My mystery squash have bloomed! I had saved some seeds last year which I think where from a pumpkin...

Buttercup comments on Jun 16, 2018:

Pumpkins can hybridize with summer squash and gourds, probably not a pure pumpkin since as you've observed the different foliage. I had one that tasted pretty good. I have lots of volunteers in my yard and encourage them, plants spring up where they grow the best, don't argue with mother nature.

I’ve been watching this mutant grow for 2 weeks.

Buttercup comments on Jun 14, 2018:

I'd want to taste it. I had some volunteers that I thought were zuch/ pumpkin hybrids. Looked like small acorns with a tough rind, tasted okay.

Eternity or nothingness

Buttercup comments on Jun 14, 2018:

Any form of consciousness, even simple machines and organisms, is inextricably linked to it's shell. Is someone who has lost half their brain stuck in the middle with a portion of their mind here and the rest in some ethereal existence? When we're done, we're done.

Don't you just hate when you meet someone who is initially perfect as far as fitting your criteria, ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 14, 2018:

Are you sure this isn't semantics? If everything else is good, maybe tryst is just the cloest term he knows and he doesn't know it's emotionally loaded for you.

Do You Remember The First 45 You Ever Bought?

Buttercup comments on Jun 13, 2018:

The Letter by The Box Tops and Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison at the same time. Woolworths, they were both on the charts so 1967.

Blamestorming noun a discussion or meeting for the purpose of assigning blame.

Buttercup comments on Jun 12, 2018:

Good one, I enjoy portmanteau words that are cleverly rendered, -gate has grown tiresome. Bromance is a recent like and Californication is a longtime favorite, though overused(it sprung into popularity with a bumper sticker campaign "Don't Californicate Oregon").

Mourning doves are among my favorite species bird.

Buttercup comments on Jun 11, 2018:

Magpies, they don't come west of the Cascades so I rarely see them. Got this picture of a barred owl in the woods near where I live, hear them often but rarely see them.

One half a fortnight: sennight or se'n·night noun Archaic.

Buttercup comments on Jun 10, 2018:

Piece of trivia, when I looked it up. "Fort" in fortnight is abbreviated fourteen, makes perfect sense once I heard it. Fort'n'ight and nothing to do with watches at forts which was my first thought.

Does anyone in this group go in for 'no dig' gardening?

Buttercup comments on Jun 10, 2018:

This is more lazy than aware, I have a patch of volunteer potatoes, I Roundup in early spring before they emerge and once they get a headstart they easily outstrip the weeds.

One half a fortnight: sennight or se'n·night noun Archaic.

Buttercup comments on Jun 10, 2018:

Seems wholly redundant for a week, anyone have an idea as to its utility. In modern times it might differentiate the paid and unpaid weeks of a two week pay period.

What’s the difference between this group and the Kink group?

Buttercup comments on Jun 9, 2018:

kink's the primary and we're the something on the side

Congeries noun (used with a singular or plural verb) a collection of items or parts in one mass;...

Buttercup comments on Jun 9, 2018:

You could have congeries of conger eels or conga drummers

Do telemarketers have a soul?

Buttercup comments on Jun 9, 2018:

No soul and I have proof...I applied to a boiler room selling light bulbs over the phone, got hired on the spot and was presented with a script to read. I looked it over and objected, it required me to represent myself as handicapped. I went to my supervisor and he said," Don't worry, if you've ever skinned your knuckles you're handicapped enough to work here."

What's the worst epidemic of our time?

Buttercup comments on Jun 8, 2018:

The real big picture is that human life expectancy ( and quality) increased more in the last hundred years than in the hundred thousand before. Habitat destruction is the only thing likely to reverse that trend, we're too successful for our own good and drowning in our own waste. Good news, population growth is falling, cross your fingers but sustainable populations are very possible. If you look at historical violence and drug abuse rates things are much better

What are the chances?

Buttercup comments on Jun 8, 2018:

My grandma never picked up a hitchhiker with kids in the car except once, a scruffy guy with a gun on a dark lonely road. She said," He's a hunter who's lost". Since you're hearing this story she was right.

Ever feel like some people don't take it as seriously, and you end up envying those who have it more...

