November 2005 - gweekly - lists.pglaf.org

PT1b Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 09 Nov '05

09 Nov '05

Weekly_November_09.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, November 09, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******* PT1B Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart(a)pobox.com or gbnewby(a)pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart(a)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. 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 http://www.archive.org Don't worry, many of the numbers listed are out of date, but you should get all the files when you pass through to the original sites.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. 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That's 44 WEEKS as Compared to ~29.58 Years!!! 48 New eBooks This Week 33 New eBooks Last Week 48 New eBooks This Month [Nov] ~250 Average Per Month in 2005 336 Average Per Month in 2004 355 Average Per Month in 2003 203 Average Per Month in 2002 103 Average Per Month in 2001 2530 New eBooks in 2005 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 14,424 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 That's Only 58.25 Months! ~250 books per month! 17,486 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 14,355 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,131 New eBooks In Last 12 Months 500 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia [This does NOT include PGAu eBooks posted at the U.S. site: www.gutenberg.org ] * PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE: Since starting production in October 2000, Distributed Proofreaders has contributed 7,639 Books to Project Gutenberg. 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PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections listings of 18 collections. . .with this week's listing as: 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 Renaisscance 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 *** Please also note that over 23,000 eBooks are listed via The Online Books Page, of which over 5,300 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 #308 of 2005 This Completes Week #44 and Month #10.20 [364 days this year] 56 Days/14 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 2,514 Books To Go To #20,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 58 Weekly Average in 2005 78 Weekly Average in 2004 79 Weekly Average in 2003 47 Weekly Average in 2002 24 Weekly Average in 2001 43 Only 43 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers list [Used to be well over 100] *** 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 44 weeks of this year, we have produced 2530 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 2/01 to produce our FIRST 2530 eBooks!!! That's 44 WEEKS as Compared to ~29.58 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2530 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] Mar 2001 Tales of Trail and Town, by Bret Harte [Harte #23][totatxxx.xxx] 2550 Mar 2001 Doom of the Griffiths, by Elizabeth Gaskell[EG#10][dmgrfxxx.xxx] 2549 Mar 2001 The Poor Clare, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E. Gaskell#9][prclrxxx.xxx] 2548 Mar 2001 Half a Life-time Ago, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E.G.#8][hlflfxxx.xxx] 2547 Mar 2001 Rustler Round-Up (Bar-20), C.E. Mulford[Mulford#1][hcrruxxx.xxx] 2546 [Title: Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up (Bar-20)] Mar 2001 When God Laughs et al, by Jack London [JL #98-109][gdlghxxx.xxx] 2545 Mar 2001 From Sand Hill to Pine, by Bret Harte[B Harte #22][fshtpxxx.xxx] 2544 Mar 2001 Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille[Tr by T. Constable][plyctxxx.xxx] 2543 Mar 2001 The Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen[Henrik Ibsen #5][dlshsxxx.xxx] 2542 Mar 2001 Character, by Samuel Smiles [Samuel Smiles #6][crctrxxx.xxx] 2541 Father and Son, by Edmund Gosse 2540 Mar 2001 The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russell Wallace V2[2malayxx.xxx] 2539 (See also: V1 #2530) Mar 2001 Poems and Tales from Romania, by Simona Sumanaru [patfrxxx.xxx] 2538C [Author: Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart] Mar 2001 The Pocket R.L.S., by Robert Louis Stevenson [#39][pkrlsxxx.xxx] 2537 Mar 2001 Amphitryon, A play by Moliere, Tr. by Waller [M#2][amphixxx.xxx] 2536 [Trans.: A. R. Waller, M.A.] Mar 2001 Openings in the Old Trail, by Bret Harte[Harte#21][oitotxxx.xxx] 2535 Eugene Pickering, by Henry James 2534 Mar 2001 Round the Sofa, by Elizabeth Gaskell [#8][rndsfxxx.xxx] 2533 The Half-Brothers, by Elizabeth Gaskell 2532 An Accursed Race, by Elizabeth Gaskell 2531 Feb 2001 The Malay Archipelago, by Alfred Russel Wallace [1malayxx.xxx] 2530 Feb 2001 The Analysis of Mind, by Bertrand Russell [analmdxx.xxx] 2529 Feb 2001 The Women of the French Salons, Amelia Gere Mason [frsalxxx.xxx] 2528 Feb 2001 The Sorrows of Young Werther, by J.W. Goethe [#31][sywerxxx.xxx] 2527 Feb 2001 The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Charles Johnston [patanxxx.xxx] 2526 Feb 2001 John Ingerfield etc by Jerome K. Jerome [#25][jhnngxxx.xxx] 2525 My Lady Ludlow, by Elizabeth Gaskell 2524 Feb 2001 The Memoirs of Victor Hugo, by Victor Hugo[Hugo#2][vhugoxxx.xxx] 2523 A Dark Night's Work, by Elizabeth Gaskell 2522 Lizzie Leigh, by Elizabeth Gaskell 2521 Feb 2001 The Man, by Bram Stoker [Bram Stoker #3][thmanxxx.xxx] 2520 Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi, by David Livingstone 2519 Feb 2001 The Hungry Stones et. al., by Rabindranath Tagore [hngstxxx.xxx] 2518 * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet From http://gutenberg.org? 1.13 Trillion eBooks Given Away If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,477,919,782 that would be 17,486 x 64,779,198 = ~1.13 Trillion !!! With 17,486 eBooks online as of November 09, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.88 from each book. [1% world population x #eBooks] 64,779,198 x 17,486 x $.88 = ~$1 Trillion [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] * A Trillion Dollars Given Away At Just $.57 Value Per Book With 17,486 eBooks online as of November 09, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.57 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.70 when we had 14,355 eBooks a year ago. Our Target Audience Is 1.5% Of The World Population, or 100,000,000 readers. At 17,438 eBooks in 34 Years and 04.20 Months We Averaged ~509 Per Year 42.4 Per Month 1.39 Per Day At 2530 eBooks Done In The 308 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 8.2 Per Day 58 Per Week 248 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. 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]. However, I just this moment heard a news item that made me wonder a bit more about the accuracy of the U.S. Census. A "Special Census" is taking place in Normal, Illinois, that is expected to count more people, by a factor of 3,000 or 3,400, depending on which source. 45,386 was the population as per the 2000 Census, so 3,000 added to this would be an increase of 6.6%, and 3,400 would be 7.5%, above a possibly automatic increase of 5% as per the same terms above but I presume this is in addition to previous adjustments. Of course, we should consider that we would have to double figures, perhaps to 15% from those above, if are considering the normal time between censuses of 10 years, these are for 5 years' growth. In previous news I heard about the U.S. Census, no mention was made about the annexation of various nearly locations as a cause of this normally unexpected growth, but it is mentioned at the site I found on the subject of the current Special Census. If annexation is the primary cause of such increases, country wide, then we should not be expecting a huge rise in the 2010 Census, but rather should expect something more along the norm. However, if it is not annexation, but more actual people on the average, then this might be an indicator that the population of the U.S. may have seen 300 million go by some time ago. For more details, see: www.normal.org/WhatsNew/Census.htm 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 5th was the first Wednesday of 2005, and thus ended PG's production year of 2004 and began the production year of 2005 at noon. This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week. *** *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(a)pglaf.org

