Jon
@musselwhite.dev
Computer science PhD student at Howard University, homelab tinkerer, digital photographer, and Oxford comma adherent.
📷 joncaptureslight.com
👨💻 musselwhite.dev
📷 joncaptureslight.com
👨💻 musselwhite.dev
Fun fact: Microsoft Exchange Online (and any other SMTP server) has mail flow rules. This is not good for general spam, but it can bounce emails as undeliverable. It's one way of dealing with B2B marketers like Greg Fields who try to pester you into a conversation!
Mail flow rules (transport rules) in Exchange Online
Learn about mail flow rules in Exchange Online.
learn.microsoft.com
December 20, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Fun fact: Microsoft Exchange Online (and any other SMTP server) has mail flow rules. This is not good for general spam, but it can bounce emails as undeliverable. It's one way of dealing with B2B marketers like Greg Fields who try to pester you into a conversation!
@tolin.ski Have you seen this? I was exploring ways to let OpenCode run build tools without letting it run arbitrary shell commands when I stumbled on this plugin. This could reduce the risk of it using shell redirects for the wrong shell and other fun diversions.
GitHub - mark-hingston/opencode-workflows: Workflow automation plugin for OpenCode using Mastra engine
Workflow automation plugin for OpenCode using Mastra engine - mark-hingston/opencode-workflows
github.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
@tolin.ski Have you seen this? I was exploring ways to let OpenCode run build tools without letting it run arbitrary shell commands when I stumbled on this plugin. This could reduce the risk of it using shell redirects for the wrong shell and other fun diversions.
Reposted by Jon
Designing a CPU for Native BASIC
Designing a CPU for Native BASIC
Hackaday Article
hackaday.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Designing a CPU for Native BASIC
Github is going to start charging people by the minute to use their own self-hosted runners? That seems strange. I have used a self-hosted runner for long validation tests, but it doesn't make sense to when it still costs by the minute. I'll probably just switch to a different self-hosted CI.
Pricing changes for GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions pricing update: Discover lower runner rates (up to 39% off) following a major re-architecture for faster, more reliable CI/CD.
resources.github.com
December 16, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Github is going to start charging people by the minute to use their own self-hosted runners? That seems strange. I have used a self-hosted runner for long validation tests, but it doesn't make sense to when it still costs by the minute. I'll probably just switch to a different self-hosted CI.
I'll tell you what, coding with an LLM agent makes it so much easier to keep the big picture in mind and work in discrete steps without getting sidetracked by little things here and there that aren't related to the task at hand. I just wish offline models were a bit better at Rust.
December 14, 2025 at 8:53 PM
I'll tell you what, coding with an LLM agent makes it so much easier to keep the big picture in mind and work in discrete steps without getting sidetracked by little things here and there that aren't related to the task at hand. I just wish offline models were a bit better at Rust.
Writing good unit tests is hard.
December 12, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Writing good unit tests is hard.
After opening the T-Life app on my T-Mobile phone and sifting past their ads to report a scam call, I discovered that the scammers got flagged and blocked as a scam call at first and immediately called back without being flagged. World-class scam blocking foiled by redial.
December 10, 2025 at 8:03 PM
After opening the T-Life app on my T-Mobile phone and sifting past their ads to report a scam call, I discovered that the scammers got flagged and blocked as a scam call at first and immediately called back without being flagged. World-class scam blocking foiled by redial.
Microsoft is so annoying after an update. No, I don't want recommended settings. I chose mine intentionally, thank you. No, I don't want to log into a Microsoft account. I prefer my existing local acco-- wait, where's the skip button? That's it. The apps that need Windows are going in a VM.
December 9, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Microsoft is so annoying after an update. No, I don't want recommended settings. I chose mine intentionally, thank you. No, I don't want to log into a Microsoft account. I prefer my existing local acco-- wait, where's the skip button? That's it. The apps that need Windows are going in a VM.
If a company is showing different "original" prices to different customers simultaneously, they are defrauding their customers. Every State's Attorney General should be filing criminal charges.
Instacart’s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill, CR and Groundwork Collaborative Investigation Finds - Consumer Reports
Exclusive: Instacart’s AI pricing may be inflating your grocery bill.
www.consumerreports.org
December 9, 2025 at 7:49 PM
If a company is showing different "original" prices to different customers simultaneously, they are defrauding their customers. Every State's Attorney General should be filing criminal charges.
