Subject: 15,000th Project Gutenberg eBook Released -
msg#00002

Previous Message by Date:

PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter

GWeekly_January_05.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, January 05, 2005 PT1 *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971***** **Today marks the end of the 2004 production year, starting the 2005 year** Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@xxxxxxxxx or gbnewby@xxxxxxxxx Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@xxxxxxxxx Comments on "Project Googleberg" as others have dubbed it, in other email. 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 7 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 84 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright [2 counted twice last week, we really did 2 more this week] *Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones Project Gutenberg of Australian Reaches 400 eBooks!!! 14,956 eBooks As Of Today!!! 11,706 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 We Produced about 4,049 eBooks In 2004 We Are 99% of the Way from 14,000 to 15,000 51 to go to 15,000!!! We have now averaged ~448 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971!!! We Are Averaging About 338 eBooks Per Month This Year About 78 Per Week It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks It took ~32 months, from 2001 to 2004 for our last 10,000 eBooks It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100 * HEADLINE NEWS Jan 2005 Around the Boree Log and Other Verses, by O'Brien[050005xx.xxx]0400A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500051.txt or .000 [Author's full name: John O'brien, pseudonym for Patrick Joseph Hartigan] *** REQUEST FOR UNIX "GREP" EXPERT Please email hart@xxxxxxxxx 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 people will be helping with scanning, finding books, etc. 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@xxxxxxx> ***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@xxxxxxxxx and gbnewby@xxxxxxxxx if you would like to volunteer.] This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter *** ***Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements "[beta-testing continues on bowerbird's viewer-app -- "give". designed to turn plain-ascii e-texts into full-on e-books. features include an automatic table-of-contents menu, italics/bold, automatic hotlinks, big and bold headers, illustrations!, and the usual ability to pick font/size/colors. please help shape the future of this viewer for your e-texts! to participate, send e-mail to: zml_talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ]" Please visit and test our newest site: www.pgcc.net [also available as www.gutenberg.us and www.gutenberg.cc] The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center [PGCC] Please let us know of any eBook collections that would be suitable for inclusion: public domain or copyrighted, for which we must ask permission. [or listed as copyrighted with permission] You should see some significant changes this week. * There is a new experimental online reader available. Start from any bibliographic record page, eg. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300 Basically this paginates the txt file and remembers your last position in a cookie so you can later resume reading where you left off. Please test it. It should work with any book that has a text file where the encoding is known. * MACHINE TRANSLATION We are seeking as much information as possible on the various approaches to Machine Translation. Any brand names or contact information would be greatly appreciated. *** Please use our new site for downloading DVD and CD images, etc. http://www.gutenberg.org/cdproject and The PG bittorrent tracker is up and running. Aaron Cannon has placed the CD and DVD there if anyone wants to test. You can access it by visiting http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu:6969 *** We are in the process of rewriting some of the general FAQs and would appreciate help proofreading them over the next few months. We've added some new FAQs and generally updated information about Project Gutenberg. Take a look, and email Michael or Greg with any suggestions or corrections. We'll have these updated from time to time, now that we've passed #10,000. A new set of these will be in the works when we pass #20,000. http://www.gutenberg.org/about ***Continuing Requests and Announcements We're building a team to read our eBooks into MP3 files for the visually impaired and other audio book users. Let us know if you'd like to join this group. More information at http://www.gutenberg.org/audio *** Project Gutenberg Needs DVD Burners So far we have sent out 14 million eBooks via snailmail!!! We currently have access to a dozen DVD burners. If you have a DVD burner and are interested in lending a hand, please email Aaron Cannon <cannona@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> We can set you up with images, or snail you these DVDs for you to copy. You can either snail them directly to readers whose addresses we can send you, or you can do a stack of these and send the whole box back for reshipping. We can also reimburse you for supplies and postage if you wish. Please note that we can only use DVDs which are burnt in the dvd-r format, as we have had some compatibility issues with the dvd+r format. *** Project Gutenberg is seeking graphics we can use for our Web pages and publicity materials. If you have original graphics depicting Project Gutenberg themes, please contribute them! To see some of what we have now, please see: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/images *** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES Project Gutenberg is seeking (volunteer) lawyers. We have regular needs for intellectual property legal advice (both US and international) and other areas. Please email Project Gutenberg's CEO, Greg Newby <gbnewby AT pglaf.org> , if you can help. This is much more important than many of us realize! ***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders In the first 11.80 months of this year, we produced 3960 new eBooks. It took us from July 1971 to December 2002 to produce our first 3,960 eBooks! That's 51 WEEKS as Compared to ~31.5 Years! 91 New eBooks This Week [correcting for last report] 97 New eBooks Last Week [2 were counted twice, sorry] 385 New eBooks This Month [Dec] 338 Average Per Month in 2004 355 Average Per Month in 2003 203 Average Per Month in 2002 103 Average Per Month in 2001 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 11894 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 [48 Months] 10654 New eBooks Since Start of 2002 [36 Months] 8213 New eBooks Since Start of 2003 [24 Months] 14,956 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 10,821 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 4,055 New eBooks In Last 12 Months [Brett's Program] 4,135 [Combining the above from Brett's program] [Perhaps a result of 53 Wednesdays last year] 400 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia We're still keeping up with Moore's Law! Moore's Law 12 month percentage = 63% Moore's Law 18 month percentage = 122% [100% of Moore's Law = doubling every 18 months] [There may be some need to refine our program for these figures] * *Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report Since completing its first eBook (#3320) on Mar 13th, 2001, the Distributed Proofreaders team has now produced its 6,165th eBook (#14597). Of that total, there are 5,786 unique, brand-new titles. Projects completed during the past year: Jan 2004 - 267 Feb 2004 - 421 Mar 2004 - 365 Apr 2004 - 276 May 2004 - 235 Jun 2004 - 232 Jul 2004 - 231 Aug 2004 - 220 Sep 2004 - 182 Oct 2004 - 263 Nov 2004 - 280 Dec 2004 - 287 Total 2004 3,259 Average 271.58 * Check out our website at www.gutenberg.org, and see below to learn how you can get INSTANT access to our eBooks via FTP servers even before the new eBooks listed below appear in our catalog. eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists. Info on subscribing to daily, weekly, monthly Newsletters, listservs: http://www.gutenberg.org/howto/subscribe-howto or http://www.gutenberg.org/subs.shtml *** *Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report [John just got married, and we're still giving him one more week off. . . .] However, there are ~300 Chinese eBooks from Prof. Mao in progress. PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections holdings of 15 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@Adelaide Collection, 27,709 eBook Files Himalayan Academy, 3,400 HTML eBook Files Literal Systems Collection, 68 MP3 eBook Files Logos Group Collection, 34,000 TXT eBook Files Prof. Mao's Chinese eBooks ~ 300 eBook files Poet's Corner Poetry Collection, 6,700 Poetry Files Project Gutenberg Collection, 14,959 eBook Files 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==========107,065 Total Files===== Average Size Per Member Collection 6,691 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 35,689 Unique eBooks If we presume 3 out of 4 of these files are overcounts, that leaves a unique book total of 26,667 Unique eBooks *** Today Is Day #365 of 2004 This Completes Week #52 and Month #12.00 00 Days/00 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 51 Books To Go To #15,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 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] *** Permanent Requests For Assistance: DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS NEEDS CONTENT, PROOFERS AND SCANNER TYPES Please contact us at: dphelp@xxxxxxxx if you would like to know more about the Distributed Proofreaders. Thanks to very good recent publicity, the Distributed Proofreading project has greatly accelerated its pace. Please visit the site: http://www.pgdp.net for more information about how you can help a lot, by simply proofreading just a few pages per day, or more. If you have a book that has been scanned, but not yet run through OCR (optical character recognition) or proofed, and you would like the Distributed Proofreaders to work on it, please email dphelp@xxxxxxxx and we will get things started. Also, DP is seeking public domain books not already in the Project Gutenberg collection. To see what is already online, visit http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/GUTINDEX.ALL (a text file) listing Project Gutenberg eBooks and is available for downloading. Do you have Public Domain books you would like to see in the archive? Can they be destructively scanned? If so send them to the Distributed Proofreading Team! Please email dphelp@xxxxxxxx with your geographic location. You will be given the address of the nearest high-speed