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 v5.14.0 - 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 2011-05-14 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172326.html>
24 At the start of any project, I'm programming primarily to please
25 myself. (The two chief virtues in a programmer are laziness and
26 impatience.) After a while somebody looks over my shoulder and says,
27 "That's neat. It'd be neater if it did such-and-so." So the thing
28 gets neater. Pretty soon (a year or two) I have an rn, a warp, a patch,
29 or a perl. One of these years I'll have a metaconfig.
31 I then say to myself, "I don't want my life's work to die when this
32 computer is scrapped, so I should let some other people use this. If I
33 ask my company to sell this, it'll never see the light of day, and nobody
34 would pay much for it anyway. If I sell it myself, I'll be in trouble with
35 my company, to whom I signed my life away when I was hired. If I give it
36 away, I can pretend it was worthless in the first place, so my company
37 won't care. In any event, it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."
39 So a freely distributable program is born.
41 =head2 v5.14.0-RC3 - American Airlines Gate Agent, last call
43 L<Announced on 2011-05-11 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172282.html>
45 This is the last call for flight 1697 with service to Chicago and
46 continuing service to San Francisco. All passengers should already be
47 aboard. If you aren't aboard at this time, you will be denied boarding
48 and your bags will be offloaded.
50 =head2 v5.14.0-RC2 - Greg Grandin, Fordlandia, "the Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City"
52 L<Announced on 2011-05-04 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg171879.html>
54 Over the course of nearly two decades, Ford would spend tens of millions
55 of dollars founding not one but, after the plantation was defastated
56 by leaf blight, two American towns, complete with central squares,
57 sidewalks, indoor plumbing, hospitals, manicured lawns, movie theaters,
58 swimming pools, golf courses, and, of course, Model Ts and As rolling
59 down their paved streets.
61 Back in America, newspapers kept up their drumbeat celebration, only
62 obliquely referencing reports that things were not progressing as the
63 company had hoped. But there was one note of skepticism. In late 1928,
64 the Washington Post ran an editorial that read in its entirety: "Ford will
65 govern a rubber plantation in Brazil larger than North Carolina. This is
66 the first time he has applied quantity production methods to trouble"
68 =head2 v5.14.0-RC1 - Bill Bryson, "In a Sunburned Country"
70 L<Announced on 2011-04-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/04/msg171253.html>
72 But then Australia is such a difficult country to keep track of. On
73 my first visit, some years ago, I passed the time on the long flight
74 reading a history of Australian politics in the twentieth century,
75 wherein I encountered the startling fact that in 1967 the prime minister,
76 Harold Holt, was strolling along a beach in Victoria when he plunged into
77 the surf and vanished. No trace of the poor man was ever seen again.
78 This seemed doubly astounding to meE<0x2014>first that Australia could
79 just I<lose> a prime minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of
80 this had never reached me.
82 =head2 v5.13.11 - Walt Whitman, L<Leaves of Grass|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass>
84 L<Announced on 2011-02-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2011-03/msg00560.html>
86 When the full-grown poet came,
87 Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its
88 shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine;
89 But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled,
91 --Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each
93 And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands,
94 Which he will never release until he reconciles the two,
95 And wholly and joyously blends them.
97 =head2 v5.13.10 - Egill Skalla-Grímsson, L<Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar|http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Egils_saga_Skalla-Gr%C3%ADmssonar>
99 L<Announced on 2011-02-20 by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/02/msg169340.html>
101 Skalat maðr rúnar rísta,
103 Þat verðr mörgum manni,
104 es of myrkvan staf villisk.
106 tíu launstafi ristna.
108 langs ofrtrega fengit.
110 =head2 v5.13.9 - John F Kennedy, L<Inaugural Address January 20, 1961|http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy%27s_Inaugural_Address>
112 L<Announced on 2011-01-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168335.html>
114 In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
115 granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I
116 do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe
117 that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other
118 generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this
119 endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from
120 that fire can truly light the world.
122 And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
123 ask what you can do for your country.
125 My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you,
126 but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
128 Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world,
129 ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which
130 we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history
131 the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love,
132 asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's
133 work must truly be our own.
135 =head2 v5.13.8 - Roger Williams, L<"The Fifth Gift"|http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/8/19/21304/8493>
137 L<Announced on 2010-12-19 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/12/msg167271.html>
139 The aliens called the box a "matter generator," but we'd be more inclined
140 to call it a matter duplicator. By connecting switches and potentiometers
141 between the copper posts it was possible to make the box mark off two
142 cubic rectangular areas of volume. Make a certain contact, and these
143 areas would be isolated within perfectly reflective fields. They could
144 be expanded or contracted by altering resistances between other posts.
145 As I worked out the user interface I built a little control panel for
146 the device. It was actually a clever way for the aliens to do things;
147 instead of trying to build controls we could use, they built us an
148 interface we could attach to controls that made sense to us. It could
151 Once you had made the contact that established the shielded volumes,
152 if you made another certain contact the contents of the first volume
153 were copied to the second. The machine copied metal, plastic, steel,
154 and diamond with equal ease. Copies of copies of copies of copies were
155 indistinguishable from the originals at any magnification, even using
156 techniques like X-ray crystallography.
158 =head2 v5.13.7 - Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, 'The Matrix'
160 L<Announced on 2010-11-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/11/msg166162.html>
162 [Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
166 [Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
168 Trinity: What did you just say?
169 Neo: Nothing. Just had a little deja vu.
170 Trinity: What did you see?
171 Cypher: What happened?
172 Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
173 Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
174 Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.
175 Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!
177 Trinity: A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
179 =head2 v5.13.6 - Haruki Murakami, "Kafka on the Shore"
181 L<Announced on 2010-10-20 by Tatsuhiko Miyagawa|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/10/msg165183.html>
183 The boy called Crow softly rests a hand on my shoulder, and with that
186 "From now on -- no matter what -- you've got to be the world's toughest
187 fifteen-year-old. That's the only way you're going to survive. And in order
188 to do that, you've got to figure out what it means to be tough. You following
191 I keep my eyes closed and don't reply. I just want to sink off into sleep
192 like this, his hand on my shoulder. I hear the faint flutter of wings.
