PGWeekly_October_29.txt
*The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, October 29, 2003*
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eBook Milestones
We're 1.54% Of The Way From 10,000 To 20,000!!!
10154 eBooks As Of Today!!!
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This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
Over Our 32 17/53 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 311 Ebooks/Yr
And This Year Averaged Over That Same New eBook Level. . .PER MONTH!!!!!
We Are Averaging About 380 Per Month This Year!!!
By The Way, It's Been About 1.02 Billion Seconds Since The First eBook!!!
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***
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
6 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
80 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
- Headline News from Newsscan and Edupage
- Information about mailing lists
*** Requests For Assistance
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***
We need someone who can confirm the publication date of:
Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, first published around 1911.
***
!!!
We need someone who knows the "zip -9" high compression!!!
!!!
***
I am working on trying to collect and convert some public domain folk tunes
to ABC notation. Could use some help tracking down public domain versions
of the melodies or proof that these songs are in the public domain. Songs
I'm working on at present include:
I Know Where I'm Going
Simple Gifts
She Moved Throught The Fair
A Sailor Courted a Farmer's Daughter (aka Constant Lovers)
The Fisher Who Died in His Bed
Ufros Alienu
If anyone's interesting in converting folk songs to a digital public
domain format and would like to help or if you want to contact me, you can
do so through the mailing list at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pdsongs
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*** Progress Report
In the first 9.60 months of this year, we produced 3333 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our first 3,333 eBooks!
That's 42 WEEKS as Compared to ~31 Years!
86 New eBooks This Week
65 New eBooks Last Week
471 New eBooks This Month [October]
388 Average Per Month in 2003 <<<
203 Average Per Month in 2002 <<<
103 Average Per Month in 2001 <<<
3411 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
7102 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 33 Months! ~200/mo
10,154 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
6,208 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
3,946 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
288 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
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***
FLASHBACK!!!
3411 New eBooks So Far in 2003
It took us 31 years for the first 3411 !
That's the 43 WEEKS of 2003 as Compared to ~31 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #3411
Sep 2002 1001 Nights[Arabian Nights], V16 by Richard Burton[g1001xxx.xxx] 3450
. . .
Sep 2002 1001 Nights[Arabian Nights], V1, by Richard Burton[11001xxx.xxx] 3435
Sep 2002 Epical Songs, by Pencho Slaveykov[P. Slaveykov #2][epsngxxx.xxx] 3433
[This Bulgarian eBook uses the Cyrillic Windows 1251 character set]
Sep 2002 Quotations From the Works of Mark Twain, by Widger[dwqmtxxx.xxx] 3432
[Authors Full Name: David Widger. . .#1 in our series of Widger's Quotations]
Sep 2002 The Gadfly, by E. L. Voynich [gdflyxxx.xxx] 3431
Sep 2002 The Suitors of Yvonne, by Rafael Sabatini [#14][styvnxxx.xxx] 3430
Sep 2002 Saint George for England, by G. A. Henty [stgfexxx.xxx] 3429
Sep 2002 The Two Vanrevels, by Booth Tarkington[Booth T#11][vnrvlxxx.xxx] 3428
Sep 2002 Kilo, by Ellis Parker Butler [kilo1xxx.xxx] 3427
Sep 2002 On Books and The Housing of Them by W.E. Gladstone[obhotxxx.xxx] 3426
Sep 2002 Samantha at Saratoga, by Josiah Allen's Wife [samanxxx.xxx] 3425
[Author's Name is Marietta Holley]
Sep 2002 For the Term of His Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke[fthnlxxx.xxx] 3424
Sep 2002 The Strolling Saint, by Rafael Sabatini[Rafael#13][strstxxx.xxx] 3423
Sep 2002 The Life of the Fly, by J. Henri Fabre [Fabre #4][tlflyxxx.xxx] 3422
Sep 2002 Bramble-Bees and Others, by J. Henri Fabre [JHF#3][brmbbxxx.xxx] 3421
Sep 2002 Vindication of Rights of Woman/Mary Wollstonecraft[vorowxxx.xxx] 3420
