Fuck you, 14 mm mower blade bolt.

Fernapple comments on Jul 28, 2019:

Good plan, and don't forget to switch off and (belt and braces ) take the lead off the spark plug first.

Since most small business people have a story to tell, which is usually very interesting, it may be ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 28, 2019:

Sorry yes, life story, especially your working life. From the Latin, curriculum vitae, meaning the course of your life, or what you have learned from life.

More dishonourable things happening in the US.

Fernapple comments on Jul 28, 2019:

Sounds like C. Dickens 'Bleak House'.

One has to wonder...

Fernapple comments on Jul 28, 2019:

The first three are not really that difficult.

What gives your life meaning? Why keep going? (just curious)

Fernapple comments on Jul 28, 2019:

Well passed life's half way stage now, therefore I shall not be a burden to the planet or the other people on it much longer anyway. But meanwhile there is still a lot to be curious about, a lot to appreciate and lots of chances to make a contribution which may help others to be happier. Curiosity. The most important thing to have, is an appreciation of what you learn, and the greatest aid to learning is appreciation, and learning is the best way to appreciation.

Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do. - Oscar Wilde

Fernapple comments on Jul 27, 2019:

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." I think that came from another Irishman G. B. Shaw.

Not A True Atheist -- We mostly see this with Xtians, saying "you're not really atheist, you're just...

Fernapple comments on Jul 27, 2019:

What they think they know of atheists/agnostics, is what the preacher told them, most 'nones' do not wear a label saying so, and so they assume that everyone they know who treats them well is a Christian ,because the preacher also said that only Christians treat people kindly. And since they have never met any 'nones' they can only know about them through what the preacher says.

Look at these beauties! They look like miniature orchids.

Fernapple comments on Jul 27, 2019:

It looks like the perennial sweet pea, it is not a native wild flower here in the UK, but it grows beautifully for me in the garden, though sadly the scent is not as good as the annual types. But it does come up every year without any work on my part.

@Admin Please tell me the difference between humanist dot com and agnostic dot com.

Fernapple comments on Jul 25, 2019:

I have read this before, and so I visited what I assume to be the mirror site Humanist dot com but could not find any common content. If this is so what am i doing wrong ?

Googly Eyes on God

Fernapple comments on Jul 25, 2019:

To be short. Religion is anthropomorphisim of nature. True to a degree. And it leaves me with the image of John Cleese, breaking the branch of a tree to beat his broken down car with. And then turning round and using the same branch to beat himself, for his 'sin', of caring too much about reaching his destination, because he sees his feelings as something separate from himself, and something he can manipulate. Sadly that is all too true, and still the main activity of religions.

What does it mean when men say they are god-fearing men?

Fernapple comments on Jul 25, 2019:

It is only of passing interest, but the term 'God Fearing', was originally put into Christian theology back in Roman times to answer the classical pagan philosophical argument that. 'If god is all good, then those who try their best to be good, have nothing to fear from god.' Christian philosophy was defined as being different because it included the idea that a believer, should accept that god could ask you to do bad things, and do bad things to you. The short term for that idea was 'God Fearing' and being such was seen as the main difference between Christian and pagan belief.

Lots (and lots) of newly discovered Ancient finds - wow! [cnn.com]

Fernapple comments on Jul 25, 2019:

That was really good, I spent a happy half hour over breakfast with those slides, thanks.

Wandered by the tomato forest and found a few ready to toss into a large chef's salad for dinner.

Fernapple comments on Jul 24, 2019:

Well composed still life.

Indian ghost pipe plant. Taken during my Sunday hike.

Fernapple comments on Jul 23, 2019:

I wonder if that is related to what we call Toothworts here in the UK ?

I agree that making fun or otherwise criticizing someone's religion is in bad taste and can be ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

There are few absolutes but one of the few is free speech, which is either absolutely there or absolutely not there, no half way houses. But not all speech is equal and not all speech is without bias.

