Brandolini's law, also known as the bullshit asymmetry principle, is an internet adage that ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 1, 2023:

Very like the Gish Gallop, which relies on the fact that it takes far longer to refute a false statement, than it does to make it. Quote Wikipedia " The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a person in a debate attempts to overwhelm their opponent by providing an excessive number of arguments with no regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments. In essence, it is prioritizing quantity of one's arguments at the expense of quality of said arguments. The term was coined in 1994 by anthropologist Eugenie Scott, who named it after American creationist Duane Gish and argued that Gish used the technique frequently when challenging the scientific fact of evolution. It is similar to another debating method called spreading, in which one person speaks extremely fast in an attempt to cause their opponent to fail to respond to all the arguments that have been raised. During a Gish gallop, a debater confronts an opponent with a rapid series of many specious arguments, half-truths, misrepresentations, and outright lies in a short space of time, which makes it impossible for the opponent to refute all of them within the format of a formal debate. Each point raised by the Gish galloper takes considerably more time to refute or fact-check than it did to state in the first place, which is known online as Brandolini's law. The technique wastes an opponent's time and may cast doubt on the opponent's debating ability for an audience unfamiliar with the technique, especially if no independent fact-checking is involved or if the audience has limited knowledge of the topics."

I got in the pool today! Just so I could say I did it in Feb!! Cold AF!

Fernapple comments on Mar 1, 2023:

Well you can keep using the story next year, so no need to do it again.

There is a church about a mile down the road from me.

Fernapple comments on Mar 1, 2023:

In the UK most churches are open all day, except the J. Ws. which are locked and fenced.

“There is something terrible about reality, and I don’t know what it is.

Fernapple comments on Mar 1, 2023:

There is also a lot that is terrible about unreality, but one of the two you can avoid.

What do y'all think about the strange things going on in the world like the wealther, time speeding ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 28, 2023:

Time can and does speed up, and slow down, all over the place all of the time, that is just called "normal". While in another sense, our local time, is just a function of how we measure it, so that if its speed changed, so would the speed of our clocks, and therefore we would not be aware of it. Yet another case of the Bible getting nearly everything wrong.

Well I never! Stunning images as northern lights glow across UK More images here: [bbc.co.uk]

Fernapple comments on Feb 28, 2023:

Sadly it was dense cloud with me last night. I did see Venus and Jupiter the other night though, and they are said to be at their closest in the next few days.

(Zelensky Says Ukraine Is Preparing to Attack Crimea) He has to be talking through his hat.

Fernapple comments on Feb 28, 2023:

Do you really think that Zelensky would tell everyone his plans in advance. He may not be the best commander in history, but even he would not be that stupid. Deliberate disinformation.

What are you afraid of?

Fernapple comments on Feb 27, 2023:

All emotions, even the negative ones, like fear, hate, hunger, and pain etc. have a good purpose. Even though all emotions, even the positive ones like, love, compassion and honesty, can be distorted through the lens of human culture, to be harmful.

Having been caught with their predictive pants down last week (10+" snow rather than 2), amid the ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 27, 2023:

They seem to be very good at forecasting. "I forecast, we need to cover our asses this week. " Perfect.

When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2023:

They really put things well in those days, did they not.

"Telling somebody off for 15 minutes and not giving them an opportunity to respond is an abuse of ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2023:

Depends what they did.

“The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2023:

I think that you can take it back one step further, and say. "Do I want to be happy, safe, and content ?" A. "Yes." "Am I more likely to be those things, if I live in a world where happy, safe and content, is the general rule for most people ?" A. "Yes" " Then is it worth my while to make some investment in everyone else ?" Provide your own answer.

I have a religious friend.

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2023:

Well of course the horse may be at the other end of the cart, he may want to. "dismiss all the scientific knowledge gained throughout history." And the bible is simply his way to do so.

If the story was real, why can't true "christians" see it this way?

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2023:

True in one sense. But you have to remember the reason for which religion is popular, and the main thing which people want it for. Which is that it is the only human institution, that does not include any method of questioning, it is the only resort you have to justify anything which you can not prove by evidence, appeal to majority opinion, natural justice or reason.

...it still makes no sense to me?

Fernapple comments on Feb 25, 2023:

Perfect logic. Especially if you have to sell me as a product to the foolish.

