PG Weekly Newsletter: Part 1 (2006-09-06)

by Michael Cook on September 6, 2006
Newsletters

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
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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.
Start from any bibliographic record page, e.g.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300


Basically this paginates the .txt file and remembers your last position
in a cookie so you can later resume reading where you left off.

Please test it. It should work with any book that has a text file
where the encoding is known.

*

MACHINE TRANSLATION

We are seeking as much information as possible on the various
approaches to Machine Translation. Any brand names or contact
information would be greatly appreciated.

***

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and

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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders


  In the first 08.00 months of this year, PG produced 2,942 new eBooks.

It took us from Jul 1971 to Dec 2001 to produce our first 2,942 eBooks!

            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.

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*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:

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for more information about how you can help a lot by
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If you have a book that has been scanned, but not yet run
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visit http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/GUTINDEX.ALL (a text file)
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Please make sure that any books you send are _not_ already in the archive
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***


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





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*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.


*

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pgweekly_2006_09_06_part_1.txt

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