The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 29th 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
3) Notes and Queries, Reviews and Features
Quiz
4) Mailing list information
Editorial
Hello,
Well, there we all were celebrating and then someone rained on the
parade. A suggestion has been made that copyright law be changed in
Australia from Life+50 years to Life+70, and the law be made
retrospective. This means of course, that many of the works on PG
Australia would have to be removed. More information below.
Also, this week time to don your scary costume and mask and log on to
DP on Friday night for Distributed Proofreaders Halloween party, I
won't be wearing a costume personally, it'll be 7am my time, and I
always look like death then, see you there....
Happy reading,
Alice
send email to the newsletter editor at: news@pglaf.org
Founding editor: Michael Hart hart@beryl.ils.edu
Newsletter editor: Alice Wood news@pglaf.org
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2) News and Comment
Australia Copyright Controversy
The MPAA and the APRA have commissioned a study proposing that
copyright in Australia be extended from life+50 to life+70
years. There are more details and a discussion of this on Slashdot
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/23/2012208&mode=thread&tid=123&tid=155&tid=188&tid=97&tid=99
One of the aspects of the proposed extension is that it would be
retrospective. This means that existing copyrighted works would have
their period of copyright extended. Moreover, it is our understanding
that under this proposal, works that have entered the public domain
within the last twenty years would return to copyright restrictions.
We encourage interested people to read the proposal
http://www.allenconsult.com.au/resources/MPA_Draft_final.pdf. It
is neither long nor difficult to understand. Having read it, one of
the points to consider is the following:
The report concedes that extending copyright restrictions on
existing works has no legal or economic justification. It merely
attempts to diminish the scale of the cost to the public of this
extension with some highly speculative dollar projections.
There is more information on the newsletter website, and thank you to
William for his help on assembling the information for this article
and the website article.
-------------------
A little more about. . .
#9842:
Anuerin (also spelt Aneirin, Neirin) was a 6th century Welsh bard who wrote
this poem (in Welsh) about a battle between the Celtic peoples of Britian and
the then-settling Germanic invaders. The battle was probably fought near York
and was a total disaster for the Celtic peoples whose army was more or less
wiped out.
The poem mainly laments the death of the Celtic nobles, with most mentioned by
name. There's no narrative structure so we don't find out much about what
actually happened (the translator thinks the Celts lost because they got drunk
the night before the battle!)
This is one of the key Welsh texts being the earliest piece of Welsh
writing still extant (with the writings of Taliesin).
Thanks to David Widger
-------------------
Other news items this week
PG/DP Shop
That's all I'm saying, watch this space for more details.
----------------------------
Time to celebrate our newest Project Gutenberg mirror site in Shiraz,
Iran. Thanks to eRamISP.
You can find them at ftp://dlib.eramisp.com/gut/ and the mirror has
been added to the Search section on the website
-----------------------------
Newsletter website
Updates galore this week, stories being added all the time. Check out
the indepth analysis of the Australian copyright extension saga, and
read up on some of the features we have carried in the newsletter.
-------------------
Distributed Proofreaders Update
So there we were rolling along at our normal October pace, collecting
historic production records every few hours, when suddenly the server
was hit by anenormous geomagnetic solar wave. The dynamic momentum of
the past weeks was brought to screeching halt, and for several hours
the future of world literacy seemed to be in imminent peril. Alright
... so maybe it wasn't a magnetic storm disruption, but something
knocked DP out of the rounds last weekend.
It happens from time to time for all on-line ventures, systems crash
and access is denied. For some reason it seems more like a crisis of
solar proportions among the DP community when our own network goes
down. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we don't only lose our
involvement with the project, but we also lose our link to each other
at such times. Once again we are reminded that this is not a
distributed network of machines, but rather a world-spanning
association of unique individuals who choose to band together for a
common endeavor. It has become easy to form strong attachments within
this collaboration, and thus it is understandable why we miss it so
much when the system is down.
