[gweekly] PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Feb 8 09:35:25 PST 2006
pt1a1.206
Weekly_February_08.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, February 08, 2006 PT1*
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971********
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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
3 New This Week From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
6 New This Week From PGEu [European Copyrights, Life + 50 and 70]
0 New This Week From PG PrePrints
60 New This Week To Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
69 New This Week [Including PG Australia, PG Europe and PrePrints]
[I'm sure there are a few bugs in the new accounting]
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
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*eBook Milestones*
8,000 From Distributed Proofreaders!!!
[Exactly, as of this very moment]
18,450 eBooks As Of Today!!!
Including 530 Australian eBooks [+3]
and 250 Project Gutenberg Europe [+6]
And 1 From The New PrePrint Site [+0]
[We do have 150 in the pipeline]
We Are ~92% of the Way to 20,000!!!
***531 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971***
15,388 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~255 eBooks per Month for ~61 Months
We Have Produced 308 eBooks in 2006
1,550 to go to 20,000!!!
20 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
8,000 total from Distributed Proofreaders
Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B]
[Currently over 36,000 DP volunteers]
We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Averaged ~248 eBooks Per Month In 2005
[Including PG Australia]
We Are Averaging ~246 eBooks Per Month This Year
[Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints]
[This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg
sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org]
[Now including totals from both Australia and Europe and PrePrints]
[Apologies, it will take a while to integrate everything
not all statistics may be totally equalized yet]
[PGEu Statistics Are Counted Monthly Not Weekly]
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 62 eBooks Per Week In 2006
69 This Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~32 months, from 2003 to 2006 for our last 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Nov. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,500
*
***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. Note bene
that PT1 is now being sent as PT1A and PT1B.
[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
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
MIT PLANS WIRELESS NETWORK IN CAMBRIDGE
MIT has announced plans to deploy a wireless network covering
Cambridge, Mass., where the university is located. Working with Harvard
University and Boston's Museum of Science, MIT will set up the network
using mesh technology, which, although not as fast as commercial
service, is significantly less expensive. With a traditional wireless
network, wireless access points are installed to cover the desired
area, and every access point is hardwired to the network. Mesh
technology eliminates much of the wiring by relying on a small number
of wired antennae and many other antennae that relay signals to the
wired ones. Jerrold M. Grochow, vice president for information services
and technology at MIT, described it as "hopping from antenna to antenna
to antenna." Mary P. Hart, CIO for Cambridge, commented that the
proposed network will allow the city to determine the demand for
wireless access. Other cities have spent large sums developing wireless
coverage without knowing if residents want it, she said. Grochow noted
that unlike the situation in other municipalities, MIT's project has
not run into opposition from commercial Internet providers.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 February 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/02/2006020601t.htm
AOL AND YAHOO EXPERIMENT WITH E-MAIL POSTAGE
In an effort to limit unwanted and fraudulent e-mail, AOL and Yahoo
have announced plans to begin charging "postage" for delivering some
e-mail to their customers. Under the system, companies that pay to have
their e-mail delivered--between 1/4 and 1 cent per message--will
receive preferential service. A third party, Goodmail, will collect the
fees and verify the source of messages. E-mail from nonpaying senders
will still be delivered, but it will be routed through spam filters and
other mechanisms, which could prevent it from reaching its target. The
hope is that the fees will discourage spammers from sending billions of
unsolicited messages every day. A spokesperson from AOL compared the
plan to the current functioning of the postal system. Certified mail,
for example, is guaranteed to be delivered "in a way that is different
from other mail," he said. Some analysts said e-mail postage will only
lead to disagreements between senders and ISPs. Many e-mail marketers
also rejected the idea, saying that there are already mechanisms in
place, such as a service called Bonded Sender, that verify the legitimacy
of e-mail and that cost significantly less than the proposed charges.
New York Times, 5 February 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/technology/05AOL.html
PUBLISHER LAUNCHES AD-SUPPORTED ONLINE TEXT
HarperCollins has announced a new program that will make book content
available free online, supported by advertiser links that share the
page with the text. Officials from the publisher said the Harper
program will focus on nonfiction and reference books, noting that
advertisers are likely not as interested in paying to support literary
fiction. The first book offered in the program, "Go It Alone! The
Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own" by Bruce Judson,
was published in 2004 and later released in paperback. One test of the
program will be whether ad sales offset lost sales, according to
Murray, group president of HarperCollins. Despite the ongoing squabbles
over online access to books, supporters of the idea still believe it
has potential. Author M.J. Rose said that no one wants to read an
entire book online but that if they have easy access to a text on the
Web and they like it, they will be encouraged to buy a copy.
