The Knowledge Base:

Publishing is in the news this morning with two important stories in The New York Times. Motoko Rich takes a look at how the economy is affecting the publishing industry; however, publishing has been undergoing a revolution ever since the PC hit the market place. First it changed how books found their way into print, from the writer to the publisher, and then how books, magazines, and newspapers reached their audiences.

Rich also reports on Google's moves into making all printed matter that exists into searchable commodities. The lawsuits seem to have been settled to all parties' satisfaction so that both copyrighted material and ancient and obscure texts can now be available to anyone with an Internet connection. The effects of this still remains highly speculative, both in regards to economics and knowledge aquisition.

This Day in History: Henry Ford introduced the $5 per day minimum wage for workers at the Ford Motor Company. At the time, my grandfather was working in the coal mines for $1 per day.