[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed May 25 10:04:48 PDT 2005
Weekly_May_25.txt
**The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, May 25, 2005 PT1**
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******
Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart at pobox.com or gbnewby at pglaf.org
Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart at pobox.com
Please note that we are still in the process of correcting our statistical
program data. Last week we subtracted a few that we thought had been in a
duplicate count situation, but either that correction didn't stick or some
new similar problem has occured. As always, the total count should be the
consideration of some attention as to possibly being off by a few eBooks.
Please note that PT2 of this Newsletter is currently in flux, as we shift
from to an automated PT2 sender. The situation with Monthly Newsletters
is in flux to an even greater degree. Our apologies as we make changes.
*
HOT REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Cellphone as PDA Redux:
Following up on several discussions concerning cell phones used as PDAs,
eBook readers, etc., it now appears that the major players realized this
is the new wave, as more and more of the major players, including Google,
have made their services available in cell phone formats.
*
Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc.
*
Ipod & IP: A Public Radio Commentary by Bill Hammack
This year I joined the iPod generation. Unlike the youth of American
mine is filled mostly with public radio - and the occasional Ella
Fitzgerald tune.
At first I found it great: I mean no moving parts, just this tiny
sliver of a thing, so anytime I exercise I can listen on demand to
public radio. Then one day it all stopped.
You see I purchase some of the public radio shows. And for some reason
the IPod software stopped downloading it. Turns out that the
permissions got goofed up: IPod thought I was illegally downloading
them, which I wasn't. But it got me to thinking is it really a
fantastic thing to have all this intellectual property tied up
electronically? Sure it seems convenient, but what's the downside? The
courts have dealt with this in the past. When VCRs first arrived on
the scene Hollywood studios tried to curtail their use by suing the
electronics giant Sony, a major manufacturer. The Supreme Court wisely
held that individuals had the right to use VCRs to make complete
copies of television shows for personal use. Technological advances
have made this issue even more acute. If you had a VCR tape of a show,
you could make copies, but they were never as good as the original,
and further duplication of that copy made even worse copies. Now, of
course, the digital revolution has erased the difference: A computer
can make a copy identical to the original - plus a billion more! This,
of course, has the entertainment industry terrified, especially when
combined with the Internet, which provides unlimited distribution of
these digital copies. While I understand the fears of the
entertainment industry, I hope the courts and legislators continue to
resist restricting too much our ability to copy files. When everything
turns into electronic form we run the risk that every embodiment of
thought or imagination may be subjected to some kind of commercial
control. For example, as books become electronic, readers may lose the
rights they've had since Gutenberg's time. The publishers of an
electronic book can specify whether you can read the book all at once,
or only in parts. And they can decide whether you read it once or a
hundred times. So, the risk is this: The literary and intellectual
canon of the coming century may be locked into a digital vault
accessible only to a few. As the Courts and Congress regulate digital
copying, I think they should keep in mind an aphorism from T.S. Eliot
about literary creativity: "Good poets borrow," he said, "great poets
steal." Copyright 2005 William S. Hammack Enterprises
Reprinted with Bill's personal permission.
*
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
3 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
47 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones
16,294 eBooks As Of Today!!!
13,140 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
We Have Produced 1289 eBooks in 2005
We Are ~63% of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000
We are ~26% of the Way from 15,000 to 20,000
3,706 to go to 20,000!!!
We have now averaged ~481 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971
We Averaged About 339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Are Averaging About 282 books Per Month This Year
We Are Averaging About 68 eBooks Per Week This Year
50 This Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~32 months, from 2002 to 2005 for our last 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~1.25 years from Oct. 2003 to Jan. 2005 from 10,000 to 15,000
*
***Introduction
[The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing.]
[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a
few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us:
hart at pobox.com and gbnewby at pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
***
***Continuing Requests New Sites and Announcements
*
Darwin!!!
Would anyone like to work on reproofing our Darwin collection
and creating a compilation file as requested by our readers.
We could also use some help making some new editions of "The
Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "Frankenstein."