Associated Press, 6 February 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_en_bu/publishing_free_text
["One test of the program will be whether ad sales offset lost sales"
Of course this assumption flies in the face of all the studies, each
of which indicated that free eBook editions caused increased sales
rather than "lost sales."]
CELL PHONES AS TRACKING TOOLS
Companies that use cell phones to track people have seen significant
increases in business in the past few years. In Britain, firms such as
Followus and Verilocation frequently work with employers who want to
keep tabs on staff, despite concerns that the service infringes on
individuals' civil rights. Kevin Brown of Followus noted that his
company's service requires the consent of those being tracked. Users
must agree to having their cell phones tracked, and periodic messages
are sent randomly to users reminding them that their movements are
being followed. Officials at Verilocation pointed to such events as the
bombings in London last summer as times when being able to locate all
of your employees is highly valuable. Experts on business processes
said being able to track employees can allow companies to provide
better service to customers by, for example, letting them know exactly
where a technician is and when he will arrive at a customer's home.
Officials from Liberty, a civil rights group, were unconvinced, saying
that employees' rights in the workplace have been eroded and that
there is a significant risk that businesses will misuse tracking data.
CNET, 5 February 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6035317.html
EFF SUES AT&T OVER COOPERATION WITH NSA
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed suit against AT&T
for allegedly cooperating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in
eavesdropping on individuals without a warrant. President Bush ordered
the wiretaps following the terrorist attacks of 2001 and has vigorously
defended them, saying the Constitution and Congressional resolutions
allow them. Civil liberties groups and others reject that, saying that
the wiretaps violate existing laws on surveillance. The EFF said it
identified AT&T as one company involved in the activities and has filed
suit "to stop this invasion of privacy, prevent it from occurring
again, and make sure AT&T and all the other carriers understand there
are going to be legal and economic consequences when they fail to
follow the law." The EFF alleges that AT&T provided the NSA with access
to its network, which carries both voice and data, and to its vast
databases that store information on phone calls and Internet activity.
AT&T refused to comment on the litigation.
Yahoo, 31 January 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_hi_te/domestic_spying_lawsuit
CONGRESS HOLDS HEARINGS ON CELL-PHONE CUSTOMER PRIVACY
A Congressional hearing this week will address cell phone companies'
efforts to protect the privacy of their customers. The hearing comes
after recent revelations that a number of data brokers have been able
to con cell phone companies into disclosing data about customers and
their calling habits, which was then sold to third parties. The premise
is that certain individuals, such as attorneys, might want details of
cell phone calls, and data brokers supply that data. Cell phone
companies and some members of Congress, however, object to the methods
that data brokers use to obtain that information, including posing as
people they are not and using information such as Social Security
numbers without authorization. Some critics have pointed to weak
policies and practices among cell phone companies for protecting such
data as the root of the problem. Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement that he intends
to make the practice of fraudulently obtaining such data "very illegal."
ZDNet, 1 February 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6033688.html
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*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
[As requested adding sources, etc., when possible.
Remember, the subject is not the article's subject,
the subject is the manipulation of the world news.]
[Reply from one of our readers follows this reprint.]
Bill Gates Says It Will Take 10 Years To Stop Piracy In China/India
"In India and China it will be a decade before we get that level,"
meaning the current protection level achieved in the United States,
as is currently in progress in Taiwan and South Korea.
Mr. Gates was addressing the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
[However, what I think he really means is that it will take 10 years
or so, for China and India to grow economically to the point where a
person of their average means can really afford MicroSoft programs.]
[By the way, I got the first clues to this story from the BBC, but a
recent search shows the story is already missing after a short time,
so the follow up was through The Express, of India.]
[In my own personal experiences outside the Asia major urbana center
locations, there is no place you can find legal copies of anything--
the manufacturers are just not interested in making them available.]
If the product is not made available, how can we buy The Real Thing?
Source:
BBC
Express India
Reply from Martin Ward <martin at gkc.org.uk>
Turning a blind eye to piracy in the developing world is Microsoft's policy:
few people can afford to buy their products (at the moment), so enforcing
copyright would just push customers into using Linux.
Instead, allow rampant piracy, until everyone uses MS products,
and becomes locked into MS products, *then* start enforcing
copyright, when it becomes harder to switch.
As the drug pushers say "The first one is always free".
Martin
martin at gkc.org.uk http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/ Erdos number: 4
G.K.Chesterton web site: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/
*
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
[See below]
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
The Valerie Plame scandal will be swept under the carpet
until after the November US elections, as will most of a
host of related WMD issues, etc., mentioned below.
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
and
*STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK [combined this week]
[Continued from last week's report from the previews]
"I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international
community, and the United Nations Security Council."
Sec. State Powell's Former Chief of Staff Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
concerning the famous speech to the United Nations on "Weapons of
Mass Destruction," two years ago this very week, to which he was
a major contributor.
