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PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 21 Sep '05

21 Sep '05

Weekly_September_21.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September 21, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******** PT1A 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 We are trying an experiment this month to provide shorter Newsletter files. PT1 of the Newsletter will be split into to sections starting and ending at the points below where you will see this marker" "***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B***" You should receive THREE versions of PT1 today: PT1, PT1A, and PT1B. Please send your comments on this. * HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS New Site!!! New 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> * You might be interested in reading about MIT's Neil Gershenfeld's "Fab Labs" that are encouraging people to with three dimensions what Project Gutenberg has been encouraging with two dimensions. There are currently 6 of these Fab Labs: Boston, India [2], Ghana, Norway and Costa Rica where people are making 3 dimensional computer generated materials. Not quite the Star Trek Replicator, yet!!! [mh] From: PERSONAL FABRICATION: A TALK WITH NEIL GERSHENFELD "From this combination of passion and inventiveness I began to get a sense that what these students are really doing is reinventing literacy. Literacy in the modern sense emerged in the Renaissance as mastery of the liberal arts. This is liberal in the sense of liberation, not politically liberal. The trivium and the quadrivium represented the available means of expression. Since then we've boiled that down to just reading and writing, but the means have changed quite a bit since the Renaissance. In a very real sense post-digital literacy now includes 3D machining and microcontroller programming. I've even been taking my twins, now 6, in to use MIT's workshops; they talk about going to MIT to make things they think of rather than going to a toy store to buy what someone else has designed." www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gershenfeld03/gershenfeld_index.html and www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/fablab.html www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0574.html www.itconversations.com/shows/detail460.html * More News From MIT's General Direction SQUID LABS: SUCKERS FOR NOVELTY from Wired News EMERYVILLE, California -- It's a classic scenario: Five friends with a mutual passion, disillusioned with their choices after their East Coast college, pile into a van and head to California to break into the big time. But don't think rock 'n' roll fantasy. This group came straight out of MIT, and its members don't do guitar and vocals; they do patents and prototypes. They make up Squid Labs, self-billed as "a design firm that does differential equations," and they're already picking up the hits: solar panel driveways, swarming parachutes, a SourceForge for hardware and a comic book series for kid engineers. Squid Labs is housed in a generic warehouse in Emeryville down the street from the elaborate Pixar Animation Studios gates. The building is full of toys and half-completed projects, seemingly more chaos than inspiration. The desks of the five founders -- Saul Griffith, Colin Bulthaup, Dan Goldwater, Ryan McKinley and Eric Wilhelm -- are scattered with papers, scrap metal and wood, and small, bare electronics. http://tinyurl.com/74xhq * WRITERS SUING GOOGLE Wyatt, Edward. Writers Sue Google, Accusing It of Copyright Violation. New York Times, September 21, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/technology/21book.html [registration required] 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 2 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 38 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*** 17,170 eBooks As Of Today!!! [Includes Australian eBooks] We Are 85% of the Way to 20,000!!! 14,170 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's 250+ eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2214 eBooks in 2005!!! 2,830 to go to 20,000!!! 7,467 from Distributed Proofreaders [Details in PT1B] We have now averaged ~500+ eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971 We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging About 260 books Per Month This Year We Are Averaging About 60 eBooks Per Week This Year 40 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 ~1.75 years from Oct. 2003 to Aug. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,000 * ***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 well that PT1 is now being send 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 ***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B*** Weekly_September_14.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September 14, 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 We are trying an experiment this month to provide shorter Newsletter files. PT1 of the Newsletter will be split into to sections starting and ending at the points below where you will see this marker" "***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B***" Please send your comments on this. ***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements * 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 a new experimental online reader available. Start from any bibliographic record page, e.g. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300 Basically this paginates the .txt file and remembers your last position in a cookie so you can later resume reading where you left off. Please test it. It should work with any book that has a text file where the encoding is known. * MACHINE TRANSLATION We are seeking as much information as possible on the various approaches to Machine Translation. Any brand names or contact information would be greatly appreciated. *** Please use our new site for downloading DVD and CD images, etc. http://www.gutenberg.org/cdproject and The PG bittorrent tracker is up and running. Aaron Cannon has placed the CD and DVD there if anyone wants to test. You can access it by visiting http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu:6969 *** Please checkout the various Project Gutenberg FAQs, etc. at: http://www.gutenberg.org/about * We're building a team to read our eBooks into MP3 files for the visually impaired and other audio book users. Let us know if you'd like to join this group. More information at http://www.gutenberg.org/audio *** Project Gutenberg Needs DVD Burners So far we have sent out 15 million eBooks via snailmail!!! We currently have access to a dozen DVD burners. If you have a DVD burner and are interested in lending a hand, please email Aaron Cannon <cannona(a)fireantproductions.com> We can set you up with images, or snail you these DVDs for you to copy. You can either snail them directly to readers whose addresses we can send you, or you can do a stack of these and send the whole box back for reshipping. We can also reimburse you for supplies and postage if you wish. Please note that we can only use DVDs which are burnt in the dvd-r format, as we have had some compatibility issues with the dvd+r format. *** Project Gutenberg is seeking graphics we can use for our Web pages and publicity materials. If you have original graphics depicting Project Gutenberg themes, please contribute them! To see some of what we have now, please see: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/images *** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES Project Gutenberg is seeking (volunteer) lawyers. 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 08.50 months of this year, we produced 2214 new eBooks. It took us from July 1971 to Feb 2000 to produce our first 2214 eBooks! That's 37 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 Years!!! 40 New eBooks This Week 24 New eBooks Last Week 64 New eBooks This Month [Sep] ~260 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 2214 New eBooks in 2005 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 14108 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 That's Only 56.50 Months! Over 250 books per month! 17,170 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 13,848 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,322 New eBooks In Last 12 Months 483 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 7,467 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. Info on subscribing to daily, weekly, monthly Newsletters, listservs: http://www.gutenberg.org/howto/subscribe-howto or http://www.gutenberg.org/subs.shtml *** *Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report Please note the addition of the Internet Archive marked with <<< below. 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 #259 of 2005 This Completes Week #37 and Month #08.50 [364 days this year] 105 Days/22 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 2,830 Books To Go To #20,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 60 Weekly Average in 2005 78 Weekly Average in 2004 79 Weekly Average in 2003 47 Weekly Average in 2002 24 Weekly Average in 2001 41 Only 41 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. If you have a book that has been scanned, but not yet run through OCR (optical character recognition) or proofed, and you would like the Distributed Proofreaders to work on it, please email dphelp(a)pgdp.net and we will get things started. Also, DP is seeking public domain books not already in the Project Gutenberg collection. To see what is already online, visit http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/GUTINDEX.ALL (a text file) listing Project Gutenberg eBooks and is available for downloading. Do you have Public Domain books you would like to see in the archive? Can they be destructively scanned? If so send them to the Distributed Proofreading Team! Please email dphelp(a)pgdp.net with your geographic location. You will be given the address of the nearest high-speed scanner. [Note that the high-speed scanner requires destruction of the book(s) which will not be returned.] We have high-speed scanners currently located in the east, west and central portions of the US to make shipping easier. Please make sure that any books you send are _not_ already in the archive and please check them against David's "In Progress" list at: http://www.dprice48.freeserve.co.uk/GutIP.html to ensure no one is currently working on them. It would also be helpful if you obtain copyright clearance before mailing the books, and send the 'OK' lines to dphelp(a)pgdp.net Do you like to work on an entire book at once but don't have the time or technology to do the scanning, OCR, and initial proofing yourself? Distributed Proofreaders has the perfect solution! Just send us email telling us that you are interested in post-processing and we will help find a project you would like to work on. Please contact us at: dphelp(a)pgdp.net if you would like to know more about the Distributed Proofreaders. ***Donation Information We Have Included Quick and Easy Ways to Donate. . .As Per Your Requests! 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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 37 weeks of this year, we have produced 2214 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 02/00 to produce our FIRST 2214 eBooks!!! That's 37 WEEKS as Compared to ~29 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2214 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] Jun 2000 Kim, by Rudyard Kipling [Rudyard Kipling #10] [kimrkxxx.xxx] 2226 Jun 2000 Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling[Kipling#9][cptcrxxa.xxx] 2225 Jun 2000 Human Genome Project, Y Chromosome [#24] [0yhgpxxx.xxx] 2224 . . . Jun 2000 Human Genome Project, Chromosome Number 14 [14hgpxxx.xxx] 2214 . . . Jun 2000 Human Genome Project, Chromosome Number 01 [01hgpxxx.xxx] 2201 Jun 2000 Human Genome Project, About the Human Genome Files[0ahgpxxx.xxx] 2200* [Reserved for information about the Human Genome Project Files] Jun 2000 The Iliad, by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler [iliadxxx.xxx] 2199 May 2000 Stories from Pentamerone, by Giambattista Basile [pntmnxxx.xxx] 2198 May 2000 The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky[Dostoyevsky #2][gamblxxx.xxx] 2197 [Tr.: C.J. Hogarth] May 2000 An Iceland Fisherman, by Pierre Loti [icfshxxx.xxx] 2196 [Tr.: M. Jules Cambon] May 2000 The Master of Mrs. Chilvers by Jerome K. Jerome 19[mschlxxx.xxx] 2195 May 2000 Mauprat, by George Sand [Tr.: Stanley Young] #1[muprtxxx.xxx] 2194 * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? 1.1 Trillion eBooks Given Away If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,467,922,438 that would be 17,170 x 64,679,224 = ~1.1 Trillion !!! With 17,170 eBooks online as of September 21, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.91 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,679,224 x 17,170 x $.90 = ~$1 Trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] 6,467,922,438 64,679,224 With 17,170 eBooks online as of September 21, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.58 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.72 when we had 13,848 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 17,170 eBooks in 34 Years and 02.50 Months We Averaged ~502 Per Year 41.8 Per Month 1.37 Per Day At 2214 eBooks Done In The 250 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 8.5 Per Day 60 Per Week 260 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. ***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B*** *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] PANASONIC LAUNCHES LINUX COLLABORATION CENTER Motivated by a desire to foster standardized software architectures, Panasonic has launched a Linux incubator at its Digital Concepts Center, located in San Jose, California. Brad McManus, director of the Digital Concepts Center, said that Panasonic sees much to be gained in developing technologies on standard architectures, which would minimize problems of incompatibility among products. The Linux Collaboration Center will focus primarily on middleware and applications but will also consider projects that address user interfaces and ubiquitous networking. McManus said the new Linux center aims to establish relationships with four or five start-up companies developing consumer electronics. In exchange, Panasonic will have first right of refusal for a portion of the companies' institutional funding. eWeek, 14 September 2005 http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1859036,00.asp 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 *** *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA Hurricane Hits Norway: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=4863 * "After Katrina, the FEMA Web site directing charitable contributions prominently listed Operation Blessing, a Pat Robertson kitty that, according to I.R.S. documents obtained by ABC News, has given more than half of its yearly cash donations to Mr. Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. If FEMA is that cavalier about charitable donations, imagine what it's doing with the $62 billion (so far) of taxpayers' money sent its way for Katrina relief." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/opinion/18rich.html?hp * Why was Karl Rove not more involved with the White House positioning on Katrina? He was in the hospital with kidney stones. Sources: Baraboo News Republic, WI 9/21 Press-Enterprise, CA 9/19 New York Daily News, NY 9/16 Australian, Australia 9/18 Times of India, India 9/19 *STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK Correction: that strange non-word mentioned last week should have been attributed to: The New Oxford American Dictionary ^^^^^^^^ NOT The New Oxford English Dictionary ^^^^^^^ [Another possible correction, as to the source of the two photographs and captions mentioned last week: some say only one of them was genuinely from the AP, Associated Press, though the person suggesting the correction didn't clarify further, though this URL, <http://www.snopes.com/katrina/photos/looters.asp> was provided for more details, which credited BOTH to the AP: "The Associated Press has separately captioned two photos of looters. . . ."] DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK To lie to the police is a crime. For them to lie to you is not. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK New Orleans will try to have usual Mardi Gras celebration. *QUOTES OF THE WEEK [As requested, adding in URL and credit lines when possible.] More data from our readers about pre-Katrina warnings: >From 2002, concering the New Orleans area: "THE BIG ONE A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time." http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/ and A good summary of the various predictions of the effects of a hurricane on New Orleans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_of_hurricane_risk_for_New_Orleans [Sent in by Martin Ward <Martin.Ward(a)durham.ac.uk>] *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK "Kozlowski and Swartz to pay nearly $240 million in fines and resitution." [Tyco CEO and CFO] Borsa-Italia.Net, Italy 9/21 HoweStreet.com, Canada 9/20 Australian Financial Review 9/21 [Large fines for white collar criminals are not making the headlines the way they used to, these were hardly mentioned, and no mention of whether the fines would make it into the record books or not.] * 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 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 [This week it's not a poem, but a Cherokee Indian tale.] One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." *** *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. 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Pt2 Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter
by Project Gutenberg Newsletter 16 Sep '05

