[ The Quantum Skyline ]

I've moved The Quantum Skyline from here to my (now FreeBSD) server. I've also solved the index problem.

So, come join me at http://quantumskyline.homelinux.net/wordpress. I promise not to bite.

I've had an IP address hammering at my poor OpenBSD Pentium 133 I have lying around that is my new webserver. I've moved it from my desktop (P4 2.4GHz) to this mostly for security reasons, and to allow me to learn how to use OpenBSD. If using Gentoo and Linux from Scratch can make me learn how to use Linux better, I'm hoping using OpenBSD will teach my good admin habits. (It also helps that there's an OpenBSD admin at Grad School.)

What's interesting is that whoever is going after my server is using old URLs from the old setup I had on my desktop, so either someone was trying to mirror my site or someone is clicking on really old links.

At any rate, try the test server. I'm having a configuration problem where the WordPress index.php is not being read and the only way to actually get the blog on the test server is to use the full URL of

http://quantumskyline.homelinux.net/wordpress/index.php

so if you have any ideas, or are an Apache 1.3 guru, I'd like to hear from you.

Remember, I am running PHP and MySQL on a P133. It takes ~4 sec to serve a page, but it does work. :)

EDIT:Turns out its the MSNBot spidering my old site. I guess I need a robots.txt now...

...the market is now oversaturated with commentary on the 'IT' industry in North America. I'm not talking about the amount of people who want in on the IT industry or are leaving it, but there seems to be no shortage of conflicting commentary, studies, and analysis on the future of the high tech field.

What would make me really happy is if the media could just leave it alone for two weeks. All I want is two weeks where I don't have to sit in the fetal position wondering if I have a shot at something by the time I graduate in two years. Constant updates are nothing but sources of stress for those with and without jobs. I suppose its good to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry, but I am by no means a cardiologist. Hell, I barely qualify as a nurse.

But really - I'm tired of it. Let the industry and the market just do its thing and I'll be a lot happier.

Frustrated and unable to sleep, I read an editorial by the Christian Science Monitor on the apology given by the US Senate regarding its inaction on lynchings, the trial of a KKK member, and its redeeming qualities. It was nice to see a sober look on it instead of the usual reaction of "What the hell took so goddamned long?!?"

Let's face it - the numbers alone are staggering. Lynchings accounted for over 4000 killings, which according to the Monitor, were celebrated 'community events' instead of isolated happenings. The Klansman is being tried after 40 years have passed since his involvement was determined in the murders of three civil rights workers. Sure, they're putting on an 80 year old man who looks like he may not survive the trial, let alone jail, but at least the government is trying to make up for it, right?

I'll admit one thing: I'm being a hypocrite when I ask "What the hell took so goddamned long?!?"

While I never had travel plans to the Deep South and I'm not planning on making any, I have a sick feeling that some freshly passed law isn't going to keep me safe. Consider, for example, the Klansman, who had the nickname "Preacher". He was tried 40 years ago for denying the civil rights of the three workers, but the jury was hung on a woman who "couldn't convict a preacher".

On the other hand, maybe I should be happy that something is being done. The Kingston Police Chief's admission that there is racial profiling within his police force brought out all kinds of negativity from the Toronto police force and the rest of the police chiefs in Canada. The findings have been disputed every way possible, and now the police chief had issued some apology about his comments, which is now being dissected.

That's funny, since minorities seem to have their vindication pulled back. Oh well. Maybe next time. Its not like I would ever expect the police chief in Toronto (and definitely not Julian Fantino) to admit racial profiling there, despite the Toronto Star's efforts. A large lawsuit settled that discussion quickly, and blacks in Toronto (and now Kingston) still don't trust the police.

Call me a skeptic, but while there's some things happening, I'm waiting to see if all this actually changes anything in the long run.

Quote of the Day:

When Ricky Williams [of the Miami Dolphins] hits the field, he lights it up.

Mr. Williams is also known for his frequent use of a particular weed. (Wow! I'm full of puns today!)

While on the topic of drugs and sports, it seems like the US government is taking great strides towards cleaning up professional sports.

Or that's what they'd like us to believe.

Today, Senator John McCain proposed legislation to make the US Government responsible for testing the players in major league baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. This goes along with the current Congressional hearing on steroid use in sports. Currently, Bud Selig from MLB is loving this since he's all for increasing the penalties of catching players on steroids. Its been reported that Selig is seeking lifetime bans for those who are caught, a fate even worse than amateur sports players can experience. (Amateur sports includes the Olympics.) Since the season started, its been widely speculated but not proven that the new testing rules are the reason why there is a significant drop in home run production.

David Stern of the NBA, however, thinks that some of the blame that Congress wants to pin on athletes is a bit unfair, especially since the NBA doesn't have the track record that MLB does. He's not opposed to testing, but thinks there should be more 'reasonable' penalties for those caught on 'roids.