194 "You're going to be the world's toughest fifteen-year-old," Crow whispers
195 as I try to fall asleep. Like he was carving the words in a deep blue tattoo
198 (Translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel)
200 =head2 v5.13.5 - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, "The Room in the Dragon Volant"
202 L<Announced on 2010-09-19 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg164238.html>
204 Candle in hand I stepped in. I do not know whether the quality of
205 air, long undisturbed, is peculiar; to me it has always seemed so, and
206 the damp smell of the old masonry hung in this atmosphere. My candle
207 faintly lighted the bare stone wall that enclosed the stair, the foot
208 of which I could not see. Down I went, and a few turns brought me to
209 the stone floor. Here was another door, of the simple, old, oak kind,
210 deep sunk in the thickness of the wall. The large end of the key
211 fitted this. The lock was stiff; I set the candle down upon the
212 stair, and applied both hands; it turned with difficulty, and as it
213 revolved, uttered a shriek that alarmed me for my secret.
215 For some minutes I did not move. In a little time, however, I took
216 courage, and opened the door. The night-air floating in puffed out
217 the candle. There was a thicket of holly and underwood, as dense as a
218 jungle, close about the door. I should have been in pitch-darkness,
219 were it not that through the topmost leaves there twinkled, here and
220 there, a glimmer of moonshine.
222 Softly, lest any one should have opened his window at the sound of the
223 rusty bolt, I struggled through this till I gained a view of the open
224 grounds. Here I found that the brushwood spread a good way up the
225 park, uniting with the wood that approached the little temple I have
228 =head2 v5.13.4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
230 L<Announced on 2010-08-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163150.html>
232 `How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat lessons!' thought Alice;
233 `I might as well be at school at once.' However, she got up, and began to repeat
234 it, but her head was so full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew what
235 she was saying, and the words came very queer indeed:--
237 "'Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare,
238 "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
239 As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
240 Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.'
243 `That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,' said the Gryphon.
245 `Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; `but it sounds uncommon
248 Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her hands, wondering if
249 anything would ever happen in a natural way again.
251 `I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle.
253 `She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily. `Go on with the next verse.'
255 `But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted. `How could he turn them out
256 with his nose, you know?'
258 `It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by
259 the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
261 =head2 v5.13.3 - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, "Good Omens"
263 L<Announced on 2010-07-20 by David Golden|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/07/msg162230.html>
265 Look at Crowley, doing 110 mph on the M40 heading towards
266 Oxfordshire. Even the most resolutely casual observer would
267 notice a number of strange things about him. The clenched teeth,
268 for example, or the dull red glow coming from behind his
269 sunglasses. And the car. The car was a definite hint.
271 Crowley had started the journey in his Bentley, and he was
272 dammned if he wasn't going to finish it in the Bentley as well.
273 Not that even the kind of car buff who owns his own pair of
274 motoring goggles would have been able to tell it was a vintage
275 Bentley. Not any more. They wouldn't have been able to tell
276 that it was a Bentley. They would only offer fifty-fifty that it
277 had ever even been a car.
279 There was no paint left on it, for a start. It might still have
280 been black, where it wasn't a rusty, smudged reddish-brown, but
281 this was a dull charcoal black. It traveled in its own ball of
282 flame, like a space capsule making a particularly difficult
285 There was a thin skin of crusted, melted rubber left around the
286 metal wheel rims, but seeing that the wheel rims were still
287 somhow riding an inch above the road surface this didn't seem to
288 make an awful lot of difference to the suspension.
290 It should have fallen apart miles back.
292 =head2 v5.13.2 - Iain M Banks, "Use of Weapons"
294 L<Announced on 2010-06-22 by Matt S Trout|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/06/msg161112.html>
296 We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal laws -
297 the rules of right and wrong that people imagine apply everywhere else
298 in the universe - break down; beyond those metaphysical event-horizons,
299 there exist ... special circumstances.
301 =head2 v5.13.1 - Miguel de Unamuno, "The Sepulchre of Don Quixote"
303 L<Announced on 2010-05-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160275.html>
305 And if anyone shall come to you and say that he knows how to construct
306 bridges and that perhaps a time will come when you will wish to avail
307 yourself of his science in order to cross over a river, out with him! Out
308 with the engineer! Rivers will be crossed by wading or swimming them, even
309 if half the crusaders drown themselves. Let the engineer go off and build
310 bridges somewhere else, where they are badly wanted. For those who go in
311 quest of the sepulchre, faith is bridge enough.
313 =head2 v5.13.0 - Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth"
315 L<Announced on 2010-04-20 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg159275.html>
317 The heat still remained at quite a supportable degree. With an
318 involuntary shudder, I reflected on what the heat must have been
319 when the volcano of Sneffels was pouring its smoke, flames, and
320 streams of boiling lava -- all of which must have come up by the
321 road we were now following. I could imagine the torrents of hot
322 seething stone darting on, bubbling up with accompaniments of
323 smoke, steam, and sulphurous stench!
325 "Only to think of the consequences," I mused, "if the old
326 volcano were once more to set to work."
328 =head2 v5.12.3 - Howard W. Campbell, Jr., "Reflections on Not Participating in Current Events"
330 L<Announced on 2011-01-21 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168368.html>
332 I saw a huge steam roller,
333 It blotted out the sun.
334 The people all lay down, lay down;
335 They did not try to run.
336 My love and I, we looked amazed
337 Upon the gory mystery.
338 'Lie down, lie down!' the people cried.
339 'The great machine is history!'
340 My love and I, we ran away,
341 The engine did not find us.
342 We ran up to a mountain top,
343 Left history far behind us.
344 Perhaps we should have stayed and died,
345 But somehow we don't think so.
346 We went to see where history'd been,
347 And my, the dead did stink so.
349 =head2 v5.12.2 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
351 L<Announced on 2010-09-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg163852.html>
353 CPUs. Cayce Pollard Units. That's what Damien calls the clothing
354 she wears. CPUs are either black, white, or gray, and ideally
355 seem to have come into this world without human intervention.
357 What people take for relentless minimalism is a side effect
358 of too much exposure to the reactor-cores of fashion. This
359 has resulted in a remorseless paring-down of what she can and
360 will wear. She is, literally, allergic to fashion. She can
361 only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general
362 lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. She's a
363 design-free zone, a one-woman school of and whose very austerity
364 periodically threatens to spawn its own cult.
366 =head2 v5.12.2-RC1 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
368 L<Announced on 2010-08-31 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163670.html>
370 The front page opens, familiar as a friend's living room. A frame-grab
371 from #48 serves as backdrop, dim and almost monochrome, no characters in
372 view. This is one of the sequences that generate comparisons with
373 Tarkovsky. She only knows Tarkovsky from stills, really, though she did
374 once fall asleep during a screening of The Stalker, going under on an
375 endless pan, the camera aimed straight down, in close-up, at a puddle on
376 a ruined mosaic floor. But she is not one of those who think that much
377 will be gained by analysis of the maker's imagined influences. The cult
378 of the footage is rife with subcults, claiming every possible influence.
