Returned from our trip to find an ice storm did a number on our poor willow trees.

Fernapple comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Willows have wonderful powers of recovery, probably better than any other trees, they will come back very quickly.

Spot the Andromeda Galaxy Overhead This Week [space.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2018:

I love the Andromeda Galaxy mainly because, here in the UK at least, there is only one night in ten or twenty that you can see it with just your eye. So that it becomes a small but interesting challenge when you are out at night, first see if you can get into a dark enough area, then get your eyes adjusted, then can you see the milky way and if you can then try the galaxy. We do not have many very good dark sky areas in the UK because of our high population , and many cities. I remember one night when we had to walk though the village with a visitor from the city, who was well turned forty, and she wanted to know what the strange shimmering stripe in the sky was, and we explained that it was the milky way. She was delighted because she had never seen it before. So I told her that in ancient Egypt they thought it looked like a naked woman, but that I could not see it and thought it was a case of some people seeing naked women everywhere. She was however delighted again and said that the shape was plainly there. But sadly I still can't see it.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument Debunked.

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2018:

Two slight other variants. There is only one universe, but since time has no arrow, at the big crunch it reverses and goes backward to the big bang again. And for a slight joke, but still with true meaning. The universe could be intelligently created, but since we do not know how hard it is to create one, for all we know it could be quite easy. Which means that, we ourselves could be creating universes already without knowing it, or someone could build a universe making machine tomorrow even using quite low tech that we have today. It may be easier to create universes than to travel to the nearest star when you are in one. Therefore in some other universe the janitor got bored of sweeping the lab floor one night when everyone had gone home. So he switched on the little machine and pushed the green button a couple of times just for fun, and we are the result. Therefore god is a janitor! But seriously, there are so many possibles that the only, HONEST, answer is. "Don't know." The problem however is that people educated in a theist view, simply can not understand honesty, because they have been trained to think that truth is the equivalent of wish fulfillment. Therefore the idea of a truth even subjective truth let alone the objective sort, becomes quite beyond their grasp, especially since they are taught that truth does not require effort, but only confirmation of their hopes, and so therefore honesty is beyond their grasp too.

Help. Is it worth it turning down everything I believed since I was born in this world?

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2018:

You can not force yourself to believe anything, the idea that you can choose faith is not real, and is a fantasy of mind control only dreamed up by the most evil parts of religious dictatorships. You can only be yourself and try to help those around you be the best and happiest they can be too. You are not alone, many on this site have been where you are now, they all survived, and will be happy to help you survive too. You do not have to "come out" not speaking is not the same as telling a lie, and if you do not share someones faith you can still be happy for them if they are happy even if it is because of something you do not share.

Please consider small store shopping today.

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2018:

And don't forget real nurseries who grow their own plants, not garden centers, you will also then get something different and help to keep rare plants going.

Like button

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2018:

Yes. do not push the like button, just hover over it, then go down the menu and click your choice just once, you only click once; if you double click it wipes the click on the like button which counts as a like itself. Sometimes you have to wait a second for it to come up, be patient.

I’m my own god

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2018:

If you make your own moral choices and try to make them fit the world as you find it, then you are a great deal better than any gods.

Those who know nothing and ask questions are smarter than those who know nothing and give answers.

Fernapple comments on Nov 23, 2018:

The difference between science and religion in a nutshell.

Hello, I'm new to the site.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

No one here will, I think, judge you for being a none believer don't worry. They will almost certainly tell you that they don't like your taste in politicians, climate laws, clothes, hats, salad dressings, hotels, pets, cars, poets, TV, sports clubs, pot plants, and table cloths etc. But never for your lack of belief. (And generally they will be friendly whatever they think of you.)

Do you think it is inevitable that with increasing understanding and the resulting applied ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

It is to be hoped that we will find some way to genetically control ourselves. Because at this time all the selective forces that come from increasing civilization will only have a negative effect on us. Somebody once said that our next step forward in evolution is to become too stupid to use contraceptives, because then we breed faster. Civilization also removes most of the selective dangers which helped design us and made us social animals, leaving only sexual selection to act on our evolution. That will increase sexual dimorphism. (We will get larger more aggressive males and smaller more passive females, the feminists nightmare.) Until eventually we are too stupid and and socially disorganized to feed ourselves or repair our machines. Then we go extinct. The machines do not have to make war on us like the "Terminator" or other machine monsters of science fiction, they have only to break down or stop feeding, the by then helpless humans, and we die.