Buttercup comments on Jun 7, 2018:

I'm on the other side, and very lucky, don't give up. I've been the rebound guy and they wanted a confidence builder before they moved on to something "serious". Or they think they're the new monogamous partner after they eliminate the competition. I nip those in the bud, so not happening. Don't give on on you, no matter what else happens

If god is so great, why did it give me the ability to cook, but NOT to grow the damn herbs. Oregano?

Buttercup comments on Jun 7, 2018:

Praise the lord, rosemary, oregano, cilantro and lavender grow like weeds in my yard. As does mint with an occasional sacrifice of slugs to the appropriate deity. The god of thyme is just lazy, it holds on but doesn't thrive.

This is one of my favorites, especially during election years.

Buttercup comments on Jun 7, 2018:

I like it too and use it occasionally, it's nearly onomatopoeic, it's hard to say without a bit of self important huff creeping into it's enunciation.

Could you stay isolated for five days in total isolation as an asocial experiment?

Buttercup comments on Jun 6, 2018:

If backpacking counts, I've done it a few times. I wouldn't want to be locked in a room though.

Manicism: Left handedness.

Buttercup comments on Jun 5, 2018:

Awesomesauce, I had a girlfriend who was half Irish half French and all ginger, quite a passionate woman to put it mildly. When I saw that word it jumped out that she was a lefty as well, you all do seem quite spirited.

Relationships

Buttercup comments on Jun 5, 2018:

I went off on an angry antichristian rant this weekend. I believe in live and let live, I'll be as polite as you let me and how badly I react is directly proportional is how entitled they feel to impose their beliefs on me. So clearly yes for some people, probably not often though, it is an important and thorny issue and christians are encouraged to proselytize

Monica Lewinsky -"I now see how problematic it was that the two of us even got to a place where ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 5, 2018:

I've felt that way for a long time, the power imbalance was too big. Also Billy is a cowardly jerk, he could have used his power to take the heat off her instead of throwing her under the bus.

Phenylketonuria: A disorder of purine metabolism where phenylalanine accumulates and results in ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 4, 2018:

I don't know how typical she was but I had some contact with a PKU client, she was extremely pretty and athletic with a dancer's grace, also she had a calm expression and made appropriate eye contact but was completely non verbal and had a craving for eating cigarette butts and had to be watched. She had enough guile to remain calm until she got near a trashcan and would pounce on them. It was surreal and heartbreaking that she was so normal on the outside with behaviors roughly on par with a housecat.

I planted 6 lavender plants yesterday and I know nothing about growing it. Help!!! :)

Buttercup comments on Jun 4, 2018:

Practically a weed here (PNW) mine is on a well drained slope with full sun, so hot for here but hardly Texas hot. The soil in that part of my yard is acidic and nutritionally poor and I've never treated it.

Epiphenomenalism: The philosophical belief that some phenomena are byproducts of physiological ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 4, 2018:

More self evident than philosophical

Is it just me, or does anybody else feel a little stalky when hitting the "Follow Posts" feature on ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 4, 2018:

Not silly, considering how intrusive you might be is just good manners. I wouldn't worry unless someone objects this is an open forum so general opinion favors you.

Reasons to Remain Single

Buttercup comments on Jun 4, 2018:

Probably best to experience both, jumping from relationship to relationship because you're afraid to be alone isn't better than being single out of fear of intimacy. I was single for a few years and made an informed choice that I wanted to be in a nuclear family and was willing to make the compromises that demanded.

Men with longer legs more attractive to women, say researchers | The Independent

Buttercup comments on Jun 4, 2018:

They didn't factor for overall height. Taller but with shorter legs is a favorable build for many sports notably tennis whose players are frequently considered attractive. Judging by popular consensus not any objective evidence my thought is this effect would be swamped by overall height. Women often state a preference for tall.

Has the love of "elegant" equations overtaken the desire to describe the real world?

Buttercup comments on Jun 3, 2018:

Not at all, no more than poetic language detracts from descriptions. Actually elegant equations in my mind are elegant because they are concise and clear

Watching ID’s “Your Worst Nightmare “ would make me swear off dating for good! It’s about ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 1, 2018:

Not me but one of my friends decided not to ask a woman out because Snapped was her favorite TV show.