Its funny that no such inquiry has occurred in Canada since Ross Rebliagtti (sp?) was caught on our favourite plant's second hand smoke, and Silken Laumann's Sudafed mistake in the '92 Olympics. Does our government not care? What if Sidney Crosby is on steroids? McCain was quoted as saying that we need to do this so we can prevent the high school kids and the junior high school kids from picking up steroids and trying to be better than the best of the best. I think he's looking for a sound bite.

While I do think there is a place in professional sport for drug testing, I do think the US Government is not the people who should be doing it. I can understand the intent - they want an unbiased party monitoring test results, since the NBA does not want to lose LeBron to a lifetime ban - but Congress' attempt at creating a law that forces testing may turn out to be a feel-good law that was created when someone said "Won't someone please think of the children?"

If Congress could convince the IAAF or the IOC's drug testing branch to help them out, I'd be all for it. It solves the 'who watches the watchers' problem and let's not forget that the big leagues are international in terms of players, too. However, if Congress forces a branch of the US Government to do it, then I'm afraid at what else they might to to professional sports.

I spent some time on the test server today, and it seems like I've fixed the major IE bugs. It seems that the author of the original template omitted to put in a few text sizes, and without a CSS override, the left sidebar and links to comments inherited the text size of the title bar (something like 20 point font.) Blockquoted text should now have a light blue background and a darker blue dashed outline. If you see grey, clear your browser's cache.

Anyway, I've been in a few discussions lately on the status of computer engineering as a field. A lot of it has been sparked by various people sending me links to this Slashdot article which says that Big Corporate IT America is going to be experiencing a shortage of computer science/computer engineering jobs in the next 5 years or so. One response to that is that people will become in high demand in the future.

I tend to disagree. Personally, I believe we'll see the industry as we know it shrink further. Raw programming skill is a commodity now - something that can be contracted out and as emerging markets grow, those markets will get those contracts.

On the other hand, I'm not an authority on this. I wrote my economics exam high as a kite, and to this day I don't really understand economics.

What I do see happening - and a few '03s seem to agree with me - is the growth of 'crossover' fields like biomedical computing and bioinformatics. For example, Queen's Computer Science isn't really shrinking. The pure computer science program has shunk, but the 'specialized' versions have taken off in terms of enrolment. From what I can tell, Queen's computer science is actually growing. However, when you consider that outside of Walter Light and Goodwin Halls, employers already seem to equate computer science degrees with software engineering degrees, and if you were a student, which would you take between a program that's more expensive, involves significantly more work, and is harder to do well in, or a program that's cheaper, has less work, reported to have professors that care, higher marks, and the promise of a job when you graduate?

The one benefit that the industry is seeing out of some of the crossover disciplines is a large influx of females in the programs. Its less male dominated, which is a good thing.

What is yet to be determined is if bioinformatics and biomedical computing programs are yet another fad in terms of getting students into programs. If so, the computer science department is going to shrink proportionately as well, but not for another 5 years.

I'm not so sure that the problem is that there is going to be a shortage of people in the 'IT' field (a large misnomer, but I'll leave that for another day), but rather, a shortage of people following the fad of making money the quick and easy way.

...but every now and then, its not such a good thing.

Just ask Stephen Harper. I'm sure he's loving Belinda Stronach's defection to the Liberal party. I'm positive he's liking his chances at a non-confidence vote slip. (Well, to me, they're slipping.)

I got in a debate yesterday, which by all accounts except mine and my opponent was extremely heated. We were debating the role of appearances as a method of judging someone's competence and ability, which quickly diverged into the various tangents, one of which is where the society is going. Then I was presented with this gem:

Certain viewpoints are wrong, at least for this period of time.

That's when I became worried. I didn't even know where to begin with that one. To give it context, the opponent was referring to the legalization of same sex marriage and marijuana in Canada. The thought was that Canadians were becoming too liberal and needed to slow down the rate of change.

My primary worry with a view like this one is that it opens the question that doesn't have a good answer: At what point does a viewpoint become right?

History is full of examples where someone published evidence to a theory or concept that was not widely accepted by the society, and Galileo is the classic example. (Galileo is also the most commonly used argument that the Roman Catholic Church is a holdover from 15 centuries ago, but I digress.) Societal pressure, however, does not make something correct. The interesting part of this situation was that there was actual scientific evidence to support Galileo's position.

In this case, I wasn't presented with any evidence, just a one-liner. No reasoning. No rationale. No explanation. No logic. Just one person attepting to push an idea.

So, here are my questions to you: Assuming that this person is actually correct, at what point in time in a society does something become right? When does an idea or concept magically become acceptable for a society and under what circumstances?

I still think I'm right, but then, I've got history on my side. Things don't instantaneously become 'right' and 'wrong', we just find new ways of applying old rules.