There's just no stopping spring growth in my back fern garden!

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2021:

Wow lovely, you are far in advance of me here in the UK , ours have hardly started yet. Mind you we have just had the coldest April on record, so we are not likely to but lush with spring growth yet.

15 Things You Didn’t Know About Cats and Dogs | Vetsource

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2021:

Good read, thank you.

I seem to have gone through something I can't explain.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2021:

Sounds like an infection, if it is or if it is not, see a doctor and antibiotics should quickly sort it out, and if it is something more serious they will tell you.

Everyone thinks I’m a submissive because I’m wearing this collar.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2021:

I always wondered why vicars alway seem to have such a bad flea problem.

Hi all. I am new here. Any advice or guidance in finding my way around is appreciated much.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2021:

Hello and welcome. Just get stuck in.

A tub of margarine fell on my foot three weeks ago and it still hurts.

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2021:

If your feet are not healing well, it is a good idea to get your sugar levels and blood pressure checked. I don't want to worry you, it may be nothing, but it can be a symptom of serious underlying disease, poor circulation and slow healing in the feet are one of the first signs.

Just curious (but meant as a serious question, not a joke, however offbeat it may be): Has anyone...

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2021:

If they have a bilateral symmetry, which is very common on earth, so may be so elsewhere, it will be quite likely that one side will be slightly dominant. It may even be to the extent, that like some crabs say, they may have bilateral bodies, but with one side heavily modified, even with different limbs. Or they may of course not be bilateral at all, like starfish, or jellyfish.

Wombat? Close enough.

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2021:

Warthog. Its trying to hide its ugly face.

He doesn't even want to hear about that "common ancestor" crap...

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2021:

And some apes are good looking, unlike humans, horrible lanky bald things, with just odd tufts of hair, in exactly the places you would not want tufts of hair. Ugh.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan calls for Muslim countries to force Western governments to criminalise ...

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2021:

Given the near to broken state of Pakistan's economy, I think that the only country that would be a disaster for would be Pakistan. But that is probably what the imams want. Keep the people poor and ignorant, and they wont have the resources needed to ask questions.

Apparently, most people don't really want to be happy.

Fernapple comments on May 3, 2021:

Sorry your link does not work.

Someone again asked if agnostics are scared to say they are atheists.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

If god speaks in the forest where no one hears him, what difference does his mere existence make ?

So tired, tired of waiting...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

Or maybe that is what they tell everybody.

Can you spot the Copperhead Snake on the path.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

Boy that is some camo.

I like to watch evangelist performances, nice manipulative psychology lessons.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

No thank heavens, it is enough that I waste such a lot of time on this site. OK, joke , but yes you can learn a lot from them, and then you start to be aware of just the same methods being used everywhere. Every animal has a special adaption, the hare runs fast, the falcon flies fast, the lion is strong, the mole digs well, etc.. Yet many people wonder what special adaption humans have, and think we must be without one perhaps. But it is obvious really. We are the animal which tells lies, and has a special talent for that, beyond all others. Not just to other humans, but our lies are so good, even the animals living on the farm think we love them, when in fact we only keep them because we intend to eat them.

I think if anyone wants to know how silly the human being is, just go to tiktok and start swiping up...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

But pigs and dogs of course are unclean, even though they are Allah's creation too, never fathomed the logic of that. ( It may be that the prophets cats told him to put that bit in of course. ) LOL

When history comes alive

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

Someone was very clever spotting the similarity and putting those two together.

I was brought up in a Christian home and became a Christian at eight years old, as time passed i ...

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

Hello and welcome to the site. I think that your first line says it all. Can you really become a Christian at eight ? ! What does an eight year old understand about theology, history, life, and what knowledge did the eight year old you have of the world or any alternate belief systems, to make a judgment ? Were you really a Christian, or were you just an intellectually abused and indoctrinated child ? And what does it tell you about a belief system, that expects people to join forever at eight, and never points to any alternatives, or asks for any open criticism. One thing you will find here is a range of opinion on nearly everything, as well as support, for nearly everything.

I'm so glad this site exist.

Fernapple comments on May 2, 2021:

Its a good people site, and no matter what you have to talk about, we have enough diversity that there will always be some who want to listen and share.

Has your interest in religion increased or decreased after leaving your religion? Why?