[Title: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by Mary Wollstonecraft]
[Alternate: Vindication of Rights of Women, by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin]
Sep 2002 Rebecca Mary, by Annie Hamilton Donnell [rbmryxxx.xxx] 3419
Sep 2002 Captain Brassbound's Conversion by G. Bernard Shaw[brscnxxx.xxx] 3418
[Author: George Bernard Shaw: he preferred just Bernard Shaw]
Sep 2002 The Fortunes of Oliver Horn, by F. Hopkinson Smith[tfoohxxx.xxx] 3417
Sep 2002 William Ewart Gladstone, by James Bryce [gladsxxx.xxx] 3416
Sep 2002 The South Pole, Volume 2, by Roald Amundsen [?tspv2xx.xxx] 3415
Sep 2002 The South Pole, Volume 1, by Roald Amundsen [?tspv1xx.xxx] 3414
Sep 2002 The Blazed Trail, by Stewart Edward White [#5][blztrxxx.xxx] 3413
Sep 2002 The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither, by Bird[gctwtxxx.xxx] 3412
[Author: Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)]
Sep 2002 The Stokesley Secret, by Charlotte M. Yonge[CMY10][stkscxxx.xxx] 3411
Sep 2002 The American Spirit in Literature, by Bliss Perry [aslitxxx.xxx] 3410
Sep 2002 The American Spirit in Literature, by Bliss Perry [aslitxxx.xxx] 3410
[Title: The American Spirit in Literature, A Chronicle of Great Interpreters]_
Sep 2002 Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope[Trollope11][barchxxx.xxx] 3409
Sep 2002 Shame of Motley, by Raphael Sabatini[Sabatini #12][shmotxxx.xxx] 3408
Sep 2002 The Spell of Egypt, by Robert Hichens [Hichens #3][sgyptxxx.xxx] 3407
Sep 2002 Ragged Lady, by William Dean Howells Vol 2 [WH#52][wh2rlxxx.xxx] 3406
Sep 2002 Ragged Lady, by William Dean Howells Vol 1 [WH#51][wh1rlxxx.xxx] 3405
Sep 2002 April Hopes, by William Dean Howells [WH#50][whahpxxx.xxx] 3404
Sep 2002 The Register, by William Dean Howells [WH#49][whregxxx.xxx] 3403
Sep 2002 The Parlor Car, by William Dean Howells [WH#48][whplrxxx.xxx] 3402
Sep 2002 The Elevator, by William Dean Howells [WH#47][whelvxxx.xxx] 3401
Aug 2002 Entire PG Edition of William Dean Howells [WH#47][whewkxxx.xxx] 3400
[This file contains all those we have done, and will do, will be updated....]
***
Today Is Day #301 of 2003
This Completes Week #43
70 Days/10 Weeks To Go [We get 53 Wednesdays this year]
9846 Books To Go To #20,000 [18 months from 2 weeks ago]
We're hoping to do this in 80 to 100 weeks
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
Week #2 Of Our *SECOND* 10,000 eBooks
79 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]
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*** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
Statistical Review
In the 43 weeks of this year, we have produced 3411 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our FIRST 3411 eBooks!!!
That's 43 WEEKS as Compared to ~31 YEARS!!!
With 10,154 eBooks online as of October 29, 2003 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.98 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 1.5% of the world's population!
This "cost" is down from about $1.61 when we had 6208 eBooks A Year Ago
Can you imagine 10,000 books each costing $.63 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine 10,000 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 10,154 eBooks in 32 Years and 4.60 Months We Averaged
311 Per Year [We do more per than that month these days!]
26 Per Month
.85 Per Day
At 3,411 eBooks Done In The 301 Days Of 2003 We Averaged
11.3 Per Day
79.3 Per Week
387.6 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 1st was
the first Wednesday of 2003, and thus ended PG's 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***
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
From Newsscan:
[The Enemy Within. . .Oscar Voters Are The New Enemy Of The MPAA???]
[It Just Makes You Wonder If The Jack Valenti's Are Really in Control]
SCREENERS CODED TO PREVENT MOVIE PIRACY
A compromise has been reached that will make possible a carefully controlled
distribution of free cassettes to Oscar voters for private screening during
the upcoming awards season. The movies will be numbered VHS cassettes rather
than easily copied DVDs, and they will be coded for tracing if they are sold
or pirated. Academy members will sign contracts taking responsibility for
any "screeners" they accept, and making them subject to possible banishment
from the Academy if the screeners are later found on the black market.
