Date: Tue, 6 Dec 94 10:58:52 PST
Message-Id: <9412061859.AA28672@netlabs.com>
To: perl5-porters@isu.edu
From: lwall@netlabs.com (Larry Wall)
Subject: Re: Set...

> > Tom> Does the set of all sets that do not contain themselves contain itself?
> > Only on Thursdays.
> This must be Thursday, then.  I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

"Feeble [the Personna Tailor] had spent the past hour administering to
a bulky young man whose relationship with his girlfriend had suffered
due to his appalling lack of emotional vulnerability.  As it happened,
the young man had no reason to be emotionally vulnerable; he'd lived an
uncommonly happy life, irritatingly devoid of formative angst.  There
weren't even any Deep Shameful Secrets in his Past.  Feeble had
accordingly equipped him with one.  From now on, whenever the young
lady in question mentioned Thursday, the young man would automatically
flash a startled look, filled with the pain of sudden remembrance, look
away dramatically, and, while steadfastly denying that anything was
wrong, speak in a hesitant stutter utterly at odds with his normally
ebullient personality.  The young man didn't see how such a tiny thing
could save their relationship, but Feeble assured him the mystery would
drive her wild; and he definitely knew what he was talking about,
because he'd fitted the young lady with an Inquisitive Streak only two
weeks earlier."  Adam-Troy Castro, __Ego to Go__, F&SF Jan '95

Gloria Wall