5 perlepigraphs - list of Perl release epigraphs
9 Many Perl release announcements included an I<epigraph>, a short excerpt
10 from a literary or other creative work, chosen by the pumpking or release
11 manager. This file assembles the known list of epigraph for posterity,
12 and also links to the release announcements in mailing list archives.
14 I<Note>: these have also been referred to as I<epigrams>, but the
15 definition of I<epigraph> is closer to the way they have been used.
16 Consult your favorite dictionary for details.
20 =head2 v5.23.1 - Elizabeth Haydon, "The Assassin King"
22 L<Announced on 2015-07-20 by Matthew Horsfall|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/07/msg229413.html>
24 I was born beneath this willow,
25 Where my sire the earth did farm
26 Had the green grass as my pillow
27 The east wind as a blanket warm.
29 But away! away! called the wind from the west
30 And in answer I did run
31 Seeking glory and adventure
32 Promised by the rising sun.
34 I found love beneath this willow,
35 As true a love as life could hold,
36 Pledged my heart and swore my fealty
37 Sealed with a kiss and a band of gold.
39 But to arms! to arms! called the wind from the west
40 In faithful answer I did run
41 Marching forth for king and country
42 In battles 'neath the midday sun.
44 Oft I dreamt of that fair willow
45 As the seven seas I plied
46 And the girl who I left waiting
47 Longing to be at her side.
49 But about! about! called the wind from the west
50 As once again my ship did run
51 Down the coast, about the wide world
52 Flying sails in the setting sun.
54 Now I lie beneath the willow
55 Now at last no more to roam,
56 My bride and earth so tightly hold me
57 In their arms I'm finally home.
59 While away! away! calls the wind from the west
60 Beyond the grave my spirit, free
61 Will chase the sun into the morning
62 Beyond the sky, beyond the sea.
64 =head2 v5.23.0 - Bob Dylan, Maggie's Farm
66 L<Announced on 2015-06-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/06/msg228807.html>
68 I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more
69 I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more
72 But everybody wants you
74 They sing while you slave and I just get bored
75 I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more
77 =head2 v5.22.0 - Gene Wolfe, The Citadel of the Autarch
79 L<Announced on 2015-06-01 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/06/msg228300.html>
81 “You are the advocate of the dead.”
83 The old man nodded. “I am. People talk about being fair to this one and
84 that one, but nobody I ever heard talks about doing right by them. We
85 take everything they had, which is all right. And spit, most often, on
86 their opinions, which I suppose is all right too. But we ought to
87 remember now and then how much of what we have we got from them. I
88 figure while I’m still here I ought to put a word in for them.”
90 =head2 v5.22.0-RC2 - T.S. Eliot, unpublished work
92 L<Announced on 2015-05-21 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/05/msg228142.html>
94 And when thyself with silver foot shall pass
95 Among the theories scattered on the grass
96 Take up my good intentions with the rest
98 =head2 v5.22.0-RC1 - Gene Wolfe, Citadel of the Autarch
100 L<Announced on 2015-05-19 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/05/msg228059.html>
102 There is no limit to stupidity. Space itself is said to be bounded by
103 its own curvature, but stupidity continues beyond infinity.
105 =head2 v5.21.11 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, "Dolores (Notre-Dame des Sept Douleurs)"
107 L<Announced on 2015-04-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/04/msg227472.html>
109 They shall pass and their places be taken,
110 The gods and the priests that are pure.
111 They shall pass, and shalt thou not be shaken?
112 They shall perish, and shalt thou endure?
113 Death laughs, breathing close and relentless
114 In the nostrils and eyelids of lust,
115 With a pinch in his fingers of scentless
118 But the worm shall revive thee with kisses;
119 Thou shalt change and transmute as a god,
120 As the rod to a serpent that hisses,
121 As the serpent again to a rod.
122 Thy life shall not cease though thou doff it;
123 Thou shalt live until evil be slain,
124 And good shall die first, said thy prophet,
127 =head2 v5.21.10 - Aldous Huxley, "The Devils of Loudun"
129 L<Announced on 2015-03-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/03/msg226847.html>
131 The fire burned on, the good fathers continued to sprinkle and intone.
132 Suddenly a flock of pigeons came swooping down from the church and
133 started to wheel around the roaring column of flame and smoke. The
134 crowd shouted, the archers waved their halberds at the birds, Lactance
135 and Tranquille splashed them on the wing with holy water. In vain. The
136 pigeons were not to be driven away. Round and round they flew, diving
137 through the smoke, singeing their feathers in the flames. Both parties
138 claimed a miracle. For the parson's enemies the birds, quite obviously,
139 were a troop of devils, come to fetch away his soul. For his friends,
140 they were emblems of the Holy Ghost and living proof of his innocence.
141 It never seems to have occurred to anyone that they were just pigeons,
142 obeying the laws of their own, their blessedly other-than-human nature.
144 =head2 v5.21.9 - Emily Dickinson, "There is Another Sky"
146 L<Announced on 2015-02-20 by Sawyer X|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/02/msg226002.html>
148 There is another sky,
149 Ever serene and fair,
150 And there is another sunshine,
151 Though it be darkness there;
152 Never mind faded forests, Austin,
153 Never mind silent fields -
154 Here is a little forest,
155 Whose leaf is ever green;
156 Here is a brighter garden,
157 Where not a frost has been;
158 In its unfading flowers
159 I hear the bright bee hum:
163 =head2 v5.21.8 - Bill Watterson, "Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbes Collection"
165 L<Announced on 2015-01-20 by Matthew Horsfall|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/01/msg224869.html>
167 Calvin: OK Hobbes, press the button and duplicate me.
168 Hobbes: Are you sure this is such a good idea?
169 Calvin: Brother! You doubting Thomases get in the way of more scientific advances with your stupid ethical questions! This is a *BRILLIANT* idea! Hit the button, will ya?
170 Hobbes: I'd hate to be accused of inhibiting scientific progress... Here you go.
172 Hobbes: Scientific progress goes "BOINK"?
173 Calvin?: It worked! It worked! I'm a genius!
174 Cavlin??: No you're not, you liar! *I* invented this!
176 =head2 v5.21.7 - Robert Heinlein, "The Number of the Beast"
178 L<Announced on 2014-12-20 by Max Maischein|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/12/msg223774.html>
180 "Zebadiah, Hilda and I salvaged and put everything into the basket.
181 Hilda started to put it into our wardrobe-and it was heavy. So
182 we looked. Packed as tight as when we left Oz. Six bananas-and
183 everything else. Cross my heart. No, go look."
184 "Hmmm- Jake, can you write equations for a picnic basket that
185 refills itself? Will it go on doing so?"
186 "Zeb, equations can be written to describe anything. The description
187 would be simpler for a basket that replenishes itself indefinitely
188 than for one that does it once and stops-I would have to describe
191 =head2 v5.21.6 - Jeff Noon, "Vurt"
193 L<Announced on 2014-11-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/11/msg222448.html>
197 EXCHANGE MECHANISMS. Sometimes we lose precious
198 things. Friends and colleagues, fellow travellers in the
199 Vurt, sometimes we lose them; even lovers we sometimes
200 lose. And get bad things in exchange: aliens, objects,
201 snakes, and sometimes even death. Things we don't want.
202 This is part of the deal, part of the game deal;
203 all things, in all worlds, must be kept in balance.
204 Kittlings often ask, who decides on the swappings? Now then,
205 some say it's all accidental; that some poor Vurt thing
206 finds himself too close to a door, at too critical a time,
207 just when something real is being lost. Whoosh! Swap time!
208 Others say that some kind of overseer is working the
209 MECHANISMS OF EXCHANGE, deciding the fate of innocents.
210 The Cat can only tease at this, because of the big secrets
211 involved, and because of the levels between you, the reader,
212 and me, the Game Cat. Hey, listen; I've struggled to get
213 where I am today; why should I give you the easy route?
214 Get working, kittlings! Reach up higher. Work the Vurt.
216 =head2 v5.21.5 - Friso Wiegersma (text), Jean Ferrat (music), Wim Sonneveld (performer), "Het Dorp"
218 L<Announced on 2014-10-20 by Abigail|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/10/msg221399.html>
222 Thuis heb ik nog een ansichtkaart
223 waarop een kerk, een kar met paard,
224 een slagerij J. van der Ven.
225 Een kroeg, een juffrouw op de fiets
226 het zegt u hoogstwaarschijnlijk niets,
227 maar 't is waar ik geboren ben.
228 Dit dorp, ik weet nog hoe het was,
229 de boerenkind'ren in de klas,
230 een kar die ratelt op de keien,
231 het raadhuis met een pomp ervoor,
232 een zandweg tussen koren door,
233 het vee, de boerderijen.
235 En langs het tuinpad van m'n vader
236 zag ik de hoge bomen staan.
237 Ik was een kind en wist niet beter,
238 dan dat dat nooit voorbij zou gaan.
240 Wat leefden ze eenvoudig toen
241 in simp'le huizen tussen groen
242 met boerenbloemen en een heg.
243 Maar blijkbaar leefden ze verkeerd,
244 het dorp is gemoderniseerd
245 en nu zijn ze op de goeie weg.
246 Want ziet, hoe rijk het leven is,
247 ze zien de televisiequiz
248 en wonen in betonnen dozen,
249 met flink veel glas, dan kun je zien
250 hoe of het bankstel staat bij Mien
251 en d'r dressoir met plastic rozen.
253 En langs het tuinpad van m'n vader
254 zag ik de hoge bomen staan.
255 Ik was een kind en wist niet beter,
256 dan dat dat nooit voorbij zou gaan.
258 De dorpsjeugd klit wat bij elkaar
259 in minirok en beatle-haar
260 en joelt wat mee met beat-muziek.
261 Ik weet wel, het is hun goeie recht,
262 de nieuwe tijd, net wat u zegt,
263 maar het maakt me wat melancholiek.
264 Ik heb hun vaders nog gekend
265 ze kochten zoethout voor een cent
266 ik zag hun moeders touwtjespringen.
267 Dat dorp van toen, het is voorbij,
268 dit is al wat er bleef voor mij:
269 een ansicht en herinneringen.
271 Toen ik langs het tuinpad van m'n vader
272 de hoge bomen nog zag staan.
273 Ik was een kind, hoe kon ik weten
274 dat dat voorgoed voorbij zou gaan.
276 =head2 v5.21.4 - Edgar Allan Poe, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket"
278 L<Announced on 2014-09-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/09/msg220267.html>
280 To-day, being in latitude 83° 20', longitude 43° 5' W. (the sea being
281 of an extraordinarily dark colour), we again saw land from the
282 masthead, and, upon a closer scrutiny, found it to be one of a group
283 of very large islands. The shore was precipitous, and the interior
284 seemed to be well wooded, a circumstance which occasioned us great
285 joy. In about four hours from our first discovering the land we came
286 to anchor in ten fathoms, sandy bottom, a league from the coast, as a
287 high surf, with strong ripples here and there, rendered a nearer
288 approach of doubtful expediency. The two largest boats were now
289 ordered out, and a party, well armed (among whome were Peters and
290 myself), proceeded to look for an opening in the reef which appeared
291 to encircle the island. After searching about for some time, we
292 discovered an inlet, which we were entering, when we saw four large
293 canoes put off from the shore, filled with men who seemed to be well
294 armed. We waited for them to come up, and, as they moved with great
295 rapidity, they were soon within hail. Captain Guy now held up a white
296 handkerchief on the blade of an oar, when the strangers made a full
297 stop, and commenced a loud jabbering all at once, intermingled with
298 occasional shouts, in which we could distinguish the words Anamoo-moo!
299 and Lama-Lama! They continued this for at least half an hour, during
300 which we had a good opportunity of observing their appearance.
302 =head2 v5.21.3 - Robert Service, "The Men that Don't Fit In"
304 L<Announced on 2014-08-20 by Peter Martini|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/08/msg218826.html>
306 If they just went straight they might go far,
307 They are strong and brave and true;
308 But they're always tired of the things that are,
309 And they want the strange and new.
310 They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
311 What a deep mark I would make!"
312 So they chop and change, and each fresh move
313 Is only a fresh mistake.
315 =head2 v5.21.2 - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Charlie Duke, Final minutes of communication of the first manned moon landing, July 20, 1969
317 L<Announced on 2014-07-20 by Abigail|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/07/msg217937.html>
319 Armstrong: Okay. Here's a...Looks like a good area here.
320 Aldrin: I got the shadow out there.
321 Aldrin: 250, down at 2 1/2, 19 forward.
322 Aldrin: Altitude, velocity lights.
323 Aldrin: 3 1/2 down, 220 feet, 13 forward.
324 Aldrin: 11 forward. Coming down nicely.
325 Armstrong: Gonna be right over that crater.
326 Aldrin: 200 feet, 4 1/2 down.
328 Armstrong: I got a good spot [garbled].
329 Aldrin: 160 feet, 6 1/2 down.
330 Aldrin: 5 1/2 down, 9 forward. You're looking good.
332 Aldrin: 100 feet, 3 1/2 down, 9 forward. Five percent. Quantity light.
333 Aldrin: Okay. 75 feet. And it's looking good. Down a half, 6 forward.
336 Aldrin: 60 feet, down 2 1/2. 2 forward. 2 forward. That's good.
337 Aldrin: 40 feet, down 2 1/2. Picking up some dust.
338 Aldrin: 30 feet, 2 1/2 down. [Garbled] shadow.
339 Aldrin: 4 forward. 4 forward. Drifting to the right a little. 20 feet,
342 Aldrin: Drifting forward just a little bit; that's good.
343 Aldrin: Contact Light.
345 Aldrin: Okay. Engine Stop.
346 Aldrin: ACA out of Detent.
347 Armstrong: Out of Detent. Auto.
348 Aldrin: Mode Control, both Auto. Descent Engine Command Override, Off.
349 Engine Arm, Off. 413 is in.
350 Duke: We copy you down, Eagle.
351 Armstrong: Engine arm is off.
352 Armstrong: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
353 Duke: Roger, Twan...[correcting himself] Tranquility. We copy you on
354 the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.
355 We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.
358 =head2 v5.21.1 - Robert Jordan, "The Crossroads of Twilights", Book 10 of "The Wheel of Time"
360 L<Announced on 2014-06-20 by Matthew Horsfall|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/06/msg217030.html>
362 We rode on the winds of the rising storm,
363 We ran to the sounds of the thunder.
364 We danced among the lightning bolts,
365 and tore the world asunder.
367 -- Anonymous fragment of a poem believed
368 written near the end of the previous Age,
369 known by some as the Third Age.