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PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 09 Nov '05

09 Nov '05

pt1a1.n05 pt1b1.n05 Weekly_November_09.txt *The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, November 09, 2005 PT1* *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******** PT1A Editor's comments appear in [brackets]. Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart(a)pobox.com or gbnewby(a)pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart(a)pobox.com * WANTED! >>> !!!People who can help with PR for our 35th Anniversary!!! <<< >>> !!!People to help us collect ALL public domain eBooks!!! <<< * Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc. * 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 1 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 47 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from Edupage, etc. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones* eBook #500 For Project Gutenberg of Australia!!! [See previous message sent separately for details] *** ***500+ eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971*** 17,486 eBooks As Of Today!!! [Includes Australian eBooks] We Are ~87% of the Way to 20,000!!! 14,424 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's ~250 eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2530 eBooks in 2005!!! 2,514 to go to 20,000!!! 7,639 from Distributed Proofreaders Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B] We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging ~250 books Per Month This Year [This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org] This Site Is Averaging ~58 eBooks Per Week This Year 48 This Week It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks It took ~32 months, from 2002 to 2005 for our last 10,000 eBooks It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100 It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Oct. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,400 * ***Introduction [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(a)pobox.com and gbnewby(a)pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.] This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] MICROSOFT TO SCAN BOOKS FROM THE BRITISH LIBRARY As part of its recently announced involvement with the Open Content Alliance (OCA), Microsoft will scan 100,000 books from the British Library, adding about 25 million pages of text to an online archive. The OCA is a project led by Yahoo that takes an approach different from Google's in digitizing books and making them available online. Whereas books both with and without copyright protection are to be included in Google's scanning, officials with the OCA have said they will only scan books that are in the public domain or for which they have obtained permission from copyright holders. Microsoft has an established relationship with the British Library, providing tools and resources as part of the National Digital Library plan. Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, said Microsoft's latest announcement is "great news for research and scholarship and will give unparalleled access to our vast collections to people all over the world." BBC, 4 November 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4402442.stm GOOGLE DEBUTS BOOK SEARCHING After nearly a year of scanning books from libraries partnered in the Library Project, Google has added the first batch to its search services. The goal of the project is to scan millions of books from Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of Oxford, and the New York Public Library, including books still under copyright. Although lawsuits challenging Google's right to scan protected texts are pending, the company has resumed scanning and has debuted the Google Print index. Google's Adam M. Smith said that all of the books added to the index so far are in the public domain. He said there are "thousands" of texts available, of which users can read full texts, download pages, and copy and paste sections of the books. A Google spokesperson said new texts would be added as they are digitized and that some of those texts would be under copyright. For copyrighted works, users will only be able to access excerpts, but authors and publishers contend that even this practice violates their rights. Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 November 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/11/2005110301t.htm [Reports from users indicate that downloading is still prevented by various security measures. Any addition information welcome.] AMAZON, RANDOM HOUSE JOIN THE ONLINE BOOK FRAY Amazon.com will introduce two new services next year that allow customers to access books online. The Amazon Pages program will sell online access to books, by the page or by entire texts. With the Amazon Upgrade program, customers who have bought the hard copy of a book will be able to pay an additional fee and have online access to that text. The only books that will be available in the new programs will be those in the public domain or whose copyright holder has granted permission. Decisions about whether users will be permitted to print pages from the Web or cut and paste text, as well as pricing, will be made by publishers and copyright holders, according to CEO Jeff Bezos. In a separate announcement, Random House has said it will begin making arrangements with online retailers and search engines to offer some of its books in electronic format. Books that the publisher includes in the program will be searchable, and users will be able to see up to 5 percent of the text for free. Beyond that point, users will pay per page for further access. CNET, 3 November 2005 http://news.com.com//2100-1025_3-5931569.html You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to: edupage(a)educause.edu To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV(a)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 *** News from other sources: Have you notice there aren't any ads for gasoline any more? Is this some kind of refusal to enter into competition? Exxon and Shell just pulled in record profits in the last 90 days, even considering their billion dollar loss due to hurricane effects. [When is the last time you saw an ad for gasoline? [Other than when some brand buys another one and announces the change in the names.] Search: Exxon shell profits *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA Texas Plane Crash Caused By Order To Hurry Takeoff? A small jet was told to hurry it's takeoff as a Southwest plane was reporting distress and asking for permission to return. Apparently this caused the smaller jed to crash on takeoff, and the Southwest plane was rerouted. [Not many details made available, even three days later.] Source: Houston Chronicle *STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK "I am a fashion god." Larger context: "I got it all at Nordstrom's." "Can I quit now?" "Can I come home now?" Larger context: "I got it at Nordstroms.... Are you proud of me?" "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god." Michael Brown, Former Head of FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency, who was in charge of the botched hurrican Katrina effort.] >From emails released by Congressman Charlie Melancon, CNN, etc. Scotsman, United Kingdom - Nov 4, 2005 Free Market News Network, FL - Nov 4, 2005 and "Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt...all shirts. Even the President rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this crises and on TV you just need to look more hard-working... ROLL UP THE SLEEVES!" Michael Brown's secretary Sharon Worthy sent this message to him as hurricane Katrina hit, Sept. 4, 2005. *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 7/8 of American teens use the Internet. [According to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.] [These numbers are already a year old, and are likely up to 9/10 now] * The odds of moving from the lower economic classes to the upper are twice as high in Europe than in the United States. BBC, 11/07/05 * Prescription drug prices are rising twice as fast as other costs. [Perhaps related to the fact that now that TV advertizing is legal for drugs, they are spending twice as much on ads as research.] Source: The AARP Public Policy Institute * Annual Worst Jobs Report Popular Science magazine listed the three worst jobs last month: 1. Human laboratory guinea pigs or "lab rats." 2. Manure inspector 3. Biology Teacher in Kansas. * Barbie and Ken's Big Night Out Includes Drinking and Smoking A study released this week by the Dartmouth Medical School shows that when kids went to the play store to by supplies for Ken and Barbie's big evening out: 62% bought alcohol 28% bought tobacco 24% bought both [Which means nearly all who bought tobacco bought alcohol.] "Where's the beer, beer, beer?" asked one kid. A 6 year old even requested his Mom's brand of cigarettes. Another kid wanted to take beer to a movie, and a 5 year old used wine, mimicing her mother's, "another half a glass." [Source: CBS News, Dartmouth, * Recently released Star Wars Battlefront game took and the DVD of Revenge of the Sith took in $210 million in a single week, in record breaking sales. The original theatrical movie release of Revenge of the Sith only took in $380 million in its entire American release run, totalling $468 million internationally, by comparison. Sales of Battlefront II and Sith doubled expectations in areas and sales continue to be high. Expectations are now that this year will see a billion dollars spent on just these products. Releases are still pending in other major markets. In the toy market, Star Wars is raking in nearly 10% of sales, outpacing its nearest, though still far behind, competitors in sales by nearly 2 to 1. Even Donald Trump will be airing a special Star Wars themed edition of his hit show, The Apprentice, tomorrow, Nov. 10. Star Wars was also the most popular Halloween costume just 10 days ago. [Hollywood now makes twice as much from home video than from theatrical releases. Remember when Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America said: "We are facing a very new and a very troubling assault ... and we are facing it from a thing called the video cassette recorder and its necessary companion called the blank tape. We are going to bleed and bleed and hemorrhage, unless this Congress at least protects one industry ... whose total future depends on its protection from the savagery and the ravages of this machine [the VCR]." "[Some say] that the VCR is the greatest friend that the American film producer ever had. I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."] *** Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries. "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. * POEM OF THE WEEK Why do you look so lost, O Sailor? Are the ways towards Light long forgotten? Have the ways towards Darkness been concealed? Many are the seas you learned by heart, starting With the reddest. Will you end up with a century Of passioned love and blood stained battles? Winds ride aback your veils; you came to resemble a seagull in freedom, But sirens sing to your angels in deception. Why is your face so sad, young Sailor? Is it harder to die, or more important to live? A carousel of emotions spins its airy songs At the destination. The sounds can be vivid, But the sounds could also be long dead. You, Sailor, go conquer the seas, and lead your ship Further beneath the bridge of time over the endless waters Until you reach the white peace of the water lily. Grow old and never stop growing, Poet-Sailor. You owe it to the winds, who tell your story. Copyright 2005 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart Please send comments to: simona_s75 AT yahoo.com & hart AT pobox.com *** *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(a)pglaf.org

