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Three Things

2008-05-19 · letter vlog · John · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Projects (also: Global development, Personal life) · mode: Announcements · tags: community lore, self promotion, civic or action cta

In three parts John reports he smells of free horse manure because he and the Yeti are slowly turning their lawn into a vegetable garden, shows Hank how Shawn in Bangladesh used Hank's money to help a rural family, and opens Omnictionary, the brothers' Paper Towns-based wiki, as a user-written novel.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Part one: why John smells of horse manure; slowly replacing the Indianapolis lawn with a vegetable bed

  • ★ John says he smells like horse manure because he went to a place in Indianapolis that gives away free horse manure. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Indianapolis
  • ★★ John recalls that on moving to Indianapolis last year (2007) he and the Yeti found their gigantic front lawn a waste of space, energy and water and wanted native plants and vegetables instead. — 00:00:36 · Sarah Urist Green, Indianapolis
  • ★★ John and the Yeti are instead slowly ripping out the lawn (he jokes he fears neighbours thinking him a crazy liberal more than an uninhabitable planet); he shows a new vegetable bed. (playful) — 00:00:36 · Sarah Urist Green

00:01:05 — Part two: Hank's early belated birthday present, what Shawn did in rural Bangladesh with Hank's money

  • ★★ John tells Hank his proper belated birthday present is coming later in the week. — 00:01:05 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John shows what Nerdfighter Shawn did with the Xbox money Hank sent him: in a very rural part of Bangladesh where few NGOs work, it will help a family keep their kids in school. — 00:01:05 · Hank Green
  • ★★ Everyone in the family but the father has had malaria; Shawn brought them a mosquito net, and Hank's money will fix the roof that leaks onto their bed. — 00:01:42 · malaria
  • ★★ John calls it sort of miraculous that Hank can see the actual people his money helps, and says all who donated to Shawn will experience that as he distributes more of the funds. — 00:01:42 · world suck
  • ★ John says Shawn is slow to post videos because he is in Bangladesh, but they will keep track of him; his YouTube channel is linked in the sidebar. — 00:01:42 · link in the sidebar

00:02:11 — Part three: Omnictionary opened to the world as a user-created novel; sign-off with two Question Tuesdays this week

  • ★★★ John reveals that he and Hank have been working on a semi-secret wiki about lies rather than facts, Omnictionary, named after the Wikipedia-like reference source in Paper Towns; Hank acquired the domain. — 00:02:11 · Paper Towns, Hank Green, Wikipedia
  • ★★★ John explains the idea: just as Wikipedia is a user-created encyclopedia, Omnictionary can become a user-created novel, read in any order and written by everybody, though he doubts it will work. (hedged) — 00:02:44 · Wikipedia
  • ★★ So far most Omnictionary entries were written by John, Hank or a talented young writer named Johnson; the wiki's story differs from Paper Towns and has no beginning, middle or end. — 00:02:44 · Paper Towns
  • ★★★ John officially opens Omnictionary to the world and invites viewers to rewrite the story as they see fit, calling it a jokes opportunity for writers. — 00:03:13 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John thanks Nerdfighters for their questions, asks for more, and says there will be two Question Tuesdays this week (week of 19 May 2008). — 00:03:13 · Nerdfighteria, Question Tuesday

Humor (significant)

  • John imagines Hank asking whether he has been swimming in a vat of horse manure. — 00:00:00

    “everybody knows you can't swim in horse manure. The consistency just doesn't allow for it.”

  • John and the Yeti wanted to replace their whole lawn with native plants and vegetables. — 00:00:36

    “the only thing I fear more than our planet becoming uninhabitable to humans is my neighbors thinking that I'm a crazy liberal.”

  • John announces part two of his three-part video. — 00:01:05

    “I forgot what part two was supposed to be.”

  • John points to the sidebar link, correcting the direction a second time. — 00:03:13

    “I have got to work on my sense of direction.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Bangladesh · Omnictionary (website) · Shawn Ahmed

Also: People: Sarah Urist Green

Works: Paper Towns

Organizations: Google · Wikipedia

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Terms: jokes · link in the sidebar · world suck

Concepts: malaria

Places: Indianapolis

Characters: Omnictionary (character, “Paper Towns”)

Products: Xbox

Only in the description or credits: Emily Johnson · Uncultured Project

Also centred on Bangladesh: Nerdfighting in Bangladesh · A Video about Videos · PEEPS for Bangladesh

Also centred on Shawn Ahmed: Nerdfighting in Bangladesh · A Video about Videos · You Are Awesome

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