Don't do all that work, and then throw it away -- put the next if /^#/; first: 
while (<$f>){
  next if /^#/;
  chomp;
  s/^\s+//;
  s/\s+$//;
  next unless length;
  push @lines, $_;
}

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-QM
--
Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of

In reply to Re^2: A perverse use of grep by QM
in thread A perverse use of grep by eyepopslikeamosquito

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