I would like to try NSI-189: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSI-189

People's experiences with this drug and suggestions for vendors would therefore be welcome.

Code Academy: http://www.codecademy.com/

Harvard's CS50 course: https://cs50.harvard.edu/

You can also take CS50 through edX, which grants certificates: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x#.VJjeyf8AAA

I haven't read this book myself, but I've read other books in this series and would recommend them:

http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Short-Introduction-Edward-Craig/dp/0192854216/

I like the idea of directing him to the Less Wrong sequences as he would probably benefit more from that. It's available in pdf and other print-suitable forms here so you could print it out and put it in a fancy binder or something:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/37v/sequences_in_alternative_formats/

These aren't so much "stupid" questions but ones which have no clear answer, and I'm curious what people here feel have to say about this.

-Why should (or shouldn't) one aspire to be "good" in the sense of prosocial, altruistic etc.?

-Why should (or shouldn't) one attempt to be as honest as possible in their day to day lives?

I have strong altruistic inclinations because that's how I'm predisposed to be and often because coincides with my values; other people's suffering upsets me and I would prefer to live a world in which people are kind and supportive of each other. I want to be nice, but I don't want to want to be nice; I can't find strong rational reasons to be altruistic.

I'm honest with people I voluntarily interact with, but ambivalent about lying in general. For example, I'm currently on sort of intermittent fasting regimen and if someone I'm not particularly familiar with offers food, I tend to say "I've already ate" rather than giving my real reason for abstaining from. I've seen it argued that lying to others will make you more likely to lie to yourself, but I'm unconvinced this is the case.

I wish I could upvote this more than once.

Perhaps this is juvenile, but I think it would be amusing if part of the meetup consisted of zealously handing out "The Twelve Virtues of Rationality" pamphlets (which conveniently is available in pamphlet form: http://yudkowsky.net/assets/pdf/twelve_virtues.pdf); like you see Christians handing out evangelistic paraphernalia in shopping malls, street corners etc. Ideally in some sort of uniform dress, like monastic (Bayesian master inspired: http://lesswrong.com/static/imported/2008/03/27/elimonk2darker.jpg) cloaks.

Or if you could integrate the pamphlet distribution as part of a flash mob activity/public prank.

Modafinil is something I've wanted to try for some time. How did you acquire it?

The original edit was titled "Prerequisites for understanding and participating on LW", in line with cousin_it's post. The aim is to guide people to relevant information.

Some elucidation of the implicit norms of what kind of posts or comments are worthwhile could be useful to newcomers.

Maybe you could write one?

I was told by a friend who reports to have drastically benefitted from Piracetam that it requires ~2 weeks to take effect, based on his and his housemate's experiences. I abandoned a piracetam regime a few days in because it had little observable effect besides increasing energy, currently a few days into my second attempt.

ETA: Each of us supplemented it with Choline, sourced http://www.nutraplanet.com/product/primaforce/piracetam-choline-citrate-stack-1-1-units.html

Not disturbed, just in disagreeance. A simple rewording of the post and title into something like "how to better understand Less Wrong" would stop it being potentially off-putting to new users.