Watching ID’s “Your Worst Nightmare “ would make me swear off dating for good! It’s about ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 1, 2018:

Another strange encounter, a woman suggested committing strong armed robbery and splitting the proceeds as a fun first date activity. In hindsight I wish I had inquired a little bit; I bailed within ten minutes. I'm 6'3'' and solid and she was a small but seemingly fit woman so clearly I would be contributing disproportionately to the actual labor of beating people. Was she the bait to lure them into a vulnerable position? A Bonnie and Clyde role play fantasy? or a quid pro quo for sex and she assumed I was broke?

Here is the word of the day: concupiscent adjective 1.

Buttercup comments on Jun 1, 2018:

So your aim is to be conspicuously concupiscent

Watching ID’s “Your Worst Nightmare “ would make me swear off dating for good! It’s about ...

Buttercup comments on Jun 1, 2018:

An acquaintance, not really a friend but we traveled in the same circles and had talked a few times. She was a really masculine lesbian, crewcut, engineer boots wallet on a chain ...definitely had an image to maintain, started hitting on me hard. It was so weird and out of character, I just shined her on. A few days later, she was locked up; she'd taken a guy home, tied him to her bed and stabbed him to death

Poor People Often Don’t Survive To Become Seniors Who Vote

Buttercup comments on Jun 1, 2018:

The implications are pretty obvious once you see them, and a good example of how water is invisible to those who swim in a sea of privilege. I'm guilty myself, I have big medical bills even though I have pretty good health insurance.(and I bitch about it) Even though in theory anyone can go to an emergency room and be seen, their health can be very compromised long before.

Here’s my question, and I k I already know the answer; I’ll let calmer heads prevail.

Buttercup comments on Jun 1, 2018:

Laughter is the best medicine, send her some sad, limp cock shots first, see how badly she wants the money

Oath ... Does anyone in this forum swear on the/a bible?

Buttercup comments on May 31, 2018:

Haven't been to court for years but it might be fun to swear on the Kama Sutra

Had two Mormons at my door the other day.

Buttercup comments on May 31, 2018:

My little Mormons, I had a tiazinha (carnavale queen) screen saver up, not super racy but black lingerie and riding crops. They were squirming.

Some faves, apoplectic, it dates back to when people thought extreme frustration could overload your...

Buttercup comments on May 31, 2018:

Bookworm syndrome, I don't know the pronunciation of words I read. I pronounced "victuals" in my head vick'-chew-awls for years before I realized that Robinson Crusoe's erudite and proper word was the same as Jed Clamett's rustic "vittles"

I like to shamelessly flirt with the hunky local weatherman on twitter.

Buttercup comments on May 31, 2018:

He's a celebrity with a twitter, it's his job and he opened the door, have fun and don't worry.

What do you do when you are EXPECTED to follow Christian beliefs?

Buttercup comments on May 31, 2018:

Be a good guest and a good host, respectful silence at their house, no prayers at mine but if you keep it to yourself I won't mention it. Criticism and attempts to convert me will be met with same.

Casual relationship

Buttercup comments on May 31, 2018:

A really good idea if that's what you both want and agreed on.

Hello fellow followers,,my beloved dog died a couple of weeks ago,my grief is still overwhelming,,my...

Buttercup comments on May 30, 2018:

Almost four years since I lost my beagle hiking buddy and I'm still not ready for another dog. I have a feral cat that is very slowly learning how to be a pet. He was in desperate straights and doomed if I hadn't intervened otherwise, I wouldn't have a pet.

Hello , Tonight I am exploring that some of the great spiritual thinkers were not trying to make a ...

Buttercup comments on May 30, 2018:

I don't think Jesus or Buddha intended to be cult fetish icons. Spinoza actually requested his diaries be destroyed after his death.

Why are people stuck in relationships that are basically roommate's you pay bills with?

Buttercup comments on May 30, 2018:

Wouldn't work for me, we talked it over and decided sex and romance were our priorities. What's even weirder to me is the affection part, actually two people where neither has much of a sex drive are a good fit. I'm constantly amazed at how rude, insulting and patronizing some couples are towards other or one of them is and them other puts up with it.

