The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, August 04, 2004 PT1
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Search for "*eBook" or "*Intro". . .to jump to that section, etc.]
*eBook Milestones
*Introduction
*Hot Topics: Bill Hammack, The Engineering Guy
*Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements
*Continuing Requests and Announcements
*Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
*Permanent Requests For Assistance:
*Donation Information
*Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections
*Mirror Site Information
*Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks
*Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
*Flashback
*Weekly eBook update:
This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter
Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter
Corrections in separate section
5 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
69 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones
13,439 eBooks As Of Today!!!
6,561 to go to 20,000
We Are Over 1/3 of the Way from 10,000 to 20,000!!!
We have now averaged 400 eBooks per year since July 4th, 1971!!!
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~3 years from 2001 to 2004 for our last 10,000 eBooks
***Introduction
[The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing.]
Today, and until we actually GET new Newsletter editors who want to
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and the eBook listings in Part 2 [New Project Gutenberg Documents].
[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a
few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us:
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This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
Over Our 33 04/52 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 400 eBooks/Yr
And This Year We Are Averaging that Same New eBook Level. . .PER MONTH!
We Are Averaging About 365 eBooks Per Month This Year
About 85 Per Week
***
*Hot Topics: Bill Hammack, The Engineering Guy
RFID : A commentary from Bill Hammack's public radio program
You can listen to this commentary at http://www.engineerguy.com
Wal-Mart keeps track of its inventory using something called an
RFID chip. This small microchip allows products to be recorded
automatically by a radio receiver. The RF in RFID stands for
radio frequency. Many roads use the same technology to keep track
of tolls. And oddly enough, the Mexican Government uses it to
track its Attorney General and his staff - all 160 of them. Yes,
that's right, they've starting putting these chips into people.
Doctors implant them just under the skin, usually in the arm. The
simple procedure feels about like getting a shot. The doctors
never remove it, nor are there batteries to replace: The chip
lies dormant under the skin until read by the radio receiver,
drawing energy from the radio waves. In the case of Mexico, the
chips let the Attorney General's staff roam the secure areas of
his office without flashing a badge - the implanted chip grants
them access.
These devices aren't approved yet in U.S., and I hope they never
will be. This implant seems new and revolutionary, but it's just
one more step down a perilous path we've been taking since World
War Two.
We feared at the end of the war the world of George Orwell's
1984. But it isn't Orwell's Big Brother Police Force and their
in-your-face technology that menaces us. Since World War Two
we've moved step-by-step toward a system where a police state
need no longer be brutal, or openly inquisitorial, or even
omnipresent in public consciousness. Police have instead moved in
the direction of anticipating and forestalling crime. So, the
trend is toward tracking every citizen throughout his or her life
- geographically, commercially, and biologically.
This began soon after World War Two with records of fingerprints,
extensive paper dossiers on citizens, and then computer punch
cards to sort through files. It evolved into the electronic
databases and biological profiling we have today. These new chips
are just a way to quietly add a page to an electronic dossier.
Still, the potential for abuse is enormous. In the future,
perhaps, when someone approaches a sales desk their credit info
would be displayed automatically for the sales staff. Or, the
state could track the public movements of everyone. As a result
people would be less likely to do public activities, to engage,
for example, in protests that offend powerful interests.
So, at first implanting a tiny radio-frequency chip may seem a
painless way to keep order. But we should keep in mind the story
of police work since World War Two: The most insidious technique
is the one which makes itself felt the least, and which
represents the least burden, yet lets every citizen be thoroughly
known to the state.
Copyright 2004 William S. Hammack Enterprises
[Reprinted with Bill's personal permission]
[More below on RFIDs in the Headline News]
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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
In the first 7.00 months of this year, we produced 2532 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to July 2000 to produce our first 2,532 eBooks!
That's 30 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 Years!
74 New eBooks This Week
70 New eBooks Last Week
284 New eBooks This Month [July]
362 Average Per Month in 2004
355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
2532 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
10377 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 43.00 Months!
13,439 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
8,871 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
4,568 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
370 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
We're still keeping up with Moore's Law!
