From hart at pglaf.org Wed May 3 10:00:36 2006
From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart)
Date: Wed May 3 10:00:42 2006
Subject: [gweekly] PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0605031000100.17898@pglaf.org>
pt1a4.406
pt1b4.406
Weekly_May_03.txt
***The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, May 03, 2006 PT1***
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971********
Please note some previous miscounts still not corrected, but the grand totals
should be fairly accurate, just have to go back and fix the interim counts.
*
Editor's comments appear in [brackets].
Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org
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*
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
2 New This Week From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
5 New This Week From PGEu [European Copyrights, Life + 50 and 70]
6 New This Week From PG PrePrints
52 New This Week To Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
57 New This Week [Including PG Australia, PG Europe and PrePrints]
[I'm sure there are a still few bugs in the new accounting]
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones*
19,288 eBooks As Of Today!!!
718 to go to 20,000!!!
18,834 at www.gutenberg.org[+61]
572 Australian eBooks [+6] [Included in above line]
298 Gutenberg Europe [+3]
156 PG PrePrint Site [+9]
19,288 Grand Total of all four sites
57 New eBooks This Week
~96% of the Way to 20,000
***550 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971***
16,220 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~257 eBooks per Month for ~63.00 Months
We Have Produced 1,140 eBooks in 2006
30 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
8,378 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 ~285 eBooks Per Month This Year
[Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints]
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 67 eBooks Per Week In 2006
57 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 ~2.5 years from Oct. 2003 to Mar. 2006 from 10,000 to 19,000
[The above changes 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
*
~75,000 eBooks at the PG Consortia Center
http://www.gutenberg.cc
*
***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
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
SUFFOLK CONSIDERS COUNTY-WIDE WI-FI
Suffolk County, in New York, is considering installing a free wireless
network that would fully cover the county's 900 square miles, offering
Internet access to 1.5 million residents. If built, the network would
be one of the largest in the nation, though officials in Chicago are
considering an even larger network, 940 square miles, that would cover
5 million people. Suffolk County includes considerable waterfront, and
county officials are considering having the network extend over the
water as well. Steve Levy, Suffolk County Executive, proposed the idea,
saying that a private firm would be contracted to develop and maintain
the network. Funding would come from advertising or from fees charged
for higher connection speeds. Because the project would be sponsored by
the county government, the proposed network has further fueled the
debate over whether governments should be involved in such projects at
all or if they should be taken up by commercial vendors.
New York Times, 28 April 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/28/nyregion/28suffolk.html
COMMITTEE KILLS NET NEUTRALITY BILL
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has killed an amendment
designed to guarantee net neutrality. The amendment would have
prevented Internet service providers from delivering different content
at different speeds based on content providers' having paid extra
fees. Supporters of the amendment, including Microsoft, Amazon, and
Google, argued that the Internet was built on ideas antithetical to the
notion of paying fees to have content available to consumers. They
called on Congress not to drop the issue but to "enact legislation
preventing discrimination" against certain content providers. Opponents
of the amendment, including cable and phone companies, suggested that
the landscape of online content, including such material as
movie-quality video, could be available to consumers if content
providers paid a surcharge for it. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of the
committee, commented that net neutrality is "still not clearly defined"
and that he doubts the dire predictions of the amendment's supporters.
ZDNet, 26 April 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6065465.html
DIGITAL DIVIDE SHRINKING
According to a study conducted by IBM and "The Economist" magazine,
although the digital divide remains considerable for some countries,
the gaps are shrinking. The study assessed both availability and use of
technology in 68 countries and assigned each an "e-readiness" score on
a scale of 1 to 10. The gap from the top of the list (Denmark, 9.00) to
the bottom (Azerbaijan, 2.92) is indeed significant, but in certain
regions of China and India, connectivity rivals that of developed
nations, according to Peter Korsten, European director at IBM's
Institute for Business Value. The study noted that nearly every
country's score improved from last year but that countries nearer the
bottom of the list saw greater gains than those in the upper tiers,
indicating a shrinking digital divide overall. Beyond the issue of
connectivity lies the question of what efforts each country makes to
use technology. As Korsten said, "It's up to governments to take
advantage with education and other initiatives."
CNET, 26 April 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-6065240.html
[I hunted up and saved the entire list in an easy to read format,
and will send it to you on request.]
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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.]
EXXON Is Buying Up Their Own Stock With Huge Profits
15% of profits to shareholders
Under 15% spent on search and research on new oil
40% of profits spents on buying back their own stock
ABC, NBC April 27, 2006
*
Hendrick Hertzberg reported the "South Americanization"
program that somehow slipped by the US Supreme Court,
but I couldn't find and details on the PBS story, sorry,
not one hit.
