The golf course is flooded.

Fernapple comments on Jun 24, 2020:

Beautiful.

The Evolutionary Mismatch Hypothesis: Implications for Psychological Science .

Fernapple comments on Jun 24, 2020:

Sorry but what is new about any of this is hard to see. It may be news in creationist communities.

Yay. I finally made 8th level. Now only 150,000 points to 9th.

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2020:

I don't think you get another pen and tee shirt. Congrat'es though.

If Tom kills Jerry the show is over....

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2020:

Another way of looking at it is. When they invented God, they made a few mistakes in the script, they could not do a rewrite because they had got a lot of it in the can already, so then they had to invent the devil to try and get the plot to make sense. (Did not work, complete turkey.)

End of lockdown, Memorial Day increased COVID-19 cases 25% to 50%.

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2020:

And so Rome burned while the emperor played the fiddle, (not invented then, possibly harp). But that was only a fire and one city, so I guess that you have to give Nero some credit, relatively anyway.

Where Religion ,Monarchy and Private Education meet.

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2020:

Yep, my experience of education in Britain was just like that, if not as dramatic. Only a state school, but certainly shabby Christian bigots, happily lying there heads off, for easy promotion.

This came to mind after reading today’s news...

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2020:

Genius also knows that it has limits.

Company plans space tourism flights in high-altitude balloon [cbsnews.com]

Fernapple comments on Jun 22, 2020:

Interesting but very expensive, a perhaps not very environmentally sound luxury for the rich, and we have a lot of those to start with.

Assumptions .

Fernapple comments on Jun 22, 2020:

Because every week they listen to a lecture, telling them that Christians are the only nice and special people, then they go around all week telling each other the same thing. It really beings in the same root place as racism.

“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” ---- Friedrich Nietzsche

Fernapple comments on Jun 22, 2020:

That is why science is so successful, because science is the anti-conviction philosophy.

Kitchen Tips That Save Time and Effort. ([)]

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

Sorry the link does not work.

Every time i see someone with a Walmart shirt that says you need jesus i cringe big time, i wish i ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

Well just stick around here a bit, and you get one with agnostic on it. Which is nearly as good.

“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we know what we do not know, that is true ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

I think that I will have to lie down for a bit. Sorry.

tRump is holding a rally. [bbc.com]

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

It says his speech was almost two hours long. Must have been at least eighty or ninety words then. A lot to take in for his supporters.

I am going to severely limit my reactions and inter actions for the next week or maybe longer.

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

I do hope you are soon well.

My father past away this week with the funeral ending just a few hours ago.

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

You can not feel guilty about being unable to keep all your promises, even to those who have died, we can have realistically no more right to expect people to change for our benefit in death than in life, and sometimes we simply can not do everything for everyone that they would like us to, that is the reality of life. My father wanted to be cremated when he died, my mother who was herself already in a hospital dying, wanted him buried. Because she had a desire to be buried alongside him. I chose to respect his wishes however, though mother was very upset, and in some ways it would perhaps have been far better to respect the wishes of the still living, than the dead, who are after all beyond being hurt. But I was far closer to my father than my mother, time was short and many other things, including mothers illness, were pressing upon me, so with little thought I decided to go with fathers wishes. But whichever way I had gone it would have meant breaking a promise, it was a no win situation.

Atheist ego is a balloon ready to burst, it doesn't match with their accomplishments in life.

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

Of course I am subpar. If I was a high achieving atheist/agnostic I would be out there living life, instead of wasting time trying to make a small contribution to the world on social media. But still I am just thankful I have just enough of a life to be able to make a contribution. It could after all be far worse, I could be a really sad person whose life was so dismal, I would need to go out trolling for reactions to get a bit of a short lived thrill, don't know that I would want to go on living if things were that sad.

An interesting question...what is the relationship between psychology and falling in love?

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

I believe there has been a truly huge body of work done on the subject. Why not start with Google and Wiki and see where you can get to from there.

Members

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

Hello and welcome back. Yes there are a lot of people in the world with nothing better to do, and they tell me that more of them find this site every day.

Last year we planted some grasses that were supposed to like partial shade and would grow to 6' in ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2020:

We have a saying in this country. Plants don't die, it just new planting spaces appearing.

Atheist Covid

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2020:

Don't hold your breath while you wait.