Hey everyone.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

Welcome. Enjoy. And certainly talk away. This is the only place I know where I can drivel on endlessly as much as I like, and they actually give me points for it!

You can’t clean something without making something else dirty.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

Bit like energy then.

Why are so many people so seldom persuaded by clear evidence and rational argument?

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

The total failing of the Western Worlds education systems to teach even the basics of thinking.

Today's headline on CNN: Charges dropped in first federal genital mutilation case in US I'm no ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

In the UK FGM is against the law, but no one has ever been prosecuted, which about says it all.

Ruin Thanksgiving in 4 words. Go.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

Some more smallpox natives ?

Public service announcement.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

Is this a selffy ?

Before I sign out

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

Primates should not be kept, it is almost impossible to give any primate a happy life in captive confinement. I am not a great fan of animal rights on the whole, but I do think that we could at least extend a few of the more basic human rights to cover our nearest kin. The photo is of course sentimental, but that is not always the same as untrue.

I have no idea what a person has to do to get above Level 1.

Fernapple comments on Nov 22, 2018:

You have to be at level two to send messages, but it takes almost no time to get there.

'Sweet Kate' Spiderwort. Do you prefer foliage or the flower?

Fernapple comments on Nov 21, 2018:

It only seems to live for a few years with me here in the UK, you are very lucky if it both lives and set seeds.

Another one from Dorothy Parker.

Fernapple comments on Nov 21, 2018:

On the tomb of Spike Milligan. "See I told you I was ill."

What is the most interesting thing you have seen from an airplane?

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

The alps, with low white cloud in all the valleys, so that the whole range looked like an ice cream desert.

Anyone here read Dr Dawkins book, 'The Selfish Gene?'

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

I have read nearly all his books and generally found them very good. It is a little sad that he gave the title that he did to that book, and I know that he said that he regrets it now. In part because it gives a hostage to the creationists who say that believing that a gene could be selfish implies that it could have intent, and that he therefore is making a god of it. It was his first book and I find that it is not such a good read now as, Unweaving The Rainbow, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion, all of which are "must" reads, and should be taught in every school. River Out Of Eden does evolutionary theory very well too.

What social media app do you use the most on your phone?

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

Did Facebook for work and it killed nearly all my interest in social media, until I found this site. Will still have to do facebook, but hate it, some people say it is evil, I don't know but it sure is boring.

Name 5 cities in the world you would visit if you had the time and resources before 2018 ends.

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

Singapore , because its so new. Athens, because its so old. St. Petersburg, because its so beautiful. Kyoto, for the gardens. Girne, in Cyprus, for the memory and a beautiful lady.

Are there any Australians in this group?

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

Check the members map under "Browse Members".

Is cancer a deliberate business?

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

If this is circulating on the web, then it must be the silliest conspiracy theory ever. Why would anyone be motivated to do that ? And secondly, there never will be a cure for cancer as such, that common phrase "cure for cancer" is an oxymoron, because cancer is not one disease. Cancer is a whole range of many different breakdowns of many types of the cells natural workings, which occur in different ways across a large range of different cell types. You could no more find a cure for cancer than find a cure for smallpox, a broken leg and the common cold as well. What will hopefully be found over time is a whole range of cures and treatments, some very specific and some with a broad range of applications, which will gradually take away the dangers of many cancers, one or in small groups at a time. This is typical of false news setting up a straw man idea, which has to be impossible, and then creating a conspiracy theory when nothing happens.

What I learned from going blind in space | Chris Hadfield - TED [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

Great wonderful talk, it is always a pleasure to listen to a great story teller (under rated art), this is one of the best yet makes me glad I came to this site.

Do you peruse before you pounce?

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

No, but it is a good idea. I tend to type in haste then find I have upset someone, sometimes that is because they have not read properly, but often it is just because I wrote in haste. (But then I have the attention span of a mayfly, so people maybe should make allowance for that. Joke.)

?