Is there a Small Business/ Self Employed group on here?

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

Heading for retirement now, but I still find a small business and being a sole trader endlessly fascinating. So count me in.

Religion has been credited with creating trust in our prehistoric human societies, eventually ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

You have to remember that religious ethics are simply secular ethics, invented by people just like the purely secular ones, the only thing that religion adds, is a false authority based on the lie that they come from outside of society. You have therefore to ask if you can get better ethics, when you can be plainly seen to be telling a lie from the start, and if therefore any decline in ethical standards associated withe a decline in religion, if that happens (doubtful) can not be put down to the fact that someone has been caught telling lies and has lost credibility because of that.

I have a question for the people that are 100% certain that no gods exist. How are you THAT certain?

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

I think that few such people actually exist. And I do think that it is wise to be a little sceptical about everything including doubt. But while I can not disprove the existence of god in some form, there are some things which I feel confident can not exist, because they are self contradictory. One such being the biblical god.

Did you believe in ghosts ?

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

No, but I do believe in spirits, I am in regular communication with Jack Daniels and Johny Walker. ( And if you think that is just a joke, then I have to point out that these things share the same name, because these primitive beliefs go back so far into the past, that they really do come from a time when people believed that the intoxicating properties of wine and alcohol were supernatural in origin.) Ditto 'Essence', as in perfume, saints dead bodies smelled sweet because they were pure, it was thought.

Secular Churches Rethink Their Sales Pitch - The Atlantic

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

I think that misses an important point, which is that secular congregations, if not churches, have always been there. Most towns I know have always had a garden group, a chess club, twenty charity shops for everything from clean water to cats, and a railway preservation trust, etc. It is hard to build a congregation around nothing, but you don't need to, the cats, hungry children, chess boards and trains are all there, and they are real. And if you don't want to join them, then either you don't really need them, you don't know how to appreciate the truly real things (sad but true for many), or you would not have anything to give, even in a church, because you are just plain lazy.

No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

"You have to be carefully taught." Rodgers and Hammerstien, South Pacific.

To all: What are your thoughts on the dates of the first out of Africa migration? Erick

Fernapple comments on Jul 22, 2019:

One thing is certain and that is that you will probably never find the first people to come out of Africa, for two reasons. First it is likely only a tiny sample of early people left surviving traces behind, only a tint sample of which will be found, and therefore the chances that one of those will include the first ever, who may have been few in number for a long time afterwards, is minute. And secondly because many of the early attempts probably failed, in the sense that sometimes the small communities died out after a few generations or were driven back, while some of the early visits were just perhaps just wandering expeditions, who just went back after perhaps only a few days or weeks because they wanted to.

I'd like to reward members in my group (I'm the owner) with double points for being the first to ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 21, 2019:

Surely that's normal, and everyone knows about it, you should not have to do anything ?

Landscapes — 1: Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia, 2006.

Fernapple comments on Jul 21, 2019:

Love the stormy day shot, getting interest in the sky is never the easiest thing in a landscape, especially one which is not just sky alone.

This is a micro-post, an excerpt from a previous post, I am posting it because I want you to see ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 20, 2019:

Ten out of ten for passion anyway. But part of the reason for being here for many people is because they won't give up. Never. There is however one small crumb of comfort, and that is that there is only one truth and it can be rediscovered as many times as you like, while every lie has to be a new invention, and that is why there are many religions but only one, (if varied) science.

Fortuitous accident This morning I set off for a day in York - about 45 minutes drive and a ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 19, 2019:

Not to mention the Deep !

Are you superstitious?

Fernapple comments on Jul 19, 2019:

No, but I do salute magpies, but who would not want to salute magpies, they are such jaunty flashy birds.

In the beginning God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and Evangelicals have ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 19, 2019:

So they do sometimes do logic then.

When a stranger calls.

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Thank you, I think I have had a few of those, thankfully I did not phone back.

Translation .

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Not sure.