370 Sometimes attributed to the Dragon
373 =head2 v5.21.0 - Friedrich von Schiller, "The Song of the Bell"
375 L<Announced on 2014-05-27 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/05/msg215826.html>
377 Walled in fast within the earth
378 Stands the form burnt out of clay.
379 This must be the bell’s great birth!
380 Fellows, lend a hand to-day.
381 Sweat must trickle now
382 From the burning brow,
383 Till the work its master honour.
384 Blessing comes from Heaven’s Donor.
386 =head2 v5.20.2 - Jonathan "Jonti" Picking, L<"Magical Trevor"|http://www.weebls-stuff.com/other-toons/video/magical-trevor.html>
388 L<Announced on 2015-02-14 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/02/msg225777.html>
390 Everyone loves Magical Trevor,
391 'Cos the tricks that he does are ever so clever;
392 Look at him now, disappearin' the cow,
393 Where is the cow hidden right now?
395 Taking a bow, it's Magical Trevor,
396 Everybody's seen that the trick is clever;
397 Look at him there with his leathery, leathery whip!
398 It's made of magic, and with a little flip--
400 Yeah, yeah, yeah, the cow is back,
401 Yeah, yeah, yeah, the cow is back;
402 Back, back, back from his magical journey,
405 What did he see in the parallel dimension?
406 He saw beans, lots of beans, lots of beans, lots of beans;
407 Oh, beans, lots of beans, lots of beans, lots of beans,
410 =head2 v5.20.2-RC1 - Jonathan "Jonti" Picking, L<"Scampi"|http://www.weebls-stuff.com/other-toons/video/scampi.html>
412 L<Announced on 2015-02-01 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2015/02/msg225273.html>
415 I've seen them with my eyes;
417 They're often in disguise.
419 Like carrots, handbags, cheese, toilets,
420 Russians, planets, hamsters, weddings,
421 Poets, Stalin, Kuala Lumpur!
422 Pygmies, budgies, Kuala Lumpur!
425 I've seen them with my eyes;
427 They're often in disguise.
429 Like carrots, handbags, cheese...
431 =head2 v5.20.1 - Lorenzo da Ponte, trans. Diana Reed, "Così fan tutte"
433 L<Announced on 2014-09-14 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/09/msg219789.html>
435 DORABELLA (as if waking from a daze): Where are they?
436 DON ALFONSO: They've gone.
437 FIORDILIGI: Oh, the cruel bitterness of parting!
440 Take heart, my dearest children.
441 Look, in the distance, your lovers are waving to you.
443 FIORDILIGI: Bon voyage, my darling!
444 DORABELLA: Bon voyage!
447 O heavens! How swiftly the ship is sailing away!
448 It is disappearing already!
449 It is no longer in sight!
450 Oh, may heaven grant it a prosperous voyage!
452 DORABELLA: May good luck attend it to the battlefield!
453 DON ALFONSO: And may your sweethearts and my friends be safe!
455 FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA, DON ALFONSO:
456 May the wind be gentle,
462 =head2 v5.20.1-RC2 - Lorenzo da Ponte, trans. William Weaver, "Così fan tutte"
464 L<Announced on 2014-09-07 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/09/msg219446.html>
467 Oh God, I feel that this foot of mine
468 is reluctant to come before her.
475 The hero displays his manliness
476 in the most terrible moments.
478 FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA:
479 Now that we have heard the news,
480 you have the lesser duty:
481 Take heart, and plunge your swords
482 into both our hearts.
486 that I must abandon you.
488 DORABELLA: Ah no, you shall not leave...
489 FIORDILIGI: No, cruel one, you shall not go...
490 DORABELLA: First I want to tear out my heart.
491 FIORDILIGI: First I want to die at your feet.
492 FERRANDO (softly to Don Alfonso): What do you say to that?
493 GUGLIELMO (softly to Don Alfonso): You realise?
494 DON ALFONSO (softly): Steady, friend, finem lauda.
497 Thus destiny defrauds
498 the hopes of mortals.
499 Ah, among so many misfortunes,
500 who can ever love life?
502 =head2 v5.20.1-RC1 - Lorenzo da Ponte, trans. William Weaver, "Così fan tutte"
504 L<Announced on 2014-08-25 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/08/msg218975.html>
507 I'd like to speak, but I haven't the heart:
509 My voice cannot emerge,
510 but remains in my throat.
511 What will you do? What shall I do?
512 Oh what a great catastrophe!
513 There can be nothing worse.
514 I feel pity for you and for them.
516 FIORDILIGI: Heavens! For mercy's sake, Signor Alfonso, don't make us
518 DON ALFONSO: My children, you must arm yourselves with constancy.
519 DORABELLA: Ye Gods! What evil has occurred? What horrible event? Is my
521 FIORDILIGI: Is mine dead?
522 DON ALFONSO: They are not dead, but they are not far from it.
526 DON ALFONSO: Nor that.
527 FIORDILIGI: What, then?
528 DON ALFONSO: A royal command summons them to the field of battle.
529 FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA: Alas, what do I hear? And they will leave?
530 DON ALFONSO: Immediately.
531 DORABELLA: And there is no way of preventing it?
532 DON ALFONSO: There is none.
533 FIORDILIGI: And not even a single farewell...
534 DON ALFONSO: The unhappy men haven't the courage to see you; but if
535 you wish it, they are ready...
536 DORABELLA: Where are they?
537 DON ALFONSO: Come in, friends.
539 =head2 v5.20.0 - William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
541 L<Announced on 2014-05-27 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/05/msg215815.html>
543 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
544 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
545 Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
546 When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
547 So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
548 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
550 =head2 v5.20.0-RC1 - Lindsey Buckingham, "Second Hand News"
552 L<Announced on 2014-05-17 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/05/msg215479.html>
556 Won't you lay me down in tall grass
557 And let me do my stuff
559 =head2 v5.19.11 - Isidore-Lucien Ducasse [as "Comte de Lautréamont"], trans. Paul Knight, "Les Chants de Maldoror"
561 L<Announced on 2014-04-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/04/msg214580.html>
563 O rigorous mathematics, I have not forgotten you since your wise lessons,
564 sweeter than honey, filtered into my heart like a refreshing wave.
565 Instinctively, from the cradle, I had longed to drink from your source, older
566 than the sun, and I continue to tread the sacred sanctuary of your solemn
567 temple, I, the most faithful of your devotees. There was a vagueness in my
568 mind, something thick as smoke; but I managed to mount the steps which lead to
569 your altar, and you drove away this dark veil, as the wind blows the
570 draught-board. You replaced it with excessive coldness, consummate prudence and
571 implacable logic. With the aid of your fortifying milk, my intellect developed
572 rapidly and took on immense proportions amid the ravishing lucidity which you
573 bestow as a gift on all those who sincerely love you. Arithmetic! Algebra!
574 Geometry! Awe-inspiring trinity! Luminous triangle! He who has not known you
577 =head2 v5.19.10 - John Chadwick, "The Decipherment of Linear B"
579 L<Announced on 2014-03-20 by Aaron Crane|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/03/msg213851.html>
581 The urge to discover secrets is deeply ingrained in human nature; even
582 the least curious mind is roused by the promise of sharing knowledge
583 withheld from others. Some are fortunate enough to find a job which
584 consists in the solution of mysteries, whether it be the physicist who
585 tracks down a hitherto unknown nuclear particle or the policeman who
586 detects a criminal. But most of us are driven to sublimate this urge
587 by the solving of artificial puzzles devised for our entertainment.
589 =head2 v5.19.9 - R. A. MacAvoy, "Tea with the Black Dragon"
591 L<Announced on 2014-02-20 by Tony Cook|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/02/msg213047.html>
593 Old hands. The smell of rain--the smell of Ch'an. Quiet words in
594 rough Cantonese. "I am not to be your master. Your master has to be
595 stronger than you are--has to tell you you are a fool and make you
596 know it. And make you feel content in being a fool. How could I do
597 that for you? I'm old. You are too strong for me; you are full of
598 chi." The old man has paused then, huddled against the wind while
599 clouds thickened above them.
601 "I will tell you this, Long," he continued, "Before you find yourself
602 you will lose your chi. Also you will leave behind you all pride of
603 body, pride of mind. You will be reduced. Like me." The old man
604 closed his eyes, and rain began to beat against his gray, crew-cut
605 hair. He pulled his coat closer. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and
606 he looked Long in the face.
608 "You must leave China. Go across the ocean. There you will meet your
609 master." He set down his teacup with a palsied hand. His voice rose,
612 "I tell you this, most honored and impressive visitor. You are a
613 fool, yes, but you will find the very thing you seek. You will find
616 =head2 v5.19.8 - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
618 L<Announced on 2014-01-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/01/msg211729.html>
620 “I used to get a big kick out of saving people’s lives. Now I wonder what the
621 hell’s the point, since they all have to die anyway.”
623 “Oh, there’s a point, all right,” Dunbar assured him.
625 “Is there? What is the point?”
627 “The point is to keep them from dying for as long as you can.”
629 “Yeah, but what’s the point, since they all have to die anyway?”
631 “The trick is not to think about that.”
633 “Never mind the trick. What the hell’s the point?”
635 Dunbar pondered in silence for a few moments. “Who the hell knows?”
637 =head2 v5.19.7 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Slaughterhouse-Five"
639 L<Announced on 2013-12-20 by Abigail|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/12/msg210882.html>
641 And somewhere in there was springtime. The corpse mines were closed
642 down. The soldiers all left to fight the Russians. In the suburbs,
643 the women and children dug rifle pits. Billy and the rest of his group
644 were locked up in the stable in the suburbs. And then, one morning,
645 they got up to discover that the door was unlocked. World War Two in
648 Billy and the rest wandered out onto the shady street. The trees were
649 leafing out. There was nothing going on out there, no traffic of any
650 kind. There was only one vehicle, an abandoned wagon drawn by two
651 horses. The wagon was green and coffin-shaped.
655 One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, "Pee-tee-weet?"
657 =head2 v5.19.6 - Monty Python's Flying Circus, "Spam"
659 L<Announced on 2013-11-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/11/msg210043.html>
661 Interior: cheap cafe. All the customers are Vikings. Mr and Mrs Bun enter downwards (on wires).
665 Mr. Bun: What have you got, then?
666 Waitress: Well there's egg and bacon; egg, sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg, bacon and spam;
667 egg, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam;
668 spam, spam, spam, egg and spam; spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam;
669 or lobster thermidor aux crevettes, with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle pate, brandy and a fried
671 Mrs. Bun: Have you got anything without spam in it?
672 Waitress: Well, there's spam, egg, sausage and spam. That's not got MUCH spam in it.
673 Mrs. Bun: I don't want ANY spam.
674 Mr. Bun: Why can't she have egg, bacon, spam and sausage?
675 Mrs. Bun: That's got spam in it!
676 Mr. Bun: Not as much as spam, egg, sausage and spam.
677 Mrs. Bun: Look, could I have egg, bacon, spam and sausage, without the spam.
678 Waitress: Uuuuuuggggh!
679 Mrs. Bun: What d'you mean, uugggh! I don't like spam.
680 Vikings: (singing) Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam ... spam, spam, spam, spam ... lovely spam, wonderful spam ...
682 (Brief shot of a Viking ship)
684 Waitress: Shut up. Shut up! Shut up! You can't have egg, bacon, spam and sausage without the spam.
686 Waitress: No, it wouldn't be egg, bacon, spam and sausage, would it?
687 Mrs. Bun: I don't like spam!
689 =head2 v5.19.5 - Charles Baudelaire, trans. James McGowan, "The Flowers of Evil", 51. The Cat
691 L<Announced on 2013-10-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/10/msg208752.html>
695 A cat is strolling through my mind
696 Acting as though he owned the place,
697 A lovely cat -- strong, charming, sweet.
698 When he meows, one scarcely hears,
700 So tender and discreet his tone;
701 But whether he should growl or purr
702 His voice is always rich and deep.
703 That is the secret of his charm.
705 This purling voice that filters down
706 Into my darkest depths of soul
707 Fulfils me like a balanced verse,
708 Delights me as a potion would.
710 It puts to sleep the cruellest ills
711 And keeps a rein on ecstasies --
712 Without the need for any words
713 It can pronounce the longest phrase.
715 Oh no, there is no bow that draws
716 Across my heart, fine instrument,
717 And makes to sing so royally
718 The strongest and the purest chord,
720 More than your voice, mysterious cat,
721 Exotic cat, seraphic cat,
722 In whom all is, angelically,
723 As subtle as harmonious.
727 From his soft fur, golden and brown,
728 Goes out so sweet a scent, one night
729 I might have been embalmed in it
730 By giving him one little pet.
732 He is my household's guardian soul;
733 He judges, he presides, inspires
734 All matters in hos royal realm;
735 Might he be fairy? or a god?
737 When my eyes, to this cat I love
738 Drawn as by a magnet's force,
739 Turn tamely back from that appeal,
740 And when I look within myself,
742 I notice with astonishment
743 The fire of his opal eyes,
744 Clear beacons glowing, living jewels,
745 Taking my measure, steadily.
747 =head2 v5.19.4 - Washington Irving, "The Widow and Her Son"
749 L<Announced on 2013-09-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/09/msg207969.html>
751 There is something in sickness that breaks down the pride of manhood;
752 that softens the heart and brings it back to the feelings of infancy.
753 Who that has languished, even in advanced life, in sickness and
754 despondency — who that has pined on a weary bed in the neglect and
755 loneliness of a foreign land — but has thought on the mother "that
756 looked on his childhood," that smoothed his pillow and administered to
757 his helplessness. — Oh! there is an enduring tenderness in the love
758 of a mother to her son that transcends all other affections of the
759 heart. It is neither to be chilled by selfishness — nor daunted by
760 danger — nor weakened by worthlessness — nor stifled by ingratitude.
761 She will sacrifice every comfort to his convenience — she will
762 surrender every pleasure to his enjoyment — she will glory in his fame
763 and exult in his prosperity. And if misfortune overtake him he will
764 be the dearer to her from misfortune — and if disgrace settle upon his
765 name, she will still love and cherish him in spite of his disgrace —
766 and if all the world beside cast him off, she will be all the world to
769 =head2 v5.19.3 - Andrew Hodges, "Alan Turing: The Enigma"
771 L<Announced on 2013-08-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/08/msg206318.html>
773 E.M. Forster, outdoing the King's heresy with grand bravura, had
774 written in 1938 that if he were faced with the choice between
775 betraying his country and betraying his friends, he hoped he would
776 have the courage to betray his country. He would always put the
777 personal above the political. But for Alan Turing, unlike Forster, or
778 Wittgenstein, or G.H. Hardy, it was more than a theoretical question.
779 For him not only had the personal become the political, but the
780 political was the personal. He had chosen and promised for himself in
781 working for the government. The choice for him therefore was that
782 between betraying one part of himself and betraying another part. And
783 however much he wavered between these alternatives, there was a solid
784 logic to the mind of security, one that could not be expected to take
785 an interest in notions of freedom and development. He had no rights
786 to such things, as he would have had to admit. He might have
787 outwitted the Home Guard, but when it came to questions that mattered,
788 there was no doubt that he had placed himself under military law.