“No one is born with greed, prejudice, bigotry, patriotism and hatred; these are all learned ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 25, 2023:

I will go with that, except perhaps greed.

We've all heard that Hitler wanted to be an artist.

Fernapple comments on Feb 25, 2023:

Churchill however is not technically perfect, but then he never claimed to be anything but a part time for fun dabbler. Granddad's paintings yes, but would you rather hang a happy granddad painting, or a serious study in technical gloom ? https://www.invaluable.com/blog/winston-churchill-paintings/

THIS LETTER WAS PUBLISHED WHEN OBAMA WAS PRESIDENT An open letter to white evangelicals: We’re ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 25, 2023:

The more the crazies take over, the more the moderates and semi-sane leave, which leaves the crazies even more in control, which drives away even more moderates, making the churches more crazy, and so on. Sadly every church ends as a small protest group collecting weapons in a cellar.

I see ospreys dive for fish in the lake all the time.

Fernapple comments on Feb 25, 2023:

Well done, great shots.

If you get rain regularly, this is a great idea.

Fernapple comments on Feb 25, 2023:

Wonderful, what we all should be doing.

I think it is unreal, when I try to speak to anyone at work or in a professional environment (when ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 24, 2023:

It never happened to me. One of my great good fortunes, is to live in a country where religion is only considered to be respectable as a below surface part of life. And public mentioning of it is actually looked on as bad manners.

India's building infrastructure to combat their smog.

Fernapple comments on Feb 24, 2023:

In some ways of course, if you are generating your electricity from fossil fuels, as India does a lot. All electric vehicles do is to move the smog somewhere else, but in some places where you are really desperate and your city is killing thousands, then even that is a gain.

“Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself”………….

Fernapple comments on Feb 23, 2023:

Sometimes. And sometimes we are not afraid enough.

remember that the things you take for granted, you do, because they were meant to be.

Fernapple comments on Feb 23, 2023:

Fortunately, I do not take much for granted. Not even life. So I can fairly well claim to be free of meaning as well.

How a Covert Firm Spreads Lies and Chaos Around the World - DER SPIEGEL

Fernapple comments on Feb 23, 2023:

Well of course, Team Jorge could also be greatly overstating the extent of their success. In fact given the nature of their games, it would really be surprising if they did not also use massive disinformation, to sell their own product.

This book changed my life, not in a flash of revelation but in a quiet thoughtful way.

Fernapple comments on Feb 23, 2023:

I think that every book changes you a little. But it is complex, sometimes even good books change you for the worse, and bad books improve you.

Just like pirates!!

Fernapple comments on Feb 22, 2023:

For best you need both. A map can tell you where you went afterwards, and what you pass on the way.

Thinking it out…

Fernapple comments on Feb 22, 2023:

I want one of those mugs.

Landed in Milan, Italy yesterday and made my way to Mantua.

Fernapple comments on Feb 22, 2023:

Is it not always great, just to wander a strange historic city alone with a camera.

Has this site's Messenger facility stopped working?

Fernapple comments on Feb 21, 2023:

Worked for me yesterday ?

Question: When I click on the category "Politics" to find any posts, there are none.

Fernapple comments on Feb 20, 2023:

No I do not think that politics, is in any way restricted. Perhaps it is just a bug, there are a few on this site now and again. I would try a second time.

Magnificent New Species of Treefrog Discovered in Ecuador: [sci.news]

Fernapple comments on Feb 20, 2023:

And it looks like Gollum. On a good day.

41/2 yrs later , here we are , snail made it to level 9.

Fernapple comments on Feb 20, 2023:

Laughed at your jokes, smiled at your joys, felt your pains, absorbed your wisdom, and still want more. A life shared is a life lived more than once.

The problem is neither faith nor atheism; it's the desire to have power and control over others.

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2023:

Yes but religion is unique in that, its ability to provide justification for things that are hard to justify by logic, reason, or appeal to honest good judgment, is its main use, and the main appeal of it. In other words, it is not an institution which needs to be corrupted, or diverted from its main purpose, in order to facilitate the, "selfish human desire to exert power", but is rather the institution which exists mainly for that purpose. Since it is the only human thought system which inherently makes no provision for questioning, and indeed does not value questioning. While I would also contend that Stalin, Mao, and don't forget Pol Pot were not strictly or mainly atheists, but were mainly Marxists, which is quite arguably another form of religion. Since it begins with several unsupported presuppositions, ( beliefs ) such as, class war is inevitable, the victory of the working class is inevitable, history is predictable etc. .

