[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Project Gutenberg Newsletter
news at pglaf.org
Wed Jun 22 18:32:51 PDT 2005
Weekly_June_22.txt
**The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, June 22, 2005 PT1**
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******
Please note that this Newsletter is being prepared in advance so statistics
for the total our production week to Wednesday are estimated based on 50, &
10 of these are from PG Australia. We have not yet worked out a system for
reporting the eBooks contributed by PG Europe, but the total for this month
is expected to be around 100.
[This pre-edition is being prepared around noon Monday, June 20, just as I
head out to the airport.
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
to an automated PT2 sender. The situation with Monthly Newsletters is in
flux to an even greater degree. Our apologies as we make changes.
*
HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE:
Since starting production in October 2000,
Distributed Proofreaders has contributed
6,997+ eBooks to Project Gutenberg.
For more complete DP statistics, visit:
http://www.pgdp.net/c/stats/stats_central.php
*
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
10 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
35 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones
16,525 eBooks As Of Today!!!
13,351 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
We Have Produced 1567 eBooks in 2005
We Are ~65% of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000
We are ~28% of the Way from 15,000 to 20,000
3,477 to go to 20,000!!!
We have now averaged ~482 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971
We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Are Averaging About 273 books Per Month This Year
We Are Averaging About 66 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.]
*
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements
*
Project Gutenberg of Canada needs your help!
Please email:
pgcanada at lists.pglaf.org
To subscribe to the pgcanada list, please visit:
http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/pgcanada
*
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!
*
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:
www.pgcc.net
[also available as www.gutenberg.us and www.gutenberg.cc]
The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center [PGCC]
Please let us know of any eBook collections that
would be suitable for inclusion: public domain
or copyrighted, for which we 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
bibliographic record page, e.g.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300
Basically this paginates the .txt file and remembers your last position
in a cookie so you can later resume reading where you left off.
Please test it. It should work with any book that has a text file
where the encoding is known.
*
MACHINE TRANSLATION
We are seeking as much information as possible on the various
approaches to Machine Translation. Any brand names or contact
information would be greatly appreciated.
***
Please use our new site for downloading DVD and CD images, etc.
http://www.gutenberg.org/cdproject
and
The PG bittorrent tracker is up and running.
Aaron Cannon has placed the CD and DVD there if anyone wants to test.
You can access it by visiting
http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu:6969
***
Please checkout the various Project Gutenberg FAQs, etc. at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/about
*
We're building a team to read our eBooks into MP3 files
for the visually impaired and other audio book users.
Let us know if you'd like to join this group.
More information at http://www.gutenberg.org/audio
***
Project Gutenberg Needs DVD Burners
So far we have sent out 15 million eBooks via snailmail!!!
We currently have access to a dozen DVD burners. If you have a DVD burner
and are interested in lending a hand, please email Aaron Cannon
<cannona at fireantproductions.com>
We can set you up with images, or snail you these DVDs
for you to copy. You can either snail them directly
to readers whose addresses we can send you, or you can
do a stack of these and send the whole box back for reshipping.
We can also reimburse you for supplies and postage if you wish.
Please note that we can only use DVDs which are burnt in the dvd-r format,
as we have had some compatibility issues with the dvd+r format.
***
Project Gutenberg is seeking graphics we can use for our Web
pages and publicity materials. If you have original graphics
depicting Project Gutenberg themes, please contribute them!
To see some of what we have now, please see:
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/images
*** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES
Project Gutenberg is seeking (volunteer) lawyers.
We have regular need for intellectual property legal advice
(both US and international) and other areas. Please email
Project Gutenberg's CEO, Greg Newby <gbnewby AT pglaf.org> ,
if you can help.
This is much more important than many of us realize!
***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
In the first 05.75 months of this year, we produced 1572 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to Dec 1998 to produce our first 1572 eBooks!
That's 24 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 Years!
50 New eBooks This Week
69 New eBooks Last Week
160 New eBooks This Month [Jun]
~273 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
1568 New eBooks in 2005
4049 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
13351 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 53.00 Months!
About 250 books per month
16,523 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
13,005 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
3,518 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
458 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
*
PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE:
Since starting production in October 2000,
Distributed Proofreaders has contributed
~7,000 eBooks to Project Gutenberg.
For more complete DP statistics, visit:
http://www.pgdp.net/c/stats/stats_central.php
*
Check out our website at www.gutenberg.org, and see below to learn how
you can get INSTANT access to our eBooks via FTP servers even before
the new eBooks listed below appear in our catalog.
eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists.
