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The Bizarro History of Black Friday: (AND 2017 CENSUS!)

2017-11-24 · other · Hank · 3:51 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Projects, Nerdfighteria) · mode: Announcements · tags: timely hook, calendar ritual, self promotion, song or performance, recurring series, community lore

On Black Friday Hank tells a made-up history of the day as a lights-off Lighthouse Maintenance Day (only the 1789 Lighthouse Service is real), then lists DFTBA's sales, a Vi Hart store, the P4A calendar, SciShow Finds and the 2017 Nerdfighteria Census.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — The made-up history of Black Friday as Lighthouse Maintenance Day, then the admission it was invented

  • ★★ Hank claims, in fiction, that Black Friday is the day all Americans keep their lights off, and few know how it began. (fiction) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says one of the first acts of the first US Congress, in 1789, was to create the Lighthouse Service. — 00:00:13 · United States Congress, United States
  • ★★ In the invented history, the Lighthouse Service picked the day after Thanksgiving for all lighthouse maintenance because it was memorable and had less shipping traffic. (fiction) — 00:00:43
  • ★ In the invented history, the day became a remembrance of sailors lost at sea, with lights off in New England port towns, spreading across the US. (fiction) — 00:01:02 · United States
  • ★★ Hank admits he made all of it up except the Lighthouse Service being created by the first Congress. (playful) — 00:01:43 · United States Congress

00:01:51 — Black Friday sales: DFTBA 20% off, Vi Hart store, signed Turtles copies, clearance, VidCon merch and code, P4A calendar and shirt, SciShow Finds

  • ★★ Hank says Black Friday is actually the day Christmas shopping begins, so companies lower prices a lot. — 00:01:51 · Christmas
  • ★★★ Hank announces 20% off almost everything at DFTBA.com, including merch from the brothers, CGP Grey, Kurzgesagt, MinutePhysics and non-educational channels. — 00:02:00 · DFTBA Records
  • ★★ Hank says DFTBA is launching a Vi Hart store today: her merch is on sale for the first time. — 00:02:12 · DFTBA Records
  • ★★ DFTBA has 500 signed copies of Turtles All the Way Down from Penguin, sold with a tuatara pin and a turtle sticker pack. — 00:02:17 · Turtles All the Way Down, Penguin Books, DFTBA Records
  • ★ A clearance page has things 50% off because the warehouse really needs room; Hank thought warehouse clearances were made up. (playful) — 00:02:28 · DFTBA Records
  • ★★ DFTBA is doing a last sale of VidCon merch, and all VidCon ticket types are 10% off with the code TURKEYTIME. — 00:02:39 · VidCon, DFTBA Records
  • ★★★ The usual P4A calendar and t-shirt come before P4A this year (2017): a Vlogbrothers calendar from a silly photo shoot themed 'Silly brother, serious brother', proceeds to the Foundation to Decrease World Suck. — 00:02:51 · Project for Awesome, Vlogbrothers, Foundation to Decrease World Suck, John Green, world suck
  • ★★ Hank announces the newly launched SciShow Finds, cool things for science-loving people, basically stuff he would like to get. — 00:03:15

00:03:24 — The 2017 Nerdfighteria Census; sign-off

  • ★★★ Every year John and Hank run a census of Nerdfighteria: a long survey of about 20 minutes that helps them understand the community and decide what to do next. — 00:03:24 · Nerdfighteria, John Green
  • ★ Hank suggests that anyone who wants to turn off their lights and get cozy this Black Friday should; it sounds lovely. (playful) — 00:03:37

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Hank explains the title: 'Bizarro' can mean an alternate, more peculiar reality, from the 'Bizarro World' comics where the world is a cube and Superman is bad, so this is a history of a different Earth. (playful) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • In the invented history, lighthouse maintenance is now done in daytime, so on Black Friday — 00:01:32

    “lighthouses are one of the only lights that actually gets turned on.”

  • After the whole solemn origin story of Black Friday, Hank confesses — 00:01:43

    “I made all of that up,”

  • Hank always thought warehouse clearances were a made-up sales line — 00:02:34

    “And no, we need to—there's not enough space in the warehouse.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Black Friday · Nerdfighteria Census

Also: People: CGP Grey · Henry Reich · Vi Hart

Projects: DFTBA Records · Foundation to Decrease World Suck · Project for Awesome · SciShow Finds · VidCon

Works: Turtles All the Way Down

Organizations: Kurzgesagt · Penguin Books · United States Congress · United States Lighthouse Service

Concepts: tuatara

Places: New England · United States

Events: Christmas · Thanksgiving

Only in the description or credits: Superman

Also centred on Black Friday: November 23rd: BLACK FRIDAY! · Black Friday: An Accident of History · It Wasn't Supposed to be Thanksgiving Yesterday

Also centred on Nerdfighteria Census: New Channels, New Songs, and Just Plain News · My Freakish Talent · Nerdfighteria Census 2014 Results! · Corndog Ghost Attack, Book Towers, and Census · The Cold War of Nerdfighteria · Sleep Paralysis, Double-Pregnancy, and The 2016 Census

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