Countless people have interned in Washington, D.C., but I have been told by some that I might be the only one who finished dead last in a speed-puzzling competition, plunged into freezing water dressed as a hot dog, and still made it to the Department of Justice by 8:30 AM every morning.

This isn’t really a reflection, nor a polished professional piece, and is more of a list from the spreadsheet that I kept of everything I did outside of 8:30 to 5:00 at the Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustees Program. I’ve also realized blogging isn’t really my thing unless the mood strikes, so this is more a list than a polished travel journal — I did plenty of that in my real journal over the four months I was there. :)

So without further ado, here is a (inexhaustive list) of the things that I partook of during the 3.5 months:

DC, Maryland, Virginia

Without a doubt, my favorites were eating Spiced Ham at a Spam tasting panel, attending a Supreme Court oral argument, attending a House Ways and Means Committee on tax code with guest: head of the IRS, learning the “Epic History of Mac and Cheese” at the Library of Congress, finishing dead last in my first speed-puzzling competition, doing the Polar Plunge for charity dressed as a hot dog, and hearing the National Symphony Orchestra play fused compositions of Brahms and Radiohead. I will cherish these memories, and the list of all the other things I have done to make the most of my time in DC last semester.

1. National Museum of African American History and Culture
2. National Museum of American History
3. National Postal Museum
4. National Archives
5. Supreme Court tour by docent, plus exhibits
6. National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)
7. National Museum of the American Indian
8. National Museum of Natural History
9. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
10. National Museum of Asian Art (Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery)
11. National Museum of African Art
12. National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden
13. Tour of the U.S. Capitol building (and House chambers)
14. National Air and Space Museum (National Mall)
15. Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Chantilly)
16. Planet Word Museum in the old historic Franklin School building
17. Lecture and book signing by Walter Isaacson
18. Bureau of Engraving and Printing
19. Ford’s Theatre basement museum with John Wilkes Booth gun
20. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
21. Family history preservation event at a Smithsonian
22. National Law Enforcement Museum
23. International Spy Museum
24. DEA Headquarters Museum
25. National Gallery of Art
26. Renwick Gallery
27. National Museum of Women in the Arts
28. “Night at the Museum” lecture event at the National Museum of Natural History
29. United States Botanic Garden and Smithsonian Gardens
30. Library of Congress — studied in the research areas and saw various exhibits and artifacts (Legacy of George and Ira Gershwin, The Two Georges, Book of Mormon, Jefferson’s personal library collection)
31. January fireworks and Washington Monument light show for America 250
32. National Building Museum (tour by a docent who had been leading tours for roughly three decades)
33. Museum of the Bible (once for Easter Sunday, again for exhibits like the Dead Sea Scrolls and “All Creation Sings”)
34. Sunday visit to the Washington National Cathedral
35. Stroll along Rock Creek Park and Peirce Mill tour (with some great stories from the National Park rangers)
36. “Japanology” lecture on film motifs in cinematography
37. Attended the Barnes & Noble grand opening in downtown DC; bought House of Leaves
38. Postal 250 book signing at the Smithsonian. Met the former director of the Smithsonian, James H. Bruns
39. Spam tasting panel and history lecture from a food-history PhD
40. Movies and film:
    1. First time with an AMC A-List membership (not popular in Utah) — IMAX, RealD 3D, Dolby movies (Oscar Animated Shorts screening, Oscar Live Action Shorts screening, Olympic Closing Ceremony, The Housemaid, EPiC: Elvis in concert, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Hoppers, The Bride!, and 1 in Utah before membership expired - Hokum)
    2. One Battle After Another screening at the MLK Jr. Library
    3. “Live at the Library” movie screening of Groundhog Day at the Library of Congress.
    4. “Weathering with you” (anime) at the National Building Museum
    5. “Spirited Away” at the National Museum of Asian Art
    6. Project Hail Mary at the Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater in National Air and Space Museum
    7. Library of Congress Freud documentary screening and Q&A with the director
41. National Gallery of Art conservator talk
42. Monks’ Peace Walk from Texas to DC on the National Mall, plus an interfaith meditation event at George Mason Stadium
43. “Epic History of Mac and Cheese” event at the Library of Congress
44. Dupont Circle Farmers Market (multiple weekends)
45. Dupont Art Walk (“First Friday” art walk)
46. Potomac Phil 5K and Groundhog Day festival (the groundhog saw his shadow — six more weeks of political gridlock!)
47. Ran along Embassy Road most weeks for exercise and sights, and around the National Mall (no Captain America passing me on the left, though)
48. State of the Union watch party
49. Harriet Powers Stamp Unveiling and First Day issue
50. Figures of the American Revolution at Postal Smithsonian
51. Closing day for indigenous Australia art gallery at National Art Smithsonian. Saw live didgeridoo performance/concert
52. Kristi Noem Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
53. House Ways and Means — IRS hearing (also tried to get into the Healthcare CEOs hearing earlier but ran out of seats; saw the CVS and UnitedHealth CEO enter the courtroom surrounded by press)
54. Supreme Court Fellows Lecture Program at the Library of Congress with Amy Coney Barrett
55. MLK Peace Walk and Parade on MLK Day
56. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (DCPL) — regularly studied after work on the rooftop balcony and saw rotating exhibits like the 1619 Project: Freedom and Resistance.
57. TGI Fridays on Friday the 13th (can’t do that in Utah anymore)
58. Norah O’Donnell book talk at the Library of Congress
59. National Zoo - saw all but about 1-2 animals
60. Folger Shakespeare Library — tour of exhibits, period food, homework and study in the reading room
61. Melodies concert at Dupont Underground
62. Polar Plunge for Special Olympics dressed in a hot dog costume
63. Downtown historic sites walking tour - various heritage trails with markers, sidewalk signage, statues, memorials, posters, etc.
64. Studied in Library of Congress research rooms (business, science, law)
65. Library cards — got one from each: Montgomery County, Prince George’s, Fairfax, DCPL, Arlington, Alexandria, Baltimore, Prince William, and Falls Church
66. Pentagon tour
67. George Washington’s Mount Vernon
68. American Red Cross Headquarters tour
69. Haircut from the Senate Hair Salon (shoutout to Mario D’Angelo)
70. Arlington National Cemetery — got to see a lot the of graves. I hadn’t expected to spend so many hours here, but the reverent atmosphere made time fly. Saw the Changing of the Guard, the Kennedy eternal flame, etc.
71. Washington Nationals baseball game (free jersey and $5 concession day)
72. Washington Capitals vs. Utah Mammoth game
73. Congressional Football Game
74. Congressional Basketball Game
75. Congressional Hockey Game (met FBI Director Kash Patel on the rink)
76. The Dollop Live podcast at the Lincoln Theatre
77. Nick Offerman at the Warner Theatre (learned not to use StubHub here)
78. FBI Headquarters tour
79. White House tour
80. The People’s House museum (a.k.a. the White House Visitor Center)
81. Joined the Washington DC Stamp Collecting Club and attended a few bi-weekly meetings
82. Live jazz at Union Station with a local gyro place
83. Jazz Masterworks Orchestra at the Smithsonian for Jazz Appreciation Month (the birthplace of JAM)
84. Cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin, Smithsonian museums, National Gallery of Art (Japan festivities inside), various suburb streets, and East Potomac Park
85. Cherry Blossom Parade on the National Mall
86. Japan Sakura Festival (sword-fighting demonstration, sumo wrestling, street vendors, and other cultural events)
87. Embassy of Japan Information and Culture Center event (history of cherry blossoms being gifted from Japan and the woman who advocated for them), plus the small gallery in the lobby and the Japanese bidet toilet (maybe the best part of the four months?)
88. Micro Center (Rockville and Fairfax — went to the second for a price match) — like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory but for nerds. Bought a coveted Ryzen 7 7500X3D bundle, sold my 5+ yr old parts, and actually turned a profit (thank you AI for inflated prices! 🥲)
89. Smithsonian Kite Festival, “No Kings” rally, counter-rally against No Kings, miscellaneous cherry-blossom events (such as Sakura Taiko drums). Kite battles, a gazillion kites in the air from the public
90. Anime talk on “Yokai” the encounters with monsters in Japan at the National Museum of Asian Art.
91. Petalpalooza - saw various performances and watched fireworks over the Anacostia River
92. Art of Pink" at Amazon HQ2 (paint battle, employee artwork, and banana stand were some nice highlights)
93. Speed-puzzling at George Mason campus; finished dead last in my first competition — who would’ve thunk
94. Easter speedrun — sunrise mass at the Lincoln Memorial (heck yeah for Christian rock music), then Lafayette Church (the “presidents’ church”), then JFK’s church, then the LDS church
95. Plays, Musicals, and Live productions:
    1. “Stereophonic” at the National Theatre (Broadway)
    2. “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway
    3. “The Wiz” on Broadway
    4. “Providence Spring” at Ford’s Theatre, by Richard Hellesen
    5. “Spring” at Ford’s Theatre (forgot by whom)
    6. “Written Then, Spoken Now” lecture at Ford’s Theatre
    7. “1776” at Ford’s Theatre
    8. “Unofficial Late Night” at the Kennedy Center
    9. “Brahms × Radiohead” at the Kennedy Center
    10. American Ballet Theatre’s “The Winter’s Tale” at the Kennedy Center
    11. “American Mosaic” symphony at the Kennedy Center
    12. “Hiroaki Umeda” at the Kennedy Center
    13. “Chicago” at the Kennedy Center
    14. “Paranormal Activity” (play) at Shakespeare Theatre Company
    15. “Inherit the Wind” at Arena Stage by the Wharf
    16. “Octet” at Studio Theatre
    17. “World to Come” at Woolly Mammoth
    18. Folger Theatre — Shakespeare play performed in the style of a Mexican soap opera, in authentic time-accurate English staging
96. “Moonshot After Dark: Watercolor Basics - World Watercolor Day” at the Kennedy Center
97. Various restaurants and foods from local establishments, almost always with other interns because I couldn’t justify the prices otherwise haha (e.g., Ethiopian, gelato, pizza joints, cookie shops — local establishments not in Utah)
98. Various smaller art galleries
    1. Phillips collection art gallery (and talks)
    2. Alex Gallery
    3. Church of Scientology - National Affairs Office
    4. IA&A at Hillyer
    5. Vika Gallery
    6. Heurich House Museum
    7. ADA Art Gallery
    8. Dupont underground art exhibits
    9. Washington Project for the Arts
    10. Art Museums of the Americas
    11. Studio Gallery
    12. Q Street Fine Art
99. Various Guest Speakers through the University of Utah Hinckley Institute
    1. Jacob Tonks
    2. Tanner Holcomb
    3. Troy Dougall
    4. Micheal Pearson
    5. Noelle Huhn
    6. Thomas Countryman
100. Miscellaneous social events 1. Artemis II watch party on TV 2. Watched BYU vs. Utah Basketball game with fellow interns 3. Watched some Jack Ryan, Reacher, Forest Gump, La La Land with fellow interns 4. Valentine’s day gala at a mansion
101. Monuments and Memorials: 1. Lincoln Memorial 2. Washington Monument (toured the inside, going up the elevator. Great view during sunset) 3. Thomas Jefferson Memorial 4. FDR Memorial 5. MLK Memorial (on MLK day too) 6. Vietnam Veterans Memorial 7. National World War II Memorial 8. Korean War Veterans Memorial 9. U.S. Navy Memorial 10. Japanese Stone Lantern 11. Cuban Friendship Urn 12. Albert Einstein Memorial Statue 13. National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
102. During my plane ride out of DC and back home — decided to throw in some youthful stupidity and leave the Atlanta airport to get a burger at the first Chick-fil-A. Made it with minutes to spare (and people say I’m not punctual?!). Also, Ben’s Chili Bowl in the Dulles terminal
103. Perhaps the absolute highlight: seeing someone in a powdered wig with a megaphone on a soapbox on a street corner, pontificating about who really controls the government

