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 <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 v5.14.1 - L<< Larry Wall, January 12, 1988 <992@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> | http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sources.d/msg/5d17fa68c250b9b2 >>
22 L<Announced on 2011-06-16 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173650.html>
24 At this point I'm no longer working for a company that makes me sign
25 my life away, but by now I'm in the habit. Besides, I still harbor
26 the deep-down suspicion that nobody would pay money for what I write,
27 since most of it just helps you do something better that you could
28 already do some other way. How much money would you personally pay
29 to upgrade from readnews to rn? How much money would you pay for
30 the patch program? As for warp, it's a mere game. And anything you
31 can do with perl you can eventually do with an amazing and totally
32 unreadable conglomeration of awk, sed, sh and C.
34 =head2 v5.12.4-RC2 - James Russell Lowell, "Eleanor makes macaroons"
36 L<Announced on 2011-06-15 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173609.html>
38 Now for sugar, -- nay, our plan
39 Tolerates no work of man.
40 Hurry, then, ye golden bees;
41 Fetch your clearest honey, please,
42 Garnered on a Yorkshire moor,
43 While the last larks sing and soar,
44 From the heather-blossoms sweet
45 Where sea-breeze and sunshine meet,
46 And the Augusts mask as Junes, --
47 Eleanor makes macaroons!
49 =head2 v5.12.4-RC1 - Ogden Nash, "The Clean Plater"
51 L<Announced on 2011-06-08 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173352.html>
53 Pheasant is pleasant, of course,
54 And terrapin, too, is tasty,
55 Lobster I freely endorse,
56 In pate or patty or pasty.
57 But there's nothing the matter with butter,
58 And nothing the matter with jam,
59 And the warmest greetings I utter
60 To the ham and the yam and the clam.
63 And I think very fondly of food.
64 Through I'm broody at times
65 When bothered by rhymes,
69 =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 >>
71 L<Announced on 2011-05-14 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172326.html>
73 At the start of any project, I'm programming primarily to please
74 myself. (The two chief virtues in a programmer are laziness and
75 impatience.) After a while somebody looks over my shoulder and says,
76 "That's neat. It'd be neater if it did such-and-so." So the thing
77 gets neater. Pretty soon (a year or two) I have an rn, a warp, a patch,
78 or a perl. One of these years I'll have a metaconfig.
80 I then say to myself, "I don't want my life's work to die when this
81 computer is scrapped, so I should let some other people use this. If I
82 ask my company to sell this, it'll never see the light of day, and nobody
83 would pay much for it anyway. If I sell it myself, I'll be in trouble with
84 my company, to whom I signed my life away when I was hired. If I give it
85 away, I can pretend it was worthless in the first place, so my company
86 won't care. In any event, it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."
88 So a freely distributable program is born.
90 =head2 v5.14.0-RC3 - American Airlines Gate Agent, last call
92 L<Announced on 2011-05-11 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172282.html>
94 This is the last call for flight 1697 with service to Chicago and
95 continuing service to San Francisco. All passengers should already be
96 aboard. If you aren't aboard at this time, you will be denied boarding
97 and your bags will be offloaded.
99 =head2 v5.14.0-RC2 - Greg Grandin, Fordlandia, "the Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City"
101 L<Announced on 2011-05-04 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg171879.html>
103 Over the course of nearly two decades, Ford would spend tens of millions
104 of dollars founding not one but, after the plantation was defastated
105 by leaf blight, two American towns, complete with central squares,
106 sidewalks, indoor plumbing, hospitals, manicured lawns, movie theaters,
107 swimming pools, golf courses, and, of course, Model Ts and As rolling
108 down their paved streets.
110 Back in America, newspapers kept up their drumbeat celebration, only
111 obliquely referencing reports that things were not progressing as the
112 company had hoped. But there was one note of skepticism. In late 1928,
113 the Washington Post ran an editorial that read in its entirety: "Ford will
114 govern a rubber plantation in Brazil larger than North Carolina. This is
115 the first time he has applied quantity production methods to trouble"
117 =head2 v5.14.0-RC1 - Bill Bryson, "In a Sunburned Country"
119 L<Announced on 2011-04-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/04/msg171253.html>
121 But then Australia is such a difficult country to keep track of. On
122 my first visit, some years ago, I passed the time on the long flight
123 reading a history of Australian politics in the twentieth century,
124 wherein I encountered the startling fact that in 1967 the prime minister,
125 Harold Holt, was strolling along a beach in Victoria when he plunged into
126 the surf and vanished. No trace of the poor man was ever seen again.
127 This seemed doubly astounding to meE<0x2014>first that Australia could
128 just I<lose> a prime minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of
129 this had never reached me.
131 =head2 v5.13.11 - Walt Whitman, L<Leaves of Grass|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass>
133 L<Announced on 2011-02-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2011-03/msg00560.html>
135 When the full-grown poet came,
136 Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its
137 shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine;
138 But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled,
139 Nay he is mine alone;
140 --Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each
142 And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands,
143 Which he will never release until he reconciles the two,
144 And wholly and joyously blends them.
146 =head2 v5.13.10 - Egill Skalla-Grímsson, L<Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar|http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Egils_saga_Skalla-Gr%C3%ADmssonar>
148 L<Announced on 2011-02-20 by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/02/msg169340.html>
150 Skalat maðr rúnar rísta,
152 Þat verðr mörgum manni,
153 es of myrkvan staf villisk.
155 tíu launstafi ristna.
157 langs ofrtrega fengit.
159 =head2 v5.13.9 - John F Kennedy, L<Inaugural Address January 20, 1961|http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy%27s_Inaugural_Address>
161 L<Announced on 2011-01-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168335.html>
163 In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
164 granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I
165 do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe
166 that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other
167 generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this
168 endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from
169 that fire can truly light the world.
171 And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
172 ask what you can do for your country.
174 My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you,
175 but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
177 Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world,
178 ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which
179 we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history
180 the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love,
181 asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's
182 work must truly be our own.
184 =head2 v5.13.8 - Roger Williams, L<"The Fifth Gift"|http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/8/19/21304/8493>
186 L<Announced on 2010-12-19 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/12/msg167271.html>
188 The aliens called the box a "matter generator," but we'd be more inclined
189 to call it a matter duplicator. By connecting switches and potentiometers
190 between the copper posts it was possible to make the box mark off two
191 cubic rectangular areas of volume. Make a certain contact, and these
192 areas would be isolated within perfectly reflective fields. They could
193 be expanded or contracted by altering resistances between other posts.
