From - Fri Aug 08 19:40:57 2003
Return-path: <bounce-gweekly-1355623@listserv.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2003 13:13:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alice Wood <alice at beryl dot ils dot unc dot edu>
Subject: [gweekly] Pt1 Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 6th August 2003
Sender: bounce-gweekly-1355623@listserv.unc.edu
To: Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter <gweekly@listserv.unc.edu>
X-Message-Id: <200308061713.h76HDfSE006497@beryl.ils.unc.edu>
List-Owner: <mailto:owner-gweekly@listserv.unc.edu>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:subscribe-gweekly@listserv.unc.edu>
List-Id: Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter <gweekly.listserv.unc.edu>
X-List-Host: The UNC List Server
GWeekly_August_06.txt
***The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, August 6, 2003***
******eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers For Over 32 Years*******
[WARNING: I am finally using SpamAssassin, if you email me and do NOT hear
from me in a few days, try sending a VERY!!! plain email to hart@pobox.com]
This Week We Passed Another Major Milestone!!!
We Now Have Produced Over 8,888 eBooks = 8/9 of 10,000!!!
This Happened Less Than 24 Hours After The Last Newsletter!!!
We Are Now At 8,960!!!
Imagine the 10,000 books have been separated into 9 stacks of 1,111 each,
we have just now completed 8 stacks leaving just 1 stack to go!!!
GRAND TOTAL LEAVING
One Left To #10,000
_____ BOOKS DONE!!!
(__9__( 9,999
_____ _____
(__8__( 8,888 (__8__( 8,960
_____ _____
(__7__( 7,777 (__7__( 7,777
_____ ______
(__6__( 6,666 (__6__( 6,666
_____ _____
(__5__( 5,555 (__5__( 5,555
_____ _____
(__4__( 4,444 (__4__( 4,444
_____ _____
(__3__( 3,333 (__3__( 3,333
_____ _____
(__2__( 2,222 (__2__( 2,222 BOOKS TO GO!!!
_____ _____ _____
(__1__( 1,111 (__1__( 1,111 (__1__( 1,040
GRAND TOTAL LEAVING
One Left To #10,000 BOOKS DONE!!! BOOKS TO GO!!!
Only 4 Months/18 Weeks Until eBook #10,000 I Hope!!!
8960 Books Done. . .1040 To Go. . .in 126 More Days!
[The Newsletter is now being sent in three sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
2. News, Notes & Queries, and 3. Weekly eBook Update Listing.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
Over Our 32 6/53 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 270 Ebooks/Year
And This Year Averaged Over That Same New eBook Level. . .PER MONTH!!!!!
We Are Averaging Over 317 Per Month!!!
***
In this issue of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
- Intro (above)
- Requests For Assistance
- Progress Report
- Flashback
- Continuing Requests For Assistance
- Making Donations
- Access To The Collection
- Information About Mirror Sites
- Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
- Weekly eBook update:
Updates/corrections in separate section
7 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
83 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
- "The Future Of Project Gutenberg"
- Headline News from Newsscan and Edupage
- Information about mailing lists
*** Requests For Assistance
The PG Newsletter website now has a 'Help wanted/assistance given' section.
We are hoping to develop this area for an exchange of information between
people with one part of the puzzle but need finding the missing pieces.
Go to:
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/newsletter/help.html
***
Latin Is A Dying Language???
Latin Library (www.thelatinlibrary.com) died,
and was resurrected recently, bring attention
to the fact that we need to save these files,
find matching paper editions, and be sure the
files don't disappear.
If you would like to help with Latin eBooks,
please let me know.
***
Project Gutenberg DVD Needs Burners
So far we have access to only ONE DVD burner, on a laptop
belonging to a personal friend. If you have a DVD burner
or plan to get one in the next 6 months, please email me,
so we can plan how many DVD's we can make with all 10,000
Project Gutenberg eBooks on them when they are ready. We
can likely send you a box of CDs containing most of these
files early, and then a final update CD in November while
you would download the last month's/weeks' releases.
*** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES
We are seeking pro bono or very cheap legal assistance to pursue
Project Gutenberg trademark infringers and similar issues. Please
email Michael Hart <hart@pobox.com>.
[We received 3 replies from the US, 1 from Australia, but
may need more around December 10.]
