last if $log_line =~ /^\d{4}-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d/ && $log_line lt $earliest;

##</code><code>##

if ($log_line lt $earliest) {
   use Data::Dumper;
   $Data::Dumper::Useqq = 1;
   print Dumper("stopped on $log_line"),"\n";
}