The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 8th October 2003
eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers For Since 1971
Part 2
In this week's Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter:
1) Editorial
2) News
Distributed Proofreaders Update
Radio Gutenberg Update
3) Notes and Queries, Reviews and Features
Quiz Answers
4) Mailing list information
Editorial
Hello,
'Expect updates and new features from this week as I get back into
gear.'
Anybody remember me writing that last week? Me too. This week,
honest! I need more hours in my week! I think I am suffering from one
of those periennial problems that PG has. Being a volunteer, I want to
do things to help turn PG from Wired to the Wall Street
Journal*, but I don't have the time! Any suggestions to the address below.
* Many thanks to whoever sent me that quote.
Happy reading,
Alice
send email to the newsletter editor at: news@pglaf.org
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Newsletter editor: Alice Wood news@pglaf.org
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2) News and Comment
Urgent! - North Dakota
Do you live there? Does anyone you know live there? Do you stable a
horse there? Does your carrier pidgeon service pass through?
The reason I ask is this - Anne Wingate, who is in charge of sorting
out PG's charity registration in the 50 states of the USA (Yes they
all have to be done separately), is looking for someone, anyone who
lives in North Dakota. You don't have to do anything except be named
on the form as a contact for PG. If someone does contact you, you can
pass them straight on to either Anne or Greg Newby, but there has to
be someone local named on the form, so please, if your granny's best
friend's nephew's girlfriend's parakeet lives in North Dakota could
you get them to mail me here at news@pglaf.org, so I can pass your
name on to Anne.
Thank you
-------------------
An overview of Egyptian literature in PG and at all:
During this week a book of Egyptian texts (Legends Of The Gods, by
E. A. Wallis Budge) was added to the PG collection, joining a few
other examples of the world's oldest literature attempts:
Egyptian Tales, V1 and V2, by W. M. Flinders
An Account of Egypt, by Herodotus, tr. by Macaulay
Legends of Babylon and Egypt, by Leonard W. King
Book of Dead
Those are, of course, only a very few drops since Egyptian literature
is extremely diverse. First there is plenty of didactic literature
where fathers are teaching the sons how to behave in this world in
order to gain success, love of the higher official and the adoration
of the people (interesting fact that it was forbidden to express love
towards higher ranked persons the love was permitted only from up
down.). The most famous work from this kind probably is the
Instruction of Amenemhet I written by scribe Achtoy, where the famous
founder of 12-th dynasty was warning his son Sesworset I of treachery
and untrustworthy people. He was indeed killed at the end of his reign
presumably by harem conspiracy. Some of the scholars think that even
not without the help of his heir ... The most interesting document of
this era is the tale of Sinuhe the outstanding autobiography of the
courtier of the queen who fled from Egypt to Palestine after hearing
the news of the Amenemhet I death. There are various translations of
this story, and on PG you can find the version of Sr. Petrie in his
famous Egyptian Tales.
The other type of the literature that is represented in the books on
PG is the legends and fairy tales. Famous kings and envy gods were
inhabiting the world centered around the fertile Nile valley, and so
are their stories plenty and somewhat familiar. The other fairy tales
tell us about the magic and magicians that as we know were also
abundant in those days. The magicians were involved in everyday life
and affairs of pharaohs and higher officials as well as in the life of
regular people. Look the tales translated of Petrie where the wax
crocodiles are eating the adulterer and where the waters of the lake
were withdrawn in order to find the jewel of the harem girl from the
pleasure boat.
There is only a little drop in the sea so we will continue in the next
newsletter to show you the beauty of the ancient poetry which passion
can be compared with that of the Shakespeare and many other strange
and inspired stories of the oldest known literature. In the mean time
you can also entertain yourself with
http://www.aldokkan.com/art/literature.htm
or
http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/texts/
even if it is not clear about their copyrights
Gali Sirkis
-------------------
Other news items this week
Spanish Bible Files
Watch out for these coming onto PG shortly. Text and HTML versions
will be available.
-----------------------------
Project Gutenberg Website Update
Thanks to Marcello Perathoner, we now have a 'browse by author
and title online' facility. The listing is regenerated at 6:50 am (US Eastern
time) regenerating the listing daily. Our browsing tools are used
quite a bit so a more functional and prettier one is great to
have. Any suggestions or feedback about the new search facility are
most welcome.
