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Making a searchable journal

lucia

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I would like to make a searchable, index-able I ching journal for the computer and if it can be transportable on a pen drive - even better.

I thought about getting a card index programme like the old one that came with windows and I have just tried out the trial version of EZdatabook. It's not bad for around $9 but the font size is fixed for the whole page which is annoying and I would like to get scaleable Hex fonts into it if possible (not that I have any yet). I also have a trial of AzzCardfile which is way more sophisticated with text formatting, accepts image files, audio files has a proper PDF manual, unlimited cards and card size and yes it will run on a pen drive......

When I was a graduate research student years ago I had this marvelous programme called Endnote Plus that could do auto foot notes and alphabetical bibliographic references in loads of publishers and academic journal styles, cross reference etc. OK don't need anything quite that sophisticated but I think something a bit more clever than basic would be good.

But it is time to impose some order onto the chaos of my journals which range from scraps of paper - years old - to various note books and word files.

Any suggestions please? What do you use?

Lucia
 
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heylise

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I use eclectic energy Yi Jing made by Ewald. He is a member here, although I never see any posts from him anymore. He made the search index for Clarity. No idea if that can be run from a pen drive - guess not, but it would not surprise me if Ewald can make that work.

This morning I got a mail from someone named Melkiades. He made a nice Yijing program in which one can enter any text. It has a search for hex to hex, eg if you get 5 to 8. No search for lines as far as I know. I have to download it yet, and look what it can do. It is free, and looks as if it is small and handy. Might maybe work from a pen drive, 3.3 MB. He asked if he could include my text, which I am thinking about now.
 

lucia

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Lise

thanks for that - really useful. Yes, I looked at Ewald's a while ago and it has some nice features but I don't want a "Divination Machine" that generates "answers" - maybe that part of it is hideable or detatchable. I do salute him for his work though.

As for Melkiades - now that looks interesting - and while I have only skim read some of his writing and could argue with some of his ideas about translation, text and context, it is wonderful and well-thought out and he has put so much effort into it. And I love the way he demonstrates a translation of Meng with the Pinyin and 2 Richters. Then he leads it on to Huang and others until he ends up with Karcher's head in the clouds!! I know the Richter is contentious but I love the way he makes his thoughts about translation very accessable and wish it was compulsory reading for beginners.

I also love his little story about how being obsessively besotted with a married woman when he was young led him to the Ching and I guess we should remember things like this when we become impatient with Shared Readings; everyone starts somewhere no?

Anyway I didn't mean this to be review because as I said, I have only skimmed it at high speed and will go back and have a proper look later. But it does look interesting.

Meanwhile, I am going to play with the AZZcardfile as in many ways I would like a flexible and blank slate to make my own although once again I am only experimenting and would welcome anyone's thoughts on the matter. How do you store your journals?

Luis, if you get here.... I followed your kind idea on another thread to copy the gif files on your site of the Hexes and while 1 came easily I couldn't make it go to 2. I will try again but any advice would be appreciated. It is probably me. But I would like to make my Journal with a few visuals - hexagrams and maybe the Chinese ideogram for each one. Can't help myself not only have I always had an interest in the visual representation of things but I just like things to look pretty (;)) And I can't have a Hex file without a Hex!

Lise once again thanks - much appreciated

Lucia
 

Sparhawk

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Luis, if you get here.... I followed your kind idea on another thread to copy the gif files on your site of the Hexes and while 1 came easily I couldn't make it go to 2. I will try again but any advice would be appreciated. It is probably me. But I would like to make my Journal with a few visuals - hexagrams and maybe the Chinese ideogram for each one. Can't help myself not only have I always had an interest in the visual representation of things but I just like things to look pretty (;)) And I can't have a Hex file without a Hex!

Hi there,

Not sure if you are referring to the Yi cards or the Hexagram gifs... Let me know.

As for a searchable journal, I have a solution that is free, fully searchable, portable across platforms, very versatile in that you can include graphics, etc., and so obvious that is very easy to miss:Use "cloud computing"; use Google Docs.
 

lucia

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Hi Luis

It was the Gif files - but it is OK now. I must have not put the dot in the address last night when I went from 1 to 2 - eyes not what they used to be. Thanks so much for posting the link in the other post.

Cloud computing hmmmmm It is a great idea until the servers crash (I have a little experience of this in my job). Google docs you are right I hadn't even thought of it. But I need something that isn't dependent on the net because when I go South I am often out of reach of the internet. Have you had a look at the programme Melkiades is offering?

Meanwhile, this is a really dumb Q but when I tried to download some Hex fonts from a couple of different places they "disappear" - do I have to save them somewhere special to get them into Character Map or better still my font list? It happened with your fonts but it happened with some others too so for sure it is me, :eek:

Gracias

Lucia
 

Sparhawk

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Great about the gifs.

