[{"content":"Here I am going to write about my experience preparing for a philosophy conference in Bucharest, Romania. Logically rigorous. AI and therapy. Consciousness/Agency. Meant for PhD\u0026rsquo;s, still got in as a group of undergrads who just really liked philosophy.\n","date":"27 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/2025-romanian-philosophy-conference/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"2025 Philosophy Conference on the topic of Enactivist Philosophy as it relates to AI models - Bucharest, Romania","type":"articles"},{"content":"","date":"27 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"Articles","type":"articles"},{"content":"","date":"27 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"Demetrio.work","summary":"","title":"Demetrio.work","type":"page"},{"content":"Here I am going to write about my language app Echolingua. How much fun I had making it, the language-learning methodology it\u0026rsquo;s based on, how much I love learning languages and how it put me in a unique situation where I\u0026rsquo;m building the app from the standpoint of somebody who wants to be its #1 user, not necessarily from the standpoint of marketability (though it\u0026rsquo;s definitely getting there.)\nMaybe give a demo, how it works, how it\u0026rsquo;s built on react, show some screenshots. Just use EchoLingua and learn a language - it\u0026rsquo;s super effective and better than duolingo, less annoying to deal with, way more user-friendly, doesn\u0026rsquo;t baby you, easy to review. Semi-dialogue and semi-flashcard flow. Goated app tbh. Echolingua.app\nIt\u0026rsquo;s just french and russian that are really fleshed out at the moment, but more languages are coming as well as more lessons and more features (hide languages, save important vocabulary, etc.)\n","date":"27 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/echolingua-portfolio-piece/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"I didn't want to pay for Pimsleur - so I built it. Welcome to EchoLingua","type":"articles"},{"content":"Here I am going to write about my experience as a Peer-Led Team Leader for College Algebra at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I will talk about what I learned, how I\u0026rsquo;ve had to adapt my approach in teaching to different people who learn in different ways. My experience balancing this with my schoolwork. My experience with my co-workers, communicating with them, what I learned from them, how some of them were really inspiring people, smart people who did not seem to give themselves enough credit.\n","date":"27 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/math-tutoring---utrgv-fall-2025/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"Math Peer-Led Team Leader - University of Texas Rio Grande Valley - Fall 2025","type":"articles"},{"content":"Here I will write about my experience as a personal trainer. What I learned. How I passed the exam on my first try and felt overjoyed. How I got the job by simply sharing about my passions about training others as well as my own training, did not feel like much of an interview as much as it felt like a conversation. How my hiring manager was one of the smartest people I\u0026rsquo;ve ever come across\u0026hellip; I mean Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s in Neuroscience, Master\u0026rsquo;s in Math, knew in-depth kinesiology, could diagnose deep-rooted mobility issues completely accurately from vague and albeit rushed descriptions. How she served as a figure to inspire me, show me what kind of trainer I could become, how academic rigor was crucial for achieving a high degree of mastery. How this translated into future endeavors and probably subconsciously influences me to this day. How I had to balance my love and passion for training/science/biology with the necessary aspects of the job such as being a salesman as well as a trainer. How it reframed to me the way in which my individual input is directly correlated to what I receive, aka how when I\u0026rsquo;d put a lot of effort in I\u0026rsquo;d get more out via more sales. How helping other people was one of the most enjoyable things I\u0026rsquo;ve ever done. My role felt important. I was helping people overcome lifelong insecurities. I was helping people achieve things they didn\u0026rsquo;t know their bodies were capable of. I was helping people heal injuries, heal relationships with food. My work felt important because I could see people\u0026rsquo;s lives getting better as a direct result of my effort. That completely reframed what I ever thought my career could be. It was no longer about money, there was a deeper sense of purpose driving me, a sense of purpose that I knew I could carry with me elsewhere. The frustrations, the stresses, the difficulties, the hard moments where one of my clients, who felt more like a friend than a client, struggled to look himself in the mirror after we\u0026rsquo;d done a sprint to lose 15 pounds and he was both happy with his body but struggling to synthesize all of the mixed emotions brewing within him, he wanted to do better, he struggled to like his body, but he knew he had to accept that it was okay to be nice to himself, that it was okay to celebrate this win of having lost 15 pounds, even if it wasn\u0026rsquo;t the ultimate end result which he wanted. Being a participant in these stories, helping some achieve the end result and for others just being a part of the journey, it all meant so much to me. Even though it\u0026rsquo;s outside of academia and tech, it\u0026rsquo;s not a cool coding project, or a perfect transcript, or an interesting app, it\u0026rsquo;s valuable because it showed me what I valued in a career.\n","date":"27 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/my-time-as-a-personal-trainer/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"My Time as a Personal Trainer","type":"articles"},{"content":"For all of the troubleshooting, and optimization, and grocery shopping, and diet advice, and staving off hunger, and mouthfuls of honey\u0026hellip; it could\u0026rsquo;ve all been averted had I just had someone tap me on the shoulder and say \u0026ldquo;Just take reta bro\u0026rdquo;.