789 There was a war on; there was always a war on now.
791 =head2 v5.19.2 - Fred Brooks, "The Mythical Man-Month"
793 L<Announced on 2013-07-22 by Aristotle Pagaltzis|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/07/msg204905.html>
795 The magic of myth and legend has come true in our time. One types the
796 correct incantation on a keyboard, and a display screen comes to life,
797 showing things that never were nor could be. [...] Not all is delight,
798 however [...] One must perform perfectly. The computer resembles the
799 magic of legend in this respect, too. If one character, one pause, of
800 the incantation is not strictly in proper form, the magic doesn't work.
802 =head2 v5.19.1 - William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
804 L<Announced on 2013-06-21 by David Golden|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/06/msg203449.html>
806 Over hill, over dale,
807 Thorough bush, thorough briar,
808 Over park, over pale,
809 Thorough flood, thorough fire,
810 I do wander everywhere,
811 Swifter than the moon's sphere;
812 And I serve the fairy queen,
813 To dew her orbs upon the green.
814 The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
815 In their gold coats, spots you see;
816 Those be rubies, fairy favours,
817 In their freckles live our savours.
818 I must go seek some dew-drops here,
819 And hang a perl in every cowslip's ear.
820 Farewell, thou lob of spirits, I'll be gone;
821 My queen and all her elves come here anon!
823 =head2 v5.19.0 - Batman, of the Joker, in "The Dark Knight Returns"
825 L<Announced on 2013-05-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201980.html>
827 From the beginning, I knew…
828 …that there was nothing wrong with you…
832 =head2 v5.18.4 - Robert W. Chambers, Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow," Act I, Scene 2
834 L<Announced on 2014-10-01 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/10/msg220770.html>
836 Along the shore the cloud waves break,
837 The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
841 Strange is the night where black stars rise,
842 And strange moons circle through the skies
843 But stranger still is
846 Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
847 Where flap the tatters of the King,
851 Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
852 Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
856 =head2 v5.18.3 - (no epigraph)
860 =head2 v5.18.3-RC2 - Robert W. Chambers, "The King in Yellow", Act I, Scene 2
862 L<Announced on 2014-09-27 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/09/msg220613.html>
864 "Ah! I see it now!" I shrieked. "You have seized the throne and the
865 empire. Woe! woe to you who are crowned with the crown of the King in
868 =head2 v5.18.3-RC1 - Robert W. Chambers, "The King in Yellow", Act I, Scene 2
870 L<Announced on 2014-09-17 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/09/msg220072.html>
872 CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.
876 CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
878 STRANGER: I wear no mask.
880 CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
882 =head2 v5.18.2 - Miss Manners
884 L<Announced on 2014-01-06 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2014/01/msg211224.html>
886 One of the major mistakes people make is that they think manners are
887 only the expression of happy ideas. There's a whole range of behavior
888 that can be expressed in a mannerly way. That's what civilization is all
889 about – doing it in a mannerly and not an antagonistic way. One of the
890 places we went wrong was the naturalistic Rousseauean movement of the
891 Sixties in which people said, "Why can't you just say what's on your
892 mind?" In civilization there have to be some restraints. If we followed
893 every impulse, we'd be killing one another.
895 =head2 v5.18.1 - Chuck Moore
897 L<Announced on 2013-08-12 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/08/msg205897.html>
899 The operating system is another concept that is curious. Operating
900 systems are dauntingly complex and totally unnecessary. It’s a brilliant
901 thing that Bill Gates has done in selling the world on the notion of
902 operating systems. It’s probably the greatest con game the world has
905 An operating system does absolutely nothing for you. As long as you had
906 something — a subroutine called disk driver, a subroutine called some
907 kind of communication support, in the modern world, it doesn’t do
908 anything else. In fact, Windows spends a lot of time with overlays and
909 disk management all stuff like that which are irrelevant. You’ve got
910 gigabyte disks; you’ve got megabyte RAMs. The world has changed in a way
911 that renders the operating system unnecessary.
913 =head2 v5.18.1-RC1 - Chuck Moore
915 L<Announced on 2013-08-02 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/08/msg205445.html>
917 Compilers are probably the worst code ever written. They are written by
918 someone who has never written a compiler before and will never do so
919 again. The more elaborate the language, the more complex, bug-ridden,
920 and unusable is the compiler. But a simple compiler for a simple
921 language is an essential tool—if only for documentation.
923 =head2 v5.18.0 - Yevgeny Zamyatin
925 L<Announced on 2013-05-18 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201940.html>
927 It is an error to divide people into the living and the dead: there are people
928 who are dead-alive, and people who are alive-alive. The dead-alive also write,
929 walk, speak, act. But they make no mistakes; only machines make no mistakes,
930 and they produce only dead things. The alive-alive are constantly in error, in
931 search, in questions, in torment.
933 =head2 v5.18.0-RC4 - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
935 L<Announced on 2013-05-16 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201889.html>
937 Clevinger was dead. That was the basic flaw in his philosophy.
939 =head2 v5.18.0-RC3 - Tom Waits, "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me"
941 L<Announced on 2013-05-14 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201823.html>
943 I'd love to go drowning
944 And to stay and to stay
945 But the ocean doesn't want me today
946 I'll go in up to here
947 It can't possibly hurt
948 All they will find is my beer
951 =head2 v5.18.0-RC2 - Tom Waits, "Earth Died Screaming"
953 L<Announced on 2013-05-12 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201723.html>
955 And the great day of wrath has come
956 And here's mud in your big red eye
957 The poker's in the fire
958 And the locusts take the sky
959 And the earth died screaming
960 While I lay dreaming of you
962 =head2 v5.18.0-RC1 - Tom Waits, "What's He Building in There?"
964 L<Announced on 2013-05-11 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201651.html>
966 What's he building in there?
968 We have a right to know…
970 =head2 v5.17.11 - Nigel Tufnel in "This is Spın̈al Tap"
972 L<Announced on 2013-04-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/04/msg201056.html>
974 It's very special because, if you can see, the numbers all go to…
975 eleven! Look, right across the board: eleven, eleven, eleven, eleven!
977 =head2 v5.17.10 - Vernor Vinge, "A Fire Upon The Deep"
979 L<Announced on 2013-03-23 by Max Maischein|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/03/msg200504.html>
981 The archive informed the automation. Data structures were built, recipes
982 followed. A local network was built, faster than anything on Straum, but surely
983 safe. Nodes were added, modified by other recipes. The archive was a friendly
984 place, with hierarchies of translation keys that led them along. Straum itself
985 would be famous for this.
987 Six months passed. A year.
989 The omniscient view. Not self-aware really. Self-awareness is much over-rated.
990 Most automation works far better as a part of a whole, and even if human-
991 powerful, it does not need to self-know.
993 =head2 v5.17.9 - Douglas Adams, "The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy"
995 L<Announced on 2013-02-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/02/msg199115.html>
997 Vogon poetry is of course, the third worst in the universe.
998 The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a
999 recitation by their poet master Grunthos the Flatulent of
1000 his poem 'Ode To A Small Lump of Green Putty I Found In My
1001 Armpit One Midsummer Morning' four of his audience died
1002 of internal haemorrhaging and the president of the
1003 Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one
1004 of his own legs off. Grunthos is reported to have been
1005 'disappointed' by the poem's reception, and was about to
1006 embark on a reading of his twelve-book epic entitled
1007 'My Favourite Bathtime Gurgles' when his own major intestine,
1008 in a desperate attempt to save life and civilisation,
1009 leapt straight up through his neck and throttled his brain.
1011 The very worst poetry of all perished along with its creator
1012 Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge, Essex, England,
1013 in the destruction of the planet Earth.
1015 =head2 v5.17.8 - Iain Pears, "An Instance of the Fingerpost"
1017 L<Announced on 2013-01-20 by Aaron Crane|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/01/msg197571.html>
1019 I must here declare myself as someone who does not for a moment subscribe to
1020 the general view that a willingness to perform oneself is detrimental to the
1021 dignity of experimental philosophy. There is, after all, a clear distinction
1022 between labour carried out for financial reward, and that done for the
1023 improvement of mankind: to put it another way, Lower as a philosopher was
1024 fully my equal even if he fell away when he became the practising physician.
1025 I think ridiculous of certain professors of anatomy, who find it beneath
1026 them to pick up the knife themselves, but merely comment while hired hands
1027 do the cutting. Sylvius would never have dreamt of sitting on a dais reading
1028 from an authority while others cut — when he taught, the knife was
1029 in his hand and the blood spattered his coat. Boyle also did not scruple to
1030 perform his own experiments and, on one occasion in my presence, even showed
1031 himself willing to anatomise a rat with his very own hands. Nor was he less
1032 a gentleman when he had finished. Indeed, in my opinion, his stature was all
1033 the greater, for in Boyle wealth, humility and curiosity mingled, and the
1034 world is richer for it.
1036 =head2 v5.17.7 - R. Scott Bakker, "The Darkness That Comes Before"
1038 L<Announced on 2012-12-18 by Dave Rolsky|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/12/msg196707.html>
1042 The boy extinguished. Only a place.
1046 Motionless, the Pragma sat facing him, the bare soles of his feet flat against each other, his dark frock scored by the shadows of deep folds, his eyes as empty as the child they watched.
1048 A place without breath or sound. A place of sight alone. A place without before or after . . . almost.
1050 For the first lances of sunlight careered over the glacier, as ponderous as great tree limbs in the wind. Shadows hardened and light gleamed across the Pragma’s ancient skull.
1052 The old man’s left hand forsook his right sleeve, bearing a watery knife. And like a rope in water, his arm pitched outward, fingertips trailing across the blade as the knife swung languidly into the air, the sun skating and the dark shrine plunging across its mirror back . . .
1054 And the place where Kellhus had once existed extended an open hand—the blond hairs like luminous filaments against tanned skin—and grasped the knife from stunned space.
1056 The slap of pommel against palm triggered the collapse of place into little boy. The pale stench of his body. Breath, sound, and lurching thoughts.
1058 I have been legion . . .
1060 In his periphery, he could see the spike of the sun ease from the mountain. He felt drunk with exhaustion. In the recoil of his trance, it seemed all he could hear were the twigs arching and bobbing in the wind, pulled by leaves like a million sails no bigger than his hand. Cause everywhere, but amid countless minute happenings—diffuse, useless.
1064 =head2 v5.17.6 - Kurt Vonnegut, "The Sirens of Titan"
1066 L<Announced on 2012-11-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/11/msg195659.html>
1068 Beatrice, looking like a gypsy queen, smoldered at the foot of a statue
1069 of a young physical student. At first glance, the laboratory-gowned
1070 scientist seemed to be a perfect servant of nothing but truth. At first
1071 glance, one was convinced that nothing but truth could please him as he
1072 beamed at his test tube. At first glance, one thought that he was as
1073 much above the beastly concerns of mankind as the harmoniums in the
1074 caves of Mercury. There, at first glance, was a young man without
1075 vanity, without lust — and one accepted at its face value the title Salo
1076 had engraved on the statue, "Discovery of Atomic Power."
1078 =head2 v5.17.5 - Charles Stross, "Singularity Sky"
1080 L<Announced on 2012-10-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/10/msg194349.html>
1082 Neither of them noticed the pair of polka-dotted knickers hiding
1083 behind the ventilation duct overhead, listening patiently and
1084 recording everything.
1086 =head2 v5.17.4 - Roald Dahl, "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf"
1088 L<Announced on 2012-09-19 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/09/msg192635.html>
1090 The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
1091 She whips a pistol from her knickers.
1092 She aims it at the creature's head,
1093 And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
1095 A few weeks later, in the wood,
1096 I came across Miss Riding Hood.
1097 But what a change! No cloak of red,
1098 No silly hood upon her head.
1099 She said, "Hello, and do please note
1100 My lovely furry wolfskin coat."
1102 =head2 v5.17.3 - Kris Ta-belle, "Smoked Perl Onion Soup"
1104 L<Announced on 2012-08-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/08/msg190775.html>
1108 Cut 16 Perl Onions into quarters and put them in a grill smoker rack
1109 or a perforated pan over a BBQ using hickory wood chips or Special
1110 Blend Smoker Bisquettes. Smoke them for an hour and remove once they
1112 Let them cool and put them in the fridge (or freezer) until you are
1113 ready to create the soup.
1117 16 diced, pre-smoked, Perl Onions
1120 2 small garlic cloves, finely minced
1123 black pepper to taste
1125 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1126 6 cups of beef or vegetable stock
1127 1 cup of thick cream (milk can be used as a substitute)
1131 Melt the butter in a pan and then add olive oil.
1132 Heat and add the onions to caramelize over a medium-high heat for up
1134 Add the garlic, turn down the heat and cook for a further 5 minutes.
1135 Add the salt, pepper and sugar.
1136 Now add the red wine and reduce to a jam like consistency.
1137 Add the flour, stir well and add the stock a cup at a time.
1138 Simmer for 30 minutes, add the cream and heat to almost boiling.
1142 =head2 v5.17.2 - Terry Pratchet, "The Colour of Magic"
1144 L<Announced on 2012-07-21 by TonyC|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/07/msg189828.html>
1146 ‘I knew it,’ said Rincewind. ‘We're in a strong magical field.’
1148 Twoflower and Hrun looked around the little hollow where they had made
1149 their noonday halt. Then they looked at each other.
1151 The horses were quietly cropping the rich grass by the stream. Yellow
1152 butterflies skittered among the bushes. There was a smell of thyme
1153 and a buzzing of bees. The wild pigs on the spit sizzled gently.
1155 Hrun shrugged and went back to oiling his biceps. They gleamed.
1157 ‘Looks alright to me,’ he said.
1159 ‘Try tossing a coin,’ said Rincewind.
1163 ‘Go on. Toss a coin.’
1165 ‘Hokay,’ said Hrun. 'If that gives you any pleasure.’ He reached into
1166 his pouch and withdrew a handful of loose change plundered from a
1167 dozen realms. With some care he selected a Zchloty leaden
1168 quarter-iotum and balanced it on a purple thumbnail.
