[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter

Michael Hart hart at pglaf.org
Wed Apr 13 10:00:28 PDT 2005


GWeekly_April_13.txt
*The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, April 13, 2005  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

Please note that PT2 of this Newsletter is currently in flux, as we shift
from to an automated PT2 sender.  The situation with Monthly Newsletters
is in flux to an even greater degree.  Our apologies as me make changes.

*

HOT REQUESTS

Wanted:  People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc.
and eBooks are already available on it in several more formats.


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
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Don't worry, many of the numbers listed are out of date,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
    2 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
   28 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from Edupage
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists

***


                          *eBook Milestones

                     15,997 eBooks As Of Today!!!

               12,760 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001

                  We Have Produced 1041 eBooks in 2005

              We Are ~60% of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000

              We are ~20% of the Way from 15,000 to 20,000

                         4,003 to go to 20,000!!!


     We have now averaged ~474 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971

           We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004

        We Are Averaging About 321 books Per Month This Year

         We Are Averaging About 74 eBooks Per Week This Year

                              50 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


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>

*

Please visit and test our newest site:

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The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center [PGCC]

Please let us know of any eBook collections that
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or copyrighted, for which we must ask permission.
[or listed as copyrighted with permission]

You should see some significant changes this week.


*

There is a new experimental online reader available. Start from any
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*

MACHINE TRANSLATION

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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders


     In the first 03.25 months of this year, we produced 1041 new eBooks.

It took us from July 1971 to May 1997 to produce our first 1041 eBooks!

               That's 14 WEEKS as Compared to ~25 Years!

                  60   New eBooks This Week
                  50   New eBooks Last Week
                  60   New eBooks This Month [Apr]

                 321   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

                1041   New eBooks in 2005
                4049   New eBooks in 2004
                4164   New eBooks in 2003
                2441   New eBooks in 2002
                1240   New eBooks in 2001
                ====
               12935   New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
                         That's Only 51.25 Months!
                         About 250 books per month

              15,997  Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
              12,326   eBooks This Week Last Year
                ====
               3,671   New eBooks In Last 12 Months

                 429   eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia

*

PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE:

Since starting production in October 2000,
Distributed Proofreaders has contributed
6,627 eBooks to Project Gutenberg.


For more complete DP statistics, visit:
http://www.pgdp.net/c/stats/stats_central.php

*

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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
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 #98 of 2005
This Completes Week #14 and Month #03.00  [364 days this year]
   266 Days/40 Weeks To Go  [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
4,003 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]

    74   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 14 weeks of this year, we have produced 1041 new eBooks.
It took us from 7/71 to 7/97 to produce our FIRST 1041 eBooks!!!

          That's 14 WEEKS as Compared to ~26 YEARS!!!


FLASHBACK!

Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #1041

Mon Year Title and Author                                  [filename.ext] ###
A "C" Following The eText # Indicates That This eText Is Under Copyright

Sep 1997 Dark Lady of the Sonnets by George Bernard Shaw[3][dlotsxxx.xxx] 1050
Sep 1997 Vanished Arizona, by Martha Summerhayes           [varizxxx.xxx] 1049

Sep 1997 The Ruling Passion, by Henry van Dyke [van Dyke#2][rlpsnxxx.xxx] 1048
Sep 1997 The New Machiavelli, by H. G. Wells  [Wells #11]  [nmchvxxx.xxx] 1047
Sep 1997 God The Invisible King, by H. G. Wells [Wells#10] [godikxxx.xxx] 1046
Sep 1997 Venus and Adonis, by William Shakespeare[Shakes#3][wsvnsxxx.xxx] 1045

Sep 1997 Captain Stormfield's Visit, by Mark Twain  [MT#11][cptsfxxx.xxx] 1044
Sep 1997 The Story of Evolution, by Joseph McCabe          [tsoevxxx.xxx] 1043
Sep 1997 A Reading of Life, Other Poems, by George Meredith[rdlifxxx.xxx] 1042
Sep 1997 Shakespeare's Sonnets, by William Shakespeare [#2][wssntxxx.xxx] 1041