Trump may think being called a racist will help him win in 2020 - AOL News

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2019:

I do not usually comment on US politics, because coming from the UK, I think that I probably don't know enough to debate, and it is none of my business anyway. But right now I just have to say. Sorry for you, all of you poor sad b######s.

One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.........Paul Coelho.

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2019:

One also loves because one loves.

Does anyone here worry or care about the ripples their actions make, or are you more of a boulder ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2019:

In the chaotic world in which we live, it is quite impossible for anyone to ever know what effects the ripples their life creates will have, the world is simply far too complex, while your effects go on for long after you die and spread far beyond your circle of friends, and some times the very best people doing the best of deeds will often cause the greatest harm, while evil intentions will do great good. It is however probable, that most of the time, good actions and intentions will have better effects than bad ones, so that the best you can do is to act as morally as your understanding of morals, ( which will never itself be perfect, ) allows you to do. But mostly set a good example if you can, since our examples can often create much more powerful ripples than the physical things which we do. Which is why I always think it so sad, when I see politicians and other people in the public light acting badly, because it is not just the harm they do directly by their selfish actions , but the effect they have by being visible to many, on the moral standards of the world as a whole is always far worse.

Free Expression

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Yes I think many would be interested to see posts. Being in the UK which is very different, it is always of interest to hear about all aspects of the other side of the pond.

A hummingbird nest on a peach

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Beautiful, for people like me who have never seen a live humming bird, that really make you see how tiny they are. I hope the peach lasts long enough, they still have to hatch the egg and get the chick to fledging.

I am not an atheist.

Fernapple comments on Jul 17, 2019:

You can be both, and a lot of people are, the two are not that different. Usually agnostic by reason (they know they can prove the agnostic position, ) and atheist by belief, ( they fell that there is no god but know they can not prove it. ) The two are not that different, the big difference is between the many forms of sceptical thinking, including even deism, and religion, because with religion comes dogma, or the belief that you have been gifted truth about more than just god. Because then you have a predetermined view, which can not be altered regardless of the evidence.

Woo Hoo!!! Just hit level 7.

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Yes but you will get a pen to write notes for the posts you will put on here, and you will have something to wear to church.

Scientists Executed by the Catholic Church 1.

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2019:

That is very true and sad. And not just those who died but the many who were misused. For example, you can also include Galileo, since though it is a classic of theists to whine when this subject comes up. " But the Church never tortured Galileo. " However he was shown the methods of torture, just to scare him a bit, as it would, and then he was made to spend the rest of his life under house arrest, without any contact with his friends. Or the count Buffon who was made to recant. Though one small correction would be good, since Hypatia was killed in Egypt by a Christian mob, yes, but that was not under the instruction of the Catholic Church , and that makes the point that no church is innocent..

Modern Guru at it again.

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Blue green algae contain one of the most powerful and deadly toxins known. LOL I am sure most people here will know that, but there may be theists looking in.

Trump's "RACISTS" twit.

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Simple. How many white women did he tell to go home ?

I was told some disturbing news recently.

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2019:

If you are boring enough to have one of those, you won't be having a conversation worth listening to anyway.

Ricky Gervais....👍🏿👍🏿

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2019:

What and risk annoying all the other fifty thousand plus gods, no way. LOL

What ever happened to food foresters couple , who used to post here routinely ?

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Yes I wondered that too, used to enjoy their videos, I know they were on facebook too, but would not know how to begin to look.

36 THINGS YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW WITHOUT THE MOVIES 1) During all police investigations, it will be...

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2019:

24 Medieval peasants had perfect teeth, may just be true, since they had no sugar. But they would have been worn down and they would not have had an overbite. PS nor would they have worn high gloss lipstick.

Is religion the same as government?

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Religion does not have to have a purpose, much of religion is simply a pebble on the beach, it is there but has no intent. When it does have purpose, then the purpose can be as varied as the people who take it up, but certainly one of the best of its many purposes in the historical past, has been to provide an alternate voice to that of government, and sometimes an alternate way of filling needs and a refuge for those persecuted by governments. This, I would say, was and still is, its best purpose and perhaps the only one largely untainted by evil.

