Mike Roberts
@mikebroberts.com
British-American living in Brooklyn, NY.
he/him. Runner. Puns. Cats. Theatre. Board games.
Work: Architect / Dev / Ops; AWS; Serverless; consulting as https://symphonia.io .
Also on Mastodon at https://hachyderm.io/@mikebroberts
he/him. Runner. Puns. Cats. Theatre. Board games.
Work: Architect / Dev / Ops; AWS; Serverless; consulting as https://symphonia.io .
Also on Mastodon at https://hachyderm.io/@mikebroberts
Reposted by Mike Roberts
NASA say that the crew member who was ill and returned to earth is doing well and now having a meal with colleagues.
January 15, 2026 at 1:31 PM
NASA say that the crew member who was ill and returned to earth is doing well and now having a meal with colleagues.
Reposted by Mike Roberts
Nearly crashed my car because I passed a van for a dogsitting service called IGGY PUP and felt the need to spontaneously applaud.
January 15, 2026 at 11:48 AM
Nearly crashed my car because I passed a van for a dogsitting service called IGGY PUP and felt the need to spontaneously applaud.
NYC's new mayor @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social will rightly get the headlines, but at their inaugurations today public advocate Jumaane Williams @jumaane.bsky.social gave one of the most real political speeches I've ever heard. Incredible. Watch here, at 45 mins in www.youtube.com/live/iazY_UD...
2026 New York City Inauguration Ceremony
YouTube video by NYC Mayor's Office
www.youtube.com
January 2, 2026 at 12:18 AM
NYC's new mayor @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social will rightly get the headlines, but at their inaugurations today public advocate Jumaane Williams @jumaane.bsky.social gave one of the most real political speeches I've ever heard. Incredible. Watch here, at 45 mins in www.youtube.com/live/iazY_UD...
Apparently today is a Sunday
December 28, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Apparently today is a Sunday
I totally recommend having some good food and good drinks and listening to music you and your beau / belle / bex [1] have loved for 20+ years. It works well for my spouse and I. And happy new year.
[1] is that a word? Feels like it should be.
[1] is that a word? Feels like it should be.
December 27, 2025 at 6:38 AM
I totally recommend having some good food and good drinks and listening to music you and your beau / belle / bex [1] have loved for 20+ years. It works well for my spouse and I. And happy new year.
[1] is that a word? Feels like it should be.
[1] is that a word? Feels like it should be.
Reposted by Mike Roberts
Is the MTA making merch with the F M Swap icon cause they should be
December 18, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Is the MTA making merch with the F M Swap icon cause they should be
I fell for a phishing attack yesterday. Got away with it, fortunately, since the fake site didn’t handle 2FA, and I didn’t use the password for anything else. But if you see an email from ”Mailchimp” saying “Campaign Issue Detected” that actually goes to “mailchimp accounts dot com” then be aware.
December 18, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I fell for a phishing attack yesterday. Got away with it, fortunately, since the fake site didn’t handle 2FA, and I didn’t use the password for anything else. But if you see an email from ”Mailchimp” saying “Campaign Issue Detected” that actually goes to “mailchimp accounts dot com” then be aware.
New #AWS architectural refactoring just dropped: "Replace Step Function with Durable Lambda Function"
But seriously - this looks like a very neat addition to Lambda. Will be fun to try it out and find where the holes are.
docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/lates...
But seriously - this looks like a very neat addition to Lambda. Will be fun to try it out and find where the holes are.
docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/lates...
Lambda durable functions - AWS Lambda
Lambda durable functions extend traditional Lambda to support durable execution, enabling fault-tolerant applications that can run for up to one year.
docs.aws.amazon.com
December 3, 2025 at 12:00 AM
New #AWS architectural refactoring just dropped: "Replace Step Function with Durable Lambda Function"
But seriously - this looks like a very neat addition to Lambda. Will be fun to try it out and find where the holes are.
docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/lates...
But seriously - this looks like a very neat addition to Lambda. Will be fun to try it out and find where the holes are.
docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/lates...
Reposted by Mike Roberts
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
November 29, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
Rewatched Dungeons and Dragons: Honour among Thieves from two years ago and it really is a wonderful movie. Deserves to be considered in the league of all great action fantasy films that don’t take themselves too seriously, but are seriously well made.
November 28, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Rewatched Dungeons and Dragons: Honour among Thieves from two years ago and it really is a wonderful movie. Deserves to be considered in the league of all great action fantasy films that don’t take themselves too seriously, but are seriously well made.
Back in 2020 I published a book, with my good friend John Chapin, on using AWS Lambda with Java. Most of the book holds up well, but one thing that didn’t was the code examples, so I’ve made a few updates to the example repo. More details of what I changed here: blog.symphonia.io/posts/2025-1...