Also, I did in fact work the 40 hour work week, I would just spend 12-15 hrs away from my dorm room each day, fitting this in before/after work and occasionally on a lunch break. People seem to think that the two are mutually exclusive 🤔. (A separate blog post on my work reflections will probably happen after I am done with my summer internship stint at the DOJ U.S. Attorney’s office in Utah - stay tuned).

New York

This was my first time in NYC in 15 years. I haven’t been since I was a little kid, and sure tried to make the most of it. I don’t know if I ever slept before midnight in the city that never sleeps. Was also my first time on the Amtrak. I ended up taking the bus on the way back due to Amtrak being too expensive for weekend travel, even with the student discount.

I was here from March 19th - March 22nd (aka the only time I took time off work):

1. Rockefeller Center
2. The Met
3. Statue of Liberty
4. Top of the Empire State Building
5. Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
6. American Museum of Natural History
7. Death of a Salesman on Broadway
8. Comedy Central standup taping
9. Singfield, an off-Broadway production
10. 9/11 Memorial Museum
11. Walked around Central Park
12. National Museum of the American Indian (George Gustav Heye Center) in NYC
13. Nintendo, Lego, Apple, and FAO Schwarz stores in Times Square
14. A rare “splurge spend” for me - bought a Switch OLED for a killer deal. At a buy-now, think-later price.
15. The Symphonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
16. Coney Island (closed but I got to go to the candy store and Nathan’s hotdog where they do the 4th of July eating contest)
17. Ferry tour of the East River
18. (Unsuccessful) attempt to get into The Daily Show audience
19. NYC pizza shops, hotdog stands, Rice To Riches.

