If the problem is a slow server then just tell LWP::Simple to tell LWP::UserAgent to timeout - (no need to alarm() yourself):

use LWP::Simple qw($ua get); # export the underlying LWP::UserAgent in
+to $ua ...

$ua->timeout(10); # ... and set a timeout on it (seconds)

my $doc = get('...') || die {$pass=0};
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bw, bliako