15 November 2008 - 11:25The Art of Assembly Programming

Link to The Art of Assembly Programming

No Comments | Tags: Tech

2 November 2008 - 18:17Mighty mouse disassembly and repair

Apple matters disassembly howto with photos

No Comments | Tags: Mac, Tech

2 November 2008 - 0:09Observation on 1 Nov 2008

Time: 7-8PM
Dumbell nebula (M27/NGC6853), Mag: 7.3. Alignment star: Altair. Failed
Ring Nebula (M57/NGC6720), Mag: 9. Alignment star: Vega. Failed

Alignment: Jupiter
Globular clusters: M22 (Mag: 5.1),  M28 (Mag:6.9). Failed
M20 (Mag: 6.3) . Failed

Lagoon Nebula (M8, Mag: 5) -
Alignment: Jupiter
Nebula like haze covered entire eye piece but could not make out any shape. This nebula has an apparent dimension of 90×40 arch mins. It spans more than 1 deg so can fill entire eye piece. Failed.

Trifid Nebula (M20, Mag: 6.3). Apparent dimension: 28 arc min
Alignment: Jupiter

Time: 9-930 PM
Dumbell Nebula (M27/NGC6853, Mag:  7.3

Time: 10PM - 10:50PM
Great Nebula in Andromeda (NGC 224/M31): Mag 3.5

Alignment star: Mirach (Andromeda)
SUCCESSFUL

Time: 11-11:30PM
Triangulum galaxy (NGC 598/M33) - Mag: 5.7
Apparent dimension: 73×45 arc min
Alignment star: Mothallah (Triangulum)
Failed.

Sky and Telescope article: Fuzzies in Your Future: An Introduction to Deep-Sky Objects

No Comments | Tags: Astronomy

27 October 2008 - 21:12Cocoa Animation in Mac OS X Tiger

Link to Apple Docs: Cocoa Drawing Guide, Animation Programming Guide

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27 October 2008 - 20:15Free 3D models

No Comments | Tags: Misc

27 October 2008 - 13:26Misc useful links

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26 October 2008 - 17:04Cashew cake

Ingredients:
Cashewnuts- 50 gms
Gram flour- 160 ml
Sugar- 400 ml
Ghee- 160 ml
Grated Coconut- 80 ml
Vanilla essence- a few drops
Cardamom powder- 1/2 teaspoon

Method:
Dry roast the cashew cool and powder in a mixer. Keep aside. Fry the gram flour in half the ghee until fragrant and keep aside. Make sugar syrup of one string consistency. Add grated coconut and mix well. Add the Gram flour and ghee and keep stirring for a few minutes. Lastly add cashew powder, essence, cardamom and stir without burning till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and is ready to be poured for setting. Remove from fire and pour on to a greased plate/ tray. Allow to cool and set a little. Cut into pieces before it completely sets. Remove the pieces after it cools completely and store airtight.

No Comments | Tags: Food, Recipes

25 October 2008 - 19:33Random number generator

Mersenne Twister

Versions released from 2001-2006 are GPL. versions after 2006 can be used closed source/commercial.

No Comments | Tags: Programming

25 October 2008 - 18:48Free Mac Apps for Graphics/Media

  1. Scribus: Open source, Desktop publishing
  2. JAlbum: Create photo galleries for the Web
  3. Paparazzi: Make screenshots of webpages
  4. Linotype Explorer: Font management app 
  5. FotoFlexer: Image editor
  6. Xee: Fast image viewer
  7. Lego Digital Designer
  8. Colorate
  9. Front End Digital Media WorkShop
  10. Autodesk Maya
  11. Graphisoft ArchiCAD
  12. Simple CSS
  13. Blender
  14. HyperEngine-AV
  15. POV-Ray
  16. Gnuplot
  17. DAZ Studio
  18. Bryce
  19. Goldberg
  20. Image Tricks
  21. Inkscape
  22. NIH Image
  23. Comipro Plus
  24. Scratch
  25. Gimp
  26. Google SketchUp
  27. Seashore
  28. Pencil

No Comments | Tags: Mac

25 October 2008 - 18:28Summary of Cocoa Initializer Options

The correct way to write initializers in Cocoa.

No Comments | Tags: Cocoa, Programming