scanner (note that the high-speed scanner requires destruction of the book(s) which will not be returned). We have high-speed scanners currently located in the east, west and central portions of the US to make shipping easier. Please make sure that any books you send are _not_ already in the archive and please check them against David's "In Progress" list at: http://www.dprice48.freeserve.co.uk/GutIP.html to ensure no one is currently working on them. It would also be helpful if you obtain copyright clearance before mailing the books, and send the 'OK' lines to dphelp@xxxxxxxx Do you like to work on an entire book at once but don't have the time or technology to do the scanning, OCR, and initial proofing yourself? Distributed Proofreaders has the perfect solution! Just send us email telling us that you are interested in post-processing and we will help find a project you would like to work on. ***Donation Information We Have Included Quick and Easy Ways to Donate. . .As Per Your Requests! We Are Looking For Volunteers To Add eBooks In More Languages, and in more formats, including music, artwork, movies, etc. *** QUICK WAYS TO MAKE A DONATION TO PROJECT GUTENBERG A. Send a check or money order to: Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation 809 North 1500 West Salt Lake City, UT 84116 USA B. Donate by credit card online: NetworkForGood: http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=64-6221541 or PayPal to "donate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx": http://www.paypal.com /xclick/business=donate%40gutenberg.org&item_name=Donate+to+Gutenberg Project Gutenberg's success is due to the hard work of thousands of volunteers over more than 33 years. Your donations make it possible to support these volunteers, and pay our few employees to continue the creation of free electronic texts. We accept credit cards, checks and transfers from any country, in any currency. Donations are made to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF). PGLAF is approved as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal Revenue Service, and has the Federal Employee Information Number (EIN) 64-6221541. For more information, including several other ways to donate, go to http://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html or email donate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx *Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections *Mirror Site Information Mirrors (copies) of the complete collection are available around the world. To find the sites nearest you, go to: http://www.gutenberg.org/MIRRORS.ALL *Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks http://www.gutenberg.org/find allows searching by title, author, language and subject. Use your Web browser or FTP program to visit our master download site (or a mirror) if you know the file's name you want. Try: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs or ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/ and then navigate to the appropriate directory and look for the first five characters of the file's name. Note that updated eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.) *** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? Statistical Review In the 52 weeks of this year, we have produced 4,049 new eBooks. It took us from 1971 to 2001 to produce our FIRST 4,049 eBooks!!! That's 52 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 1/3 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #4049 May 2003 Mates at Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce [mtsbbxxx.xxx] 4050 May 2003 Piccolissima, by Eliza Lee Follen [Follen #9][pcclsxxx.xxx] 4049 May 2003 The Talkative Wig, by Eliza Lee Follen [ELF#8][tktvwxxx.xxx] 4048 May 2003 The Leavenworth Case, by Anna Katharine Green [#6][lvnwrxxx.xxx] 4047 May 2003 The Garden of Survival, by Algernon Blackwood [grdnsxxx.xxx] 4046 May 2003 Omoo, by Herman Melville [Melville#5][omoosxxx.xxx] 4045 May 2003 What the Animals Do and Say, by E.L.Follen [ELF#7][wtnmlxxx.xxx] 4044 May 2003 The Dynasts, by Thomas Hardy [Hardy#24][dynstxxx.xxx] 4043 May 2003 Mozart:The Man and the Artist, by Kerst & Krehbiel[wammaxxx.xxx] 4042 May 2003 Conscience, by Eliza Lee Follen [Follen#6][cnscnxxx.xxx] 4041 May 2003 The Pedler of Dust Sticks, by Eliza Lee Follen[#5][pdlrdxxx.xxx] 4040 May 2003 Volpone; Or, The Fox, Ben Jonson [Jonson #5][vlpnrxxx.xxx] 4039 May 2003 Imaginary Portraits, Walter Horatio Pater [#6][?imagxxx.xxx] 4038 May 2003 Appreciations, With An Essay on Style, Pater [#5][?awaexxx.xxx] 4037 May 2003 Essays From The Guardian, Walter Horatio Pater[#4][?essgxxx.xxx] 4036 With 14,956 eBooks online as of January 05, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.67 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 $.92 when we had 10,821 eBooks a year ago. Can you imagine ~14,956 books each costing ~$.25 less a year later??? Or. . .would this say it better? Can you imagine ~14,956 books each costing 1/3 less a year later??? At 14,956 eBooks in 33 Years and 06.00 Months We Averaged 446 Per Year [We do about 3/4 that much per month these days!] 37.2 Per Month 1.22 Per Day At 4049 eBooks Done In The 364 Days Of 2004 We Averaged 11 Per Day 78 Per Week 337 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 NewsScan and Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] [There haven't been many issues of Newsscan and Edupage recently, due to the holidays, so very few articles here.] THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING: THE WEB, OF COURSE The distinguished computer scientist Ramesh Jain says in his blog that his interview with John Gehl for Ubiquity received widespread attention and demonstrated that the importance of paper publications is becoming less significant compared to appearance of ideas or articles in cyberspace: "None of my articles that appeared in well respected journals got the attention of relevant people so rapidly... I am convinced that this is clearly the direction for ideas propagation and distribution." And last week's Ubiquity interview with technology visionary Michael Schrage also received a tremendous response from readers. You'll find the two interviews at: <http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/v5i29_jain.html> and <http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/v5i39_schrage.html> RADAR INFO 'MORE RELIABLE' THAN WHAT THE AIRLINES TELL YOU [Tired of not being able to believe what the airlines tell you?] The Yosemite International Airport in Fresno, California, has become the first in the nation to use a Web-based wireless system that relies strictly on radar (rather than on reports from the airline carriers themselves) to obtain the flight information it displays on monitors and portable kiosks. Ron Dunsky, of the company that developed the software, says: "It is a way to inexpensively kick information up to a more accurate level." (AP/Washington Post 4 Jan 2005) <www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46599-2005Jan4.html?nav=headlines> 'ENHANCED INTENSIVE CARE': IF YOU NEED IT YOU'LL WANT IT [Waiting for first story of a patient dying "live" on camera while no one is paying attention to what the camera is showing] New technology known as eICU ("Enhanced Intensive Care") lets physicians miles away from their patents manage health care via cameras and banks of computer screens. Developed by Baltimore-based VISICU Inc., the technology is already in use at least 18 hospital systems nationwide. Whereas traditional health care systems rely on nurses to notice a problem with a patient and relay the information to a doctor, eICU informs the doctor directly. The doctor can check the patient's ventilator, intravenous medication and anything else in the patient's room, and one physician notes: "The camera is such that I can count eyelashes." (AP/Los Angeles Times 4 Jan 2004) <http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology12jan04,1,3365615.story? coll=sns-ap-toptechnology> ANOTHER HIGH-TECH LEAP IN INDIA [India and China will be moving up the technology ladder, just watch.] The Indian state Andhra Pradesh is planning a new $90-million network that will move data between Hyderabad, the state's capital, and 23 districts at a speed more than 5,000 times the speed of the existing network. Hyderabad is already a hub of knowledge-based industries, and it has attracted Microsoft and numerous other world-class companies to establish research centers there. Mohammed Ali Shabbir, the state's information minister, predicts predicts the new system will revolutionize the entire communication network. He explains: "Widespread availability of broadband services at very low and affordable rates is expected to take government services to the doorsteps of the citizens and also trigger significant economic activity in every sector." (AP 3 Jan 2004) <http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050103/D87CLVL00.html> 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 management and appropriate use of information technology. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions of NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate subscribe or unsubscribe messages (i.e., with the word 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line) to: Text version: Send message to NewsScan@xxxxxxxxxxxx Html version: Send mail to NewsScan-html@xxxxxxxxxxxx NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html * From Edupage [There haven't been many issues of Newsscan and Edupage recently, due to the holidays, so very few articles here.] COLLEGES EXPAND RECRUITING TECHNOLOGY As the effectiveness of e-mail as an admissions tool declines, colleges and universities are beginning to explore alternative recruitment Internet strategies. At the top of the list for many institutions are streaming videos of campus, either on the school's Web page or in the form of video magazines, or Vmags. Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame began testing a Vmag two years ago, sending it to students who had been accepted but had not yet decided to enroll. Saint Mary's Vmag includes four videos, each between one and two minutes, showing various activities on campus. Users who have downloaded the Vmag are prompted when new versions are available. Many believe video is able to persuade in ways that fixed images are not. Westminster College in Salt Lake City has added 136 video clips to its Web site in an effort to appeal to prospective students. Joel Bauman, vice president for enrollment at Westminster, said the videos are fairly inexpensive to produce. Karen Giannino, senior associate dean of admission at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., said the videos added to her institution's Web site help "tell our story in a compelling way" and "differentiate Colgate" from similar schools. New York Times, 30 December 2004 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/circuits/30coll.html EBAY TO DISCONTINUE PASSPORT Online auction site eBay has announced it will discontinue support of Microsoft's Passport service later this month. The service offers registered users a single location to store personal information including names, addresses, and credit card numbers. When shopping at online vendors participating in the service, users can access their profiles for transactions with just a single login. Since its debut in 1999, however, Passport has failed to live up to expectations, in part due to competition as well as to security concerns among consumers. In addition, retailers were slow to sign up for fear that Microsoft might begin charging fees to retailers for the service. A spokesperson from eBay said that the percentage of its customers who regularly signed in using Passport was "very small." Despite losing one of the largest online retailers in eBay, Microsoft said the Passport service will continue. Reuters, 1 January 2005 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7217100 COPYRIGHT LEVY ATTACHED TO GERMAN PC SALES A German court has ordered one of the country's largest PC makers to pay a levy for each new computer sold, to compensate copyright holders for royalties lost to copying. Germany has long charged such levies on devices used for copying content, including blank audio and video cassettes. The VG Wort rights society, which represents copyright holders in Germany, had asked the court to charge Fujitsu Siemens Computers 30 euros (US$41) per computer; the court decided on a levy of 12 euros. VG Wort said it will work to make all PC vendors in Germany subject to the same levy. Bernd Bischoff, CEO of Fujitsu Siemens, said the levy is "a de facto tax on PCs," which will tend to decrease sales. Officials from Fujitsu Siemens said they will consider appealing the decision and have asked the German government to review the copyright levies as they apply to digital technologies. ITWorld, 24 December 2004 http://www.itworld.com/Man/2681/041224germanlevy/ You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, http://news.com.com/2100-1040-958352.html or send e-mail to: edupage@xxxxxxxxxxxx To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName *** TECHNOLOGY REVIEW *Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media *STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK About last week's quote: The actual quote by Jan Egeland, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator and former head of the Norwegian Red Cross: "We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich countries. And it is beyond me, why are we so stingy, really. Even Christmas time should remind many Western countries at least how rich we have become." George Stephanopolis questionned Secretary of State Colin Powell about this, asking pretty much the same question I did: Why was the original estimate barely into the millions of dollars, when it was obvious from the start that it would/should/could approach a billion dollars? Not to mention why President Bush took four days before giving out any statement whatsoever. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK I'm sure you've all now heard this spin-doctored beyond belief, so I'll let it be other than to add that when all is said and done, perhaps over a year from now, the death toll might be 1/4 million, possibly the second greatest natural disaster of all time. [There was an earthquake in Japan in the 1500s that perhaps took 1/2 million lives, perhaps 3/4 million.] *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK More on TIMSS I'm not at all sure why the 8th grade math scores got the press releases a few weeks ago, my own comparisons with a report from 1999 that I saved showed that the U.S. scores in 8th grade science showed much more of a change: 1999 Rank Country Name Score 28 United States 500 2003 Rank Country Name Score 09 United States 527 This shows a 5% increase in absolute scoring, and drastic improvement in international ranking. [Perhaps it was a misprint, and the press releases should have said Science, not Math] At any rate, here are the top 15 in each category of 2003: Math Grade 8 Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 605 2. Korea [Rep./South] 589 3. Hong Kong, SAR 586 4. Chinese Taipei 585 5. Japan 570 6. Belgium [Flemish] 537 7. Netherlands 536 8. Estonia 531 9. Hungary 529 10. Malaysia 508 11. Latvia 508 12. Russian Federation 508 13. Slovak Republic 508 14. Australia 505 15. United States 504 Math Grade 4 [Only about half as many countries measured] Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 594 2. Hong Kong SAR 575 3. Japan 565 4. Chinese Taipei 564 5. Belgium [Flemish] 551 6. Netherlands 540 7. Latvia 536 8. Lithuania 534 9. Russian Federation 532 10. England 531 11. Hungary 529 12. United States 518 13. Cyprus 510 14. Moldova, Rep. of 504 15. Italy 503 [Please note approximately 100 point level change between the 15 each grade] Science Grade 8 Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 578 2. Chinese Taipei 571 3. Korea, Rep./South 558 4. Hong Kong, SAR 556 5. Estonia 552 6. Japan 552 7. Hungary 543 8. Netherlands 536 9. United States 527 10. Australia 527 11. Sweden 524 12. Slovenia 520 13. New Zealand 520 14. Lithuania 519 15. Slovak Republic 520 [Note only 58 points from #1 to #15 in this area] Science Grade 4 Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 565 2. Chinese Taipei 551 3. Japan 543 4. Hong Kong, SAR 542 5. England 540 6. United States 536 7. Latvia 532 8. Hungary 530 9. Russian Federation 526 10. Netherlands 525 11. Australia 521 12. New Zealand 520 13. Belgium [Flemish] 518 14. Italy 516 15. Lithuania 512 [Again note less difference betwen #1 and #15] TIMSS = Third International Mathematics and Science Study Three weeks ago nearly every new service had positive comments about the improved U.S. students' TIMSS test scores that come out every four years. Only one source I heard had the nerve to say that the scores didn't really show any improvement, while the rest seemed to reek of jingoism. However, in reviewing the scores, it seems obvious that the U.S. test scores in question, the 8th grade math scores, were basically unchanged, moving up less than 1% from the 1999 score of 500 to the 2003 score of 504, out of 800. This represents a change of 1/5 of 1% per year, which I seriously doubt is within the statistical parameters of the TIMSS testing methodologies. [This is 1/8% if you measure from the total of 800 points, or a 1/2% total change over the four year period, an increment these kinds of tests are not reported to target.] Much more likely is the fact that the U.S. ranking has been changed more by changes in the other countries, both in terms of the changes the countries chosen for the 2003 tests, and the performance changes of those countries that stayed the same. More details of score changes in the top 20 of 1999: Rank Country 1999/2003 Change 1/1 Singapore 643/605 = 38 2/2 Korea 607/589 = 18 3/5 Japan 605/570 = 35 4/3 Hong Kong 588/586 = 3 6/6 Belgium (Fl) 565/537 = 28 7/13 Slovak Republic 547/508 = 39 9/7 Netherlands 541/536 = 5 9/21 Slovenia 541/493 = 48 [Netherlands and Slovenia tied in 1999] 11/25 Bulgaria 540/476 = 66 14/9 Hungary 537/529 = 7 16/14 Australia 530/505 = 25 Avg. of 11 listed here: 568/539 = 29 Change in U.S. Score: 500/504 = 4 Change in U.S. Rank 28/15 = 13 Obviously the other countries changed much more than the U.S., over 7 times as much change, not to mention that many of the countries tested in 1999 were not tested in 2003, a factor of change much greater than that of the U.S. performance change. Thus we see that that most other countries changed much more than did the U.S., which changed very little. It would appear that the U.S. didn't really move on the charts so much as other countries moved up and down past the U.S. In addition, it appears that the science scores were not mentioned in these news reports, nor were the scores for students in the lower grade classes. I will have to dig them up to let you know more about them in later issues. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists For more information about the Project Gutenberg's mailing lists, including the Project Gutenberg Weekly and Monthly Newsletters: and the other Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists: The weekly is sent on Wednesdays, and the monthly is sent on the first Wednesday of the month. To subscribe to any (or to unsubscribe or adjust your subscription preferences), visit the Project Gutenberg mailing list server: http://lists.pglaf.org If you are having trouble with your subscription, please email the list's human administrators at: help@xxxxxxxxx _______________________________________________ gweekly mailing list gweekly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gweekly

Next Message by Date:

Pt2 Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter

GWeekly_January_12_part2.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 12 Jan 2005 eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers Since 1971 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 2 of the Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter: - Obtaining Project Gutenberg eBooks - Updates/corrections to previously posted eBooks (Warning: there's a bunch this week!) - 73 New U.S. eBooks this week - 6 New eBooks at Project Gutenberg of Australia - Last, but not least: insights and other fine stuff (Including additional information about some of this week's postings) - Mailing list information - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .:: HOW TO GET EBOOKS FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG ::. The easiest way to obtain our eBooks is at our search page at http://gutenberg.net/find.shtml which allows searching by title, author or eBook number; there is also an Advanced Search page which allows for additional search criteria (note that our newer postings may not yet be indexed for all additional criteria). And please note: you can now obtain a listing by language at the above link. Mirrors (copies) of the complete collection are available around the world, and you can select one nearer to your location from the link on the search results page. To see a listing of mirror sites, and locate the one nearest to you, visit: http://gutenberg.net/list.shtml If you prefer to download eBooks via other methods than from the search page, and need additional information, please refer to the file GUTINDEX.ALL, available for viewing or downloading at: http://www.gutenberg.net/GUTINDEX.ALL That file