use Perl

Happy September 11

posted by pudge on 2006.09.11 18:35   

No, this isn't a plug for my new song, Osama Bin Laden, You Ruined My Birthday. Rather, this is from dejah, who sends in a bit of Perl Poetry about the anniversary. Read on for the poem and its reading.

warn ("Al Queda Determined to Strike US");
exec(0);
open(MYPETGOAT, "Story-Book") or die "11, 175, 93, 77";
while (<MYPETGOAT>){ exec(0) }
for ($i=1; $i<=2752; $i++) { if (!!$ur==0) { kill; kill; kill; }}
$red = $white = $blue = "gray";
$together = $black + $white + $republican + $democrat + $young + $old;
goto (Afganistan);
if (!m/Osama Bin Laden/) { delete("Iraq") }
split (/sectarian lines/, $Iraq . $US);
if (!m/insurgency/) { our($soldiers) = $iraqicivilians = $civilliberties = 0 }
exec(0);
exit("fail");

It reads as:

Warning: Al Queda Determined to Strike US
The President does nothing.
Open My Pet Goat while death approaches for flights 11, 175, 93, and 77.
While reading My Pet Goat, the President does nothing.
And 2752 people die.
And the red, white and blue turns gray.
But all of us become one.

We go to Afganistan,
but when we cant find Osama Bin Laden
we attack Iraq.
And we fall apart--the US and Iraq--splitting along sectarian lines
while the insurgency rages,
our soldiers die
iraqi civilians die
we give up our civil liberties
The President does nothing.
To exit is to fail

(Please, don't be lame and get into political flamewars here. I don't agree with the poem, I just think it's good. If you want to argue about politics, post an entry about it on your journal or something.)

• inappropriate (Score:1)

  by dagolden (6584)

  If this were just a journal post, I wouldn't mind it. But I think it's inappropriate to be posted to the front page and the title is in poor taste given the subject matter.
  • Re: (Score:1)

    by q (6122)

    IMO, the title is in poor taste, but it is entirely appropriate for the front page.
    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pudge (1)

      September 11 has become a holiday. I say Happy Memorial Day, and Happy September 11. Maybe I am just weird. (q thinks: "maybe??!?!")
      
      • Re:inappropriate - not so much (Score:1)

        by marklark (634)

        I hope that you had a happy birthday, Pudge. :^)
        • Re: (Score:2)

          by pudge (1)

          It's not really my birthday. The song is not autobigographical. :)
          • Re: (Score:1)

            by marklark (634)

            Thanks for the clarification. Anyway, there are people's whose birthdays, whose children's births, etc. now coincide with a day that has been emotionally tainted. Bah. I hope that you had a happy birthday, anyway. :^)
            • Re: (Score:2)

              by pudge (1)

              Yeah, I wrote the song primarily for those people. I hope it brings some joy to them.
              
              • Re: (Score:2)

                by hex (3272)

                I'll have to send my uncle-in-law (an Arab!) a copy and see what he says...
          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jdavidb (1361)

            Shoot. That was going to be my next question for Ask Pudge.

            --
            J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jdavidb (1361)

        I think I actually said or thought this yesterday at some point, and then immediately thought, "No, that's not the way to express it." But I wouldn't fault anyone for expressing it that way.

        Kinda like Tisha b'Av: a day of mourning a cataclysm that will hopefully be transformed into joy as we all recover.

        --
        J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
• Lame political flame war (Score:2)

  by jdavidb (1361)

  I want so badly to respond, but I'm holding off. So I put it in my journal.

  --
  J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
• Not a plug? (Score:2, Funny)

  by DAxelrod (4649)

  So if it's not a plug for your song, why does the link to your song take up so much of this post's space on the front page? ;)

  In all seriousness, I am greatful for the generosity of Pudge and everyone else [perl.org] who runs and supports this site. I wouldn't feel justified in complaining about which content goes on the front page, even if I had a complaint, which I don't.
  • Re: (Score:2)

    by pudge (1)

    Yeah, sorta of a joke there. :-)
    
    The real point was just to post the poetry ... I am half-wondering if poetry might make a decent useperl regular feature.
    
    • Re: (Score:1)

      by DAxelrod (4649)

      Yeah, sorta of a joke there. :-)

      Yeah, I know, I just wasn't sure how well my own humor would come through, so I padded it in a bunch of statements appologizing for it. :)

      If number of comments to an article is an indication of success, you probably should make it a regular feautre. Then again, Perlmonks does already have a poetry section [perlmonks.org]...
• Mmmm (Score:1)

  by sigzero (5768)

  What makes it good? Its iambic pentameter or the totally bogus facts put to lyrics created from Perl code?
  • Re: (Score:2)

    by pudge (1)

    I like some of its features, like exec(0) and goto (Afghanistan).
    
    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jdavidb (1361)

      exec(0) was pretty cool, but goto(Afghanistan) didn't seem like a very original form.

      --
      J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
  • Re: (Score:1)

    by q (6122)

    Which of those facts are you calling bogus?
    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sigzero (5768)

      Not to argue...but the way "I" read it, pretty much that whole first paragraph.