This is the script I used when writing my blog post about the XKCD effect (http://commacommacrash.com/2009/12/what-i-learned-from-xkcd-effect.html). A base for all my WWW::Mechanize scripts.

xkcdeffect.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl

use LWP::Simple;
use WWW::Mechanize;
use HTTP::Cookies;
use Term::ReadKey;
use POSIX qw(strftime mktime);

my $interneturl = "http://www.google.com";
my $internet = "Google";
my $transcriptionurl = "http://www.ohnorobot.com/transcribe.pl?comicid=apKHvCCc66NMg&url=http:%%2F%%2Fxkcd.com%%2F%d%%2F";
my $baseurl = "http://www.xkcd.com";
my $comicurl = "$baseurl/%d/";
my $imageviewer = "gnome-open";
my $urlviewer = "xdg-open";
my $tempfile = "temp";
my $archiveurl = "archive";
my $trendsurl = "http://www.google.com/trends?q=%s&date=%s&geo=all";
my $hottrendsurl = "http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?q=%s&date=%s";
my $csvurl = "http://www.google.com/trends/viz?q=%s&date=%s&geo=all&graph=all_csv&scale=%d";
my @scalenums = (0,1);
$numvs = length($ARGV[1]) - 1;

print "Intializing...\n" if $numvs > 0;

#Make sure our urls are correct
print "Checking internet connection...\n" if $numvs > 0;
unless(head($interneturl)) { print "WARNING: Either you're not connected to the internet, or $internet is down.  Probably the former.  Proceeding...\n"; }
print "Checking OhNoRobot...\n" if $numvs > 0;
unless(head(sprintf($transcriptionurl, 1))) { die "OhNoRobot config is incorrect!  Correct \$transcriptionurl template."; }
print "Checking xkcd...\n" if $numvs > 0;
unless(head(sprintf($comicurl, 1))) { die "xkcd config is incorrect!  Correct \$comicurl or \$baseurl template."; }
print "Downloading archive page...\n" if $numvs > 0;
unless($archivepage = get("$baseurl/$archiveurl")) { print "WARNING: Couldn't get archive page!  Dates and titles will be unavailable.\n"; }

$trendsbot = WWW::Mechanize->new();
$cookiejar = HTTP::Cookies->new(); 

#Try to load cookies...
if(-e 'cookies.dat') {
    #Load the cookie jar and init it into trendsbot
    $cookiejar->load('cookies.dat');
    $trendsbot->cookie_jar($cookiejar);
}
else {
    #Just load the empty cookie jar
    $trendsbot->cookie_jar($cookiejar);

    #Login if no cookies
    print "Google login?";
    $login = <STDIN>;
    chomp($login);
    print "Google password?";
    ReadMode 2;
    $pass = <STDIN>;
    chomp($pass);
    ReadMode 0;
    print "\n";

    #Log in to Google Trends
    $trendsbot->get('http://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=trends');
    $trendsbot->form_id('gaia_loginform');
    $trendsbot->field('Email',$login);
    $trendsbot->field('Passwd',$pass);
    $trendsbot->click();

    #Save cookies for next time
    $cookiejar->save('cookies.dat');
}


#Grab the latest comic number
$latestcomic = get($baseurl);
if($latestcomic =~ /Permanent link to this comic: http:\/\/xkcd\.com\/(\d+)\//) {
    $latestnum = $1; 
}

my $start, $end;
if($ARGV[0] eq '-r') {
    print "Starting comic [$latestnum]?";
    $start = <STDIN>;
    chomp($start);
    unless($start) { $start = $latestnum; }

    print "Ending comic [1]?";
    $end = <STDIN>;
    chomp($end);
    unless($end) { $end = 1; }

    $inc = -1;
}
else {
    print "Starting comic [1]?";
    $start = <STDIN>;
    chomp($start);
    unless($start) { $start = 1; }

    print "Ending comic [$latestnum]?";
    $end = <STDIN>;
    chomp($end);
    unless($end) { $end = $latestnum; }

    $inc = 1;
}

#Initialize the log file if it doesn't exist
unless(-e 'xkcdeffect.csv') {
    $pubstr = '';
    for($i=-2;$i<=2;$i++) {
        foreach(@scalenums) {
            $pubstr .= sprintf("Pubdate%+d (scale=%d),",$i,$_);
        }
    }
    open (TSV, '>xkcdeffect.csv') or die "Couldn't open the log file!  Something is very wrong.\n";
    print TSV "Comic Number,Comic Date,Comic Title,Trends URL,Keyphrase," . $pubstr . "Hotness Rating\n";
    close (TSV);
}

print "$start to $end\n" if $numvs > 0;
#Everything looks fine, plow ahead...
for(my $comicnum=$start; $comicnum != ($end + $inc); $comicnum+=$inc) {