*** NEW ADDRESS FOR "PUNCH" MAGAZINE TEAM
If you have, and are willing to scan bound volumes of Punch
pre-1923 please contanct as below. No single issues, please,
unless you have a complete year of them.
Please contact: jonathan_ingram@yahoo.com
*** Progress Report
In the first 7.00 months of this year, we produced 2218 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1999 to produce our first 2,218 eBooks!
That's 31 WEEKS as Compared to 29 Years!
90 New eBooks This Week
99 New eBooks Last Week
550 New eBooks This Month [July] <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
317 Average Per Month in 2003 <<<
203 Average Per Month in 2002 <<<
103 Average Per Month in 2001 <<<
2218 New eBooks in 2003 <<<
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
8,960 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
5,704 eBooks This Week Last Year
3,212 New eBooks In The Last 12 Months
4,402 New eBooks in the last 18 months
262 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
*Main URL is promo.net Webmaster is Pietro di Miceli of Rome, Italy*
Check out our Websites at promo.net/pg & gutenberg.net, 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 catalogue. The
eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists.
***
FLASHBACK!!!
2218 New eBooks So Far in 2003
It took us 29 years for the first 2218!
That's the 31 WEEKS of 2003 as Compared to 29 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2218
At that time we were doing 24 the Human Genome Project files, #2218 was:
Jun 2000 Human Genome Project, Chromosome Number 18 [18hgpxxx.xxx] 2218
Other items of interest around that time were:
Jun 2000 Faust: Der Tragoedie [Part 2] by Goethe[Goethe #8][?fau2xxx.xxx] 2230
Jun 2000 Faust: Der Tragoedie [Part 1] by Goethe[Goethe #7][?fau1xxx.xxx] 2229
Jun 2000 Reineke Fuchs, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [#6][?fchsxxx.xxx] 2228
[Language: German/Two versions]
Jun 2000 Soldiers Three [Part II] by Rudyard Kipling[RK#11][sldr3xxx.xxx] 2227
Jun 2000 Kim, by Rudyard Kipling [Rudyard Kipling #10] [kimrkxxx.xxx] 2226
Jun 2000 Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling[Kipling#9][cptcrxxa.xxx] 2225
***
Jun 2000 The Iliad, by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler [iliadxxx.xxx] 2199
***
The Future Of Project Gutenberg
We have had renewed interest in various areas of music, from publishing
more song lyrics and scores to listenable pieces in MIDI, WAV, and MP3.
Please help us create a library of MIDI scores, etc!!!
We are also forming a team to read books into MP3 files.
***
Today Is Day #217 of 2003
This Completes Week #31
153 Days/22 Weeks To Go [We get 53 Wednesdays this year]
1050 Books To Go To #10,000
126 Days To December 10, 2003
[Our Goal For eBook #10,000]
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
Week #67 Of Our SECOND 5,000 eBooks
72 Weekly Average in 2003
47 Weekly Average in 2002
24 Weekly Average in 2001
39 Only 39 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers list
[Used to be well over 100]
*** Continuing Requests For Assistance:
Project Gutenberg--Canada will be starting up soon,
please let us know if you would like to volunteer!
Copyright in Canada is "Life +50" as in Australia,
and we have volunteers working on both of these.
We will also be seeking volunteers from others of
the "life +50" countries.
email: Diane Gratton <diane_xml@hotmail.com>
***
Thesis User Study:
How do you use Project Gutenberg?
Be part of our research!!!
"Visit http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg
for a link to the study.
It only takes a few minutes."
or
Contact Debbie Dvorniks directly:
dvorniks@pacbell.net
San Jose State University
***
People interested in TeX/LaTeX documents on Project Gutenberg
please contact: tex@spacerad.com <<<We're Doing Einstein!!!
***
DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS NEEDS CONTENT, PROOFERS AND SCANNER TYPES
Please contact us at:
dphelp@pgdp.net
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://texts01.archive.org/dp for more information about how you can
help, by proofreading just a few pages per day.
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@pgdp.net 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),
since the online database doesn't reflect recent additions.
Do you have Public Domain books your would like to see in the archive?