194 As I worked out the user interface I built a little control panel for
195 the device. It was actually a clever way for the aliens to do things;
196 instead of trying to build controls we could use, they built us an
197 interface we could attach to controls that made sense to us. It could
200 Once you had made the contact that established the shielded volumes,
201 if you made another certain contact the contents of the first volume
202 were copied to the second. The machine copied metal, plastic, steel,
203 and diamond with equal ease. Copies of copies of copies of copies were
204 indistinguishable from the originals at any magnification, even using
205 techniques like X-ray crystallography.
207 =head2 v5.13.7 - Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, 'The Matrix'
209 L<Announced on 2010-11-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/11/msg166162.html>
211 [Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
215 [Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
217 Trinity: What did you just say?
218 Neo: Nothing. Just had a little deja vu.
219 Trinity: What did you see?
220 Cypher: What happened?
221 Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
222 Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
223 Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.
224 Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!
226 Trinity: A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
228 =head2 v5.13.6 - Haruki Murakami, "Kafka on the Shore"
230 L<Announced on 2010-10-20 by Tatsuhiko Miyagawa|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/10/msg165183.html>
232 The boy called Crow softly rests a hand on my shoulder, and with that
235 "From now on -- no matter what -- you've got to be the world's toughest
236 fifteen-year-old. That's the only way you're going to survive. And in order
237 to do that, you've got to figure out what it means to be tough. You following
240 I keep my eyes closed and don't reply. I just want to sink off into sleep
241 like this, his hand on my shoulder. I hear the faint flutter of wings.
243 "You're going to be the world's toughest fifteen-year-old," Crow whispers
244 as I try to fall asleep. Like he was carving the words in a deep blue tattoo
247 (Translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel)
249 =head2 v5.13.5 - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, "The Room in the Dragon Volant"
251 L<Announced on 2010-09-19 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg164238.html>
253 Candle in hand I stepped in. I do not know whether the quality of
254 air, long undisturbed, is peculiar; to me it has always seemed so, and
255 the damp smell of the old masonry hung in this atmosphere. My candle
256 faintly lighted the bare stone wall that enclosed the stair, the foot
257 of which I could not see. Down I went, and a few turns brought me to
258 the stone floor. Here was another door, of the simple, old, oak kind,
259 deep sunk in the thickness of the wall. The large end of the key
260 fitted this. The lock was stiff; I set the candle down upon the
261 stair, and applied both hands; it turned with difficulty, and as it
262 revolved, uttered a shriek that alarmed me for my secret.
264 For some minutes I did not move. In a little time, however, I took
265 courage, and opened the door. The night-air floating in puffed out
266 the candle. There was a thicket of holly and underwood, as dense as a
267 jungle, close about the door. I should have been in pitch-darkness,
268 were it not that through the topmost leaves there twinkled, here and
269 there, a glimmer of moonshine.
271 Softly, lest any one should have opened his window at the sound of the
272 rusty bolt, I struggled through this till I gained a view of the open
273 grounds. Here I found that the brushwood spread a good way up the
274 park, uniting with the wood that approached the little temple I have
277 =head2 v5.13.4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
279 L<Announced on 2010-08-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163150.html>
281 `How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat lessons!' thought Alice;
282 `I might as well be at school at once.' However, she got up, and began to repeat
283 it, but her head was so full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew what
284 she was saying, and the words came very queer indeed:--
286 "'Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare,
287 "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
288 As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
289 Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.'
292 `That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,' said the Gryphon.
294 `Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; `but it sounds uncommon
297 Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her hands, wondering if
298 anything would ever happen in a natural way again.
300 `I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle.
302 `She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily. `Go on with the next verse.'
304 `But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted. `How could he turn them out
305 with his nose, you know?'
307 `It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by
308 the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
310 =head2 v5.13.3 - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, "Good Omens"
312 L<Announced on 2010-07-20 by David Golden|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/07/msg162230.html>
314 Look at Crowley, doing 110 mph on the M40 heading towards
315 Oxfordshire. Even the most resolutely casual observer would
316 notice a number of strange things about him. The clenched teeth,
317 for example, or the dull red glow coming from behind his
318 sunglasses. And the car. The car was a definite hint.
320 Crowley had started the journey in his Bentley, and he was
321 dammned if he wasn't going to finish it in the Bentley as well.
322 Not that even the kind of car buff who owns his own pair of
323 motoring goggles would have been able to tell it was a vintage
324 Bentley. Not any more. They wouldn't have been able to tell
325 that it was a Bentley. They would only offer fifty-fifty that it
326 had ever even been a car.
328 There was no paint left on it, for a start. It might still have
329 been black, where it wasn't a rusty, smudged reddish-brown, but
330 this was a dull charcoal black. It traveled in its own ball of
331 flame, like a space capsule making a particularly difficult
334 There was a thin skin of crusted, melted rubber left around the
335 metal wheel rims, but seeing that the wheel rims were still
336 somhow riding an inch above the road surface this didn't seem to
337 make an awful lot of difference to the suspension.
339 It should have fallen apart miles back.
341 =head2 v5.13.2 - Iain M Banks, "Use of Weapons"
343 L<Announced on 2010-06-22 by Matt S Trout|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/06/msg161112.html>
345 We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal laws -
346 the rules of right and wrong that people imagine apply everywhere else
347 in the universe - break down; beyond those metaphysical event-horizons,
348 there exist ... special circumstances.
350 =head2 v5.13.1 - Miguel de Unamuno, "The Sepulchre of Don Quixote"
352 L<Announced on 2010-05-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160275.html>
354 And if anyone shall come to you and say that he knows how to construct
355 bridges and that perhaps a time will come when you will wish to avail
356 yourself of his science in order to cross over a river, out with him! Out
357 with the engineer! Rivers will be crossed by wading or swimming them, even
358 if half the crusaders drown themselves. Let the engineer go off and build
359 bridges somewhere else, where they are badly wanted. For those who go in
360 quest of the sepulchre, faith is bridge enough.
362 =head2 v5.13.0 - Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth"
364 L<Announced on 2010-04-20 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg159275.html>
366 The heat still remained at quite a supportable degree. With an
367 involuntary shudder, I reflected on what the heat must have been
368 when the volcano of Sneffels was pouring its smoke, flames, and
369 streams of boiling lava -- all of which must have come up by the
370 road we were now following. I could imagine the torrents of hot
371 seething stone darting on, bubbling up with accompaniments of
372 smoke, steam, and sulphurous stench!
374 "Only to think of the consequences," I mused, "if the old
375 volcano were once more to set to work."
377 =head2 v5.12.3 - Howard W. Campbell, Jr., "Reflections on Not Participating in Current Events"
379 L<Announced on 2011-01-21 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168368.html>
381 I saw a huge steam roller,
382 It blotted out the sun.
383 The people all lay down, lay down;
384 They did not try to run.
385 My love and I, we looked amazed
386 Upon the gory mystery.
387 'Lie down, lie down!' the people cried.
388 'The great machine is history!'
