Time has been flying lately. I’ve migrated the library news links to a new blog, but it’ll remain behind the scenes for now while I tackle a major reorganization. Today’s the final day for an RFP to manage library services for the county. The trustees have issued a press release that seems like it gives a good summary of the latest developments.

Samuels Library Stands By Community Partnership in Response to County RFP

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the library lately for research. On Tuesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m., I’m also available to help with tech support during a walk-in program called “What the Tech!”. The issues people bring in are incredibly diverse—anything from setting up a Fitbit, creating a résumé, or learning to use the internet, to configuring a domain name for a website, translating foreign-language web pages with a phone camera, locating airline tickets in email, or even recovering a hacked computer.

My laser puzzle workshop went pretty well overall, though there were a few unexpected challenges. I’ve volunteered to lead another session in May and plan to adjust the instruction to better fit the wide range of participants. I’ll make it easier for beginners by setting up a simple drag-and-drop option to etch an image and cut the puzzle, while also offering more advanced steps for those interested in image prep and puzzle design.

We’re also (maybe) considering a separate design workshop for those interested in graphic design, potentially covering Adobe tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere, or free alternatives like GIMP and Inkscape. I may also get involved with supporting the 3D printer. The biggest obstacle right now is finding enough time—but I’m hopeful that things will settle down after July.

LUG

The Front Royal LEGO Users Group (LUG) recently met at the library again. Having a consistent meeting space with an online reservation system has made planning much easier. One of the founding members stepped up to help manage our Discord Server and blog, playing a key role in revitalizing the group after I had to step away for a bit.

After a new member had left early, it was just a few programmers remaining in the room. The discussion began talking about a Lego Universe emulator called Darkflame Universe. I hadn’t heard of the emulator, and the Lego Universe had been gone for years.

There’s also a chance my Scavenger Hunt Game might make a return. It’s been a year since I figured out how to display, animate, paint, manipulate, and interact with 3D elements in a browser, scan QR codes, and even transfer files between devices using sound—all within a webpage. I even figured out how to use NURBS, import/export Second Life sculpty maps, and shake my fist at the difficulty of working with UV mapping on those sculpties. It was a huge technical challenge to work out all of the building blocks, but after getting some encouragement recently, I’m thinking about revisiting it since people find it pretty unique along with the offline distributed nature of the concept to remove the reliance on the internet in order to play the game, transfer collectable objects between friends, and the ability to paint skins and modify geometry with your web browser on a phone, tablet, or computer.

We also discussed my custom archival system, which could even be (unlikely) adapted for LEGO inventories. It was originally designed for research and collection management at the Masonic Lodge. The Warren Heritage Society currently uses Past Perfect—but as a programmer, I found the software frustrating. It’s based on a flat DBase file system, requiring full downloads of the database for searches and forced logouts for reindexing. It’s slow, crashes, and isn’t web-based. Due to budget constraints, they stuck with it despite its inefficiencies. I had offered to build a tailored solution that I could also market to others, but it was declined. However, a new director has joined who seems equally unimpressed with Past Perfect, so there may be hope for change.