twice as old as this one. Being in much shallower, oxygenated water, nothing is left of the ship nor ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 23, 2018:

You can see a part ship, called the Kyrenia ship, from the 4th century BCE in North Cyprus in the castle museum at Grirne, it does have some of the timbers and is rather lovely in that you almost feel you can touch the woodwork.Noth Cyprus is lovely for holidays but it is even interesting to look up on line.

The Ginkgo in the garden now is just coming up to full colour, I hope this weeks winds are not going...

JackPedigo comments on Oct 23, 2018:

Wow, I will think about planting that in my area.

Fernapple replies on Oct 23, 2018:

Gets big, so make sure you have the space. Or if you are my age you just leave it for the millenials to sort out.

The silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it needs a very clever woman to manage a ...

IamNobody comments on Oct 23, 2018:

Little did I know, Rudyard Kipling knew my wife !!!!!..... Yes, she is very clever ??

Fernapple replies on Oct 23, 2018:

I read a stat somewhere about the happiest marriages being those where the woman has the highest IQ, so I guess you could be very lucky.

The Ginkgo in the garden now is just coming up to full colour, I hope this weeks winds are not going...

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Oct 23, 2018:

Now there is a long-lived tree. You have reminded me of the ginko I saw as an exchange student to Germany. It was in a palace courtyard in Braunschweig, reportedly a gift to Henrey the Lion-hearted from Marco Polo, brought from China. That was the story, anyway. And the tree was ancient.

Fernapple replies on Oct 23, 2018:

Thank you that's a great story, it is long lived in another sense being a so called living fossil as well, a very early conifer which was once thought extinct. And the Marco Polo extra is a nice romance anywa,y even if it is not quite true. (I think the import was a bit later but don't quote me.)

Why Doesn't Ancient Fiction Talk About Feelings?

genessa comments on Oct 22, 2018:

the article is about reshaping the mind; the observation, which may or may not be apt (i think it is partly true and partly untrue), that ancient literature doesn't deal with feelings, is almost a side issue. g

Fernapple replies on Oct 23, 2018:

I agree the article is more about reshaping minds, it skips quickly over the one important fact about how ancient litrature differs from the modern when it mentions the printing press mainly only in one paragraph. And the example it picks to start is not truely fiction at all, but would have been seen as history by the standards of the day. The real difference is that before the press a large library was five books, at a cost of thousands of dollars each in todays money, and those few books had to cover at lot of bases, the bible was a popular book because it covered history, fiction, physics, natural history etc. there simply was not space for a lot of detail, or to create a lot of book types, with a few exceptions there simply was not a difference between history and fiction, which is why it is so foolish to take old books like the bible as factual.

This is really the deep past.

Heraclitus comments on Oct 22, 2018:

Shades of abiogenesis!

Fernapple replies on Oct 23, 2018:

Yes, there are though many different ideas about the origins of life, it would be good to do a post on all of them, I will try if I can find them.

Atheist = Depressed?

ladyprof70 comments on Oct 22, 2018:

IF there is a relationship, I would bet it's not the religious ideas, per se, but rather the sense of community often found in churches. Except for something like this site, there are really few equivalents (if any?) in the nonbelievers' world. There is plenty of evidence that for a lot of people ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 22, 2018:

Maybe it will come with time, nature fills a vacuum and as religion fades...

So good people of the universe, how do you all handle the assumption from Christians that you ...

redbai comments on Oct 22, 2018:

I ignore it unless pressed, then I tell them that I'm an atheist. It seems to disappoint them that I'm not a screaming monster as an atheist but someone they thought was a good person. The dichotomy is something that they find difficult to deal with.

Fernapple replies on Oct 22, 2018:

I think that's the best way to insert the thin end of the wedge.

Watch this one and wonder if we will get lucky. [youtube.com]

Charlene comments on Oct 22, 2018:

Ahhh a shame alot of us won't get to see it..

Fernapple replies on Oct 22, 2018:

You never know.

I'm sure this question must have been asked here before.

Misanthrope comments on Oct 21, 2018:

Never really had a realization. It was more like I slowly lost my grip on it. When I was young, I wanted to believe. I became depressed before my teens, in great part due to my doubts. I wanted the peace and joy it seemed to bring to my peers and elders; the ignorant bliss of a person certain of ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 22, 2018:

That's the best and most certain way.

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells

Diogenes comments on Oct 21, 2018:

Stupid people love to be stupid, and they will make things as bad as their non-brains will allow them.

