(Part 3) Top products from r/IAmA

I'm glad it helps. :)

Actually, this is mildly cathartic, having an outlet for all those "should've, could've" thoughts...

Involve others with more experience.

• If you need to choose a school, ask on /r/lgbt.
  
• When it's time to find a therapist, ask on /r/asktransgender.
  
• When you need to tell your parents, or even just need to decide whether to tell your parents, find a local peer group (GSA) with whom to practice the discussion.
  
  Learn about your community.
  
  
• Read "The nearest exit may be behind you", "Gender Outlaws: TNG", "Whipping Girl", "Transgender History". These will not be your problems, or necessarily your life, but you will find your people in them and a connection to an otherwise foreign community. (It sucks to be trans, nobody understands.)
  
• Find opportunities to participate in queer culture. Being T is not the same as being LGB. It's tempting to pull away, since yours is an issue of identity and not one of sexuality (and they really are extraordinarily different). Resist the temptation, be a part of something, force your way in and tolerate the inconsistencies, it will be worth it.
  
  Heal thyself.
  
  
• Your attitude and self-awareness is awesome, but your background and environment is not. I had a virtually identical home life (one fewer younger siblings, but the rest aligns right down to the lawyer parent!), and even after I "got over" it, it took years to really put the internalized prejudices of my youth away. Don't rationalize it away, don't be hard on yourself when you can't just get over it.
  
• Go to therapy. Find someone you really click with, and who you feel understands you, and invest the time and trust in that relationship to make the most of it. Don't tell them what they want to hear, tell them what you feel, and remember that they fully expect you to be totally wrong about your own feelings the first few times. Figure it out together. You should be able to get this nearly for free at the right college, make the most of it.
  
• If it feels awkward, you're doing it right. Cut yourself some slack, everyone has a hell of a time growing up and finding themselves, and thanks to your situation you'll be doing at 19 what most work out at 12. It's ok. Laugh at yourself, reflect and learn, and move on.
  
• Find a fringe benefit. If you dwell on gender dysphoria, it can seem pretty shitty. If you mire yourself in transition, it can seem like a thankless, endless slog. Find something to be excited about, find a part of yourself to enjoy, and don't feel guilty about it. :)
  
  
  Finally, and most importantly, you do belong.
  You don't have to be presenting in your preferred gender to go to a support group. You don't have to start HRT to comment on a board. There's a pervasive sense among trans folk that there are real trans people out there and we're not they. But the moment you recognize this part of yourself you're a part of our world whether you like it or not, and all of us feel just as different. Smile, introduce yourself, and share aspects of yourself among friends who have those same parts and who are just bursting for the opportunity to talk about it with anyone who understands.
  
  Sigh, I could ramble on, but I need to get back to work... I guess I can sum it up in promising, cross my heart, the world is a beautiful and wonderful place, and you're going to love it out here. :)

I was trying to keep my comment brief so I realized it was going to sound much easier than it actually was. You are very correct, it took a ton of work and I was very motivated. I would love to elaborate a little more.

First when I committed to really take it serious I already knew how to program, but my skills where REALLY rough. My code was horrific, but it didn't matter because it was my own little hobby. So the first thing I knew I had to do was actually study the basics and good practices. I bought this Java book, http://amzn.com/0596009208, and I absolutely loved it. I just consumed it cover to cover.

My days were very busy. At my current job I typically worked 50-60 hours a week, so all my studying happened in the evening and late at time. It's hard to say how much time I put into studying, but it was all I did outside of work. I never really thought I was wasting my time. I had a unnatural belief that I would be able to turn these new skills into something useful.

After I finished that book I moved on to making my first Android app. It was a rewrite of one of the Python programs I created. I didn't buy and special books for this. The problem with the mobile field is that the technology was progressing so fast that books became outdated quickly. I did all my Android learning from Google searches and StackOverflow. I was in love with developing. At this point It was very common for me to work until 2-3am and I would be getting back up at 5am to get on the road for my current job. It's actually really crazy how you body can get use to this after you do it for an extended period of time. Of course I realize this wasn't healthy at all, but in my mind I would only be doing it until I could make it my profession. I never doubted myself that I wouldn't make this a reality.