16 Sep '05

GWeekly_September_14_part2.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 14 Sep 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 - 23 New U.S. eBooks this week - 1 New eBooks at Project Gutenberg of Australia - 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. 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Last week the Total Count was 17106, including 480 at PG of Australia. This week we added 24 new. RESERVED/PENDING count: 45 =-=-=-=[ 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: Seraphita, by Honore de Balzac 1432 [Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley] [Updated edition of: etext98/sraph10.txt] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/3/1432 ] [Files: 1432.txt] Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy 153 [Updated edition of: etext94/jude11.txt ] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/153 ] [Files: 153.txt; 153-8.txt; 153-h.htm] :: Please note the following additional changes, corrections, improvements: Illustrated HTML added: The Skipper and the Skipped, by Holman Day 16631 [Subtitle: Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16631 ] [Files: ; 16631-h.htm] HTML added: Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 15, by Robert Kerr 14611 [Title: A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/1/14611 ] [File: 14611-h.htm] Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 14, by Robert Kerr 13381 [Title: A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 14] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/3/3/8/13381 ] [File: 13381-h.htm] -=-=-=-=[ 23 NEW U.S. EBOOKS ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Stories to Tell Children, by Sara Cone Bryant 16693 [Subtitle: Fifty-Four Stories With Some Suggestions For Telling] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/9/16693 ] [Files: 16693.txt; 16693-8.txt; 16693-h.htm] Beyond The Rocks, by Elinor Glyn 16692 [Subtitle: A Love Story] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/9/16692 ] [Files: 16692.txt; 16692-8.txt; 16692-h.htm] Five Months on a German Raider, by Frederic George Trayes 16691 [Subtitle: Being the Adventures of an Englishman Captured by the 'Wolf'] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/9/16691 ] [Files: 16691.txt; 16691-8.txt; 16691-h.htm; ] Sattumuksia Jnislahdella, by Heikki Merilinen 16689 [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16689 ] [Files: 16689-8.txt] Hymns, Songs, and Fables, for Young People, by Eliza Lee Follen 16688 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16688 ] [Files: 16688.txt; 16688-h.htm] Latvasaaren kuninkaan hovilinna, by Alfred Emil Ingman 16687 [Subtitle: Seikkailuja Venjn rajalta] [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16687 ] [Files: 16687-8.txt] Verses for Children, by Juliana Horatia Ewing 16686 [Subtitle: and Songs for Music] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16686 ] [Files: 16686.txt; 16686-8.txt; 16686-h.htm] Private Peat, by Harold R. Peat 16685 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16685 ] [Files: 16685.txt; 16685-8.txt; 16685-h.htm; ] Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, July 7th, 1920, by Various 16684 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16684 ] [Files: 16684.txt; 16684-8.txt; 16684-h.htm] Secret Bread, by F. Tennyson Jesse 16683 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16683 ] [Files: 16683.txt; 16683-8.txt] Adrien Leroy, by Charles Garvice 16682 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16682 ] [Files: 16682.txt; 16682-8.txt; 16682-h.htm] Baby Chatterbox, by Anonymous 16681 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16681 ] [Files: 16681.txt; 16681-h.htm] The Onlooker, Volume 1, Part 2, by Various 16680 [Editor: Alfred Henry Lewis] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/8/16680 ] [Files: 16680.txt; 16680-h.htm] The History of England, by T.F. Tout 16679 [Subtitle: From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377)] [Editor: William Hunt and Reginald L. Poole] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16679 ] [Files: 16679.txt; 16679-8.txt; 16679-h.htm] Tieni varrella tapaamia 1, by Maikki Friberg 16678 [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16678 ] [Files: 16678-8.txt; 16678-h.htm] The Chink in the Armour, by Marie Belloc Lowndes 16677 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16677 ] [Files: 16677.txt; 16677-8.txt; 16677-h.htm] Eveline Mandeville, by Alvin Addison 16676 [Subtitle: The Horse Thief Rival] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16676 ] [Files: 16676.txt; 16676-h.htm; ] Tommy Atkins at War, by James Alexander Kilpatrick 16675 [Subtitle: As Told in His Own Letters] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16675 ] [Files: 16675.txt; 16675-8.txt; 16675-h.htm; ] The Pride of Palomar, by Peter B. Kyne 16674 [Ill.: H. R. Ballinger and Dean Cornwell] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16674 ] [Files: 16674.txt; 16674-8.txt; 16674-h.htm; ] Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, September 29th, 1920, Various 16673 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16673 ] [Files: 16673.txt; 16673-8.txt; 16673-h.htm] The Last Journals of David Livingstone, Vol. I, by David Livingstone 16672 [Title: The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from] 1865 to His Death, Volume I (of 2)] [Editor: Horace Waller] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16672 ] [Files: 16672.txt; 16672-8.txt; 16672-h.htm; ] Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888, by Various 16671 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16671 ] [Files: 16671.txt; 16671-8.txt; 16671-h.htm] La Catedral, by Vicente Blasco Ibanez 16670 [Language: Spanish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/7/16670 ] [Files: 16670-8.txt; 16670-h.htm] -=-=-=-=[ 1 NEW EBOOKS AT PROJECT GUTENBERG OF AUSTRALIA ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sep 2005 A White Bird Flying, by Bess Streeter Aldrich [050086xx.xxx] 0481A 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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PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 14 Sep '05

