If you don't have anything good to say

I am listening to Linsday Ellis's video apology to Stephenie Meyer. There is really something to her comment about "we all hate teenage girls," especially because she acknowledges at some point that the "we" is really other women and that most guys are just indifferent, but that's not why I'm blogging. When she mentioned about the vitriol surrounding Twilight, before she even got there I thought about my own disdain for the Transformers live-action movies or the Fast and the Furious. I think that's because Twilight wasn't aimed at me, but those movies were. I saw the first movie in each series, and then decided I'd had enough. I did express my surprise that the Fast and the Furious spawned so many sequels, but that's about as far as I've gone in my commentary. I've realized for a long time that I normally keep negative critiques to myself, but only today did I connect that to what my mother taught me when I was a child, "If you can't say something good, don't say anything at all."

It's not that I avoid saying anything remotely negative, but there needs to be a reason for me doing so besides that I don't like a thing. Because most of the vitriol that proliferates the Internet these days can be boiled down to just that, somebody doesn't like something. If I don't like something, I will say, "I don't like that," or "I don't care for that," and leave it at that. Because at the end of the day, it really is just like, my opinion man. Constructive criticism is different, but it isn't something that I practice and I don't feel like I'm that good at it. But if I am offering criticism, it is probably constructive.

I think there's also a thing with me about NOT wanting to jump on the bandwagon. Especially if it can be hurtful or demeaning to another person. Even if I feel that the public critique of a thing is valid, there's no reason for me to add to it.

I don't see myself as an activist. I do see myself as a person interested in justice, but I don't see myself as a dispenser of justice or a person that is usually involved in making justice happen. Not unless the issue is something that I'm involved in directly. At certain points in my life, I've been interested in law enforcement and criminal justice, but I've never employed in a position where I'm actively involved in the law enforcement or criminal justice process.

So much of what I see today in the world of both political and religious activism is so divisive, and that is very antithetical to who I am as a person. I am a bridge builder, a peace maker. I am the person who always wants to be a mediator. I am the person who is always trying to reconcile two points of view.

HDMI audio

I haven't been able to get HDMI audio on my Dell Precision M4700, at least in Linux. It works fine in Windows so I know it's capable from the hardware perspective. I had been running Fedora for the past two years or so, but this week I moved to Linux Mint. Same difference. I've researched it before,  it appears that I need a kernel module. I read on the Alsa website that I don't need a new kernel. But it isn't clear what I need to do after that. Admittedly I haven't done any thorough reading yet, but I know I already have a hda_intel module, it just doesn't seem to have everything it needs, and I'm not sure where to get the rest.
...
Well, I did a little more reading. The driver is the 92HD93 HDA driver. I went to Dell's website, and they listed IDT as the manufacturer of the driver. Their website led me to Tempo Semiconductor, and their page with the drivers actually referenced the ALSA Project page. But it said if the driver wasn't there (it wasn't) to contact them at their email address, so I did. We'll see what happens.

Moloko Plus

Instead of reading like I should be doing, I just finished watching another installment of How to Drink. Greg made a Moloko Plus, from the movie A Clockwork Orange. The book doesn't go into details about the drink, except to say that it has milk and illicit drugs. Greg made a version popularized by a bartender named Morgan Schick from Trick Dog. It seemed really interesting so I looked up a few recipes to see what I could find.

Punch has the Morgan Schick version; this is probably where Greg got it from. It uses a cardamom infused milk which sounds really interesting, but seems like too much work. The milk also includes half-and-half which I don't usually buy. This made me think about butter and I was surprised to learn that you can make heavy cream by blending milk and melted butter together. Because of my lactose intolerance I thought about almond milk. Also for the flavor. So lactose-free milk, butter, and almond milk would make an interesting combination.

Moloko is Russian for milk, so I'm thinking the cocktail should have some vodka. But vodka plus milk is getting really close to White Russian territory, so the drink should be distinctly different from that.

Adina Applebaum has an article on the Airship with a Moloko Plus recipe that includes Irish Cream, which is smart. The Imaginary Mixologist has a recipe that includes Amaretto. That's something I don't own yet, but I figure I will sooner or later, so I think that should be part of the recipe that I'm cobbling together. And Genius Kitchen includes a Moloko Recipe that mentions honey. So I think I have enough ingredients for something memorable:

Vodka
Milk blended with butter, mixed with almond milk
Amaretto
Irish Cream
Honey

Inspiration

My thoughts keep returning to the same subject, and so I realize it's time to blog again. Last week I attended a bible study led by my father. The two scriptures we focused on were 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21. It's been on my mind on and off ever since.

I think I've been able to isolate the issue to this: what does inspiration mean? Is it something natural or is it something supernatural? But no, it is even more nuanced than that. The first sense given in Merriam-Webster for inspiration starts off describing it as a divine influence. So the inspiration itself is supernatural. But does that mean that which is produced under divine influence is also supernatural?

Protestants (and probably Catholics too) believe that it is, at least in this instance. What was written as a result of the inspiration was of God. This is not what is meant by inspiration today. Protestants must also believe that God supernaturally protected these words from being changed or lost. But I guess what I'm wondering right now is what did Paul mean when he wrote it? Did he mean what Protestants believe or did he mean more along the lines of what inspiration means today.

Of course, Paul didn't actually use the word inspiration. From this article on Lexham Press, I learned that the word Paul did use, the Greek word theopneustos, was not a common word. That doesn't make deciphering Paul's intent any easier.

Who can be racist?

I googled, "only white people can be racist"--don't ask me why--and the first hit was an opinion piece from The Harvard Crimson written by Michelle I. Gao entitled Who Can Be 'Racist'? I think it's a good article. I've been disturbed about the idea that reverse-racism doesn't exist, and that it seems to be okay to disparage white people solely for being white. I get the power argument, but there's definitely something lacking. I've lacked the motivation to work through exactly how I feel about it, but this article does a decent job.

Is the Trinity similar to an avatar

Stray thought: Is the Christian Trinity similar to avatars in Hinduism?

Unitarianism

I'm studying Trinitarianism right now, which has brought me into contact with Unitarianism. I had come across the term Socinian several times this semester, but I hadn't been motivated enough to follow up on it. But then I hit the term Latitudinarian and I knew it was time to stop being lazy. Now I know that Fausto Paolo Sozzini was a 16th century Italian theologian whose doctrines were largely responsible for the Unitarian movement in Europe.

What I already knew was that the Unitarian movement merged with the Universalist movement, and created a church that is about as Progressive as you can get. I won't elaborate more on that here. The thing I keep getting wrapped around the axle about is if you believe that the bible isn't infallible and that all religions have value, what is the motivation to devote yourself to a church? I don't have an answer to that yet, but I read two articles from Unitarian ministers that piqued my interest: Why You Should Not Be A Unitarian Universalist by Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen, and Why Agnostics Go to Church
by Rev. J. Mark Worth. That is all.