Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with journal

Journal Of Tanzanian Meat Sciences

benzenedream — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:49:06 -0800

I'm looking for strange magazines to give as gift subscriptions. Ideas? Ideally these magazines would be moderately-priced and worth reading as an insight into other fields, even if the reader has no deep interest in the topic. Trade journals and academic publications are fine. I'm not interested in magazines that are trying to be outrageous in and of themselves.

Graphic Choices

NotMyselfRightNow — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:55:58 -0800

Academics, Researchers, and Writers: What software do you use for creating the graphics that accompany your journal (or mainstream) article submissions? I know this will be different depending on the topic, field, and journal. I'm trying to get a feel for the full range of choices.

Like what Doogie Howser used. Only minus the acne and gay subtext.

rileyray3000 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:21:22 -0800

My five year written book journal is almost done. I'm looking for some some sort of very easy mac journal program to replace it. As much as I've loved the journaling up to now, I don't like that I can't search it easily. So I think I'm going with a program of some sort this time around. Are there any journal programs you recommend and that fit the bill for simple, easy and searchable?

Best online diet and workout dairy?

Aya — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:50:10 -0800

Looking for the best websites to track my diet / exercise / weight.

Is there any microblogging software for keeping a private journal?

kitfreeman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:30:35 -0800

I'd like to experiment with microblogging as a way of keeping a private diary/journal (stored on my HD, not a server). Does anyone know of any (Windows) software for this purpose, please? I am thinking of a little app like the Digsby Twitter interface that lies in my system tray and allows me to type short posts which it then automatically times and dates and appends to a text file or Word doc on my HD. I know I could do this manually with a text editor or word processor, but I think the microblogging format would provide more of a stimulus.

Help me revolutionize academic publishing!

juliewhite — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:07:22 -0800

I have a friend who is launching a new peer-reviewed, all online, no-subscription academic journal. We have been kicking around ideas to make it awesome and I thought what better place to get great ideas... For example, one idea we had was a Netflix-like rating system. You could rate the content of papers, and we could recommend papers to you based on similar users. Users interested in ferromagnetic thin film tunnel junctions also liked...

Author karma? Tag clouds? Online discussion (and rebuttal!)? Think outside the dead-tree journal box! What features make online journals great? What novel features would make online academic journals great?

[And again, let me emphasize that this is for peer-reviewed academic journals, e.g., http://apl.aip.org/ not... LiveJournal!]

Cooking Diary?

Maia — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:04:51 -0800

Where can I buy a notebook/journal intended to let me record the meals I cook? I'm looking for not only something to hold recipes, but something where I could also put the date and my opinion of the recipe. In essence, it'd be like a cooking diary. Does such a thing exist?

Looking for a Moleskine-like book - but with bigger pages and more pages than your average Moleskine.

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:52:33 -0800

Looking for a Moleskine-like book - blank pages, but with bigger pages and more pages than your average Moleskine. What type of book should I get? Bonus points if you know a store in downtown Toronto that sells it. I am making a birthday present for a friend of mine (giftee is on MeFi, hence anon), and I want to make him a little journal with written entries, pasted photos, drawings, etc. However, to make it a bit more difficult, I am planning on carving out some pages at the back and inserting a box 2cm+2cm+2cm (a bit less than 1inch+1inch+1inch).

I love Moleskines, and if it was just a bit bigger and with more pages it would be perfect. The regular moleskines with blank pages are too thin, and the diary ones are probably thick enough, but I would rather have blank pages. Can you think of anything else that can handle this project? I can sacrifice on the 'larger pages' aspect, but definitely want to be able to put the tiny box inside.

As well, if you have any clues where in downtown toronto I can find such a book, or even browse books like this, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

I need a secure alternative to Evernote

DerekTheGeek — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:05:13 -0800

Any suggestions on a secure alternative to Evernote? I really like Evernote. I really do. However, I need something that secures my content with encryption. Evernote does a great job of archiving all my notes, pictures, and ideas however the data is all located on their servers in an unencrypted format. Is there any other provider or software that accomplishes the same thing as Evernote yet provides encryption for users data?

Things I am looking for:
1. iPhone/PDA companion app to allow capture and viewing of content away from desktop PC
2. Web component to allow viewing or capture of data
3. Encryption

People familiar with Evernote may be thinking .. "Evernote has all this but encryption .. just wait". This is true but as I am unsure when Evernote is going to support the encryption of user content and I would like to find an alternative in the meantime.

I know there are a few Mac based tools out there (Yojimbo, Together, Journler, etc ..) but I am looking for something on the PC. I love MS OneNote but it does not have a PDA or web component. Any suggestions on what others use? Thank you.

Looking for Moleskine notebook accessories.

bamassippi — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:21:01 -0800

Looking for Moleskine notebook accessories. Looking for Moleskine accessories (from the cheap to the luxurious) for my 5" x 8" Moleskine. I write all the time and

- carrying cases
- pens
- pen holders
etc.

Recommend anonymous, frank, journal-like blogs.