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500th eBook at Australia's Project Gutenberg
by Michael Hart 07 Nov '05

07 Nov '05

*Project Gutenberg of Australia Celebrates the Posting of Its 500th ebook* In a joint issue with Project Gutenberg (http://gutenberg.org/) Project Gutenberg of Australia (http://gutenberg.net.au) is celebrating the release of its 500th ebook, 'The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea' by George Collingridge. The accumulation of 500 freely available ebooks since the inception of Project Gutenberg of Australia in August 2001 represents the work of many volunteers. There are, of course, other books on Australian History but the present title is an appropriate one to mark the release our 500th ebook as 2006 is the 400th anniversary of the beginning of Australia's documented history. In 1606 Willem Janszoon (aka Jansz.) charted some of the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula and made the first authenticated landing on Australian soil. A number of events are being organised to commemorate the occasion by "Australia on the Map: 1606-2006" (http://www.australiaonthemap.org.au/) Collingridge's book narrates the Portuguese and Spanish discoveries in the Australasian regions, between the years 1492-1606, with descriptions of their old charts. The work of Project Gutenberg in providing free ebooks is well known. Less appreciated sometimes is the role it plays in preserving books which might otherwise be "lost" and in making available titles which it would not be commercially viable to republish. 'The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea' has, of course, been superseded by works which have the advantage of later research. However, it is often desirable to be able to read history from the perspective of earlier historians. 'The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea' by George Collingridge may be found at both Project Gutenberg and Project Gutenberg of Australia. http://www.gutenberg.org and http://gutenberg.net.au *** The official title of the book is: THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA (Being The Narrative of Portuguese and Spanish Discoveries in the Australasian Regions, between the Years 1492-1606, with Descriptions of their Old Charts, by George Collingridge) *** Huge thanks and congratulations to all the PGAu volunteers!!! Michael S. Hart Founder Project Gutenberg

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Pt2 Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter
by Project Gutenberg Newsletter 03 Nov '05

