Database

A place to engage extended discussions of things that come up on the ttbrown.com website. Anything goes here, as long as it's somehow pertinent to the subject(s) at hand.
htmagic
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Database

Post by htmagic »

There has been talk about tying this BBS into a database.

Someone mentioned a database (even I did) http://www.ttbrown.com/forum/viewtopic. ... base#13781,
but Paul mentioned a Wiki platform http://www.ttbrown.com/forum/viewtopic. ... base#13706 and so did Fred http://www.ttbrown.com/forum/viewtopic. ... base#13756 and Nate http://www.ttbrown.com/forum/viewtopic. ... base#13548 and others.

Now it would be nice to link to everything else here but once you learn to use the search function on this BBS, it may be a moot point.

I have been more attentive to filling in the subject line for a particular topic. Others have too but some have not. Adding the subject line can narrow a search and make things a little easier to look for.

A wiki type database platform would be a good idea if one could integrate it into this BBS. Anything else may disrupt this BBS and cause a loss of data or people registered. If someone moved this forum to a new URL, those that haven't logged on in a long time may not migrate to the new site easily.

For that reason, maybe we should augment this BBS with an index like Dr. Brown used in his journals. An index page could be created with links to the various different topics. One could use the search feature of this BBS to do that. But it would be a living document and would need to be updated indefinitely. I for one, spend too much time on the computer (ask my wife!). :wink: This would be a daunting task. If wiki could create the index, even better. Then we could integrate the index with this forum.
Other than that,who will catalog the nearly 15,000 messages this forum is generating? :(

Anyway, food for thought.

MagicBill
Speeding through the Universe, thinking is the best way to travel ...
arc
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Re: Database

Post by arc »

htmagic

The database concept is a good idea but I don’t think you will realise the benefits of one if you use a standard off the shelf database application. Most databases are based on the ability of a program to use multiple internal individual “tables” (containing multiple lines of the same sort of data like account numbers linking back to people’s names) to make a simple link between . If I read the intent of the message correctly you are looking for a program that will enable the sorting and sifting of conceptual data rather than just simple individual fixed facts. To achieve this you need to use a nonstandard program that is able to handle abstracts and relations between the data elements. Something along the lines of an AI language like Prolog or perhaps Lisp would suit this purpose. But that is a hand coded job...

It would be very interesting to see the interlinked knowledge threads though... you would have something of a holistic mind-map emerge....

arc
I do not believe our destiny lays beneath our feet... it lays beneath the stars
htmagic
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Re: Database

Post by htmagic »

Arc,

Since you are the only reply here, welcome. It's just you and me in this pool! Now watch the others try to jump on in.An AI program would be very cool. It would also take a lot of horsepower and computing time.

I posted this thread as there was talk about cataloging the forum and there was talk about a database. That's all it was - talk.
But then I learned how to better utilize the search function so I dropped it. But a database still would be cool but it would demand a full-time programmer to keep up with the threads and posts on this forum!

Actually, someone suggested a Wiki type system and I thought that was a great idea. Other posts could automatically be cross-referenced and would make the searches even easier. But I don't think Paul would want to install the Wiki type engine on the server. It would also require a steep learning curve to integrate it smoothly behind the scenes of the forum. So although it may be extremely useful, I doubt if it would be implemented. Some almost went into withdrawal the last time the server was down for a few days, including me. I needed my TTB forum fix.

But Arc, since you're not AM and you're still here after being grilled by Mikado, welcome to the pool! :wink:
If you have any ideas for a database, I'd like to hear them. I remember when we broke 15,000 posts and we are well over 17,000 now. And I see Our newest member is Mr. Mxyzptlk and I expect Superman will follow. There was a character before I joined named Justice League. That guy was a trip. He brought up some good points and the forum tried to hear him out but he "didn't play well with others."
you would have something of a holistic mind-map emerge....
Maybe we'd catch a glimpse of the Central Nervous System of the Cosmos?

MagicBill
Speeding through the Universe, thinking is the best way to travel ...
Linda Brown
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Re: Database

Post by Linda Brown »

Arc and Fred,

I just wanted you guys to know how very much I appreciate your talents and your interests here. And this idea of a database of some sort is an excellent one but I am beginning to understand with your input that its not going to be simple at all, especially since we are looking for sort of wierd conceptual connections .... like chasing and trying to box up and catorgorize the mist .... but if it could be done it would be a wonderful thing.

