From hart at pglaf.org Wed Sep 6 09:43:59 2006 From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart) Date: Wed Sep 6 09:44:07 2006 Subject: [gweekly] Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0609060943220.7379@pglaf.org> pt1a5.806 pt1b5.806 Weekly_September_06.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday,September 06 , 2006 PT1 *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******* DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS COMPLETES THEIR 9,000TH eBOOK, STARTS TO #10,000!!! For now I am leaving PT1a and PT1b combined. Please also let me know if you think these Newsletters are a waste of time or if you think I/we should keep doing them. Thanks! Michael Some Suggestions We Received For The Newsletters 0. Several people have merely suggested to other readers that they start from both ends and read to the middle and thus they will get the highlights first, and then the regular features, requests, etc. that stay pretty much the same from issue to issue. I would agree with this suggestion, and would simply, for my own edification, also read the "Flashback," as I find it interesting to see Project Gutenberg eBooks as they appeared in our catalog x years ago. 1. Divide the Newsletter in Web page URLs so the readers could just jump to whatever portions they wanted. [This would take some additional labor by someone who was more familiar with writing web pages than I.] You should already be able to jump to whichever parts you want to read. . .simply use your search commands, search for "*" plus the section header as outlined in The Table of Contents. 2. Redivide PT1 of the Weekly Newsletter into two parts. [This would create a lot more work for whomever edits the Newsletters, which probably wouldn't be so bad if that were their only responsibility. I work to point of exhaustion nearly every single day, and I need for things to become easier rather than harder. Hence my requests for anyone who would like to be editor: the format of the Newsletter would be their choice and we could either turn over the statistics to them, or our stats people could simply send in that portion, ahead of the deadline by an hour or two. We would continue to encourage our readers to send in news items not in the main regular media coverage.] * We are interested in increasing the "SF" available at Project Gutenberg of Australia. To this end we are happy to receive donations of ebooks to add to our collection. SF, in this context can mean: Science, Speculative, Superhero, Swords, Sorcery, Spies, Supernatural and Scary Fiction. Of course, we are only able to accept works that are public domain in Australia. Generally speaking, this means that the author died in 1954 or earlier. Please see our WANTED list at http://gutenberg.net.au/wanted.html for authors and works of interest. If you have suggestions for authors or works to add to the list, please let us know. Do check first that they are not already available at Project Gutenberg Australia or Project Gutenberg, please. Contact details are provided on the WANTED page. http://gutenberg.net.au/wanted.html As always, ebooks by Australian authors and of general Australian interest are always greatly appreciated. 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 *Headline News from Edupage, etc. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** 1236 au - 1202 = 34 19,189 us - 19,103 = 86 - 42 = 44 1 eu 376 preprints 9,001!!! *eBook Milestones* DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS COMPLETES THEIR 9,000TH eBOOK, STARTS TO #10,000!!! 21,090 eBooks As Of Today At These Four PG Sites 19,147 Project Gutenberg US [+ 44] [NOT Including PG Australia] 1,236 Australian eBooks [+ 34] [NOT Included in above line] 331 Gutenberg Europe [+ 1] [NOT Included in above lines] 376 PG PrePrint Site [+ 6] [NOT Inclucded in above lines] 21,090 Grand Total [+ 85] 21,088 [by hand count] [+ 85] [Please note we have several counting methods, and they often differ by several book that we have to hunt down by hand to reconcile.] [Pleast note there is some duplication between these various collections. Volunteers needed to take these duplications into account.] ~11% of the way from 20,000 to 30,000 75,000+ eBooks at the PG Consortia Center http://www.gutenberg.cc [Please note that the four collections totals are eBooks that originated as created, edited, proofread, formatted, etc., by Project Gutenberg and its 50,000 volunteers, while the Project Gutenberg Consortia Center with 75,000+ eBooks contains entire eBook collections from other sources, all the production statistics given here are for some 20,000+ eBooks created by the various teams of Project Gutenberg volunteers, for which we share the responsibility of maintaining. The