[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Dec 8 09:59:26 PST 2004
GWeekly_December_01.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, December 01, 2004 PT1
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******
Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart at pobox.com or gbnewby at pglaf.org
Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart at pobox.com
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
3 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
75 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones
As of this week:
100 eBooks in Finnish
300 eBooks in German
400 eBooks in French
We are nearly at 100 in Dutch.
We need some help getting to 100 in Spanish.
We Are In The Da Vinci Code
We are listed as one of the top acknowledgements!
14,649 eBooks As Of Today!!!
11,587 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
We Have Now Produced about 3,742 eBooks In 2004
We Are Already ~2/3 of the Way from 14,000 to 15,000
We Are 95% of the Way from 10,000 to 15,000
501 to go to 15,000!!!
We have now averaged ~438 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971!!!
We Are Averaging About 340 eBooks Per Month This Year
About 78 Per Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~3 years from 2001 to 2004 for our last 10,000 eBooks
*
eMusic
In our efforts to further the digitization of sheet music, Project
Gutenberg also recommends the Mutopia Project. The following was
contributed by the project team leader, Chris Sawer:
"The Mutopia project consists of a growing online collection of sheet
music, all of which may be freely downloaded, printed, copied,
distributed, modified, performed and recorded. It has just celebrated
its fifth year online, and now has nearly 500 works, ranging from
simple pieces for solo instruments, to large orchestral pieces and even
an entire opera. Composers from Bach to Vivaldi are featured, along
with some early jazz, and some modern pieces which have been released
under a free license by their composers. Visit our website to see what
we've got - and maybe contribute some music yourself!"
Website: http://www.MutopiaProject.org
And please see the other information at http://www.gutenberg.org/music/
HOT REQUEST FOR UNIX "GREP" EXPERT
Please email hart at pglaf.org
HOT 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 at aol.com>
***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 at pobox.com and gbnewby at pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
***
***Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements
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 ask permission.
or copyrighted with permission]
You should see some significant changes next month!
*
There is a new experimental online reader available. Start from any
bibliographic record page, e.g.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300
Basically this paginates the text file and remembers your last position
in a cookie so you can later resume reading where you left off.
Please test it. It should work with any book that has a text file
where the encoding is known.
*
MACHINE TRANSLATION
We are seeking as much information as possible on the various
approaches to Machine Translation. Any brand names or contact
information would be greatly appreciated.
***
Please use our new site for downloading DVD and CD images, etc.
http://www.gutenberg.org/cdproject
and
The PG bittorrent tracker is up and running.
Aaron Cannon has placed the CD and DVD there if anyone wants to test.
You can access it by visiting
http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu:6969
***
We are in the process of rewriting some of the general FAQs and
would appreciate help proofreading them over the next few months.
We've added some new FAQs and generally updated information
about Project Gutenberg. Take a look, and email Michael or
Greg with any suggestions or corrections. We'll have these
updated from time to time, now that we've passed #10,000.
A new set of these will be in the works when we pass #20,000.
http://www.gutenberg.org/about
***Continuing Requests and Announcements
We're building a team to read our eBooks into MP3 files
for the visually impaired and other audio book users.
Let us know if you'd like to join this group.
More information at http://www.gutenberg.org/audio
***
Project Gutenberg Needs DVD Burners
So far we have sent out 14 million eBooks via snailmail!!!
We currently have access to a dozen DVD burners. If you have a DVD burner
and are interested in lending a hand, please email Aaron Cannon
<cannona at fireantproductions.com>
We can set you up with images, or snail you these DVDs
for you to copy. You can either snail them directly
to readers whose addresses we can send you, or you can
do a stack of these and send the whole box back for reshipping.
We can also reimburse you for supplies and postage if you wish.
Please note that we can only use DVDs which are burnt in the dvd-r format,
as we have had some compatibility issues with the dvd+r format.
***
Project Gutenberg is seeking graphics we can use for our Web
pages and publicity materials. If you have original graphics
depicting Project Gutenberg themes, please contribute them!