379 Truffaut, Peckinpah -- The Peckinpah people, among the least likely, are
380 still waiting for the guns to be drawn.
382 =head2 v5.12.1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
384 L<Announced on 2010-05-16 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160109.html>
386 "Now suppose," chortled Dr. Breed, enjoying himself, "that there were
387 many possible ways in which water could crystallize, could freeze.
388 Suppose that the sort of ice we skate upon and put into highballs --
389 what we might call ice-one -- is only one of several types of ice.
390 Suppose water always froze as ice-one on Earth because it had never
391 had a seed to teach it how to form ice-two, ice-three, ice-four
392 ...? And suppose," he rapped on his desk with his old hand again,
393 "that there were one form, which we will call ice-nine -- a crystal as
394 hard as this desk -- with a melting point of, let us say, one-hundred
395 degrees Fahrenheit, or, better still, a melting point of one-hundred-
398 =head2 v5.12.1-RC2 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
400 L<Announced on 2010-05-13 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160066.html>
402 San Lorenzo was fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, I learned from
403 the supplement to the New York Sunday Times. Its population was four
404 hundred, fifty thousand souls, "...all fiercely dedicated to the ideals
407 Its highest point, Mount McCabe, was eleven thousand feet above sea
408 level. Its capital was Bolivar, "...a strikingly modern city built on a
409 harbor capable of sheltering the entire United States Navy." The principal
410 exports were sugar, coffee, bananas, indigo, and handcrafted novelties.
412 =head2 v5.12.1-RC1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
414 L<Announced on 2010-05-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg159971.html>
416 Which brings me to the Bokononist concept of a wampeter. A wampeter is
417 the pivot of a karass. No karass is without a wampeter, Bokonon tells us,
418 just as no wheel is without a hub. Anything can be a wampeter: a tree,
419 a rock, an animal, an idea, a book, a melody, the Holy Grail. Whatever
420 it is, the members of its karass revolve about it in the majestic chaos
421 of a spiral nebula. The orbits of the members of a karass about their
422 common wampeter are spiritual orbits, naturally. It is souls and not
423 bodies that revolve. As Bokonon invites us to sing:
425 Around and around and around we spin,
426 With feet of lead and wings of tin . . .
428 =head2 v5.12.0 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
430 L<Announced on 2010-04-12 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158820.html>
432 'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was
433 not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why
434 your cat grins like that?'
436 'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'
438 She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite
439 jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby,
440 and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:--
442 'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know
443 that cats COULD grin.'
445 'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'
447 =head2 v5.12.0-RC5 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
449 L<Announced on 2010-04-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158720.html>
451 'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words
454 'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and
455 there was silence for some minutes.
457 =head2 v5.12.0-RC4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
459 L<Announced on 2010-04-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158567.html>
461 'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't
462 always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
463 rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and
464 yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what
465 can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that
466 kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
468 =head2 v5.12.0-RC3 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
470 L<Announced on 2010-04-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158346.html>
472 At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them,
473 called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you
474 dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse
475 in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt
476 sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
478 'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This
479 is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William
480 the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted
481 to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much
482 accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of
483 Mercia and Northumbria --"'
485 =head2 v5.12.0-RC2 - no announcement
487 Available on CPAN since 2010-04-01.
489 =head2 v5.12.0-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
491 L<Announced on 2010-03-29 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg158060.html>
493 So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
494 hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of
495 making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
496 picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
499 There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
500 VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh
501 dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
502 occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time
503 it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH
504 OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on,
505 Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
506 never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
507 take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field
508 after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large
509 rabbit-hole under the hedge.
511 In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
512 in the world she was to get out again.
514 =head2 v5.12.0-RC0 - no epigraph
516 L<Announced on 2020-03-21 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg157761.html>
518 =head2 v5.11.5 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel"
520 L<Announced on 2010-02-21 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/02/msg156957.html>
522 A little child, a limber elf,
523 Singing, dancing to itself,
524 A fairy thing with red round cheeks,
525 That always finds, and never seeks,
526 Makes such a vision to the sight
527 As fills a father's eyes with light;
528 And pleasures flow in so thick and fast
529 Upon his heart, that he at last
530 Must needs express his love's excess
531 With words of unmeant bitterness.
532 Perhaps 'tis pretty to force together
533 Thoughts so all unlike each other;
534 To mutter and mock a broken charm,
535 To dally with wrong that does no harm.
536 Perhaps 'tis tender too and pretty
537 At each wild word to feel within
538 A sweet recoil of love and pity.
539 And what, if in a world of sin
540 (O sorrow and shame should this be true!)
541 Such giddiness of heart and brain
542 Comes seldom save from rage and pain,
543 So talks as it's most used to do.
545 =head2 v5.11.4 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment"
547 L<Announced on 2010-01-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/01/msg155848.html>
549 And you don't suppose that I went into it headlong like a fool? I went
550 into it like a wise man, and that was just my destruction. And you
551 mustn't suppose that I didn't know, for instance, that if I began to
552 question myself whether I had the right to gain power -- I certainly
553 hadn't the right -- or that if I asked myself whether a human being is a
554 louse it proved that it wasn't so for me, though it might be for a man
555 who would go straight to his goal without asking questions.... If I
556 worried myself all those days, wondering whether Napoleon would have
557 done it or not, I felt clearly of course that I wasn't Napoleon.
559 =head2 v5.11.3 - Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
561 L<Announced on 2009-12-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/12/msg154838.html>
563 "Say -- I'm going in a swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? But of
564 course you'd druther work -- wouldn't you? Course you would!"
566 Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said: "What do you call work?"
568 "Why ain't that work?"
570 Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly: "Well, maybe it
571 is, and maybe it aint. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer."
573 "Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?"
575 The brush continued to move. "Like it? Well I don't see why I oughtn't
576 to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
578 That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom
579 swept his brush daintily back and forth -- stepped back to note the effect
580 -- added a touch here and there-criticised the effect again -- Ben
581 watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more
582 absorbed. Presently he said: "Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."