Sep 1997 The Three Taverns, by Edwin Arlington Robinson[#3][3tavsxxx.xxx] 1040
Sep 1997 Missionary Travels in South Africa, by Livingstone[mtravxxx.xxx] 1039
Sep 1997 Style, by Walter Raleigh [Walter Raleigh eBook #2][stylexxx.xxx] 1038
Sep 1997 The Life of John Bunyan, by Edmund Venables       [lfbynxxx.xxx] 1037

Sep 1997 Joe Wilson and His Mates, by Henry Lawson  [HL#2] [jwahmxxx.xxx] 1036
Sep 1997 The Man against the Sky, by Edwin A. Robinson [#2][tmatsxxx.xxx] 1035
Sep 1997 Poems, by Wilfred Owen                            [wowenxxx.xxx] 1034
Sep 1997 Rose O' the River, by Kate Douglas Wiggin [KDW#4] [rorvrxxx.xxx] 1033

Sep 1997 The Pupil, by Henry James                                        1032
Sep 1997 Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde[Wilde#15][crmdsxxx.xxx] 1031
Sep 1997 Cavalier Songs & Ballads of England, MacKay/Editor[csboexxx.xxx] 1030
Sep 1997 The Night-Born, by Jack London  [Jack London #9   [ntbrnxxx.xxx] 1029

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

*

Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???

With 15,997 eBooks online as of April 13, 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 64,303,400 [x 15,997 x $.97 = ~$1 trillion]
[Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.]

With 15,997 eBooks online as of April 13, 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 $.81 when we had 12,326 eBooks a year ago.
100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population!

At 15,997 eBooks in 33 Years and 09.25 Months We Averaged
      ~474 Per Year
        39.4 Per Month
         1.29 Per Day

At 1041 eBooks Done In The 98 Days Of 2005 We Averaged
      10.62 Per Day
      74 Per Week
     321 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]

POKING HOLES IN MICROSOFT'S GRAMMAR CHECKER
Sandeep Krishnamurthy, associate professor of marketing and e-commerce
at the University of Washington, is so incensed with the grammar
checker in Microsoft Word that he has taken to posting examples of what
he sees as the checker's failings on his Web site. He has also called
on Microsoft to improve the checker. Citing egregious grammar mistakes
that the tool does not question, Krishnamurthy said that although it
might be helpful for above-average writers, it actually impedes
below-average writers' efforts to improve their writing skill.
Krishnamurthy said Microsoft should modify the tool to allow users to
select the level of help they need, from basic to advanced. For its
part, Microsoft said in a statement that the tool is not intended to
find or identify all errors. Instead, it is designed "to catch the
kinds of errors that ordinary users make in normal writing situations."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 15 April 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i32/32a02902.htm

COMPUTER APPLICATION GRADES ESSAYS
A professor at the University of Missouri has developed a computer
application that grades papers and offers advice on writing. Ed Brent,
professor of sociology, created the application, called Qualrus, using
a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Qualrus
evaluates papers based on the structure of sentences and paragraphs and
on the flow of ideas. Instructors can specify which factors of an
assignment are most important, and Qualrus incorporates that
information into the scores it provides. Brent claims the application
improves students' papers and estimated that it saves him more than
200 hours of grading per semester. The tool has been approved for use
across the university, but so far Brent is the only instructor using it.
Brent is also looking for ways to distribute the tool to other
universities and to businesses.  [Probably at a large profit]
CNET, 7 April 2005
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5659366.html

