Don't be too discouraged. Some people just don't have the time/enthusiasm to be interested or research anything outside of their own closed universe. I'm working in San Diego, and I'm pretty sure that I was the only one here (at work, that is, not the only one in all of SD :-) who went to the perl conference. No one else here has heard of Damian Conway, let alone has any interest in hearing him speak. Too bad for them :(

I mentioned Randal Schwartz's name to someone here who uses perl, and he said "Oh, isn't he that felon..."
:-) --->(while this smiley face is meant to indicate humour in the previous statement, I'd like to point out that it is still a serious ongoing matter for merlyn).