To see some of what we have now, please see:
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/images
*** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES
Project Gutenberg is seeking (volunteer) lawyers. We have
regular needs 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 11.00 months of this year, we produced 3576 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to December 2002 to produce our first 3,576 eBooks!
That's 46 WEEKS as Compared to ~31.5 Years!
78 New eBooks This Week
87 New eBooks Last Week
79 New eBooks This Month [Dec]
334 Average Per Month in 2004
355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
3742 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
11587 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 47.00 Months!
14,649 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
10,638 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
4,011 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
389 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
We're still keeping up with Moore's Law!
Moore's Law 12 month percentage = 64%
Moore's Law 18 month percentage = 117%
[100% of Moore's Law = doubling every 18 months]
[There may be some need to refine our program for these figures]
*Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report
Since completing its first eBook (#3320) on Mar 13th, 2001, the
Distributed Proofreaders team has now produced its 5,904th eBook (#14299).
Of that total, there are 5,548 unique, brand-new titles.
Projects completed since the beginning of the year:
Jan 2004 - 267
Feb 2004 - 421
Mar 2004 - 365
Apr 2004 - 276
May 2004 - 235
Jun 2004 - 232
Jul 2004 - 231
Aug 2004 - 220
Sep 2004 - 182
Oct 2004 - 263
Nov 2004 - 280
Dec 2004 - 60 (as of 8 Dec)
*
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
[John just go married, and we we're still giving
him a few weeks off. . . . Congratulations!!!!!!!]
PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections holdings
of 15 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 at Adelaide Collection, 27,709 eBook Files
Himalayan Academy, 3,400 HTML eBook Files
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, 14,300 eBook Files
Rennaisscance 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==========106,107 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
35,360 Unique eBooks
If we presume 3 out of 4 of these files are overcounts,
that leaves a unique book total of
26,527 Unique eBooks
***
Today Is Day #336 of 2004
This Completes Week #48 and Month #11.00
28 Days/10 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
501 Books To Go To #15,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
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 contact us at:
dphelp at pgdp.net
if you would like to know more about the Distributed Proofreaders.
Thanks to very good recent publicity, the Distributed Proofreading
project has greatly accelerated its pace. 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 at 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 at 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 at 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.
***Donation Information
We Have Included Quick and Easy Ways to Donate. . .As Per Your Requests!
We Are Looking For Volunteers To Add eBooks In More Languages,
and in more formats, including music, artwork, movies, etc.
***
QUICK WAYS TO MAKE A DONATION TO PROJECT GUTENBERG
A. Send a check or money order to:
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
809 North 1500 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84116
USA
B. Donate by credit card online:
NetworkForGood:
http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=64-6221541
or
PayPal to "donate at gutenberg.org":
http://www.paypal.com
/xclick/business=donate%40gutenberg.org&item_name=Donate+to+Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg's success is due to the hard work of thousands of
volunteers over more than 33 years. Your donations make it possible
to support these volunteers, and pay our few employees to continue the
creation of free electronic texts. We accept credit cards, checks and
transfers from any country, in any currency.
Donations are made to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
(PGLAF). PGLAF is approved as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization by
the US Internal Revenue Service, and has the Federal Employee Information
Number (EIN) 64-6221541.
For more information, including several other ways to donate, go to
http://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html or email donate at gutenberg.org
*Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections
*Mirror Site Information
Mirrors (copies) of the complete collection are available around the world.
To find the sites nearest you, go to:
http://www.gutenberg.org/MIRRORS.ALL
*Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks
http://www.gutenberg.org/find
allows searching by title, author, language and subject.
Use your Web browser or FTP program to visit our master download
site (or a mirror) if you know the file's name you want. Try:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs
or
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/
and then navigate to the appropriate directory and look for the first
five characters of the file's name. Note that updated eBooks usually
go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.)
***
Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
Statistical Review
In the 48 weeks of this year, we have produced 3,742 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our FIRST 3,742 eBooks!!!
That's 48 WEEKS as Compared to ~31.5 YEARS!!!
FLASHBACK!
Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #3742
Feb 2003 Letters of Franz Liszt Vol 2, From Rome to the End[2loflxxx.xxx] 3750
Feb 2003 Quotations of Rousseau's Confessions, David Widger[dwqjjxxx.xxx] 3749
Feb 2003 Journey to Interior of Earth, by Verne [Verne #17][?jrnyxxx.xxx] 3748
Feb 2003 Orlando Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto in Italian [?ofurxxx.xxx] 3747
Feb 2003 The Judgment House, by Sir Gilbert Parker [jhousxxx.xxx] 3746
Feb 2003 The Road To Providence, by Maria Thompson Davies [r2prvxxx.xxx] 3745
Feb 2003 The Trial, by Charlotte M. Yonge [C. M. Yonge #13][trialxxx.xxx] 3744
Feb 2003 The Age Of Reason, by Thomas Paine [Tom Paine #4][twtp4xxx.xxx] 3743
Feb 2003 The Rights Of Man, by Thomas Paine [Tom Paine #3][twtp2xxx.xxx] 3742
Feb 2003 The American Crisis, by Thomas Paine[Tom Paine #2][twtp1xxx.xxx] 3741
Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, by Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton 3740
With 14,649 eBooks online as of December 08, 2004 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.68 from each book,
for Project Gutenberg to have currently given away $1,000,000,000,000
[One Trillion Dollars] in books.
100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population!
This "cost" is down from about $.94 when we had 10,069 eBooks a year ago
Can you imagine ~14,649 books each costing ~$.26 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine ~14,649 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 14,649 eBooks in 33 Years and 05.00 Months We Averaged
438 Per Year [We do about 3/4 that much per month these days!]
36.6 Per Month
1.20 Per Day
At 3742 eBooks Done In The 343 Days Of 2004 We Averaged
11 Per Day
78 Per Week
340 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 7th was
the first Wednesday of 2004, and thus ended PG's production
year of 2003 and began the production year of 2004 at noon.
This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week.
***
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
>From NewsScan:
IBM MAY BE LEAVING THE PC BUSINESS
IBM is said to be talking with Chinese PC-maker Lenovo, which was
formerly known as Legend, about the possible sale of IBM's PC operations
(though IBM neither confirms nor denies the rumor). Samuel J. Palmisano, who
became IBM's chief executive in 2002, has been recasting it as a service
organization offering itself as a consulting partner with its corporate
customers. Industry analyst Mark Stahlman explains, "Palmisano's getting out
of businesses that aren't growth opportunities and concentrating on what IBM
does best. PC's are not where the growth is." And Gartner research vice
president Leslie Fiering says: "Exiting the market may be the only logical
choice for global vendors bleeding profits and struggling for share. The PC
divisions of HP and IBM are vulnerable to being spun off if their drag on
margins and profitability are deemed too great by their parent companies."
(New York Times 3 Dec 2004)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/technology/03ibm.html?hp&ex=1102136400&en
=a404729a59c077f6&ei=5094&partner=homepage>
EX-CIA CHIEF WORRIES ABOUT INTERNET SECURITY
Former CIA Director George J. Tenet sees the Internet as "a potential
Achilles' heel" in the fight against terrorism, endangering "our financial
stability and physical security if the networks we are creating are not
protected." Calling for new cybersecurity measures, Tenet says: "I know that
these actions will be controversial in this age when we still think the
Internet is a free and open society with no control or accountability, but
ultimately the Wild West must give way to governance and control." He
believes that access to the Web might need to be limited to those who can
show they take security seriously. (UPI/Washington Times 3 Dec 2004)
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20041201-114750-
6381r>
You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan: NewsScan Daily
is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization making
significant and sustained contributions to the effective
management and appropriate use of information technology.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions
of NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate subscribe or unsubscribe messages
(i.e., with the word 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line) to:
Text version: Send message to NewsScan at NewsScan.com
Html version: Send mail to NewsScan-html at NewsScan.com
NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html
*
>From Edupage
JUDGE REJECTS COPYRIGHT CHALLENGE
A federal judge has rejected a challenge to several parts of copyright
law that plaintiffs in the case said unnecessarily keep certain works
out of the public domain. The nonprofit Internet Archive and the
Prelinger Archives argued that so-called orphan works--books that are
out of print, old films, and academic articles without significant
commercial value--should be easier to archive and make publicly
available. At issue in the case was the plaintiffs' contention that
current law fundamentally alters the scope of copyright because it does
not require owners of works to apply for copyright protection, instead
granting protection irrespective of whether it is sought. The judge in
the case disagreed, issuing her ruling without hearing arguments.
