via TechCrunch
Siren Care weaves electronics into fabric to keep diabetic patients healthy

MySQL has had a JSON data type since version 5.7 was released way back in ’15. But did you know you could produce JSON output from non-JSON columns? It is very simple and saves a lot of time over trying to format it in your application.

World Database

We will be using the good old World database that MySQL has used for years in documentation, examples, and in the classroom. Starting with a simple query we will build up to something more complex.

SELECT Name, District, Population FROM City;

This will output the data from the table in a tabular format.

'Kabul', 'Kabol', '1780000'
'Qandahar', 'Qandahar', '237500'

Array or Object?

We have two options for composing JSON data: JSON_ARRAY and JSON_OBJECT.

Of the two, you will find JSON_ARRAY the least fussy. It will JSON-ize your data very easily. It takes a list of values or an empty list and returns a JSON array.

We add this function to our example query and it becomes SELECT JSON_ARRAY(Name, District, Population) FROM City;

And the output looks like:

'[\"Kabul\", \"Kabol\", 1780000]'
'[\"Qandahar\", \"Qandahar\", 237500]'
...

JSON_OBJECT wants key/value pairs and will complain if the key name is NULL or you have an odd number of objects. If we try SELECT JSON_OBJECT(Name, District, Population) FROM City; we will get Error Code: 1582. Incorrect parameter count in the call to native function 'JSON_OBJECT'. This fuctions sees the odd number of arguments as a ‘key’ and the evens as the ‘value’ in key/value pairs and therefore we should not have an odd number of arguments. We could stick in a dummy literal string into the select but odds are that we want the three fields specified but need to turn them into key/value pairs. So lets add ‘keys’ and let the database supply the values.

SELECT JSON_OBJECT('City', Name, 'Dist', District, 'Pop', Population) FROM City;,

And the output looks like:

'{\"Pop\": 1780000, \"City\": \"Kabul\", \"Dist\": \"Kabol\"}'
'{\"Pop\": 237500, \"City\": \"Qandahar\", \"Dist\": \"Qandahar\"}'
...

Conclusion

Developers need to work smarter and not harder. And I have been harping on letting the database do the heavy lifting for years. This is an example of letting the database format your information for you rather than feeding it into a function within your application. Sure you can do it but this saves you a step or two and reduces the complexity of your application.
via Planet MySQL
Using MySQL to Output JSON

DreamWorks Animation has released a new trailer for Voltron: Legendary Defender season two. Spoiler alert: It’s awesome! Fans are in for a wild ride this season. It looks like they have really ramped up the action this time around. The team who is handling this show is really doing a great job. The story, characters, and animation are all amazing. I really enjoyed watching the first season. It is definitely one of the best animated series airing anywhere right now.

If you haven’t seen the first season yet, head over to Netflix and watch it. You will love it. Season two airs on Netflix January 20, 2017.

• Source

via MightyMega
Voltron: Legendary Defender Season Two Trailer

via Dilbert
Dilbert 2017-01-06

With a new year upon us, let’s take a few minutes and talk about essential prepping gear.

Hang on a minute, in the grand scheme of things, what would be considered “essential”?  This is an subjective term.  The definition depends on who is reading this article.

To someone is a rural area, a 22 rifle is essential; you never know when an unwanted pest will go into the chicken house.  To someone in an urban area, they may want a bug out bag or fuel stored for their vehicle.

Let’s talk about items that will serve preppers well, regardless of their setup or location.

Water Filter

Water, water everywhere but nary a drop to drink.  The timeless words from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge ring true to all.  Does not matter how much water you have, if the water is not safe to drink, you might as well have a single drop.

There are the classic iodine water tablets, Lifestraw, Sawyer, MSR, Katadyn, and water bottles with built in filters.  There is a ridiculous amount of water filters on the market. Do your research and buy wisely.

Portable filter:  Every prepper should have some kind of water filter in their prepping gear.  What about a purifier?  A purifier is for viruses.  If you live in an area where sewage runs into streams, lakes and rivers, get a purifier.

When the water I filter is in doubt, I use a two step process. First, the water is cycled through a Katadyn hiker water filter. Second, a SteriPen is used to kill anything that made it though the filter. The SteriPen uses ultra-violet light to kill bacteria and viruses.

Home filter:  My home filter is a Royal Berkey.  The Royal Berkey is made up of two stainless steel tubes, which are stacked on top of each other.

Pour the water in the top tube, and gravity pulls the water through the filters.  The Royal Berkey can have up to 4 filters with each one filtering an estimated 3,000 gallons.  The filters remove 99.9% of viruses and bacteria.

Something like the Royal Berkey is family sized and portable.  Going to a remote camp for a weekend?  Bring the Berkey along for the trip

Solar Powered Radio

Everyone needs a radio in their prepping gear. It does not matter if they live in a rural area or big city, The public needs a way to get information when the power goes out.

When the power goes off, I find myself doing three things:

• Flipping the light switch on, which is a habit.
• Turn on an AM/FM radio and tune it into a local station.
• Get a book.

Even when there is a complete grid down situation, chances are radio stations will be in operation, at least for a little while.  After hurricanes Ike and Rita made landfall in Southeast Texas, the local radio station was operating on a generator backup and was able to provide locals with important information.