To the FedEx driver who likes to put my packages to the right side of my door so I have to come out ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2023:

Better than right in line with the door, just stepped on one in the dark last night. Fortunately it was a book so that it took my weight without coming to any harm, but the packaging made a sickening crunching sound, which in the dark seemed to say. " You have just put your fat oafish foot, and huge weight, on something rare, expensive and irreplaceable."

"I want to see that your breasts aren't hanging in your pockets," he said.

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2023:

The bottom line on, on-line dating, is that, men are easy. Most men are so highly motivated to mate, and relate to women, that they will readily roll over and play dead, and turn any trick for any woman who asks. While women network well, so that information and introductions to any good available males, spreads fast. Therefore any man worth anything is quite quickly snapped up by any females, in the local social circle, long before they think about dating, or even less on-line dating. If a man sits on the shelf so long that he feels the need to look on line, you may be sure that there is a good reason why the fifty plus single females in his large social circle rejected him. The proof of which is that dating sites generally get four times as many women as men on their lists. Sorry if that is sexist, but it is a reality.

Is There a Global Resurgence of Religion?

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2023:

So it is nice to know that R. Inglehart favours the things which drive high birth rates, and religion, like poverty, low womens rights and poor education, and that he thinks overpopulation is a benefit. Me thinks, that his misogyny and racism are showing a bit.

My 3rd Darwin Award nominee for this year already!!! It’s gonna be a good year!!! ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2023:

Start training yourself to believe fairy stories, and you will soon find it easy to believe all sorts of rubbish. Next. "Pastor throws himself of cliff, to see if the devil well help him fly."

In the St.

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2023:

And any rises in excess deaths since the end of the pandemic, are not caused by people coming out more and taking more risks of every sort, and the small number of on going cases, but must obviously be caused by the vaccine. Funny what you can find in stats.

2222222222222222222

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2023:

So you have got your little ducks to swim in a line. Well done.

Who runs Health & Happiness?

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2023:

Just block the said member, if you like, then you will only see the posts from other people.

..."and please don't call me Shirley."

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2023:

I have seen him before, back in the days of the Cold War. You always knew that guy was a "wrong un".

Working on happiness Of course, it’s a challenge for even the most happy-go-lucky person to ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2023:

The way to find happiness, is to stop looking for it. Happiness comes to those who work for something else worth doing.

As long as humans insist on acting like animals, one could understand how an AI might forget to feed...

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2023:

Feeding yourself is acting like animals. The problem long term, will be that as we become more dependent on technology, so we will lose our animal traits, which we once needed and evolved to survive. Especially our humane animal traits, such as empathy, social skills and intelligence, which are all costly and do not benefit the individuals breeding, but only benefit the community. But as we become more dependent on technology, we need the community less and the evolutionary drive will increasingly be towards selfish behavior, able to exploit technological wealth in competition with others, which will only hasten our increasing need for tech. The end result will be a race of vicious, violent and stupid creatures, fighting over the output of the machines. Until eventually a crossing point is reached where we are near totally dependent on technology, but no longer able to repair and maintain that technology when it breaks down. Then we go extinct. But this did not begin with AI, it began long ago with the advent of even the most basic of technologies, such as language. When a group member can yell. "Help" Then you no longer need the instinctive feelings to know when they are in need. And ploughing need much less intelligence than hunting, so we can see actual evidence of shrinking brain size since the agricultural revolution, in human remains. The only hope is that we will lose our fear of the possible abuses that certainly can, and have, come from the planned human altering technologies, such as eugenics, genetic engineering, and so called designer babies. It is bound to happen anyway, you can not put a lid on technology, the rich and powerful at least will always find ways around it, and come home from an offshore clinic with a better designed little person. So it is better that society as a whole embraces such medical technology in a planned way. Rather than leave it to chance. But we do stand on a knife edge. Will we build better doctors and environmentalists, or better warriors.

No rain today but plenty of clouds

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2023:

Pretty. I think that they are called Cumulus humilis or something like that, meaning flat or humble clouds.

