GWeekly_May_06.txt **The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, May 06, 2005 PT1** *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971****** 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 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 Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc. * Darwin!!! Would anyone like to work on reproofing our Darwin collection and creating a compilation file as requested by our readers. * Project Gutenberg of Canada needs your help! 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Many Thanks To Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive! * TABLE OF CONTENTS [Search for "*eBook" or "*Intro". . .to jump to that section, etc.] *eBook Milestones *Introduction *Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements *Continuing Requests and Announcements *Progress Report *Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report *Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report *Permanent Requests For Assistance: *Donation Information *Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections *Mirror Site Information *Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks *Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet? *Flashback *Weekly eBook update: This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter Corrections in separate section 1 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 51 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from Edupage *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones 16,159 eBooks As Of Today!!! 13,097 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 We Have Produced 1203 eBooks in 2005 We Are ~61% of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000 We are ~23% of the Way from 15,000 to 20,000 3,831 to go to 20,000!!! We have now averaged ~478 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971 We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging About 301 books Per Month This Year We Are Averaging About 71 eBooks Per Week This Year 52 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 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!!! 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About 250 books per month 16,159 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 12,581 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,578 New eBooks In Last 12 Months 435 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia * PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE: Since starting production in October 2000, Distributed Proofreaders has contributed 6,758 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 #119 of 2005 This Completes Week #17 and Month #04.00 [364 days this year] 245 Days/35 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 3,841 Books To Go To #20,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 71 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 17 weeks of this year, we have produced 1203 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 2/98 to produce our FIRST 1203 eBooks!!! That's 17 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #1203 Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext] ### A "C" Following The eText # Indicates That This eText Is Under Copyright [Note: books without month and year entries have been reposted] Feb 1998 South Sea Tales, by Jack London [London #41-48][sosetxxx.xxx] 1208 Feb 1998 Nada the Lily, by H. Rider Haggard [Haggard #2] [ndllyxxx.xxx] 1207 Feb 1998 The Flying U Ranch, by B. M. Bower [Bower #5] [flurnxxx.xxx] 1206 The Colour of Life, by Alice Meynell 1205 [Subtitle: And Other Essays on Things Seen and Heard] Feb 1998 Cabin Fever, by B. M. Bower [B. M. Bower #4] [cabfvxxx.xxx] 1204 Feb 1998 Dolly Dialogues by Anthony Hope [Anthony Hope #4] [dlydlxxx.xxx] 1203 Feb 1998 Tales of Unrest, by Joseph Conrad [Conrad #20] [tnrstxxx.xxx] 1202 Feb 1998 Essay on the Trial By Jury, by Lysander Spooner[1][tbjryxxx.xxx] 1201 Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete, by Francois Rabelais 1200 Feb 1998 An Anthology of Australian Verse, Bertram Stevens [ozvrsxxx.xxx] 1199 Feb 1998 Robbery Under Arms, by Rolf Boldrewood[T.A.Browne][robryxxx.xxx] 1198 Feb 1998 Taras Bulba, et. al, by Nikolai Gogol [Gogol #2-7][tarasxxx.xxx] 1197 Feb 1998 The Purse, by Honore' de Balzac [Balzac #3] [pursexxx.xxx] 1196 Glasses, by Henry James 1195 Feb 1998 Adventures of Louis de Rougemont, by de Rougemont [advlrxxx.xxx] 1194 Feb 1998 The Coxon Fund, by Henry James [Henry James #18][coxonxxx.xxx] 1193 Feb 1998 The Old Bachelor, by William Congreve [Congreve#2][oldbaxxx.xxx] 1192 Feb 1998 The Double-Dealer, by William Congreve[Congreve#1][dbdlrxxx.xxx] 1191 Feb 1998 The Jolly Corner, by Henry James [Henry James #17][jllycxxx.xxx] 1190 The Message, by Honore de Balzac 1189 The Lair of the White Worm, by Bram Stoker 1188 Feb 1998 War of the Classes, by Jack London[Jack London#40][wrclsxxx.xxx] 1187 Poems, by Alice Meynell 1186 Feb 1998 Conflict Between Religion and Science, by Draper [hcbrsxxx.xxx] 1185 Jan 1998 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas[Pere][crstoxxx.xxx] 1184 Jan 1998 The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer[Rohmer4][rfumnxxx.xxx] 1183 Jan 1998 Dope, by Sax Rohmer [Sax Rohmer #3] [dopexxxx.xxx] 1182 Jan 1998 The Symposium by Xenophon, trans. by Dakyns [#13][sympmxxx.xxx] 1181 Jan 1998 The Sportsman, by Xenophon