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Good News, YA Books, and Bears: It's Question Tuesday

2017-02-07 (said on 2017-02-02 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded 5 days later) · Q&A · John · 3:22 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Pop culture, Global development, Everyday life, Internet & YouTube, Books & writing) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, community lore

In a Question Tuesday recorded five days ahead while he is on vacation, John gives good news (polio, an Ebola vaccine, US job growth, longer lives), contradictory opinions on bears, recommends The Hate U Give as a future classic, and names the songs most important to him, asking Nerdfighters to share theirs.

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; John is on vacation, the video was made five days earlier; Question Tuesday intro

  • ★ John is on vacation; the video was made five days earlier. — 00:00:00

00:00:13 — Good news: polio, an Ebola vaccine, US jobs, Beyonce, Zelda, longer lives

  • ★★★ There's a pretty good chance no human will contract polio this week (week of 6 February 2017), something rarely possible over the last several thousand years. (hedged) — 00:00:14
  • ★★★ Advanced trials of an Ebola vaccine showed a 100% effectiveness rate. — 00:00:21 · vaccine
  • ★★★ The US economy has added jobs for 76 consecutive months. — 00:00:25 · United States
  • ★ Among the good news, Beyonce is pregnant and a new Zelda game is forthcoming. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Humans on average are living longer, healthier and more prosperous lives than ever before in human history. — 00:00:31 · progress

00:00:40 — Cherry Diet Dr Pepper, bears, glitter, a TARDIS trip to New Zealand

  • ★ Cherry Diet Dr Pepper being almost impossible to find is great news to John, since plain Diet Dr Pepper is already perfect. (playful) — 00:00:43
  • ★★ Asked his opinion on bears, John gives a rapid string of contradictory verdicts, from strongly in favor to overrated to opposed. (joke) — 00:00:53
  • ★ Glitter Alice puts on John's face survives days of washing, which makes him think billions of bacteria probably can too. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:02 · Alice Green
  • ★★ With a TARDIS John would probably just go to present-day New Zealand: the past was worse, he isn't confident in the future, and New Zealanders seem nice. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:18

00:01:26 — Live news on YouTube; coping with scary news as a happy lobster

  • ★★ John asks whether we really need more live news; what he needs is a pause button that contextualizes the news and tells him what it means. — 00:01:28 · YouTube
  • ★★ Asked how he copes with the scary stuff in the world, John jokes that he is a happy lobster in a pot of cool water, then asks if the water is getting warmer. (joke) — 00:01:40

00:01:46 — VidCon Europe and Amsterdam; The Hate U Give recommendation

  • ★★ John is very excited for VidCon Europe in April, partly because he hasn't been back to Amsterdam since the TFIOS movie came out and will visit his old haunts. — 00:01:48 · Amsterdam, The Fault in Our Stars (film)
  • ★★★ John recommends Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give, out later this month (February 2017), which he truly believes will be a classic that even people who don't love books will love. — 00:01:56

00:02:09 — 100 Days high fives, the Hamilton Mixtape, the secret of life, dystopias, Henry's Pokemon

  • ★★ John's favorite part of 100 Days is how bad he and Chris are at high fives: best friends for a decade, they have never completed one. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:11 · 100 Days
  • ★ John's favorite song on the Hamilton Mixtape is Immigrants. — 00:02:21
  • ★★★ John thinks the secret of life may be understanding that you deserve to love and be loved. (hedged) — 00:02:23 · meaning of life
  • ★★ John calls 1984 a great dystopian novel, but jokes that the dystopia we're living in has amazing world-building. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:28
  • ★ Asked his favorite Pokemon, John relays that Henry says it is Mega Mewtwo EX, whatever that means. — 00:02:35 · Henry Green

00:02:39 — The most important songs John has heard, the playlist and the ask; sign-off

  • ★★★ The most important songs are not necessarily the best: a few songs John needed gave form to something deep inside him he couldn't understand or look at directly. — 00:02:42
  • ★★ The first was probably Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now, but also New Partner by the Palace Brothers and Love Love Love by the Mountain Goats. (hedged) — 00:02:58
  • ★★★ John made a playlist of the songs the question brought to mind and asks Nerdfighters to share the songs or art that have been important to them, so they can discover cool stuff from each other. — 00:03:06 · Nerdfighteria

In the description and comments

Humor (significant)

  • Asked to choose between Diet and Cherry Diet Dr Pepper, John files the cherry one's scarcity under good news — 00:00:43

    “which is great news, because Diet Dr. Pepper on its own is already perfect”

  • Asked his opinion on bears, John cycles through contradictory verdicts — 00:00:53

    “Honestly, a little overrated”

  • Asked how he copes with scary news, John claims to be a happy lobster in a pot of cool water — 00:01:40

    “Does anyone else feel like the water is getting warmer?”

  • Asked his favourite dystopian novel, John praises 1984 — 00:02:28

    “but I feel like the one that we're living in has just amazing world building”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: The Hate U Give

Also: People: Alice Green · Beyoncé · Chris Waters · Henry Green

Projects: 100 Days · VidCon Europe

Works: I Think We're Alone Now · Immigrants (We Get the Job Done) · John's Important Songs Playlist · Love Love Love · New Partner · Nineteen Eighty-Four · Pokémon · The Fault in Our Stars (film) · The Hamilton Mixtape · The Legend of Zelda

Organizations: YouTube

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Concepts: bear · Dystopia · Ebola virus disease · life expectancy · meaning of life · polio · progress · vaccine

Places: Amsterdam · New Zealand · United States

Characters: Mewtwo · TARDIS

Products: Cherry Diet Dr Pepper · Diet Dr Pepper

Only in the description or credits: Angie Thomas · Canada · NerdCon: Nerdfighteria · Palace Brothers · The Mountain Goats · Tiffany (singer)

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