14 Sep '05

Weekly_September_14.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September 14, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******** PT1A 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 We are trying an experiment this month to provide shorter Newsletter files. PT1 of the Newsletter will be split into to sections starting and ending at the points below where you will see this marker" "***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B***" You should receive THREE versions of PT1 today: PT1, PT1A, and PT1B. 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Note that updated eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.) *** Statistical Review In the 35 weeks of this year, we have produced 2174 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 5/00 to produce our FIRST 2174 eBooks!!! That's 35 WEEKS as Compared to ~29 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2064 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] Jun 2000 The Iliad, by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler [iliadxxx.xxx] 2199 May 2000 Stories from Pentamerone, by Giambattista Basile [pntmnxxx.xxx] 2198 May 2000 The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky[Dostoyevsky #2][gamblxxx.xxx] 2197 [Tr.: C.J. Hogarth] May 2000 An Iceland Fisherman, by Pierre Loti [icfshxxx.xxx] 2196 [Tr.: M. Jules Cambon] May 2000 The Master of Mrs. Chilvers by Jerome K. Jerome 19[mschlxxx.xxx] 2195 May 2000 Mauprat, by George Sand [Tr.: Stanley Young] #1[muprtxxx.xxx] 2194 [Author AKA: Lucile Amandine Aurore Dupin; Armentine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Dudevant] (See also #138) May 2000 A Ward of the Golden Gate, by Bret Harte[Harte #6][wotggxxx.xxx] 2193 May 2000 The Dark Flower, by John Galsworthy [dkflrxxx.xxx] 2192 May 2000 Boy Scouts in Mexico, by G. Harvey Ralphson [bsimxxxx.xxx] 2191 May 2000 Isabella von Aegypten, by Ludwig Achim von Arnim [?isblxxx.xxx] 2190 [Language: German] May 2000 Der Gwissenswurm, by Ludwig Anzengruber [German] [?gwssxxx.xxx] 2189 [Language: German] May 2000 Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge, by Rilke [?maltxxx.xxx] 2188 [Author: Rainer Maria Rilke] [Language: German] May 2000 Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland [In German] [?oberxxx.xxx] 2187 [Language: German] May 2000 Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling[Kipling#9][cptcrxxx.xxx] 2186 May 2000 Maruja, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #5][marujxxx.xxx] 2185 May 2000 Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Isabella L. Bird [utrkjxxx.xxx] 2184 May 2000 Three Men on the Bummel, by Jerome K. Jerome [#18][tmotbxxx.xxx] 2183 May 2000 The Marble Faun V. 2, by Nathaniel Hawthorne[NH#9][2faunxxx.xxx] 2182 May 2000 The Marble Faun V. 1, by Nathaniel Hawthorne[NH#8][1faunxxx.xxx] 2181 May 2000 In A Hollow Of The Hills, by Bret Harte [Harte #5][hllhlxxx.xxx] 2180 May 2000 Drift from Two Shores, by Bret Harte [Harte #4[[dftshxxx.xxx] 2179 May 2000 By Shore and Sedge, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #3][bysnsxxx.xxx] 2178 May 2000 Thankful Blossom, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #2][tkfblxxx.xxx] 2177 Seven Discourses on Art, by Joshua Reynolds 2176 [Editor: Henry Morley] May 2000 You Never Can Tell, by [George] Bernard Shaw [#7] [nvrctxxx.xxx] 2175 May 2000 Frau und Kindern auf der Spur, by Gerold K. Rohner[?spurxxx.xxx] 2174C [Language: German] May 2000 Thoughts on Present Discontents, etc., by Burke [thdscxxx.xxx] 2173 [Author: Edmund Burke] [Ed. & Intro.: Henry Morley] May 2000 That Mainwaring Affair, by Maynard Barbour [mnwrnxxx.xxx] 2172 Brother Jacob, by George Eliot 2171 May 2000 Misc Writings and Speeches, Lord Macaulay V4 of 4[4mwsmxxx.xxx] 2170 . . . May 2000 Misc Writings and Speeches, Lord Macaulay V1 of 4[1mwsmxxx.xxx] 2167 May 2000 King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard [HRH #9][?kslmxxx.xxx] 2166 The Lifted Veil, by George Eliot 2165 May 2000 The Lumley Autograph Susan Fenimore Cooper[SFC#3][lumlyxxx.xxx] 2164 May 2000 The Bridge-Builders, by Mark Twain [MT#16][brdgbxxx.xxx] 2163 Apr 2000 Anarchism and Other Essays, by Emma Goldman [nrcsmxxx.xxx] 2162 [Biographic Sketch by Hippolyte Havel] Apr 2000 Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouse, Thomas Burke [qunglxxx.xxx] 2161 Apr 2000 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Tobias Smollett[txohcxxx.xxx] 2160 Apr 2000 A Little Tour In France, by Henry James[James #20][altifxxx.xxx] 2159 Apr 2000 The Prime Minister, by Anthony Trollope[Trollope5][prmnsxxx.xxx] 2158 Apr 2000 Female Suffrage, by Susan Fenimore Cooper [SFC #3][sffrgxxx.xxx] 2157 Apr 2000 China and the Manchus, by Herbert A. Giles [#3][?mnchxxx.xxx] 2156 *** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? 1.1 Trillion eBooks Given Away If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,466,491,518 that would be 17,130 x 64,664,916 = ~1.1 Trillion !!! With 17,130 eBooks online on September 24, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.90 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,664,916 x 17,130 x $.90 = ~$1 Trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] With 17,130 eBooks online on September 24, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.58 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.72 when we had 13,801 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 17,130 eBooks in 34 Years and 02.25 Months We Averaged ~502 Per Year 41.8 Per Month 1.38 Per Day At 2174 eBooks Done In The 252 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 8.6 Per Day 62 Per Week 264 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. ***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B*** *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] RIAA AND MPAA JOIN INTERNET2 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have become corporate members of Internet2, joining companies including the Ford Motor Company and C-Span. "Internet2 is a stepping stone between the research lab and the commercial sector," said Lauren Kallens, a spokesperson for the organization. Earlier this year, the entertainment groups sued hundreds of Abilene users for using the network to illegally trade files, but, according to Gayle Osterberg, a spokesperson for the MPAA, the groups' membership in Internet2 is unrelated to their antipiracy efforts. "This particular partnership," she said, "is more of an opportunity for us to have a technology testing ground." The groups plan to collaborate with the Internet2 community to study distribution and digital rights management technologies for networks faster than today's commercial Internet. Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/09/2005091202t.htm FBI LOSES ROUND ONE [Interesting that the URL mentions "library" but the words do not.] A federal judge has handed the FBI a preliminary defeat in its efforts to continue to suppress information about an investigation of a Connecticut institution. The institution, whose identity has been kept confidential under the terms of the USA PATRIOT Act, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the FBI for the right to disclose the institution's identity. Judge Janet C. Hall agreed with the plaintiffs, saying that under the FBI's position, "the very people who might have information regarding investigative abuses and overreaching are peremptorily prevented from sharing that information with the public." Hall did grant a stay of her ruling, however, giving federal authorities until September 20 to try to persuade the Court of Appeals to overturn the ruling. If the appeals court takes no action by then, the plaintiffs are free to disclose the institution's identity. Watching the case closely are groups critical of the PATRIOT Act, who have long argued that the law grants federal authorities excessive investigative powers at the expense of civil liberties. New York Times, 10 September 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/nyregion/10library.html DIGITAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION OPENS IN UK Modeled on the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in the United States, a new organization is being launched in the United Kingdom to protect the rights of users of digital resources. According to the Web site of the Open Rights Group (ORG), the group will work to "vigorously defend our digital civil liberties, ensuring that the our hard-won freedoms are not taken away simply because they've moved to the digital world." Suw Charman, one of the group's co-founders, said that ORG intends not to replace but to work alongside organizations with similar goals, of which several already exist in the United Kingdom and Europe, including the Campaign for Digital Rights, the Foundation for Information Policy Research, and the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure. Officials from the rights group Citizens Online expressed skepticism that ORG efforts would be appropriately inclusive. Citizens Online worried that ORG's focus would be "middle class" issues, ignoring technology issues concerning people with disabilities and the digital divide. BBC, 9 September 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4225938.stm KATRINA BOOSTS ONLINE EDUCATION Educators at all levels--from elementary through college--are trying to figure out how to accommodate the estimated 200,000 students from the Gulf states who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and some see the circumstances as a prime opportunity for online education to prove its worth. Advocates of online learning are working to get federal authorities to relax rules governing things ranging from obtaining teacher certification to using public funds to support online schools. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has committed $1.1 million to the Sloan Consortium, an organization that works to improve the quality of online instruction, to provide space for 10,000 students in its program. A number of online programs for elementary and secondary students are hoping to persuade government officials to allow public funds to be used by displaced students in online programs. Julie Young, chief executive of the Florida Virtual School, one of the nation's largest online public schools, said, "It's going to be an opportunity to show the power of online learning." Critics said online programs are a poor substitute for in-class learning. Nat LaCour, secretary general of the American Federation of Teachers, said displaced students "need to be in classrooms with teachers who can provide nurturing experiences." Wall Street Journal, 9 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112622247296335918,00.html FEDS AWARD NATIONAL ARCHIVE CONTRACT The federal government will spend $308 million to create a national electronic archive that Allen Weinstein, the archivist of the United States, said will be of significant value to academic researchers. Weinstein, a former history professor, said the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) will store and make available all federal electronic documents, which otherwise could disappear entirely or at least be very difficult to locate. The federal government is increasingly creating documents online in electronic format, and the ERA is vital in preserving them, said Weinstein. The ERA, which is expected to debut in 2008 and be complete by 2011, could also serve as a model for colleges and universities that create their own digital archive systems, according to Weinstein. Rick Barry, a management consultant in archives and information management, said that the archive itself will not solve the problem of preservation. Bureaucratic and cultural problems must also be overcome, he said. Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/09/2005090901t.htm THIRTEEN COUNTRIES GET BEHIND OPEN STANDARDS Government officials from 13 countries have developed a report to the World Bank on economic growth, efficiency, and innovation in which they argue for the establishment of open technology standards. The report is quick to point out that open standards are not synonymous with open source, in which source code is shared and can be modified by anyone. The open-standards movement advocates defining a set of standards, available to anyone, that allow various applications, whether proprietary or open source, to exchange information. The report is the product of a project led by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. According to Charles R. Nesson, law professor at Harvard and founder of the Berkman Center, the goal of the report is to make a "rational business case for having a broad base of open technology standards." The report urges governments to "mandate technology choice, not software development models." New York Times, 9 September 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/technology/09open.html TUTORING ONLINE, OVERSEAS Online tutoring services, which typically offer cost and scheduling advantages over local programs, have begun outsourcing some tutoring positions. Although some online tutoring companies that serve the U.S. market limit tutors to people living in North America, some now employ tutors in countries including India, South Africa, the Philippines, and Chile. As with other examples of outsourcing, the primary motivation is cost: Growing Stars, a California-based tutoring company, charges $30 an hour for U.S.-based tutors and $20 an hour for tutors in India, who are paid the equivalent of $230 per month. Burck Smith, chief executive and co-founder of Washington, D.C.-based online tutoring company SmarThinking, said his company has seen demand grow by 50 percent over the past few years, and the company signed 20 new clients, including high schools and colleges, for services this fall. Critics of online tutoring argue that there is already little oversight to such programs, resulting in questionable quality, and that using tutors from overseas only serves to make monitoring even more difficult. New York Times, 7 September 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/education/07tutor.html CA HOPS ON THE OPEN SOURCE BANDWAGON Following IBM's lead, Computer Associates International (CA) has announced that it will allow open source developers to use 14 of its patents free of charge. Earlier this year, IBM, which has been one of the strongest corporate backers of open source technology, said it would forgo royalties on 500 of its patents. The CA patents that will be offered address application development, data analytics, and systems management. CA also announced an agreement with IBM under which the two companies will exchange license rights. According to Mark Barrenechea, executive vice president of technology strategy and chief technology architect at CA, the deal will give customers easier access to the range of intellectual property available without charge. ZDNet, 7 September 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5852500.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 *** *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA Racism Denied At All Levels Of Government. . .but. . . . 1. White People "Found" Food, Black People "Looted Food" Even as far away as Zimbabwe, the news is reporting that two pictures from the Associated Press {?} contrasted in print the racism of the American press, as a white woman was portrayed as having "found food," while a picture of of a black man is portrayed as having "looted" food. Reports of this are popping up in a wide variety of news sources, but they are usually comments rather than whole reports from the news sources, comments from readers, or from distant news services, but not the major US media. 2. Crowds Of Mostly Black New Orleans Refugees Turned Back By Police At The Majority White City Of Gretna Crowds of refugees from the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center area were stopped by Gretna police, as shots were fired, apparently as warnings by police of the majority white City of Gretna, which houses an expressway known as the Crescent City Connector which is one of the major arteries out of New Orleans. The Crescent City Connector was one of the only roads the hurricane left completely open, and many evacuees say they were told to leave New Orleans that way; sources indicate this was at the direction of Governor Blanco. However, the Gretna City Police Chief said: "All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down." "We shut down the bridge," since Gretna was "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit." "There was no food, water or shelter." "We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people." "If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged." These comments were made by Arthur Lawson, Police Chief of the City of Gretna United Press International. Jefferson Parrish and Bridge Police assisted in the shut down of the three major access points to stop foot traffic trying to flee across the west bank of the river. Quoting The State of Louisiana's Disaster Plan: "The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating." No mention is made of what to do about those for whom no transportation is available. . .those were obviously beneath the radar scope of planning. Some of the less censored headlines: "Racist police blocked bridge and forced evacuees back at gunpoint." "Cops trapped survivors in New Orleans" "On the Edge Without an Exit" The Los Angeles Times Somehow it seems that those farthest from the situation are the only ones willing to state what is obvious locally. * FEMA Never Intended Thousands Of Imported Firefighters To Fight Fires Perhaps as many as 4,000 firefighters have been anxiously sitting on their hands for over a week as they have been locked away from action for which they have been trained by administrators who have little or no training in handling emergency situations. Many administrators are not commenting, while others say that these firefighters are being used solely for "community outreach" since they have not been "cleared" for the actual purpose they were trained for by unadept administrators, who sent for no background checks and now say they are required. Source: CBS 9/12/05 [Also see The Dayton Daily News ?] * 40 Died In A Hospital, There Was No Evacuation Plan For Them. * Palestinians Burn Gaza Synagogues *STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK I supposed the strangest words of the week were those NOT heard, as NBC censored Kanye West's comments as the news went from the East Coast to the West Coast. . .his picture was included, but a "18 second gap" replaced his commentary. Some sources reported that Kanye West's microphone didn't work, but those one the earlier East Coast verson of the NBC news and most obviously Jon Stewart, noticed the difference and reported that the news had been censored in transit. Here is the quote as it is being referenced: "If you see a black family it's looting, but if it's a white family they are looking for food. George Bush doesn't care about black people." * Oxford English Dictionary, or Bullchevy English Dictionary? The OED fake: Another Strange Word of the Week: "esquivalience" As you may have heard as one of the unfounded urban legends, but which turn out to be true, at least the fiction is fact, many publications, perhaps even most of those of the Fortune 500 type of publishers, contain intentional errors--ERRORS! You may have heard of maps either containing locations never in existence or in the wrong place, but those at least maybe were legally required for such errors to be around the edges and NOT in the "field of play," so that a person using error ridden maps for the intended purpose, the land or sea named, would not get into trouble using them for directions. Since I am originally from a seaport, I am personally aware of map laws that require a rather large red disclaimer on every one of the maps stating that these sea charts are NOT navigation tools, but merely recreational items. Much as software were once labeled as not merchantable, meaning good for nothing. At any rate, Oxford has admitted, though under some cloud of smoke, that the New Oxford English Dictionary does, in fact, contain intentional errors, which reduces their standing for this act to the point of having been caught out, and made to stand in the corner wearing a dunce cap. I presume next time they will "fingerprint" their work in an even less discoverable manner, in the hopes not to be caught out so soon next time around. I wonder if they didn't think to do it in a less obvious manner, such as varying commas or periods or semi-colons in a coded manner? Thus the CONTENTS of their dictionary would be accurate, while the FORM was an investigative tool as accurate as a fingerprint. DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK Comments On How The Katrina Relief Efforts Are Going: Laura Bush: "very very well." VP Dick Cheney: "extremely well." President Bush: the situations in Iran and New Orleans are going well. [Of course, this stance was reversed yesterday when President Bush finally admitted that things were not going very well and that he was taking responsibility for that.] *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK Keep watching China, India and Indonesia for economic growth. *QUOTE OF THE WEEK "If you see a black family it's looting, but if it's a white family they are looking for food. George Bush doesn't care about black people." *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 5/8 of Bush's emergency management appointees had no experience, were simply pork barrel jobs for his campaign workers. Michael Brown was simply the college roommate of the original FEMA chief, not other recommendation or expertise, not even a real job on his resume, other than the Arabian Horse group. * Meat consumption in China us up 400% in 20 years. * One Ohio high school was reported to have 63% of the girls pregnant. * In some communities blacks are 9 times as likely to be pulled over for traffic stops than are whites. A film crew trying to record such statistics locally was stopped by the police and taken to court. * Nearly 3/4 of a million dollars for 30 second American Idol ad! About $600,000 for 30 seconds on Desperate Housewives. The average for all prime time shows: $150,000. *** POEM OF THE WEEK Tonight is hard to get in touch with my thoughts as my eyelids are heavy with a dreamless sleep in which I feel I am floating like a feather dettached from the wings of a mother swan who once knew about a lake, and how the vivid waters felt to the touch but then she got bored, took off and learned about the lighness of air, like the angels who sit on my eyelids tonight Alas, I must be dreaming of flight while I cry myself to sleep under the starry skies of your eyes. 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. 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1 0

