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.

posted by Chris at 1:50 AM Permalink

 
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.

posted by Chris at 11:41 PM Permalink

 

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.)

posted by Chris at 1:56 PM Permalink

 
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.

posted by Chris at 1:28 PM Permalink

 
Excite News.

posted by Chris at 12:36 PM Permalink

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

posted by Chris at 2:38 PM Permalink

 
"I buy Apple products. It just makes me feel special."

(Cute Parody over on Gizmodo.)

posted by Chris at 11:57 AM Permalink

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

• ¼ cup white glue (Elmers)
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 tsp. borax
• Another ¼ 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!

posted by Chris at 3:24 PM Permalink

 
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.)

posted by Chris at 11:55 PM Permalink

 
This picture makes my brain feel good.

posted by Chris at 10:19 AM Permalink

 
I think it would be really cool to be in a car crash where you got hit by a tow truck, 'cause, you know, you wouldn't have to wait for a tow truck.

Happy New Year! Later...

posted by Chris at 5:35 PM Permalink

 
This is a listening exercise and a bonus question for the four people I sent free copies of Elliott Smith's CD From a Basement on the Hill, but anyone is welcome to play. Can you make anything out of the background vocal around about the time in King's Crossing where he sings, "Give me one good reason not to do it."? I think I know.

posted by Chris at 4:42 PM Permalink

 
There's an article over on the New Scientist website about a new calendar system that keeps the same days on the same dates, but it looks completely useless to me, as it requires arbitrary decisions about lengths of months, and also requires an "extra week - which is not part of any month - about every 5 or 6 years." Huh?

I have long been an advocate of a lunar based system of 13 months of 28 days each, which comes out to 364 days, so every year would have a leap day, plus the standard "every four years unless the date is divisible by 400" leap years. The beauty of my system is that every month is the same, and every month is exactly 4 weeks. It's so elegant that all I can think of is they liked 12 a whole lot better than 13 for superstitious reasons. I would also name the months "First," "Second," "Third," and so on, so that you'd never have to do that awkward "August is the 8th month" conversion.

posted by Chris at 4:36 PM Permalink