[gweekly] Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Sep 6 09:43:59 PDT 2006
pt1a5.806
pt1b5.806
Weekly_September_06.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday,September 06 , 2006 PT1
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971*******
DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS COMPLETES THEIR 9,000TH eBOOK, STARTS TO #10,000!!!
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Redivide PT1 of the Weekly Newsletter into two parts.
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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
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*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
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
1236 au - 1202 = 34
19,189 us - 19,103 = 86 - 42 = 44
1 eu
376 preprints
9,001!!!
*eBook Milestones*
DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS COMPLETES THEIR 9,000TH eBOOK, STARTS TO #10,000!!!
21,090 eBooks As Of Today At These Four PG Sites
19,147 Project Gutenberg US [+ 44] [NOT Including PG Australia]
1,236 Australian eBooks [+ 34] [NOT Included in above line]
331 Gutenberg Europe [+ 1] [NOT Included in above lines]
376 PG PrePrint Site [+ 6] [NOT Inclucded in above lines]
21,090 Grand Total [+ 85]
21,088 [by hand count] [+ 85]
[Please note we have several counting methods,
and they often differ by several book that we
have to hunt down by hand to reconcile.]
[Pleast note there is some duplication between
these various collections. Volunteers needed
to take these duplications into account.]
~11% of the way from 20,000 to 30,000
75,000+ eBooks at the PG Consortia Center
http://www.gutenberg.cc
[Please note that the four collections totals are eBooks that originated
as created, edited, proofread, formatted, etc., by Project Gutenberg and
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75,000+ eBooks contains entire eBook collections from other sources, all
the production statistics given here are for some 20,000+ eBooks created
by the various teams of Project Gutenberg volunteers, for which we share
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are the responsibility of the donating eLibraries, and we would be happy
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eBooks must be edited by the donating parties, as per their requests.]
*
18,022 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~265 eBooks per Month for ~68.00 Months
2,942 New eBooks in 2006 at These Four Sites
29 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
9,001 totAl from Distributed Proofreaders
Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B]
[Currently over 36,000 DP volunteers]
[Note, PGDP mostly included in US eBooks]
[Note, PGEU has its own Distributed Proofreaders
whose total closely matches their grand total]
We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Averaged ~248 eBooks Per Month In 2005
[Including PG Australia]
We Are Averaging ~366 eBooks Per Month This Year!!!
[Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints]
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 84 eBooks Per Week In 2006
85 This Week
115 Last Week
471 This Month [Aug]
[This was one of those months with 5 Wednesdays, our work week
runs from about noon Wednesday, Eastern Time Zone, for 7 days]
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~12.5 years from Jan. 1994 to Jun. 2006 to go from 100 to 20,100
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 ~2.8 years from Oct. 2003 to Jun. 2006 from 10,000 to 20,000
It took ~2.3 years from Jan. 2004 to Aug. 2006 from 11,000 to 21,000
Not counting the addition of The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center
*
[Daily PrePrints stats at http://preprints.readingroo.ms/]
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Even with the speeded up process of the PrePrints Section,
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such a large collection online in a proper manner.
*
***Introduction
[Ignore for the moment]
[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:
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This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
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***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B***
pt1a5.806
pt1b5.806
Weekly_September_06.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday,September 06 , 2006 PT1
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971*******
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That's 35 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 Years!!!
85 New eBooks This Week
115 New eBooks Last Week
471 New eBooks This Month [Aug]
368 Average Per Month in 2006
266 Average Per Month in 2005 Counting 216 PGEu
248 Average Per Month in 2005 Not Counting PGEu
336 Average Per Month in 2004
355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
2942 New eBooks in 2006
3186 New eBooks in 2005 Counting 216 PGeu
> 2970 New eBooks in 2005 Not Counting PGEu
4049 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
18,022 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 68.00 Months!
~265 books per month!