PT1B Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 14 Sep '05

14 Sep '05

Weekly_September_14.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September 14, 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 We are trying an experiment this month to provide shorter Newsletter files. PT1 of the Newsletter will be split into to sections starting and ending at the points below where you will see this marker" "***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B***" Please send your comments on this. ***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements * 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. 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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. 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Note that updated eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.) *** Statistical Review In the 35 weeks of this year, we have produced 2174 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 5/00 to produce our FIRST 2174 eBooks!!! That's 35 WEEKS as Compared to ~29 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2064 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] Jun 2000 The Iliad, by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler [iliadxxx.xxx] 2199 May 2000 Stories from Pentamerone, by Giambattista Basile [pntmnxxx.xxx] 2198 May 2000 The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky[Dostoyevsky #2][gamblxxx.xxx] 2197 [Tr.: C.J. Hogarth] May 2000 An Iceland Fisherman, by Pierre Loti [icfshxxx.xxx] 2196 [Tr.: M. Jules Cambon] May 2000 The Master of Mrs. Chilvers by Jerome K. Jerome 19[mschlxxx.xxx] 2195 May 2000 Mauprat, by George Sand [Tr.: Stanley Young] #1[muprtxxx.xxx] 2194 [Author AKA: Lucile Amandine Aurore Dupin; Armentine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Dudevant] (See also #138) May 2000 A Ward of the Golden Gate, by Bret Harte[Harte #6][wotggxxx.xxx] 2193 May 2000 The Dark Flower, by John Galsworthy [dkflrxxx.xxx] 2192 May 2000 Boy Scouts in Mexico, by G. Harvey Ralphson [bsimxxxx.xxx] 2191 May 2000 Isabella von Aegypten, by Ludwig Achim von Arnim [?isblxxx.xxx] 2190 [Language: German] May 2000 Der Gwissenswurm, by Ludwig Anzengruber [German] [?gwssxxx.xxx] 2189 [Language: German] May 2000 Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge, by Rilke [?maltxxx.xxx] 2188 [Author: Rainer Maria Rilke] [Language: German] May 2000 Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland [In German] [?oberxxx.xxx] 2187 [Language: German] May 2000 Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling[Kipling#9][cptcrxxx.xxx] 2186 May 2000 Maruja, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #5][marujxxx.xxx] 2185 May 2000 Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Isabella L. Bird [utrkjxxx.xxx] 2184 May 2000 Three Men on the Bummel, by Jerome K. Jerome [#18][tmotbxxx.xxx] 2183 May 2000 The Marble Faun V. 2, by Nathaniel Hawthorne[NH#9][2faunxxx.xxx] 2182 May 2000 The Marble Faun V. 1, by Nathaniel Hawthorne[NH#8][1faunxxx.xxx] 2181 May 2000 In A Hollow Of The Hills, by Bret Harte [Harte #5][hllhlxxx.xxx] 2180 May 2000 Drift from Two Shores, by Bret Harte [Harte #4[[dftshxxx.xxx] 2179 May 2000 By Shore and Sedge, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #3][bysnsxxx.xxx] 2178 May 2000 Thankful Blossom, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #2][tkfblxxx.xxx] 2177 Seven Discourses on Art, by Joshua Reynolds 2176 [Editor: Henry Morley] May 2000 You Never Can Tell, by [George] Bernard Shaw [#7] [nvrctxxx.xxx] 2175 May 2000 Frau und Kindern auf der Spur, by Gerold K. Rohner[?spurxxx.xxx] 2174C [Language: German] May 2000 Thoughts on Present Discontents, etc., by Burke [thdscxxx.xxx] 2173 [Author: Edmund Burke] [Ed. & Intro.: Henry Morley] May 2000 That Mainwaring Affair, by Maynard Barbour [mnwrnxxx.xxx] 2172 Brother Jacob, by George Eliot 2171 May 2000 Misc Writings and Speeches, Lord Macaulay V4 of 4[4mwsmxxx.xxx] 2170 . . . May 2000 Misc Writings and Speeches, Lord Macaulay V1 of 4[1mwsmxxx.xxx] 2167 May 2000 King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard [HRH #9][?kslmxxx.xxx] 2166 The Lifted Veil, by George Eliot 2165 May 2000 The Lumley Autograph Susan Fenimore Cooper[SFC#3][lumlyxxx.xxx] 2164 May 2000 The Bridge-Builders, by Mark Twain [MT#16][brdgbxxx.xxx] 2163 Apr 2000 Anarchism and Other Essays, by Emma Goldman [nrcsmxxx.xxx] 2162 [Biographic Sketch by Hippolyte Havel] Apr 2000 Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouse, Thomas Burke [qunglxxx.xxx] 2161 Apr 2000 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Tobias Smollett[txohcxxx.xxx] 2160 Apr 2000 A Little Tour In France, by Henry James[James #20][altifxxx.xxx] 2159 Apr 2000 The Prime Minister, by Anthony Trollope[Trollope5][prmnsxxx.xxx] 2158 Apr 2000 Female Suffrage, by Susan Fenimore Cooper [SFC #3][sffrgxxx.xxx] 2157 Apr 2000 China and the Manchus, by Herbert A. Giles [#3][?mnchxxx.xxx] 2156 *** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? 1.1 Trillion eBooks Given Away If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,466,491,518 that would be 17,130 x 64,664,916 = ~1.1 Trillion !!! With 17,130 eBooks online on September 24, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.90 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,664,916 x 17,130 x $.90 = ~$1 Trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] With 17,130 eBooks online on September 24, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.58 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.72 when we had 13,801 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 17,130 eBooks in 34 Years and 02.25 Months We Averaged ~502 Per Year 41.8 Per Month 1.38 Per Day At 2174 eBooks Done In The 252 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 8.6 Per Day 62 Per Week 264 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.

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PT1A Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 14 Sep '05