"OFFENCE" IS THE LAST STRAW THE FAITH-HEADS CLUTCH WHEN THEY RUN OUT OF RATIONAL ARGUMENTS.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2023:

That last straw could be faith in faith itself. But "offence", is very good.

I am an Agnostic because I am not afraid to think.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2023:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site.

Happy Dead Saint's Day! Thank Valentine for being martyred so you can give candy and hearts to one ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2023:

Yes but remember, the sugar industry owes a lot to him.

Advertising Terms Explained NEW - Different color from previous design.

Fernapple comments on Feb 14, 2023:

Very good, but I would go with. REDESIGNED - Cheaper to make if we leave out the good bits, the ones the customers like.

How much proof do you need? [youtu.be]

Fernapple comments on Feb 14, 2023:

Perhaps very true, but you should not have disparaged Yorkshire dialect so easily as you did in the last post on this subject. Many regard the Yorkshire dialect as the purest form of English and the closest to primordial English as spoken by G. Chaucer for example. Immediately after the first inputs of French, Latin and Norse caused it to emerge from Anglo Saxon, as a fully formed language. It could therefore be said that the Yorkshire voice is the closest to any historically correct pronunciation there is.

And this one. [youtu.be]

Fernapple comments on Feb 14, 2023:

The voice sounds like that of a robot, probably just poor programming.

Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” (Thomas Mann)

Fernapple comments on Feb 14, 2023:

Yes but who decides what is evil and what is good ?

The weather: I pumped gas in the 70s-80s off and on and the major topic was always the weather.

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2023:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site.

“They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretences; all of this they hail as ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2023:

Who may himself have been quoting Calgacus, in a quite anti-Roman sentiment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgacus

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2023:

Sadly Kipling lost his only child, in World War One.

I would delight in dancing on the grave of Vic Bensley, one time headmaster of Hamilton South Public...

Fernapple comments on Feb 12, 2023:

Sorry you will have to enlarge on this before I understand the issue. Who he ?

Let's be honest with ourselves and others, after 30 or perhaps even younger than that for the ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 12, 2023:

The idea that we can change other people according to a plan, is behind much, if not most, human misery. People do change, and sometimes change themselves, all the time, but people and life are complex, sometimes compliant and sometimes resistant, and it is impossible to know all the other pressures they may be under, so that it is almost impossible therefore to predict the directions in which they will change. Even trained therapists in the mental health and personal wellbeing industries, find changing a persons attitudes in a predictable way, both challenging and difficult. Even though they are dealing usually with willing subjects. The attitude therefore in which many, especially the immature, enter marriage, of for example, such as. "I will get him/her to loose that addiction she/he has to those horrible friends." Is doomed to fail, especially as it is most likely to be an attitude of the simpleminded and immature, and they are the least equipped to succeed anyway.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.

Fernapple comments on Feb 12, 2023:

Hello and welcome. But please cite your quotes, it is not normal on this site to use quotes without citing the origin.

Gender and Religious Expectations

Fernapple comments on Feb 12, 2023:

The heritage of patriarchy, means that the general public expects women to be more compliant in every sphere than men. Women are placed under greater expectations, greater pressure to comply, and are expected to accept that, and are judged more harshly than men if they do not conform to what are regarded as social norms. Women are expected to be people pleasers in all respects. Whether that is because they are naturally more sociable than men, the expectation is self fulfilling and women are more compliant due to social conditioning, or it is a completely false judgment is perhaps another issue. How you would answer it, would depend on whether you were a feminist or not, and whether you are a difference feminist or not if you are. It could also be a blend of both social conditioning and genetic differences. Though that is not likely to be a popular answer since humans, both male and female, tend to like single simple absolute answers, since we are both too lazy to want complexity and fearful of uncertainty.

Republicans! Amirite?

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2023:

"Gas filled bag of air." Is a tautology, but if she sees the meme, don't tell her because you would have to explain a difficult word like tautology.

"For those that have eaten of the tree of knowledge, paradise is lost.' karl Popper

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2023:

No quite the contrary I think. It is more a case of A. Pope's "drink deep", a little disturbs but a good deep drink, brings clarity and wisdom, which is a deeper form of paradise. AS with everything else it is the effort you put in that brings rewards.

Philosophy is a field of science that investigates reality and human existence, as in I am currently...