21,090 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
17,106 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
3,984 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
[Incl. PGAu, PGEu & PrePrints]
1,236 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
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at the U.S. site: www.gutenberg.org ]
331 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Europe
376 Items in Project Gutenberg PrePrints
~80,000 Project Gutenberg Consortia Center
http://www.gutenberg.cc
[Presuming 160,000 files at a rate of 2 per eBook]
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Project Gutenberg began operation on July 4, 1971
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Distributed Proofreaders began October 22, 2000
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Project Gutenberg of Australia began in August, 2001
The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center started in 1997]
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Swami Center Collection, 78 HTML eBook Files
Tony Kline Collection, 223 HTML eBook Files
Widger Library, 2,600 HTML eBook Files
CIA's Electronic Reading Room, 2,019 Reference Files
=======Grand Total Files=========~137,142 Total Files=====
Average Size of the Collections 8,067.18 Total Files
These eBooks are catalogued as per the instructions of
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single page or poem. . .or are overcounted for reasons
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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
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The new overall collection size, which has reduced the
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75,000+ Unique eBooks
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It would appear that The Internet Public Library ended
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Still looking for more Internet Public Library info.
***
Today Is Day #238 of 2006
This Completes Week #34 and Month #07.80 [364 days this year]
126 Days/18 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
8,998 Books To Go To #30,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
84 Weekly Average in 2006
61 Weekly Average in 2005 [Counting 216 PGEu]
57 Weekly Average in 2005 [Not Counting PGEu]
78 Weekly Average in 2004
79 Weekly Average in 2003
47 Weekly Average in 2002
24 Weekly Average in 2001
42 Only ~42 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers List
[Used to be well over 100]
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Statistical Review
In the 35 weeks of this year, we have produced 2942 new eBooks.
It took us from 07/71 to 12/01 to produce our FIRST 2942 eBooks!!!
That's 35 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!
FLASHBACK!
Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #2942
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 are now in new catalog format]
2001 The Midnight Queen, by May Agnes Fleming [mdnqnxxx.xxx] 2950
Dec 2001 Stories of a Western Town, by Octave Thanet [wstwnxxx.xxx] 2949
Contains:
The Besetment Of Kurt Lieders
The Face Of Failure
Tommy And Thomas
Mother Emeritus
An Assisted Providence
Harry Lossing
Dec 2001 Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E. M. Forster [#4][wafttxxx.xxx] 2948
Dec 2001 von denen Faunen gepeitschte Laster, by Zaeunemann[?faunxxx.xxx] 2947
[Title: Die von denen Faunen gepeitschte Laster]
[Author: Sidonia Hedwig Zaeunemann]
[Language: German]
Dec 2001 Howards End, by E. M. Forster [E. M. Forster #3] [hoendxxa.xxx] 2946
(This is version 10a, see also #2891)
Dec 2001 Essays, Second Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson[E#2][2srwexxx.xxx] 2945
Dec 2001 Essays, First Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson [E#1][1srwexxx.xxx] 2944
The Great Hunger, by Johan Bojer 2943
Dec 2001 Two Penniless Princesses, by Charlotte M. Yonge #5[2pnprxxx.xxx] 2942
Dec 2001 The Chinese Classics (Prolegomena), by James Legge[prolgxxx.xxx] 2941
Nov 2001 Evolution and Ethics et. al., by T. H. Huxley[#30][thx20xxx.xxx] 2940
Contains:
Evolution And Ethics. Prolegomena
Evolution And Ethics
Science And Morals
Capital--The Mother Of Labour
Social Diseases And Worse Remedies
The Struggle For Existence In Human Society
Letters To The Times
Legal Opinions
The Articles Of War Of The Salvation Army
Nov 2001 The Circulation of the Blood, by T. H. Huxley[#29][thx19xxx.xxx] 2939