584 =head2 v5.11.2 - Michael Marshall Smith, "Only Forward"
586 L<Announced on 2009-11-20 by |http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/11/msg153646.html>
588 The streets were pretty quiet, which was nice. They're always quiet here
589 at that time: you have to be wearing a black jacket to be out on the
590 streets between seven and nine in the evening, and not many people in
591 the area have black jackets. It's just one of those things. I currently
592 live in Colour Neighbourhood, which is for people who are heavily into
593 colour. All the streets and buildings are set for instant colourmatch:
594 as you walk down the road they change hue to offset whatever you're
595 wearing. When the streets are busy it's kind of intense, and anyone
596 prone to epileptic seizures isn't allowed to live in the Neighbourhood,
597 however much they're into colour.
599 =head2 v5.11.1 - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
601 L<Announced on 2009-10-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg152360.html>
603 Milo had been caught red-handed in the act of plundering his countrymen,
604 and, as a result, his stock had never been higher. He proved good as his
605 word when a rawboned major from Minnesota curled his lip in rebellious
606 disavowal and demanded his share of the syndicate Milo kept saying
607 everybody owned. Milo met the challenge by writing the words "A Share"
608 on the nearest scrap of paper and handing it away with a virtuous disdain
609 that won the envy and admiration of almost everyone who knew him. His
610 glory was at a peak, and Colonel Cathcart, who knew and admired his
611 war record, was astonished by the deferential humility with which Mil
612 presented himself at Group Headquarters and made his fantastic appeal
613 for more hazardous assignment.
615 =head2 v5.11.0 - Mikhail Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita"
617 L<Announced on 2009-10-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg151376.html>
619 Whispers of an "evil power" were heard in lines at dairy shops, in
620 streetcars, stores, arguments, kitchens, suburban and long-distance
621 trains, at stations large and small, in dachas and on beaches. Needless
622 to say, truly mature and cultured people did not tell these stories
623 about an evil power's visit to the capital. In fact, they even made fun
624 of them and tried to talk sense into those who told them. Nevertheless,
625 facts are facts, as they say, and cannot simply be dismissed without
626 explanation: somebody had visited the capital. The charred cinders of
627 Griboyedov alone, and many other things besides, confirmed it. Cultured
628 people shared the point of view of the investigating team: it was the
629 work of a gang of hypnotists and ventriloquists magnificently skilled in
632 =head2 v5.10.1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
634 L<Announced on 2009-09-23 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150172.html>
636 'Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, known as
637 the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private
638 Secretary. I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he is the
639 Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly
640 responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under
641 Secretaries and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries.
642 Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain
643 Private Secretaries. The Prime Minister will be appointing two
644 Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own
645 Parliamentary Private Secretary.'
647 'Can they all type?' I joked.
649 'None of us can type, Minister,' replied Sir Humphrey smoothly. 'Mrs
650 McKay types - she is your Secretary.'
652 I couldn't tell whether or not he was joking. 'What a pity,' I said.
653 'We could have opened an agency.'
655 Sir Humphrey and Bernard laughed. 'Very droll, sir,' said Sir
656 Humphrey. 'Most amusing, sir,' said Bernard. Were they genuinely
657 amused at my wit, or just being rather patronising? 'I suppose they
658 all say that, do they?' I ventured.
660 Sir Humphrey reassured me on that. 'Certainly not, Minister,' he
661 replied. 'Not quite all.'
663 =head2 v5.10.1-RC2 - no epigraph
665 L<Announced on 2009-08-18 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150015.html>
667 =head2 v5.10.1-RC1 - no epigraph
669 L<Announced on 2009-08-06 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg149498.html>
671 =head2 v5.10.0 - Laurence Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
673 L<Announced on 2007-12-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/12/msg131636.html>
675 He would often declare, in speaking his thoughts upon the subject, that
676 he did not conceive how the greatest family in England could stand it
677 out against an uninterrupted succession of six or seven short
678 noses.--And for the contrary reason, he would generally add, That it
679 must be one of the greatest problems in civil life, where the same
680 number of long and jolly noses, following one another in a direct line,
681 did not raise and hoist it up into the best vacancies in the kingdom.
683 =head2 v5.10.0-RC2 - no epigraph
685 L<Announced on 2007-11-25 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130978.html>
687 =head2 v5.10.0-RC1 - no epigraph
689 L<Announced on 2007-11-17 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130653.html>
691 =head2 v5.9.5 - no announcement
693 L<Pre-announced on 2007-07-07 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/07/msg126358.html>,
694 available on CPAN with same date, but never actually announced.
696 =head2 v5.9.4 - no epigraph
698 L<Announced on 2006-08-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/08/msg115782.html>
700 =head2 v5.9.3 - no epigraph
702 L<Announced on 2006-01-28 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/01/msg109086.html>
704 =head2 v5.9.2 - Thomas Pynchon, "V"
706 L<Announced on 2005-04-01 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20050401150702.2b4a70d5@grubert.mandrakesoft.com>
708 This word flip was weird. Every recording date of McClintic's he'd
709 gotten into the habit of talking electricity with the audio men and
710 technicians of the studio. McClintic once couldn't have cared less
711 about electricity, but now it seemed if that was helping him reach a
712 bigger audience, some digging, some who would never dig, but all
713 paying and those royalties keeping the Triumph in gas and McClintic
714 in J. Press suits, then McClintic ought to be grateful to
715 electricity, ought maybe to learn a little more about it. So he'd
716 picked up some here and there, and one day last summer he got around
717 to talking stochastic music and digital computers with one
718 technician. Out of the conversation had come Set/Reset, which was
719 getting to be a signature for the group. He had found out from this
720 sound man about a two-triode circuit called a flip-flop, which when
721 it turned on could be one of two ways, depending on which tube was
722 conducting and which was cut off: set or reset, flip or flop.
724 "And that," the man said, "can be yes or no, or one or zero. And
725 that is what you might call one of the basic units, or specialized
726 `cells' in a big `electronic brain.' "
728 "Crazy," said McClintic, having lost him back there someplace. But
729 one thing that did occur to him was if a computer's brain could go
730 flip or flop, why so could a musician's. As long as you were flop,
731 everything was cool. But where did the trigger-pulse come from to
734 =head2 v5.9.1 - Tom Stoppard, "Arcadia"
736 L<Announced on 2004-03-16 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/8587d77c565f2d43>
738 Aren't you supposed to have a pony?
740 =head2 v5.9.0 - Doris Lessing, "Martha Quest"
742 L<Announced on 2003-10-27 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/63a8c34385de82a1>
744 What of October, that ambiguous month
746 =head2 v5.8.9 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
748 L<Announced on 2008-12-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/12/msg142571.html>
750 Frank and I, unlike the civil servants, were still puzzled that such a
751 proposal as the Europass could even be seriously under consideration by
752 the FCO. We can both see clearly that it is wonderful ammunition for the
753 anti-Europeans. I asked Humphrey if the Foreign Office doesn't realise
754 how damaging this would be to the European ideal?
