[DMCA-Activists] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 09:58:06 -0700
From: Michael Hart <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden

GWeekly_September_29.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September
29, 2004 PT1
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4,
1971*******


Newsletter editors needed! Please email address@hidden or
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Anyone who would care to get advance editions:  please email
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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, including Distributed Proofreaders
*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
   43 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists

***




                          *eBook Milestones


                We Are Over 92% of the Way to 15,000!!!

                     13,891 eBooks As Of Today!!!

                       1,109 to go to 15,000!!!



We have now averaged about 418 eBooks per year since July 4th,
1971!!!


It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks

It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to
10,100

It took ~3 years from 2001 to 2004 for our last 10,000 eBooks



***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.]

Today, and until we actually GET new Newsletter editors who want
to do another portion, there will be only 2 parts. . .this is
Part 1, and the eBook listings in Part 2 [New Project Gutenberg
Documents].

[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may
undergo a few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter
editor.   Email us: address@hidden and address@hidden if you
would like to volunteer.]


   This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the
Newsletter


Over Our 33 12/52 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 418
eBooks/Yr
And This Year We Are Averaging Nearly That New eBook Level . . .
PER MONTH!


         We Are Averaging About 340 eBooks Per Month This Year

                           About 79 Per Week

***



***Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements


Aleut is the latest language in our collection, see PT2 of the
Newsletter for a complete listing.


MACHINE TRANSLATION

We are seeking as much information as possible on the various
approaches to Machine Translation. Any brand names or contact
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***

Coltan : A commentary from Bill Hammack's public radio program
You can listen to this commentary at http://www.engineerguy.com

Recently, I picked up a book about spices, although it was really
a geopolitical history. It focused on a tiny Indonesian island
that became, in the 17th century, a battle ground for the English
and the Dutch, with, of course, the natives caught in the middle.
They all wanted the nutmeg that grew there.  In the 17th century,
a man could sell a small sack of nutmeg for enough to build a
large house and then retire there in comfort. The value of nutmeg
came partly because of its rarity, but also because Europeans
thought it had powerful medicinal qualities. So, for two
centuries the English and Dutch battled over the Island,
decimating it in the process.

At first, when I read of these "nutmeg" wars, I thought how
quaint that the European economy should depend on spices from
obscure parts of the world. Yet, by the time I finished the book,
I realized that my own world operates in exactly the same way.

The electronic network that I live in - my computer, cell phone,
and pager - depend on something call Coltan. Spelled C-O-L-T-A-N,
it's as magic to us as nutmeg was to a 17th century European.

Coltan looks like black mud. It's name is a contraction of
columbium and tantalum. And it's that tantalum that's important
to our world. A gray-blue, very hard metal, it's the key element
[in the] called a pinhead capacitor. These electrical devices
regulate the voltage and store energy in cell phones, pagers, and
computers. In the last few years alone, tens of millions of these
tantalum-filled capacitors were manufactured.

Coltan is found in three billion year old soil, like that of the
Rift Valley in Africa, which contains eighty percent of the
world's supply. And, of the eighty percent, the majority is in
the region.

And much like the nutmeg of the 17th century, Coltan has brought
ruin to the Congo. It has made the area attractive to neighboring
countries, and Coltan has been a key force in accelerating the
civil war within the Congo. By some estimates, these
resource-based wars have killed about five million people, and
displaced another ten million or so.

No doubt, some generation after us will evolve past cell phones
and pagers, and will no longer need to run their world with the
tantalum that comes in the magic mud coltan. And, no doubt, they
will look back at the coltan wars and think them as quaint as the
"nutmeg" wars of the 17th century. The message is clear: As we
use our cell phones today, we should remember those nutmeg wars,
and keep a careful eye on how our technological systems affects
the world.

To use George Santayana's aphorism: "Those who cannot remember
the past are condemned to repeat it."

Copyright 2004 William S. Hammack Enterprises

[Reprinted with Bill's direct permission]


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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders


     In the first 8.80 months of this year, we produced 2984 new
eBooks.

  It took us from July 1971 to July 2001 to produce our first
2,984 eBooks!

               That's 38 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 Years!