(Washington Post 24 Oct 2003)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9524-2003Oct23.html
EXTENDING THE MUSIC LIBRARY
Two students at MIT have developed an electronic music library that allows
anyone on campus to access 3,500 CDs. Called the Library Access to Music
Project (LAMP), the system lets a student go to its Web site to select a CD
and have it delivered through the campus closed-circuit cable TV to the
student's dorm room or other campus site. One of the students who conceived
of LAMP explains: "We had a library in school that closed at 7 p.m. The
school had this great music in the library, but you couldn't get there. I
was thinking, how could we get students better access to this library?" In
2001, the two creators of LAMP received a grant from iCampus, a
Microsoft-backed alliance with MIT. (San Jose Mercury News 27 Oct 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7113917.htm
ELECTRONIC CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AT SWARTHMORE
Students at Swarthmore College unhappy with a maker of electronic
voting machines have begun an "electronic civil disobedience" campaign.
Diebold Election Systems has been criticized for voting systems that
have been described as full of security vulnerabilities. In March,
15,000 internal Diebold memos leaked to the press indicated that the
company knew of the problems but continued to sell the systems to
states. The memos have been posted on a number of Web sites, both
inside and outside the United States, and Diebold has been issuing
cease and desist letters to sites that post the memos. The students at
Swarthmore involved in the protest believe Diebold is improperly using
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to keep the public from seeing the
memos and have pledged to move the memos from computer to computer as
Diebold tracks them down. Luke Smith, a sophomore at the college, said,
"They're using copyright law as a means of suppressing information
that needs to be public."
Wired News, 21 October 2003
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60927,00.html
APPLE iTUNES DOES WINDOWS
Apple is expanding its popular iTunes music download service into Windows
territory, promising a wider selection of songs and some new features to
maintain its lead in an increasingly competitive market. The launch was
accompanied by the usual Apple glitz -- CEO Steve Jobs chatted via remote
link-up with U2 lead man Bono and the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger in a
prelude to a live performance by singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan. "It's
like the pope of software meeting up with the Dali Lama of integration,"
gushed Bono -- referring to the iTunes software and Apple's integrated
online music store. Analysts say that iTunes faces stiff competition in the
Windows space, but that its flexibility to download tunes onto multiple
devices gives it an edge. "There's going to be a lot of jockeying for
position in the next 12 months," says a Forrester Research analyst. "But I
think iTunes is a real winner because it has the portable player, the
jukebox and the store all together." (Reuters 16 Oct 2003)
news.excite.com/tech/article/id/329433|technology|10-16-2003::17:32|reuters.
html
CHALLENGE TO THE WEB WEAVED BY MICROSOFT
The U.S. Justice Department and 19 states have complained to U.S. District
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly about a design feature of Windows that compels
consumers who buy music online to use only Microsoft's Internet Explorer
browser and guides them to a Microsoft Web site. The dispute may become the
first test of the Microsoft antitrust settlement approved by a federal
court in October 2002. In response, a Microsoft executive said, "We believe
that the use of Internet Explorer by the Shop-for-Music-Online link in
Windows is consistent with the design rules established by the consent
decree, and we will continue to work with the government to address any
concerns. At issue is a design feature in Windows XP called "Shop for Music
Online," which lets consumers purchase compact discs from retailers over
the Internet, but when consumers click the link to buy music, Windows opens
Microsoft's browser software even if consumers have indicated that they
prefer using rival browser software. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 20 Oct 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7060791.htm
MICROSOFT TOUTS SELF-DESTRUCTING E-MAIL
Microsoft's new Office 2003 software, set to debut on Tuesday, will include
an e-mail feature that can be used to time-stamp messages, directing them
to delete themselves on a certain date. In addition, senders will be able
to restrict forwarding and printing of messages by the recipient. The new
Information Rights Management software could run into opposition from U.S.
regulators, who view destroying e-mail as on a par with shredding
documents. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley was fined $1.65 million for
failing to keep e-mail records, despite the company's claim that it due to
oversight rather than a deliberate attempt to evade financial
investigation. (BBC News 19 Oct 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3205080.stm
INTERCEPTING E-MAIL IS A CRIME
An Arizona woman was sentenced to 60 days of home detention for
intercepting at least 215 e-mail messages directed to her husband's
ex-wife. Law enforcement officials said Angel Lee fraudulently obtained the
ex-wife's user name and password, allowing her to log in and read mail.