It took us a day or so to get back up to speed, but by Tuesday we were
back above 7,000 pages a day and looking forward to greater growth and
expansion for November. At press time for the newsletter we are within
the final 72 hours of October. Short of another meltdown, the close of
the month promises to be as exciting as anything we have seen over the
past 28 days.
Looking back from today, we have an abundant set of achievements to
celebrate, and celebrate is what we are going to do...right up to
midnight on the 31st. Just within the past couple of days we have
passed both the milestone of pages ever proofed in a month and the
objective of 300 texts Post Processed. After that, there is only one
record left that October has not set. The greatest number of pages
proofed in a single day still belongs to November 8th, 2002. That may
change on Friday of this week, but for the present it lingers well out
of reach of even the best day of 2003.
This Friday is Halloween. Appropriate to a month as grand as this one,
DP is holding a day/night long party for October's final 24 hour
session. If you have been away for a while, this is a good time to
log-in. The mad doctor is on the loose, the Wolfman has the keys and
the gates of the asylum are wide open. Normal proofing projects will
go undisturbed, but beware! ... all manner of texts will be roaming
the rounds. From the enigmatically obscure to the chillingly horrific,
content will be provided (I may not say by whom) to satisfy the tastes
of the most ghoulish proofer. So dig up your favorite costume and
enjoy the incanta. . .err celebrations. The fun begins (of course) at
Midnight, Friday morning.
Wrapped up within Friday's festivities is a defiant challenge to go
after the single day record of November 8. This is quite an
undertaking, and will only succeed with a well coordinated effort from
all sectors of DP production. The number to surpass is 15,309. The
most obvious need to reach this objective is the availability of
proofable texts that could be processed in a quality manner within a
24 hour period. Content providers, scanners and project managers have
been busy building up a strong reserve of projects in advance, and
from what I have learned the odds are slowly turning to Friday's
favor. We'll be sure to let you know the outcome next week. Or...you
could stop by on Friday and add a few pages of your own. Whether we
catch November 8th or not, it's still likely to be the best proofing
day of 2003, so you'll still be a key participant in making DP
history. Besides, one could do worse than spend some time preserving
dead authors on Halloween!
So where do we go after the party, when we have finished enjoying the
wondrous heights October took us to? All the excitement is justified
and well worth celebrating, yet we have not lost our focus nor the
sense of practical planning. It is important during exceptional times
to make the most industrious use of the gifts that are placed before
you, we have not lost our sense for this. Within the heart of this
festive atmosphere, there is as much discussion and debate going on as
there is proofing. While the range of topics is far and wide, what
seems clear to me from all I measure, is that DP will not rest upon
its many accomplishments. This talented and diverse group has met
every challenge thus far faced, and with each the project has grown
stronger and more innovative. The future will proudly carry on this
tradition. That future begins November first...even as we are cleaning
up from the night before. It seems as if I was just writing the column
of October first. Now a new month is at the door which promises to be
as interesting and exciting as the one which is winding down... or
winding up, as seems to be the inclination!
The 'Road Ahead' for PG/DP is very different than the one Bill Gates
set out a few years back. It is more along the lines of the original
promise of the Internet, before it even registered on the radar of the
corporate world. Those of us who have chosen to support the ideals of
Project Gutenberg would feel right at home on this road. If there is a
common belief across the diverse communities of PG and DP it is a
conviction that the vehicles of digital communication can change the
world for the better. This faith is what holds many of us close to the
objectives of PG when we would have long left the ranks of other group
endeavors. There is something real and true going on here which is
close to heart of what called people to the Internet in the first
place.
2003 has been a very good year for the association of Distributed
Proofreaders with Project Gutenberg. Both projects have grown and
reaped the benefits of a closely intertwined collaboration. The future
is bright ahead and is already calling forth from all of us the best
we have to offer of dedication and innovation. With the initial
fanfare of the 10,000th title subsiding, the real meaning and
inspiration of this accomplishment is beginning to settle in for those
who are interested in the future of this ever-evolving world
library. The questions which are buzzing amongst all parts of this
community linger ever on that road ahead. These are exciting
times. Seldom when we travel down a road do we receive the privilege
of also building it as we go forward.