Can they be destructively scanned? If so send them to the Distributed
Proofreading Team! Please email dphelp@pgdp.net 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)." Alternatively, you can send your books directly to:
Charles Franks
9030 W. Sahara Ave. #195
Las Vegas, NV 89117
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@pgdp.net
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 you project you would like to work on.
***
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@gutenberg.net":
https://www.paypal.com
/xclick/business=donate%40gutenberg.net&item_name=Donate+to+Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg's success is due to the hard work of thousands of
volunteers over more than 32 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://promo.net/pg/donation.html or email donate@gutenberg.net
*** HOW TO GET EBOOKS FROM OUR MIRROR SITES
http://promo.net/pg (aka http://www.gutenberg.net) allows searching by
title, author, language and subject. Mirrors (copies) of the complete
collection are available around the world.
http://gutenberg.net/list.html can get you to the nearest one.
These sites and indices are not instant, as the cataloguing needs to be
done by our professional Chief Cataloguer.
--"INSTANT" ACCESS TO OUR LATEST eBOOKS
Use your Web browser or FTP program to visit our master download
site (or a mirror) if you know the filename you want. Try:
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04
or
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04
and look for the first five letters of the filesname. 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 31 weeks of this year, we have produced 2218 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1999 to produce our FIRST 2218 eBooks!!!
That's 31 WEEKS as Compared to 29 YEARS!!!
With 8,960 eBooks online as of August 6, 2003 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $1.12 from each book,
for Project Gutenberg to have currently given away $1,000,000,000,000
[One Trillion Dollars] in books.
100,000,000 readers is only about 1.585 percent of the world's population!
This "cost" is down from about $1.75 when we had 5704 eBooks A Year Ago
Can you imagine 8,960+ books each costing $.63 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine 8,960+ books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 8960 eBooks in 32 Years and 2.00 Months We Averaged
278 Per Year [About how many we do per month these days!]
23 Per Month
.75 Per Day
At 2218 eBooks Done In The 217 Days Of 2003 We Averaged
10 Per Day
72 Per Week
316 Per Month
The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks of
production, each production-week starting/ending Wednesday noon,
starting with the first Wednesday in January. January 1st was
was the first Wednesday of 2003, and thus ended the production
year of 2002 and began the production year of 2003 at noon.
This year there will be 53 Wednesdays, thus one extra week.
***Headline News***
>From Newsscan
[Editor's Comments In Brackets]
MILLIONS HANG UP ON LANDLINES
Some 7.5 million Americans have cut the cord, canceling their landline
phone service in favor of cell phone plans that offer free long distance
and hundreds of minutes at competitive rates. Leading the way are students
and young professionals who find that wireless devices mesh better with
their mobile lifestyles. "It will be interesting to see if these young
people who have abandoned landline phones will turn back to them as they
grow older or if wireless will be able to serve all their needs," says a
spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.
According to figures from the International Telecommunication Union, cell
phones now comprise 43% of all U.S. phones, up from 37% in 2000. Over the
same period, the number of U.S. landline phones has dropped almost 3%,
according to the FCC. The U.S. now has nearly one cell phone for every two
Americans -- a penetration rate it took landline phones 100 years to achieve.
(AP 4 Aug 2003) http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030804/D7SN9S080.html
STUDY SAYS THE INTERNET IS GOOD FOR KIDS
A three-year, $1.5-million Michigan State University study of children from
90 low-income families has tentatively concluded that children introduced
to the Internet at home improve their grades and perform better on
standardized reading tests. A project administrator explained, "You have to
read for everything you want to do on the Web, even if you want to download
music. They were playing and happened to be learning, which is the way we
learn most basic things in our first years... We need more good research on
what this technology is doing to children and adults. We hear a lot of hype
and anecdotes. We really don't know how much time kids are spending and the
impact on their lives." The average age of the 140 children participating
was 13, and nearly half the families reported household incomes of less
than $15,000 a year. The children were online an average of 30 minutes a
day. (Globe & Mail 4 Aug 2003)
www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030804.wstud804/BNStory/Technology/
THE REST OF THE STORY ON CD SALES DECLINE
The Recording Industry Association of America has taken unprecedented steps
to curb music piracy in the U.S., and blames file-sharing for the recent
drop in CD sales. But he real culprit in the controversy over digital music
is organized crime, whose activities are responsible for the 14% rise in
counterfeit CD sales in 2002, according to a report by the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The pirate CD market has swelled
over the last several years, making it "of greater value than the
legitimate music market of every country in the world, except the USA and
Japan," says the IFPI's Commercial Music Piracy 2003 report. At the same
time, the U.S. music industry has produced 25% fewer CDs over the past two
years, according to RIAA figures, and Jupiter Research analyst Mark
Mulligan says the industry is suffering a hangover after the '80s and '90s,
when fans were snapping up CD versions of their favorite vinyl oldies. "Now
the CD replacement cycle has drawn to a close," says Mulligan. Finally,
music has more competition when it comes to young people's discretionary
spending. "Youths are no longer defining themselves by music in the same
way they used to," says Mulligan. In addition to CDs, younger people are
spending money on videogames, DVDs, clothing and lifestyle accessories.