contains descriptions and explanations about the filenaming process, directory structure, file formats, and more. And to directly access the file directories: http://gutenberg.net/dirs/ Please note that the Project Gutenberg Production Team continues the process of manually re-posting those eBooks originally posted prior to Nov 2003 to the new filenaming and directory system (based on the eBook number). This process includes some file maintenance (repairing, correcting and re-formatting to current PG standards where practicable). These re-postings are noted in the "corrections" listings below. More information can be found in the file GUTINDEX.ALL mentioned above. * * * Please see Part 1 of this week's newsletter for more information about Project Gutenberg. And if you haven't done so lately, please visit the website at http://www.gutenberg.net to see what's new. * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Note: this listing best viewed with a fixed-width font, such as Courier New or similar. To report an error in the listings below, please write to news_at_pglaf.org and include the word CORRECTION in the subject line. ========================================================================= [ Here Are The Updated Listings For This Past Week ] ========================================================================= TOTAL COUNT as of today, Wed, 12 Jan 2005: 15,035 (incl. 46 Aus.). Last week the Total Count was 14,956, including 400 at PG of Australia. This week we added 79 new (including 6 at PG of Australia). RESERVED/PENDING count: 43 (No change this week). =-=-=-=[ CORRECTIONS, REVISIONS AND NEW FORMATS ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .:: During the past week the following eBooks were manually updated and reposted with the indicated filenames and transferred into the corresponding new directories: Letters of Two Brides, by Honore de Balzac 1941 [Tr.: R. S. Scott] [Updated edition of: etext99/l2brd10.txt] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/9/4/1941 ] [Files: 1941.txt] .:: GUTINDEX.ALL is being corrected as follows: The following is being re-indexed to include "Part I": Answer to Dr. Priestley's Letters, Part I, by Matthew Turner 14120 [Title: Answer to Dr. Priestley's Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever] [Ed.: William Hammon] .:: Please note the following additional changes, corrections, improvements: The following listing incorrectly identified Kenneth Morris as the Editor, not the author: The Crest-Wave of Evolution, by Kenneth Morris 14587 The following is being re-indexed to correct the author's name ("O'Connor", not "O'Conner") Sketches In The House (1893), by T. P. O'Connor 14443 Editor's name (Seaman, not Seamen): Punch, Vol. 152, January 10, 1917, Ed. by Owen Seaman 14135 The following is being corrected to add the second author (Long): Plutarch's Lives, Volume II, by Aubrey Stewart and George Long 14114 We have reposted the following in HTML format as indicated: Lineage, Life and Labors of Jose Rizal: Philippine Patriot, Austin Craig 6867 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/6/8/6/6867 ] [Files: 6867-h.htm] -=-=-=-=[ 73 NEW U.S. EBOOKS ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Religion of the Ancient Celts, by J. A. MacCulloch 14672 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/7/14672 ] [Files: 14672.txt; 14672-8.txt; 14672-h.htm] Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, by Charles Major 14671 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/7/14671 ] [Files: 14671.txt; 14671-8.txt; 14671-h.htm] Det gar an, by Carl Jonas Love Almqvist 14670 [Language: Swedish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/7/14670 ] [Files: 14670-8.txt; 14670-h.htm] Jaffery, by William J. Locke 14669 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14669 ] [Files: 14669.txt; 14669-8.txt; 14669-h.htm] McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader, by William Holmes McGuffey 14668 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14668 ] [Files: 14668-doc.doc; 14668-pdf.pdf] A Christmas Garland, by Max Beerbohm 14667 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14667 ] [Files: 14667.txt; 14667-8.txt; 14667-h.htm] Op Samoa, by Eginhard von Barfus 14666 [Language: Dutch] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14666 ] [Files: 14666.txt; 14666-8.txt; 14666-h.htm] Through the Air to the North Pole, by Roy Rockwood 14665 [Subtitle: or The Wonderful Cruise of the Electric Monarch] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14665 ] [Files: 14665.txt] Things To Make, by Archibald Williams 14664 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14664 ] [Files: 14664.txt; 14664-doc.doc; 14664-pdf.pdf] McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896, by Various 14663 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/6/14663 ] [Files: 14663.txt; 14663-8.txt; 14663-h.htm; ] Around The Tea-Table, by T. De Witt Talmage 14662 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14662 ] [Files: 14662.txt; 14662-8.txt; 14662-h.htm] Conditions in Utah, by Thomas Kearns 14661 [Subtitle: Speech of Hon. Thomas Kearns of Utah, in the Senate of the United States] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14661 ] [Files: 14661.txt; 14661-h.htm] Mabini's Decalogue for Filipinos, by Apolinario Mabini 14660 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/6/14660 ] [Files: 14660.txt; 14660-h.htm] Muslin, by George Moore 14659 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/5/14659 ] [Files: 14659.txt; 14659-8.txt] The Road, by Jack London 14658 [Contents: Confession] [ Holding Her Down] [ Pictures] [ "Pinched"] [ The Pen] [ Hoboes That Pass in the Night] [ Road-Kids and Gay-Cats] [ Two Thousand Stiffs] [ Bulls] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/5/14658 ] [Files: 14658.txt; 14658-h.htm; ] Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria, by Norman Bentwich 14657 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/5/14657 ] [Files: 14657.txt; 14657-8.txt; 14657-h.htm] The Sword Maker, by Robert Barr 14656 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/5/14656 ] [Files: 14656.txt; 14656-8.txt] Big People and Little People of Other Lands, by Edward R. Shaw 14655 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/5/14655 ] [Files: 14655.txt; 14655-h.htm; ] A Daughter of the Snows, by Jack London 14654 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/5/14654 ] [Files: 14654.txt; ] The Feast of St. Friend, by Arnold Bennett 14653 [Author AKA: Enoch Arnold Bennett (1867-1931)] [Subtitle: A Christmas Book] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/5/14653 ] [Files: 14653.txt; 14653-8.txt; 14653-h.htm; ] Punch, Vol. 102, June 4, 1892, Ed. by Francis Burnand 14652 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/5/14652 ] [Files: 14652.txt; 14652-8.txt; 14652-h.htm] Kauppaneuvoksen harka, by Teuvo Pakkala 14651 [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/5/14651 ] [Files: 14651-8.txt] Meripoikia, by Teuvo Pakkala 14650 [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/5/14650 ] [Files: 14650-8.txt] Sata ja yksi laulua; Hiihtajan virsia; Pyha kevat, by Eino Leino 14649 [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/4/14649 ] [Files: 14649-8.txt] Bij de Parsi's van Bombay en Gudsjerat, by Delphine Menant 14648 [Subtitle: From "De Aarde en haar volken" 1909-1910] [Language: Dutch] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/4/14648 ] [Files: 14648-8.txt; 14648-h.htm] The Cave in the Mountain, by Lieut. R. H. Jayne 14647 [Author AKA: Edward Sylvester Ellis (1840-1916)] [Lt. R. H. Jayne was one of the many pseudonyms used by author Edward Sylvester Ellis.] [Language: english] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/4/14647 ] [Files: 14647.txt; 14647-h.htm; ] Christopher and Columbus, by Countess Elizabeth Von Arnim 14646 [Author AKA: Mary Annette Beauchamp Russell] [Illus.: Arthur Litle] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/4/14646 ] [Files: 14646.txt; 14646-8.txt; 14646-h.htm; ] Unleavened Bread, by Robert Grant 14645 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/4/14645 ] [Files: 14645.txt; 14645-8.txt; 14645-h.htm; ] The Development of the European Nations, by John Holland Rose 14644 [Full title: The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.)] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/4/14644 ] [Files: 14644.txt; 14644-8.txt; 14644-h.htm] The Farmer Boy; the Story of Jacob, by J. H. Willard 14643 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/4/14643 ] [Files: 14643.txt; 14643-h.htm; ] McGuffey's Eclectic Primer, Revised Edition, by William Holmes McGuffey 14642 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/4/14642 ] [Files: 14642-doc.doc; 14642-pdf.pdf] The Golden Calf, Which the World Adores, and Desires, by Helvetius 14641 [Author: John Frederick Helvetius] [Subtitle: In Which Is Handled the Most Rare and Incomparable Wonder of Nature, in Transmuting Metals; viz. How the Intire Substance of Lead, Was in One Moment Transmuted in Gold-Obrizon, with an Exceeding Small Particle of the True Philosophick Stone] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/4/14641 ] [Files: 14641.txt; 14641-8.txt; 14641-h.htm; ] McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition, by McGuffey 14640 [Author: William Holmes McGuffey] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/4/14640 ] [Files: 14640-doc.doc; 14640-pdf.pdf] Punch, Vol. 152, February 28, 1917, Ed. by Owen Seaman 14639 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14639 ] [Files: 14639.txt; 14639-8.txt; 14639-h.htm] The Lutherans of New York, by George Wenner 14638 [Subtitle: Their Story and Their Problems] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14638 ] [Files: 14638.txt] Aspects of Literature, by J. Middleton Murry 14637 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14637 ] [Files: 14637.txt; 14637-8.txt] Tragic Sense Of Life, by Miguel de Unamuno 14636 [Tr.: J.E. Crawford Flitch] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14636 ] [Files: 14636.txt; 14636-8.txt; 14636-h.htm] Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures, by Alice Emerson 14635 [Subtitle: Or Helping The Dormitory Fund] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14635 ] [Files: 14635.txt; 14635-8.txt; 14635-h.htm] Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Second Series, by Symonds 14634 [Author: John Addington Symonds] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14634 ] [Files: 14634.txt; 14634-8.txt; 14634-h.htm] The Transgressors, by Francis A. Adams 14633 [Subtitle: Story of a Great Sin] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14633 ] [Files: 14633.txt] The Mystery