Ex-wife Duongladde Ramsey said Lee's actions were comparable to breaking
into her house and reading her diary, and the judge agreed, saying Lee's
penalty is a warning to others who might be tempted to spy on others'
e-mail accounts. "Privacy is still a cherished value," said U.S. District
Judge Richard P. Matsch. (AP 19 Oct 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20031019/D7U97UCG0.html
INFO TECHNOLOGY HELPS WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
The overall number of microbusinesses (companies with no paid employees)
increased by 9% between 1997 and 2001, and the number of those owned by
women increased by 14% over the same few years. By exploiting such
technology as PCs, fax machines, and color printers to start
information-based companies, women are changing the face of traditional
mom-and-pop ventures. "This is definitely not your father's small
business," says consultant Terri Lonier. Information technology has
liberated many women who want to leave corporate jobs for self-employment
in the same field. One example of the trend: Jennifer Lawson, who started a
TV production consulting firm in her Washington home, equipped with
video-screening equipment. Another: Jaime Caris of Las Vegas, who has
become a virtual administrative assistant, offering clients across the U.S.
assistance with word processing, accounting and other services from her
home office. (AP/USA Today 19 Oct 2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/2003-10-19-momndad_x.htm
VERISIGN SHEDS NETWORK SOLUTIONS
VeriSign is selling its Network Solutions domain registrar business to
Pivotal Private Equity for about $100 million, but plans to retain control
over the .com and .net database that Network Solutions operates. The domain
registration business has essentially become a commodity service as more
registrars have entered the field. VeriSign has been in the news recently
for its controversial Site Finder service, which redirects all mistyped
URLs to a search page that it operates. It suspended the service under
pressure from ICANN, which expressed concern over the technical
ramifications of the Site Finder service, but VeriSign said Wednesday that
it plans to restart the service after having found "no identified security
or stability problems" in the system. (CNet News.com 16 Oct 2003)
http://news.com.com/2102-1025_3-5092316.html?tag=st_util_print
TEXT-SEARCHING OR TEXT-MINING?
Whereas Google and other Web search engines retrieve information and
display links to documents that contain certain keywords, text-mining
programs dig deeper in order to categorize information, make links between
seemingly unconnected documents, and provide visual maps that lead down new
pathways of exploratory learning. Unlike data mining, text mining works on
unstructured data -- such as e-mail messages, news articles, internal
reports, phone call transcripts, and so on. A good example of the problem
it seeks to solve is suggested by the comment of researcher Randall S.
Murch, who says: "I was an FBI agent for 20 years. And I have yet to see
anyone who is able to model the way an agent thinks and works through an
investigation." And a good example of the solution offered by text-mining
is its use in the 1980s University of Chicago information scientist Don R.
Swanson in studying the medical literature on migraines. Starting with the
word "migraine," he downloaded abstracts from 2,500 articles from Medline
and noticed a reference to a neural phenomenon called "spreading
depression" -- which prompted him to look for articles with that term in
their titles, which in turn led him to the discovery that magnesium was
often mentioned as preventing this spreading depression. Thus, as a result
of text-mining he was able to hypothesize a link between headaches and
magnesium deficiency -- a link that was later confirmed by actual
experiments. (New York Times 16 Oct 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/10/16/technology/circuits/16mine.html
[TeraBYTES Compared To GigaBITS. . .Didn't Those People Learn UNITS???]
[That's .5+ GigaBYTES per second. . .meaning it took ~2 kiloseconds, or
over half an hour. . .no WONDER they didn't want to be specific. . . ;-)]
RESEARCH CENTERS SET NEW RECORD FOR SPEEDY DATA TRANSFER
Two of the world's top research centers -- CERN (the European Organization
for Nuclear Research) and the California Institute of Technology -- say
they've set a new world record for speed in sending data across the
Internet: 1.1 terabytes at 5.44 gigbits per second. That's more than 20,000
times as fast as a typical home broadband connection and would be
equivalent to sending a full-length DVD in seven seconds. The previous top
speed -- 2.38 gigabits per second -- was achieved last February by a joint
team from CERN, Caltech, Los Alamos and Stanford. (Wired.com 15 Oct 2003)
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,60833,00.html?tw=wn_techhead_4
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***
From Edupage
APPLE EXPANDS INTO WINDOWS MUSIC
Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Thursday unveiled his company's
expansion of its iTunes music service to include Windows computers.