389 My love and I, we ran away,
390 The engine did not find us.
391 We ran up to a mountain top,
392 Left history far behind us.
393 Perhaps we should have stayed and died,
394 But somehow we don't think so.
395 We went to see where history'd been,
396 And my, the dead did stink so.
398 =head2 v5.12.2 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
400 L<Announced on 2010-09-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg163852.html>
402 CPUs. Cayce Pollard Units. That's what Damien calls the clothing
403 she wears. CPUs are either black, white, or gray, and ideally
404 seem to have come into this world without human intervention.
406 What people take for relentless minimalism is a side effect
407 of too much exposure to the reactor-cores of fashion. This
408 has resulted in a remorseless paring-down of what she can and
409 will wear. She is, literally, allergic to fashion. She can
410 only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general
411 lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. She's a
412 design-free zone, a one-woman school of and whose very austerity
413 periodically threatens to spawn its own cult.
415 =head2 v5.12.2-RC1 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
417 L<Announced on 2010-08-31 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163670.html>
419 The front page opens, familiar as a friend's living room. A frame-grab
420 from #48 serves as backdrop, dim and almost monochrome, no characters in
421 view. This is one of the sequences that generate comparisons with
422 Tarkovsky. She only knows Tarkovsky from stills, really, though she did
423 once fall asleep during a screening of The Stalker, going under on an
424 endless pan, the camera aimed straight down, in close-up, at a puddle on
425 a ruined mosaic floor. But she is not one of those who think that much
426 will be gained by analysis of the maker's imagined influences. The cult
427 of the footage is rife with subcults, claiming every possible influence.
428 Truffaut, Peckinpah -- The Peckinpah people, among the least likely, are
429 still waiting for the guns to be drawn.
431 =head2 v5.12.1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
433 L<Announced on 2010-05-16 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160109.html>
435 "Now suppose," chortled Dr. Breed, enjoying himself, "that there were
436 many possible ways in which water could crystallize, could freeze.
437 Suppose that the sort of ice we skate upon and put into highballs --
438 what we might call ice-one -- is only one of several types of ice.
439 Suppose water always froze as ice-one on Earth because it had never
440 had a seed to teach it how to form ice-two, ice-three, ice-four
441 ...? And suppose," he rapped on his desk with his old hand again,
442 "that there were one form, which we will call ice-nine -- a crystal as
443 hard as this desk -- with a melting point of, let us say, one-hundred
444 degrees Fahrenheit, or, better still, a melting point of one-hundred-
447 =head2 v5.12.1-RC2 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
449 L<Announced on 2010-05-13 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160066.html>
451 San Lorenzo was fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, I learned from
452 the supplement to the New York Sunday Times. Its population was four
453 hundred, fifty thousand souls, "...all fiercely dedicated to the ideals
456 Its highest point, Mount McCabe, was eleven thousand feet above sea
457 level. Its capital was Bolivar, "...a strikingly modern city built on a
458 harbor capable of sheltering the entire United States Navy." The principal
459 exports were sugar, coffee, bananas, indigo, and handcrafted novelties.
461 =head2 v5.12.1-RC1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
463 L<Announced on 2010-05-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg159971.html>
465 Which brings me to the Bokononist concept of a wampeter. A wampeter is
466 the pivot of a karass. No karass is without a wampeter, Bokonon tells us,
467 just as no wheel is without a hub. Anything can be a wampeter: a tree,
468 a rock, an animal, an idea, a book, a melody, the Holy Grail. Whatever
469 it is, the members of its karass revolve about it in the majestic chaos
470 of a spiral nebula. The orbits of the members of a karass about their
471 common wampeter are spiritual orbits, naturally. It is souls and not
472 bodies that revolve. As Bokonon invites us to sing:
474 Around and around and around we spin,
475 With feet of lead and wings of tin . . .
477 =head2 v5.12.0 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
479 L<Announced on 2010-04-12 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158820.html>
481 'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was
482 not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why
483 your cat grins like that?'
485 'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'
487 She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite
488 jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby,
489 and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:--
491 'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know
492 that cats COULD grin.'
494 'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'
496 =head2 v5.12.0-RC5 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
498 L<Announced on 2010-04-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158720.html>
500 'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words
503 'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and
504 there was silence for some minutes.
506 =head2 v5.12.0-RC4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
508 L<Announced on 2010-04-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158567.html>
510 'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't
511 always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
512 rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and
513 yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what
514 can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that
515 kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
517 =head2 v5.12.0-RC3 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
519 L<Announced on 2010-04-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158346.html>
521 At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them,
522 called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you
523 dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse
524 in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt
525 sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
527 'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This
528 is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William
529 the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted
530 to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much
531 accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of
532 Mercia and Northumbria --"'
534 =head2 v5.12.0-RC2 - no announcement
536 Available on CPAN since 2010-04-01.
538 =head2 v5.12.0-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
540 L<Announced on 2010-03-29 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg158060.html>
542 So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
543 hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of
544 making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
545 picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
548 There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
549 VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh
550 dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
551 occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time
552 it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH
553 OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on,
554 Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
555 never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
556 take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field
557 after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large
558 rabbit-hole under the hedge.
560 In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
561 in the world she was to get out again.
563 =head2 v5.12.0-RC0 - no epigraph
565 L<Announced on 2020-03-21 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg157761.html>
567 =head2 v5.11.5 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel"
569 L<Announced on 2010-02-21 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/02/msg156957.html>
571 A little child, a limber elf,
572 Singing, dancing to itself,
573 A fairy thing with red round cheeks,
574 That always finds, and never seeks,
575 Makes such a vision to the sight
576 As fills a father's eyes with light;
577 And pleasures flow in so thick and fast
578 Upon his heart, that he at last
579 Must needs express his love's excess
580 With words of unmeant bitterness.
581 Perhaps 'tis pretty to force together
582 Thoughts so all unlike each other;
583 To mutter and mock a broken charm,
584 To dally with wrong that does no harm.
585 Perhaps 'tis tender too and pretty
586 At each wild word to feel within
587 A sweet recoil of love and pity.
588 And what, if in a world of sin
589 (O sorrow and shame should this be true!)
590 Such giddiness of heart and brain
591 Comes seldom save from rage and pain,
592 So talks as it's most used to do.
594 =head2 v5.11.4 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment"
596 L<Announced on 2010-01-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/01/msg155848.html>
598 And you don't suppose that I went into it headlong like a fool? I went
599 into it like a wise man, and that was just my destruction. And you
600 mustn't suppose that I didn't know, for instance, that if I began to
601 question myself whether I had the right to gain power -- I certainly
602 hadn't the right -- or that if I asked myself whether a human being is a
603 louse it proved that it wasn't so for me, though it might be for a man
604 who would go straight to his goal without asking questions.... If I
605 worried myself all those days, wondering whether Napoleon would have
606 done it or not, I felt clearly of course that I wasn't Napoleon.
