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How Does He Do It?

2023-05-30 · announcement · John · 5:12 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Projects · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Standing in for Hank during his chemotherapy, John marvels at Hank's many jobs, says his own idea for Crash Course made nothing happen without Hank and thousands of collaborators, announces the four 2023 Crash Course coins (JWST-inspired design) that largely fund Crash Course, and concludes that Hank, like almost everything worth doing, does it together.

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, helping with Hank's jobs during chemo, lists all of Hank's roles

00:00:29 — John's idea for Crash Course versus making it happen: ideas need collaborators and systems

  • ★★ John says he did come up with the idea for Crash Course: he loved making educational videos on Vlogbrothers but wanted to do it bigger and better, and knew they couldn't do it alone. — 00:00:29 · Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, Hank Green
  • ★★ John says the idea alone did not get Crash Course its 15 million YouTube subscribers (he said 'billion' by mistake and says so in a comment), over 1.8 billion views and a place in many American high schools and colleges. — 00:00:43 · Crash Course, YouTube
    • a number in question (slip of the tongue): "15 billion" — check against the recording
  • ★★★ Borrowing a line from W. H. Auden, John says ideas make nothing happen on their own: for things to happen, logistics and systems must build up and people must collaborate. — 00:00:55 · collective action
  • ★ John admits, with mock struggle over the word, that making things happen sometimes requires meetings, which he really dislikes. (playful) — 00:01:08
  • ★★★ John says he did not and could not make Crash Course happen: to become and remain real it needed Hank and thousands of collaborators, from writers and animators to teachers and supporters. — 00:01:18 · Crash Course, Hank Green, collective action

00:01:45 — The 2023 Crash Course coins: Patreon and coin support, JWST-inspired design, four coins, the series they funded

  • ★★ John says supporters keep Crash Course free for everyone forever, some through Patreon but many through the Crash Course Coin, which was Hank's idea. — 00:01:45 · Crash Course coin, Hank Green, Crash Course
  • ★★★ John announces this year's (2023) Crash Course Coins, available only for the next 11 days and minted in Arkansas from hand-engraved dies; he finds them beautiful. — 00:01:58 · Crash Course coin, Crash Course
  • ★★ The coin's engraving was inspired by a JWST photograph showing a patch of sky the size of a grain of sand at arm's length, vast and teeming with galaxies. — 00:02:15 · Crash Course coin
  • ★★ For John the coin image represents how learning illuminates unseen parts of ourselves and the universe, and how building knowledge leads to more knowledge. — 00:02:32 · Crash Course coin
  • ★★★ John says breakthroughs in technology and understanding come not from one brilliant person with one brilliant idea but from many people having ideas and working together. — 00:02:46 · collective action
  • ★ John notes that a few human lifetimes ago we did not even know there were galaxies; now we know the smudge in the image is a galaxy. — 00:03:00
  • ★★★ John lists this year's (2023) four coins: one for three-year patrons, a $100 coin supporting 2,000 learners, a limited $500 coin supporting 10,000 and a more limited $1,000 coin supporting 20,000. — 00:03:07 · Crash Course coin
  • ★★ John says the coins are vital: the Patreon and coin campaigns are the single largest slice of Crash Course's annual budget, not a tiny slice of a corporate pie. — 00:03:30 · Crash Course coin, Crash Course
  • ★★ Thanks to coin support, Crash Course this year (2023) launched courses in Black American History, Botany and Biology and Crash Course en Español, among many others. — 00:03:48 · Crash Course coin, Crash Course
  • ★★ John says that, as reluctant and temporary CEO for about 18 days, he can say with authority this would not be possible without viewers' support, and thanks them. — 00:03:57 · Complexly, Crash Course

00:04:11 — How Hank does it: not alone but with colleagues and collaborators; final coin ask and sign-off

  • ★★★ John asks viewers who can afford it to get a coin at crashcoursecoin.com, with no worries if they can't, to help Crash Course reach more learners. — 00:04:11 · Crash Course coin, Crash Course
  • ★★★ Impressed by Hank's productivity and commitment, John says he has glimpsed how Hank does it: not alone, but with a huge array of colleagues and collaborators, making what none could make alone. — 00:04:20 · Hank Green, collective action
  • ★★★ John says that is the story of Crash Course, of JWST, and of how almost everything worth doing gets done: together. — 00:04:48 · Crash Course, collective action

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description thanks Hank for making Crash Course real and everyone who makes it, from the team and teacher advisors to Thought Cafe, freelancers and supporters, and Joey Helms for the coin footage. — video description · Hank Green, Crash Course
  • ★ In a comment John says everyone who has been a patron for at least three years will get the patron coin. — creator comment · Crash Course coin
  • ★ In a comment replying to a viewer about '15 billion subscribers', John concedes the slip, saying Hank would never have made that mistake. (playful) — creator comment · Hank Green

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: collective action · Crash Course · Crash Course coin

Also: People: W. H. Auden

Projects: Awesome Coffee Club · Awesome Socks Club · Complexly · Dear Hank and John · DFTBA Records · Journey to the Microcosmos · SciShow · Sun Basin Soap

Works: Crash Course Black American History · Crash Course Botany · Crash Course en Español · In Memory of W. B. Yeats · Webb's First Deep Field

Organizations: Patreon · YouTube

Concepts: chemotherapy · great man theory

Places: Alabama · Arkansas

Products: Great Value (“Great value, Hank Green”) · James Webb Space Telescope

Only in the description or credits: Joey Helms · Thought Cafe

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