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Ranting and Giving Stuff Away

2008-04-28 · letter vlog · John · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Books & writing, Nerdfighteria) · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: self promotion, community lore

After drawing two Paper Towns giveaway winners and some short parts, John rants that US health care is an unfair problem we can fix: worse infant mortality than peer countries, and Hank uninsurable and given an unsafe drug.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Four parts and one rant; tongue-twister warm-up; Paper Towns giveaway drawn on the Ning and YouTube

  • ★★ John doubles the Paper Towns giveaway: one advance copy to a random commenter on the Ning and one to a random commenter on YouTube. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns, Nerdfighter Ning, YouTube
  • ★★ John draws random numbers to pick a Ning winner and a YouTube winner; the YouTube winner has 48 hours to claim the prize or it goes to someone else. — 00:00:40 · YouTube, Nerdfighter Ning

00:01:17 — Nepal's free election (toilet-paper callback); inside jokes the Yeti doesn't get

  • ★★ John says Nepal had a free and fair election for the first time in a long time, though it elected a plurality of Maoists not known for keeping elections free; he calls it serious progress. — 00:01:17
  • ★★ The Yeti told John she doesn't get some of the brothers' jokes; John welcomes new Nerdfighters and says it will all make sense later. — 00:01:17 · Sarah Urist Green, Nerdfighteria

00:01:46 — Welcome to new Nerdfighters; Second Life appearance 5-6 pm Eastern; sidebar joke

  • ★ John will be in Second Life from 5 to 6 p.m. Eastern US time, with more info in the sidebar. — 00:01:46

00:02:16 — Rant: arbitrary unfairness vs fixable unfairness; US infant mortality, Puerto Rico, Hank uninsurable, entrepreneurship killed by the health-care crisis

  • ★★★ John argues that although much in life is arbitrarily unfair and can't be helped, we still have to act on the unfairness we can fix, such as health care. — 00:02:16
  • ★★★ John says the US is the richest country in the world yet has a higher infant mortality rate than Slovenia. — 00:02:16 · United States
  • ★★★ John says the US is behind Puerto Rico (on infant mortality, by context), which has almost the same political system; the difference is that all Puerto Ricans have access to health care while millions of Americans don't. — 00:02:45 · United States
  • ★★ John says universal access to health care affects not only the quality but the length of our lives. — 00:02:45
  • ★★★ John says Hank had to go to the hospital and pay for it himself because, to save money, his doctor had given him a drug John calls known to be unsafe. — 00:02:45 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John says the drug Hank was given is almost never prescribed in any European country with socialized medicine. — 00:03:14 · Europe
    • check: almost never prescribed — doubtful
  • ★★★ John says insurers will not cover Hank at any price, though his only wrong was being sick; this unfairness, unlike some of illness, can be fixed. — 00:03:14 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ Against 'just work for a big corporation', John says the Wright brothers had no corporate benefits, and America's entrepreneurial spirit is being killed by the health-care crisis. — 00:03:14 · United States

Humor (significant)

  • John prepares his voice for the coming rant. — 00:00:00

    “I'm just practicing my vocal dexterity to get ready for my ranting.”

  • Nepal's election is good news for John personally. — 00:01:17

    “it makes it less likely that I am again going to have to eat toilet paper”

  • The Yeti says she doesn't get some of their jokes. — 00:01:17

    “do you mean like cool or do you mean like the plural of joke”

  • John points to the sidebar twice, in different directions. — 00:01:46

    “I am good at finger mustaches but I am terrible at remembering where the sidebar is”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: United States · universal health care

Also: People: Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Nerdfighter Ning

Works: Paper Towns

Organizations: Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) · Second Life · YouTube

Groups: Wright brothers

Terms: link in the sidebar

Concepts: entrepreneurship

Places: Europe · Nepal · Puerto Rico · Slovenia

Events: 2008 Nepalese Constituent Assembly election

fact: infant mortality rate

Also centred on universal health care: Health Care Overhaul Summarized Via MASSIVE PIG · Health Care Reform Thought Bubble · Health Care Reform: The Hank Factor · Adorable Puppy Explains Health Care Bill · I OWN WARNER CHILCOTT! · Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform

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