There is a road from the eye to the heart which does not go through the intellect.

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Nice way of putting the very obvious. But he was if I remember very rude about people who he called, "village atheists". Though I don't know who he could have been talking about, or where you would go to find more than a couple of those. LOL.

Don’t open the door!

Fernapple comments on Jul 14, 2019:

God the extortionist. " Nice little soul you got there. Shame if something nasty were to happen to it, you should take out some insurance. And as it happen, no need to read the small print. "

If God is God He is not good If God is good He is not God Take the even take the odd {If God is ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 14, 2019:

I think that A. M. may himself have been quoting Epicurus. There is certainly a clearer version of a very similar remark attributed to him.

So do we atheists, agnostics, own the privilege to examine others negatively, own the privilege to...

Fernapple comments on Jul 14, 2019:

I have always found it perfectly easy to disdain an idea without disdaining those who hold it. ( Perhaps you have to be on the autistic spectrum to manage that, I don't know if none autistic people find it difficult. ) Indeed have always regarded those who are caught by religion as victims worthy of sympathy if anything. But I think you do a little wrong however to present all active charity as religious by nature, though that may not be your intention, it may be that it is true of the US, but here in Europe there are certainly many very active charities which are completely secular, and they are often among the most effective and active. Indeed several Christian charities have over the years been involved in scandals in which they have been found to be so ineffective, that their charitable status and its tax benefits ( Not automatic in the UK. ) have been taken away.

We should make a goal of planting a tree for every person in our family.

Fernapple comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Eighty or more of them and only one of me so far. What a lot of people never understand is how fast trees can grow, there is a myth that trees take a long time, it really does not take a whole lifetime. Often fast growing types will give you a mature plant in ten years, so you will still see good growth even if you retired. While some of the ones I planted as a teenager are now looking like mature established forest, in just a half century.

I'm tired of Adobe's subscription.

Fernapple comments on Jul 13, 2019:

For my use I always find that freeware downloads are good enough, and don't cost anything. Sometimes they do not have all the features of a pay for but I usually find that most of those extra feature are things that i would never want to use anyway, and the extra clutter they cause makes the software slow and painful to use. At this time I am using Photoscape and am very happy with it.

Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 11, 2019:

With our heaving population, we have to be the prime target for every parasite which can evolve fast enough to overwhelm our medical responses. We therefore have to be a sitting duck for a global pandemic.

Oh my! These robots are milking cows without any humans involved, and the cows seem into it ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 10, 2019:

And driver-less tractors will soon be common in the arable fields.

A woman was trying to shoot someone in a road rage incident, police say, but shot her husband ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2019:

The stats on guns say that they cause more accidental deaths, to their owners, than deliberate ones in total. Does anyone remember the shooting range instructor who was killed, when he gave a heavy caliber automatic rifle to a small child. He, no doubt, removed himself from the gene pool to the greater benefit of the future world, but a, once, small child will now be known to everyone, including herself, as the kid who killed, for the rest of her life.

Peterson thinks we got our ethics from our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2019:

A cheap shot for fun. Unlike Dostoyevsky's players I do not hesitate, if I feel like committing murder, rape genocide or theft, I just go straight ahead and do it. Why not. So far the count is. Murders = 0. Rapes = 0. Genocides = 0. Thefts = OK so I took a half sandwich from a buffet once, but I was hungry.

Peterson thinks we got our ethics from our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2019:

I have always though that, every theist in the world must spend every day wondering, if today is the day when my pet dog murders me. Actually if you get your understand of the world from works of fiction, even good ones like Crime and Punishment, not to memntion bad ones like the Bible you have lost it anyway. That is not to say that you can not learn from great writers, only that it needs to be secondary to science and it needs to be well qualified. (I will say that before anyone jumps in to say . "But I learned so much., you must be a philstine." )

For the ladies

Fernapple comments on Jul 8, 2019:

You do know that if you call your post "For the Ladies. " you are going to draw in every single male on this site, don't you ? PS silver grey is wonderful.