of Mary, by Grace Livingston Hill 14632 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14632 ] [Files: 14632.txt; 14632-8.txt; 14632-h.htm] The American Missionary, October, 1890, Vol. XLIV., No. 10, by Various 14631 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14631 ] [Files: 14631.txt; 14631-h.htm] Ruth Fielding on Cliff Island, by Alice Emerson 14630 [Subtitle: The Old Hunter's Treasure Box] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/3/14630 ] [Files: 14630.txt; 14630-8.txt; 14630-h.htm] A Wonderful Night; An Interpretation Of Christmas, by James H. Snowden 14629 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14629 ] [Files: 14629.txt; 14629-8.txt; 14629-h.htm] Fleur and Blanchefleur, by Mrs. Leighton 14628 [A Mediaeval Legend Translated from the French by Mrs. Leighton] [Thirty-seven Coloured Illustrations by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14628 ] [Files: 14628.txt; 14628-8.txt; 14628-h.htm] Veronica And Other Friends, by Johanna (Heusser) Spyri 14627 [Subtitle: Two Stories For Children] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14627 ] [Files: 14627.txt; 14627-h.htm] The Boy Allies with the Victorious Fleets, by Robert L. Drake 14626 [Subtitle: The Fall of the German Navy] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14626 ] [Files: 14626.txt; 14626-h.htm] Military Instructors Manual, by James P. Cole and Oliver Schoonmaker 14625 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/2/14625 ] [Files: 14625.txt; 14625-8.txt; 14625-h.htm; ] Santa Claus's Partner, by Thomas Nelson Page 14624 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14624 ] [Files: 14624.txt; 14624-8.txt; 14624-h.htm] Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's, by Laura Lee Hope 14623 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14623 ] [Files: 14623.txt; 14623-h.htm] As Farpas (Outubro a Novembro 1873), by Ramalho Ortigao & Eca de Queiroz 14622 [Subtitle: Chronica Mensal da Politica, das Letras e dos Costumes] [Language: Portuguese] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14622 ] [Files: 14622-8.txt; 14622-h.htm] As Farpas (Marco a Abril de 1873), by Ramalho Ortigao & Eca de Queiroz 14621 [Subtitle: Chronica Mensal da Politica, das Letras e dos Costumes] [Language: Portuguese] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14621 ] [Files: 14621-8.txt; 14621-h.htm] As Farpas (Janeiro a Fevereiro de 1873), by Ortigao & Queiroz 14620 [Subtitle: Chronica Mensal da Politica, das Letras e dos Costumes] [Author: Ramalho Ortigao & Eca de Queiroz] [Language: Portuguese] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/2/14620 ] [Files: 14620-8.txt; 14620-h.htm] An Account Of The Battle Of Chateauguay, by William D. Lighthall 14619 [Subtitle: Being A Lecture Delivered At Ormstown, March 8th, 1889] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14619 ] [Files: 14619.txt; 14619-8.txt; 14619-h.htm] Robert Browning, by C. H. Herford 14618 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14618 ] [Files: 14618.txt; 14618-8.txt; 14618-h.htm] Poems, &c. (1790), by Joanna Baillie 14617 [Subtitle: Wherein It Is Attempted To Describe Certain Views Of Nature And Of Rustic Manners; And Also, To Point Out, In Some Instances, The Different Influence Which The Same Circumstances Produce On Different Characters] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14617 ] [Files: 14617.txt; 14617-8.txt] Thoughts, Moods and Ideals: Crimes of Leisure, by W.D. Lighthall 14616 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14616 ] [Files: 14616.txt; 14616-8.txt] The Sable Cloud, by Nehemiah Adams 14615 [Subtitle: A Southern Tale With Northern Comments (1861)] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14615 ] [Files: 14615.txt; 14615-8.txt] Sister Teresa, by George Moore 14614 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14614 ] [Files: 14614.txt; 14614-8.txt] The Foundations of Japan, by J.W. Robertson Scott 14613 [Subtitle: Notes Made During Journeys Of 6,000 Miles In The Rural Districts As A Basis For A Sounder Knowledge Of The Japanese People] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14613 ] [Files: 14613.txt; 14613-8.txt; 14613-0.txt; 14613-h.htm] Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, No. 421, Jan. 24 1852, Ed. by Chambers 14612 [Ed.: William and Robert Chambers] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14612 ] [Files: 14612.txt; 14612-8.txt; 14612-h.htm] Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18), by Robert Kerr 14611 [Title: A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18)] [Subtitle: Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present Time: Volume 15. Continuing An Account of a Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World, performed in his Majesty's ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the Years 1772, 3, 4, and 5: Written by James Cook, Commander of the Resolution] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14611 ] [Files: 14611.txt; 14611-8.txt] Miss Elliot's Girls, by Mrs Mary Spring Corning 14610 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/1/14610 ] [Files: 14610.txt; 14610-8.txt; 14610-h.htm] Le Kama Soutra, by Vatsyayana 14609 [Tr.: E. Lamairesse] [Language: French] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/0/14609 ] [Files: 14609-8.txt] Jimmy, Lucy, and All, by Sophie May [AKA Rebecca Sophia Clarke] 14608 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/0/14608 ] [Files: 14608.txt; 14608-h.htm] Kahden talonpojan ulkomaan-matka, by Fritz Reuter 14607 [Tr.: Martti Raitio] [Language: Finnish] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/0/14607 ] [Files: 14607-8.txt] And Thus He Came, by Cyrus Townsend Brady 14606 [Subtitle: A Christmas Fantasy] [Ill.: Walter B. Everett] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/0/14606 ] [Files: 14606.txt; 14606-h.htm; ] The Devil's Garden, by W. B. Maxwell 14605 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/0/14605 ] [Files: 14605.txt; 14605-8.txt; 14605-h.htm; ] Scandinavian Influence on Southern Lowland Scotch, by George Tobias Flom 14604 [Volume 1. In The Series Of Germanic Studies From Columbia University] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/0/14604 ] [Files: 14604.txt; 14604-8.txt; 14604-0.txt; 14604-h.htm] Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 420, New Series, Jan. 17, 1852 14603 [Ed.: William and Robert Chambers] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/0/14603 ] [Files: 14603.txt; 14603-8.txt; 14603-h.htm] War Brides: A Play in One Act, by Marion Craig Wentworth 14602 [Illustrated With Photographs From The Play As Presented By Mme. Nazimova] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/0/14602 ] [Files: 14602.txt; 14602-h.htm] Punch, Volume 102, May 7, 1892, Ed. by Francis Burnand 14601 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/0/14601 ] [Files: 14601.txt; 14601-8.txt; 14601-h.htm; ] Theory Of Silk Weaving, by Arnold Wolfensberger 14600 [Link: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/6/0/14600 ] [Files: 14600.txt; 14600-8.txt; 14600-h.htm] -=-=-=-=[ 6 NEW EBOOKS AT PROJECT GUTENBERG OF AUSTRALIA ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jan 2005 Good-bye, Mr. Chips, by James Hilton [050011xx.xxx] 0406A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500111.txt or .zip] [and http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500111h.html ] Jan 2005 Some Passages in the History of Van Diemen's Land [050010xx.xxx] 0405A [Author: Sir John Franklin] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500101.txt or .zip] Jan 2005 Across the Unknown, by Stewart Edward White [050009xx.xxx] 0404A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500091.txt or .zip] Jan 2005 Heart of the World, by H Rider Haggard [050008xx.xxx] 0403A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500081.txt or .zip] Jan 2005 The Indian Cookery Book, by Anonymous [050007xx.xxx] 0402A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500071.txt or .zip] Jan 2005 Generals Die in Bed, by Charles Yale Harrison [050006xx.xxx] 0401A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500061.txt or .zip] [and http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500061h.html ] eBooks are posted in uncompressed and/or compressed formats. To access these ebooks, go to http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html For more information about Project Gutenberg of Australia, including accessing those etexts from outside of Australia, please visit: http://gutenberg.net.au/ --Project Gutenberg of Australia-- --A treasure trove of Literature-- *treasure-trove n. treasure found hidden with no evidence of ownership For more information about copyright restrictions in other countries, please visit: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/okbooks.html ============================================================================= [ This Week's Other Stuff ] ============================================================================= Some things never change. From Punch, eBook #14639 posted this week, and originally published February 28th, 1917: "Discussing the latest dress fashion, a lady writer says, "It is a most ridiculous dress. Nothing worse could be conceived." This, of course, is foolish talk, for the lady has not seen next season's style." ~ ~ ~ ". . .there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." From eBook #4078, The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. ============================================================================= _______________________________________________ gweekly mailing list gweekly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gweekly

Previous Message by Thread:

PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter

