static function sql_connect ( $sql_details )
	{
		try {
			$db = @new PDO(
				"mysql:host={$sql_details['host']};dbname={$sql_details['db']}",
				$sql_details['user'],
				$sql_details['pass'],
				array( PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION )
			);
		}
		catch (PDOException $e) {
			self::fatal(
				"An error occurred while connecting to the database. ".
				"The error reported by the server was: ".$e->getMessage()
			);
		}
	$db->exec("set names utf8");
		return $db;
	}

$db->exec("set names utf8");
		return $db;