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No Fumar

2016-05-03 · letter vlog · John · 3:07 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Sports (also: Personal life, Everyday life) · mode: Personal update · tags: on location, community lore, self promotion, timely hook

From the Indianapolis airport after voting, John wishes their dad a happy birthday, says he will drive the pace car at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, tells AP test-takers that tests are not the point of education, celebrates AFC Wimbledon reaching the playoffs, and reminds Nerdfighters of VidCon registration.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — John votes, then complains about the Indianapolis airport's no-smoking announcements

  • ★★ John goes to vote on primary day, May 3, 2016, calling it a beautiful day for an election; the best part is the sticker. — 00:00:01 · Indiana
  • ★★ John calls the Indianapolis International Airport the best airport on Earth; his number one complaint is a no-smoking announcement every 12 minutes. (playful) — 00:00:14
  • ★ John says it can by now be presumed that you can't smoke in an airport; without the message he'd happily live there, so maybe it is meant to get him onto a plane. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:22

00:00:36 — Parts one and two: voting done; Dad's birthday and his work running the company; Esther Day

  • ★★ John says today is also their dad's birthday. — 00:00:40 · Mike Green, Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says few people know that their dad basically ran their company until a year ago, doing the payroll, budgeting and spreadsheets that made Crash Course and SciShow possible. (hedged) — 00:00:44 · Mike Green, Crash Course, SciShow
  • ★★ John calls their dad a really great dad and person and wishes him a happy birthday with 'I love you'. — 00:00:52 · Mike Green
  • ★★ John wonders why it is so easy to say 'I love you' to his parents when he can only say it to his brother once a year, on Esther Day. (playful) — 00:00:56 · Esther Day, Hank Green

00:01:00 — Part three: driving the pace car at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis

  • ★★★ John says he will drive the pace car on May 14 at the Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. — 00:01:01
  • ★★ John, a big IndyCar fan, thought pace driving was ceremonial, but at practice found he must drive about 110 mph on the straightaways; he is very scared and asks TV viewers to remember he is doing his best. — 00:01:06

00:01:28 — Part four: AP tests and Crash Course; tests are not the point of education

  • ★★ John says millions of US high school students are taking their AP tests right now. — 00:01:31 · United States
  • ★ John says AP test season is always great news for Crash Course: its views skyrocket. — 00:01:35 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ John tells high school students that doing well on tests is great but is not the point of life or of education; tests measure understanding somewhat inefficiently. — 00:01:38 · education

  • ★★★ John says the point is not to do well on the test but to have a more engaged, fulfilling life during your one brief flicker of consciousness; study hard, but not just for the test. — 00:01:52 · education

    “your one brief flicker of consciousness”

00:02:03 — Part five: the Whitman joke; John's beard and AFC Wimbledon reaching the playoffs; Wembley; Vice Sports documentary

  • ★★ John says he did not shave for six consecutive weeks because AFC Wimbledon, the fourth-tier English team sponsored by Nerdfighteria, kept winning. (playful) — 00:02:13 · AFC Wimbledon, Nerdfighteria · also in: The Most Amazing Day
  • ★★ John says that making the playoffs would give AFC Wimbledon a 25% chance of promotion to the third tier of English football. — 00:02:24 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ John says AFC Wimbledon lost a game, letting him shave, and then another team failed to win, so Wimbledon made the playoffs anyway. — 00:02:34 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ John says that if AFC Wimbledon make the final, he is going to Wembley Stadium to watch the game. — 00:02:43 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John says Vice Sports made a great documentary about the team and his relationship with it, and suggests checking it out. — 00:02:46 · AFC Wimbledon

00:02:51 — Part six: VidCon signings registration by May 13; sign-off

  • ★★ John tells Nerdfighters that to take part in VidCon signings and meet-and-greets they must register by May 13. — 00:02:58 · VidCon, Nerdfighteria

Humor (significant)

  • John's one complaint about the Indianapolis airport is a no-smoking announcement every 12 minutes. — 00:00:22

    “I mean, at what point in human history is it just presumed that you can't smoke in an airport”

  • John thought being the pace car driver was a purely ceremonial position. — 00:01:15

    “You know like running with the Olympic Torch or being the Prime Minister of Putin's Russia”

  • Having promised four parts, John announces a fifth. — 00:02:03

    “Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself.”

  • The Spanish no-smoking announcement interrupts John's VidCon reminder. — 00:02:57

    “I know I can't fumar!”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: AFC Wimbledon · education · Indianapolis International Airport

Also: People: Mike Green · Vladimir Putin

Projects: Crash Course · SciShow · VidCon

Works: Song of Myself

Organizations: Vice Sports

Rituals: Esther Day

Places: United States · Wembley Stadium

Events: Advanced Placement exams · Grand Prix of Indianapolis · IndyCar Series · Olympic Games

Only in the description or credits: Indiana · primary election

Later videos replying to this one