608 =head2 v5.11.3 - Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
610 L<Announced on 2009-12-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/12/msg154838.html>
612 "Say -- I'm going in a swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? But of
613 course you'd druther work -- wouldn't you? Course you would!"
615 Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said: "What do you call work?"
617 "Why ain't that work?"
619 Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly: "Well, maybe it
620 is, and maybe it aint. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer."
622 "Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?"
624 The brush continued to move. "Like it? Well I don't see why I oughtn't
625 to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
627 That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom
628 swept his brush daintily back and forth -- stepped back to note the effect
629 -- added a touch here and there-criticised the effect again -- Ben
630 watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more
631 absorbed. Presently he said: "Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."
633 =head2 v5.11.2 - Michael Marshall Smith, "Only Forward"
635 L<Announced on 2009-11-20 by |http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/11/msg153646.html>
637 The streets were pretty quiet, which was nice. They're always quiet here
638 at that time: you have to be wearing a black jacket to be out on the
639 streets between seven and nine in the evening, and not many people in
640 the area have black jackets. It's just one of those things. I currently
641 live in Colour Neighbourhood, which is for people who are heavily into
642 colour. All the streets and buildings are set for instant colourmatch:
643 as you walk down the road they change hue to offset whatever you're
644 wearing. When the streets are busy it's kind of intense, and anyone
645 prone to epileptic seizures isn't allowed to live in the Neighbourhood,
646 however much they're into colour.
648 =head2 v5.11.1 - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
650 L<Announced on 2009-10-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg152360.html>
652 Milo had been caught red-handed in the act of plundering his countrymen,
653 and, as a result, his stock had never been higher. He proved good as his
654 word when a rawboned major from Minnesota curled his lip in rebellious
655 disavowal and demanded his share of the syndicate Milo kept saying
656 everybody owned. Milo met the challenge by writing the words "A Share"
657 on the nearest scrap of paper and handing it away with a virtuous disdain
658 that won the envy and admiration of almost everyone who knew him. His
659 glory was at a peak, and Colonel Cathcart, who knew and admired his
660 war record, was astonished by the deferential humility with which Mil
661 presented himself at Group Headquarters and made his fantastic appeal
662 for more hazardous assignment.
664 =head2 v5.11.0 - Mikhail Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita"
666 L<Announced on 2009-10-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg151376.html>
668 Whispers of an "evil power" were heard in lines at dairy shops, in
669 streetcars, stores, arguments, kitchens, suburban and long-distance
670 trains, at stations large and small, in dachas and on beaches. Needless
671 to say, truly mature and cultured people did not tell these stories
672 about an evil power's visit to the capital. In fact, they even made fun
673 of them and tried to talk sense into those who told them. Nevertheless,
674 facts are facts, as they say, and cannot simply be dismissed without
675 explanation: somebody had visited the capital. The charred cinders of
676 Griboyedov alone, and many other things besides, confirmed it. Cultured
677 people shared the point of view of the investigating team: it was the
678 work of a gang of hypnotists and ventriloquists magnificently skilled in
681 =head2 v5.10.1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
683 L<Announced on 2009-09-23 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150172.html>
685 'Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, known as
686 the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private
687 Secretary. I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he is the
688 Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly
689 responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under
690 Secretaries and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries.
691 Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain
692 Private Secretaries. The Prime Minister will be appointing two
693 Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own
694 Parliamentary Private Secretary.'
696 'Can they all type?' I joked.
698 'None of us can type, Minister,' replied Sir Humphrey smoothly. 'Mrs
699 McKay types - she is your Secretary.'
701 I couldn't tell whether or not he was joking. 'What a pity,' I said.
702 'We could have opened an agency.'
704 Sir Humphrey and Bernard laughed. 'Very droll, sir,' said Sir
705 Humphrey. 'Most amusing, sir,' said Bernard. Were they genuinely
706 amused at my wit, or just being rather patronising? 'I suppose they
707 all say that, do they?' I ventured.
709 Sir Humphrey reassured me on that. 'Certainly not, Minister,' he
710 replied. 'Not quite all.'
712 =head2 v5.10.1-RC2 - no epigraph
714 L<Announced on 2009-08-18 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150015.html>
716 =head2 v5.10.1-RC1 - no epigraph
718 L<Announced on 2009-08-06 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg149498.html>
720 =head2 v5.10.0 - Laurence Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
722 L<Announced on 2007-12-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/12/msg131636.html>
724 He would often declare, in speaking his thoughts upon the subject, that
725 he did not conceive how the greatest family in England could stand it
726 out against an uninterrupted succession of six or seven short
727 noses.--And for the contrary reason, he would generally add, That it
728 must be one of the greatest problems in civil life, where the same
729 number of long and jolly noses, following one another in a direct line,
730 did not raise and hoist it up into the best vacancies in the kingdom.
732 =head2 v5.10.0-RC2 - no epigraph
734 L<Announced on 2007-11-25 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130978.html>
736 =head2 v5.10.0-RC1 - no epigraph
738 L<Announced on 2007-11-17 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130653.html>
740 =head2 v5.9.5 - no announcement
742 L<Pre-announced on 2007-07-07 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/07/msg126358.html>,
743 available on CPAN with same date, but never actually announced.
745 =head2 v5.9.4 - no epigraph
747 L<Announced on 2006-08-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/08/msg115782.html>
749 =head2 v5.9.3 - no epigraph
751 L<Announced on 2006-01-28 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/01/msg109086.html>
753 =head2 v5.9.2 - Thomas Pynchon, "V"
755 L<Announced on 2005-04-01 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20050401150702.2b4a70d5@grubert.mandrakesoft.com>
757 This word flip was weird. Every recording date of McClintic's he'd
758 gotten into the habit of talking electricity with the audio men and
759 technicians of the studio. McClintic once couldn't have cared less
760 about electricity, but now it seemed if that was helping him reach a
761 bigger audience, some digging, some who would never dig, but all
762 paying and those royalties keeping the Triumph in gas and McClintic
763 in J. Press suits, then McClintic ought to be grateful to
764 electricity, ought maybe to learn a little more about it. So he'd
765 picked up some here and there, and one day last summer he got around
766 to talking stochastic music and digital computers with one
767 technician. Out of the conversation had come Set/Reset, which was
768 getting to be a signature for the group. He had found out from this
769 sound man about a two-triode circuit called a flip-flop, which when
770 it turned on could be one of two ways, depending on which tube was
771 conducting and which was cut off: set or reset, flip or flop.