03 Nov '05

GWeekly_November_02_part2.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 02 Nov 2005 eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers Since 1971 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 2 of the Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter: - Obtaining Project Gutenberg eBooks - Updates/corrections to previously posted eBooks - 33 New U.S. eBooks this week - 0 New eBooks at Project Gutenberg of Australia - Last, but not least: insights and other fine stuff - Mailing list information - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - :: HOW TO GET EBOOKS FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG ::. The easiest way to obtain our eBooks is at our search page at http://gutenberg.org/find which allows searching by title, author or eBook number; there is also an Advanced Search page which allows for additional search criteria (note that our newer postings may not yet be indexed for all additional criteria). And please note: you can now obtain a listing by language at the above link. Mirrors (copies) of the complete collection are available around the world, and you can select one nearer to your location from the link on the search results page. To see a listing of mirror sites, and locate the one nearest to you, visit: http://gutenberg.org/MIRRORS.ALL If you prefer to download eBooks via other methods than from the search page, and need additional information, please refer to the file GUTINDEX.ALL, available for viewing or downloading at: http://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL That file contains descriptions and explanations about the filenaming process, directory structure, file formats, and more. And to directly access the file directories: http://gutenberg.org/dirs/ Please note that the Project Gutenberg Production Team continues the process of manually re-posting those eBooks originally posted prior to Nov 2003 to the new filenaming and directory system (based on the eBook number). This process includes some file maintenance (repairing, correcting and re-formatting to current PG standards where practicable). These re-postings are noted in the "corrections" listings below. More information can be found in the file GUTINDEX.ALL mentioned above. * * * Please see Part 1 of this week's newsletter for more information about Project Gutenberg. And if you haven't done so lately, please visit the website at http://www.gutenberg.org to see what's new. * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Note: this listing best viewed with a fixed-width font, such as Courier New or similar. To report an error in the listings below, please write to news_at_pglaf.org and include the word CORRECTION in the subject line. ========================================================================= [ Here Are The Updated Listings For This Past Week ] ========================================================================= TOTAL COUNT as of today, Wed, 02 Nov 2005: 17438 (incl. 499 Aus.). Last week the Total Count was 17405, including 499 at PG of Australia. This week we added 33 new. RESERVED/PENDING count: 43 =-=-=-=[ CORRECTIONS, REVISIONS AND NEW FORMATS ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= :: During the past week the following ebooks were manually updated and reposted with the indicated filenames and transferred into the corresponding new directories: Tales of Daring and Danger, by George Alfred Henty 7870 [Illustrator: George Alfred Henty] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/7/8/7/7870 ] [Files: 7870.txt; 7870-8.txt; 7870-h.htm] Miss Ludington's Sister, by Edward Bellamy 6903 [Updated edition of: etext04/ldgts10.txt ] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/9/0/6903 ] [Files: 6903.txt; 6903-8.txt; 6903-h.htm] Vautrin, by Honore de Balzac 6861 [Updated edition of: etext04/vtrin10.txt] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/6/8/6/6861 ] [Files: 6861.txt] El Verdugo, by Honore de Balzac 1425 [Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley] [Updated edition of: etext98/vrdug10.txt] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/2/1425 ] [Files: 1425.txt] Vendetta, by Honore de Balzac 1374 [Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley] [Updated edition of: etext97/vndta10.txt] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/7/1374 ] [Files: 1374.txt] -=-=-=-=[ 33 NEW U.S. EBOOKS ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bunny Rabbit's Diary, by Mary Frances Blaisdell 16982 [Ill.: George F. Kerr] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/8/16982 ] [Files: 16982.txt; 16982-h.htm; ] Old Peter's Russian Tales, by Arthur Ransome 16981 [Illustrator: Dmitri Mitrokhin] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/8/16981 ] [Files: 16981.txt; 16981-h.htm] Mia, by Memini 16980 [Subtitle: Romanzo] [Language: Italian] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/8/16980 ] [Files: 16980-8.txt; 16980-h.htm] The Discipline of War, by John Hasloch Potter 16979 [Subtitle: Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16979 ] [Files: 16979.txt; 16979-8.txt; 16979-h.htm] Dante: "The Central Man of All the World", by John T. Slattery 16978 [Author: Introduction by John H. Finley] [Subtitle: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the Student Body of the] [New York State College for Teachers, Albany, 1919, 1920] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16978 ] [Files: 16978.txt; 16978-8.txt; 16978-h.htm; ] Food and Health, by Anonymous 16977 [A publication of the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co.] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16977 ] [Files: 16977.txt; 16977-h.htm; ] The Texan, by James B. Hendryx 16976 [Subtitle: A Story of the Cattle Country] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16976 ] [Files: 16976.txt; 16976-8.txt; ] The Haunted House, by Walter Hubbell 16975 [Subtitle: A True Ghost Story] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16975 ] [Files: 16975.txt; 16975-h.htm; ] The Story of the "9th King's" in France, by Enos Herbert Glynne Roberts 16974 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16974 ] [Files: 16974.txt; 16974-8.txt; 16974-h.htm] Studies in Song, by Algernon Charles Swinburne 16973 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16973 ] [Files: 16973.txt; 16973-8.txt; 16973-h.htm] Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889, by Various 16972 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16972 ] [Files: 16972.txt; 16972-8.txt; 16972-h.htm] A Prince of Sinners, by E. Phillips Oppenheim 16971 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16971 ] [Files: 16971.txt; ] De kasteelen van Koning Lodewijk II van Beieren, by Anonymous 16970 [Subtitle: De Aarde en Haar Volken, 1887] [Language: Dutch] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16970 ] [Files: 16970-8.txt; 16970-h.htm] Dick and Brownie, by Mabel Quiller-Couch 16969 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16969 ] [Files: 16969.txt; ] The Bad Man, by Charles Hanson Towne 16968 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16968 ] [Files: 16968.txt; 16968-8.txt; 16968-h.htm; ] English-Esperanto Dictionary, by O'Connor and Hayes 16967 [Full author: John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16967 ] [Files: 16967.txt; 16967-8.txt; 16967-0.txt; 16967-h.htm] Shakespearean Tragedy, by A. C. Bradley 16966 [Subtitle: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16966 ] [Files: 16966.txt; 16966-8.txt; 16966-h.htm] Queen Victoria, by E. Gordon Browne 16965 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16965 ] [Files: 16965.txt; 16965-h.htm] Wage Earning and Education, by R. R. Lutz 16964 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16964 ] [Files: 16964.txt; 16964-8.txt; 16964-h.htm] The Golden Bird, by Maria Thompson Daviess 16963 [Illustrator: Edward L. Chase] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16963 ] [Files: 16963.txt; 16963-8.txt; 16963-h.htm] Historical Epochs of the French Revolution, by H. Goudemetz 16962 [Subtitle: With The Judgment And Execution Of Louis XVI., King Of] [France; And A List Of The Members Of The National] [Convention, Who Voted For And Against His Death] [Translator: Rev. Dr. Randolph] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16962 ] [Files: 16962.txt; 16962-8.txt; 16962-h.htm] Trafalgar, by Benito Prez Galds 16961 [Illus.: Enrique y Arturo Mlida] [Language: Spanish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16961 ] [Files: 16961-8.txt; 16961-h.htm; ] History of the United States, by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard 16960 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/6/16960 ] [Files: 16960.txt; 16960-8.txt; 16960-h.htm] 'Way Down East, by Joseph R. Grismer 16959 [Subtitle: A Romance of New England Life] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16959 ] [Files: 16959.txt; 16959-8.txt; 16959-h.htm] The Cross and the Shamrock, by Hugh Quigley 16958 [Subtitle: Or, How To Defend The Faith. An Irish-American Catholic] [Tale Of Real Life, Descriptive Of The Temptations,] [Sufferings, Trials, And Triumphs Of The Children Of St.] [Patrick In The Great Republic Of Washington. A Book For] [The Entertainment And Special Instructions Of The Catholic] [Male And Female Servants Of The United States. (1853)] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16958 ] [Files: 16958.txt; 16958-8.txt; 16958-h.htm] Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour, by R. S. Surtees 16957 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16957 ] [Files: 16957.txt; 16957-8.txt; 16957-h.htm] Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus, by Laura Lee Hope 16956 [Ill.: Florence England Nosworthy] [Laura Lee Hope was a psuedonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for] [the author of the Bunny Brown series. Howard R. Garis might have been the] [actual author, but this is not certain.] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16956 ] [Files: 16956.txt; 16956-8.txt; 16956-h.htm; ] Three Translations of The Koran (Al-Qur'an) side by side 16955 [Translator: Abdullah Yusuf Ali] [Translator: Marmaduke Pickthall] [Translator: Mohammad Habib Shakir] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16955 ] [Files: 16955.txt] "Us", by Mary Louisa S. Molesworth 16954 [Subtitle: An Old Fashioned Story] [Author AKA: Mrs Molesworth] [Ill.: Walter Crane] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16954 ] [Files: 16954.txt; 16954-8.txt; 16954-h.htm; ] Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426, by Various 16953 [Subtitle: Volume 17, New Series, February 28, 1852] [Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16953 ] [Files: 16953.txt; 16953-8.txt; 16953-h.htm] In chiave di baritono, by Antonio Ghislanzoni 16952 [Language: Italian] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16952 ] [Files: 16952-8.txt; 16952-h.htm] Richard Lovell Edgeworth, by Richard Lovell Edgeworth 16951 [Subtitle: A Selection From His Memoir] [Editor: Beatrix L. Tollemache] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16951 ] [Files: 16951.txt] Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti 16950 [Full title: Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/5/16950 ] [Files: 16950.txt; 16950-8.txt] -=-=-=-=[ 0 NEW EBOOKS AT PROJECT GUTENBERG OF AUSTRALIA ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= eBooks are posted in uncompressed and/or compressed formats. To access these ebooks, go to http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html For more information about Project Gutenberg of Australia, including accessing those etexts from outside of Australia, please visit: http://gutenberg.net.au/ --Project Gutenberg of Australia-- --A treasure trove of Literature-- *treasure-trove n. treasure found hidden with no evidence of ownership For more information about copyright restrictions in other countries, please visit: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/okbooks.html =============================================================================