Jobs also announced deals Apple has struck with America Online (AOL)
and PepsiCo. Under the first arrangement, AOL will direct users of its
music site to Apple's iTunes store, where they can purchase music with
their AOL memberships. Jobs and AOL CEO Jonathan Miller said the deal
was "exclusive." PepsiCo and Apple will launch a marketing campaign
that features 100 million free iTunes songs, given away through special
caps on PepsiCo bottles. Apple's iTunes has been extremely successful
as a Macintosh-based service, and Jobs said the company has sold 1.4
million of its iPod music players. With the Windows-based version of
its service, Apple will compete with online music services including
RealNetworks, MusicNet, and BuyMusic.com.
New York Times, 17 October 2003 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/17/technology/17APPL.html
QUICK START FOR WINDOWS ITUNES
Early reports from Apple Computer's foray into Windows-based online
music indicate exuberance among consumers for the company's iTunes
service. Apple has sold more than one million songs to iTunes for
Windows customers since the service was launched last week, and
computer users have reportedly downloaded more than one million copies
of the Windows version of iTunes software in the past three days. Apple
launched iTunes for Macintosh-based computers in April of this year,
and since then the company has sold 14 million songs at 99 cents each.
The company said it hopes to have sold 100 million songs by the first
anniversary of the service next April.
BBC, 20 October 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3207984.stm
[Of Course, No Mention That There Was No Evidence That HE Did It, Either]
HACKER'S ACQUITTAL RAISES CONCERNS OVER TROJAN HORSE DEFENSE
Some security experts fear that a British teen's acquittal on charges
of hacking into the computer system of the port of Houston will weaken
future prosecutions of computer crimes. Aaron Caffrey was charged with
a 2001 attack that left the port's computer system crippled. Although
Caffrey acknowledged that the attack originated from his computer, he
argued in court that a trojan horse program had been installed on his
computer without his knowledge. That application, Caffrey insisted,
allowed someone to remotely launch the attack from his computer.
Although no evidence of such an application was found on Caffrey's
computer, the jury ruled in his favor. Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant for Sophos, said of the jury's decision that even without
evidence of a trojan horse application, defendants in similar cases
"might still be able to successfully claim that they were not
responsible for what their computer does."
BBC, 17 October 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3202116.stm
[It's OK For Academics To Look At This Information, Just Not OK For YOU]
COMPROMISE REACHED ON DATABASE-PROTECTION BILL
A House of Representatives subcommittee has passed a bill that would
extend strong intellectual-property protections to databases after
opposition from three academic groups was withdrawn. The Database and
Collections of Information Misappropriation Act, introduced last week
by Howard Coble (R-N.C.), had stirred objections from academic groups,
which saw it as a threat to researchers. The original version of the
bill included a vague exception for academics, but the version that
passed the subcommittee this week has a much stronger exception.
According to the revised bill, "no liability shall be imposed under
this act" on higher education and research institutions or their
employees. With that language, the Association of American
Universities, the American Council on Education, and the National
Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges have ended
their opposition to the bill and assumed a neutral position. Other
groups, including the National Academies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
and academic-library organizations, continue to oppose the bill.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 October 2003 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/10/2003101701t.htm
FEDS SEEK REVERSAL OF COMPUTER ADMINISTRATOR'S CONVICTION
Federal prosecutors have asked an appeals court to overturn the
conviction of Bret McDanel on charges that he intentionally caused
damage to the computer system of his former employer, Tornado
Development Inc. While an employee of Tornado, McDanel discovered a
flaw that could have compromised customer accounts. He notified the
company, but it refused to fix the flaw. After leaving the company,
McDanel sent several e-mails to customers, warning them of the flaw.
Because the e-mails caused Tornado's computer system to crash and
resulted in monetary losses, McDanel was tried and convicted to 16
months in federal prison. McDanel argued that he did not intend to
cause damage to Tornado's system, and federal prosecutors conceded
they had no evidence that the damage caused was intentional.
Prosecutors have admitted the error and requested that the conviction
be overturned, though McDanel has already served his sentence.
