Happy hour with Hockey history

[Emanuel Berg]

If your brain damage is permanent enough for you to go
to computer shool, they schools tell you databases are
dealt with SQL. You even get to "normalize" them!

And if the software breaks and you are on the South
Pole and need the information bad? Relax, XML can
"do" that!

Indeed, most boys make lists of things they like.
It is a way to systematize and assimilate knowledge,
to put it politely. If you are emotional, rather (like
me), I say it is a way to spend time with
your friends and draw power from them.

Some boys are fortunate enough to be able to do this
professionally. This is what the world-known
Encyclopedians, Carl von Linné, and many others did
and do. A bunch of boys making lists of things they
like! So you see - the shaman stuff actually works!

Linné & Co. didn't have SQL nor XML but they got by.
Today, science and big business may benefit from it,
but most boys don't and will never get that advanced
kind of interests nor "positions" in life (yuk, that
word). So if you'll excuse the chocking revelation:
computer science education doesn't reflect reality!

Before the Internet, when there were BBSs (answering
machines that talked to computers) there were ASCII
traders. (The sneakernet by this time was occupied
with games on 3.5 floppies of 800 KB each.) Those
ASCII files had all sorts of fun, immature perhaps but
still interesting material.

So let me share this interesting ASCII with you - it
even comes with database methods to extract
information. As you see, there is absolutely no need
for anything more advanced than this for this simple
task. Even a bicycle repair shop, and many, many human
activities don't need computers to be anything more
than typewriters to support memory and organization -
and actually the activities are *harmed* by enforced
supposedly "advanced" computer use which only gets in
the way and clouds the picture.

By the way, Sunday (today), Russia will face Canada in
the worlds final in Prague.

Enjoy!

(defun how-many-medals (nation &optional position)
  (let*((position (or position 1))
        (col      (nth (1- position) '(8 23 38))) )
    (how-many (format "^.\\{%d\\}%s" col nation)
            (point-min) (point-max) )))

(how-many-medals "Canada" 1)      ; 24

(+ (how-many-medals "SSSR"   1)
   (how-many-medals "Russia" 1) ) ; 27

(how-many-medals "USA" 1)         ; 2
(how-many-medals "Sweden" 1)      ; 9

(how-many-medals "Finland" 1)     ; 2
(how-many-medals "Finland" 2)     ; 7

Here is the list - Gnus complained too many long
lines, so I couldn't post it.

    http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/vm.txt

Evaluate the Elisp in that same buffer otherwise it
won't work, aight? :P

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573