Consortia Center eBooks were and are the responsibility of the donating eLibraries, and we would be happy to forward any suggestions for correction to those eLibraries, but those eBooks must be edited by the donating parties, as per their requests.] * 18,022 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's ~265 eBooks per Month for ~68.00 Months 2,942 New eBooks in 2006 at These Four Sites 29 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders 9,001 totAl from Distributed Proofreaders Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B] [Currently over 36,000 DP volunteers] [Note, PGDP mostly included in US eBooks] [Note, PGEU has its own Distributed Proofreaders whose total closely matches their grand total] We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Averaged ~248 eBooks Per Month In 2005 [Including PG Australia] We Are Averaging ~366 eBooks Per Month This Year!!! [Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints] All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 84 eBooks Per Week In 2006 85 This Week 115 Last Week 471 This Month [Aug] [This was one of those months with 5 Wednesdays, our work week runs from about noon Wednesday, Eastern Time Zone, for 7 days] It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks It took ~12.5 years from Jan. 1994 to Jun. 2006 to go from 100 to 20,100 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 ~2.8 years from Oct. 2003 to Jun. 2006 from 10,000 to 20,000 It took ~2.3 years from Jan. 2004 to Aug. 2006 from 11,000 to 21,000 Not counting the addition of The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center * [Daily PrePrints stats at http://preprints.readingroo.ms/] Please note that sometimes it takes a few weeks for entire collections to fully appear in the PrePrints Section, thus the count sometimes jumps by a large number when the files are eventually completed and added in. Also note that the PrePrint files are just that, PrePrints, and thus may move later to other locations, including the main collection or The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center, etc. For example, on June 14, 200 WAP compatible cell phone eBooks appeared, and will likely be moved to other collection points later. The entire process of working out the details just to send them to the PrePrints Section took well over a month. Even with the speeded up process of the PrePrints Section, it still takes a certain amount of time to collect and put such a large collection online in a proper manner. * ***Introduction [Ignore for the moment] [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 ***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B*** pt1a5.806 pt1b5.806 Weekly_September_06.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday,September 06 , 2006 PT1 *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******* 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 ***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements General Catalog of Old Books and Authors http://www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/ngcoba/ngcoba.htm which now indexes 24,000 books available free online, including all PG(US) & PG(Aus)'s books, along with some basic date information about them and their authors where you can find more. Plus many books not available on line, a good place to search for books by specific authors who you are interested in. For information please contact Philip Harper <webmaster AT kingkong.demon.co.uk> * We have been invited to peruse the various eBook collections of the Internet Archive for potential Project Gutenberg eBooks. http://www.archive.org Don't worry, many of the numbers listed are out of date, but you should get all the files when you pass through to the original sites. Click on "texts" to get started, feel free to pick up any of the eBooks you would like to work on. Many Thanks To Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive! * Please visit and test our newest site: "PROJECT GUTENBERG EUROPE" http://pge.rastko.net [Project Gutenberg Europe] http://dp.rastko.net [Distributed Proofreaders Europe] * There is an experimental online reader available. 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That's 35 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 Years!!! 85 New eBooks This Week 115 New eBooks Last Week 471 New eBooks This Month [Aug] 368 Average Per Month in 2006 266 Average Per Month in 2005 Counting 216 PGEu 248 Average Per Month in 2005 Not Counting PGEu 336 Average Per Month in 2004 355 Average Per Month in 2003 203 Average Per Month in 2002 103 Average Per Month in 2001 2942 New eBooks in 2006 3186 New eBooks in 2005 Counting 216 PGeu > 2970 New eBooks in 2005 Not Counting PGEu 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 18,022 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 That's Only 68.00 Months! ~265 books per month! 