[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed May 4 09:10:59 PDT 2005
GWeekly_May_06.txt
**The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, May 06, 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
1 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
51 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from Edupage
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
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*eBook Milestones
16,159 eBooks As Of Today!!!
13,097 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
We Have Produced 1203 eBooks in 2005
We Are ~61% of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000
We are ~23% of the Way from 15,000 to 20,000
3,831 to go to 20,000!!!
We have now averaged ~478 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971
We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Are Averaging About 301 books Per Month This Year
We Are Averaging About 71 eBooks Per Week This Year
52 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
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***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements
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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
In the first 04.00 months of this year, we produced 1203 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to Dec 1997 to produce our first 1203 eBooks!
That's 17 WEEKS as Compared to ~26 Years!
52 New eBooks This Week
56 New eBooks Last Week
212 New eBooks This Month [Apr]
301 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
1203 New eBooks in 2005
4049 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
13097 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 52.00 Months!
About 250 books per month
16,159 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
12,581 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
3,578 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
435 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
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PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE:
Since starting production in October 2000,
Distributed Proofreaders has contributed
6,758 eBooks to Project Gutenberg.
For more complete DP statistics, visit:
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*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
Please note the addition of the Internet Archive
marked with <<< below.
PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections listings
of 18 collections. . .with this week's listing as:
Alex-Wire Tap Collection, 2,036 HTML eBook Files
Black Mask Collection, 12,000 HTML eBook Files
The Coradella Bookshelf Collection, 141 eBook Files
DjVu Collection, 272 PDF and DJVU eBook Files
eBooks at Adelaide Collection, 27,709 eBook Files
Himalayan Academy, 3,400 HTML eBook Files
Internet Archive ~30,000 eBook Files [In Progress] <<<
Literal Systems Collection, 68 MP3 eBook Files
Logos Group Collection, ~34,000 TXT eBook Files
Poet's Corner Poetry Collection, 6,700 Poetry Files
Project Gutenberg Collection, 15,035 eBook Files
PGCC Chinese eBook Collection ~300 eBook files <<< Note Name Change
Renaisscance Editions Collection, 561 HTML eBook Files
Swami Center Collection, 78 HTML eBook Files
Tony Kline Collection, 223 HTML eBook Files
Widger Library, 2,600 HTML eBook Files
CIA's Electronic Reading Room, 2,019 Reference Files
=======Grand Total Files=========~137,142 Total Files=====
Average Size of the Collections 8,067.18 Total Files
These eBooks are catalogued as per the instructions of
their donors: some are one file per book; some have a
file for each chapter; and some even have a file for a
single page or poem. . .or are overcounted for reasons
I have not mentioned. . .each of which could cause the
overcounting or duplication of numbers.
If we presume 2 out of 3 of these files are overcounts,
that leaves a unique book total of
~45,714 Unique eBooks
If we presume 3 out of 4 of these files are overcounts,
that leaves a unique book total of
~34,286 Unique eBooks
***
Please also note that over 23,000 eBooks are listed via
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In addition: The Internet Public Library had a similar
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any current information.
You can try a new IPL service at:
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It would appear that The Internet Public Library ended
its first incarnation with about 22,284 entries, which
has now been surpassed by the Online Books Page.
Still looking for more Internet Public Library info.
***
Today Is Day #119 of 2005
This Completes Week #17 and Month #04.00 [364 days this year]
245 Days/35 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
3,841 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
71 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 17 weeks of this year, we have produced 1203 new eBooks.
It took us from 7/71 to 2/98 to produce our FIRST 1203 eBooks!!!
That's 17 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 YEARS!!!
FLASHBACK!
Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #1203
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]
Feb 1998 South Sea Tales, by Jack London [London #41-48][sosetxxx.xxx] 1208
Feb 1998 Nada the Lily, by H. Rider Haggard [Haggard #2] [ndllyxxx.xxx] 1207
Feb 1998 The Flying U Ranch, by B. M. Bower [Bower #5] [flurnxxx.xxx] 1206
The Colour of Life, by Alice Meynell 1205
[Subtitle: And Other Essays on Things Seen and Heard]
Feb 1998 Cabin Fever, by B. M. Bower [B. M. Bower #4] [cabfvxxx.xxx] 1204
Feb 1998 Dolly Dialogues by Anthony Hope [Anthony Hope #4] [dlydlxxx.xxx] 1203
Feb 1998 Tales of Unrest, by Joseph Conrad [Conrad #20] [tnrstxxx.xxx] 1202
Feb 1998 Essay on the Trial By Jury, by Lysander Spooner[1][tbjryxxx.xxx] 1201
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete, by Francois Rabelais 1200
Feb 1998 An Anthology of Australian Verse, Bertram Stevens [ozvrsxxx.xxx] 1199
Feb 1998 Robbery Under Arms, by Rolf Boldrewood[T.A.Browne][robryxxx.xxx] 1198
Feb 1998 Taras Bulba, et. al, by Nikolai Gogol [Gogol #2-7][tarasxxx.xxx] 1197
Feb 1998 The Purse, by Honore' de Balzac [Balzac #3] [pursexxx.xxx] 1196
Glasses, by Henry James 1195
Feb 1998 Adventures of Louis de Rougemont, by de Rougemont [advlrxxx.xxx] 1194
Feb 1998 The Coxon Fund, by Henry James [Henry James #18][coxonxxx.xxx] 1193
Feb 1998 The Old Bachelor, by William Congreve [Congreve#2][oldbaxxx.xxx] 1192
Feb 1998 The Double-Dealer, by William Congreve[Congreve#1][dbdlrxxx.xxx] 1191
Feb 1998 The Jolly Corner, by Henry James [Henry James #17][jllycxxx.xxx] 1190
The Message, by Honore de Balzac 1189
The Lair of the White Worm, by Bram Stoker 1188
Feb 1998 War of the Classes, by Jack London[Jack London#40][wrclsxxx.xxx] 1187
Poems, by Alice Meynell 1186
Feb 1998 Conflict Between Religion and Science, by Draper [hcbrsxxx.xxx] 1185
Jan 1998 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas[Pere][crstoxxx.xxx] 1184
Jan 1998 The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer[Rohmer4][rfumnxxx.xxx] 1183
Jan 1998 Dope, by Sax Rohmer [Sax Rohmer #3] [dopexxxx.xxx] 1182
Jan 1998 The Symposium by Xenophon, trans. by Dakyns [#13][sympmxxx.xxx] 1181
Jan 1998 The Sportsman, by Xenophon trans. by Dakyns [#12][sportxxx.xxx] 1180
Jan 1998 On Revenues by Xenophon, translated by Dakyns[#11][rvnuexxx.xxx] 1179
Jan 1998 Polity Athenians and Lacedaemonians, Xenophon[#10][pltisxxx.xxx] 1178
Jan 1998 The Memorabilia by Xenophon, trans. by Dakyns [#9][mmrbixxx.xxx] 1177
Jan 1998 On Horsemanship by Xenophon, trans. by Dakyns [#8][hrsmnxxx.xxx] 1176
Jan 1998 Hiero, by Xenophon, translation by H.G. Dakyns[#7][hieroxxx.xxx] 1175
Jan 1998 Hellenica, by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns [#6][hllncxxx.xxx] 1174
Jan 1998 The Economist, by Xenophon, Dakyns translation[#5][econmxxx.xxx] 1173
Jan 1998 The Cavalry General by Xenophon, trans. Dakyns[#4][cvlryxxx.xxx] 1172
Jan 1998 The Apology by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns[#3][aplgyxxx.xxx] 1171
Jan 1998 Anabasis, by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns [#2][anbssxxx.xxx] 1170
Jan 1998 Agesilaus, by Xenophon, translation by Dakyns [#1][agslsxxx.xxx] 1169
*
Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
With 16,159 eBooks online as of May 04, 2005 it now takes an average
of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.96 from each book.
1% of the world population is 64,394,041 x 16,159 x $.96 = ~$1 trillion]
[Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.]
With 16,159 eBooks online as of May 04, 2005 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.62 from each book,
This "cost" is down from about $.79 when we had 12,581 eBooks a year ago.
100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population!
At 16,159 eBooks in 33 Years and 10.00 Months We Averaged
~478 Per Year
39.8 Per Month
1.31 Per Day
At 1203 eBooks Done In The 119 Days Of 2005 We Averaged
10.11 Per Day
71 Per Week
301 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]
PROPOSED DATABASE WORRIES SECURITY EXPERTS
Amid a rash of corporate and institutional data breaches recently,
security experts are questioning whether a "unit record" database
proposed by the Department of Education could be kept secure. Currently
the department collects aggregate data on college students and
graduation rates. A unit record database would track individual
students through their college careers, presenting what some see as an
extremely tempting target for hackers. The current system would force a
hacker to "compromise several databases," according to Eugene Spafford,
professor of computer sciences and electrical and computer engineering
at Purdue University, whereas with a database like the one proposed,
"it's possible to attack it from any point in the system." Barbara
Simons, former president of the Association for Computing Machinery,
was also concerned about a unit record database, suggesting that it
might not be the safest way to accomplish the department's goals.
Grover Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences at
the Education Department, said the agency is investigating security
options for the proposed database and welcomes suggestions. He noted
that the system might not use Social Security numbers as identifiers
and said that if the information in the system were limited in scope,
it would not be very appealing to hackers.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 May 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i35/35a03701.htm
TIME WARNER REPORTS DATA LOSS
A company that handles data storage for Time Warner lost tape backups
containing personal information for about 600,000 employees. Iron
Mountain Inc., based in Boston, reportedly lost the tapes during
transport. Officials from Time Warner said the tapes did not contain
customer information. In a statement, Larry Cockell, chief security
officer at Time Warner, said that although no evidence exists that the
data have been accessed or misused, "we are providing current and
former employees with resources to monitor their credit reports while
our investigation continues." Time Warner owns America Online, HBO, and
Warner Brothers.