After my first Android app I created another one that is the app that was for a niche market that I still work on to this day. Within three months this app had over 30k users and I was getting a ton of requests for an iOS version. I knew I didn't have time to teach myself iOS dev and continue to improve my Java/Android skills, so I kept pushing it off.

So now I really felt I had markable skills. I figure if I could do something that made someone else money, I'm hirable. But the problem was how do I convince someone that I could do this. I never went to College so you have to prove your worth in other ways. Luck have it there was a software development company in the small town I lived in, and I decided I wanted to work there, but how!. That is when I came up with the idea that I would pay them to make the iOS version of my successful Android app. My plan was simple, I would impress them with my Android app and what I didn't all on my own and during the development process I would be there as much as they would allow letting me work along side of them. I figured by the time they were finished they would want to hire me. Guess what...

They hired me! I successfully did it. I was so elated. I was making really good money doing what I currently did, so I took a 50% pay cut. This wasn't easy since I have multiple kids under the age of 5 at the time and my wife was stay at home. My wife was absolutely amazing during this change and I owe so much to her supporting me.

In all it took me about two years to get to this point. It took me about another 2 years to get to making what I was before the career switch. The rest of the story isn't probably as interesting as getting to this point. Basically I started teaching myself iOS development right away among other other types of development.

And your irony is that while I can commend you on your courage to do so unlike may of your peers, the substance of your answer is a complete disappointment given that as a Fighting Bob LaFollette Wisconsin Progressive, you had a number of traits I admired. Yet this answer was such a cop-out, confirming that the dream of a Ralph Nader Progressive-Libertarian alliance may always be ellusive.

First, the concept of "getting something for nothing" is dead wrong. The US is who instead gets nothing for something. Unless you're rich.

What Belgium has, like almost all other industrialized countries is an economy of scale of its social programs, of everyone contributing to the benefit of all that leverages far more coverage than the islands of prosperity we do now. If you want to "Blame Europe" then what about Australia? Japan?

What is "playing out across Europe" is A) a global crisis exacerbated by the US meltdown caused by short-sighted or unethical practices in the financial sector and B) the problem of trying to bring many unequal entities together on the same level in the Eurozone without dealing with underlying problems like the corruption in Greece.

Instead, as a country we have yet to figure out how to provide a uniform quality of life that almost all other industrialize countries enjoy, and I'm supposed to be impressed with you because you are quick with the veto pen, yet respect civil liberties? That's little consolation.

If you can't see that it is the gross inequity in the country, the unchecked abuses by the financial sector where government -- dominated by Republican influence for more than a decade -- has been complicit, then I have no faith that you can take your limited success in New Mexico and parlay that into any benefit for the US.

Let's talk about another country, Iceland, which refused to roll over to bankers. It is on its way to recovery. We are not. It is striving to maintain its quality of life while we let ours degrade. We were the first to ridicule, yet the joke is on us.

It took having a foreign exchange student from Switzerland to confirm what I have suspected since high school and continue to open my eyes to the assumptions so many Americans make. We have all been sold a bill of goods on American Exceptionalism from generation to generation that we forget the large segments of our population we have exploited to achieve that "success" that most of our peers are still better at when measured across their respective citizenry. The American Dream has turned into the American Lotto.

When you say we are "borrowing money to do those things" it also suggests you don't understand what comprises our debt.

Excessive tax cuts which did nothing to stimulate the economy, a perpetual state of endless war, including the war on drugs -- which I know you are against yet little comfort in the face of such gross misrepresentations as you have here -- and having to fix a broken economy ravaged by irresponsible, corporate driven policies are what put us here. Let me restate:

Government complacency of irresponsible corporate policy, NOT the pursuit of an egalitarian society is what put us in this position.

What you and other Republicans are looking to do is systematically roll back the clock on the standard of living we and generations before us fought for, ignore a widening gap between the rich and the poor, while standing by and watch in a downturn no less, a fraction of 1% of our population enjoy nearly unprecedented gains.

This is nothing to be proud of Gov. Veto. This is where I lose respect for you.

Your opinion that raising taxes handicaps economic growth, is a superficial feel-good statement not evidenced by the polices that have been tried and failed disastrously in the last 30 years. The fact that Reagan would now be probably considered too liberal for the party that worships him should tell you that the pendulum has swing too far the other way.