21,090 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 17,106 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,984 New eBooks In Last 12 Months [Incl. PGAu, PGEu & PrePrints] 1,236 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia [This does NOT include PGAu eBooks posted at the U.S. site: www.gutenberg.org ] 331 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Europe 376 Items in Project Gutenberg PrePrints ~80,000 Project Gutenberg Consortia Center http://www.gutenberg.cc [Presuming 160,000 files at a rate of 2 per eBook] You may also want to look at Project Runeberg [Scandinavian] http://runeberg.org * Project Gutenberg began operation on July 4, 1971 Project Runeberg began operation on December 13, 1992 Distributed Proofreaders began October 22, 2000 [Became an official PG-US site in 2002] Project Gutenberg of Australia began in August, 2001 The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center started in 1997] [Became an official PG-US site in 2003] Project Gutenberg of Europe started January 12, 2004 [Posted first books February 26, when we met in Brussels to address people at the European Union Parliament. Project Gutenberg PrePrints Started January 25, 2006 http://preprints.readingroo.ms * PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE: Since starting production in October 2000, Distributed Proofreaders has contributed 8,972 Books to Project Gutenberg. 27 added this week. For more complete DP statistics, visit: http://www.pgdp.net/c/stats/stats_central.php * Check out our website at www.gutenberg.org, and see below to learn how you can get INSTANT access to our eBooks via FTP servers even before the new eBooks listed below appear in our catalog. eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists. Info on subscribing to daily, weekly, monthly Newsletters, listservs: http://www.gutenberg.org/howto/subscribe-howto or http://www.gutenberg.org/subs.shtml *** *Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report The PGCC collection at http://www.gutenberg.cc has doubled in size from the listings below, but we don't have exactly matching collection sizes yet for a new breakdown. There are ~160,000 separate downloadable files, and presuming 50% are reduntant or are required at the level of more than one file per book: The number of individual eBooks now is about 80,000. Thus the grand total of eBooks at Project Gutenberg is 21,000+ created by Project Gutenberg volunteers, plus 80,000 donated from over 100 other eLibraries, to create a downloadble library of 100,000+ eBooks ! * PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections listings of 18 collections. . .with this week's listing as: [This list is being updated as the moment, you can get the entire list on the collections pages at gutenberg.cc] Alex-Wire Tap Collection, 2,036 HTML eBook Files Black Mask Collection, 12,000 HTML eBook Files The Coradella Bookshelf Collection, 141 eBook Files DjVu Collection, 272 PDF and DJVU eBook Files eBooks@Adelaide Collection, 27,709 eBook Files Himalayan Academy, 3,400 HTML eBook Files Internet Archive ~30,000 eBook Files [In Progress] <<< Literal Systems Collection, 68 MP3 eBook Files Logos Group Collection, ~34,000 TXT eBook Files Poet's Corner Poetry Collection, 6,700 Poetry Files Project Gutenberg Collection, 15,035 eBook Files PGCC Chinese eBook Collection ~300 eBook files <<< Note Name Change Renascence Editions Collection, 561 HTML eBook Files Swami Center Collection, 78 HTML eBook Files Tony Kline Collection, 223 HTML eBook Files Widger Library, 2,600 HTML eBook Files CIA's Electronic Reading Room, 2,019 Reference Files =======Grand Total Files=========~137,142 Total Files===== Average Size of the Collections 8,067.18 Total Files These eBooks are catalogued as per the instructions of their donors: some are one file per book; some have a file for each chapter; and some even have a file for a single page or poem. . .or are overcounted for reasons I have not mentioned. . .each of which could cause the overcounting or duplication of numbers. If we presume 2 out of 3 of these files are overcounts, that leaves a unique book total of ~45,714 Unique eBooks If we presume 3 out of 4 of these files are overcounts, that leaves a unique book total of ~34,286 Unique eBooks * The new overall collection size, which has reduced the need to account for duplications and eBooks with files for each chapter, etc. 75,000+ Unique eBooks *** Please also note that over 25,000 eBooks are listed via The Online Books Page, of which over 6,300 are from PG. http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ In addition: The Internet