Moore's Law 12 month percentage = 88%
Moore's Law 18 month percentage = 98%
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Today Is Day #209 of 2004
This Completes Week #29 and Month #6.75
162 Days/24 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
6561 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
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85 Weekly Average in 2004
79 Weekly Average in 2003
47 Weekly Average in 2002
24 Weekly Average in 2001
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Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
Statistical Review
In the 30 weeks of this year, we have produced 2532 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1999 to produce our FIRST 2532 eBooks!!!
That's 30 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!
With 13,439 eBooks online as of August 04, 2004 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.74 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 $1.13 when we had 8871 eBooks a year Ago
Can you imagine ~13,439 books each costing ~$.39 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine ~13,439 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 13,439 eBooks in 33 Years and 01.00 Months We Averaged
406 Per Year [We do nearly that much a month these days!]
33.9 Per Month
1.11 Per Day
At 2532 eBooks Done In The 216 Days Of 2004 We Averaged
12 Per Day
84 Per Week
362 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 7th was
the first Wednesday of 2004, and thus ended PG's production
year of 2003 and began the production year of 2004 at noon.
This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week.
*Flashback!!!
2532 New eBooks So Far in 2004
It took us ~30 years for the first 2532 !
That's the 7.00 MONTHS of 2004 as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2532
Mar 2001 Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky [FD #4][?crmpxxx.xxx] 2554
[Tr.: Constance Garnett]
Mar 2001 Jeanne d'Arc, Her Life and Death, by Mrs. Oliphant[?jnrcxxx.xxx] 2553
Mar 2001 Thankful's Inheritance, by Joseph C. Lincoln[JL#5][thkinxxx.xxx] 2552
Mar 2001 Droll Stories [V. 3], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #95][3drllxxx.xxx] 2551
{Also see eBooks #2318 & #1925)
Mar 2001 Tales of Trail and Town, by Bret Harte [Harte #23][totatxxx.xxx] 2550
Mar 2001 Doom of the Griffiths, by Elizabeth Gaskell[EG#10][dmgrfxxx.xxx] 2549
Mar 2001 The Poor Clare, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E. Gaskell#9][prclrxxx.xxx] 2548
Mar 2001 Half a Life-time Ago, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E.G.#8][hlflfxxx.xxx] 2547
Mar 2001 Rustler Round-Up (Bar-20), C.E. Mulford[Mulford#1][hcrruxxx.xxx] 2546
[Title: Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up (Bar-20)]
[Author: Clarence Edward Mulford]
Mar 2001 When God Laughs et al, by Jack London [JL #98-109][gdlghxxx.xxx] 2545
Mar 2001 From Sand Hill to Pine, by Bret Harte[B Harte #22][fshtpxxx.xxx] 2544
Mar 2001 Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille[Tr by T. Constable][plyctxxx.xxx] 2543
Mar 2001 The Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen[Henrik Ibsen #5][dlshsxxx.xxx] 2542
Mar 2001 Character, by Samuel Smiles [Samuel Smiles #6][crctrxxx.xxx] 2541
Mar 2001 Father and Son [Autobiography], by Edmund Gosse [ftrsnxxx.xxx] 2540
Mar 2001 The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russell Wallace V2[2malayxx.xxx] 2539
(See also: V1 #2530)
Mar 2001 Poems and Tales from Romania, by Simona Sumanaru [patfrxxx.xxx] 2538C
Mar 2001 The Pocket R.L.S., by Robert Louis Stevenson [#39][pkrlsxxx.xxx] 2537
Mar 2001 Amphitryon, A play by Moliere, Tr. by Waller [M#2][amphixxx.xxx] 2536
Mar 2001 Openings in the Old Trail, by Bret Harte[Harte#21][oitotxxx.xxx] 2535
Mar 2001 Eugene Pickering, by Henry James [James #29][eugpkxxx.xxx] 2534
Mar 2001 Round the Sofa, by Elizabeth Gaskell [#8][rndsfxxx.xxx] 2533
Mar 2001 The Half-Brothers, by Elizabeth Gaskell [#7][hlfbrxxx.xxx] 2532
Mar 2001 An Accursed Race, by Elizabeth Gaskell [#6][accrcxxx.xxx] 2531
***Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
>From NewsScan:
E-BOOKS FOR AFGHAN PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is sending
talking e-books to Afghanistan to give women basic lessons about public
health, as part of a program based on the best-selling LeapPad e-books that
help children learn to read. The books have a small wand that can be used
to touch images of everyday life in Afghanistan that are then described in
Dari or Pashto, the country's two principal languages. Health clinics
initially will distribute 20,000 books to Afghan women. An HHS statement
announcement of the program explains: "The people of Afghanistan continue
to suffer from high maternal and infant mortality rates. By providing
health information in a culturally competent manner, women's health, which
had been ignored under the Taliban, can be improved throughout the region."