Info on subscribing to daily, weekly, monthly Newsletters, listservs:
http://www.gutenberg.org/howto/subscribe-howto
or
http://www.gutenberg.org/subs.shtml
***
*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
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 #168 of 2005
This Completes Week #24 and Month #05.75 [364 days this year]
196 Days/34 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
3,468 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
66 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]
*** Permanent Requests For Assistance:
DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS NEEDS CONTENT, PROOFERS AND SCANNER TYPES
Please visit the site:
http://www.pgdp.net
for more information about how you can help a lot by
simply proofreading just a few pages per day, or more.
If you have a book that has been scanned, but not yet run
through OCR (optical character recognition) or proofed,
and you would like the Distributed Proofreaders to work on it,
please email dphelp at pgdp.net and we will get things started.
Also, DP is seeking public domain books not already in the
Project Gutenberg collection. To see what is already online,
visit http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/GUTINDEX.ALL (a text file)
listing Project Gutenberg eBooks and is available for downloading.
Do you have Public Domain books you would like to see in the archive?
Can they be destructively scanned? If so send them to the Distributed
Proofreading Team! Please email dphelp at pgdp.net with your geographic
location. You will be given the address of the nearest high-speed scanner.
[Note that the high-speed scanner requires destruction of the book(s) which
will not be returned.] We have high-speed scanners currently located in
the east, west and central portions of the US to make shipping easier.
Please make sure that any books you send are _not_ already in the archive
and please check them against David's "In Progress" list at:
http://www.dprice48.freeserve.co.uk/GutIP.html
to ensure no one is currently working on them. It would also be helpful if
you obtain copyright clearance before mailing the books, and send the 'OK'
lines to
dphelp at pgdp.net
Do you like to work on an entire book at once but don't have the time
or technology to do the scanning, OCR, and initial proofing yourself?
Distributed Proofreaders has the perfect solution! Just send us email
telling us that you are interested in post-processing and we will help
find a project you would like to work on.
Please contact us at:
dphelp at pgdp.net
if you would like to know more about the Distributed Proofreaders.
***Donation Information
We Have Included Quick and Easy Ways to Donate. . .As Per Your Requests!
We Are Looking For Volunteers To Add eBooks In More Languages,
as well as in more formats, including music, artwork, movies, etc.
***
QUICK WAYS TO MAKE A DONATION TO PROJECT GUTENBERG
A. Send a check or money order to:
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
809 North 1500 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84116
USA
B. Donate by credit card online:
NetworkForGood:
http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=64-6221541
or
PayPal to "donate at gutenberg.org":
http://www.paypal.com
/xclick/business=donate%40gutenberg.org&item_name=Donate+to+Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg's success is due to the hard work of thousands of
volunteers over more than 33 years. Your donations make it possible
to support these volunteers, and pay our few employees to continue the
creation of free electronic texts. We accept credit cards, checks and
transfers from any country, in any currency.
Donations are made to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
(PGLAF). PGLAF is approved as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization by
the US Internal Revenue Service, and has the Federal Employee Information
Number (EIN) 64-6221541.
For more information, including several other ways to donate, go to
http://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html or email donate at gutenberg.org
*Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections
*Mirror Site Information
Mirrors (copies) of the complete collection are available around the world.
To find the sites nearest you, go to:
http://www.gutenberg.org/MIRRORS.ALL
*Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks
http://www.gutenberg.org/find
allows searching by title, author, language and subject.
Use your Web browser or FTP program to visit our master download
site (or a mirror) if you know the file's name you want. Try:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs
or
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/
and then navigate to the appropriate directory and look for the first
five characters of the file's name. Note that updated eBooks usually
go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.)
***
Statistical Review
In the 24 weeks of this year, we have produced 1567 new eBooks.
It took us from 7/71 to 12/98 to produce our FIRST 1567 eBooks!!!
That's 24 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 YEARS!!!
FLASHBACK!
Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #1567
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]
Dec 1998 Timaeus, by Plato, Benjamin Jowett, Tr. #3 [tmeusxxx.xxx] 1572
Dec 1998 Critias, by Plato, Benjamin Jowett, Tr. #2 [critixxx.xxx] 1571
Dec 1998 The Power of Concentration, By Theron Q. Dumont [prconxxx.xxx] 1570
The Lily of the Valley, by Honore de Balzac 1569
[Tr.: Katharine Prescott Wormeley]
Dec 1998 Poems, by William Ernest Henley[William Henley #2][pmwehxxx.xxx] 1568
Dec 1998 Poems, by T. S. [Thomas Stearns] Eliot [Eliot #3][tsepmxxx.xxx] 1567
Dec 1998 The Evolution of Modern Medicine, by William Osler[teommxxx.xxx] 1566
Dec 1998 Last Days of Pompeii, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton [tldopxxx.xxx] 1565
Dec 1998 Boswell's Life of Johnson, Ed. by Osgood [ljnsnxxx.xxx] 1564
*
Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
With 16,523 eBooks online as of June 22, 2005 it now takes an average
of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.94 from each book.
1% of the world population is 64,487,605 x 16,523 x $.94 = ~$1 trillion]
[Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.]
With 16,523 eBooks online as of June 22, 2005 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.61 from each book,
This "cost" is down from about $.77 when we had 13,005 eBooks a year ago.
100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population!
At 16,523 eBooks in 33 Years and 11.75 Months We Averaged
~486 Per Year
40.5 Per Month
1.33 Per Day
At 1568 eBooks Done In The 186 Days Of 2005 We Averaged
9.4 Per Day
65.5 Per Week
273.4 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]
BRINGING THE INTERNET TO RURAL INDIA
As many as 5,000 villages in rural India may soon be connected to the
Internet, thanks to efforts of an international group of companies and
organizations, including the World Bank. Many rural Indians do not have
easy access to business or government functions, and the project is
designed to fill that gap for villages with more than 5,000 residents
in the Indian state of Karnataka. The computer centers or kiosks will
connect to the Internet either through wired networks or by satellite
and will have between 5 and 10 "thin client" computers. In addition to
the World Bank, partners in the project include Comat Technologies, an
Indian Internet service provider; ICICI Bank, a commercial bank in India;
and California-based Wyse Technology, maker of computer terminal equipment.
New York Times, 15 June 2005 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/technology/16compute.html
DUKE EVALUATES IPOD PROGRAM
A study conducted at Duke University provided a mixed review of the
institution's iPod program, in which all incoming freshmen last fall
were given the devices to investigate their educational value.
According to the study, carried out by the Duke Center for
Instructional Technology, three quarters of the students in the program
used the devices for at least one course, primarily for recording
lectures or other content. Some students said they benefited from being
able to listen to lectures when it was convenient or to replay parts
that they might not have understood during class. Faculty commented
that the devices provided a significant level of convenience for
students, and the study said some faculty who had not previously
incorporated technology into their courses did so with the iPods.
Limitations of the devices, according to the study, include a fairly
small number of uses and the relatively low quality of recorded
material. Duke had previously announced it would narrow the scope of
the iPod program next year, giving the devices only to students
enrolled in courses that use them.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 16 June 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/06/2005061602t.htm
HOUSE VOTES TO LIMIT PATRIOT ACT
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted 238-187 to impose limits on
the powers of the Patriot Act. Sponsored by Rep. Bernard Sanders
(I-Vt.), the measure would eliminate federal authority granted by the
Patriot Act to compel libraries and bookstores to disclose information
about books their patrons have checked out or bought, without first
obtaining a search warrant; the measure would preserve the right for
government officials to obtain Internet search records from libraries.
Although Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently told Congress that
federal authorities have never invoked the power, a number of libraries
have begun deleting patron records to preempt the possibility of having
to turn them over. Sanders called the vote "a tremendous victory that
restores important constitutional rights to the American people." Rep.
Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) defended the powers, saying that federal
authorities need tools to help them identify planned terrorist
activities and prevent attacks before they happen. The measure has not
been introduced by the Senate, and President Bush has promised to veto
the bill if it passes [without the no warrant search provision].
Wired News, 15 June 2005
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,67880,00.html
SOLARIS GOES OPEN SOURCE
This week Sun Microsystems began offering its Solaris 10 operating
system as a free, open source application, called OpenSolaris.
According to Sun, users can download many of the technologies of the
operating system--including the kernel and networking software--make
changes to the code, and create new commercial products. Tom Goguen,
vice president for platform software at Sun, said, "Our goal is to
increase and really drive up the ecosystem around Solaris." Goguen said
that with the release, Sun surpasses the University of California as
the single largest contributor to the open source community. Gordon
Haff, senior analyst at Illuminata, said the move is more likely to
help Sun retain existing customers than to draw new ones. OpenSolaris
is not likely a competitor for Linux in the near term, said Haff, and
Windows is sufficiently different from Solaris that current Windows
customers are unlikely to switch based on the new release. Haff said he
believes Sun's goal is to support "its customer base and developer
community that are still in the Solaris camp."