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

Yep that makes me smile. Though even funnier, in a sad sort of way, I am told that some artists in the middle ages often covered up the belly area with fig leaves or whatever, because the problem of Adam and Eve's navels was regarded as so serious by the church that you could find yourself in deep trouble, ( the usual jail, torture, take all your money, burn you if it was a cold day, etc ) if you got it wrong according to whoever was in power at the time. They certainly had a sense of humour back then.

“Noaaaaaah!”

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

Some will take this as history.

"Isn't an agnostic just an atheist without balls?" Stephen Colbert

Fernapple comments on Nov 20, 2018:

You can be both, being realistic and facing up to the limits of your knowledge. I always say that I am Agnostic by reason and Atheist by faith. The one thing that theists can not handle is honesty, since there is nothing in their thought world, ( Where the truth is anything you invent if you choose to believe it. ) that gives them any understanding of that.

American Thanksgiving is different from ours.

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2018:

The native Americans gave the Europeans food, and the Europeans gave them smallpox and influenza in return. Now that's something to celebrate.

PragerFU: Does Science Argue For or Against God? - misterdeity [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2018:

The trick they use is to set up a deist god so vague that it can't be disproved, and then hope that nobody will notice when they make the quick jump to the theist god.

[facebook.com] I am easily amused. I can't stop laffing

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2018:

Sometimes you have just got to hit something.

Do you think inheritance of millions or billions of dollars is good for children?

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2018:

A stat came out here a year or two ago, which said that when people reached an income of 15000 pounds, (about twenty thousand dollars then) per year, then it was not found that any extra income increased their happiness at all. But all people do want to feel that they are valued, and that means, doing something useful and working at something worth while, which is something that the rich often do not do.

Do you celebrate Christmas?

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2018:

I love to celebrate the mid winter on the shortest day. For the, some times, loveliness of winter itself, and for the knowledge of what the returning sun will bring. You can decorate the house with evergreens, go for a winter wall, especially with friends, and of course feast. It does not even have to be the pre-Christian pagan festival, but just something more simple about the wobble of the earth, without which most of the northern hemisphere would not be livable. You will only see the seasons maybe fifty times as an adult, you need to make the most of your chances.

What's a Basal Breed? [nationalpurebreddogday.com] interesting...

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2018:

Interesting, but on the whole I do not approve of pure bred dog breeding. To take an animal as wonderful and capable of so much as a dog, and to think of nothing better to do with it than to genetically disable it and repeatedly inbreed it, merely for ornamental fancy, seems to me to be a failure of taste and understanding easily equal to that needed for joining a sky daddy religious cult.

I just handed some errant mail that landed in my mailbox to my neighbour, to whom it was addressed.

Fernapple comments on Nov 19, 2018:

THese things usually seem to come in all together, I guess that when you have trained (or untrained ) your mind to believe one rubbish set of ideas, then the rest come easily.

Allium purple sensation Mandarin lights azalea Siberian Iris Caesar's brother You can tell the ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Picking them off should work, as this late in the year there should not be time for any more.

Just joined and saying hello. Here for the community and perhaps meet some like-minded UK folks.

Fernapple comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Hello, enjoy, and try to find time to go through the groups list, there really is something for everyone.

Trump is THE anti-Humanist . Can I (or you) say this on the main site?

Fernapple comments on Nov 18, 2018:

You can say a lot on this site, its is, and I hope will remain, a very broad church, and seems to welcome debate. But if you do post things people may disagree with, don't be upset if you do not get the response you expected. Also as most of the members come from the US, as a UK inhabitant I tend to avoid US politics, since I do not think that I have the deep understanding of it that the majority of people there do, and can not therefore add much, and I think they do not need lectures from the English. Having said that Trump does not seem to be a complex issue. Don't know about one, but two you can say it on this site.

I admire greatly the late Dorothy Parker for the sharpness of her wit, and for the next day or so I...

Fernapple comments on Nov 18, 2018:

I always remember her statement to a lady journalist about gardening and horticulture. People will have to look it up for themselves though because I think it would get me banned from the site if I used it.

“Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 18, 2018:

How true. And how sad that so much of human education in the widest sense is about teaching people to be afraid of getting it wrong, since that just teaches people to be afraid of ideas, and therefore of life. ( Half the loathing of skepticism shown by theists may well come from the fear, that their pride will be hurt if they have to face up to the fact that they have devoted a lot of their lives and resources to a wrong idea. Yet there is nothing lost by facing up to errors, and knowing that they are not sins, and so much wonder and joy to be gained. )

I apologize for forgetting to post this. It completely slipped my mind. ? [apost.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 17, 2018:

Oh dear, as I get older I am finding it easier to remember things, should I be worried?

You are not alone.

Fernapple comments on Nov 17, 2018:

Be afraid of winning. Those who feel they are winning the argument keep talking, those who know they will loose it reach for their weapons.

It's so funny how people assume all atheists are liberal, arrogant, conceded, assholes who wants ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 16, 2018:

I think someone once said. "I will never be a good atheist, I can't stand the taste of babies."

I believe this to be true.

Fernapple comments on Nov 16, 2018:

Hard to argue with that. Being able to change created a whole system of thinking, they call it science.

Is it possible to live a normal life and not ever tell a lie?

Fernapple comments on Nov 16, 2018:

Some people find it very hard to lie, and it makes life very difficult. Some people call them "autistic".

Religion and Art

Fernapple comments on Nov 16, 2018:

Simple; yet perhaps the best of all, just some flowers in the window of an old English church. The Reformation made the parish churches here with their cool stone, lack of ornament and plain white walls ideal for the florist.

Religion and Art

Fernapple comments on Nov 16, 2018:

Church in cave on the island of Crete.

Religion and Art

Fernapple comments on Nov 16, 2018:

Statues of saints on the Old Bridge Prague.

Stephen and Ricky Discuss Religion (again)

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

On this site lot of people post about, "what is the meaning of life". This is just silly it is obvious. The reason human beings exist, is to make dogs happy. Obvious.

How stupid am I for wanting to marry a virgin?

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

You should choose a partner based on the important things that you share, such as your likes and dislikes. When you enter into a relationship, you will know how trivial such things are, but being OCD about nothing will never make you an appealing partner for anyone.

I've noticed that most members on the site, at least in my area are over 40.

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

Older people generally have more time for community, and are not so busy doing all the things that make you grow old quickly.

Just how dedicated are you to agnosticism?

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

Most people on this site do not seem to be here for the dating, but for the community, Check out the range of groups, there is something for everyone.

Pasqueflower - Pulsatilla This is a cool flower.

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

I think silky is better than hairy, they really are stroke-able, and so are the new leaves.

Nothing is more frightful than to see ignorance in action - Goethe

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

Ignorance acts while wisdom stops to think.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

We all allow ourselves to be put on the railway track far too easily, getting off is a lot more difficult. Yet most people could do all of those if they tried, how much of the richness of life is lost through acceptance.

I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.

Fernapple comments on Nov 15, 2018:

Too many people on this site agree with me ; I had better go.

"We are all born atheists until someone starts telling us lies!" - I wrote out these thoughts quite ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Nice analogy, but do not think that the world really needs any analogs, for what is basically easy enough to understand. (If you have an open mind.) Could make a good story.

Scienctific fact is that we r more attracted to people with extra weight because they have access to...

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2018:

It is hard to say in evolutionary terms, obesity could be attractive because it means you are fit, clever and able to get more food, useful things when we lived in the proverbial caves; or it could be unattractive because it means you are greedy selfish and a bully. I think it will take many years of detailed scientific work yet, to sort that one out. But as Donobelieve says, healthy and fit are certainly more important, and of course few people today , (Apart perhaps from a few Sumo wrestlers.) are fit and obese.

Do you think we ought consider a re-write of the Ten Commandments specifically for the Third ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2018:

Look on the web and you will find dozens, it has been done a lot of times already. But the real question is what is the point unless someone is going to enforce it, without a church or some central authority it is just another version on the pile. It would be great if some government establishment would give people the chance to vote, which is the democratic will and the only authority available now, on something like a constitution, for the state, the continent or even the UN, but they won't. And without a vote what standing would it have. And what could the world agree on, anyway? While if you put in something meaningful such as. "You will not govern people without their consent." That may have been possible in the 18th century when they penned the American constitution, but no political establishment would let people vote on something as dangerous to them as that is, today.

Anyone else wish it was more socially acceptable to run to places just be cause it's quicker?

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2018:

I always run when I like, and I am well turned sixty. And I don't have to wear special clothes to do it.