Men and Transgender women.

Buttercup comments on May 29, 2018:

Just had a light go off recently, always been attracted to girls, I had crushes as young as 5, long before I knew what sex was I yearned for them. I lived in SF in my late teens, most of my friends and neighbors were gay, no problem but no interest. One neighbor, David, was just different, feminine and lovely, I just had this urge to cherish and protect him(?). Looking back, he had to be trans, I don't know what he was going through, he was very shy and SF in the seventies was probably the most accepting place he could find. His housemate and partner identified as a gay man and he did also by default. Hope he figured it out and had a good life.

What is your favorite dinosaur?

Buttercup comments on May 29, 2018:

Deinonychus just because they look so badass. I like to imagine then covered with gaudy feathers, a giant demon macaw.

Have any of you gardening Agnostics who raise strawberries every seen robins eating the small ripe ...

Buttercup comments on May 29, 2018:

Yep, if they're hungry they get less fussy. I leave windfall apples for them to eat in the winter. Maybe a suet feeder or something to distract them?

My wife has decided that we should live apart, and begin divorce proceedings. The problem?

Buttercup comments on May 29, 2018:

The way you phrase it, "my wife decided" makes it sound like the decision was unilateral on her part. I've been on both sides. By the time I've gotten to that point, I'm just done and there's no going back. I've heard marriage counselors say that by the time couples get to their office it's almost always too late. Treat it like any crappy situation you didn't choose, your job was bought out and the new boss hates you or you got assigned a Jesus freak for a dorm mate. Take care of you, keep your mind open to possibilities. You may have to be a lot poorer and get a roommate or couchsurf, decide for yourself if that's better.

Any funny or creepy stories re Alexa or Google interactive devices?

Buttercup comments on May 28, 2018:

My comcast voice wasn't working and I said "You suck" It apologized for the service and sent me to a help page.

Have you ever caught your parents having sex?

Buttercup comments on May 28, 2018:

69ing (I think) they covered up quick and I was only about 4. Scared them more than it did me.

I went to the store today and was listening to my clickity clicking and thinking about some kinky ...

Buttercup comments on May 28, 2018:

Why is there a mirror on the floor?

An interesting viewpoint of the American lawn. [blogs.scientificamerican.com]

Buttercup comments on May 28, 2018:

My house was the neighborhood playground, big lawn, no fence at the end the road. It's long outlived its usefulness. I mow and lightly weed, never water it so it's dormant most of the summer, brown and not very attractive. I've never had a good idea for an alternative. My fruit trees and vegetable garden are as much as I have time for and more than we can eat in our short harvest season.

What type of tomatoes does everyone like to plant?

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

Fast growing and indeterminate, tomatoes are a crapshoot here, it can turn cold and rainy any time. Even the most mediocre varieties taste great vine ripened.

How do you feel when someone gives you sympathy?

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

When I'm whining and looking for sympathy, I love it. It gets old quick though.

I had a recent conversation with a friend and wanted to get everyone's opinion on this.

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

My daughter had the same doctor from birth to 18, We made it clear that it was up to her and private. He is a very commonsense, practical professional, so he would done what she asked. We found out later she had gone to planned parenthood on her own.

Are you out in the open with your poly lifestyle?

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

Mostly no, my wife's workplace is very conservative. I'm self employed and don't talk about my personal life with customers in general. She has told a few friends and me just a couple. I'm very sure our adult daughter has figured it out but doesn't talk about it.

So what is your most hated song of alltime?

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

"You're so vain" always annoys the shit out of me, why shouldn't he think the song is about him IT is about him. "Afternoon Delight" is so dopey and the voices so infantile it feels pedo; It's like adding to the Barney Song, "I love you, you love me so let's get a room". The band Chicago is an automatic switch the station and I think "If you leave me now" is the worst of the worst. It's the elevator music in hell (poetically speaking)

Why do some people say “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome” when someone thanks them?

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

The spirit is the same, "you owe me no debt of gratitude" is the message in all.

The difference between intelligence and wisdom

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

To stretch an old analogy intelligence is the amount of processor available and wisdom is the quality of the program. You can have a high IQ and still be a dumbass.

A little deep and profound but something to think about because so many people do base their lives ...

