Month: January 2005

My lastest listen is the new album from Greenday, and since they’re up for a few Grammy nominations, I’d like to say that Asparagus Pee wholeheartedly endorses Billy Joe Armstrong and company for Album of the Year. This is a really good CD, and I’d encourage anyone to buy it.

There’s been a big foofaraw here in our small town this week because the middle school allowed a pair of Buddhist monks to describe their culture and beliefs at an assembly during the regular school day.

The feeling is that they have somehow violated the separation of church and state, and there have been several letters to the editor demanding that “Christians” get equal time.

I’m fine with that.

But as I understand it, the whole idea of “the separation of church and state” was to protect “the state” from compulsory participation in “the church.” (In a feeble aside, I think this probably goes back at least as far as King Henry VIII, who said, in effect, “I’m Henry the eighth I am, Henry the eighth I am, I am, I don’t care what you say, I need to divorce this wife, so that’s it, and I’ll see you in church on Sunday.”) But I digress…

We need to draw a distinction between teaching religion, and teaching about religion. (Thus the popularity of courses in public universities with names like “Comparative Religions” or “Religious Studies.”)

I have no problem whatsoever with someone coming into my daughter’s school and saying, “I’m a Christian, and I believe in a Triune Godhead. That means that I believe that Jesus is part of a “trinity” composed of The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. This isn’t strictly scriptural, but Paul hinted at it, and it was accepted as part of the Nicean creed that was adopted by the Roman Catholic church in 325 AD.”

Those are just facts.

But please don’t let a coach say something like “I’d like you all to join me now for a moment to pray for an easy victory over our rivals from Eldorado county tonight,” or let a biology teacher say “We feel that Creation Science and Intelligent Design are scientifically valid alternatives to Darwinism and the theory of evolution.”

I have believed some of those things, and perhaps sometimes still do, but from a public education standpoint, that’s just wrong.

I’m a mess and I’m basically doing nothing right. So how are your New Year’s resolutions coming? For inspiration, I’m checking in for a progress report at John Stone Fitness.

Be sure to check out the archive of pictures by month. (I can’t get the link to work, or I’d take you there myself.)

Another great essay over at Paul Graham’s website: What You’ll Wish You’d Known, a prepared but never delivered speech for graduating high school students.

Excite News.

The guys over at Amazon.com have been feeling playful.

“I buy Apple products. It just makes me feel special.”

(Cute Parody over on Gizmodo.)

This weekend Emily and I made something almost as fun as Gooblek &#150 homemade slime! This is similar to the Slime&#153 that was sold by Mattel back in the 70s in a green plastic garbage can. Here’s the recipe:

• &#188 cup white glue (Elmers)
• &#188 cup warm water
• 1 tsp. borax
• Another &#188 cup warm water

Dissolve the glue in the warm water and dissolve the borax in the other warm water, then mix them together and knead to a slimy consistency. Have Fun!

I know a lot of you are probably working on some New Year’s resolutions, so I’d like to pass along a thought I have every year around this time when I’m working on my own:

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saw, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak?”

Well, my version is, “The spirit is fleshy, but the will is weak.”

(And you can quote me on that.)

This picture makes my brain feel good.