ARISTOTLE WAS WRONG: STORY AND THE MIND [youtu.be]

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2018:

The video does not however mention the great danger in the arts, especially story telling, which is that an artist can adjust our dreams by quite deliberately pushing our biggest emotional buttons. And when that is combined with the fact that an artist can create a totally false universe within the story, which though it may be self consistent does not match with reality, or at least with the input we get from the none artistic world, it becomes very dangerous. To use the videos "tiger" as an example, supposing a village story teller told all the children that the village hunters had killed all the tigers in the forest, when they had not, and dressed that story with all the story tellers skill and dramatic license, until the children were enthralled. You can see the problem. This is why books like the bible are so good at making evil in the world, while seeming to be so good to many people. And the greatest threat to truth, wisdom, and understanding has always been the huge volume of received folly we get from our cultures. I do not wish to go down Plato's route, but have to point out the big glaring error in the video, which is when the narrator equates fascism with anti-art, in fact most dictatorships and fascist movements are among the heaviest investors in the arts, (Stalin spent vast sums, Hitler was an artist and collector who spent and stole even more.) exactly because they know that the arts are the best way to distort the peoples world view. Especially because the arts in order to self promote tend to create the idea of "artistic truth", which is falsely claimed to be on a higher or even "spiritual" (Yuck) level than other truths, and this so called source of truth can be used by dictators and equated with their lies quite easily, exactly because of course it has no connection to objective truth, which the pro-arts lobby often make clear they despise. And of course since the mid - twentieth century the arts world has been very busy trying to distance itself from its involvement with those evil powers, making the small number of artists who did not take the dictators silver, into secular saints and declaring those who did to be false artists, (As though there could be false and true if you believe in the artistic none objective truth, a clear case of trying to have it both ways.) But the religious belief in artistic truth must be protected at all cost, until it can be sold again, perhaps even to be used again by people of evil intent. Do not get me wrong , I do love the arts and think that they enrich the world and my life greatly, I am not anti-art, just opposed to the widespread idea that they can be a source of truth. It is no accident that the word "story" is sometimes used as a synonym for "lie".

I want to fall in love and be loved. I wonder why that is so hard

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2018:

It is one of those things that get harder the more you try, it will not happen until you chill. It happens to most people sooner or later, especially if you are not self absorbed. Speaking as someone who is, I think, a LOT older, all I can say is that you do not always "fall" in love, often it just creeps up on you over time and one day you turn round and realize that you have been deeply in love for a long time, and had only just noticed. The way to find it, I think, though it may not be the same for everyone, is not to go dating etc. but to do things that interest you socially, help with a charity, join a walking club, travel with a group, etc. Not only will that widen your circle of friends, but it will widen it especially among people who share your interests and likes, and while you are doing it you will also widen your experiences, and that will make you seem a more interesting and worth while person to those who may love you. Then one day one of your new friends will turn to you and say. "I would like you to meet .......... I know you have a lot in common." And then?

Reading and Its Influence

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2018:

Yes, the point you make about not reading just one type of writing is the most important thing. Reading is really a cheap and easy form of traveling, which proverbially broadens your mind; but it is of no use just to circle endlessly round your own small town streets. It is not the mileage you do, but how far from home it takes you.

For those of us who like to grow flowers, are there any colors you prefer not to grow?

Fernapple comments on Nov 13, 2018:

Some people say that orange is a hard colour to use in the garden, because it is the colour which most tends to clash with green, which is of course the main hue in most gardens. It is only a hypothetical clash based on the colour wheel colour theory, but it does seem to be hard to use well even in practice so perhaps it is true.

The Best of All Possible Worlds Let's assume for the here and now that the traditional ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 12, 2018:

This is basically the "argument from evil" which is one of the better arguments against god, since it cuts to the quick and is easy to understand. Some people do not like it because it does have some weakness. First: in that, as you say at the start, you are assuming that humans do not have free will but god does, a bit of having it both ways. Second: in that apologists resort to the "gods will is beyond understanding", argument, or in other words that we can not see all ends as he can, and that our present suffering may only be a small price we pay for greater things to come, or if you like, that gods purposes may be bigger than our pains. Third: that it only addresses creationist religions. However if you accept those and are prepared to meet them when facing apologists, then I still think it is one of the best arguments we have and perhaps the most natural intuitive one.