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

I considered it and they are wrong. My personality is much more formed around positive experiences, and I have experienced a good deal of trauma. I think this is true for even severely avoidant people with PTSD.

I find this very sexy and am happy to see it coming back into vogue

Buttercup comments on May 27, 2018:

First porn I ever saw was French art magazines and snapshot photos from Japan so it's never seemed unfeminine. My first choice is bare and perfect but hair is nicer than bristle and razor burn.

.

Buttercup comments on May 26, 2018:

I don't boycott, Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie have a creepy vibe so I avoid watching them. Woody Allen hasn't made a funny movie in decades so not missed.

Is it really possible to live your life and not have any regrets.

Buttercup comments on May 26, 2018:

When regret is a frame of mind, to me it's a tool of an examined life. I believe some people look back on their mistakes and think "it is what it is" and move on. I'm not one of those people and I think it affords me an opportunity to change my response. Regret can also be thought of as an aversive emotion, I can't imagine not feeling it, it's part of my emotional toolbox. Like other types of pain, it informs you that something in your environment isn't right.

What's something you finally figured out?

Buttercup comments on May 26, 2018:

No down, no cotton (no cotton socks even in town) when I started hiking goretex didn't exist and polarguard was in it's infancy and I had bad experiences with hypothermia too (even though I'm a big slab of meat). Leather boots freeze overnight so leave them upright with the tongue pulled up, if they're mashed on their side they're miserable. Hiking at night is great for the reasons you mentioned, at night with snow to reflect the light you can often see much better without flashlights(farther and not limited to the beam)

Wondering which people are secretly working for the government.

Buttercup comments on May 25, 2018:

I kind of assumed this site would be collecting demographic data and selling it to advertisers. The government could buy it or get it through court order. Not paranoid that is just the world today.

What do you think about accepting a friend request from your ex on Facebook?

Buttercup comments on May 25, 2018:

Yes to me they're like family, once my love always my love. There was another poll recently asking if they showed up at you door would you let them stay. I said yes, no question. Also like family, there are times i would rather not deal with them but I won't cut them off.

Sooo.

Buttercup comments on May 25, 2018:

Stalkers suck, cancel if it's not too late. It is hard and can even be dangerous to reject someone. He's not respecting your boundaries and expect it to get worse. Be firm and consistent in refusing to engage and remember you and your safety come first.

I have an ankle fetish.

Buttercup comments on May 25, 2018:

Nice, not really a fetish but I do have a special weakness for a long delicate neck and throat. I also like a body type I call plush... warm, smooth, padded and cuddly. They would look odd on the same person though.

I have often said, on various sites, cheating is not the sex, but the lie.

Buttercup comments on May 25, 2018:

We were always open but didn't have sex with anybody else for 20+ years, we wanted to focus on childraising. I've always had very intimate friendships and my first wife was Aunt Alice to my kids and friends with my second wife. My wife says I'm the most faithful man she's ever known, which is true on two levels. I didn't make a promise I wasn't ready to keep and on a practical level I'm better at monogamy than many people who "swear before god to cleave only unto you" (especially compared to her fundamentalist family)

Ahh.

Buttercup comments on May 25, 2018:

First there is always an unknown story, so I cut everybody slack. There was a serial killer on death row who had committed crimes so awful that processing them made me sick and a little unsteady... when he was little he was punished by having his pets gruesomely killed while being forced to watch. It was harder to hate him, knowing that. Attention seeking can be a viable therapy for someone starved for love, a malnourished person isn't a food whore because they desperately need to eat. My mom was single with 5 kids at 22, severely depressed, emotionally absent always and physically for weeks sometimes. I was 10, the youngest about 3 so we got very good at survival early. She blamed me for her ruined life, I wasn't good for one thing, I wasn't even good for nothing, I had negative value. I think it's true, not fair because that's life, that women are more likely to use attention seeking to self medicate. Men, me for sure, tend to turn towards self destructive behaviors and drugs, kill the pain and hasten the end. Spoiler alert, I'm not going to go on today but my story has a happy ending and not just in the masseusecal sense.

Can humans think without language? Try it.