Reuters, 2 May 2005
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8363208
HEARINGS FOCUS ON LIBRARY PROVISIONS OF USA PATRIOT ACT
Amid both House and Senate hearings on whether to renew certain
portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, supporters and critics of Section 215,
which authorizes law enforcement to obtain records from libraries and
other institutions, have lined up to voice their opinions. Section 215
allows gaining access to various types of records with only the
approval of a secret court. Further, those whose information has been
collected are barred from disclosing that fact, even to attorneys.
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has
been highly critical of the legislation, said they could support its
renewal if several concessions were made, including limiting the
authority to investigate only "agent[s] of a foreign power" and
eliminating the gag order for those under investigation. Groups
including the American Library Association said they supported the
ACLU's recommendations. Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) defended the law as
it stands, saying there has been much "misinformation" about Section
215 and how it has been used. Kenneth L. Wainstein, U.S. attorney for
the District of Columbia, said that the law has not been used to obtain
records from libraries, though he acknowledged that it could be used
that way in the future.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 April 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/04/2005042901t.htm
FIU SUFFERS COMPUTER HACK
Officials at Florida International University (FIU) are warning faculty
and students about possible identity theft after it was discovered that
a hacker had user names and passwords for 165 computers on campus.
Although only a few of the computers contained personal information,
and despite the fact that no evidence exists that anyone's information
has been misused, school officials fear that the hacker may have had
enough access to put the university's entire network in question.
University staff have been instructed to inspect 3,000 computers on
campus to determine if they have been compromised. FIU has recommended
that faculty and students remove any personal information from their
computers and that they monitor their credit cards for suspicious
activity that could indicate fraud.
The Register, 29 April 2005
http://www.theregister.com/2005/04/29/fiu_id_fraud_alert/
U.S. STRENGTHENS COPYRIGHT LAW
President Bush this week signed into law the Family Entertainment and
Copyright Act, which allows for stiffer penalties for copyright
violations. Under the law, individuals found guilty of possessing one
or more copyrighted movie, music, or software files that have not been
released to the public face a fine and prison term of up to three
years. The law also criminalizes using a camcorder to record movies in
theaters. Copyright holders supported the measure. Dan Glickman of the
Motion Picture Association of America thanked Congress for what he
called "their strong advocacy for intellectual property rights."
Although some consumer groups opposed the law, some observers described
it as a relatively minor expansion of existing law. Eric Goldman,
professor of copyright law at Marquette University Law School, said he
expects the Justice Department to use its new authority responsibly.
Silicon.com, 28 April 2005
http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39129955,00.htm
SPITZER FILES SUIT AGAINST MARKETING FIRM FOR SPYWARE
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed suit against
California-based Intermix Media for installing spyware on millions of
computers. The marketing company, which conceded that previous owners
indeed distributed spyware, is accused of violating state laws
concerning false advertising, deceptive business practices, and
trespassing. The state is seeking injunctions barring the company from
distributing any more spyware; an accounting of revenues the company
realized from the spyware; and fines of $500 for each act of installing
spyware. A statement from the company said that it voluntarily stopped
installing spyware recently and that no personal information was ever
collected with the secretly installed software. The statement hinted at
trying to reach a settlement with New York, a resolution that observers
said is a typical outcome of situations like this one.
New York Times, 29 April 2005 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/29/nyregion/29internet.html
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***
*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
Bill Gates and Thomas Friedman on the subject of the
U.S. high school system.
*STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I don't know what the future holds,
but I do know who holds the future."
DOUBLESPEAK OF THE DAY
In the bombing of the Toykyo, Japan area the vast majority
of U.S. bombing runs were total disasters with very heavy
losses and most of the bombs missing their targets, but it
was never reported at the time. Curtis LeMay, commander
of these air raids, was later promoted from Lt. Colonel
to Major General in just 18 months and even became the
Air Force Chief of Staff. However, he pursued failure
after failure in that office, and, finally, after his
abortive candidacy for Vice President under segregationist
George Wallace, his career in the public eye was over.
In his favor, however, was his stance against the gradual
buildup to U.S. involvement in Viet Nam, but he was once
again ignored.
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
The New York Stock Exchange will remain steady, not moving
much more than 5% above and below 10,500.
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
20% of U.S. adults have completed 4 years or more of higher education,
which is 1 out of 5. 40 years ago college was more exclusive, as only
1 out of 7 had a college education. Even with this influx of moderate
students, the grade average has increased, yet the SAT and ACT college
test scores continued to decline though the same period, at least from
then up to the point where the tests were rescored to make things look
as if they were not so bad. However, when such testing was initiated,
it was for an even wider portion of the U.S. population, servicemen of
the World War Two era.
*
You've probably seen something like this statistic:
"A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate Washington spends it."
Then:
"This may have been true a half a billion seconds ago, too,
but now they're spending faster, so it doesn't take so long.
It's less than five hours."
And lately:
"It's 3 hours, 30 minutes now, for the feds to spend a billion USD,
not counting some off-budget expenditures."
*
"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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