(BBC News 4 Aug 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3117505.stm
NEW ONLINE FUTURES MARKET BETS ON NEXT WHITE HOUSE SCANDAL
In response to the Pentagon's now-discarded plans for a terrorism futures
market, academics from half a dozen U.S. universities have created an
American Action Market, which will offer traders the opportunity to wager
on the likelihood of various Washington political events, such as: Which
country will the White House threaten next? Who will be the next foreign
leader to move off the CIA payroll and onto the White House's "most wanted"
list? Which corporation with close ties to the White House will be the next
cloaked in scandal? The AAM will begin registering traders in September and
will open for business October 1. "It's quite amazing, the Pentagon and the
White House are very fertile imaginative fields these days," says one of
the AAM founders. "(The AAM project) sounds humorous, but that just shows
how far things have gone. We've entered the realm of fiction. Things are
really Dr. Strangelove." Bob Forsythe, a University of Iowa professor who
helped set up the Iowa Electronic Markets that speculate on election
results, says such futures markets can deliver fairly accurate predictions,
but the traders have to be knowledgeable. "You have to have informed traders
or they don't work very well. Who are the informed traders in an assassination
market, for example? The same's true for predicting the White House."
(Wired.com 4 Aug 2003)
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59879,00.html
USING MOBILE PHONE DATA TO TRACE PEOPLE'S LOCATION
[Hmmm. . .No Mention Of Big Brother. . .Could Be Because He's From The U.K.?]
Carphone Warehouse PLC, a U.K. company, has launched the first major
commercial service that traces people's locations using their mobile
phones. Called mapAmobile, the service is charging #30 ($48) a year and 30
pence (48 cents) per request, and claims accuracy to within 50 yards.
Carphone chief executive Andrew Harrison says, "We are responding to a real
consumer need by bringing to the market a reliable, affordable and
effective way for people to locate each other without disturbing them." But
privacy advocate Barry Hugill of a group called Liberty worries: "Once the
technology is there, it is there to be abused and I find it very hard to
believe that it would be watertight. Potentially we could see stalkers
moving in on the act." MapAmobile locates users by tracing the unique
identifier each cell phone transmits and triangulating between the network
towers that transmit and receive signals to and from phones.
(AP/San Jose Mercury News 6 Aug 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6463498.htm
EU GIVES MICROSOFT A LAST CHANCE TO REFORM
European Union Competition Commissioner Mario Monti says evidence collected
during the EU's four-year probe of Microsoft business practices indicate
that the software giant is unfairly leveraging the "overwhelmingly dominant
position" that its Windows operating system enjoys in the PC market into
the server market. Monti gave Microsoft "a last opportunity to comment
before" imposing tough restrictions on the way it does business in Europe.
The EU has the power to fine Microsoft up to 10% of its global annual
revenue for antitrust abuses. Microsoft has argued that the changes it's
made in business practices as part of its settlement with U.S. antitrust
officials, combined with additional steps it's taken voluntarily, should
allay European concerns over its practices. But today Monti demanded that
Microsoft "reveal the necessary interface information" so that other
vendors of server software can "compete on a level playing field," and
ordered Microsoft to either sell a stripped-down version of Windows without
its Media Player software, or agree to include rival versions of media
players with Windows. An EU spokesman says a final ruling will come "in
months, not years." (Wall Street Journal 6 Aug 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106016430280301700,00.html (sub req'd)
XML: EXTREMELY CONFUSING?