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v0.2 version of PodReader is out, and it interfaces to PG. This allows
users to browse the catalog on their Desktop, pick a book, and have it
downloaded to their iPod in the correct format...this is a good plus for
PG users since it makes it a lot easier to get to PG documents.
http://homepage.mac.com/ptwobrussell/podreader.html
*
We have been invited to peruse the various eBook collections
of the Internet Archive for potential Project Gutenberg eBooks.
http://www.archive.org
Don't worry, many of the numbers listed are out of date,
but you should get all the files when you pass through
to the original sites.
Click on "texts" to get started, feel free to pick up any
of the eBooks you would like to work on.
Many Thanks To Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive!
*
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
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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>
*
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MACHINE TRANSLATION
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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
In the first 04.75 months of this year, we produced 1338 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to Jan 1998 to produce our first 1338 eBooks!
That's 20 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 Years!
50 New eBooks This Week
39 New eBooks Last Week
138 New eBooks This Month [May]
~282 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
1338 New eBooks in 2005
4049 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
13232 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 52.75 Months!
About 250 books per month
16,294 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
12,760 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
3,534 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
440 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
*
PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE:
Since starting production in October 2000,
Distributed Proofreaders has contributed
6,864 eBooks to Project Gutenberg.
For more complete DP statistics, visit:
http://www.pgdp.net/c/stats/stats_central.php
*
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*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
Please note the addition of the Internet Archive
marked with <<< below.
PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections listings
of 18 collections. . .with this week's listing as:
Alex-Wire Tap Collection, 2,036 HTML eBook Files
Black Mask Collection, 12,000 HTML eBook Files
The Coradella Bookshelf Collection, 141 eBook Files
DjVu Collection, 272 PDF and DJVU eBook Files
eBooks at Adelaide Collection, 27,709 eBook Files
Himalayan Academy, 3,400 HTML eBook Files
Internet Archive ~30,000 eBook Files [In Progress] <<<
Literal Systems Collection, 68 MP3 eBook Files
Logos Group Collection, ~34,000 TXT eBook Files
Poet's Corner Poetry Collection, 6,700 Poetry Files
Project Gutenberg Collection, 15,035 eBook Files
PGCC Chinese eBook Collection ~300 eBook files <<< Note Name Change
Renaisscance Editions Collection, 561 HTML eBook Files
Swami Center Collection, 78 HTML eBook Files
Tony Kline Collection, 223 HTML eBook Files
Widger Library, 2,600 HTML eBook Files
CIA's Electronic Reading Room, 2,019 Reference Files
=======Grand Total Files=========~137,142 Total Files=====
Average Size of the Collections 8,067.18 Total Files
These eBooks are catalogued as per the instructions of
their donors: some are one file per book; some have a
file for each chapter; and some even have a file for a
single page or poem. . .or are overcounted for reasons
I have not mentioned. . .each of which could cause the
overcounting or duplication of numbers.
If we presume 2 out of 3 of these files are overcounts,
that leaves a unique book total of
~45,714 Unique eBooks
If we presume 3 out of 4 of these files are overcounts,
that leaves a unique book total of
~34,286 Unique eBooks
***
Please also note that over 23,000 eBooks are listed via
The Online Books Page, of which over 5,300 are from PG.
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
In addition: The Internet Public Library had a similar
listing which is now in limbo. If anyone knows what is
happening with the IPL, please let us know. Inquiries,
made months ago, and again recently, have not turned up
any current information.
You can try a new IPL service at:
http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.60.00/
It would appear that The Internet Public Library ended
its first incarnation with about 22,284 entries, which
has now been surpassed by the Online Books Page.
Still looking for more Internet Public Library info.
***
Today Is Day #140 of 2005
This Completes Week #20 and Month #04.75 [364 days this year]
224 Days/34 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
3,706 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
67 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 20 weeks of this year, we have produced 1338 new eBooks.
It took us from 7/71 to 2/98 to produce our FIRST 1338 eBooks!!!
That's 20 WEEKS as Compared to ~27 YEARS!!!
FLASHBACK!
Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #1289
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]
The Country Doctor, by Honore de Balzac 1350
Jun 1998 Russia, by Donald Mackenzie Wallace [rsdmwxxx.xxx] 1349
Jun 1998 A Master's Degree, by Margaret Hill McCarter [amsdgxxx.xxx] 1348
Jun 1998 A New Philosophy: Henri Bergson, by Edouard le Roy[anphbxxx.xxx] 1347
Jun 1998 Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Karl Marx [mar18xxx.xxx] 1346
Jun 1998 The Vicar of Tours, by Honore de Balzac[Balzac#16][vcrtrxxx.xxx] 1345
Jun 1998 Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan, Balzac [#15][sdpdcxxx.xxx] 1344
Bureaucracy, by Honore de Balzac [Tr.: Katharine Prescott Wormeley] 1343
Jun 1998 Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen [Austen #8][pandpxxx.xxx] 1342
Jun 1998 The Altruist in Politics, by Benjamin Cardozo [ltpltxxx.xxx] 1341
Jun 1998 Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White Volume I [1aadwxxx.xxx] 1340
Jun 1998 Salome,by Oscar Wilde[No Accents][Oscar Wilde #21][salmexxx.xxx] 1339
[Language: French]
Selected Prose of Oscar Wilde, by Oscar Wilde 1338
Jun 1998 Shelley, by Sydney Waterlow [Percy Bysshe Shelley][wshlyxxx.xxx] 1337
Shelley, by Francis Thompson 1336
The Ancien Regime, by Charles Kingsley 1335
Jun 1998 Paul Kelver by Jerome K. Jerome [JeromeKJerome#13][pklvrxxx.xxx] 1334
Jun 1998 R F Murray: His Poems with a Memoir by Andrew Lang[rfmurxxx.xxx] 1333
May 1998 Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by J. M. Barrie 3[ppikgxxx.xxx] 1332
May 1998 ABC's of Science, by Charles Oliver [abcosxxx.xxx] 1331
May 1998 The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman[samboxxx.xxx] 1330
[Also contains: The Story of Little Black Mingo]
*
Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
With 16,294 eBooks online as of May 25, 2005 it now takes an average
of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.95 from each book.
1% of the world population is 64,436,750 x 16,294 x $.95 = ~$1 trillion]
[Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.]
With 16,294 eBooks online as of May 25, 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 $.78 when we had 12,760 eBooks a year ago.
100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population!
At 16,294 eBooks in 33 Years and 10.75 Months We Averaged
~481 Per Year
40.1 Per Month
1.32 Per Day
At 1338 eBooks Done In The 140 Days Of 2005 We Averaged
10 Per Day
67 Per Week
282 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]
DATABASES GO PORTABLE
As handheld computing devices become increasingly common, organizations
that maintain a variety of databases are modifying their content to
allow for easy access by handheld devices. Chemical Abstracts Service,
which is a division of the American Chemical Society, is finalizing a
"mobile" version of a database that contains data on roughly 25 million
molecules, allowing users of handheld devices to access molecular
weights, boiling points, and other information in a format designed for
portable devices. The final database will be available to the public
later this year. Medical sciences already have a broad range of
databases designed for handhelds, and many librarians see the trend
continuing for other fields. As for the upcoming chemistry database,
reactions are mixed, even at single institutions. At Yale University,
David Austin, associate professor of chemistry, said the database will
be extremely valuable, whereas Glenn Micalizio, assistant professor of
organic chemistry, said he sees little value in it, given widespread
access to laptops and desktops.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 May 2005 (sub. req'd)
STUDENTS SHOW EASE OF IDENTITY THEFT
Graduate students at Johns Hopkins University set out to see how much
personal information they could collect on as many individuals as
possible, using only the Internet and $50. The 41 students were in a
course taught by Aviel D. Rubin, professor of computer science and
technical director of the university's Information Security Institute,
who divided them into groups of three or four and instructed them to
use only legal, public sources of information. The exercise mimicked
the activities of data brokers, such as ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, and
the students were able to collect and aggregate vast amounts of
information, even with limited time and budgets. Although Rubin was
pleased that fewer Social Security numbers were among the data
collected than he had anticipated, privacy advocates insisted that such
information remains easy to obtain, posing enormous risk of identity
theft. Even without Social Security numbers, the data collected
represented for some individuals a very broad picture of who they are,
where they live, and activities in which they participate. Such access
to personal information worries many, including Sen. Ted Stevens
(R-Alaska), who conducted a similar experiment, instructing his staff
to try to steal his identity. Aside from information they discovered
about Stevens, they were told they could buy his Social Security number
for $65.