Jennifer S. Granick, executive director of the Center for Internet and
Society at Stanford University, which was involved on behalf of the
plaintiffs, said the judge's ruling was improper and that the
plaintiffs would appeal.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 November 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2004/11/2004113003n.htm
BRITISH PROGRAM TEACHES SCHOOLCHILDREN ABOUT COPYRIGHT
British Music Rights (BMR), a group that represents songwriters and
composers, is sponsoring a program to educate British schoolchildren
between the ages of 11 and 14 about copyright and music piracy. The
group has put together education packs that include lessons about
copyright, royalties, and downloading music on the Internet, as well as
how these issues affect the creation of original work. Music piracy in
the United Kingdom is blamed for a steady decline in recent years in CD
sales and for significant financial losses to recording companies and
to artists and songwriters. In addition to limiting copyright
violations, the education packs, which have been requested by more than
1,600 schools, are designed to prepare children for possible careers in
the music industry. Guy Chambers, one of the songwriters who has
publicly supported the BMR campaign, said the education packs will help
shield young people who might pursue a career in the music industry
from "unscrupulous" individuals.
BBC, 30 November 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4055753.stm
S. KOREAN OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE CELL-PHONE CHEATING
Officials in South Korea are investigating a suspected widespread ring
of using cell phones to cheat on the country's university admissions
examinations. Cultural pressure to succeed academically is intense in
South Korea, so much so that some students commit suicide as a result
of poor academic showing. As noted by Jung Bong-mun, an Education
Ministry official who works on college admission policy, student
cheating "is mainly due to pressure to do well in a test that will
decide their lives forever." Combined with nearly ubiquitous cell
phones, which provide new avenues for cheating, this pressure has led
to an unprecedented level of cheating on this year's exam, which was
taken by approximately 600,000 students. According to officials,
several hundred may have been involved in the scheme to send answers by
cell-phone text messages to those taking the test. Students reportedly
paid around USD$1,000 each, which leads authorities to suspect that in
many cases parents may be involved.
Reuters, 3 December 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=6986502
IBM CONSIDERS EXITING THE PC BUSINESS
IBM is reportedly negotiating a possible sale of its PC unit to Chinese
PC maker Lenovo Group, though neither company is commenting publicly at
this time. If such a transaction takes place, it would mark the end of
IBM's storied history with the PC, a market currently led by Dell and
HP. Analysts consistently agree, however, that the move would be good
for IBM, which has made no secret of its intentions to focus on
higher-margin operations such as software and computer services. In
particular, IBM executives have identified business process outsourcing
as a key opportunity for the company. For its part, Lenovo stands to
benefit significantly from acquiring IBM's PC business, which has in
recent years migrated much of its production to China. If such a deal
goes through, Lenovo would have access to U.S. markets, which have
traditionally been out of its reach, and would also own the very
popular ThinkPad series of notebook computers. As noted by IDC analyst
Roger Kay, in such a deal, "the IBM notebooks would be the prize."
CNET, 3 December 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1042_3-5476256.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 at educause.edu
To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to
LISTSERV at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
and in the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName
***
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
It would appear that the globalization of technology
is having more far flung effects than was predicted.
In recent elections around the world, including some
that are not reported much in the news, it would seem
that cell phones have been one of the primary tools of
the election monitors in kicking vote fraud to the curb.
Election monitors are counting the ballots as they go
though the official counting process and then calling
in the results immediately. . .if the total is altered
by the time the official results are released, everyone
already knows cheating is going on. These results are
being forwarded to the citizenry by new private radio
stations that were not in existence until recently.
Apparently in some regions these sources are regarded
as the most accurate reflections of actual voting,
since corruption is so rampant between the polling
place and the central authorities.
*Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media
REMEMBER THE FLAP ABOUT SAT SCORES FALLING TO 90% OF WWII LEVELS?
