Enjoy a randomly generated fortune:
$ fortune | cowsay _________________________________________ / The Poet Whose Badness Saved His Life \ | | | The most important poet in the | | seventeenth century was George Wither. | | Alexander Pope called him "wretched | | Wither" and Dryden said of his verse | | that "if they rhymed and rattled all | | was well". | | | | In our own time, "The Dictionary of | | National Biography" notes that his work | | "is mainly remarkable for its mass, | | fluidity and flatness. It usually lacks | | any genuine literary quality and often | | sinks into imbecile doggerel". | | | | High praise, indeed, and it may tempt | | you to savour a typically rewarding | | stanza: It is taken from "I loved a | | lass" and is concerned with the higher | | emotions. | | | | She would me "Honey" call, | | | | She'd -- O she'd kiss me too. | | | | But now alas! She's left me | | | | Falero, lero, loo. | | | | Among other details of his mistress | | which he chose to immortalize was her | | prudent choice of footwear. | | | | The fives did fit her shoe. | | | | In 1639 the great poet's life was | | endangered after his capture by the | | Royalists during the English Civil War. | | When Sir John Denham, the Royalist | | poet, heard of Wither's imminent | | execution, he went to the King and | | begged that his life be spared. When | | asked his reason, Sir John replied, | | "Because that so long as Wither lived, | | Denham would not be accounted the worst | | poet in England." | | | | -- Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic | \ Failures" / ----------------------------------------- \ ^__^ \ (oo)\_______ (__)\ )\/\ ||----w | || ||
$output = shell_exec("/usr/games/fortune | /usr/games/cowsay"); echo $output;