Enjoy these times! Wherever we go from here these later months of
2003 will always retain a unique quality all their own. The
celebrations of this week at DP will surely continue as we draw closer
to the closing of the year. Bring the best that you have within
yourself and participate in these celebrations and activities. Join
together with others--for that is what has made these projects what
they are today--and initiate discussions. Share your ideas of what the
future can be like. Creative production, like success, is
magnetic. Many new faces will joining us with each passing week and
there will be a great deal of attention upon PG and DP. These are
times of great promise and potential. Give your best to them, freely,
and be certain in your heart that the only the best will return to you
in its time. This medium can indeed change the world for the better,
but it cannot do so of itself. Each of us is the catalyst for change
when we give ourselves that one chance to act upon what we believe and
share who and what we are with others in dedication to a common
vision.
Believe in the value of what you have to offer.
For now...
Thierry Alberto
-------------------
Radio Gutenberg Update
http://www.radio-gutenberg.com
Two channels of broadcasting are available again
channel 1 - Sherlock Holmes "The Sign of Four"
channel 2 - Robert Sheckley's "Bad Medicine"
Both are high quality live readings from the collection.
Jon and I are working on a new service for gutenberg
to create an audio book on demand from any of the 10,000+
books in the collection. This service will be available at
http://www.radio-gutenberg.org sometime this year.
Anyone needing an audio book of a gutenberg book will be able to
create it for themselves on the web, right when they have the need
for it.
We may ask for testers sometimes in November.
Mike E
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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3) Notes and Queries, Reviews and Features
Notes from ...
"who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery?
Seize him and unmask him -- that we may know whom we
have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!"
E.A.Poe
The proposal for Halloween piece came about two weeks ago. I was
thinking about the fest itself - as untrue as its essence - the fake
name, the borrowed traditions, and the less-than-perfect past were
kind of intriguing. Of course the most appropriate time to work on the
story is the night before the newsletter publishing day. Let us see
what we have - internet resources for Halloween and its history are
abundant. Flash multiplication is floating around, scary images
filling the screen and the music is definitely nervous. Halloween
jokes: "Q. What do you call a witch who lives at the beach? A. A
sand-witch." Ha-ha "Q. What did the skeleton say to the vampire?
A. You suck." Halloween.com and halloween-online.com. This link looks
appealing - http://www.illusions.com/halloween/hallows.htm, nice
pictures, though ... the comparision of different internet stories
about Halloween ... migration of proto-Celts
... witch-haunters. Interesting, however what's a point to rephrase
somebody's else piece? At this moment my mom entered computer room
and saw the pumpkin on the screen. Time for a story!
I've heard it at least 100 times but still enjoy the style - how my
mother and her friends, as resourceful teenagers, fought an evil
school manager sent to their village from metropolia. He was arrogant,
ignorant, drunker and in addition stole the firewoods, that students
prepared for the school on the summer vacation. One evening when the
manager had an important meeting in the vine house till very late
hour, they prepared the pumpkin with the candle inside and succeeded
to attach it between the windows at manager's home. At the midnight
they started to throw stones to his window and laugh with wild
laughs. The effect was more than satisfactory - the guy not only
screamed but also dashed aside and ruined a vase on the table. The
average mark in history (that he taught) on the next day was close to
negative, but whole school was in festive mode anyway. Mom said "Good
night" and left the room. Oh, the time is really nighty one - 23:59
... The right time for a Halloween story. Ghosts and the lost souls
that are wandering outside and knocking in the window. O my ... a hand
appeared from the dark air outside the window and tried to move the
fold ... Two cats peacefully sleeped on TV set in the living room
almost got a heart attack and Munk could be envy to the scream
timbre. Behind the dark window appeared a worried face of my mother
friend stayed for few days with visit in the house. She went to smoke
on the balcony and checked whether the windows were closed, since it
is not-smoking house generally ... Hands are too shaking so I'm
missing the keys on the key board .. the door somewhere is creaking
gloomily and there is definitely a sound of the steps in the empty
corridor ...