GWeekly_January_05.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, January 05, 2005 PT1 *******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971***** **Today marks the end of the 2004 production year, starting the 2005 year** Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@xxxxxxxxx or gbnewby@xxxxxxxxx Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@xxxxxxxxx Comments on "Project Googleberg" as others have dubbed it, in other email. 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 7 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.] 84 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright [2 counted twice last week, we really did 2 more this week] *Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones Project Gutenberg of Australian Reaches 400 eBooks!!! 14,956 eBooks As Of Today!!! 11,706 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 We Produced about 4,049 eBooks In 2004 We Are 99% of the Way from 14,000 to 15,000 51 to go to 15,000!!! We have now averaged ~448 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971!!! We Are Averaging About 338 eBooks Per Month This Year About 78 Per Week It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks It took ~32 months, from 2001 to 2004 for our last 10,000 eBooks It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100 * HEADLINE NEWS Jan 2005 Around the Boree Log and Other Verses, by O'Brien[050005xx.xxx]0400A [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500051.txt or .000 [Author's full name: John O'brien, pseudonym for Patrick Joseph Hartigan] *** REQUEST FOR UNIX "GREP" EXPERT Please email hart@xxxxxxxxx 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 people will be helping with scanning, finding books, etc. 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@xxxxxxx> ***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@xxxxxxxxx and gbnewby@xxxxxxxxx if you would like to volunteer.] This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter *** ***Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements "[beta-testing continues on bowerbird's viewer-app -- "give". designed to turn plain-ascii e-texts into full-on e-books. features include an automatic table-of-contents menu, italics/bold, automatic hotlinks, big and bold headers, illustrations!, and the usual ability to pick font/size/colors. please help shape the future of this viewer for your e-texts! to participate, send e-mail to: zml_talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ]" Please visit and test our newest site: www.pgcc.net [also available as www.gutenberg.us and www.gutenberg.cc] The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center [PGCC] Please let us know of any eBook collections that would be suitable for inclusion: public domain or copyrighted, for which we must ask permission. [or listed as copyrighted with permission] You should see some significant changes this week. * There is a new experimental online reader available. Start from any bibliographic record page, eg. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300 Basically this paginates the txt file and remembers your last position in a cookie so you can later resume reading where you left off. Please test it. It should work with any book that has a text file where the encoding is known. * MACHINE TRANSLATION We are seeking as much information as possible on the various approaches to Machine Translation. Any brand names or contact information would be greatly appreciated. *** Please use our new site for downloading DVD and CD images, etc. http://www.gutenberg.org/cdproject and The PG bittorrent tracker is up and running. Aaron Cannon has placed the CD and DVD there if anyone wants to test. You can access it by visiting http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu:6969 *** We are in the process of rewriting some of the general FAQs and would appreciate help proofreading them over the next few months. We've added some new FAQs and generally updated information about Project Gutenberg. Take a look, and email Michael or Greg with any suggestions or corrections. We'll have these updated from time to time, now that we've passed #10,000. A new set of these will be in the works when we pass #20,000. http://www.gutenberg.org/about ***Continuing Requests and Announcements We're building a team to read our eBooks into MP3 files for the visually impaired and other audio book users. Let us know if you'd like to join this group. More information at http://www.gutenberg.org/audio *** Project Gutenberg Needs DVD Burners So far we have sent out 14 million eBooks via snailmail!!! We currently have access to a dozen DVD burners. If you have a DVD burner and are interested in lending a hand, please email Aaron Cannon <cannona@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> We can set you up with images, or snail you these DVDs for you to copy. You can either snail them directly to readers whose addresses we can send you, or you can do a stack of these and send the whole box back for reshipping. We can also reimburse you for supplies and postage if you wish. Please note that we can only use DVDs which are burnt in the dvd-r format, as we have had some compatibility issues with the dvd+r format. *** Project Gutenberg is seeking graphics we can use for our Web pages and publicity materials. If you have original graphics depicting Project Gutenberg themes, please contribute them! To see some of what we have now, please see: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/images *** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES Project Gutenberg is seeking (volunteer) lawyers. We have regular needs for intellectual property legal advice (both US and international) and other areas. Please email Project Gutenberg's CEO, Greg Newby <gbnewby AT pglaf.org> , if you can help. This is much more important than many of us realize! ***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders In the first 11.80 months of this year, we produced 3960 new eBooks. It took us from July 1971 to December 2002 to produce our first 3,960 eBooks! That's 51 WEEKS as Compared to ~31.5 Years! 91 New eBooks This Week [correcting for last report] 97 New eBooks Last Week [2 were counted twice, sorry] 385 New eBooks This Month [Dec] 338 Average Per Month in 2004 355 Average Per Month in 2003 203 Average Per Month in 2002 103 Average Per Month in 2001 4049 New eBooks in 2004 4164 New eBooks in 2003 2441 New eBooks in 2002 1240 New eBooks in 2001 ==== 11894 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001 [48 Months] 10654 New eBooks Since Start of 2002 [36 Months] 8213 New eBooks Since Start of 2003 [24 Months] 14,956 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks 10,821 eBooks This Week Last Year ==== 4,055 New eBooks In Last 12 Months [Brett's Program] 4,135 [Combining the above from Brett's program] [Perhaps a result of 53 Wednesdays last year] 400 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia We're still keeping up with Moore's Law! Moore's Law 12 month percentage = 63% Moore's Law 18 month percentage = 122% [100% of Moore's Law = doubling every 18 months] [There may be some need to refine our program for these figures] * *Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report Since completing its first eBook (#3320) on Mar 13th, 2001, the Distributed Proofreaders team has now produced its 6,165th eBook (#14597). Of that total, there are 5,786 unique, brand-new titles. Projects completed during the past year: Jan 2004 - 267 Feb 2004 - 421 Mar 2004 - 365 Apr 2004 - 276 May 2004 - 235 Jun 2004 - 232 Jul 2004 - 231 Aug 2004 - 220 Sep 2004 - 182 Oct 2004 - 263 Nov 2004 - 280 Dec 2004 - 287 Total 2004 3,259 Average 271.58 * Check out our website at www.gutenberg.org, and see below to learn how you can get INSTANT access to our eBooks via FTP servers even before the new eBooks listed below appear in our catalog. eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists. Info on subscribing to daily, weekly, monthly Newsletters, listservs: http://www.gutenberg.org/howto/subscribe-howto or http://www.gutenberg.org/subs.shtml *** *Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report [John just got married, and we're still giving him one more week off. . . .] However, there are ~300 Chinese eBooks from Prof. Mao in progress. PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections holdings of 15 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@Adelaide Collection, 27,709 eBook Files Himalayan Academy, 3,400 HTML eBook Files Literal Systems Collection, 68 MP3 eBook Files Logos Group Collection, 34,000 TXT eBook Files Prof. Mao's Chinese eBooks ~ 300 eBook files Poet's Corner Poetry Collection, 6,700 Poetry Files Project Gutenberg Collection, 14,959 eBook Files 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==========107,065 Total Files===== Average Size Per Member Collection 6,691 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 35,689 Unique eBooks If we presume 3 out of 4 of these files are overcounts, that leaves a unique book total of 26,667 Unique eBooks *** Today Is Day #365 of 2004 This Completes Week #52 and Month #12.00 00 Days/00 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year] 51 Books To Go To #15,000 [Our production year begins/ends 1st Wednesday of the month/year] 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] *** Permanent Requests For Assistance: DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS NEEDS CONTENT, PROOFERS AND SCANNER TYPES Please contact us at: dphelp@xxxxxxxx if you would like to know more about the Distributed Proofreaders. Thanks to very good recent publicity, the Distributed Proofreading project has greatly accelerated its pace. Please visit the site: http://www.pgdp.net for more information about how you can help a lot, by simply proofreading just a few pages per day, or more. If you have a book that has been scanned, but not yet run through OCR (optical character recognition) or proofed, and you would like the Distributed Proofreaders to work on it, please email dphelp@xxxxxxxx and we will get things started. Also, DP is seeking public domain books not already in the Project Gutenberg collection. To see what is already online, visit http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/GUTINDEX.ALL (a text file) listing Project Gutenberg eBooks and is available for downloading. Do you have Public Domain books you would like to see in the archive? Can they be destructively scanned? If so send them to the Distributed Proofreading Team! Please email dphelp@xxxxxxxx with your geographic location. You will be given the address of the nearest high-speed scanner (note that the high-speed scanner requires destruction of the book(s) which will not be returned). We have high-speed scanners currently located in the east, west and central portions of the US to make shipping easier. Please make sure that any books you send are _not_ already in the archive and please check them against David's "In Progress" list at: http://www.dprice48.freeserve.co.uk/GutIP.html to ensure no one is currently working on them. It would also be helpful if you obtain copyright clearance before mailing the books, and send the 'OK' lines to dphelp@xxxxxxxx Do you like to work on an entire book at once but don't have the time or technology to do the scanning, OCR, and initial proofing yourself? Distributed Proofreaders has the perfect solution! Just send us email telling us that you are interested in post-processing and we will help find a project you would like to work on. ***Donation Information We Have Included Quick and Easy Ways to Donate. . .As Per Your Requests! We Are Looking For Volunteers To Add eBooks