InfoWorld, 13 June 2005
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/06/13/HNopensolaris_1.html
SPYWARE CHARGES RESULT IN $7.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT
California-based Intermix Media will pay New York State $7.5 million
over three years to settle a spyware lawsuit. In the suit, New York
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer had charged the company with violating
state false-advertising and deceptive-practices laws. Intermix
acknowledged that it formerly distributed software that was
surreptitiously installed on users' computers, though as part of the
settlement the company admitted no wrongdoing. Intermix had previously
suspended the distribution of the software at issue; with the
settlement, the company will permanently discontinue the practice.
Intermix has also created a position of chief privacy officer since the
lawsuit was originally filed, and officials from the company said they
have cooperated with federal regulators.
Reuters, 15 June 2005
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8798165
*** SUMMER BREAK *** Edupage will be taking a brief break and will not
be published on Monday, June 20, or Wednesday, June 22. Look for the
next Edupage on Friday, June 24.
You have been reading excerpts from Edupage:
If you have questions or comments about Edupage,
send e-mail to: edupage at educause.edu
To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to
LISTSERV at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
and in the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName
or
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings,
or access the Edupage archive, visit
http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639
***
*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
Philip A. Clooney, a White House lawyer with a BA in economics,
has apparently been altering many of the White House statements
concerning Global Warming [or Climate Change, as the spin medic
establishment is attempting to recoin the term].
Apparently Mr. Clooney, Esq., has no scientific training, other
than a stint as a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute,
where he was the "Climate Team Leader."
When The White House was asked for comment, Michele St. Martin,
a White House spokeswoman, said:
"We don't put Phil Cooney on the record.
"He's not a cleared spokesman."
However, his additions and editions of various adjectives and/or
adverbs seem to have been exactly what the spin-doctors at The
White House ordered, as he added the word "extremely" in this:
"The attribution of the causes of biological and ecological
changes to climate change or variability is extremely difficult."
Here is an even more obvious example:
"Many scientific observations indicate that the Earth is undergoing
a period of relatively rapid change."
became
"Many scientific observations point to the conclusion that the Earth
may be undergoing a period of relatively rapid change."
In yet more of this kind of doublespeak, Harlan L. Watson, the chief
climate negotiator for the State Department, said to the BBC last month:
"We are still not convinced of the need to move forward quite so quickly,"
"There is general agreement that there is a lot known, but also there is
a lot to be known."
I guess the environment is now a negotiable commodity, in the eyes of
The White House, at least.
However, try telling that to chemicals we have put there already.
Sources: The NY Times and the BBC
*STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK
When Mr. Evers, former head of MCI-Worldcom appeared in Congress
to answer questions, he refused to even answer the simple query,
as to whether he was the Mr. Evers who had headed MCI-Worlcom--
claiming his 5th Amendment rights again self-incrimination.
Or should that one go under doublespeak?
Source: The Congressional Record
DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
Recent news stories have reported various project to "harden"
various "Public Safety Building," but the stories were sparse.
1. "Harden" means to make them more resistant to attack.
2. "Public Safety Building" = "Police Station"
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
There will be no 6 month report from Google Print in the media.
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
The Illinois state budget was very quietly signed into law by
the governor this week, as the pension fund was raided to do
the magic of budget balancing.
The Republicans, in a fit of fiscal responsibility, berated
the governor for taking money from the pension fund at 8.5%
when it could have been borrowed commercially for 3.5%.
I suppose calling this a balanced budget might place this in
the Doublespeak column.. . .
*
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 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
collage
scattered wood shavings, fallen feathers
waves of sand tossed on a toasty beach
undulating pattern shows my heart and eyes ensemble
riding on the high tide of beauty without boundaries
Copyright 2005 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart
Please send comments to: simona_s75 AT yahoo.com & hart AT pobox.com
***
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
For more information about the Project Gutenberg's mailing lists,
including the Project Gutenberg Weekly and Monthly Newsletters:
and the other Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists:
The weekly is sent on Wednesdays, and the monthly is sent on the
first Wednesday of the month.
To subscribe to any (or to unsubscribe or adjust your subscription
preferences), visit the Project Gutenberg mailing list server:
http://lists.pglaf.org
If you are having trouble with your subscription, please
email the list's human administrators at: help at pglaf.org
More information about the gweekly
mailing list