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 v5.18.0 - Yevgeny Zamyatin
22 L<Announced on 2013-05-18 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201940.html>
24 It is an error to divide people into the living and the dead: there are people
25 who are dead-alive, and people who are alive-alive. The dead-alive also write,
26 walk, speak, act. But they make no mistakes; only machines make no mistakes,
27 and they produce only dead things. The alive-alive are constantly in error, in
28 search, in questions, in torment.
30 =head2 v5.18.0-RC4 - Joseph Heller, Catch-22
32 L<Announced on 2013-04-16 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201889.html>
34 Clevinger was dead. That was the basic flaw in his philosophy.
36 =head2 v5.18.0-RC3 - Tom Waits, "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me"
38 L<Announced on 2013-04-14 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201823.html>
40 I'd love to go drowning
41 And to stay and to stay
42 But the ocean doesn't want me today
44 It can't possibly hurt
45 All they will find is my beer
48 =head2 v5.18.0-RC2 - Tom Waits, "Earth Died Screaming"
50 L<Announced on 2013-05-12 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201723.html>
52 And the great day of wrath has come
53 And here's mud in your big red eye
54 The poker's in the fire
55 And the locusts take the sky
56 And the earth died screaming
57 While I lay dreaming of you
59 =head2 v5.18.0-RC1 - Tom Waits, "What's He Building in There?"
61 L<Announced on 2013-05-11 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/05/msg201651.html>
63 What's he building in there?
65 We have a right to know…
67 =head2 v5.17.11 - Nigel Tufnel, This is Spın̈al Tap
69 L<Announced on 2013-04-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2013/04/msg201056.html>
71 It's very special because, if you can see, the numbers all go to…
72 eleven! Look, right across the board: eleven, eleven, eleven, eleven!
74 =head2 v5.17.10 - Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon The Deep
76 L<Announced on 2013-03-22 by Max Maischein|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2013-03/msg00908.html>
78 The archive informed the automation. Data structures were built, recipes
79 followed. A local network was built, faster than anything on Straum, but surely
80 safe. Nodes were added, modified by other recipes. The archive was a friendly
81 place, with hierarchies of translation keys that led them along. Straum itself
82 would be famous for this.
84 Six months passed. A year.
86 The omniscient view. Not self-aware really. Self-awareness is much over-rated.
87 Most automation works far better as a part of a whole, and even if human-
88 powerful, it does not need to self-know.
90 =head2 v5.16.3 - Devo, Freedom of Choice
92 L<Announced on 2013-03-11 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2013-03/msg00414.html>
94 A victim of collision on the open sea
95 Nobody ever said that life was free
96 Sink, swim, go down with the ship
97 But use your freedom of choice
99 =head2 v5.14.4 - Arthur C. Clarke, The Nine Billion Names of God
101 L<Announced on 2013-03-11 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2013-03/msg00393.html>
103 He began to sing, but gave it up after a while. This vast arena of
104 mountains, gleaming like whitely hooded ghosts on every side, did not
105 encourage such ebullience. Presently George glanced at his watch.
107 'Should be there in an hour,' he called back over his shoulder to
108 Chuck. Then he added, in an afterthought: 'Wonder if the computer's
109 finished its run. It was due about now.'
111 Chuck didn't reply, so George swung round in his saddle. He could just
112 see Chuck's face, a white oval turned towards the sky.
114 'Look,' whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven. (There
115 is always a last time for everything.)
117 Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.
120 =head2 v5.17.9 - Douglas Adams, The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
122 L<Announced on 2013-02-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2013-02/msg01146.html>
124 Vogon poetry is of course, the third worst in the universe.
125 The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a
126 recitation by their poet master Grunthos the Flatulent of
127 his poem 'Ode To A Small Lump of Green Putty I Found In My
128 Armpit One Midsummer Morning' four of his audience died
129 of internal haemorrhaging and the president of the
130 Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one
131 of his own legs off. Grunthos is reported to have been
132 'disappointed' by the poem's reception, and was about to
133 embark on a reading of his twelve-book epic entitled
134 'My Favourite Bathtime Gurgles' when his own major intestine,
135 in a desperate attempt to save life and civilisation,
136 leapt straight up through his neck and throttled his brain.
138 The very worst poetry of all perished along with its creator
139 Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge, Essex, England,
140 in the destruction of the planet Earth.
142 =head2 v5.17.8 - Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost
144 L<Announced on 2013-01-20 by Aaron Crane|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2013-01/msg00518.html>
146 I must here declare myself as someone who does not for a moment subscribe to
147 the general view that a willingness to perform oneself is detrimental to the
148 dignity of experimental philosophy. There is, after all, a clear distinction
149 between labour carried out for financial reward, and that done for the
150 improvement of mankind: to put it another way, Lower as a philosopher was
151 fully my equal even if he fell away when he became the practising physician.
152 I think ridiculous of certain professors of anatomy, who find it beneath
153 them to pick up the knife themselves, but merely comment while hired hands
154 do the cutting. Sylvius would never have dreamt of sitting on a dais reading
155 from an authority while others cut E<0x2014> when he taught, the knife was
156 in his hand and the blood spattered his coat. Boyle also did not scruple to
157 perform his own experiments and, on one occasion in my presence, even showed
158 himself willing to anatomise a rat with his very own hands. Nor was he less
159 a gentleman when he had finished. Indeed, in my opinion, his stature was all
160 the greater, for in Boyle wealth, humility and curiosity mingled, and the
161 world is richer for it.
163 =head2 v5.17.7 - R. Scott Bakker, The Darkness That Comes Before
165 L<Announced on 2012-12-18 by Dave Rolsky|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-12/msg00679.html>
168 The boy extinguished. Only a place.
170 Motionless, the Pragma sat facing him, the bare soles of his feet flat against each other, his dark frock scored by the shadows of deep folds, his eyes as empty as the child they watched.
171 A place without breath or sound. A place of sight alone. A place without before or after . . . almost.
172 For the first lances of sunlight careered over the glacier, as ponderous as great tree limbs in the wind. Shadows hardened and light gleamed across the Pragma’s ancient skull.
173 The old man’s left hand forsook his right sleeve, bearing a watery knife. And like a rope in water, his arm pitched outward, fingertips trailing across the blade as the knife swung languidly into the air, the sun skating and the dark shrine plunging across its mirror back . . .
174 And the place where Kellhus had once existed extended an open hand—the blond hairs like luminous filaments against tanned skin—and grasped the knife from stunned space.
175 The slap of pommel against palm triggered the collapse of place into little boy. The pale stench of his body. Breath, sound, and lurching thoughts.
176 I have been legion . . .
177 In his periphery, he could see the spike of the sun ease from the mountain. He felt drunk with exhaustion. In the recoil of his trance, it seemed all he could hear were the twigs arching and bobbing in the wind, pulled by leaves like a million sails no bigger than his hand. Cause everywhere, but amid countless minute happenings—diffuse, useless.
180 =head2 v5.17.6 - Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
182 L<Announced on 2012-11-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-11/msg00760.html>
184 Beatrice, looking like a gypsy queen, smoldered at the foot of a statue
185 of a young physical student. At first glance, the laboratory-gowned
186 scientist seemed to be a perfect servant of nothing but truth. At first
187 glance, one was convinced that nothing but truth could please him as he
188 beamed at his test tube. At first glance, one thought that he was as
189 much above the beastly concerns of mankind as the harmoniums in the
190 caves of Mercury. There, at first glance, was a young man without
191 vanity, without lust — and one accepted at its face value the title Salo
192 had engraved on the statue, "Discovery of Atomic Power."
194 =head2 v5.12.5 - William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
196 Announced on 2012-11-10 by Dominic Hargreaves
198 Music oft hath such a charm
199 To make bad good, and good provoke to harm.
201 =head2 v5.16.2 - Stanislaw Lem, The Cyberiad, Trurl's Machine
203 L<Announced on 2012-11-01 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-11/msg00017.html>
205 Once upon a time Trurl the constructor built an eight-story thinking
206 machine. When it was finished, he gave it a coat of white paint,
207 trimmed the edges in lavender, stepped back, squinted, then added a
208 little curlicue on the front and, where one might imagine the forehead
209 to be, a few pale orange polkadots. Extremely pleased with himself,
210 he whistled an air and, as is always done on such occasions, asked it
211 the ritual question of how much is two plus two.
213 The machine stirred. Its tubes began to glow, its coils warmed up,
214 current coursed through all its circuits like a waterfall,
215 transformers hummed and throbbed, there was a clanging, and a
216 chugging, and such an ungodly racket that Trurl began to think of
217 adding a special mentation muffler. Meanwhile the machine labored on,
218 as if it had been given the most difficult problem in the Universe to
219 solve; the ground shook, the sand slid underfoot from the vibration,
220 valves popped like champagne corks, the relays nearly gave way under
221 the strain. At last, when Trurl had grown extremely impatient, the
222 machine ground to a halt and said in a voice like thunder: SEVEN!
224 =head2 v5.17.5 - Charles Stross, "Singularity Sky"
226 L<Announced on 2012-10-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-10/msg01007.html>
228 Neither of them noticed the pair of polka-dotted knickers hiding
229 behind the ventilation duct overhead, listening patiently and
230 recording everything.
232 =head2 v5.17.4 - Roald Dahl, "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf"
234 L<Announced on 2012-09-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-09/msg01226.html>
236 The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
237 She whips a pistol from her knickers.
238 She aims it at the creature's head,
239 And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
241 A few weeks later, in the wood,
242 I came across Miss Riding Hood.
243 But what a change! No cloak of red,
244 No silly hood upon her head.
245 She said, "Hello, and do please note
246 My lovely furry wolfskin coat."
248 =head2 v5.17.3 - Kris Ta-belle, "Smoked Perl Onion Soup"
250 L<Announced on 2012-08-20 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/08/msg190775.html>
254 Cut 16 Perl Onions into quarters and put them in a grill smoker rack
255 or a perforated pan over a BBQ using hickory wood chips or Special
256 Blend Smoker Bisquettes. Smoke them for an hour and remove once they
258 Let them cool and put them in the fridge (or freezer) until you are
259 ready to create the soup.
