I’m talking about Matthew 19:24 in which Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.
When I pointed this out to one of my conservative Christian friends, he suddenly claims the Bible isn’t to be taken literally in this passage.
He takes the virgin birth literally.
He takes the resurrection literally.
He takes the flood literally.
He takes all passages condemning gay people literally.
But the moment the Bible says that rich, greedy folks will burn in hell? Of course that isn’t literal.
How fucking convenient.
My husband bought me a big starter kit from Amazon and it came with several needles. I really like the hole size and never have trouble threading them. I wanted a sharper needle, though, so I bought some DMC needles from the local Walmart (I live in a small rural city with no craft store). I love the sharpness but the eyes are so small I can't get more than 2 strands through. I broke one of my needle threaders trying. My husband ordered some more for me through Amazon but the needles are almost comically large; I don't even know what you'd use such a thick needle for. Am I going about this wrong? Should I be using a more blunt needle? I mostly stitch on cotton but I have a couple of canvas bags and towels I want to try stitching on soon, too.
But seriously, any pro tips on this besides using old wort? It was brutal today.
OK, Edit: apparently I am the only dingus that doesn't add the DME before boiling. Thanks, guys! Also, apparently pre made starter wort is getting cheaper.
Those who have not read Dune may not know this but there are a lot of Islamic/Arabic elements in the lore of the world it is set in, particularly surrounding the Fremen (who practices a hybrid religion called Zensunni—a mix of Sunni Islam and Sufism, and Zen Buddhism. A friend of mine noticed that they used the word "crusade" in the recent trailer, which may be used to replace the word "jihad" in the books. What do you think of this? How would the adaptation handle Muslim representation or are they going to go for erasure to avoid some loaded topics, given the Fremen's role in the books?
I am personally interested to see what choices they make, especially since I don't think there are any great choices available to them. What do you think?
Edit: Oh I missed a word at the end of my post title, dang it.
Ken Follett is usually known for his massive historical fiction epics, but he's written quite a few thrillers as well, and Eye of the Needle is generally considered to be his best/most popular in that area. I just finished it as my first book of 2021 (holy shit, it's 2021!) and enjoyed it quite a bit.
The story is essentially a cat and mouse game between a German spy collecting information about the Allies' plans to invade France to take to Hitler, and the British MI agents tasked with stopping him. In the midst of this is a civilian woman who later gets caught up in the plot.
What this book is not is something meaningful or complex - Follett is no John Le Carre when it comes to really digging into the inner life of his espionage-conducting protagonists, and for the most part the characters are paper-thin, the dialogue rather perfunctory and the prose serviceable.
But the book is really well-paced, as you'd want a thriller to be, and I flew through the 330-some pages in a couple of days. There are some great action set pieces, and the weird erotic thriller/serial killer horror-ish twist the book takes in the final third is actually really interesting.
For those who know the story - I actually wish most of the book had focused on Lucy and Faber's relationship for the bulk of the story, instead of following Faber's trail of murders through England. Those parts of the book where they interacted and their strange relationship was easily the most interesting.
All in all, a fun, uncomplicated read to get my year started.
