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! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@pobox.com * HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS WANTED!

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* 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* 14,000+ New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001!!! 17,063 eBooks As Of Today!!! [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. 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 * 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. 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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 07.80 months of this year, we produced 2107 new eBooks. It took us from July 1971 to Mar 2000 to produce our first 2107 eBooks! That's 34 WEEKS as Compared to ~28 Years!!! 59 New eBooks This Week 34 New eBooks Last Week 221 New eBooks This Month [Aug] ~270 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 2107 New eBooks in 2005 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 14021 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 That's Only 55.80 Months! Over 250 books per month! 17,063 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 13,677 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 3,386 New eBooks In Last 12 Months 478 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 7,393 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 #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. 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@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@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@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@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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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.html 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@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 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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