Philadelphia

The busiest day of the 4 months (besides working as an intern of course) Not a second wasted in Philly! (All of this in under 12 hours.) Would have definitely have enjoyed to spend more time here (and gotten more hoagies). Plus the National Constitution Center was closed on Monday I definitely would have been able to squeeze a microsecond in there :)

1. Ran straight from Amtrak all the way up to the Rocky Steps
2. Visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art
3. Toured Eastern State Penitentiary
4. drooled over Intellectually engaged with Ben Franklin historic sites (B. Free Franklin Post Office, replica print shop, and museum)
5. Visited the Liberty Bell
6. Saw Reading Terminal Market — bought a Philly cheesesteak
7. Toured Independence Hall, including the rarely opened second floor
8. Magic Gardens
9. Sightseeing at Love Park / JFK Plaza and City Hall
10. Walked down the UPenn Locust Walk on campus
11. Saw and got pictures at landmarks like the Betsy Ross House, Christ Church, Elfreth’s Alley, Franklin’s grave, and Penn’s Landing
12. Sprinted back to Amtrak from UPenn with three minutes to spare (and again, people say I’m not punctual?!)

• p.s. it was cloudy in Philadelphia! I can’t believe that Charlie, Glenn, And Rob on the TV lied to me, always sunny my butt.

Future travels

For some reason, people don’t believe me when I say I wish I could have done more. If I would have had more time I would have loved to:

1. Visit the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial)
2. Obama: The Musical
3. National Arboretum
4. Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, specifically out of Annapolis
5. Curling (was going to take an intro to curling lesson, had some people back out)
6. Would have gone to the Wizards game with Jazz, but the Utah Jazz are so bad this year it’s hard to justify watching a massacre
7. Shear Madness whodunnit at the Kennedy Center
8. Discovery flight lesson out of Gaithersburg (and see the road that inspired John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”)
9. More of Old Town Alexandria
10. See the closed and in-process-of-renovation Smithsonians and Portrait Gallery
11. Visit Delaware
12. Earth Day activities
13. Lancaster, PA day trip to see the Amish
14. Bonsai at the Japanese festival during cherry-blossom season
15. Smithsonian Assocation classroom event
16. Smokey Bear at the USDA headquarters
17. Various pop-ups and one-offs (like the Polymarket one I missed)
18. NSA Crytpologic museum (closed due to national security concerns while I was there)
19. Navy Memorial Museum (closed like above)
20. More think tank talks
21. Textile Museum
22. American Jewish Military Museum
23. Old Postal Tower — assuming it still exists in the future :(

P.S. If not for the “free” Smithsonians (err, my-tax-dollar-funded Smithsonians), “pay your age” pricing, and college student discounts, I’d have gone bankrupt from this. Fitting that I learned how not to end up bankrupt while working at the Department of Justice division responsible for that. (Shoutout to learning what not to do to end up bankrupt at DOJ USTP!) Also, shoutout to Aldi for being my wallet’s savior.

Closing thoughts

DC was wonderful. Without a doubt, the best part of being there was all the great people I got to meet. I especially had a wonderful time living with the other Hatch Center interns, and meeting with the fellow interns at BYU Barlow Center each Sunday and Institute during the week, and to attend the Washington Stamp Collectors Club on alternating Wednesdays. Special cheers to all those amazing friends made during the first half of 2026, and a heartfelt thanks for making it so special! Perhaps one day when I make it big, I will be able to afford to travel more - but it will be hard to top this one for all opportunities to expand my worldview in such a unique place both inside and outside the internship.

This is a paper I wrote for school sometime ago (last semester). I don’t think it’s a particularly stand out paper, but I think I ought to have something to show for my time at University on my website - so here it goes…

Analysis of Business Cycles

Introduction

We live in unprecedented times. Or so we think. While the world faces the onset of a new political administration, artificial intelligence, and the aftereffects of a pandemic, some posit we live in nothing new, but rather a repeat. A reoccurrence of a cycle that society has found itself in many times before. Whether it be politics, technology, economics, or culture, there has been evidence of society operating in cycles among many different domains and across large time periods(Lenton). In this time of perceived uncertainty, is it helpful to go back and look back at previous generational changes as a means of recontextualizing the modern problems we face in the 21st century? And are we able to find comfort in the knowledge that we face similar challenges as our ancestors, or do the current developments represent a complete departure from what society has faced in the past?

As business students, we find ourselves able to live in an intersection of culture, economics, technology, and regulation. The topic of social cycle theory presents the unique opportunity to explore the relationality among all these subject matters while also detailing a sociological theory that has a modern-day relevance as we deal with upending change in the form of technology, policies, and society. This essay will present my research findings and analysis at the macro level of various cycle-like activities in the larger context of the business world.

A new world, with old issues – defining social cycle theory

Beginning with the Greek term of “anacyclosis” – social cycle theory has its roots as an observation dating back thousands of years to the Greece historian Polybius (born 200 B.C). First seen as a theory of explaining the decline of Ancient Greece and the rise of Rome, the concept of political empires rising and falling has since perpetuated throughout history, and has been explored to other domains beyond government with theories on areas such as business, economics, social generations, and product lifecycle (O’Hara). This viewpoint represents a contrast with the other school of thought, that society progressively marches towards progress and becomes better in a “unilinear” fashion.

Models such as the Strauss-Howe theory and Kondratiev Waves attempt to explain how certain events reoccur in history with discussion on topics such as periods of economic growth and recession, cultural fads, and also delivers the researcher’s attempts to identify the length of each social cycle. It reminds me of in-class discussion of the Gilded Age of the 1800s – many of the topics brought up in class saw a resurgence in what is thought to be a similar period in the 1980s-2000s as a “second gilded age” where many of the same generation defining traits were repeated(Short). If the theory of social cycles were true, there would be significant benefits to those who can understand and predict them – as predicting the market presents a tremendous benefit to investors and businesses.

The (lack of) predictive power with social cycles

With every shift in culture and society there is bound to be a mixture of both winners and losers. Sometimes it’s between companies, other times between socioeconomic classes, and in rare cases – the introduction of new power structures. There is also the government regulation implication that businesses have to keep in mind, for instance in the past months major laws have passed in the EU regarding AI safeguarding and in banning social media for minors in Australia. Due to the impact of economic, social, and regulatory cycles, there is great value in information about what the future holds. If one thing is certain, corporations want to win in the market, and so comes the desire to estimate and anticipate.