263 16 diced, pre-smoked, Perl Onions
266 2 small garlic cloves, finely minced
269 black pepper to taste
271 1/4 cup all purpose flour
272 6 cups of beef or vegetable stock
273 1 cup of thick cream (milk can be used as a substitute)
277 Melt the butter in a pan and then add olive oil.
278 Heat and add the onions to caramelize over a medium-high heat for up
280 Add the garlic, turn down the heat and cook for a further 5 minutes.
281 Add the salt, pepper and sugar.
282 Now add the red wine and reduce to a jam like consistency.
283 Add the flour, stir well and add the stock a cup at a time.
284 Simmer for 30 minutes, add the cream and heat to almost boiling.
288 =head2 v5.17.2 - Terry Pratchet, "The Colour of Magic"
290 L<Announced on 2012-07-21 by TonyC|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/07/msg189828.html>
292 ‘I knew it,’ said Rincewind. ‘We're in a strong magical field.’
294 Twoflower and Hrun looked around the little hollow where they had made
295 their noonday halt. Then they looked at each other.
297 The horses were quietly cropping the rich grass by the stream. Yellow
298 butterflies skittered among the bushes. There was a smell of thyme
299 and a buzzing of bees. The wild pigs on the spit sizzled gently.
301 Hrun shrugged and went back to oiling his biceps. They gleamed.
303 ‘Looks alright to me,’ he said.
305 ‘Try tossing a coin,’ said Rincewind.
309 ‘Go on. Toss a coin.’
311 ‘Hokay,’ said Hrun. 'If that gives you any pleasure.’ He reached into
312 his pouch and withdrew a handful of loose change plundered from a
313 dozen realms. With some care he selected a Zchloty leaden
314 quarter-iotum and balanced it on a purple thumbnail.
316 ‘You call,’ he said. ‘Heads or—’ he inspected the obverse with
317 an air of intense concentration, ‘some sort of a fish with legs.’
319 ‘When it's in the air,’ said Rincewind. Hrun grinned and flicked his thumb.
321 The iotum rose, spinning.
323 ‘Edge,’ said Rincewind, without looking at it.
325 =head2 v5.17.1 - Rand Miller, "Myst: The Book of Ti'ana"
327 L<Announced on 2012-06-20 by doy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/06/msg188354.html>
329 On their return from Ko'ah, Aitrus had shown her the Book, patiently
330 taking her through page after page, and showing her how such an Age was
331 "made." She had seen at once the differences between this archaic form
332 and the ordinary written speech of the D'ni, noting how it was not
333 merely more elaborate but more specific: a language of precise yet
334 subtle descriptive power. Yet seeing was one thing, believing another.
335 Given all the evidence, her rational mind still fought against accepting
338 =head2 v5.17.0 - Charles Stross, "Singularity Sky"
340 L<Announced on 2012-05-26 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/05/msg187214.html>
342 `Welcome, comrades!' Burya opened his arms toward the soldier.
343 `Yes it is true! With help from our allies of the Festival, the iron
344 hand of the reactionary junta is about to be overthrown for all time!
345 The new economy is being born; the marginal cost of production has
346 been abolished, and from now on, if any item is produced once, it can
347 be replicated infinitely. From each according to his imagination,
348 to each according to his needs! Join us or better still, bring your
349 fellow soldiers and workers to join us!'
351 There was a sharp bang from the roof of the Corn Exchange, right at the
352 climax of his impromptu speech; heads turned in alarm. Something had
353 broken inside the spork factory and a stream of rainbow-hued plastic
354 implements fountained toward the sky and clattered to the cobblestones
355 on every side, like a harbinger of the postindustrial society to come.
356 Workers and peasants alike stared in open-mouthed bewilderment at this
357 astounding display of productivity, then bent to scrabble in the muck
358 for the brightly colored sporks of revolution. A volley of shots rang
359 out and Burya Rubenstein raised his hands, grinning wildly, to accept
360 the salute of the soldiers from the Skull Hill garrison.
362 =head2 v5.16.1 - Emerald Rose - Never Split The Party
364 L<Announced on 2012-08-08 by Ricardo
365 Signes|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-08/msg00307.html>
367 Don't you know? You never split the party
368 Clerics in the back to keep those fighters hale and hearty
369 The wizard in the middle, where he can shed some light
370 And you never let that damn thief out of sight…
372 -- Emerald Rose, Never Split The Party
374 =head2 v5.16.1 RC1 - Tom Moldvay - Dungeons & Dragons
376 L<Announced on 2012-08-03 by Ricardo
377 Signes|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-08/msg00157.html>
379 I was busy rescuing the captured maiden when the dragon showed up.
380 Fifty feed of scaled terror glared down at us with smoldering red eyes.
381 Tendrils of smoke drifted out from between fangs larger than daggers.
382 The dragon blocked the only exit from the cave.
386 I unwrapped the sword which the mysterious cleric had given me. The
387 sword was golden-tinted steel. Its hilt was set with a rainbow
388 collection of precious gems. I shouted my battle cry and charged
390 My charge caught the dragon by surprise. Its titanic jaws snapped shut
391 inches from my face. I swung the golden sword with both arms. The
392 swordblade bit into the dragon's neck and continued through to the other
393 side. With an earth-shaking crash, the dragon dropped dead at my feet.
394 The magic sword had saved my life and ended the reign of the
395 dragon-tyrant. The countryside was freed and I could return as a hero.
397 -- Tom Moldvay, Foreward to the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rulebook
399 =head2 v5.16.0 - W.H. Auden - September 1, 1939
401 L<Announced on 2012-05-20 by Ricardo
402 Signes|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2012-05/msg00728.html>
404 All I have is a voice
405 To undo the folded lie,
406 The romantic lie in the brain
407 Of the sensual man-in-the-street
408 And the lie of Authority
409 Whose buildings grope the sky:
410 There is no such thing as the State
411 And no one exists alone;
412 Hunger allows no choice
413 To the citizen or the police;
414 We must love one another or die.
416 -- W.H. Auden, September 1, 1939
418 =head2 v5.15.9 - Bob Dylan - Blowin' In The Wind
420 L<Announced on 2012-03-20 by
421 Abigail|http://nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/184824>
423 How many roads must a man walk down
424 Before you call him a man?
425 Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
426 Before she sleeps in the sand?
427 Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannonballs fly
428 Before they're forever banned?
429 The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
430 The answer is blowin' in the wind
432 How many years can a mountain exist
433 Before it's washed to the sea?
434 Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
435 Before they're allowed to be free?
436 Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
437 Pretending he just doesn't see?
438 The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
439 The answer is blowin' in the wind
441 How many times must a man look up
442 Before he can see the sky?
443 Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
444 Before he can hear people cry?
445 Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
446 That too many people have died?
447 The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
448 The answer is blowin' in the wind
450 -- Bob Dylan, Spring 1962
452 =head2 v5.15.8 - The KLF - The Manual-How To Have A Number One The Easy Way
454 L<Announced on 2012-02-20 by Max
455 Maischein|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/02/msg183919.html>
457 "Doctor Who, hey Doctor Who
458 Doctor Who, in the Tardis
459 Doctor Who, hey Doctor Who
460 Doctor Who, Doc, Doctor Who
461 Doctor Who, Doc, Doctor Who"
463 Gibberish of course, but every lad in the country under a certain
464 age related instinctively to what it was about. The ones slightly
465 older needed a couple of pints inside them to clear away the mind
466 debris left by the passing years before it made sense. As for
467 girls and our chorus, we think they must have seen it as pure crap.
468 A fact that must have limited to zero our chances of staying at The
469 Top for more than one week.
471 Stock, Aitkin and Waterman, however, are kings of writing chorus
472 lyrics that go straight to the emotional heart of the 7" single
473 buying girls in this country. Their most successful records will kick
474 into the chorus with a line which encapsulates the entire emotional
475 meaning of the song. This will obviously be used as the title. As
476 soon as Rick Astley hit the first line of the chorus on his debut
477 single it was all over - the Number One position was guaranteed:
479 "I'm never going to give you up"
481 =head2 v5.15.7 - Penelope Lively, The Voyage of QV66
483 L<Announced on 2012-01-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams
484 |http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/01/msg182230.html>
486 "Laboratories," announced Henry. "Kindly don't touch anything."
488 He led us into a long low brick shed. Outside there was a
489 notice on a piece of board, crudely printed in red paint,
490 which said GRATE SIENCE DISCOVERYS DONE HERE SSSH! BRING YOUR
491 OWN BUKKIT NO PINCHING ANYWUN ELSE'S EXPERRYMENTS CANTEEN OPEN
494 There were a lot of large black monkeys inside, all intently
495 busy on what they were doing. Some of them were pouring stuff
496 out of bottles into buckets and carefully stirring the ensuing
497 mixture; others were at work with glass tubes and jars, blowing
498 and measuring and mixing; others were crouched over long benches
499 with tools and heaps of bits and pieces of metal, cutting and
500 bending and constructing. There was a great deal of noise and
501 chatter. Every now and then one of them would give a whoop of
502 excitement and all the others would gather round and jump up and
503 down cheering and applauding.
505 "Chimps," said Henry. "They're awfully clever."
507 =head2 v5.15.6 - Ursula K. Leguin, A Wizard of Earthsea
509 L<Announced on 2011-12-20 by Dave
510 Rolsky|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/12/msg180962.html>
512 Ged had thought that as the prentice of a great mage he would enter at once
513 into the mystery and mastery of power. He would understand the language of the
514 beasts and the speech of the leaves of the forest, he thought, and sway the
515 winds with his word, and learn to change himself into any shape he
516 wished. Maybe he and his master would run together as stags, or fly to Re Albi
517 over the mountain on the wings of eagles.
519 But it was not so at all. They wandered, first down into the Vale and then
520 gradually south and westward around the mountain, given lodging in little
521 villages or spending the night out in the wilderness, like poor
522 journeyman-sorcerers, or tinkers, or beggars. They entered no mysterious
523 domain. Nothing happened. The mage's oaken staff that Ged had watched at first
524 with eager dread was nothing but a stout staff to walk with. Three days went
525 by and four days went by and still Ogion had not spoken a single charm in
526 Ged's hearing, and had not taught him a single name or rune or spell.
528 =head2 v5.15.5 - Nikolai Gogol, The Diary of a Madman
530 L<Announced on 2011-11-20 by Steve
531 Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/11/msg179588.html>
533 This day - is a day of the greatest solemnity! Spain has a king. He has
534 been found. I am that king. Only this very day did I learn of it. I
535 confess, it came to me suddenly in a flash of lightning. I don't understand
536 how I could have thought and imagined that I was a titular councillor. How
537 could such a wild notion enter my head? It's a good thing no one thought of
538 putting me in an insane asylum. Now everything is laid open before me. Now
539 I see everything as on the palm of my hand. And before, I don't understand,
540 before everything around me was in some sort of fog. And all this happens, I
541 think, because people imagine that the human brain is in the head. Not at
542 all: it is brought by a wind from the direction of the Caspian Sea. First
543 off, I announced to Mavra who I am. When she heard that the king of Spain
544 was standing before her, she clasped her hands and nearly died of fright.