"I recall vividly the Secretary of State walking into my office,
and saying `I wonder what will happen if we put half a million
troops on the ground in Iraq and comb the country from one end
to the other and don't find a single weapon of mass destruction?'"
Wilkerson says that CIA Director George Tenent and others reported
no reliability or validity problems with the intelligence reported,
even though the majority of sources were suspect or compromised,
a charge that was extended to the DIA reports of Sheik Al Libbi.
He stated that Vice President Cheney's multiple CIA visits at the
time should be characterized as "undue influence" and also should
be compared the undue influence Cheney pressed on Congress during
the various recent dissussions of the "torture issue."
Wilkerson has repeatedly characterized the creation of a cartel of
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney to override
U.S. allegiance to the Geneva Convention and "inept and incompetent"
operations in Iraq.
"I'm worried, and I would rather have the discussion and debate in
the process we've designed, than I would a dictat from a dumb strongman.
I'd prefer to see the squabble of democracy to the efficiency of dictators."
There's way too much more to include here, but you can find the
entire report via:
"Powell's Former Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson Calls Pre-War
Intelligence a 'Hoax on the American People'"
Mathaba.Net, UK - Feb 6, 2006
*
"The politicians have hijacked our democracy by redistricting."
Boston Legal, 02/07/06
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
"The British Library spends #2m of its #16m annual acquisitions
budget on digital material, mainly reference books and journals."
Already 1/8 of their money is being spent on digitial materials,
and presuming those digital materials are less expensive than a
paper counterpart, we should possibly consider that 1/4 of their
acquisitions are digital.
"By 2020, 90% of newly published work will be available digitally,"
"according to British Library predictions published last year."
Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4675280.stm
*
The Nazis used the guillotine to behead far more people than the French.
*
Windfall Gasoline Profits in 2005
$36.1B Exxon +43% to +46% [various sources] [on $371B gross, +20%]
$25.3B Shell +26% to 30% [^more than the $340B GDP of Saudi Arabia^]
$22.34B BP
$14.1B Chevron [Chevron does more business overseas, hard to get figures]
[ChevronTexaco]
$13.53B ConocoPhillips
$111.37 Billion Total Profit For Those Five Companies in 2005
By comparison, the rumored merger of Mittal Steel and Arcelor
in Europe would have done $69B in 2005, run by Lakshmi Mittal,
listed by Forbes as the #3 richest person in the world.
The basic claims are that merger-mania MUST continue or else
they can't compete with those who have already done mergers.
And most of them are still complaining they didn't make enough.
Example:
BP still complained that they lost money in the 4th quarter
compared to last year, even though profits were up 26%. [BBC]
Home heating oil jas nearly doubled from the $1.16 of winter 2001-2002.
First column figures from articles:
"Resource Investor - Energy - Canada's Top Integrated Oil Firm"
"Hurricane Damage Limits Chevron's Profit"
"`conocophillips profits" - Google News'"
Also see Charlie Rose, 02/07/06
*
By the way, for those interested, the official U.S. population
estimates just passed 298 million, though many say estimations
of this nature leave out as much as 5% of the population.
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 America
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
and all 6 would be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer [I think this is now much greater]
1 would be 79 years old or more.
Of those born today, the life expectancy is only 63 years,
but no country any longer issues copyrights that are sure
to expire within that 63 year period.
I would like to bring some of these figures more up to date,
as obviously if only 1% of 6 billion people owned a computer
then there would be only 60 million people in the world who
owned a computer, yet we hear that 3/4 + of the United States
households have computers, out of over 100 million households.
Thus obviously that is over 1% of the world population, just in
the United States.
I just called our local reference librarian and got the number
of US households from the 2004-5 U.S. Statistical Abstract at:
111,278,000 as per data from 2003 U.S Census Bureau reports.
If we presume the saturation level of U.S. computer households
is now around 6/7, or 86%, that is a total of 95.4 million,
and that's counting just one computer per household, and not
counting households with more than one, schools, businesses, etc.
I also found some figures that might challenge the literacy rate
given above, and would like some help researching these and other
such figures, if anyone is interested.
BTW, while I was doing this research, I came across a statistic
that said only 10% of the world's population is 60+ years old.
This means that basically 90% of the world's population would
never benefit from Social Security, even if the wealthy nations
offered it to them free of charge. Then I realized that the US
population has the same kind of age disparity, in which the rich
live so much longer than the poor, the whites live so much longer
than the non-whites. Thus Social Security is paid by all, but is
distributed more to the upper class whites, not just because they
can receive more per year, but because they will live more years
to receive Social Security. The average poor non-white may never
receive a dime of Social Security, no matter how much they pay in.
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