I confess that I am on the bottom of the understanding rung when it comes to this ladder and you guys and this entire conversation are well above me. Fred, thats probably why no one responded after your May message. I think most of us just sort of went ..... huh? ..... Not that we don't think the idea is wonderful but more that we don't have the foggiest notion of how to add to the conversation in a positive way.

And Arc. I think that Mikado gave you a rubbing that wasn't really deserved. He can be cranky sometimes. Most of us have learned to understand his suspicions and protective attitudes. I am gratified that you stood up to those suspicions and are still here. I am looking forward to many interesting exchanges and I believe in the future you may find that he is not the ogre that he at first seemed! I think that he approaches the subjects here on the forum with the same sort of passion that I believe he puts into his cooking. <g>

Justice League I think was our first challenge here on the Forum about trying to listen and react positively to someone with an alternate agenda. If you read through some of that exchange you will see that we were being used by someone who had such a strong personal agenda that he didn't even care to learn anything about the subject of this Forum, and in fact declared at one point that he had no need to read anything about the life of Townsend Brown. So ... where were we all supposed to go after that?

Yet I still sense that there are many of us who miss what we felt was an opportunity for a useful exchange. A disappointment but also a major distraction and in a small way our disappointment with AM and then AM2 was reflected in Mikados defensive stance in your direction. He may have been wrong to come to the conclusion that you and AM were one and the same. If he was then I apoligize also because that thought ran through my head too. I just didn't say anything... where Mikado, true to his nature, picked up the banner and went forth with it! I offer you my heartfelt apology ARC, if indeed you are not our friend AM3 wearing another cap!

I got off the subjet of the database here .... sorry ..... Linda
arc
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Re: Database

Post by arc »

Hello Linda and htmagic

Thanks for your thoughts, don’t worry about me, water off a ducks back. Actually I respect Mikado for his stance and understand how it all happened, I stepped on his toes right from the start, but it was unintentionally, and as you can most likely tell I’m not a regular board member of any place. Mikado, I do see you as someone who has honesty and integrity, your a good man, your children must be proud of you Sir.

The database idea is good, in fact its great ..but... unfortunately and only in my own opinion there is a lot of work to get what you want. I may be wrong and if someone here has another program that will accomplish the task then lets hear about it.

htmagic, your right about AI needing good horsepower behind it. Thanks to the modern multicore processors perhaps it will now get a chance, the hard part for most applications now will be adapting too run across multiple cpu's, we may have multicore devices but the software has to be rewritten to even be able to use it, this is where a lot of the "gamers" are actually ahead of the business types. The power of some of those graphics cards is exceeding your computers internal chip by a wide margin.

http://www.nvidia.com/docs/IO/55972/220401_Reprint.pdf

I do have a small mind-mapping type program here (it is not any of my work) that allows very basic tree like structures to be built and displayed on screen, but it has no intelligence behind it, which is what I think you will need if you are looking for links between “concepts”, IMHO

Edit: I have just realised my copy is an older one, so heres the web site to get the latest

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/in ... /Main_Page

It is a Java based application, so you need java installed on your computer. The site will direct you where to get it if needed.

This software also allows you to create mind-maps and make them available on a web site for people to browse, if you want.
Start the program and select Modes..Browse to see the layout/help

And Linda… I give you my assurance Im definitely not am or am2 or 3 4 5 6 7 8 ….
If all goes well one day we will meet and you folk will see for yourself.

Cheers
arc
I do not believe our destiny lays beneath our feet... it lays beneath the stars
Linda Brown
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Re: Database

Post by Linda Brown »

Arc,

Thank you for your assurances. All I needed.

AM2 and 3.

I suspect by now that you have tired of having to wait for my ( and Mr. Twigsnappers) answers to your insistant questions, figured that you have been misjudged and poorly handled, gathered up all of your toys and headed for home.

You worked hard to collect those Kitselman books and I hope perhaps that one of his daughters is reading this and is interested enough to see what has happened and is ready to pick up the effort to contact you and go forward with you on a one to one basis. Maybe it was supposed to go that way from the first. The links to ancient civilizations would be just Suzettes rice bowl I should think and the two of you probably have much to share.

Your veiled threat to me about how much information will be "lost "is a situation I have always been prepared to deal with. You underestimate us Sir. Linda
Linda Brown
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Re: Database

Post by Linda Brown »

Special edit and correction ..........

