[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Apr 6 09:07:12 PDT 2005
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******
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*
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.
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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
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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Don't worry, many of the numbers listed are out of date,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. 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
***
***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements
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designed to turn plain-ASCII e-texts into full-on e-books.
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REQUEST FOR RUSSIAN TRANSLATOR
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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>
*
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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
In the first 03.00 months of this year, we produced 992 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to May 1997 to produce our first 992 eBooks!
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,
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##### eBooks to Project Gutenberg.
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*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 at 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
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In addition: The Internet Public Library had a similar
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made months ago, and again recently, have not turned up
any current information.
You can try a new IPL service at:
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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]
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***
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
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*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.
***
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