i said:
as i've said for years now, with a small commitment from you to consistent formatting, i could take plain-ascii files as input, automatically apply the typographic niceties that are expected, and output the results to .pdf and to .html, such that the .html can be converted to a large number of other auxiliary formats.
greg said:
Here's an eBook that should meet your requirements: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18257
well yes, that one works just fine. already did it for that one. :+)
You already have server space,
yes, thank you very much, snowy has been very kind to me...
to provide a conversion utility. Looking forward the pudding...
well, but first there is that minor matter of the small commitment to ensure that all future files will conform to consistency as well... you know, first you plug the leak, and only then clean up the mess. and that's not a new request. that was the original precondition. but perhaps there's another way out of this impasse.
To each their own pudding. If I'm not saying "no" to you, why would I say, "no" to someone with a different approach?
it would be silly of me to expect _you_ to tell them "no", as if they couldn't bloody well do it themselves anyway. no, what _i_ am doing is telling them that .tei would be a waste of their time. i'm giving them a friendly notice, a heads-up, saying "hey i got it covered, you go on", but they don't take it that way, they get all pissed off at me... so, ok, you want to be gruff, i can be gruff, no problem. oh yes, greg, _you_ are one of "them". so you would be telling yourself "no". and i don't expect you to do that, no. indeed, i don't even expect you to listen to me telling you that .tei is a waste of your time. that's fine. you'll learn.
I have two other servers (snowy.arsc.alaska.edu and readingroo.ms) with complete copies of the PG collection for development.
ok, now we're getting somewhere. this could break through.
If people don't like the way PG postprocesses & posts eBooks, they can grab 'em and do their own postings. As long as there's a reasonable adherance to the principle of unlimited distribution etc. (http://www.gutenberg.org/about), we'll even link to 'em!
i have no stealaway desires, i'm happy to do things under your wing, my intention is to try and show you -- project gutenberg -- how you can save yourself a lot of work, and increase your unlimited distribution. i want to help the best cyberlibrary get better, i don't want to tear it apart. i would definitely agree to demonstrate some automatic transformations of your e-texts on a library-wide basis that could show you some shit... at first this would just be for experimental purposes. no promises. however -- if the effort continues, and it should ever come to that -- my "shaping" of the files by progressive transformations would result in a substantial fork of the library, but once you have satisfied yourself that it had retained all important data so the integrity of the books was intact and that only inconsequential inconsistencies had been removed, you will be amenable to _considering_ a wholesale replacement in one fell swoop. the benefits will be quite obvious, though. it won't be hard for you to be the decider...
I don't recall turning down David, but might have on the grounds of being unable to effectively ingest & manage the files he was producing.
Today, I'd offer him his own server space to help him do things his way.
ok, now you're _really_ talking. because david already knows how to do this. unfortunately, as we all know, he's kinda busy right now. with any luck, though, he's bored, and restless because the website that has been his business has been his life has taken up a lot of his time in the last many years or so is shut down, with any luck he's itching for some diskspace to play with. he might be jonesing for an ftp-interaction... but you know, honestly, all _i_ would really need from him is his ascii files. he's already made all of them consistent... i've never asked him for them before. but maybe now's the time? and if you and i ask him together, so i can work on the files for you? i've never seen his ascii files for sale, but i'd be willing to pay some. after all, the reason i want those files is they'd save me a lot of time. it seems quite reasonable to reimburse him for a little of that time. especially because he's got lawyer bills, i'm sure. (actually, i'd hope a lawyer has taken this case pro bono for the great exposure, but you know there are always lawsuit-related bills that have to be paid. i consider him a trooper, and i do believe in supporting our troops!) anyway... with _consistent_ files, i can start turning neat tricks right soon now. i might have to reshape david-consistency into zml-consistency, but that'll be a lot easier than reshaping p.g.-inconsistency into anything. so even if it's not immediate, it would be soon. of course, i'm not taking david's files for granted, no sir, as we haven't even yet asked. and he _is_ busy these days. he might even say yes, but have no time to fill the request. but, to sum up, i would be most grateful for: 1. on snowy, a copy of the p.g. library that i can start "shaping". 2. also on snowy, a copy of moynihan's ascii files for experiments? 3. diskspace for david to play, now if he wants, or sometime later. the understanding is i'm just playing with your files. no promises, no expectations, no guarantees. ok? -bowerbird