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PT1b Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 02 Nov '05

02 Nov '05

Weekly_November_02.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, November 02, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******* PT1B Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart(a)pobox.com or gbnewby(a)pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart(a)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. 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We have regular need for intellectual property legal advice (both US and international) and other areas. Please email Project Gutenberg's CEO, Greg Newby <gbnewby AT pglaf.org> , if you can help. This is much more important than many of us realize! ***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders In the first 10.00 months of this year, we produced 2482 new eBooks. It took us from July 1971 to Jan 2001 to produce our first 2482 eBooks! That's 43 WEEKS as Compared to ~29.50 Years!!! 33 New eBooks This Week 52 New eBooks Last Week [-2] 190 New eBooks This Month [Oct] ~250 Average Per Month in 2005 336 Average Per Month in 2004 355 Average Per Month in 2003 203 Average Per Month in 2002 103 Average Per Month in 2001 2482 New eBooks in 2005 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 14,376 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 That's Only 58.00 Months! Over 250 books per month! 17,438 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 14,281 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,157 New eBooks In Last 12 Months 499 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia [This does NOT include PGAu eBooks posted at the U.S. site: www.gutenberg.org ] * PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE: Since starting production in October 2000, Distributed Proofreaders has contributed 7,613 eBooks to Project Gutenberg. 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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Still looking for more Internet Public Library info. *** Today Is Day #301 of 2005 This Completes Week #43 and Month #10.00 [364 days this year] 77 Days/14 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 2,542 Books To Go To #20,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 58 Weekly Average in 2005 78 Weekly Average in 2004 79 Weekly Average in 2003 47 Weekly Average in 2002 24 Weekly Average in 2001 43 Only 43 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers list [Used to be well over 100] *** 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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PGLAF is approved as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal Revenue Service, and has the Federal Employee Information Number (EIN) 64-6221541. For more information, including several other ways to donate, go to http://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html or email donate(a)gutenberg.org *Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections *Mirror Site Information Mirrors (copies) of the complete collection are available around the world. To find the sites nearest you, go to: http://www.gutenberg.org/MIRRORS.ALL *Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks http://www.gutenberg.org/find allows searching by title, author, language and subject. Use your Web browser or FTP program to visit our master download site (or a mirror) if you know the file's name you want. Try: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs or ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/ and then navigate to the appropriate directory and look for the first five characters of the file's name. Note that updated eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.) *** Statistical Review In the 43 weeks of this year, we have produced 2482 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 1/01 to produce our FIRST 2482 eBooks!!! That's 43 WEEKS as Compared to ~29.50 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2482 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 have been reposted] Feb 2001 Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse [Our English Edition] [siddhxxx.xxx] 2500 Feb 2001 Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse [In 8-bit German] [?siddxxx.xxx] 2499 [Language: German] Feb 2001 Addresses, by Henry Drummond [addrexxx.xxx] 2498 Feb 2001 Put Yourself in His Place, by Charles Reade [#4][phyipxxx.xxx] 2497 Feb 2001 Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford [vllgxxxx.xxx] 2496 Feb 2001 Susy, A Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte [#12][susyxxxx.xxx] 2495 Feb 2001 The story of Saint Stanislaus Kostka, by W.T. Kane[stanixxx.xxx] 2494 Feb 2001 Adventures of Paddy the Beaver, Thornton W.Burgess[paddyxxx.xxx] 2493 Feb 2001 Orpheus in Mayfair & Other Stories, Maurice Baring[orphexxx.xxx] 2492 Feb 2001 Love or Fame; et. al., by Fannie Isabelle Sherrick[lvrfmxxx.xxx] 2491 Jan 2001 Lamia, by John Keats [Poetry/Poem] [John Keats #1][lamiaxxx.xxx] 2490 Jan 2001 Moby Dick, by Herman Melville [HM #3][mobyxxxx.xxx] 2489 (moby11.* is the complete text.) (See also #2701) (moby10a.* is only Chap. 72, missing from prior eBook #15) Jan 2001 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, by Jules Verne[#13][2000010a.xxx] 2488 Jan 2001 Cross Roads, by Margaret E. Sangster [crsrdxxx.xxx] 2487 Jan 2001 Queer Little Folks, by Harriet Beecher Stowe[HBS2][qltfkxxx.xxx] 2486 Jan 2001 Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants, by Darwin[cplntxxx.xxx] 2485 Jan 2001 The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch's "Lives", by White [tbagpxxx.xxx] 2484 Jan 2001 Janice Day, Young Homemaker, by Helen Beecher Long[jncdyxxx.xxx] 2483 Jan 2001 New York, by James Fenimore Cooper[J.F. Cooper #6][nwyrkxxx.xxx] 2482 Jan 2001 The Civilization of Illiteracy (C)Mihai Nadin 1997[cviltxxx.xxx] 2481C * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet From http://gutenberg.org? 1.13 Trillion eBooks Given Away If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,476,488,859 that would be 17,438 x 64,764,889 = ~1.13 Trillion !!! With 17,438 eBooks online as of November 02, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.89 from each book. [1% world population x #eBooks] 64,764,889 x 17,438 x $.89 = ~$1 Trillion [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] Our Target Audience Is 1.5% Of The World Population, or 100,000,000 readers. With 17,438 eBooks online as of November 02, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.57 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.70 when we had 14,281 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 17,438 eBooks in 34 Years and 04.00 Months We Averaged ~508 Per Year 42.3 Per Month 1.39 Per Day At 2482 eBooks Done In The 301 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 8.2 Per Day 58 Per Week 250 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. 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]. However, I just this moment heard a news item that made me wonder a bit more about the accuracy of the U.S. Census. A "Special Census" is taking place in Normal, Illinois, that is expected to count more people, by a factor of 3,000 or 3,400, depending on which source. 45,386 was the population as per the 2000 Census, so 3,000 added to this would be an increase of 6.6%, and 3,400 would be 7.5%, above a possibly automatic increase of 5% as per the same terms above but I presume this is in addition to previous adjustments. Of course, we should consider that we would have to double figures, perhaps to 15% from those above, if are considering the normal time between censuses of 10 years, these are for 5 years' growth. In previous news I heard about the U.S. Census, no mention was made about the annexation of various nearly locations as a cause of this normally unexpected growth, but it is mentioned at the site I found on the subject of the current Special Census. If annexation is the primary cause of such increases, country wide, then we should not be expecting a huge rise in the 2010 Census, but rather should expect something more along the norm. However, if it is not annexation, but more actual people on the average, then this might be an indicator that the population of the U.S. may have seen 300 million go by some time ago. For more details, see: www.normal.org/WhatsNew/Census.htm 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 5th was the first Wednesday of 2005, and thus ended PG's production year of 2004 and began the production year of 2005 at noon. This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week. *** *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(a)pglaf.org