773 "And that," the man said, "can be yes or no, or one or zero. And
774 that is what you might call one of the basic units, or specialized
775 `cells' in a big `electronic brain.' "
777 "Crazy," said McClintic, having lost him back there someplace. But
778 one thing that did occur to him was if a computer's brain could go
779 flip or flop, why so could a musician's. As long as you were flop,
780 everything was cool. But where did the trigger-pulse come from to
783 =head2 v5.9.1 - Tom Stoppard, "Arcadia"
785 L<Announced on 2004-03-16 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/8587d77c565f2d43>
787 Aren't you supposed to have a pony?
789 =head2 v5.9.0 - Doris Lessing, "Martha Quest"
791 L<Announced on 2003-10-27 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/63a8c34385de82a1>
793 What of October, that ambiguous month
795 =head2 v5.8.9 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
797 L<Announced on 2008-12-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/12/msg142571.html>
799 Frank and I, unlike the civil servants, were still puzzled that such a
800 proposal as the Europass could even be seriously under consideration by
801 the FCO. We can both see clearly that it is wonderful ammunition for the
802 anti-Europeans. I asked Humphrey if the Foreign Office doesn't realise
803 how damaging this would be to the European ideal?
805 'I'm sure they do, Minister, he said. That's why they support it.'
807 This was even more puzzling, since I'd always been under the impression
808 that the FO is pro-Europe. 'Is it or isn't it?' I asked Humphrey.
810 'Yes and no,' he replied of course, 'if you'll pardon the
811 expression. The Foreign Office is pro-Europe because it is really
812 anti-Europe. In fact the Civil Service was united in its desire to make
813 sure the Common Market didn't work. That's why we went into it.'
815 This sounded like a riddle to me. I asked him to explain further. And
816 basically his argument was as follows: Britain has had the same foreign
817 policy objective for at least the last five hundred years - to create a
818 disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against
819 the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and
820 Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Italians
821 and Germans. [The Dutch rebellion against Phillip II of Spain, the
822 Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War - Ed.]
824 In other words, divide and rule. And the Foreign Office can see no
825 reason to change when it has worked so well until now.
827 I was aware of this, naturally, but I regarded it as ancient history.
828 Humphrey thinks that it is, in fact, current policy. It was necessary
829 for us to break up the EEC, he explained, so we had to get inside. We
830 had previously tried to break it up from the outside, but that didn't
831 work. [A reference to our futile and short-lived involvement in EFTA,
832 the European Free Trade Association, founded in 1960 and which the UK
833 left in 1972 - Ed.] Now that we're in, we are able to make a complete
834 pig's breakfast out of it. We've now set the Germans against the French,
835 the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch... and
836 the Foreign office is terribly happy. It's just like old time.
838 I was staggered by all of this. I thought that the all of us who are
839 publicly pro-European believed in the European ideal. I said this to Sir
840 Humphrey, and he simply chuckled.
842 So I asked him: if we don't believe in the European Ideal, why are we
843 pushing to increase the membership?
845 'Same reason,' came the reply. 'It's just like the United Nations. The
846 more members it has, the more arguments you can stir up, and the more
847 futile and impotent it becomes.'
849 This all strikes me as the most appalling cynicism, and I said so.
851 Sir Humphrey agreed completely. 'Yes Minister. We call it
852 diplomacy. It's what made Britain great, you know.'
854 =head2 v5.8.9-RC2 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
856 L<Announced on 2008-12-06 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/11/msg142422.html>
858 There was silence in the office. I didn't know what we were going to do
859 about the four hundred new people supervising our economy drive or the
860 four hundred new people for the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office, or
861 anything! I simply sat and waited and hoped that my head would stop
862 thumping and that some idea would be suggested by someone sometime soon.
864 Sir Humphrey obliged. 'Minister... if we were to end the economy drive
865 and close the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office we could issue an immediate
866 press announcement that you had axed eight hundred jobs.' He had
867 obviously thought this out carefully in advance, for at this moment he
868 produced a slim folder from under his arm. 'If you'd like to approve
871 I couldn't believe the impertinence of the suggestion. Axed eight
872 hundred jobs? 'But no one was ever doing these jobs,' I pointed out
873 incredulously. 'No one's been appointed yet.'
875 'Even greater economy,' he replied instantly. 'We've saved eight hundred
876 redundancy payments as well.'
878 'But...' I attempted to explain '... that's just phony. It's dishonest,
879 it's juggling with figures, it's pulling the wool over people's eyes.'
881 'A government press release, in fact.' said Humphrey.
883 =head2 v5.8.9-RC1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
885 L<Announced on 2008-11-10 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/11/msg141515.html>
887 A jumbo jet touched down, with BURANDAN AIRWAYS written on the side. I
888 was hugely impressed. British Airways are having to pawn their Concordes,
889 and here is this little tiny African state with its own airline, jumbo
892 I asked Bernard how many planes Burandan Airways had. 'None,' he said.
894 I told him not to be silly and use his eyes. 'No Minister, it belongs to
895 Freddie Laker,' he said. 'They chartered it last week and repainted it
896 specially.' Apparently most of the Have-Nots (I mean, LDCs) do this - at
897 the opening of the UN General Assembly the runways of Kennedy Airport are
898 jam-packed with phoney flag-carriers. 'In fact,' said Bernard with a sly
899 grin, 'there was one 747 that belonged to nine different African airlines
900 in a month. They called it the mumbo-jumbo.'
902 While we watched nothing much happening on the TV except the mumbo-jumbo
903 taxiing around Prestwick and the Queen looking a bit chilly, Bernard gave
904 me the next day's schedule and explained that I was booked on the night
905 sleeper from King's Cross to Edinburgh because I had to vote in a
906 three-line whip at the House tonight and would have to miss the last
907 plane. Then the commentator, in that special hushed BBC voice used for any
908 occasion with which Royalty is connected, announced reverentially that we
909 were about to catch our first glimpse of President Selim.
911 And out of the plane stepped Charlie. My old friend Charlie Umtali. We
912 were at LSE together. Not Selim Mohammed at all, but Charlie.
914 Bernard asked me if I were sure. Silly question. How could you forget a
915 name like Charlie Umtali?
917 I sent Bernard for Sir Humphrey, who was delighted to hear that we now
918 know something about our official visitor.
920 Bernard's official brief said nothing. Amazing! Amazing how little the FCO
921 has been able to find out. Perhaps they were hoping it would all be on the
922 car radio. All the brief says is that Colonel Selim Mohammed had converted
923 to Islam some years ago, they didn't know his original name, and therefore
924 knew little of his background.
926 I was able to tell Humphrey and Bernard /all/ about his background.
927 Charlie was a red-hot political economist, I informed them. Got the top
928 first. Wiped the floor with everyone.
930 Bernard seemed relieved. 'Well that's all right then.'
934 'I think Bernard means,' said Sir Humphrey helpfully, 'that he'll know how
935 to behave if he was at an English University. Even if it was the LSE.' I
936 never know whether or not Humphrey is insulting me intentionally.