(AP/USA Today 3 Aug 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2004-08-03-afghan-ebooks_x.htm
INTEL ENDURES ANNUS HORRIBILIS, BUT 'NONE OF THIS IS EASY'
[The real reason might be because current sales were strong]
Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, is delaying the introduction of
its 4-gigahertz Pentium 4 chip until early 2005. Industry analyst Nathan
Brookwood of Insight 64 says, "To quote Queen Elizabeth, this is definitely
Intel's horrible year'' (referring to Queen Elizabeth II's description of
1992 as her "annus horribilis"). So far this year Intel has canceled a chip
code-named Tejas, issued a partial recall of a chipset code-named
Grantsdale, and delayed the launch of a chipset code-named Alviso. Intel
spokesperson Laura Anderson vows: "We are committed to putting our execution
back on track. Shifting this launch is part of that effort.'' Brookwood
sympathizes with the company: "Other companies have similar problems but
with Intel, because it runs like such a well-oiled machine, when they hit a
rough patch, people start wondering what's going on. None of this is easy.''
(San Jose Mercury News 30 Jul 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9281760.htm
OUTSOURCING IS A FACT OF LIFE FOR MICROSOFT
The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers says it possesses
Microsoft documents showing that dozens of Microsoft projects are now being
handled by companies in India. Microsoft's response: "These accusations do
not reflect an understanding of the global nature of our business. It's part
of our business model to work with thousands of companies around the world."
Although the company operates a software development center in Hyderabad,
India, and employs 1,000 people throughout that country, Microsoft's core
development work is being done solely by Microsoft employees. But Rob Helm
of Directions on Microsoft explains that outsourcing by Microsoft is "going
to happen more and more just because Microsoft products are more mature and
so they require less intense design work. So it becomes feasible to do it
thousands of miles away." (San Jose Mercury News 29 Jul 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9269796.htm
[More on outsourcing, etc., isn't this what always happens?]
WILL BANGALORE CATCH UP TO SILICON VALLEY?
As U.S. companies continue to expand their outsourcing arrangements,
some observers think that Bangalore, India, is on the verge of becoming the
new home to the world's largest concentration of IT workers. About 160,000
tech workers (100,000 in information technology and 60,000 in business
outsourcing and call centers) are employed by Indian companies like Infosys,
Tata, and Wipro. For comparison, there slightly more than 175,100 technology
workers in the Valley, which now seems to be reinventing itself in such hot
new areas as nanotechnology. Labor market consultant Ruth Kavanagh says that
Silicon Valley is experiencing employment growth levels similar to those in
boom years: "In recent months, we have seen significant improvement in the
jobs situation... The county is gradually gaining back some of the thousands
of jobs lost in the last couple of years." (San Francisco Chronicle 29 Jul
2004) http://tinyurl.com/7yljw
CONVENTION BLOGGERS LEARNING THE ROPES
Associated Press reporter Nick Desjanun, who covers the Internet,
thinks that the three dozen bloggers credentialed at the Democratic National
Convention are not quite ready for prime time. The Boston bloggers are still
trying to figure out who they are and what they're doing: "Reading the early
postings, I found more about bloggers than about the delegates, speakers or
protesters. One posted a photo of the media pass, while several showed their
'Bloggers Boulevard' workspace. A few discussed the identity of a fellow
blogger who had been anonymous until then." Desjanun quotes blogging pioneer
Dave Winer as saying defensively: "It's just the second day, and the first
convention. Of course the first comments are going to be 'It works!'"
Desjanun's column ends with the observation that "as a member of the
traditional media, I don't believe I need to look for a new job yet."
(AP/USA Today 29 Jul 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techreviews/products/2004-07-29-dnc-blogs_x.htm
BLOGGING FOR DOLLARS
Technology companies including Microsoft and IBM have been reviewing
the profit potential of the blogs and seeing how they could be used to
improve corporate communications with employees, partners and customers.