1 0

PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 02 Nov '05

02 Nov '05

Weekly_November_02.txt *The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, November 02, 2005 PT1* *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******** PT1A Editor's comments appear in [brackets]. Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart(a)pobox.com or gbnewby(a)pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart(a)pobox.com * HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS We Have Added Another Language Kamilaroi, the 47th language at http://www.gutenberg.org [Kamilaroi is a language of New South Wales, Australia.] For those interested in more languages, there are 104 at http://www.gutenberg.cc STATISTICAL CHANGES Due to various changes in our statistical reporting and coverage, the accuracy of the weekly count of the number of eBooks will not be as redundantly checked by a human count, and we will rely more on the automated system. ***If you notice any inconsistencies, please send email to: hart AT pglaf DOT org * WANTED! >>> !!!People to help us collect ALL public domain eBooks!!! <<< * Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc. * 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 33 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from Edupage, etc. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones* ***500+ eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971*** 17,438 eBooks As Of Today!!! [Includes Australian eBooks] We Are ~87% of the Way to 20,000!!! 14,376 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's 250+ eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2482 eBooks in 2005!!! 2,542 to go to 20,000!!! 7,613 from Distributed Proofreaders Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B] We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging ~250 books Per Month This Year [This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org] This Site Is Averaging ~58 eBooks Per Week This Year 33 This Week It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks It took ~32 months, from 2002 to 2005 for our last 10,000 eBooks It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100 It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Oct. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,400 * ***Introduction [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(a)pobox.com and gbnewby(a)pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.] This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] CRIB NOTES FIND THEIR WAY TO IPODS The latest offering for the vastly popular iPod are crib notes for books commonly included in college and university curricula. A company called SparkNotes, which competes with market leader CliffsNotes, provides the content, which is sold by a firm called iPREPpress. Students who pay $4.95 each for a set of notes have access to the usual set of study aids--plot summaries, major themes and motifs, study questions, biographical sketches of the characters. The iPod notes, however, also include several minutes of audio content for each title. Kurt Goszyk, the founder of iPREPpress, said that students can listen to music stored on their iPods while reading the SparkNotes for an assigned text. "You can listen to your favorite rap song in the background," he said, "as you're reading about 'The Great Gatsby.'" The notes will work with most versions of the iPod, including the very small iPod Nano, raising concerns about the possibility students will see a new opportunity to cheat. Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 October 2005 http://chronicle.com/free/2005/10/2005102702t.htm ANTI-SPYWARE COALITION RELEASES GUIDELINES The Anti-Spyware Coalition has released a definition of what constitutes spyware, as well as guidelines for dealing with spyware. The group's definition says that spyware is an application installed without sufficient consent of the user and that interferes with the user's ability to exert control over such things as security, privacy and personal information, and system resources. Critics had cautioned that a definition of spyware would allow developers of unwanted software to simply sidestep the characteristics included in the definition, thereby legitimizing their applications. The Anti-Spyware Coalition said it understands that concern and drafted a definition with enough latitude to avoid that problem. The group also identified good practices for how organizations should identify and prevent spyware. Included in the resources is guidance on how to rate the severity of particular spyware applications. The group will accept public comments on the newly released documents until November 27 and will release final versions in early 2006. CNET, 27 October 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-5918113.html ICANN AND VERISIGN SETTLE SITE FINDER DISPUTE VeriSign and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) have reached a tentative settlement in their dispute over VeriSign's Site Finder service. The service, which VeriSign introduced two years ago, directs users who mistype URLs to suggested target pages rather than providing error messages. ICANN objected, saying that the service interfered with some functionality of the Internet and--because VeriSign was paid by some of the sites it directed users to--was an abuse of VeriSign's power. The service was suspended, and each organization filed suit against the other. Under the proposed settlement, which must still be approved by the boards of both companies and by the Commerce Department, VeriSign would receive an extension until 2012 in its oversight of the .com domain. In return, any introduction of services such as Site Finder would have to be cleared in advance by ICANN. Wired News, 25 October 2005 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69346,00.html MICROSOFT JOINS YAHOO BOOK PROJECT Microsoft has said it will participate in a recently announced book-scanning project led by Yahoo and the Internet Archive. Unlike Google's much-maligned project, the Yahoo initiative, called the Open Content Alliance, will only scan books that are in the public domain or for which explicit permission has been granted by the copyright holder. In contrast, Google will scan copyrighted books unless copyright holders specifically request that their books be excluded, though only small portions of copyrighted books will be available online. For its part, Microsoft will finance the scanning of about 150,000 books, while Yahoo will pay for about 18,000 books to be digitized. The Open Content Alliance also differs from Google's project in that all of the content from the alliance will be available from a database to any search engine; Google will be the only means to access the content of its project. Microsoft will create an MSN Book Search service next year, though the business model for particular services and fees has not been set, according to Danielle Tiedt, general manager of search content acquisition at MSN. ZDNet, 25 October 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5913711.html You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to: edupage(a)educause.edu To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV(a)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 *** News from other sources: Some people have been pointing out how the news media showed us Terry Schaivo for days and weeks on end, but won't show a single casualty of the Iraq war. >From a local paper: "Dog gets more ink than dead soldiers" "Two thousand of our soldiers have died with no foreseeable end to this war in sight. All I ask is, where is the outrage over that?" South Bend Tribune, IN - Oct 30, 2005 [Note: this page vanished shortly after publication] [I tried linking to it from multiple locations.] *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA [As requested adding sources, etc., when possible. Remember, the subject is not the article's subject, the subject is the manipulation of the world news.] QWEST DODGES MULTIBILLION DOLLAR BULLET FOR $.5B A tentative settlement for $400 million by Qwest, in addition to other smaller settlements, may get Qwest out of the business of defending lawsuits & back into the communications business. An "accounting scandal" of billions of dollars is still being settled, and stockholders who bought under false or misleading statements by Qwest from May 24, 1999 to July 28, 2002 are now being reimbursed. The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Shareholder settlement, 11/02/05 *DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK The current "official" Pakistani report of the Kashmiri earthquake is 73,000 as of today, though local officials say it is 79,000. The offical government toll has been much lower than the local offical tolls for some time, but is finally being corrected. In addition, the number of severely injured is about 70,000. These figures are for Pakistan only. If you add the Indian death toll, the official figures are over 80,000, but no one in the media seems to like reporting the entire total figure, just as they refused to report the total tolls from Katrina, but rather sub-divided the death toll by state, and rarely, if ever, gave all the figures at once. Scotsman.com News Scottish news direct from Scotland Wednesday, 2nd November 2005 * President Ronald Reagan: "We did not, repeat, did not, trade weapons or anything else for hostages nor will we." re: Iran-Contra Affair Meet the Press, Oct. 30, 2005 * [I deleted Ambassador Wilson's comments on the yellowcake uranium, Valerie Plame [his wife] and Judith Miller. 6/9] *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK As I predicted before, Pluto will NOT be eliminated from the list of our planets. My previous prediction was based on the fact the planet had a moon, Charon, but with two more now discovered, this should be becoming more and more obvious. National Geographic News, 11/01/05 *STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK "About 10 minutes ago or so, the United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership!" [Epithets deleted] "They have no conviction. They have no principles. They have no ideas. This is a pure stunt." Most are telling you that operating under Standing Rule XXI is never done, but the truth is that it does get used every once in a while, the last time in the Reagan election year. Concord Monitor Online - Concord, NH *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK The first "Tropical Storm Beta" of recorded history occured this week. The 23rd tropical storm of the season, and the 13th hurricane, also a new record, plowed into Nicaragua on Halloween, dropping 15" of rain, but didn't get much major media coverage. * Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries. "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. * POEM OF THE WEEK Negativity Negativity grows on one's soul like ivy on the barren wall Making the windows of the eyes shadowy and cold Copyright 2005 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart Please send comments to: simona_s75 AT yahoo.com & hart AT pobox.com *** *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(a)pglaf.org