About Google Docs, you can download every document you create in it, making it available for offline use. Create a folder on your Desktop named something like "Yijing Journal" to store all those files. For the offline search of those documents (and everything else you may have in your PC) you should download and install "Google Desktop"

As for the fonts, if already downloaded them, they should be in a folder somewhere in your PC. It should be obvious, but now always the case, that they would be in the "Downloads" folder. The problem is that IExplorer and Firefox place things in different places. Search for files with extensions ".ttf" or ".otf" and then sort the result by date. They should be the newer ones. Here are some instructions to install new fonts in Windows
 

Sparhawk

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Forgot to answer your question: No, I haven't tried Melkiades software so I have no opinion on it.
 

lucia

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Luis you are a star......... Thank you! If there was a smilie that kissed like the one on my phone - I'd send you one :D Besote!

You don't have to download Melkiades software to read his ideas - have a peek on the site, it's worth a look.

Lucia
 

Sparhawk

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Luis you are a star......... Thank you! If there was a smilie that kissed like the one on my phone - I'd send you one :D Besote!

Wow! Thanks! I am now the envy of all the Clarity boys. :blush:
 

heylise

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Lise
...ideas about translation, text and context, it is wonderful and well-thought out and he has put so much effort into it. And I love the way he demonstrates a translation of Meng with the Pinyin and 2 Richters. Then he leads it on to Huang and others until he ends up with Karcher's head in the clouds!! I know the Richter is contentious but I love the way he makes his thoughts about translation very accessable and wish it was compulsory reading for beginners.

I also love his little story about how being obsessively besotted with a married woman when he was young led him to the Ching ...
...only skimmed it at high speed and will go back and have a proper look later...
Lucia

Umm, I have been looking around on his site and could not find anything of all those things. Guess I am even worse at finding things on websites than I knew I was.
And you find all that by skimming at high speed? Wow!!

Very happy with your review. Even if it is a result of skimming at high speed. I will tell him that it is ok to put my translation in it. Makes it for myself extra nice as well, getting my own texts together with the reading. Now, with Ewalds eclectic-Yijing, I have to do a lot of copy-paste.

For consulting I use the coins on my own website, I want line after line, not one throw for a hexagram.
 

lucia

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I'm a compulsive button twiddler - it gets me into trouble!!

Go to the Help Section on the first page of his site there you will find it...

He just made some comments about it too in the Clarity News section of Clarity

I can't relate to the statistical stuff he's into because it is not my thing and I have become very critical of stats in action in my own work. However, it will please those that like these things. He is also multilingual which is great in the 21st century. His software is Freeware and a real labour of love and merits a look. But "Disclaimer" :D what I wrote above is NOT a review

Thanks Lise

Lucia
 
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melki

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Hello, LiSe. I put a big arrow and an easy link on my entry page, just for you. :)

Melki
 

heylise

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Wow! BIG links! :hug:
Thanks.

And the story about how you found the YiJing? And where do you demonstrate a translation of Meng with the Pinyin and 2 Richters...:confused::bag::eek::blush:
 

lucia

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Lise
you are making me laugh I nearly didn't see the tiny print - it was only all the little faces that caught my eye!!

If you go to the HELP section on his site and then click on each bit it will take you through all of it. The cute story, The Pinyin and 2 Richters (why does that sound like a movie title.....) the statistics. And now what a gentleman he is to make it all BIG FOR YOU.........

Enjoy and if you get lost come back

Lucia
 

melki

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The story, with some piquant details, begins on http://www.melkiades.com/x/media/Help/00_TheYijingProgramme.html.

The background for Lucia's comments on translation are found under the link called "4. Translations" that you find on the left of the page.

Other parts of this help section might as well intrigue various readers of this website.

With my best wishes, Melki :bows:
 

heylise

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No idea what happened but I didn't get the row of links on the left. I did find the manual, but nothing else. Now there is a great row of links at left, and it is all easy to find.
Thanks to both of you!

I can recommend all of it, it is wonderful reading. I love Melkiades' ideas about the Yi and about translations.

Wandering around now in the program, I like it more and more. I can put many translations side by side, my own will soon be in the program, maybe some others as well, and I can put in it whatever I want myself. Best part is for me that I can easily keep my journal as word-docs or so. Even when the program might not work for some reason I still have access to all of that.

And a 6-click way to consult is coming... Seems the one-click way is just as reliable, but I like 6 clicks more. Casting one line at a time.
 

hilary

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For once, I think we're really spoilt for choice on the I Ching software front. There's Ewald's, as LiSe said, which I already know is very intuitively user-friendly (and the search function will look familiar, since he wrote the hexagram search we use here). There's Melki's new free offering which I know I must review properly very soon - and also this one from Justin Farrell - another must review, as he seems to have included pretty much everything I ever wanted in an I Ching journal.

I will get round to a blog post comparing them all... really, I will.
 

heylise

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It will take some time yet for the one of Melkiades to be perfect, maybe wait a little while with a review? There are still plans for things which should be part of it. So far I love what he is doing. Very curious how the end result will be!
 

heylise

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Farrell's software seems to need Access 2007 - if you don't have that, first figure out if it is possible to run it.
 

heylise

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Problem solved: free "Ms Access Runtime 2007" was supposed to be installed as part of the program. Now things start to work: I get a nice looking window. Going to explore this...
 

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