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2021:

1. Never was religious and was raised in a largely secular household. 2. First encountered religion at school, and gained a good knowledge of Christianity there, but no other religion. ( UK schools are often Christian. ) 3. Not really applicable, but I have learned more over the years. 4. Still study it a bit, because I am interested in everything. 5. The Christian schooling I was given, made me realize just what a threat to every value I hold good religion was, and the sense of pity for all those people still trapped by those darker aspects of human culture, motivates me perhaps even more than the need I have to defend the things, like the environment, science, human rights, reason, etc., which I do value. 6. Faded a little since I know enough for my needs to combat it, and a lot of it is dull. 7. Very few.

“The only intelligent tactical response to life’s horror is to laugh defiantly at ...

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2021:

If I remember rightly, he was not exactly a big sack full of laughs himself though.

A picture speaks a thousand words

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2021:

Clever photo. Well done whoever.

Is there truly any difference between a "cult" and a "religion".

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2021:

A religion is a cult that has managed to get itself political power.

Oh yes they can...

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2021:

Times change it seems. At first I did not get the joke, because I mistook the ink blot card, for the top of a laptop with a logo on it.

it feels good to see the fireflies flash.

Fernapple comments on May 1, 2021:

I have never seen that, they are very rare to nearly extinct in the UK. They are on my bucket list when we can travel again.

Hmmm, wonder what a female box looks like...never mind, I finally remembered!

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

Not sure if that's, pawn or porn, depends on number perhaps.

What is "a night with ebon pinion" anyway?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

It is that which precedes. "Dawn placing her rose tinted fingers in the sky, over a wine dark sea."

Bertolt has always had a strong philosophical point worth considering.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

The original meaning of the Greek word "idiot", was someone who takes no interest in politics.

Way too early

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

Mouse mat, I love literalism.

Hehehehehehehehehe!!!!!!

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

I have seen the first photo before, and with good reason assume it is real. Which just makes you wonder if the human race has a future worth anything.

climate change friday

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

"At some point, we lost sight of the fact that harm to nature, is harm to ourselves." And possibly that began at the point, when the Abrahamic religions started to tell us that we were not part of nature, but a special creation of god set above nature. Another stupid thing they started.

"an agnostic is an atheist without balls" agree or disagree?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

I am an atheist to all the gods of religion, because I can prove to my own satisfaction, that they do not exist. However there are deist gods, and beliefs in possible super-natures, so vague, that their existence or not can not be proved. So that while I am quite certain they probably don't exist, my respect for the principle that nothing should ever be held to be absolutely certain, in which I do have the "brains" (Not balls, since I do not use those for thinking with.) to believe absolutely, it being the only absolute I allow, is such that I am happy with agnostic, and willing to tolerate even deists as friends in alms.

"an agnostic is an atheist without balls" agree or disagree?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

Oh no , not that boring old thing again !

Who is the originator of the theory that the Covid vaccines are being administered to change DNA?

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

May have been more than one person. It is a fairly obvious stupid joke, that it would not be surprising if several different idiots thought of it. And such is the nature of the inter-net that every stupid joke is going to be taken seriously by someone, and then spread as fact to the gullible who will pass it on. The banal game of. "Lets see if we can get someone to believe something really stupid. " Is an old sad and long worn out one, and nobody ever found the bottom. But there is always a new generation wanting to have a go.

Start with the smartest demographic group of people in the world -> Add religion -> Dozens of people...

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

Who needs safety barriers and ushers, when the god bloke is watching over you all.

Life is a series of disappointments and I just added you to my list.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

Sorry that is not news to me. A lot of other people got there first.

"Sunday School: A prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

And so that the parents can go home after church for sex. The churches wanted more children to fill the pews, so it encouraged its livestock to breed.

I always act as though I'm senile so if I ever do become senile people will never know.

Fernapple comments on Apr 30, 2021:

There are many of us in that boat.

Health is in the mind as much as it is in the body, most of us will never look like a movie star or ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2021:

I would be very pleased if she let herself go. Especially if it was somewhere interesting, and doubly if I could tag along too. It is not how you look but how you live, that not only, "gets you a life", but that ultimately makes you attractive to others.

Logic puzzle

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2021:

Yes, because Mary is either married or unmarried. If Mary is married, the married Mary is looking at unmarried Peter. And if Mary is unmarried, then married Paul is looking at unmarried Mary.

The Cascade Mountain foothills are alive with flowers!