Good morning from chilli Scotland, what shall we get up to today. Hmmmm I wonder.

Fernapple comments on Nov 12, 2018:

Try Scotch and green ginger wine followed by a hot coffee. It works for me, it will not only make you feel a lot warmer but you won't care anyway.

The Extremely Fast Peopling of the Americas [theatlantic.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 12, 2018:

I have heard stories about how amazingly fast the Americas seem to have been peopled before. It always seemed strange to me that people should think it odd, after all there are no great athletic requirements to cover the ground. If you took a gentle stroll of less than ten miles per day you could cover the distance from Alaska to Chile in under ten years. It is wrong to assume that people at that time must have had a culture like that of modern nomads; since having no one before them they could easily and soon have grown a culture of moving constantly forwards, to grab only the most easily used of resources and then move on. Human nature may not change but the world we live in does.

Today is a good day to show some poppies.

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

I love poppies and your photos. For something that is said to be a common weed, I find that they can be hard to keep going in the garden, they are certainly pioneer plants liking turned disturbed ground best. If you wish to naturalize them then you need to save some seed, now and again, and sow it just to top up the natural regeneration. Other people on different soils to mine may not find it so, but this certainly seems the case where I am. Especially with the common red poppy and the Shirley hybrids. Can any of the US members tell me, do you have the Shirley Hybrids there?

The Parable of the Passing Bird One cold winter night, Socrates was invited to the home of one of...

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

I have heard the same story attributed to saint Collumba, it just shows you how easy it is to plagiarize, and how much of Christianity may be borrowed. I really like the photo.

A Stupid Observation Birds have cloacas.

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

Do you have a video?

I don't get this whole level thing

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

You do not have to pay any attention to it, just enjoy the site and the people in your own way and ignore it if you want.

Shout Out Loud and Clear to All Brothers and Sisters in Arms that Served and Sacrificed.

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

So be it. What would all those lost have done for us with the rest of their lives had they lived, so much waste.

[youtu.be] ted talks on how to prevent land from becoming desert

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

Interesting idea, if it does work it could be great. Still a little skeptical though since that is my nature.

Being a freethinker ...part 2

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

I think that what you are supposed to spot is that hight and speed at impact are one of the same. But as MarvelAnn points out there are too many variables, and does the wall fall vertically, or like most walls by falling over. If this is supposed to be a smart trick question it could be much better framed, this is just a muddle. Sorry to be harsh but, "could try harder".

What is the natural enermy of man

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2018:

Now that we are so dominant everywhere on the planet, we have become the number one natural food source, we already have more infectious diseases than any other animal. Soon being a human parasite will be the most viable life there is, and they will increase in numbers without limit.

and in...

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

Nothing enhances life half so much as teaching yourself to appreciate more.

Where Do You See Yourself In The Next 5-10 Years?

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

I always liked chaos theory, so who knows? Perhaps retired and enjoying travel, or perhaps living in a totalitarian society and standing behind the street barricades fighting for life. Who knows, take each day as it comes, but still invest for the future because it is worth a gamble.

One of my biggest pet peeves I have with theists is the argument from ignorance fallacy that I don't...

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

If they are talking about, say the creation, then (sorry I will try to keep it short) list as many other unproven possibilities as you can, infinite multi-verses, limited multi-verses, universe an illusion, universe created by alien technology in another universe, universe goes round in a cycle big bang to big crunch and starts again, or big bang to big fade, at the end of the universe time goes backward and it keeps going back and forth, universe created by unknown deist god, and so on. Then when they ask you which one you believe give the honest. "I don't know, without evidence I can not." answer. Honesty usually throws them since it is not something they encounter in church. Then make your point that if you do not know you can not just drop god in with no evidence. You will not persuade them, because they have been taught to believe that they are given knowledge of everything because they are the special chosen ones of god, but you will be left with the high ground.

What is it that makes humans still think that God and heaven and hell exists.