Just got done with my latest woodturning.

Fernapple comments on Jul 8, 2019:

That takes some doing, to keep the natural edges intact need a good touch, well done.

Well .

Fernapple comments on Jul 8, 2019:

And in your cartoon Jesus should then say. "And you see all those other children over there. Well they are the children he murdered who were not Christians, and they are going to hell. "

I love this! I need one for my front door.

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2019:

We could all do with one of those. I wonder if anyone is going door to door selling them ?

Nature is infinitely more wonderful than any religious concept. - Oliver Sacks

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2019:

True, though it is a little like morality, the religious will always try to claim it for their god. ( Like everything good really, when something does not exist it has no limits, so you can claim it did anything, therefore why not grab all the good bits.)

Is it possible to come up with a truly original thought?

Fernapple comments on Jul 6, 2019:

Every thought must have had a first originator just as every mountain had a first climber, but like finding new peaks it probably gets harder with time. Now it would be very rare, but it would not be uncommon to have a thought which was new to the person you are talking to, and perhaps that is good enough. Thinking about it maybe that is an original thought ?

A lot of miles.

Fernapple comments on Jul 6, 2019:

Yes but don't forget with the early ones you only get an outside seat.

10 facts about atheists | Pew Research Center

Fernapple comments on Jul 6, 2019:

Many of the may just be using atheist as a synonym for no religious alignment, and of course you have to be sure that the survey actually offered none religious as an option, in which case if it did not people have to pick the nearest they can. You also have to remember that some people faced with a survey will just give random answers.

In the Virgin Islands we've had a very dry year so far, but this area adjacent to my house is shady,...

Fernapple comments on Jul 6, 2019:

You must eat very well, fresh fruit is of course only a summer joy here. And stags horn fern just coming up naturally !

More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper [cnn.com]

Fernapple comments on Jul 5, 2019:

That was bound to happen as there gets to be more the price comes down.

So apparently 45 said that the the airforce (correction) won the Revolutionary War?

Fernapple comments on Jul 5, 2019:

You have three choices. Either he is speaking deeply metaphorically and trying to engage the young with a deep feeling of the commonality of all history, or he is a complete idiot with no sense of history, or he needs several drinks before he speaks.

My grandchildren recently started attending some sort or required class to become catholic.

Fernapple comments on Jul 5, 2019:

Set a good example of being a good person yourself, and encourage aways the asking of questions. Some here have said that it is not your place to preach any skeptical position, perhaps not, but you can and everyone always should push and propagate as hard as possible questioning. Some have said encourage science, but the real value of science, is in its philosophy of questioning and that is more important than any practical experimental outcomes. Introduce them to people of other faiths, and if they get on, ask them how they feel knowing that people they like will not get the same salvation they will. And you never know if you get lucky, one day they may ask you how you can be moral without god, then you can answer with all your heart.

Interesting article on the 'heat island' effect.

Fernapple comments on Jul 5, 2019:

Of course you could also put sun shades made of solar panels over the streets and turn the city into a solar farm ?

I was not raised in a religious environment.

Fernapple comments on Jul 4, 2019:

I too was not raised religious, but was exposed to it in my teens at school and college, which if they wanted to convert me, certainly was the worst time.

It rained hard enough today to bend my ornamental grass into the bee balm.

Fernapple comments on Jul 4, 2019:

Beautiful shot. Is bee balm the plant which is also know as Monarda ?

For the life of me i don't understand how in this day and age there are still, Flat Earthers, moon ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

I think that a lot of flat earthers are simply indulging in an elaborate joke, some may be serious but not all. Here is quite a good overview of the history, if you forgive the annoying add at the start. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4l9Y5OHqpk

Donations to 'religion' declined $2 billion in 2018 after years of growth: study - The Christian ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

Well the preachers will just have to get used to smaller private jets then.