1170 ‘You call,’ he said. ‘Heads or—’ he inspected the obverse with
1171 an air of intense concentration, ‘some sort of a fish with legs.’
1173 ‘When it's in the air,’ said Rincewind. Hrun grinned and flicked his thumb.
1175 The iotum rose, spinning.
1177 ‘Edge,’ said Rincewind, without looking at it.
1179 =head2 v5.17.1 - Rand Miller, "Myst: The Book of Ti'ana"
1181 L<Announced on 2012-06-20 by doy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/06/msg188354.html>
1183 On their return from Ko'ah, Aitrus had shown her the Book, patiently
1184 taking her through page after page, and showing her how such an Age was
1185 "made." She had seen at once the differences between this archaic form
1186 and the ordinary written speech of the D'ni, noting how it was not
1187 merely more elaborate but more specific: a language of precise yet
1188 subtle descriptive power. Yet seeing was one thing, believing another.
1189 Given all the evidence, her rational mind still fought against accepting
1192 =head2 v5.17.0 - Charles Stross, "Singularity Sky"
1194 L<Announced on 2012-05-26 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/05/msg187214.html>
1196 `Welcome, comrades!' Burya opened his arms toward the soldier.
1197 `Yes it is true! With help from our allies of the Festival, the iron
1198 hand of the reactionary junta is about to be overthrown for all time!
1199 The new economy is being born; the marginal cost of production has
1200 been abolished, and from now on, if any item is produced once, it can
1201 be replicated infinitely. From each according to his imagination,
1202 to each according to his needs! Join us or better still, bring your
1203 fellow soldiers and workers to join us!'
1205 There was a sharp bang from the roof of the Corn Exchange, right at the
1206 climax of his impromptu speech; heads turned in alarm. Something had
1207 broken inside the spork factory and a stream of rainbow-hued plastic
1208 implements fountained toward the sky and clattered to the cobblestones
1209 on every side, like a harbinger of the postindustrial society to come.
1210 Workers and peasants alike stared in open-mouthed bewilderment at this
1211 astounding display of productivity, then bent to scrabble in the muck
1212 for the brightly colored sporks of revolution. A volley of shots rang
1213 out and Burya Rubenstein raised his hands, grinning wildly, to accept
1214 the salute of the soldiers from the Skull Hill garrison.
1216 =head2 v5.16.3 - Devo, "Freedom of Choice"
1218 L<Announced on 2013-03-11 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/03/msg200009.html>
1220 A victim of collision on the open sea
1221 Nobody ever said that life was free
1222 Sink, swim, go down with the ship
1223 But use your freedom of choice
1225 =head2 v5.16.2 - Stanislaw Lem, "The Cyberiad", Trurl's Machine
1227 L<Announced on 2012-11-01 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/11/msg194915.html>
1229 Once upon a time Trurl the constructor built an eight-story thinking
1230 machine. When it was finished, he gave it a coat of white paint,
1231 trimmed the edges in lavender, stepped back, squinted, then added a
1232 little curlicue on the front and, where one might imagine the forehead
1233 to be, a few pale orange polkadots. Extremely pleased with himself,
1234 he whistled an air and, as is always done on such occasions, asked it
1235 the ritual question of how much is two plus two.
1237 The machine stirred. Its tubes began to glow, its coils warmed up,
1238 current coursed through all its circuits like a waterfall,
1239 transformers hummed and throbbed, there was a clanging, and a
1240 chugging, and such an ungodly racket that Trurl began to think of
1241 adding a special mentation muffler. Meanwhile the machine labored on,
1242 as if it had been given the most difficult problem in the Universe to
1243 solve; the ground shook, the sand slid underfoot from the vibration,
1244 valves popped like champagne corks, the relays nearly gave way under
1245 the strain. At last, when Trurl had grown extremely impatient, the
1246 machine ground to a halt and said in a voice like thunder: SEVEN!
1248 =head2 v5.16.1 - Emerald Rose, "Never Split The Party"
1250 L<Announced on 2012-08-08 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/08/msg190413.html>
1252 Don't you know? You never split the party
1253 Clerics in the back to keep those fighters hale and hearty
1254 The wizard in the middle, where he can shed some light
1255 And you never let that damn thief out of sight…
1257 =head2 v5.16.1-RC1 - Tom Moldvay, Foreward to the "Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rulebook"
1259 L<Announced on 2012-08-03 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/08/msg190264.html>
1261 I was busy rescuing the captured maiden when the dragon showed up.
1262 Fifty feed of scaled terror glared down at us with smoldering red eyes.
1263 Tendrils of smoke drifted out from between fangs larger than daggers.
1264 The dragon blocked the only exit from the cave.
1268 I unwrapped the sword which the mysterious cleric had given me. The
1269 sword was golden-tinted steel. Its hilt was set with a rainbow
1270 collection of precious gems. I shouted my battle cry and charged
1272 My charge caught the dragon by surprise. Its titanic jaws snapped shut
1273 inches from my face. I swung the golden sword with both arms. The
1274 swordblade bit into the dragon's neck and continued through to the other
1275 side. With an earth-shaking crash, the dragon dropped dead at my feet.
1276 The magic sword had saved my life and ended the reign of the
1277 dragon-tyrant. The countryside was freed and I could return as a hero.
1279 =head2 v5.16.0 - W.H. Auden, "September 1, 1939"
1281 L<Announced on 2012-05-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/05/msg186903.html>
1283 All I have is a voice
1284 To undo the folded lie,
1285 The romantic lie in the brain
1286 Of the sensual man-in-the-street
1287 And the lie of Authority
1288 Whose buildings grope the sky:
1289 There is no such thing as the State
1290 And no one exists alone;
1291 Hunger allows no choice
1292 To the citizen or the police;
1293 We must love one another or die.
1295 =head2 v5.15.9 - Bob Dylan, "Blowin' In The Wind"
1297 L<Announced on 2012-03-20 by Abigail|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/03/msg184824.html>
1299 How many roads must a man walk down
1300 Before you call him a man?
1301 Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
1302 Before she sleeps in the sand?
1303 Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannonballs fly
1304 Before they're forever banned?
1305 The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
1306 The answer is blowin' in the wind
1308 How many years can a mountain exist
1309 Before it's washed to the sea?
1310 Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
1311 Before they're allowed to be free?
1312 Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
1313 Pretending he just doesn't see?
1314 The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
1315 The answer is blowin' in the wind
1317 How many times must a man look up
1318 Before he can see the sky?
1319 Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
1320 Before he can hear people cry?
1321 Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
1322 That too many people have died?
1323 The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
1324 The answer is blowin' in the wind
1326 =head2 v5.15.8 - The KLF, "The Manual-How To Have A Number One The Easy Way"
1328 L<Announced on 2012-02-20 by Max Maischein|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/02/msg183919.html>
1330 "Doctor Who, hey Doctor Who
1331 Doctor Who, in the Tardis
1332 Doctor Who, hey Doctor Who
1333 Doctor Who, Doc, Doctor Who
1334 Doctor Who, Doc, Doctor Who"
1336 Gibberish of course, but every lad in the country under a certain
1337 age related instinctively to what it was about. The ones slightly
1338 older needed a couple of pints inside them to clear away the mind
1339 debris left by the passing years before it made sense. As for
1340 girls and our chorus, we think they must have seen it as pure crap.
1341 A fact that must have limited to zero our chances of staying at The
1342 Top for more than one week.
1344 Stock, Aitkin and Waterman, however, are kings of writing chorus
1345 lyrics that go straight to the emotional heart of the 7" single
1346 buying girls in this country. Their most successful records will kick
1347 into the chorus with a line which encapsulates the entire emotional
1348 meaning of the song. This will obviously be used as the title. As
1349 soon as Rick Astley hit the first line of the chorus on his debut
1350 single it was all over - the Number One position was guaranteed:
1352 "I'm never going to give you up"
1354 =head2 v5.15.7 - Penelope Lively, "The Voyage of QV66"
1356 L<Announced on 2012-01-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/01/msg182230.html>
1358 "Laboratories," announced Henry. "Kindly don't touch anything."
1360 He led us into a long low brick shed. Outside there was a
1361 notice on a piece of board, crudely printed in red paint,
1362 which said GRATE SIENCE DISCOVERYS DONE HERE SSSH! BRING YOUR
1363 OWN BUKKIT NO PINCHING ANYWUN ELSE'S EXPERRYMENTS CANTEEN OPEN
1364 ALL DAY CHIMPS ONLY.
1366 There were a lot of large black monkeys inside, all intently
1367 busy on what they were doing. Some of them were pouring stuff
1368 out of bottles into buckets and carefully stirring the ensuing
1369 mixture; others were at work with glass tubes and jars, blowing
1370 and measuring and mixing; others were crouched over long benches
1371 with tools and heaps of bits and pieces of metal, cutting and
1372 bending and constructing. There was a great deal of noise and
1373 chatter. Every now and then one of them would give a whoop of
1374 excitement and all the others would gather round and jump up and
1375 down cheering and applauding.
1377 "Chimps," said Henry. "They're awfully clever."
1379 =head2 v5.15.6 - Ursula K. Leguin, "A Wizard of Earthsea"
1381 L<Announced on 2011-12-20 by Dave Rolsky|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/12/msg180962.html>
1383 Ged had thought that as the prentice of a great mage he would enter at once
1384 into the mystery and mastery of power. He would understand the language of the
1385 beasts and the speech of the leaves of the forest, he thought, and sway the
1386 winds with his word, and learn to change himself into any shape he
1387 wished. Maybe he and his master would run together as stags, or fly to Re Albi
1388 over the mountain on the wings of eagles.
1390 But it was not so at all. They wandered, first down into the Vale and then
1391 gradually south and westward around the mountain, given lodging in little
1392 villages or spending the night out in the wilderness, like poor
1393 journeyman-sorcerers, or tinkers, or beggars. They entered no mysterious
1394 domain. Nothing happened. The mage's oaken staff that Ged had watched at first
1395 with eager dread was nothing but a stout staff to walk with. Three days went
1396 by and four days went by and still Ogion had not spoken a single charm in
1397 Ged's hearing, and had not taught him a single name or rune or spell.
1399 =head2 v5.15.5 - Nikolai Gogol, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, "The Diary of a Madman"
1401 L<Announced on 2011-11-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/11/msg179588.html>
1403 This day - is a day of the greatest solemnity! Spain has a king. He has
1404 been found. I am that king. Only this very day did I learn of it. I
1405 confess, it came to me suddenly in a flash of lightning. I don't understand
1406 how I could have thought and imagined that I was a titular councillor. How
1407 could such a wild notion enter my head? It's a good thing no one thought of
1408 putting me in an insane asylum. Now everything is laid open before me. Now
1409 I see everything as on the palm of my hand. And before, I don't understand,
1410 before everything around me was in some sort of fog. And all this happens, I
1411 think, because people imagine that the human brain is in the head. Not at
1412 all: it is brought by a wind from the direction of the Caspian Sea. First
1413 off, I announced to Mavra who I am. When she heard that the king of Spain
1414 was standing before her, she clasped her hands and nearly died of fright.
1415 The stupid woman had never seen a king of Spain before. However, I
1416 endeavoured to calm her down and assured her in gracious words of my
1417 benevolence and that I was not at all angry that she sometimes polished my
1418 boots poorly. They're benighted folk. It's impossible to tell them about
1419 lofty matters. She got frightened because she's convinced that all kings of
1420 Spain are like Philip II. But I explained to her that there was no
1421 resemblance between me and Philip II, and that I didn't have a single
1422 Capuchin . . . I didn't go to the office . . . To hell with it! No friends,
1423 you won't lure me there now; I'm not going to copy your vile papers!
1425 =head2 v5.15.4 - Steve Jobs
1427 L<Announced on 2011-10-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/10/msg178412.html>
1429 A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they
1430 don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions
1431 without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of
1432 the human experience, the better design we will have.
1434 =head2 v5.15.3 - Oscar Wilde, From the preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
1436 L<Announced on 2011-09-20 by Stevan Little|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/09/msg177427.html>
1438 All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath
1439 the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol
1440 do so at their peril.
1442 It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.
1443 Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the
1444 work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the
1445 artist is in accord with himself.
1447 We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as
1448 he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless
1449 thing is that one admires it intensely.
1451 All art is quite useless.
1453 =head2 v5.15.2 - Rainer Maria Rilke, trans., C. F. MacIntyre, "Duino", The First Elegy
1455 L<Announced on 2011-08-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/08/msg176067.html>
1457 True, it is strange to live no more on earth,
1458 no longer follow the folkways scarecely learned;
1459 not to give roses and other especially auspicious
1460 things the significance of a human future;
1461 to be no more what one was in infinitely anxious hands,
1462 and to put aside even one's name, like a broken plaything.
1463 Strange, to wish wishes no longer. Strange, to see
1464 all that was related fluttering so loosely in space.
1465 And being dead is hard, full of catching-up,
1466 so that finally one feels a little eternity.–
1467 But the living all make the mistake of too sharp discrimination.
1468 Often angels (it's said) don't know if they move
1469 among the quick or the dead. The eternal current
1470 hurtles all ages along with it forever
1471 through both realms and drowns their voices in both.
1473 =head2 v5.15.1 - Greg Egan, "Permutation City"
1475 L<Announced on 2011-07-20 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/07/msg175014.html>
1477 Carter held out a hand towards the middle of the room. `See that
1478 fountain?' A ten-metre-wide marble wedding cake, topped with a
1479 winged cherub wrestling a serpent, duly appeared. Water cascaded
1480 down from a gushing wound in the cherub's neck. Carter said, `It's
1481 being computed by redundancies in the sketch of the city. I can
1482 extract the results, because I know exactly where to look for them --
1483 but nobody else would have a hope in hell of picking them out.'
1485 Peer walked up to the fountain. Even as he approached, he noticed
1486 that the spray was intangible; when he dipped his hand in the water
1487 around the base he felt nothing, and the motion he made with his
1488 fingers left the foaming surface unchanged. They were spying on
1489 the calculations, not interacting with them; the fountain was a
1492 Carter said, `In your case, of course, nobody will need to know
1493 the results. Except you -- and you'll know them because you'll
1496 =head2 v5.15.0 - Neil Gaiman, "The Graveyard Book"
1498 L<Announced on 2011-06-20 by David Golden|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173748.html>
1500 If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.
1502 =head2 v5.14.4 - Arthur C. Clarke, "The Nine Billion Names of God"
1504 L<Announced on 2013-03-11 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/03/msg199988.html>
1506 He began to sing, but gave it up after a while. This vast arena of
1507 mountains, gleaming like whitely hooded ghosts on every side, did not
1508 encourage such ebullience. Presently George glanced at his watch.