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Oops! REsending PT1a
by Michael Hart 02 Nov '05

02 Nov '05

The latest version did NOT overwrite the previous one, so I accidentally sent the wrong one and only noticed when starting up PT1b. . .sorry! Next message will have the right PT1a, I hope! Michael

1 0

PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 02 Nov '05

02 Nov '05

Weekly_November_02.txt *The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, November 02, 2005 PT1* *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******** PT1A Editor's comments appear in [brackets]. Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart(a)pobox.com or gbnewby(a)pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart(a)pobox.com * HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS We Have Added Another Language Kamilaroi, the 47th language at http://www.gutenberg.org [Kamilaroi is a language of New South Wales, Australia.] For those interested in more languages, there are 104 at http://www.gutenberg.cc STATISTICAL CHANGES Due to various changes in our statistical reporting and coverage, the accuracy of the weekly count of the number of eBooks will not be as redundantly checked by a human count, and we will rely more on the automated system. ***If you notice any inconsistencies, please send email to: hart AT pglaf DOT org * WANTED! >>> !!!People to help us collect ALL public domain eBooks!!! <<< * Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc. * 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 33 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from Edupage, etc. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones* ***500+ eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971*** 17,438 eBooks As Of Today!!! [Includes Australian eBooks] We Are ~87% of the Way to 20,000!!! 14,376 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's 250+ eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2482 eBooks in 2005!!! 2,542 to go to 20,000!!! 7,613 from Distributed Proofreaders Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B] We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging ~250 books Per Month This Year [This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org] This Site Is Averaging ~58 eBooks Per Week This Year 33 This Week It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks It took ~32 months, from 2002 to 2005 for our last 10,000 eBooks It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100 It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Oct. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,400 * ***Introduction [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(a)pobox.com and gbnewby(a)pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.] This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] CRIB NOTES FIND THEIR WAY TO IPODS The latest offering for the vastly popular iPod are crib notes for books commonly included in college and university curricula. A company called SparkNotes, which competes with market leader CliffsNotes, provides the content, which is sold by a firm called iPREPpress. Students who pay $4.95 each for a set of notes have access to the usual set of study aids--plot summaries, major themes and motifs, study questions, biographical sketches of the characters. The iPod notes, however, also include several minutes of audio content for each title. Kurt Goszyk, the founder of iPREPpress, said that students can listen to music stored on their iPods while reading the SparkNotes for an assigned text. "You can listen to your favorite rap song in the background," he said, "as you're reading about 'The Great Gatsby.'" The notes will work with most versions of the iPod, including the very small iPod Nano, raising concerns about the possibility students will see a new opportunity to cheat. Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 October 2005 http://chronicle.com/free/2005/10/2005102702t.htm ANTI-SPYWARE COALITION RELEASES GUIDELINES The Anti-Spyware Coalition has released a definition of what constitutes spyware, as well as guidelines for dealing with spyware. The group's definition says that spyware is an application installed without sufficient consent of the user and that interferes with the user's ability to exert control over such things as security, privacy and personal information, and system resources. Critics had cautioned that a definition of spyware would allow developers of unwanted software to simply sidestep the characteristics included in the definition, thereby legitimizing their applications. The Anti-Spyware Coalition said it understands that concern and drafted a definition with enough latitude to avoid that problem. The group also identified good practices for how organizations should identify and prevent spyware. Included in the resources is guidance on how to rate the severity of particular spyware applications. The group will accept public comments on the newly released documents until November 27 and will release final versions in early 2006. CNET, 27 October 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-5918113.html ICANN AND VERISIGN SETTLE SITE FINDER DISPUTE VeriSign and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) have reached a tentative settlement in their dispute over VeriSign's Site Finder service. The service, which VeriSign introduced two years ago, directs users who mistype URLs to suggested target pages rather than providing error messages. ICANN objected, saying that the service interfered with some functionality of the Internet and--because VeriSign was paid by some of the sites it directed users to--was an abuse of VeriSign's power. The service was suspended, and each organization filed suit against the other. Under the proposed settlement, which must still be approved by the boards of both companies and by the Commerce Department, VeriSign would receive an extension until 2012 in its oversight of the .com domain. In return, any introduction of services such as Site Finder would have to be cleared in advance by ICANN. Wired News, 25 October 2005 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69346,00.html MICROSOFT JOINS YAHOO BOOK PROJECT Microsoft has said it will participate in a recently announced book-scanning project led by Yahoo and the Internet Archive. Unlike Google's much-maligned project, the Yahoo initiative, called the Open Content Alliance, will only scan books that are in the public domain or for which explicit permission has been granted by the copyright holder. In contrast, Google will scan copyrighted books unless copyright holders specifically request that their books be excluded, though only small portions of copyrighted books will be available online. For its part, Microsoft will finance the scanning of about 150,000 books, while Yahoo will pay for about 18,000 books to be digitized. The Open Content Alliance also differs from Google's project in that all of the content from the alliance will be available from a database to any search engine; Google will be the only means to access the content of its project. Microsoft will create an MSN Book Search service next year, though the business model for particular services and fees has not been set, according to Danielle Tiedt, general manager of search content acquisition at MSN. ZDNet, 25 October 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5913711.html You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to: edupage(a)educause.edu To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV(a)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 *** News from other sources: Some people have been pointing out how the news media showed us Terry Schaivo for days and weeks on end, but won't show a single casualty of the Iraq war. >From a local paper: "Dog gets more ink than dead soldiers" "Two thousand of our soldiers have died with no foreseeable end to this war in sight. All I ask is, where is the outrage over that?" South Bend Tribune, IN - Oct 30, 2005 [Note: this page vanished shortly after publication] [I tried linking to it from multiple locations.] *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA [As requested adding sources, etc., when possible. Remember, the subject is not the article's subject, the subject is the manipulation of the world news.] QWEST DODGES MULTIBILLION DOLLAR BULLET FOR $.5B A tentative settlement for $400 million by Qwest, in addition to other smaller settlements, may get Qwest out of the business of defending lawsuits & back into the communications business. An "accounting scandal" of billions of dollars is still being settled, and stockholders who bought under false or misleading statements by Qwest from May 24, 1999 to July 28, 2002 are now being reimbursed. The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Shareholder settlement, 11/02/05 *DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK The current "official" Pakistani report of the Kashmiri earthquake is 73,000 as of today, though local officials say it is 79,000. The offical government toll has been much lower than the local offical tolls for some time, but is finally being corrected. In addition, the number of severely injured is about 70,000. These figures are for Pakistan only. If you add the Indian death toll, the official figures are over 80,000, but no one in the media seems to like reporting the entire total figure, just as they refused to report the total tolls from Katrina, but rather sub-divided the death toll by state, and rarely, if ever, gave all the figures at once. Scotsman.com News Scottish news direct from Scotland Wednesday, 2nd November 2005 * President Ronald Reagan: "We did not, repeat, did not, trade weapons or anything else for hostages nor will we." re: Iran-Contra Affair Meet the Press, Oct. 30, 2005 * [I deleted Ambassador Wilson's comments on the yellowcake uranium, Valerie Plame [his wife] and Judith Miller. 6/9] *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK As I predicted before, Pluto will NOT be eliminated from the list of our planets. My previous prediction was based on the fact the planet had a moon, Charon, but with two more now discovered, this should be becoming more and more obvious. National Geographic News, 11/01/05 *STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK "About 10 minutes ago or so, the United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership!" [Epithets deleted] "They have no conviction. They have no principles. They have no ideas. This is a pure stunt." Most are telling you that operating under Standing Rule XXI is never done, but the truth is that it does get used every once in a while, the last time in the Reagan election year. Concord Monitor Online - Concord, NH *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK The first "Tropical Storm Beta" of recorded history occured this week. The 23rd tropical storm of the season, and the 13th hurricane, also a new record, plowed into Nicaragua on Halloween, dropping 15" of rain, but didn't get much major media coverage. * Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries. "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. * POEM OF THE WEEK Negativity Negativity grows on one's soul like ivy on the barren wall Making the windows of the eyes shadowy and cold Copyright 2005 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart Please send comments to: simona_s75 AT yahoo.com & hart AT pobox.com *** *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(a)pglaf.org

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Cheap Portable Terabytes
by Michael Hart 01 Nov '05

01 Nov '05

CHEAP PORTABLE TERABYTES Every Word In The Library Of Congress In A $100-$150 DVD Notebook? It's possible. Less than 24 hours ago I bought a couple notebooks at Fry's that hold 200 and 320 CDs and/or DVDs respectively with one of the Project Gutenberg Directors. On the way home he calculated just how much data we will be able to put in these notebooks. Based on a 4.3G standard storage rate, and a 10.25G zipped, with zip operating at about 59% compression you will now be able to carry data as follows: For ~$88: 200 DVDs Standard 200 x 4.3G = .86 Terabytes 200 DVDs Zipped Text 200 x 10.25 = 2.05 Terabytes For ~$140 320 DVDs Standard 320 x 4.3G = 1.376 Terabytes 320 DVDs Zipped Text 320 x 10.25 = 3.28 Terabytes At a cost of two for a dollar, 200 DVDs would cost $100 At a cost of three for a dollar, 200 DVDs would cost $67 At a cost of two for a dollar, 320 DVDs would cost $160 At a cost of three for a dollar, 320 DVDs would cost $107 The actual retail prices we paid is between at $.39 each, or about 2.5 DVDs per dollar. $.39 per DVD $10 for the #200 notebooks $15 for the #320 notebooks $78 for 200 DVDs $125 for 320 DVDs Thus a notebook full of 200 DVDs costs $78 + $10 = $88 Thus a notebook full of 320 DVDs costs $125 + $15 = $140 today, and could probably hold every plain text eBook that will be out from all the various eBook projects combined for who knows just how many years. However, by the time you manage to fill such a notebook you can be sure something will be available that will let you carry two or three times as much just as easily and inexpensively. Michael S. Hart Founder Project Gutenberg

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