Oliver Cromwell, good guy or bad guy?

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

It is one of those cases where the more you know, the less likely you are to think the question answerable. Most people on both sides who think they do, are often using false information based on the widespread propaganda that all wars generate. And you also have to remember that times and people change, the man who in his dotage led a harsh despotic rule, was not no doubt the same man who N. Bonaparte thought the greatest military commander of all time. I have even heard so called serious historians try to belittle him by saying things like, 'he won all his victories from a position of numerical advantage'. Only if you ignore at least three battles, false facts, and anyway should it not be part of a talented commanders duty to insure a numerical advantage. And of course the intention and the outcome is not the same either, in many ways the Civil War came too early for a republican revolution, and the Restoration, was perhaps bound to happen. Who knows that if the truly evil rule of the Stuarts had continued another century, the reaction could well have meant that the UK would now be a true republic. In many ways it was impossible for people in the seventeenth century to rise above their, religious based mindset, there was no science to speak of, and the religious views were the only ones they had to work with. And the same applies in some ways, to the people who say that the civil war in general affected nothing and that it was irrelevant to wider history, because they miss a point. Which is that negative effects can be as important as positive ones. After two decades plus of religious conflict, which was still unresolved, the big looser was not the crown or the parliament, but faith. People were exhausted and had become cynical about religion, and the old witch and heretic burning absolute faith was in decline because of it. Could therefore the new age of the enlightenment, Newton, Wren, Boyle and the birth of science, not to mention the industrial revolution which followed, have happened in that old world of absolute belief ?

I am a 100% skeptic about all things supernatural! Do any of you hold on to any supernatural ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

Still salute magpies, but only because I think that saluting magpies is fun, I'm certain it makes no difference. (must go now I just missed one, and I don't want to have a bad morning. )

HOW NOT TO FIND A PARTNER -Lessons from an old man I have a friend whose wife died a year ago.

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

It may be well to tell your friend not to be so hasty anyway. I know that life is short and he is not young, but you are not yourself after loosing a partner for at least a year, ( The old idea of mourning for twelve months at least, had some wisdom. ) your judgment is very impaired by grief for a long time, and you can easily make silly mistakes.

I am a 100% skeptic about all things supernatural! Do any of you hold on to any supernatural ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

When I was a student, I still used to think that there was something strange and unnatural living under my bed. Then we found out that it was a very old cheese sandwich.

To fellow scientists: How do you deal with people in social settings that speak with authority ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

You have come to a largely crap free area here, you never know with luck you may find a friend or two. You don't really need that many, it is quality not numbers which count.

It has now been put to me that it is wrong to post the same article in multiple groups.

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

I tend myself not to do it much, but if I have something really good to share which I think both groups will enjoy then yes I do it. For example if there is an interesting shot of the garden, which is also an interesting photo, why not post it in both the Photography and the Gardening groups. In any case there used to be a short cut/sharing button, ( or some such device, I always copy and paste anyway, ) to help you do it.

Spread or let nature take its course.

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2019:

There are a legion of immoralities in religion, so that looking for just one is a bit of a pointless task. But let me give you a favorite of mine for an example. Most religious texts are extremely vague, which means that they can be and are interpreted many different ways, as many as there are followers. This is what helps to make religions popular. The problem with that is, that when people interpret they are basically making things up as they go along. That of course is what we all do to some degree, but the problem comes when those who honestly admit their moral code is of human origin, enter debate with the religious, because the religious will then claim falsely that their moral code comes not from themselves but from a higher source. This not only distorts the debate unfairly but also because the religious do not feel that they have any need to address the opinions or the critical judgment of the rest of humanity, it easily becomes a way to justify any criminal or immoral conduct they wish to partake of. Which is in part, why it is used to justify the oppression of women and children, rape, multilation, torture, genocide, anti-environmentalism, anti birth control, class bias, anti -science, anti-medicine and hygienic misbehavior, among many other crimes.

if there is not God, I would like to know where did everything come from?