Most experts agree that XML -- a meta-language designed as "a toolset to
define building blocks for data identifiers" -- will play a major role in
the future of digital content and how it's stored and found on the Web, but
the fragmentation of XML standards and specifications is daunting. "At the
very least, the proliferation of standards could result in millions of
dollars in lost effort for organizations utilizing the meta-language; at
worst it will corrupt data and compromise business-critical transactions
and operations because different parts of the same company will process
conflicting XML messages without knowing it," says a recent Gartner report,
which predicts that of the $3 billion likely to be spent worldwide on XML
modeling activities between 2001 and 2004, $2 billion of it will be wasted.
"There are so many specifications under development in XML right now that
no one can keep track of them. There are hundreds of them," says Gartner
research director Charles Abrams. Abrams predicts that the current
hodgepodge of standards will consolidate over time as companies gain
experience in applying XML to their business operations, but that it will
require additional cooperation among users and customers to make the whole
system workable in the long run. "It's not just a matter of agreeing on
specifications, it's getting experience of what you do with it. Just
because you have letters, grammar and an alphabet does not mean you are
going to press a button and end up with literature overnight." Meanwhile,
McKinsey & Co. advises that for the time being, companies should stick with
tried-and-true technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for
e-commerce and other mission-critical applications. (ZDNet UK 5 Aug 2003)
GOVERNMENT SOUNDS THE ALARM ON HACK ATTACKS
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns that in recent days computer
hackers have successfully tested new tools that exploit a vulnerability
known as "buffer overflows" in order to gain control of Windows PCs via the
Internet. The vulnerability was discovered by Polish researchers who call
themselves the "Last State of Delirium Research Group" and Microsoft has
posted a patch on its Web site that individual PC owners can install to
safeguard their machines. Experts warn that the attack tools, once
perfected, could be used to disrupt Internet traffic by clogging data
networks, or could allow crackers to delete or steal sensitive files.
However, a senior security manager at Symantec says hackers haven't yet
worked out all the glitches in these tools. "It is a little early. The
exploit needs to be perfected. The effort applied to the exploit is
certainly increased, but we're not sure if that's indicative of when we
might see a widespread threat. People certainly need to be aware of this."
Meanwhile, Internet Security Systems, which operates an early warning
network for the technology industry, has raised its alert level to the
second notch, indicating "increased vigilance" is warranted. "Everybody is
predicting a widespread event, going from zero to 60 very quickly," says
Internet Security Systems engineering director Dan Ingevaldson, who rates
the probability of a major attack as "closer to imminent than probable."
(AP/CNN.com 31 Jul 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/07/31/internet.atttack.ap/index.html
SBC'S PAC BELL JOINS LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST RIAA
SBC Communications' Pacific Bell Internet Services unit has filed a
complaint against the Recording Industry Association of America, alleging
that many of the subpoenas recently served against online music swappers
were done so improperly. Pac Bell contends that more than 200 subpoenas
seeking file-sharers' e-mail addresses were issued from the wrong
jurisdiction, and also states that the RIAA's demand for information on
multiple file-sharers cannot be grouped under one subpoena. An SBC
spokesman added that the RIAA's use of a provision in the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act to force ISPs to reveal information on their
subscribers interferes with customer privacy: "The action taken by SBC
Internet Services is intended to protect the privacy of our customers.
Misapplication of DMCA subpoena power raises serious constitutional
questions that need to be decided by the courts, not by private companies
who operate without duty of due diligence or judicial oversight."
(AP 31 Jul 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030731/D7SKHAF80.html
RINGTONES MAY RING UP SALES FOR RECORD COMPANIES
Record companies will soon begin snapping up cell phone ringtone producers
and distributors in a strategy to cash in on a potentially lucrative
market, predicts a recent report by Strategy Analytics. In addition, the
report says that record labels are likely to go one step further and set up
ringtone studios to accommodate consumer demands for "real" music
ringtones, as opposed to the simple ones available now. "We see ringtones
as a catalyst for record companies to become more actively involved in the
ringtone market, in light of dwindling CD single sales, as is often
reported, and we advise that this would be a key strategy for moving them
forward," says Strategy Analytics senior analyst Nitesh Patel.