[Author: William Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood]
Nov 2001 Yeast, Thomas Henry Huxley[Thomas Henry Huxley#28][thx18xxx.xxx] 2938
Nov 2001 Coral and Coral Reefs, by T. H. Huxley [#27][thx17xxx.xxx] 2937
Nov 2001 Geological Contemporaneity, by T. H. Huxley [#26][thx16xxx.xxx] 2936
[Title: Geological Contemporaniety and Persistent Types of Life]
Nov 2001 On the Study of Zoology, by T. H. Huxley [THH #25][thx15xxx.xxx] 2935
Nov 2001 Improving Natural Knowledge, by T. H. Huxley [#24][thx14xxx.xxx] 2934
[On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge]
Nov 2001 On Some Fossil Remains of Man by T. H. Huxley[#23][thx13xxx.xxx] 2933
Nov 2001 Relations of Man to Lower Animals, T H Huxley[#22][thx12xxx.xxx] 2932
[Title: On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals]
Nov 2001 Man's Place in Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley[#21][thx11xxx.xxx] 2931
[Title: Evidence as to Man's Place In Nature]
Nov 2001 Criticisms on "The Origin of Species", by Huxley [thx10xxx.xxx] 2930
[Author: Thomas Henry Huxley] [THH #20]
Nov 2001 The Origin of Species, by Thomas Henry Huxley[#19][thx09xxx.xxx] 2929
(See also #2009 and #1228)
Nov 2001 Time and Life, by Thomas Henry Huxley [THH #18][thx08xxx.xxx] 2928
Nov 2001 The Darwinian Hypothesis, by Thomas H. Huxley[#17][thx07xxx.xxx] 2927
Nov 2001 Examination of Origin of Species by TH Huxley[#16][thx06xxx.xxx] 2926
[A Critical Examination of the Position of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On the
[Origin of Species," In Relation to the Complete Theory of the Causes
[of the Phenomena of Organic Nature]
Nov 2001 The Conditions of Existence, by T. H. Huxley [#15][thx05xxx.xxx] 2925
[Title: The Conditions of Existence as Affecting the Perpetuation of
Living Beings]
Nov 2001 The Perpetuation of Living Beings, by Huxley [#14][thx04xxx.xxx] 2924
[Title: The Perpetuation of Living Beings, Hereditary Transmission
and Variation]
Nov 2001 The Origination of Living Beings, by T Huxley[#13][thx03xxx.xxx] 2923
[The Method by which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of
Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered.--The Origination of LIving Beings
Nov 2001 Past Condition of Organic Nature, T. H. Huxley #12[thx02xxx.xxx] 2922
[Title: The Past Condition of Organic Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley]
Nov 2001 Present Condition of Organic Nature, TH Huxley #11[thx01xxx.xxx] 2921
[Title: The Present Condition of Organic Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley]
Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet?
If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of
6,542,336,642 that would be 21,090 x 65,423,366 = ~1.38 Trillion !!!
With 21,090 eBooks online as of September 06, 2006 it now takes an average
of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.72 from each book.
[1% world population x #eBooks] 65,423,366 x 21,090 x $.73 = ~$1 Trillion
[Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.]
[By the way, the US "popclock" is about to turn to 300 million people.]
[Just turning 299.7 million this week!]
A Trillion Dollars Given Away At Just $.47 Value Per Book To 100 Million
With 21,090 eBooks online as of September 06, 2006 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.47 from each book.
This "cost" is down from about $.59 when we had 17,106 eBooks a year ago.
Our Target Audience Is 1.5% Of The World Population = ~100,000,000 people.
Next Decade's Target: 15% Of The world Population = 1,000,000,000 people.
At 21,090 eBooks in 35 Years and 02.00 Months We Averaged
600 Per Year
50 Per Month
1.64 Per Day
At 2942 eBooks Done In The 245 Days Of 2006 We Averaged
12.0 Per Day
84 per Week
368 Per Month
If you are interested in the population of the world or of the U.S.
you might want to know that these numbers, official as they appear,
are just just estimates, and perhaps not as accurate as we hope.
However, for those keeping track of how quickly the U.S. reaches a
300 million population level, and who noticed the passing of 298M,
just two weeks ago. . .the U.S. is already 1/6 the way to 299M, so
it will probably be 10 more weeks to 299M and 22 more to 300M.
Recently the U.S. Congress, pertaining to district reapportionment,
who gets to vote for which Congresspeople, decided that many of the
districts were undercounted by 5%, perhaps then later deciding that
all districts had been undercounted by 5% [can't recall details].
