141 years ago, Alfred Nobel patented dynamite, a safer way to blow things up. Wikipedia:

Nobel found that when nitroglycerin was incorporated in an absorbent inert substance like kieselguhr (diatomaceous earth) it became safer and more convenient to handle, and this mixture he patented in 1867 as dynamite. Nobel demonstrated his explosive for the first time that year, at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey, England.

I hear it made him quite rich. But being rich isn't everything. Wikipedia again:

The erroneous publication in 1888 of a premature obituary of Nobel by a French newspaper, condemning him for his invention of dynamite, is said to have brought about his decision to leave a better legacy after his death. The obituary stated Le marchand de la mort est mort ("The merchant of death is dead") and went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday." On 27 November 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Nobel signed his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality.

Yay Alfred. He could have just blown them up, instead he chose the high road.

❦

The lexicals branch was merged into trunk today. And there was much rejoicing.

I had the honour of making mpeters's acquaintance today, when he commented on yesterday's blog post that he had made a second layout for November. I am at a loss for words. mpeters++!

Toying around with prove today, I noticed I could quite easily make it run the tests in the p6w/t directory with perl6 instead of just perl. Changing the Makefile to use prove led to a bunch of other improvements.

I'd tell you more, but I have to practice writing Chinese characters now. If you're longing for more information, consider joining the mailing list, popping by at our IRC channel, or downloading our Perl 6-powered wiki engine. Enjoy!