It appears that we have already gotten through the first quarter of 2024.
Projects
Software
As usual, I have been working on some web applications now written in Rust.
The website
After starting to use an iPhone XR for social media purposes, I checked how my website is displayed on iOS Safari. I noticed section background videos on the "About" page would open fullscreen, not load or not play automatically. I added the "loop" and "playsinline" attributes to the video elements in order to fix this.
Releases 1.5.3, 1.5.4 and 1.5.5 were deployed this week. All of these releases covered fixes.
ContactList
Within this week, I have made siginficant progress with rewriting ContactList in Rust using the Actix Web framework.
This is my first time using the Diesel ORM (Object–relational mapping) and the first time successfully using databases with Rust. Just like ContactList written in Python, a build script generates the schema used by the ORM. However, I am still considering switching back to using SQL directly instead of using an ORM since the dynamic generation of the schema may defeat the purpose of using an ORM. I am still new to the software development topic of database management so how I go about this may change.
SLAG
SLAG's development continues to be dormant because of my work on other projects. With the inactivity in the Discord guild for the college club that I manage, the bot is not really needed at the moment.
Automotive and Mechanical
NetKart remains the only automotive project that I have worked on outside of repairs to other vehicles (i.e. 2005 Chevy Tahoe).
NetKart (Phase 2)
On Saturday, March 30, 2024, great progress with the NetKart progress was made. Me and my father reassembled the engine to the point where it can be started to test the CVT (Continously Variable Transmission.
The fuel system had watered-down gasoline since it was last ran in early-mid 2021. After cleaning the carburetor and tank and adding some gasoline, the engine started and ran.
The rubber mounts allowed the engine to move too much, having the belt slip off from the drive pulley. The rubber mounts were meant more for mounting an engine on a generator and not meant for applications with high torque such as a go kart. Instead, we may use a steel beam between polyurethane dampeners on the front and the back of the engine.
<video controls src="/static/blog/16/netkart_cvt_test.mp4"></video>
This was a great achievement given that it has not ran since mid-2021 and the transmission worked. As seen in the video, a lot more work is required before "Phase 2" is considered finished.
Creative Work
Like last week, I have been doing some work with level design when not working on a software project.
Portal 2
I have continued to demonstrate ideas for "The Hall". Recently, I decided to have each door for each "classroom" in the main hallway lead to a completely different area where the player would complete objectives. This makes use of the "linkedportaldoor" entities exclusive to Portal 2 Source (and any mods relating to Portal 2).
In a couple hours, I have already gotten halfway through designing the first area.
Personal
The last couple weeks were important for personal development. I have been mostly working on ways to have more social interaction, which has been difficult given my field of work and hobbies.
On March 25, 2024, I rejoined Instagram for personal use following the events on March 16, 2024 (see Week 11 blog post). This decision was made after planning to using Instagram for mostly interacting with others that I know in person or I know are nearby. To ensure effectiveness, I avoid "Explore", "Reels" or any other feature that feeds the user random content; use it strictly for helping with social interaction.
The account name is @ctcl.bregis which is the same as the former account but with a "." instead of "_".
One may notice in some content that I post on Instagram that I am using an iOS device. I started to use my former phone, an iPhone XR, exclusively for social media use instead of the ASUS Zenfone 9 that I currently use. The use of a separate smartphone is mostly due to computer security and privacy reasons but this can also help with minimizing excessive use. Instagram in the past has proven to be dangerous if not used correctly.
Along with starting @ctcl.bregis for personal use again, I have made another post for @nonmonolithic which is the first post since November 6, 2023; days before November 9, 2023 where I stopped using Instagram again.
I have noticed some web visits from Instagram already. From March 26 to March 28, 2024, I have seen five unique web visitors from the Instagram app. All of these presumably from the main account and not @nonmonolithic as they start at the "About" page.
Already, within the four days that I have started to use Instagram again for strictly personal and social use, outside of @nonmonolithic, it was been quite useful.