*
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 4th was
the first Wednesday of 2006, and thus ended PG's production
year of 2005 and began the production year of 2006 at noon.
This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week.
***BREAK FOR PT1A AND PT1B***
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
NORWICH LAUNCHES FREE WI-FI
The city of Norwich, in the United Kingdom, has launched an 18-month
pilot test of a free wireless network covering several areas of the
city. Kurt Frary, manager of the project, said that the implementation,
which includes more than 200 antennae, has been trouble-free so far. In
an effort not to compete with commercial services, the network offers
speeds of 256 Kbps for the public. Users must also log in again every
60 minutes if they want to use the network longer than an hour. Because
the network is open, Frary advised using firewalls, antivirus
protection, and, for business users, VPNs for individuals who connect
to the network. Paul Adams, a member of the city council, said the
pilot is intended to gauge the benefits of free Wi-Fi for both the
public and municipal employees. During the first three weeks of the
test, a significant portion of the usage was centered around
universities and libraries in the city, according to Adams, who
predicted that "Educational use, student use, and the virtual learning
environment is going to be a big use."
BBC, 31 August 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5297884.stm
MOON GAME USES REAL DATA
A new computer game developed by California-based Virtue Arts uses real
data about the moon, prompting NASA to say it will use the software to
develop space vehicles and train astronauts. Using public data
collected by NASA and international space organizations, the developers
of Lunar Racing Championship created an environment that accurately
portrays the topography and environmental conditions of the moon in a
car-racing game. Because the moon's gravity is so much less than the
Earth's, for example, cars in the game rely not on aerodynamics but on
small rocket boosters for control. The fine dust on the moon's surface
combined with the low gravity can result in dust clouds if a vehicle
travels at more than 8 m.p.h., a concern both for players of the game
and for NASA scientists designing vehicles for the moon. Virtue Arts
developed technology that allows a PC to process the vast amount of
data necessary to create a realistic environment. The company is
expected to begin selling the lunar exploration software this fall.
CNET, 1 September 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-11397_3-6111838.html
JUDGE IN BRAZIL ORDERS GOOGLE TO TURN OVER DATA
A judge in Brazil has ordered Google to release user information
relating to an investigation of child pornography and hate speech.
Prosecutors in the country allege that users of Orkut, a networking
site operated by Google, use the site to exchange illegal photographs
and to post hate speech targeting blacks, Jews, and homosexuals.
Officials from Google said that although the company has been
cooperating with investigative requests from Brazilian authorities,
Google does not maintain information on users of Orkut. The judge in
the case rejected that argument and ordered Google to turn over
requested information or face fines of $23 million per day. "It is not
relevant that the data are stored in the United States," said Judge
Jose Marcos Lunardelli, "since all the photographs and messages being
investigated were published by Brazilians, through Internet connection
in national territory."
Houston Chronicle, 31 August 2006
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4155909.html
HARVARD OFFERS VIRTUAL CLASS IN SECOND LIFE
This fall, Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson will coteach a
course on argument with his daughter, Harvard Extension School
instructor Rebecca Nesson, that will take place in the Second Life
virtual world. In Second Life, users create avatars that they control,
using them to move around the virtual environment and interact with
others and with the virtual physical space. A number of other colleges
and universities have used Second Life as a component of certain
courses. For this new course at Harvard, Nesson and Nesson will teach
students--entirely through the virtual environment--how to use blogs,
wikis, podcasts, and other electronic tools to make effective
arguments. The class, which is open to the public through Harvard's
extension school, will take place in an online replica of the
university's Ames Courtroom. Rebecca Nesson will hold office hours in
Second Life; Charles Nesson's office hours will be in his actual office.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 August 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/08/2006083001t.htm
ONLINE COURSES DRAW GROWING NUMBERS OF STUDENTS
According to new research conducted by Eduventures, online education
has come to represent a considerable portion of continuing and
professional education students at nonprofit institutions. For-profit
institutions are typically considered the leaders in online
enrollments, but nonprofits now have about 20 percent of their
continuing and professional students in such programs. The study, which
covered 43 institutions, also found that online courses take more time
and money to develop than in-class courses and that half of the
institutions that offer online programs have outsourced at least some
of the components. Eduventures also predicted that enrollments in
online continuing education programs will grow by about 20 percent
annually for the next several years.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 August 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/08/2006082902n.htm
DOWNLOADING STARTS AT GOOGLE BOOK SEARCH
Google's controversial Book Search program is set to begin offering
downloads of entire out-of-copyright texts. Until now, books in the
program were available online only. With the option to download texts,
users can now easily search those texts, print copies of them, or keep
local copies on their computers to read offline. Books still under
copyright protection are not available for download. Instead, small
sections of text are online for users to view, unless the copyright
owner grants Google permission to show more text. Many publishers and
others have objected to Google's model, saying that even scanning
copyrighted books and displaying snippets of them violates their
copyright. Sidney Verba, director of the Harvard University Library,
one of the libraries participating in the program, said that the
ability to search texts allows users to "find previously buried
information about historical events or people, places of interest, and
matters cultural or scientific."
