Error 500: Our Lives - Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Web Development, Neat

Episode Description

This week, Robbie and Chuck talk about whiskey on Mondays, parenting chaos, and Chuck’s hot-water disaster. They dive into open-source dependency drama, including the Stylus package getting flagged as malicious, and the TEA app’s massive data leak. They question the stability of NPM, the illusion of software licensing security, and the ethics of data deletion. They also explore how AI is transforming development workflows—sometimes usefully, sometimes hilariously wrong.

In this episode:

(00:00) - Intro
(01:07) - Whiskey review & rating: Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Whiskey
(08:15) - Robbie’s domestic chaos & Chuck’s plumbing nightmare
(13:55) - The Stylus debacle and the fragility of NPM
(19:05) - Insurance headaches, contractor woes, and house stress
(25:16) - Mac Minis, podcast metrics, and behind-the-scenes
(29:09) - Europe drinks better than we do
(30:37) - Tea's data breach
(35:33) - Using AI for real-world dev problems (and plumbing fixes)
(43:01) - Your data is never really deleted
(46:23) - Why podcast metrics are kind of a scam
(47:44) - Big Sky Dev Con live episode
(49:28) - Chuck’s moving to Italy
(50:09) - Jedi Survivor, Destiny 2, and gaming on the road
(55:37) - Plugs

Links

Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Whiskey: https://catoctincreekdistilling.com/roundstone
Rittenhouse: http://heavenhilldistillery.com/rittenhouse-rye.php
Copper Fox Distillery: https://www.copperfoxdistillery.com
Dax: https://x.com/thdxr/
AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/
HashiCorp: https://www.hashicorp.com/
IBM: https://www.ibm.com/
Sagamore Spirit: https://sagamorespirit.com/
Stylus: https://www.npmjs.com/package/stylus
npm 'accidentally' removes Stylus package, breaks builds and pipelines: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/npm-accidentally-removes-stylus-package-breaks-builds-and-pipelines/
Tea: https://www.teaforwomen.com/
Tea encouraged its users to spill. Then the app's data got leaked: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/02/nx-s1-5483886/tea-app-breach-hacked-whisper-networks
NPM: https://www.npmjs.com/
Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/
CSS: https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
JavaScript: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript
npm left-pad incident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_left-pad_incident
FakerJS: https://fakerjs.dev/
David Cramer: https://x.com/zeeg
MIT: https://www.mit.edu
Granted insurance: https://www.grantinsurance.com/
7-Eleven: https://www.7-eleven.com/
Accenture: https://www.accenture.com/
Opera Mini: https://www.opera.com/mini
DHH: https://x.com/dhh/
Lex Fridman Podcast: https://lexfridman.com/podcast/
Mac Mini: https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/
Ember: https://emberjs.com/
Big Sky Dev Con: https://bigskydevcon.com/
HTMX: https://htmx.org/
Adam Argyle: https://x.com/argyleink/
Typecraft: https://typecraft.dev/
iPhone: https://www.apple.com/iphone/
Firebase: https://firebase.google.com/
SQL: https://www.mysql.com/
Supabase: https://supabase.com/
Postgres: https://www.postgresql.org/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
Claude: https://claude.ai/
Windsurf: https://windsurf.ai/
TypeScript: https://www.typescriptlang.org/
Vercel: https://vercel.com/
Shepherd: https://www.shepherdjs.dev/
Cypress: https://www.cypress.io/
Playwright: https://playwright.dev/
React: https://react.dev/
ART19: https://art19.com/
Malort: https://malort.com/
Primeagen: https://x.com/ThePrimeagen
Ken Wheeler: https://x.com/ken_wheeler/
Jedi Survivor: https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/jedi-survivor
Jedi: Fallen Order: https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/jedi-fallen-order
Switch 2: https://www.nintendo.com/us/gaming-systems/switch-2/
Destiny 2: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/destiny
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: https://indianajones.bethesda.net/en-US
Tears of the Kingdom: https://zelda.nintendo.com/tears-of-the-kingdom/
FIFA: https://www.fifa.com/
Breath of the Wild: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Breath_of_the_Wild
Mario Kart World: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/mario-kart-world-switch-2/?srsltid=AfmBOopTg6wc7TCfLihURMUgYx554jK-li2JTJ33ocBEGS9nEEcnO_Ev
Donkey Kong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong
Ocarina of Time: https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time
Anagram: https://danabra.mov/
George Clooney: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clooney
Elon Musk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

Connect with Chuck and Robbie

Robbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner
Chuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd

Subscribe and stay in touch

Website: https://whiskey.fm
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot

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More about Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Web Development, Neat

Veteran web developers RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III host this informal, whiskey-fueled fireside chat with your favorite web devs. They discuss all things web development including JavaScript, TypeScript, EmberJS, React, Astro, SolidJS, CSS, HTML, Web3, and more. They take a unique approach and focus on getting to know the human side of developers and their hobbies outside of work, all while sampling a new whiskey that they rate on their unique tentacle scale.