UC ELECTRONIC RESERVES RANKLE PUBLISHERS
A system that handles electronic reserves at the University of
California (UC) in San Diego has prompted complaints from publishers
that the university has far exceeded the bounds of fair use. With the
system, materials that faculty put on reserve are made available
electronically, allowing students to access and even print them from
outside the university library. The Association of American Publishers
objected, saying that electronic access substantially changes the
traditional terms of reserve materials and deprives publishers of
sales. Publishers have previously won legal challenges to the
production of coursepacks, which the courts said do not fall under the
terms of fair use. The publishing group insisted the same applies to
electronic resources. Representatives of UC disputed the claims, saying
the reserve system does not infringe on sales of texts. Jonathan
Franklin, associate law librarian at the University of Washington,
noted that the fair use law is not clear and commented that if the
disagreement is ultimately settled by the courts, such a resolution
might provide needed clarification for all concerned.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 April 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/04/2005040701t.htm

CODING CONTEST SHOWS U.S. STUDENTS FALLING BEHIND

[More details below in media avoidance section, Shanhai was winner]

At this year's Association for Computing Machinery International
Collegiate Programming Contest, the University of Illinois's tie for
17th place was the best result for any U.S. team, representing the
worst performance for U.S. institutions in the 29 years of the
competition. Many observers believe the result is indicative of a
variety of factors that have resulted in a striking shift in
technological preeminence away from U.S. schools and companies. As
recently as 1997, the United States came out on top, when a team from
Harvey Mudd College won the competition. David Patterson, president of
the Association for Computing Machinery and a computer science
professor at the University of California, Berkeley, noted, "The U.S.
used to dominate these kinds of programming Olympics." Others pointed
out that applications from outside the United States to computer
science and other technology programs at U.S. graduate schools have
dropped lately.
ZDNet, 7 April 2005
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5659116.html

E-RATE INDICTMENTS HANDED DOWN
Six companies and five individuals have been indicted on charges of
fraud in the federal E-Rate program, which was instituted to provide
funds to connect public schools and libraries to the Internet. A year
ago, a subsidiary of NEC admitted defrauding the program and settled
with prosecutors for $20.7 million. Those indicted this week were
charged with fraud, collusion, and rigging bids. According to the
Justice Department, the accused misrepresented financial terms of
E-Rate projects to school administrators and colluded on pricing and
terms of government contracts. The violations are said to have taken
place in seven states, though all but one defendant are based in
California. The individuals charged face up to five years in prison,
and the indicted companies could be fined as much as $10 million.
Wall Street Journal, 8 April 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111292755907301701,00.html

DUKE SCALES BACK IPOD PROGRAM
Officials at Duke University have said they will cut back a program to
equip incoming students with iPods. Last fall, all 1,600 incoming
freshmen were given the devices as part of a pilot program to see how
they might influence learning. Next year, the university will only
provide iPods to students who enroll in courses that use iPods in the
curriculum. School officials said they were pleased with what they
learned from the program in its first year, but they pointed out that
the larger goal is to incorporate technology into the teaching and
learning processes. The narrower focus of the iPod initiative was
characterized as an evolution of the university's efforts toward that
goal. Lynne O'Brien, who coordinated the iPod program, said some
faculty embraced the devices in their classes, while other faculty were
more skeptical, seeing no real purpose for the devices.
CNET, 6 April 2005
http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5657240.html


TECH COMPANIES LINE UP WITH EU

[No mention of the huge MicroSoft payoff to settle with Gateway]

Five leading technology companies have voiced their support of the
European Union (EU) in its antitrust case against Microsoft. IBM,
Oracle, Red Hat, RealNetworks, and Nokia have applied to join the case
in which the European Commission has already fined Microsoft $640
million and ordered that the company make changes to its operating
systems to increase competition with other vendors. Aside from
RealNetworks, which has previously challenged Microsoft in court, the
other four companies have been reluctant to take a strong public stance
against Microsoft. Thomas Vinje, an attorney for the EU, said the
support from these companies undercuts Microsoft's claim that the case
against it in Europe is not endorsed by others in the technology
industry. It is not clear whether the court hearing the case will
accept the companies' application, but, according to Jonathan Todd,
spokesperson for the EU, their action is not likely to be "relevant or
determining in terms of the outcome of a particular antitrust case."
Washington Post, 6 April 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30610-2005Apr6.html


You have been reading excerpts from Edupage:
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***


*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA

"There's really just one way to read the following: the USA is falling
further and further behind in computing. But here's my best spin:

"The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) sponsored
by IBM is officially over, and UIUC made a fine showing. The
contest involves students in computing disciplines at over
1,300 universities from 68 countries on six continents. 78 teams of
three students each took part in the world final here in Shanghai.