545 The stupid woman had never seen a king of Spain before. However, I
546 endeavoured to calm her down and assured her in gracious words of my
547 benevolence and that I was not at all angry that she sometimes polished my
548 boots poorly. They're benighted folk. It's impossible to tell them about
549 lofty matters. She got frightened because she's convinced that all kings of
550 Spain are like Philip II. But I explained to her that there was no
551 resemblance between me and Philip II, and that I didn't have a single
552 Capuchin . . . I didn't go to the office . . . To hell with it! No friends,
553 you won't lure me there now; I'm not going to copy your vile papers!
555 -- Nikolai Gogol, The Diary of a Madman,
556 trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
558 =head2 v5.15.4 - Steve Jobs
560 L<Announced on 2011-10-20 by Florian
561 Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/10/msg178412.html>
563 A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they
564 don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions
565 without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of
566 the human experience, the better design we will have.
568 =head2 v5.14.3 - William Shakespeare, As You Like It
570 L<Announced on 2012-10-12 by Dominic Hargreaves|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2012/10/msg194057.html>
572 The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all
573 this time there was not any man died in his own person,
574 videlicit, in a love-cause. Troilus had his brains dashed
575 out with a Grecian club; yet he did what he could to die
576 before, and he is one of the patterns of love. Leander, he
577 would have lived many a fair year, though Hero had turned
578 nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night; for, good
579 youth, he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont and
580 being taken with the cramp was drowned and the foolish
581 coroners of that age found it was 'Hero of Sestos.' But these
582 are all lies: men have died from time to time and worms have
583 eaten them, but not for love.
585 -- As You Like It, William Shakespeare
587 =head2 v5.14.2 - L<< Larry Wall, January 12, 1988 <992@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> |http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sources.d/msg/5d17fa68c250b9b2 >>
589 L<Announced on 2011-09-26 by Florian
590 Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/09/msg177618.html>
593 It's not so much that people don't value the programs after they have them--they
594 do value them. But they're not the sort of thing that would ever catch on if
595 they had to overcome the marketing barrier. (I don't yet know if perl will
596 catch on at all--I'm worried enough about it that I specifically included an
597 awk-to-perl translator just to help it catch on.) Maybe it's all just an
598 inferiority complex. Or maybe I don't like to be mercenary.
600 So I guess I'd say that the reason some software comes free is that the
601 mechanism for selling it is missing, either from the work environment, or from
602 the heart of the programmer.
605 =head2 v5.15.3 - Oscar Wilde, All Art is Quite Useless
607 L<Announced on 2011-09-20 by Stevan
608 Little|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/09/msg177427.html>
610 All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath
611 the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol
612 do so at their peril.
614 It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.
615 Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the
616 work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the
617 artist is in accord with himself.
619 We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as
620 he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless
621 thing is that one admires it intensely.
623 All art is quite useless.
625 -- Oscar Wilde, From the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray
628 =head2 v5.15.2 - Rainer Maria Rilke, The Third Duina Elegy
630 L<Announced on 2011-08-20 by Ricardo
631 Signes|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2011-08/msg00694.html>
633 True, it is strange to live no more on earth,
634 no longer follow the folkways scarecely learned;
635 not to give roses and other especially auspicious
636 things the significance of a human future;
637 to be no more what one was in infinitely anxious hands,
638 and to put aside even one's name, like a broken plaything.
639 Strange, to wish wishes no longer. Strange, to see
640 all that was related fluttering so loosely in space.
641 And being dead is hard, full of catching-up,
642 so that finally one feels a little eternity.–
643 But the living all make the mistake of too sharp discrimination.
644 Often angels (it's said) don't know if they move
645 among the quick or the dead. The eternal current
646 hurtles all ages along with it forever
647 through both realms and drowns their voices in both.
649 -- Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino, The First Elegy
650 trans., C. F. MacIntyre
652 =head2 v5.15.1 - Greg Egan, "Permutation City"
654 L<Announced on 2011-07-20 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/07/msg175014.html>
656 Carter held out a hand towards the middle of the room. `See that
657 fountain?' A ten-metre-wide marble wedding cake, topped with a
658 winged cherub wrestling a serpent, duly appeared. Water cascaded
659 down from a gushing wound in the cherub's neck. Carter said, `It's
660 being computed by redundancies in the sketch of the city. I can
661 extract the results, because I know exactly where to look for them --
662 but nobody else would have a hope in hell of picking them out.'
664 Peer walked up to the fountain. Even as he approached, he noticed
665 that the spray was intangible; when he dipped his hand in the water
666 around the base he felt nothing, and the motion he made with his
667 fingers left the foaming surface unchanged. They were spying on
668 the calculations, not interacting with them; the fountain was a
671 Carter said, `In your case, of course, nobody will need to know
672 the results. Except you -- and you'll know them because you'll
675 =head2 v5.15.0 - Neil Gaiman, "The Graveyard Book"
677 L<Announced on 2011-06-20 by David Golden|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173748.html>
679 If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all
680 you will have gained.
682 =head2 v5.12.4 - William Schwenck Gilbert, "Trial By Jury"
684 L<Announced on 2011-06-20 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173725.html>
686 You cannot eat breakfast all day,
687 Nor is it the act of a sinner,
688 When breakfast is taken away,
689 To turn his attention to dinner;
690 And it's not in the range of belief,
691 To look upon him as a glutton,
692 Who, when he is tired of beef,
693 Determines to tackle the mutton.
694 Ah! But this I am willing to say,
695 If it will appease her sorrow,
696 I'll marry this lady today,
697 And I'll marry the other tomorrow!
699 =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 >>
701 L<Announced on 2011-06-16 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173650.html>
703 At this point I'm no longer working for a company that makes me sign
704 my life away, but by now I'm in the habit. Besides, I still harbor
705 the deep-down suspicion that nobody would pay money for what I write,
706 since most of it just helps you do something better that you could
707 already do some other way. How much money would you personally pay
708 to upgrade from readnews to rn? How much money would you pay for
709 the patch program? As for warp, it's a mere game. And anything you
710 can do with perl you can eventually do with an amazing and totally
711 unreadable conglomeration of awk, sed, sh and C.
713 =head2 v5.12.4-RC2 - James Russell Lowell, "Eleanor makes macaroons"
715 L<Announced on 2011-06-15 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173609.html>
717 Now for sugar, -- nay, our plan
718 Tolerates no work of man.
719 Hurry, then, ye golden bees;
720 Fetch your clearest honey, please,
721 Garnered on a Yorkshire moor,
722 While the last larks sing and soar,
723 From the heather-blossoms sweet
724 Where sea-breeze and sunshine meet,
725 And the Augusts mask as Junes, --
726 Eleanor makes macaroons!
728 =head2 v5.12.4-RC1 - Ogden Nash, "The Clean Plater"
730 L<Announced on 2011-06-08 by Leon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/06/msg173352.html>
732 Pheasant is pleasant, of course,
733 And terrapin, too, is tasty,
734 Lobster I freely endorse,
735 In pate or patty or pasty.
736 But there's nothing the matter with butter,
737 And nothing the matter with jam,
738 And the warmest greetings I utter
739 To the ham and the yam and the clam.
742 And I think very fondly of food.
743 Through I'm broody at times
744 When bothered by rhymes,
748 =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 >>
750 L<Announced on 2011-05-14 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172326.html>
752 At the start of any project, I'm programming primarily to please
753 myself. (The two chief virtues in a programmer are laziness and
754 impatience.) After a while somebody looks over my shoulder and says,
755 "That's neat. It'd be neater if it did such-and-so." So the thing
756 gets neater. Pretty soon (a year or two) I have an rn, a warp, a patch,
757 or a perl. One of these years I'll have a metaconfig.
759 I then say to myself, "I don't want my life's work to die when this
760 computer is scrapped, so I should let some other people use this. If I
761 ask my company to sell this, it'll never see the light of day, and nobody
762 would pay much for it anyway. If I sell it myself, I'll be in trouble with
763 my company, to whom I signed my life away when I was hired. If I give it
764 away, I can pretend it was worthless in the first place, so my company
765 won't care. In any event, it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."
767 So a freely distributable program is born.
769 =head2 v5.14.0-RC3 - American Airlines Gate Agent, last call
771 L<Announced on 2011-05-11 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg172282.html>
773 This is the last call for flight 1697 with service to Chicago and
774 continuing service to San Francisco. All passengers should already be
775 aboard. If you aren't aboard at this time, you will be denied boarding
776 and your bags will be offloaded.
778 =head2 v5.14.0-RC2 - Greg Grandin, Fordlandia, "the Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City"
780 L<Announced on 2011-05-04 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/05/msg171879.html>
782 Over the course of nearly two decades, Ford would spend tens of millions
783 of dollars founding not one but, after the plantation was defastated
784 by leaf blight, two American towns, complete with central squares,
785 sidewalks, indoor plumbing, hospitals, manicured lawns, movie theaters,
786 swimming pools, golf courses, and, of course, Model Ts and As rolling
787 down their paved streets.
789 Back in America, newspapers kept up their drumbeat celebration, only
790 obliquely referencing reports that things were not progressing as the
791 company had hoped. But there was one note of skepticism. In late 1928,
792 the Washington Post ran an editorial that read in its entirety: "Ford will
793 govern a rubber plantation in Brazil larger than North Carolina. This is
794 the first time he has applied quantity production methods to trouble"
796 =head2 v5.14.0-RC1 - Bill Bryson, "In a Sunburned Country"
798 L<Announced on 2011-04-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/04/msg171253.html>
800 But then Australia is such a difficult country to keep track of. On
801 my first visit, some years ago, I passed the time on the long flight
802 reading a history of Australian politics in the twentieth century,
803 wherein I encountered the startling fact that in 1967 the prime minister,
804 Harold Holt, was strolling along a beach in Victoria when he plunged into
805 the surf and vanished. No trace of the poor man was ever seen again.