Fernapple replies on Oct 22, 2018:

Too true, and often they are not even aware that it is their actions that are making things bad.

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells

rcandlish comments on Oct 21, 2018:

And has we rush towards catastrophe on a global scale, politicians of every creed in almost every country insist on dumbing down the educational standards. For example, teaching science from comic book rather than in a laboratory. Of course we have nothing to fear about global warming!

Fernapple replies on Oct 21, 2018:

Understanding, which is what the word education really means, is the first and most important tool we have for everything.

This is really the deep past.

Cutiebeauty comments on Oct 21, 2018:

It works... Good job, and welcome

Fernapple replies on Oct 21, 2018:

Thanks.

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells

Marionville comments on Oct 21, 2018:

Even educated people believe the most illogical things and disbelieve scientific proof in favour of conspiracy theories, so don’t entirely agree with Wells.

Fernapple replies on Oct 21, 2018:

Yes that is very true. I think that Wells clung to a dream of universal good education resulting in an age of reason, he was a child of the nineteenth century after all. Yet it could also be taken as a warning, in the age of environmental danger, though it was political and economic concerns that were his main point.

hardblues69 anyone remember this parents telling us we could not shower if it was storming out?

genessa comments on Oct 20, 2018:

my folks never said that. now we turn off our computers when it storms -- well, i don't. i once had my computer turned off and a storm hit and fried the motherboard ANYWAY so now i think, what good will it do to turn it off? g

Fernapple replies on Oct 21, 2018:

@genessa Sorry mean my wifi modem.

hardblues69 anyone remember this parents telling us we could not shower if it was storming out?

genessa comments on Oct 20, 2018:

my folks never said that. now we turn off our computers when it storms -- well, i don't. i once had my computer turned off and a storm hit and fried the motherboard ANYWAY so now i think, what good will it do to turn it off? g

Fernapple replies on Oct 20, 2018:

Best thing is to disconect from the landline.

The Evil Amoral Atheist - BionicDance [youtube.com]

Marionville comments on Oct 20, 2018:

Excellent....! Makes perfect sense to me. Jordan Peterson is a self opinionated so called guru for young males with impressionable minds, does anyone else take him seriously ?

Fernapple replies on Oct 20, 2018:

I don't think that anyone here takes him seriously. But sadly.......

The instinctive need be the member of a closely knit group fighting for common ideals may grow so...

rcandlish comments on Oct 20, 2018:

Usually in cases of extreme compromise there is a sexual element present.

Fernapple replies on Oct 20, 2018:

It can be an element in the mix, but I certainly do not think it is the main one. If I was to make a guess, and it is only a guess, then I would say that the main motivation for grouping is to avoid personal individual responsibility, and thereby be able to remain forever childlike without ever having to face hard questions. And having given over our concience to the group, any successful challenge from without to the group would require us to be adult again, therefore the group must be defended at all cost.

The instinctive need be the member of a closely knit group fighting for common ideals may grow so...

camne comments on Oct 20, 2018:

Not everyone has such "instincts".

Fernapple replies on Oct 20, 2018:

I think that we all have the same basic instincts, only truly unhealthy psycopaths would do not have the common instincts, but some of us use and control them better than others. And if we do not have the social instinct, of which he is only talking about the most extreme form, then why would we ever join any social group at all.

No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are ...

rcandlish comments on Oct 20, 2018:

Society no! Individuals?????

Fernapple replies on Oct 20, 2018:

Yes, while the individual may suffer, so does society. Without a minimum of justice there can be no confidence and without confidence who will take risks, who will invent, who will invest, who will work hard for the greater good, who will plan wisely. And if none of that is done why not take all you have, flee to some other country and leave your homeland bankrupt.

Capitalism works on much the same principle as evolution.

FaithInOneself comments on Sep 16, 2018:

Capitalism is worshiped by Christians as they need the coffers filled every weekend. It's a business.

Fernapple replies on Oct 19, 2018:

True, churches are just companies.

A Proof That The Square Root of Two Is Irrational - DONG [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Oct 17, 2018:

Wonderful, the things you can find on this site.

Fernapple replies on Oct 18, 2018:

@phxbillcee It is the first time I have been able to follow that proof, tough I would need to see it several times more to remember it. No use to me at all but great fun.

Why are humans so slow to learn?

Suzanna comments on Oct 14, 2018:

I agree. He is building foundation of Ethics. Also my favorite Philosopher. Also his books are not long, nor surprisingly boring.