(Electricnews.net/The Register 31 Jul 2003)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/32100.html
[As Predicted. . .By Yours Truly]
VIRTUAL STUNTMEN SET FOR HOLLYWOOD DEBUT
Natural Motion, based in Oxford, England, has developed software that
creates and controls the bodies of virtual stuntmen who can perform
death-defying feats just like real people, but without the risk of injury.
The simulation system is being used to create stunts for the forthcoming
historical epic, "Troy," which stars Brad Pitt as Achilles and Orlando
Bloom as Paris. The software, dubbed Endorphin, is based on models of the
human body and is capable of "learning" how real muscles and bone work
together in a situation to create a convincing simulation of live action.
"Sometimes you see some of our behavior engineers lying on the ground,
rolling around trying to work out how they would do something," says
Natural Motion technology director Colm Massey. "Then they try to teach the
virtual actor to do what they had just been doing^E We say to the director
'what do you want to happen now? Do you want him to be blown up, do you
want his legs to be ripped off or do you want him to fall down a cliff or
reach out and grab for something and fail and stumble and fall?'" Massey
says his Endorphin creations will never fully take the place of human
stuntmen, who will always be needed for close-up action. "It's not the end
of the day for real stuntmen, but we will take some of their jobs."
[Just like with telephone operators, eh?"]
(BBC News 31 Jul 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/3110755.stm
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: TAX REBATES, ROMAN-STYLE
Yale University professor Donald Kagan writes:
Tax collection from the poor in Roman times was not a matter of
polite letters and, as a last resort, a legal action: beating up defaulters
was a matter of routine, if they were humble people. A casual remark of the
fifth century ecclesiastical writer Theodoret shows us what the procedure
of tax-collection was likely to be in a Syrian village: 'At this time,' he
says, 'collectors arrived who compelled them to pay their taxes and began
to imprison some and maltreat others.' In Egypt the same brutal procedure
can be seen at work: local officials would seize taxpayers whom they
alleged (rightly or wrongly) to be in default, imprison and ill-treat them,
and, with the aid of soldiers and local levies, burn down their houses.
After quoting a particular example of such a procedure, from the reign of
Justinian, Sir Harold Bell, historian of Graeco-Roman Egypt, remarked,
'Such were regular accompaniments to the process of collecting arrears of
taxes from an Egyptian village of the sixth century.' According to
Ammianus, an Egyptian in the late fourth century would blush for shame if
he could not show on his back scars inflicted by the tax-collector's whip.
And it is worth repeating here the statement of Ammanius that the Emperor
Julian realized it was no good granting remissions of tax arrears in Gaul
in the 350s, because this would only benefit the rich; the poor would have
been made to pay immediately and in full. There must have been many occasions,
too, on which hapless peasants were forced to pay their taxes twice over,
whether because the tax had first been extracted from them by the agents
of a 'usurper,' or because their landlord, after collecting the tax, became
insolvent before paying it over to the authorities to whom he was responsible.
GARBAGE IN
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=8891
I just read your piece about Spam. I was getting so much junk that I
decided to change my email address! It was great for about a week and then
the junk began to pour in again! I decided to play with the filters in my
Eudora. But I must have done something wrong; however, my mistake ended up
being a big help. Now ALL my email arrives in the "Trash" mailbox. Every
few hours I just go to the "Trash," quickly scan for the 2 or 3 important
emails, transfer them to my "In" box (if I want to keep them) and then
empty the trash. It's faster than highlighting so may emails in my "In" box,
moving them to the trash, and then emptying the trash. (Liane Reif-Lehrer)
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@NewsScan.com
Html version: Send mail to NewsScan-html@NewsScan.com
NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html
***
>From Edupage
[One War Toy Too Many, Says The US Public Non-Silent Majority]
PENTAGON GIVES UP FUTURES MARKET ON TERRORISM
Not long after details of its operation were made public, the Policy
Analysis Market--and its subsequent initiative, the Futures Markets
Applied to Prediction--have been canceled. The programs came out of the
Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and were
intended to predict future terrorism by selling futures on specific
events, such as North Korean missile attacks or the assassination of
Yasser Arafat. Just as commodities futures markets are used to predict
ups and down in global petroleum markets, for example, so too were
these programs supposed to serve as indicators, based on futures that
individuals would purchase, of specific upcoming terrorist activities.
Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) brought the
programs to public attention with a letter they sent to John
Poindexter, head of DARPA. In it, the senators said, "Spending taxpayer
dollars to create terrorism betting parlors is as wasteful as it is
repugnant. The American people want the federal government to use its
resources enhancing our security, not gambling on it." The Pentagon has
agreed to end the programs.
Internet News, 29 July 2003
WYDEN BILL GOES AFTER FEDERAL THREATS TO PRIVACY
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has introduced the Citizens' Protection in
Federal Databases Act, designed to put severe limits on federal
programs that, according to Wyden, "shine a spotlight onto the personal
records of law-abiding citizens who have a constitutionally protected
right to privacy." The bill would require federal agencies using
commercial databases to file reports with Congress about exactly how
they are using personal information. Agencies that do not would risk
losing funding. The bill also would not allow data mining, to prevent
the federal government from going on "fishing expeditions" looking for
people who match certain profiles. Wyden has been one of Congress's
most fervent opponents of what he sees as violations of the rights of
individuals in the United States. He has strong support from groups
including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy
Information Center.
Wired News, 30 July 2003
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59824,00.html
DHS REPEATS SOFTWARE WARNING
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reiterated a warning
about a security flaw in most Windows operating systems, the first time
the agency has issued two warnings concerning the same problem. The
first warning came in mid-July, when Microsoft released information
about the weakness, which could allow Internet hackers to take over
computers and use them for a range of malicious purposes. DHS has urged
computer users to install patches for the operating systems affected,
but the widespread nature of the threat prompted the agency to issue
the second warning. According to a DHS spokesman, as many as 75 percent
of the nation's computers connected to the Internet are vulnerable.
If exploited, the flaw could lead to damages similar to those from the
Code Red virus, estimated at $2 billion. A spokesman from Microsoft
said the company believes that most of the largest affected users,
including commercial and government systems, have downloaded the patches.
NewsFactor Network, 1 August 2003
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22017.html
REQUIREMENT STYMIES WEB RADIO
Even after a settlement was reached earlier this year over royalty
rates for small Webcasters, many college radio stations remain
uncertain about their ability to stream music over the Internet because
of unresolved issues about reporting requirements. During negotiations,
the recording industry requested that Webcasters keep detailed records
of what songs are played and how many listeners hear them. In addition,
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prevents Webcasters from playing
more than two consecutive songs from a single CD, for example, or more
than three songs from a CD within a three-hour period. Small Webcasters
objected to these requirements, saying that keeping detailed records of
songs and listeners would be prohibitive for very small stations.
Further, many small stations highlight particular artists, often
obscure ones, and play songs for an hour or more from just that artist.
Negotiations resulted in an exemption to these rules until the end of
2004, with final resolution to be settled later. In the meantime, many
stations remain uncertain about whether they will be able to continue
Webcasts after 2004.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 8 August 2003 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i48/48a02501.htm
A KINDER, GENTLER CAPPS II
Following a series of very vocal criticisms of the proposed Computer
Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) program, the
Transportation Safety Administration has released a set of new
guidelines for the program. Under the original proposal, the system
would run background checks, including credit and criminal searches, on
all airline passengers when reservations were made, and would assign
each passenger a risk code. The system was roundly attacked by privacy
and consumer groups for being intrusive and ineffectual in stopping
terrorism. The new guidelines specify that airline passengers will
still be required to supply name, address, telephone number, and date
of birth. That information will be transmitted to commercial data
providers for the "purpose of authenticating passenger identity." The
only correlation sought will be between data in the CAPPS II system and
that held by commercial data providers. Data providers will not own any
of the data they see or be able to keep it, and passengers will be able
to request access to most of the data in the system.
Internet News, 31 July 2003
SBC CHALLENGES RIAA AND DMCA
Pacific Bell Internet Services (PBIS), a division of SBC
Communications, has filed a legal challenge to recent subpoenas to its
customers from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
PBIS argued that the subpoenas are overly broad and originate from
improper jurisdictions, though PBIS said the true intention of the
lawsuit is to challenge the recording industry's right to access
information about its customers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
which the courts have said gives the RIAA the right to demand user
identities of suspected copyright violators, may in fact violate
constitutional protections of privacy, according to PBIS. The RIAA said
that before the lawsuit was filed it had contacted SBC regarding the
concerns raised in the suit but that it had been "rebuked" by SBC.