This ability to anticipate and forecast as means of removing unpredictability is one of the best ways to reduce risk, and because of this, knowledge and information used in decision making is highly valued (Ward). With its role in informing business strategy, managers seek to identify potential socioeconomic trends and seek out ways to predict the macroeconomic landscape, indicating a huge upside in the potential of modeling business cycles as a prediction model. However, social cycles unfortunately may not be suitable as a means of prediction for business leaders due to the flaws that are inherent with “trying to beat the market”. This problem is one of the reasons that it has not seen adoption by corporations and the curriculum of business courses.

A major problem with the theory of social cycles lies in its academic validity. Although a well-established observation, the idea of defining generations and cycles has “little empirical evidence” in the scientific sense and is largely used colloquially (Rudolph). This extends to cyclic models such as Kondratiev Waves, and Strauss-Howe theory, which are under equal scientific scrutiny. Why then has this topic had such staying power across history? One framework to think of these cycles may be in the frame of philosophy rather than as a sociological law.

Social examinations and the timelessness of philosophy

It is indisputable that the world has evolved and changed in innumerable ways. Yet, it is also undisputable the countless ways in which there are certain immortal truths. Philosophy is one such discipline with an immortal nature that goes back millennia. Franssen et al. discusses in detail how people have been philosophizing about changes in systems for nearly as long as the recorded history of philosophy—some of the earliest known mention of philosophical discussion on new tools inducing societal change include discussions in ancient Greece by figures such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Such discussions have continued throughout history and though tools such as AI differ drastically in the power and scope of the tool – the ability for technology to upend social, governmental, and business systems is a timeless dilemma that has stayed in the public view.

Socrates famously denounced the brand-new technology of “writing”, saying it would “introduce forgetfulness into the soul” (Plato) and in true fashion of rebellious pupils, had his doubts ignored and recorded in writing by followers such as Plato. Socrates’ doubt in writing may be misplaced, but represents the common cultural tendency that comes with the adoption of a new technology. While AI differs drastically, the similarity in cultural response is remarkably similar to this Ancient Greek example as there is a timeless nature to certain generations rejecting or adopting a technology in differing ways. The introduction of new products, technology, and consumers has a wide-ranging effect on society, and it is important to consider these effects. It is especially important for industries that depend on cultural trends such as businesses.

Culture as a measure of consumer patterns

“We shape our tools, and thereafter, our tools shape us”. Communications theorist Marshall McLuhan took note and described how the tools we use impact culture, and therefore the people living in it. It was McLuhan who popularized this theory that “the medium is the message” and the ability for not only for people to influence technology, but for it to influence people. For industries involving sales to consumers, this indicates the importance to keep in mind that influence that technology has on people, especially considering the “Technology Life Cycle” (TLC) that results in changing paradigms for each generation of new technology (Kim), an especially important consideration as we experience the new revolution of AI, and with digital mediums as Euchner discussed in their paper on multimodal social media communication. Social media now has the potential to influence how advertising is made, content is consumed, and people react to the media that they buy and consume.

It is reasonable to assume then, that the predominant technology of a generation can fuel the purchasing patterns and create cycles in consumer preferences in the marketplace. When thinking of how this applies to the current “AI cycle”, it may be helpful to look at society in the realm of a “Technopoly”, a term coined by professor and culture critic Neil Postman. Technopoly describes a world where technology becomes the dominant force that influences product consumption, socialization, and a throwing away of the previous tradition. Kevin Munger in his paper describes what I believe is a realization of this worldview, with social media like YouTube where algorithms tailor content, advertising, and sponsorships with drastically reduced regulation (p. 38). This is in contrast to the more regulated nature of marketing before with stricter FCC rules, and the exclusion of certain age demographics (e.g. kids). The lack of regulation on YouTube may be a representation of what is to come as society as the US reverts to the more lax regulations, akin to the landscape that existed prior to the FCC and the Radio Act of 1927 (Matzko), thereby indicating another area where a social cycle may come to play.

Conclusion

Society as a whole is neither linear nor cyclical. While further research is needed to give a definitive view, a safe assumption is that modeling of society is a nuanced topic that cannot be thought of in absolute terms. A common fallacy is to assume the two mutually exclusive when reality likely lies somewhere in-between. When society has both the potential to stand on the shoulders of giants or to repeat the mistakes of the past, it is hard to predict what the future entails and what repeats, if any, will be seen in future business cycles. This lack of predictability is a testament for a corporation’s strategy to always remain cognizant of the world at large when conducting business and to act in a way that either minimizes risks or maximizes societal value. Another method rather than attempting to predict business cycles, is to be cognizant of world events through interdisciplinary study on topics such politics, technological developments, and making informed decisions of data such as financial statements. The study of business cycles is a great example of the need for multidisciplinary study, and how leaders can benefit from being curious in their market research.

Works Cited

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Buchholz, K. (2023, April 20). Charted: There are more phones than people in the world. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/04/charted-there-are-more-phones-than-people-in-the-world/

Dolan, N. (2004). Science fiction as the only moral education? Journal of Futures Studies, 9(2), 1–8. https://jfsdigital.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/08-Dolan-Science-Fiction-as-the-Only-Moral-Ed.9.pdf

Euchner, J. (2016). The Medium is the Message. Research-Technology Management, 59(5), 9–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/08956308.2016.1209068

Franssen, M., Lokhorst, G.-J., & van de Poel, I. (2024). Philosophy of technology. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2024 ed.). Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2024/entries/technology/

Hobbs, R. (2021). A most mischievous word: Neil Postman’s approach to propaganda education. Misinformation Review. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-65

Kim, B. (2003). Managing the transition of Technology Life cycle. Technovation, 23(5), 371–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0166-4972(02)00168-2

Lenton, T. M., & Scheffer, M. (2023). Spread of the cycles: A feedback perspective on the anthropocene. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 379(1893). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0254

Matzko, J. S. & P. (2020, May 4). Social Media Regulation in the public interest: Some lessons from history. Knight First Amendment Institute. https://knightcolumbia.org/content/social-media-regulation-in-the-public-interest-some-lessons-from-history

Munger, K. (2024). The YouTube Apparatus. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009359795

O’Hara, P. A. (2025). Capitalism’s long waves: Kondratiev, Schumpeter, et al.. Long Waves of Growth, Hegemonic Power, and Climate Change in the World Economy, 51–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-4132-1_2

Oremus, W. (2016, July 1). Alvin Toffler was right about future shock but wrong about the solution. Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2016/07/alvin-toffler-was-right-about-future-shock-but-wrong-about-the-solution.html

Pearson, K. (1982). Applied Futurism: How to Avoid Professional Obsolescence. The Physical Educator, 39(4), 170.

