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In searching the 'net for biographical information on famous people, I found the following very useful links that you might want to explore to correlate events and traits to famous people's charts and lives: Add Timelines (Chronologies) of Famous People Famous events for any day of the year A collection of biographies and biographical links Biographies of Famous people Enjoy! Because I am about to take Hart de Fouw's Prashna class, I wanted to be able to have a chart on hand at any time. Even in the middle of a client session, it would be nice to see a chart of the moment at instantly. I realized that a handheld computer would be a good choice, because I didn't want to lug around a laptop, nor spend the money for one. I decided to get a Pocket PC because they have more powerful processors, more memory, and are easier to program than Palm handhelds. In order to find the best price on computer equipment, I subscribe to a daily newsletter from dealnews.com. This website scours the internet and finds the very best deals available every day. Because of their service, I was able to save $120 (about 37% off the street price) on a Toshiba e335. I highly recommend subscribing to their newsletter. It's great! Brian Conrad, author of Jyotish to Go for the Palm handheld, and the freeware Junior Jyotish for Windows PCs. has recently released Jyotish Tools for the Pocket PC. You can visit his website by clicking here. This inexpensive program ($49.95) has many features including: 1. A page showing a small birth chart or shri pati chart or any of 16 different varga charts -- charts can be shown South, East, or North Indian or Western wheel style -- plus planet positions, a scrollable dasa/bhukti listing, and the transiting positions all on one screen. 2. You can see a large birth chart, showing degrees and minutes of arc for all of the planets and the lagna. 3. A third page shows a planetary data table that includes ayanamsa, current dasa/bhukti/antardasa, the time of sunrise, tithi, the yogi point and yogi, avayogi, and duplicate yogi, and for all of the planets their longitude, sign, speed, Systems Approach strength, nakshatra, and nakshatra lord, . 4. Another screen shows a listing of the dasas and bhuktis for the life of a person. 5. The ephemeris listing shows positions of the planets with one day, one week, one month, or one year intervals between each line. 6. The software even produces a graphic ephemeris (showing transits, System Approach MEPS or FM) in horizontal or vertical formats. 7. You can set your preferred ayanamsa, default location, true or mean node, year length, English or Sanskrit, date format, and the D-2 and D-11 formats. 8. You can attach notes to each chart, view charts in color, and import chart files from the Quick*Chart and Junior Jyotish formats. 9. You can export charts and notes, and if you're connected to the Internet, you even can email charts to others! 10. Jyotish Tools even has a built-in Time Change atlas for 2200 cities! And the author tells me he will be soon adding astrological glyphs, and that the software will be able to use the forthcoming full ACS Atlas for the Pocket PC (with coordinates and time zones for 250,000+ cities throughout the World). This is a wonderful program for Jyotishis. Mark McDonough (creator of AstroDatabank) writes: As a software developer I can tell you that his [Hank's] depth of analysis was in a class by itself. He submitted five times more bug reports then any other beta tester and his suggestions for how to improve AstroDatabank are always spot on. Talk to any software developer and they will all say that Hank Friedman gave their program a more through going workout than any customer. As a software distributor, I can tell you that he is the only professional reviewer of merit and influence that we have in the industry. His criticisms are always exceedingly polite and gracious. He doesn’t cast any aspersions in his public commentaries and in private he is equally respectful, but more precise about which areas of one’s program may need shoring up. His criticisms grow out of a deep understanding of the nature of the product, not from left field. May I encourage you to read the latest June/July 2003 issue of the Mountain Astrologer (the subscriber's version with the Mercury Direct insert), as it has my article exploring the astromapping features of 8 different astrology programs. Each program contributes unique capabilities to the study and practice of astromapping, and the article shows examples of many of these features, including four different styles of eclipse maps. It also includes an extensive table comparing many of the features in each program. I have received praise from many astrologers for the article, including the statements, "I was blown away by your review of the AstroMapping programs. I can't imagine anyone else being able to do such a through and definitive review." And, "I just want to tell you what a really terrific job you did on both our Locality Maps software and the entire section of mapping programs in the Mountain Astrologer magazine. Really, very well done." I am now preparing a new review for The Mountain Astrologer's Mercury Direct section (included in issues sent to subscribers) on this, the latest professional-level program for Vedic astrologers. Digital Jyotish is a major upgrade from version 1.0, and includes a wonderful selection of additional tables, including many never-before-available-in-software techniques of Seshadri Iyer (such as the Graha Samayams, the Dasha Chart with Starter and Ruler, and enhanced Dagdha Rasi and Yogi tables). This new version is quite enhanced, with the ability to show astromaps of the continents, tables designed for those using Krishnamurit Paddhiti or the Systems Approach, plus the capability to design your own layouts, selecting from a very large number of charts, tables, and graphs. It now comes with the full ACS atlas built-in, improved file management including the ability to import files from many formats, and even offers delineations of composite charts. I will be exploring this program in more detail in future columns. Once again, the foremost astrological research program has been enhanced. AstroDatabank version 3.0 includes 3,000 more records, the ability to automatically retrieve more records from the Internet (and additional information) as they are posted, and also includes updates to the existing charts, and the ability to email data to others and to post comments on the AstroDatabank website. The ability to instantly go to -- and add to -- a web page devoted to comments about any person's chart will enable astrologers to build an interactive encyclopedia, more easily share with and learn from each other, and develop an incredible resource of examples of chart analysis. With the new update, you will also be able to search for more information using the Google search engine (the best one on the Internet). AstroDatabank is also more user-friendly, it loads ten times faster so you can explore charts whenever you want to, and you can clear any filters you create at the push of a button. The program's new ability to to create valid control groups for scientific research enables you to see if any of your findings are statistically significant or not. This will enable astrologers to really test, and validate, their theories. AstroDatabank just keeps getting better and better. [Note: if you don't already know it, AstroDatabank includes the largest collection of accurately timed charts of famous people, including biographical material and additional outstanding traits of each person]. Discounts on Software Software discounts starting May 2003: When you purchase astrology software through me, you will get: 1. My free expert guidance in choosing the right program. 2. The best pricing distributors are allowed to offer. 3. Free U.S. shipping (and for some programs, free Express shipping Worldwide). 4. Additional benefits. E.g. I offer a free transit report program for purchasers of Sirius, over 60 beautiful extra artistic wheels for Solar Fire Gold, etc. 5. You are supporting my website, allowing me to continue posting astrology tutorials, software reviews, and much more. 6. Your software is fully registered to you and shipped to you directly from the manufacturer, with their full customer support as well as mine. To go to my secure astrology software order form, click here. You can support SoftStar News by: Telling others about our website. Sending us your insights and feedback on astrology software, Alerting us to new programs and astrological resources, Linking your website to ours, and by purchasing your astrological software through this site. Click to Return to Send e-mail to Hank Friedman by clicking here Copyright © 2003 Hank Friedman |
