I am also curious why there is an ampersand in &parsedate. I was not aware that variable or function names can begin with an ampersand.

From perlman:perlsub:

To call subroutines:

      NAME(LIST);  # & is optional with parentheses.
      NAME LIST;   # Parentheses optional if predeclared/imported.
      &NAME;       # Makes current @_ visible to called subroutine.
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--f