Plato. (n.d.). Phaedrus. In J. M. Cooper (Ed.), Complete works (pp. 551–552). Hackett Publishing Company. (Original work published c. 399–347 BCE)

Rudolph, C. W., Rauvola, R. S., Costanza, D. P., & Zacher, H. (2021). Generations and Generational Differences: Debunking Myths in Organizational Science and Practice and Paving New Paths Forward. Journal of business and psychology, 36(6), 945–967. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-020-09715-2

Short, J. R. (2013). Economic wealth and political power in the second gilded age. Geographies of the Super-Rich. https://doi.org/10.4337/9780857935687.00009

Ward, S., & Carter, D. (2019). Information as an asset – today’s board agenda: The value of rediscovering gold. Business Information Review, 36(2), 53–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266382119844639

On my commute during rush-hour traffic last morning, and in the haze of flipping stations, I stumbled across an interview with fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. It caught my attention, giving me the much needed rejuvenation to survive the dreaded 5-minute stoplight, and not only that, it continued to overstay it’s welcome in my head the entire day after. And it was all because of one offhand comment on writing – one that has prompted me to publish here on my blog for the first time in two years.

“Even if you came to me and said ‘you know what, you’re never going to sell a novel’, I would still be writing them. I am a bigger success if I die at age 100 with 100 unpublished novels than if I just give up on this thing that I love. If I have to get a real job and write as a hobby, I’ll be okay with that.”

• Source: Brandon Sanderson, via tidbit heard on BYU Radio broadcast

Giving blogging a second chance

What Sanderson had to say on the podcast resonated with me as someone who created a blog that I only give attention to every ~2yrs. As a student, and self-described lover of the craft, I am someone who does write a decent bit and yet almost never share/publish it.

I wanted to reflect on that. Perhaps it’s the pressure that comes with having strangers reading my work (with flashbacks to my papers filled with red marks). Or maybe I just want to avoid turning a pleasurable hobby into something that feels like work. It may even be the simple fact of not having a goal in mind on subject matters such as “what tone should this website take?” or “what audience do I want to attract?” Or… maybe it is something else entirely. It was not something I was able to get to the bottom of during that traffic light needless to say.

Regardless of the reason and the further introspection required on my part, I have come to realize that I haven’t given the act of blogging a fair chance yet.

Like a tennis player transitioning to pickleball, I think it is about time to try this thing out and give this new-thing-on-the-block another go.*

What I write about, and who I will write for

Going back to the blog itself, I wanted to lay down some of my thoughts that I have about blogging here. Regular consistent blogging is not something I have done before, so I believe it is time to give some more thought on this modality of communication.

In writing this post, I had to consider my audience for this blog. I believe one core element to my struggle in writing here has been the lack of a defined/stated audience. So with that said, I will have to fall back to what Brandon Sanderson said. This blog is primarily being written for the audience of myself.

My note to readers, aka what to expect

As a writer (in the broad unofficial sense anyway), I have had to take on many different writing styles and cover many different topics in my life. I may adjust my tone depending on the post, and will probably have a different subject matter each time (unlike my previous posts that largely followed a technical style with similar lengths, audience, and topic matter). I may be silly, professional, terse, verbose, or some combination. What is most important is that I am writing for myself, with the coincidental reader stumbling upon it as a pleasant and adjacent upside.

For now, I wanted to say that this blog will end up being a hodgepodge mix of many different things. Perhaps it will take the form of technical writing as I have done in the past, chain-of-thought informal musings, or perhaps a compilation of armchair research that I like to do when bored and navigating my college’s free research databases. I don’t know what tone or topics I will strike, and without a doubt it is something that I have to find through experimentation. All that I do know is that it is time to focus less on “crafting my personal brand image” and focus more on doing what feels right and authentic.

Concluding thoughts

With all that said, what made me really want to write all this?

Primarily I need to hold myself accountable. I am going to try to I will write (at minimum) a blog post every month for the remainder of the year. And what better way to hold myself accountable than to make that goal public. (plus, by posting this on the last day of the month, I was technically able to make the deadline for August, woohoo!). It is just the kick in the derriere that I needed to get into action and keep myself going for a reasonable time period.

A lot has happened since I last posted here. I switched majors from computer science to accounting, got my first internship, explored new hobbies, dropped old ones, and have changed in those subtle, yet important ways that come from being in college. And with these new developments in my life, there have been a couple of essay ideas sitting in the noggin’ just waiting to be polished and take form. On the off-chance someone other than myself is reading this, I hope there is something to be had in this and future posts! I am looking forward to new beginnings on my writing journey!

This article compiles my personal insights from the process of successfully jailbreaking my Kindle Scribe. For those curious about it, you may follow along, and maybe even jailbreak your own Kindle. Be aware this is moreso of a collection of my findings for jailbreaking my Kindle rather than a complete “step-by-step” guide. Credit goes to all original developers.

Update November 2025: The following instructions assume that you have a kindle with firmware less than 5.18.1 (which is the firmware that Amazon patched this jailbreak exploit with). If you have a firmware between 5.18.1 and 5.18.5, use the newer “AdBreak” method found at mobileread instead. Since I have obviously already jailbroke my Kindle, I have not tested AdBreak, so YMMV.

Disclaimer: If you choose to follow my steps, I am not responsible for any damage you incur to your Kindle, remember this device is one of the more susceptible to “bricking”. Be cautious and read ahead carefully, and remember this was written for the LanguageBreak exploit launched in late 2023.

Why

If you must ask, then this probably isn’t for you ;)
But if you really want to know, follow this guide you will have these features available over the stock Kindle:

• Vastly superior epub and PDF reading (through KOReader, a 3rd party ereader app)
• Disable auto-lock (stock default is 10 minutes, and immutable)
• Greater customizability (theoretically)
• SSH/Terminal access
• Disable OTA updates (A positive for those against unsolicited updates)
• Wirelessly manage sideloaded books
• Limit Kindle telemetry
• “And more”

Jailbreak

Prerequisites

I recommend reading this whole post before proceeding.

• Your Kindle Scribe must be on firmware 5.16.2.1.1 or below.
• Your Kindle WILL be FACTORY RESET by this process. Backup all files. I used the open-source file manager FreeFileSync for this. If you choose not to use a 3rd party tool, be sure to backup the hidden “System” and “.notebook” folders.
• Take a picture of any sideloaded books in the “collections” feature on Kindle. They will not be preserved, and you will have to manually reorganize them when everything is done.
• If using Windows, download a program to open tar.gz files, such as 7-Zip
• Delete any update.bin or update.bin.tmp.partial files on your Kindle

The 100-foot overview

Roughly here is the order of what “jailbreaking” will accomplish.

• Jailbreak for arbitrary code execution (run non-amazon code)
• Install “hotfix”, so that jailbreak doesn’t vanish with updates
• Add installer for “apps”
• Add launcher for “apps”
• Install 3rd party ereader “app”
• Install “app” that blocks updates
• Install “app” to run a Linux terminal
• Restore the removed “disable sleep” functionality
• Limit some Amazon tracking/telemetry

1. Download the necessary files

Filenames I used to successfully jailbreak are in (parenthesis), keep in mind they will most likely be updated at some point.