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2023:

Philosophy is not a science, rather science is a philosophy. A sub set of natural philosophy, which probably occupies most of the ground attributed meaningfully to natural philosophy. But which is distinct from general philosophy, because it tries to use better rules and practices, which are possible only within naturalistic studies. These are usually called the scientific method, which is ill defined term, but which is generally thought to include, things such as, direct observation being foremost, experimental method, repeatability, everything being subject to change in the light of better evidence, peer review, and respect for mathematical proof. Science is therefore philosophy but philosophy at its highest and most rigorous level, and as such deserves to be respected most of all among philosophies. Other philosophies are still valid however for use in fields where such methods can not be applied.

THE TENETS OF ATHEISM Recite this daily and believe it without question I don't believe that I'm...

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2023:

What Gwen said. "I don't need to convince myself that I am an atheist. " It just comes naturally.

WHAT WILL YOU SAY TO GOD ON JUDGEMENT DAY? Great questions for "God". [tiktok.com]

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2023:

" Hello Zwabldunkfluck. I hope I got your name right ? So it seems Jesus did not exist after all, I always thought so."

Is atheism unnatural?

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2023:

A good well argued article on the whole. But it misses another important point, which is the fact that what the, "religion is natural" theorists like J. L. Barrett are arguing for, is not just religion, but specifically, theist religion, indeed there own Abrahamic form in most cases. And while there may be a few evolved human traits such as "we have an innate, natural propensity to believe what our parents teach us" and a positive error bias, which tends to make us see more than is there. They do not force theist religion, indeed they only make a vague push, in the direction of believing there is more than we directly see, which our brains can correct anyway. That is exactly how natural evolution works, it only gives animals vague pushes in certain directions, but then gives them brains to work things out. If genetic determinism was perfect and complete, animals would not be adaptable, and they would not need brains. The biggest logical leap beyond what is justified that these people are taking therefore, is that from vague trends towards belief, religion in the widest possible sense, to a need for theist religion. And the evidence is that most early human societies, at the hunter gathering level, certainly those that survived long enough for modern anthropologists to observe, were not theist, usually being animist, spiritualist, ancestor worshiping etc. And that is one big leap, nearly a leap equal to the one which apologists often make, when they try (and fail ) to prove a prime cause for the universe. And then say, "therefore Jesus." But making big leaps without any bridge of evidence seems to be in, at least, their nature.

What Comforts You as an Atheist While Enduring Suffering

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2023:

That death sets a natural limit to suffering, so that suffering will always be finite. I find is the biggest comfort yes.

Today I learned that a complete rainbow (total circle) is called a "glory" and apparently a double ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2023:

Should not really be that uncommon for aviators, where you can see a complete set of rain falling through both angles of refraction before it hits the ground. But quite rare from the ground.

Fanatical funny!

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Yes great idea, I could do with one of those, but how do you train the cat to stay up there ?

More Marge and balloon nonsense…

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Really, really, really, please, do not be unkind to chimps.

So who is this @Princeesteresa and why is she filling this site with quotes/excerpts with no ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

To my knowledge she has not replied to any comments yet, even the one where I asked her if she was a bot.

Conspiracy theorist ( n ): Somebody whose brain has been fogged by chemtrails, 5G and fetal alcohol ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

You left off, spike proteins.

What is philosophy?

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Are you a bot ?

Biden Murders a Chinese Spy Balloon & Marjorie Taylor Greene Hates Her Job | The Daily Show - ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Sorry. It says not available in my country.

You may have heard—or even used—the terms religion and spirituality interchangeably.

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Please cite your quotes.

I'm just me and nothing much 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site.

Consensus at last!

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Sadly there are some who do give a shit, and it is your shit not theirs that they care most about.

“I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility.

Fernapple comments on Feb 9, 2023:

Sometimes like this, Ruskin got it very correct, but sadly sometimes he also got it very wrong.

How Psychotechnology Changed Humanity Forever [medium.com] .

Fernapple comments on Feb 8, 2023:

Sales pitch.

I quote:- On Truth Social, Mr Trump dismissed the reports as "fake disinformation".

Fernapple comments on Feb 8, 2023:

Grammar fascists will tell you that two positives can not equal a negative. To all that sort of thing I just say. "Yeah Yeah."

"I feel most spiritual when I’m out in the woods.

