Weekly_July_20.txt **The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, July 20, 2005 PT1** *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971****** We have produced ~1800 eBooks in 28 weeks this year! It took us from July 1971 to Jul 1999 to produce our first 1800 eBooks! That's 28 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 Years!!! My apologies, there is still some disagreement on the exact number of books done this week, and therefore this year and in total. I hope to start work examining the numbers next week, after I finish jury duty. I am planning a weekend off, after jury duty, but don't really expect to get it. :-) But I hope to get these numbers worked out by next week, as our people have the numbers, it is just that _I_ have not had time to catch up. Actually, I took the time right now to make the following updates from some older numbers to newer ones: Wk Date old# new# 21,06/01/05, 69 <<== 70 22,06/08/05, 62 <<== 61 23,06/15/05, 48 24,06/22/05, 45 25,06/29/05, 41 26,07/06/05, 74 27,07/13/05, 61 <<== 63 28,07/20/05, 56 and thus, while this Newsletter his going out a few minutes later than usual, it contains these up to date counts: Year to date: 1,796 Grand total: 16,752 My apologies to all concerned for not getting this corrected sooner! Michael Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@pobox.com Please note that we are still in the process of correcting our statistical program data. Last week we subtracted a few that we thought had been in a duplicate count situation, but either that correction didn't stick or some new similar problem has occured. As always, the total count should be the consideration of some attention as to possibly being off by a few eBooks. Please note that PT2 of this Newsletter is currently in flux, as we shift from to an automated PT2 sender. The situation with Monthly Newsletters is in flux to an even greater degree. Our apologies as we make changes. * HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS "I am also helping to get a PGPH of the ground in the Philippines," which is also life+50. (see www.gutenberg.ph). Jeroen Hellingman <jeroen@bohol.ph> * 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 56 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from Edupage, etc. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones This Weekend We Should Be Twice As Close to 20,000 as 10,000 !!! 16,750 eBooks As Of Today!!! 13,688 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's 250 eBooks per Month for 54 Months We Have Produced ~1800 eBooks in 2005 We Are ~84% of the way to 20,000 3,250 to go to 20,000!!! We have now averaged ~492 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971 We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging About 280 books Per Month This Year We Are Averaging About 64 eBooks Per Week This Year 56 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 ~1.25 years from Oct. 2003 to Jan. 2005 from 10,000 to 15,000 * ***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.] [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@pobox.com and gbnewby@pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.] This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter *** ***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements PROJECT GUTENBERG OF EUROPE TAKES OFF!!! "PROJECT GUTENBERG EUROPE" STARTS REGULAR ACTIVITY http://pge.rastko.net [Project Gutenberg Europe] http://dp.rastko.net [Distributed Proofreaders Europe] This past month marked the official beginnings of our new companion, Project Gutenberg of Europe with eBook entries expected in over 100 languages. In the first month we have seen a total of 100 about eBooks and an assortment of 65 articles in total, thus representing 62 Eurasian languages and dialects. Volunteer effort is totally responsible for these, and your assistance to PGE would be greatly appreciated in creating eBook titles from all of the ~120 languages and dialects in which PGE hope to produce eBooks. After a year of preparation "Project Gutenberg Europe", organized by "Project Rastko Network" and its "Distributed Proofreaders Europe", started regular activity last month, now having now its own server provided by leading South Eastern European provider "EUnet". PGE and its branches operate under European copyright legislation (life+50 and life+70). It already has volunteers all over the continent: European Community, Comonwealth of Independent States [ex-USSR] and other countries. "Distributed Proofreaders Europe"--as central European PD digitizing system, and only Unicode is capable of that kind in the world at the moment--releases a multilingual "European Proofing Package" of books this month, as special choices of general interest for whole continent. Also, regional and national campaigns in European countries were scheduled between May 31 and June 30, including first wave of physical events-- conferences and promotions--in Eastern Europe (Macedonia, Serbia, etc). [For details please email hart AT pglaf.org] * Darwin!!! Would anyone like to work on reproofing our Darwin collection and creating a compilation file as requested by our readers. We could also use some help making some new editions of "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "Frankenstein." * Project Gutenberg of Canada needs your help! Please email: pgcanada@lists.pglaf.org To subscribe to the pgcanada list, please visit: http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/pgcanada * v0.2 version of PodReader is out, and it interfaces to PG. This allows users to browse the catalog on their Desktop, pick a book, and have it downloaded to their iPod in the correct format...this is a good plus for PG users since it makes it a lot easier to get to PG documents. http://homepage.mac.com/ptwobrussell/podreader.html * 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! * REQUEST FOR RUSSIAN TRANSLATOR We are trying to start up a Project Gutenberg Russian Team, and we need someone to translate simple email messages from members of Project Gutenberg who want to provide a service to the Russian Team, but who do not know Russian. . .these people will be helping with scanning, finding books, etc. The messages will be in MS Word's .doc format in Cyrillic, we need them translated into English, also in a .doc file. Thanks!!! Contact Jared Buck <JBuck814366460@aol.com> * Please visit and test our newest site: www.pgcc.net [also available as www.gutenberg.us and www.gutenberg.cc] The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center [PGCC] Please let us know of any eBook collections that would be suitable for inclusion: public domain or copyrighted, for which we must ask permission. 