                  43   New eBooks This Week
                  47   New eBooks Last Week
                 214   New eBooks This Month [Sep]

                 339   Average Per Month in 2004
                 355   Average Per Month in 2003
                 203   Average Per Month in 2002
                 103   Average Per Month in 2001

                2984   New eBooks in 2004
                4164   New eBooks in 2003
                2441   New eBooks in 2002
                1240   New eBooks in 2001
                ====
               10829   New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
                         That's Only 44.80 Months!

              13,891  Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
               9,505   eBooks This Week Last Year
                ====
               4,386   New eBooks In Last 12 Months

                 380   eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia


We're still keeping up with Moore's Law!

Moore's Law 12 month percentage =  76%

Moore's Law 18 month percentage = 106%

[100% of Moore's Law = doubling every 18 months]

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Since completing its first eBook (#3320) on Mar 13th, 2001, the
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mentioned in the future.]

Projects completed since the beginning of the year:
   Jan 2004 -  267
   Feb 2004 -  421
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Today Is Day #272 of 2004
This Completes Week #38 and Month #8.80
    99 Days/15 Weeks To Go  [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
  1112 Books To Go To #15,000
[Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year]

    79   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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Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???

Statistical Review

In the 38 weeks of this year, we have produced 2984 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our FIRST 2984 eBooks!!!

          That's 38 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!


With 13,891 eBooks online as of September 29, 2004 it now takes
an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of
$0.72 from each book, for Project Gutenberg to have currently
given away $1,000,000,000,000 [One Trillion Dollars] in books.

100 million readers is only ~1.5% of the world's population!

This "cost" is down from about $1.04 when we had 9583 eBooks a
year ago

Can you imagine ~13,891 books each costing ~$.32 less a year
later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine ~13,891 books each costing 1/3 less a year
later???

At 13,891 eBooks in 33 Years and 02.80 Months We Averaged
       418 Per Year   [We do nearly that much a month these
days!]
        34.8 Per Month
         1.14 Per Day

At 2984 eBooks Done In The 272 Days Of 2004 We Averaged
      11.0 Per Day
      76.7 Per Week
     339.1 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 7th was the
first Wednesday of 2004, and thus ended PG's production year of
2003 and began the production year of 2004 at noon.

This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week.


                            *Flashback!!!

                   2754 New eBooks So Far in 2004

               It took us ~30 years for the first 2654 !

       That's the 7.75 months of 2004 as Compared to ~30 years!!!

      Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2754



*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage

[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]


>From NewsScan:


TESTS SHOW CELL PHONES DON'T DISRUPT NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

[For all those who thought it was always just a conspiracy to
keep people on planes out of touch with the rest of the world. .
. .] [BTW, a doctor told me the same thing about the signs in
doctor's offices to turn off cell phones. . .says only the most
primitive phones and medical equipment from decades ago had any
interference.]

Recent tests by Airbus and American Airlines/Qualcomm indicate
that, contrary to popular lore, cellular signals do not disrupt
airplanes' navigational systems. The two results were similar for
both the CDMA and GSM cellular technologies, but the Federal
Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission
say the tests can't officially be considered in their review of
the rules because they were conducted without government
oversight. The agencies say they are moving ahead with their own
tests.
(Wall Street Journal 23 Sep 2004)
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109589672706925579,00.html>
(sub req'd)


SONY EMBRACES MP3 FORMAT

[Sony learns faster than most. . .perhaps someday these companies
will just totally STOP introducing those silly proprietary
formats.]

In a strategic shift, Sony announced it will add support for MP3
files to some of its portable music players, enabling it to
compete directly against rivals such as Apple Computer, whose
portable players support MP3 and other file formats. A Sony
spokeswoman says new flash-based players with both MP3 and Atrac
(Sony's proprietary format) playback will appear as early as this
year in Europe, but it's unclear when those players will hit the
shelves in the U.S. (AP/Washington Post 23 Sep 2004)
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44121-2004Sep23.html?nav=headlines

[and on a related topic]

DOES IM MEAN 'INSTANT MUSIC'?
Yahoo's purchase of Musicmatch last week for $160 million in cash
has raised speculation that it plans to use the acquisition to
enable Yahoo Messenger users to share and interact with one
another's digital playlists. "The whole advantage that (Yahoo)
has is using its broad reach to push products and integrate
them," says one source close to the deal. Meanwhile, Microsoft
acknowledges that it's planning to do just that with its MSN
Messenger and MSN Music services. In fact, MSN Messenger has
already quietly begun experimenting with music playlist sharing
using a test application called ThreeDegrees. The strategy gives
Web portals a leg up in their pursuit of the online music market,
currently dominated by Apple's iTunes. And adding more
functionality to instant messaging is part of their master plan
to transform IM from a simple chatting tool to a control panel
for multimedia applications. (CNet News.com 22 Sep 2004)
http://news.com.com/Can+IM+morph+into+instant+music/2100-1032_3-5376479.html