"The teams had 5 hours to do 10 problems. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which
hosted the contest, won the trophy by completing 8 problems successfully.
(They were so excited--I was very happy for them!)

"The other top places went to universities from Russia, Poland,
and Canada (7 problems each). Only one U.S. university team managed
to complete at least 5 problems, and that was our team from UIUC--
we came in ahead of Cal Tech, Duke, MIT, IIT, CMU, Georgia Tech,
NYU, and more.

"Our performance really improved over last year, and if we
continue at this rate, we could reach the top 12 places in
the competition. As it was, we tied for 17th.  Eastern Europe, and
of course China, certainly dominate the team standings now.
We are all enriched and wiser after seeing China during these weeks on
the road. It's been an awesome experience.

"Masochists can download the problem set at
http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc/Finals/2005FinalsProblemSet.pdf

"I noticed that the standings have not been updated yet on the official site.

"Photos of the team at the competition and in China:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=12i17lyj.5x8dlwqz&x=0&y=hmt4vg

Marsha Woodbury, proud Coach."

*

This week, 4 1/2 years after the fact, the last three defendants
charged with assault of the Philadelphia Police Chief and others,
were acquitted of all charges, based on videotapes made at the
Republican National Convention, August 1, 2000.

The police chief finally recanted his earlier testimony, admitting
that he could not identify anyone responsible for alleged assaults,
as various stories told by the police became inconsistent.

These charges were very serious and could have yielded 30-40 years
in prison if the judge had not ruled as he did, after only two days
of proceedings.

There is now a possibility the same videotape could now be used to
indict the police for beating up those they accused, and perhaps
even of perjury.

Apparently at least 90% of all the protestors arrested at the last
two Republican National Conventions have either won their cases or
had them summarily dismissed, expunged, etc.

[This story was mentioned on NPR]



*STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"What if an entire generation of Americans just gave up on golf?"

Phil Mickelson [2004 Masters Champion]



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."

[Some research by a friend indicates that the term "recession" may
be even older than I thought, but perhaps not in general useage, at
least not enough for anyone to want to avoid it when naming The
Great Depression in 1929.  I'm still not sure what really happened.
This was something I learned way back in Political Science, and if
anyone has any additional info, we'd be glad to hear it.]



*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK

Fewer Chinese and Indian students will come to the U.S.
for their educations, more will graduate at home, as an
educational revolution takes place.


*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK

Printing was once the seventh largest industry in America
and was the second largest industry in New York City.

*

Texas has the lowest percentage of high school graduates.

*

Indiana Teen Smoking Falls To National Average

>From 2000 to 2004 the percentage of teens smoking fell by nearly 33%
and those in grades 6-8 fell by nearly 20%, as Indiana spent a large
portion of their $65 million tobacco settlement cash on teen smoking.

In addition, the cigarette tax went up by $.40 during that period.

Only 5% of Indiana 6th graders smoke, while 25% of 12th graders do,
which remains steady through the rest of their lives.

More recent drops continue to be encouraging, as teen smoking rates
fell by 18.5% from 2002 to 2004.

*

Upper-class stores such as Neimann-Marcus had a very profitable
holiday as the upper-class had plenty of money to spend on gift
exchanges for friends, co-workers, and family.

Lower-class stores such as Wal-Mart did NOT have good profits
for the holiday season.

Even the major media managed to say that this was because
"The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer."


*

"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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