806 This seemed doubly astounding to meE<0x2014>first that Australia could
807 just I<lose> a prime minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of
808 this had never reached me.
810 =head2 v5.13.11 - Walt Whitman, L<Leaves of Grass|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass>
812 L<Announced on 2011-02-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2011-03/msg00560.html>
814 When the full-grown poet came,
815 Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its
816 shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine;
817 But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled,
818 Nay he is mine alone;
819 --Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each
821 And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands,
822 Which he will never release until he reconciles the two,
823 And wholly and joyously blends them.
825 =head2 v5.13.10 - Egill Skalla-Grímsson, L<Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar|http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Egils_saga_Skalla-Gr%C3%ADmssonar>
827 L<Announced on 2011-02-20 by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/02/msg169340.html>
829 Skalat maðr rúnar rísta,
831 Þat verðr mörgum manni,
832 es of myrkvan staf villisk.
834 tíu launstafi ristna.
836 langs ofrtrega fengit.
838 =head2 v5.13.9 - John F Kennedy, L<Inaugural Address January 20, 1961|http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy%27s_Inaugural_Address>
840 L<Announced on 2011-01-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168335.html>
842 In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
843 granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I
844 do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe
845 that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other
846 generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this
847 endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from
848 that fire can truly light the world.
850 And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
851 ask what you can do for your country.
853 My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you,
854 but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
856 Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world,
857 ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which
858 we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history
859 the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love,
860 asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's
861 work must truly be our own.
863 =head2 v5.13.8 - Roger Williams, L<"The Fifth Gift"|http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/8/19/21304/8493>
865 L<Announced on 2010-12-19 by Zefram|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/12/msg167271.html>
867 The aliens called the box a "matter generator," but we'd be more inclined
868 to call it a matter duplicator. By connecting switches and potentiometers
869 between the copper posts it was possible to make the box mark off two
870 cubic rectangular areas of volume. Make a certain contact, and these
871 areas would be isolated within perfectly reflective fields. They could
872 be expanded or contracted by altering resistances between other posts.
873 As I worked out the user interface I built a little control panel for
874 the device. It was actually a clever way for the aliens to do things;
875 instead of trying to build controls we could use, they built us an
876 interface we could attach to controls that made sense to us. It could
879 Once you had made the contact that established the shielded volumes,
880 if you made another certain contact the contents of the first volume
881 were copied to the second. The machine copied metal, plastic, steel,
882 and diamond with equal ease. Copies of copies of copies of copies were
883 indistinguishable from the originals at any magnification, even using
884 techniques like X-ray crystallography.
886 =head2 v5.13.7 - Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, 'The Matrix'
888 L<Announced on 2010-11-20 by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/11/msg166162.html>
890 [Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
894 [Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
896 Trinity: What did you just say?
897 Neo: Nothing. Just had a little deja vu.
898 Trinity: What did you see?
899 Cypher: What happened?
900 Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just
902 Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
903 Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.
904 Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!
906 Trinity: A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when
907 they change something.
909 =head2 v5.13.6 - Haruki Murakami, "Kafka on the Shore"
911 L<Announced on 2010-10-20 by Tatsuhiko Miyagawa|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/10/msg165183.html>
913 The boy called Crow softly rests a hand on my shoulder, and with that
916 "From now on -- no matter what -- you've got to be the world's toughest
917 fifteen-year-old. That's the only way you're going to survive. And in order
918 to do that, you've got to figure out what it means to be tough. You following
921 I keep my eyes closed and don't reply. I just want to sink off into sleep
922 like this, his hand on my shoulder. I hear the faint flutter of wings.
924 "You're going to be the world's toughest fifteen-year-old," Crow whispers
925 as I try to fall asleep. Like he was carving the words in a deep blue tattoo
928 (Translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel)
930 =head2 v5.13.5 - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, "The Room in the Dragon Volant"
932 L<Announced on 2010-09-19 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg164238.html>
934 Candle in hand I stepped in. I do not know whether the quality of
935 air, long undisturbed, is peculiar; to me it has always seemed so, and
936 the damp smell of the old masonry hung in this atmosphere. My candle
937 faintly lighted the bare stone wall that enclosed the stair, the foot
938 of which I could not see. Down I went, and a few turns brought me to
939 the stone floor. Here was another door, of the simple, old, oak kind,
940 deep sunk in the thickness of the wall. The large end of the key
941 fitted this. The lock was stiff; I set the candle down upon the
942 stair, and applied both hands; it turned with difficulty, and as it
943 revolved, uttered a shriek that alarmed me for my secret.
945 For some minutes I did not move. In a little time, however, I took
946 courage, and opened the door. The night-air floating in puffed out
947 the candle. There was a thicket of holly and underwood, as dense as a
948 jungle, close about the door. I should have been in pitch-darkness,
949 were it not that through the topmost leaves there twinkled, here and
950 there, a glimmer of moonshine.
952 Softly, lest any one should have opened his window at the sound of the
953 rusty bolt, I struggled through this till I gained a view of the open
954 grounds. Here I found that the brushwood spread a good way up the
955 park, uniting with the wood that approached the little temple I have
958 =head2 v5.13.4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
960 L<Announced on 2010-08-20 by Florian Ragwitz|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163150.html>
962 `How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat lessons!' thought Alice;
963 `I might as well be at school at once.' However, she got up, and began to repeat
964 it, but her head was so full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew what
965 she was saying, and the words came very queer indeed:--
967 "'Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare,
968 "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
969 As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
970 Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.'
973 `That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,' said the Gryphon.
975 `Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; `but it sounds uncommon
978 Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her hands, wondering if
979 anything would ever happen in a natural way again.
981 `I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle.
983 `She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily. `Go on with the next verse.'
985 `But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted. `How could he turn them out
986 with his nose, you know?'
988 `It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by
989 the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
991 =head2 v5.13.3 - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, "Good Omens"
993 L<Announced on 2010-07-20 by David Golden|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/07/msg162230.html>
995 Look at Crowley, doing 110 mph on the M40 heading towards
996 Oxfordshire. Even the most resolutely casual observer would
997 notice a number of strange things about him. The clenched teeth,
998 for example, or the dull red glow coming from behind his
999 sunglasses. And the car. The car was a definite hint.
1001 Crowley had started the journey in his Bentley, and he was
1002 dammned if he wasn't going to finish it in the Bentley as well.
1003 Not that even the kind of car buff who owns his own pair of
1004 motoring goggles would have been able to tell it was a vintage
1005 Bentley. Not any more. They wouldn't have been able to tell
1006 that it was a Bentley. They would only offer fifty-fifty that it
1007 had ever even been a car.
1009 There was no paint left on it, for a start. It might still have
1010 been black, where it wasn't a rusty, smudged reddish-brown, but
1011 this was a dull charcoal black. It traveled in its own ball of
1012 flame, like a space capsule making a particularly difficult
1015 There was a thin skin of crusted, melted rubber left around the
1016 metal wheel rims, but seeing that the wheel rims were still
1017 somhow riding an inch above the road surface this didn't seem to
1018 make an awful lot of difference to the suspension.
1020 It should have fallen apart miles back.
1022 =head2 v5.13.2 - Iain M Banks, "Use of Weapons"
1024 L<Announced on 2010-06-22 by Matt S Trout|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/06/msg161112.html>
1026 We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal laws -
1027 the rules of right and wrong that people imagine apply everywhere else
1028 in the universe - break down; beyond those metaphysical event-horizons,
1029 there exist ... special circumstances.
1031 =head2 v5.13.1 - Miguel de Unamuno, "The Sepulchre of Don Quixote"
1033 L<Announced on 2010-05-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160275.html>
1035 And if anyone shall come to you and say that he knows how to construct
1036 bridges and that perhaps a time will come when you will wish to avail
1037 yourself of his science in order to cross over a river, out with him! Out
1038 with the engineer! Rivers will be crossed by wading or swimming them, even
1039 if half the crusaders drown themselves. Let the engineer go off and build
1040 bridges somewhere else, where they are badly wanted. For those who go in
1041 quest of the sepulchre, faith is bridge enough.
1043 =head2 v5.13.0 - Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth"
1045 L<Announced on 2010-04-20 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg159275.html>
1047 The heat still remained at quite a supportable degree. With an
1048 involuntary shudder, I reflected on what the heat must have been
1049 when the volcano of Sneffels was pouring its smoke, flames, and
1050 streams of boiling lava -- all of which must have come up by the
1051 road we were now following. I could imagine the torrents of hot
1052 seething stone darting on, bubbling up with accompaniments of
1053 smoke, steam, and sulphurous stench!
1055 "Only to think of the consequences," I mused, "if the old
1056 volcano were once more to set to work."
1058 =head2 v5.12.3 - Howard W. Campbell, Jr., "Reflections on Not Participating in Current Events"
1060 L<Announced on 2011-01-21 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2011/01/msg168368.html>
1062 I saw a huge steam roller,
1063 It blotted out the sun.
1064 The people all lay down, lay down;
1065 They did not try to run.
1066 My love and I, we looked amazed
1067 Upon the gory mystery.
1068 'Lie down, lie down!' the people cried.
1069 'The great machine is history!'
1070 My love and I, we ran away,
1071 The engine did not find us.
1072 We ran up to a mountain top,
1073 Left history far behind us.
1074 Perhaps we should have stayed and died,
1075 But somehow we don't think so.
1076 We went to see where history'd been,
1077 And my, the dead did stink so.
1079 =head2 v5.12.2 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
1081 L<Announced on 2010-09-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/09/msg163852.html>
1083 CPUs. Cayce Pollard Units. That's what Damien calls the clothing
1084 she wears. CPUs are either black, white, or gray, and ideally
1085 seem to have come into this world without human intervention.
1087 What people take for relentless minimalism is a side effect
1088 of too much exposure to the reactor-cores of fashion. This
1089 has resulted in a remorseless paring-down of what she can and
1090 will wear. She is, literally, allergic to fashion. She can
1091 only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general
1092 lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. She's a
1093 design-free zone, a one-woman school of and whose very austerity
1094 periodically threatens to spawn its own cult.