\nThen instantly: more shredded, happier, hotter, not hungry, less addiction-forming. No need to maneuver my way around the peat-verse and fucking put together the most peatiest diet plan ever devised just to lose 5 pounds and eat more sugar.\nNo need to figure out the ideal grocery list. No need to calculate every single micronutrient that goes into my body.\n\u0026ldquo;Just take reta bro\u0026rdquo;\nThat would literally save this country. So many people plagued by insecurity. So many people who have been overweight their whole lives. So many clients I\u0026rsquo;ve helped who\u0026rsquo;ve struggled with a lifetime of their bodies not cooperating with them. Hunger receptors frying them.\n\u0026ldquo;Just take reta bro\u0026rdquo;\nAnd it\u0026rsquo;s all fixed. No need to suffer. No imaginary badge for \u0026ldquo;having done it the right way\u0026rdquo;. No need to keep paying for an expensive personal trainer. No need to keep trying to be perfect to get a result other people seem to get effortlessly. You just get your result and move on with your life.\nMany things are like this.\nModafinil for one, reta for another, testosterone, accutane, finasteride. Just one stop solutions that get you your result.\nModafinil = productivity. congrats you can finally work towards your goals at a meaningful capacity.\nTestosterone = physique + motivation + aura, at the cost of your skin, water retention, and maybe your health if you\u0026rsquo;re not careful. I avoid it, if it didn\u0026rsquo;t age the shit out of you I\u0026rsquo;d probably be on it.\nAccutane/Tretinoin = no more acne. simple as. Tretinoin has the added anti-aging benefit that Accutane doesn\u0026rsquo;t have. Your face is now frozen in time, not to age any longer. congrats.\nFinasteride = congrats you have hair again. dutasteride if finasteride isn\u0026rsquo;t doing it for you. it comes with side effects though, be prepared to stave those off if you\u0026rsquo;re not on testosterone (there\u0026rsquo;s a reason why a lot of the people who preach finasteride are on TRT, they literally do not feel the negative side effects (which are definitely real) because they shut down their testosterone production and rely on exogenous hormones) that\u0026rsquo;s not to say that you need to be on trt to do finasteride, you can definitely do it with minimal side-effects natty, but it\u0026rsquo;s a lot easier if the entirety of your male hormones come to you via syringe rather than dealing with the complications in your own biology. No need to apply minoxidil to your scalp every night. No need to inject your scalp with bee venom or wash your hair with eggs and go on a Paul Saladino-esque health crusade where you eliminate every single micro-toxin and freak out at the thought of eating seed oils. Just take a pill, move on with your life, and your hair grows back.\nAlmost every major problem faced in the first-world today can be addressed in this manner by pharmacology.\nObese -\u0026gt; Reta -\u0026gt; No longer obese\nWhere this feels \u0026ldquo;wrong\u0026rdquo; is in the justified lack of trust in our medical industry. We know that big pharma doesn\u0026rsquo;t have our best interests in mind, or that they may prescribe us something we may not need or which may cause more side-effects which need to be treated with more of their drugs, ultimately resulting in more money in their pockets and less in yours.\n(You could also feel like you are not worthy of your result which is a different issue entirely, you need to work on your self-image and subconscious but that is for a different time)\nThis is where the Modafinil vs Adderall distinction comes in.\nAdderall is extremely addictive (it\u0026rsquo;s literally meth), works via a completely unsustainable mechanism which requires you to take more to feel the same high. IT GETS YOU HIGH. Comes with a host of side effects. This is the primary solution that big-pharma has for kids that have trouble sitting still in class. Lots of fucked up brains, fucked up lives, but hey fair play I\u0026rsquo;m sure it\u0026rsquo;s made them a buck by creating tons of dependent customers. (Sidenote about adderall: I\u0026rsquo;ve heard it can make you devoid of empathy and emotionless. I\u0026rsquo;ve read anecdotes of parents who\u0026rsquo;ve taken their kids off adderall because they started \u0026ldquo;behaving like businessmen\u0026rdquo;. Also had friends who seemed to lose all empathy once on it. Just a thought.)\nThen you have something like modafinil, approved for narcolepsy, increasingly being used in place of adderall for ADHD patients though it\u0026rsquo;s still technically off-label use. Doesn\u0026rsquo;t flood your dopamine receptors, instead it just keeps the dopamine you naturally produce in the receptor for longer. Safe side-effect profile. Shown non-toxic and non-lethal even at completely ridiculous doses. Non-habit forming. Doesn\u0026rsquo;t get you high. You literally get all of the upside with the only downside being that you need to find a choline supplement to avoid getting a headache. That\u0026rsquo;s about as win-win as it gets.\nAnd yet everybody knows about adderall, barely anybody knows about modafinil unless they\u0026rsquo;re in the chronically online peptides/nootropics/esoteric-health space.\nBPC-157 is probably the best example of this. Here\u0026rsquo;s a drug that had made it all the way to phase 3 human trials, made it with a way better side-effect profile than many currently FDA approved compounds, but got pulled off the market due to the company manufacturing it being bought out by another company\u0026hellip; then bought by another company\u0026hellip; all of whom decided it would not be profitable to continue with the FDA approval process. And now if you take it to heal your gut lining, to heal an injury that\u0026rsquo;s plaguing you, or use it to make your joints more resilient if you\u0026rsquo;re in a joint-intensive sport like say BJJ, you\u0026rsquo;re \u0026ldquo;cheating\u0026rdquo;, you\u0026rsquo;re \u0026ldquo;literally injecting research chemicals\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;that doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem safe bro you sure about that BCP? You heard about it on the internet? I dunno bro\u0026rdquo;. Yes bro. It\u0026rsquo;s okay to take research chemicals. It\u0026rsquo;s okay to take your health into your own hands. No one else is going to do that for you.