James Spohrer, director of IBM's Almaden Research Center, says that blogging
in corporations is all about "decreasing social space between employees, and
increasing the amount of knowledge shared between people." As an example, he
suggested that an employee blog might contain elements of a resume, some of
the individual's educational background and work experience, along with
information on product development strategies. Charlene Li of Forrester
Research says, "Blogs are a way to put a human face on the company."
(Reuters/USA Today 28 Jul 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/2004-07-28-blog-biz_x.htm
THE WIKI WAY TO COMMUNICATE
A wiki (the Hawaiian word for 'quick') is a type of Web site that many
people can revise, update and append with new information. Whereas blogs are
essentially designed for personal expression, wikis are designed for
collaboration. The concept was pioneered in the mid-1990s by programmer Ward
Cunningham, who called it the WikiWikiWeb and intended it to serve as a
platform for freewheeling collaboration in software and engineering
projects. Ross Mayfield of the Silicon Valley startup called Socialtext
says: "People have tried very hard to take fragmented knowledge within
corporations and put it somewhere that it can be used, but it's been an
uphill effort. Our focus is literally to get everyone on the same page." And
New York University communications professor Clay Shirky explains that
"people are realizing that perhaps the most human value actually occurs in
smaller groups." (Wall Street Journal 29 Jul 2004)
http://online.wsj.com (sub. req'd)
APPLE ACCUSES REALNETWORKS OF USING HACKER TACTICS
[Apple says it's not enough to pay for the music, you also have to
pay for an iPod, no other MP3 play is legal for their music files.
Sounds a lot like Sony's new eBook reader that will only read Sony
eBook files. . .I wonder what will happen when someone figures out
how to put non-Sony eBooks on it?]
Apple has accused RealNetworks, a provider of digital-media services,
of offering software that lets online music buyers play on a variety of
devices songs intended for use only on Apple's iPod devices. Apple says that
it's "stunned that RealNetworks has adopted the tactics and ethics of a
hacker to break into the iPod." The RealNetworks software in question is
called Harmony, which Real describes as "the world's first
digital-rights-management translation system that music buyers can use to
transfer music from one secure music device to another. It supports devices
made by Creative, iRiver, palmOne, RCA, Rio, Samsung, and others. Legal
experts seem to think that unless Apple can prove that RealNetworks
reverse-engineered Apple's iPod software, a case under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) would be very hard to win. But Mark Rasch,
former head of the U.S. Department of Justice's computer crimes unit (and
now senior VP of security services firm Solutionary Inc.) says: "The
problem with the DMCA is that it gives more protection than copyright law
and it allows companies to skew the market with a form of protectionism. It
allows technological protectionism to be legally adopted, and it works to
prevent people from coming to market with cheaper compatible products."
(InformationWeek 29 Jul 2004) Rec'd fr. John Lamp
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=26100669
[However. . . .]
iTUNES AND LINUX MAKE SWEET MUSIC TOGETHER
CodeWeavers, a startup that specializes in software designed to enable
Windows software to run on Linux, says its CrossOver Office 3.1 software
now adds support for Apple's iTunes. The version is currently in preview
format and will be generally available later this year. "iTunes has been
our No. 1 most requested application," says CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy
White. "We remain confident that by the end of 2005, the majority of
Windows applications will be supported by CrossOver Office. Until then,
we're pleased to be bringing the appeal of iTunes to Linux users through
the development of version 3.1." (CNet News.com 2 Aug 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5293915.html
AD REMOVER STIRS AUSTRALIAN NETWORKS
[This isn't the first time the law has been called upon to FORCE people
not to delete or skip advertizing. When everything is digital feedback
perhaps they will be able to tell if you don't play the ads.]
The commercial television industry in Australia is preparing to defend
its advertising revenue from new technology that will let consumers
automatically avoid commercials using digital recording systems. A company
called Faulconbridge aims to have the technology activated on 3% of
Australia's 17 million television sets within three years. For the cost of a
set-top box and a subscription fee, consumers will be able to avoid ads, to
automate the recording of shows, series or program genres for viewing later,
and to channel surf automatically during ad breaks. The technology can also
be used to prevent children from watching programs deemed unsuitable, reduce
the volume during ad breaks and remove ads when recorded programs are played
back. (The Australian 29 Jul 2004) Rec'd fr. J. Lamp
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10274693%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E
,00.html
MICROSOFT ISSUES PATCH FOR THREE IE FLAWS
Microsoft has released a patch for its Internet Explorer browser that
addresses three security holes rated "critical," including one used in
a virus attack in July. "Critical" patches address flaws that could
result in catastrophic damage to a PC if exploited by an attacker.
