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Question Tuesday: The Potato Edition

2016-03-01 · Q&A · John, Hank, Henry Green · 3:43 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: History & curiosities, Science & nature) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, guest or collab, community lore

In a surprise reunion Question Tuesday made almost entirely of potato questions, John quizzes Hank on Irish potato consumption, growing potatoes on Mars and potatoes' role in Europe's population growth, then on potato puns, books and pizza, with a few non-potato questions.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Greetings; surprise reunion video

00:00:07 — How many potatoes the average Irish person ate in 1844

  • ★★★ After Hank guesses six, John says the average Irish person in 1844, man, woman and child, ate 45 potatoes, or nine pounds of potatoes, per day. — 00:00:21

00:00:30 — Growing potatoes on Mars: perchlorate and building an atmosphere

  • ★★ Hank says potatoes can really be grown on Mars, though not the way the movie did it: other ways work. — 00:00:30 · Mars
  • ★★ Hank says Martian soil contains perchlorate, a big problem because it is toxic to humans and also to plants. — 00:00:42 · Mars
  • ★★ Hank says that if the perchlorate and other bad stuff are removed and some good stuff put in, potatoes could be grown in Martian soil. — 00:00:47 · Mars
  • ★★ Hank: Asked about the lack of atmosphere, Hank says you would have to build a thing around the potatoes, an atmosphere. — 00:00:55 · Mars

00:01:00 — Potatoes and Europe's population growth; the potato trend; the Columbian Exchange Crash Course video

  • ★★★ John says potatoes were responsible for at least 25% of Europe's population growth between 1700 and 1900. — 00:01:00 · Europe
  • ★★ When Hank notes that potatoes are the trend of this Question Tuesday, John deadpans that he just got a lot of potato questions and doesn't know why. (playful) — 00:01:12 · Question Tuesday
  • ★★ When Hank bets there is a Crash Course video on it, John points to the Columbian Exchange Crash Course video, shown on screen over Hank's head. — 00:01:20 · Crash Course

00:01:24 — Potato man, naming potatoes, potato book titles and Lord of the Flies, potato impressions

  • ★ Hank: If he could create anything with potatoes, Hank would make a thinking, feeling, sentient potato man. (joke) — 00:01:27
  • ★ After Hank names the russet, the purple and 'Goldie Hawn' as potatoes, John says there should be a potato named after Goldie Hawn, an American treasure. (playful) — 00:01:51
  • ★★★ John hates Lord of the Flies and openly reviles it, yet has to teach it this year (2016) in Crash Course Literature, which will be very challenging. — 00:02:07 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Playing the potato-title game, John says he is quite fond of 'Their Eyes Were Watching Potatoes'. (playful) — 00:02:21

00:02:36 — Opposite of potato, the presidential race, Henry's favourite song

00:03:17 — Potato pizza, the Western Montana Fair tater pig; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank prefers potato pizza to pizza potato and says he has had a lot of good potato pizzas. — 00:03:21
  • ★ John also likes potato pizza, an old favourite he calls underappreciated. — 00:03:22
  • ★★ Hank says the Western Montana Fair sells a 'tater pig', a hollowed-out potato with a hot dog shoved in it, which is not very good. — 00:03:28

Humor (significant)

  • Asked what he would create with potatoes, Hank aims high — 00:01:27

    “A man. A fully... a sentient being.”

  • Asked to name three potatoes, Hank follows the russet and the purple with a celebrity — 00:01:50

    “The... Goldie Hawn.”

  • Hank's 'The Lord of the Potatoes' makes John think of the wrong Lord — 00:02:07

    “I hate that book. I mean, both The Lord of the Flies and The Lord of the Potatoes.”

  • Asked for the opposite of potato — 00:02:49

    “The opposite of potato is the vacuum of space.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: potato (concept)

Also: People: Goldie Hawn · Henry Green

Projects: Crash Course

Works: Bomfalleralla · Lord of the Flies · The Fault in Our Stars (“The Fault in Our Potatoes”) · The Lord of the Rings · The Martian (film) · Their Eyes Were Watching God (“their eyes were watching potatoes”) · Toy Story

Groups: One Direction

Rituals: Question Tuesday · Reunion video

Concepts: perchlorate

Places: Europe · Ireland · Mars

Events: Columbian exchange · United States presidential election · Western Montana Fair

Characters: Mr. Potato Head

Also centred on potato (concept): How to Make Potatoes While Dread Presses In from Every Direction

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