[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Jan 26 09:58:29 PST 2005
GWeekly_January_26.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, January 26, 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
4 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
74 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
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*eBook Milestones
15,172 eBooks As Of Today!!!
12,110 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
We Produced About 4,049 eBooks In 2004
We Have Produced 216 eBooks in 2005
We Are ~51% of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000
We are ~3.5% of the Way from 15,000 to 20,000
4,828 to go to 20,000!!!
We have now averaged ~450 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971!!!
We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Are Averaging About 270 eBooks Per Month This Year
We Are Averaging About 72 eBooks Per Week This Year
78 This Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~32 months, from 2001 to 2004 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
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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
In the first 00.75 months of this year, we produced 216 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to February 1995 to produce our first 216 eBooks!
That's 3 WEEKS as Compared to ~23.7 Years!
78 New eBooks This Week
79 New eBooks Last Week
216 New eBooks This Month [Jan]
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
216 New eBooks in 2005
4049 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
12110 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 48.75 Months!
15,172 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
11,001 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
4,034 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
406 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
*Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report
Since completing its first eBook (#3320) on Mar 13th, 2001,
the Distributed Proofreaders team has now produced its 6,330th eBook
(#14802). Of these are 5,543 unique, brand-new titles.
Projects completed during the past year:
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 - 287
Jan 2005 - 199 (as of 26 Jan)
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*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
Please note the addition of the Internet Archive
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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
Professor Mao's Chinese eBooks ~300 eBook files
Project Gutenberg Collection, 15,035 eBook Files
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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
***
Today Is Day #14 of 2005
This Completes Week #2 and Month #00.50
350 Days/51 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
4,985 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
79 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 1 week of this year, we have produced 79 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1993 to produce our FIRST 79 eBooks!!!
That's 1 WEEK as Compared to ~22.1 YEARS!!!
FLASHBACK!
Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #216
Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext] ###
A "C" Following The eText # Indicates That This eText Is Under Copyright
Mar 1995 Radar Map of the United States [1st Graphic File] [usmprxxx.xxx] 239
Mar 1995 Dear Enemy by Jean Webster #2 [Twain Grandniece] [drnmyxxx.xxx] 238
Mar 1995 Propertius [in Latin], [Sexti Properti Carmina] [prptixxx.xxx] 237
Mar 1995 The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling [Kipling #1] [jnglbxxx.xxx] 236
Mar 1995 William Gibson Intervewed by Giuseppe Salza [wmgibxxx.xxx] 235C
Mar 1995 Child Christopher, by William Morris [Morris #2] [chilcxxx.xxx] 234
Mar 1995 Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser [Dreiser #1] [scarrxxx.xxx] 233
Mar 1995 The Georgics [English] by Virgil/Vergil[Virgil #6][georexxx.xxx] 232
Mar 1995 The Georgics [in Latin] by Virgil/Vergil[Virgil#5][georlxxx.xxx] 231
Mar 1995 The Bucolics/Ecloges [English] by Virgil/Virgil#4][bucoexxx.xxx] 230
Mar 1995 The Bucolics/Ecloges [Latin], by Virgil/Virgil #3][bucolxxx.xxx] 229
Mar 1995 The Aeneid [English], by Virgil/Vergil [Virgil#2][anidexxx.xxx] 228
Mar 1995 The Aeneid [in Latin] by Virgil/Vergil [Virgil #1][anidlxxx.xxx] 227
Mar 1995 Cicero's Orations [in Latin, Selected Orations] [cceroxxx.xxx] 226
Mar 1995 At the Back of the North Wind, George MacDonald #0[nwindxxx.xxx] 225
Mar 1995 A Pair of Blue Eyes, by Thomas Hardy [Hardy #6] [pbluexxx.xxx] 224
Feb 1995 The Wisdom of Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton #3 [wifrbxxx.xxx] 223
Feb 1995 Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham [Maugham #1][moonaxxx.xxx] 222
Feb 1995 The Return of Sherlock Holmes [Magazine Edition] [rholmxxb.xxx] 221B
Feb 1995 The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad [Conrad #2] [ssharxxx.xxx] 220
Feb 1995 Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad [Conrad #1] [hdarkxxx.xxx] 219
Feb 1995 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin [Books I thru IV] [gallixxx.xxx] 218
Feb 1995 Sons and Lovers, by D. H. Lawrence [DHLawrence #1][sonsaxxx.xxx] 217
Feb 1995 Tao Teh King, by Lao-Tse [Hsuan Chiao] [taotexxx.xxx] 216
[Title AKA: Dao te ching] [Subtitle: The Tao and Its Characteristics]
[Author AKA: Lao Tzu; Laozi] [Translator: James Legge]
*
Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
With 15,172 eBooks online as of January 26, 2005 it now takes an average
of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of $1.05 from each book.
1% of the world population is 64,112,028 x 15,050 x $1.05 = $1+ trillion
With 15,172 eBooks online as of January 26, 2005 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.66 from each book,
This "cost" is down from about $.90 when we had 11,001 eBooks a year ago.
100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population!