The patch release is a cumulative update, containing all previously
released security patches for the browser, although released earlier
than the standard monthly patch updates issued by Microsoft.
PCWorld, 30 July 2004
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117197,00.asp
JUST A MINUTE -- MY BRAIN IS BOOTING UP
Increasingly, college students are toting their laptops to class and
using them as retrieval mechanisms for information they haven't yet managed
to store in their carbon-based brain cells. The phenomenon was predicted 40
years ago by Marshall McLuhan, who suggested that people's senses were
extending outside of their bodies, in the way a book was an extension of
the eye and a car was the extension of a foot. Internet researcher Sherry
Turkle has documented this latest evolutionary trend in her book "Life on
the Screen" where she describes a typical college student's study habits --
the text book is open, the CNN news ticker is flickering across the TV
screen, the headphones are pumping out the latest alternative rock, and the
student's fielding IM messages as he/she surfs the Web. "Real life is just
one more window," says one multitasking student. (CNN.com 2 Aug 2004)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/08/02/school.internet/index.html
LOST FLORIDA VOTING DATA FOUND ON CD
[Ooops!]
Election officials in Miami-Dade County, Florida, discovered a CD
containing the election data from gubernatorial primary and other
elections in 2002. Officials previously thought the data was lost
during system crashes in 2003. A citizen's group, the Miami-Dade
Election Reform Coalition, had requested the data for an investigation
of anomalous vote totals recorded on touch-screen voting machines.
Federal Computer Week, 30 July 2004
http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2004/0726/web-evote-07-30-04.asp
IBM TURNS DATABASE CODE OVER TO OPEN SOURCE GROUP
IBM announced it's giving the source code for Cloudscape, a database
written in Java, to the Apache Software Foundation, an open source group
that plans to rename the database Derby and make it available to software
developers. The Apache group is best known as the steward of the Apache Web
server, which is the software that powers most Web sites. Apache will hold
the licensing and intellectual property rights to the Cloudscape code.
Analysts say the move is geared toward boosting software applications
development in the Java programming language while at the same time
underscoring its support of the open source software movement. "The
Cloudscape code is not a major factor in IBM's overall platform strategy,
so this makes sense for IBM," says a Forrester Research analyst.
(New York Times 3 Aug 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/03/technology/03java.html
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>From Edupage
IBM TO BUILD NEW SUPERCOMPUTER FOR U.S. MILITARY
[Note that this version does NOT mention it is being made from Mac
and Nintendo parts, hee hee!]
The U.S. Department of Defense chose IBM to build the U.S. military's
fastest supercomputer, slated to be the fourth fastest in the world.
The supercomputer is intended to produce short-term weather forecasts
for Navy fleets at sea. According to the Pentagon, the supercomputer
will permit military scientists to model atmospheric and ocean dynamics
for the entire surface of the earth. Other research projects will
include design of airplanes and submarines through analysis of aircraft
wing construction material at a molecular level and the flow of water
around submarine hulls.
Washington Post, 27 July 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16518-2004Jul26.html
[At least someone is still using Intel parts]
NASA BUYS 20 SUPERCOMPUTERS FROM SILICON GRAPHICS
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chose Silicon
Graphics to supply 20 supercomputers to work in tandem on specific
scientific and design problems. Each supercomputer will include 512
Itanium microprocessors from Intel, for a total of 10,240, plus extra
hardware that reportedly can store 500 trillion bytes of information.
The massive installation goes by the name Project Columbia. NASA
already has three machines in place and plans to have all 20 installed
later this year. The combined systems will solve problems involving the
space shuttle redesign, space exploration, aerospace engineering, and
weather prediction.
Wall Street Journal, 28 July 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109096974264275696,00.html
[But Intel Is Also Still Playing Games]
INTEL DELAYS PENTIUM 4 LAUNCH
Intel Corporation has announced a delay in the introduction of its
Pentium 4 desktop processor to the first quarter of 2005, reportedly to
ensure production in sufficient volume to meet customer demand.
The new processor has a clock speed of 4 GHz, according to the company.
The original schedule targeted availability before the end of 2004.
