I couldn't launch on a Mac using the method stated in the EAQ:
java -cp minecraft.jar net.minecraft.LauncherFrame
I would get a "NoClassDefFoundError: net/minecraft/LauncherFrame" error. So I poked around found where the LauncherFrame.class is, and this method works instead:
java -cp {PATH-TO-YOUR-MINECRAFT-APP}/Minecraft.app/Contents/Resources/Java/MinecraftLauncher.jar net.minecraft.LauncherFrame
Should the EAQ be updated? Or am I doing it wrong?
I'm using OS X 10.8.2