756 'I'm sure they do, Minister, he said. That's why they support it.'
758 This was even more puzzling, since I'd always been under the impression
759 that the FO is pro-Europe. 'Is it or isn't it?' I asked Humphrey.
761 'Yes and no,' he replied of course, 'if you'll pardon the
762 expression. The Foreign Office is pro-Europe because it is really
763 anti-Europe. In fact the Civil Service was united in its desire to make
764 sure the Common Market didn't work. That's why we went into it.'
766 This sounded like a riddle to me. I asked him to explain further. And
767 basically his argument was as follows: Britain has had the same foreign
768 policy objective for at least the last five hundred years - to create a
769 disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against
770 the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and
771 Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Italians
772 and Germans. [The Dutch rebellion against Phillip II of Spain, the
773 Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War - Ed.]
775 In other words, divide and rule. And the Foreign Office can see no
776 reason to change when it has worked so well until now.
778 I was aware of this, naturally, but I regarded it as ancient history.
779 Humphrey thinks that it is, in fact, current policy. It was necessary
780 for us to break up the EEC, he explained, so we had to get inside. We
781 had previously tried to break it up from the outside, but that didn't
782 work. [A reference to our futile and short-lived involvement in EFTA,
783 the European Free Trade Association, founded in 1960 and which the UK
784 left in 1972 - Ed.] Now that we're in, we are able to make a complete
785 pig's breakfast out of it. We've now set the Germans against the French,
786 the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch... and
787 the Foreign office is terribly happy. It's just like old time.
789 I was staggered by all of this. I thought that the all of us who are
790 publicly pro-European believed in the European ideal. I said this to Sir
791 Humphrey, and he simply chuckled.
793 So I asked him: if we don't believe in the European Ideal, why are we
794 pushing to increase the membership?
796 'Same reason,' came the reply. 'It's just like the United Nations. The
797 more members it has, the more arguments you can stir up, and the more
798 futile and impotent it becomes.'
800 This all strikes me as the most appalling cynicism, and I said so.
802 Sir Humphrey agreed completely. 'Yes Minister. We call it
803 diplomacy. It's what made Britain great, you know.'
805 =head2 v5.8.9-RC2 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
807 L<Announced on 2008-12-06 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/11/msg142422.html>
809 There was silence in the office. I didn't know what we were going to do
810 about the four hundred new people supervising our economy drive or the
811 four hundred new people for the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office, or
812 anything! I simply sat and waited and hoped that my head would stop
813 thumping and that some idea would be suggested by someone sometime soon.
815 Sir Humphrey obliged. 'Minister... if we were to end the economy drive
816 and close the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office we could issue an immediate
817 press announcement that you had axed eight hundred jobs.' He had
818 obviously thought this out carefully in advance, for at this moment he
819 produced a slim folder from under his arm. 'If you'd like to approve
822 I couldn't believe the impertinence of the suggestion. Axed eight
823 hundred jobs? 'But no one was ever doing these jobs,' I pointed out
824 incredulously. 'No one's been appointed yet.'
826 'Even greater economy,' he replied instantly. 'We've saved eight hundred
827 redundancy payments as well.'
829 'But...' I attempted to explain '... that's just phony. It's dishonest,
830 it's juggling with figures, it's pulling the wool over people's eyes.'
832 'A government press release, in fact.' said Humphrey.
834 =head2 v5.8.9-RC1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
836 L<Announced on 2008-11-10 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/11/msg141515.html>
838 A jumbo jet touched down, with BURANDAN AIRWAYS written on the side. I
839 was hugely impressed. British Airways are having to pawn their Concordes,
840 and here is this little tiny African state with its own airline, jumbo
843 I asked Bernard how many planes Burandan Airways had. 'None,' he said.
845 I told him not to be silly and use his eyes. 'No Minister, it belongs to
846 Freddie Laker,' he said. 'They chartered it last week and repainted it
847 specially.' Apparently most of the Have-Nots (I mean, LDCs) do this - at
848 the opening of the UN General Assembly the runways of Kennedy Airport are
849 jam-packed with phoney flag-carriers. 'In fact,' said Bernard with a sly
850 grin, 'there was one 747 that belonged to nine different African airlines
851 in a month. They called it the mumbo-jumbo.'
853 While we watched nothing much happening on the TV except the mumbo-jumbo
854 taxiing around Prestwick and the Queen looking a bit chilly, Bernard gave
855 me the next day's schedule and explained that I was booked on the night
856 sleeper from King's Cross to Edinburgh because I had to vote in a
857 three-line whip at the House tonight and would have to miss the last
858 plane. Then the commentator, in that special hushed BBC voice used for any
859 occasion with which Royalty is connected, announced reverentially that we
860 were about to catch our first glimpse of President Selim.
862 And out of the plane stepped Charlie. My old friend Charlie Umtali. We
863 were at LSE together. Not Selim Mohammed at all, but Charlie.
865 Bernard asked me if I were sure. Silly question. How could you forget a
866 name like Charlie Umtali?
868 I sent Bernard for Sir Humphrey, who was delighted to hear that we now
869 know something about our official visitor.
871 Bernard's official brief said nothing. Amazing! Amazing how little the FCO
872 has been able to find out. Perhaps they were hoping it would all be on the
873 car radio. All the brief says is that Colonel Selim Mohammed had converted
874 to Islam some years ago, they didn't know his original name, and therefore
875 knew little of his background.
877 I was able to tell Humphrey and Bernard /all/ about his background.
878 Charlie was a red-hot political economist, I informed them. Got the top
879 first. Wiped the floor with everyone.
881 Bernard seemed relieved. 'Well that's all right then.'
885 'I think Bernard means,' said Sir Humphrey helpfully, 'that he'll know how
886 to behave if he was at an English University. Even if it was the LSE.' I
887 never know whether or not Humphrey is insulting me intentionally.
889 Humphrey was concerned about Charlie's political colour. 'When you said
890 that he was red-hot, were you speaking politically?'
892 In a way I was. 'The thing about Charlie is that you never quite know
893 where you are with him. He's the sort of chap who follows you into a
894 revolving door and comes out in front.'
896 'No deeply held convictions?' asked Sir Humphrey.
898 'No. The only thing Charlie was committed too was Charlie.'
900 'Ah, I see. A politician, Minister.'
