Graphics Programming Black Book Michael Abrash's classic Graphics Programming Black Book is a compilation of Michael's previous writings on assembly language and graphics programming (including from his "Graphics Programming" column in Dr. Dobb's Journal). Much of the focus of this book is on profiling and code testing, as well as performance optimization. It also explores much of the technology behind the Doom and Quake 3-D games, and 3-D graphics problems such as texture mapping, hidden surface removal, and the like. Thanks to Michael for making this book available. The full text of the book is available here in PDF format. If you keep all files in the same directory, the "Previous" and "Next" links at the beginning and end of each chapter will work (provided you have downloaded those chapters). NOTE: Each chapter also has a "Home" link at its beginning and end. The complete book is 153 MB in size. Source code (1.7 MB) Graphics Programming Black Book © 2001 Michael Abrash
Sadly there is some hint of truth in this Lindsay Composer: Bringing Virtual Physiology Alive 2 | LINDSAY Virtual Human Overview Lindsay Composer (LComposer) provides access to simulations of physiological processes within the human male and female body. LComposer integrates interactive 3-dimensional physiology across scales: from systems and organs to tissues, cells, and sub-cellular structures. LComposer provides a graphical programming interface for the composition of physiological models, which can be annotated and turned into interactive educational scenarios. Graphical Programming Interface Building a simulation in LINDSAY Composer is done via a drag and drop interface. Connect with Kinect. The LINDSAY Virtual Human team is working to integrate the Microsoft Kinect, a motion-sensing input device for the Xbox 360 gaming console, into LINDSAY Composer. Features 3-dimensional Scene Exploration Similar to first-person 3D computer games, the LINDSAY Composer creates an environment that immerses the user into a virtual 3-dimensional world, with the context of anatomical structures and processes.
Bin Laden relied on thumb drive couriers to evade email detection Osama bin Laden used a simple but clever way to send lots of emails without being detected by the U.S., the Associated Press reports. Citing interviews with counter-terrorism sources in the U.S. government, the AP said that bin Laden used thumb drives, the flash memory sticks that can hold a considerable number of email messages, to send his emails. Bin Laden had no phone, and his own computer wasn’t connected to the internet. (That helped CIA analysts figure out there was something fishy about his home: why would a rich person living in an expensive compound not be connected to the internet?) But he evidently wrote thousands of emails. That pretty much guaranteed that bin Laden couldn’t be located by hunting down the origins of his email address or his internet connection. The Navy SEAL team reportedly hauled away 100 flash memory drives after they killed bin Laden.
XSLT and XQuery Processing Home - Free email archiving and email backup software More than 35,000 companies of all sizes and from all sectors rely on MailStore Server. Countless public and educational institutions also depend upon MailStore Server. Advantages for Your Company Legal safeguard for email compliance Extremely fast full-text searching for emails and attachments Total protection against data loss Reduce the workload of mail servers Save up to 70% storage space Simplify backup and restore Independence of cumbersome PST files See all advantages Why MailStore? Trusted by 35,000 organizations in 100 countries Supports almost all email systems and archiving methods Integrated and highly scalable storage technology Minimal system requirements and easy to set up Extremely low-maintenance One-off payment, starting at US$ 190 The Standard in Email Archiving MailStore Server Email Archiving for Businesses MailStore SPE MailStore Service Provider Edition MailStore Home Free email archiving software for home users What Customers Are Saying PGA of Australia Indianapolis Airport
Solid State Storage First Step: SSD As Cache - storage Blog Though it's reliable and can boost performance, storage managers still struggle to properly apply solid state technology for maximum benefit without the need to rearchitect storage infrastructure. Storage managers are becoming increasingly confident that solid state storage (SSS) is reliable and will provide a performance boost to their environment when applied correctly. The challenge is how to properly apply solid state technology so that applications can benefit without having to rearchitect your current application and storage infrastructure. The historical use case for SSS, and still the most common, is to speed performance of database applications. In most cases, it is specific elements within that application that are moved to the solid state disk tier. This can be indexes, redo or undo logs, or the increasing database itself. There are applications and environments that can be enhanced by SSS that may not have the clear ROI that revenue generating databases do.
Speaking UNIX: Introduction to emerging file systems Introduction It's an old adage but nonetheless accurate: "In UNIX®, everything is a file". Conceptually, every UNIX resource is a simple file that you can open, read from, write to, or both. Your experiment data is a file, as is your shell startup script, the UNIX kernel, your home directory, each network socket, and the /bin/ls executable, among others. However, not every file is identical. Further, not every file is stored in the same way. Table 1 lists just a few file systems available for UNIX (and in many cases, Linux®). Table 1. Back to top A file system of your own Commonly, a file system requires media to be tailored to it, so changing from one file system to another typically entails a backup, formatting physical drives, and a lengthy restore and validation process. However, a recent extension to many UNIX and Linux kernels allows any user to create and use a variety of file systems with no special privileges. Listing 1. Do-it-yourself NFS Listing 2. Listing 3. Listing 4.
Repurposing the PS3 Move 2011/02/26 02:32 Filed in: gyroscope The 2-axis gryoscope (likely an STM LPR425AL, see the update below) is an analog sensor measuring rotation along the x- and y-axes. It uses a 1.4V reference signal that it seems to generate internally from an external 3.2V source. This 1.4V source is available on pin R138. Between two different Moves, the gyroscopes seem not to have consistent markings. iFixIt’s is marked 067S8. On my Move, it's marked 090B8. There are extra capacitor pads C85, C103 and C104, C106-- x- and y-axis, respectively-- which I think could be used for changing the filtering frequency of the analog outputs. Update: It would seem that the brass casing is likely for electromagnetic shielding, as EETimes Asia identifies it as the LPR425AL, which is likely from STM: “None of the sensors can be found in their exact form on either vendor's websites but part markings are consistent with the full part numbers shown, and suggestive of custom parts for Sony.”
Parents Are Wrong to Drag Kids to Church Throughout the United States, a familiar scene takes place every Easter in which well-meaning Christian parents dragged their atheist son or daughter to church with them. The stated explanations for this behavior ranged from the believable (e.g., "Because it is important to me") to the nonsensical (e.g., "Because it is Easter"). But the outcome was the same. The kid went to church because he or she had no choice or wanted to appease a parent. I remember this scenario playing out in my childhood home many times. I left church behind long ago. Your parents are wrong to do this to you.
NATO phonetic alphabet The NATO phonetic alphabet, more accurately known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet and also called the ICAO phonetic or ICAO spelling alphabet, as well as the ITU phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet. Although often called "phonetic alphabets", spelling alphabets are unassociated with such phonetic transcription systems as the International Phonetic Alphabet; instead, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alphabet so assigned code words acrophonically to the letters of the English alphabet that critical combinations of letters and numbers can be pronounced and understood despite language barriers or transmission static. International adoption[edit] NATO[edit] History[edit] The ICAO developed this system in the 1950s in order to account for discrepancies that might arise in communications as a result of multiple alphabet naming systems coexisting in different places and organizations.[4] Code words[edit] Letters[edit] Digits[edit]