On Mon, 3 Sep 2001, Phil Tomson wrote:

> Now, here's the rub with this book: The cover of Oreilly's Ruby book will
> hava  snail on it!  Can we lobby them to give us a different animal (or
> mineral in this case).  It probably wouldn't be good for Ruby to be known
> as 'that snail language' with 'the snail book'.
>
> Phil

I think the snail is a very beautiful creature.  The spiral pattern formed
by its shell is closely tied to the Fibonacci sequence, and thus has a
certain mathematical beauty that isn't found in other animals.  Just as
snails are consistent with mathematics, Ruby is consistent with objects,
and has a certain appeal that isn't found in other languages.

See
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/3324/neferspyramidofwonder.htm
for what snails have to do with mathematics and the Great Pyramid.

Paul