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2021:

Lovely pictures, thank you, I hope you enjoyed the walk despite the infection and that it clears quickly. I take it that Camas is the common name for Camasia, I wonder which came first, is the scientific name based on the popular name, or is the popular name just a shortening of the scientific name ? Update. Don't worry I looked it up. It seems that they are both derived from the native American, Quamash, though I do not know what that means.

"What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2021:

Since his one purpose in life, above all others, was to challenge the supposed lies of the Catholic Church, that would seem to be a bad case of serious double values.

We've all been wondering the same things. Why the F am I here?

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2021:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site. Its a fairly normal brand of deism you seem to be expressing, and that is fine with many of us, including me. Since I think that the god question is irrelevant, it is only faith in received folly, religion, or a supposed knowledge of gods purpose and wishes, which really impacts on life, to bad effect. You will perhaps though encounter some on the site who are not friendly to any god idea, however deistic.

Another good question

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2021:

Like most religious leaders I suppose, he was only against fornication, when it was other people doing the fornicating.

Biological classification uses taxonomic ranks, including among others (in order from most inclusive...

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2021:

Dawkins alway said that the meme theory was mainly a metaphor, not to be taken too literally. But that they should all be considered as mainly parasites, though many are beneficial parasites of course. However, certainly a sort of classification does already exist, since we see memes as parts of subcultures, and subcultures as parts of cultures, so that there is a nesting rank based classification by default already there. Cultures certainly are parasites too, and certainly can cause mental illness, that is observable. But that is where the idea of classification breaks down a little, since memes are a part of a culture, and a culture depends on its memes to live, more like cells within a body than individuals within a species. Yet it does explain neatly, why science and philosophy, are by nature, forced to be anti-cultural, since it is their function to provide the only treatments we have against culture, otherwise known as received folly, and the illnesses caused by that.

Will trump do a PSA for his flock encouraging them to get vaccinated ?

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2021:

barjoe posted this the other day. https://agnostic.com/discussion/591888/ozymandias

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2021:

"So." Very simple sentence.

My sister has been fighting a recurrence of cancer for about seven years.

Fernapple comments on Apr 26, 2021:

Sorry to hear that. But they fake offering of prayers, can sometimes conceal real caring, the most deluded of humans can still be human. One small thing is, do not feel you are being selfish, or guilty, if you look after yourself in these times. For should your sister need you then you are much more useful strong and rested.

Spent some fun time with soapy water . . .

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2021:

That sort of photo takes a lot more doing than it looks, great shot.

Saturday 4-23-21 I AM & U R - as ALL is - GOD - as Energy in Life – being EVERY thing - ALL ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2021:

If you want to understand the eternal. Try reading some boring stuff over and over.

Ozymandias

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2021:

Always loved that poem, love it even more now. LOL

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 25, 2021:

At seven, you think your parents know everything. At seventeen, you think they are stupid and the dumbest people on the planet. At twenty seven, you think they were just normal with the failings of their generation. At thirty seven, you think they were really wise, and you were young and foolish once. And at fifty seven, you think that the seventeen year old was right, and stupid has been passed on genetically.

Especially you, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, some sort of heavy metal band ?

Just another service I provide...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

And you are very good at it.

Am I the only one who has adverse reactions to some posters but instead of blocking them, I continue...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

Never blocked anybody, I came to learn and the weirder they are the more I learn, and the more I think they need help sometimes.

Coat them with chocolate and give them out for Halloween?

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

Its very true. The secret is, that you can not buy a Brussels Sprout. You have to grow your own, by the time they reach the shops, all that was once good about them is long gone, they keep good for a couple of hours at most after picking.

Today was a rough day, emotionally.

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

I am sorry to hear that. Freedom for places like the Ukraine often comes at a high cost, and sadly not all that cost is paid by those who nations celebrate as national hero's.

Today's Republican party is an agitated, schizophrenic admixture of 2 ideologies: (1) an oligarchic...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

Number two, is the bait to keep those who are not oligarchs, voting for those who are. While keeping their attention fixated on the nearly none existent socialist menace, keeps them for noticing that the gold is coming out of their own pockets. While using schools and churches, to stifle real education, stops them developing the mental self sufficiency real education brings, and keeps them digging the gold out of their pockets to buy consumer goods from the oligarchs, in the hopes they will fill the void within. Makes perfect sense really.

When I first started on this site some 3 years ago, most of the posts are genuine personal personal...