Public Library had a similar listing which is now in limbo. If anyone knows what is happening with the IPL, please let us know. Inquiries, made months ago, and again recently, have not turned up any current information. You can try a new IPL service at: http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.60.00/ It would appear that The Internet Public Library ended its first incarnation with about 22,284 entries, which has now been surpassed by the Online Books Page. Still looking for more Internet Public Library info. *** Today Is Day #238 of 2006 This Completes Week #34 and Month #07.80 [364 days this year] 126 Days/18 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 8,998 Books To Go To #30,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 84 Weekly Average in 2006 61 Weekly Average in 2005 [Counting 216 PGEu] 57 Weekly Average in 2005 [Not Counting PGEu] 78 Weekly Average in 2004 79 Weekly Average in 2003 47 Weekly Average in 2002 24 Weekly Average in 2001 42 Only ~42 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers List [Used to be well over 100] [This listing usually from the previous week] *** Permanent Requests For Assistance: DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS NEEDS CONTENT, PROOFERS AND SCANNER TYPES Please visit the site: http://www.pgdp.net for more information about how you can help a lot by simply proofreading just a few pages per day, or more. 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Note that updated eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.) *** Statistical Review In the 35 weeks of this year, we have produced 2942 new eBooks. It took us from 07/71 to 12/01 to produce our FIRST 2942 eBooks!!! That's 35 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2942 Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext] ### A "C" Following The eText # Indicates That This eText Is Under Copyright [Note: books without month and year entries are now in new catalog format] 2001 The Midnight Queen, by May Agnes Fleming [mdnqnxxx.xxx] 2950 Dec 2001 Stories of a Western Town, by Octave Thanet [wstwnxxx.xxx] 2949 Contains: The Besetment Of Kurt Lieders The Face Of Failure Tommy And Thomas Mother Emeritus An Assisted Providence Harry Lossing Dec 2001 Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E. M. Forster [#4][wafttxxx.xxx] 2948 Dec 2001 von denen Faunen gepeitschte Laster, by Zaeunemann[?faunxxx.xxx] 2947 [Title: Die von denen Faunen gepeitschte Laster] [Author: Sidonia Hedwig Zaeunemann] [Language: German] Dec 2001 Howards End, by E. M. Forster [E. M. Forster #3] [hoendxxa.xxx] 2946 (This is version 10a, see also #2891) Dec 2001 Essays, Second Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson[E#2][2srwexxx.xxx] 2945 Dec 2001 Essays, First Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson [E#1][1srwexxx.xxx] 2944 The Great Hunger, by Johan Bojer 2943 Dec 2001 Two Penniless Princesses, by Charlotte M. Yonge #5[2pnprxxx.xxx] 2942 Dec 2001 The Chinese Classics (Prolegomena), by James Legge[prolgxxx.xxx] 2941 Nov 2001 Evolution and Ethics et. al., by T. H. Huxley[#30][thx20xxx.xxx] 2940 Contains: Evolution And Ethics. Prolegomena Evolution And Ethics Science And Morals Capital--The Mother Of Labour Social Diseases And Worse Remedies The Struggle For Existence In Human Society Letters To The Times Legal Opinions The Articles Of War Of The Salvation Army Nov 2001 The Circulation of the Blood, by T. H. Huxley[#29][thx19xxx.xxx] 2939 [Author: William Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood] Nov 2001 Yeast, Thomas Henry Huxley[Thomas Henry Huxley#28][thx18xxx.xxx] 2938 Nov 2001 Coral and Coral Reefs, by T. H. Huxley [#27][thx17xxx.xxx] 2937 Nov 2001 Geological Contemporaneity, by T. H. Huxley [#26][thx16xxx.xxx] 2936 [Title: Geological Contemporaniety and Persistent Types of Life] Nov 2001 On the Study of Zoology, by T. H. Huxley [THH #25][thx15xxx.xxx] 2935 Nov 2001 Improving Natural Knowledge, by T. H. Huxley [#24][thx14xxx.xxx] 2934 [On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge] Nov 2001 On Some Fossil Remains of Man by T. H. Huxley[#23][thx13xxx.xxx] 2933 Nov 2001 Relations of Man to Lower Animals, T H Huxley[#22][thx12xxx.xxx] 2932 [Title: On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals] Nov 2001 Man's Place in Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley[#21][thx11xxx.xxx] 2931 [Title: Evidence as to Man's Place In Nature] Nov 2001 Criticisms on "The Origin of Species", by Huxley [thx10xxx.xxx] 2930 [Author: Thomas Henry Huxley] [THH #20] Nov 2001 The Origin of Species, by Thomas Henry Huxley[#19][thx09xxx.xxx] 2929 (See also #2009 and #1228) Nov 2001 Time and Life, by Thomas Henry Huxley [THH #18][thx08xxx.xxx] 2928 Nov 2001 The Darwinian