    $transpage = sprintf($transcriptionurl, $comicnum); 
    $transcription = get($transpage);
    
    if($archivepage =~ /<a href="\/$comicnum\/" title="([^"]+)">([^<]+)<\/a>/) {
        $comicdate = $1;
        $comictitle = $2;
    }
    else { 
        $comicdate = "<No Date Found>";
        $comictitle = "<No Title Found>"; 
    }

    
    if($comicdate =~ /(\d+)-(\d+)-(\d+)/) { 
        ($year, $month, $day) = ($1, $2, $3);
        $gtyear = $year;
        $gtyear =~ s/^20/1/;
        $gtyear =~ s/^19//;

        #Zero-pad the month
        $month = sprintf("%02d",$month);
    }

    print "-"x20 . "\n";
    print "Comic #$comicnum: $comictitle (" . strftime('%a',0,0,0,$day,$month-1,$gtyear) . " $comicdate)\n";

    if($transcription =~ /Here's the transcription for this comic!<p>(.*?)<\/p>/s or $transcription =~ /<textarea[^>]*>([^<]+)<\/(textarea)>/) {
        $text = $1;
        $text =~ s/\[\[.*?\]\]//gs;      #Eliminate descriptions
        if($2 ne 'textarea') {
            $text =~ s/[\r\n\t]//gs;         #Eliminate HTML Whitespace
            $text =~ s/(<br>)+/\n/g;            #Insert newlines for <br>s
        }
        print "$text\n";

        print "Do you want to view the comic image [y/N/q]?";
        $doimage = <STDIN>;
        chomp($doimage);
        unless($doimage) { $doimage = 'N'; }
    }
    else {
        print "Could not download text" . ($numvs > 0 ? " (tried $transpage)" : '') . "!\nDo you want to view the comic image [Y/n/q]?";
        $doimage = <STDIN>;
        chomp($doimage);
        unless($doimage) { $doimage = 'Y'; }
    }

    print "\n";

    if(uc($doimage) eq 'Q') { last; }
    
    $viewerr = 0;
    if(uc(substr($doimage,0,1)) eq 'Y') {
        $comicpage = get(sprintf($comicurl, $comicnum));
        if($comicpage =~ /<br\/>[\r\n]+<br\/>[\r\n]+<img src\="([^"]+)" title\="([^"]+)" alt\="([^"]+)" \/>/) {
            $imgurl = $1;
            $imgtitle = $2;
            $imgalt = $3;
            
            if($imgurl =~ /\/([^\/]*)\.(\w+)$/) { 
                if($tempfile eq '') {
                    $filename = "$1.$2";
                }
                else { 
                    $filename = "$tempfile.$2"; 
                }
                print "Fetching $imgurl to $filename...\n" if $numvs > 1;
                print "Alt text: $imgtitle\n";
                getstore($imgurl, $filename);
                system $imageviewer,($filename); 
            }
            else {
                print "Gack!  Couldn't parse the image url!\n";
                $viewerr = 1;
            }
        }
        else {
            print "Gack!  Couldn't parse the xkcd page!\n";
            $viewerr = 1;
        }
    }

    if($viewerr) {
        print "Open xckd page in browser? [Y/n]?";
        $browse = <STDIN>;
        chomp($browse);
        unless($browse) { $browse = 'Y'; }
        if(uc(substr($browse,0,1)) eq 'Y') {
            system $urlviewer, (sprintf($comicurl, $comicnum));
            print "Opening " . sprintf($comicurl, $comicnum) . "\n";
        }
    }

    @phraselist = ();
    while(true) {
        print "Search phrase?";
        $phrase = <STDIN>;
        chomp($phrase);
        if($phrase) {
            $urlphrase = $phrase; $urlphrase =~ s/ /\+/g;

            $urldate = "$year-$month";
            $prevdate = strftime("%Y-%m",0,0,0,0,$month - 1, $gtyear);
            $nextdate = strftime("%Y-%m",0,0,0,0,$month + 1, $gtyear);
            $urldate =~ s/-0/-/;
            $prevdate =~ s/-0/-/;
            $nextdate =~ s/-0/-/;

            $trendspage = sprintf($trendsurl, $urlphrase, $urldate);

            print "\n" . "#" x 20 . "\n" if $numvs > 0;

            if(strftime("%m",0,0,0,$day-2,$month-1,$gtyear) != $month) {
                print "NOTE: Downloading previous month\n" if $numvs > 0;