938 Humphrey was concerned about Charlie's political colour. 'When you said
939 that he was red-hot, were you speaking politically?'
941 In a way I was. 'The thing about Charlie is that you never quite know
942 where you are with him. He's the sort of chap who follows you into a
943 revolving door and comes out in front.'
945 'No deeply held convictions?' asked Sir Humphrey.
947 'No. The only thing Charlie was committed too was Charlie.'
949 'Ah, I see. A politician, Minister.'
951 =head2 v5.8.8 - Joe Raposo, "Bein' Green"
953 L<Announced on 2006-02-01 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/28caf52e41ebe723>
955 It's not that easy bein' green
956 Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
957 When I think it could be nicer being red or yellow or gold
958 Or something much more colorful like that
960 It's not easy bein' green
961 It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
962 And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
963 Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
966 But green's the color of Spring
967 And green can be cool and friendly-like
968 And green can be big like an ocean
969 Or important like a mountain
972 When green is all there is to be
973 It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
974 Wonder I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
975 And I think it's what I want to be
977 =head2 v5.8.8-RC1 - Cosgrove Hall Productions, "Dangermouse"
979 L<Announced on 2006-01-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/d231fc554af8cc51>
981 Greenback: And the world is mine, all mine. Muhahahahaha. See to it!
983 Stiletto: Si, Barone. Subito, Barone.
985 =head2 v5.8.7 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
987 L<Announced on 2005-05-31 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/9a545704a0062f16>
989 And now, imagine the triumphant procession: Peter at the head; after him the
990 hunters leading the wolf; and winding up the procession, grandfather and the
993 Grandfather shook his head discontentedly: "Well, and if Peter hadn't caught
994 the wolf? What then?"
996 =head2 v5.8.7-RC1 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
998 L<Announced on 2005-05-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2005/05/msg100711.html>
1000 And now this is how things stood: The cat was sitting on one branch. The
1001 bird on another, not too close to the cat. And the wolf walked round and
1002 round the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes.
1004 In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the
1005 gate, watching all that was going on. He ran home,got a strong rope and
1006 climbed up the high stone wall.
1008 One of the branches of the tree, around which the wolf was walking,
1009 stretched out over the wall.
1011 Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter lightly climbed over on to the tree.
1012 Peter said to the bird: "Fly down and circle round the wolf's head, only
1013 take care that he doesn't catch you!".
1015 The bird almost touched the wolf's head with its wings, while the wolf
1016 snapped angrily at him from this side and that.
1018 How that bird teased the wolf, how that wolf wanted to catch him! But
1019 the bird was clever and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it.
1021 =head2 v5.8.6 - A. A. Milne, "The House at Pooh Corner"
1023 L<Announced on 2004-11-28 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20041128000836.GA304@Bagpuss.unfortu.net>
1025 "Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet, giving a jump of surprise. "I knew it was
1028 "So did I,", said Pooh. "What are you doing?"
1030 "I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up into an oak-tree,
1031 and have lots of haycorns just outside the front door instead of having
1032 to walk miles and miles, do you see, Pooh?"
1034 "Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.
1036 "It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so that's why I'm
1039 "Well," aid Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it will
1040 grow up into a beehive."
1042 Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.
1044 "Or a /piece/ of a honeycomb," said Pooh, "so as not to waste too much.
1045 Only then I might only get a piece of a beehive, and it might be the
1046 wrong piece, where the bees were buzzing and not hunnying. Bother"
1048 Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.
1050 "Besides, Pooh, it's a very difficult thing, planting unless you know
1051 how to do it," he said; and he put the acorn in the hole he had made,
1052 and covered it up with earth, and jumped on it.
1054 =head2 v5.8.6-RC1 - A. A. Milne, "Winnie the Pooh"
1056 L<Announced on 2004-11-11 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/11/msg95786.html>
1058 "Hallo!" said Piglet, "whare are /you/ doing?"
1060 "Hunting," said Pooh.
1064 "Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
1066 "Tracking what?" said Piglet, coming closer.
1068 "That's just what I ask myself, I ask myself, What?"
1070 "What do you think you'll answer?"
1072 "I shall have to wait until I catch up with it," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
1073 "Now, look there." He pointed to the ground in front of him. "What do
1076 "Track," said Piglet. "Paw-marks." He gave a little squeak of
1077 excitement. "Oh, Pooh!" Do you think it's a--a--a Woozle?"
1079 =head2 v5.8.5 - wikipedia, "Yew"
1081 L<Announced on 2004-07-19 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/68340e2e4c39222c>
1083 Yews are relatively slow growing trees, widely used in landscaping and
1084 ornamental horticulture. They have flat, dark-green needles, reddish
1085 bark, and bear seeds with red arils, which are eaten by thrushes,
1086 waxwings and other birds, dispersing the hard seeds undamaged in their
1087 droppings. Yew wood is reddish brown (with white sapwood), and very
1088 hard. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the English
1091 In England, the Common Yew (Taxus baccata, also known as English Yew) is
1092 often found in churchyards. It is sometimes suggested that these are
1093 placed there as a symbol of long life or trees of death, and some are
1094 likely to be over 3,000 years old. It is also suggested that yew trees
1095 may have a pre-Christian association with old pagan holy sites, and the
1096 Christian church found it expedient to use and take over existing sites.
1097 Another explanation is that the poisonous berries and foliage discourage
1098 farmers and drovers from letting their animals wander into the burial
1099 grounds. The yew tree is a frequent symbol in the Christian poetry of
1100 T.S. Eliot, especially his Four Quartets.
1102 =head2 v5.8.5-RC2 - wikipedia, "Beech"
1104 L<Announced on 2004-07-09 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/f92175725af7a5ad>
1106 Beeches are trees of the Genus Fagus, family Fagaceae, including about
1107 ten species in Europe, Asia, and North America. The leaves are entire or
1108 sparsely toothed. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in
1109 pairs in spiny husks. The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental or
1110 shade tree is the European beech (Fagus sylvatica).
1112 The southern beeches belong to a different but related genus,
1113 Nothofagus. They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New
1114 Caledonia and South America.
1116 =head2 v5.8.5-RC1 - wikipedia, "Pedunculate Oak" (abridged)
1118 L<Announced on 2004-07-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/ca6ce4a7ed9f219c?pli=1>
1120 The Pedunculate Oak is called the Common Oak in Britain, and is also
1121 often called the English Oak in other English speaking countries It is a
1122 large deciduous tree to 25-35m tall (exceptionally to 40m), with lobed
1123 and sessile (stalk-less) leaves. Flowering takes place in early to mid
1124 spring, and their fruit, called "acorns", ripen by autumn of the same
1125 year. The acorns are pedunculate (having a peduncle or acorn-stalk) and
1126 may occur singly, or several acorns may occur on a stalk.
