PyGest: A Python Tkinter Tutorial, Part 3

This is part three in our Python tkinter tutorial series on building a simple GUI app to compute and check file hash values. In part two, we added a banner header to our bare bones view by inserting a tkinter label into our app's content frame. In this segment, we will build out our app's various input widgets. Recall our mockup design:

Space Station Sunday: The "One Year Crew" Is Up And Running (Well, Floating)

Good evening, space fans!  It's been a very successful week for spacefaring.  Here's what's up!

Dear Mars: we're thinking about you.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

True Story: New "StoryCorps" App Aims To Preserve Diverse Histories

Since the dawn of mankind, humans have passed down traditions, songs, legends, folklore, family history, and more via the medium of storytelling.  In modern day, transcribed oral histories have lent insight into some of the most important events of recorded time.  Now, a method to preserve these tales for the ages has been made easy in app form.

"That's how much of my intestinal tract the German bomb eviscerated,
but I still bayoneted five of 'em before I passed out."
-"Uh...Dad, weren't you born in Ecuador?  In 1950?"
(Image courtesy lifehacker.com.)

Rocket From Russia: Space Tourism Back In Action For 2018

With the tomorrow's launch of The One Year Crew as an experiment in sustained spacefaring, many civilians are wondering when we get to have a turn.  Fear not, prospective astro-adventurers...Russia may have your ticket to fly...

A Soyuz rocket in action.  Feel like taking a spin?
(Image courtesy darkroom.baltimoresun.com.)

Time Travel By Telephone: New App Shows Classic Pics At Scenic "Pivot Points"

Who doesn't enjoy the notion of time travelling to a different era in the past?  Speculating on the places, people, and events that have preceded your life is one of humanity's great fascinations, even as we stretch further into the future.  Now, although we can't physically poke around the past, a new app allows for a different type of this temporal trip...

It's like an inter-era Instagram.
(Image courtesy laughingsquid.com.)

Will The Force(field) Be With Us? Boeing Patents An Electromagnetic Shield

Shields have been the companion to swords since time immemorial...across numerous fields of war and peace, many will claim that the best offense is a good defense.  Now, Boeing has thrown down (and up, and sideways) on this notion, and patented an electromagnetic force field.

This is part of the actual patent.  How awesome is that?
(Image courtesy ibitimes.co.uk.)

Mini-Black Holes? Extra Dimensions? CERN Has An Exciting Week Ahead

Ever (ever) wonder (wonder) about (about) parallel (parallel) universes (universes)?  We might learn a whole lot more about them after a new round of experiments at CERN this week...

Smashing atoms, looking smashing.
(Image courtesy en.wikipedia.org.)

Space Station Sunday: The "One Year Crew" Saddles Up For Space

Good afternoon, space fans!  It was a (relatively) quiet week on the International Space Station, but that's just because some serious scientific strides are about to take place!

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko,
the "One Year Crew", prepare to leave Earth for an extended space stay.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

Art And Sole: New E-Ink Shoes Sport Different, Programmable Designs

Ladies, we know it's difficult finding that perfect pair of pumps to match your outfit.  Now, thanks to the futuristic fashion known as iShüu, you can customize your kicks for whatever occasion...

Whether you're meandering, moseying, walking or waltzing, iShüu has something for you.
(Image courtesy blog.gsmarena.com.) 

Mars Barred: "Mars One" Reality Show A Spacefaring Scam

Sure, the idea has tremendous allure: pick a group of random and possibly strange humans, send them to a faraway untouched planet, and record the whole thing for the entertainment of Earthlings.  The "Mars One" reality show intends to do exactly this.  The problem?  Science isn't on their side...

PyGest: A Python Tkinter Tutorial, Part 2

This is part two in our Python tkinter tutorial series. In part one, we defined the basic structure of our script, set up a logger, and got the root window of our GUI application up and running in the app's single view class. In the present article, we'll begin work on the main view in earnest. We will configure the tkinter root object, create and configure a single frame to hold all the app's contents, and then create our app's title banner. First, however, we should discuss how to structure the layout of a Python tkinter application, and our strategy for doing so in the present project.

3D Throwdown: Get Hip To CLIP

It's now apparent that 3D-printing technology is going to play a major role in the future, from medical devices to housing to parts for the International Space Station.  Now, a streamlined system for materializing 3D objects has been unveiled, and it's amazing what's drawn up from the depths...

Those crazy elements are at it again...
(Image courtesy tctmagazine.com.)

Carpooling Goes Commercial: New "Via" App Sends Pooled Passengers To Mutual Destinations

In a city of millions, one often wonders who else might be going their way, or at least in that general direction.  For the urbanites who might be accustomed to not speaking with their vast number of neighbors, a new app has handled these transportation logistics for them...

Bail on the hail.  Hit up the Via app.
(Image courtesy allposters.com.)

Space Station Sunday: Space Falls And Baseballs

Good evening, space fans!  Welcome to this week's observations on outstanding news from orbit.

Welcome home, Expedition 42!
(Image courtesy NASA/Bill Ingalls.)