Wall Street Journal, 30 August 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115694354228349458.html
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*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
*QUOTATION OF THE WEEK
"Dwarf Planet" new designation for Pluto.
After years of scientific and/or political wrangling,
The Solar System is back to where it was 76 years ago
when there were only 8 planets. . .Pluto in Doghouse,
is what the headlines could have read.
Of course, this leaves the door wide open for all the
"interested parties" to now strip Mars of one moon or
perhaps both, as it it widely presume that Phobos was
and asteroid that simply was in the wrong place at an
inconvenient time and was scooped up by Mars, perhaps
the same was true of Diemos as well. Phobos is quite
small, perhaps only 10 km the longest way.
Some discussion remains about what to do with Pluto's
moon, Charon, which originally made Pluto look larger
than it was to primitive telescopes of the 1900s, and
undoubtedly other local solar objects are in danger.
Multiple sources
*STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
Only 2 million of 32 million copyrighted books are in print.
Thus, even if Borders and Barnes & Noble had every one in print
15 books out of 16 under copyright would'nt be on their shelves.
Source listed as New York Times, not able to confirm.
Sources also listed Tim O'Reilly
/
>From BBC News Online
Eight times humans came to try to live in Britain and on at least seven
occasions they failed - beaten back by freezing conditions. Scientists
think they can now write a reasonably comprehensive history of the
occupation of these isles.
[Yes, there HAVE been several Ice Ages in the past 700,000 years,
so not terribly surprising. . .will they survive the next one?]
It stretches from 700,000 years ago and the first known settlers at
Pakefield in Suffolk, through to the most recent incomers just 12,000 years
or so ago. The evidence comes from the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain
Project.
This five-year undertaking by some of the UK's leading palaeo-experts has
reassessed a mass of scientific data and filled in big knowledge gaps with
new discoveries.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5317762.stm
http://tinyurl.com/edrar
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
Economic statistics for the 1st quarter were revised last week,
upward to 2.9% growth, but the rate of inflation was still not
included in the reports, though, in an interesting change from
their usual practice of leaving them out altogether, reporters
did mention that inflations was "very much higher" than growth.
Several sources.
MORE DOUBLESPEAK
Given that this is the "official" launch of the US election,
there was plenty to go around, but nothing very impressive.
*POLITICAL QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Given that this is the "official" launch of the US election,
there was plenty to go around, but nothing very impressive.
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
Given the election rhetoric, we'll hear more and more,
but it will be about less and less, until the gloves
come off at the very end.
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
[I think the inflation/growth statistics in the news
were plenty odd enough. However, I should add that
manufacturing costs rose sharply around the world,
up 1.1% in the UK in July alone, though those have
not yet reached the consumer markets.]
*
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, with
the obvious exclusion of the 11-12 million immigrant workers
now being mentioned so much in the news.
Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries.
[This one is getting a little out of date, as the US population
is obviously no longer 6% of the world. In fact, rounding to the
nearest percent, the US will soon fall from 5% to 4%.]
"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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