My salutation in the recent message should have been to arc and MagicBill, of course. Sorry I mistyped. Musta had you on my mind Fred... all this recent talk of racehorses was just for me too early in the morning. Sorry guys. Linda
Paul S.
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Re: Database

Post by Paul S. »

Hello everybody....

Ann and I got back from our...ummm... trip to Texas late last night. I was in (photography) classes all day today, and am pretty much silly putty at the moment.

I'll make a more serious attempt to get caught up tomorrow. But before I crash tonight I took a look at the "active threads" and found this one, so I just thought I'd mention one thing about creating "a database" of these discussions.

Like, that EVERYTHING that shows up under the URL "ttbrown.com/forum" already IS a database.

There is a very common, almost industry standard "database" program called "MySQL (SQL = Server Query Language) which is the underlying platform for these forums.

The database is sorta like the chassis; on top of the chassis there is an engine called "phpBB". phpBB is actually a collection of "scripts" written in a program called "php", which drive the forums. All the page layouts, data entry and editing functions are enabled and controlled by phpBB.

The point is, the foundation for the capability you are all discussing already exists. The question is mostly what kinds of modifications can we add that would generate the added functionality you seek.

If any of you are genuinely interested in exploring these possibilities, then I suggest you visit

http://www.phpbb.com/

....and explore the forums and "customise" sections there, to see if you can find what we'd be looking for. If it's not there, then we can perhaps find somebody fluent in php who can compose the scripts.

But even before we do that, I suggest you explore the advanced "search" functions and see if at least some of what you have in mind can't be found there.

OK, that's about all the juice I've got tonight. See you in the morning.

--PS
Paul Schatzkin
aka "The Perfesser"
"At some point we have to deal with the facts, not what we want to believe is true." -- Jack Bauer
arc
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Re: Database

Post by arc »

I hope everything went as well as it could for you Paul and Ann. These things are hard on families.
I wish you both well.

Regards
arc
I do not believe our destiny lays beneath our feet... it lays beneath the stars
htmagic
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Re: Database

Post by htmagic »

Paul,

Welcome back. Every time you travel, it seems the forum knows about it and the members go to town with posts! :lol:

I didn't realize that MySQL was the underlying chassis of this forum. I suspected as much when I told Arc that 'But then I learned how to better utilize the search function so I dropped it.'

MagicBill
Speeding through the Universe, thinking is the best way to travel ...
arc
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Re: Database

Post by arc »

A very small demo of the mindmapper program I mentioned above. It may have all sorts of possible uses, just depends on what you want to track. The designer can create the map and then use a web server to display the results. If you use your mouse to click some of the sub-links they will contract/expand. You can also hold the left mouse button and drag the whole map around/across the page.

It may, or may not, be useful to some folk here.

Im investigating its interface options, it just may be able to be driven by another program... crossing my fingers.. if so it could provide a visual map front-end to backend data.

[]


EDIT: I have found a plugin for php/MySQL.

arc
Last edited by arc on Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
I do not believe our destiny lays beneath our feet... it lays beneath the stars
htmagic
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Re: Database

Post by htmagic »

Arc,

Is this your site?
INFINITAS RESEARCH

REALIZING PROGRESS THROUGH SCIENCE

Artificial Intelligence - Parallel Processing - Robotics - Speech Synthesis
Is there a way to enter/change data on the image map demo site?

MagicBill
Speeding through the Universe, thinking is the best way to travel ...
arc
Junior Birdman
Posts: 176
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:44 am

Re: Database

Post by arc »

htmagic

its part of an ongoing study...

Presently there is no way to change the data on the page, other than being the person who posts it up there, but hopefully this will change. I will look into this.

If it can be driven by a separate backend process then hopefully it may be able to be driven by more than one process, a serial chain of processing on text/data to extract -information- then display the finished product... hopefully

arc
I do not believe our destiny lays beneath our feet... it lays beneath the stars
Trickfox
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Re: Database

Post by Trickfox »

INFINITAS RESEARCH
I'm interested in this work ARC.
Trickfox
The psychopropulsier (as pointed out in the book The Good-bye man by Linda Brown and Jan Lofton) is a Quantum entanglement project under development using Quantum Junctions. Join us at http://www.Peeteelab.com
arc
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Re: Database

Post by arc »

I will PM you trickfox
I do not believe our destiny lays beneath our feet... it lays beneath the stars
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