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Our Grandfather

2011-12-12 (said on 2011-12-11 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded 1 day later) · letter vlog · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Personal life, Global development) · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic, calendar ritual, civic or action cta

Hank, filming before flying to his grandfather Papa's funeral, reflects that a 92-year-old's death is by definition fair yet still feels unfair and makes him angry, then sets out how the Project for Awesome 2011 will work.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Greeting; video made on Sunday because Hank is flying to Birmingham for Papa's funeral; why make a video at all

  • ★★★ Hank says he made this video on Sunday because when it is posted he will probably be on a plane to Birmingham for Papa's funeral. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★ To people wondering why he is making a video when his grandfather just died, Hank says he doesn't hate making videos and has a lot on his mind. — 00:00:00

00:00:27 — Papa was very old and long sick; a fantastic long life, a great person; what the brothers owe him

  • ★★★ Hank says Papa was very old and had been sick for a very long time, after a fantastic long life of amazing things as a great person and asset to his community and family. — 00:00:27
  • ★★ Hank says the brothers owe Papa a lot, beyond creating their mom, which was important to their existence and their happiness. — 00:00:27 · Sydney Green

00:00:57 — Is death fair? Fair by definition and at 92, unfair for the young, still infuriating; life is a limited time span; the jellyfish that doesn't die

  • ★★★ Hank says Papa's death still feels unfair, though by the traditional definition death is the fairest thing there is: everyone who has lived dies, an equitable arrangement. — 00:00:57
  • ★★ Hank says it is not fair when young people die, like a 16-year-old girl dying of cancer, but when a 92-year-old dies, that is fair, more than fair. — 00:00:57
  • ★★ Hank says Papa had about 20 years more life than the average person. — 00:01:26
  • ★★★ It still makes Hank very angry, but life is just a limited time span in which we get to do things; it always ends, and everything that lives dies. — 00:01:26
  • ★★ Noting the exception of the jellyfish that doesn't die, Hank says he would rather be a mortal person than a jellyfish, even one that lives forever. (playful) — 00:01:26

00:01:50 — Stages of grief: stage two, plus potato chips and hours of QI; QI recommended

  • ★★ Hank looked up the stages of grief and finds himself in stage two; he is also in the 'stage' of eating lots of potato chips and watching QI for hours. (playful) — 00:01:50
  • ★★ Hank says QI, which he only discovered a few months ago, is the best, and its huge backlog means he can watch it all day. — 00:01:50

00:02:19 — Project for Awesome 2011: purpose, curating, projectforawesome.com, start at noon December 17th, charity voting, fund over $10,000, Hank's video on Saturday; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says nothing is changing with the Project for Awesome: it has always used the online video community, and Nerdfighteria specifically, to make great content for non-profits and to promote and curate the best videos. — 00:02:19 · Project for Awesome, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ Hank says curating means not promoting your own or friends' videos but finding the best P4A videos and getting them in front of as many people as possible. — 00:02:19 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ Videos will be submitted at projectforawesome.com, not fully working until P4A begins at noon on December 17th; people, Hank included, are already making their P4A videos. — 00:02:58 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★★ Viewers will be able to vote for the charities in P4A videos; the most-voted charities get a piece of the money being raised for P4A, already over $10,000. — 00:03:27 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ Hank's own Project for Awesome video will come on Saturday, not Friday, because that is when P4A is. — 00:03:27 · Project for Awesome

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: death anxiety · Project for Awesome · the brothers' grandfather

Also: Birmingham, Alabama · five stages of grief · QI · Sydney Green · Turritopsis dohrnii

Only in the description or credits: frezned · Swindon Town FC

Also centred on death anxiety: Oinkbarf Pandemic! An Intellectual Response to Swine Flu · You Will Be Forgotten ...And That's OK · The Necessity to Struggle / The Futility of Effort · It's About a YouTuber with Cancer · Let's Talk About Death

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