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t to say \u0026ldquo;the illuminati is poisoning you bro, big pharma wants your money bro\u0026rdquo;, yeah no shit. This is to say that there are legitimate solutions to your biological problems LIKE obesity, LIKE hair-loss, LIKE lack of focus/productivity, LIKE annoying injuries. Not all of them are perfect, finasteride is probably the best example of not being perfect, but the solutions are there and you can legitimately get a result that exceeds what big pharma markets whatever their newest drug to be, with a little bit of research, and a willingness to experiment.\nJust do your research. Don\u0026rsquo;t fuck yourself up.\nBest, Demetrio\n","date":"27 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/open-source-pharmacology-n/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"Open Source Pharmacology","type":"articles"},{"content":"Eutropoflavin, otherwise known as 4\u0026rsquo;-DMA-7,8-DHF, is one of the more interesting nootropics to have hit the scene as of late, but data on it is very limited. In fact, there is no formal study that I could find written on it, only studies regarding it\u0026rsquo;s less effective sister compound 7'8-DHF, and no human studies, just animal trials. However, there are some pretty incredible results to have come out of these animal trials.\nIncreased BDNF Regaining lost memory function Increased spatial awareness Increased motor control Anti-depressant effects Obesity prevention Even promotes autophagy\n\u0026hellip; and that\u0026rsquo;s just to name a few.\nSo we\u0026rsquo;re going to explore the evidence that exists and piece together whether this is something worth taking or if it\u0026rsquo;s better to wait for further research (I\u0026rsquo;ve definitely not waited).\nHow Does it Work?: Eutropoflavin works as a TrkB agonist. TrkB is a high-affinity catalytic receptor which binds to BDNF and is responsible for neuronal survival, differentiation, and is crucial for synaptic plasticity. CRUCIAL. Reduced TrkB signaling is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s and Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s disease. A lot of the studies we are going to look at are going to focus on Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s and Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s models in rats, but it should be noted that benefits were also found in other conditions such as healthy mice and chronically stressed mice.\nWe will also going to touch on why long-term TrkB agonism may not be a good idea (assuming it actually is agonizing TrkB) and a few workarounds to ensure we can get year-round neurogenesis.\nStudy 1: Found that 7,8-DHF prevented synaptic loss, restored long-term potentiation, and rescued spatial memory deficits in mice with Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease through TrkB activation. The study looked at 10-14 female mice per group aged 2-6 months and treated them with 7,8-DHF for a duration of 4 months. They used a dose of 5mg/kg/day which is very high by human standards (a 90kg man would typically not take any more than 25mg/day). What they found: significantly increased TrkB levels in the dentate gyrus, and activated Akt and ERK/MAPK pathways. Prevented loss of dendritic spine density and synaptic density in the hippocampal CA1 region. Reversed decreases in presynaptic and postsynaptic markers. Restored long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal slices. Improved spatial learning acquisition and memory recall in Morris water maze test. Reduced A-beta plaque deposition but did not change total A-beta-42 concentration. \u0026ldquo;7,8-DHF inhibited the loss of hippocampal synapses, restored synapse number and synaptic plasticity, and prevented memory deficits\u0026rdquo; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3895241/\nStudy 2: Found very high promise but found 7,8-DHF to have an abysmal 4.6% oral bioavailability. They paired it with a prodrug they called R7 which increases the bioavailability to 84.2% but is not currently commercially available. Study also found binding to the TrkB receptor, found that the compound induces receptor dimerization and autophosphorylation without causing degradation. Found effectiveness in crossing BBB. Found that the 4\u0026rsquo;-amino group enhances activity. Plasma half life is longer than 2 hours. Crazy part: anti-obesity activity via muscle TrkB activation and increased lipid oxidation. Found no toxicity in mice, even in high doses. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4702337/\nBlows my mind that it straight up targets fat oxidation. A nootropic that makes you lose weight as well. Ridiculous.\nStudy 3: Found antidepressant-like effects in rats exposed to chronic mild stress within 7 days and partial anxiolytic effects in chronically stresses rats by reducing corticosterone and increasing hippocampal BDNF. Sample size 28 rats. The study exposed the rats to chronic mild stress for 8 weeks and then introduced the compound for 4 weeks to observe changes. Used 5mg/kg and up to 20mg/kg via daily injection. 5mg group: reduced despair behavior saw increased hippocampal BDNF levels 20mg group: reversed anhedonia within 7 days increased locomotor activity Both groups: Reduced elevated serum corticosterone levels.\nCompound acted via a dual mechanism by affecting HPA axis through corticosterone and neurotrophic pathways via BDNF. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5067348/\nStudy 4: Found improved motor function in mice with Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s disease, found that it promoted autophagy through ERK1/2-LKB1-AMPK pathway activation. Did find that it bound to TrkB by antagonizing TrkB through ANA-12 and finding the benefits blocked, confirming the relationship. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41420-021-00643-5\nOther Findings: One study failed to replicate the TrkB agonism. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8247/14/8/704 Another in vitro study siggests that maybe it\u0026rsquo;s pathway is related to Vitamin B6 by inhibiting PDXP, thereby reducing B6 deficiencies. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11164532/ Another study: daily administration for 2 weeks on 22 month old rats improved spatial memory. Showed improvement in behavior associated with increased synapse formation and synaptic plasticity, as well as activation of proteins crucial for synaptic plasticity and memory. Modified density but not number of spines in hippocampus. Study concluded that it can counteract age-induced decline, but found more effective in younger rats with cognitive deficiency. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22694088/\nConclusion: Every study except one found it to directly act on TrkB, crossing the blood brain barrier (which BDNF can\u0026rsquo;t efficiently do), found that it prevents obesity, is a powerful and fast antidepressant, prevents age-related cognitive decline, increases cognitive ability regardless of age, changes vitamin B6 metabolism, is valuable for Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s and Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s patients, improved spatial memory, restores lost synapses, prevents memory deficits, reduces corticosterone, increases BDNF, even found that it promotes autophagy. As far as the 4\u0026rsquo;DMA group, only once study referenced that it may increase activity of the compound, so more research needs to be done. Bioavailability also needs to be improved, best routes are sublingual (taking the pill apart and pouring the powder under your tongue) and maybe even through injection. THERE ARE NO HUMAN TRIALS, however, toxicity was not found in rats across doses (from 5mg/kg to 50mg/kg).\nIs it actually a TrkB agonist?\nProbably. Every study we looked at except one observed and was able to reproduce this effect.\nHowever, long term TrkB agonism could lead to a plateau in effects, not a decrease, just a plateau. This means that you wouldn\u0026rsquo;t notice any cognitive decline whatsoever, you\u0026rsquo;d only wonder why \u0026ldquo;good\u0026rdquo; became your new normal due to desensitization of the receptor. Luckily, TrkB agonism isn\u0026rsquo;t the only way to stimulate BDNF.\nTo ensure you don\u0026rsquo;t plateau it would be best to alternate for year-round neuroplasticity and BDNF activation: 1 month Eutropoflavin, one month Semax, assuming you have a strong year-round stack already (Alpha GPC, Thiamine TTFD, Lion\u0026rsquo;s Mane, Magnesium L-Threonate + racetam of your choice).\nIMPORTANT: Long-term TrkB activation may be linked to certain types of lung cancer, if you are thinking about using this compound ensure you are not smoking or have a significant history of smoking. Also I am not a doctor.\nI think this compound has incredible potential and it seriously needs to be a part of the conversation. I\u0026rsquo;ve found great effects from it myself. First time I took it I noted how I hit a flow state so deep I forgot I existed. That\u0026rsquo;s not to say there aren\u0026rsquo;t risks, there just isn\u0026rsquo;t enough data. Experiment at your own risk.\n","date":"22 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/eutropoflavin---4dma-78-dhf/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"Eutropoflavin - 4'DMA-7,8-DHF - What we know","type":"articles"},{"content":"Why would anyone install Linux on their Chromebook? What\u0026rsquo;s the point?\nHere\u0026rsquo;s where Linux shines above other OS\u0026rsquo;s like Windows and MacOS, it\u0026rsquo;s free, it\u0026rsquo;s open-source, you decide exactly what goes in your computer, and, most importantly, you don\u0026rsquo;t have a tech giant spying on you and siphoning all of your data to advertisers, governments, and whoever else wants to buy it.\nWhen you first open up your brand new Chromebook you are greeted with big-tech-style graphics of the weird round corporate blob type telling you to \u0026ldquo;personalize\u0026rdquo; your Chromebook, which you \u0026ldquo;personalize\u0026rdquo; by immediately having to sign in to the internet (there\u0026rsquo;s not even an option to skip the internet sign-in), so that big poor Google doesn\u0026rsquo;t go a single SECOND without your data which is rightfully theirs, you owe it to them, they deserve your data, remember all those Google searches you did? For free? Pfftuh, freeloader. Once you go through the whole setup and Google is giddy with your data, you open your new homepage for the first time to see a bunch of google products already installed. That\u0026rsquo;s fine, it\u0026rsquo;s a Google computer, whatever.\nIntel Celeron N4500, Integrated Graphics, 4GB RAM, 64GB Storage.\nBy the time you\u0026rsquo;re able to use your computer, GOOGLE has ALREADY taken 20 out of your 64 GIGS for ChromeOS. NEARLY A THIRD.\nWhatever, maybe you can still download some cool apps. HAHAHAHAHA. Who said big brother Google was going to let you do that. No no no silly bear, you get Candy Crush, no more, no less. Candy Crush and only the apps Google themselves has approved for your sensitive little consumer eyes. They wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want you to be hurt.\nYou may be asking, \u0026ldquo;Well why even buy a Chromebook then?\u0026rdquo;. Good question. Honestly, my 12 year old Mac was on its last legs and school was starting back up so I needed a laptop in a pinch without necessarily spending money I wasn\u0026rsquo;t ready to spend just yet. That\u0026rsquo;s where my beautiful Chromebook came in clutch. $140 for this baby. (Not $100, but rounding down sounds better)\nFor as much as I don\u0026rsquo;t like Google, I really do love this laptop, I loved it from the very beginning. It just works, its battery lasts forever, I can watch Youtube in bed when I don\u0026rsquo;t want to be at my desk. I can write essays on the fly, it\u0026rsquo;s awesome. But those limitations I faced with ChromeOS really got to me. The laptop didn\u0026rsquo;t even feel like it was mine, it felt like a corporate environment. It gave me that disgusting feeling you get when you gaze into your iPhone camera and you feel like there\u0026rsquo;s someone watching you on the other end. Unsettling.