trivial_sublime

Not an exact transcription, but this is for people who can't watch the video right now while we wait for the official transcript. His translators were using "he" and "him" so I replaced those pronouns with "I" and "me" for ease of reading and brevity.

• qyll: You're on a death row and about to be executed. What's your last meal?

I would love to eat a steak very slowly, using a knife and fork, savoring and enjoying it.

• Mr_A 999: How long does it take to recover from an event? Do you digest all the food… If you do digest, I imagine its not very comfortable, so how long does it take to return your body to an equilibrium?

It depends on the food... But if I have four days, I can finish anything... It was very interesting was the other day when I broke the turkey record, as it took a long time to digest.

• myth1n: What was the hardest item you've had to eat in a contest thus far? (hard meaning difficult, not physically hard).

Cow brains. It wasn't that it was the most difficult, but it was the most dangerous. The way it looks, the way, it tastes, and the way it smells is horrible.

• HideousInfant: How much does flavor impact your performance? Is there any food that you have difficulty eating due to your distaste for it?

If you focus too much on the taste, you know you are not completely there, you begin to taste the item more. If I'm completely focused, I'm able to not taste it. When in my best form is when I don't remember what it tastes like. Sometimes when I've tasted the food, I'm in bad form, and I become nauseated by the smell and taste. Furthermore, I always like to keep things warm, so if I drink water, I make sure its warm. If I drink cold things, my stomach retracts, which doesn't allow it to stretch. For instance, if I'm trying to put ten pounds of something in my body, and it is cold, my body will become cold and it will start shaking.

• Itzslim: How do you prepare for a competition? Is it better to eat a lot before hand, or to practically starve?

It's not important to be completely hungry, but it's important to not have too much in the stomach and in the intestine. That's the only concern. My focus is to not be completely hungry or starving.

• Firstinthesea: Do you regret being arrested? Do you have any hard feelings towards Nathan's and how they treated you before and after your arrest? And what upcoming events are you training for (if there are any coming up)?

The only thing I can say in the sense of remorse is that I only feel sad or apologetic to the fans that came on that day and hoped to see me eat onstage, as I feel like I let them down that day. In the sense of regret, I have none, because of the chances and opportunities that came to me because of that. The fact that I'm able to speak to you today on Reddit came about because of the arrest. Also, because there was nothing at all planned about things that were going to happen, I have no way of regretting it. It wasn't intentional. It was all by chance that that happened. I was there because Ineeded to go but also because the fans that were screaming "let him eat let him eat" and before you know it I was so excited by those fans and my feet were onstage and I was there... It was really such a surprising moment, that how can I regret it?

Brieapism

As someone who has been and guided many people through the process... sure, it takes time and effort, but you are trivializing so much random fucking bullshit that you have to put up with as well. And it is EXPENSIVE. Your entire future is at the arbitrary whim of whichever USCIS officer you get for each portion of the process. And it can be derailed by any of them. Or by an undelivered piece of mail. Or by a computer glitch. ONE little thing goes wrong that is completely and utterly out of your control and it can set you back months or years and thousands of dollars. That's the problem. You can do everything 100% right and still have a very high likelihood of getting told to fuck off.

Create a clear, reliable, non-Byzantian path to citizenship or permanent residency that only requires "time and effort," and I guarantee you that the VAST majority of the people who are eligible will take it.

I'll jump in here. H1B is practically poorly paid indentured servitude. People get terribly abused during this process as the immigrant is left with no bargaining power at his place of employment. "We're cutting your pay in half and you have to work double hours. Don't like it? We're sending you back to where you came from." It's fucked.

Humiliation is a major factor in capital punishment throughout most of history since it is such a strong deterrent. Even now in Iran they will hang you (death), and then behead and crucify your corpse (humiliation). Which one do you think makes the news?