Hypothesis, by Thomas H. Huxley[#17][thx07xxx.xxx] 2927 Nov 2001 Examination of Origin of Species by TH Huxley[#16][thx06xxx.xxx] 2926 [A Critical Examination of the Position of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On the [Origin of Species," In Relation to the Complete Theory of the Causes [of the Phenomena of Organic Nature] Nov 2001 The Conditions of Existence, by T. H. Huxley [#15][thx05xxx.xxx] 2925 [Title: The Conditions of Existence as Affecting the Perpetuation of Living Beings] Nov 2001 The Perpetuation of Living Beings, by Huxley [#14][thx04xxx.xxx] 2924 [Title: The Perpetuation of Living Beings, Hereditary Transmission and Variation] Nov 2001 The Origination of Living Beings, by T Huxley[#13][thx03xxx.xxx] 2923 [The Method by which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered.--The Origination of LIving Beings Nov 2001 Past Condition of Organic Nature, T. H. Huxley #12[thx02xxx.xxx] 2922 [Title: The Past Condition of Organic Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley] Nov 2001 Present Condition of Organic Nature, TH Huxley #11[thx01xxx.xxx] 2921 [Title: The Present Condition of Organic Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley] Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet? If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,542,336,642 that would be 21,090 x 65,423,366 = ~1.38 Trillion !!! With 21,090 eBooks online as of September 06, 2006 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.72 from each book. [1% world population x #eBooks] 65,423,366 x 21,090 x $.73 = ~$1 Trillion [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] [By the way, the US "popclock" is about to turn to 300 million people.] [Just turning 299.7 million this week!] A Trillion Dollars Given Away At Just $.47 Value Per Book To 100 Million With 21,090 eBooks online as of September 06, 2006 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.47 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.59 when we had 17,106 eBooks a year ago. Our Target Audience Is 1.5% Of The World Population = ~100,000,000 people. Next Decade's Target: 15% Of The world Population = 1,000,000,000 people. At 21,090 eBooks in 35 Years and 02.00 Months We Averaged 600 Per Year 50 Per Month 1.64 Per Day At 2942 eBooks Done In The 245 Days Of 2006 We Averaged 12.0 Per Day 84 per Week 368 Per Month If you are interested in the population of the world or of the U.S. you might want to know that these numbers, official as they appear, are just just estimates, and perhaps not as accurate as we hope. However, for those keeping track of how quickly the U.S. reaches a 300 million population level, and who noticed the passing of 298M, just two weeks ago. . .the U.S. is already 1/6 the way to 299M, so it will probably be 10 more weeks to 299M and 22 more to 300M. Recently the U.S. Congress, pertaining to district reapportionment, who gets to vote for which Congresspeople, decided that many of the districts were undercounted by 5%, perhaps then later deciding that all districts had been undercounted by 5% [can't recall details]. * The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks' production; each production-week starts/ends Wednesday noon, starts with the first Wednesday of January. January 4th was the first Wednesday of 2006, and thus ended PG's production year of 2005 and began the production year of 2006 at noon. This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week. ***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B*** *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] NORWICH LAUNCHES FREE WI-FI The city of Norwich, in the United Kingdom, has launched an 18-month pilot test of a free wireless network covering several areas of the city. Kurt Frary, manager of the project, said that the implementation, which includes more than 200 antennae, has been trouble-free so far. In an effort not to compete with commercial services, the network offers speeds of 256 Kbps for the public. Users must also log in again every 60 minutes if they want to use the network longer than an hour. Because the network is open, Frary advised using firewalls, antivirus protection, and, for business users, VPNs for individuals who connect to the network. Paul Adams, a member of the city council, said the pilot is intended to gauge the benefits of free Wi-Fi for both the public and municipal employees. During the first three weeks of the test, a significant portion of the usage was centered around universities and libraries in the city, according to Adams, who predicted that "Educational use, student use, and the virtual learning environment is going to be a big use." BBC, 31 August 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5297884.stm MOON GAME USES REAL DATA