                @prevcsv = (); @prevfile = ();
                foreach(@scalenums) {
                    $curscale = $_;
                    $prevfile[$curscale] = sprintf($csvurl, $urlphrase, $prevdate, $curscale);
                    print "Getting data from " . $prevfile[$curscale] . "...\n" if $numvs > 0;
                    $trendsbot->get($prevfile[$curscale]);
                    $prevcsv[$curscale] = $trendsbot->content();
                }
            }
            
            @curcsv = (); @curfile = ();
            foreach(@scalenums) {
                $curscale = $_;
                $curfile[$curscale] = sprintf($csvurl, $urlphrase, $urldate, $curscale);
                print "Getting data from " . $curfile[$curscale] . "...\n" if $numvs > 0;
                $trendsbot->get($curfile[$curscale]);
                $curcsv[$curscale] = $trendsbot->content();
            }

            if(strftime("%m",0,0,0,$day+2,$month-1,$gtyear) != $month) {
                "NOTE: Downloading next month\n";

                @nextcsv = (); @nextfile = ();
                foreach(@scalenums) {
                    $curscale = $_;
                    $nextfile[$curscale] = sprintf($csvurl, $urlphrase, $nextdate, $curscale);
                    print "Getting data from " . $nextfile[$curscale] . "...\n" if $numvs > 1;
                    $trendsbot->get($nextfile[$curscale]);
                    $nextcsv[$curscale] = $trendsbot->content();
                }
            }

            @indexlist = ();

            #Grab the numbers!
            for($i=-2; $i <= 2; $i++) {
                #Determine the needed month's CSV
                $monthval = strftime("%Y.%m",0,0,0,$day+$i,$month-1,$gtyear);
                print "$monthval/$year.$month" if $numvs > 1;
                if($monthval == "$year.$month") {
                    @csvlist = @curcsv;
                }
                elsif($monthval < "$year.$month") {
                    @csvlist = @prevcsv;
                }
                elsif($monthval > "$year.$month") {
                    @csvlist = @nextcsv;
                }

                $gtdate = strftime("%b %e %Y",0,0,0,$day+$i,$month-1,$gtyear);
                $gtdate =~ s/  / /g;    #Get rid of the extra space padding from strftime
                foreach(@csvlist) {
                    $csv = $_;
                    if($csv =~ /$gtdate, ([\d\.]+)/) {
                        push(@indexlist, $1); 
                        print $csv if $numvs > 2;
                        print "Index on $gtdate: $1\n" if $numvs > 1;
                    } 
                    else {
                        push(@indexlist, 0);
                        print "Error grabbing index for $gtdate.\n" if $numvs > 1;
                    }
                }
            }
            print "#" x 20 . "\n\n" if $numvs > 0;

            $hoturl = sprintf($hottrendsurl, $urlphrase, $comicdate);
            $hottrends = get($hoturl);
            if($hottrends =~ /Hotness: <font[^>]+>([^<]+)<\/font>/) {
                $washot = $1;
                print "!" x 20 . "\n";
                print "This term was $1! $hoturl\n";
                print "!" x 20 . "\n";
            }
            else { $washot = 'not'; }

            $defval = 0;
            foreach(@indexlist) { if($_ > 0) { $defval = 1; last; } }


            print "Index for surrounding 5 days: " . join(' ',@indexlist[0..3]) . ' >' . join('/', @indexlist[4,5]) . '< ' . join(' ',@indexlist[6..9]) . " ($trendspage)\n";
            if($defval) {
                #Take a guess as to whether these are good results or not
                $probgood = 0;
                if($indexlist[2] < $indexlist[4] && $indexlist[3] < $indexlist[5]) {
                    $probgood = 1;
                }
                
                print "Save " . ($probgood ? '[Y/n]' : '[y/N]') . "?";
                $doimage = <STDIN>;
                chomp($doimage);
                unless($doimage) { $doimage = ($probgood ? 'Y' : 'N'); }
                open (TSV, '>>xkcdeffect.csv');
                if(uc(substr($doimage,0,1)) eq 'Y') {
                    $writeline = sprintf("%d,%s,\"%s\",\"%s\",%s,%s,%s\n",
                                        $comicnum, $comicdate, $comictitle, $trendspage,
                                        $phrase,join(',',@indexlist),$washot
                                    );
                    print "Added to log file." if $numvs > 1;
                    print TSV $writeline;
                }
                close(TSV);
            } else {
                print "No data avaliable, skipping...\n";
            }
        }
        else { last; }
    }
}