Can you imagine ~15,172 books each costing ~$.24 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine ~15,172 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 15,172 eBooks in 33 Years and 06.75 Months We Averaged
~450 Per Year
37.5 Per Month
1.23 Per Day
At 216 eBooks Done In The 21 Days Of 2005 We Averaged
10.3 Per Day
72 Per Week
270 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 NewsScan and Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
'ROBO-SOLDIER' PREPARES FOR IRAQ
The U.S. Army is sending 18 remote-controlled robotic soldiers called
SWORDS (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems) to
Iraq, but they are not the autonomous killer robots of science fiction: a
SWORDS robot shoots only when its human operator presses a button (after
identifying a target on video shot by the robot's cameras). Jim Lowrie,
president of Perceptek, one of the firms developing robotics systems for the
military, says: "For the foreseeable future, there always will be a person
in the loop who makes the decision on friend or foe. That's a hard problem
to determine autonomously." (Washington Post 24 Jan 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31968-2005Jan24.html>
LONG LIVE THE LAPTOP!
We've apparently entered the age of laptops: during the past holiday
season U.S. retail stores sold 24% more laptops than during the same period
in 2003, whereas desktop computers fell 7% in the same period. The report
comes from research company Current Analysis. Intel vice president Mooly
Eden provides confirming data: "Between 2001 and 2004, we more than doubled
the amount of notebooks in the market. Between 2004 and 2008, we believe the
market will double again." (USA Today 23 Jan 2005)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-23-laptop_x.htm>
PEW STUDY FINDS SEARCHER MISPERCEPTIONS
A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project has found
that only 1 in 6 users of Internet search engines can tell the difference
between unbiased search results and paid advertisements. All of the major
search engines return a mix of regular results (based solely on relevance to
the search terms entered) and sponsored links (for which a Web site had paid
advertising fees). Only 38% of Web searchers are aware of the distinction,
and of those only 47% can always tell which are paid -- even though they're
usually labeled by the search engines. PEW researcher Deborah Fallows says:
"We're still in the infancy of the Internet. People are still kind of so
pleased that they can go there, ask for something and get an answer that
it's kind of not on their radar screen to look in a very scrutinizing way to
see what's in the background there." (AP 24 Jan 2005)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050124/D87QEK3O0.html>
MICROSOFT: SOFTWARE FIXES AREN'T FOR PIRATES
[Microsoft will now require a network connection to your computer?]
[Of course, the highly security conscious people at the Fortune 500
won't be subjected to this. . .or will they?]
Microsoft will soon be requiring that Windows XP users verify that
their copy of the software is genuine before they'll be able to receive
"greater reliability, faster access to updates, and richer user
experiences." Although users of pirated copies of Windows will still be able
get security patches, they won't be able to get other enhancements to
Windows. The company will be expanding a trial authentication program it
began last fall, and will make mandatory in mid-2005 for all users seeking
to access software updates, downloads and security fixes for Windows.
(Reuters/Washington Post 26 Jan 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37035-2005Jan26.html>
TEEN SUED BY APPLE GETS FREE HELP FROM LAWYER
San Francisco lawyer Terry Gross, a specialist in freedom of speech and
the Internet, will defend 19-year-old Nicholas Ciarelli against a lawsuit
brought by Apple charging the Harvard freshman and Web publisher revealing
Apple trade secrets on his Web site, www.ThinkSecret.com. Gross, whose
services will be given on a pro bono basis, says that his client used proper
news-gathering techniques and deserves First Amendment protection.
(AP/USA Today 19 Jan 2005)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-19-apple-teen-gains-counsel_x.htm>
THOUSANDS OF LAPTOPS, CELL PHONES LEFT IN CABS
A new survey estimates that 11,300 laptops, 31,400 handheld devices and
200,000 mobile phones were left in taxis around the world during the
last six months. The survey, which polled some 1,000 taxi drivers and
extrapolated from there, indicates that four out of five cell phones and 19
out of 20 laptops were returned to their owners eventually. Geographically,
Chicagoans were most likely to leave a handheld device in a cab, while
Londoners were more careless than others with their laptops. Danes seemed
to be most likely to forget their cell phones. Other items reportedly left
in cabs include a harp, dentures, artificial limbs and a baby.
(Reuters/CNN.com 24 Jan 2005)
<http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/01/24/taxis.lost.reut/index.html>
You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan: NewsScan Daily
is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization making
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*
>From Edupage
CARNIVORE IS DEAD
According to two recent reports to Congress, the FBI has put an end to
its electronic surveillance tool, known as Carnivore. Despite claims
from federal officials that they need expanded access to electronic
communications, the system was widely criticized by civil liberties
groups as being overly invasive and for not respecting individuals'
privacy. The reports, which the Electronic Privacy Information Center
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, note that the FBI did
not use the system for fiscal years 2002 and 2003 and instead used
commercially available monitoring software. According to the reports,
the FBI engaged in court-ordered Internet surveillance 13 times during
those years.
CNET, 19 January 2005
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5541483.html
You have been reading excerpts from Edupage:
If you have questions or comments about Edupage,
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-958352.html
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***
*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
Turnout in this week's elections in Iraq appear as if
it will be surprisingly small.
*STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The Iraqis want to vote, they want to
particpate in democracy." George W. Bush
Strange in light of the the 7% registration
in the US mentioned below, particularly as
compared to a world wide 14% registration.
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
Iraq locals will say the newly elected government
is merely a puppet created by the United States,
particularly if there is only a voter registration
of a small minority and/or actual votes cast.
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
Only 7% of Iraqi citizens in the United States have
registered to vote in this week's elections, though
registration dates have been extended.
*
Most of you have probably seen something like this:
"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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