------------------------------
Lessons in ebooks
Occasionally, I get mails asking how to go about downloading texts
from Project Gutenberg. Thanks to a new set of lessons from Candida
Martinelli, all mystery is now lifted.
Candida has put together six lessons to explain just about everything
you might need to know to get started with finding a text,
downloading, use and management, they are well worth a look. You can
find the lessons at:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/cecilia.mccabe/instructions.htm
-------------------
Distributed Proofreaders Update
With one week behind us, October has so far lived up to it's initial
expectations of dynamic and productive activity. September made
several significant notations in the historic logs of DP, this month
appears to be opening up a whole new ledger. If you have been away
from the site for the past week, you are missing out. Don't despair,
there a few weeks to go yet, and things are just getting warmed up. In
the time between I will try to bring you up to date.
Two new initiatives began at DP this month, which were mentioned in
the previous column. The first of these was a dedication of October as
'Post Processing Month.' Yes, the groaning was loud and diverse at the
initial announcement. That was to be expected. The new and untried is
always met with resistance at the start. To be fair, the questions
were not without foundation. First of all, how do you set a fixed goal
for a process where every element is unique. A short novel requires a
completely different approach in Post than a collection of poetry with
supplementary notations. Different approaches are also required for a
textbook or an issue of periodical. On the whole, the details were not
as important as how we approached the objective itself. What mattered
was setting out a path and committing to it's destination. The
collective mind of DP has always been good at figuring out challenges
as they arise. The current Post processing efforts are reminding us of
this truth once again.
The aim at the beginning of October, was to complete the first stage
of the Post process for 300 texts. That is far beyond figures achieved
in any month to date. At the end of seven days, 70 texts have
completed the Post stage and moved on to DP's final stage of
Verification. As this is a 31 day month, that places us slightly ahead
of schedule. To see how this follows on as we move through the month,
watch this space! Be sure we will keep you current on the progress and
discoveries of this endeavor. Just one note, in case anyone is
wondering if such a fixed push effects the quality of a final text. It
is the standing policy at DP, whether there is an objective to meet or
not, that a Post processor has to meet the clear standards required of
a finished text. One of the most obvious initial benefits in this new
effort is the broad range of support among those working in all areas
of Post. This collaboration is enhancing the quality as well as speed
of the completed texts.
The second new initiative is the Author's Birthday celebrations. DP
now salutes an author on the day they were born by giving a high
priority to any works which are within the production process. While
the first several days of the month were lean on notable birthdays, a
buzz of activity surrounded several writers whose date of birth falls
in the later weeks of the month. Our first celebration was yesterday
for the occasion of James Whitcomb Riley's birthday. It proved a fine
commemoration as two projects were prepared on time, specifically for
the day, and were proofed through both rounds by the start of today.
The celebrations continue tomorrow with a work by Ralph Waldo Trine
and on Friday it's a double celebration for Antoine de Bertin and
William Minto. All three authors will be appearing in Project
Gutenberg for the first time when these texts are completed. The
newsletter will continue to spotlight birthday celebrations within
each week. If you would like to participate in a party or two watch
for continually updated posts in the DP forums, check in General and
Content Providers. If you are think that you might have a book by an
October author, and would be interested in preparing it or lending it
to someone to prepare, you will find an ever evolving manifest of
authors and dates.
One final note regarding the authors' birthdays; this focused effort
is not limited solely to proofing. If you have a project by a birthday
author at any stage of development, post a note about this in one of
the forum threads. The intention of this initiative is to bring
together a united, focused effort which will help bring an author's
work closer to being available on the PG shelves. Whatever your
project needs, let others know! If you have an creative idea, post it
to the forum! This feature is here to stay and will be open for
innovation as it grows and defines itself.
What else is exciting and hot so far this month? Well ... page counts,
of course! They just won't slow down. While the focus has been on
Post Production, proofing efforts have not been diminished. In fact,
they are record breaking. For the first time, since the weather bureau
has been keeping records, every day of the month so far has met and
surpassed the daily pages proofed objective. Yesterday closed out the
first week impressively as the 4th most productive proofing day of
2003. It would seem that the momentum of September is increasing,
rather than diminishing. Let's give it another week, and then we can
talk about how to bottle whatever they're drinking over in the Rounds.