The announcement follows delays and recalls afflicting other Intel
chips over the past year.
ITWorld, 30 July 2004
http://www.itworld.com/Comp/2085/040730pentiumpush/
[Let me get this straight, Intel is NOT releasing the new P4
BECAUSE so many people WANT to buy them???]
[And Apple is still playing games, too, it would appear]
APPLE OBJECTS TO SOFTWARE FROM REALNETWORKS
In response to an announcement by RealNetworks of new software that
will allow songs purchased from its music store to be played on Apple
iPods, Apple representatives called the software the technological
equivalent of breaking and entering: "We are stunned that RealNetworks
has adopted the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod,
and we are investigating the implications of their actions."
RealNetworks said that its Harmony technology is designed to be
compatible with a number of copy-protection systems. Apple uses a
protection technology called Fairplay.
Washington Post, 29 July 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24139-2004Jul29.html
[but is Florida?]
FLORIDA COUNTY E-VOTE RECORDS LOST
[Still not getting it right. . .or are they?]
Miami-Dade County in Florida lost detailed records from its first
widespread use of touchscreen voting machines as the result of computer
crashes in May and November 2003. The election records were from the
September 2002 gubernatorial primaries and other elections. In December
Florida officials began backing up the data daily to avoid similar data
losses. In June state officials said the touchscreen voting systems
used by 11 counties had a bug that would prevent a manual recount even
if state law were overturned to permit a recount.
USA Today, 28 July 2004
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2004-07-28-fla-votes_x.htm
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***
More Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media
MORE STORIES COMING IN ON RFIDs [Radio Frequency IDentification tags]
July 26--U.S. Army combat units ... food supplies barely met demand ...
in large part because of problems with software based on radio frequency
identification technology (RFID) and network communications.
July 28--Actually, RFID remains a hot topic ... to foster easier tracking
of inventory ... [will] start affixing radio tags to dogs in Portugal...
[Actually, we have RFID for dogs right here in the American Heartland,
and have had them for several years. The Japanese are putting them on
their schoolchildren, while other countries put them only on prisoners.]
*
STATE GOVERNMENT SPONSORS "LOADED" LOTTERY GAME
[If this were a private game, surely they would be getting sued.]
A few years ago, Arizona added a new lotto game. There are different
ways to bet and different ways to win, but in all of them, you bet on a
three digit number, then wait for the computer to pick a random three
digit number. After a few weeks, somebody noticed the computer never
picked any 9's. The game is still with us, but the computer is not. ***
*
THE O'REILLY FRACTURE [TM]
The Nation's David Cole finally wrote last week about his appearance
on the O'Reilly Factor a month previously, to set the record straight.
Among other things, he said that after the taping, O'Reilly retaped
over several points he had lost [reversing to an apparent victory,
only it was so obvious that everyone caught him with his pants down].
Originally Thomas Kean, head of the 9/11 Commission had been shown in
a clip saying, Kean said,
"There is no evidence that we can find whatsoever that Iraq or
Saddam Hussein participated in any way in attacks on the United States,
in other words, on 9/11. What we do say, however, is there were
contacts between Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Iraq, Saddam - excuse me.
Al Qaeda."
Instead the show aired with O'Reilly paraphrasing Mr. Kean as saying
"definitely there was a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda."
[and another kind of news rarely ever mentioned in the media]
>From a librarian at Brandeis:
"An analysis of our main reference department activity for the
last four years (FY00 to FY04) shows that the dip in reference
desk services (approx. 25% decrease) has been fully compensated
by the *rise* in both email and chat reference.
"Furthermore, our stats show that email reference is now 18%
of all reference activity. Chat reference is 12% of all
reference activity. This means 30% of reference questions
were answered digitally in FY04. For comparison, in FY00
email reference was 8% of all reference activity."
SIMPLE SOLUTION OF THE WEEK
Convicted criminals must repay for the their own crimes, along with
those of all the unconvicted criminals, thus making the convicted
pay for the unconvicted and saving all government judicial expense,
since they have to pay for court costs, as well. Perhaps even make
them pay for the salaries of the police.
Thus crime will become a "zero sum game" for the criminals, as well
as for everyone else.
***
ODD STATISTIC OF THE WEEK
none yet
***
ODD QUOTATION OF THE WEEK
none yet
***
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pgweekly_2004_08_04_part_1.txt
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