It's HANKO DE MAYO!!!!!

2012-05-05 · letter vlog · John · 3:10 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Personal life) · mode: Explainer · tags: calendar ritual, civic or action cta, community lore

For Hanko de Mayo, John explains why the James Webb Space Telescope is a time machine, emails his congressman to fund NASA as a birthday present that Nerdfighters can join, and gives Hank a spare piece of the telescope from Northrop Grumman.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Hanko de Mayo greeting; the James Webb Space Telescope, who builds and funds it, and how seeing far means seeing into the past (light travel time)

★★ John says the James Webb Space Telescope is being built primarily by Northrop Grumman and funded by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, with about 17 countries involved. — 00:00:00
★★★ Citing Hank, John says Webb will be awesome because seeing objects very far away in the universe means seeing very far into the past. — 00:00:00
★★ Light travels about 186,000 miles per second and the Sun is about 93 million miles away, so sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach Earth: we see the Sun as it was eight minutes ago. — 00:00:44
★★ Objects about 13 billion light years away are seen as they were 13 billion years ago, so Webb will see the earliest galaxies forming. — 00:00:44

00:01:13 — Webb sees the earliest galaxies ('an unmanned TARDIS'); Hank's 'our pyramids' and increase-awesome idea; John's birthday email to his congressman asking for NASA funding

★ John calls Webb a time machine, basically an unmanned TARDIS. (playful) — 00:01:13
★★★ John recalls Hank saying Webb is like our pyramids, a monument for everyone who comes after us, and that besides decreasing suck it is important to increase awesome. — 00:01:13 · world suck

“while it's hugely important to decrease suck in this world, it is also important to increase awesome.”
★★★ For Hank's birthday John wrote an email to his congressman, Andre Carson, asking him to make sure NASA gets the funding it needs. — 00:01:13

00:01:43 — Nerdfighters can join the email effort; second present: a spare piece of Webb's primary mirror backbone support structure sent by Northrop Grumman

★★★ John invites Nerdfighters to join him in wishing Hank happy birthday by writing to their own elected officials; how-to information is in the description. — 00:01:43 · Nerdfighteria, doobly-doo
★★★ John gives Hank a second present: part of Webb's primary mirror backbone support structure (PMBSS), a spare part Northrop Grumman sent for Hank. — 00:01:43
★★ John says the PMBSS holds the whole telescope together and is made largely of a graphite composite tubing that is very strong but very light; the piece weighs about as much as a paperclip. (playful) — 00:01:43

00:02:12 — The spare part is light, strong and rare; thanks to NASA and Northrop Grumman; John thanks Hank for increasing awesome through his many projects

★★ John thanks Hank for increasing awesome through Vlogbrothers, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, SciShow, Crash Course, HankGames, VidCon, DFTBA Records and EcoGeek, and says he does too much. (playful) — 00:02:12 · Vlogbrothers, SciShow, Crash Course, HankGames, VidCon, DFTBA Records, EcoGeek

00:02:41 — Birthday video responses open; 'contact your politicians'; sign-off

★★ Video responses are open, with birthday wishes for Hank from all over Nerdfighteria. — 00:02:41 · Nerdfighteria
★★ John urges viewers to contact their politicians: it is easy, and they listen because they are scared of you. (playful) — 00:02:41

In the description and comments

★★ The description gives John's own email to his congressperson and senators to copy, amend or replace, as Nerdfighteria tells elected officials that increasing awesome through scientific exploration matters. — video description · Nerdfighteria
★★ John asks viewers outside the US to contact their own representatives too, since the James Webb Space Telescope is a collaboration among many nations and their government is likely involved. — video description
★★★ In his letter to Congressman Carson, John asks for more federal support for NASA and science: government-backed science has improved every life and is a gift to future people, and the United States should lead in increasing awesome. — video description · United States
★★ John thanks the people at NASA and Northrop Grumman who made Hank's present possible, especially Ron Birk, Charlie Atkinson and Rolf Danner, and Michael Gardner at EcoGeek for facilitating it. — video description · EcoGeek

Threads in this video

callback · Hank's 'Dude, no edge!': his obsession with the universe having no edge (2012) — John nods to Hank's 'no edge' obsession: Webb sees out to where the edge of the universe would be, 'but no edge'. (00:00:00)
restate · Is space exploration worth the cost? — John endorses Hank's view that, besides decreasing suck, it is important to increase awesome, and asks his congressman to make sure NASA gets the funding it needs. (00:01:13) → refers to Can I be Space President?
kept · John: reveal a present for Hank involving Nerdfighters on Hanko de Mayo (2012) — On Hanko de Mayo John reveals his present for Hank involving Nerdfighters: emails to elected officials asking for NASA funding, plus a spare piece of the Webb telescope. (00:01:13)
outcome · Hanko de Mayo 2012 edition — Hanko de Mayo 2012: John's birthday presents to Hank are a NASA-funding email campaign Nerdfighters can join and a spare part of the Webb telescope from Northrop Grumman; video responses carry birthday wishes. (00:01:13)
asked · John asks Nerdfighters to email their elected officials supporting NASA funding as a Hanko de Mayo present for Hank (2012) — John asks Nerdfighters to wish Hank happy birthday by writing to their elected officials in support of NASA funding, with instructions and his own email in the description; he ends 'Contact your politicians!'. (00:01:43)
result reported · John asks Nerdfighters to do fun nerdfightastic things for Hanko de Mayo (2012) — John reports that video responses are open with lots of birthday wishes for Hank from all over Nerdfighteria. (00:02:41)