November 24, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Back in 2020 I published a book, with my good friend John Chapin, on using AWS Lambda with Java. Most of the book holds up well, but one thing that didn’t was the code examples, so I’ve made a few updates to the example repo. More details of what I changed here: blog.symphonia.io/posts/2025-1...
I resubscribed to Netflix yesterday after 2 or 3 years away, and it’s a very jarring experience using a consumer app, that I’m paying for, that’s insidiously designed to maximize business KPIs rather than my own experience.
Examples and more thoughts here: hachyderm.io/@mikebrobert...
Examples and more thoughts here: hachyderm.io/@mikebrobert...
November 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I resubscribed to Netflix yesterday after 2 or 3 years away, and it’s a very jarring experience using a consumer app, that I’m paying for, that’s insidiously designed to maximize business KPIs rather than my own experience.
Examples and more thoughts here: hachyderm.io/@mikebrobert...
Examples and more thoughts here: hachyderm.io/@mikebrobert...
For my TypeScript + "doing it the old way" web dev friends - here's a small library - "Hiccough" that generates HTML using a tiny internal DSL. So no templates. github.com/symphoniaclo...
Based on the old "Hiccup" Clojure library.
I use it for both full pages, and snippets requested via HTMX
Based on the old "Hiccup" Clojure library.
I use it for both full pages, and snippets requested via HTMX
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
For my TypeScript + "doing it the old way" web dev friends - here's a small library - "Hiccough" that generates HTML using a tiny internal DSL. So no templates. github.com/symphoniaclo...
Based on the old "Hiccup" Clojure library.
I use it for both full pages, and snippets requested via HTMX
Based on the old "Hiccup" Clojure library.
I use it for both full pages, and snippets requested via HTMX
The best thing about this year’s version of Superman is the dog. The most terrifying thing is Luther’s very normal but distinctly nerdy minions who have plenty of free will and are perfectly fine with knowingly being the baddies.
November 15, 2025 at 2:57 AM
The best thing about this year’s version of Superman is the dog. The most terrifying thing is Luther’s very normal but distinctly nerdy minions who have plenty of free will and are perfectly fine with knowingly being the baddies.
I miss the days when hard decisions were questions like "Do I use SP or LP for my E-180's?"
(I used SP, I'm not a heathen. Quality over quantity always)
(I used SP, I'm not a heathen. Quality over quantity always)
November 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I miss the days when hard decisions were questions like "Do I use SP or LP for my E-180's?"
(I used SP, I'm not a heathen. Quality over quantity always)
(I used SP, I'm not a heathen. Quality over quantity always)
Reposted by Mike Roberts
I think this hits us all in cycles, but over the past week I've really been struggling with the emotional dissonance of going to work meetings, keeping up with tasks and spending time with my kid while also patrolling to try to prevent people from being grabbed and disappeared from the place I live.
Congratulations to my friends in New York. Now can we please shift the focus to Chicago? (These items are all from today.)
November 6, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I think this hits us all in cycles, but over the past week I've really been struggling with the emotional dissonance of going to work meetings, keeping up with tasks and spending time with my kid while also patrolling to try to prevent people from being grabbed and disappeared from the place I live.
WOOOOOOT!!! What a day!
November 5, 2025 at 2:40 AM
WOOOOOOT!!! What a day!
Lovely day here in #NYC. Just went out and voted (for @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social , and yes on all the ballot proposals). Now looking forward to @hellgatenyc.com 's live result stream tonight.
November 4, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Lovely day here in #NYC. Just went out and voted (for @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social , and yes on all the ballot proposals). Now looking forward to @hellgatenyc.com 's live result stream tonight.
Tonight’s #NYC production of Waiting for Godot with Keanu Reaves and Alex Winter (yes, Bill and Ted), directed by Jamie Lloyd, was a surprising success! I’ve seen Godot before and it’s … well. A bit odd. But the whole team did an incredible job of making it fun and accessible. Definitely recommended
October 24, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Tonight’s #NYC production of Waiting for Godot with Keanu Reaves and Alex Winter (yes, Bill and Ted), directed by Jamie Lloyd, was a surprising success! I’ve seen Godot before and it’s … well. A bit odd. But the whole team did an incredible job of making it fun and accessible. Definitely recommended
In hindsight, Max Zorin’s plan had some merit
October 22, 2025 at 12:00 PM
In hindsight, Max Zorin’s plan had some merit
Huh, I guess us-east-1 wants its old us-tirefire-1 nickname back. It’s been a while.
October 20, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Huh, I guess us-east-1 wants its old us-tirefire-1 nickname back. It’s been a while.
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
“It wasn’t always DNS.”
“It wasn’t always DNS.”
October 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
“It wasn’t always DNS.”
“It wasn’t always DNS.”