December 2005 - gutvol-d - lists.pglaf.org

Google print
by N Wolcott 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

Now that the dust has cleared, can us proles have the final info-- can one download scans from google print, what is the best way, are they holding back, what is the resoloution, can one search (other than for the dejavu image), etc etc. Are there P2P networks to share stuff cribbed from google. Talking about PD images of course. Norm Wolcott nwolcott2(a)post.harvard.edu

3 4

re: [gutvol-d] Google print
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

norm said: > Other than this you can only > go forward and back a page at a time. take a closer look at each u.r.l., norm, and you'll see how to jump to any page. -bowerbird

1 0

Free Beer !
by Marcello Perathoner 12 Dec '05

12 Dec '05

I got two complaints about the wording of the PG main page. In particular I refer to these two paragraphs: "All Project Gutenberg ebooks are free as in _free beer_ for anyone living in the United States: You may download all our ebooks for your personal use for free. "Most Project Gutenberg ebooks are also free as in _free speech_: You may copy them, give them away and use them in any way you like. See the license page for details." This wording, while a bit on the "slang" side, has proved very effective and I got much less questions of the kind "May I download Moby Dick and post it on my side which is about fishing?" than before. Also, I like it for `sentimental' reasons, because it is the slogan of the Free Software Movement. But this may be just a pet of mine. One person complained about the wording on the grounds that "There ain't no such thing as a free beer." (I don't think we have to consider this one.) A different complaint reached me a few days ago: > It is not an issue of understanding the meaning of the phrase, but > rather the appropriateness of it. It is inappropriate to give the > appearance of encouraging drinking, when many of the people using the > web site are junior or senior high students. I personally think this claim is bogus and I told the claimant so. But, as I'm living in a town that is proud for its cathedral and its beer (not necessarily in that order) I may be prejudiced. I therefore ask for opinions. More: If we decide to change the wording, we need a new one ("Free lunch" would anger the libertarian even more :-) ) that conveys the idea that PG is not just a free book download service. -- Marcello Perathoner webmaster(a)gutenberg.org

10 22

Wall Street Journal Online Interview with Michael Hart
by Jon Noring 11 Dec '05

11 Dec '05

[Not sure if this was mentioned on gutvol-d. If so, forgive the duplication.] The Wall Street Journal Online has an interview with Michael Hart: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113415403113218620-U_OqLOmApoaSvNpy5… Jon Noring

1 0

Re: [gutvol-d] broadband penetration
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 11 Dec '05

11 Dec '05

In a message dated 12/8/2005 3:38:17 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, jeroen.mailinglist(a)bohol.ph writes: > > Sory, I must have missed something, couldn't you use computers just from > the light from the monitors? > Ever tried to find the on switch in pitch dark? I love my wife's village in the middle of nowhere, as there is no light whatsoever to veil the stars. Are we talking about running on replaceable batteries, or about solar power recharging the batteries? Does anybody have any idea whether solar-powered computer or ebook batteries are on the horizon? I also must have missed something. Is someone saying that the light from the monitor could somehow power the entire computer? That sounds like perpetual motion machines to me, and so far nobody has had any luck inventing one. Anne

1 0

Re: [gutvol-d] Donations to Project Gutenberg
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 11 Dec '05

11 Dec '05

In a message dated 12/7/2005 12:26:46 A.M. Mountain Standard Time, sly(a)victoria.tc.ca writes: > Also, the more prominent placing of the DONATE link *has* resulted > in noticably more donations via PayPal. Most donations are smallish > ($5-10), but sprinkled with $50 and $100 donations. This really helps > to support our DVD/CD giveaways, book-buying, and other programs. That is very good news. Thanks for sharing. That's what we're seeing here--small checks (one woman sent $4 in cash) sprinkled with larger donations--one a few weeks ago for $1000. We're also receiving letters containing both a donation and a request that we not sell their name to mailing lists or send the donors endless donation requests. We assure people that we do not do this. It might be a very good idea to make that promise again in the write-up, because we might be missing donations from people who would donate if they knew they would not be put in anybody's sucker list. We do keep careful records, because "how much from which state" is required in some states and occasionally by the IRS, but we definitely do not share names and addresses with ANYBODY. Anne

1 0

Re: site design additions (Re: [gutvol-d] Free Beer !)
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 11 Dec '05

11 Dec '05

In a message dated 12/8/2005 10:24:38 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, JBuck814366460(a)aol.com writes: Marcello Perathoner wrote on 07/12/2005, 10:21 AM: > What about a small writeup for the donations page that tells people what > we do with their money? That's not a bad idea, Marcello. People do like to know where their donations go to, and for what purpose. It's great that more people are donating, even if they only donate a small amount. T has mentioned this several times. He's asleep right now (Nyquil), so I've emailed him this in case he didn't spot it himself. He can probably turn it out tmrw. Anne

1 0

re: [gutvol-d] broadband penetration
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 09 Dec '05

09 Dec '05

joey said: > According to a study [1] published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, > "[f]ully 48 million adult Americans have broadband connections at home", which > they peg at 39% of adult Internet users. These numbers are for March 1, 2004. thanks joey. i'd guess that in the last 21 months, even that number has increased significantly, to the point where it might now be 50%... and it's been quite a ride for those of us who were baptized online at 300 baud... -bowerbird

5 8

re: [gutvol-d] broadband penetration
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 09 Dec '05

09 Dec '05

walter said: > Last time I checked there weren't any > available through Gutenberg at the > pretty basic level they are needed. open-source textbooks are an idea whose time has come. there are now various entities gearing up to pursue them. i'd suggest that you take a good look around cyberspace. even if they aren't here yet -- and i don't think they are -- they will be soon, perhaps very soon. best of luck to you! -bowerbird

1 0

Re: [gutvol-d] broadband penetration
by Joshua Hutchinson 09 Dec '05

09 Dec '05

----- Original Message ----- From: "Walter van Holst" <walter.van.holst(a)xs4all.nl> > Oh, and by the way, she is in need of affordable science and math textbooks > for teaching purposes. Having Shakespeare is all nice and dandy, but > literature is not the foremost education priority over there. Last time I > checked there weren't any available through Gutenberg at the pretty basic > level they are needed. > The problem is that these textbooks need to be fairly recent. Science has changed too much since 1922 for any science textbook to be worth the effort to use in a classroom. Honestly, I'd point your sister to Wikibooks (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page) I don't know that any of the textbooks there would cover what she's looking for, but it has a better chance than anything we'd be able to do in PG. Josh

2 1