Fernapple replies on Oct 17, 2018:

I read him too though unlike you I do not agree with him mostly. Yet I too am glad I read him, because, yes he is FUN, it is good to read what the other side thinks, and the first thing you learn from history if you bother with it, and he is an important part of history, is the real truth of the saying. "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes."

Interesting Article About Dog Intelligence Levels

Tomfoolery33 comments on Oct 16, 2018:

I have a German Shepherd, and I'm surprised they're that high on the list.

Fernapple replies on Oct 16, 2018:

The variation between individuals is often greater than than that between breeds. Just the same as when you read studies of human demographic groups.

Why does Agnostic.com only have less than 51,000 members ?

SukiSue comments on Oct 16, 2018:

Personally, I ditched Myspace when it got too big. Then I ditched Facebook when it got to big. If this site gets too big and icky I'll move on too. Bigger isn't always better. Sometimes, when it comes to social sites, bigger can get messy. I have already seen an increase in fighting on this site ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 16, 2018:

Like you post and hope mine which says much the same thing does not steal your thunder.

Spirituality: Same nonsense by another name?

Krish55 comments on Oct 9, 2018:

For me , being spiritual merely means being concerned with more than the material.

Fernapple replies on Oct 16, 2018:

@The-Krzyz I could not agree more about the "plain old material universe". Wanting to 'transcend' only means that you can not truly appreiciate what you really have.

The summer season ends for me (as the photo shows) at the last 'plant fair', at a wonderful old ...

Leafhead comments on Oct 16, 2018:

We had all kinds of plant sales and exchanges everywhere in Dane Cty, WI, until a nasty hitchhiker ruined it. Due to the invasive Asian jumping worm, we can no longer trade or sell plants that have been dug. Many are now catered with annuals in pots, but I have always preferred perennials

Fernapple replies on Oct 16, 2018:

That is very sad, I like perennials most of all myself, it would be a real blow if that happened here. Hope someone finds an answer for you.

The summer season ends for me (as the photo shows) at the last 'plant fair', at a wonderful old ...

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Oct 16, 2018:

I just attended the New Orleans Fall Garden Fest at the City Park botanical gardens. Even bought 5 rose bushes. :) Here, it is not so much an end of gardening season event as it is the start of fall and winter gardening season. I sometimes still have a few rose blooms at Christmas. We have ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 16, 2018:

Thank you, I love hearing about other gardeners lives.

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me / The Quarrel of the Universe let be: / And, in some ...

rcandlish comments on Oct 16, 2018:

Attribution should be to Omar Khayyam, Fitzgerald is merely the most renowned translator into English. Wonderful quote though!

Fernapple replies on Oct 16, 2018:

Thank you I love all of it, and am glad you do too, (May post more.) And yes it is perhaps true that you should credit O. Khayyam as well, I am sometimes too hasty when I post, although the E.F. translation is usually regarded as a paraphrase which has only a little to do with the original and owes much more his own imagination.

Does historical studies influence a person to walk against beliefs?

Coffeo comments on Oct 12, 2018:

Not influenced by history — influenced by science.

Fernapple replies on Oct 15, 2018:

Good history, and I do mean 'good' should be a science. And don't forget 'Science History' which is one of the best and easiest ways for many people to come to science.

The future of religion

EricTX comments on Oct 14, 2018:

As human knowledge increases, the need for a supernatural explanation diminishes and the absurdity of traditional fairy tales as truth becomes obvious. Human progress = Irrelevancy of human religion. Old data but trending in the right direction: ...

Fernapple replies on Oct 15, 2018:

Education, though only true education, is the enemy of faith, but that is why churches are always so keen to get their hands on schools. We must still be wary.

What is the correlation between intelligence and a sense of humor?

FynTul comments on Oct 12, 2018:

Humor is still a mystery, or so they say. It has devolved to something of a secret among the wise that laughter is a pain response, or more precisely expecting pain but surprised when it doesn't come. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223159/

Fernapple replies on Oct 15, 2018:

Yes I agree, all humour involves setting up a threat and then taking it away. Observational humour; it is not a threat because it happened to me before and I survived. Ethnic humour; it happened to someone we don't care about. Irony: it is not a threat because it is always there hidden. And so on.

Consciousness may be the brain's way of dealing w/ entropy. [ibtimes.com]

Fernapple comments on Oct 14, 2018:

Please enlarge.

Fernapple replies on Oct 15, 2018:

@ElementX74 That's OK, it is just that my entropy stops my brain dealing with consciousness.