1096 =head2 v5.12.2-RC1 - William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition"
1098 L<Announced on 2010-08-31 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/08/msg163670.html>
1100 The front page opens, familiar as a friend's living room. A frame-grab
1101 from #48 serves as backdrop, dim and almost monochrome, no characters in
1102 view. This is one of the sequences that generate comparisons with
1103 Tarkovsky. She only knows Tarkovsky from stills, really, though she did
1104 once fall asleep during a screening of The Stalker, going under on an
1105 endless pan, the camera aimed straight down, in close-up, at a puddle on
1106 a ruined mosaic floor. But she is not one of those who think that much
1107 will be gained by analysis of the maker's imagined influences. The cult
1108 of the footage is rife with subcults, claiming every possible influence.
1109 Truffaut, Peckinpah -- The Peckinpah people, among the least likely, are
1110 still waiting for the guns to be drawn.
1112 =head2 v5.12.1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
1114 L<Announced on 2010-05-16 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160109.html>
1116 "Now suppose," chortled Dr. Breed, enjoying himself, "that there were
1117 many possible ways in which water could crystallize, could freeze.
1118 Suppose that the sort of ice we skate upon and put into highballs --
1119 what we might call ice-one -- is only one of several types of ice.
1120 Suppose water always froze as ice-one on Earth because it had never
1121 had a seed to teach it how to form ice-two, ice-three, ice-four
1122 ...? And suppose," he rapped on his desk with his old hand again,
1123 "that there were one form, which we will call ice-nine -- a crystal as
1124 hard as this desk -- with a melting point of, let us say, one-hundred
1125 degrees Fahrenheit, or, better still, a melting point of one-hundred-
1126 and-thirty degrees."
1128 =head2 v5.12.1-RC2 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
1130 L<Announced on 2010-05-13 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg160066.html>
1132 San Lorenzo was fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, I learned from
1133 the supplement to the New York Sunday Times. Its population was four
1134 hundred, fifty thousand souls, "...all fiercely dedicated to the ideals
1137 Its highest point, Mount McCabe, was eleven thousand feet above sea
1138 level. Its capital was Bolivar, "...a strikingly modern city built on a
1139 harbor capable of sheltering the entire United States Navy." The principal
1140 exports were sugar, coffee, bananas, indigo, and handcrafted novelties.
1142 =head2 v5.12.1-RC1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
1144 L<Announced on 2010-05-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/05/msg159971.html>
1146 Which brings me to the Bokononist concept of a wampeter. A wampeter is
1147 the pivot of a karass. No karass is without a wampeter, Bokonon tells us,
1148 just as no wheel is without a hub. Anything can be a wampeter: a tree,
1149 a rock, an animal, an idea, a book, a melody, the Holy Grail. Whatever
1150 it is, the members of its karass revolve about it in the majestic chaos
1151 of a spiral nebula. The orbits of the members of a karass about their
1152 common wampeter are spiritual orbits, naturally. It is souls and not
1153 bodies that revolve. As Bokonon invites us to sing:
1155 Around and around and around we spin,
1156 With feet of lead and wings of tin . . .
1158 =head2 v5.12.0 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1160 L<Announced on 2010-04-12 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158820.html>
1162 'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was
1163 not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why
1164 your cat grins like that?'
1166 'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'
1168 She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite
1169 jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby,
1170 and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:--
1172 'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know
1173 that cats COULD grin.'
1175 'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'
1177 =head2 v5.12.0-RC5 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1179 L<Announced on 2010-04-09 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158720.html>
1181 'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words
1184 'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and
1185 there was silence for some minutes.
1187 =head2 v5.12.0-RC4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1189 L<Announced on 2010-04-06 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158567.html>
1191 'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't
1192 always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
1193 rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and
1194 yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what
1195 can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that
1196 kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
1198 =head2 v5.12.0-RC3 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1200 L<Announced on 2010-04-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/04/msg158346.html>
1202 At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them,
1203 called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you
1204 dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse
1205 in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt
1206 sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
1208 'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This
1209 is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William
1210 the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted
1211 to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much
1212 accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of
1213 Mercia and Northumbria --"'
1215 =head2 v5.12.0-RC2 - no announcement
1217 Available on CPAN since 2010-04-01.
1219 =head2 v5.12.0-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1221 L<Announced on 2010-03-29 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg158060.html>
1223 So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
1224 hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of
1225 making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
1226 picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
1229 There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
1230 VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh
1231 dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
1232 occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time
1233 it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH
1234 OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on,
1235 Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
1236 never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
1237 take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field
1238 after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large
1239 rabbit-hole under the hedge.
1241 In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
1242 in the world she was to get out again.
1244 =head2 v5.12.0-RC0 - no epigraph
1246 L<Announced on 2020-03-21 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/03/msg157761.html>
1248 =head2 v5.11.5 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel"
1250 L<Announced on 2010-02-21 by Steve Hay|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/02/msg156957.html>
1252 A little child, a limber elf,
1253 Singing, dancing to itself,
1254 A fairy thing with red round cheeks,
1255 That always finds, and never seeks,
1256 Makes such a vision to the sight
1257 As fills a father's eyes with light;
1258 And pleasures flow in so thick and fast
1259 Upon his heart, that he at last
1260 Must needs express his love's excess
1261 With words of unmeant bitterness.
1262 Perhaps 'tis pretty to force together
1263 Thoughts so all unlike each other;
1264 To mutter and mock a broken charm,
1265 To dally with wrong that does no harm.
1266 Perhaps 'tis tender too and pretty
1267 At each wild word to feel within
1268 A sweet recoil of love and pity.
1269 And what, if in a world of sin
1270 (O sorrow and shame should this be true!)
1271 Such giddiness of heart and brain
1272 Comes seldom save from rage and pain,
1273 So talks as it's most used to do.
1275 =head2 v5.11.4 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment"
1277 L<Announced on 2010-01-20 by Ricardo Signes|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2010/01/msg155848.html>
1279 And you don't suppose that I went into it headlong like a fool? I went
1280 into it like a wise man, and that was just my destruction. And you
1281 mustn't suppose that I didn't know, for instance, that if I began to
1282 question myself whether I had the right to gain power -- I certainly
1283 hadn't the right -- or that if I asked myself whether a human being is a
1284 louse it proved that it wasn't so for me, though it might be for a man
1285 who would go straight to his goal without asking questions.... If I
1286 worried myself all those days, wondering whether Napoleon would have
1287 done it or not, I felt clearly of course that I wasn't Napoleon.
1289 =head2 v5.11.3 - Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
1291 L<Announced on 2009-12-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/12/msg154838.html>
1293 "Say -- I'm going in a swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? But of
1294 course you'd druther work -- wouldn't you? Course you would!"
1296 Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said: "What do you call work?"
1298 "Why ain't that work?"
1300 Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly: "Well, maybe it
1301 is, and maybe it aint. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer."
1303 "Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?"
1305 The brush continued to move. "Like it? Well I don't see why I oughtn't
1306 to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
1308 That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom
1309 swept his brush daintily back and forth -- stepped back to note the effect
1310 -- added a touch here and there-criticised the effect again -- Ben
1311 watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more
1312 absorbed. Presently he said: "Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."
1314 =head2 v5.11.2 - Michael Marshall Smith, "Only Forward"
1316 L<Announced on 2009-11-20 by Léon Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/11/msg153646.html>
1318 The streets were pretty quiet, which was nice. They're always quiet here
1319 at that time: you have to be wearing a black jacket to be out on the
1320 streets between seven and nine in the evening, and not many people in
1321 the area have black jackets. It's just one of those things. I currently
1322 live in Colour Neighbourhood, which is for people who are heavily into
1323 colour. All the streets and buildings are set for instant colourmatch:
1324 as you walk down the road they change hue to offset whatever you're
1325 wearing. When the streets are busy it's kind of intense, and anyone
1326 prone to epileptic seizures isn't allowed to live in the Neighbourhood,
1327 however much they're into colour.
1329 =head2 v5.11.1 - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
1331 L<Announced on 2009-10-20 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg152360.html>
1333 Milo had been caught red-handed in the act of plundering his countrymen,
1334 and, as a result, his stock had never been higher. He proved good as his
1335 word when a rawboned major from Minnesota curled his lip in rebellious
1336 disavowal and demanded his share of the syndicate Milo kept saying
1337 everybody owned. Milo met the challenge by writing the words "A Share"
1338 on the nearest scrap of paper and handing it away with a virtuous disdain
1339 that won the envy and admiration of almost everyone who knew him. His
1340 glory was at a peak, and Colonel Cathcart, who knew and admired his
1341 war record, was astonished by the deferential humility with which Mil
1342 presented himself at Group Headquarters and made his fantastic appeal
1343 for more hazardous assignment.
1345 =head2 v5.11.0 - Mikhail Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita"
1347 L<Announced on 2009-10-02 by Jesse Vincent|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/10/msg151376.html>
1349 Whispers of an "evil power" were heard in lines at dairy shops, in
1350 streetcars, stores, arguments, kitchens, suburban and long-distance
1351 trains, at stations large and small, in dachas and on beaches. Needless
1352 to say, truly mature and cultured people did not tell these stories
1353 about an evil power's visit to the capital. In fact, they even made fun
1354 of them and tried to talk sense into those who told them. Nevertheless,
1355 facts are facts, as they say, and cannot simply be dismissed without
1356 explanation: somebody had visited the capital. The charred cinders of
1357 Griboyedov alone, and many other things besides, confirmed it. Cultured
1358 people shared the point of view of the investigating team: it was the
1359 work of a gang of hypnotists and ventriloquists magnificently skilled in
1362 =head2 v5.10.1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
1364 L<Announced on 2009-09-23 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150172.html>
1366 'Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, known as
1367 the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private
1368 Secretary. I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he is the
1369 Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly
1370 responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under
1371 Secretaries and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries.
1372 Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain
1373 Private Secretaries. The Prime Minister will be appointing two
1374 Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own
1375 Parliamentary Private Secretary.'
1377 'Can they all type?' I joked.
1379 'None of us can type, Minister,' replied Sir Humphrey smoothly. 'Mrs
1380 McKay types - she is your Secretary.'
1382 I couldn't tell whether or not he was joking. 'What a pity,' I said.
1383 'We could have opened an agency.'