Demand creates jobs, not coddling imaginary "job creators" who find every imaginable excuse not to invest in our own country yet get rewarded handsomely for it. That happens not by giving even greater cuts to those on top already enjoying enormous success, but putting money in the hands of those at the bottom to continue to have at minimum the essential human needs to sustain life.

But your last line is what truly disgusts me. We are NOT "subsidzing Belgium" just because we engage in global hegemony that the rest of the world did not ask us for! If that is your foreign policy, then at least, while I don't largely agree with him, can respect Ron Paul much more than you. You seem to be a pale imitation of a Republican crossed with a Libertarian with just a hint of Democrat. What a bummer.

You should really brush up on history or read a good book, like Confessions of an Economic Hit Man to see what the underbelly of some of our polities has created.

Instead what see around you is the effects of an overextended, aging empire that refuses to acknowledge our policies in the world and complicity of corruption at home are far more responsible for our current position than any social program.

I wish you the best of luck on the biking trail, but not the campaign trail.

Hopefully you can find some helpful answers, guidance, or a starting point in these responses.


From OP:

>The exact four books I read are:

>Learning Obj-C

>Learning Java

>iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

>Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

>However, I would now recommend learning Swift instead of Obj-C. At the time when I was looking into iOS books, good books on Swift were few and far between.

From u/AlCapwn351 in regards to other sources to learn from:

>www.codeacademy.com is a great site for beginners (and it's free). It's very interactive. W3schools is good for learning stuff like JavaScript and HTML among other things.

>When you get stuck www.stackoverflow.com will be a lifesaver. Other than that, YouTube videos help and so do books. Oh and don't be afraid to google the shit out of anything and everything. I feel like an early programmers job is 90% google 10% coding.

>Edit:

>It's also good to look at other peoples code on GitHub so you can see how things work.

The scene certainly has its characters. It takes a certain type to spend hours studying words and playing a board game. The top players probably tend to be a little obsessive about it (out of necessity, really), but there are perfectly normal people who play at every level. The competitive scene has a whole range of players with different abilities, most of whom are pretty normal. Some take it very seriously, others just play for fun.Word Wars followed around some of the more eccentric players since that's more interesting to a wide audience. It can be a hobby or obsession. Just depends on the person. For me it was somewhere in the middle.

It was mentioned somewhere else in this thread, but Word Freak is a great book on the subject.

You sound like a really closeminded person who could benefit from a nice DMT dose. Or at least a good read maybe.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences
by Rick Straussman, MD



>A clinical psychiatrist explores the effects of DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known.
>
>
>• A behind-the-scenes look at the cutting edge of psychedelic research.
>
>
>• Provides a unique scientific explanation for the phenomenon of alien abduction experiences.
>
>
>From 1990 to 1995 Dr. Rick Strassman conducted U.S. Government-approved and funded clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected sixty volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical found in the psychedelic Amazon brew, ayahuasca, is also manufactured by the human brain. In Strassman's volunteers, it consistently produced near-death and mystical experiences. Many reported convincing encounters with intelligent nonhuman presences, aliens, angels, and spirits. Nearly all felt that the sessions were among the most profound experiences of their lives.
>
>Strassman's research connects DMT with the pineal gland, considered by Hindus to be the site of the seventh chakra and by Rene Descartes to be the seat of the soul. DMT: The Spirit Molecule makes the bold case that DMT, naturally released by the pineal gland, facilitates the soul's movement in and out of the body and is an integral part of the birth and death experiences, as well as the highest states of meditation and even sexual transcendence. Strassman also believes that "alien abduction experiences" are brought on by accidental releases of DMT. If used wisely, DMT could trigger a period of remarkable progress in the scientific exploration of the most mystical regions of the human mind and soul."

Are you fucking serious? YOU GOT JENNY LAWSON TO REVIEW YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON?! That is amazing! Talk about a glowing recommendation from a reputable source--her book is one of the funniest things I've ever... ever'd!

Oh. You're funny too. But I haven't read your book yet, so I can't say for sure if it'll be funny... though Lawson's recommendation might have pushed me over the edge. I love her.

Question: what was the funniest part of Lawson's book? Follow-up: why was it the part about the turkey named Jenkins?

