blob = binary large object
i guess all u need to do is convert the (combined) binary characters to a long integer
in your example:
the blob contains '~4<'
'~' = (dec) 126 = (hex) 7E
'4' = (dec) 52 = (hex) 34
'<' = (dec) 60 = (hex) 3C
value = 126 * 256^2 + 52 * 256 + 60 = 8270908 bytes
or
value = 60 * 256^2 + 52 * 256 + 126 = 3945598 bytes
not sure which one is the right one
