GWeekly_April_06.txt *The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, April 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 * Starting Jules Verne In German Robur der Sieger, by Jules Verne 15559 [Language: German] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/5/15559 ] [Files: 15559-8.txt; 15559-h.htm; 15559-t.tex; 15559-pdf.pdf] Thanks to K.F. Creiner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. The value of the TeX/PDF in this posting is that it displays the text with its original Fraktur font. This is the third language for Robur; we already have it in French and English, and this is our first translation of Verne into German. The translator for this 1915 edition is not known. [We now have about 50 Jules Verne eBooks] * I'll be travelling to Alaska to give some presentations this summer, so if any of you would like to schedule something along the way, such as Seattle, Tacoma, Anchorage, etc., please let me know. By the way, still looking for a gig in North Dakota, the only state left on my list. A friend pooped out when we were only an hour from Fargo. . .hee hee! mh * The Sony PSP sold all million units shipped to the US in one day, and eBooks are already available on it in several more formats. HOT REQUESTS 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! 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 http://www.archive.org Don't worry, many of the numbers listed are out of date, but you should get all the files when you pass through to the original sites.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! * 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.] 60 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from Edupage *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones 15,948 eBooks As Of Today!!! 12,760 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 We Have Produced 992 eBooks in 2005 We Are ~59% of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000 We are ~19% of the Way from 15,000 to 20,000 4,052 to go to 20,000!!! We have now averaged ~469 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971 We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging About 315 books Per Month This Year We Are Averaging About 78 eBooks Per Week This Year 61 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. 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That's 13 WEEKS as Compared to ~25 Years! 61 New eBooks This Week 65 New eBooks Last Week 418 New eBooks This Month [Mar] 331 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 931 New eBooks in 2005 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 12886 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 That's Only 51.00 Months! About 250 books per month 15,948 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 12,237 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,711 New eBooks In Last 12 Months 427 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia * PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE: Since starting production in October 2000, Distributed Proofreaders has contributed ##### 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 #91 of 2005 This Completes Week #13 and Month #03.00 [364 days this year] 273 Days/40 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 4,052 Books To Go To #20,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 76 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 13 weeks of this year, we have produced 992 new eBooks. It took us from 7/71 to 7/97 to produce our FIRST 992 eBooks!!! That's 13 WEEKS as Compared to ~26 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #992 Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext] ### A "C" Following The eText # Indicates That This eText Is Under Copyright Aug 1997 The Professor, by Charlotte Bronte [#6 by Brontes][tprofxxx.xxx] 1028 Aug 1997 The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey[#3 by Zane Grey][lrngrxxx.xxx] 1027 Aug 1997 Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith [dnbdyxxx.xxx] 1026 Aug 1997 Essays, by Benjamin Rumford [Volume 1, BR#1] [essbrxxx.xxx] 1025 Aug 1997 The Wrecker, by Stevenson and Osbourne [RLS #39] [wrckrxxx.xxx] 1024 Aug 1997 Bleak House, by Charles Dickens [Dickens #33] [blkhsxxx.xxx] 1023 Aug 1997 Walking, by Henry David Thoreau [Thoreau #3] [wlkngxxx.xxx] 1022 Aug 1997 The Congo and Other Poems, by Vachel Lindsay[VL#3][cngopxxx.xxx] 1021 Aug 1997 Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, by Amy Lowell [AL #3][sbapsxxx.xxx] 1020 Aug 1997 Poems by the Bronte Sisters [as Bell Brothers] B#5[brntpxxx.xxx] 1019 Aug 1997 The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley [Kingsley #3][wtrbsxxx.xxx] 1018 Aug 1997 The Soul of Man, by Oscar Wilde [Wilde #14][slmanxxx.xxx] 1017 [Title AKA: The Soul of Man under Socialism] Aug 1997 Improvement of Understanding by Spinoza[Spinoza10][spintxxx.xxx] 1016 Aug 1997 The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr. [ortrlxxx.xxx] 1015 Aug 1997 The Lure of the Dim Trails, by B.M. Bower[Bower#3][ldmtrxxx.xxx] 1014 The First Men In The Moon, by H. G. Wells 1013 Aug 1997 La Divina Commedia di Dante in Italian, 8-bit text[0ddc8xxa.xxx] 1012 Aug 1997 Divina Commedia di Dante: Paradiso [8-bit text] [3ddc8xxa.xxx] 1011 Aug 1997 Divina Commedia di Dante: Purgatorio [8-bit text] [2ddc8xxa.xxx] 1010 Aug 1997 Divina Commedia di Dante: Inferno [8-bit text] [1ddc8xxa.xxx] 1009 [Language: Italian] Aug 1997 H. F. Cary's Translation of Dante, Entire Comedy [0ddccxxx.xxx] 1008 Aug 1997 The Divine Comedy: Paradise, by Dante