Well this is a very dear topic to me, as schizophrenia has completely shaped my life. My dad was diagnosed paranoid shizophrenic when I was very young and my relationship with him was mostly via periodic long distance phone calls. His story is basically the same as A Beautiful Mind, just a different Ivy League school. Most of my life has been consumed by the fear that one day my brain would turn on me, feeling like a ticking time bomb that could go off any moment, particularly when I smoked a lot of THC I went to very bad places in my head and could literally see the line, if not crossing it for moments.

Having vomited all that out, a few questions:

• One of the major issues with paranoid schizophrenia is that taking pills from doctors (who may or may not be double secret government agents) is a major fear inherent in the delusion, so the medication often isn't taken. Do you think family members should be given more authority in these situations and the person suffering needs to have their rights to refuse treatment overrided?
  
  
• When I heard Joe Rogan talk about DMT, and subsequently read the book by Dr. Rick Strassman it, to me, completely explained schizophrenia. If this endogenous chemical is indeed what causes dreams as the evidence seems to point to, then blurring that line makes a lot more sense. Have you read up on DMT and do you think with focused studies it could lead to a cure?
  
  In the book, Dr. Strassman explains studies were making headway in the 60's before a ban on all hallucinogenics shut down the research, even though it occurs naturally in the human body.
  
  I like to think of it as like a valve to the dream world, if you do too many hallucinogens, or simply have shortages of regulatory brain chemicals to keep the DMT under control, I feel this is the most logical explanation. For example, when your brain releases it while you are asleep, your mind and body are prepared so this is normal... but if that same chemical was leaking into your mind while you're awake, couldn't that explain the hallucinations occuring and how they seem so real?
  
  NOTE: I know virtually nothing about chemistry, brain chemistry, biology, psychology or anything, so I'm sure some of this stuff can be easily dismissed, these are just the best explanations I've been able to come up with in my own research. Would love to hear from someone more knowledgable from a science perspective as well.
  
  

We seem to be programmed in our culture - perhaps by western religious and philosophical traditions - to accept dualism, which is the notion that mind and body are separate. However, several centuries of scientific progress have demonstrated more or less incontrovertibly the material basis of consciousness, thought, emotion, memory, and personality.

You ARE your brain. That is all there is to it.

What is particularly fascinating is how individual parts of the brain can be altered (i.e. damaged) with the result that parts of you are altered.

Oliver Sacks has several fascinating books that discuss case studies of neurological deficit, written for a popular audience, and they are each wonderful. Here are two of them:

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Mistook-His-Wife/dp/0684853949

http://www.amazon.com/Anthropologist-Mars-Seven-Paradoxical-Tales/dp/0679756973/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319305698&sr=1-1

That's cool. I used to play around with malware (analyzing it via a debugger, writing it) and learned quite a bit about security (I'm sure you know how many idiots there are out there armed with PHP and an introduction book.)


Some questions, then:

• What is your main OS?
  
• Do you do security consulting professionally? (e.g. pen testing)
  
• How "secure" would you say most people are? (Heh, banking on public wifi)
  
• Ever set any malicious program into the wild?
  
• What security books do you recommend? (I see Malware Analyst's Cookbook being recommended)

Speaking of books, this book is also a fantastic read written by an investigative reporter who meticulously studied the shooting and the two boys responsible. One of the best books I've ever read, it gives a very deep and well-researched look into the lives and motivations of Eric and Dylan and how the media twisted the story and created many of the well-known myths about the shooting.

Yes.

Hacking Exposed

Shellcoders Handbook

Reverse Engineering

Malware Analyst's Cookbook

Gray Hat Python

Gray Hat Hacking Second Edition

Writing Security Tools & Exploits

Sockets, Shellcode, Porting and Coding: Reverese Engineering Exploits and Tool Coding for Security Professionals

Professional Penetration Testing

These are definitely some books you could start with. Once you've gone through those, you'll know more then a lot of them out there :)

There's these reddit threads on r/netsec:
http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/d3hua/how_to_get_started_in_netsec/
http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/ekyjw/interested_in_learning_about_network_security/

http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/es4si/what_are_some_good_netsec_books_out_there/
http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/g6r71/getting_started_in_network_security_a_list_of/

There's also loads of blogs and websites around, if you go hunting or look at some of these netsec threads, you'll find loads more material.