1385 Sir Humphrey and Bernard laughed. 'Very droll, sir,' said Sir
1386 Humphrey. 'Most amusing, sir,' said Bernard. Were they genuinely
1387 amused at my wit, or just being rather patronising? 'I suppose they
1388 all say that, do they?' I ventured.
1390 Sir Humphrey reassured me on that. 'Certainly not, Minister,' he
1391 replied. 'Not quite all.'
1393 =head2 v5.10.1-RC2 - no epigraph
1395 L<Announced on 2009-08-18 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg150015.html>
1397 =head2 v5.10.1-RC1 - no epigraph
1399 L<Announced on 2009-08-06 by Dave Mitchell|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/08/msg149498.html>
1401 =head2 v5.10.0 - Laurence Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
1403 L<Announced on 2007-12-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/12/msg131636.html>
1405 He would often declare, in speaking his thoughts upon the subject, that
1406 he did not conceive how the greatest family in England could stand it
1407 out against an uninterrupted succession of six or seven short
1408 noses.--And for the contrary reason, he would generally add, That it
1409 must be one of the greatest problems in civil life, where the same
1410 number of long and jolly noses, following one another in a direct line,
1411 did not raise and hoist it up into the best vacancies in the kingdom.
1413 =head2 v5.10.0-RC2 - no epigraph
1415 L<Announced on 2007-11-25 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130978.html>
1417 =head2 v5.10.0-RC1 - no epigraph
1419 L<Announced on 2007-11-17 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/11/msg130653.html>
1421 =head2 v5.9.5 - no announcement
1423 L<Pre-announced on 2007-07-07 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2007/07/msg126358.html>,
1424 available on CPAN with same date, but never actually announced.
1426 =head2 v5.9.4 - no epigraph
1428 L<Announced on 2006-08-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/08/msg115782.html>
1430 =head2 v5.9.3 - no epigraph
1432 L<Announced on 2006-01-28 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2006/01/msg109086.html>
1434 =head2 v5.9.2 - Thomas Pynchon, "V"
1436 L<Announced on 2005-04-01 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20050401150702.2b4a70d5@grubert.mandrakesoft.com>
1438 This word flip was weird. Every recording date of McClintic's he'd
1439 gotten into the habit of talking electricity with the audio men and
1440 technicians of the studio. McClintic once couldn't have cared less
1441 about electricity, but now it seemed if that was helping him reach a
1442 bigger audience, some digging, some who would never dig, but all
1443 paying and those royalties keeping the Triumph in gas and McClintic
1444 in J. Press suits, then McClintic ought to be grateful to
1445 electricity, ought maybe to learn a little more about it. So he'd
1446 picked up some here and there, and one day last summer he got around
1447 to talking stochastic music and digital computers with one
1448 technician. Out of the conversation had come Set/Reset, which was
1449 getting to be a signature for the group. He had found out from this
1450 sound man about a two-triode circuit called a flip-flop, which when
1451 it turned on could be one of two ways, depending on which tube was
1452 conducting and which was cut off: set or reset, flip or flop.
1454 "And that," the man said, "can be yes or no, or one or zero. And
1455 that is what you might call one of the basic units, or specialized
1456 `cells' in a big `electronic brain.' "
1458 "Crazy," said McClintic, having lost him back there someplace. But
1459 one thing that did occur to him was if a computer's brain could go
1460 flip or flop, why so could a musician's. As long as you were flop,
1461 everything was cool. But where did the trigger-pulse come from to
1464 =head2 v5.9.1 - Tom Stoppard, "Arcadia"
1466 L<Announced on 2004-03-16 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/8587d77c565f2d43>
1468 Aren't you supposed to have a pony?
1470 =head2 v5.9.0 - Doris Lessing, "Martha Quest"
1472 L<Announced on 2003-10-27 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/63a8c34385de82a1>
1474 What of October, that ambiguous month
1476 =head2 v5.8.9 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
1478 L<Announced on 2008-12-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/12/msg142571.html>
1480 Frank and I, unlike the civil servants, were still puzzled that such a
1481 proposal as the Europass could even be seriously under consideration by
1482 the FCO. We can both see clearly that it is wonderful ammunition for the
1483 anti-Europeans. I asked Humphrey if the Foreign Office doesn't realise
1484 how damaging this would be to the European ideal?
1486 'I'm sure they do, Minister, he said. That's why they support it.'
1488 This was even more puzzling, since I'd always been under the impression
1489 that the FO is pro-Europe. 'Is it or isn't it?' I asked Humphrey.
1491 'Yes and no,' he replied of course, 'if you'll pardon the
1492 expression. The Foreign Office is pro-Europe because it is really
1493 anti-Europe. In fact the Civil Service was united in its desire to make
1494 sure the Common Market didn't work. That's why we went into it.'
1496 This sounded like a riddle to me. I asked him to explain further. And
1497 basically his argument was as follows: Britain has had the same foreign
1498 policy objective for at least the last five hundred years - to create a
1499 disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against
1500 the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and
1501 Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Italians
1502 and Germans. [The Dutch rebellion against Phillip II of Spain, the
1503 Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War - Ed.]
1505 In other words, divide and rule. And the Foreign Office can see no
1506 reason to change when it has worked so well until now.
1508 I was aware of this, naturally, but I regarded it as ancient history.
1509 Humphrey thinks that it is, in fact, current policy. It was necessary
1510 for us to break up the EEC, he explained, so we had to get inside. We
1511 had previously tried to break it up from the outside, but that didn't
1512 work. [A reference to our futile and short-lived involvement in EFTA,
1513 the European Free Trade Association, founded in 1960 and which the UK
1514 left in 1972 - Ed.] Now that we're in, we are able to make a complete
1515 pig's breakfast out of it. We've now set the Germans against the French,
1516 the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch... and
1517 the Foreign office is terribly happy. It's just like old time.
1519 I was staggered by all of this. I thought that the all of us who are
1520 publicly pro-European believed in the European ideal. I said this to Sir
1521 Humphrey, and he simply chuckled.
1523 So I asked him: if we don't believe in the European Ideal, why are we
1524 pushing to increase the membership?
1526 'Same reason,' came the reply. 'It's just like the United Nations. The
1527 more members it has, the more arguments you can stir up, and the more
1528 futile and impotent it becomes.'
1530 This all strikes me as the most appalling cynicism, and I said so.
1532 Sir Humphrey agreed completely. 'Yes Minister. We call it
1533 diplomacy. It's what made Britain great, you know.'
1535 =head2 v5.8.9-RC2 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
1537 L<Announced on 2008-12-06 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/11/msg142422.html>
1539 There was silence in the office. I didn't know what we were going to do
1540 about the four hundred new people supervising our economy drive or the
1541 four hundred new people for the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office, or
1542 anything! I simply sat and waited and hoped that my head would stop
1543 thumping and that some idea would be suggested by someone sometime soon.
1545 Sir Humphrey obliged. 'Minister... if we were to end the economy drive
1546 and close the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office we could issue an immediate
1547 press announcement that you had axed eight hundred jobs.' He had
1548 obviously thought this out carefully in advance, for at this moment he
1549 produced a slim folder from under his arm. 'If you'd like to approve
1552 I couldn't believe the impertinence of the suggestion. Axed eight
1553 hundred jobs? 'But no one was ever doing these jobs,' I pointed out
1554 incredulously. 'No one's been appointed yet.'
1556 'Even greater economy,' he replied instantly. 'We've saved eight hundred
1557 redundancy payments as well.'
1559 'But...' I attempted to explain '... that's just phony. It's dishonest,
1560 it's juggling with figures, it's pulling the wool over people's eyes.'
1562 'A government press release, in fact.' said Humphrey.
1564 =head2 v5.8.9-RC1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
1566 L<Announced on 2008-11-10 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2008/11/msg141515.html>
1568 A jumbo jet touched down, with BURANDAN AIRWAYS written on the side. I
1569 was hugely impressed. British Airways are having to pawn their Concordes,
1570 and here is this little tiny African state with its own airline, jumbo
1573 I asked Bernard how many planes Burandan Airways had. 'None,' he said.
1575 I told him not to be silly and use his eyes. 'No Minister, it belongs to
1576 Freddie Laker,' he said. 'They chartered it last week and repainted it
1577 specially.' Apparently most of the Have-Nots (I mean, LDCs) do this - at
1578 the opening of the UN General Assembly the runways of Kennedy Airport are
1579 jam-packed with phoney flag-carriers. 'In fact,' said Bernard with a sly
1580 grin, 'there was one 747 that belonged to nine different African airlines
1581 in a month. They called it the mumbo-jumbo.'
1583 While we watched nothing much happening on the TV except the mumbo-jumbo
1584 taxiing around Prestwick and the Queen looking a bit chilly, Bernard gave
1585 me the next day's schedule and explained that I was booked on the night
1586 sleeper from King's Cross to Edinburgh because I had to vote in a
1587 three-line whip at the House tonight and would have to miss the last
1588 plane. Then the commentator, in that special hushed BBC voice used for any
1589 occasion with which Royalty is connected, announced reverentially that we
1590 were about to catch our first glimpse of President Selim.
1592 And out of the plane stepped Charlie. My old friend Charlie Umtali. We
1593 were at LSE together. Not Selim Mohammed at all, but Charlie.
1595 Bernard asked me if I were sure. Silly question. How could you forget a
1596 name like Charlie Umtali?
1598 I sent Bernard for Sir Humphrey, who was delighted to hear that we now
1599 know something about our official visitor.
1601 Bernard's official brief said nothing. Amazing! Amazing how little the FCO
1602 has been able to find out. Perhaps they were hoping it would all be on the
1603 car radio. All the brief says is that Colonel Selim Mohammed had converted
1604 to Islam some years ago, they didn't know his original name, and therefore
1605 knew little of his background.
1607 I was able to tell Humphrey and Bernard /all/ about his background.
1608 Charlie was a red-hot political economist, I informed them. Got the top
1609 first. Wiped the floor with everyone.
1611 Bernard seemed relieved. 'Well that's all right then.'
1615 'I think Bernard means,' said Sir Humphrey helpfully, 'that he'll know how
1616 to behave if he was at an English University. Even if it was the LSE.' I
1617 never know whether or not Humphrey is insulting me intentionally.
