From hart at pglaf.org Wed Feb 1 09:47:42 2006
From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart)
Date: Wed Feb 1 09:47:45 2006
Subject: [gweekly] PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0602010947060.8646@pglaf.org>
pt1a4.106
pt1b4.106
Weekly_February_01.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, February 01, 2006 PT1*
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971********
PT1A
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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*eBook Milestones
*Introduction
*Hot Requests, New Sites and Announcements
*Continuing Requests and Announcements
*Progress Report
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*Flashback
*Weekly eBook update:
This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter
Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter
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2 New This Week From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
8 New This Week From PGEu [European Copyrights, Life + 50 and 70]
0 New This Week From PG PrePrints
50 New This Week To Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
60 New This Week [Including PG Australia, PG Europe and PrePrints]
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*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
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*eBook Milestones*
18,381 eBooks As Of Today!!!
Including 527 Australian eBooks [+2]
and 244 Project Gutenberg Europe [+8]
And 1 From The New PrePrint Site [+0]
We Are ~92% of the Way to 20,000!!!
***531 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971***
15,319 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~251 eBooks per Month for ~61 Months
We Have Produced 239 eBooks in 2006
1,619 to go to 20,000!!!
30 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
7,980 total from Distributed Proofreaders
Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B]
[Currently over 36,000 DP volunteers]
We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Averaged ~248 eBooks Per Month In 2005
[Including PG Australia]
We Are Averaging ~239 eBooks Per Month This Year
[Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints]
[This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg
sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org]
[Now including totals from both Australia and Europe and PrePrints]
[Apologies, it will take a while to integrate everything
not all statistics may be totally equalized yet]
[PGEu Statistics Are Counted Monthly Not Weekly]
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 60 eBooks Per Week In 2006
60 This Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~32 months, from 2003 to 2006 for our last 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Nov. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,500
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***Introduction
[The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing. Note bene
that PT1 is now being sent as PT1A and PT1B.
[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a
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This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
DEBATING THE BEST WAY TO SPREAD TECHNOLOGY
Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, has sparked
an ongoing debate about how best to bring technology to the developing
world. Negroponte has created a nonprofit organization called One
Laptop Per Child to develop a $100 laptop to be marketed to countries
with limited access to technology. His vision is reportedly taking
shape, with a manufacturer lined up and project organizers close to
signing deals for seven million of the units. Negroponte reportedly
talked with both Microsoft and Apple about supplying operating systems
for his $100 laptops, but he ultimately settled on Linux, a decision
that is said to have riled Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Speaking at
the recent Consumer Electronics show, Gates suggested that instead of
an inexpensive laptop, modified cell phones are a better way to spread
technology. Gates showed a mockup of such a phone, which would connect
to a TV and a keyboard. Negroponte said his group considered a similar
approach but dismissed it as too impractical compared to the laptop idea.
New York Times, 30 January 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/technology/30gates.html
[and the best way to provide information, via your friendly censors]
GOOGLE TO CENSOR SEARCH RESULTS IN CHINA
Google will launch search and news sites in China this week that will
block access to information the Chinese government considers
objectionable. Chinese officials have a long track record of censoring
speech and ideas, and, according to Andrew McLaughlin, senior policy
counsel for Google, the new sites "will comply with local Chinese laws
and regulations." Search results from which content has been excluded
will notify users that not all results are being displayed. Google said
that the decision to offer its services even if they are censored
reflects the belief that limited access to Internet resources is better
than no access, which would be the alternative if Google did not comply
with local legislation. "We must balance our commitments," said
McLaughlin, "to satisfy the interest of users, expand access to
information, and respond to local conditions." Reporters Without
Borders, an organization that advocates for freedom of the press, was
highly critical of the decision, saying, "The new Google version means
that even if a human rights publication is not blocked by local
firewalls, it has no chance of being read in China."
CNET, 24 January 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6030784.html
[and the best way to store articles out of the public's reach]
KEEPING ONLINE ARTICLES AVAILABLE
A group of libraries and publishers are cooperating on a pilot project
to ensure access to online journals. Libraries at five universities, as
well as the New York Public Library, will work with nine publishers on
an archive that will consist of copies of journal articles from
participating publishers stored on 10 servers at the universities.
