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My Mid-Afternoon Existential Crisis

2023-02-03 · announcement · Hank · 3:50 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: Personal life, Projects, Nerdfighteria, Science & nature) · mode: Announcements · tags: civic or action cta, self promotion, community lore

Making a surprise appearance on a day freed up by a postponed colonoscopy, Hank runs through updates: a subscription glitch for the socks and coffee clubs, open video submissions for the Project for Awesome on February 17, the Nerdfighteria Census, and Delete This's new 'Wet or Dry' format. Along the way he has a playful mid-afternoon existential crisis about which of his projects matters most.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Surprise appearance, the postponed colonoscopy, the day's to-do list and a subscription-system glitch

  • ★★ Hank thought he had a colonoscopy today, but after he started a new medicine it was pushed back to May; he had not taken it off his schedule, so he gained an extra day. — 00:00:00
  • ★ With the extra day, Hank lists his work: a presentation about titles and thumbnails, a possible office redesign, and updates for the community. — 00:00:21
  • ★★ Hank lists among his plans for the day a mild existential crisis about halfway through it. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:21
  • ★★★ Hank says a glitch in the subscription system that runs the Awesome Socks Club, the coffee club and Pizzamas may have emailed members that they will be skipped this month (February 2023); they won't be, and a fix is coming. — 00:00:21 · Awesome Socks Club, Awesome Coffee Club, Pizzamas

00:00:43 — Apology for the glitch; tens of thousands get coffee and socks each month

  • ★★ Apologising for the glitch, Hank quotes 'a man' who once said there are still some glitches to work out. (playful) — 00:00:43
  • ★★ Hank is grateful that people are so understanding when things like the glitch happen. — 00:00:43
  • ★★ Hank says tens of thousands of people get coffee and tens of thousands get socks from the clubs every month. — 00:00:43 · Awesome Coffee Club, Awesome Socks Club
  • ★★ The clubs' success makes Hank think about what's possible, which means facing what's impossible: him doing more things, which he would love to do. (playful) — 00:00:43

00:01:12 — P4A 2023 on February 17: video submissions open, how the livestream and charity vote work

00:02:10 — What a P4A video should say, then the mid-afternoon existential crisis

  • ★★ Hank says a P4A video should tell the problem the organisation works on, why it is a big deal, and how it tries to solve it. — 00:02:10 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ Hank says problem, importance and what to do is the basic format of most YouTube videos and of much human activity, and a good format. — 00:02:10 · YouTube
  • ★★ In his promised existential crisis, Hank says he doesn't know which of his projects is most important or which he enjoys most, a weird thought for a bunch of chemical reactions. (playful, unsure) — 00:02:10
  • ★★★ Hank says he will be doing the Nerdfighteria Census soon and asks those who haven't filled out the survey to use the link in the description. — 00:02:10 · Nerdfighteria

00:02:40 — Census reminder and Delete This's new 'Wet or Dry' format

  • ★★ Hank says he and Katherine have been enjoying Delete This and fell into a new format, Wet or Dry: one wet thing, one dry thing, and which is better. — 00:02:40 · Katherine Green, Delete This
  • ★★ Hank says Wet or Dry sounds like a terrible podcast idea but may be his best ever; it is fun and silly, though maybe not for kids. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:40 · Delete This

00:03:09 — A hydrogen aside, something Hank's channel received, and the sign-off

  • ★★ In an aside, Hank marvels that hydrogen without its electron is just a proton and still hydrogen, because elements are defined by their number of protons. — 00:03:09
  • ★ Hank shows something Hank's channel received and jokes that John sees himself in it. (playful) — 00:03:09 · hankschannel

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Project for Awesome

Also: People: Katherine Green

Projects: Awesome Coffee Club · Awesome Socks Club · Delete This · hankschannel · Nerdfighteria Census · Pizzamas

Organizations: Partners In Health · Save the Children · YouTube

Concepts: colonoscopy · existential crisis · hydrogen · proton

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