\nSo I decided to change it to Linux. How hard could it be? People switch their PCs to Linux all the time, this was probably even easier. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.\n.\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t realize just how badly Google wanted my data. They protect these things better than government servers. The level of security and protections was ridiculous. However, I have officially become one of the very first people on the internet to have successfully ported Linux onto the ASUS Awasuki model Chromebook and to have documented the process (highly specific I know).\nSo what\u0026rsquo;s the process actually like? It\u0026rsquo;s pretty simple actually. Not easy, just simple. First you have to verify your device is x86_64, this is to verify that the programs you\u0026rsquo;re going to download to disable write protections, as well as the actual OS you\u0026rsquo;re going to be installing, actually work. Next you need to back up all of your data because you\u0026rsquo;re most likely going to be wiping your drive (unless you\u0026rsquo;re double booting). I only had 64GB of space to work with so double booting was not really an option. You also need to verify what model chromebook you have and cross-reference with this list https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/supported-devices.html. This is how you\u0026rsquo;ll determine what\u0026rsquo;s even possible on your chromebook and how you\u0026rsquo;ll best disable write protection. Then you need to go into developer mode, usually by holding esc + f2 + power button, though it may vary by model. By doing this, you are wiping all of your data, so make sure you\u0026rsquo;ve got it backed up somewhere. Your computer will go black for a while and after a loud beep or two, it\u0026rsquo;ll come back online. This is also typically the point where you have to do a strange ritual to disable write protection. You then open a terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 and logging in as chronos or root. Then you run the following command:\ncd; curl -LOf https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh \u0026amp;\u0026amp; sudo bash firmware-util.sh\nThis will install the firmware necessary to disable write protection, install Linux, and FREE you from Google. From there you just follow the commands, and install your new OS! Pretty simple.\nThe Disabling Write Protection Ritual\nDisabling write protection is machine-dependent\u0026hellip; the method varies. For some you have to remove a WP screw on the back of the motherboard. Others have to disconnect their battery and leave their computer plugged in while they enter commands into the terminal. The mrchromebox.tech page listed 2 possible methods for my machine (the glorious ASUS Awasuki): Plugging in a SuzyQ cable and/or bridging jumpers. What does any of that mean? A SuzyQ cable is basically a cable developers use to bring chromebooks back from the dead, debug chromebooks, essentially allows them to work on chromebooks and work their developer magic. You input a few commands into the terminal, the terminal will prompt you to press the power button, you press it when it prompts you to, and you\u0026rsquo;re good to go.\n(By the way every time I reference putting commands into the terminal, those commands can be found in the mrchromebox.tech docs, please refer to those if you are considering going through this process.)\n​\tBridging jumpers is more complicated. You look around on your motherboard for 4 consecutive little holes lined up in a straight line. Then you have to connect the correct ones together via a conductor, some sort of metal, and boom, write protections are disabled. Except, if you stop touching the two microscopic holes together, your computer will instantly reboot with write protections enabled, so you need a steady hand for this.\nMy Process\nWhen I first began this process, I thought it would be clever to run Linux from a USB, that way I could technically \u0026ldquo;run Linux on my chromebook\u0026rdquo; but keep ChromeOS in case something went wrong, and, most importantly, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to disable write protections at all, I could skip the hardest and riskiest part of the process and go straight into enjoying Linux. So I enabled developer mode, punched the commands into the terminal, and watched the magic\u0026hellip; not happen. Or happen, just very, very, VERY slowly. A typical Linux Mint install takes about 2-5 minutes. Mine took 1 hour and 25 minutes. I interrupted the process several times because I was convinced that the progress bar was stuck. I restarted the process, flashed the flash drive with Linux again, nothing. The progress bar kept getting stuck at the same place every time I began the process again, I was convinced the file must\u0026rsquo;ve been corrupted in some way. That\u0026rsquo;s when out of the corner of my eye I saw the progress bar nudge just a tiny bit. I thought I was hallucinating. I stared intently, nothing, I decided to give it more time. 10 minutes, the bar moves again, it\u0026rsquo;s making progress! I couldn\u0026rsquo;t believe it. I decided to just let it sit. Sometimes it would go 30 minutes without nudging, I just let it sit. I thought maybe once I was fully loaded into Linux that speed wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be an issue anymore. Wrong again. I boot in, feeling accomplished and feel\u0026hellip; disappointed. This was Linux? This is it? The legendary open-source software that techies use is this plain and boring? Not to mention, it was unusable. It was so incredibly slow it could barely function. I thought it was just due to my chromebook being