Because Buzz! Master Moonman's New Space Race Game Debuts

Buzz Aldrin has had an amazing life:  West Point cadet, pilot, NASA astronaut, second man on the moon, and current Martian space initiative devotee.  Now, you can share some of his astro-adventures thanks to Aldrin's new iPad game, Space Program Manager - Road To The Moon...

Saddle up, rocket jockeys!
(Image courtesy store.steampowered.com.)

On With The Wind: Over A Third Of U.S. Power To Be Won From Wind By 2050

Abundant energy is there for the taking thanks to natural, sustainable sources, and now, the U.S. thinks that harnessing even more of it may (literally) be a breeze...

The powers-that-be are upping American wind power.
(Image courtesy cleanandgreenlaw.com.)

Thinking Green On The Red Planet: Dry Ice Engine Could Propel Spaceships To Mars

Mars has emerged as a major spacefaring destination for the coming decades, but ideas on how to get there are still up in the air (well, lack of air, technically.)  Now, a new idea that would utilize sustainable Martian resources for fuel has got scientists gassed to head to the red planet...

An image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows abundant dry ice deposits.
Could this be the new rocket fuel?
(Image courtesy socialphy.com.)

 

PyGest: A Python Tkinter Tutorial, Part 1

This is part one in our tutorial series on building a simple Python GUI app with tkinter. You can find the introductory article to the series at the link. In this article, we'll get things up and running by filling out the basic structure for our Python script and the application itself. We'll add a top level comment, define the necessary imports, set up our main name space, define the main function, and then configure a logger to aid in sanity checking . . .

PyGest: A Python tkinter Tutorial, Introduction

In this tutorial series, we are going to build a simple file hashing application using the Python standard library's interface to the TK GUI toolkit: tkinter. One can find some resistance to using tkinter in the Python community. However, my interest in tkinter was recently rekindled after watching "Tinkering with Tkinter", a presentation by Russel Keith-Magee, in which the Django developer makes a strong case for revisiting this often overlooked and under-appreciated component of the Python standard library . . .

Solar More Than Solo: Community Energy Gardens Growing In Power

With the opportunities for sustainable energy sources growing more acceptable, abundant, and affordable every day, it behooves the users of such power to understand its possible new impact for entire communities at large.  After all, once the tides (and windmills, and solar panels) turn to making sustainable energy the main source of power for communities in the way that nuclear or gas have previously, large numbers of people will all be invested in the infrastructure together.  Now, that idea has sprouted a garden of its own...

No sunflowers, but lots of sun power getting harvested in a solar garden.
(Image courtesy joinmosaic.com.)

Space Station Sunday: Space Swap

Good afternoon, space fans!  After all of the excitement with last week's spacewalks, the ISS crew are pleased with their results, but several of them are also ready to return back home.  A very special crew is set to replace the Expedition 42 team...

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko
pay a traditional pre-flight tribute in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

ACLU: None Of NSA's Phone Surveillance Stopped "A Single Terrorist Attack"

While the NSA has been monitoring all of our phone calls, it seems they've been phoning it in regarding any hint of actually stopping terrorism.  According to a report released by the ACLU this week, none of the NSA's "intelligence gathering" via phone records have helped to thwart a single terrorist attack...

Power To The Peeing People: New Prototype Toilet Converts Urine To Electricity

Techniques for harnessing sustainable energy have expanded tremendously in the last few years, and power has been found to be accessible from some rather unorthodox sources.  Now, gathering power is apparently as easy as taking a trip to the restroom...

"Drink up!  We're pee-powering the nation of Rwanda tonight!"
(Image courtesy blog.cureus.com.)

The Good, The Bad, And The Shutdown: New Apps For Feelings (And Lack Thereof)

Feeling down on yourself in this cruel world, and need a bright note to cheer up your day?  Or do you prefer balling up your hatred and slinging it recklessly at another?  Thanks to miraculous modern technology, there are apps to abet both...

"Yo Mama's so dumb, even her smartphone counts on its fingers!"
-"That's not very nice, Greg.  Do you need a Positive Compliment?"
(Image courtesy shutterstock.com.)
 

Planes On The Brain: Non-Aviatrix "Flies" An F-35 Simulator Thanks To Neural Signalling

Ever have one of those dreams where you're flying?  What if you could do the next best thing in real life and control a plane with your mind?  Now, the U.S. military has designed a way to make this possible...

Forget flying by the seat of your pants...now you can fly by the seat of your mind!
(Image courtesy globalresearch.ca.)

No Wires Required: Ikea To Offer New Furniture With Inductive Charging Pads

It's been a universal human quest since the dawn of mankind:  the lust for power.  Now, Ikea is making that quest a little easier, thanks to a new line of wireless charging furniture...

"+" marks the spot for the treasure of phone-charging power.
(Image courtesy gizmodo.com.)

Space Station Sunday: Spacewalk On The Wild Side

Good evening, space fans!  What a successful week for space station stories...

All good in the orbital hood.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)