14 Sep '05

Weekly_September_14.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September 14, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******** PT1A 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 We are trying an experiment this month to provide shorter Newsletter files. PT1 of the Newsletter will be split into to sections starting and ending at the points below where you will see this marker" "***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B***" You should receive THREE versions of PT1 today: PT1, PT1A, and PT1B. Please send your comments on this. * HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 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 ***PT1A is above, PT1B is below.*** *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 8 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 51 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright ***PT1B is above, PT1A is below.*** *Headline News from Edupage, etc. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones* 17,130 eBooks As Of Today!!! [Includes Australian eBooks] We Are 85% of the Way to 20,000!!! 14,068 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's 250+ eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2174 eBooks in 2005!!! 2,826 to go to 20,000!!! 7,439 from Distributed Proofreaders 481 From Project Gutenberg of Australia We Have Now Averaged ~502 eBooks Per Year Since July 4th, 1971 We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging ~264 books Per Month This Year We Are Averaging ~62 eBooks Per Week This Year 24 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 ~1.75 years from Oct. 2003 to Aug. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,000 * ***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 well that PT1 is now being send 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] RIAA AND MPAA JOIN INTERNET2 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have become corporate members of Internet2, joining companies including the Ford Motor Company and C-Span. "Internet2 is a stepping stone between the research lab and the commercial sector," said Lauren Kallens, a spokesperson for the organization. Earlier this year, the entertainment groups sued hundreds of Abilene users for using the network to illegally trade files, but, according to Gayle Osterberg, a spokesperson for the MPAA, the groups' membership in Internet2 is unrelated to their antipiracy efforts. "This particular partnership," she said, "is more of an opportunity for us to have a technology testing ground." The groups plan to collaborate with the Internet2 community to study distribution and digital rights management technologies for networks faster than today's commercial Internet. Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/09/2005091202t.htm FBI LOSES ROUND ONE [Interesting that the URL mentions "library" but the words do not.] A federal judge has handed the FBI a preliminary defeat in its efforts to continue to suppress information about an investigation of a Connecticut institution. The institution, whose identity has been kept confidential under the terms of the USA PATRIOT Act, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the FBI for the right to disclose the institution's identity. Judge Janet C. Hall agreed with the plaintiffs, saying that under the FBI's position, "the very people who might have information regarding investigative abuses and overreaching are peremptorily prevented from sharing that information with the public." Hall did grant a stay of her ruling, however, giving federal authorities until September 20 to try to persuade the Court of Appeals to overturn the ruling. If the appeals court takes no action by then, the plaintiffs are free to disclose the institution's identity. Watching the case closely are groups critical of the PATRIOT Act, who have long argued that the law grants federal authorities excessive investigative powers at the expense of civil liberties. New York Times, 10 September 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/nyregion/10library.html DIGITAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION OPENS IN UK Modeled on the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in the United States, a new organization is being launched in the United Kingdom to protect the rights of users of digital resources. According to the Web site of the Open Rights Group (ORG), the group will work to "vigorously defend our digital civil liberties, ensuring that the our hard-won freedoms are not taken away simply because they've moved to the digital world." Suw Charman, one of the group's co-founders, said that ORG intends not to replace but to work alongside organizations with similar goals, of which several already exist in the United Kingdom and Europe, including the Campaign for Digital Rights, the Foundation for Information Policy Research, and the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure. Officials from the rights group Citizens Online expressed skepticism that ORG efforts would be appropriately inclusive. Citizens Online worried that ORG's focus would be "middle class" issues, ignoring technology issues concerning people with disabilities and the digital divide. BBC, 9 September 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4225938.stm KATRINA BOOSTS ONLINE EDUCATION Educators at all levels--from elementary through college--are trying to figure out how to accommodate the estimated 200,000 students from the Gulf states who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and some see the circumstances as a prime opportunity for online education to prove its worth. Advocates of online learning are working to get federal authorities to relax rules governing things ranging from obtaining teacher certification to using public funds to support online schools. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has committed $1.1 million to the Sloan Consortium, an organization that works to improve the quality of online instruction, to provide space for 10,000 students in its program. A number of online programs for elementary and secondary students are hoping to persuade government officials to allow public funds to be used by displaced students in online programs. Julie Young, chief executive of the Florida Virtual School, one of the nation's largest online public schools, said, "It's going to be an opportunity to show the power of online learning." Critics said online programs are a poor substitute for in-class learning. Nat LaCour, secretary general of the American Federation of Teachers, said displaced students "need to be in classrooms with teachers who can provide nurturing experiences." Wall Street Journal, 9 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112622247296335918,00.html FEDS AWARD NATIONAL ARCHIVE CONTRACT The federal government will spend $308 million to create a national electronic archive that Allen Weinstein, the archivist of the United States, said will be of significant value to academic researchers. Weinstein, a former history professor, said the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) will store and make available all federal electronic documents, which otherwise could disappear entirely or at least be very difficult to locate. The federal government is increasingly creating documents online in electronic format, and the ERA is vital in preserving them, said Weinstein. The ERA, which is expected to debut in 2008 and be complete by 2011, could also serve as a model for colleges and universities that create their own digital archive systems, according to Weinstein. Rick Barry, a management consultant in archives and information management, said that the archive itself will not solve the problem of preservation. Bureaucratic and cultural problems must also be overcome, he said. Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/09/2005090901t.htm THIRTEEN COUNTRIES GET BEHIND OPEN STANDARDS Government officials from 13 countries have developed a report to the World Bank on economic growth, efficiency, and innovation in which they argue for the establishment of open technology standards. The report is quick to point out that open standards are not synonymous with open source, in which source code is shared and can be modified by anyone. The open-standards movement advocates defining a set of standards, available to anyone, that allow various applications, whether proprietary or open source, to exchange information. The report is the product of a project led by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. According to Charles R. Nesson, law professor at Harvard and founder of the Berkman Center, the goal of the report is to make a "rational business case for having a broad base of open technology standards." The report urges governments to "mandate technology choice, not software development models." New York Times, 9 September 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/technology/09open.html TUTORING ONLINE, OVERSEAS Online tutoring services, which typically offer cost and scheduling advantages over local programs, have begun outsourcing some tutoring positions. Although some online tutoring companies that serve the U.S. market limit tutors to people living in North America, some now employ tutors in countries including India, South Africa, the Philippines, and Chile. As with other examples of outsourcing, the primary motivation is cost: Growing Stars, a California-based tutoring company, charges $30 an hour for U.S.-based tutors and $20 an hour for tutors in India, who are paid the equivalent of $230 per month. Burck Smith, chief executive and co-founder of Washington, D.C.-based online tutoring company SmarThinking, said his company has seen demand grow by 50 percent over the past few years, and the company signed 20 new clients, including high schools and colleges, for services this fall. Critics of online tutoring argue that there is already little oversight to such programs, resulting in questionable quality, and that using tutors from overseas only serves to make monitoring even more difficult. New York Times, 7 September 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/education/07tutor.html CA HOPS ON THE OPEN SOURCE BANDWAGON Following IBM's lead, Computer Associates International (CA) has announced that it will allow open source developers to use 14 of its patents free of charge. Earlier this year, IBM, which has been one of the strongest corporate backers of open source technology, said it would forgo royalties on 500 of its patents. The CA patents that will be offered address application development, data analytics, and systems management. CA also announced an agreement with IBM under which the two companies will exchange license rights. According to Mark Barrenechea, executive vice president of technology strategy and chief technology architect at CA, the deal will give customers easier access to the range of intellectual property available without charge. ZDNet, 7 September 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5852500.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 *** *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA Racism Denied At All Levels Of Government. . .but. . . . 1. White People "Found" Food, Black People "Looted Food" Even as far away as Zimbabwe, the news is reporting that two pictures from the Associated Press {?} contrasted in print the racism of the American press, as a white woman was portrayed as having "found food," while a picture of of a black man is portrayed as having "looted" food. Reports of this are popping up in a wide variety of news sources, but they are usually comments rather than whole reports from the news sources, comments from readers, or from distant news services, but not the major US media. 2. Crowds Of Mostly Black New Orleans Refugees Turned Back By Police At The Majority White City Of Gretna Crowds of refugees from the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center area were stopped by Gretna police, as shots were fired, apparently as warnings by police of the majority white City of Gretna, which houses an expressway known as the Crescent City Connector which is one of the major arteries out of New Orleans. The Crescent City Connector was one of the only roads the hurricane left completely open, and many evacuees say they were told to leave New Orleans that way; sources indicate this was at the direction of Governor Blanco. However, the Gretna City Police Chief said: "All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down." "We shut down the bridge," since Gretna was "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit." "There was no food, water or shelter." "We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people." "If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged." These comments were made by Arthur Lawson, Police Chief of the City of Gretna United Press International. Jefferson Parrish and Bridge Police assisted in the shut down of the three major access points to stop foot traffic trying to flee across the west bank of the river. Quoting The State of Louisiana's Disaster Plan: "The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating." No mention is made of what to do about those for whom no transportation is available. . .those were obviously beneath the radar scope of planning. Some of the less censored headlines: "Racist police blocked bridge and forced evacuees back at gunpoint." "Cops trapped survivors in New Orleans" "On the Edge Without an Exit" The Los Angeles Times Somehow it seems that those farthest from the situation are the only ones willing to state what is obvious locally. * FEMA Never Intended Thousands Of Imported Firefighters To Fight Fires Perhaps as many as 4,000 firefighters have been anxiously sitting on their hands for over a week as they have been locked away from action for which they have been trained by administrators who have little or no training in handling emergency situations. Many administrators are not commenting, while others say that these firefighters are being used solely for "community outreach" since they have not been "cleared" for the actual purpose they were trained for by unadept administrators, who sent for no background checks and now say they are required. Source: CBS 9/12/05 [Also see The Dayton Daily News ?] * 40 Died In A Hospital, There Was No Evacuation Plan For Them. * Palestinians Burn Gaza Synagogues *STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK I supposed the strangest words of the week were those NOT heard, as NBC censored Kanye West's comments as the news went from the East Coast to the West Coast. . .his picture was included, but a "18 second gap" replaced his commentary. Some sources reported that Kanye West's microphone didn't work, but those one the earlier East Coast verson of the NBC news and most obviously Jon Stewart, noticed the difference and reported that the news had been censored in transit. Here is the quote as it is being referenced: "If you see a black family it's looting, but if it's a white family they are looking for food. George Bush doesn't care about black people." * Oxford English Dictionary, or Bullchevy English Dictionary? The OED fake: Another Strange Word of the Week: "esquivalience" As you may have heard as one of the unfounded urban legends, but which turn out to be true, at least the fiction is fact, many publications, perhaps even most of those of the Fortune 500 type of publishers, contain intentional errors--ERRORS! You may have heard of maps either containing locations never in existence or in the wrong place, but those at least maybe were legally required for such errors to be around the edges and NOT in the "field of play," so that a person using error ridden maps for the intended purpose, the land or sea named, would not get into trouble using them for directions. Since I am originally from a seaport, I am personally aware of map laws that require a rather large red disclaimer on every one of the maps stating that these sea charts are NOT navigation tools, but merely recreational items. Much as software were once labeled as not merchantable, meaning good for nothing. At any rate, Oxford has admitted, though under some cloud of smoke, that the New Oxford English Dictionary does, in fact, contain intentional errors, which reduces their standing for this act to the point of having been caught out, and made to stand in the corner wearing a dunce cap. I presume next time they will "fingerprint" their work in an even less discoverable manner, in the hopes not to be caught out so soon next time around. I wonder if they didn't think to do it in a less obvious manner, such as varying commas or periods or semi-colons in a coded manner? Thus the CONTENTS of their dictionary would be accurate, while the FORM was an investigative tool as accurate as a fingerprint. DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK Comments On How The Katrina Relief Efforts Are Going: Laura Bush: "very very well." VP Dick Cheney: "extremely well." President Bush: the situations in Iran and New Orleans are going well. [Of course, this stance was reversed yesterday when President Bush finally admitted that things were not going very well and that he was taking responsibility for that.] *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK Keep watching China, India and Indonesia for economic growth. *QUOTE OF THE WEEK "If you see a black family it's looting, but if it's a white family they are looking for food. George Bush doesn't care about black people." *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 5/8 of Bush's emergency management appointees had no experience, were simply pork barrel jobs for his campaign workers. Michael Brown was simply the college roommate of the original FEMA chief, not other recommendation or expertise, not even a real job on his resume, other than the Arabian Horse group. * Meat consumption in China us up 400% in 20 years. * One Ohio high school was reported to have 63% of the girls pregnant. * In some communities blacks are 9 times as likely to be pulled over for traffic stops than are whites. A film crew trying to record such statistics locally was stopped by the police and taken to court. * Nearly 3/4 of a million dollars for 30 second American Idol ad! About $600,000 for 30 seconds on Desperate Housewives. The average for all prime time shows: $150,000. *** POEM OF THE WEEK Tonight is hard to get in touch with my thoughts as my eyelids are heavy with a dreamless sleep in which I feel I am floating like a feather dettached from the wings of a mother swan who once knew about a lake, and how the vivid waters felt to the touch but then she got bored, took off and learned about the lighness of air, like the angels who sit on my eyelids tonight Alas, I must be dreaming of flight while I cry myself to sleep under the starry skies of your eyes. 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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Possible PT1 New Format
by Michael Hart 13 Sep '05

13 Sep '05

I am considering cutting PT1 into two sections, PT1A and PT1B, as several people have suggested that the new portions should be presented in one place, while the repetitive portions will be presented separately. Right now I have placed markers that say: ***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B*** where such a break would take place, with perhaps a bit of an adustment to take place after a few tries to get everything a bit more sorted out for the new format. Your comments are requested. Thanks!!! Michael S. Hart Founder Project Gutenberg

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Pt2 Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter
by Project Gutenberg Newsletter 09 Sep '05

