I can get your IO::Socket::INET->new(...) call to work on my Linux box, but only if $server_host is a valid IP address or host name, like "0.0.0.0" or "www.yahoo.com". Check if you have "Deadpickle-hobo" in your /etc/hosts file (or \windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts if you're on Windows). If the host name in $server_host is set up correctly you should be able to ping it like this:

ping Deadpickle_hobo
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