1128 It forms a long-lived tree, with a large widespreading head of rugged
1129 branches. While it may naturally live to an age of a few centuries, many
1130 of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced, both pruning techniques
1131 that extend the tree's potential lifespan, if not its health.
1133 Within its native range it is valued for its importance to insects and
1134 other wildlife. Numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the
1135 acorns. The acorns form a valuable food resource for several small
1136 mammals and some birds, notably Jays Garrulus glandarius.
1138 It is planted for forestry, and produces a long-lasting and durable
1139 heartwood, much in demand for interior and furniture work.
1141 =head2 v5.8.4 - T. S. Eliot, "The Old Gumbie Cat"
1143 L<Announced on 2004-04-22 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/c7333acf03ef4015>
1145 I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
1146 The curtain-cord she likes to wind, and tie it into sailor-knots.
1147 She sits upon the window-sill, or anything that's smooth and flat:
1148 She sits and sits and sits and sits -- and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
1150 But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
1151 Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
1152 She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment
1153 To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.
1154 So she's formed, from that a lot of disorderly louts,
1155 A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
1156 With a purpose in life and a good deed to do--
1157 And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.
1159 So for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers --
1160 On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears.
1163 =head2 v5.8.4-RC2 - T. S. Eliot, "Macavity: The Mystery Cat"
1165 L<Announced on 2004-04-16 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/84f6fdd73cc56a1b>
1167 Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw --
1168 For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
1169 He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
1170 For when they reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
1172 Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
1173 He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
1174 His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
1175 And when you reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
1176 You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air --
1177 But I tell you once and once again, /Macavity's not there/!
1179 =head2 v5.8.4-RC1 - T. S. Eliot, "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat"
1181 L<Announced on 2004-04-05 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/e500353440769ebf>
1183 There's a whisper down the line at 11.39
1184 When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
1185 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
1186 We must find him of the train can't start.'
1187 All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
1188 They are searching high and low,
1189 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
1190 Then the Night Mail just can't go'
1191 At 11.42 then the signal's overdue
1192 And the passengers are frantic to a man--
1193 Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
1194 He's been busy in the luggage van!
1195 He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
1196 And the the signal goes 'All Clear!'
1197 And we're off at last of the northern part
1198 Of the Northern Hemisphere!
1200 =head2 v5.8.3 - Arthur William Edgar O'Shaugnessy, "Ode"
1202 L<Announced on 2004-01-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/968fb8d71e23af69>
1204 We are the music makers,
1205 And we are the dreamers of dreams,
1206 Wandering by lonely sea-breakers,
1207 And sitting by desolate streams; --
1208 World-losers and world-forsakers,
1209 On whom the pale moon gleams:
1210 Yet we are the movers and shakers
1211 Of the world for ever, it seems.
1213 =head2 v5.8.3-RC1 - Irving Berlin, "Let's Face the Music and Dance"
1215 L<Announced on 2004-01-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/5ced50bebcd11c96>
1217 There may be trouble ahead,
1218 But while there's music and moonlight,
1219 And love and romance,
1220 Let's face the music and dance.
1222 Before the fiddlers have fled,
1223 Before they ask us to pay the bill,
1224 And while we still have that chance,
1225 Let's face the music and dance.
1227 Soon, we'll be without the moon,
1228 Humming a different tune, and then,
1230 There may be teardrops to shed,
1231 So while there's music and moonlight,
1232 And love and romance,
1233 Let's face the music and dance.
1235 =head2 v5.8.2 - Walt Whitman, "Passage to India"
1237 L<Announced on 2003-11-06 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/4714574f93967673>
1239 Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
1240 Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
1241 Cut the hawsers - hall out - shake out every sail!
1242 Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
1243 Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
1244 Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
1246 Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,
1247 Reckless O soul, exploring, I with the and thou with me,
1248 For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
1249 And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
1252 O farther farther sail!
1253 O daring job, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
1254 O farther, farther, farther sail!
1256 =head2 v5.8.2-RC2 - Eric Idle/John Du Prez, "Accountancy Shanty"
1258 L<Announced on 2003-11-03 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/7669de5804b792f6>
1260 It's fun to charter an accountant
1261 And sail the wide accountan-cy,
1262 To find, explore the funds offshore
1263 And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy.
1265 =head2 v5.8.2-RC1 - Edward Lear, "The Jumblies"
1267 L<Announced on 2003-10-28 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/83680ef3bbf7378d>
1269 They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
1270 In a Sieve they went to sea:
1271 In spite of all their friends could say,
1272 On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
1273 In a Sieve they went to sea!
1274 And when the Sieve turned round and round,
1275 And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
1276 They cried aloud, "Our Sieve ain't big,
1277 But we don't care a button, we don't care a fig!
1278 In a Sieve we'll go to sea!"
1280 Far and few, far and few,
1281 Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
1282 Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
1283 And they went to sea in a Sieve.
1285 =head2 v5.8.1 - epigraph same as v5.7.1
1287 L<Announced on 2003-09-25 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82678.html>
1289 =head2 v5.8.1-RC5 - Terry Pratchett, "Lords and Ladies"
1291 L<Announced on 2003-09-22 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82476.html>
1293 No matter what she did with her hair it took about
1294 three minutes for it to tangle itself up again,
1295 like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Footnote: Which,
1296 no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil
1297 overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].
1299 =head2 v5.8.1-RC4 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1301 L<Announced on 2003-08-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/08/msg79184.html>
1303 Grand Viziers were /always/ scheming megalomaniacs.
1304 It was probably in the job description: "Are you a
1305 devious, plotting, unreliable madman? Ah, good,
1306 then you can be my most trusted minister."
1308 =head2 v5.8.1-RC3 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1310 L<Announced on 2003-07-30 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg79048.html>
1312 Lord Hong had a mind like a knife, although possibly
1313 a knife with a curved blade.
1315 =head2 v5.8.1-RC2 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1317 L<Announced on 2003-07-11 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78102.html>
1319 Many an ancient lord's last words had been, "You can't kill
1320 me because I've got magic aaargh."
1322 =head2 v5.8.1-RC1 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1324 L<Announced on 2003-07-10 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78009.html>
1326 Cohen was familiar with city gates. He'd broken down a number
1327 in his time, by battering ram, siege gun, and on one occasion
1330 But the gates of Hunghung were pretty damn good gates. They
1331 weren't like the gates of Ankh-Morpork, which were usually wide
1332 open to attract the spending customer and whose concession to
1333 defense was the sign "Thank You For Not Attacking Our City.
1334 Bonum Diem." These things were big and made of metal and there
1335 was a guardhouse and a squad of unhelpful men in black armor.