902 =head2 v5.8.8 - Joe Raposo, "Bein' Green"
904 L<Announced on 2006-02-01 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/28caf52e41ebe723>
906 It's not that easy bein' green
907 Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
908 When I think it could be nicer being red or yellow or gold
909 Or something much more colorful like that
911 It's not easy bein' green
912 It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
913 And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
914 Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
917 But green's the color of Spring
918 And green can be cool and friendly-like
919 And green can be big like an ocean
920 Or important like a mountain
923 When green is all there is to be
924 It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
925 Wonder I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
926 And I think it's what I want to be
928 =head2 v5.8.8-RC1 - Cosgrove Hall Productions, "Dangermouse"
930 L<Announced on 2006-01-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/d231fc554af8cc51>
932 Greenback: And the world is mine, all mine. Muhahahahaha. See to it!
934 Stiletto: Si, Barone. Subito, Barone.
936 =head2 v5.8.7 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
938 L<Announced on 2005-05-31 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/9a545704a0062f16>
940 And now, imagine the triumphant procession: Peter at the head; after him the
941 hunters leading the wolf; and winding up the procession, grandfather and the
944 Grandfather shook his head discontentedly: "Well, and if Peter hadn't caught
945 the wolf? What then?"
947 =head2 v5.8.7-RC1 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
949 L<Announced on 2005-05-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2005/05/msg100711.html>
951 And now this is how things stood: The cat was sitting on one branch. The
952 bird on another, not too close to the cat. And the wolf walked round and
953 round the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes.
955 In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the
956 gate, watching all that was going on. He ran home,got a strong rope and
957 climbed up the high stone wall.
959 One of the branches of the tree, around which the wolf was walking,
960 stretched out over the wall.
962 Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter lightly climbed over on to the tree.
963 Peter said to the bird: "Fly down and circle round the wolf's head, only
964 take care that he doesn't catch you!".
966 The bird almost touched the wolf's head with its wings, while the wolf
967 snapped angrily at him from this side and that.
969 How that bird teased the wolf, how that wolf wanted to catch him! But
970 the bird was clever and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it.
972 =head2 v5.8.6 - A. A. Milne, "The House at Pooh Corner"
974 L<Announced on 2004-11-28 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20041128000836.GA304@Bagpuss.unfortu.net>
976 "Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet, giving a jump of surprise. "I knew it was
979 "So did I,", said Pooh. "What are you doing?"
981 "I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up into an oak-tree,
982 and have lots of haycorns just outside the front door instead of having
983 to walk miles and miles, do you see, Pooh?"
985 "Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.
987 "It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so that's why I'm
990 "Well," aid Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it will
991 grow up into a beehive."
993 Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.
995 "Or a /piece/ of a honeycomb," said Pooh, "so as not to waste too much.
996 Only then I might only get a piece of a beehive, and it might be the
997 wrong piece, where the bees were buzzing and not hunnying. Bother"
999 Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.
1001 "Besides, Pooh, it's a very difficult thing, planting unless you know
1002 how to do it," he said; and he put the acorn in the hole he had made,
1003 and covered it up with earth, and jumped on it.
1005 =head2 v5.8.6-RC1 - A. A. Milne, "Winnie the Pooh"
1007 L<Announced on 2004-11-11 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/11/msg95786.html>
1009 "Hallo!" said Piglet, "whare are /you/ doing?"
1011 "Hunting," said Pooh.
1015 "Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
1017 "Tracking what?" said Piglet, coming closer.
1019 "That's just what I ask myself, I ask myself, What?"
1021 "What do you think you'll answer?"
1023 "I shall have to wait until I catch up with it," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
1024 "Now, look there." He pointed to the ground in front of him. "What do
1027 "Track," said Piglet. "Paw-marks." He gave a little squeak of
1028 excitement. "Oh, Pooh!" Do you think it's a--a--a Woozle?"
1030 =head2 v5.8.5 - wikipedia, "Yew"
1032 L<Announced on 2004-07-19 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/68340e2e4c39222c>
1034 Yews are relatively slow growing trees, widely used in landscaping and
1035 ornamental horticulture. They have flat, dark-green needles, reddish
1036 bark, and bear seeds with red arils, which are eaten by thrushes,
1037 waxwings and other birds, dispersing the hard seeds undamaged in their
1038 droppings. Yew wood is reddish brown (with white sapwood), and very
1039 hard. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the English
1042 In England, the Common Yew (Taxus baccata, also known as English Yew) is
1043 often found in churchyards. It is sometimes suggested that these are
1044 placed there as a symbol of long life or trees of death, and some are
1045 likely to be over 3,000 years old. It is also suggested that yew trees
1046 may have a pre-Christian association with old pagan holy sites, and the
1047 Christian church found it expedient to use and take over existing sites.
1048 Another explanation is that the poisonous berries and foliage discourage
1049 farmers and drovers from letting their animals wander into the burial
1050 grounds. The yew tree is a frequent symbol in the Christian poetry of
1051 T.S. Eliot, especially his Four Quartets.
1053 =head2 v5.8.5-RC2 - wikipedia, "Beech"
1055 L<Announced on 2004-07-09 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/f92175725af7a5ad>
1057 Beeches are trees of the Genus Fagus, family Fagaceae, including about
1058 ten species in Europe, Asia, and North America. The leaves are entire or
1059 sparsely toothed. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in
1060 pairs in spiny husks. The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental or
1061 shade tree is the European beech (Fagus sylvatica).
1063 The southern beeches belong to a different but related genus,
1064 Nothofagus. They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New
1065 Caledonia and South America.
1067 =head2 v5.8.5-RC1 - wikipedia, "Pedunculate Oak" (abridged)
1069 L<Announced on 2004-07-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/ca6ce4a7ed9f219c?pli=1>
1071 The Pedunculate Oak is called the Common Oak in Britain, and is also
1072 often called the English Oak in other English speaking countries It is a
1073 large deciduous tree to 25-35m tall (exceptionally to 40m), with lobed
1074 and sessile (stalk-less) leaves. Flowering takes place in early to mid
1075 spring, and their fruit, called "acorns", ripen by autumn of the same
1076 year. The acorns are pedunculate (having a peduncle or acorn-stalk) and
1077 may occur singly, or several acorns may occur on a stalk.
1079 It forms a long-lived tree, with a large widespreading head of rugged
1080 branches. While it may naturally live to an age of a few centuries, many
1081 of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced, both pruning techniques
1082 that extend the tree's potential lifespan, if not its health.
1084 Within its native range it is valued for its importance to insects and
1085 other wildlife. Numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the
1086 acorns. The acorns form a valuable food resource for several small
1087 mammals and some birds, notably Jays Garrulus glandarius.