Hope that venerable public enjoyed the story and will generously throw
treats into the held mask.
Happy Halloween!
Gali Sirkis
-------------------
Edgar Allen Poe
Halloween approaches and, with it, the spectre of Edgar Allen Poe. By and
large, little about Poe is known for sure. Despite claims to the contrary
in books (although correctly cited in "Selections from Poe" by J.
Montgomery Gambrill http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext05/7spoe10.txt )
the Edgar Allan Poe Society (http://www.eapoe.org) will tell you that he was
born in 1809 in Baltimore. The details of Poe's life (and death for that
matter) are interesting reading and a story in and of themselves, but not
the topic of this short article. This article, instead, is intended to
persuade you to take a few moments and actually read one of his works. The
complete works of Poe are available on Project Gutenberg
(http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext00/poe1v10 is the first volume of a
five volume set; in addition consider
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext97/1epoe10.txt which is a collection
of some of his most famous works).
How can you not be entranced by the first line of "The Raven":
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
This is sort of a far more literate version of Snoopy's famous "It was a
dark and stormy night.." (this was actually the opening of "Paul Clifford"
by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext05/b162w10.txt). Of course, suddenly,
you are trapped. What is the author doing at midnight? Why is he weak?
What did he ponder? Two lines later we discover:
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
So, our author is all but asleep, barely able to keep his head up--fairly
bouncing with fatigue, yet he plows on. SUDDENLY, not gently, not as though
in a dream or pulled from a dream, but with an urgency that almost leaps
from the page the author hears something. What? Three lines in and you can
paint the picture in your mind. It is a dark chamber lit with a reading
candle. It is light enough to read, but dark enough to nod off. Shadows
gather in the corners and grope out towards the reading table with blind,
dark hands as the candle flickers almost in rhythm with the nodding head of
a solitary reader. This reader whose eyes are weighted heavily so that
there is almost a palpable force drawing his eyelids down. The reader is
seemingly engrosed in pondorous books laid about him almost haphazardly, but
with sufficient order that he may reference one when searching for meaning
in another. The silence is suddenly, calamitously, brittlely broken by a
tap upon the door. Later we learn that the chamber likely had a chill,
therein (at the beginning of the next verse):
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
The cold permeates the page and even brings an involuntary shudder to the
reader who now pulls up the imaginary shawl over the author's shoulders and
tries, vainly, to help him blot out this interruption which threatens the
studies he is only barely able to manage as it is. By now, the reader is
hooked, but the wonderful descriptions continue (at the beginning of the
third verse):
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
So now we know about the draft in the room and the layers of curtains over
the window blotting out both the light and the cold. How the heavy
movements sound sad and infrequent. All this in a single line. The heavy
curtains must muffle noise from the outside (as though there were some at
midnight, right?).
Are you hooked? Do you wonder why the poem is called, "The Raven?" GO READ
IT! If these few lines can't convince you of the richness of language, the
power of metaphor, and the haunting fear that runs through each line of
Poe's work, then you are a hopeless case.
Perhaps, however, you need a different allure. A stirring of the soul.
Something with more prose and less poetry. Consider, "The Tell-Tale Heart."
In the opening paragraphs we learn:
"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once
conceived, it haunted me day and night."
What, what, pray tell? Murder, I tell you. Foul and bedamned murder.
