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Adorable Baby and Insufficient Cartography

2011-09-12 · John, a child of the brothers · watch on YouTube · Nerdfighteria · reflection essay

Lower-confidence wave

2011 videos did not pass the QA gate (17 %); their analysis is shown but less reliable.

John says the maps the brothers make in their videos, including Hank's September 11th video and his own Gatsby video, are always distorted and insufficient, but Nerdfighteria together draws better maps than any of them alone.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; posters arrived; September 11th walk with a child of the brothers and the Yeti: a child of the brothers practises words, watches the White River; family on September 11th

  • ★ In the description John says The Fault in Our Stars comes out in January and all preorders will be signed. — 00:00:00 · The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★ John says his posters have arrived. — 00:00:02
  • ★★ John says that yesterday he walked in the woods with a child of the brothers and the Yeti, down to the White River, where a child of the brothers watched the water for a long time, then to a playground. — 00:00:03 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★ On the walk John and a child of the brothers practise words: a child of the brothers says 'tractor', 'nerd' and 'happy' (and mumbles 'fighter'). — 00:00:05
  • ★★ John says September 11th is always a good day to spend with family because it reminds him we are only here a little while, with only so long to play in the dirt. — 00:00:31

00:00:41 — One point of being alive is paying attention to an elegant, heartless universe; John's clone interrupts with a joke

  • ★★★ John tells Hank that one of the points of being alive is that we get to pay attention: to both participate in and observe a universe at once stunningly elegant and completely heartless. (hedged) — 00:00:41

00:01:04 — Some Nerdfighters were put off by Hank's Friday 9/11 video; maps must distort; Hank's 9/11 map and John's Gatsby map were distorted and insufficient

  • ★★ John thinks some Nerdfighters were put off by Hank's Friday video, feeling he did not address 9/11 directly or seriously enough. (hedged) — 00:01:04 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John found Hank's video much less offensive than Budweiser's 9/11 commercials, but something about it was weird, and he kept thinking about it on his walk. — 00:01:10
  • ★★ John says rendering the planet in two dimensions forces distortion: you must pick north as up or down and squeeze the continents one way or another. — 00:01:18
  • ★★ John says that all year the brothers have been talking about how the truth resists simplicity. — 00:01:29
  • ★★★ John agrees with everything Hank said about memory, 9/11 and terror, but says that, like any map, Hank's video was distorted and insufficient; so was John's Gatsby video last week, though the 9/11 map is more emotionally charged. — 00:01:32 · The Great Gatsby

00:01:43 — Vlogbrothers maps are always insufficient, but thousands of Nerdfighters improve them through YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, the Ning and Your Pants (still hacked); reminding each other to be awesome

  • ★★★ John tells Hank and Nerdfighteria that the maps they make with vlogbrothers videos will always be distorted and insufficient. — 00:01:43 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ John says the great thing is that the brothers are not the only Nerdfighters: thousands work together through YouTube comments, Twitter, Tumblr, the Ning and Your Pants to improve the maps, making better maps than anyone could alone. — 00:01:50 · Nerdfighteria, collective action, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Nerdfighter Ning, Your Pants
  • ★★ John says Your Pants is still hacked, apologises, and says they are working on it. — 00:02:09 · Your Pants
  • ★★★ John says Nerdfighters call each other to pay attention: in short, Nerdfighteria is in the business of reminding each other to be awesome, and he would argue business is good. — 00:02:20 · Nerdfighteria > «we're in the business of reminding each other to be awesome»

00:02:28 — Asheville, North Carolina talk and signing as a fundraiser for his parents' hometown library; sign-off

  • ★★★ John says that next month he will speak and sign in Asheville, North Carolina as a fundraiser for his parents' hometown library; all proceeds go to the library; tickets are ten dollars, details in the description. — 00:02:33

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