underpowered but this was Linux, this is THE program that runs on potatoes and Kindles and old Gameboys. Plus ChromeOS ran fine, why not Linux? Well as it turns out, my usb is just extremely slow and the entire OS was running from my USB which as it turns out is drastically different from running on a local disk. Wasn\u0026rsquo;t a computer thing, it was a USB thing. I almost thought about calling it there. Fun experiment, sure, but ultimately fruitless. But I had invested so much time, and I KNEW what was possible now. Going back to ChromeOS didn\u0026rsquo;t feel right. I was determined to try again, so I looked on mrchromebox.tech and as it turns out there are two ways to disable write protections, as discussed previously, the SuzyQ cable and bridging the jumper slots. Apparently there was one other user with my exact chromebook who tried bridging the jumper slots to no avail and got a reply from mrchromebox saying that the SuzyQ cable was probably the only way. So I ordered a SuzyQ cable and decided to play the waiting game\u0026hellip; I installed Linux on my PC. I got impatient so I wiped the drive and started fresh. (daily driving ArchLinux is for a different article) Anyway, once the SuzyQ cable arrived I was ready. I plugged in the cable per the instructions, ran every command, pressed the power button when prompted and\u0026hellip; the write protections were still enabled. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t believe it. This was my only chance and it was all for nothing. I tried again and again, first rotating the cable, then trying by inserting different cables, still wouldn\u0026rsquo;t budge.\n​\tI was in too deep at this point. I had sank MONEY into this. $15. Not much but considering the emotional attachment I had grown to this project, it only reinforced me feeling like I needed to finish this. ​\tSo I unscrew the back panel and start digging. Try the battery method. Nothing. I look for the jumpers but can\u0026rsquo;t find them. Determined, I turned on my lamp, opened my window, turned on my phone\u0026rsquo;s flashlight, and began looking. I still could not find them. I began getting worried. ​\tI open the camera and zoom in 5x to the motherboard. I inspect every square millimeter, every single chip, every single dent, until finally\u0026hellip; I see them. Four little holes aligned in a straight line right next to the wifi chip.\n​\tNow I needed something minuscule to bridge these together. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have paperclips and I wasn\u0026rsquo;t about to go to Walmart just to buy paperclips. So I found an old micro-HDMI cable that I wasn\u0026rsquo;t using and I chopped the tip off with some scissors. I cut another end of the cable until I was left with a small strip of cables. I began slowly cutting into the rubber until I exposed the inner foil layer containing the copper wires. I began to unwrap it with my hands but the foil cut my thumb so I resorted to cutting with scissors only. Very slow, very tedious, until I got a small group of copper cables together. Except they were STILL coated with another protective layer, so I scraped it off with my fingernail until finally I was left with a copper cable, slightly thinner than a hair, and I was ready. I laid the computer face up on my lap and exposed motherboard facing me. ​\tI connected the cables and went to turn on my computer, my hand instantly became shaky, I realized this was going to be harder than I thought. I got a firm grasp of the cables and inserted them in the motherboard. I was locked in now. I turned the computer on. Placed my chin against it so it didn\u0026rsquo;t move while I plugged it in (you need to have every power source including the battery disconnected while you bridge the jumpers for safety reasons, you are essentially shorting the WP, you could shock yourself).\n​\tI start typing the code in, slowly, steadily, when all of a sudden\u0026hellip; I\u0026rsquo;m in. I let go of the copper cable and finally boot into Linux normally. This time, I went with Omarchy because it looks cooler than Mint. Utter shock. Disbelief. Joy. I could not believe I\u0026rsquo;d done it.\nPrognosis\nOverall, I\u0026rsquo;m happy I did this. I love using my laptop even more now and it truly feels functional. I installed Ollama on it, I synced my Obsidian notes with my PC, it just feels like it works FOR me, not like it\u0026rsquo;s trying to sell me something. Plus, it\u0026rsquo;s legitimately nice to use. Omarchy uses the hyprland window manager which makes new windows split in the most satisfying way. It feels PRODUCTIVE. I can code on it, I can play videogames on it (albeit very low-powered games, but games nonetheless), I can do everything I want on it, and I can uninstall literally every program I don\u0026rsquo;t want, I\u0026rsquo;m not stuck with them like I would be on ChromeOS or Windows. If you\u0026rsquo;re going through this process or if you\u0026rsquo;ve ever thought about switching to Linux, I strongly recommend you do it. Almost every technology on earth is built on linux, from MacOS, to every server on earth, its all Linux. Not only does it give you a new perspective on technology as a whole, the customization is so much fun. If you run into trouble there\u0026rsquo;s a billion wikis and forums available to help, not to mention AI models who are trained on Linux data and are basically experts. If you have moral quarrels regarding AI however, local models running on your machine (not in a data center in Texas) can debug your code for you, for free, ethically, without sending your data anywhere. The level of freedom is unparalleled, it\u0026rsquo;s something you truly ought to experience for yourself. Stripping down a laptop and jamming copper into it until it does what you want it to may be a bit much, but taking control of your technology is something becoming increasingly invaluable as we enter an era where our data is a commodity sold to the highest bidder, privacy is becoming obsolete, spying has become accepted, and computing power is increasingly becoming something that can only be accessed by a privileged few, as opposed to a tool which freed millions from an era of ignorance and brought the world into an age where anybody can access any piece of information they wish.