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:23:36 -0800

Can anyone recommend any brutally honest, diary/journal blogs? Ones where people talk about most aspects of their lives: emotions, friendships, relationships, sex, hobbies, politics. Ones where the posts are so private that they can only be kept secret, or shared with strangers.

Who embarked on an early 90s bike/canoe trip with a computer?

waldo — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:32:00 -0800

Around 1990 I read a magazine article about a guy who took an extended journey by canoe, and then another by bicycle, rigging a computer to each to store route data, his journals, etc. Nobody had ever done such a thing before. Who was this man? I would have read this in a popular magazine, nothing esoteric, since I only would have been ~12 years old at the time. Incidentally, reading that inspired me to hike the Appalachian Trail with a laptop and a cellphone, updating a blog as I went. That was back in 1996, and I was the first to do such a thing. It occurs to me that I should figure out whose idea I was ~~ripping off~~ paying homage to. :)

Edward Tufte, make me a taxonomy!

soviet sleepover — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:32:41 -0800

Help me devise an Edward Tufte-approved visual system for tracking my life/health/happiness! Portable, layered, colorful, graph-like but illustrated... Right now I'm imagining a 365 page accordion-fold book that opens both ways--forwards for a timeline (with illustrations and notes I add day by day), and backwards for a regular journal/notebook. But I'm not at all wedded to that idea, though I do like the idea of being able to view several/many days at once as a progression. (A huge set of scrolls seems like a theoretically good idea, but unwieldy and silly in practice. Maybe a 60p accordion Moleskine is most practical..)

Practically, I'd like this to serve as a visual diary of my day's events, plus a way of tracking trends. I also want to be able to record evolving goals I set for myself, no matter how banal ("floss teeth," "write for an hour"), and have some aesthetically interesting way of seeing their progress..

As a side question, give me ideas of how to develop emotional/tonal taxonomies! How do you categorize the events/ideas in your life in a way that takes into consideration their emotional qualities, seriousness/ephemerality, etc? How to overlay a cloud system (think web 2.0 in analog, but without the layers of acetate!).

But despite the bent toward data collection, I want this most to be a creative project using collage, illustration, etc. So, the questions: how should I approach a project like this? What should I keep in mind? How would you go about developing taxonomies for this? I want to hear your anecdotes, your speculation, your naysaying or wonderful visions for doomed projects! How would you do this?

i think my boyfriend read my diary

my_thai — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:16:30 -0800

I think my b/f read my journal and is mad at me for what I said. Not sure how to ask him if I'm right. After a disagreement with my boyfriend I wrote some fairly mean things about him in my journal. Specifically I wrote that he was weak. Actually, I think that he's not as assertive as he could be, but when I'm pissed off and venting in my diary I call it 'weak'.

The journal was in my work bag. Yesterday when I was working out he had to go in my work bag for something he needed. He's been acting weird ever since.

The thing is, if he violated my privacy, he deserves to feel bad, however I hate that he thinks I feel that way about him. And I hate the idea that I've hurt him.

I keep asking him what's wrong but he won't say what it is, probably because he doesn't want to admit to doing this. I'm afraid to ask him directly just in case he didn't read it and I'm just being paranoid.

What in the hell do I do here?

Can you recommend a short fiction journal?

charlesv — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:30:48 -0800

Looking for short fiction journals. I am looking for recommendations for good short fiction journals/magazines. They can be monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, or whatever. Preferably more often than yearly. I enjoy short fiction but don't get nearly enough of it. I don't like having to go to the store and pick out an anthology at random. I want an expert to pick out some really good pieces and send them to me on a semi-regular basis.

I am thinking of starting with McSweeny's. Can anyone recommend for/against it?

This would be bedtime reading or airplane reading.

I am male, 31. Authors whose short fiction I like include Ted Chiang, David Foster Wallace, Richard Wilbur and Isaac Bashevis Singer. I am open to any and all suggestions, whether they carry nothing but homespun American tales or fantastic tales from another galaxy.

Please don't recommend The New Yorker. It bores me.

Dead Cow Wrappers For Words

devilsbrigade — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:13:08 -0800

I've seen a couple people recently with very nice fairly stiff leather journal covers, maybe a little smaller than 8 1/2 by 11, that hold a smaller replaceable floppy journal inside. I want one. I've looked around some, but all I can find are the cheap mass-produced ones. Does the hive mind have a lead on where to get a good-quality leather cover online or in the SF bay area?

Organizer software tool suggestions...

ollyoop — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:33:19 -0800

Recommendations for online/offline organizer tool that includes an agenda, task list, to-do list and journal? I'm looking for a software tool - any tool! - that has some very specific features to it. It must have a calendar tool (ie. agenda), task list, to-do list and either a notebook or journal feature that you can preferably link to the calendar. It's for personal use, so business use isn't as important. Also, if it syncs with Outlook, then that's a bonus...

Thank you!

A gift for the man who has everything but introspection.