1510 'Should be there in an hour,' he called back over his shoulder to
1511 Chuck. Then he added, in an afterthought: 'Wonder if the computer's
1512 finished its run. It was due about now.'
1514 Chuck didn't reply, so George swung round in his saddle. He could just
1515 see Chuck's face, a white oval turned towards the sky.
1517 'Look,' whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven. (There
1518 is always a last time for everything.)
1520 Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.
1522 =head2 v5.14.3 - William Shakespeare, "As You Like It"
1524 L<Announced on 2012-10-12 by Dominic Hargreaves|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/10/msg194057.html>
1526 The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all
1527 this time there was not any man died in his own person,
1528 videlicit, in a love-cause. Troilus had his brains dashed
1529 out with a Grecian club; yet he did what he could to die
1530 before, and he is one of the patterns of love. Leander, he
1531 would have lived many a fair year, though Hero had turned
1532 nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night; for, good
1533 youth, he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont and
1534 being taken with the cramp was drowned and the foolish
1535 coroners of that age found it was 'Hero of Sestos.' But these
1536 are all lies: men have died from time to time and worms have
1537 eaten them, but not for love.
1539 =head2 v5.14.2 - L<< Larry Wall, January 12, 1988 <992@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> |http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sources.d/msg/5d17fa68c250b9b2 >>
1541 L<Announced on 2011-09-26 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/09/msg177618.html>
1543 It's not so much that people don't value the programs after they have them--they
1544 do value them. But they're not the sort of thing that would ever catch on if
1545 they had to overcome the marketing barrier. (I don't yet know if perl will
1546 catch on at all--I'm worried enough about it that I specifically included an
1547 awk-to-perl translator just to help it catch on.) Maybe it's all just an
1548 inferiority complex. Or maybe I don't like to be mercenary.
1550 So I guess I'd say that the reason some software comes free is that the
1551 mechanism for selling it is missing, either from the work environment, or from
1552 the heart of the programmer.
1554 =head2 v5.14.1 - L<< Larry Wall, January 12, 1988 <992@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> |http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sources.d/msg/5d17fa68c250b9b2 >>
1556 L<Announced on 2011-06-16 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173650.html>
1558 At this point I'm no longer working for a company that makes me sign
1559 my life away, but by now I'm in the habit. Besides, I still harbor
1560 the deep-down suspicion that nobody would pay money for what I write,
1561 since most of it just helps you do something better that you could
1562 already do some other way. How much money would you personally pay
1563 to upgrade from readnews to rn? How much money would you pay for
1564 the patch program? As for warp, it's a mere game. And anything you
1565 can do with perl you can eventually do with an amazing and totally
1566 unreadable conglomeration of awk, sed, sh and C.
1568 =head2 v5.14.0 - L<< Larry Wall, January 12, 1988 <992@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> |http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sources.d/msg/5d17fa68c250b9b2 >>
1570 L<Announced on 2011-05-14 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172326.html>
1572 At the start of any project, I'm programming primarily to please
1573 myself. (The two chief virtues in a programmer are laziness and
1574 impatience.) After a while somebody looks over my shoulder and says,
1575 "That's neat. It'd be neater if it did such-and-so." So the thing
1576 gets neater. Pretty soon (a year or two) I have an rn, a warp, a patch,
1577 or a perl. One of these years I'll have a metaconfig.
1579 I then say to myself, "I don't want my life's work to die when this
1580 computer is scrapped, so I should let some other people use this. If I
1581 ask my company to sell this, it'll never see the light of day, and nobody
1582 would pay much for it anyway. If I sell it myself, I'll be in trouble with
1583 my company, to whom I signed my life away when I was hired. If I give it
1584 away, I can pretend it was worthless in the first place, so my company
1585 won't care. In any event, it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."
1587 So a freely distributable program is born.
1589 =head2 v5.14.0-RC3 - American Airlines Gate Agent, last call
1591 L<Announced on 2011-05-11 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172282.html>
1593 This is the last call for flight 1697 with service to Chicago and
1594 continuing service to San Francisco. All passengers should already be
1595 aboard. If you aren't aboard at this time, you will be denied boarding
1596 and your bags will be offloaded.
1598 =head2 v5.14.0-RC2 - Greg Grandin, "Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City"
1600 L<Announced on 2011-05-04 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg171879.html>
1602 Over the course of nearly two decades, Ford would spend tens of millions
1603 of dollars founding not one but, after the plantation was defastated
1604 by leaf blight, two American towns, complete with central squares,
1605 sidewalks, indoor plumbing, hospitals, manicured lawns, movie theaters,
1606 swimming pools, golf courses, and, of course, Model Ts and As rolling
1607 down their paved streets.
1609 Back in America, newspapers kept up their drumbeat celebration, only
1610 obliquely referencing reports that things were not progressing as the
1611 company had hoped. But there was one note of skepticism. In late 1928,
1612 the Washington Post ran an editorial that read in its entirety: "Ford will
1613 govern a rubber plantation in Brazil larger than North Carolina. This is
1614 the first time he has applied quantity production methods to trouble"
1616 =head2 v5.14.0-RC1 - Bill Bryson, "In a Sunburned Country"
1618 L<Announced on 2011-04-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/04/msg171253.html>
1620 But then Australia is such a difficult country to keep track of. On
1621 my first visit, some years ago, I passed the time on the long flight
1622 reading a history of Australian politics in the twentieth century,
1623 wherein I encountered the startling fact that in 1967 the prime minister,
1624 Harold Holt, was strolling along a beach in Victoria when he plunged into
1625 the surf and vanished. No trace of the poor man was ever seen again.
1626 This seemed doubly astounding to me—first that Australia could
1627 just I<lose> a prime minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of
1628 this had never reached me.
1630 =head2 v5.13.11 - Walt Whitman, L<"Leaves of Grass"|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass>
1632 L<Announced on 2011-03-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/03/msg170206.html>
1634 When the full-grown poet came,
1635 Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its
1636 shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine;
1637 But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled,
1638 Nay he is mine alone;
1639 --Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each
1641 And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly
1643 Which he will never release until he reconciles the two,
1644 And wholly and joyously blends them.
1646 =head2 v5.13.10 - Egill Skalla-Grímsson, L<"Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar"|http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Egils_saga_Skalla-Gr%C3%ADmssonar>
1648 L<Announced on 2011-02-20 by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/02/msg169340.html>
1650 Skalat maðr rúnar rísta,
1651 nema ráða vel kunni.
1652 Þat verðr mörgum manni,
1653 es of myrkvan staf villisk.
1655 tíu launstafi ristna.
1656 Þat hefr lauka lindi
1657 langs ofrtrega fengit.
1659 =head2 v5.13.9 - John F Kennedy, L<Inaugural Address January 20, 1961|http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy%27s_Inaugural_Address>
1661 L<Announced on 2011-01-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168335.html>
1663 In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
1664 granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I
1665 do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe
1666 that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other
1667 generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this
1668 endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from
1669 that fire can truly light the world.
1671 And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
1672 ask what you can do for your country.
1674 My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you,
1675 but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
1677 Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world,
1678 ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which
1679 we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history
1680 the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love,
1681 asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's
1682 work must truly be our own.
1684 =head2 v5.13.8 - Roger Williams, L<"The Fifth Gift"|http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/8/19/21304/8493>
1686 L<Announced on 2010-12-19 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/12/msg167271.html>
1688 The aliens called the box a "matter generator," but we'd be more inclined
1689 to call it a matter duplicator. By connecting switches and potentiometers
1690 between the copper posts it was possible to make the box mark off two
1691 cubic rectangular areas of volume. Make a certain contact, and these
1692 areas would be isolated within perfectly reflective fields. They could
1693 be expanded or contracted by altering resistances between other posts.
1694 As I worked out the user interface I built a little control panel for
1695 the device. It was actually a clever way for the aliens to do things;
1696 instead of trying to build controls we could use, they built us an
1697 interface we could attach to controls that made sense to us. It could
1700 Once you had made the contact that established the shielded volumes,
1701 if you made another certain contact the contents of the first volume
1702 were copied to the second. The machine copied metal, plastic, steel,
1703 and diamond with equal ease. Copies of copies of copies of copies were
1704 indistinguishable from the originals at any magnification, even using
1705 techniques like X-ray crystallography.
1707 =head2 v5.13.7 - Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, "The Matrix"
1709 L<Announced on 2010-11-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/11/msg166162.html>
1711 [Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
1715 [Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
1717 Trinity: What did you just say?
1718 Neo: Nothing. Just had a little deja vu.
1719 Trinity: What did you see?
1720 Cypher: What happened?
1721 Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just
1723 Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
1724 Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.
1725 Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!
1727 Trinity: A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when
1728 they change something.
1730 =head2 v5.13.6 - Haruki Murakami, "Kafka on the Shore"
1732 L<Announced on 2010-10-20 by Tatsuhiko Miyagawa|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/10/msg165183.html>
1734 The boy called Crow softly rests a hand on my shoulder, and with that
1737 "From now on -- no matter what -- you've got to be the world's toughest
1738 fifteen-year-old. That's the only way you're going to survive. And in order
1739 to do that, you've got to figure out what it means to be tough. You following
1742 I keep my eyes closed and don't reply. I just want to sink off into sleep
1743 like this, his hand on my shoulder. I hear the faint flutter of wings.
1745 "You're going to be the world's toughest fifteen-year-old," Crow whispers
1746 as I try to fall asleep. Like he was carving the words in a deep blue tattoo
1749 (Translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel)
1751 =head2 v5.13.5 - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, "The Room in the Dragon Volant"
1753 L<Announced on 2010-09-19 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg164238.html>
1755 Candle in hand I stepped in. I do not know whether the quality of
1756 air, long undisturbed, is peculiar; to me it has always seemed so, and
1757 the damp smell of the old masonry hung in this atmosphere. My candle
1758 faintly lighted the bare stone wall that enclosed the stair, the foot
1759 of which I could not see. Down I went, and a few turns brought me to
1760 the stone floor. Here was another door, of the simple, old, oak kind,
1761 deep sunk in the thickness of the wall. The large end of the key
1762 fitted this. The lock was stiff; I set the candle down upon the
1763 stair, and applied both hands; it turned with difficulty, and as it
1764 revolved, uttered a shriek that alarmed me for my secret.
1766 For some minutes I did not move. In a little time, however, I took
1767 courage, and opened the door. The night-air floating in puffed out
1768 the candle. There was a thicket of holly and underwood, as dense as a
1769 jungle, close about the door. I should have been in pitch-darkness,
1770 were it not that through the topmost leaves there twinkled, here and
1771 there, a glimmer of moonshine.
1773 Softly, lest any one should have opened his window at the sound of the
1774 rusty bolt, I struggled through this till I gained a view of the open
1775 grounds. Here I found that the brushwood spread a good way up the
1776 park, uniting with the wood that approached the little temple I have
1779 =head2 v5.13.4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1781 L<Announced on 2010-08-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163150.html>
1783 `How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat lessons!' thought Alice;
1784 `I might as well be at school at once.' However, she got up, and began to repeat
1785 it, but her head was so full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew what
1786 she was saying, and the words came very queer indeed:--
1788 "'Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare,
1789 "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
1790 As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
1791 Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.'
1794 `That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,' said the Gryphon.
1796 `Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; `but it sounds uncommon
1799 Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her hands, wondering if
1800 anything would ever happen in a natural way again.
1802 `I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle.
1804 `She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily. `Go on with the next verse.'
1806 `But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted. `How could he turn them out
1807 with his nose, you know?'
1809 `It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by
1810 the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
1812 =head2 v5.13.3 - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, "Good Omens"
1814 L<Announced on 2010-07-20 by David Golden|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/07/msg162230.html>
1816 Look at Crowley, doing 110 mph on the M40 heading towards
1817 Oxfordshire. Even the most resolutely casual observer would
1818 notice a number of strange things about him. The clenched teeth,
1819 for example, or the dull red glow coming from behind his
1820 sunglasses. And the car. The car was a definite hint.
1822 Crowley had started the journey in his Bentley, and he was
1823 dammned if he wasn't going to finish it in the Bentley as well.
1824 Not that even the kind of car buff who owns his own pair of
1825 motoring goggles would have been able to tell it was a vintage
1826 Bentley. Not any more. They wouldn't have been able to tell
1827 that it was a Bentley. They would only offer fifty-fifty that it
1828 had ever even been a car.
1830 There was no paint left on it, for a start. It might still have
1831 been black, where it wasn't a rusty, smudged reddish-brown, but
1832 this was a dull charcoal black. It traveled in its own ball of
1833 flame, like a space capsule making a particularly difficult
1836 There was a thin skin of crusted, melted rubber left around the
1837 metal wheel rims, but seeing that the wheel rims were still
1838 somhow riding an inch above the road surface this didn't seem to
1839 make an awful lot of difference to the suspension.
1841 It should have fallen apart miles back.
1843 =head2 v5.13.2 - Iain M Banks, "Use of Weapons"
1845 L<Announced on 2010-06-22 by Matt S Trout|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/06/msg161112.html>
1847 We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal laws -
1848 the rules of right and wrong that people imagine apply everywhere else
1849 in the universe - break down; beyond those metaphysical event-horizons,
1850 there exist ... special circumstances.
1852 =head2 v5.13.1 - Miguel de Unamuno, "The Sepulchre of Don Quixote"
1854 L<Announced on 2010-05-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160275.html>
1856 And if anyone shall come to you and say that he knows how to construct
1857 bridges and that perhaps a time will come when you will wish to avail
1858 yourself of his science in order to cross over a river, out with him! Out
1859 with the engineer! Rivers will be crossed by wading or swimming them, even
1860 if half the crusaders drown themselves. Let the engineer go off and build
1861 bridges somewhere else, where they are badly wanted. For those who go in
1862 quest of the sepulchre, faith is bridge enough.
1864 =head2 v5.13.0 - Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth"
1866 L<Announced on 2010-04-20 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg159275.html>
1868 The heat still remained at quite a supportable degree. With an
1869 involuntary shudder, I reflected on what the heat must have been
1870 when the volcano of Sneffels was pouring its smoke, flames, and
1871 streams of boiling lava -- all of which must have come up by the
1872 road we were now following. I could imagine the torrents of hot
1873 seething stone darting on, bubbling up with accompaniments of
1874 smoke, steam, and sulphurous stench!