*
RFID Tags Being Considered For Human Beings
You've all heard of the RFID [Radio Frequency ID] tags
used to track all sorts of wild animals, but now these
are being used more and more in urban environments and
are even now being advertized on commercial media from
the point of view of the pet owner who wants to find a
missing pet. No mention is made of the high prices to
get your pet back when the pound or Humane Society has
them in their possession.
However, the REAL NEWS that no one is talking about is
that these RFID tags are being considered as mandatory
for people. Obviously this is starting of low key, in
other countries, where societal pressures are greater,
but the truth is that these RFID tags, along with GPS,
Global Positioning Satellite gear in cell phones, were
being discussed by Western governments as well.
Expect a school near you to start requiring children's
parents to make sure they have a working RFID tag, and
that they will be sent back home if without one. This
will start out with wrist bands that can be taken off,
then to something that can't be taken off, and finally
we will be treated like pets, and the RFID tags are to
be inserted under the skin, eventually at birth.
Big Brother will know where you are all the time.
You won't be able to turn the lights off in your cars,
but Big Brother won't have wear RFIDs and THEY will be
able to turn THEIR car lights off.
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
Oil reserves are at an 8 year high, but the oil companies are
telling us that the prices are being driven up by low supply.
Source: The News Hour, April 27, 2006
*
It would appear that Sony BMG is telling their iTunes patrons
that they have a "license" for their music, which would allow
for about $.30 of the $.99 paid to go to the artists, but the
artists are being told it is a "sale" which gives them $.045.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/ap_en_mu/music_downloads_royalties;
_ylt=AowpM.my63biaeu.FU8A_rRxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/04/28/sony_screwing_artist.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/ap_en_mu/music_downloads_royalties;
_ylt=A$
*
In case you have heard of Gerrymandering, but don't know what it is,
the latest round of Gerrymandering is reported to have been to put a
majority of 80/20 in Democrat's districts and 60/40 for Republicans.
The result is that with the same number of votes, more Republicans--
but these reports should include that the Democrats have tried to do
the same thing at times, just weren't as good at it.
Source: PBS, Around April 30-May 1, 2006.
*STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"Disgruntled" seems to be the quote of the week about the CIA leaks,
not to mention "retirement," forced or unforced.
Too many sources to name, just Google "disgruntled"
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
There will be 1/2 million free eBooks on the Internet, July 4, 2006
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
1/4 to 1/3 of major city shooting cases involved witness intimidation.
CBS News "Conspiracy of Silence" April 27, 2006
*
All sorts of reports are coming out that say unemployment is down,
but none that tell how many jobs from above the old median incomes
have been replaces by jobs where your primary function is to say:
"Would You Like Fries With That?"
Real wages are still falling, even with two jobs in replacement.
One reference made to this was that the $400 million severance pay
to Exxon's CEO Raymond cost every one of the US driving households
$400 extra dollars at the gas pump.
They say that CEO compensation is over 400 times the average wage,
but in this case, that would mean the average severance pay was an
estimated million dollars for Exxon workers.
Obviously Exxon does not fall any where near the averages.
Source: CBS News [BTW, Bob Scheiffer viewers up 700,000 over Dan]
[Cronkite says he would have replaced Rather long ago, that Rather
was playing the part of newsman, while Brokaw and Jennings WERE.]
Sources: Wolf Blitzer, CNN, and The New Yorker magazine
*
133,000 U.S. women graduate from college for every 100,000 men.
*
Only 7% of U.S. prison inmates are women.
*
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, with
the obvious exclusion of the 11-12 million immigrant workers
now being mentioned so much in the news.
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.
*
POEM OF THE WEEK
Strolling Down the Avenue
On my right there are these tall white buildings
that place me back under the gate of time
where the old ladies and the old men of my dreams
are still incurable lovers
holding hands. In the lady's eyes there are always these beautiful,
raw, surrendering to the earth colors
a charmed bouquet of lilac and lilies-of-the-valley
On my left there are the dim alleys of your thoughts
winding, meeting, melting into a green scent
that boldly ascends high above the tin roofs
towards the boomeranged moon
Behind me there are the shadows
creeping into the twilight of our mystified day
to which we patiently, but painfully paid a homage
of giving, taking, memories, and dust
like all the other old souls before us
with certitude, grief, horizon wide hopes, and elation
Ahead lies the Avenue
big, broad and bold, guarded by strongly built chestnut trees
the stature of the buildings that they veil, and just as steady.
White-pinkish flowers lay sprinkled by the wind for our bare feet,
as for all the other bare feet that walked this road before us
*
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pgweekly_2006_05_03_part_1a.txt
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