1. Objective-C because there were no good books on Swift at the time, and I wanted to learn to code for iOS first.
   
   
2. I'm best with Obj-C, rather than Java and PHP, likely because I learned it first. I'm not sure if everyone falls in love with the first language they learn but I sure did.
   
   
3. I mentioned this elsewhere, but I'll paste that comment below (note: I may have linked the wrong version for one of the books).
   
   
4. Up!
   >
   > The exact four books I read are:
   >
   > Learning Obj-C
   >
   > Learning Java
   >
   > iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide
   >
   > Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide
   >
   > However, I would now recommend learning Swift instead of Obj-C. At the time when I was looking into iOS books, good books on Swift were few and far between.

People recommended The Gift of Fear to Melissa elsewhere ITT. I would recommend it to you as well. Internet hug.

Only book I recommend is Reversing by Eldad Eilam (affiliate link if you feel like it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764574817/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0764574817&linkCode=as2&tag=iha0a-20 )

Otherwise, I just recommend diving in and asking questions of everyone you possibly can. Feel free to contact me, should you want to do so.

I recently read this new book:

UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record

And I'm astonished at how open other countries governments and militaries are to discussing UFO's visiting Earth, sightings, etc. It's not kooks and crazies: John Glenn saw one, military, civilian pilots, cops, top security officials at military bases, Belgium's top general now retired and so on. France and England have opened up their books. I have a relative who was in the military when they all saw a UFO and were sworn to secrecy.

Why is the US remaining so secretive on a phenomena which is undeniable?

IMHO, it only contributes to the saying: "NASA: Never a Straight Answer." Your response?

When will NASA come clean on the alien issue? I've seen video of missions where UFO's buzz Apollo rockets and space shuttles.



http://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Generals-Pilots-Government-Officials/dp/0307716848

Do not adapt anything. Write in your voice because more than the intellectual curiosity, there is the outsider's interest in experiencing you.

EDIT:

Take a look at some of the books by
Oliver Sacks. His book An anthropologist on Mars is a good start.

I have just been reading a book called "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker. This dude knows more about this kind of thing than the rest of us put together. I strongly recommend you take immediate precautions for your safety (locks, maybe even staying at a friend's house, etc.) and read the chapter called "I was only trying to let him down easy" in this book. Much of what he recommends is not what I would have guessed, and likely no what you would guess. Even if you don't follow his advice, you need to know what he has to say here.

Here is a link to the book, because I get the promotion anxiety but I really want people to buy the shit out of your book.

That being said, I am so glad to see you posting and am so excite for your book. As anyone who works with me can attest, I regularly go back through your archives and spend the rest of the day snickering quietly to myself.

Thanks for your time Don.
Just picked up your memoir, Transparent, so I thought I would plug it as I am sure others would be interested.

In the span of your career in the news biz, what was the one piece you've covered that had the most emotional, long lasting impact on you? Just one.

EDIT: Thank you for answering. It's alright, you should shamelessly plug your book; if you're proud of it then you should!

Well .. kind of..

But For £5.95 you can know the truth my friend: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-White-Suit-Ben-Collins/dp/000733169X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381180052&sr=1-1&keywords=the+man+in+the+white+suit

Since we are giving unsolicited reading advice, for you I suggest:

Antony Sutton's Wall St. Triology

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4565730-wall-street-and-the-bolshevik-revolution

John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/1576753018

G. Edward Griffins The Creature from Jekyl Island
http://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/0912986212

when you can discuss the cited historical facts with some authority, let me know- in the mean time, feel free to send me a sample of your reading list

Every single "person with similar views as nolimitsoldier" I have encountered has always fallen into 1 of the following groups.

1. "12-24 Naive" This is the age where people tend to dismiss feminism without taking any initiative to learn about new and old feminist theories. I understand why so many people in this group so readily believe misconceptions about feminism. It is due to lack of knowledge or background regarding the new and old feminist theories. Also why nolimitsoldier believes all feminists think they are artists / photographers is beyond me. I blame the countless people who don't take the time to learn about the concepts and definitions regarding feminism and much of the media. Isn't until people mature and take the initiative to learn about feminism and realize that modern societies are still patriarchal, misogynist, and sexist.
   
