Designing a PCB

One of the things I wanna learn this month is to build hardware circuit on a pcb with commercial CAD software which are used to build circuits. The coolest thing about PCB software is that you can actually simulate a circuit without making the real hardware circuit. and it helps you analyze faults before you produce your circuit. I had designed a small PCB for SPI interface of an MMC/ SD card to a microcontroller. It was easy to design as there was no special circuitry needed for except for a few optional pull up resisters which should be used if the BUS is in open drain mode. If it is in push pull mode then there is no need of using pull up resistors. It all depends on which microcontroller we are using. If we are using a low end microcontroller like a PIC which is cheap we must use a Pull up on the data lines of the SPI bus. On the other hand if we use a High end microcontroller, it may provide options so that we dont need pull-ups. Overall PCB design a must learn thingy if you are into hardware and serious about becoming a hardware engineer.

Cinderella in America: A Book of Folk and Fairy Tales. Book review

The title of this superbly edited book is misleading and yet accurate. At first glance, one might think that the book would be about the different versions of the tale “Cinderella” in America. This is not at all the case. Yet the title is apt, for the book is truly about a neglected and mistreated “Cinderella genre,” the wonder fairytale in America, in all its diverse oral and literary forms, and about how scholars and educated readers have tended to believe that the European tale types never took root in the early days of the founding of America. Some have even asserted that there is no such thing as an American fairytale.

McCarthy’s purpose is to prove them wrong. His goal, he states, is “to demonstrate the scope of the Old World repertoire as it settled into U.S. American culture, changing, developing, and acclimating inmuch the same way the tales of this repertoire have always settled and acclimated, wherever they have found themselves”(p. 8). Not only does he fulfil his goal, but he does it convincingly and with great erudition, thoroughness, and originality, and with a stunning collection of approximately two hundred tales from the eighteenth century to the present.

McCarthy’s anthology is divided into six parts and eighteen chapters and a helpful appendix about studying American folktales. The repertoire of the tales is generally Indo-European, and he provides the Aarne-Thompson-Uther tale-type index for those readers who want to compare the tales with similar ones in other cultures. The organisation of the chapters is based on geography and the particular connection that a region may have had to another European country. For instance, the headings of the parts read: (I) The Early Record; (II) The Iberian Folktale in the United States; (III) French Tradition in the Old Louisiana Territory; (IV) The British Tradition of the South; (V) Other People, Other Tales—which includes German traditions in Pennsylvania, Irish-American tales, tales from other communities, and European tales in Native American traditions; and (VI) A Case Study—which includes photographs of Betty Carriveau telling one of her father’s French-Canadian tales entitled “Angel Gabriel.”

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A planet outside our solar system

An Earth like planet was found outside our solar system orbiting a star about 30000 light years away from us ( light year: distance travelled by light in an year). It is about five times the size of earth and is rocky. Observers around the world confirmed the existence of the planet. It seems like there are many earth like worlds in our universe and we have started discovering other planes just like ours. However, they are not expect to support life. Planets such as these are discovered using a principle called microlensing based on a principle invented by Einstein. The light from distant star is bent by gravitational distortion from other stars or large planets when it reaches earth. Scientists have recorded such incidents using telescope networks. The growing perception among the scientific community is that planets such as these are more common in our universe. There are more planets to be discovered in the years to come

Best scifi movies

Recently, I saw two of my all-time-favorite science fiction movies again. Blade Runner and 13th Floor. Both these movies are highly rated and have set the trend for modern science fiction. The 13th floor is about a simulation where there is a earth like world with real chracters in it. It is a must see. The movie Matrix was very much like 13th floor and was based on a similar story. BladeRunner is about a cop whose job is to deactivate “replicants” ( Robots ) in the future los angeles. Deckard and Roy batty have given excellent performances. Harrison ford is remarkable. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Bladerunner.

Roy Batty: I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams … glitter in the dark near Tanhauser Gate. All those … moments will be lost … in time, like tears … in rain. Time … to die.

Tyrell : If we gived them a past, we’d create a cushion, a pillow for their emotions and consequently we can control them better.”
Deckard : “Memories. You’re talking about memories.”

Prescription For Painless Play?

I had to sympathize with Darren Gladstone’s column about the pain he’s feeling in his left hand from using the WASD keymap. I had to quit World of WarCraft because of it.

My own keymapping system has never produced those symptoms. With it, I can play for hours and not feel any pain:

A - crouch
S - backward
D - strafe left
F - strafe right
Right mouse - forward
Left mouse - primary attack
Middle mouse - secondary attack
G - reload
Z - use
Left shift - walk/run
V - lean ieft
B - iean right
C - flashiight
Spacebar - jump