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Question Tuesday!

2009-05-19 · Q&A · John · 2:34 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Books & writing, Everyday life) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, community lore

John, short on time before LeakyCon, his Australia trip and edits on his book with David Levithan, rushes through Nerdfighter questions: a hand-sign workaround, why books have blank pages, his first job, This Is Not Tom and foreign covers.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Question Tuesday intro: an hour to make it, LeakyCon then Australia, book edits; Spock or Kirk; hand-sign workaround

  • ★★ John says he must prepare for LeakyCon, then leave for Australia right after, and has a ton of work on edits of the book he is writing with David Levithan. — 00:00:00 · Australia
  • ★ John says he has only about an hour to make the video, so he will do it 'Brotherhood 2.0 style' with poorer edits and champagne poppers. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Brotherhood 2.0
  • ★★ Asked about the hand sign, John says those who can't make it can use a workaround invented by the brothers' 'secret niece and nephew' in Australia, whom he'll meet soon. — 00:00:00 · secret sibling, Australia

00:00:50 — Conjoined twins' social security numbers; blank pages at the back of Looking for Alaska

  • ★ John says each conjoined twin gets his or her own social security number. — 00:00:50
  • ★★ John explains the blank pages at the back of the Looking for Alaska hardcover: a printed book's page count must be a multiple of eight, so extra pages are added. — 00:00:50 · Looking for Alaska (novel)

00:01:19 — The wicker basket; John's first job in a warehouse

  • ★★ John says his first job was loading semi-trucks with boxes of stereo equipment in a warehouse, like Tetris in 110-degree heat with 30-pound pieces. (playful) — 00:01:19

00:01:49 — This Is Not Tom, different covers per country, digits of pi

  • ★★ John says his ongoing story This Is Not Tom is already free online each week and will not be published as a book. — 00:01:49 · This Is Not Tom
  • ★ John says books sometimes have different covers in different countries because each country's publisher designs its own. — 00:01:49

00:02:15 — Does Bubbles the Nerdfighting Puppy have magic powers? Willy vanishes; sign-off

Humor (significant)

  • Asked for what's in the basket behind him, John says it holds only the job of separating his books on Islam from those on Christianity. — 00:01:19

    “No offense, but the wicker basket is doing a fantastic job. Why would I replace it with a human being?”

  • John describes his first job loading stereo boxes into semi-trucks. — 00:01:19

    “It was actually exactly like Tetris, except you had to play in 110 degree heat and all the Tetris pieces weighed 30 pounds.”

  • Asked whether Bubbles the Nerdfighting Puppy has magical powers, John asks Willy, who disappears. — 00:02:15

    “Oh my god, how did he do that?”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: David Levithan

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0

Works: Looking for Alaska (novel) · Tetris · This Is Not Tom

Rituals: Nerdfighter gang sign · Question Tuesday

Terms: secret sibling

Places: Australia

Events: LeakyCon

Characters: James T. Kirk · Spock

animal: Willy

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