Those archived copies will be unavailable to the public, but the system
will monitor the Web sites of the journals that published those
articles. When the system detects that the publisher's online version
of an article is unavailable for an extended period of time, the
system's governing board will decide whether to make the archived copy
available. The goal is to ensure long-term access to journal articles,
even when publishers go out of business or computer systems suffer
severe outages or losses of data. The effort is important because
libraries and publishers are frequently at odds over how and when to
provide online access to copyrighted material. Those involved hope the
effort will help the groups work together toward a common goal.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 January 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/01/2006012502t.htm
[and a not so legal way of keeping competitors out of the loop]
MICROSOFT TO LICENSE SOURCE CODE
In an effort to avoid a stiff fine issued by the European Commission,
Microsoft has agreed to license some of its source code. European
antitrust regulators have found Microsoft guilty of abusing its
monopoly power and have insisted on changes to the company's practices
to address the violations, including offering a version of its
operating system without the Microsoft Media Player and providing
access to its source code to rivals so they can develop software that
will properly interoperate with Windows computers. Microsoft met the
first condition, but commissioners last month said that if the company
continued to deny access to competitors, it would face a fine of nearly
$2.5 million per day, retroactive to December 15 of last year.
Microsoft is appealing the rulings against it but has said that while
those appeals are pending, it will license the source code for its
Windows Server System. The European Commission will review Microsoft's
proposal before deciding whether to fine the company.
ZDNet, 25 January 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6030879.html
LAWSUITS TARGET MAKER OF BOGUS SYPWARE TOOLS
The State of Washington and Microsoft have filed separate lawsuits
against Secure Computer, a company they accuse of running a bogus
antispyware racket. According to the complaints, Secure Computer used
pop-up ads and other tools to tell computer users that their computers
were infected with spyware and to offer a service, Spyware Cleaner,
that would remove the unwanted software for $49.95. Microsoft and
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna said that the scan that
supposedly revealed spyware was bogus and that the removal service in
fact left computers more vulnerable to spyware. Moreover, the
complaints contend that Secure Computer's messages implied that the
service was in some way connected to or endorsed by Microsoft. The
lawsuits allege that Secure Computer violated a recently enacted
Washington Computer Spyware Act and three other laws. An attorney
representing Secure Computer said the company was shocked at the legal
action and would respond shortly.
ZDNet, 25 January 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6031108.html
AMERIPRISE LAPTOP WITH PERSONAL DATA STOLEN
A laptop containing information on 230,000 individuals was stolen from
the car of an employee of Ameriprise Financial in December, according
to the company. The computer included names and Social Security numbers
for more than 70,000 financial advisors, and names and Ameriprise
account numbers for 158,000 customers of the firm, which was spun off
of American Express last year. Andy MacMillan, a spokesperson from the
company, said that although access to the data is protected by a password,
the data were not encrypted, which is a violation of written company policies.
MacMillan said the company does not believe that the thief knew about the
information contained on the laptop and thinks that it is unlikely any
of the information will be accessed or used fraudulently.
New York Times, 25 January 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/business/25cnd-data.html
NEW SITE AIMS TO IDENTIFY MAKERS OF MALICIOUS PROGRAMS
Researchers at Harvard Law School and Oxford University are launching a
Web site that will identify organizations that distribute spyware,
adware, and other unwanted computer programs, as well as the tactics
they employ to intall their applications. StopBadware.org was financed
initially by companies including Google, Lenovo, and Sun Microsystems.
The site will also include an area where consumers can submit
testimonials about their experiences with different software they have
downloaded. John G. Palfrey Jr., executive director of the Berkman
Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, said, "We want to turn the
spotlight on the bad actors, but also give ordinary users a place to go
and get an early warning before they download something that might harm
their computer." According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project,
59 million U.S. adults said their computers were infected with spyware
last year. Data from Consumer Reports indicate that despite consumer
spending of $2.6 billion over the past two years on antivirus and
antispyware tools, users still spent $3.5 billion in damages over the
same period due to unwanted software.