1876 "Only to think of the consequences," I mused, "if the old
1877 volcano were once more to set to work."
1879 =head2 v5.12.5 - William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure"
1881 L<Announced on 2012-11-10 by Dominic Hargreaves|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/11/msg195171.html>
1883 Music oft hath such a charm
1884 To make bad good, and good provoke to harm.
1886 =head2 v5.12.4 - William Schwenck Gilbert, "Trial By Jury"
1888 L<Announced on 2011-06-20 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173725.html>
1890 You cannot eat breakfast all day,
1891 Nor is it the act of a sinner,
1892 When breakfast is taken away,
1893 To turn his attention to dinner;
1894 And it's not in the range of belief,
1895 To look upon him as a glutton,
1896 Who, when he is tired of beef,
1897 Determines to tackle the mutton.
1898 Ah! But this I am willing to say,
1899 If it will appease her sorrow,
1900 I'll marry this lady today,
1901 And I'll marry the other tomorrow!
1903 =head2 v5.12.4-RC2 - James Russell Lowell, "Eleanor makes macaroons"
1905 L<Announced on 2011-06-15 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173609.html>
1907 Now for sugar, -- nay, our plan
1908 Tolerates no work of man.
1909 Hurry, then, ye golden bees;
1910 Fetch your clearest honey, please,
1911 Garnered on a Yorkshire moor,
1912 While the last larks sing and soar,
1913 From the heather-blossoms sweet
1914 Where sea-breeze and sunshine meet,
1915 And the Augusts mask as Junes, --
1916 Eleanor makes macaroons!
1918 =head2 v5.12.4-RC1 - Ogden Nash, "The Clean Plater"
1920 L<Announced on 2011-06-08 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173352.html>
1922 Pheasant is pleasant, of course,
1923 And terrapin, too, is tasty,
1924 Lobster I freely endorse,
1925 In pate or patty or pasty.
1926 But there's nothing the matter with butter,
1927 And nothing the matter with jam,
1928 And the warmest greetings I utter
1929 To the ham and the yam and the clam.
1932 And I think very fondly of food.
1933 Through I'm broody at times
1934 When bothered by rhymes,
1938 =head2 v5.12.3 - Howard W. Campbell, Jr., "Reflections on Not Participating in Current Events"
1940 L<Announced on 2011-01-21 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168368.html>
1942 I saw a huge steam roller,
1943 It blotted out the sun.
1944 The people all lay down, lay down;
1945 They did not try to run.
1946 My love and I, we looked amazed
1947 Upon the gory mystery.
1948 'Lie down, lie down!' the people cried.
1949 'The great machine is history!'
1950 My love and I, we ran away,
1951 The engine did not find us.
1952 We ran up to a mountain top,
1953 Left history far behind us.
1954 Perhaps we should have stayed and died,
1955 But somehow we don't think so.
1956 We went to see where history'd been,
1957 And my, the dead did stink so.
1959 =head2 v5.12.2 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
1961 L<Announced on 2010-09-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg163852.html>
1963 CPUs. Cayce Pollard Units. That's what Damien calls the clothing
1964 she wears. CPUs are either black, white, or gray, and ideally
1965 seem to have come into this world without human intervention.
1967 What people take for relentless minimalism is a side effect
1968 of too much exposure to the reactor-cores of fashion. This
1969 has resulted in a remorseless paring-down of what she can and
1970 will wear. She is, literally, allergic to fashion. She can
1971 only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general
1972 lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. She's a
1973 design-free zone, a one-woman school of and whose very austerity
1974 periodically threatens to spawn its own cult.
1976 =head2 v5.12.2-RC1 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
1978 L<Announced on 2010-08-31 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163670.html>
1980 The front page opens, familiar as a friend's living room. A frame-grab
1981 from #48 serves as backdrop, dim and almost monochrome, no characters in
1982 view. This is one of the sequences that generate comparisons with
1983 Tarkovsky. She only knows Tarkovsky from stills, really, though she did
1984 once fall asleep during a screening of The Stalker, going under on an
1985 endless pan, the camera aimed straight down, in close-up, at a puddle on
1986 a ruined mosaic floor. But she is not one of those who think that much
1987 will be gained by analysis of the maker's imagined influences. The cult
1988 of the footage is rife with subcults, claiming every possible influence.
1989 Truffaut, Peckinpah -- The Peckinpah people, among the least likely, are
1990 still waiting for the guns to be drawn.
1992 =head2 v5.12.1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
1994 L<Announced on 2010-05-16 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160109.html>
1996 "Now suppose," chortled Dr. Breed, enjoying himself, "that there were
1997 many possible ways in which water could crystallize, could freeze.
1998 Suppose that the sort of ice we skate upon and put into highballs --
1999 what we might call ice-one -- is only one of several types of ice.
2000 Suppose water always froze as ice-one on Earth because it had never
2001 had a seed to teach it how to form ice-two, ice-three, ice-four
2002 ...? And suppose," he rapped on his desk with his old hand again,
2003 "that there were one form, which we will call ice-nine -- a crystal as
2004 hard as this desk -- with a melting point of, let us say, one-hundred
2005 degrees Fahrenheit, or, better still, a melting point of one-hundred-
2006 and-thirty degrees."
2008 =head2 v5.12.1-RC2 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
2010 L<Announced on 2010-05-13 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160066.html>
2012 San Lorenzo was fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, I learned from
2013 the supplement to the New York Sunday Times. Its population was four
2014 hundred, fifty thousand souls, "...all fiercely dedicated to the ideals
2017 Its highest point, Mount McCabe, was eleven thousand feet above sea
2018 level. Its capital was Bolivar, "...a strikingly modern city built on a
2019 harbor capable of sheltering the entire United States Navy." The principal
2020 exports were sugar, coffee, bananas, indigo, and handcrafted novelties.
2022 =head2 v5.12.1-RC1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
2024 L<Announced on 2010-05-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg159971.html>
2026 Which brings me to the Bokononist concept of a wampeter. A wampeter is
2027 the pivot of a karass. No karass is without a wampeter, Bokonon tells us,
2028 just as no wheel is without a hub. Anything can be a wampeter: a tree,
2029 a rock, an animal, an idea, a book, a melody, the Holy Grail. Whatever
2030 it is, the members of its karass revolve about it in the majestic chaos
2031 of a spiral nebula. The orbits of the members of a karass about their
2032 common wampeter are spiritual orbits, naturally. It is souls and not
2033 bodies that revolve. As Bokonon invites us to sing:
2035 Around and around and around we spin,
2036 With feet of lead and wings of tin . . .
2038 =head2 v5.12.0 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
2040 L<Announced on 2010-04-12 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158820.html>
2042 'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was
2043 not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why
2044 your cat grins like that?'
2046 'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'
2048 She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite
2049 jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby,
2050 and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:--
2052 'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know
2053 that cats COULD grin.'
2055 'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'
2057 =head2 v5.12.0-RC5 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
2059 L<Announced on 2010-04-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158720.html>
2061 'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words
2064 'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and
2065 there was silence for some minutes.
2067 =head2 v5.12.0-RC4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
2069 L<Announced on 2010-04-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158567.html>
2071 'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't
2072 always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
2073 rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and
2074 yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what
2075 can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that
2076 kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
2078 =head2 v5.12.0-RC3 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
2080 L<Announced on 2010-04-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158346.html>
2082 At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them,
2083 called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you
2084 dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse
2085 in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt
2086 sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
2088 'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This
2089 is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William
2090 the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted
2091 to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much
2092 accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of
2093 Mercia and Northumbria --"'
2095 =head2 v5.12.0-RC2 - no announcement
2097 Available on CPAN since 2010-04-01.
2099 =head2 v5.12.0-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
2101 L<Announced on 2010-03-29 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg158060.html>
2103 So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
2104 hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of
2105 making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
2106 picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
2109 There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
2110 VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh
2111 dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
2112 occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time
2113 it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH
2114 OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on,
2115 Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
2116 never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
2117 take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field
2118 after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large
2119 rabbit-hole under the hedge.
2121 In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
2122 in the world she was to get out again.
2124 =head2 v5.12.0-RC0 - no epigraph
2126 L<Announced on 2020-03-21 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg157761.html>
2128 =head2 v5.11.5 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel"
2130 L<Announced on 2010-02-21 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/02/msg156957.html>
2132 A little child, a limber elf,
2133 Singing, dancing to itself,
2134 A fairy thing with red round cheeks,
2135 That always finds, and never seeks,
2136 Makes such a vision to the sight
2137 As fills a father's eyes with light;
2138 And pleasures flow in so thick and fast
2139 Upon his heart, that he at last
2140 Must needs express his love's excess
2141 With words of unmeant bitterness.
2142 Perhaps 'tis pretty to force together
2143 Thoughts so all unlike each other;
2144 To mutter and mock a broken charm,
2145 To dally with wrong that does no harm.
2146 Perhaps 'tis tender too and pretty
2147 At each wild word to feel within
2148 A sweet recoil of love and pity.
2149 And what, if in a world of sin
2150 (O sorrow and shame should this be true!)
2151 Such giddiness of heart and brain
2152 Comes seldom save from rage and pain,
2153 So talks as it's most used to do.
2155 =head2 v5.11.4 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment"
2157 L<Announced on 2010-01-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/01/msg155848.html>
2159 And you don't suppose that I went into it headlong like a fool? I went
2160 into it like a wise man, and that was just my destruction. And you
2161 mustn't suppose that I didn't know, for instance, that if I began to
2162 question myself whether I had the right to gain power -- I certainly
2163 hadn't the right -- or that if I asked myself whether a human being is a
2164 louse it proved that it wasn't so for me, though it might be for a man
2165 who would go straight to his goal without asking questions.... If I
2166 worried myself all those days, wondering whether Napoleon would have
2167 done it or not, I felt clearly of course that I wasn't Napoleon.
2169 =head2 v5.11.3 - Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
2171 L<Announced on 2009-12-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/12/msg154838.html>
2173 "Say -- I'm going in a swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? But of
2174 course you'd druther work -- wouldn't you? Course you would!"
2176 Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said: "What do you call work?"
2178 "Why ain't that work?"
2180 Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly: "Well, maybe it
2181 is, and maybe it aint. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer."
2183 "Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?"
2185 The brush continued to move. "Like it? Well I don't see why I oughtn't
2186 to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
2188 That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom
2189 swept his brush daintily back and forth -- stepped back to note the effect
2190 -- added a touch here and there-criticised the effect again -- Ben
2191 watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more
2192 absorbed. Presently he said: "Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."
2194 =head2 v5.11.2 - Michael Marshall Smith, "Only Forward"
2196 L<Announced on 2009-11-20 by Léon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/11/msg153646.html>
2198 The streets were pretty quiet, which was nice. They're always quiet here
2199 at that time: you have to be wearing a black jacket to be out on the
2200 streets between seven and nine in the evening, and not many people in
2201 the area have black jackets. It's just one of those things. I currently
2202 live in Colour Neighbourhood, which is for people who are heavily into
2203 colour. All the streets and buildings are set for instant colourmatch:
2204 as you walk down the road they change hue to offset whatever you're
2205 wearing. When the streets are busy it's kind of intense, and anyone
2206 prone to epileptic seizures isn't allowed to live in the Neighbourhood,
2207 however much they're into colour.
2209 =head2 v5.11.1 - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
2211 L<Announced on 2009-10-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg152360.html>
2213 Milo had been caught red-handed in the act of plundering his countrymen,
2214 and, as a result, his stock had never been higher. He proved good as his
2215 word when a rawboned major from Minnesota curled his lip in rebellious
2216 disavowal and demanded his share of the syndicate Milo kept saying
2217 everybody owned. Milo met the challenge by writing the words "A Share"
2218 on the nearest scrap of paper and handing it away with a virtuous disdain
2219 that won the envy and admiration of almost everyone who knew him. His
2220 glory was at a peak, and Colonel Cathcart, who knew and admired his
2221 war record, was astonished by the deferential humility with which Milo
2222 presented himself at Group Headquarters and made his fantastic appeal
2223 for more hazardous assignment.
2225 =head2 v5.11.0 - Mikhail Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita"
2227 L<Announced on 2009-10-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg151376.html>
2229 Whispers of an "evil power" were heard in lines at dairy shops, in
2230 streetcars, stores, arguments, kitchens, suburban and long-distance
2231 trains, at stations large and small, in dachas and on beaches. Needless
2232 to say, truly mature and cultured people did not tell these stories
2233 about an evil power's visit to the capital. In fact, they even made fun
2234 of them and tried to talk sense into those who told them. Nevertheless,
2235 facts are facts, as they say, and cannot simply be dismissed without
2236 explanation: somebody had visited the capital. The charred cinders of
2237 Griboyedov alone, and many other things besides, confirmed it. Cultured
2238 people shared the point of view of the investigating team: it was the
2239 work of a gang of hypnotists and ventriloquists magnificently skilled in
2242 =head2 v5.10.1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
2244 L<Announced on 2009-08-23 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150172.html>
2246 'Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, known as
2247 the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private
2248 Secretary. I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he is the
2249 Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly
2250 responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under
2251 Secretaries and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries.
2252 Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain
2253 Private Secretaries. The Prime Minister will be appointing two
2254 Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own
2255 Parliamentary Private Secretary.'
2257 'Can they all type?' I joked.
2259 'None of us can type, Minister,' replied Sir Humphrey smoothly. 'Mrs
2260 McKay types - she is your Secretary.'
2262 I couldn't tell whether or not he was joking. 'What a pity,' I said.
2263 'We could have opened an agency.'
2265 Sir Humphrey and Bernard laughed. 'Very droll, sir,' said Sir
2266 Humphrey. 'Most amusing, sir,' said Bernard. Were they genuinely
2267 amused at my wit, or just being rather patronising? 'I suppose they
2268 all say that, do they?' I ventured.
2270 Sir Humphrey reassured me on that. 'Certainly not, Minister,' he
2271 replied. 'Not quite all.'
2273 =head2 v5.10.1-RC2 - no epigraph
2275 L<Announced on 2009-08-18 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150015.html>
2277 =head2 v5.10.1-RC1 - no epigraph
2279 L<Announced on 2009-08-06 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg149498.html>
2281 =head2 v5.10.0 - Laurence Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
2283 L<Announced on 2007-12-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/12/msg131636.html>
2285 He would often declare, in speaking his thoughts upon the subject, that
2286 he did not conceive how the greatest family in England could stand it
2287 out against an uninterrupted succession of six or seven short
2288 noses.--And for the contrary reason, he would generally add, That it
2289 must be one of the greatest problems in civil life, where the same
2290 number of long and jolly noses, following one another in a direct line,
2291 did not raise and hoist it up into the best vacancies in the kingdom.
