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Black Friday: An Accident of History

2012-11-23 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Personal life, Economics) · mode: Explainer · tags: timely hook, calendar ritual, self promotion

Hank explains how Thanksgiving's date and 1960s traffic made Black Friday the start of the holiday shopping season, regrets the switch from thankfulness to wanting more, plugs DFTBA's anniversary deals, and lists what he is thankful for.

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; Black Friday terrifies Hank; how Thanksgiving began (1621), became a national Thursday under Lincoln, made Friday a day off, and how 1960s traffic named Black Friday

  • ★ The day after Thanksgiving, traditionally in Hank's house, is a day they don't leave the house, because Black Friday terrifies him. (playful) — 00:00:06
  • ★★★ Hank explains for non-Americans that the ominous-sounding Black Friday is an accident of history. — 00:00:11
  • ★★ In 1621 the first English settlers in America had a bountiful crop on a Thursday and were thankful, inspiring the holiday; Hank calls this somewhat mythological. (hedged) — 00:00:15 · United States
  • ★★ Until the 1860s states held Thanksgiving on different days, until Lincoln declared a national day; after the Civil War reunion it became the national holiday, the fourth Thursday in November. (playful) — 00:00:33
  • ★★ Because Thanksgiving is a Thursday holiday, the Friday becomes a de facto day off, since going back to work for one day before the weekend is dumb. — 00:00:51
  • ★★ In the 1960s so many people travelled or shopped that day that the traffic mess led police and taxi drivers to call it Black Friday. — 00:00:59
  • ★★ As stores and consumerist culture pushed Christmas shopping earlier, Thanksgiving became the barrier, so Black Friday became the tipping point into the holiday shopping season. — 00:01:09 · Christmas

00:01:24 — Black Friday as the tipping point into holiday shopping; not actually the biggest shopping day (Christmas Eve is); ads the day after thankfulness, though shopping matters to the economy

  • ★★ Black Friday is billed as the biggest shopping day of the year, but Hank says that is untrue: Americans procrastinate, so Christmas Eve is the biggest. — 00:01:30 · Christmas
    • check: Christmas Eve — doubtful
  • ★★★ It seems upsetting to Hank that the day after declaring our satisfaction we are barraged with ads for what we lack; yet shopping matters to the economy and wanting to give gifts is no crime. (hedged) — 00:01:44

00:02:02 — Plug: DFTBA.com Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals; DFTBA's fourth anniversary and $4 US shipping

  • ★★ DFTBA.com has its own Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, and Hank invites viewers to check them out now. — 00:02:02 · DFTBA Records
  • ★★ It is DFTBA's fourth anniversary as a company; to celebrate, all US shipping this weekend, starting tomorrow he thinks, is $4 whatever you buy. (hedged) — 00:02:08 · DFTBA Records

00:02:20 — Keeping thankfulness going: Hank's list of thanks (parents, wife, Wii U, friends, the forum, YouTube and Google, learning sources, Salk and Berners-Lee, community spaces, viewers, John); sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank thinks it important not to scrub satisfaction and thankfulness from our minds once Thanksgiving is over, so on Black Friday he keeps being thankful. (hedged) — 00:02:20
  • ★★ Hank is thankful for his supportive parents, his beautiful, intelligent and hilarious wife, his new Wii U, and his friends in Missoula and around the world. — 00:02:30 · Mike Green, Sydney Green, Katherine Green, Missoula, Montana
  • ★ Viewers can go to youtube.com/hankgames to see them playing the new Super Mario Brothers soon. — 00:02:36 · HankGames, YouTube
  • ★★ Hank is thankful to finally have a robust, stable forum that can handle the weight of Nerdfighteria, linked in the description. — 00:02:45 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank thanks YouTube and Google for funding SciShow and Crash Course and for supporting Vlogbrothers and all the brothers' endeavors over the years. — 00:02:51 · YouTube, Google, SciShow, Crash Course, Vlogbrothers
  • ★ Hank thanks Reddit, QI and Mental Floss magazine for keeping him learning interesting things. — 00:02:59 · Reddit
  • ★★ Hank thanks Jonas Salk for giving away the patent to his polio vaccine so it could be made more cheaply, and Tim Berners-Lee for doing basically the same with the internet. — 00:03:04
    • check: giving away the patent to his polio vaccine — doubtful
  • ★★ Hank thanks the Nerdcrafteria Minecraft server, Tumblr, the Ning and other online places where Nerdfighters gather, and the people who watch and support his work, even sappy videos like this. — 00:03:14 · Tumblr, Nerdfighter Ning, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank is thankful for John, who always drives him to do new and difficult things, is raising a wonderful family and says wise things on Tumblr. — 00:03:32 · John Green, Tumblr

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Hank's description announces DFTBA.com deals all weekend and $3 flat shipping worldwide on Saturday only. — video description · DFTBA Records

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Black Friday · Thanksgiving

Also: People: Abraham Lincoln · Jonas Salk · Katherine Green · Mike Green · Sydney Green · Tim Berners-Lee

Projects: Crash Course · DFTBA Records · HankGames · Nerdcrafteria · Nerdfighter Ning · SciShow

Works: Minecraft · New Super Mario Bros. U · QI

Organizations: Google · Mental Floss · Reddit · Tumblr · YouTube

Concepts: consumerism

Places: Confederate States of America · Missoula, Montana · United States

Events: Christmas · Christmas Eve · Cyber Monday

Products: Wii U

Only in the description or credits: Rob Scallon

Also centred on Black Friday: November 23rd: BLACK FRIDAY! · The Bizarro History of Black Friday: (AND 2017 CENSUS!) · It Wasn't Supposed to be Thanksgiving Yesterday

Also centred on Thanksgiving: November 21st: What I'm Grateful For · Thanksgiving in Asheville · 50 THINGS!! That I'm Thankful For · personal risk · societal risk · It Wasn't Supposed to be Thanksgiving Yesterday

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