New York Times, 25 January 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/technology/25spy.html
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*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
[As requested adding sources, etc., when possible.
Remember, the subject is not the article's subject,
the subject is the manipulation of the world news.]
(AP) "The White House is crippling a Senate inquiry into the
government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina by barring
administration officials from answering questions and failing to
hand over documents, senators leading the investigation said Tuesday."
Thus read the opening statement in an article by the (AP) Associated
Press, entitled: "Senators: White House Stalls Katrina Probe"
01/25/06
This article was referenced only by CBS, as per my sources, and some
Google searches on various keywork combinations yielded few results,
so few as to actually be zero for some of the searches, and only TWO
per the search that yielded this hit, which included "Lieberman" as:
"No one believes that the government responded adequately,
and we can't put that story together if people feel they're
under a gag order from the White House."
Senator Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut
Even the Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the committee's
Republican chair, had some harsh words for the White House:
"We are entitled to know if someone from the Department of Homeland
Security calls someone at the White House during this whole crisis
period, so I think the White House has gone too far in restricting
basic information about who called whom on what day."
She said the White House gag order is "completely inappropriate."
Source: CBS, AP, Frankfort Times [IN]
*
Bill Gates Says It Will Take 10 Years To Stop Piracy In China/India
"In India and China it will be a decade before we get that level,"
meaning the current protection level achieved in the United States,
as is currently in progress in Taiwan and South Korea.
Mr. Gates was addressing the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
[However, what I think he really means is that it will take 10 years
or so, for China and India to grow economically to the point where a
person of their average means can really afford MicroSoft programs.]
[By the way, I got the first clues to this story from the BBC, but a
recent search shows the story is already missing after a short time,
so the follow up was through The Express, of India.]
[In my own personal experiences outside the Asia major urbana center
locations, there is no place you can find legal copies of anything--
the manufacturers are just not interested in making them available.]
If the product is not made available, how can we buy The Real Thing?
Source:
BBC
Express India
*
James Hansen, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director is
trying to tell the world about Global Warming, and says censoring of
his comments, screening of his interviews. . .is being done by those
officials of the Bush administration who are trying to cover up this
ongoing issue on a permanent basis.
Other Bush officials have been fired for even saying there is such a
thing as Global Warming.
Dean Acosta, Deputy Chief of Public Affairs at NASA, has denied such
by saying "That's not the way we operate here."
Hansen says NASA had ordered all of his speaking engagements, notes,
papers, and web postings to undergo review before publication, after
his attempts to call attention to greenhouse gas emissions.
The New York Times quotes him as saying, "They feel their job is to
be this censor of information going out to the public."
This is in addition to similar efforts on 06/13/05 as Philip Cooney
left his White House post as Chief of Staff of their new Council on
Environmental Quality after documents revealed he had long been the
White House's lead censor on Global Warming and had deleted warning
after warning concering Global Warming written for this White House
as part of commissioned reports.
Hansen has said this in no uncertain terms to Congress:
"It is time to stop waffling. . .the greenhouse effect is here."
Later he added that because of the added effect of methane and
chlorofluorocarbons it is "more practical to slow global warming
than is sometimes assumed."
In his report to National Academy of Sciences he said:
Sciences: "We suggest that a strategy to slow global warming focus on
reducing air pollution, especially tropospheric [ground level] ozone,
methane and black carbon particles.
"Human health and ecological costs of these pollutants are counted in
billions of dollars in the United States, and impacts are reaching
devastating levels in the developing world. A strategy focused on
reducing these pollutants, which are not essential to energy. . . ."
Source: New York Times, Telegraph News [UK]
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
"Freedom Of Speech" Limited By The Bush Administration This Week
Supposedly the above NASA comments in the Global Warming study
should be enough.
However, the arrest of Cindy Sheehan some 20 hours ago at the
President's State Of The Union speech challenges that.