San Jose Mercury News, 15 October 2003
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7020049.htm
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From In The News
BAY AREA LEADS REVOLT AGAINST SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
from The San Francisco Chronicle
More than five centuries after Gutenberg's printing press revolutionized the
transmission of scientific information, the multibillion- dollar scientific
publishing industry is quaking to two Bay Area-led revolts.
This month, a nonprofit venture founded by Nobel laureates with the help of
a $9 million startup grant launched the first of two new scientific journals
that will make all content freely available online. Print versions of the
journals will be available for a subscription fee.
The goal of the initiative, called the Public Library of Science, is to
force a new standard of "open public access" to scientific research, which,
after all, is largely funded by taxpayer dollars. As it is now, scientific
journals demand a hefty subscriber fee and limit online access to only those
who pay. In another move, two prominent UCSF scientists called last week for
a global boycott of six molecular biology journals, accusing the publisher,
Reed Elsevier, the Goliath of science publishing, of charging exorbitant new
subscription fees for online access.
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***
More Headline News Mostly Avoided By The Media
AUTHORS GUILD EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER AMAZON SEARCH TOOL
The Authors Guild has expressed concern over the remarkable
new Amazon search that conducts full text searches of
120,000 books. The group says that the book publishers did
not have the right to make the contents of the books
available without the authors' permission.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/27/business/media/27amazon.html
***
THE WARMING IS GLOBAL BUT THE LEGISLATING, IN THE U.S., IS ALL LOCAL
from The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 - Motivated by environmental and economic concerns,
states have become the driving force in efforts to combat global warming
even as mandatory programs on the federal level have largely stalled.
At least half of the states are addressing global warming, whether through
legislation, lawsuits against the Bush administration or programs initiated
by governors.
In the last three years, state legislatures have passed at least 29 bills,
usually with bipartisan support. The most contentious is California's 2002
law to set strict limits for new cars on emissions of carbon dioxide, the
gas that scientists say has the greatest role in global warming.
http://snurl.com/2rjr
***
SPYWARE AND THE LIKE
Most operating systems send information about what you are doing
back to the makers of the operating systems, as do places such as
Google, even to the point of making these reports invisible to
both the user and to SpyWare and AdWare programs specifically
designed to help you stop such activities.
Not only are most or all of people web surfing blogged in manners
only accessible by THEM and not my YOU, but even your SEARCH info
is blogged, and you can't get rid of it.
Suppose you are concerned that files containing the dread "xyzzy"
are on your computer and you run a search for "xyzzy" and it comes
back without finding any dread "xyzzy" on your computer.
Actually, this is a lie. . . .
Because the search program wrote down that you searched for "xyzzy"
and if you run the search again, you will see it. . .but it is in a
file you can't edit, delete, overwrite, or anything else. . .!!!
It's kind of like the government "Freedom of Information" file. . .
If you ask for it, and you don't have one, they will tell you that
you don't have one. . .but it's a lie. . .they just made one saying
that you are the very suspicious kind of person who wants to know.
***
Pre-Eminent Re-Domain
Apparently the new tactic of the property tax man to Eminent Domain
privately owned residences and then sell them to large corporations
who will tear them down and building something priced, and taxed!,
for many times the price, has not only traversed the United States,
but is also now traversing the world.
Earlier this month one of the TV news magazines did a special report
on a community near Cleveland that had eminent domained neighborhoods
that it had labelled "blighted" just for the purpose of eminent domain.
These houses turned out to be anything BUT blighted, being solidly in
the upper middle class, well kept up, and whose residents had lived in
them for decades.
The official "blighted" label simply meant that the garage and bathroom
facilities had not been "updated" to include at least two bathrooms and
storage space for two cars. . .even when there were only two residents
who had a need for only one car and one bathroom.
When push came to shove, it turned out that the major's house was also
included in the "blighted" description, but that the neighborhoods in
question simply were in better locations with a better view. . .which
would then be ruined by the new high priced developments.
Then today I heard an NPR report that the same thing was happening in
Singapore, and that the person defending the residents against these
eminent domain attacts had been arrested for telling state secrets to
the media. Under Chinese laws this apparently means talking to the
media about anything the government doesn't want known, including the
new strategic initiatives to eminent domain the middle class out of
the way so the upper class can move in and pay higher taxes.
***
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