1619 Humphrey was concerned about Charlie's political colour. 'When you said
1620 that he was red-hot, were you speaking politically?'
1622 In a way I was. 'The thing about Charlie is that you never quite know
1623 where you are with him. He's the sort of chap who follows you into a
1624 revolving door and comes out in front.'
1626 'No deeply held convictions?' asked Sir Humphrey.
1628 'No. The only thing Charlie was committed too was Charlie.'
1630 'Ah, I see. A politician, Minister.'
1632 =head2 v5.8.8 - Joe Raposo, "Bein' Green"
1634 L<Announced on 2006-02-01 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/28caf52e41ebe723>
1636 It's not that easy bein' green
1637 Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
1638 When I think it could be nicer being red or yellow or gold
1639 Or something much more colorful like that
1641 It's not easy bein' green
1642 It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
1643 And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
1644 Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
1647 But green's the color of Spring
1648 And green can be cool and friendly-like
1649 And green can be big like an ocean
1650 Or important like a mountain
1653 When green is all there is to be
1654 It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
1655 Wonder I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
1656 And I think it's what I want to be
1658 =head2 v5.8.8-RC1 - Cosgrove Hall Productions, "Dangermouse"
1660 L<Announced on 2006-01-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/d231fc554af8cc51>
1662 Greenback: And the world is mine, all mine. Muhahahahaha. See to it!
1664 Stiletto: Si, Barone. Subito, Barone.
1666 =head2 v5.8.7 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
1668 L<Announced on 2005-05-31 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/9a545704a0062f16>
1670 And now, imagine the triumphant procession: Peter at the head; after him the
1671 hunters leading the wolf; and winding up the procession, grandfather and the
1674 Grandfather shook his head discontentedly: "Well, and if Peter hadn't caught
1675 the wolf? What then?"
1677 =head2 v5.8.7-RC1 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
1679 L<Announced on 2005-05-20 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2005/05/msg100711.html>
1681 And now this is how things stood: The cat was sitting on one branch. The
1682 bird on another, not too close to the cat. And the wolf walked round and
1683 round the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes.
1685 In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the
1686 gate, watching all that was going on. He ran home,got a strong rope and
1687 climbed up the high stone wall.
1689 One of the branches of the tree, around which the wolf was walking,
1690 stretched out over the wall.
1692 Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter lightly climbed over on to the tree.
1693 Peter said to the bird: "Fly down and circle round the wolf's head, only
1694 take care that he doesn't catch you!".
1696 The bird almost touched the wolf's head with its wings, while the wolf
1697 snapped angrily at him from this side and that.
1699 How that bird teased the wolf, how that wolf wanted to catch him! But
1700 the bird was clever and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it.
1702 =head2 v5.8.6 - A. A. Milne, "The House at Pooh Corner"
1704 L<Announced on 2004-11-28 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20041128000836.GA304@Bagpuss.unfortu.net>
1706 "Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet, giving a jump of surprise. "I knew it was
1709 "So did I,", said Pooh. "What are you doing?"
1711 "I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up into an oak-tree,
1712 and have lots of haycorns just outside the front door instead of having
1713 to walk miles and miles, do you see, Pooh?"
1715 "Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.
1717 "It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so that's why I'm
1720 "Well," aid Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it will
1721 grow up into a beehive."
1723 Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.
1725 "Or a /piece/ of a honeycomb," said Pooh, "so as not to waste too much.
1726 Only then I might only get a piece of a beehive, and it might be the
1727 wrong piece, where the bees were buzzing and not hunnying. Bother"
1729 Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.
1731 "Besides, Pooh, it's a very difficult thing, planting unless you know
1732 how to do it," he said; and he put the acorn in the hole he had made,
1733 and covered it up with earth, and jumped on it.
1735 =head2 v5.8.6-RC1 - A. A. Milne, "Winnie the Pooh"
1737 L<Announced on 2004-11-11 by Nicholas Clark|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2004/11/msg95786.html>
1739 "Hallo!" said Piglet, "whare are /you/ doing?"
1741 "Hunting," said Pooh.
1745 "Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
1747 "Tracking what?" said Piglet, coming closer.
1749 "That's just what I ask myself, I ask myself, What?"
1751 "What do you think you'll answer?"
1753 "I shall have to wait until I catch up with it," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
1754 "Now, look there." He pointed to the ground in front of him. "What do
1757 "Track," said Piglet. "Paw-marks." He gave a little squeak of
1758 excitement. "Oh, Pooh!" Do you think it's a--a--a Woozle?"
1760 =head2 v5.8.5 - wikipedia, "Yew"
1762 L<Announced on 2004-07-19 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/68340e2e4c39222c>
1764 Yews are relatively slow growing trees, widely used in landscaping and
1765 ornamental horticulture. They have flat, dark-green needles, reddish
1766 bark, and bear seeds with red arils, which are eaten by thrushes,
1767 waxwings and other birds, dispersing the hard seeds undamaged in their
1768 droppings. Yew wood is reddish brown (with white sapwood), and very
1769 hard. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the English
1772 In England, the Common Yew (Taxus baccata, also known as English Yew) is
1773 often found in churchyards. It is sometimes suggested that these are
1774 placed there as a symbol of long life or trees of death, and some are
1775 likely to be over 3,000 years old. It is also suggested that yew trees
1776 may have a pre-Christian association with old pagan holy sites, and the
1777 Christian church found it expedient to use and take over existing sites.
1778 Another explanation is that the poisonous berries and foliage discourage
1779 farmers and drovers from letting their animals wander into the burial
1780 grounds. The yew tree is a frequent symbol in the Christian poetry of
1781 T.S. Eliot, especially his Four Quartets.
1783 =head2 v5.8.5-RC2 - wikipedia, "Beech"
1785 L<Announced on 2004-07-09 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/f92175725af7a5ad>
1787 Beeches are trees of the Genus Fagus, family Fagaceae, including about
1788 ten species in Europe, Asia, and North America. The leaves are entire or
1789 sparsely toothed. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in
1790 pairs in spiny husks. The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental or
1791 shade tree is the European beech (Fagus sylvatica).
1793 The southern beeches belong to a different but related genus,
1794 Nothofagus. They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New
1795 Caledonia and South America.
1797 =head2 v5.8.5-RC1 - wikipedia, "Pedunculate Oak" (abridged)
1799 L<Announced on 2004-07-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/ca6ce4a7ed9f219c?pli=1>
1801 The Pedunculate Oak is called the Common Oak in Britain, and is also
1802 often called the English Oak in other English speaking countries It is a
1803 large deciduous tree to 25-35m tall (exceptionally to 40m), with lobed
1804 and sessile (stalk-less) leaves. Flowering takes place in early to mid
1805 spring, and their fruit, called "acorns", ripen by autumn of the same
1806 year. The acorns are pedunculate (having a peduncle or acorn-stalk) and
1807 may occur singly, or several acorns may occur on a stalk.
1809 It forms a long-lived tree, with a large widespreading head of rugged
1810 branches. While it may naturally live to an age of a few centuries, many
1811 of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced, both pruning techniques
1812 that extend the tree's potential lifespan, if not its health.
1814 Within its native range it is valued for its importance to insects and
1815 other wildlife. Numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the
1816 acorns. The acorns form a valuable food resource for several small
1817 mammals and some birds, notably Jays Garrulus glandarius.
1819 It is planted for forestry, and produces a long-lasting and durable
1820 heartwood, much in demand for interior and furniture work.
1822 =head2 v5.8.4 - T. S. Eliot, "The Old Gumbie Cat"
1824 L<Announced on 2004-04-22 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/c7333acf03ef4015>
1826 I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
1827 The curtain-cord she likes to wind, and tie it into sailor-knots.
1828 She sits upon the window-sill, or anything that's smooth and flat:
1829 She sits and sits and sits and sits -- and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
1831 But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
1832 Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
1833 She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment
1834 To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.
1835 So she's formed, from that a lot of disorderly louts,
1836 A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
1837 With a purpose in life and a good deed to do--
1838 And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.
1840 So for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers --
1841 On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears.
1844 =head2 v5.8.4-RC2 - T. S. Eliot, "Macavity: The Mystery Cat"
1846 L<Announced on 2004-04-16 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/84f6fdd73cc56a1b>
1848 Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw --
1849 For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
1850 He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
1851 For when they reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
1853 Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
1854 He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
1855 His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
1856 And when you reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
1857 You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air --
1858 But I tell you once and once again, /Macavity's not there/!
1860 =head2 v5.8.4-RC1 - T. S. Eliot, "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat"
1862 L<Announced on 2004-04-05 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/e500353440769ebf>
1864 There's a whisper down the line at 11.39
1865 When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
1866 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
1867 We must find him of the train can't start.'
1868 All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
1869 They are searching high and low,
1870 Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
1871 Then the Night Mail just can't go'
1872 At 11.42 then the signal's overdue
1873 And the passengers are frantic to a man--
1874 Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
1875 He's been busy in the luggage van!
1876 He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
1877 And the signal goes 'All Clear!'
1878 And we're off at last of the northern part
1879 Of the Northern Hemisphere!
1881 =head2 v5.8.3 - Arthur William Edgar O'Shaugnessy, "Ode"
1883 L<Announced on 2004-01-14 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/968fb8d71e23af69>
1885 We are the music makers,
1886 And we are the dreamers of dreams,
1887 Wandering by lonely sea-breakers,
1888 And sitting by desolate streams; --
1889 World-losers and world-forsakers,
1890 On whom the pale moon gleams:
1891 Yet we are the movers and shakers
1892 Of the world for ever, it seems.
1894 =head2 v5.8.3-RC1 - Irving Berlin, "Let's Face the Music and Dance"
