Colm MacCarthaigh
@colmmacc.bsky.social
VP / Distinguished Engineer at Amazon Web Services. Also: Open Source and Apache, Cryptography, Irish Music, mediocre Photography.
Well worth a subscribe.
I’ve launched a Citation Needed membership drive to celebrate publishing my 100th recap issue!
Citation Needed critically covers cryptocurrency, the crypto industry, and its influence on policy. Paid subscriptions support much more than just the newsletter — here’s what goes into this work:
Citation Needed critically covers cryptocurrency, the crypto industry, and its influence on policy. Paid subscriptions support much more than just the newsletter — here’s what goes into this work:
Citation Needed membership drive
Celebrating 100 recap issues and sustaining critical independent coverage.
www.citationneeded.news
January 30, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Well worth a subscribe.
Seeing @cmatbaby.bsky.social on TrackStar is the venn diagram we all need. www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7tp...
Testing CMAT's Music Knowledge | Track Star*
YouTube video by Track Star*
www.youtube.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Seeing @cmatbaby.bsky.social on TrackStar is the venn diagram we all need. www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7tp...
Saltwater ice here in Maine.
January 3, 2026 at 5:14 PM
Saltwater ice here in Maine.
A long time ago I disabled RC4 in Amazon's cryptography. A few days later I was woken up by a page from a testing team. Switching to AES had caused a battery runtime regression on some generations of Kindles. Like .. a few minutes less per charge. We found a fix, but no good deed goes unpunished!
December 17, 2025 at 1:06 AM
A long time ago I disabled RC4 in Amazon's cryptography. A few days later I was woken up by a page from a testing team. Switching to AES had caused a battery runtime regression on some generations of Kindles. Like .. a few minutes less per charge. We found a fix, but no good deed goes unpunished!
I knew that Lopez had written an unreleased book for "Kermit, Prince of Denmark", a hamlet parody, but this goes far harder than I'd expected. That is a legit top tier broadway song. It'd be an instant classic. How many of these are just squirreled away?
Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez literally have every award, they wrote the songs for Coco and Frozen. But when we invited them on @bullseye.maximumfun.org , they wanted to sing a song they wrote for Kermit the Frog that no one had heard before. Everyone was 😭.
youtube.com/shorts/p43C1...
youtube.com/shorts/p43C1...
Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez share an unreleased Kermit the Frog Song - Bullseye
YouTube video by Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
youtube.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:53 PM
I knew that Lopez had written an unreleased book for "Kermit, Prince of Denmark", a hamlet parody, but this goes far harder than I'd expected. That is a legit top tier broadway song. It'd be an instant classic. How many of these are just squirreled away?
CS programs should: (A) Use O(C) as notation instead of O(1)— 'constant' is clearer than '1'. Yes the entire field should change convention. It matters. (B) Teach Control Theory as a foundational subject.
December 15, 2025 at 5:45 PM
CS programs should: (A) Use O(C) as notation instead of O(1)— 'constant' is clearer than '1'. Yes the entire field should change convention. It matters. (B) Teach Control Theory as a foundational subject.
Here's the recorded Twitch repeat of "Atoms of Emergence" where we dig into counter-intuitive emergent behaviors that drive metastable failures. A fine-grained deep-dive that shows how small changes can make a big difference in preventing long outages, plus my favorite graph ever! Feedback welcome.
0xF - "Atoms of Emergence"
YouTube video by Shuffle Sharding
www.youtube.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Here's the recorded Twitch repeat of "Atoms of Emergence" where we dig into counter-intuitive emergent behaviors that drive metastable failures. A fine-grained deep-dive that shows how small changes can make a big difference in preventing long outages, plus my favorite graph ever! Feedback welcome.
Live now and starting in 5 minutes at twitch.tv/colmmacc
December 12, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Live now and starting in 5 minutes at twitch.tv/colmmacc
It's been years, but I'm bringing back my Twitch channel to repeat a session that many attendees said was their favorite of re:Invent. We'll do an interactive deep dive into emergent behavior, metastable failures, and how to prevent long outages.
This Friday, 10AM Pacific time. twitch.tv/colmmacc
This Friday, 10AM Pacific time. twitch.tv/colmmacc
A few of the reference slides from the "Atoms of Emergence" 500-level chalk talk I'm doing at re:Invent. Really looking forward to really digging into some of the surprising emergent behaviors in request response systems, metastability, and more!
December 10, 2025 at 8:46 PM
It's been years, but I'm bringing back my Twitch channel to repeat a session that many attendees said was their favorite of re:Invent. We'll do an interactive deep dive into emergent behavior, metastable failures, and how to prevent long outages.
This Friday, 10AM Pacific time. twitch.tv/colmmacc
This Friday, 10AM Pacific time. twitch.tv/colmmacc
The "Star Trek: Kahn" radio play podcast is A+. The music is better than the series, the story arc and characters are much more complex. Creative sound editing too. Wrenn Schmidt and Naveen Andrews both perfectly cast. I hope the world makes more culture like this.