New York Times, 18 May 2005 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/technology/18data.html
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***
*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
Libraries are beginning to require fingerprint identification
to insure patrons actually match the library cards they have,
and so parents can censor the items checked out by children,
and can regulate their Internet access.
Current example: Naperville, Illinois.
*
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Mexican Jose Medellin,
an inmate of Texas' death row, has been illegally held for years
without access to a proper defense or to the Mexican Consulate.
In addition, it would appear the defense lawyer assigned to him
had already been suspended.
*
The list of billion dollar companies defaulting on their
pensions plans is enormous, including Bethelhem Steel,
National Steel, Polaroid, Kaiser Aluminum, US Airways, etc.
Billion dollar insolvencies since 1990: Bethlehem Steel, LTV,
Wheeling-Pittsburgh, Metals USA, McLoedUSA, Global Crossing,
Winstar, Covad Communications, 360networks, ICG Communications,
PSINet, Exodus Communications, Lernout & Hauspie & Dictaphone,
Safety-Kleen, Laidlaw, The IT Group, Enron Corp., Pacific Gas and
Electric Company, Reliance Group Holdings & Reliance Financial,
NationsRent, ANC Rental, Burlington Industries, Chiquita Brands,
Polaroid Corporation, Hayes Lemmerz, Federal-Mogul, W.R. Grace &
Co., Owens Corning, Armstrong World Industries, USG Corporation,
Lodgian, The FINOVA Group, Inc., Comdisco, Fruit of the Loom,
Pillowtex, Warnaco, Kmart Corp., Ames Department Stores, Service
Merchandise, Bridge Information Services, Imperial Sugar, The
Loewen Group International, Inc., Vlasic Foods, AMF Bowling,
Harnischfeger Industries, Inc., Vencor, Inc., Sun Healthcare
Group, Inc., Mariner Post-Acute & Mariner Health, Genesis Health
& Multicare, and Integrated Health Services.
*STRANGE WORDS OF THE WEEK
"Monopolies are a terrible thing, unless you have one"
Rupert Murdoch, major media player.
"There exists in America a control of news and of
current comment more than any monopoly in industry."
"Beware of the military-industrial-Congressional complex."
U.S. President Eisenhower [as related by Daniel Ellsberg]
"Bribes were tax deductible in Europe until a few years ago."
James Wolfensohn, outgoing President of the World Bank,
being replaced by Paul Wolfowitz, Iraq War architect.
DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
The White House is chastising Newsweek both for not fact
checking to a greater level of accuracy initially, then
for not making an earlier public retraction and apology for
the article concerning flushing the Koran down the toilet.
This is in just about an identical manner as worldwide
pressures were brought upon The White House for never
going through the process of initially checking their
facts on presumed weapons of mass destruction and not
making an earlier public apology and a retraction of
the U.S. incursion into Iraq based on the alleged
presence of WMDs.
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
The media continue to be gobbled up by "Merger Mania."
Ever wonder why so much of North American media content
looks as if it were all written by clones?
There are ~1,800 newspapers, ~11,000 magazines, ~11,000 radio stations,
~2,000 TV stations and ~3,000+ book publishers in the United States:
Companies owning a controlling interest in the major players:
50 in 1984
26 in 1987
10 in 1996
6 in 2002
Today about 90% of the media voices have been silenced by takeovers,
just compared to the number we had 20 years ago. . . .
Source:
NOW with Bill Moyers. Politics & Economy. Massive Media | PBS
*
You know that clean fresh air smell you get when you hang laundry out
to dry on a beautiful day? Sooner than you think it will be illegal
for you to get that smell directly, you'll have to get it from a box
of Tide, Cheer, All, etc. . .as it will be illegal for most Americans
to hang laundry out to dry.
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
23 of President Clinton's Circuit Court judge nominations were kept
from an up or down vote by the Republicans in his administration,
plus the nomination of Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court was blocked,
and it was no big item in the news.
6 of President Bush's nominations have been similarly blocked,
and it is the biggest political football in America today.
98% of President Bush's nominations have been approved.
*
There are more "Paycheck Loan" businesses in the U.S. than McDonald's.
Some victims of these services have paid over $10,000 on ~$2,500 loans.
However, the new bankruptcy laws encourage even more of these.
*
"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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