Mrs. Sheehan, mother Casey Sheehan, killed in Baghdad's Sadr
City, on April 4, 2004, was the invited guest of Representative
Lynn Woolsey of California, but was ejected from the proceedings
when she revealed a t-shirt that did not support the Iraq war.
Source: CBS News
*
It would also appear that government employees are attempting
some kind of "1984" rewrite of history as per the Wikipedia.
Apparently the Wikipedia biographies of over 1,000 government
officials have been altered by government employees in events
tagged variously as "Wikigate" or "Meehangate."
http://digg.com/technology/More_than_1000_wikipedia_alterations_by_US_Repres
entative_Staffers
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
The icecaps will continue to melt.
The glaciers will continue to shrink.
Icebergs will continue at record numbers and sizes.
Mosquitos will continue moving into the arctic tundra,
and caribou herds etc., will continue dying as a result.
Etc.
*STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"I participated in a hoax. . . ."
"Now" on PBS, with David Brancaccio.
[This was part of a preview, and I didn't get the whole quote
or who said it. . .does anyone have it? Thanks! Michael]
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
65% of all new US job searches are due to "inadequate compensation"
at the previous job. [All those "new jobs" that required workers
to say things such as, "Would you like fries with that?"]
*
The used car market is being "flooded" with thousands of used cars
that have gont through "title washing" to remove evidence of flood
damage from last year's hurricanes.
*
By the way, for those interested, the official U.S. population
estimates just passed 298 million, though many say estimations
of this nature leave out as much as 5% of the population.
Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries.
"If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely
100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same,
it would look something like the following. There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
and all 6 would be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer [I think this is now much greater]
1 would be 79 years old or more.
Of those born today, the life expectancy is only 63 years,
but no country any longer issues copyrights that are sure
to expire within that 63 year period.
I would like to bring some of these figures more up to date,
as obviously if only 1% of 6 billion people owned a computer
then there would be only 60 million people in the world who
owned a computer, yet we hear that 3/4 + of the United States
households have computers, out of over 100 million households.
Thus obviously that is over 1% of the world population, just in
the United States.
I just called our local reference librarian and got the number
of US households from the 2004-5 U.S. Statistical Abstract at:
111,278,000 as per data from 2003 U.S Census Bureau reports.
If we presume the saturation level of U.S. computer households
is now around 6/7, or 86%, that is a total of 95.4 million,
and that's counting just one computer per household, and not
counting households with more than one, schools, businesses, etc.
I also found some figures that might challenge the literacy rate
given above, and would like some help researching these and other
such figures, if anyone is interested.
BTW, while I was doing this research, I came across a statistic
that said only 10% of the world's population is 60+ years old.
This means that basically 90% of the world's population would
never benefit from Social Security, even if the wealthy nations
offered it to them free of charge. Then I realized that the US
population has the same kind of age disparity, in which the rich
live so much longer than the poor, the whites live so much longer
than the non-whites. Thus Social Security is paid by all, but is
distributed more to the upper class whites, not just because they
can receive more per year, but because they will live more years
to receive Social Security. The average poor non-white may never
receive a dime of Social Security, no matter how much they pay in.
*
POEM OF THE WEEK
Relight
My reality is that of domesticated people
on their well masticated lunches
who have every right to remain silent
in between morsels heated up in the microwave oven
and yet they don't
they keep on thinking
their minds talk with the speed of their fingers
abusing the keyboards while doing reports
Today we've been good. We behaved and we obeyed.
We cheated and we lied. We reached our targets.
Every pedestrian agent has a way of convincing
they are doing a great job
every day of their lives.
You can tell by the way they cross the street
their briefcases swaying gently in their wedding ring
adorned hands
with whom their open up the mail
and touch the shoulder of a freshly cooked meal
small kids smelling housewife.
The boulevard is broad
every corner is an option
We cross the street when they say Walk,
my briefcase swinging gently in my hand.
Copyright 2006 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart
Please send comments to: simona_s75 AT yahoo.com & hart AT pobox.com
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pgweekly_2006_02_01_part_1a.txt
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