Help, I can't stop talking! — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:42:34 -0800

Help me find an appropriate (guided) journal to give my father as a birthday gift. My father is turning 60. He's got everything (actually, he's remarried so he has two of everything), and I really want to get him something a little more symbolic. I'm thinking of a nice pen and a journal, but I know that if I get him a blank journal, he'll never actually write in it. He's not particularly in touch with his emotions and he's spectacularly concrete in his thinking. I know there are guided journals out there, but so many of them look like the kind of New Age smiley stuff that he wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Anyone know of a "Self-Insight for Dummies" or "Guided Journaling for People Who Think Like Spreadsheets" or something similar?

I want to remember myself.

eas98 — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:36:12 -0800

I would like to start keeping a personal diary.. Electronically, to be sure, online if possible. So, for years and years I've wanted to this. I want to keep a personal diary/journal/whathaveyou where I can write down my thoughts and feelings as they exist today and look back on them sometime in the future.

I know I can emulate this by just creating an email account and writing to myself over and over, and if that's the best suggestion, then I'll go with it. Was just wondering if anyone had any better suggestions.

Regarding the timeframe.. I would ideally like to do this for decades, and I realize that nobody can predict who will be around to continue hosting such a thing in the future, but suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks for any help!

Linux software for an electronic journal

PercussivePaul — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:38:54 -0800

What are some good Linux programs for keeping an electronic research journal? I write a lot when I am thinking about a problem. Writing helps me organize my thoughts. Now that I'm starting a PhD I want to move away from the pen-and-paper method I used in my master's, mainly because organization and information retrieval became very difficult after a year or two.

I'm using Ubuntu Linux (though I could try Windows programs under WINE, I guess). I tried a few programs so far, recently TomBoy, but I wasn't sold on it. I don't like the TomBoy interface where little notes fly up in new windows; I'd prefer something closer to a tabbed text-editor with indexing and timestamps. My style is not so much creating structured information like a database or wiki, but rather dumping bursts of text into the screen every now and then. I don't want to spend a lot of time thinking about organizing information; instead, I want to able to open the program, start typing, and then click somewhere to have it filed away. Any ideas?

How best to export a Journler diary?

zenja72 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:18:07 -0800

How best to export a Journler diary? I have used Journler since I got my Mac a year ago, and have built up a fairly large journal. I really like the program, but it seems it's been abandoned; the developer switched from donationware to paid software with the latest release, but I haven't paid for my license yet. I don't plan to purchase one if it's abandoned, what with Snow Leopard on the horizons, and a possible computer move in the next year.

So, looking forwards, what's the best way to export my Journler? My ideal solution would be using a free (preferably open source) solution that is available for Mac and Linux (been experimenting with Ubuntu lately). TiddlyWiki would be great, as it's portable. Thanks very much in advance.

Alternative to Papers

Aanidaani — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:16:27 -0800

I recently found a fantastic program for managing research literature on OSX and I'm looking for a similar program for Windows and Linux. The program for OSX is called Papers and is just beautiful. I really love the interface and it connects to all kinds of databases to make importing papers very easy. Is there anything like this for Windows or Linux?

Help find a short story I remember

parmanparman — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:34:37 -0800

HELP! middle school/high school short story bookfilter *for Christmas! When I was 14 or 15, I went sleep-away camp at Mosquito Lake in the Trinity Alps of California (I bet you went there, too,) and I read this short fictional story in a journal I found there (title was probably not "Witness", and it definitely was not "Sisters". It was certainly Marxist-feminist but not at all a feminist-lesbian fiction journal).

I would love to find it again to give to a graduate student colleague as a Christmas present.

The story was about a battalion of women dispatched to Vietnam whose weapon was a machine in their vaginal canal that, during intercourse, would perform a crude penectomy.
The story was interesting in that the lead character was a general's daughter, and this general had approved of the mission. Ultimately, the battalion saw that the men they were "modifying" were not VC but ordinary peasants and turned against the male soldiers who had put them in the middle of a rain forest, they were wiped out in an ensuing firefight but their dignity was restored.

It would have been around 1993-1994. I remember the journal was chapbook sized, had a deep-red/burgundy cover and the cover had on it a vintage black and white picture of a young Chinese woman with bare bound feet. There was also a fictional story inside about that.

Thanks for any help!

Do no harm

rosswald — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:41:18 -0800

Any recommendations for (preferably) online Public Health Journals, Communities, or Blogs? I sat in a room with Commissioner Frieden today and that, plus my friend giving me all of her GRE equipment, has motivated me to pursue my public health career.

Is it more fuss than it's worth?

Cantdosleepy — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:00:53 -0800

Pros and cons of setting up an ebay shop for a literary magazine? Hi all. I work for a quarterly magazine (Ambit self-link) which has just had its Arts Council funding cut and needs to make some money pretty quickly to stay afloat. We already have a Paypal account through which people can buy current issues and subscribe (organised through FirstWriter before I started at Ambit), but we've got a huge number of back issues for sale as well.

At the moment we have a fairly crummy system where you just e-mail us and we tell you how much a particular item costs and then you mail us a cheque.

We don't anticipate getting a huge volume of sales, though, so the minimum cost of fifteen quid a month to keep the shop open seems a little high.

Any experience using ebay for small journals or other methods, fellow mefites.

(also I've just read this thread, which has given me lots more options, but that's just added to the confusion, really - now I have five companies with unknown pros and cons!)