From hart at pglaf.org Wed Apr 5 09:08:54 2006
From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart)
Date: Wed Apr 5 09:08:56 2006
Subject: [gweekly] PT1A Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0604050908040.5083@pglaf.org>
pt1a5.306
pt1b5.306
Weekly_April_05.txt
**The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, April 05, 2006 PT1**
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971********
*
We Are Now Over 95% Of The Way To 20,000 eBooks!!!
Including PG Australia, PG Europe, and PrePrints
Our usual editor has been on the road and will be adding in the Newsletters as
did not appear over the past month. Please forgive errors during reconstructs
of the statistical periods that have been missed. Right now I have reconciled
two ways of arriving at our grand total to 19,046, + or - 3. This includes an
error correction changing the total for February 15 from 208 to 198, decreased
the grand total by 10 eBooks. More checking is in order, but for the moment a
fairly accurate total is in place.
Editor's comments appear in [brackets].
Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org
Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@pobox.com
*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Search for "*eBook" or "*Intro". . .to jump to that section, etc.]
*eBook Milestones
*Introduction
*Hot Requests, New Sites and Announcements
*Continuing Requests and Announcements
*Progress Report
*Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report
*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
*Permanent Requests For Assistance:
*Donation Information
*Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections
*Mirror Site Information
*Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks
*Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
*Flashback
*Weekly eBook update:
This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter
Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter
Corrections in separate section
3 New This Week From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
0 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
53 New This Week [Including PG Australia, PG Europe and PrePrints]
[I'm sure there are a few bugs in the new accounting]
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones*
~19,046 eBooks As Of Today!!!
18,622 at www.gutenberg.org[+50]
555 Australian eBooks [+3] [included in above line]
286 Gutenberg Europe [+0]
141 PG PrePrint Site [+0]
~19,049 Grand Total of all four sites
>>> We Are ~95% of the Way to 20,000!!! <<<
***548 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971***
15,981 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~254 eBooks per Month for ~63.00 Months
We Have Produced 901 eBooks in 2006
954 to go to 20,000!!!
36 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
8,265 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 ~300 eBooks Per Month In 2006
[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 Australia, 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]
[Daily PGEu stats at http://dp.rastko.net/default.php]
[Daily DP stats at http://www.pgdp.net]
BTW, we just started a new "PrePrints" site at PG,
so if you come across eBooks that aren't ready for
primetime, but that should be saved for upgrading,
we have a place to put them.
http://preprints.readingroo.ms/ new site
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 69 eBooks Per Week In 2006
53 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 ~2.50 years from Oct. 2003 to Mar. 2006 from 10,000 to 19,000
*
***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
few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us:
hart@pobox.com and gbnewby@pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
FREE INTERNET REFERENCE SITE
LivingInternet.com provides a 700-odd page reference about the Internet
"to provide living context and perspective to this most technological
of human inventions", and has received input from many people that helped
build the Internet. It currently receives about 3 thousand visitors a day,
many from educational institutions. Now in its 7th year of operation.
http://www.livinginternet.com/
TEXT TO SPEECH
Dolphin Producer is a new software package which will convert a text
document into a fully synchronized text and audio DTB at the push of a
single button. The DTB can then be played back using Dolphin's
EaseReader software player - which is included in Dolphin Producer.
The DTB can also be played back on any other DAISY DTB software or
hardware player, as well as any MP3 player - The choice is yours.
http://www.dolphinuk.co.uk or http://www.dolphinusa.com
*News From Other Sources
Sony eReader Delayed
Sony has announced a delay from Spring to mid-Summer for the
rollout of its new eBook reading device.
In addition, it has been announced that Sony and Borders are
to be the exclusive sellers of this $300-$400 product.
*
Print On Demand [POD] Case Reversed In Favor of Big Business
Amazon and Ingram, two of the giants in the bookselling world,
won a reversal of their conviction of patent infringement case
that evolved after they refused to licence POD technology from
patent holder Harvey Ross, the founder of On Demand.
In an interesting sidelight, the overturned royalty payment of
13% of sales is more than most authors' royalties.
