The fading art of handwriting - Marketwatch

Well shipmates, it seems the subject of handwriting is the talk of the town right now.  Today Marketwatch (one of my favourite financial hangouts) published this video entitled ‘Write on: Wendy Bounds discusses the fading art of handwriting, pointing out that new research shows it can benefit children's motor skills and their ability to compose ideas and achieve goals throughout life’. No kidding? Does that mean the old ways are sometimes better than the new ways?

More on handwriting

I Ching therefore I Pod - new update for Yi Jing app

In June I received a nice e-mail from Brian Arnold, president of Flat Earth Studio, the developer of the Yi Jing application I use on my I Pod. He thanked me for my kind reviews of the Yi Jing app and told me the good news: the company has now teamed up with Princeton University Press to offer the famous and definitive Wilhelm/Baynes edition of the I Ching as an update to the app. Here is an excerpt from the press release:

Princeton University Press and Flat Earth Studio are pleased to announce the newest version of the popular iPhone App, Yi Jing, now available from the iTunes App store. This major update for Yi Jing App includes new features and improved book content for additional purchase, including Princeton University Press's all-time bestselling edition of The I Ching, or Book of Changes, edited by Richard Wilhelm and translated by Cary F. Baynes. The New York Times says, "Princeton's Bollingen edition [is] still regarded as the best and most authentic by I Ching aficionados."

Yi Jing is the definitive mobile version of The I Ching, or Book of Changes, done the way it was meant to be experienced. Ancient meets modern as one of the oldest books written is re re-crafted to take advantage of the unique features of your mobile device. The updated App contains all of the features you need, including a question oracle, an integrated journal, and multiple translations and interpretations. The complete Wilhelm/Baynes text is provided for the first time in interactive readings.

"We are incredibly pleased to team up with Flat Earth Studio to make the Bollingen edition of the I Ching available in this format," said Daphne Ireland, Director of Intellectual Property at Princeton University Press. "The updated app allows fans to engage with this material in a completely unprecedented way."

See the full press release here, which provides links to Flat Earth Studio’s web sites, to iTunes, and to a YouTube video Yi Jing v2 walkthrough.

So there you have it. The already best I Ching app available just became the definitive and classic I Ching must have app. And rightly so.

THE IMAGE
On the mountain, a tree:
The image of DEVELOPMENT.
Thus the superior man abides in dignity and virtue,
In order to improve the mores.

I Ching for I Pod

After my trip to England last September I decided to buy an IPod mainly so I could carry my huge collection of photos around with me to show people. Only recently did I get around to browsing the App Store and discover the wealth of applications that are out there in Internet cyber space.
One of the first things I searched for was an I Ching app. There are many out there but unfortunately none, as far as I saw, based directly on the Wilhelm-Baynes book. However I found one that comes pretty darn close: the Yi Jing – Book of Changes, by Flat Earth Studio. You can see the Itunes Preview page here. Among the many book translations of the I Ching available in this app is A Guide to the I Ching, for the Wilhelm/Baynes translation by Carol K. Anthony. After the very first reading it becomes apparent that the author knows and understands the Wilhelm/Baynes I Ching very well and the readings are gratefully in harmony with that classic.
The app has many excellent features but rather than go into them here I will simply point you to the preview page which also includes an excellent overview by one of the commentators. However I will say that Flat Earth Studios have not only done a great job with the choice of content and the features but most of all the aesthetics of the app are tastefully done, not gaudy and clunky like many of the apps I looked at. The app cost 3.99$ but is well worth it if you are an I Ching user or would like to be.

I will leave you with an excerpt. I first consulted the I Ching (or Yi Jing, as the app is called) for advice about the best way to proceed on the financial front. Yes, I know what you are thinking: how shallow for a philosophy blogger. But from the Yiddish proverb, Love tastes sweet, but only with bread, we might create another: Philosophy tastes sweet, but only with bread.
Anyhow, to this question I received hexagram 52 ‘Keeping still, Mountain’ changing into 33 ‘Retreat’. In the ‘Changes’ section was this insightful commentary, which made a paricular impression on me:

The presence of desire causes unrest. Desire is a form of fear that we may not achieve our goal. This is ‘to anticipate the harvest while planting.’ We hardly ever desire what we are sure of having, and often desire what we think we cannot have. Thus, desire implies both doubt and envy. In letting go of desire, we bring the heart to rest and attain a higher level of tranquillity.