\n","date":"13 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/how-i-installed-linux-on-my-100-chromebook/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"How I Installed Linux on my $100 Chromebook","type":"articles"},{"content":"It is very late and I have been obsessing over Linux, Open Source, modding, hacking, privacy software, and literally everything in between. I don\u0026rsquo;t even know why I started, to be honest, I just thought it might be a fun experiment to switch my Chromebook over to Linux. After all, the stakes are low insofar as the Chromebook was so inexpensive I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be losing much if I lost it. I downloaded a script from a certain Mr-Chromebox that allows you to install Linux on your chrome-OS devices and I decided to dual boot Linux, and to let it live inside an old flash drive. Big mistake. The boot time for Linux was so painfully slow and Linux itself was practically unusable. Not to mention I was running Linux Mint which, honestly, was underwhelming. This is the mythical Linux that was so hyped on the internet? This did not look like PewDiePie\u0026rsquo;s set up at all. It just didn\u0026rsquo;t feel worth it. But now that I knew the possibilities, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t really go back to ChromeOS, that just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be right. From having ultimate customizability to being limited to browsing the internet and playing Candy Crush? Not gonna happen. Turns out, in order to wipe the disk off my Chromebook (the absolutely massive 64GB disk) I first needed to get a SuzyQ cable. There is literally only one seller on ebay that sells these. They are basically niche cables reserved for Google tech support that bypass ChromeOS\u0026rsquo;s security protections. While tech support uses these for debugging and to bring back bricked chromebooks from the dead, you can also use them to wipe your drive and install Linux. So the speed problem is solved if we\u0026rsquo;re just running locally, what about the OS itself? Do you really want to be stuck with Linux Mint? There\u0026rsquo;s also a lot of options here. The first one which stood out to me was (don\u0026rsquo;t hate me) Omarchy, it\u0026rsquo;s basically an ArchLinux based distro with Hyprland window manager. Basically a pre-riced ArchLinux. For me, something already somewhat pre-configured was appealing because 1) the configurations are dope as fuck, 2) I thought it might ease the learning curve when diving into something like ArchLinux, and 3)I can actually learn coding (and I have Claude to help). So really\u0026hellip; there\u0026rsquo;s nothing to lose. There\u0026rsquo;s also Ubuntu. I don\u0026rsquo;t know much about it other than it is used for servers. It seems like a strong option. There\u0026rsquo;s also regular ArchLinux which is appealing in its own way as well. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if this has ever been articulated to me (it probably has) but switching to Linux feels like I\u0026rsquo;m beginning to understand computers. Before I\u0026rsquo;d be totally terrified of terminal commands, and for the most part they don\u0026rsquo;t make much sense if you\u0026rsquo;re not ON Linux. But now I feel like I\u0026rsquo;m getting a real sense of what\u0026rsquo;s going on behind the scenes and its nice\u0026hellip; I haven\u0026rsquo;t gotten a chance to install it on my Chromebook yet but I have installed it on my DESKTOP. I didn\u0026rsquo;t just give it a partition either, I gave it THE WHOLE DRIVE. Fully sacrificed Windows 11. It was a \u0026ldquo;fuck it\u0026rdquo; type of decision but honestly, its been weirdly fun even where its been inconvenient. Keep in mind: we\u0026rsquo;re in the big 2026, we literally have super-intelligent robots that can help with whatever. Going into the terminal to debug my Bluetooth settings, installing packages on the fly, and having Claude explain to me what was happening in real time was awesome, I had so much fun. As far as the kindle goes, I\u0026rsquo;m very happy with how it turned out. It\u0026rsquo;s a 2015 model with a whopping 6GB of storage. The YouTuber I got this idea from said Kindles were more like storefronts than book-readers, and he was on point. You can not read a single thing unless you \u0026ldquo;buy\u0026rdquo; it (you\u0026rsquo;re really just licensing it until Amazon feels justified in taking it away from you.) Doing this changed everything though. Being able to read whatever you want just feels right. This is what little handheld readers should do, not just show you the Amazon-approved book list where you can pay a small fee of $19.99 to access a title, but actually let you read whatever you want. I still need to test it for reading at night with the lights off but I imagine its nice. It solves inconvenient problems too such as my computer\u0026rsquo;s PDF reader never remembering the page I left off on. But the main thing is just how freeing it feels. Reading books, free or not, on a computer screen never really felt right, never really felt the same as reading a handheld book. The kindle is miles better. It feels like I have access to the world\u0026rsquo;s knowledge now, like any and every book is just waiting to be read. It\u0026rsquo;s exciting to tell you the truth.