Monday 4 February 2008

Mysql tip

In your ~/.my.cnf add
pager=less -niSFX
Then your multi-screen results will be paged and you can press -> to scroll right for columns past 80 characters.

Great Patriotic War

While I'm in an Eastern European frame of kind I'd like to recommend a website a Russian Perl programmer colleague mentioned to me last year.
Soldiers of the Great War: http://english.pobediteli.ru/
Click on “Multimedia Map Of The War” on the GREEN arrow where it says Start Presentation.

It is a truly amazing volunteer effort using Flash animations of the WWII Russian/”Great Patriotic War” battles with pictures, video clips and reminiscences from wartime survivors about their actions.
They were evidently grateful to the USA and UK for convoy and supply support during the war. It helps explain the extreme guardedness they felt after WWII after having half their territory invaded. Many millions of people died.
When you look at the map (all of Ukraine invaded, German armies at Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad) and see how close they came to being gutted - like the UK, we came close too - it's a visceral feeling.