Alighieri [Tr.: H. F. Cary]1007 Aug 1997 The Divine Comedy: Purgatory, by Dante Alighieri[Tr.: H. F. Cary]1006 Aug 1997 The Divine Comedy: Hell, by Dante Alighieri [Tr.: H. F. Cary] 1005 Aug 1997 Longfellow's Translation of Dante, Entire Comedy [0ddclxxx.xxx] 1004 Aug 1997 Longfellow's Translation of Dante Paradise [3ddclxxx.xxx] 1003 Aug 1997 Longfellow's Translation of Dante, Purgatory [2ddclxxx.xxx] 1002 Aug 1997 Longfellow's Translation of Dante, Inferno [1ddclxxx.xxx] 1001 Aug 1997 La Divina Commedia di Dante in Italian, 7-bit text[0ddcdxxx.xxx] 1000 Aug 1997 Divina Commedia di Dante: Paradiso, 7-bit Italian [3ddcdxxx.xxx] 999 Aug 1997 Divina Commedia di Dante: Purgatorio 7-bit Italian[2ddcdxxx.xxx] 998 Aug 1997 Divina Commedia di Dante: Inferno, 7-bit Italian [1ddcdxxx.xxx] 997 Jul 1997 Don Quixote, by Miqeul de Cervantes Saavedra [Tr.: John Ormsby] 996 Jul 1997 Ballads of a Bohemian, by Robert W. Service[RWS#5][blbhmxxx.xxx] 995 Jul 1997 Riders to the Sea, J. M. Synge [rdrsexxx.xxx] 994 Jul 1997 Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas W. Higginson[malbnxxx.xxx] 993 Jul 1997 Theologico-Political Treatise P4, by Spinoza [S#9][4spntxxx.xxx] 992 Jul 1997 Theologico-Political Treatise P3, by Spinoza [S#8][3spntxxx.xxx] 991 Jul 1997 Theologico-Political Treatise P2, by Spinoza [S#7][2spntxxx.xxx] 990 Jul 1997 Theologico-Political Treatise P1, by Spinoza [S#6][1spntxxx.xxx] 989 [Above four ebooks Translated by R. H. M. Elwes] Jul 1997 The Education of the Child, by Ellen Key [edkidxxx.xxx] 988 Jul 1997 Popular Science Monthly, Oct, Nov, Dec, 1915 V.86 [86psmxxx.xxx] 987 Jul 1997 Master and Man, by Leo Tolstoy, Trans. L & A Maude[mramnxxx.xxx] 986 Jul 1997 Father Sergius, by Leo Tolstoy, Trans. L & A Maude[fsrgsxxx.xxx] 985 Jul 1997 Who Was Who: 5000 BC - 1914, Irwin L. Gordon, Ed. [wwaswxxx.xxx] 984 Jul 1997 Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe [DD#5][ttecexxx.xxx] 983 Jul 1997 The Book of Nonsense, by Edward Lear [nnsnsxxx.xxx] 982 Jul 1997 Beowulf, Anonymous, Translated by Gummere [bwulfxxx.xxx] 981 * Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? With 15,948 eBooks online as of April 06, 2005 it now takes an average of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.97 from each book. 1% of the world population is 64,489,761 [x 15,948 x $.97 = ~$1 trillion] [Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.] With 15,948 eBooks online as of April 06, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.63 from each book, This "cost" is down from about $.82 when we had 12,237 eBooks a year ago. 100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population! At 15,948 eBooks in 33 Years and 09.00 Months We Averaged ~473 Per Year 39.4 Per Month 1.29 Per Day At 992 eBooks Done In The 91 Days Of 2005 We Averaged 10.90 Per Day 76 Per Week 330 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] DARPA FUNDS DIVERTED FROM UNIVERSITIES Confirming rumors among academics at a number of colleges and universities, the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has acknowledged a shift away from university projects. DARPA has long been a supporter of broad-ranging, long-term research initiatives at institutions of higher education, and many credit such programs with many of the innovations that underpin today's household technologies. In seeking shorter-term projects with more concrete deliverables, however, DARPA has significantly cut back funds for university projects. Since 2001, the portion of DARPA's relatively stable budget allocated to university projects has dropped by nearly 50 percent. Many in the research community fear that the shift away from basic, open-ended research will result in slower technological progress. Ed Lazowska, a computer scientist at the University of Washington and co-chairman of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, said, "Virtually every aspect of information technology upon which we rely today bears the stamp of federally sponsored university research." He characterized DARPA's change in focus as "killing the goose that laid the golden egg." New York Times, 2 April 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/02/technology/02darpa.html CHOICEPOINT OPENS ITS BOOKS TO CONSUMERS Officials of ChoicePoint, the data aggregation company recently in the news for compromising the personal information of about 150,000 individuals, said it is developing an application that will allow consumers to view any information about them that the company collects and sells. According to Don McGuffey, vice president for data acquisition at ChoicePoint, "You will receive the reports that we have on you." The company has also changed the records that it sells to law enforcement agencies, employers, landlords, and other businesses. Those records will no longer include complete driver's license or Social Security numbers--a change implemented in response to legislation introduced by California State Sen. Jackie Speier that would impose new limitations on what Speier described as an industry "that has grown up overnight with no regulations whatsoever." Wall Street Journal, 31 March 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111227798677294247,00.html THIEF GRABS LAPTOP AND 100,000 IDENTITIES Officials at the University of California at Berkeley said that a laptop stolen from the university's graduate division contained personal information for nearly 100,000 individuals. The computer included records for applicants to Berkeley's graduate programs from fall 2001 to spring 2004; students enrolled