CNET, 31 July 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5058107.html
COPYRIGHT APATHY ON THE RISE
A new survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that
67 percent of file sharers are unconcerned about copyright issues, up
from 61 percent in 2001. Among high-school and college students, the
number rises to around 80 percent. One researcher at the Pew project
said she was surprised that recent attention to legal issues of file
sharing had not resulted in lower rates of apathy, but a spokesman from
the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) discounted the
survey's results, saying that it predated his organization's
announcement about prosecuting individual file sharers. He said that
other research has shown that the RIAA's recent actions will result in
more users paying attention to and caring about copyright issues. This
week Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) began looking into the RIAA's
actions, including the subpoenas it has filed. Coleman said he is
concerned about situations in which family members or roommates have
been caught up in the RIAA's hunt for copyright violators.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 1 August 2003 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/08/2003080101t.htm
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@educause.edu
To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
and in the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName
***Two more, sources unknown***
This is to all of you that signed up for the "do not call" law. This week
I received a card in the mail that looked alright BUT it said "vote for
your favorite cola, Pepsi or Coke, and receive a complementary 12 pack"
It didn't look suspicious, but for some reason I kept looking at it.
THEN I FOUND IT !! At the bottom of the card there is a VERY small
statement. It is SO small it is hard to read, but here is what it says:
By completing this form, you agree that sponsors and co-sponsors of this
offer may telephone you, even if your number is found on a do not call
registry or list"
This REALLY upset me and I just wanted all my friends to be aware of this
way to get around the "do not call" law !! Just think how many people will
send this in and their do not call registry will be NO GOOD !! The company's
name is MARKET SOLUTION. Please send this to all your friends that signed
up for "do not call". I think this is just one of what we will get in the
future, so READ EVERYTHING before you SIGN AND SEND !!
AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT IT !!! PLEASE !!!
And from Alice:
They have this in the UK as well, you have to really look closely at
everything. Watch out also for the following. Companies normally have a 'tick
here to not receive our mail/call'. After a while some of them change it
around, so it becomes 'tick here to receive'. Of course, you have got so used
to the first version you get caught out. The Advertising Standards Authority
in the UK has been trying for a while now to get the law changed so that the
size of the small print can't be below a certain limit. We are still waiting.
***
Your tax dollars at work !
This guy buys a car at a gov't auction and gets more than he bid for.
http://practice.findlaw.com/courtside-0803.html
67 year-old Mexican national and resident Jose Aguado Cervantes purchased a car
from the federal government at a U.S. Marshals auction. Three months later, Mr.
Cervantes was crossing the U.S. border when he was stopped by Customs agents,
who searched the car and found 119 pounds of marijuana hidden in the bumpers.
Cervantes was arrested and spent over three months in prison, until the govern-
ment figured out it had failed to take the marijuana out of the vehicle after
it was seized, and before it was put up for auction.
It gets better. . .Cervantes sued the government for negligence. [..]
***
About the Project Gutenberg Monthly Newsletter:
[Goes out approximately first Wednesday of each month. But
different relays will get it to you at different times; you
can subscribe directly, just send me email to find out how,
or surf to promo.net/pg to subscribe directly by yourself.]
and now
About the Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter:
[Goes out approximately at noon each Wednesday, but various
different relays will get it to you at different times; you
can subscribe directly, just send me email to find out how,
or surf to promo.net/pg to subscribe directly by yourself.]
***
Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists:
For more information about the Project Gutenberg's mailing lists
please visit the following webpage:
http://gutenberg.net/subs.html
Archives and personal settings:
The Lyris Web interface has an easy way to browse past mailing list
contents, and change some personal settings. Visit
http://listserv.unc.edu and select one of the Project Gutenberg lists.
Trouble?
If you are having trouble subscribing, unsubscribing or with
anything else related to the mailing lists, please email
"owner-gutenberg@listserv.unc.edu" to contact the lists'
(human) administrator.
If you would just like a little more information about Lyris
features, you can find their help information at http://www.lyris.com/help
pgweekly_2003_08_06_part_1.txt
If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.