The built in solar cell keeps the radio going when the batteries run out.

Radios like this are not “just” for emergencies.  Use them when there is a family get-together, cook out, or anywhere you may want music playing.

Freeze Dried Food

This is something we covered in another article – stockpiling freeze dried food.  This stuff has a shelf life of up to 30 years.  Freeze dried food is available in pouches and #10 cans.  Pouches serve one or two people, while #10 cans are for family sized meals.

The #10 cans are perfect to store at a bug out location, deer camp, or in a closet.  Since they are made of metal, rodents are unlikely to chew through them.

Pouches are perfect for camping or hiking.  Just add boiling water and wait until it cools to eat.

With regular canned foods, you have to keep up with rotation and expiration dates.

Freeze dried foods, just remember to eat it sometime in the next 30 years.

Well Rounded Prepping Stockpile

There is so much to prepping it would be impossible to cover it all in a single article.  I decided to pick three topics that I thought would fit just about all prepping needs.  These are water, food and communications.

Even in a complete grid down situation, with these three items hopefully you will have safe drinking water, something to eat (if you can boil water), and be able to listen to a local radio station for news.

 

The post Must Have Prepping Essentials in 2017 appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

via All Outdoor
Must Have Prepping Essentials in 2017

Preppers and survivalists are obsessed with bags. Most start with the quintessential Bug Out Bag known colloquially in the survivalist movement as the BOB. Depending on your interpretation of what a BOB needs to be and loaded with what, it is typically a quick grab bag that contains enough supplies to sustain yourself and family for say the first 72 hours of a SHTF event. There are many options and nuances to building out your own personal BOB bag.

What I am here to advocate is not to replace the BOB, but rather to add another option by creating what I will call a Ready Bag. This may in fact in some cases actually duplicate some of the items you might have in the more long term sustainment BOB bag, but it is a bag you would keep in your daily travel vehicle, office, or other location nearby on an everyday basis.

The Ready Bag can contain a lot of useful items, but keep the choices focused on the immediate needs to protect ones’ self in the short term, such as getting from work to home or from home to the grocery and back, or to pick up children at school or daycare in the event of a sudden SHTF occurrence. The Ready Bag is not intended for 2-3-4 days of keeping yourself alive.

So, what would you put in a Ready Bag? Right now my lightweight Ready grab bag has a pistol, four loaded magazines, two canisters of water, two packs of snack crackers (cheese and peanut butter), light gloves, flashlight, compact first aid kit, metropolitan map, flip-open knife, vial of headache meds, and $50 in cash. Other seasonal stuff could be added like a space blanket, wool hat, sunglasses, common OTC meds, and more water. What would you suggest adding?

As to a type of bag, I like a heavy duty bag of nylon, canvas, or Denier material. Thus far I have tested and used bags from L.L. Bean, Filson, Maxpedition, and Tenzing. I like exterior handles to grab, but am not too crazy about the strap ones that have a fold over Velcro ® wrap. Don’t go overboard with the number of smaller outside pockets to confuse things. If your bag goes/rides in a SUV type vehicle where things inside are visible, go with a black bag for low visibility.

We would love to hear your thoughts on a Ready Bag of your own. Give us your thoughts so we can all learn. Nothing is perfect in this business.

The post Pack Your Ready Bag appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

via All Outdoor
Pack Your Ready Bag

via DIYPhotography.net – Photography and Studio Lighting – Do It Yourself
Kodak brings back the legendary Ektachrome film

By now, we’ve talked our heads off about the ILM recreations of 1977 Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher in Rogue One. We’ve talked ethics, quality, and even the process. The last piece is to simply watch how it was done, and now you can.

ABC’s Nightline was given the scoop. They did a piece from Industrial Light and Magic in San Francisco, talked to John Knoll, and revealed never before seen footage of the process of creating not just Tarkin, but Leia too. Check it out.

It’s definitely an interesting video, especially now since Carrie Fisher has passed away. Kind of gives the whole process another layer of contemplation.

You can read (and discuss) more about the process with the below links.

[ABC News]

via Gizmodo
Watch How ILM Brought Back Tarkin and Leia for Rogue One

Your hard drive failing is one of the worst things that can happen to your computer, since you lose tons of data. Fortunately, most drives include a tool set called SMART that can monitor your drive and let you know when you’re about to have a problem.

As the video above from Techquickie explains, SMART monitors all kinds of details about your hard drive including its temperature, vibration levels, bad sectors, write cycles (for SSDs), and tons more. With this data, it can give you an early warning when your hard drive might fail.

However, you have to seek out SMART to use it. The feature is kind of like the diagnostic computer in your car. Your PC doesn’t just come with an app to show you all of that data. There are a couple of ways to access it, though. First, you can use a command prompt. Run the following two commands to see if there are any errors:

wmic

diskdrive get status

If this returns “OK” then your hard drive at least isn’t suffering from critical errors. If it returns something else, you might have a problem. You can also use tools like Passmark DiskCheckup to go into more detail and find out exactly how healthy your hard drive is.

SMART for HDDs/SSDs as Fast As Possible | Techquickie

via Lifehacker
This Video Explains How to Use SMART to Monitor Your Hard Drives For Failures