• Latest release of Languagebreak from Github (LanguageBreak.tar.gz)
• Jailbreak hotfix from Mobileread (JailBreak-1.16.N-FW-5.x-hotfix)
• KUAL Coplate from Mobileread (KUAL-5b5d1d2-20231104.tar.xz)
• mrinstaller from Mobileread (kual-mrinstaller-1.7.N-r19298.tar)
• RenameOTA from Mobileread (renameotabin.zip)
• KOReader from their nightly build server(koreader-kindlepw2-v2023.10-16-gda8e23c01_2023-11-12.zip)

2. Follow LanguageBreak instructions

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=356872

My personal notes on the process:

• I found a video of the gesture to input whilst in demo mode is available here on Youtube
• The “Post Jailbreak” section of the guide wouldn’t work for me until I did a manual reboot by holding the power button.
• From the “LanguageBreak.tar.gz” file, use the appropriate hotfix file. Since I live in the United States, and speak English, I used “Update_hotfix_languagebreak-en-US.bin”
• Once the device exits demo mode (by issuing the command ‘;demo’ in searchbar), it must be re-registered again. T-Mobile “graciously” throttles my phone hotspot to 600kbps, perfect for ensuring the device doesn’t have time to download an entire OTA update during the setup.
• Once you install the LanguageBreak specific hotfix, you may need to install the generic one. (The LanguageBreak GitHub repo was not up to date at the time of this post). I used the file Update_jailbreak_hotfix_1.16.N_install.bin with their corresponding Mobileread instructions.

3. Install jailbreak packages

I found these Mobileread instructions written by Spacequince last year for the previous Kindle Jailbreak called “WatchThis” is useful and still relevant for LanguageBreak.

1. Install package manager, MRPI

• “Install” in this case means copy-pasting all the files from the tar.xy file into the root directory of your Kindle.

2. Install package launcher, KUAL (coplate)

• Move the file Update_KUALBooklet_XXXXXXX+install.bin to the mrpackages/ folder in the root of your Kindle
• Run the command ;log mrpi

3. Install RenameOTA

• Move “renameota” folder to extensions/ in root of Kindle
• Launch KUAL > “Rename OTA binaries” > “rename”

4. And finally, install KoReader, the ebook reader app.

• Move files from koreader-kindlepw2-v2023.10-16-gda8e23c01_2023-11-12.zip to the root directory of Kindle.
• By default, the KOreader interface is meant for small Kindles, and the UI is huge. Change the DPI in settings to fix this. tap top menu > gear icon > screen > Screen DPI > Small (120)

By this point you should have a fully jailbroken Kindle, with all the basics installed! :)

Restore files and settings

1. Move back all your files

• If you use the “vocabulary builder” feature, move back /system/vocabulary/ as well.
• Only move back files containing the string “!!PDOC!!” and “!!EBOK!!”. These contain book annotations. The rest unfortunately aren’t picked up by Kindle. If you wish to move back your notebooks, scroll down to the next section of this guide.
• Unfortunately, to reorganize sideloaded books into your collections you are going to have to do manual labor and reference the pictures you took in the “prerequisite” section of this guide. :(

2. Restore sideloaded book covers

• Most likely covers for sideloaded books will be missing. To fix: Open up Calibre while connected to your PC, so that sideloaded book covers are restored.

3. Restore Device Settings

• Personally, I opt out of the data collection privacy setting in advanced options, disable the power saver mode, disable Whispersync, and enable a passcode on my own device.

Restore individual notebooks:

Follow the directions laid out here in this Reddit post. Credit to atoms77.

1. create new blank notebook on Scribe, this will be overwritten with your old notebook
2. cd into folder of notebook you want to restore (hint use thumbnail folder to identify it)
3. run command (gci nbk).LastWriteTime = '10/08/2023 13:00:00' (changing the date where needed)
4. overwrite the “nbk” file in the .notebooks directory
5. manually repeat process for each notebook :(

Optional post-jailbreak tweaks to install

Optional post-jailbreak files:

• USBnetwork for SSH and wirelessly managing books. Download from Mobileread (kindle-usbnet-0.22.N-r19297.tar)
• Kterm terminal emulator. Download from Github (kterm-kindle-2.6.zip)

How to install packages/apps

Always follow the directions in the readme, but in general to install a new application on your jailbroken kindle:

If given as a “.bin” file, e.g., USBnet:

• Move .bin file to the ‘“mrpackages” directory
  • e.g., Update_usbnet_0.22.N_install_pw2_and_up.bin
• Launch KUAL > Helper > Install MR package

Or if no “.bin” present, e.g., Kterm:

• Folder will have config.xml and menu.json files
• move folder to “extensions” folder in root directory, and then launch by going to KUAL > Helper > “Name of Package”

Setup SSH with PuTTY

I have found on WIndows the best app to connect to Kindle is PuTTY (download here).

After you have followed the USBNet readme to the package, you may setup authentication with your SSH client. I found this blog post , and this Mobileread thread to be helpful.

• Once you have followed the steps in the mobileread thread, and generated the keys with PuTTYgen, add them by going to Connection > SSH > Auth > “Private key file for authentication”.

• Then return to the PuTTY launch window, input your IP address and save your settings.

While we have terminal access to the Kindle, it may also be helpful for peace of mind to check the disabling OTA updates worked. Run ls /usr/bin | grep -i .bck and make sure two files appear:

otaupd.bck
otav3.bck

Wirelessly manage files with WinSCP

Now that you have a SSH setup with USBNet from the previous step, we can now have everything we need to manage files via “SFTP”.

If you wish to know where the Kindle stores documents when connected via usb cable, it is in /mnt/us/. This is useful if you want to wireless manage files/books using a program like WinSCP

• Open WinSCP. On the login screen go to: New site > Advanced > SSH > Authentication > “Private key file”, and use the same file generated by PuTTYgen.

• Then input your IP Address and save the config settings.

That’s it! From there you can browse files in /mnt/us as if you were connected wired by a cable.

Bonus tip: If you wish to connect to your Kindle using nothing but your phone, simply install and setup a SFTP client such as Termius for iOS. Then input ;711 into the Kindle search bar to find the device IP Address. For T-Mobile users—like myself—you may have to turn on a VPN first. And for iOS users be aware this was broken early iOS 17 releases.

