Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

That's Matthew 24:19. I know this because I've been reading the Bible today. Well, the Skeptic's Annotated Bible, to be precise. It's a pretty neat setup -- gives you a chapter of scripture at a time with hypertextual references to other parts of the Good Book that contradict or otherwise complicate certain passages. And sometimes, as with the title of this post, it just points out things that are kind of fucked up. Like that quote about how it sucks to have children. Actually, that quote highlights one of the site's shortcomings -- the things it points out as being weird or absurd are sometimes just things taken out of context. That quote, for example, is said by Jesus when he's talking to his peeps about what the end of the world will be like. So yeah, it would be shitty to have children during that time.

Here's a better example of a weird-ass Bible quote:

And [Elisha] went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

(2 Kings 2:23-24)

Wow. Some kids make fun of a dude, and God sends a couple of bears to rip 'em apart. Of course, that's in the Old Testament when God hadn't chilled out quite yet.

Other non-Biblical news: I saw the car today. It looks okay. Actually, it looks completely undamaged. Even the papers I had strewn across the floor were still there. But the insurance folk wanted to have a body shop take a look at it, so that's being done as we speak. Yippee! Now I just have to figure out how to return this sweet-ass rental car and get back to the body shop without it costing me an arm and a leg -- unfortunately, Enterprise and the shop are on opposite sides of the state. Even in Rhode Island, that's a $40 cab ride.