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2019:

Not all questions can be answered, but because there is no proven answer that does not mean that any answer that someone can imagine, like god for example, is therefore by default the correct one. And since there are tens of thousands of such invented answers, it would be a very long shot to pick the right one, even if one of them was right.

Garden i have back corner of my property, my lil escape.

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2019:

And I see you have the perfect lil friend to escape with.

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2019:

So they want the impossible then, that's a good money spinner, the churches made a fortune out of that one.

CDC issues warning on 'crypto' fecal parasite that can live for days in swimming pools [cnn.com]

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2019:

Talking to the converted, I have carefully avoided swimming pools for fifty years, but I do now have yet another good reason.

Like me funny

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2019:

Best funny this month.

Interested lmao

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2019:

This differs from every other couples therapist how?

Dierama Wandflowers I have mentioned before I like unusual plants.

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2019:

Lovely things, but sadly not hardy with me in this part of the UK.

Atheist in the western world.

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2019:

In addition to most of the things others have mentioned. Most European countries have state churches, therefore without the separation of church and state, the church becomes seen as merely another arm of the state, and is therefore despised because of that. (It tends to be the state churches who have lost most.) And secondly much of Christian roots are in Europe, people are therefore more aware of its true history.

I detest the expression, "I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2019:

I could not think at first why it could be thought "smug", but yes it can be, because it can be a way of saying. "This issue may seem important to you, but I have more important things to do than continue our conversation." Not perhaps every time, but certainly sometimes.

I detest the expression, "I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

For some it is also a good conversation ender, when they see that they are going to loose the argument in the end.

Ark Encounter founder warns ‘kids of all ages’ that libraries are becoming dangerous - New York ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

Sadly it just says this website is not available in most European countries.

How has learning science affected your life?

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

I learned to accept that I don't have or need to have all the answers, that if I do need an answer then hard work is the best perhaps only way to get it, and anyone offering easy answers is trying to fool you.

I went off to a 40's & 50's singles group yesterday afternoon.

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

Small talk helps to fill small minds.

Good resources on learning evolution?

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

Try Richard Dawkins, especially 'The Blind Watchmaker' his sense of fun lightens every page.

I went off to a 40's & 50's singles group yesterday afternoon.

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

Beach is the usual hang out for boring people, to find interesting ones climb a mountain.

Compassion is the basis of morality.......Arthur Schopenhauer.

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

So many people seem to think it an old book, and not even one of the best old books.

WARNING! WARNING! DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER! So I had a desperate thought today.

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

The churches will always have the advantage of ready made community, at least until there is a Humanist coffee shop on every high street. And sadly that will not happen, since most of sceptical people are only linked to each other by a negative view. (Not a Humanist myself.) There are in most parts of the world the range of local clubs, from ramblers to art groups, but nature groups and charity shops are perhaps the best because they give you the chance to do something positive as well.

“Culture – the way we express ourselves and understand each other – can bind us together as ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

Love the music, but can't agree with the headline. It is culture which more than anything drives people apart.

Maybe I'm looking for the impossible.

Fernapple comments on Jun 29, 2019:

There are I think two things to keep in mind. The first being that it may be a mistake to ask for a simple understanding, biological evolution is a run away self feeding cascade, with nothing to limit its complexity, therefore even at the most basic level there may be no simple answers. And the second is that at least according to my limited reading, this is still very much work in progress, and therefore your only route to greater understanding will be to read original papers as they are published, though there is no promise that that will help. I found that The book 'Life Asending' by Nick Lane contained a very short but lucid account of our understanding to date, especially abiogenisis and the RNA first theory.

A favorite at the front step, my Painted Lady ferns return each year to skirt a fresh Gartenmeister ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 29, 2019:

Very unusual pairing, but it certainly works, well done.