I cant believe i have neighbors across the street and they have a beagle and two mix pit puppies ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2020:

That is not nice at all, the law should make all pet owners responsible for the animals behaviour. But perhaps a cat may help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1k4wNXfDB8

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones”..............Confucius.

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2020:

"The longest journey begins with the first step." Don't know who said that. But while it is very true, is not that first step often very hard to take.

Have you ever been offended by being an agnostic or atheist?

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2020:

I don't know, but I am often offended by the smell of my armpits. Does that help ?

Illusions are everywhere not only in temples and churches/.

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2020:

Hello and welcome. Yes basically.

Trump: Americans wear masks to show disapproval, not as preventive measure - Business Insider

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2020:

So why care what he says anymore ? Most people don't support him or believe a word of it. And of those that do support him most do so because they don't bother about what he says anyway, the kids in the back row are not bothered about the plot of the film as long as they have a full popcorn tub.

I became agnostic in prison (and less conservative), so now that I am home I have no like-minded ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2020:

Hello and welcome. Take your time and enjoy the site.

God damn f'n climate-change denying catholics!!!

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2020:

The Catholic church has a long history of pursuing an enlightened agenda towards both scientific and environmental issues, at least when compared to most other Christian sects. Probably because they had their fingers burned so badly early on, when the first conflicts between religion and natural philosophy began in western Europe. Like most old institutions they have long since learned the values of tolerance and ambiguity, as the route to attracting and keeping the widest support and income. Zeal, extremism and narrow ideology tend to be features of newer institutions. But that of course is only achieved by using the maximum amount of cognitive dissonance, without applying which, the issue of their ongoing opposition to any form of birth control renders any environmental conscience completely phony. Every form of both good and bad ideology and deeds, can and will be found, in any institution which has no real moral direction and is morally bankrupt. The same mechanism, or lack of mechanism, which enables an institution to preach caring for the weak, yet at the same time institutionalize child rape, is exactly that which enables it to support environmentalism, but not birth control.

Looking at the stars on a clear night in a place far far away.

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2020:

Yep, they would be late for work in the morning.

Which is growing faster atheism or Islam

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2020:

It is hard to say, in part because of course, many, probably most, of those in religions are closet atheists anyway.

Astronaut's view of Earth during a spacewalk [9gag.com]

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2020:

Amazing video. " Don't drop the spanner. I will have to go all the way back home for another." As my dad used to say to me.

Ricketts tells local governments they won't get federal COVID-19 money if they require masks | State...

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2020:

Why don't they just ask them to send a few of the police out to shoot a few people, and give them a grant for that. (Sorry I forgot they are doing that anyway, without an incentive. )

I think this might be a flower stalk since it sprouted a sister plant off the back underside.

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2020:

Yep, looks like a flower on the way.

a wonderful graphic of sizes of land masses, nations, etc.

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2020:

Really good, pity it does not have a link, it would be nice to enlarge it from the original site.

“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organise the ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 17, 2020:

And often more difficult.

In an online group which sprang up during the COVID plague devoted to sharing tours of ones garden, ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 17, 2020:

Wonderful transformation.

If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in bad company. - Jean-Paul Sartre

Fernapple comments on Jun 17, 2020:

Could also be said that. If you are having fun when you are alone.....

Simpler times

Fernapple comments on Jun 16, 2020:

Oh ! The good old days. One day perhaps they may return, but that first flush of rare and innocent youth has gone forever. " “The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”." E. Fitzgerald

From The Daily Stoic on Why wear a mask?

Fernapple comments on Jun 15, 2020:

True. Though actually it does protect you a little tiny bit too. So being selfish and being socially responsible are not always opposites.

[alternet.

Fernapple comments on Jun 15, 2020:

So it has nothing to do with his big belly then?

What Are The Odds?

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

One small point, Muslims do not believe that hell is for all eternity, only until you are cured or punished enough. Infinite punishment for finite sins is only in the Christian tradition.

What Are The Odds?

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

Yes, but god really loves atheists.

Please someone explain to me "Speaking in tongues" I have heard that sometimes people speak in a ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

I have seen preachers doing it, and I have also seen actors improvising imaginary languages as a stage comedy act. The stage act was a whole lot more convincing.

Keep terracalm, feel humagood.