Fernapple comments on Feb 7, 2023:

Wow ! That is getting very close to religious naturalism as most people would understand it. I did not know you did that in this group.

“Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 7, 2023:

She is not perfect, but evolution is certainly the most ruthless of economists, who tolerates nothing wasteful.

When I was younger, these massive disasters were a rarity.

Fernapple comments on Feb 7, 2023:

Turkey is beautiful, especially the mountains. But sadly you pay a price for beauty, Just some of my holiday snaps taken quite near to the earthquake zone a few years ago. In a beautiful village set in a great wide valley between the mountains, and peopled by wonderful friendly locals.

The greatest non-swearing British insults: 1.

Fernapple comments on Feb 7, 2023:

Not sure that pillock counts as non-swearing.

Nothing else in the world.

Fernapple comments on Feb 7, 2023:

Sadly though, the old ideas still often have a lot of guns. A people have to bleed before the world moves.

It's better to feel good that to look good.

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2023:

Well I hope you feel a lot better than you look.

that must be it.

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2023:

Funny that I think you may be on to something ?

Why does anyone need a god?

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2023:

11. The god claim gives your prejudices the backing of authority, and sets your party/race/social group above all others.

I heard that superb owl Sunday is this weekend, so, in recognition, here is a superb owl!!....

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2023:

Some people say that owls are not really all that wise, but I bet you never saw one sitting in front of the TV all day on Sunday.

1906 video of market Street in San Francisco just 3 months before the big earthquake and fire.

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2023:

Quite an original idea for the time, to film from a moving vehicle. I wonder who was the first ?

Re-branding Jesus?

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2023:

Jesus has been re-branded more than a dozen times already. Even the early Roman and Orthodox churches were very different from the early Nazareth church. Which were different from the Jesus of late Rome, and different from the Jesus of the middle ages etc. etc. One of the things which made Christianity a popular religion, is that the bible, upon which it is based, is so garbled, contradictory and meaning free, that you can interpret it how you like, to suit nearly any situation and marketing ploy you wish to use. A good trick, no wonder it is the worlds largest religion. But then, reinventing Jesus as a gun swinging red neck, may just be pushing the reinterpretation a bit further than even it will really stand. "Only in America !"

Republican politicians are constantly trumpeting that they want to see government operated like a ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2023:

I have seen businesses with products they do not wish to sell do exactly that. Cheapen it make it worse, put the price up, and then say. "Nobody was buying it, so we took it off the shelves." Then. "But you can buy the new B-Line, its better and cheaper, but you do have to pay us a monthly fee to keep up the license agreement on the new red button feature." Then the customer says. "But I don't want the red button feature, it does nothing useful, who would ? Why can't I by the old product without the monthly fee?" "Well co's see nobody was buying it."

A little knowledge: " When would you estimate the "dumbing down” of America began?

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2023:

This may seem to be an echo chamber statement on this site, but I think that religion and marketing have a lot to do with it. Since it seems to be worse in America than many places, and in America religion is strengthened by the lack of a state religion, and the separation of state and church, which made religions into free enterprises unshackled and unrestricted by the state, and highly competitive. Able and willing to do what all advertising companies want, which was to market the idea of. "Buy our product and get it all, everything you want, happiness, wealth, community, status, marital happiness etc. etc. " And that helps to deepen the feeling that. "I want". Is a valid a source of truth, which need not bow to evidence, effort or wisdom. Because getting what you want all the time regardless, is promoted a a human right and transcendent truth in the US.

40°is colder than it was 30 years ago.

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2023:

I find that too, but I just thought that it was caused by me getting older.

Why can't ghosts and god NOT be proven?

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2023:

Like someone said. If god wanted to prove his existence to me, then if he was all powerful and all knowing, then he would know how to prove his existence to me. ( We are though talking about the Christian god here. Odin and Zeus would not perhaps be able too, since they were not all powerful. ) Which means, either, god is selective, (perhaps racist sexist) in who it choses to show itself to, it prefers to remain hidden and all human gods are impostors, or it does not exist.

Preacher Accused of Enabling Pedophile at Creationist ‘Dino’ Theme Park

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2023:

The story certainly has the marks of being genuine. When once you start earning your living out of lies and/or self deception, then you soon train yourself to the point where anything and everything become possible. And believing that your friends "innocent" story is literally true without any qualifications, doubts or reservations is easy.

