Sure I have. But I've never taken a raw electric arc and used it to heat water or provide light. Not that I couldn't, mind you, I just find it easier to use the elecricity indirectly and let the coffemaker and lighting fixtures do it.

I was only commenting that that statement raised an amusing image when I read it.

That being said, I personally view Perl as being infrastructure. Few people other than programmers ever deal with it directly. Most users have a very hazy view of how it works or if it is being used in a particular application and only really notice it when it breaks.