[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Aug 31 10:11:49 PDT 2005
Weekly_August_31.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, Auguest 31, 2005 PT1
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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
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*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
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This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
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***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements
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***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 ]
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PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE:
Since starting production in October 2000,
Distributed Proofreaders has contributed
7,393 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] <<<
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Logos Group Collection, ~34,000 TXT eBook Files
Poet's Corner Poetry Collection, 6,700 Poetry Files
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PGCC Chinese eBook Collection ~300 eBook files <<< Note Name Change
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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
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Please also note that over 23,000 eBooks are listed via
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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.
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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]
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***
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
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***
*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
***
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