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

Wonderful. Must add this to my favourites list.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm and perhaps a giggle or two

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

So when my wife used to get me to help her with her bra, was that a ploy then ? Boy you learn something every day.

When will the people smarten up the bible promotes racism,it even has rules on how to deal with your...

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

The bible is a mess, and so you can therefore find anything you want in it. And it is that which keeps it popular, because it gives you a justification for anything you want. A well constructed book, with no contradictions and a plain logical meaning, requiring no interpretation, could never be the basis of a major religion, because only a few people would truly agree with it. All the books that form the basis of major religions from the Tao, to the Koran etc. are messy and vague, but the bible is the vaguest of all, and is also the basis of the biggest religion. Figures ?

The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. - Bret Harte

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2020:

Yep. No matter how bad it is, it can always get worse.

If you are doing this, ask yourself why?

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2020:

Well it is certainly the language of, prejudice and illogic.

Just a random thought here.

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2020:

Yes but there is Rosamund. Latin roughly, 'Rose of the World'. Which sounds quite positive and kind of 'greeny'. Until you know that in the middle ages it was a euphemism for prostitute.

What are your favorite cartoons about Trump aka Marmalade Mussolini?

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2020:

Number one, if only because of the expression on Putins face.

Robert De Niro Dreams of hitting Donald Trump in the face with "a bag of shit."

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2020:

Nice idea but I do not think it would work. Someone who puts up fake magazine covers with his face on them, in public places, is too stupid to understand embarrassment.

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2020:

The beautiful are often spoiled, and therefore in terms of human relations the opposite is often true. Yet having said that, in a much wider sense of beauty, it can be a real sign of health if not moral goodness. Farmers picking livestock at sales, or a house hunters choosing where to live, are often well guided by a natural instinct for beauty.

Today's guests.

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2020:

Wow that is close up and personal.

One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk. - Crazy Horse

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2020:

Sadly , some people do.

“Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 11, 2020:

There could be another reason ?

Religion is the bane of humanity

Fernapple comments on Jun 11, 2020:

Not yet, but it could be the bane of the whole world given a little time.

I sometimes make puns about Helium. He He He But sodium? Na I'll make one about potassium, K?

Fernapple comments on Jun 11, 2020:

Laughing too much, gives me acid born of oxygen.

Wild gardening is more my style than prim and proper English gardening with everything labeled in ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 11, 2020:

Lovely, my style of gardening too. You seem though to be weeks ahead of us in this part of the UK, the Phlox are not even in bud yet here.

[gothamist.

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

The first thing that you usually notice about fascist countries, is large fences going up around public buildings.

How would you know if you were being subjected to a mass campaign of information, especially of a ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

The first thing I always ask is. Who gains from this.

Joke: Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump.

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

Why do mathematicians like jokes so much?

A physicist, a biologist, and a mathematician are sitting on a bench across from a house.

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

Just found this and realized that I commented with a very similar joke, on another of your posts. Ah well it must be a case of great minds think alike. LOL

Anyone here know of a good vacation destination that’s not in a big city?

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

Turkey, it has all of the things you like, mountains lakes etc. but being a traditional Islamic country, with huge history, it will be a completely different cultural experience. The people are so friendly, I love it it is magical.

Hello out there.

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site. And if you have the time, do check out the groups, there is something for everyone.

Is human morality (ethics) hard wired or is it a learned behaviour? Or an a adaption of both?

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

Since all higher social animals show some forms of morality, which is to a degree certainly hard wired, the real question is. Why would humans be the exception ? Everything has to be hard wired at the bottom of it. As Marionville below says. "Human survival from out earliest ancestor's time has relied on co-operation and reciprocity" But if we were not hard wired to value survival itself at the very least, then why bother with anything at all ? (Why bother eating and drinking, and why be afraid to end all our pains by jumping of a cliff ? ) And it would also I think be very hard for those (often theists) who like to argue there is no hard wired basis to morality, to argue well enough, to persuade most thinking people that we are not hard wired to value things like social status, which is often won through kindness and fair play, or that the emotional feelings like, pride, love, hate, pity and empathy for example are learned, because we all know that, for example, another's cry of pain triggers a purely emotional response in the first instant. To that we then add the benefits of personal experience, we learn the things which earn us respect and social status, cultural experience, we learn culturally from the experiences of others solving the same problems, and reason, we can work out how much better it is to live in a society which knows and respects ideas like the golden rule. Things like morality are complex and factors like culture, experience, reason, and hard wired emotions, weave together in complex knots , so that the whole structure is hard to see or untangle. This makes it easy for those who wish exploit others by using untruth, to use our natural laziness and fear of uncertainty, ( two other things that are hard wired), to persuade people to buy into their easy simple ready made answers, like, 'god gave us morality.'