   
2. "Man Eaters" This misconception is the standard among those who still disregard feminism. Most I have met lack any true knowledge on the feminist theory and believe the myth that all feminist are hairy man hating lesbians. Feminists come from all background and genders so this couldn't possibly true. This stereotype is false. Myth:Feminists are man hating lesbians
   
   
3. "Corporate" Again more misconceptions. People complain about feminism, woman, etc, while not understanding what feminism has to do with the plight of the woman. At the end of the day it'll depend on the person and the person they're respecting if they're a good leader or not. Because believe it or not people come from all different backgrounds and cultures! It just goes against our cultured societal beliefs that women can be good leaders. **A side example of this is the iron my shirt incident with Hillary Clinton
   
   
4. "more bullshit" The definition of feminist varies in each textbook but they all mean the same thing in the end: people seeking the equal treatment of women. Men already dominate the world. This hasn't allowed women to dominate or control men in any way. And feminists aren't seeking the domination of men, we are seeking the equality of genders.
   
   To learn more about feminism you can read or watch the following websites,books, or videos:
   
   Youtube Videos or Channels:
   
   

• Tony Porter:A Call to Men
  
• Feminism Survey:Men on the Street
  
• Missrepresentation Documentary Trailer
  
• Joss Whedon's Equality Now speech
  
• Feminist Frequency
  
• Trixie Films
  
  Websites/Blogs:
  
  
• Finally Feminism 101
  
• Feminist Frequency
  
• Geek Feminism
  
• The F-Word
  
• Feminist Peace Network
  
• Gender Across Borders
  
• Feministing
  
• Feministe
  
• Tiger Beatdown
  
• Feminist Teacher
  
• The Feminist Hub
  
• Lipstick Feminists
  
  Books:
  
  
• Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by Bell Hooks
  
• Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings
  
• Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine
  
• Gender Knot Revised Ed: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy by Allan G. Johnson
  
• Feminist Theory: A Reader by Wendy Kolmar
  
• The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory
  
• Third Wave Feminism: Expanded
  
• Different Wavelengths: Studies of the Contemporary Women's Movement
  
• Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty
  
• Defending Our Dreams: Global Feminist Voices for a New Generation
  
• Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation
  
• Enlightened Sexism by Susan J. Douglas
  
• Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape
  
• The Equality Illusion: The Truth about Women and Men Today by Kat Banyard
  
• Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movement by Catherine Redfern and Kristin Aune
  
• Transforming a Rape Culture by Emilie Buchwald, Pamela Fletcher and Martha Roth
  
• Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Ulrich
  
• Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power

Have you read the "Yes Means Yes" book or blog?

Book link for the lazy.

Sorry, I don't have any questions. I don't know much about you or what you do. But, hi! Thanks for doing an AMA and have a fantastic day!

Fine, that's kind of a cop out. Uhhh, what slightly greedy thing do you do most often?

Yeah, probably fair enough.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values

read this book http://www.amazon.com/Whipping-Girl-Transsexual-Scapegoating-Femininity/dp/1580051545 become informed, inform others, and always try to be nice about it.

All I can say is please read this, then come back and do an "I recently learnt the difference between pseudo-science and actual science AMA".

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology

>I shouldn't get so emotionally invested in this.

Well, it's kind of understandable. I'm sorry you got the reddit inquisition for your IAmA, though.

General book recommendation (for anyone reading this thread): Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape

Link on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Gift-Fear-Gavin-Becker/dp/0440226198

Read Leah Remini's book "Troublemaker." She explains how her family was suckered into Scientology. It's a really good book.

https://smile.amazon.com/Troublemaker-Surviving-Scientology-Leah-Remini/dp/1101886986/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1571767254&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Generals-Pilots-Government-Officials/dp/0307716848/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303763593&sr=1-1

She kinda did:

https://www.amazon.com/Troublemaker-Surviving-Scientology-Leah-Remini/dp/1101886986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480456046&sr=8-1&keywords=leah+remini

http://www.amazon.com/The-Disaster-Artist-Inside-Greatest/dp/1451661193

you should read this book.