Fernapple comments on Apr 24, 2021:

That's the way the web is going as a whole. Plus there are more old established members now who may have shot all their bolts.

A man I deliver parts to still thinks that Trump is really president and going to reappear at any ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2021:

The one question that conspiracy theorists alway never seem to think about is. Yes, but why would anyone do that anyway?

This is the Orchid Rock Rose.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2021:

This is a wild pink rock rose, I photographed growing wild in Portugal, a couple of years ago when we could still travel.

This is the Orchid Rock Rose.

Fernapple comments on Apr 23, 2021:

The flowers last several days for me, here in England, so it must be a climate thing.

There was a video that was removed soon before a lot had seen it.

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2021:

Pity the video was not downloaded and stored.

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Albert Einstein

Fernapple comments on Apr 22, 2021:

Most of the time it does not.

Just got no. 2. arm hasn't fallen off yet.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2021:

Three weeks yet for me. But I am told your arm does not drop off, you grow a third one.

Unionized...

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2021:

It would not work in the UK we are de-ionized.

LOL.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2021:

Wire wool used to be made in the past, by those who sent incomprehensible telegrams.

If god were real, the god of the bible's death toll would be 3 to 20 million people and quite a few ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2021:

Small qualification. The plagues of Egypt, god sent a satan, (there may be more than one ) to do the job for him. So they both did it.

i love it when you smile

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2021:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site, and do look into the groups, there is something for everyone.

Saving the world one corndog at a time.

Fernapple comments on Apr 21, 2021:

World wide the commonest street/house number to include a letter is 12a. Wonder why?

More kamasutra please!

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

I am told that only two percent of the Kamasutra is about sex. It has more pages on gardening. Must read it sometime, ( Just for the gardening of course.)

Another one bites the dust.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

It has been a good year for Darwin Award candidates. Vintage in fact.

If the god of the bible exists (which I don't believe for a moment) it is a complete asshole.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Yes I lost both my parents and my wife, and all of them slowly. Selfishly speaking it seems sometimes that all life is spent either watching people die, or grieving afterwards. And worse of course is the fact that even if that god has gone away, the legacy of regarding human life as untouchable, will still go on to deny humans the final mercy we give to animals, for years to come. The only thing that I can recommend to help your own pain, is work, it really does help to keep busy and thereby forget your pains, even though work can seem pointless, grey and dull, it still stops you overthinking.

This definitely gave me a feel good boost because I am mediocre at almost everything but I've ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Wonderful philosophy, my thought exactly. Though some people say, butterfly personality.

Two totally different things...

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Sadly nuance tends to be wasted on people like creationists, they want absolutes of good and evil true and false, with them in the good and everyone else in the evil false camp. And if the nuance does not help give them that, then too bad for the nuance. Your sentence contains eleven words, that is far too many to scream in one breath. "You believe in evolution. " Is only four words, which is much easier to scream if you don't want anyone else to be heard.

Ockham’s razor, Russell’s teapot, and the lottery paradox.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Actually they are not only misusing Russell's teapot. Which supports agnostic philosophy. But also Ockham's Razor, which was an ancient rule for use in formal debating, and never said anything like its common modern misuser's think it did.

(Forewarning: This idea would only be good IF no one cared about the patterns of darkness and light.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Yes but the problem is more basic than that. The real problem is that there are not an exact number of days, the time it takes the earth to rotate, in a year. So that if you make the seconds line up with the days, they will not line up with the year, and if you do make the seconds line up with the year, then there will not be an exact number of seconds in a day. And then there is the noise and the slowing of the earth. It is not a solvable problem. PS. there is a small error at the beginning, the hours are not "the earth spinning while the sun shines on it," that is the days, of which the hours are sub-divisions. For another improvement which works very well. Why not have thirteen months of twenty eight days. That makes three hundred and sixty four days, and you then add one extra day, called new years day or leap day, at the beginning of the year, every year, except leap years when you have two, to adjust the years and days as needed. New years day/days are a holiday and are not counted as weekdays. (They are just called new years day.) Then every year and every month would begin on the same day of the week, and nobody would ever need to buy more than one calendar in a lifetime.

I'm still fairly new Atheist and still figuring out my way as one.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Encourage them to learn some history, and how it works, for example recommend a secular history of the biblical lands. Does not have to be a book if they don't read, a Youtube documentary is a good start. There is nothing destroys religion like knowledge.