LIVING LIFE WITHOUT A NET
Paid $725 or more for their participation, [a] dozen families in
the Northeast, Midwest and Northwest recently gave up the
Internet for two weeks as part of a study by Yahoo and
advertising firm OMD to demonstrate the emotional connection
people have to the Net. The results? One participant admits, "I
didn't realize how tough it would be," and reports that he missed
online news and weather, door-to-door driving directions and
e-mail. Some participants had to rediscover such things as the
Yellow Pages, TV, newspapers and movies. In general, the study
found that participants felt lost and disconnected (both
literally and figuratively).
(USA Today 21 Sep 2004)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-09-21-internet-usat_x.htm>

IMAGES BEARING VIRUSES: DO YOU GET THE PICTURE?
Security experts are saying it's possible for network vandals to
use a flaw in Microsoft Windows XP and Server 2003 systems to
embed viruses into digital photos, thereby infecting vulnerable
PCs. Marcus Sachs, director of the SANS Internet Storm Center,
warns: "We always said there's no way you can be infected just by
looking at a photograph online, but now it looks like we may have
to eat our words on that. This year we've seen a lot of changes
to the fundamental ways we thought we were secure." Microsoft
users can download the latest patches from the company's Windows
Update site.
(Washington Post 23 Sep 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45126-2004Sep23.html>

[RFIDs. . .coming to your house soon]

IBM TAG TEAM
Microsoft will be hiring 1,000 new employees and spending $250
million over five years to develop a new business unit to support
products and services related to radio tags and sensor networks
for inventory management. Radio tags can be read in groups, hold
far more data than bar codes, and show when and where particular
items were made and where they're being shipped to. They don't
need batteries, because they receive enough energy to communicate
from signals sent by the reader. Analysts such as Navi Radjou of
Forrester Research think the challenge for IBM and other
companies is to provide a road map laying out small steps toward
deployment of radio-tagging and other sensor technologies,
because "people won't do big-bang implementations." (New York
Times 27 Sep 2004)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/technology/27rfid.html>

GOOGLE OMITS RESULTS FROM SITES BANNED BY CHINA
Google's news service in China omits results from Web sites
blocked by the government, according to Dynamic Internet
Technology Inc., a research firm fighting online censorship.
Tests by Dynamic found that Google omits results from the banned
sites when search requests are made through computers connecting
to the Internet in China. Google acknowledges that its Chinese
language service is ignoring results from government-banned
sites, but says it does so in order to make its search engine
efficient and to shield computer users from clicking on links
that lead nowhere. A Google executive says, "Google has decided
that in order to create the best possible search experience for
our mainland China users we will not include sites whose content
is not accessible." Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li
sympathizes with the company's predicament: "It's probably
killing them to leave some sites out of its index, but they have
probably decided they are doing greater good by providing access
to all these other sites."
(AP/San Jose Mercury News 24 Sep 2004)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9753421.htm>

iPODS ON THE HIT LIST
They're ubiquitous and have changed the way we listen to music
but iPods are proving to be a high-tech security risk. The
Australian Department of Defense has followed the lead of
Britain's Ministry of Defense in banning the use of iPods --
which have large storage capabilities and can be used to siphon
information from computers -- in specific defense areas. An
Australian government official explains, "The threat from iPods
is considered the same as for all other forms of easily portable
storage media. The use of such media and associated devices, or
their presence within defense areas, is strictly controlled and
in some cases prohibited." In July, Britain's Defense Ministry
added the Apple music accessory to a list of devices banned in
most sections of its UK headquarters and offices abroad. The fear
is that devices with large storage capabilities and those with a
USB (universal serial bus) plug can be a useful tool for data
thieves. (The Age 25 Sep 2004) Rec''d from J. Lamp
<http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/24/1095961848693.html>