Yoink!

read his book. http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-White-Suit-Collins/dp/000733169X

http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-White-Suit-Stig/dp/000733169X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1345397779&sr=8-4&keywords=the+stig

For reverse engineering:

1. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Reverse-Engineering-Reversing-Obfuscation/dp/1118787315/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450459302&sr=1-1&keywords=reverse+engineering
   
   
2. http://www.amazon.com/Reversing-Secrets-Engineering-Eldad-Eilam/dp/0764574817/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450459302&sr=1-2&keywords=reverse+engineering
   
   
3. http://www.amazon.com/IDA-Pro-Book-Unofficial-Disassembler/dp/1593272898/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450459302&sr=1-7&keywords=reverse+engineering
   
   For malware analysis and malware techniques
   
   
4. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Malware-Analysis-Hands--Dissecting/dp/1593272901/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450459302&sr=1-10&keywords=reverse+engineering
   
   
5. http://www.amazon.com/Malware-Analysts-Cookbook-DVD-Techniques/dp/0470613033/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450459367&sr=1-2&keywords=malware+analysis
   
   
6. http://www.amazon.com/Art-Memory-Forensics-Detecting-Malware/dp/1118825098/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450459367&sr=1-5&keywords=malware+analysis
   
   For programming
   
   
7. Complete Reference C and Complete Reference C++
   
8. NASM Manual
   
   
9. Intel Software Developer Manual (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/architectures-software-developer-manuals.html)
   
   This should be enough for you to get started.

Have you read the book "Columbine," by Dave Cullen? If so, what did you think of it?

http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303703783&sr=8-1

I suggest reading Demond Haunted World by Carl Sagan. This should pretty much clear up anything you've ever been told about UFOs and bad science in general.

He talked about how Eric Harris was a textbook psychopath and Dylan Klebold was a angry depressive. That Eric wasn't a loner but actually popular because he was a sociopath. Dylan had come under Eric's "spell" and they weren't bullied but rather bullies themselves. Some myths about how Eric and Dylan targeted Christians which were not true they killed at random. He also talked about how the plan went astray. He really didn't talk about video games other than the Doom levels which he said no of them resembled Columbine High School.
If you want to know more about the Columbine Shooting
http://www.amazon.com/Columbine-Dave-Cullen/dp/0446546925/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372520918&sr=8-1&keywords=Columbine

Did you spend any time with Nicholas Johnson, author of Big Dead Place? One of my all time favorite books.

I read "WORD FREAK" maybe 10 years ago, and have re-read it a couple times since, because it completely changed my understanding of the game.

The people in the book all seemed insane, so I'm wondering if any of them are still around the scene?

I think I should point out here that I also do study biology, biochemistry in particular, but I don't really like the reductionist view. I'm not sure how productive a discussion would be and we would probably just end up pissing off the other person. So, instead I'll leave a book recommendation. Whipping Girl by Dr. Julia Serano. She is a trans woman who works as a professional biologist and I think her voice is worth listening to, at the least.

Rousselet is the man to ask this question - but I can tell you that he wrote the introduction to Greg Sestero's new book, The Disaster Artist http://www.amazon.com/The-Disaster-Artist-Inside-Greatest/dp/1451661193 which you'll be able to get soon. I was once on the phone with Tommy, trying to convince him to act in a short film I was going to produce, while the cult of "The Room" was only beginning to grow in the college dorms that Rouss was targeting. He deemed me unprofessional, said he didn't want to be part of "a Mickey Mouse" thing, and hung up. We all laughed. (BF)

There is no hard evidence available, yet. There is only circumstantial evidence which mostly consist of personal testimonies, and there are some videos and photos available. That's the maddening thing about this phenomenon - the level of claims are so high that the evidence needed to prove it is also very high. But, even though there is no hard evidence yet, the claims itself can be considered individually and some inferences can be drawn from it. Read this book for more info. It's a very well written book and you can draw your own conclusion from the text. The author was also on Colbert Report sometime back. Also, watch this.

You should probably read The Disaster Artist. It was written by the guy who played Mark in the movie.

Spoiler: Tommy was the only one who didn't want out. And that includes Cancer Mom.

Is life at McMurdo anything like the book Big Dead Place? It's an incredibly cynical account of a guy who went down there 10 or so years ago for a couple of seasons (including a winterover, I think - haven't read it in a few years) and worked in menial jobs.

He basically said it's boring, people are crazy, the bureaucracy is horrendous and they get through by drinking in secret dorm bars.