\n","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/jailbreaking-my-kindle---the-why-and-how-n/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"Jailbreaking my Kindle - The Why and How","type":"articles"},{"content":"I’ve been seriously thinking about my decision to major in math. It’s not like math is something I was ever really passionate about. Math is math, I do it because careers that make you do math pay you a lot of money. Sometimes when I think about it for a second too long it feels like I’ve betrayed myself, like I should have gone into creative writing, journalism, philosophy or something. But those paths don’t make money, or as much money. They don’t pay you back for all of the trouble you went through to attend college and take loans out and graduate. I guess for some, going to college isn’t any trouble at all. Some enjoy their college experience, it’s a time for them to smoke weed and hang out with their friends and get drunk on Saturdays before they have to get a job. It’s not a ritual of constantly feeling like an idiot and bashing your head against the wall every time you encounter a problem you don’t immediately know how to solve, which is every problem for me at least. I like technical things too, I run linux like those nerds on the internet do, I tinker with computers, I got claude to build me an app, I jailbroke my kindle. I installed linux on my chromebook. I’m clearly a smart fella, I belong in STEM, what’s math anyway? I can do that, bro I can do computers… It’s become a ritual of constantly feeling inadequate. Constantly feeling like the other shoe is about to drop. I keep telling myself to stop being a baby. Yeah it’s hard that’s the point, engineers that can’t pass basic Calculus shouldn’t be building bridges. Yeah, not everyone should be a mathematician, then mathematics wouldn’t advance anymore, and we wouldn’t get cool shit like AI building apps for you. I guess there’s just classes that don’t feel difficult at all, and I see people fully committing themselves to those things, it makes me wonder if maybe I’m giving up something I’m naturally good at for something that’ll make me more money, if those people are either dumb or the top percentile of people who’ll make careers out of those things, or both. Some people claim to not care about the money, but that’s bullshit. You’ll care about money at some point, even if that point is not now. At some point I just have to accept that I have to do hard things, accept that I’m not always going to be rewarded for them immediately, accept that I may not like doing them - I might even hate doing them, but also accept that they’ll make me a better person. For as much as I hate this shit (math), it has made me better, more productive, smarter, a better learner, a better everything. It sucks, but it works. That’s what’s kept me going I guess. I was driven purely by motivation (and by the content not being that hard) when I was taking Calculus 1 and 2. I remember feeling sharper and more attentive after going through all of that. And I was. I felt like I had more to contribute to conversations afterwards which was weird because I had not practiced my communication skills whatsoever. I felt like I somehow got better at a lot of things like writing and understanding difficult concepts even if they weren’t mathematical in nature. It was just proof, math makes you better. It’s kept me going even if I hate it sometimes. Anyway, I made an app. It’s called Echo Lingua, it’s basically a clone of Pimsleur but it’s free, it’s for me only, and it fits my learning style a little bit better than half-assedly listening to an audio. I had a surprisingly fun time using this app, it was really cool. I\u0026rsquo;ll push it ASAP after I get some quirks figured out.\nI guess I don\u0026rsquo;t really have to give anything up. That\u0026rsquo;s been an idea I\u0026rsquo;ve been exploring lately, the fact that you can do it all. YES you CAN be the most handsome AND the most jacked AND the smartest AND the best student AND have a lot of money AND be social and have a lot of friends AND know a lot of languages AND be good at math. YOU. CAN. DO. IT. ALL. James Bond type-shit. This idea has led me to explore neuroplasticity and nootropics in depth during this semester. It just seems like a basic fact that if you want to grow, your brain needs to grow as well, a.k.a more connections, synapses firing on all cylinders, all units engaged. It makes sense. And in my experience, it\u0026rsquo;s absolutely true. I\u0026rsquo;m not going to go in-depth in this post (I\u0026rsquo;ll probably have more on these sorts of topics) but whenever I\u0026rsquo;ve experimented with compounds that seriously boost neuroplasticity, not just Lion\u0026rsquo;s Mane - I\u0026rsquo;m talking real experimental type stuff you can\u0026rsquo;t buy at your local Sprouts, my productivity skyrockets. More than anything, it truly feels like its given me the capacity to be more myself. More opinionated, better at curating what suits me and what doesn\u0026rsquo;t. Clickbaiting on YouTube is cringe - doesn\u0026rsquo;t suit me. Engagement farming and polluting timelines with worthless slop meant to steal people\u0026rsquo;s attention without giving them anything substantive or worth thinking about - slop, not for me. One bit that\u0026rsquo;s always tripped me up is the fact that there\u0026rsquo;s people with their names and faces out on the internet being reckless, saying things carelessly. Not polished whatsoever. And this isn\u0026rsquo;t to say that I\u0026rsquo;m so sophisticated or that I have the cleanest online persona, but I\u0026rsquo;m definitely conscientious. In fact, that\u0026rsquo;s kind of what this website lets me do, be conscientious, allow a little messiness but it\u0026rsquo;s ok because it\u0026rsquo;s all (mostly) done manually instead of through a service like WordPress or Squarespace. It also lets me mess around with settings and other cool things that can make this my own, not an Instagram profile or an X profile where customization is limited. It can grow with me over time.\n-D\n","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/articles/thoughts-about-majoring-in-data-science-n/","section":"Articles","summary":"","title":"Thoughts About Majoring in Data Science","type":"articles"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"Useful tools and references for you to use.\nFavorite Books:\nDiscourses - Epictetus\nPrometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson\nThe Stranger - Albert Camus\nMy Language App:\nEcholingua ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/resources/","section":"Resources","summary":"","title":"Resources","type":"resources"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"}]