1089 It is planted for forestry, and produces a long-lasting and durable
1090 heartwood, much in demand for interior and furniture work.
1092 =head2 v5.8.4 - T. S. Eliot, "The Old Gumbie Cat"
1094 L<Announced on 2004-04-22 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/c7333acf03ef4015>
1096 I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
1097 The curtain-cord she likes to wind, and tie it into sailor-knots.
1098 She sits upon the window-sill, or anything that's smooth and flat:
1099 She sits and sits and sits and sits -- and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
1101 But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
1102 Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
1103 She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment
1104 To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.
1105 So she's formed, from that a lot of disorderly louts,
1106 A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
1107 With a purpose in life and a good deed to do--
1108 And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.
1110 So for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers --
1111 On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears.
1114 =head2 v5.8.4-RC2 - T. S. Eliot, "Macavity: The Mystery Cat"
1116 L<Announced on 2004-04-16 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/84f6fdd73cc56a1b>
1118 Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw --
1119 For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
1120 He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
1121 For when they reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
1123 Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
1124 He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
1125 His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
1126 And when you reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
1127 You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air --
1128 But I tell you once and once again, /Macavity's not there/!
1130 =head2 v5.8.4-RC1 - T. S. Eliot, "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat"
1132 L<Announced on 2004-04-05 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/e500353440769ebf>
1134 There's a whisper down the line at 11.39
1135 When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
1136 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
1137 We must find him of the train can't start.'
1138 All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
1139 They are searching high and low,
1140 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
1141 Then the Night Mail just can't go'
1142 At 11.42 then the signal's overdue
1143 And the passengers are frantic to a man--
1144 Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
1145 He's been busy in the luggage van!
1146 He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
1147 And the the signal goes 'All Clear!'
1148 And we're off at last of the northern part
1149 Of the Northern Hemisphere!
1151 =head2 v5.8.3 - Arthur William Edgar O'Shaugnessy, "Ode"
1153 L<Announced on 2004-01-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/968fb8d71e23af69>
1155 We are the music makers,
1156 And we are the dreamers of dreams,
1157 Wandering by lonely sea-breakers,
1158 And sitting by desolate streams; --
1159 World-losers and world-forsakers,
1160 On whom the pale moon gleams:
1161 Yet we are the movers and shakers
1162 Of the world for ever, it seems.
1164 =head2 v5.8.3-RC1 - Irving Berlin, "Let's Face the Music and Dance"
1166 L<Announced on 2004-01-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/5ced50bebcd11c96>
1168 There may be trouble ahead,
1169 But while there's music and moonlight,
1170 And love and romance,
1171 Let's face the music and dance.
1173 Before the fiddlers have fled,
1174 Before they ask us to pay the bill,
1175 And while we still have that chance,
1176 Let's face the music and dance.
1178 Soon, we'll be without the moon,
1179 Humming a different tune, and then,
1181 There may be teardrops to shed,
1182 So while there's music and moonlight,
1183 And love and romance,
1184 Let's face the music and dance.
1186 =head2 v5.8.2 - Walt Whitman, "Passage to India"
1188 L<Announced on 2003-11-06 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/4714574f93967673>
1190 Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
1191 Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
1192 Cut the hawsers - hall out - shake out every sail!
1193 Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
1194 Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
1195 Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
1197 Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,
1198 Reckless O soul, exploring, I with the and thou with me,
1199 For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
1200 And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
1203 O farther farther sail!
1204 O daring job, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
1205 O farther, farther, farther sail!
1207 =head2 v5.8.2-RC2 - Eric Idle/John Du Prez, "Accountancy Shanty"
1209 L<Announced on 2003-11-03 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/7669de5804b792f6>
1211 It's fun to charter an accountant
1212 And sail the wide accountan-cy,
1213 To find, explore the funds offshore
1214 And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy.
1216 =head2 v5.8.2-RC1 - Edward Lear, "The Jumblies"
1218 L<Announced on 2003-10-28 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/83680ef3bbf7378d>
1220 They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
1221 In a Sieve they went to sea:
1222 In spite of all their friends could say,
1223 On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
1224 In a Sieve they went to sea!
1225 And when the Sieve turned round and round,
1226 And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
1227 They cried aloud, "Our Sieve ain't big,
1228 But we don't care a button, we don't care a fig!
1229 In a Sieve we'll go to sea!"
1231 Far and few, far and few,
1232 Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
1233 Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
1234 And they went to sea in a Sieve.
1236 =head2 v5.8.1 - epigraph same as v5.7.1
1238 L<Announced on 2003-09-25 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82678.html>
1240 =head2 v5.8.1-RC5 - Terry Pratchett, "Lords and Ladies"
1242 L<Announced on 2003-09-22 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82476.html>
1244 No matter what she did with her hair it took about
1245 three minutes for it to tangle itself up again,
1246 like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Footnote: Which,
1247 no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil
1248 overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].
1250 =head2 v5.8.1-RC4 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1252 L<Announced on 2003-08-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/08/msg79184.html>
1254 Grand Viziers were /always/ scheming megalomaniacs.
1255 It was probably in the job description: "Are you a
1256 devious, plotting, unreliable madman? Ah, good,
1257 then you can be my most trusted minister."
1259 =head2 v5.8.1-RC3 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1261 L<Announced on 2003-07-30 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg79048.html>
1263 Lord Hong had a mind like a knife, although possibly
1264 a knife with a curved blade.
1266 =head2 v5.8.1-RC2 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1268 L<Announced on 2003-07-11 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78102.html>
1270 Many an ancient lord's last words had been, "You can't kill
1271 me because I've got magic aaargh."
1273 =head2 v5.8.1-RC1 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1275 L<Announced on 2003-07-10 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78009.html>
1277 Cohen was familiar with city gates. He'd broken down a number
1278 in his time, by battering ram, siege gun, and on one occasion
1281 But the gates of Hunghung were pretty damn good gates. They
1282 weren't like the gates of Ankh-Morpork, which were usually wide
1283 open to attract the spending customer and whose concession to
1284 defense was the sign "Thank You For Not Attacking Our City.
1285 Bonum Diem." These things were big and made of metal and there
1286 was a guardhouse and a squad of unhelpful men in black armor.
1288 =head2 v5.8.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
1290 L<Announced on 2002-07-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63720.html>
1292 There was the faint sound of footsteps.
1293 "Chap with a whip got as far as the big sharp spikes last week,"
1294 said the low priest.
