It's a fabric store in NYC, ita.

Oh. I should just ignore the whitefont, huh? I got carried away.

I just woke up from a 7-hour "nap." Oops. Oh well, week's almost over. I really should have done laundry, though.

Matt-

In the interest of helping temptation along, it's available used here for about a quarter of Amazon's new book price.

You're evil! Yay, you. Birthday "season" starts next month for me, so sometime soon I'll have to put together a big order o' stuff. And, y'know, get myself a little something. So that might fit perfectly.

How is your dad doing, btw?

Beverly -- That one I can actually understand because it's clearly presented as a parable about God's forgiveness. When the prodigal returns he's planning to ask to be a servant, because he doesn't deserve to be treated as a son. The lesson's already been learned, so no point in further punishment.

And then pat his good and faithful child on the head, "I can always count on you boy, and I know and am grateful for it."?

Though it's probably worth noting how much of my biblical knowledge comes listening to the local fundie radio station for found comedy.

How is that fair? How does that even teach the little wastrel anything? What's the moral here? Because it sure smells pretty rotten to me.

Well... as I read it, he'd pretty much learned his lesson. I mean, if there hadn't been another son, would you still be irked by it, or is it just the unfairness to that other son that bothers you? Because, yeah, it kind of bothers me, but the actual welcoming back doesn't.

The more I think about it, the stranger it is, actually, that there are two sons. Because purely as a story about the prodigal son, I get it, it's cool. But you throw in the other guy, and suddenly it starts to seem kind of unfair.

Does the parable actually say that the prodigal's father split the inheritance after the return?

Mind you, the non-prodigal son had the use of his portion of their father's inheritance for a number of years while his prodigal brother was off carousing, and with compound interest and canny investment, could have made a tidy profit on what he'd been given so far.

ION, it was 87 degrees this morning when I got up. And not a Southwestern sort of dry 87, either. Almost makes you want to turn over and go back to sleep in your air-conditioned bedroom, really.

Ick. It is only 73 here, with the high expected to be 77. Of course it is also supposed to thunderstorm all day. I'm thinking an inside day.

Well duh. [link]

Forget the shoes and put away those diamonds. A survey has found that women prefer tech gadgets like plasma televisions and Ipods to more traditional luxuries like designer footwear and diamond jewellery.

Good morning all.

Did they even have compound interest in Biblical times?

The Biblilcal character I always felt sorry for was Jephthah's daughter. He promised God that if he won his battle, he'd sacrifice the first creature he saw when he arrived safely home. He expected it to be his dog. But it was his only daughter, running out to meet her daddy. He let her have a month in the wilderness to mourn her "virginity", and then he killed her. Apparently she wasn't as important as Isaac. The Bible doesn't even bother to record her name, poor thing. She was just a possession for her father to give up, just as Job's children were.

Note to self: Religion Freaky.