2293 =head2 v5.10.0-RC2 - no epigraph
2295 L<Announced on 2007-11-25 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130978.html>
2297 =head2 v5.10.0-RC1 - no epigraph
2299 L<Announced on 2007-11-17 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130653.html>
2301 =head2 v5.9.5 - no announcement
2303 L<Pre-announced on 2007-07-07 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/07/msg126358.html>,
2304 available on CPAN with same date, but never actually announced.
2306 =head2 v5.9.4 - no epigraph
2308 L<Announced on 2006-08-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/08/msg115782.html>
2310 =head2 v5.9.3 - no epigraph
2312 L<Announced on 2006-01-28 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/01/msg109086.html>
2314 =head2 v5.9.2 - Thomas Pynchon, "V"
2316 L<Announced on 2005-04-01 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2005/04/msg99421.html>
2318 This word flip was weird. Every recording date of McClintic's he'd
2319 gotten into the habit of talking electricity with the audio men and
2320 technicians of the studio. McClintic once couldn't have cared less
2321 about electricity, but now it seemed if that was helping him reach a
2322 bigger audience, some digging, some who would never dig, but all
2323 paying and those royalties keeping the Triumph in gas and McClintic
2324 in J. Press suits, then McClintic ought to be grateful to
2325 electricity, ought maybe to learn a little more about it. So he'd
2326 picked up some here and there, and one day last summer he got around
2327 to talking stochastic music and digital computers with one
2328 technician. Out of the conversation had come Set/Reset, which was
2329 getting to be a signature for the group. He had found out from this
2330 sound man about a two-triode circuit called a flip-flop, which when
2331 it turned on could be one of two ways, depending on which tube was
2332 conducting and which was cut off: set or reset, flip or flop.
2334 "And that," the man said, "can be yes or no, or one or zero. And
2335 that is what you might call one of the basic units, or specialized
2336 `cells' in a big `electronic brain.' "
2338 "Crazy," said McClintic, having lost him back there someplace. But
2339 one thing that did occur to him was if a computer's brain could go
2340 flip or flop, why so could a musician's. As long as you were flop,
2341 everything was cool. But where did the trigger-pulse come from to
2344 =head2 v5.9.1 - Tom Stoppard, "Arcadia"
2346 L<Announced on 2004-03-16 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/03/msg89722.html>
2348 Aren't you supposed to have a pony?
2350 =head2 v5.9.0 - Doris Lessing, "Martha Quest"
2352 L<Announced on 2003-10-27 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/10/msg84147.html>
2354 What of October, that ambiguous month
2356 =head2 v5.8.9 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
2358 L<Announced on 2008-12-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/12/msg142571.html>
2360 Frank and I, unlike the civil servants, were still puzzled that such a
2361 proposal as the Europass could even be seriously under consideration by
2362 the FCO. We can both see clearly that it is wonderful ammunition for the
2363 anti-Europeans. I asked Humphrey if the Foreign Office doesn't realise
2364 how damaging this would be to the European ideal?
2366 'I'm sure they do, Minister, he said. That's why they support it.'
2368 This was even more puzzling, since I'd always been under the impression
2369 that the FO is pro-Europe. 'Is it or isn't it?' I asked Humphrey.
2371 'Yes and no,' he replied of course, 'if you'll pardon the
2372 expression. The Foreign Office is pro-Europe because it is really
2373 anti-Europe. In fact the Civil Service was united in its desire to make
2374 sure the Common Market didn't work. That's why we went into it.'
2376 This sounded like a riddle to me. I asked him to explain further. And
2377 basically his argument was as follows: Britain has had the same foreign
2378 policy objective for at least the last five hundred years - to create a
2379 disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against
2380 the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and
2381 Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Italians
2382 and Germans. [The Dutch rebellion against Phillip II of Spain, the
2383 Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War - Ed.]
2385 In other words, divide and rule. And the Foreign Office can see no
2386 reason to change when it has worked so well until now.
2388 I was aware of this, naturally, but I regarded it as ancient history.
2389 Humphrey thinks that it is, in fact, current policy. It was necessary
2390 for us to break up the EEC, he explained, so we had to get inside. We
2391 had previously tried to break it up from the outside, but that didn't
2392 work. [A reference to our futile and short-lived involvement in EFTA,
2393 the European Free Trade Association, founded in 1960 and which the UK
2394 left in 1972 - Ed.] Now that we're in, we are able to make a complete
2395 pig's breakfast out of it. We've now set the Germans against the French,
2396 the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch... and
2397 the Foreign office is terribly happy. It's just like old time.
2399 I was staggered by all of this. I thought that the all of us who are
2400 publicly pro-European believed in the European ideal. I said this to Sir
2401 Humphrey, and he simply chuckled.
2403 So I asked him: if we don't believe in the European Ideal, why are we
2404 pushing to increase the membership?
2406 'Same reason,' came the reply. 'It's just like the United Nations. The
2407 more members it has, the more arguments you can stir up, and the more
2408 futile and impotent it becomes.'
2410 This all strikes me as the most appalling cynicism, and I said so.
2412 Sir Humphrey agreed completely. 'Yes Minister. We call it
2413 diplomacy. It's what made Britain great, you know.'
2415 =head2 v5.8.9-RC2 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
2417 L<Announced on 2008-12-06 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/12/msg142422.html>
2419 There was silence in the office. I didn't know what we were going to do
2420 about the four hundred new people supervising our economy drive or the
2421 four hundred new people for the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office, or
2422 anything! I simply sat and waited and hoped that my head would stop
2423 thumping and that some idea would be suggested by someone sometime soon.
2425 Sir Humphrey obliged. 'Minister... if we were to end the economy drive
2426 and close the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office we could issue an immediate
2427 press announcement that you had axed eight hundred jobs.' He had
2428 obviously thought this out carefully in advance, for at this moment he
2429 produced a slim folder from under his arm. 'If you'd like to approve
2432 I couldn't believe the impertinence of the suggestion. Axed eight
2433 hundred jobs? 'But no one was ever doing these jobs,' I pointed out
2434 incredulously. 'No one's been appointed yet.'
2436 'Even greater economy,' he replied instantly. 'We've saved eight hundred
2437 redundancy payments as well.'
2439 'But...' I attempted to explain '... that's just phony. It's dishonest,
2440 it's juggling with figures, it's pulling the wool over people's eyes.'
2442 'A government press release, in fact.' said Humphrey.
2444 =head2 v5.8.9-RC1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
2446 L<Announced on 2008-11-10 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/11/msg141515.html>
2448 A jumbo jet touched down, with BURANDAN AIRWAYS written on the side. I
2449 was hugely impressed. British Airways are having to pawn their Concordes,
2450 and here is this little tiny African state with its own airline, jumbo
2453 I asked Bernard how many planes Burandan Airways had. 'None,' he said.
2455 I told him not to be silly and use his eyes. 'No Minister, it belongs to
2456 Freddie Laker,' he said. 'They chartered it last week and repainted it
2457 specially.' Apparently most of the Have-Nots (I mean, LDCs) do this - at
2458 the opening of the UN General Assembly the runways of Kennedy Airport are
2459 jam-packed with phoney flag-carriers. 'In fact,' said Bernard with a sly
2460 grin, 'there was one 747 that belonged to nine different African airlines
2461 in a month. They called it the mumbo-jumbo.'
2463 While we watched nothing much happening on the TV except the mumbo-jumbo
2464 taxiing around Prestwick and the Queen looking a bit chilly, Bernard gave
2465 me the next day's schedule and explained that I was booked on the night
2466 sleeper from King's Cross to Edinburgh because I had to vote in a
2467 three-line whip at the House tonight and would have to miss the last
2468 plane. Then the commentator, in that special hushed BBC voice used for any
2469 occasion with which Royalty is connected, announced reverentially that we
2470 were about to catch our first glimpse of President Selim.
2472 And out of the plane stepped Charlie. My old friend Charlie Umtali. We
2473 were at LSE together. Not Selim Mohammed at all, but Charlie.
2475 Bernard asked me if I were sure. Silly question. How could you forget a
2476 name like Charlie Umtali?
2478 I sent Bernard for Sir Humphrey, who was delighted to hear that we now
2479 know something about our official visitor.
2481 Bernard's official brief said nothing. Amazing! Amazing how little the FCO
2482 has been able to find out. Perhaps they were hoping it would all be on the
2483 car radio. All the brief says is that Colonel Selim Mohammed had converted
2484 to Islam some years ago, they didn't know his original name, and therefore
2485 knew little of his background.
2487 I was able to tell Humphrey and Bernard /all/ about his background.
2488 Charlie was a red-hot political economist, I informed them. Got the top
2489 first. Wiped the floor with everyone.
2491 Bernard seemed relieved. 'Well that's all right then.'
2495 'I think Bernard means,' said Sir Humphrey helpfully, 'that he'll know how
2496 to behave if he was at an English University. Even if it was the LSE.' I
2497 never know whether or not Humphrey is insulting me intentionally.
2499 Humphrey was concerned about Charlie's political colour. 'When you said
2500 that he was red-hot, were you speaking politically?'
2502 In a way I was. 'The thing about Charlie is that you never quite know
2503 where you are with him. He's the sort of chap who follows you into a
2504 revolving door and comes out in front.'
2506 'No deeply held convictions?' asked Sir Humphrey.
2508 'No. The only thing Charlie was committed too was Charlie.'
2510 'Ah, I see. A politician, Minister.'
2512 =head2 v5.8.8 - Joe Raposo, "Bein' Green"
2514 L<Announced on 2006-01-31 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/01/msg109190.html>
2516 It's not that easy bein' green
2517 Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
2518 When I think it could be nicer being red or yellow or gold
2519 Or something much more colorful like that
2521 It's not easy bein' green
2522 It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
2523 And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
2524 Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
2527 But green's the color of Spring
2528 And green can be cool and friendly-like
2529 And green can be big like an ocean
2530 Or important like a mountain
2533 When green is all there is to be
2534 It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
2535 Wonder I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
2536 And I think it's what I want to be
2538 =head2 v5.8.8-RC1 - Cosgrove Hall Productions, "Dangermouse"
2540 L<Announced on 2006-01-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/01/msg108833.html>
2542 Greenback: And the world is mine, all mine. Muhahahahaha. See to it!
2544 Stiletto: Si, Barone. Subito, Barone.
2546 =head2 v5.8.7 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
2548 L<Announced on 2005-05-31 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2005/05/msg101088.html>
2550 And now, imagine the triumphant procession: Peter at the head; after him the
2551 hunters leading the wolf; and winding up the procession, grandfather and the
2554 Grandfather shook his head discontentedly: "Well, and if Peter hadn't caught
2555 the wolf? What then?"
2557 =head2 v5.8.7-RC1 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
2559 L<Announced on 2005-05-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2005/05/msg100711.html>
2561 And now this is how things stood: The cat was sitting on one branch. The
2562 bird on another, not too close to the cat. And the wolf walked round and
2563 round the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes.
2565 In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the
2566 gate, watching all that was going on. He ran home,got a strong rope and
2567 climbed up the high stone wall.
2569 One of the branches of the tree, around which the wolf was walking,
2570 stretched out over the wall.
2572 Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter lightly climbed over on to the tree.
2573 Peter said to the bird: "Fly down and circle round the wolf's head, only
2574 take care that he doesn't catch you!".
2576 The bird almost touched the wolf's head with its wings, while the wolf
2577 snapped angrily at him from this side and that.
2579 How that bird teased the wolf, how that wolf wanted to catch him! But
2580 the bird was clever and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it.
2582 =head2 v5.8.6 - A. A. Milne, "The House at Pooh Corner"
2584 L<Announced on 2004-11-27 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/11/msg96304.html>
2586 "Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet, giving a jump of surprise. "I knew it was
2589 "So did I,", said Pooh. "What are you doing?"
2591 "I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up into an oak-tree,
2592 and have lots of haycorns just outside the front door instead of having
2593 to walk miles and miles, do you see, Pooh?"
2595 "Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.
2597 "It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so that's why I'm
2600 "Well," aid Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it will
2601 grow up into a beehive."
2603 Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.
2605 "Or a /piece/ of a honeycomb," said Pooh, "so as not to waste too much.
2606 Only then I might only get a piece of a beehive, and it might be the
2607 wrong piece, where the bees were buzzing and not hunnying. Bother"
2609 Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.
2611 "Besides, Pooh, it's a very difficult thing, planting unless you know
2612 how to do it," he said; and he put the acorn in the hole he had made,
2613 and covered it up with earth, and jumped on it.
2615 =head2 v5.8.6-RC1 - A. A. Milne, "Winnie the Pooh"
2617 L<Announced on 2004-11-11 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/11/msg95786.html>
2619 "Hallo!" said Piglet, "whare are /you/ doing?"
2621 "Hunting," said Pooh.
2625 "Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
2627 "Tracking what?" said Piglet, coming closer.
2629 "That's just what I ask myself, I ask myself, What?"
2631 "What do you think you'll answer?"
2633 "I shall have to wait until I catch up with it," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
2634 "Now, look there." He pointed to the ground in front of him. "What do
2637 "Track," said Piglet. "Paw-marks." He gave a little squeak of
2638 excitement. "Oh, Pooh!" Do you think it's a--a--a Woozle?"
2640 =head2 v5.8.5 - wikipedia, "Yew"
2642 L<Announced on 2004-07-19 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/07/msg93189.html>
2644 Yews are relatively slow growing trees, widely used in landscaping and
2645 ornamental horticulture. They have flat, dark-green needles, reddish
2646 bark, and bear seeds with red arils, which are eaten by thrushes,
2647 waxwings and other birds, dispersing the hard seeds undamaged in their
2648 droppings. Yew wood is reddish brown (with white sapwood), and very
2649 hard. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the English
2652 In England, the Common Yew (Taxus baccata, also known as English Yew) is
2653 often found in churchyards. It is sometimes suggested that these are
2654 placed there as a symbol of long life or trees of death, and some are
2655 likely to be over 3,000 years old. It is also suggested that yew trees
2656 may have a pre-Christian association with old pagan holy sites, and the
2657 Christian church found it expedient to use and take over existing sites.
2658 Another explanation is that the poisonous berries and foliage discourage
2659 farmers and drovers from letting their animals wander into the burial
2660 grounds. The yew tree is a frequent symbol in the Christian poetry of
2661 T.S. Eliot, especially his Four Quartets.
2663 =head2 v5.8.5-RC2 - wikipedia, "Beech"
2665 L<Announced on 2004-07-09 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/07/msg92934.html>
2667 Beeches are trees of the Genus Fagus, family Fagaceae, including about
2668 ten species in Europe, Asia, and North America. The leaves are entire or
2669 sparsely toothed. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in
2670 pairs in spiny husks. The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental or
2671 shade tree is the European beech (Fagus sylvatica).