in the school's graduate programs from fall 1989 to fall 2003; and individuals who received doctorates from Berkeley between 1976 and 1999. Although no evidence exists that any of the stolen information has been used fraudulently, according to a statement from the university, the institution is required by a California law to disclose the breach to those affected. The statement said the university is making "every reasonable effort to notify by mail or e-mail all 98,369 individuals whose names and Social Security numbers were on the computer." Inside Higher Ed, 29 March 2005 http://www.insidehighered.com/index.php/news/2005/03/29/theft MEDIA COMPANIES SETTLE WITH FREELANCERS [If you scratch the surface on this one you will find that ONLY the big-time commercial writers are benefiting from this settlement, each article could net them $1500 in royalties. . .BUT. . .Average Joe or Josephine who is not legally well connected enough to have registered a separate copyright for each article will ONLY GET $60, not really enough to pay for the effort of the lawsuits. Just one more case where copyright is being used for the rich to get richer and to make the poor poorer.] A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit between media companies and freelance writers over stories included in electronic databases. The class action suit was the combination of three separate suits and represented defendants including the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Authors Guild, the National Writers Union, and almost two dozen freelance writers. Defendants in the suit, including Time, Knight Ridder, Reed Elsevier, and The New York Times Company, agreed to pay between $10 million and $18 million for works originally published between August 1977 and December 2002. Under the terms of the settlement, writers who did not sign away electronic publishing rights can apply for payments of as much as $1,500 for works that have been added to electronic databases. Although many payments will be significantly smaller than that, "some freelancers ... will make six figures under this settlement," according to Jim Morrison, one of the negotiators of the settlement and a past president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Wired Magazine, 29 March 2005 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,67063,00.html You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, http://news.com.com/2100-1040-958352.html or 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 *** *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA If you really want to get a long term grasp of the U.S. media's news avoidance phobia, compare the news stories released on Friday, especially late on Friday, compared to the stories for the rest of the week. When they really don't want to release a story but they are actually required to, they announce it late Friday, so the "news cycle" has been exhausted by the time most people tune back in on Monday. By the way, still no official or unofficial comments on why the Texas City explosion was not really covered, on Wednesday, two weeks ago. * More On China And India A QUICK EVOLUTION OF RUFFLED FEATHERS from Newsday How do you make a room of university presidents squirm? Ply them with salmon and sirloin steak and then serve up the political hot potato of teaching evolution at the high school level. In a wide-ranging and sometimes heated dinner discussion among media representatives, Intel chief executive Craig Barrett and the presidents of eight major research universities, nearly everyone agreed that science in the United States is losing ground to foreign competitors. Many in attendance at the Science Coalition's yearly media roundtable, held at The Penn Club in Manhattan on Monday, cited fast-charging China and India as important new players, and bemoaned a lack of funding for basic research at home. And several attendees blasted the nation's K-12 science education as woefully inadequate. http://tinyurl.com/6z6a7 *STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK "The price of a gallon of gas is $2.25, 11 times what it was when paperback books were also selling at $.25. This gets nearly daily major news coverage, yet prices for paperbacks are now $7.50, 30 times what they were when paperbacks and a gallon of gas were both $.25. Even coffee prices made the news recently, going up 28% since Christmas, but what they went up to was the price they have averaged for the past 20 years. Why is it that books can go up so much without any news coverage?" DOUBLESPEAK OF THE DAY The term "Depression" was invented by the spin doctors of the day, because they were afraid the term "Recession" was too inflamatory. "It's ONLY a depression, not a recession," is what they would say. Today they have once again reversed themselves yet again, and will say, "It's ONLY a recession." *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK As Southeast Asia begins to take a predominant place in the world economies, with China, India, Japan and the US predicted to be in the Top Four positions a decade or two from now, depressions and/ or recessions in the Western World will have less overall effect, while changes in The Orient will have a much greater effect. *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK India now graduates twice as many from college per year than the US. China? Twice as many. * Dominos will deliver nearly half a billion pizzas in the next year. * "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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