1896 L<Announced on 2004-01-07 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/5ced50bebcd11c96>
1898 There may be trouble ahead,
1899 But while there's music and moonlight,
1900 And love and romance,
1901 Let's face the music and dance.
1903 Before the fiddlers have fled,
1904 Before they ask us to pay the bill,
1905 And while we still have that chance,
1906 Let's face the music and dance.
1908 Soon, we'll be without the moon,
1909 Humming a different tune, and then,
1911 There may be teardrops to shed,
1912 So while there's music and moonlight,
1913 And love and romance,
1914 Let's face the music and dance.
1916 =head2 v5.8.2 - Walt Whitman, "Passage to India"
1918 L<Announced on 2003-11-06 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/4714574f93967673>
1920 Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
1921 Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
1922 Cut the hawsers - hall out - shake out every sail!
1923 Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
1924 Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
1925 Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
1927 Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,
1928 Reckless O soul, exploring, I with the and thou with me,
1929 For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
1930 And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
1933 O farther farther sail!
1934 O daring job, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
1935 O farther, farther, farther sail!
1937 =head2 v5.8.2-RC2 - Eric Idle/John Du Prez, "Accountancy Shanty"
1939 L<Announced on 2003-11-03 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/7669de5804b792f6>
1941 It's fun to charter an accountant
1942 And sail the wide accountan-cy,
1943 To find, explore the funds offshore
1944 And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy.
1946 =head2 v5.8.2-RC1 - Edward Lear, "The Jumblies"
1948 L<Announced on 2003-10-28 by Nicholas Clark|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/83680ef3bbf7378d>
1950 They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
1951 In a Sieve they went to sea:
1952 In spite of all their friends could say,
1953 On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
1954 In a Sieve they went to sea!
1955 And when the Sieve turned round and round,
1956 And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
1957 They cried aloud, "Our Sieve ain't big,
1958 But we don't care a button, we don't care a fig!
1959 In a Sieve we'll go to sea!"
1961 Far and few, far and few,
1962 Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
1963 Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
1964 And they went to sea in a Sieve.
1966 =head2 v5.8.1 - epigraph same as v5.7.1
1968 L<Announced on 2003-09-25 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82678.html>
1970 =head2 v5.8.1-RC5 - Terry Pratchett, "Lords and Ladies"
1972 L<Announced on 2003-09-22 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/09/msg82476.html>
1974 No matter what she did with her hair it took about
1975 three minutes for it to tangle itself up again,
1976 like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Footnote: Which,
1977 no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil
1978 overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].
1980 =head2 v5.8.1-RC4 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1982 L<Announced on 2003-08-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/08/msg79184.html>
1984 Grand Viziers were /always/ scheming megalomaniacs.
1985 It was probably in the job description: "Are you a
1986 devious, plotting, unreliable madman? Ah, good,
1987 then you can be my most trusted minister."
1989 =head2 v5.8.1-RC3 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1991 L<Announced on 2003-07-30 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg79048.html>
1993 Lord Hong had a mind like a knife, although possibly
1994 a knife with a curved blade.
1996 =head2 v5.8.1-RC2 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
1998 L<Announced on 2003-07-11 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78102.html>
2000 Many an ancient lord's last words had been, "You can't kill
2001 me because I've got magic aaargh."
2003 =head2 v5.8.1-RC1 - Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"
2005 L<Announced on 2003-07-10 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2003/07/msg78009.html>
2007 Cohen was familiar with city gates. He'd broken down a number
2008 in his time, by battering ram, siege gun, and on one occasion
2011 But the gates of Hunghung were pretty damn good gates. They
2012 weren't like the gates of Ankh-Morpork, which were usually wide
2013 open to attract the spending customer and whose concession to
2014 defense was the sign "Thank You For Not Attacking Our City.
2015 Bonum Diem." These things were big and made of metal and there
2016 was a guardhouse and a squad of unhelpful men in black armor.
2018 =head2 v5.8.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
2020 L<Announced on 2002-07-18 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63720.html>
2022 There was the faint sound of footsteps.
2023 "Chap with a whip got as far as the big sharp spikes last week,"
2024 said the low priest.
2025 There was a sound like the flushing of a very old dry lavatory.
2026 The footsteps stopped. The High Priest smiled to himself.
2027 "Right," he said. "See your two pebbles and raise you two pebbles."
2028 The low priest threw down his cards. "Double Onion," he said.
2029 The High Priest looked down suspiciously.
2030 The low priest consulted a scrap of paper. "That's three hundred
2031 thousand, nine hundred and sixty-four pebbles you owe me," he said.
2032 There was the sound of footsteps. The priests exchanged glances.
2033 "Haven't had one for poisoned-dart alley for quite some time,"
2034 said the High Priest.
2035 "Five says he makes it", said the low priest. "You're on."
2036 There was a faint clatter of metal points on stone.
2037 "It's a shame to take your pebbles."
2038 There were footsteps again.
2040 =head2 v5.8.0-RC3 - no epigraph
2042 L<Announced on 2002-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/07/msg63234.html>
2044 =head2 v5.8.0-RC2 - no epigraph
2046 L<Announced on 2002-06-21 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg62013.html>
2048 =head2 v5.8.0-RC1 - no epigraph
2050 L<Announced on 2002-06-01 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/06/msg60317.html>
2052 =head2 v5.7.3 - Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"
2054 L<Announced on 2002-03-04 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2002/03/msg53652.html>
2056 Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong.
2057 No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always
2058 got there first, and is waiting for it.
2060 =head2 v5.7.2 - Terry Pratchett, "Small Gods"
2062 L<Announced on 2001-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/07/msg40370.html>
2064 His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools --
2065 the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans -- and summed up
2066 all three of them in his famous phrase, "You can't trust any
2067 bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing
2068 you can do about it, so let's have a drink."
2070 =head2 v5.7.1 - Terry Pratchett, "The Colour of Magic"
2072 L<Announced on 2001-07-13 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33851.html>
2074 "What happens next?" asked Twoflower.
2076 Hrun screwed a finger in his ear and inspected it absently.
2078 "Oh,", he said, "I expect in a minute the door will be
2079 flung back and I'll be dragged off to some sort of temple
2080 arena where I'll fight maybe a couple of giant spiders
2081 and an eight-foot slave from the jungles of Klatch and then
2082 I'll rescue some kind of a princess from the altar and then
2083 I'll kill off a few guards or whatever and then this girl
2084 will show me the secret passage out of the place and we'll
2085 liberate a couple of horses and escape with the treasure."
2086 Hrun leaned his head back on his hands and looked at the
2087 ceiling, whistling tunelessly.
2089 "All that?" said Twoflower.
2093 =head2 v5.7.0 - Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures"
2095 L<Announced on 2000-09-02 by Jarkko Hietaniemi|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/09/msg17730.html>
2097 The Librarian had seen many weird things in his time,
2098 but that had to be the 57th strangest.
2099 [footnote: he had a tidy mind]
2101 =head2 v5.6.2 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
2103 L<Announced on 2003-11-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/deb8cb9ad918716f>
2105 When great or unexpected events fall out upon the stage of this
2106 sublunary word--the mind of man, which is an inquisitive kind of
2107 a substance, naturally takes a flight, behind the scenes, to see
2108 what is the cause and first spring of them--The search was not
2109 long in this instance.
2111 =head2 v5.6.2-RC1 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
2113 L<Announced on 2003-11-15 by Rafael Garcia-Suarez|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/e3d4acc7a8dd3ce5>
2115 "Pray, my dear", quoth my mother, "have you not forgot to wind up the clock?"
2117 =head2 v5.6.1 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", Riddles in the Dark
2119 L<Announced on 2001-04-08 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33823.html>
2121 `What have I got in my pocket?' he said aloud. He was talking to
2122 himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully
2125 `Not fair! not fair!' he hissed. `It isn't fair, my precious, is it,
2126 to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?'
2128 Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask
2129 stuck to his question, `What have I got in my pocket?' he said
2132 `S-s-s-s-s,' hissed Gollum. `It must give us three guesseses,
2133 my precious, three guesseses.'
2135 =head2 v5.6.1-foolish - no epigraph
2137 L<Announced on 2001-08-04 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/04/msg33421.html>
2139 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL3 - I can't find the announcement
2141 No announcement available.
2143 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL2 - no epigraph
2145 L<Announced on 2001-01-31 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2001/01/msg29934.html>
2147 =head2 v5.6.1-TRIAL1 - no epigraph
2149 L<Announced on 2000-12-18 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/12/msg27738.html>
2151 =head2 v5.6.0 - J R R Tolkien, "The Hobbit", The Last Stage
2153 L<Announced on 2000-03-23 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10341.html>
2155 The dragon is withered,
2156 His bones are now crumbled;
2157 His armour is shivered,
2158 His splendour is humbled!
2159 Though sword shall be rusted,
2160 And throne and crown perish
2161 With strength that men trusted
2162 And wealth that they cherish,
2163 Here grass is still growing,
2164 And leaves are a yet swinging,
2165 The white water flowing,
2166 And elves are yet singing
2167 Come! Tra-la-la-lally!
2168 Come back to the valley.
2170 =head2 v5.6.0-RC3 - no epigraph
2172 L<Announced on 2000-03-22 by Gurusamy Sarathy|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2000/03/msg10140.html>
2174 =head2 v5.005_05-RC1 - no epigraph
2176 L<Announced on 2009-02-16 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2009/02/msg144227.html>
2178 =head2 v5.005_04 - no epigraph
2180 L<Announced on 2004-03-01 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/6c240ad0b189cb47>
2182 =head2 v5.005_04-RC2 - Rudyard Kipling, "The Jungle Book"
2184 L<Announced on 2004-02-19 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/83e5421124a7b49d>
2186 The monkeys called the place their city, and pretended to despise
2187 the Jungle-People because they lived in the forest. And yet they
2188 never knew what the buildings were made for nor how to use
2189 them. They would sit in circles on the hall of the king's council
2190 chamber, and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men; or they would
2191 run in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster
2192 and old bricks in a corner, and forget where they had hidden them,
2193 and fight and cry in scuffling crowds, and then break off to play up
2194 and down the terraces of the king's garden, where they would shake
2195 the rose trees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit and flowers
2198 =head2 v5.005_04-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
2200 L<Announced on 2004-02-05 by LE<0xe9>on Brocard|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/6aaeb6ec699bd116>
2202 Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
2203 plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was
2204 going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what
2205 she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked
2206 at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
2207 cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures
2208 hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she
2209 passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
2210 disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear
2211 of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
2214 =head2 v1.0_16 - Johan Vromans, extemporarily
2216 L<Announced on 2003-12-18 by Richard Clamp|http://groups.google.com/group/perl.perl5.porters/msg/9281dc6194d15940>
2218 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2220 This document was originally compiled based on a list of epigraphs
2221 on L<Perl Monks|http://perlmonks.org> titled
2222 L<Recent Perl Release Announcement|http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=372406>