Red Lion: Archaeologists 'find London's earliest theatre' - BBC News

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

What fun that must have been. After ten weeks of lock down the idea of going to a pub outside town for a social drink and an outdoor stage performance, seems like a wonderful treat, and a distant memory in more ways than one. And in those days all you could catch was the black death, fleas, lice, leprosy and the English sweating fever, well worth the risk. LOL

Birth, life, death. That's it!

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

You are born, you wear out and when you are too worn you stop functioning. There is no state called death, when you stop functioning, you fall apart, other things grab your bits and reuse them. Death is a word used by theists to big up falling apart, and make it sound more frightening and important than it really is.

Engineer, Physicist, Mathematician: An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician were on a train ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

A psychologist, a biologist, a mathematician and a theologian sit outside a cafe drinking coffee. Across the street a man comes walking down the road, and meets a woman who was coming in the opposite direction. They kiss and and disappear into a building, then a minute later they come out again with a small child. The psychologist says. “That's impossible humans do not build relationships that fast.” The mathematician says. “And one plus one does not equal three.” While the biologist says. “By all that is known about biology, humans simply, can not reproduce and grow that fast.” Then the theologian goes down on his knees and says. “Thank you god. This is the greatest day of my life. I get to witness a miracle and there are three scientists here to confirm it.”

I like this.

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

But does it like you, and how big are its teeth.

Tree bark after the rain.

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

More lichen than tree really. Three plants together making up a landscape, it takes a lot to put together a world perhaps.

“Morality cannot be legislated, but behaviour can be regulated.

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2020:

And if enough people are restrained, then the example of good behaviour, could change the hearts in the future, if those hearts grow in a better world.

Disclaimer: I fully realize that the pandemic is serious and is badly affecting a lot of people ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

Yes, a lot of people are saying that. It just shows how bad our hygiene was before the virus, it is not of course just your personal hygiene, it is everyone improving and not spreading the germs.

Philosophy is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat.

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

Religion is too often, trying to sell the black cat, sight unseen, and then threatening to punch anyone who asks if you really own the cat.

So, should we be isolating, or protesting? [theguardian.com]

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

Why not do both. You can protest very well today by writing letters , going on line, phoning. In fact you can make yourself a real pain to those responsible without even leaving you chair.

The question is “What is the basis of reality?

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

That depends. If you define the word 'God' as having the same meaning as the word 'Knowledge' then the statement. "I don't know." Is the same as. "There are no gods." And since most people do define god that way, at least by, ad populum they are the same. OK that is a joke, but, he serious point being that. Using the word god, to stand for 'I don't know', as for example Einstien did, runs the risk of aggrandizing the unknown, since the word god comes with grand associations, and assuming that the basis of reality is grand, is assuming some knowledge of it, therefore it can not be unknown if you know that. Since you are in effect making the statement that it is not banal and trivial, which is a statement of knowledge.

An unassumed atheist

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

You are under no obligation to share with your family, your thoughts are your own and no one needs to be involved with them. While if you need to share things, speak out or ask for help, that is what friends are for, or this site if you can not go anywhere else.

A day at a wildlife park.

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

Great photos, not easy to take fast moving birds even in a captive environment.

I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world. - Diogenes

Fernapple comments on Jun 9, 2020:

He lived in a storage container. He probably never knew anything about global warming, or the environmental crisis, but would he not be an even greater example of a true citizen of the world today, doing that rather than living in a carbon guzzling modern house.

All shots taken yesterday during my hike on Stone Mountain.

Fernapple comments on Jun 8, 2020:

I love the stream shots four and five especially. So much green so cool and relaxing.

I, TheMiddleWay, am a devout Christian and always have been.

Fernapple comments on Jun 8, 2020:

So why don't you read what other people write carefully ?