2673 The southern beeches belong to a different but related genus,
2674 Nothofagus. They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New
2675 Caledonia and South America.
2677 =head2 v5.8.5-RC1 - wikipedia, "Pedunculate Oak" (abridged)
2679 L<Announced on 2004-07-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/07/msg92840.html>
2681 The Pedunculate Oak is called the Common Oak in Britain, and is also
2682 often called the English Oak in other English speaking countries It is a
2683 large deciduous tree to 25-35m tall (exceptionally to 40m), with lobed
2684 and sessile (stalk-less) leaves. Flowering takes place in early to mid
2685 spring, and their fruit, called "acorns", ripen by autumn of the same
2686 year. The acorns are pedunculate (having a peduncle or acorn-stalk) and
2687 may occur singly, or several acorns may occur on a stalk.
2689 It forms a long-lived tree, with a large widespreading head of rugged
2690 branches. While it may naturally live to an age of a few centuries, many
2691 of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced, both pruning techniques
2692 that extend the tree's potential lifespan, if not its health.
2694 Within its native range it is valued for its importance to insects and
2695 other wildlife. Numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the
2696 acorns. The acorns form a valuable food resource for several small
2697 mammals and some birds, notably Jays Garrulus glandarius.
2699 It is planted for forestry, and produces a long-lasting and durable
2700 heartwood, much in demand for interior and furniture work.
2702 =head2 v5.8.4 - T. S. Eliot, "The Old Gumbie Cat"
2704 L<Announced on 2004-04-22 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/04/msg90984.html>
2706 I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
2707 The curtain-cord she likes to wind, and tie it into sailor-knots.
2708 She sits upon the window-sill, or anything that's smooth and flat:
2709 She sits and sits and sits and sits -- and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
2711 But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
2712 Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
2713 She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment
2714 To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.
2715 So she's formed, from that a lot of disorderly louts,
2716 A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
2717 With a purpose in life and a good deed to do--
2718 And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.
2720 So for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers --
2721 On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears.
2724 =head2 v5.8.4-RC2 - T. S. Eliot, "Macavity: The Mystery Cat"
2726 L<Announced on 2004-04-16 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/04/msg90796.html>
2728 Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw --
2729 For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
2730 He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
2731 For when they reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
2733 Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
2734 He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
2735 His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
2736 And when you reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
2737 You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air --
2738 But I tell you once and once again, /Macavity's not there/!
2740 =head2 v5.8.4-RC1 - T. S. Eliot, "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat"
2742 L<Announced on 2004-04-05 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/04/msg90422.html>
2744 There's a whisper down the line at 11.39
2745 When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
2746 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
2747 We must find him of the train can't start.'
2748 All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
2749 They are searching high and low,
2750 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
2751 Then the Night Mail just can't go'
2752 At 11.42 then the signal's overdue
2753 And the passengers are frantic to a man--
2754 Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
2755 He's been busy in the luggage van!
2756 He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
2757 And the signal goes 'All Clear!'
2758 And we're off at last of the northern part
2759 Of the Northern Hemisphere!
2761 =head2 v5.8.3 - Arthur William Edgar O'Shaugnessy, "Ode"
2763 L<Announced on 2004-01-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/01/msg87317.html>
2765 We are the music makers,
2766 And we are the dreamers of dreams,
2767 Wandering by lonely sea-breakers,
2768 And sitting by desolate streams; --
2769 World-losers and world-forsakers,
2770 On whom the pale moon gleams:
2771 Yet we are the movers and shakers
2772 Of the world for ever, it seems.
2774 =head2 v5.8.3-RC1 - Irving Berlin, "Let's Face the Music and Dance"
2776 L<Announced on 2004-01-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/01/msg86969.html>
2778 There may be trouble ahead,
2779 But while there's music and moonlight,
2780 And love and romance,
2781 Let's face the music and dance.
2783 Before the fiddlers have fled,
2784 Before they ask us to pay the bill,
2785 And while we still have that chance,
2786 Let's face the music and dance.
2788 Soon, we'll be without the moon,
2789 Humming a different tune, and then,
2791 There may be teardrops to shed,
2792 So while there's music and moonlight,
2793 And love and romance,
2794 Let's face the music and dance.
2796 =head2 v5.8.2 - Walt Whitman, "Passage to India"
2798 L<Announced on 2003-11-05 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/11/msg84822.html>
2800 Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
2801 Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
2802 Cut the hawsers - hall out - shake out every sail!
2803 Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
2804 Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
2805 Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
2807 Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,
2808 Reckless O soul, exploring, I with the and thou with me,
2809 For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
2810 And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
2813 O farther farther sail!
2814 O daring job, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
2815 O farther, farther, farther sail!
2817 =head2 v5.8.2-RC2 - Eric Idle and John Du Prez, "Accountancy Shanty"
2819 L<Announced on 2003-11-03 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/11/msg84645.html>
2821 It's fun to charter an accountant
2822 And sail the wide accountan-cy,
2823 To find, explore the funds offshore
2824 And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy.
2826 =head2 v5.8.2-RC1 - Edward Lear, "The Jumblies"
2828 L<Announced on 2003-10-27 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/10/msg84194.html>
2830 They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
2831 In a Sieve they went to sea:
2832 In spite of all their friends could say,
2833 On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
2834 In a Sieve they went to sea!
2835 And when the Sieve turned round and round,
2836 And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
2837 They cried aloud, "Our Sieve ain't big,
2838 But we don't care a button, we don't care a fig!
2839 In a Sieve we'll go to sea!"
2841 Far and few, far and few,
2842 Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
2843 Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
2844 And they went to sea in a Sieve.
2846 =head2 v5.8.1 - epigraph same as v5.7.1
2848 L<Announced on 2003-09-25 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82678.html>
2850 =head2 v5.8.1-RC5 - Terry Pratchett, "Lords and Ladies"
2852 L<Announced on 2003-09-22 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82476.html>
2854 No matter what she did with her hair it took about
2855 three minutes for it to tangle itself up again,
2856 like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Footnote: Which,
2857 no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil
2858 overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].
2860 =head2 v5.8.1-RC4 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
2862 L<Announced on 2003-08-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/08/msg79184.html>
2864 Grand Viziers were /always/ scheming megalomaniacs.
2865 It was probably in the job description: "Are you a
2866 devious, plotting, unreliable madman? Ah, good,
2867 then you can be my most trusted minister."
2869 =head2 v5.8.1-RC3 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
2871 L<Announced on 2003-07-30 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg79048.html>
2873 Lord Hong had a mind like a knife, although possibly
2874 a knife with a curved blade.
2876 =head2 v5.8.1-RC2 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
2878 L<Announced on 2003-07-11 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78102.html>
2880 Many an ancient lord's last words had been, "You can't kill
2881 me because I've got magic aaargh."
2883 =head2 v5.8.1-RC1 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
2885 L<Announced on 2003-07-10 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78009.html>
2887 Cohen was familiar with city gates. He'd broken down a number
2888 in his time, by battering ram, siege gun, and on one occasion
2891 But the gates of Hunghung were pretty damn good gates. They
2892 weren't like the gates of Ankh-Morpork, which were usually wide
2893 open to attract the spending customer and whose concession to
2894 defense was the sign "Thank You For Not Attacking Our City.
2895 Bonum Diem." These things were big and made of metal and there
2896 was a guardhouse and a squad of unhelpful men in black armor.
2898 =head2 v5.8.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
2900 L<Announced on 2002-07-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63720.html>
2902 There was the faint sound of footsteps.
2903 "Chap with a whip got as far as the big sharp spikes last week,"
2904 said the low priest.
2905 There was a sound like the flushing of a very old dry lavatory.
2906 The footsteps stopped. The High Priest smiled to himself.
2907 "Right," he said. "See your two pebbles and raise you two pebbles."
2908 The low priest threw down his cards. "Double Onion," he said.
2909 The High Priest looked down suspiciously.
2910 The low priest consulted a scrap of paper. "That's three hundred
2911 thousand, nine hundred and sixty-four pebbles you owe me," he said.
2912 There was the sound of footsteps. The priests exchanged glances.
2913 "Haven't had one for poisoned-dart alley for quite some time,"
2914 said the High Priest.
2915 "Five says he makes it", said the low priest. "You're on."
2916 There was a faint clatter of metal points on stone.
2917 "It's a shame to take your pebbles."
2918 There were footsteps again.
2920 =head2 v5.8.0-RC3 - no epigraph
2922 L<Announced on 2002-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63234.html>
2924 =head2 v5.8.0-RC2 - no epigraph
2926 L<Announced on 2002-06-21 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg62013.html>
2928 =head2 v5.8.0-RC1 - no epigraph
2930 L<Announced on 2002-06-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg60317.html>
2932 =head2 v5.7.3 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
2934 L<Announced on 2002-03-04 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/03/msg53652.html>
2936 Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong.
2937 No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always
2938 got there first, and is waiting for it.
2940 =head2 v5.7.2 - Terry Pratchett, "Small Gods"
2942 L<Announced on 2001-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/07/msg40370.html>
2944 His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools --
2945 the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans -- and summed up
2946 all three of them in his famous phrase, "You can't trust any
2947 bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing
2948 you can do about it, so let's have a drink."
2950 =head2 v5.7.1 - Terry Pratchett, "The Colour of Magic"
2952 L<Announced on 2001-04-09 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33851.html>
2954 "What happens next?" asked Twoflower.
2956 Hrun screwed a finger in his ear and inspected it absently.
2958 "Oh,", he said, "I expect in a minute the door will be
2959 flung back and I'll be dragged off to some sort of temple
2960 arena where I'll fight maybe a couple of giant spiders
2961 and an eight-foot slave from the jungles of Klatch and then
2962 I'll rescue some kind of a princess from the altar and then
2963 I'll kill off a few guards or whatever and then this girl
2964 will show me the secret passage out of the place and we'll
2965 liberate a couple of horses and escape with the treasure."
2966 Hrun leaned his head back on his hands and looked at the
2967 ceiling, whistling tunelessly.
2969 "All that?" said Twoflower.
2973 =head2 v5.7.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures"
2975 L<Announced on 2000-09-02 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/09/msg17730.html>
2977 The Librarian had seen many weird things in his time,
2978 but that had to be the 57th strangest.
2979 [footnote: he had a tidy mind]
2981 =head2 v5.6.2 - Laurence Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
2983 L<Announced on 2003-11-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/11/msg85222.html>
2985 When great or unexpected events fall out upon the stage of this
2986 sublunary word--the mind of man, which is an inquisitive kind of
2987 a substance, naturally takes a flight, behind the scenes, to see
2988 what is the cause and first spring of them--The search was not
2989 long in this instance.
2991 =head2 v5.6.2-RC1 - Laurence Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
2993 L<Announced on 2003-11-08 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/11/msg84953.html>
2995 "Pray, my dear", quoth my mother, "have you not forgot to wind up the clock?"
2997 =head2 v5.6.1 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", Riddles in the Dark
2999 L<Announced on 2001-04-08 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33823.html>
3001 `What have I got in my pocket?' he said aloud. He was talking to
3002 himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully
3005 `Not fair! not fair!' he hissed. `It isn't fair, my precious, is it,
3006 to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?'
3008 Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask
3009 stuck to his question, `What have I got in my pocket?' he said
3012 `S-s-s-s-s,' hissed Gollum. `It must give us three guesseses,
3013 my precious, three guesseses.'
3015 =head2 v5.6.1-foolish - no epigraph
3017 L<Announced on 2001-04-01 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33421.html>
3019 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL3 - I can't find the announcement
3021 No announcement available.
3023 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL2 - no epigraph
3025 L<Announced on 2001-01-31 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/01/msg29934.html>
3027 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL1 - no epigraph
3029 L<Announced on 2000-12-18 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/12/msg27738.html>
3031 =head2 v5.6.0 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", The Last Stage
3033 L<Announced on 2000-03-23 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10341.html>
3035 The dragon is withered,
3036 His bones are now crumbled;
3037 His armour is shivered,
3038 His splendour is humbled!
3039 Though sword shall be rusted,
3040 And throne and crown perish
3041 With strength that men trusted
3042 And wealth that they cherish,
3043 Here grass is still growing,
3044 And leaves are a yet swinging,
3045 The white water flowing,
3046 And elves are yet singing
3047 Come! Tra-la-la-lally!
3048 Come back to the valley.
3050 =head2 v5.6.0-RC3 - no epigraph
3052 L<Announced on 2000-03-22 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10140.html>
3054 =head2 v5.005_05-RC1 - no epigraph
3056 L<Announced on 2009-02-16 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/02/msg144227.html>
3058 =head2 v5.005_04 - no epigraph
3060 L<Announced on 2004-03-01 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/03/msg89047.html>
3062 =head2 v5.005_04-RC2 - Rudyard Kipling, "The Jungle Book"
3064 L<Announced on 2004-02-19 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/02/msg88672.html>
3066 The monkeys called the place their city, and pretended to despise
3067 the Jungle-People because they lived in the forest. And yet they
3068 never knew what the buildings were made for nor how to use
3069 them. They would sit in circles on the hall of the king's council
3070 chamber, and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men; or they would
3071 run in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster
3072 and old bricks in a corner, and forget where they had hidden them,
3073 and fight and cry in scuffling crowds, and then break off to play up
3074 and down the terraces of the king's garden, where they would shake
3075 the rose trees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit and flowers
3078 =head2 v5.005_04-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
3080 L<Announced on 2004-02-05 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/02/msg88312.html>
3082 Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
3083 plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was
3084 going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what
3085 she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked
3086 at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
3087 cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures
3088 hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she
3089 passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
3090 disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear
3091 of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
3094 =head2 v1.0_16 - Johan Vromans, extemporarily
3096 L<Announced on 2003-12-18 by Richard Clamp|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/12/msg86423.html>
3098 't was 16 years ago today
3099 Larry taught us a new game
3100 of lazyness, impatience, and hubris
3101 Happy birthday, Perl!
3103 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
3105 This document was originally compiled based on a list of epigraphs
3106 on L<Perl Monks|http://perlmonks.org> titled
3107 L<Recent Perl Release Announcement|http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=372406>