Ok, so I posted this meditation by mistake, and thought I would edit it and use it for something (more) worthwhile

. I just wanted to reprint (without permission) an email I found on the internet which is allegedly from merlyn to a reader of "Learning Perl"

Reader:
I am just starting to use Perl, and have bought the Learning Perl book, There has been alot of talk about the book and people have different views on the book, could anybody give me some guidance on how to use it?

Shall I just concentrate on going through each chapter of shall I start somewhere else in the book ?



Randall:
It was actually meant to be read holding all the odd-numbered pages up to a mirror, facing East of course, unless you're under the 25th parallel on a Tuesday.

Or, for simpler instructions, *yes*... just read from the beginning until you're tired of reading. Repeat as necessary. Joe Bob says "do the exercises." If it was meant to be read a different way, you'd have read that somewhere by now. :-)



merlyn: I hope you're not mad, but I thought it was kind of funny. It's good to know that you don't save all your sarcasm just for use on PerlMonks!

Catch ya later!

Here's the link: Randal on Learning Perl

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Schwartzian Humour
by mrmick (Curate) on Jan 08, 2001 at 11:00 UTC
    I can't really see merlyn getting upset at you about this. When I have spoken (once or twice) to him he demonstrated a little acidic humour directed at himself as well.

    You can also probably understand how he sometimes gets frustrated with certain questions. I have seen a few pop through without his comments too. :-)

    You'll most likely get a comment from him here, though...      (brace yourself)

    Mick
Re: Schwartzian Humor
by Blue (Hermit) on Jan 09, 2001 at 23:32 UTC
    You know, this clears everything up. I always knew that there was something odd about those ood numbere pages. The mirror was obvious, but I thought it had to do with phases of the moon, not the 25th parallel. Boy do I have camel spit on my face. Thanks for clearing it up.

    Oh, is that "true" east or magnetic east?

    Ask a silly question...

    =Blue
    ...you might be eaten by a grue...