MICROSOFT SUES SPAMMERS
Microsoft has filed nine new lawsuits against spammers, and is
now involved in more than 100 legal anti-spam cases throughout
the world. The latest lawsuit is against Web hosting company
National Online Sales and its owner Levon Gillespie, who offer
"bulletproof" services for those seeking to send marketing
e-mail. Aaron Kornblum, an attorney for Microsoft, says: "This is
the first action against a Web host catering to spammers." His
rationale for the suit is that National Online Sales and
Gillespie are providing "a safe place for spammers to drive
customers to."
(Reuters/USA Today 25 Sep 204)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-09-25-ms-sues-spam-
host_x.htm>

SCHWARZENEGGER WANTS E-VOTE PAPER TRAIL
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation that
will bar the use of any electronic voting machine that doesn't
produce paper trails to verify votes. Another bill that received
his signature will allow the California secretary of state, local
election officials or the attorney general to file lawsuits
against persons or companies suspected of tampering with voting
equipment. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 28 Sep 2004)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9778991.htm>


You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan:
NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization
making significant and sustained contributions to the effective
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To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld
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*

>From Edupage

CONCERN GROWS OVER JPEG FLAW
Some security experts are warning users that a recently announced
flaw in the way some Microsoft applications handle JPEG images
could lead to the next large-scale virus infection. David Perry
of anti-virus firm Trend Micro noted that the combination of
several factors has his firm especially worried about the JPEG
flaw. Those factors, Perry said, include the number of
applications that are affected by the flaw--more than a
dozen--and the fact that there has not been a significant virus
attack for some time, which may have the effect of lowering
users' attention to preventive measures. When the flaw was
announced, no code had yet appeared that exploited it. Within the
past week, however, such code has been written and has appeared
on a private mailing list and a public Web site. Perry
characterized the current situation as "the virus equivalent of a
harmonic convergence." Others were not as worried about the
threat posed by the flaw. Graham Cluley of anti-virus firm Sophos
noted that so far no malicious code is being delivered using the
flaw. "It is purely being done as a 'proof of concept,'" said
Cluley. BBC, 24 September 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3684552.stm


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***

More Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media

NEW SAT ESSAY PORTION FOCUSES MORE ON STYLE THAN CONTENT

Schools and students are flocking to either take the SAT tests
before March to avoid the change to handwriting as opposed to
only content oriented scoring, while those in a position to only
take the test later are practicing on their handwriting like mad,
according to various reports I have heard and seen regarding the
2005 SAT [Scholastic Aptitude Test, now owned by College Board
testing.]

Decades ago research indicated that a typewritten paper, this was
before the computer age, was much easier for an academic
evaluator to read and grade, and would also get a higher grade,
even though the content was the same.

In 2005 we will apparently be taking a giant step back-- to the
days where penmanship was more important than the ability to
type, when the pen was mightier than the PC.

All Things Considered reported on September 27, that the school
system's "New Generation Takes Up Cursive Writing" and Robert
Siegel watched as Bel Air, Maryland, students went back to the
basics of formal handwriting, something had previously been going
the way of the dinosaur as the computer had become the tool of
choice for writing.

Testing on analogies and quantitative comparison are now being
de-emphasized, as are the reading passages, all in decline in the
new 2005 version of the SAT, which vamped and revamped itself in
the last few years, setting up an alternative new scoring system
I reported on earlier.

That scoring system was in response to the fact that the
standarized tests such as the SAT and ACT [The "American College
Testing" brand] scores had finally fallen so far that this could
no longer be ignored.

Of course, the solution was to revamp the scoring, not a solution
to improve the U.S. educational system.  [There have been several
comments mentioning that many a recent winner of national awards
has been homeschooled; include both last year's National Spelling
Bee winner and runner up in that category, not to mention several
earlier.]

Without even a single decade to evaluate and refine that new
scoring system, the SATs are already going through a new face
lift that further removes today's scores from a historical
perspective that previously dated to WWII.

To those who say none of "1984" never happened, I submit that
these are merely a few examples out of thousands.


FLORIDA SCHOOLS CLOSED, BUT FOOTBALL IS STILL A PRIORITY

Many students in Florida are still out of school, due to the
effects of recent hurricane damage, but the football team is
still going out for practice, as what has been a major effort at
a "return to normalcy."


RFIDs NOW TRACKING CHILDREN AT THEME PARKS

RFIDs [Radio Frequency IDentification tags] are now used to keep
track of your kids when they go to theme parks-- I guess you can
just go to a "lost and found" and see on the computer screen
where they are.

