The Anniversary Of My Sister's Death

As of today, it's been 8 years since my sister died. It's strange how time has passed since then. I feel like it's been slipping by and I've never really recovered my balance fully. I feel like my life has not gone the direction it would have if things had been different.

I know now just how unfair life can be. I know now just how meaningless everything is. I'm a much more bitter person than I probably would have been.

At the same time, I learned about how much I had taken my sister for granted and realized just how much I should appreciate her role in my life. I would not trade the time I had with her simply to avoid the pain of the loss. I will treasure my memories of her.

Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You" is something much like what I'd imagine my sister would be telling me:

I will remember you.
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by,
Weep not for the memories.

Hmmm, He Has A Follow Up Video

I'm glad a lot of people pointed out that weakness in his argument. He made a second video where he acknowledges this weakness and then basically falls back into the standard arguments for taking action against global warming. Oh well, it was a good try!

Good Try To Argue For Global Warming Prevention...

... but fundamentally weak.

I've received the link to this guy's video a few times where he presents a simple way to justify taking action against global warming as the more conservative option to avoid global catastrophe. I believe that we as a race need to take action to prevent global warming, but I believe his argument is exceedingly weak. The way his argument works is what I would consider "gullibility thinking."

Long ago, Pascal made roughly the same argument to justify the belief in God. He argued using a similar table of possibilities and actions.

	Believe	Don't Believe
God Exists	All good, go to Heaven.	Burn in Hell for eternity.
God Doesn't Exist	Wasted time	Get to laugh at believers

So you can see, since we can only choose which column we end up in, the more conservative bet is to avoid eternal damnation because the penalty for that is far worse than wasted time.

In fact, you can use this same argument to justify action in practically anything with a scary consequence of inaction. Check this one out....

	Look Over Your Shoulder	Don't Look
Axe murderer behind you	If you see him you can defend yourself!	Get hacked to pieces.
I'm just kidding	Wasted time	Get to laugh at my feeble attempt to make a point.

So you can see in this table, the safe action for you to take is to look over your shoulder right now because the penalty for being wrong is that you get hacked to pieces.

I mean, I give this guy a lot of credit for putting together an easy to understand and fairly convincing video for a good cause, but it's definitely not some unassailable argument.

Picture Of Kitty On My Lap

My roommate's kitty was on my lap again today so I grabbed my camera and took a picture. She took the flash remarkably well without freaking out and clawing my legs. It was a risk I was willing to take, though. There's just something so nice about having a kitty on one's lap.

When we first adopted her, she was so scared that she spent the first couple of weeks under my roommate's bed. Then she would occasionally venture out and spend the majority of her time down there. I remember the day that she finally let me start petting her at all. I thought that was the coolest thing. Now she's obviously quite comfortable with us and has declared ownership over the full apartment, including our laps. She's still easily startled and very shy around anybody she doesn't know, but I'm glad she's much more normal of a cat now.

(And yes, I know, the corner by my desk is messy. I've straightened it up a bit now!)

Sexism And Hillary Clinton

Are people in this country really so backward that they would go to a Hillary Clinton speech with a sign saying "Iron My Shirt" and heckle her for being a woman? The answer, sadly, is yes. Americans disappoint me from time to time and this is yet another situation. First of all, if you don't support her, don't vote for her. That's how your opinion will be heard. Heckling her is immature and honestly, it makes me sympathize with her more. If America is really that backward of a country, then perhaps there is even more need for us to have a woman as our president.

It's idiots like these that make me think the world is doomed. I bet this dude doesn't believe in global warming either.

My Roommate's Cat!

I finally got a newer digital camera this year for Christmas. Naturally, I wanted to try out the video feature, so I pointed it at my roommate's cat. She was a bit confused about what the thing pointed at her was. Also she's kind of sick, so her meow sounds a bit off. =(

Job Hunting

The time of me slacking is gradually coming to an end. I've started talking to a company about a potential job there. I'm still not sure I want to be in the game industry, but I may as well start seriously checking out my options.