Murder for money. The task of the murder itself is told with chilling
detail and deft wordsmith. Here Poe tells us only of the victim's eye:
"It was open--wide, wide open--and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I
saw it with perfect distinctness--all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over
it that chilled the very marrow in my bones;"
Yet, with perfect clearness we see the distress of the aged victim. The
murderous intent of the protagonist and the mustering of will for the
heinous deed. Once done we hear of the cover-up and the protagonist's effort
to conceal his "perfect crime." You may wonder how it could be a "perfect
crime." How, indeed, the protagonist would handle himself when confronted
by men of authority and justice. And Poe will tell you. You need only
read. But, beware the heart...the tell-tale heart. Having finished reading
think for a moment about the double meaning of the tell-tale heart.
Now, certainly, you have left this article, walked--no, run--to your
computer and you are coming back breathless with excitement ready to write
Michael Hart and thank him for creating Project Gutenberg. Right? WHAT!!!
There remain some doubters, some who feel that Poe is not for them?!? Well,
you have read this far and I must pull my trump card as space is waning.
Many of you know "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" from the late 1950s film.
THAT WAS A POE STORY!!!!! It was one of the first detective stories ever
written and, while a great detective story, is also a carefully wrought
allegory analyzing cunning and creativity. Read it and enjoy!
Brett Fishburne
-------------------
This Issue's Quiz: Ghosts & Goblins!
[Patrons are reminded that only entries dressed in appropriate costume
will win the newsletter 'spooky-pants' award for this weeks quiz!-Ed]
Match the 13 spooky titles with the correct first lines (you can always
cheat by visiting the URL).
Tonya Allen
===Titles===
1. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / Robert Louis Stevenson
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext92/hyde10.txt
2. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow / Washington Irving
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext92/sleep11.txt
3. A Christmas Carol / Charles Dickens
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext92/carol13.txt
4. The Haunted Hotel / Wilkie Collins
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext94/hhotl10.txt
5. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary / M. R. James
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06/8jgs210.txt
6. Dracula / Bram Stoker
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext95/dracu12.txt
7. Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories / Ambrose Bierce
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03/prhg10.txt
8. The Pit and the Pendulum / Edgar Allan Poe
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext00/poe2v10.txt
9. The Ghost and the Bone Setter / Sheridan Le Fanu
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext96/pclp110.txt
10. The Castle of Otranto / by Horace Walpole
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext96/cotrt10.txt
11. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02/bskrv11a.txt
12. Phantom 'Rickshaw & Other Ghost Stories / Rudyard Kipling
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext01/phric11.txt
13. Frankenstein / by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext93/frank14.txt
===First Lines===
a. Marley was dead: to begin with.
b. My peculiar relation to the writer of the following narratives is such
that I must ask the reader to overlook the absence of explanation as to how
they came into my possession.
c. Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never
lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in
sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable.
d. 3 May. Bistritz.--Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at
Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an
hour late.
e. I was sick -- sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at
length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were
leaving me.
f. In the year 1860, the reputation of Doctor Wybrow as a London physician
reached its highest point.
g. In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern
shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the
ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently
shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they
crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is
called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the
name of Tarry Town.
h. Two men in a smoking-room were talking of their private-school days.
i. The following work was found in the library of an ancient Catholic family
in the north of England.
j. TO Mrs. Saville, England
St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17-
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the
commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil
forebodings.
k. One of the few advantages that India has over England is a great
Knowability.
l. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon
those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the
breakfast table.
m. In looking over the papers of my late valued and respected friend,
Francis Purcell, who for nearly fifty years discharged the arduous duties of
a parish priest in the south of Ireland, I met with the following document.
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Credits
Thanks this time go to Brett and George (zzzzz) for the numbers and
booklists. Tonya, William, Thierry, Gali, the Gutenberg Press Gang,
Mike, Greg, Michael, Mark and Larry Wall. Entertainment for the
workers provided by BBC 6Music and Led Zepplin.
Note: Mark is currently reading Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy, published by
a certain publishing company named after an Antartic bird, so far he's
spotted three proof-reading mistakes! This is what you get if you pay
people to proof-read.
pgweekly_2003_10_29_part_2.txt
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