Previous uses have been to keep track of school children in
Japan, public officials in South America, and inmates in prisons,
as well as for the County Dog Catcher to get a head start on
those hard to catch dogs.

This may be the first use not mandated by some officials of the
various government agencies involved, at least as far as the
tracking of living beings is concerned.

Wal-Mart is reported to be putting RFIDs on every single piece of
merchandise in their stores, so watch out if an item you are
carrying gets out of your possession, their computers may realize
this and have someone bring it out to the checkout counter as you
are leaving.

[Speaking of those Japanese school kids. . . .]

JAPANESE KIDS TRACKED BY RADIO CHIPS

[No more saying, "They didn't let me out until an hour ago."]

Some schools in Japan are testing a system in which tiny antennae
are attached to student backpacks or clothes so the students can
be traced by radio. Public school teacher Ichiro Ishihara says,
"More than 70 percent of parents supported the trials, indicating
there is wide appreciation for this kind of effort. And the kids
love it -- they think it's cool." There has also begun the
testing in Japan of a system that will allow messages to be sent
to parents' cell phones so they know what time their children
left school.
(Los Angeles Times 28 Sep 2004)
<http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology11sep28,1,7887619.story?coll=sns-ap-toptechnology>

***

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has published a new survey, which
looks at how Americans spend their time.

See http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus.pdf.

"Reading as a primary [leisure] activity varied greatly by age. 
The oldest age group [65 and older] averaged an hour of reading
per day, while the youngest [15 to 24] averaged about 8
minutes."  The overall average is .33 hours/day (about 19
minutes) for men, and .40 hours/day (about 24 minutes) for women.



*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK

TV ADS REDUCED DURING PREMIERES

While I was watching the season premiere of a television show
this week, I noticed something odd. . .no commercials, no ads.
Nothing on that order until 21 minutes into the show, so I did a
little note taking and found the ads to have been placed at:

21 mins
34 mins
45 mins
54 mins

thus giving show viewing segments of:

21 mins
10 mins
  8 mins
  6 mins

for a total of 45 minutes of show, when the usual time given for
programs has now "Honey, I shrunk the TV shows" down to only
about 40 minutes on the average day.  Thus we got 3/4 show and
1/4 commercials during the premiere, and none at all for the
first 1/3+ of the show, rather than the usual 2/3 show and 1/3
commercials.

Yes, we usually get only about 40 minutes of programming per 60
minutes on the clock.

For those keeping score at home, you might want to try it, and
you will notice that once they have you hooked on the show, they
put in more and more ads as the show goes on.

If you buy any of the old shows, you will notice they have 52
minutes of show and only 8 minutes of commercials.  The
commercial breaks used to be 2 minutes long and usually in two
equally spaced segments per half hour show, and those "stations
breaks" really WERE there for your local station to have a few
seconds to identify themselves, let you hear the beep telling you
the exact time, etc.

I did the same note taking process with one of the popular
daytime talk shows, and got 60 ads in one hour, obviously most of
them took less than 30 seconds, or you would not be able to get
much of the show on.

Some shows now even interrupt themselves to give ads for
something happening later in the show. . .and I do NOT mean ye
old technique of saying "NEXT, see this," when you KNOW whatever
it is will definitely NOT BE NEXT!!!

No, I see shows now putting in little previews of parts of that
show that are coming, and I don't mean just the talk shows, who
have some reason to let you know how an idea is going to be
pursued, but I mean sit-coms, etc.

All this puts less and less program and more and more promotional
material on your television.

I admit, that _I_ consider "watch this show later" to be
advertizing, even though the television executives will try to
get them counted in the same slot as some of the PSA's or Public
Service Announcements, which I notice have now been nearly
completely relegated from normal hours to those times I only
watch when I found sleep to be very elusive.

I won't even go into how I felt the first time I woke up to
advertizing during the previews at the movies-- or various kinds
of "product placement," etc.

Even PBS and NPR, which used to have NO advertizing-- only a few
seconds of the name of the sponsors in the whole hour of
programming now end their programs five minutes before the hour,
just like the networks we've always been accustomed to, and fill
that time with an assortment of ads for products, companies and
shows-- now I even hear "breaks" in the interview programs in
order to give yet even more time for advertizing on a show that
claims to be "non-commercial."

I wonder what I will do the next time I am invited on one of
those "non-commercial" shows?

Will I insist that there NOT be advertizing connected with my
presence on their programs?




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