1295 There was a sound like the flushing of a very old dry lavatory.
1296 The footsteps stopped. The High Priest smiled to himself.
1297 "Right," he said. "See your two pebbles and raise you two pebbles."
1298 The low priest threw down his cards. "Double Onion," he said.
1299 The High Priest looked down suspiciously.
1300 The low priest consulted a scrap of paper. "That's three hundred
1301 thousand, nine hundred and sixty-four pebbles you owe me," he said.
1302 There was the sound of footsteps. The priests exchanged glances.
1303 "Haven't had one for poisoned-dart alley for quite some time,"
1304 said the High Priest.
1305 "Five says he makes it", said the low priest. "You're on."
1306 There was a faint clatter of metal points on stone.
1307 "It's a shame to take your pebbles."
1308 There were footsteps again.
1310 =head2 v5.8.0-RC3 - no epigraph
1312 L<Announced on 2002-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63234.html>
1314 =head2 v5.8.0-RC2 - no epigraph
1316 L<Announced on 2002-06-21 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg62013.html>
1318 =head2 v5.8.0-RC1 - no epigraph
1320 L<Announced on 2002-06-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg60317.html>
1322 =head2 v5.7.3 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
1324 L<Announced on 2002-03-04 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/03/msg53652.html>
1326 Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong.
1327 No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always
1328 got there first, and is waiting for it.
1330 =head2 v5.7.2 - Terry Pratchett, "Small Gods"
1332 L<Announced on 2001-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/07/msg40370.html>
1334 His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools --
1335 the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans -- and summed up
1336 all three of them in his famous phrase, "You can't trust any
1337 bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing
1338 you can do about it, so let's have a drink."
1340 =head2 v5.7.1 - Terry Pratchett, "The Colour of Magic"
1342 L<Announced on 2001-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33851.html>
1344 "What happens next?" asked Twoflower.
1346 Hrun screwed a finger in his ear and inspected it absently.
1348 "Oh,", he said, "I expect in a minute the door will be
1349 flung back and I'll be dragged off to some sort of temple
1350 arena where I'll fight maybe a couple of giant spiders
1351 and an eight-foot slave from the jungles of Klatch and then
1352 I'll rescue some kind of a princess from the altar and then
1353 I'll kill off a few guards or whatever and then this girl
1354 will show me the secret passage out of the place and we'll
1355 liberate a couple of horses and escape with the treasure."
1356 Hrun leaned his head back on his hands and looked at the
1357 ceiling, whistling tunelessly.
1359 "All that?" said Twoflower.
1363 =head2 v5.7.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures"
1365 L<Announced on 2000-09-02 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/09/msg17730.html>
1367 The Librarian had seen many weird things in his time,
1368 but that had to be the 57th strangest.
1369 [footnote: he had a tidy mind]
1371 =head2 v5.6.2 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
1373 L<Announced on 2003-11-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/deb8cb9ad918716f>
1375 When great or unexpected events fall out upon the stage of this
1376 sublunary word--the mind of man, which is an inquisitive kind of
1377 a substance, naturally takes a flight, behind the scenes, to see
1378 what is the cause and first spring of them--The search was not
1379 long in this instance.
1381 =head2 v5.6.2-RC1 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
1383 L<Announced on 2003-11-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/e3d4acc7a8dd3ce5>
1385 "Pray, my dear", quoth my mother, "have you not forgot to wind up the clock?"
1387 =head2 v5.6.1 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", Riddles in the Dark
1389 L<Announced on 2001-04-08 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33823.html>
1391 `What have I got in my pocket?' he said aloud. He was talking to
1392 himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully
1395 `Not fair! not fair!' he hissed. `It isn't fair, my precious, is it,
1396 to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?'
1398 Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask
1399 stuck to his question, `What have I got in my pocket?' he said
1402 `S-s-s-s-s,' hissed Gollum. `It must give us three guesseses,
1403 my precious, three guesseses.'
1405 =head2 v5.6.1-foolish - no epigraph
1407 L<Announced on 2001-08-04 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33421.html>
1409 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL3 - I can't find the announcement
1411 No announcement available.
1413 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL2 - no epigraph
1415 L<Announced on 2001-01-31 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/01/msg29934.html>
1417 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL1 - no epigraph
1419 L<Announced on 2000-12-18 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/12/msg27738.html>
1421 =head2 v5.6.0 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", The Last Stage
1423 L<Announced on 2000-03-23 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10341.html>
1425 The dragon is withered,
1426 His bones are now crumbled;
1427 His armour is shivered,
1428 His splendour is humbled!
1429 Though sword shall be rusted,
1430 And throne and crown perish
1431 With strength that men trusted
1432 And wealth that they cherish,
1433 Here grass is still growing,
1434 And leaves are a yet swinging,
1435 The white water flowing,
1436 And elves are yet singing
1437 Come! Tra-la-la-lally!
1438 Come back to the valley.
1440 =head2 v5.6.0-RC3 - no epigraph
1442 L<Announced on 2000-03-22 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10140.html>
1444 =head2 v5.005_05-RC1 - no epigraph
1446 L<Announced on 2009-02-16 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/02/msg144227.html>
1448 =head2 v5.005_04 - no epigraph
1450 L<Announced on 2004-03-01 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/6c240ad0b189cb47>
1452 =head2 v5.005_04-RC2 - Rudyard Kipling, "The Jungle Book"
1454 L<Announced on 2004-02-19 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/83e5421124a7b49d>
1456 The monkeys called the place their city, and pretended to despise
1457 the Jungle-People because they lived in the forest. And yet they
1458 never knew what the buildings were made for nor how to use
1459 them. They would sit in circles on the hall of the king's council
1460 chamber, and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men; or they would
1461 run in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster
1462 and old bricks in a corner, and forget where they had hidden them,
1463 and fight and cry in scuffling crowds, and then break off to play up
1464 and down the terraces of the king's garden, where they would shake
1465 the rose trees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit and flowers
1468 =head2 v5.005_04-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1470 L<Announced on 2004-02-05 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/6aaeb6ec699bd116>
1472 Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
1473 plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was
1474 going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what
1475 she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked
1476 at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
1477 cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures
1478 hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she
1479 passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
1480 disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear
1481 of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
1484 =head2 v1.0_16 - Johan Vromans, extemporarily
1486 L<Announced on 2003-12-18 by Richard Clamp|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/9281dc6194d15940>
1488 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1490 This document was originally compiled based on a list of epigraphs
1491 on L<Perl Monks|http://perlmonks.org> titled
1492 L<Recent Perl Release Announcement|http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=372406>