Martin Kleppmann
@martin.kleppmann.com
Associate Professor at @cst.cam.ac.uk, researching decentralised systems and security protocols. Advisor to the Bluesky team. Wrote “Designing Data-Intensive Applications” (O’Reilly). he/him
Anyone know why you can’t take coconuts, spices, or umbrellas on the plane?
October 14, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Anyone know why you can’t take coconuts, spices, or umbrellas on the plane?
I got to go to India for the first time for my brother’s wedding. What a magical experience! And a nice opportunity to wear some colourful Indian outfits 😊
October 13, 2025 at 10:28 PM
I got to go to India for the first time for my brother’s wedding. What a magical experience! And a nice opportunity to wear some colourful Indian outfits 😊
Stumbled across some old photos of the first computer I built myself, circa 1998. I installed it in a metal tool box into which I cut some holes. The handle was very convenient for carrying the computer to LAN parties.
August 23, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Stumbled across some old photos of the first computer I built myself, circa 1998. I installed it in a metal tool box into which I cut some holes. The handle was very convenient for carrying the computer to LAN parties.
It’s the instructions for “drop of liquid above five triangles in random orientations, separated by a horizontal line”, which I can only guess means “cleaning”
August 2, 2025 at 10:34 AM
It’s the instructions for “drop of liquid above five triangles in random orientations, separated by a horizontal line”, which I can only guess means “cleaning”
Our new Philips egg cooker came with no textual instructions, only pictorial ones. How many people without a chemistry degree are likely to figure out what “4% AcOH” means?
(Spoiler: it means “vinegar”)
(Spoiler: it means “vinegar”)
August 2, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Our new Philips egg cooker came with no textual instructions, only pictorial ones. How many people without a chemistry degree are likely to figure out what “4% AcOH” means?
(Spoiler: it means “vinegar”)
(Spoiler: it means “vinegar”)
Surprisingly polite graffiti at the local skate park
July 13, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Surprisingly polite graffiti at the local skate park
One way in which AI enriches my life is that I can go from “ooh, that’s a funky looking caterpillar” to a fun Wikipedia rabbithole in a few seconds, thanks to iOS’s automatic plant and animal detection in photos. This is a cinnabar moth caterpillar, apparently
July 4, 2025 at 5:34 PM
One way in which AI enriches my life is that I can go from “ooh, that’s a funky looking caterpillar” to a fun Wikipedia rabbithole in a few seconds, thanks to iOS’s automatic plant and animal detection in photos. This is a cinnabar moth caterpillar, apparently
The Cambridge Peregrines folks caught it and brought it back to the nest on the roof
July 3, 2025 at 11:12 AM
The Cambridge Peregrines folks caught it and brought it back to the nest on the roof
Fledgling kestrel in the courtyard of our department building!
July 3, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Fledgling kestrel in the courtyard of our department building!
ATM left in maintenance mode or something? 🤔
July 2, 2025 at 11:56 AM
ATM left in maintenance mode or something? 🤔
Nice idea by @lambda.bsky.social to make mugs for co-authors celebrating our papers 🎉☕️
July 2, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Nice idea by @lambda.bsky.social to make mugs for co-authors celebrating our papers 🎉☕️
Summer is here, exam/dissertation marking is done, and we’ve already harvested 2kg of raspberries and turned them into jam ☀️🎉
June 28, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Summer is here, exam/dissertation marking is done, and we’ve already harvested 2kg of raspberries and turned them into jam ☀️🎉
Very cool that the university bus service has a numberplate UNI4BUS. There’s just one problem… it’s on the U2 bus line, not U4
June 28, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Very cool that the university bus service has a numberplate UNI4BUS. There’s just one problem… it’s on the U2 bus line, not U4
(paywalled article, here are screenshots)
June 27, 2025 at 7:34 PM
(paywalled article, here are screenshots)
Nice impressions from @localfirstconf.com (photography by Susanne Elsässer)
June 7, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Nice impressions from @localfirstconf.com (photography by Susanne Elsässer)
Got the cover design for the second edition of DDIA from the publisher. Now just need to finish the effin’ manuscript…
May 23, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Got the cover design for the second edition of DDIA from the publisher. Now just need to finish the effin’ manuscript…
Nonmonotonic clock spotted in the wild: I left `ping` running in the background on my laptop while it went to sleep, and later I found that my minimum round-trip time was a negative number!
May 14, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Nonmonotonic clock spotted in the wild: I left `ping` running in the background on my laptop while it went to sleep, and later I found that my minimum round-trip time was a negative number!
Wearing mysterious logos like it’s some sort of secret cult
May 2, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Wearing mysterious logos like it’s some sort of secret cult
Folks at Google: there's no longer a button to get the PDF of your research papers directly from your website. Instead you have to do a hop through Google Scholar. Is that intentional? Seems worse than it used to be before.
April 30, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Folks at Google: there's no longer a button to get the PDF of your research papers directly from your website. Instead you have to do a hop through Google Scholar. Is that intentional? Seems worse than it used to be before.
Worrying message… anyone know why this would happen, even though I’m not (knowingly) running any screen recording/sharing app, and no external displays connected?
April 3, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Worrying message… anyone know why this would happen, even though I’m not (knowingly) running any screen recording/sharing app, and no external displays connected?
I’ve cycled past this residential house on Adams Road hundreds of times, but only noticed today that it appears to have a personal astronomical observatory on the roof. As you do in Cambridge, of course.
March 13, 2025 at 11:02 AM
I’ve cycled past this residential house on Adams Road hundreds of times, but only noticed today that it appears to have a personal astronomical observatory on the roof. As you do in Cambridge, of course.
Nobel laureate Sir Demis Hassabis, a graduate of our department, came back to Cambridge to give a talk today. I was impressed by his thoughtfulness and the positive potential of applying AI to the natural sciences.
March 12, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Nobel laureate Sir Demis Hassabis, a graduate of our department, came back to Cambridge to give a talk today. I was impressed by his thoughtfulness and the positive potential of applying AI to the natural sciences.
and here's my desk
February 2, 2025 at 10:27 PM
and here's my desk
Got to play around with an infrared camera, which is great fun. Here's what our heat pump looks like
February 2, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Got to play around with an infrared camera, which is great fun. Here's what our heat pump looks like