Not bad for a first week, aye! Guess what? I have saved the best for
last. Yes, there's more. Or haven't you heard?... There's a new and
improved Distributed Proofreaders in town. It's understandable if you
didn't notice, but the credit for that belongs solely to the Coding
Crew at DP. Most site upgrades are performed in the quiet little
corners of an early Sunday morning. But for these guys ... nothing but
the middle of a Friday evening for the roll out of the latest version
of DP. Yet were it not for a few wrinkles here and there and an extra
log-in or two, you would not have known you had been transported to a
new era in proofreading.
There's still some tweaking to work out in little places. The
important thing is, what needs to work, the essentials that keep DP
running smooth, never missed a beat. The source code is one of the
more transparent processes at the site. Those of us who work on the
projects each day tend to think about the code only when it does
something we don't find amusing. It's like driving a car; unless we
have an interest in mechanics, we don't really care what goes on
'under the hood' as long as we get to where we want to go. We may not
see it working well, we may not really understand how and why it does,
but we're always happy for a smooth ride.
The impressive achievements of this week would not have been possible
without a equally impressive job performed by everyone on the coding
side over these past few months. It's the collaboration of all the
craft-crews at DP that produces the bountiful output we see pouring
forth steadily towards PG. We are Distributed, but we are united. The
results of our collaboration prove the value of that union for lasting
good in this world.
I can't vouch for everyone else, but expressing candidly, I find
myself drawn back to DP time and again, as much for the company found
there as for the work we are doing.
Until next week, when the current events may allow us some room to
return to our regular path of exploration. . .
All the best to each of you!
Thierry Alberto
-------------------
Radio Gutenberg Update
http://www.radio-gutenberg.com
Radio Gutenberg is currently off the air.
If you are interested in creating a slide-show with a soundtrack
from your favourite book, or piece of literature please mail us here
at news@pglaf.org and we will pass your message on.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Improved Service
In a bid to make the newsletter more helpful to readers who may be
using screen reading software. We are able to offer the booklisting in
a different format to make your life a little easier. An example of
the changed listing is given below. If you would like either a daily
or weekly version of this list please email news@pglaf.org, and state
which version you require.
{Note to the unwary: this is an example.}
34 NEW ETEXTS FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG US
A Complete Grammar of Esperanto, by Ivy Kellerman Mar 2005[esperxxx.xxx]7787
The Female Gamester, by Gorges Edmond Howard Apr 2005[fmgstxxx.xxx]7840
[Subtitle: A Tragedy]
A Primary Reader, by E. Louise Smythe Apr 2005[preadxxx.xxx]7841
[Also posted: illustrated HTML, zipped only - pread10h.zip]
The Rise of Iskander, by Benjamin Disraeli Apr 2005[?riskxxx.xxx]7842
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7risk10.txt and 7risk10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8risk10.txt and 8risk10.zip]
[rtf version with accented characters in 8risk10r.rtf and 8risk10r.zip]
[rtf version has numbered paragraphs; txt version has no paragraph numbers]
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3) Notes and Queries, Reviews and Features
The Atlantic Monthly
By Tonya Allen, with thanks to Joshua Hutchinson
A number of periodicals have been making their way through Distributed
Proofers (DP). One of these is The Atlantic Monthly. Starting with
Volume 1, Number 1 (November, 1857), this periodical will continue
through 88 volumes, for a total of 530 issues. At this writing 12
issues have been posted to PG, with 62 additional issues currently
in the DP queue. The mastermind behind this giant project, DP's
Joshua Hutchinson, selected The Atlantic Monthly in part because
of its reputation as a very respected and highly literate periodical.
And indeed, two aspects of this periodical which I find particularly
interesting are its assumptions about the education level of its
readership, and its Reviews and Literary Notices.
While the Atlantic Monthly today continues to offer thoughtful articles
on a variety of topics, nearly a hundred and fifty years ago the editors
seemed to take for granted a higher level of erudition entirely. Readers
were evidently expected to be familiar with French, German, Italian and
Latin, as excerpts and quotations in these languages appear frequently
in the early Atlantic Monthly. Issue 1 includes a fragment from Dante's
Paradiso in the original Italian; a variety of Latin phrases tossed off
casually here and there; and an invitation to consult a book in German
for further information, all in one article on Florentine mosaics. A
familiarity with a wide range of literary classics and historical events
was evidently assumed, as even the works of fiction often contain references
to figures from literature and history. Every issue challenges the computer
spellchecker with hundreds of foreign words and proper names.