Buttercup comments on May 24, 2018:

Individually very little, one person alone without language to connect them would learn so little, no clothes, cooking, even the simplest tool like a sharp stick. They would have to invent or discover everything. A simple intuitve language of gestures might enable the most bare survival.but all of science and philosophy and nearly all practical knowledge would be lost without it.

Is it normal for a person to enjoy being single more than being in a relationship?

Buttercup comments on May 24, 2018:

Everybody or nearly all, should try it. Everybody should have a crappy customer service job and visit an exotic place too. If you like being single great, if you do decide to be in a relationship you know what you like and that you're not just there because you're afraid of being alone.

Ladies, how about giving men some advice on what you like or don't like seeing on dating profiles.

Buttercup comments on May 24, 2018:

Something I've found hilariously entertaining is to listen to the "expert" dating advice offered to the opposite sex. I'm a man so the ones giving advice to women on how to get men for example. Many are so ridiculous that I would seriously question the sanity of any woman acting like they recommend. When you do find someone that does seem reasonable, use that advice just switch genders. A casual friendly approach that you would like would probably get you a better reception than "projecting alpha male confidence"

Ceanothus Italian skies, with Clematis Niobe. You make my heart sing.

Buttercup comments on May 24, 2018:

Love my ceonathus (Pt Reyes) it was only expected to live 10 years, still growing strong after 25.

Never thought of this in the front of my head, but does the fact that we call asking someone for sex...

Buttercup comments on May 24, 2018:

Lots of language links between sex and aggression, behavioral ones as well. It's not terrible, just human. Consensual rough sex is pretty popular and I don't see that changing or any problem with people living the life they enjoy if it doesn't infringe on others.

Hi all, Off to work.

Buttercup comments on May 24, 2018:

He'll probably retain his sweetness, core personality is usually quite stable, you sound like you're well within your professionals boundaries. Teach him as best you can, kind and hardworking are good attributes for end of life care.

If one more man tries to woo me with “I know what women want.

Buttercup comments on May 24, 2018:

I don't even know what I want, some people are a great fit in the lab but terrible in the field. And what I do want is subject to change without notice.

Name a great TV series you wish they would bring back. For me it would be the Highlander!

Buttercup comments on May 23, 2018:

Penny Dreadful, Eve died but since Frankenstein and Dracula can reanimate the dead not a big problem

Does appearance start the ball rolling?

Buttercup comments on May 23, 2018:

I'm not pretty but I'm tall, solidly muscular,with weatherbeaten mountain man kind of look that a goodly number of women seem to like. Looks do count and guys that are short and have a time putting on muscle face a lot of discrimination. It's not hopeless, but they are starting the race a step behind.

Can you "green-thumbers" tell me my tomatoes won't fruit? In N. Florida

Buttercup comments on May 23, 2018:

The other suggestions are good, tomatoes are actually perennials and some varieties won't fruit unless stressed in some way. You need to fool them into thinking they need to reproduce before they die. Shade or withholding water are what I'd try first if the plants are healthy and devoting a lot of energy to leaf growth.

I just tried mindful meditation for the very first time.

Buttercup comments on May 23, 2018:

Jon Kabat-Zinn has some good stuff, he's secular and a fan of evidenced based medicine.

Are humans innately theists?

Buttercup comments on May 23, 2018:

Humans are not rational, the reason for the reference to god "the father" is an urge or desire for security. I want it therefore I imagine it's true seems likely to recur many times. The opposite is also true, believers would not fear death or sin if they truly believed.

What is the one thing you don't really need?

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

My inner critic

If you could marry any fictional character, who would it be and why ?

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

Alice from Resident Evil...shame Morticia is already married but perhaps a short and sordid soiree', she seems open minded.

Don't kill the spiders!

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

I'm the worst, I used to catch them and put them outside until one of my friends piped up," What if they're acclimated to inside and putting them outside harms them?" Now I just call them all Rover and treat them like pets.

Have you ever been embarressed by what you have posted here

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

Just today I used you're when I meant your

I'm tired of the fatalists and the apathetic.

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

I assume you mean well, but I think the people you're addressing don't want to hear it from you either.

Control issues.

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

"If you work full time and need food stamps to eat, you're not leeching off the government, you're employer is."

It's not the when, it's the why.

