Christianity Corner

Apparently the original thread died with the older V-I, so I thought I’d start a new thread–a general discussion thread on Christianity. I recently watched a conversation with Tim Keller that made me search for this thread. I wanted to comment on two points he made. I’ll do that in the first comment post.

Great Musicians You’re Not in Love With

I’m sure everyone has a list of well-respected musicians that you either don’t like–or you don’t like as much as others. I sure do. This is a thread to list and discuss these musicians. Here’s mine:

  • Prince
  • Stevie Wonder
  • Louis Armstrong
  • Charlie Parker
I’m sure there are others, but let me stop here. I actually like Prince and Stevie–but they’re far from my favorites. And yet, I know musicians and critics think the world of them. I never got the love for Armstrong. It’s not like I’ve listened to a lot of his music, though, so I wonder if I just didn’t hear enough of his stuff. My reaction to Parker is similar, although I think I appreciate and enjoy his music a bit more. With him, and maybe Armstrong, too, my theory is that I heard many different saxophonists who were heavily influenced by him prior to listening to Parker. It was like his thunder was stolen because of this. Then again, I heard a lot of Hendrix-influenced guitarists before really listening to Hendrix, and that did not diminish my appreciation for Hendrix. I’ll try to add more names to the list.

UH Volleyball

I started watching some UH volleyball, both the men and wahine. I haven’t watched a game for a long, long time. Two guys stand out for me on the men’s side: Rado Parapunov, who seems like Uv, part 2, and Colton Cowell. Cowell is listed as 6′ 1″, but he looks like a libero when he’s standing by his teammates–but the guy is explosive, both in terms of jumping and hitting. He can crank. I feel like I’m watching Karch Kiraly out there.

Regarding the wahine–why aren’t they playing? I wanted to see the frosh setter from Texas. My understanding is that Robin Ah Mow, when she first saw the setter said, “She’s the one I want to see run the offense for the next four years,” or something to that effect. It seems like Ah Mow (and Ljungquist) are doing well as coaches, which is totally awesome to see.

Thought Experiment: If We Could Fulfill Everything on Our Technological Wish-List, Would Humanity Eliminate Most of Its Biggest Problems?

I’m currently reading a book on A.I. One questions that lingers in the back of my mind involves the reasons we would want to build A.I.–and more broadly, the reasons we strive for newer and better technology. Improving our lives–more specifically, improving our material existence–is the obvious answer–i.e., curing diseases, making tasks that requires physical and cognitive resources easier and more efficient, etc. Clearly, improving technology is very important way to improve the lives of human beings.

However, my sense is that many people act as if this is the most important way to improve the lives of individuals and society overall, and I think this position is flawed. For example, I tend to believe the source of humanity’s biggest problems are moral and even social in nature. Improvements on the former can improve the latter, which, in turn, would have the most dramatic impact on most of our social ills. At least, this is my current position.

To test whether humanity’s problem are rooted in material or more moral/spiritual matters, I want to offer the following thought experiment: Suppose we could fulfill all the ambitions of technophiles (excluding technology that would dramatically change human nature–e.g., genetic engineer humans that are more selfless and compassionate), what would those technologies be, and what impact would we expect on individual and societies? Would we expect a significant reduction or elimination of the biggest problems we face?

2021 NCAA Final Four (Men/Women)

Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to watch highlights. The highlights from the Arizona-UConn (women’s) game stood out to me. First, Aari MacDonald looked like Steph Curry, with some quick release and long-range shots. Second, the highlights don’t show Arizona’s defense, but I’m guessing it must have been good–or UConn was missing a lot of open shots or taking a lot of bad ones. I hope I can watch some of the remaining games.

The Plate Lunch Thread

Right now, if a visitor came to O’ahu, I’m not sure which plate lunch I would recommend. A part of me feels like plate lunches have gone down hill–or there really aren’t many outstanding places. Do you guys agree or disagree? HK’s and Grace’s were two of my favorites, but I think there’s only one Grace’s left. (The one in Pearl City seemed to go downhill a bit, too–and they eventually closed.) I also really liked Koi’s, but their brick and mortar closed.

Here’s another question: What entres or sides would you like to see in a plate lunch? The first entre that comes to mind for me is Indian butter chicken. A good butter chicken would be awesome in a plate lunch. I wouldn’t mind seeing other types of rice in plate lunches–like biryani, or other types of Indian or Middle-Eastern style rices. I’m not sure if locals would like this, as they’re more like rice pilaf. I also wanted to see a mushroom risotto as well, but I’ve heard risottos are too difficult to make or you can’t make them and have them sit on the side.

Building the Best Local-style Bento

A few weeks ago, I was thinking that if Zippy’s opened up restaurants on the mainland, particularly in college towns on the west coast, they could do well. This conversation lead to another idea: What if you just opened up a bento place, sort of like K’s Bentoya in Waipahu–where they only have two premaid bento options. But what if you tried to top the Zip Pac–that is make a bento that’s better. Is there a better bento than the Zip Pac? I’m not saying it’s the best, but it’s a good one. (The ubiquity of Zippy’s probably contributes to it’s popularity.) Anyway, what would you include in the best bento? To me, if you could make one or two great bentos, that’s all you’d need to make a killing. On the west coast, I think this could become popular with non-Asians/Hawai’i people as well.

(Note: This was originally part of a thread that discussed bentos and plate lunches, but I decided to create separate threads for each topic.)

Racism Against Asian-Americans

Has any been following the stories of violence and verbal attacks against Asian-Americans? Last night, I believe six Asian women (and two non-Asians) were shot and killed. I’m dismayed by these stories, hearing Asian-Americans express fear of going out and seeing these brutal attacks. Watching these things evokes an odd feeling, almost as if I’m watching a different country, as the reality here seems very different. Have you guys heard of similar stories happening in Hawai’i? By the way, I heard Trump last night on Fox News referred to the covid virus as the “China virus.” It’s still appalling that people who know better continue to support him. (I made myself watch the clip, just so that I can say I heard it myself.)

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