jim said:
>   1) If I had submitted this book instead to DP there
>   would have been a much larger number of punc
>   errors introduced as "required" by the DP process.

what?  the d.p. process requires the introduction of errors?


>   2) We would all still be waiting for this book,
>   because I prior submitted two books to DP after
>   a considerable amount of work on my part and
>   they have still to see the light of day. Someone
>   with a practical knowledge of queuing theory
>   needs to go over these issues with DP.

you might want to discuss queuing theory in the d.p. forums.
i suppose they would get a lot of good out of that discussion.


>   3) I know perfectly well that errors remain unseen,
>   which is why I would like an input file format that
>   easily allows another motivated volunteer to
>   pick up where I left off when my children start complaining
>   that they are unfed and unclothed and "reality calls"

i suppose i've already told you that z.m.l. does just that.
i even mounted your very book, so that you could see it.
so i don't suppose it'd do any good to repeat it again now.


>   rather than listening to Bowerbird insult my efforts

i pointed out that your .txt version was missing the italics.
if you consider that to be an "insult", your skin is too thin...


>   and insult my integrity simply because
>   I do not support his favored hack markup schemes

no, you failed to support the project gutenberg standard,
which calls for italics to be marked in the .txt format...


>   Presumably I followed the instructions on the PG website

no, you most certainly failed to follow those instructions...

>   http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Volunteers'_FAQ#V.94._What_should_I_do_with_italics.3F

you will see that it says:
>   Underscores are now the effective standard for italics in PG texts.

-bowerbird