See:
On Demand Machine Corp v Ingram Industries Inc
Case numbers: 05-1074, 05-1075 and 05-1100
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
IT SPENDING EXPECTED TO RISE
Results of a survey by Accenture indicate a likely increase in IT
spending over the next three years. The annual survey, which questions
IT managers at 300 large U.S. businesses, found that 60 percent expect
to increase spending, while just 13 percent anticipate that IT spending
will drop. Thirty-two percent of respondents said IT spending at their
companies was insufficient. The average forecast is for IT spending to
rise by 5.5 percent. Factors that are expected to spur new or increased
spending include new business initiatives, upgrading legacy systems,
and adopting new technologies. Other factors mentioned were integration
efforts following a merger or acquisition, regulatory compliance, and
security.
ZDNet, 31 March 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6056393.html
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CASTS A WIDE NET FOR INFORMATION
Subpoenas obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that
the U.S. Justice Department is seeking Internet usage data from at
least 35 companies in its efforts to defend the 1996 Child Online
Protection Act (COPA) against court challenges. One of the subpoenas
sparked a legal showdown between the government and Google, which
challenged the request for millions of records of Internet searches. In
that case, the government significantly scaled back its request, which
the judge ruled was allowable. Other companies that received similar
subpoenas are Comcast, EarthLink, AT&T, Cox Communications, Verizon
Communications, Symantec, and other makers of computer security
products. The Supreme Court has ruled twice that COPA is likely
unconstitutional, and the government will go to trial in October to
defend it. David McGuire, spokesman for the Center for Democracy and
Technology, expressed concerns echoed by other critics that the
government is seeking large amounts of information to defend a
questionable law.
Associated Press, 30 March 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060331/ap_on_hi_te/internet_blocking
ANOTHER PATENT THREATENS CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY
Another company has contacted a number of colleges and universities
about a technology patent they might be infringing, this time for
systems that transfer money across the Internet to campus cards. in
1998, JSA Technologies applied for a patent, which was granted in 2005,
that covers such transfers. Many institutions use campus cards for
student expenses such as books, food in snack bars, or campus fees. Jon
Gear, vice president of JSA, said the company has no intention of
forcing institutions to discontinue their funds-transfer systems. The
company, he said, is simply enforcing a patent that protects its
intellectual property. Gear said JSA contacted a number of schools,
though he declined to say how many or to name them, and will negotiate
licensing fees, which he said would be "negligible." Lowell Adkins,
executive director of the National Association of Campus Card Users,
said his organization is working to clarify the issue. "It's still
really unclear what the scope of the patent is," he said. "We need to
understand how they're going to exercise their rights."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 March 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006032802n.htm
INITIATIVE AIMS TO HELP FIND TRUSTWORTHY INFORMATION ONLINE
A new Web site being developed by researchers at Syracuse University
and the University of Washington (UW) will provide users with tools and
tips for separating good online information from the vast amounts of
unreliable material. R. David Lankes, associate professor of
information studies at Syracuse, and Michael Eisenberg, professor in
the Information School at UW, are codirectors of the Credibility
Commons, which is funded by a $250,000 grant from the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Lankes said that many users assess
the credibility of online information based on what a site looks like
or whether it tells users what they want to hear. The Credibility
Commons will gather computer programs--written by others and by the
organizers of the new site--that can help users find credible
information on the Web. The site will also solicit feedback from users
for how best to locate reliable, accurate information. The tools
developed by the Credibility Commons will be available as open source
applications, which users may download and modify provided they share
those changes with the site.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 March 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006032901t.htm
BT CHARGING FOR HIGH BANDWIDTH USAGE
U.K. Internet service provider BT has sent letters to 3,200 subscribers
letting them know that their usage exceeds the 40GB per month download
limit to which they agreed in the terms of their service. The letters
inform customers that they must either pay a surcharge for the extra
usage or their service will be disconnected. The ISP does not have an
automatic shutoff for users who exceed the limit, and officials from BT
said they are willing to tolerate occasional violations. The users
contacted, however, are regularly downloading far more than the limit,
with some routinely downloading 200GB every month. Such a volume of
downloads corresponds to approximately 50,000 songs. A spokesperson
from BT said it would be fair to call these users "broadband hogs" and
noted, "You would have to be downloading pretty much all day, every
day, to manage that level of downloading." BT sent similar letters to
1,800 individuals in October, and while some users did agree to pay for
their usage, most were cut off from BT.
