Perl Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Preface

The investment group eyed the entrepreneur with caution, their expressions flickering from scepticism to intrigue and back again.

“Your bold plan holds promise,” their spokesman conceded. “But it is costly and entirely speculative. Our mathematicians mistrust your figures. Why should we entrust our money into your hands? What do you know that we do not?”

“For one thing,” he replied, “I know how to balance an egg on its point without outside support. Do you?” And with that, the entrepreneur reached into his satchel and delicately withdrew a fresh hen’s egg. He handed over the egg to the financial tycoons, who passed it amongst themselves trying to carry out the simple task. At last they gave up. In exasperation they declared, “What you ask is impossible! No man can balance an egg on its point.”

So the entrepreneur took back the egg from the annoyed businessmen and placed it upon the fine oak table, holding it so that its point faced down. Lightly but firmly, he pushed down on the egg with just enough force to crush in its bottom about half an inch. When he took his hand away, the egg stood there on its own, somewhat messy, but definitely balanced. “Was that impossible?” he asked.

“It’s just a trick,” cried the businessmen. “Once you know how, anyone can do it.”

“True enough,” came the retort. “But the same can be said for anything. Before you know how, it seems an impossibility. Once the way is revealed, it’s so simple that you wonder why you never thought of it that way before. ...