In More Languages, and in more formats, including music, artwork, movies, etc. *** QUICK WAYS TO MAKE A DONATION TO PROJECT GUTENBERG A. Send a check or money order to: Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation 809 North 1500 West Salt Lake City, UT 84116 USA B. Donate by credit card online: NetworkForGood: http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=64-6221541 or PayPal to "donate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx": http://www.paypal.com /xclick/business=donate%40gutenberg.org&item_name=Donate+to+Gutenberg Project Gutenberg's success is due to the hard work of thousands of volunteers over more than 33 years. Your donations make it possible to support these volunteers, and pay our few employees to continue the creation of free electronic texts. We accept credit cards, checks and transfers from any country, in any currency. Donations are made to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF). PGLAF is approved as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal Revenue Service, and has the Federal Employee Information Number (EIN) 64-6221541. For more information, including several other ways to donate, go to http://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html or email donate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx *Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections *Mirror Site Information Mirrors (copies) of the complete collection are available around the world. To find the sites nearest you, go to: http://www.gutenberg.org/MIRRORS.ALL *Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks http://www.gutenberg.org/find allows searching by title, author, language and subject. Use your Web browser or FTP program to visit our master download site (or a mirror) if you know the file's name you want. Try: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs or ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/ and then navigate to the appropriate directory and look for the first five characters of the file's name. Note that updated eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.) *** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet??? Statistical Review In the 52 weeks of this year, we have produced 4,049 new eBooks. It took us from 1971 to 2001 to produce our FIRST 4,049 eBooks!!! That's 52 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 1/3 YEARS!!! FLASHBACK! Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #4049 May 2003 Mates at Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce [mtsbbxxx.xxx] 4050 May 2003 Piccolissima, by Eliza Lee Follen [Follen #9][pcclsxxx.xxx] 4049 May 2003 The Talkative Wig, by Eliza Lee Follen [ELF#8][tktvwxxx.xxx] 4048 May 2003 The Leavenworth Case, by Anna Katharine Green [#6][lvnwrxxx.xxx] 4047 May 2003 The Garden of Survival, by Algernon Blackwood [grdnsxxx.xxx] 4046 May 2003 Omoo, by Herman Melville [Melville#5][omoosxxx.xxx] 4045 May 2003 What the Animals Do and Say, by E.L.Follen [ELF#7][wtnmlxxx.xxx] 4044 May 2003 The Dynasts, by Thomas Hardy [Hardy#24][dynstxxx.xxx] 4043 May 2003 Mozart:The Man and the Artist, by Kerst & Krehbiel[wammaxxx.xxx] 4042 May 2003 Conscience, by Eliza Lee Follen [Follen#6][cnscnxxx.xxx] 4041 May 2003 The Pedler of Dust Sticks, by Eliza Lee Follen[#5][pdlrdxxx.xxx] 4040 May 2003 Volpone; Or, The Fox, Ben Jonson [Jonson #5][vlpnrxxx.xxx] 4039 May 2003 Imaginary Portraits, Walter Horatio Pater [#6][?imagxxx.xxx] 4038 May 2003 Appreciations, With An Essay on Style, Pater [#5][?awaexxx.xxx] 4037 May 2003 Essays From The Guardian, Walter Horatio Pater[#4][?essgxxx.xxx] 4036 With 14,956 eBooks online as of January 05, 2005 it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.67 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 $.92 when we had 10,821 eBooks a year ago. Can you imagine ~14,956 books each costing ~$.25 less a year later??? Or. . .would this say it better? Can you imagine ~14,956 books each costing 1/3 less a year later??? At 14,956 eBooks in 33 Years and 06.00 Months We Averaged 446 Per Year [We do about 3/4 that much per month these days!] 37.2 Per Month 1.22 Per Day At 4049 eBooks Done In The 364 Days Of 2004 We Averaged 11 Per Day 78 Per Week 337 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 NewsScan and Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] [There haven't been many issues of Newsscan and Edupage recently, due to the holidays, so very few articles here.] THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING: THE WEB, OF COURSE The distinguished computer scientist Ramesh Jain says in his blog that his interview with John Gehl for Ubiquity received widespread attention and demonstrated that the importance of paper publications is becoming less significant compared to appearance of ideas or articles in cyberspace: "None of my articles that appeared in well respected journals got the attention of relevant people so rapidly... I am convinced that this is clearly the direction for ideas propagation and distribution." And last week's Ubiquity interview with technology visionary Michael Schrage also received a tremendous response from readers. You'll find the two interviews at: <http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/v5i29_jain.html> and <http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/v5i39_schrage.html> RADAR INFO 'MORE RELIABLE' THAN WHAT THE AIRLINES TELL YOU [Tired of not being able to believe what the airlines tell you?] The Yosemite International Airport in Fresno, California, has become the first in the nation to use a Web-based wireless system that relies strictly on radar (rather than on reports from the airline carriers themselves) to obtain the flight information it displays on monitors and portable kiosks. Ron Dunsky, of the company that developed the software, says: "It is a way to inexpensively kick information up to a more accurate level." (AP/Washington Post 4 Jan 2005) <www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46599-2005Jan4.html?nav=headlines> 'ENHANCED INTENSIVE CARE': IF YOU NEED IT YOU'LL WANT IT [Waiting for first story of a patient dying "live" on camera while no one is paying attention to what the camera is showing] New technology known as eICU ("Enhanced Intensive Care") lets physicians miles away from their patents manage health care via cameras and banks of computer screens. Developed by Baltimore-based VISICU Inc., the technology is already in use at least 18 hospital systems nationwide. Whereas traditional health care systems rely on nurses to notice a problem with a patient and relay the information to a doctor, eICU informs the doctor directly. The doctor can check the patient's ventilator, intravenous medication and anything else in the patient's room, and one physician notes: "The camera is such that I can count eyelashes." (AP/Los Angeles Times 4 Jan 2004) <http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology12jan04,1,3365615.story? coll=sns-ap-toptechnology> ANOTHER HIGH-TECH LEAP IN INDIA [India and China will be moving up the technology ladder, just watch.] The Indian state Andhra Pradesh is planning a new $90-million network that will move data between Hyderabad, the state's capital, and 23 districts at a speed more than 5,000 times the speed of the existing network. Hyderabad is already a hub of knowledge-based industries, and it has attracted Microsoft and numerous other world-class companies to establish research centers there. Mohammed Ali Shabbir, the state's information minister, predicts predicts the new system will revolutionize the entire communication network. He explains: "Widespread availability of broadband services at very low and affordable rates is expected to take government services to the doorsteps of the citizens and also trigger significant economic activity in every sector." (AP 3 Jan 2004) <http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050103/D87CLVL00.html> 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 management and appropriate use of information technology. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions of NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate subscribe or unsubscribe messages (i.e., with the word 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line) to: Text version: Send message to NewsScan@xxxxxxxxxxxx Html version: Send mail to NewsScan-html@xxxxxxxxxxxx NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html * From Edupage [There haven't been many issues of Newsscan and Edupage recently, due to the holidays, so very few articles here.] COLLEGES EXPAND RECRUITING TECHNOLOGY As the effectiveness of e-mail as an admissions tool declines, colleges and universities are beginning to explore alternative recruitment Internet strategies. At the top of the list for many institutions are streaming videos of campus, either on the school's Web page or in the form of video magazines, or Vmags. Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame began testing a Vmag two years ago, sending it to students who had been accepted but had not yet decided to enroll. Saint Mary's Vmag includes four videos, each between one and two minutes, showing various activities on campus. Users who have downloaded the Vmag are prompted when new versions are available. Many believe video is able to persuade in ways that fixed images are not. Westminster College in Salt Lake City has added 136 video clips to its Web site in an effort to appeal to prospective students. Joel Bauman, vice president for enrollment at Westminster, said the videos are fairly inexpensive to produce. Karen Giannino, senior associate dean of admission at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., said the videos added to her institution's Web site help "tell our story in a compelling way" and "differentiate Colgate" from similar schools. New York Times, 30 December 2004 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/circuits/30coll.html EBAY TO DISCONTINUE PASSPORT Online auction site eBay has announced it will discontinue support of Microsoft's Passport service later this month. The service offers registered users a single location to store personal information including names, addresses, and credit card numbers. When shopping at online vendors participating in the service, users can access their profiles for transactions with just a single login. Since its debut in 1999, however, Passport has failed to live up to expectations, in part due to competition as well as to security concerns among consumers. In addition, retailers were slow to sign up for fear that Microsoft might begin charging fees to retailers for the service. A spokesperson from eBay said that the percentage of its customers who regularly signed in using Passport was "very