trans. by Dakyns [#12][sportxxx.xxx] 1180 Jan 1998 On Revenues by Xenophon, translated by Dakyns[#11][rvnuexxx.xxx] 1179 Jan 1998 Polity Athenians and Lacedaemonians, Xenophon[#10][pltisxxx.xxx] 1178 Jan 1998 The Memorabilia by Xenophon, trans. by Dakyns [#9][mmrbixxx.xxx] 1177 Jan 1998 On Horsemanship by Xenophon, trans. by Dakyns [#8][hrsmnxxx.xxx] 1176 Jan 1998 Hiero, by Xenophon, translation by H.G. Dakyns[#7][hieroxxx.xxx] 1175 Jan 1998 Hellenica, by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns [#6][hllncxxx.xxx] 1174 Jan 1998 The Economist, by Xenophon, Dakyns translation[#5][econmxxx.xxx] 1173 Jan 1998 The Cavalry General by Xenophon, trans. Dakyns[#4][cvlryxxx.xxx] 1172 Jan 1998 The Apology by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns[#3][aplgyxxx.xxx] 1171 Jan 1998 Anabasis, by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns [#2][anbssxxx.xxx] 1170 Jan 1998 Agesilaus, by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns [#1][agslsxxx.xxx] 1169 * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? With 16,159 eBooks online as of May 04, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.96 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,394,041 x 16,159 x $.96 = ~$1 trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] With 16,159 eBooks online as of May 04, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.62 from each book, This "cost" is down from about $.79 when we had 12,581 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 16,159 eBooks in 33 Years and 10.00 Months We Averaged ~478 Per Year 39.8 Per Month 1.31 Per Day At 1203 eBooks Done In The 119 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 10.11 Per Day 71 Per Week 301 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] PROPOSED DATABASE WORRIES SECURITY EXPERTS Amid a rash of corporate and institutional data breaches recently, security experts are questioning whether a "unit record" database proposed by the Department of Education could be kept secure. Currently the department collects aggregate data on college students and graduation rates. A unit record database would track individual students through their college careers, presenting what some see as an extremely tempting target for hackers. The current system would force a hacker to "compromise several databases," according to Eugene Spafford, professor of computer sciences and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, whereas with a database like the one proposed, "it's possible to attack it from any point in the system." Barbara Simons, former president of the Association for Computing Machinery, was also concerned about a unit record database, suggesting that it might not be the safest way to accomplish the department's goals. Grover Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences at the Education Department, said the agency is investigating security options for the proposed database and welcomes suggestions. He noted that the system might not use Social Security numbers as identifiers and said that if the information in the system were limited in scope, it would not be very appealing to hackers. Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 May 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i35/35a03701.htm TIME WARNER REPORTS DATA LOSS A company that handles data storage for Time Warner lost tape backups containing personal information for about 600,000 employees. Iron Mountain Inc., based in Boston, reportedly lost the tapes during transport. Officials from Time Warner said the tapes did not contain customer information. In a statement, Larry Cockell, chief security officer at Time Warner, said that although no evidence exists that the data have been accessed or misused, "we are providing current and former employees with resources to monitor their credit reports while our investigation continues." Time Warner owns America Online, HBO, and Warner Brothers. Reuters, 2 May 2005 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8363208 HEARINGS FOCUS ON LIBRARY PROVISIONS OF USA PATRIOT ACT Amid both House and Senate hearings on whether to renew certain portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, supporters and critics of Section 215, which authorizes law enforcement to obtain records from libraries and other institutions, have lined up to voice their opinions. Section 215 allows gaining access to various types of records with only the approval of a secret court. Further, those whose information has been collected are barred from disclosing that fact, even to attorneys. Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has been highly critical of the legislation, said they could support its renewal if several concessions were made, including limiting the authority to investigate only "agent[s] of a foreign power" and eliminating the gag order for those under investigation. Groups including the American Library Association said they supported the ACLU's recommendations. Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) defended the law as it stands, saying there has been much "misinformation" about Section 215 and how it has been used. Kenneth L. Wainstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said that the law has not been used to obtain records from libraries, though he acknowledged that it could be used that way in the future. Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 April 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/04/2005042901t.htm FIU SUFFERS COMPUTER HACK Officials at Florida International University (FIU) are warning faculty and students about possible identity theft after it was discovered that a hacker had user names and passwords for 165 computers on campus. Although only a few of the computers contained personal information, and despite the fact that no evidence exists that anyone's information has been misused, school officials fear that the hacker may have had enough access to put the university's entire network in question. University staff have been instructed to inspect 3,000 computers on campus to determine if they have been compromised. FIU has recommended that faculty and students remove any personal information from their computers and that they monitor their credit cards for suspicious activity that could indicate fraud. The Register, 29 April 2005 http://www.theregister.com/2005/04/29/fiu_id_fraud_alert/ U.S. STRENGTHENS COPYRIGHT LAW President Bush this week signed into law the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, which allows for stiffer penalties for copyright violations. Under the law, individuals found guilty of possessing one or more copyrighted movie, music, or software files that have not been released to the public face a fine and prison term of up to three years. The law also criminalizes using a camcorder to record movies in theaters. Copyright holders supported the measure. Dan Glickman of the Motion Picture Association of America thanked Congress for what he called "their strong advocacy for intellectual property rights." Although some consumer groups opposed the law, some observers described it as a relatively minor expansion of existing law. Eric Goldman, professor of copyright law at Marquette University Law School, said he expects the Justice Department to use its new authority responsibly. Silicon.com, 28 April 2005 http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39129955,00.htm SPITZER FILES SUIT AGAINST MARKETING FIRM FOR SPYWARE New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed suit against California-based Intermix Media for installing spyware on millions of computers. The marketing company, which conceded that previous owners indeed distributed spyware, is accused of violating state laws concerning false advertising, deceptive business practices, and trespassing. The state is seeking injunctions barring the company from distributing any more spyware; an accounting of revenues the company realized from the spyware; and fines of $500 for each act of installing spyware. A statement from the company said that it voluntarily stopped installing spyware recently and that no personal information was ever collected with the secretly installed software. The statement hinted at trying to reach a settlement with New York, a resolution that observers said is a typical outcome of situations like this one. New York Times, 29 April 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/29/nyregion/29internet.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 Bill Gates and Thomas Friedman on the subject of the U.S. high school system. *STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK "I don't know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future." DOUBLESPEAK OF THE DAY In the bombing of the Toykyo, Japan area the vast majority of U.S. bombing runs were total disasters with very heavy losses and most of the bombs missing their targets, but it was never reported at the time. Curtis LeMay, commander of these air raids, was later promoted from Lt. Colonel to Major General in just 18 months and even became the Air Force Chief of Staff. However, he pursued failure after failure in that office, and, finally, after his abortive candidacy for Vice President under segregationist George Wallace, his career in the public eye was over. In his favor, however, was his stance against the gradual buildup to U.S. involvement in Viet Nam, but he was once again ignored. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK The New York Stock Exchange will remain steady, not moving much more than 5% above and below 10,500. *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 20% of U.S. adults have completed 4 years or more of higher education, which is 1 out of 5. 40 years ago college was more exclusive, as only 1 out of 7 had a college education. Even with this influx of moderate students, the grade average has increased, yet the SAT and ACT college test scores continued to decline though the same period, at least from then up to the point where the tests were rescored to make things look as if they were not so bad. However, when such testing was initiated, it was for an even wider portion of the U.S. population, servicemen of the World War Two era. * You've probably seen something like this statistic: "A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate Washington spends it." Then: "This may have been true a half a billion seconds ago, too, but now they're spending faster, so it doesn't take so long. It's less than five hours." And lately: "It's 3 hours, 30 minutes now, for the feds to spend a billion USD, not counting some off-budget expenditures." * "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. *** *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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