Ya know, while I won't categorize all Xtians as lacking intelligence and being gullible, many of ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 3, 2023:

The two are not mutually exclusive, nonetheless.

This is how I want to live. Though it's easier said than done... [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Feb 3, 2023:

Very good. Here for what they are worth, ( Not much.) are my views, which all end in a joke, very like Absurdism which I would perhaps call Appreciateism. When we realize that there are no big, god given, purposes in life, demanding our obedience. And the many completely contradictory purposes, offered by the many different religions, prove that to be so. Then we can easily see, that wanting any big purpose at all, is merely a vanity and narcissism. The failings which are the weakness that all religions feed off. For if you build up the vanities of people, then they will, obey you, pay you, and praise you, for as long as you keep flattering and confirming those vanities, over and over again. Yet atheists often say in reply to the theist's question. “What is the purpose of life, if there is no god ?” That, by being none religious, we are free to choose our own purposes. Though admittedly they must by definition be small personal ones, for a transcendent purpose is just another god, meaning that in the deepest sense, atheism, agnosticism and deism are inevitably, by their nature, mainly philosophies of humility. Yet here for fun is the irony. Suppose for one second, hypothetically, for arguments sake, that there is a creator, an intelligence behind the universe, though one who has not revealed any purpose to us yet, perhaps a deist creator at most. Then what can we discern, if anything, is most likely to be pleasing to it, if pleasing it has any value at all ? Well after the usual if doubtful, givens, such as, be kind, the only thing I think that seems likely, is that we should appreciate its creation as much as possible, down to the smallest detail. Valuing and treasuring all that we are given. And what are we doing when we create our own small purposes, whether, we climb mountains, garden, paint pictures, entertain our pets, make a coffee for a friend or help in a charity shop, if not appreciating that creation, or nature, down to the smallest detail, and valuing it enough to care for it ? Practical environmentalism. Perhaps therefore being an atheist could after all, be the most pleasing of all things to the hypothetical creator. Now forget the hypothetical creator, since it has now done its job, and what are you left with ? That the small things are the biggest things there are, because they demand the greatest appreciation of you, and it is when you turn your back on the idea of great purpose that you come nearest to your greatest purpose. And when you forget god that you are most likely to please god. So you see that in the end, my deepest thoughts lead to an ironic joke. Nice joke perhaps ? Yes, but I was also never more serious. And is this my original philosophy ? No, I don't think so, for at the very least the Greek philosopher ...

Frontiers of Commoning, with David Bollier Interview with David Sloan Wilson What ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 2, 2023:

There is one important thing which has to be kept in mind however, as a warning against overstating the importance of group selection. Which is that, while individual humans usually live for only thirty or forty effective breeding years, at most, cultures and nations tend to exist for centuries, if not thousands of years. So that for every group death (selective event ) there are perhaps a hundred or a thousand selective events at an individual level, making individual selection a much more powerful and quicker force.

Frontiers of Commoning, with David Bollier Interview with David Sloan Wilson What ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 2, 2023:

"Weird" "Western educated industrial rich and democratic." Is not by any means the only cultural group which does scholarship and science, or even, today, does the majority of it. That is a very narrow parochial USA centric view, which is by no means true, but only shows an inward looking short sightedness. Certainly in may be true that "Weird" cultures were the ones who let the cat of empirical scholarship and science out of the bag to the largest extent, but now it has escaped it is very nearly a world wide phenomena, and it is very unlikely to go back in its bag again. I am sure that in part the view that empirical scholarship is only a western phenomena, could be justified because, those few cultures which do not embrace it to some degree, are the loudest and most obvious in their opposition. And there is a real danger certainly, that the USA, if it falls into the hands of resurgent Christian culture, may well become on of those few. For that Christian culture, although it certainly birthed empirical scholarship and science, is quite capable of eating its child if it feels threatened, and that is probably the greatest threat scholarship faces. Yet I think that the empirical world is a strong one, and that even in the USA , the anti education and and science movement will soon reach its peak and may even face a reaction. While if it does not, then there is no law which states that the intellectual leadership of the world, has to remain with one culture or even in one geographical location, and it may perhaps benefit and refresh itself with change.

I tested finally negative for Covid last Thursday and this past Tuesday I had lens replacement for ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 2, 2023:

Best wishes.