small." Despite losing one of the largest online retailers in eBay, Microsoft said the Passport service will continue. Reuters, 1 January 2005 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7217100 COPYRIGHT LEVY ATTACHED TO GERMAN PC SALES A German court has ordered one of the country's largest PC makers to pay a levy for each new computer sold, to compensate copyright holders for royalties lost to copying. Germany has long charged such levies on devices used for copying content, including blank audio and video cassettes. The VG Wort rights society, which represents copyright holders in Germany, had asked the court to charge Fujitsu Siemens Computers 30 euros (US$41) per computer; the court decided on a levy of 12 euros. VG Wort said it will work to make all PC vendors in Germany subject to the same levy. Bernd Bischoff, CEO of Fujitsu Siemens, said the levy is "a de facto tax on PCs," which will tend to decrease sales. Officials from Fujitsu Siemens said they will consider appealing the decision and have asked the German government to review the copyright levies as they apply to digital technologies. ITWorld, 24 December 2004 http://www.itworld.com/Man/2681/041224germanlevy/ You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, http://news.com.com/2100-1040-958352.html or send e-mail to: edupage@xxxxxxxxxxxx To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName *** TECHNOLOGY REVIEW *Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media *STRANGE QUOTE OF THE WEEK About last week's quote: The actual quote by Jan Egeland, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator and former head of the Norwegian Red Cross: "We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich countries. And it is beyond me, why are we so stingy, really. Even Christmas time should remind many Western countries at least how rich we have become." George Stephanopolis questionned Secretary of State Colin Powell about this, asking pretty much the same question I did: Why was the original estimate barely into the millions of dollars, when it was obvious from the start that it would/should/could approach a billion dollars? Not to mention why President Bush took four days before giving out any statement whatsoever. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK I'm sure you've all now heard this spin-doctored beyond belief, so I'll let it be other than to add that when all is said and done, perhaps over a year from now, the death toll might be 1/4 million, possibly the second greatest natural disaster of all time. [There was an earthquake in Japan in the 1500s that perhaps took 1/2 million lives, perhaps 3/4 million.] *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK More on TIMSS I'm not at all sure why the 8th grade math scores got the press releases a few weeks ago, my own comparisons with a report from 1999 that I saved showed that the U.S. scores in 8th grade science showed much more of a change: 1999 Rank Country Name Score 28 United States 500 2003 Rank Country Name Score 09 United States 527 This shows a 5% increase in absolute scoring, and drastic improvement in international ranking. [Perhaps it was a misprint, and the press releases should have said Science, not Math] At any rate, here are the top 15 in each category of 2003: Math Grade 8 Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 605 2. Korea [Rep./South] 589 3. Hong Kong, SAR 586 4. Chinese Taipei 585 5. Japan 570 6. Belgium [Flemish] 537 7. Netherlands 536 8. Estonia 531 9. Hungary 529 10. Malaysia 508 11. Latvia 508 12. Russian Federation 508 13. Slovak Republic 508 14. Australia 505 15. United States 504 Math Grade 4 [Only about half as many countries measured] Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 594 2. Hong Kong SAR 575 3. Japan 565 4. Chinese Taipei 564 5. Belgium [Flemish] 551 6. Netherlands 540 7. Latvia 536 8. Lithuania 534 9. Russian Federation 532 10. England 531 11. Hungary 529 12. United States 518 13. Cyprus 510 14. Moldova, Rep. of 504 15. Italy 503 [Please note approximately 100 point level change between the 15 each grade] Science Grade 8 Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 578 2. Chinese Taipei 571 3. Korea, Rep./South 558 4. Hong Kong, SAR 556 5. Estonia 552 6. Japan 552 7. Hungary 543 8. Netherlands 536 9. United States 527 10. Australia 527 11. Sweden 524 12. Slovenia 520 13. New Zealand 520 14. Lithuania 519 15. Slovak Republic 520 [Note only 58 points from #1 to #15 in this area] Science Grade 4 Rank Country Name Score 1. Singapore 565 2. Chinese Taipei 551 3. Japan 543 4. Hong Kong, SAR 542 5. England 540 6. United States 536 7. Latvia 532 8. Hungary 530 9. Russian Federation 526 10. Netherlands 525 11. Australia 521 12. New Zealand 520 13. Belgium [Flemish] 518 14. Italy 516 15. Lithuania 512 [Again note less difference betwen #1 and #15] TIMSS = Third International Mathematics and Science Study Three weeks ago nearly every new service had positive comments about the improved U.S. students' TIMSS test scores that come out every four years. Only one source I heard had the nerve to say that the scores didn't really show any improvement, while the rest seemed to reek of jingoism. However, in reviewing the scores, it seems obvious that the U.S. test scores in question, the 8th grade math scores, were basically unchanged, moving up less than 1% from the 1999 score of 500 to the 2003 score of 504, out of 800. This represents a change of 1/5 of 1% per year, which I seriously doubt is within the statistical parameters of the TIMSS testing methodologies. [This is 1/8% if you measure from the total of 800 points, or a 1/2% total change over the four year period, an increment these kinds of tests are not reported to target.] Much more likely is the fact that the U.S. ranking has been changed more by changes in the other countries, both in terms of the changes the countries chosen for the 2003 tests, and the performance changes of those countries that stayed the same. More details of score changes in the top 20 of 1999: Rank Country 1999/2003 Change 1/1 Singapore 643/605 = 38 2/2 Korea 607/589 = 18 3/5 Japan 605/570 = 35 4/3 Hong Kong 588/586 = 3 6/6 Belgium (Fl) 565/537 = 28 7/13 Slovak Republic 547/508 = 39 9/7 Netherlands 541/536 = 5 9/21 Slovenia 541/493 = 48 [Netherlands and Slovenia tied in 1999] 11/25 Bulgaria 540/476 = 66 14/9 Hungary 537/529 = 7 16/14 Australia 530/505 = 25 Avg. of 11 listed here: 568/539 = 29 Change in U.S. Score: 500/504 = 4 Change in U.S. Rank 28/15 = 13 Obviously the other countries changed much more than the U.S., over 7 times as much change, not to mention that many of the countries tested in 1999 were not tested in 2003, a factor of change much greater than that of the U.S. performance change. Thus we see that that most other countries changed much more than did the U.S., which changed very little. It would appear that the U.S. didn't really move on the charts so much as other countries moved up and down past the U.S. In addition, it appears that the science scores were not mentioned in these news reports, nor were the scores for students in the lower grade classes. I will have to dig them up to let you know more about them in later issues. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists For more information about the Project Gutenberg's mailing lists, including the Project Gutenberg Weekly and Monthly Newsletters: and the other Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists: The weekly is sent on Wednesdays, and the monthly is sent on the first Wednesday of the month. To subscribe to any (or to unsubscribe or adjust your subscription preferences), visit the Project Gutenberg mailing list server: http://lists.pglaf.org If you are having trouble with your subscription, please email the list's human administrators at: help@xxxxxxxxx _______________________________________________ gweekly mailing list gweekly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gweekly

Next Message by Thread:

Selected eBook MARC Records To Be Tested

You Can Be Part of the Selection Process Project Gutenberg Would Like YOUR Library to Join Our MARC Record Testing Program You and your library can choose the eBooks in this testing program, and can make sure eBook MARC records for these eBooks meet your staff requirements for MARC records. Please read on for the details. *** I have been giving CDs and DVDs to librarians and library directors for some years now, and I have yet to see one of them placed for use. On the other hand, I receive emails from some librarians, and meet others, who tell me they have acquired Project Gutenberg eBooks and CD or DVD releases and put them on the shelves-- on their own--without any prompting. Sometimes this reminds me of my efforts to do something to get modern eBooks into a Project Gutenberg release, and then it turns out that those authors I approach are unwilling, but I also find that there are those who come to us on their own, asking us to include them. Therefore, I would like to do one feasibility study to start with, perhaps in several parts to optimize the study to determine how much a set of MARC records would improve circulation of Project Gutenberg eBooks. To that end, I would like to recruit some 100 librarians and patrons who will be willing to take some pre-arranged collection of eBooks & MARC records to accompany them to libraries. Then perhaps we can see how many libraries in general we might be able to expect to include Project Gutenberg eBooks if we included these MARC records with them. We might also ask to hear how many of these who did include eBooks in their collections would have done so if an inclusion of MARC records were not available. This study's plan is to create collections of eBooks of sizes of perhaps from several dozen to several hundred to perhaps even thousands, for the three parts of this study, before the choice is made to create MARC records for all of the Project Gutenberg eBooks in prescribed formats suggested by the study's outcome. If you are willing to take one of our sets of eBooks to your local libraries, schools, etc. please let me know. Thanks!!! Michael Give FreeBooks!!! In 39 Languages!!! As of January 25, 2005 ~15,150 FreeBooks at: ~ 4,850 to go to 20,000 http://www.gutenberg.org http://www.gutenberg.net We are ~51% of the way from 10,000 to 20,000. We are ~3% of the way from 15,000 to 20,000. Now even more PG eBooks In 104 Languages!!! http://gutenberg.cc http://gutenberg.us Michael S. Hart <hart@xxxxxxxxx> Project Gutenberg Executive Coordinator^M "*Internet User ~#100*" If you do not receive a prompt reply, please resend, keep resending. _______________________________________________ gweekly mailing list gweekly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gweekly