09 Sep '05

GWeekly_September_07_part2.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 07 Sep 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 - 41 New U.S. eBooks this week - 2 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). 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Last week the Total Count was 17063, including 478 at PG of Australia. This week we added 43 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: The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan, by Honore de Balzac 1344 [Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/4/1344 ] [Files: 1344.txt] :: Please note the following additional changes, corrections, improvements: Corrections: Letters to Helen, by Keith Henderson 16626 [Subtitle: Impressions of an Artist on the Western Front] [Illustrator: Keith Henderson] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16626 ] [Files: 16626.txt; 16626-8.txt; 16626-h.htm] 46 MP3 audio files added, one for each of section of this first PG eBook in Afrikans: Trekkerswee, by J.D (AKA Totius) du Toit 16543 [Subtitle: Met tekeninge van J.H. Pierneef] [Language: Afrikaans] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/4/16543 ] [Files: 16543-m-001.mp3 to 16543-m-046.mp3] -=-=-=-=[ 41 NEW U.S. EBOOKS ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (8 of 8),Raphael Holinshed 16669 [Subtitle: The Eight Booke of the Historie of England] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16669 ] [Files: 16669.txt; 16669-8.txt; 16669-h.htm] Maahengen salaisuus, by Valter Henrik Juvelius 16668 [Subtitle: Tohtori salapoliisina] [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16668 ] [Files: 16668-8.txt] Young Folks' History of Rome, by Charlotte Mary Yonge 16667 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16667 ] [Files: 16667.txt; 16667-8.txt; 16667-h.htm] Carette of Sark, by John Oxenham 16666 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16666 ] [Files: 16666.txt; 16666-8.txt; 16666-h.htm] Catilina, by Henrik Ibsen 16665 [Language: Norwegian] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16665 ] [Files: 16665-8.txt; 16665-h.htm] Town Life in Australia, by R. E. N. (Richard) Twopeny 16664 [Subtitle: 1883] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16664 ] [Files: 16664.txt; 16664-8.txt; 16664-h.htm] The Tale of Solomon Owl, by Arthur Scott Bailey 16663 [Ill.: Harry L. Smith] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16663 ] [Files: 16663.txt; 16663-h.htm; ] Bad Hugh, by Mary Jane Holmes 16662 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16662 ] [Files: 16662.txt; 16662-8.txt; 16662-h.htm; ] George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life, E. S. Roscoe and Helen Clergue 16661 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16661 ] [Files: 16661.txt; ] The Story of the 6th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, by Unknown 16660 [Subtitle: France, April 1915-November 1918] [Editor: R.B. Ainsworth] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16660 ] [Files: 16660.txt; 16660-8.txt; 16660-h.htm] Translations of Shakuntala and Other Works, by Kalidasa 16659 [Translator: Arthur W. Ryder] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16659 ] [Files: 16659.txt; 16659-8.txt; 16659-h.htm] Piano and Song, by Friedrich Wieck 16658 [Subtitle: How to Teach, How to Learn, and How to Form a Judgment of] [Musical Performances] [Translator: Mary P. Nichols] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16658 ] [Files: 16658.txt; 16658-8.txt; 16658-h.htm] The Book of Missionary Heroes, by Basil Mathews 16657 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16657 ] [Files: 16657.txt; 16657-8.txt; 16657-h.htm] Dimasalang Kalendariong Tagalog (1922), by Honorio Lpez 16656 [Language: Tagalog] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16656 ] [Files: 16656-8.txt; 16656-h.htm] Artist and Public, And Other Essays On Art Subjects, by Kenyon Cox 16655 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16655 ] [Files: 16655.txt; 16655-8.txt; 16655-h.htm] The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn, by Evelyn Everett-Green 16654 [Subtitle: A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16654 ] [Files: 16654.txt; 16654-h.htm] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, by Donald A. Mackenzie 16653 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16653 ] [Files: 16653.txt; 16653-8.txt; 16653-0.txt; 16653-h.htm] Yrjn Kailanen ja hnen poikansa, by Gustaf Schrder 16652 [Subtitle: Kuvauksia Ruotsin suomalaisten elmst ja ernkynnist Wermlannin ja Taalain metsseuduilla] [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16652 ] [Files: 16652-8.txt] The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories, by Ethel M. Dell 16651 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16651 ] [Files: 16651.txt; 16651-8.txt; 16651-h.htm] The Complete Home, by Various 16650 [Editor: Clara E. Laughlin] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16650 ] [Files: 16650.txt; 16650-8.txt; 16650-h.htm] La Pantoufle de Sapho, by Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch 16649 [Translator: D. Dolors] [Language: French] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16649 ] [Files: 16649-8.txt; 16649-h.htm] Holiday Stories for Young People, by Various 16648 [Editor: Margaret E. Sangster] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16648 ] [Files: 16648.txt; 16648-8.txt; 16648-h.htm] An Outline of the Relations, by Robert S. Rait 16647 [Full title: An Outline of the Relations between England and Scotland] [(500-1707)] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16647 ] [Files: 16647.txt; 16647-8.txt; 16647-h.htm] Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 16646 [Full title: The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II] [Editor: Frederic G. Kenyon] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16646 ] [Files: 16646.txt; 16646-8.txt; 16646-h.htm] Sermons Preached at Brighton, by Frederick W. Robertson 16645 [Subtitle: Third Series] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16645 ] [Files: 16645.txt; 16645-8.txt; 16645-h.htm] The Puritan Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins 16644 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16644 ] [Files: 16644.txt; 16644-h.htm] Essays, by Ralph Waldo Emerson 16643 [Editor: Edna H. L. Turpin] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16643 ] [Files: 16643.txt; 16643-8.txt; 16643-0.txt; 16643-h.htm] Reizen en vechten in het Zuiden van de Philippijnen, by Reginald Kann 16642 [Subtitle: De Aarde en haar volken, Jaargang 1908] [Language: Dutch] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16642 ] [Files: 16642-8.txt; 16642-h.htm] Dimasalang Kalendariong Tagalog (1920), by Honorio Lpez 16641 [Language: Tagalog] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16641 ] [Files: 16641-8.txt; 16641-h.htm] Punch, Vol. 158, June 30th, 1920, ed. by Sir Owen Seaman 16640 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16640 ] [Files: 16640.txt; 16640-8.txt; 16640-h.htm] The Fotygraft Album, by Frank Wing 16639 [Subtitle: Shown to the New Neighbor by Rebecca Sparks Peters Aged Eleven] [Illustrator: Frank Wing] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16639 ] [Files: 16639.txt; 16639-h.htm] Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XIII, Nov. 28, 1891, by Various 16638 [Editor: James Elverson] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16638 ] [Files: 16638.txt; 16638-h.htm] Sleep-Book, by Various 16637 [Subtitle: Some of the Poetry of Slumber] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16637 ] [Files: 16637.txt; 16637-8.txt; 16637-h.htm] Makers of Madness, by Hermann Hagedorn 16636 [Subtitle: A Play in One Act and Three Scenes] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16636 ] [Files: 16636.txt; 16636-8.txt; 16636-h.htm] The Climbers, by Clyde Fitch 16635 [Subtitle: A Play in Four Acts] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16635 ] [Files: 16635.txt; 16635-8.txt; 16635-h.htm] Biltmore Oswald, by J. Thorne Smith, Jr 16634 [Subtitle: The Diary of a Hapless Recruit] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16634 ] [Files: 16634.txt; 16634-h.htm] Chronica de el-rei D. Pedro I, by Ferno Lopes 16633 [Language: Portuguese] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16633 ] [Files: 16633-8.txt] Over Here, by Edgar A. Guest 16632 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16632 ] [Files: 16632.txt; 16632-h.htm; ] The Skipper and the Skipped, by Holman Day 16631 [Subtitle: Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16631 ] [Files: 16631.txt] Empire Builders, by Francis Lynde 16630 [Ill.: Jay Hambidge] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/3/16630 ] [Files: 16630.txt; 16630-8.txt; 16630-h.htm; ] The Furnace of Gold, by Philip Verrill Mighels 16629 [Illustrator: J. N. Marchand] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16629 ] [Files: 16629.txt; 16629-8.txt; 16629-h.htm] -=-=-=-=[ 2 NEW EBOOKS AT PROJECT GUTENBERG OF AUSTRALIA ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sep 2005 Mr J. G. Reeder Returns, by Edgar Wallace [050085xx.xxx] 0480A Sep 2005 Collected Stories, by F Scott Fitzgerald [050084xx.xxx] 0479A :: RePosted in HTML at PGofOz: Aug 2005 Basic French for Canadian Schools, by Anonymous [050070xx.xxx] 0465A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500701h.html] 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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PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newseltter
by Michael Hart 07 Sep '05

07 Sep '05

Weekly_September_07.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September 7, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******* 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 ***PROJECT GUTENBERG HAS AVERAGED 500 eBOOKS PER MONTH SINCE JULY 4, 1971*** HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 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 2 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 41 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 Month Since July 4, 1971*** 17,106 eBooks As Of Today!!! [Includes Australian eBooks] We Are 85% of the Way to 20,000!!! 13,978 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's 250+ eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2150 eBooks in 2005!!! 2,804 to go to 20,000!!! We have now averaged ~500 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971 We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging About 269 books Per Month This Year We Are Averaging About 61 eBooks Per Week This Year 43 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 ~1.75 years from Oct. 2003 to Aug. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,000 * ***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. 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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. 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Note that updated eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.) *** Statistical Review In the 35 weeks of this year, we have produced 2150 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 02/00 to produce our FIRST 2150 eBooks!!! That's 35 WEEKS as Compared to ~29 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2150 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] The Lifted Veil, by George Eliot 2165 May 2000 The Lumley Autograph Susan Fenimore Cooper[SFC#3][lumlyxxx.xxx] 2164 May 2000 The Bridge-Builders, by Mark Twain [MT#16][brdgbxxx.xxx] 2163 Apr 2000 Anarchism and Other Essays, by Emma Goldman [nrcsmxxx.xxx] 2162 Apr 2000 Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouse, Thomas Burke [qunglxxx.xxx] 2161 Apr 2000 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Tobias Smollett[txohcxxx.xxx] 2160 Apr 2000 A Little Tour In France, by Henry James[James #20][altifxxx.xxx] 2159 Apr 2000 The Prime Minister, by Anthony Trollope[Trollope5][prmnsxxx.xxx] 2158 Apr 2000 Female Suffrage, by Susan Fenimore Cooper [SFC #3][sffrgxxx.xxx] 2157 Apr 2000 China and the Manchus, by Herbert A. Giles [#3][?mnchxxx.xxx] 2156 Apr 2000 Phyllis of Philistia, by Frank Frankfort Moore [phophxxx.xxx] 2155 Apr 2000 Around the World in 80 Days Jr. Ed. by Jules Verne[80dayxxa.xxx] 2154 (Also see #103) Apr 2000 Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell [Gaskell #4][mbrtnxxx.xxx] 2153 Apr 2000 On the Makaloa Mat/Island Tales, Jack London 72-78[mklmtxxx.xxx] 2152 Apr 2000 The Works of Edgar Allan Poe V5[Raven Edition][10][poe5vxxx.xxx] 2151 Apr 2000 The Works of Edgar Allan Poe V4[Raven Edition][#9][poe4vxxx.xxx] 2150 . . . * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books Yet??? 1.1 Trillion eBooks Given Away If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,465,062,717 that would be 17,106 x 64,650,627 = ~1.1 Trillion !!! Have We Given Away A Trillion Dollars Yet??? With 17,106 eBooks online as of September 07, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.90 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,650,627 x 17,106 x $.90 = ~$1 Trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] With 17,106 eBooks online as of September 07, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.59 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.73 when we had 13,611 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 17,108 eBooks in 34 Years and 02.00 Months We Averaged ~500 Per Year 41.7 Per Month 1.37 Per Day At 2150 eBooks Done In The 245 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 8.8 Per Day 61 Per Week 269 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. *** *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] NO DECISION YET FROM JUDGE ON PATRIOT ACT CASE U.S. District Court Judge Janet C. Hall has postponed deciding whether a Connecticut library may publicly disclose its identity as the institution whose records have been sought by the FBI under the PATRIOT Act. The act forces any organization whose records have been subpoenaed to be silent about the investigation, but the library in question and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a suit, alleging that such restrictions are unconstitutional. Hall heard arguments from both sides this week but declined to issue a ruling until she hears more from the FBI. Observers noted that Hall seemed dubious of the government's claim that identifying the library would threaten the investigation. She said the FBI must demonstrate that risk, which it so far has not done. Pointing out that controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act are under review by Congress, Hall suggested that allowing the public to see how the law is being applied could be an important factor in deciding whether the act will be extended. Chronicle of Higher Education, 1 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/09/2005090102t.htm MASSACHUSETTS PONDERS GOING OPEN SOURCE The state of Massachusetts is considering a proposal that would require all state documents to be compliant with the Open Document format rather than requiring proprietary software. The Open Document format is part of Open Office 2.0, a free software suite that is currently under development. Saying that the proposal is not "an anti-Microsoft initiative," Peter Quinn, chief information officer of the Commonwealth, pointed out that 200-year-old papers remain readable in their original format. He said he hopes that today's records will remain accessible far into the future, regardless of the comings and goings of various vendors and their products. Quinn said he hopes Microsoft will decide to support the format, which allows documents to be readable by any computer, similar to Adobe PDF. Microsoft's Alan Yates said the company would not agree to the Open Document format. He noted that Microsoft provides a free XML schema that allows users without Microsoft Office to read documents created by that suite of applications. Wall Street Journal, 1 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112561152150829537,00.html PURDUE TURNS TO PODCASTS Purdue University has begun providing podcasts of lectures for certain courses. Purdue offers recordings for students who miss a class or who want to review specific lectures. Previously, recordings were available for about 100 courses but only on audio cassettes. Starting this fall, recordings for lectures from some courses are availble as MP3 files, allowing students to download the recordings rather than going to the library to check out tapes. Michael Gay, manager of broadcast networks and services, said faculty who agree to have their courses added to the podcast service need only submit an online request form and wear a microphone while they lecture. So far, almost 50 courses are part of the podcasting service, and Purdue officials hope that number rises next semester. Currently, podcasts are available publicly, though in the future they may be restricted to campus users. Users of the service can download a specific lecture or all of the lectures from an entire course. As for the notion that some students might decide simply never to attend lectures in favor of listening to the downloads, Gay commented that "most instructors agree that any student who thinks an audio recording is a surrogate for class is doomed to failure." Critics said podcasting programs favor students who can afford portable music players, but Gay noted that the podcasts are in a format that can be played on any computer. Chronicle of Higher Education, 31 August 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/08/2005083101t.htm GOOGLE PRESSES FORWARD SCANNING BOOKS Google is moving ahead with its plans to digitize vast numbers of books and make them available online. The search engine this week expanded its book search service to 14 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, where users can now search English-language books. Although laws in each country dictate small differences in how the service works, according to Jim Gerber, director of content partnerships, in all countries the service offers three types of results: for books in the public domain, the entire text is available online; copyrighted works whose publishers have signed agreements with Google are available to the extent that those agreements allow; for copyrighted books whose publishers have not made agreements with Google, only selected portions will be available online. This last group of results has raised the ire of publishers, who argue that Google has no right to display any part of copyrighted works without permission. Google has offered publishers the opportunity to identify specific titles that will be excluded from the service, but most publishing groups have said that approach is inherently backwards, giving Google blanket authority until and unless publishers complain. Internet News, 31 August 2005 http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3531221 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 *** *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA Where Is The Offical Aid For Katrina's Victims??? Most of the efforts we are seeing seem to be private, with little or no presence by the national guards, or the military services, Coast Guard, FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency]. etc. With years of general warnings, and days of specifics for this particular event, the questions being raised are simple: why aren't the official agencies there? Some say it's a paperwork SNAFU, totally FUBARed. Others simply point to the fact the Republicans, such as they are, take care of their own, and this results from a long standing tradition of Republican snubbing of Democrats, who are in office there. Many are asking if the results would be the same, for Florida, where the president's brother's governor, if Katrina had struck there instead. Sean Penn and others have organized their own various personal efforts and have been rescuing people on the verge of drowning, suffering from malnutrition, and a host of other life-threatening situations, and theirs is an effort that seems to be more alone than anyone, at least a week ago, would have expected. After 9 hours in a private boat making the rounds for various rescues and giving aid, Mr. Penn reported the official presence in the entire 9 hours numbered only three other boats containing official recscue people. Similar stories from other celebrities making efforts on their own, but downplayed even further, perhaps at their own requests. *STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK In a telethon to help victims of hurricane Katrina, Kanye West pointed out what was on many minds, that "the the setup, the way America's set up to help the the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slowly as possible. . .and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us." DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK George Tenet received the highest US civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, for his role as CIA chief; for others involved in the same efforts concerning 9/11, the weapons of mass destruction fiasco, etc., the ax is still falling, and heads are still rolling. In the same ceremony, President Bush also honored in a similar manner Four Star General Tommy Franks, for his unparalled success in our Afghansistan policies, and L. Paul Bremer for his even greater contribution to carrying our our policies in Irag, as the interim ruler of the country; credit will also obviously get given to others for these as the ax continues work. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK Continuing with last week's prediction: China will continue bidding for, and buying, more and more of the world's infrastructure, to the sad detriment of U.S. Congress' inability to veto purchases in other countries. This has obviously been continuing this week, and likely will become an ongoing event for the next decade or two: the real question is will the media give the full story? No mention of China's effect on US energy prices at all, they are blaming it all on Katrina, and each other. *QUOTE OF THE WEEK "If Katrina had hit a big Florida city, such as Miami, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Orlando, or, heaven forbid, the Disney complex or Cape Canaveral, do you think brother W would have taken so long to help his brother Jeb?" [For those who may have forgotten, Jeb Bush, the First Brother, is Governor of Florida, and may have been the lynchpin of the Republicans' efforts to carry the last two presidential elections.] *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 10 years ago there were 2 million cars in China. Since then they have averaged nearly that many new cars per year, for a current total of over 20 million. If they grow to 10 times more again in the next 10 years, China will have about the same number of cars as the United States. Then where will the price of gas have risen to? * 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 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 Parade 1 daylight dreams dancing flashes playing loudly with restless chains of hour glass around their necks apparitions failing to haunt their fear handed over to night chaos glaring whispers interrupted sleep then darkness claws around an eerie death sheer madness lightning brilliance the giants of color laugh delicious laughter soft love locked in the fight of two drops of dew silky drapes unveil tall windows the band of rainbow giants appears awake 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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Pt2 Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter
by Project Gutenberg Newsletter 02 Sep '05