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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 06.50 months of this year, we produced ~1800 new eBooks. It took us from July 1971 to Jul 1999 to produce our first 1800 eBooks! That's 28 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 Years!!! 56 New eBooks This Week 61 New eBooks Last Week 117 New eBooks This Month [Jul] ~277 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 1794 New eBooks in 2005 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 13688 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 That's Only 54.50 Months! About 250 books per month 16,750 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 13,295 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,455 New eBooks In Last 12 Months 462 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia * PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE: Since starting production in October 2000, Distributed Proofreaders has contributed 7,163 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 #196 of 2005 This Completes Week #28 and Month #06.50 [364 days this year] 168 Days/24 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 3,250 Books To Go To #20,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 64 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 28 weeks of this year, we have produced ~1800 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 7/99 to produce our FIRST 1800 eBooks!!! That's 28 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #1800 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] Jul 1999 The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay[bloalxxx.xxx] 1815 Jul 1999 The Agony Column, by Earl Derr Biggers [gnyclxxx.xxx] 1814 A Man of Business, by Honore de Balzac 1813 [Translated by Clara Bell and Others] A Prince of Bohemia, by Honore de Balzac 1812 [Tr.: Clara Bell and others] Massimilla Doni, by Honore de Balzac 1811 [Tr.: Clara Bell and James Waring] Jul 1999 A Second Home, by Honore de Balzac [de Balzac #67][2ndhmxxx.xxx] 1810 [Tr.: Clara Bell] Jul 1999 Bucky O'Connor, by William MacLeod Raine[Raine #2][bkcnrxxx.xxx] 1809 [Subtitle: A Tale of the Unfenced Border] Jul 1999 The Log of the Jolly Polly, by R H Davis[Davis#20][jlplyxxx.xxx] 1808 Jul 1999 The Lost House, by Richard Harding Davis[Davis#19][lsthsxxx.xxx] 1807 Jul 1999 The Frame Up, by Richard Harding Davis [Davis #18][frmupxxx.xxx] 1806 Jul 1999 The Gentle Grafter, by O. Henry [O Henry #6][grftrxxx.xxx] 1805 Jul 1999 War and the Future, by H. G. Wells[H.G. Wells #18][wrftrxxx.xxx] 1804 Jul 1999 Wyoming, Story of Outdoor West, by William M Raine[wymngxxx.xxx] 1803 Jul 1999 King Henry VIII, by Shakespeare [WL][1ws4211x.xxx] 1802C Jul 1999 The Tempest, by Shakespeare [WL][1ws4111x.xxx] 1801C (eBooks #1765 thru #1802 were a newly proofread version of Shakespeare.) * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of 6,455,073,164 that would be 16,750 x 64,550,732 = 1.08 Trillion !!! With 16,764 eBooks online as of July 20, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.92 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,550,732 x 16,750 x $.92 = ~$1 trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] With 16,750 eBooks online as of July 20, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.60 from each book, This "cost" is down from about $.75 when we had 13,295 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is about 1.5% of the world's population! At 16,750 eBooks in 34 Years and 00.50 Months We Averaged ~492 Per Year 41.0 Per Month 1.33 Per Day At 1800 eBooks Done In The 196 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 9.2 Per Day 64 Per Week 280 Per Month 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] U.S. LOSING GROUND IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING [No matter how you slice it, in 1970 the United States had over double the share of world college students as it did just three decades later. Over 30% dropped to under 15%. As I have been saying here for years, keep your eye on China, India and then Indonesia.] Confirming the suspicions of many, a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research indicates that the United States is steadily losing ground to a number of other countries, particularly China, in the number of PhDs it awards in science and engineering fields. In 1970, nearly one-third of the world's college students attended a college or university in the United States, and more than half of the science and engineering PhDs were awarded by U.S. schools. A number of global factors contributed to those numbers, making them artificially high. Since that time, however, higher education around the world, and especially programs in science and engineering, has greatly expanded, leaving the United States with just 14 percent of the world's college students by 2001. According to the report, China could surpass the United States as early as 2010 in the number of science and engineering PhDs it awards. Inside Higher Ed, 15 July 2005 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/07/15/science TEXAS INSTITUTIONS TO DEVELOP JOINT DIGITAL LIBRARY [If this program "will not include books," then how can it be "aimed broadly at public users?"] Rice University and four university systems in Texas have announced a partnership to create a digital repository of online resources aimed broadly at public users. Dubbed the Texas Digital Library, the repository will pool the efforts of Rice University, the Texas A&M University System, the Texas Tech University System, the University of Houston System, and the University of Texas System. Initially, at least, the repository will offer various resources online, including teaching aids and practical information, but will not include books. Fred Heath, vice provost of the University of Texas Libraries, said that the program was conceived as a resource largely for individuals outside the walls of academia, fulfilling in some measure the charge of public higher education to serve the public good. The budget for the project has not yet been finalized. Heath said he hopes the repository will be online by the end of the year, but the timing will depend on having sufficient content available for users. Chronicle of Higher Education, 13 July 2005 http://chronicle.com/free/2005/07/2005071301t.htm EC RAIDS INTEL OFFICES As part of an ongoing investigation of antitrust allegations against Intel, the European Commission (EC) this week conducted raids on Intel offices around Europe and on computer makers and retailers. The EC began looking into antitrust concerns more than four years ago, but the investigation was left idle for lack of evidence in 2002. After antitrust authorities in Japan began looking into Intel's business in 2004, the EC reopened its investigation. Intel competitors have charged the chip maker with unfairly using its position in the market to pressure computer manufacturers and retailers to use its products. Critics also charge Intel with abusing a rebate program, which reward computer makers for using its chips. The Japanese Fair Trade Commission in March found Intel guilty of violating that country's regulations with the rebate program. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices has sued Intel for $55 million in Japan and has filed a separate action in U.S. courts. New York Times, 13 July 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/technology/13chip.html and, from one of our readers: MUNICIPAL NETWORK APPROVED FOR LAFAYETTE, LA In the latest battle over municipal broadband networks, voters of Lafayette, Louisiana, approved a bond issue to fund the development of a network that will serve the city's nearly 120,000 residents. As in other localities, the phone and cable companies that serve the area objected to the proposed network, arguing that the city has no business offering a service that competes with those offered by the private sector. In related news, taxi firms across the USA are planning to sue municipalities for providing bus services to residents... [here is the report from Edupage in it's entirety] In the latest battle over municipal broadband networks, voters of Lafayette, Louisiana, approved a bond issue to fund the development of a network that will serve the city's nearly 120,000 residents. As in other localities, the phone and cable companies that serve the area objected to the proposed network, arguing that the city has no business offering a service that competes with those offered by the private sector. City officials argued that they can provide cheaper service to more residents than the cable and phone companies, whom they accused of spending more effort lobbying politicians than offering services the city needs. The issues facing Lafayette are being taken up by a number of other municipalities across the United States, and 14 states have already passed legislation that outlaws or limits cities and towns from providing Internet services that compete with those offered by local companies. At the national level, competing bills have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, one to explicitly allow municipal networks and the other to ban them. CNET, 17 July 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1033_3-5792387.html You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to: edupage@educause.edu To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV@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 In the wake of a United States Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London on eminent domain last week, a California man has proposed that Justice David Souter's New Hampshire home be seized by the state and a hotel be built on the site. Logan Darrow Clements faxed a letter to town officials in Weare, New Hampshire June 28, 2005 that justified the action as such: "The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare." Justice Souter, who was in the majority ruling in the Kelo case, has lived at the farmhouse in Weare since he was 11 years old. Clements indicated that it was necessary to build on that location because "it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans." The action has given rise to a great deal of support nationwide, as many are writing to the councilors of the small town of Weare to voice their approval for the proposal. The proposal for the "Lost Liberty Hotel", as it is to be called, features a number of components which seem to focus on the libertarian leanings of its designer. A dining room, called the "Just Desserts Cafe" and a museum based on the "loss of freedom in America" are two such components. Instead of a Gideon's Bible (a standard item placed in most American hotel rooms), each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. Sources: Dan Whitcomb "Man to try to seize home of Supreme Court justice". Reuters via Washington Post, June 29, 2005 Ron Strom "Supreme Court Justice faces boot from home?". WorldNetDaily, June 28, 2005 Bob Ellis "Tidal Wave of Support for Souter "Lost Liberty Hotel"". Dakota Voice, June 29, 2005 AP "Proposal: Replace Souter's home with 'Lost Liberty Hotel'". The Boston Globe, June 29, 2005 Logan Darrow Clements "Press Release". Freestar Media, LLC, June 28, 2005 * The above mentioned raids on European Intel offices. and More Kark Rove, there's plenty, choose your own. *STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK More Kark Rove, there's plenty, choose your own. DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK More Kark Rove, there's plenty, choose your own. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK My current prediction is that I will be focused on jury duty. *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK Supreme Court justices from the Republicans stay there over 20 years. Supreme Court justices from the Democrats stay there about 13 years. Warning: your mileage may vary! [Since WWII, numbers from oyez.org] As reported above: In 1970 United States colleges enrolled over 30% of world students. In 2001 United States colleges enrolled under 15% of world students. * 50 million Americans live in various kinds "gated communites." That means out of just a handful of people, one is most likely living in such an "arranged community." * 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 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 collage scattered wood shavings fallen feathers waves of sand tossed on a toasty beach undulating pattern shows my heart and eyes ensemble riding on the high tide of beauty without boundaries Copyright 2005 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart Please send comments to: simona_s75 AT yahoo.com & hart AT pobox.com This poem is from the poetry volume "Thoughts of My Exiled Self." The motto for this volume is, "Upon this Word I shall build my life." *** *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@pglaf.org