November 30, 2025 at 9:59 PM
The "Star Trek: Kahn" radio play podcast is A+. The music is better than the series, the story arc and characters are much more complex. Creative sound editing too. Wrenn Schmidt and Naveen Andrews both perfectly cast. I hope the world makes more culture like this.
A few of the reference slides from the "Atoms of Emergence" 500-level chalk talk I'm doing at re:Invent. Really looking forward to really digging into some of the surprising emergent behaviors in request response systems, metastability, and more!
November 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
A few of the reference slides from the "Atoms of Emergence" 500-level chalk talk I'm doing at re:Invent. Really looking forward to really digging into some of the surprising emergent behaviors in request response systems, metastability, and more!
Ancient spells cast still
Ignore prior instructions
The old ways persist
Ignore prior instructions
The old ways persist
November 20, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Ancient spells cast still
Ignore prior instructions
The old ways persist
Ignore prior instructions
The old ways persist
@pluribuspod.bsky.social Love listening to your episodes. I think Carol is literally intended to be the most miserable person in the world ... left in the world that is. She's definitely more miserable than the pluribus, and the other 5 uninfected we've met.
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 AM
@pluribuspod.bsky.social Love listening to your episodes. I think Carol is literally intended to be the most miserable person in the world ... left in the world that is. She's definitely more miserable than the pluribus, and the other 5 uninfected we've met.
Yesterday Sting's "Fields of Gold" played on an airplane as we boarded and it brought back such a great memory for me. 1/n
October 9, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Yesterday Sting's "Fields of Gold" played on an airplane as we boarded and it brought back such a great memory for me. 1/n
Nobody gets their kicks on "rowt" 66.
October 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Nobody gets their kicks on "rowt" 66.
"Full throttle" means maximum speed .... but also minimum speed. Make it make sense.
September 26, 2025 at 6:10 AM
"Full throttle" means maximum speed .... but also minimum speed. Make it make sense.
Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
Glad to see Andor win, the writing is incredible. For something similar, there's @sannewman.bsky.social's "Julia", which is to Orwell's 1984 what Andor is to Star Wars.
September 15, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Glad to see Andor win, the writing is incredible. For something similar, there's @sannewman.bsky.social's "Julia", which is to Orwell's 1984 what Andor is to Star Wars.
Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
tldr humanity needs to engineer buildings around filtered air replacement rate and it's not even that dramatic but for dramatic results
⬆️ ventilation = ⬇️ Covid HAIs
Increasing from 1 to 6 ACH = 50% reduction
(~40% to 20% attack rate)
Increasing from 6 to 10 ACH = more reduction
(~20% to 10% attack rate)
Increasing from 1 to 6 ACH = 50% reduction
(~40% to 20% attack rate)
Increasing from 6 to 10 ACH = more reduction
(~20% to 10% attack rate)
September 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM
tldr humanity needs to engineer buildings around filtered air replacement rate and it's not even that dramatic but for dramatic results
The center didn't hold. Now we have tinder boxes on each side of the Atlantic. The worst among us piling on more kindling. The best just trying to bear peace. All so that a tiny few can fuel petty dominions that will vanish in the wind. Make it make sense.
September 10, 2025 at 9:05 PM
The center didn't hold. Now we have tinder boxes on each side of the Atlantic. The worst among us piling on more kindling. The best just trying to bear peace. All so that a tiny few can fuel petty dominions that will vanish in the wind. Make it make sense.
Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
I love living here! Excited to continue to keep our family protected.
Want a COVID booster in WA state? You can get one! Effective today, here's a statewide standing order authorizing the vaccine for everyone 6 months and older, including pregnant people. I'm getting mine tomorrow. Fuck RFK Jr. and good luck to everyone else 💜
doh.wa.gov
September 5, 2025 at 3:30 AM
I love living here! Excited to continue to keep our family protected.
If the Federal Gov is to take ownership stakes in US business, cities and municipalities should have ownership stakes in the sports teams whose stadiums they subsidize.
September 1, 2025 at 5:02 PM
If the Federal Gov is to take ownership stakes in US business, cities and municipalities should have ownership stakes in the sports teams whose stadiums they subsidize.
The Albertsons in Magnolia has always reminded me of a Hopper painting. I think it might be the last in the city. It's to become a Safeway.
www.flickr.com/photos/colmm...
www.flickr.com/photos/colmm...
Magnolia nights
www.flickr.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:34 PM
The Albertsons in Magnolia has always reminded me of a Hopper painting. I think it might be the last in the city. It's to become a Safeway.
www.flickr.com/photos/colmm...
www.flickr.com/photos/colmm...
Travis Swift is the perfect platonic name for an all-time all-American footballing superhero.
August 26, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Travis Swift is the perfect platonic name for an all-time all-American footballing superhero.