02 Sep '05

GWeekly_August_31_part2.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 31 Aug 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 - 41 New U.S. eBooks this week - 2 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, 31 Aug 2005: 17063 (incl. 478 Aus.). Last week the Total Count was 17020, including 478 at PG of Australia. This week we added 43 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: A Second Home, by Honore de Balzac 1810 [Translator: Clara Bell] [Updated edition of: etext99/2ndhm10.txt] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/1/1810 ] [Files: 1810.txt] Scenes From a Courtesan's Life, by Honore de Balzac 1660 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1660 ] [Files: 1660.txt] :: Please note the following additional changes, corrections, improvements: Corrected and improved etext; also formatted to be in conformity with the other eBooks in this series: Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (2 of 8), by Holinshed 13624 [Full Author: Raphael Holinshed] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/6/2/13624 ] [Files: 13624-8.txt; 13624-h.htm] -=-=-=-=[ 41 NEW U.S. EBOOKS ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Punch, Vol. 159, August 4th, 1920, ed. by Sir Owen Seaman 16628 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16628 ] [Files: 16628.txt; 16628-8.txt; 16628-h.htm] Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, by Swedenborg 16627 [Title: Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom] [Author: Emanuel Swedenborg] [Translator: John Ager] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16627 ] [Files: 16627.txt] Letters to Helen, by Keith Henderson 16626 [Subtitle: Impressions of an Artist on the Western Front] [Illustrator: Keith Henderson] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16626 ] [Files: 16626.txt; 16626-8.txt; 16626-h.htm] Clsicos Castellanos: Libro de Buen Amor, by Juan Ruiz 16625 [Editor: Julio Cejador y Frauca] [Language: Spanish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16625 ] [Files: 16625-8.txt; 16625-h.htm] No and Yes, by Mary Baker Eddy 16624 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16624 ] [Files: 16624.txt; 16624-h.htm; ] Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart 16623 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16623 ] [Files: 16623.txt; 16623-8.txt; 16623-h.htm] Literary Hearthstones of Dixie, by La Salle Corbell Pickett 16622 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16622 ] [Files: 16622.txt; 16622-8.txt; 16622-h.htm] Orjien vapauttaminen Pohjois-Amerikassa, by Alexandra Gripenberg 16621 [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16621 ] [Files: 16621-8.txt] Ojennusnuora, by Epictetus 16620 [Translator: K. Jaakkola] [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16620 ] [Files: 16620-8.txt; 16620-0.txt] Punch, Vol. 159, July 28th, 1920, ed. by Sir Owen Seaman 16619 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16619 ] [Files: 16619.txt; 16619-8.txt; 16619-h.htm] Antonius ja Cleopatra, by William Shakespeare 16618 [Translator: Paavo Cajander] [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16618 ] [Files: 16618-8.txt] Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (7 of 8), Raphael Holinshed 16617 [Subtitle: The Seventh Boke of the Historie of England] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16617 ] [Files: 16617.txt; 16617-8.txt; 16617-h.htm] The Nuts of Knowledge, by George William Russell 16616 [Subtitle: Lyrical Poems New and Old] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16616 ] [Files: 16616.txt; 16616-h.htm] By Still Waters, by George William Russell 16615 [Subtitle: Lyrical Poems Old and New] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16615 ] [Files: 16615.txt; 16615-8.txt; 16615-h.htm] Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays, by J. (John) Joly 16614 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16614 ] [Files: 16614.txt; 16614-8.txt; 16614-h.htm] Bolshevism, by John Spargo 16613 [Subtitle: The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16613 ] [Files: 16613.txt; 16613-8.txt; 16613-h.htm; ] The Lee Shore, by Rose Macaulay 16612 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16612 ] [Files: 16612.txt; 16612-8.txt; 16612-h.htm; ] Anson's Voyage Round the World, by Richard Walter 16611 [Subtitle: The Text Reduced] [Commentator: H. W. Household] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16611 ] [Files: 16611.txt; 16611-h.htm] Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (6 of 8), Raphael Holinshed 16610 [Subtitle: The Sixt Booke of the Historie of England] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1/16610 ] [Files: 16610.txt; 16610-8.txt; 16610-h.htm] Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5, ed. by Moore 16609 [Author: (Lord Byron) George Gordon Byron] [Editor: Thomas Moore] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16609 ] [Files: 16609.txt; 16609-8.txt; 16609-0.txt; 16609-h.htm] Bruvver Jim's Baby, by Philip Verrill Mighels 16608 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16608 ] [Files: 16608.txt; 16608-8.txt] Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 337, November 1843, Vol. 54 16607 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16607 ] [Files: 16607.txt; 16607-8.txt; 16607-h.htm] Elizabeth Fry, by Mrs. E. R. Pitman 16606 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16606 ] [Files: 16606.txt; 16606-8.txt; 16606-h.htm] The Ladies' Work-Book, by Unknown 16605 [Subtitle: Containing Instructions In Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, etc.] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16605 ] [Files: 16605.txt; 16605-8.txt; 16605-h.htm] Poison Island, by Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q) 16604 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16604 ] [Files: 16604.txt; 16604-h.htm] Ladysmith, by H. W. Nevinson 16603 [Subtitle: The Diary of a Siege] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16603 ] [Files: 16603.txt; 16603-8.txt; 16603-h.htm] Operations of the Navies in the War of American Independence, by Mahan 16602 [Title: The Major Operations of the Navies in the War of American] Independence] [Author: A. T. Mahan] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16602 ] [Files: 16602.txt; 16602-8.txt; 16602-h.htm] The Death-Wake, by Thomas T Stoddart 16601 [Subtitle: or Lunacy; a Necromaunt in Three Chimeras] [Introduction: Andrew Lang] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16601 ] [Files: 16601.txt; 16601-8.txt; 16601-h.htm] Cecil Rhodes, by Princess Catherine Radziwill 16600 [Subtitle: Man and Empire-Maker] [Author AKA: Catherine Kolb-Danvin] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16600 ] [Files: 16600.txt; 16600-8.txt; 16600-h.htm; ] School, Church, and Home Games, by George O. Draper 16599 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16599 ] [Files: 16599.txt; 16599-8.txt; 16599-h.htm; ] History of the American Negro in the Great World War, by Sweeney 16598 [Subtitle: His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With Mexico] [Author: W. Allison Sweeney] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16598 ] [Files: 16598.txt; 16598-h.htm] Square Deal Sanderson, by Charles Alden Seltzer 16597 [Illus.: J. Allen St. John] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16597 ] [Files: 16597.txt; 16597-8.txt; 16597-h.htm; ] Ungava Bob, by Dillon Wallace 16596 [Subtitle: A Winter's Tale] [Illus.: Samuel M. Palmer] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16596 ] [Files: 16596.txt; 16596-8.txt; 16596-h.htm; ] Charles Dickens and Music, by James T. Lightwood 16595 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16595 ] [Files: 16595.txt; 16595-8.txt; 16595-h.htm] A Short History of English Agriculture, by W. H. R. Curtler 16594 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16594 ] [Files: 16594.txt; 16594-8.txt; 16594-h.htm] General Science, by Bertha M. Clark 16593 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16593 ] [Files: 16593.txt; 16593-8.txt; 16593-h.htm] Punch, Vol. 159, July 14th, 1920, ed. by Sir Owen Seaman 16592 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16592 ] [Files: 16592.txt; 16592-8.txt; 16592-h.htm] Unity of Good, by Mary Baker Eddy 16591 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16591 ] [Files: 16591.txt; 16591-h.htm] De Zaan en Waterland: Een kijkje in Noord Holland, by Anonymous 16590 [Subtitle: De Aarde en haar Volken, Jaargang 1887] [Language: Dutch] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/9/16590 ] [Files: 16590-8.txt; 16590-h.htm] The Killer, by Stewart Edward White 16589 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/8/16589 ] [Files: 16589.txt; 16589-8.txt; 16589-h.htm] Over the Top With the Third Australian Division, by G. P. Cuttriss 16588 [Illustrator: Neil McBeath] [Introduction: John Monash] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/8/16588 ] [Files: 16588.txt; 16588-8.txt; 16588-h.htm] -=-=-=-=[ 2 NEW EBOOKS AT PROJECT GUTENBERG OF AUSTRALIA ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Aug 2005 Only Yesterday, by Frederick Lewis Allen [050083xx.xxx] 0478A [Full Title: Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's] Aug 2005 The Letters of Evelyn Underhill, by E Underhill [050082xx.xxx] 0477A [Author: Evelyn Underhill] eBooks are posted in uncompressed and/or compressed formats. 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PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
by Michael Hart 31 Aug '05

