sub new {
    my($class, %args) = @_;
 
    my $self = {
        max_redirect => 5,
        timeout      => 60,   # default
        keep_alive   => 1,
        verify_SSL   => $args{verify_SSL} || $args{verify_ssl} || 0, # no verification by default
        no_proxy     => $ENV{no_proxy},
    };
 
    bless $self, $class;
 
    $class->_validate_cookie_jar( $args{cookie_jar} ) if $args{cookie_jar};
 
    for my $key ( @attributes ) {
        $self->{$key} = $args{$key} if exists $args{$key}
    }
 
    $self->agent( exists $args{agent} ? $args{agent} : $class->_agent );
 
    $self->_set_proxies;
 
    return $self;
}