It's always good to get a foreign perspective on current issues in the United States.

Fernapple comments on Jun 8, 2020:

From the perspective of another foreigner, it seems about right.

This is a genuine question and I would really like to know the answer. Where does all the money go?

Fernapple comments on Jun 8, 2020:

It does not go anywhere since like god it never really existed, money is just an index of the markets confidence in a governments ability to keep its promises. It can reappear just as quickly as it disappeared.

The squirrel drama continues with photos.

Fernapple comments on Jun 8, 2020:

Great. I notice the way they seem to be standing up more in the photo with the cat, they have obviously seen it. Perhaps they will suffer less predation being near to human habitation.

Better than "absolute" figures are comparative figures, such as Covid related infections per million...

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2020:

You really think he understands maths ! Or he would care about maths if he did.

I’m intrigued about something I’ve noticed recently.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2020:

Sometimes, by accident, I hit the like button when aiming for the edit or reply, and a warning pops up saying. "You can not like your own posts." Perhaps something like that could be done.

I’m intrigued about something I’ve noticed recently.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2020:

Yes I have seen that, it is hard to say if it is naughty trying to gain points and attract extra attention to dull posts, or just clumsy. Not good form anyway.

I am an atheist.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2020:

What does not exist, in other words god. Can be given any properties you wish, because since it does not exist it has no properties of its own to conflict with the ones you wish to give it. Therefore it is hardly amazing news that peoples fantasies fulfill their deepest wishes. Or to quote the old saying. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true." One of the best pieces of evidence for the none existence of god.

Let's give religion a break just for a moment.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2020:

Never did believe. But my religious teachers did teach me how to spot bullshit, how to be very cynical, and that evil most likes to wear the robes of virtue.

According to my physics teacher, people who become atheists will be punished by God.

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2020:

You can find evidence for anything anywhere. If you are uncritical in your judgment of how good the evidence is, and you do not take any counter evidence into consideration. For example. Proposal. There are fairies living at the bottom of my garden. Test. I go down the garden and find there are weeds growing there, where did the weeds come from, I did not plant them ? Obviously the fairies must have planted them. Therefore evidence of fairies.

"The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 7, 2020:

And/or to make them believe, that another set of people are super human.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started”................Mark Twain.

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2020:

That's two of you today, telling me nothing happens without hard work. Well sorry, I have served twenty customers today, manage with a gale, answered a dozen phone calls, two difficult emails, two social callers, fixed the locks on two jammed doors, and done the watering. So I am not starting anything this evening, I am putting my feet up and having a beer.

An update on my post here [agnostic.

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2020:

Wow, wonderful. Hope you manage to get a photo or two.

If you had a Trump supporter walk through your door, with a MAGA hat on what would you do?

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2020:

Try to con him/her into giving me some money. If Trump can manage it, how hard can it be.

What made you become an atheist?

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2020:

Really evil and obnoxious teachers in a religious school, (UK. C.of E. ) trying to force me to accept bullshit.

People try to do right by each other, no matter the motivation, study finds [phys.org]

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2020:

So we are social animals after all, just like wolves, apes, lions, rabbits killer whales, baboons etc.etc. Wow who would have guessed that we are not so exceptional after all. And my religious education teacher told me that we were completely different from the more primitive animals, and also that we needed gods instructions to make us moral. Who would ever have guessed he could have been so wrong.

I recently deactivated all my social media accounts and I'm making an effort to find other ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2020:

Hello and welcome. Enjoy the site and do check out the groups if you have time, there is something for everyone, and I think that there are groups on both diet/exercise and for ex-forces. Though I would look at the full diversity certainly.

Some people pay so much attention to their reputation that they lose their character. (Unknown)

Fernapple comments on Jun 6, 2020:

You mean that my plan to get the whole world thinking that I am a complete asshole, is going to make me seem bland ?

There is no kind of stupid quite like certainty.

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2020:

If you know, why learn.

Researchers report that more than two-thirds of self-identified atheists shed that label after their...

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2020:

To quote the article. "Griffiths and the research team caution that the study relied on self-reported responses to a questionnaire, a method that carries substantial possibilities for biased or inaccurate responses among participants."

Pretty similar

Fernapple comments on Jun 5, 2020:

Pass on that, too hard for me.