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

Look for a second at the big picture. Christians, who do hold that all three are real, may seem to dominate in the western world especially the US today, but though they are the largest single group they are not the majority world wide. Many among them do not believe in all three, many more people here in the UK and Europe see themselves as post Christian, early Jewish thinking did not include heaven and hell, they do not have meaning for Buddhist, Hindu or many early religions, perhaps the vast majority of people never held all three to be true. Human thinking is very flexible and changes all the time. There is hope yet.

"Freedom can occur only through education.

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

I only know the Ode To Joy in the choral symphony, obviously I missed some really good things. When there are so many great writers from the past, why was I made to spend so much of my education in R. E. and other dumbed down subjects ? Bad schooling is not just about anti-education and the teaching of false things, but also, very much, about a vast bulk of pseudo-education, the wasting of time and life on meaningless pap, so that none remains for real education; which is perhaps the main reason his wish can never come true. I have said it before, but it is worth repeating. State led education is about teaching people enough to be useful, but not enough to give them understanding, because that could make a challenge to the political establishment.

The Only Extinct Order of Marine Mammals - Desmostylians [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

Interesting I knew nothing of those before this.

I just had to share this, i was arguing religion with my mother and she said i'm not a very good ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

It may be flip and not relevant to your talk with your mother. But; you can not be a bad atheist; (which means not a theist) anymore than you can be bad at not playing golf, or bad at not being an airline pilot.

You speak English?

Fernapple comments on Nov 10, 2018:

I forgave pore speling, gramma an forget to use SHIFT quay, if IT is only a miss take, an you av somthing use full to say; But i hate it when popple think it cool to do it on purpose.

Seven Million Years of Human Evolution - American Museum of Natural History [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 9, 2018:

Wow. that makes the story really clear though the information was a bit packed in , especially towards the end, must watch it again.

Education.

Fernapple comments on Nov 9, 2018:

Our mainly state led education systems are perfect, in that government establishments want people educated enough to be useful, but not educated to the point where they can be challenging.

What's Your Favourite Food & Your Least Favourite?

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2018:

Like Mediterranean, Traditional English, Curry, fish, cheese and Salad, (I like crunchy); tea, coffee, cake, scones, and fresh wholemeal bread. Don't like solanum, i.e. potatoes and especially raw tomato.

The glory of great men must always be measured by the means they have used to obtain ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2018:

Not only the history of the great divides in two by Achievement and Means but so does the personal intent. We easily see that people with good intentions often cause great harm, due either to poor planing or to completely unknowable factors which mess things up. But sometimes we forget that it is also in the nature of complex history that really bad people may by accident and circumstance do great good.

I Took 9 Different Commercial DNA Tests and Got 6 Different Results [livescience.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2018:

Yes they are different, but I would say very close, it can never be an exact science only one based on statistical probability so there is bound to be variation It would be a mistake to expect the results to come back word for word matching, that all spotted the main ancestry is very good.

Hosta Feeding Here in Zone 5.

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2018:

Lets hope it does not attract the rabbits.

When Rodents Rafted Across the Ocean - PBS Eons [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2018:

Love it, science really does tell the best stories. Having said that, I am a little sKeptical about the dating of the Atlantic crossing, which is only based on statistical probabilities, which can be wrong. Especially since well adapted creatures having perhaps limited initial genetic variation, since an ocean voyage would mean a genetic bottleneck, could be slow evolving to begin with.

How the earth was 'created' History of the entire world, I guess [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

Guess that about said it all. I will go wash my hair now.

“Presidents should tell the truth, but sometimes they make mistakes.

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

No that view of truth called "relativism", and it is a marker of extremists on both the left and the right. If you hold extreme views especially without any evidence, the last defence is the resort to dismissing the need for evidence by siting relativism.

I can't remember if it was on this social networking site or that "other one," but I felt like some ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

There was a post on this site yes.

What to do where to go

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

Welcome, check through the groups list, and find where the people who like the same things as you hang out.

Who is your "Go-To" atheist?

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

Richard Dawkins, not just on line, but his books make really good reads too. Buy a load and give them to your theist friends for Christmas.

What's your "Atheist Public Persona"?

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

That post certainly was not too long, some posts are boring but I read all the way through and enjoyed every word. I can not comment on your persona since things are very different here in Europe, but it sound like you are doing very well.

The Real, Actual, and For True Atheists Don't Exist - BionicDance [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 5, 2018:

I do like Bionic Atheist than you for bringing her onto the site.