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

Livin' the dream

Condoms required at Scouts' 24th World Jamboree Rules demand distribution during coming 12-day ...

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

This has one unsubstantiated source which is not associated with BSA

Does this mean there's something wrong with me?

Buttercup comments on May 22, 2018:

You may be depressed which can be experienced as low affect, are you feeling your normal range of high or low emotions? You may be emotionally intelligent and appropriately processed the loss before they died; grieving while they were suffering,instead of waiting, could be mature empathy. This is corny and trite but true, what would they have wanted for you? To be in pain and suffer or go on to lead a good, happy life. Maybe the best way to honor their memory isn't societal expectation and inevitable disappointment. We all need to give the world a hearty "fuck you", "I'm the one who decides how I feel" nothing in that to feel guilty about.

Deception in Dating, Love and Controlling our Self-Image

Buttercup comments on May 21, 2018:

He's an interesting speaker. My childhood was so fucked up and my parents were so absent I think I benefited by having a blank slate instead of clinging to the model of family.My marriage and childrearing are outside the box but very happy.

What attracts you to someone?

Buttercup comments on May 21, 2018:

This question never gets old, don't be sorry. I don't know, there are qualities that are important in all my friends, a sense of fairness and a sense of humor, shared values. There are some very subtle cues, maybe pheromones or body language that make the difference between "I like you" and "oh baby" Really pretty helps, honestly, and while my aesthetic varies a little from the norm most people would mostly agree with my assessment. Acceptable looking with a sexy outlook beats Barbie doll without every time. I have baseline requirements for the obvious stuff like hygiene and intelligence that have to be met. I most like girly girls that kind of melt when I hold them but can step up too when times get tough. Both my wives and a very favored girlfriend had a very noble and heroic mindset. My wife for example has gotten in trouble at work when a younger or less assertive coworker is being harassed or treated unfairly by management and she stepped in. Chemistry is always important but character stays sexy forever.

Are there any poly people here?

Buttercup comments on May 21, 2018:

https://agnostic.com/group/GodlessPoly , yes!

What is the best view you have ever had from your house?

Buttercup comments on May 20, 2018:

When I built this house I had the full sweep of the Olympic Mountains and a peekaboo of Puget Sound. Now just a glimpse through the trees.

Will AI ever obtain true consciousness? (whatever that means)

Buttercup comments on May 20, 2018:

Valentina: Soul in Sapphire: Joseph H. Delaney, Marc Stiegler, is a book I read many years ago on the subject and quite enjoyed. At one point she (a program) is pleading for her life, it's romantically Shakespearean. Her very basic premise is "I believe I'm alive and value myself so what better claim can flesh and blood beings offer."

Will AI ever obtain true consciousness? (whatever that means)

Buttercup comments on May 20, 2018:

In Frankenstein there was a belief that life and nonlife were differentiated by some vital force. Things like viruses made the line kind of fuzzy, reanimating something as complicated as a human is now obviously much more difficult. Phlogiston is a even better example of vitalism gone , fire is just the point where a chemical chain reaction runs away. Since this is an atheism site, a soul that sharply divides animals and humans seems to have been largely discredited. A very simple consciousness is demonstrated when a microorganism avoids an irritant. If a machine ever asks or demands rights we consider it. Chattel slavery as a moral idea isn't that far behind us where humans weren't extended human rights. To me the urge to survive (and all emotions)seems more a byproduct of natural selection. They could get smarter than us and not care if they have rights unless we design it into them.

Why is everyone mostly American on this site ?

Buttercup comments on May 19, 2018:

We need it, authoritarian Christians have taken over our government

Love the smell of my lavender in full bloom.

Buttercup comments on May 19, 2018:

Me too, I'd guess mine is still a month or so out. I press mine for oil, I've got the regular bushy ones like yours and a scraggly little woody one that's even more aromatic.

Hi! Does anyone have funny stories to share?

Buttercup comments on May 19, 2018:

Old fave, a friend of mine was Santa for our volunteer fire department and his own little boy, 4ish, sat in his lap. Usual stuff asked what he wanted and if he'd been good. Just as he was walking away Santa says," Wait, aren't you the little boy that threw a shoe at his daddy?"