31 Aug '05

Weekly_August_31.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, Auguest 31, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971****** Newsletter editors needed! 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[Includes Australian eBooks] We Are 85% of the Way to 20,000 That's 250+ eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2107 eBooks in 2005 2,937 to go to 20,000!!! Now 46 Languages Available at http://www.gutenberg.org Afrikaans is the latest addition We have now averaged ~499 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971 We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging About 270 books Per Month This Year We Are Averaging About 62 eBooks Per Week This Year 43 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 ~1.75 years from Oct. 2003 to Aug. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,000 * ***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. 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Still looking for more Internet Public Library info. *** Today Is Day #238 of 2005 This Completes Week #34 and Month #07.80 [364 days this year] 126 Days/22 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 2,937 Books To Go To #20,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 62 Weekly Average in 2005 78 Weekly Average in 2004 79 Weekly Average in 2003 47 Weekly Average in 2002 24 Weekly Average in 2001 41 Only 41 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 34 weeks of this year, we have produced 2107 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 03/00 to produce our FIRST 2201 eBooks!!! That's 34 WEEKS as Compared to ~29 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2107 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] Mar 2000 Appendix to Carlyle's History of Friedrich II [22frdxxx.xxx] 2122 Mar 2000 Carlyle's "History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 21[21frdxxx.xxx] 2121 ... Mar 2000 Carlyle's "History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7 [07frdxxx.xxx] 2107 ... Mar 2000 Carlyle's "History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 1 [01frdxxx.xxx] 2101 * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? 1.1 Trillion eBooks Given Away If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,463,640,998 that would be 17,063 x 64,636,410 = ~1.1 Trillion !!! 64,636,410 With 17,063 eBooks online as of August 31, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.91 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,636,410 x 17,063 x $.91 = ~$1 Trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] With 17,063 eBooks online as of August 31, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.59 from each book. This "cost" is down from about $.73 when we had 13,677 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 17,063 eBooks in 34 Years and 01.80 Months We Averaged ~499 Per Year 41.6 Per Month 1.38 Per Day At 2107 eBooks Done In The 238 Days Of 2005 We Averaged ~8.9 Per Day ~62 Per Week ~270 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. *** *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS, BUT NOT ALWAYS FOR TEACHING A new study indicates that computer usage by U.S. schoolteachers is rising, though technology is more frequently used for administrative purposes than for teaching. The study, conducted by Scholastic subsidiary Quality Education Data, found that 70 percent of teachers communicate with parents using e-mail and that a majority use computers for tasks such as attendance, according to CDW Government. Just 54 percent said they have incorporated technology into their teaching, and more of those who use technology in teaching are at the elementary level than in middle or high schools. Teaching with technology appears to be correlated with training: 85 percent of respondents said they have received training in applications such as the Internet, word processing, and e-mail, while 27 percent said they have had little or no instruction in how to include computers in their teaching. CNET, 29 August 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5844057.html FBI SEEKS LIBRARY RECORDS According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the FBI is using one of the powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act to demand the records of a library in Connecticut. Because the USA PATRIOT Act also forbids disclosure of details surrounding such investigations, the name of the library in question is being kept confidential, though it is known to be a member of the American Library Association. At issue is the authority to subpoena library records using something called a national security letter, which does not require a judge's approval. The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the library, saying "it should not be forced to disclose such records without a showing of compelling need and approval by a judge." Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said, "This is a prime example of the government using its Patriot Act powers without any judicial oversight to get sensitive information on law-abiding Americans." The FBI did not comment on the lawsuit, but the agency's national security letter noted that it was seeking the library records as part of an investigation "to protect against internal terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities." New York Times, 26 August 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/politics/26patriot.html GOOGLE TALK PROVIDES VOICE, IM SERVICES Google has announced a free service called Google Talk that lets e-mail account holders talk to each other using a PC, microphone, and speakers and provides instant messaging capability. Google reportedly plans to make the service compatible with other companies' services, basing it on an open standard, which would allow users to talk to people on competing systems. Users will not be able to make calls to landlines or mobile phones, however. The new service does not carry advertising, but Google hopes it will encourage people to sign up for the Gmail service, which does. BBC, 24 August 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4179322.stm [and in a related story] FCC PROPOSES USF TAX ON NET PHONE USERS A Federal Communications Commission proposal released to public notice by the FCC's federal-state joint board on universal service recommends requiring more companies to pay taxes into the Universal Service Fund (USF). The shift would mostly affect Internet telephone providers, which don't currently pay into the fund. Internet-based services such as chat and instant messaging that don't link to the public telephone network would continue to be exempt from USF taxes, according to the proposal. The USF subsidizes telephone services in rural and high-cost areas, and companies that currently pay into the fund pass the costs on to their customers. ZDNet, 23 August 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5842237.html HITACHI CLAIMS FIRST TERABYTE HARD DRIVE/DVD RECORDER [And you heard it here, a week ago] Hitachi claims to have developed the first hard disk drive and DVD recorder that can store a terabyte of data or record about 128 hours of high-definition digital broadcasts. The company hopes the new line will make the money-losing DVD recorder part of its business into a profit center by next year. The new line also includes models that can store 160, 250, and 500 gigabytes of data. Hitachi claimed the new models are the first to have the capability of recording two high-definition programs simultaneously. They go on sale in Japan in September. Plans for overseas sales are not firm because of weak interest in high-end recorders in European and U.S. markets, explained a company spokesman. Washington Post, 24 August 2005 (registration req'd) www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/24/AR2005082400194.ht… SONY PLAYSTATION PORTABLE GETS INTERNET BROWSER [With a browser, can eBooks on PlayStations be far behind?] Sony Computer Entertainment America announced plans to add Internet access to its PlayStation Portable gaming device in an attempt to boost the PSP's use as a handheld entertainment center. A software upgrade enables wireless Internet access through a Web browser. The software also boosts data security and enhances sharing of digital photos and playback of video, according to Sony. Yahoo, 24 August 2005 http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050824/tc_nm/sony_psp_dc 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 *** *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA More schools are switching over to eBooks. *STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK *DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK [Combined this week, due to unprecedented events] Former Governor John Rowland of Connecticut may actually be the first person conviced under the "Revolving Door" law he signed while still governor. Currently he is serving time in Federal Prison ["Club Fed"], but the Connecticut State's Attorney says he intends to bring him back for trial in state court, and, if convicted, to place him among the general prison population. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK John Rowland will NOT serve time in the general prison population. *QUOTE OF THE WEEK [Leaving this one in, as is relevant to the new SAT scores below] US spending on tutors rose to $4 billion is 2004 from $3.4 billion in 2003. [This is enough for 4 million families each to spend $1,000 per year, just on extra tutoring to augment our failing classroom instruction.] Source: The New York Times via Edupage [paraphrased for stand alone grammar]. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/technology/22soft.html [sub. required] *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK Yesterday the new SAT scores were released with a big hoopla, touting that the US school system was finally improving: but the truth is that this year's scores are virtually identical, and statistically indistinguishable from previous scores. * The nationwide average this year is 1,028, up two points from 2004. 520 for math was up 2, 510 for verbal was totally unchanged; scores in general have risen 9 points since 2000, still less than 1% more, and still less than it would take to make any conclusions, based on statistical standards. 2 points out of ~1,000, and a possible score of 1600 isn't remotely what these testing companies would/could/should call significant in terms of their own statistical expertise. The variances between an SAT of one year and of another are much greater than 2 points, thus the tests are likely to be changing more than actual performance by the schools and/or the students. It would be nice if we could test the tests, and thus have some knowledge of our measuring stick. Verbal scores dropped just below 500 in both 1991 and 1994, and the scoring of the tests was soon revalued, as were the ACT scores when they dropped to 90% of their original scores. Math scores had their lowest point at 492 in 1980 and 1981. We should also consider that most of the students who should not be expected to do very well on such tests do not take them, either for reasons of personal choice, where that is still an option, or based on the fact that they simply are not continuing in school at all. Thus we should be aware that the real national average would be all that much lower if everyone were tested. People ask me why I write something so negative about our students, our schools, and our testing system, and the answer is that I would not have to if the statements made about the various scores will be made more accurately. I didn't hear or read a single media comment questionning whether the 2 point change was valid or reliable, in a statistical sense. What does this mean? The next time you see all the statistical polling done by the media, take a look at a corner, and you will likely see a comment that the results of these surveys are designed to be accurate within + or - 3%. . .that gives a range of 6%, or what would be 60 points on a scale of about 1,000 points. 2 points just isn't enough to be statistically significant, even if the SAT people did three times as well, and guaranteed their values accurate to + or - 1%. . .which would still be a 20 point range the values could fluctuate within before being even mininally mentioned in a statistially relevant sense, and far from having significance. *Just ask your local math teachers about statistical significance.* You probably won't find 3% of these who would say 2 points in 1,000 has as much statistical relevance as a number of other factors in a testing process such as the SAT, where just one question being just slightly poorly written would throw off scores more than 2 points-- not to mention social changes, such as the fallout from 9/11 and an assortment of other geopolitical events. [Results of your survey as above should be accurate to + or - 3%.] We should also keep in mind that the various college tests were not using the same traditional scoring system recently, and in fact the scoring systems have been altered more than once since the time our own SAT and ACT scores were computed. After each of these revalued scorings the news media has been full of the "fact" that scores had improved, without any mention that it was actually a change in what we might call the measuring stick rather than in what we measured. The SATs were "remodeled" in 1990, and "a new SAT was introduced in 1994, and in 1995 SAT scoring was recentered. . . ." "Since the adjustment, SAT averages have gone up." [Quotes from: iApply - Where do you go after high school?] Recently this process has been renewed. WARNING: "Don't Confuse The Map With The Territory." * Another topic not mentioned was that a large percentage of students take the tests more than once, and even more than twice, until they feel they have reached a satisfactory score. * Here are some of the exact scores I have been able to find. If you can provide more, they would be greatly appreciated. Supposedly an ETS [Educational Testing Service?] bulletin is available with a new complete history of SAT scores, but I haven't found one yet. [I now have complete years from 1972-2001, would still like more!] 1980 Low point Math 492 1981 Low point Math 492 [Test "remodeled" in 1990 1991 Verbal 499 Low point 1994 Verbal 499 Low point ["New" test in 1994] [Scoring "recentered" in 1995] 2000 Verbal 505 Math 514 2001 Verbal 506 Math 514 2004 Verbal 508 Math 518 2005 Verbal 508 Math 520 We should note that even from the lowest points to the highest, even with all the "remodeling" and "recentering," that scores have not gone up all that much. * 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 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 This is number five of a series of five poems from a volume named: "Thoughts of My Exiled Self." The motto for this poetry volume is, "Upon this Word I shall build my life." A Thought To Nichita Stanescu, the poet A thought exploded in me saying that the dawn's cheeks blush because they long for the night and that the wave of the sea is a restless traveler who seeks pearls of words among the empty shells I am enslaved by this thought with the crazy passion of the Moon to embrace the Sun and thus give birth to a new Universe with no rules or regulations just castles of sand that last and boats carrying a fisherman who can walk on the sea. 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. 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