Forest Handford

Forest Handford was brought up male, but never felt comfortable with that gender. As early as preschool, it was clear that she had interests and habits that were considered feminine. While Forest has supportive parents, they didn’t have the knowledge to alert them that she was transgender, a word that wasn’t even widely known until long after Forest was an adult.

What little information Forest found about being trans was misleading and harmful. It took cosplaying her favorite Dr. Who… Show more

Forest Handford was brought up male, but never felt comfortable with that gender. As early as preschool, it was clear that she had interests and habits that were considered feminine. While Forest has supportive parents, they didn’t have the knowledge to alert them that she was transgender, a word that wasn’t even widely known until long after Forest was an adult.

What little information Forest found about being trans was misleading and harmful. It took cosplaying her favorite Dr. Who character, Clara Oswald, in 2018 for her to find acceptance in feminine clothes. Forest soon discovered that she met the definition of transgender. For a short time, Forest considered herself genderfluid because she didn’t believe transition was possible due to misinformation she had been taught to believe. A non-binary friend of Forest’s mentioned that their therapist had recommended that they try hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Curious why a therapist would make such a recommendation, Forest did some research that revealed that not only was transition possible for her but that trying a small dose of HRT was a safe way to determine if it could help with her gender dysphoria.

Forest’s transition began when trans rights were under attack in her state of residence (Massachusetts). In 2018, Forest knew multiple trans folk who were fired due to their gender identity. Forest had to balance her trans rights advocacy against her safety as a frequent business traveler to Egypt, where being LGBT comes with a 10-year prison sentence.

Forest’s memoir covers details of her life and the historical context in which it has been lived. Many of the stories in this book reveal the challenges of being female and transgender.

While many trans stories exist, Forest’s perspectives as an Eagle Scout, as somebody who lived in Egypt, and someone who transitioned while in a management position, bring new dimensions to the space, further illustrating that there is no single trans narrative. Show less

Born on a space station, Samir Zeka was raised Muslim, observes a Halal diet, fasts during Ramadan, and prays 5 times every day. An introvert, he mostly stuck to his work, his home, his family, and his church community, until the day he decided to push beyond his comfort zone and attend a party that would forever change his life. Intending to look his best for the party, Samir searched his neural link “mesh” for random looks until he came across one that suited him. After some fine-tuning, he… Show more

Born on a space station, Samir Zeka was raised Muslim, observes a Halal diet, fasts during Ramadan, and prays 5 times every day. An introvert, he mostly stuck to his work, his home, his family, and his church community, until the day he decided to push beyond his comfort zone and attend a party that would forever change his life. Intending to look his best for the party, Samir searched his neural link “mesh” for random looks until he came across one that suited him. After some fine-tuning, he “flipped” to the persona of Samantha, a late 30s East Asian, cat-eared woman with shoulder-length purple hair. At the party, Samantha meets Anna, someone who will change Samantha’s perceptions of herself and transform both of their lives. Show less

Rosa Alvarez's personal hero had always been Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. Why hadn't her country, the country of her birth, been able to send a woman into space? Her family was touchy on the subject. She was chided as a kid not to talk about Valentina because America didn't like Russia. Americans didn't like immigrants either, like her parents and older siblings. Years later, Rosa found herself revolutionizing the tech industry by working towards gender equity in technical… Show more

Rosa Alvarez's personal hero had always been Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. Why hadn't her country, the country of her birth, been able to send a woman into space? Her family was touchy on the subject. She was chided as a kid not to talk about Valentina because America didn't like Russia. Americans didn't like immigrants either, like her parents and older siblings. Years later, Rosa found herself revolutionizing the tech industry by working towards gender equity in technical roles. This effort helped her company to break from a slump it had been in, and eventually led to her becoming the CEO. Things were going great until Trump won the election. Rosa had to decide, could she set her beliefs aside and collaborate with the new administration? Could she allow her company's computers to be used to hurt Muslims in America? Could she put her company at risk to make a stand? Show less

The number of tools available for Big Data processing have grown exponentially as cloud providers have introduced solutions for businesses that have little or no money for capital expenditures. The chapter starts by discussing historic data tools and the evolution to those of today. With Cloud Computing, the need for upfront costs has been removed, costs are continuing to fall and costs can be negotiated. This chapter reviews the current types of Big Data tools, and how they evolved. To give… Show more

The number of tools available for Big Data processing have grown exponentially as cloud providers have introduced solutions for businesses that have little or no money for capital expenditures. The chapter starts by discussing historic data tools and the evolution to those of today. With Cloud Computing, the need for upfront costs has been removed, costs are continuing to fall and costs can be negotiated. This chapter reviews the current types of Big Data tools, and how they evolved. To give readers an idea of costs, the chapter shows example costs (in today's market) for a sampling of the tools and relative cost comparisons of the other tools like the Grid tools used by the government, scientific communities and academic communities. Readers will take away from this chapter an understanding of what tools work best for several scenarios and how to select cost effective tools (even tools that are unknown today). Show less

Collection of my work including game development tutorials and energy conservation videos.