Suspected poacher trampled to death by elephants.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Sadly though, the actual poachers are often poor and desperate creatures themselves, who are bullied into it, often because they owe debts to the gangs, armed cheaply by the poaching gangs, and are only paid a pittance for the ivory. The gang members and organized criminals who control the trade, never get involved in the actual hunting themselves.

Can i get an amen to that

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

Where did you find that one ? Even the J.W.'s are not that bad.

I know everyone on this site has probably seen this, but it is always funny. [m.youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

The Buy -Babble contains a good joke of its own, if you look. Because according to it, on the mount he was given the stone tablets magical inscribed by the lord with the laws. Accompanied only by his bother in law, Aaron. Who the Buy-Babble tells us was a STONE MASON. Just saying.

We are witnessing unbelievable process in Georgia right now.

Fernapple comments on Apr 20, 2021:

The worlds churches will probably not die, if you have a useful name and some cultural value someone will always take it on. In all probability the worlds churches will reinvent themselves again, as they often have, probably this time as organized crime.

Hail satan lol!

Fernapple comments on Apr 19, 2021:

He also tortured Job in just about every way they could think of, just to amuse Satan. You have got to know that when it come to the crunch, its one law for supernaturals, and another one entirely for poor humans.

Only a 10-min.

Fernapple comments on Apr 18, 2021:

I know what you mean. Though I am more of a woodland than coastal person, for my green fix..

I got my second covid shot today.

Fernapple comments on Apr 18, 2021:

Cheer up, it only lasts a day or two, then you can get back to being abnormal again.

Bill nails it again...78% of COVID mortalities were those suffering from obesity. [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 18, 2021:

Sorry, link does not go there.

Don't think they wore masks, but the beards may have helped...

Fernapple comments on Apr 18, 2021:

Did they not see the episode of the Flintstones, where Fred got them all to hide down the mine ?

Photos of the week: [washingtonpost.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 17, 2021:

Paywall, sorry.

Share your top Secrets for success in life Tall order, here goes mine.

Fernapple comments on Apr 17, 2021:

If I shared it, it would not be a secret any longer.

I'm an expert when it comes to other people's lives.

Fernapple comments on Apr 17, 2021:

Think about, "Te Deum" and the English word "tedium", which came out at about the time of the Reformation.

“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats”.

Fernapple comments on Apr 17, 2021:

Beer, laughter, hugs, sunshine, green growing things, books, giving unasked, honest trade (happy customers), hot showers, old dogs, wind waving grass, young creatures of all species, etc. etc.

The Epicurus Dilemma.

Fernapple comments on Apr 16, 2021:

I think that the last one is the weak one, since we do not know what the qualifications for godhood are, who is to say that willingness and ability are needed. But it works fairly well.

You cannot stop faith - pandemic or not.

Fernapple comments on Apr 16, 2021:

And India's right wing government coming up to an election, does not want to upset the religious right, by placing restrictions, of any sort, on them. So a lot more people are going to die of religion, and a secondary political infection, with viral complications of course.

People Are Revealing Why They'll Never Go To Church Again, And I'm Curious About Who Feels The Same...

Fernapple comments on Apr 16, 2021:

How about. All of the above.

Someone mentioned how beautiful this garden was and I looked it up.

Fernapple comments on Apr 15, 2021:

If you like that, you may also like this English garden, its in a different style, and much older, but was originally the creation of a mother and son. https://perennial.org.uk/garden/york-gate-garden/

Can evil be good, or good be evil?

Fernapple comments on Apr 15, 2021:

Good and evil are absolutes. And like the vast majority of absolutes, they do not exist, ( Or at least not absolutely. This being a nuance.) when people talk about an absolute, they are saying. "I do not accept nuance or qualification in this mater." But accepting nuance and qualification are the roots of wisdom, since it is only when we let them in, that we can begin to learn, move forward, or see the other view.

In education, in marriage, in religion, in everything, disappointment is the lot of women.

Fernapple comments on Apr 15, 2021:

Tough love, I suppose.

I'm not sure I want my butt to light up...

Fernapple comments on Apr 15, 2021:

Sounds painful.

The neighbor lady upstairs made me some cabbage, pork rolls.

Fernapple comments on Apr 15, 2021:

I should ask her if you can start with a cheese sandwich first. Best not get in too deep too quick. LOL

Loved this picture!

Fernapple comments on Apr 14, 2021:

Bed in breakfast.