The main reason was stated as the US scores should not be compared
to the scores of other countries because only the highest level of
students take such tests in other countries.
FALSE:
US population is 296 million of which 1,419,007 take the SATs.
South Korean population is 48 million of which 600,000 take their test.
US has 6 times as many people, but only 2.3 times as many student tests.
[Figures are for 2002-2003 academic year]
[BTW, the US barely average 25th in international testing.]
[Detailed listing available on request, ask for schools.gut]
*
Is 'Fair Use' in Peril?
The far-reaching Intellectual Property Protection Act would deny
consumers many of the freedoms they take for granted.
By Eric Hellweg
November 19, 2004
Do you like fast-forwarding through commercials on a television
program you've recorded? How much do you like it? Enough to go to
jail if you're caught doing it? If a new copyright and
intellectual property omnibus bill sitting on Congress's desk
passes, that may be the choice you'll face.
How can this be possible? Because language that makes
fast-forwarding through commercials illegal-no doubt inserted at
the behest of lobbyists for the advertising industry-was inserted
into a bill that would allow people to fast forward past
objectionable sections of a recorded movie (and I bet you already
thought that was OK). And that's but one, albeit scary, scenario
that may come to pass if the Intellectual Property Protection Act
is enacted into law. Deliberations on this legislation will be
one of the tasks for the lame-duck Congress that commenced this week.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/11/wo_hellweg111904.asp?trk=3Dnl
*
The National Science Foundation, as per the current Omnibus Bill,
is losing $30 million each for research grants and education programs,
as part of a total loss of over $100 million for the coming year,
as the US continues its push to continually whittle down this source
of some of the greatest recent research and inventions.
*
NEW MININIM WAGE INCREASE IS ACTUALLY A DECREASE, COUNTING INFLATION
You may have heard the great success stories that the new minimum wage
is finally going to be put into effect at $7.15, up from previous $5.15.
BUT. . .what you don't hear is that in 2007, when this increase will be
finally in effect, the actual value of $7.15 will be only about $4.77,
given a ten year inflation rate of approximately 4%.
People will try to tell you that it's much lower than 4%, but if so,
that would only raise the $4.77 to the average buying power of the
last 50 years, as in the table below. . .however, using Google to
search for "2003 inflation" the most recent figure I got was 4.4%
for December 2002, January 2003, and June 2003, but with various
disclaimers as usual, stating the previous year was abnormal.
[National Consumer Price Index (NCPI)
Decade Average in Current Dollars Average in 1997 Dollars
1950's $0.85 $5.02
1960's $1.29 $6.42
1970's $2.07 $6.30
1980's $3.33 $5.42
1990's $5.15 $5.15*
2000's $7.15 $4.77*
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, except for *
Here's what you MAY have heard in the news:
After years and years of wrangling, the Pennsylvania minimum wage finally
is going to move from $5.15/hour to $7.15/hour over the next few years.
The major reason given for fighting the increase was that corporations
in the neighoring states of Maryland and West Virginia would thus have
an economic advantage over those in Pennsylvania.
Question: Why do so many people pretend that politics is NOT about
the corporations versus the people?
I literally can't remember how long ago it was that the minimum wage
went to around $5, but it was a LONG time ago, and inflation has been
pretty stiff over those years, probably averaging 4-5%.
The new $7.15 Pennsylvania minimum wage, by the time it is fully
implented in 2007, will be at an inflation rate of about $1.50
when compared to the $5.15 rate in 1997. . .or 2/3 of $7.15 = $4.77
Workers will have lost $.37 per hour in wages, not to mention higher
taxes, higher health care, etc.
*
Recent classified documents from the CIA Station Chief in Iraq
and other senior CIA officials have indicated the situation in
Iraq is/was much more distastrous before the US election than
President Bush would have liked us to believe, and that the
current preparations for the Iraqi elections are taking place
in an environment that is equally disastrous.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/international/middleeast/07intell.html?hp&
ex=1102482000&en=78f41ffc3ad43b8a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
*STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
REWRITING THE HISTORY OF THE 1968 CHICAGO POLICE RIOTS
You heard it here last week, before the official announcement!
