If you want to make a PHP package available that works on versions of PHP from 5.3 to 8.0, testing is a giant pain. There are versions of phpunit that work for each, but none that works for all. Additionally, the basic class names changed at some point in the past. Getting all of this to run on Travis, including running code coverage (but only once for each build!) was a complex series of trials, but I finally figured out the correct .travis.yml incantation, along with a magic test wrapper for aliasing classes
Jan 19th: A blast from the past - Achievement Unlocked is a fun parody of achievements in modern games. The link for hints is broken, but the solutions can still be found here
Jan 18th: I've updated my 2020 reading list. In contrast to 2019, where I finished 116 books, I only completed 72 in 2020. This is largely due to the pandemic, no longer having a daily commute, but also not traveling around the world.
My favorites of the year:
- Agency - Drones, Book 3, by William Gibson - Excellent finale to his latest trilogy and set in San Francisco.
- Edit: Simon Wistow points out that it's really book 2, and that Archangel is 'book 1.5'. A third book might still happen
- Billion Dollar Whale, by Bradley Hope - Incredible story of the man who stole billions of dollars from the Malaysian government and has evaded justice
Jan 6th: I created a couple of google maps helpers when I was working on personal projects a few years ago, but this tutorial on adding custom tooltips to overlay shapes was super useful.
Jan 6th: I can't remember who linked me to blocks, but it's pretty fun. The sound effects are... something else. Unfortunately it seems to sometimes lose your progress.
Bert was getting tired of tapping his yubikey, so rigged up a system to do it for him:
I showed this to someone and they said, “So.. you built a button that you press that will press a button? Why not just press the button?” which was a bit infuriating because they clearly missed the whole point. “Don’t you get it? This button BAD, but this button GOOD. Me want to press GOOD button.”

Sep 16th: This is a really fun write up of what you can do with someone's airline boarding card information, and a long journey to ensure responsible disclosure.
Aug 31st: A few months after I imported the crazy Japanese toaster, the Balmuda finally went on sale on the US. I've only tried the Mitsubishi TO-ST1-T, but I can definitely confirm it makes some amazing toast.
Aug 27th: If you're missing the soothing sounds of being in an office with coworkers, sound of colleagues is a good fill-in
Aug 11th: I wish this make your own halloumi kit was shipping to the US. That seems like a great quarantine project.