A new computer game developed by California-based Virtue Arts uses real data about the moon, prompting NASA to say it will use the software to develop space vehicles and train astronauts. Using public data collected by NASA and international space organizations, the developers of Lunar Racing Championship created an environment that accurately portrays the topography and environmental conditions of the moon in a car-racing game. Because the moon's gravity is so much less than the Earth's, for example, cars in the game rely not on aerodynamics but on small rocket boosters for control. The fine dust on the moon's surface combined with the low gravity can result in dust clouds if a vehicle travels at more than 8 m.p.h., a concern both for players of the game and for NASA scientists designing vehicles for the moon. Virtue Arts developed technology that allows a PC to process the vast amount of data necessary to create a realistic environment. The company is expected to begin selling the lunar exploration software this fall. CNET, 1 September 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-11397_3-6111838.html JUDGE IN BRAZIL ORDERS GOOGLE TO TURN OVER DATA A judge in Brazil has ordered Google to release user information relating to an investigation of child pornography and hate speech. Prosecutors in the country allege that users of Orkut, a networking site operated by Google, use the site to exchange illegal photographs and to post hate speech targeting blacks, Jews, and homosexuals. Officials from Google said that although the company has been cooperating with investigative requests from Brazilian authorities, Google does not maintain information on users of Orkut. The judge in the case rejected that argument and ordered Google to turn over requested information or face fines of $23 million per day. "It is not relevant that the data are stored in the United States," said Judge Jose Marcos Lunardelli, "since all the photographs and messages being investigated were published by Brazilians, through Internet connection in national territory." Houston Chronicle, 31 August 2006 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4155909.html HARVARD OFFERS VIRTUAL CLASS IN SECOND LIFE This fall, Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson will coteach a course on argument with his daughter, Harvard Extension School instructor Rebecca Nesson, that will take place in the Second Life virtual world. In Second Life, users create avatars that they control, using them to move around the virtual environment and interact with others and with the virtual physical space. A number of other colleges and universities have used Second Life as a component of certain courses. For this new course at Harvard, Nesson and Nesson will teach students--entirely through the virtual environment--how to use blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other electronic tools to make effective arguments. The class, which is open to the public through Harvard's extension school, will take place in an online replica of the university's Ames Courtroom. Rebecca Nesson will hold office hours in Second Life; Charles Nesson's office hours will be in his actual office. Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 August 2006 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/08/2006083001t.htm ONLINE COURSES DRAW GROWING NUMBERS OF STUDENTS According to new research conducted by Eduventures, online education has come to represent a considerable portion of continuing and professional education students at nonprofit institutions. For-profit institutions are typically considered the leaders in online enrollments, but nonprofits now have about 20 percent of their continuing and professional students in such programs. The study, which covered 43 institutions, also found that online courses take more time and money to develop than in-class courses and that half of the institutions that offer online programs have outsourced at least some of the components. Eduventures also predicted that enrollments in online continuing education programs will grow by about 20 percent annually for the next several years. Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 August 2006 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/08/2006082902n.htm DOWNLOADING STARTS AT GOOGLE BOOK SEARCH Google's controversial Book Search program is set to begin offering downloads of entire out-of-copyright texts. Until now, books in the program were available online only. With the option to download texts, users can now easily search those texts, print copies of them, or keep local copies on their computers to read offline. Books still under copyright protection are not available for download. Instead, small sections of text are online for users to view, unless the copyright owner grants Google permission to show more text. Many publishers and others have objected to Google's model, saying that even scanning copyrighted books and displaying snippets of them violates their copyright. Sidney Verba, director of the Harvard University Library, one of the libraries participating in the program, said that the ability to search texts allows users to "find previously buried information about historical events or people, places of interest, and matters cultural or scientific." Wall Street Journal, 30 August 2006 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115694354228349458.html To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName or To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA *QUOTATION OF THE WEEK "Dwarf Planet" new designation for Pluto. After years of scientific and/or political wrangling, The Solar System is back to where it was 76 years ago when there were only 8 planets. . .Pluto in Doghouse, is what the headlines could have read. Of course, this leaves the door wide open for all the "interested parties" to now strip Mars of one moon or perhaps both, as it it widely presume that Phobos was and asteroid that simply was in the wrong place at an inconvenient time and was scooped up by Mars, perhaps the same was true of Diemos as well. Phobos is quite small, perhaps only 10 km the longest way. Some discussion remains about what to do with Pluto's moon, Charon, which originally made Pluto look larger than it was to primitive telescopes of the 1900s, and undoubtedly other local solar objects are in danger. Multiple sources *STATISTICS OF THE WEEK Only 2 million of 32 million copyrighted books are in print. Thus, even if Borders and Barnes & Noble had every one in print 15 books out of 16 under copyright would'nt be on their shelves. Source listed as New York Times, not able to confirm. Sources also listed Tim O'Reilly / >From BBC News Online Eight times humans came to try to live in Britain and on at least seven occasions they failed - beaten back by freezing conditions. Scientists think they can now write a reasonably comprehensive history of the occupation of these isles. [Yes, there HAVE been several Ice Ages in the past 700,000 years, so not terribly surprising. . .will they survive the next one?] It stretches from 700,000 years ago and the first known settlers at Pakefield in Suffolk, through to the most recent incomers just 12,000 years or so ago. The evidence comes from the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project. This five-year undertaking by some of the UK's leading palaeo-experts has reassessed a mass of scientific data and filled in big knowledge gaps with new discoveries. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5317762.stm http://tinyurl.com/edrar *DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK Economic statistics for the 1st quarter were revised last week, upward to 2.9% growth, but the rate of inflation was still not included in the reports, though, in an interesting change from their usual practice of leaving them out altogether, reporters did mention that inflations was "very much higher" than growth. Several sources. MORE DOUBLESPEAK Given that this is the "official" launch of the US election, there was plenty to go around, but nothing very impressive. *POLITICAL QUOTES OF THE WEEK Given that this is the "official" launch of the US election, there was plenty to go around, but nothing very impressive. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK Given the election rhetoric, we'll hear more and more, but it will be about less and less, until the gloves come off at the very end. *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK [I think the inflation/growth statistics in the news were plenty odd enough. However, I should add that manufacturing costs rose sharply around the world, up 1.1% in the UK in July alone, though those have not yet reached the consumer markets.] * 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. * Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists For more information about the Project Gutenberg's mailing lists, including the Project Gutenberg Weekly and Monthly Newsletters: and the other Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists: The weekly is sent on Wednesdays, and the monthly is sent on the first Wednesday of the month. To subscribe to any (or to unsubscribe or adjust your subscription preferences), visit the Project Gutenberg mailing list server: http://lists.pglaf.org If you are having trouble with your subscription, please email the list's human administrators at: help@pglaf.org
pgweekly_2006_09_06_part_1.txt
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