I've seen several blog posts recently pushing the virtues of unwrap, as if it's in danger of being eliminated now, but there are much better ways of handling options. The user of an app isn't interested in a stack trace that says an unwrap failed, especially if they can't even see the stack trace.
November 22, 2025 at 5:17 AM
I've seen several blog posts recently pushing the virtues of unwrap, as if it's in danger of being eliminated now, but there are much better ways of handling options. The user of an app isn't interested in a stack trace that says an unwrap failed, especially if they can't even see the stack trace.
Yes. Any backup strategy is better than no backup strategy. Improvements can always be made, like adding automation, remote storage, multiple storage mediums, time-based snapshots, etc., but perfection is the enemy of progress. Something is better than nothing.
November 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Yes. Any backup strategy is better than no backup strategy. Improvements can always be made, like adding automation, remote storage, multiple storage mediums, time-based snapshots, etc., but perfection is the enemy of progress. Something is better than nothing.
Shout out to Mountaineer Gas for requiring new customers to be present at the location all day because they won't require their technicians to call in advance no matter how frigidly cold it is there at the vacant house.
November 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Shout out to Mountaineer Gas for requiring new customers to be present at the location all day because they won't require their technicians to call in advance no matter how frigidly cold it is there at the vacant house.
Reviewing a product on Costco's website feels applying for a credit card at a credit union. I don't know how to explain it. Why does it need my member number when I'm logged in??
October 31, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reviewing a product on Costco's website feels applying for a credit card at a credit union. I don't know how to explain it. Why does it need my member number when I'm logged in??
Google Pay doesn't work on GrapheneOS because it apparently offers too much security by adding the ability to block network and sensors. Very odd.
October 31, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Google Pay doesn't work on GrapheneOS because it apparently offers too much security by adding the ability to block network and sensors. Very odd.
Reposted by Jon
"We’ve reached out to Google to inquire about why a custom ROM created by volunteers [@grapheneos.org] is more resistant to industrial phone hacking than the official Pixel OS. We’ll update this article if Google has anything to say." arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...
Leaker reveals which Pixels are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking
Cellebrite can apparently extract data from most Pixel phones, unless they’re running GrapheneOS.
arstechnica.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:14 AM
"We’ve reached out to Google to inquire about why a custom ROM created by volunteers [@grapheneos.org] is more resistant to industrial phone hacking than the official Pixel OS. We’ll update this article if Google has anything to say." arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...
This video makes a good point about LLM usage in automations. When the desired result has a single well-defined correct answer, write some actual code to do it (or have an LLM write it). It's cheaper and takes the RNG out of the loop.
Some devs are leaning a bit too hard on AI for solutions and workflow.
In my latest video I show a few examples and give some advice on what to do / use instead.
Watch 🍿 www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBK...
In my latest video I show a few examples and give some advice on what to do / use instead.
Watch 🍿 www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBK...
Stop Using AI For This
YouTube video by Syntax
www.youtube.com
October 30, 2025 at 1:20 PM
This video makes a good point about LLM usage in automations. When the desired result has a single well-defined correct answer, write some actual code to do it (or have an LLM write it). It's cheaper and takes the RNG out of the loop.
This is why I advise organizations to containerize all apps for Kubernetes instead of making them with a cloud service's proprietary tools. That way, you won't be dependent on a single cloud provider when they experience an outage or if you need to pivot for any other reason.
1980: the internet routing system provides a virtually unlimited number of paths between any two machines to ensure maximum connectivity and resiliency
2025: can't flush the toilet because AWS East is down
2025: can't flush the toilet because AWS East is down
October 20, 2025 at 5:30 PM
This is why I advise organizations to containerize all apps for Kubernetes instead of making them with a cloud service's proprietary tools. That way, you won't be dependent on a single cloud provider when they experience an outage or if you need to pivot for any other reason.
Recently, I reposted a link to a blog post describing an MIT study that showed an accumulation of cognitive debt when using AI writing assistants. This morning, I discovered the blog is also full of pseudoscience, so I have deleted those links and am sharing a direct link to the study instead.
Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task
This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and Brain-only (no tools). Each completed thr...
arxiv.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Recently, I reposted a link to a blog post describing an MIT study that showed an accumulation of cognitive debt when using AI writing assistants. This morning, I discovered the blog is also full of pseudoscience, so I have deleted those links and am sharing a direct link to the study instead.
This is an exciting development! A huge challenge in software freedom on mobile devices is the lack of open source drivers. Imagine being able to install a Linux-based distribution of choice on a mobile device and having it just work instead of being limited to whichever distro supports your phone.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced "Librephone," a new project aimed at achieving complete mobile phone freedom for users from Google and Apple. Can they be successful where industry leaders like Ubuntu failed previously?
FSF announces Librephone project — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software
"Forty years ago, when the FSF was founded, our focus was on providing an operating system people could use on desktop and server computers in freedom. Times have changed, technology has progressed, but our commitment to freedom hasn't," said Zoë Kooyman, executive director of the FSF. "A lot of work has been done in mobile phone freedom over the years that we'll be building on. The FSF is now ready to do what is necessary to bring freedom to cell phone users. Given the complexity of the devices, this work will take time, but we're used to playing the long game."
www.fsf.org
October 15, 2025 at 8:43 PM
This is an exciting development! A huge challenge in software freedom on mobile devices is the lack of open source drivers. Imagine being able to install a Linux-based distribution of choice on a mobile device and having it just work instead of being limited to whichever distro supports your phone.
Reposted by Jon
it's kinda weird that all the software i am expected to use for work are all written by distributed teams, go, python, postgres, linux, chrome, k8s etc
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
October 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
it's kinda weird that all the software i am expected to use for work are all written by distributed teams, go, python, postgres, linux, chrome, k8s etc
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
It's too late. They showed their hand. It's not wise to buy gear from a company that is trying to find ways to limit consumer choice. They'll just try again later.
FAFO moment: Synology drops unpopular proprietary HDD rule to stop plummeting NAS sales. www.guru3d.com/story/synolo...
Synology Reverses Policy Banning Third-Party HDDs After NAS sales plummet
Synology has backtracked on one of its most unpopular decisions in years. After seeing NAS sales plummet in 2025, the company has decided to lift restrictions that forced users to buy its own Synology...
www.guru3d.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:42 AM
It's too late. They showed their hand. It's not wise to buy gear from a company that is trying to find ways to limit consumer choice. They'll just try again later.
The concept of a total loss on a comprehensive car insurance policy is terribly wasteful because it silently diminishes the value of the policy every year even as rates stay the same while the replacement cost rises, leading to situations where the car is "totaled" over cosmetic damage.
September 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
The concept of a total loss on a comprehensive car insurance policy is terribly wasteful because it silently diminishes the value of the policy every year even as rates stay the same while the replacement cost rises, leading to situations where the car is "totaled" over cosmetic damage.
This is a good reminder that LLM interfaces use a random number generator to select the next token in a stream from a short list of most likely options based on data observed during training. That's not intelligence. That's dumb luck, no matter how lucky it can seem.
September 22, 2025 at 4:48 PM
This is a good reminder that LLM interfaces use a random number generator to select the next token in a stream from a short list of most likely options based on data observed during training. That's not intelligence. That's dumb luck, no matter how lucky it can seem.
Loan scammers adding insult to injury in their robocall by saying "this may be the last chance to wrap this up" as if they'll actually stop calling about a "loan" that is in the "final stages of being approved." ...
September 15, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Loan scammers adding insult to injury in their robocall by saying "this may be the last chance to wrap this up" as if they'll actually stop calling about a "loan" that is in the "final stages of being approved." ...
Tuesdays are the most annoying day to be on T-Mobile. They dropped their Scam Shield app and put that feature in their "T-Life" app, which runs much slower on Tuesdays -- the days when ad sales are more important than customer experience. No, I don't want a FREE drink (with $8 purchase), thanks T.
September 9, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Tuesdays are the most annoying day to be on T-Mobile. They dropped their Scam Shield app and put that feature in their "T-Life" app, which runs much slower on Tuesdays -- the days when ad sales are more important than customer experience. No, I don't want a FREE drink (with $8 purchase), thanks T.