ZDNet, 27 March 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6054223.html
PROFESSOR FORBIDS LAPTOPS, STUDENTS GRUMBLE
June Entman, a law professor at the University of Memphis, has banned
laptops from her classes for first-year law students, telling them they
must take notes with pen and paper. "The computers interfere with
making eye contact," said Entman. "You've got this picket fence
between you and the students." She said she wants her students to spend
less time taking down everything she says and spend time "thinking and
analyzing" instead. Students responded by circulating a petition to
have the decision overturned and by submitting a complaint to the
American Bar Association, which has since dismissed the complaint.
Student Jennifer Bellott said she worried that Entman's decision would
spawn a "snowball effect," prompting other professors to do the same.
Cory Winsett, another student at the university, said, "If we continue
without laptops, I'm out of here. I'm gone; I won't be able to keep
up." James Smoot, dean of the law school, said that Entman's decision
will stand but that the school will review technology policies.
USA Today, 21 March 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-03-21-professor-laptop-ban_x.htm
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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.]
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
Congress is passing "Ironclad Ceilings On Spending"
with great public fanfare and media coverage as the
National Debt approaches $10 Trillion dollars: but
at the same time they have passed two amendments to
virtually unpass these "Ironclad Ceiling" bills.
One of these bills exempts Congress from the limit,
which is about half of national spending, such as a
continuing payment for the Iraq war, etc., with the
second bill exempting entitlement programs which is
the other half.
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
>From a reply to the announcement of specific brands of terabyte boxes at
Fry's this past week for $649. Other places have the same products from
the same brand[s] at $699.
Of course, if you are willing to simply buy 4 @ 250G drives for $99 each,
and put them in a less sophisticated box than previously mentioned, these
new terebytes can be added for ~$450 rather than the $649-$699 mentioned.
Add another $50 each time you want to add a serious feature.
However you want to count it, though, if you have been considering buying
a terabyte, the time is obviously coming when there will quite many wider
and wider ranges of selections, and you will likely see terabytes sold at
Best Buy, Circuit City, etc., for under $500 by next year's holidays.
If you want a top of the line terabyte box you can get one at about $1500
that includes rows of SCSI and GigE connectors, dual power supplies, etc.
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
This week's statistics come to you courtesy of the big flap
in the United States Congress in response to President Bush
making a felony issue out of being an illegal alien.
As previously mentioned in reference to the U.S. population
reaching 300 million shortly, the actual population is very
undercounted, as witnessed by the 5% push by Congresspeople
to get more representation based on such undercounts.
In addition, Congress is now citing numbers over 11 million
for undocumented workers in the U.S., including who knows a
total of how many children they have had while in the U.S.,
which makes those children legal citizens, under previously
enforces U.S. citizenship laws.
This is also bringing attention to labor unions.
Today unions represent under 1/12 of United States workers,
but rates approaching 1/2 exist in certain jobs, such as an
assortment of local government workers. Where do you think
AFSME gets all that money to advertize with?
AFSME = Association of Federal, State and Municipal Employees
The highest union rates across jobs are among men with less
than 9th grade educations.
It's not always the United States, the same cycle happens
with Canadian workers, as below.
In 1998 the average full time union worker received $19/hr,
as compared to $15.64 for full time non-union workers.
This is just over a 20% advantange for union workers.
However, the different among part time workers is greater--
$16.55/hr for unions, $9.71 for non-union workers. 70%+
In addition, unionized workers usually get more hours/week,
receiving weekly paychecks of $325.64 versus $161.92, which
is just over DOUBLE the paychecks of non-union workers.
*
Odd Statistic
Today at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
. . .the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
*
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.
[This one is getting a little out of date, as the US population
is obviously no longer 6% of the world. In fact, rounding to the
nearest percent, the US will soon fall from 5% to 4%.]
"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.
*
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pgweekly_2006_04_05_part_1a.txt
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