[By the way, as predicted here, it appears that both Tom Brokaw
and Dan Rather will be marching off to join the other dinosaurs
in the near future, and I predict Peter Jennings will join them.
The average age of these three passed double the median age of
the United States years ago when the median was 33 years of age.
Their average age is now around 73 years old. Mr. Lehrer is
only just now coming up to 70.]
*PREDICTION OF THE WEEK [Last Week's]
New news anchors for the major networks will be being tested
on all the networks in the coming year or two, but the old
ones will be invited back for the next election.
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
>From the New York times:
"But it turns out the e-book market has been changing course and,
though still tiny, has been growing at double-digit rates. It is, in
fact, the fastest-growing segment of the comparatively static
publishing world. Between 2002 and 2003, the number of e-books sold
rose 71 percent, according to the industry's trade association, the
Open eBook Forum. The industry posted record sales in the first
quarter of 2004, a 46 percent increase compared with the same period
last year. Still, last year's sales of 1.4 million downloadable books
are minuscule compared with the more than 2.2 billion books sold in
the United States in 2003."
*
US health spending shot up 9.3 percent in 2002 to $1.6 trillion,
3 to 4 times the average inflation rate. However, the average
health and life expectancy figures barely increased at all.
*
ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS HAVE OVERTAKEN CHECKS [From Newsscan, details above]
In 2003, Americans made 44.5 billion payments via electronic
transactions, compared to only 36.7 billion payments by paper checks. The
trend toward electronic purchases has been accelerated by strong growth in
the popularity of debit cards, which can now be used to buy almost anything.
Jean Ann Fox of the Consumer Federation of America says, "They're quick and
easy. You don't stand there and hold up everybody in line behind you. Plus,
folks are moving toward electronic banking and paying bills electronically."
But she warns: "It's getting very confusing for consumers, and companies
have not upgraded their protections." (Washington Post 6 Dec 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41858-2004Dec6.html>
*
3/4 of all email today is spam!
*
CORAL REEF DAMAGE RISING WORLDWIDE
from Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Only about 30 percent of the world's coral reefs are
healthy, down from 41 percent two years ago, according to a study released
Monday that lists global warming as the top threat.
The study found as many as one-fifth of the world's coral reefs have been
destroyed. Another half are damaged but could be saved, it said.
Coral reefs are among the oldest and most diverse forms of life. They
provide food and shelter to fish and protect shores from erosion.
http://snipurl.com/b6lp
***
Here is some follow up information sent in about our article on Bhopal
1. There was no siren and no warning--people woke with the gases
already in their faces, filling their mouths, noses and lungs with
excruciating pain.
2. NONE of safety systems were functioning on the night of the
disaster six in all.
3. Union Carbide under-invested in an inherently hazardous facility
located in a crowded neighborhood, used admittedly unproven designs,
stored lethal MIC in reckless quantities, dismantled safety systems
and cut down on safety staff and training in an effort to cut costs.
4. Union Carbide and its new owner, Dow Chemical, continue to blame
the disaster on a fictitious and unnamed worker, and deny their own
negligence.
5. In the wake of the disaster, Carbide claimed that the gas was
harmless, when it knew it was lethal (as described in its own manuals).
6. Dow-Carbide refuses to share all its medical information about the
health effects of the gas it released, MIC--information that doctors
could use to save lives--claiming the information is a "trade secret".
7. Union Carbide fled India and abandoned its Bhopal plant, leaving
thousands of tons of dangerous chemicals behind, which are now
poisoning the water of the same people Carbide first poisoned 20 years
ago. As more people grow sick, Dow-Carbide still refuses to clean up
its pollution in Bhopal.
8. The Union Carbide Corporation, charged criminally with "culpable
homicide" in the wake of the disaster, has refused to appear in court
or stand trial. Union Carbide is now an international fugitive from
justice, considered an "absconder" under Indian law.
Bhopal remains one of the world's worst examples of corporate crime,
but the people of Bhopal continue to persevere in their call for justice.
*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 at pglaf.org
***
More information about the gweekly
mailing list