The Reviews and Literary Notices section which rounds out each issue
also provides food for thought for the modern reader. Again, the editors
assumed a high level of foreign-language competence among their
readership, as often books in the original non-English language are
reviewed at length. For example, the May 1860 Literary Notices section
leads off with a detailed discussion of _Le Prime Quattro Edizioni
della Divina Commedia Letteralmente Ristampate per Cura di_ G.G. WARREN
LORD VERNON. But perhaps most fascinating are the reviews of books which
have long been hoary residents of "classic" reading lists for young
scholars, but which here are reviewed as new and worthy contributions
of living authors. For example, the April 1860 issue includes a review
of Nathaniel Hawthorne's new novel, The Marble Faun. The July 1862 issue
reviews Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, both the English and French editions.
The June 1860 issue reviews George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss. It is
quite interesting to see how these books, some of which filled us with
despair by their mere titles when they confronted us in school, were
received by contemporary audiences.
In addition to the literature, poetry, and essays on a variety of topics, an
occasional article on current events appears. Thus, the issue of July, 1862
includes an essay entitled "Chiefly about War-Matters: By A Peaceable Man."
The war under discussion is, of course, the American Civil War; the piece
is the author's first-hand account as he sets out to see the war for himself
and tries to understand the impact it is having, and will have, on the
country.
The Atlantic Monthly is a fine addition to PG's archives. I look forward to
the many more issues to come, and invite everyone to sample some of the
issues which have already been posted.
-----------------
The Atlantic Monthly is available from
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext05 - you will find a rapidly growing
pile in one corner.
-------------------
Answers to the Science Fiction Classics Quiz:
1. Looking Backward / Edward Bellamy
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext96/lkbak10.txt
g. I first saw the light in the city of Boston in the year 1857.
2. The Poison Belt / Arthur Conan Coyle
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext94/poisn10.txt
a. It is imperative that now at once, while these stupendous events
are still clear in my mind, I should set them down with that
exactness of detail which time may blur.
3. The War of the Worlds / H.G. Wells
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext92/warw11.txt
h. No one would have believed in the last years of the
nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly
and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as
mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their
various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps
almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scru-
tinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a
drop of water.
4. The Land That Time Forgot / Edgar Rice Burroughs
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext96/tlttf11.txt
b. It must have been a little after three o'clock in the afternoon
that it happened--the afternoon of June 3rd, 1916.
5. From the Earth to the Moon / Jules Verne
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext93/moon10.txt
i. During the War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was
established in the city of Baltimore in the State of Maryland.
6.
A Princess of Mars / Edgar Rice Burroughs
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext93/pmars10.txt
c. I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am
a hundred, possibly more; but I cannot tell because I have
never aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood.
7.
The Time Machine / H.G. Wells
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext92/timem11.txt
e. The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of
him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.
8.
Lost Continent / C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext95/lostc10.txt
j. We were both of us not a little stiff as the result of
sleeping out in the open all that night, for even in Grand Canary
the dew-fall and the comparative chill of darkness are not to be
trifled with.
9.
The Lost World / Arthur Conan Doyle
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext94/lostw10.txt
d. Mr. Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person
upon earth,--a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a man,
perfectly good-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own
silly self.
10.
20000 Leagues Under the Seas / Jules Verne
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext01/2000010a.txt
f. The year 1866 was marked by a bizarre development, an unexplained
and downright inexplicable phenomenon that surely no one has forgotten.
Thanks to Tonya for the quiz*
Two Smartypants awards to Katie Lewington, who gets both awards for
not only getting full marks, but also submitting her answers within
record time. One day I'll have a budget to award real prizes, still
altogether now a huge round of applause for Katie, and well done!
*see below
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Credits
Thanks this time go to Brett and George for the numbers and
booklists. Tonya, Thierry, Gali, Greg, Michael, and Larry
Wall. Entertainment for the workers provided by BBC 6Music. Chicago
Cubs update from John Hagerson, how are they doing John?
A special mention this week for Tonya Allen who has unfailingly
supported me in this newsletter venture from the beginning. This week
Tonya has managed to get herself to 25,000 pages on DP, despite having
a full-time job, post-processing and posting etexts, putting together
the newsletter quiz and writing articles. I have no idea where she
finds the time, and I am scared to ask. A heartfelt well done and a
huge thank you.
pgweekly_2003_10_08_part_2.txt
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