1337 =head2 v5.8.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
1339 L<Announced on 2002-07-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63720.html>
1341 There was the faint sound of footsteps.
1342 "Chap with a whip got as far as the big sharp spikes last week,"
1343 said the low priest.
1344 There was a sound like the flushing of a very old dry lavatory.
1345 The footsteps stopped. The High Priest smiled to himself.
1346 "Right," he said. "See your two pebbles and raise you two pebbles."
1347 The low priest threw down his cards. "Double Onion," he said.
1348 The High Priest looked down suspiciously.
1349 The low priest consulted a scrap of paper. "That's three hundred
1350 thousand, nine hundred and sixty-four pebbles you owe me," he said.
1351 There was the sound of footsteps. The priests exchanged glances.
1352 "Haven't had one for poisoned-dart alley for quite some time,"
1353 said the High Priest.
1354 "Five says he makes it", said the low priest. "You're on."
1355 There was a faint clatter of metal points on stone.
1356 "It's a shame to take your pebbles."
1357 There were footsteps again.
1359 =head2 v5.8.0-RC3 - no epigraph
1361 L<Announced on 2002-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63234.html>
1363 =head2 v5.8.0-RC2 - no epigraph
1365 L<Announced on 2002-06-21 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg62013.html>
1367 =head2 v5.8.0-RC1 - no epigraph
1369 L<Announced on 2002-06-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg60317.html>
1371 =head2 v5.7.3 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
1373 L<Announced on 2002-03-04 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/03/msg53652.html>
1375 Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong.
1376 No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always
1377 got there first, and is waiting for it.
1379 =head2 v5.7.2 - Terry Pratchett, "Small Gods"
1381 L<Announced on 2001-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/07/msg40370.html>
1383 His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools --
1384 the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans -- and summed up
1385 all three of them in his famous phrase, "You can't trust any
1386 bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing
1387 you can do about it, so let's have a drink."
1389 =head2 v5.7.1 - Terry Pratchett, "The Colour of Magic"
1391 L<Announced on 2001-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33851.html>
1393 "What happens next?" asked Twoflower.
1395 Hrun screwed a finger in his ear and inspected it absently.
1397 "Oh,", he said, "I expect in a minute the door will be
1398 flung back and I'll be dragged off to some sort of temple
1399 arena where I'll fight maybe a couple of giant spiders
1400 and an eight-foot slave from the jungles of Klatch and then
1401 I'll rescue some kind of a princess from the altar and then
1402 I'll kill off a few guards or whatever and then this girl
1403 will show me the secret passage out of the place and we'll
1404 liberate a couple of horses and escape with the treasure."
1405 Hrun leaned his head back on his hands and looked at the
1406 ceiling, whistling tunelessly.
1408 "All that?" said Twoflower.
1412 =head2 v5.7.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures"
1414 L<Announced on 2000-09-02 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/09/msg17730.html>
1416 The Librarian had seen many weird things in his time,
1417 but that had to be the 57th strangest.
1418 [footnote: he had a tidy mind]
1420 =head2 v5.6.2 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
1422 L<Announced on 2003-11-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/deb8cb9ad918716f>
1424 When great or unexpected events fall out upon the stage of this
1425 sublunary word--the mind of man, which is an inquisitive kind of
1426 a substance, naturally takes a flight, behind the scenes, to see
1427 what is the cause and first spring of them--The search was not
1428 long in this instance.
1430 =head2 v5.6.2-RC1 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
1432 L<Announced on 2003-11-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/e3d4acc7a8dd3ce5>
1434 "Pray, my dear", quoth my mother, "have you not forgot to wind up the clock?"
1436 =head2 v5.6.1 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", Riddles in the Dark
1438 L<Announced on 2001-04-08 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33823.html>
1440 `What have I got in my pocket?' he said aloud. He was talking to
1441 himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully
1444 `Not fair! not fair!' he hissed. `It isn't fair, my precious, is it,
1445 to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?'
1447 Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask
1448 stuck to his question, `What have I got in my pocket?' he said
1451 `S-s-s-s-s,' hissed Gollum. `It must give us three guesseses,
1452 my precious, three guesseses.'
1454 =head2 v5.6.1-foolish - no epigraph
1456 L<Announced on 2001-08-04 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33421.html>
1458 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL3 - I can't find the announcement
1460 No announcement available.
1462 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL2 - no epigraph
1464 L<Announced on 2001-01-31 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/01/msg29934.html>
1466 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL1 - no epigraph
1468 L<Announced on 2000-12-18 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/12/msg27738.html>
1470 =head2 v5.6.0 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", The Last Stage
1472 L<Announced on 2000-03-23 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10341.html>
1474 The dragon is withered,
1475 His bones are now crumbled;
1476 His armour is shivered,
1477 His splendour is humbled!
1478 Though sword shall be rusted,
1479 And throne and crown perish
1480 With strength that men trusted
1481 And wealth that they cherish,
1482 Here grass is still growing,
1483 And leaves are a yet swinging,
1484 The white water flowing,
1485 And elves are yet singing
1486 Come! Tra-la-la-lally!
1487 Come back to the valley.
1489 =head2 v5.6.0-RC3 - no epigraph
1491 L<Announced on 2000-03-22 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10140.html>
1493 =head2 v5.005_05-RC1 - no epigraph
1495 L<Announced on 2009-02-16 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/02/msg144227.html>
1497 =head2 v5.005_04 - no epigraph
1499 L<Announced on 2004-03-01 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/6c240ad0b189cb47>
1501 =head2 v5.005_04-RC2 - Rudyard Kipling, "The Jungle Book"
1503 L<Announced on 2004-02-19 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/83e5421124a7b49d>
1505 The monkeys called the place their city, and pretended to despise
1506 the Jungle-People because they lived in the forest. And yet they
1507 never knew what the buildings were made for nor how to use
1508 them. They would sit in circles on the hall of the king's council
1509 chamber, and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men; or they would
1510 run in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster
1511 and old bricks in a corner, and forget where they had hidden them,
1512 and fight and cry in scuffling crowds, and then break off to play up
1513 and down the terraces of the king's garden, where they would shake
1514 the rose trees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit and flowers
1517 =head2 v5.005_04-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1519 L<Announced on 2004-02-05 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/6aaeb6ec699bd116>
1521 Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
1522 plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was
1523 going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what
1524 she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked
1525 at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
1526 cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures
1527 hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she
1528 passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
1529 disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear
1530 of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
1533 =head2 v1.0_16 - Johan Vromans, extemporarily
1535 L<Announced on 2003-12-18 by Richard Clamp|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/9281dc6194d15940>
1537 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1539 This document was originally compiled based on a list of epigraphs
1540 on L<Perl Monks|http://perlmonks.org> titled
1541 L<Recent Perl Release Announcement|http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=372406>