Remove auto-lock / sleep after 10 minutes

Kindle devices used to have this functionality built in, we are going to restore it.
To do so:

1. Disable passcode before proceeding to be on the safe side
2. mntroot rw (mount Kindle filesystem as read-write)
3. vi /usr/share/webkit-1.0/pillow/debug_cmds.json
4. Enter “i” for input mode
5. Add the line "~ds" : "/usr/bin/ds.sh", somewhere in the middle of the list of commands
6. Press the esc key, and enter :x to save the file
7. mntroot ro (mount Kindle filesystem as read-only)
8. Reboot your Kindle

You may also want to create a custom command so you don’t have to reboot the Kindle to re-enable auto lock. For instance something like"~es" : "/mnt/us/es.sh", where your new file es.sh contains the content:

#!/bin/sh

lipc-set-prop com.lab126.powerd preventScreenSaver 0

Now whenever you are in a situation where you want to remove the auto-lock timer, simply input ~ds into the search bar of your Kindle. Either enter ~es, or reboot to restore the auto-lock timer.

Disable logging

Source: Mobileread thread. Credit: dasmoover/mergen3107.

One method to limit Amazon telemetry is to disable Kindle logs. This may be somewhat dangerous or cause other unwanted effects if anything else relies on this logging. I have used this for years on my previous Kindles, but be warned.

# Disable Logging
mntroot rw
ln -s -b /dev/null /usr/sbin/syslog-ng
ln -s -b /dev/null /usr/sbin/loginfo
ln -s -b /dev/null /usr/sbin/tinyrot
ln -s -b /dev/null /usr/bin/showlog
mntroot ro

Modify “hosts” file

Another way to limit telemetry is through the hosts file. I doubt this is a viable way to completely block telemetry. But worst case scenario all it does is clear up my Pi Hole logs.

Some telemetry domains that I chose to block, and are safe to do so:

mntroot rw
echo "127.0.0.1 device-metrics-us-2.amazon.com" >> /etc/hosts
echo "127.0.0.1 device-metrics-us.amazon.com" >> /etc/hosts
echo "127.0.0.1 device-metrics-us-ud.amazon.com" >> /etc/hosts
echo "127.0.0.1 device-messaging-na.amazon.com" >> /etc/hosts
mntroot ro

130+ domain hosts file

For the paranoid, I have compiled a comprehensive (but not complete) list of domains the Kindle connects to. You can download the hosts file here. BUT since it interferes with so much functionality, I would advise AGAINST using it unless you have some super insane threat model.

Warning: The Kindle Scribe upon first boot requires you to register the device via the internet; Blocking the wrong domains used in registration may prevent you from registering and henceforth lock you out of the device.

Therefore if you carelessly block domains(like with the 130 domain hosts file I have linked), you may end up with a “soft-brick”. Do not block random domains and do a factory reset without restoring the default hosts file, doing so will lock you out of the device. I was scared out of my gourd when this happened to me, and but luckily for me, I remembered how to remove the jailbreak, which I describe in the following section this post.

Note on Mobileread"rescue pack"

Sidenote: Mobileread has two packages meant to save you from bricking your device: “Rescue Pack”, and “Coward’s Rescue Pack”. If you end up in a situation like mine, you may be tempted to install these to be safe. Do NOT install these on Kindles newer than the PaperWhite 5 (inc. the Scribe). These new devices lack the partition that enables it to work on the older devices, and they are useless at saving you from a brick (all the more reason to be cautious when messing around with things).

Concluding thoughts

“What about customization?”

Unfortunately in my research it seems there is very little customization opened up by jailbreaking. Custom screensaver mods have had user reports of soft-bricking the device. Modifications to the reader app appear fruitless—locked behind a proprietary binary file. The homescreen obscured behind Hermes bytecode. And so on and so on.

Other modifications have potential, like setting book covers for PDF files by modifying the “cc.db” database. But to my knowledge, no one has risen up to make a proof-of-concept for this cosmetic modification.

Ultimately most of my desired customizations are unachievable at the current time. Which is a shame, since it was a big part of why I originally went through all this trouble.

Updates after jailbreaking

To update the system:

• Make sure there are no breaking changes from an update on Mobileread forums. If in doubt, make a post asking if it is safe to update.
• IF verified as a safe update, disable any “extreme” modifications that change system files (e.g like modifying the system logging files for analytics). This is only to be on the safe side. IIRC updating replaces all firmware files anyways so it might be redundant.
• Disable RenameOTA by opening it in KUAL, and clicking “restore”. Then update as normal. When finished, apply jailbreak hotfix and reboot 2 times. Be aware you may have to reinstall some modifications after updating. (E.g hosts file and disable sleep adjustments)

To update jailbreak files:

• Update KOreader by clicking the upper right hand hamburger menu > Updates > check for updates
• Update extensions/packages by going redownloading them, and following the individual readme instructions.

How to remove jailbreak

Maybe you brick’d your device like me, are planning on reselling your device, or maybe you just have some other need to remove jailbreak. Here is how I do so:

1. Connect to usb, and Copy any files you want off the device (e.g. with FreeFileSync)
2. Place an empty file named DO_FACTORY_RESTORE in the root of Kindle. (download available here)
3. Reboot Kindle, it will factory reset and go to the registration screen.
4. When Kindle powers back on, plug into PC, and add an <update>.bin file that matches your current version, (Downloads available at Softpedia)
5. Reboot Kindle by holding down power button
6. Setup as normal

Resources

If you need help troubleshooting, the best place to ask is on the Mobileread forums.

Otherwise here are some misc. links I found helpful putting this post together:

Documentation:

• https://github.com/sgayou/kindle-5.6.5-jailbreak/blob/master/doc/README.md
• https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/
• https://koreader.rocks/user_guide/
• https://explainshell.com/
• https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_Touch_Hacking#Architecture

Instructions to jailbreak:

• https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=320564
• https://kindlemodding.gitbook.io/kindlemodding/post-jailbreak/installing-kual-mrpi
• https://blog.fabricemonasterio.dev/kindle-jailbreak/

Why jailbreak:

• https://git.sr.ht/~sotirisp/kindle-hacks
• https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=324074
• https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315299

Bonus: Extract Kindle Firmware

If you wish to perform your own modifications, it may be useful to have a browse around with a copy of the firmware files on your computer. If you want to mount the Kindle firmware, follow these steps (via Linux, WSL2, or maybe macOS):

1. Download firmware, (e.g. from (Softpedia))
2. Download KindleTool to extract the firmware

$ cd ~/Downloads/kindletool/
$ ./kindletool extract update_kindle_scribe_5.16.2.0.1.bin firmware

4. Extract the rootfs.tar.gz file produced from the previous step. You should be left with a rootfs.img file
5. Mount the file with the following commands:

$ cd firmware/
$ mkdir kindlemountpoint
$ sudo mount -o loop fwo_rootfs.img kindlemountpoint/

And from there you can look around as you please.

Kindle Scribe Specifications

System Specs:

• SOC: MT8113
  • CPU governor: ondemand
  • CPU frequency: 2GHz
  • CPU cores: 2
• RAM: 1Gb
• Battery size: 3000mAh
• Battery voltage: 4.4v
• Kernel: Linux 4.9.77-lab126 (circa 2018)

Once you have either jailbroken or extracted the firmware files, you can then poke around to find some information on the hardware specs. I believe this is interesting/worthwhile since Amazon doesn’t offically publish them anywhere.

• cat /sys/devices/platform/10019000.i2c/i2c-1/1-004b/bd71827- -- power.4.auto/power_supply/bd71827_bat/charge_full lists the battery capacity at “2975000”. Units are in “ampere hour” divide by 1000 to get milliamp-hours(mAH). I’m assuming my battery has degraded from the factory 3000 mAh value.
• cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_governor lists the CPU governor as “ondemand”
• cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_max_freq && cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_min_freq lists cpu frequency as 600MHz - 2GHz
• free -m from a terminal session on-device lists the ram at 1G, up from the .5G of previous models.
• cat /sys/class/power_supply/<number>_bat/voltage_max lists the end of charge voltage at 4.4v, some older models used 4.2v batteries.

Alternatively, you can just install Neofetch to give you a nicely formatted image of a device’s hardware specs.

Update 2023: Starting August of 2023, Joplin has supported Apple Silicon Natively! Downloads are available at their GitHub page. Due to this, the following post will no longer be updated.

While there are no Joplin ARM apps for desktop, it possible to compile it yourself. With Joplin being based on Electron it has the capacity to run on Arm processors, the main hurdle is lack of prebuilt binaries for Joplin desktop. This article will go over the process needed to compile one for M1 Macs.

For those who don’t know, Joplin is a multi-platform note taking app available for Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and Mac. Unfortunately, Arm64(Aarch64) is only available for mobile OSes, leaving out a chunk of Chromebook, Raspberry Pi, and Mac users.

I discovered that there are instructions for how to compile for Arm Linux, but none for Mac. Hopefully this will fill in the gap for those with M1 and future Apple CPUs.

Note: This has only been tested with a M1 Mac running Ventura. Additionally this guide has not been updated since August of 2023.

1) Install Homebrew and dependencies

Homebrew

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Joplin Dependencies

brew install cocoapods
brew install python
brew install vips
xcode-select install

Ensure node / npm / yarn is up to date

node -v, npm -v, yarn -v

As of writing, I successfully compiled with these versions:

Node: v18.17.1

Npm: 9.8.1

Yarn: 3.6.3

2) Prepare Files

Clone Joplin repo

git clone https://github.com/laurent22/joplin.git 
cd joplin

Change target architecture

You will need to update a couple .json files to change the target arch from x64 to arm64 in app-desktop/package.json. See: this PR for what to change

Install npm packages

# Enable codepack for Node/Yarn
corepack enable
npm install sharp
npm install Keytar —build-from-source ## For some reason npm will throw errors if not done beforehand
# npm install -g @dennisameling/keytar-temp@7.4.99 ## Alt keytar if above does not work
# npm install sqlite3@4.1.0 —build-from-source ## Might not be necessary, run if build fails in step 3

Set npm config flags

export npm_config_arch=arm64
export npm_target_arch=arm64
export sdkroot=macosx
npm config set python python3 ## sqlite3 errors if not set beforehand

3) Running Joplin

Build Joplin

yarn install
cd packages/app-desktop
yarn start 
# if it runs successfully, time to package
yarn run dist --publish=never --mac --arm64

Optional: you may also run yarn test to run Joplin’s built-in unit tests to check stability.

Delete old install

There will be conflicts if you don’t delete the old x64 install of Joplin.

In order to uninstall it, move the previous joplin.app to the trash. Then delete the data folder.

# Delete Joplin data folder: make sure you backup everything you need beforehand
rm -r ~/.config/joplin-desktop

Install new dmg

A .dmg file should be in joplin/packages/app-desktop/dist as generated by yarn run dist command. Extract it and run it as you would the normal x64 binary.

Open activity monitor to verify that it is using the right CPU architecture. If all goes well, you should see Joplin’s CPU type being “Apple” instead of “Intel”.

Updating Joplin

When the Joplin app notifies you of an update, you will have to repeat the above process. Run git pull origin to fetch the latest changes, then rebuild using yarn. Additionally if using the End-to-End encryption feature, you may be prompted about Joplin storing it’s master password securely in your Mac’s keychain. If so, click always allow.

Conclusion

Having used this for over a year, I have yet run into any problems so far, but keep in mind that no guarantees are given. Since this is not actively supported by the official project, don’t pester Joplin’s maintainers with any errors encountered in the process. If you do notice anything wrong, share the issue on GitHub, and I can try and help.

Note: due to Apple’s strict notarization and code-signing, shared prebuilt binaries will fail to boot unless you compile them yourself.

I provide my personal unsigned binary on my GitHub. This won’t work out of the box, but was informed it can be as simple as removing the Quaratine flag once downloaded using xattr -d com.apple.quarantine <path to joplin.app> (Thanks Isaac for the tip).

Troubleshooting

• Make sure your NodeJS arch is ARM64: node -p "process.arch".
• Be sure to read through yarn error logs from start to finish.
• Macs sometimes have a bug that cause it to throw enotempty errors. A possible fix is running: ulimit -Sn 4096.
• Between failed attempts: Try deleting all node_modules folders. rm -rf node_modules, and then run npm i --package-lock-only to update packages.
• Run npm audit fix, npm run clean, and other commands listed in the Joplin troubleshooting repo.

If all fails, feel free to contact me if you need any help, and I’ll try to respond as soon as possible.

This is my first blog post.

I never know what to say.

And I also do not know what to write for my blog.

Yet, you always have to start somewhere.

Thanks for clicking to see my first blog post.

Mind the dust.

About me

And with that said… If you wanted something more, the best place to find out more about me, this site, and/or the answer to life, the universe, and everything would be located in the about section of this website

And also, I really do appreciate the views to my site! I do not make effort to advertise traffic here, so consider yourself lucky to have stumbled upon this pet project of mine :)

Technological blog info

This site is built with Hugo using a theme that I created and host on my local computer. This site is built and deployed via Netlify.

With that said, this is my first swing at a website, so that fact it is standing is a miracle in and of it’s own!

Notice about this post

This post will probably be updated at random moments to test various functions of the site. Stay Tuned for more in the near future.

latest revision: (dated August 2025)

Fun Links

Not affiliated with me or otherwise endorsed, just fun things that I have found

• Micronation of Stevetopia Website
• Haha

Sources

Photo Credit by Roméo A. on Unsplash

P.S

I f you long-press on my picture in the about section of my website, my bowtie changes color! (hover over on desktop). 🙃

P.P.S

I promise that my other blogposts are actually have content worth reading! (or at the very least will have more coherent musings, haha) Like I said, this is my first website, and this first post mainly serves as a placeholder for me to mess around in.