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Viewer questions, 2020

24 viewer questions, requests and challenges answered in 5 videos uploaded in 2020, grouped by topic (the domain of the part of the video the answer is in), in upload order within a topic. Each question is followed by the answer as summarised, with the speaker and timestamp. Question Tuesday marks the Q&A series. Back to the overview.

Topics: Nerdfighteria (21) · Books & writing (1) · Philosophy & meaning (1) · Pop culture (1)

Nerdfighteria

  • Q: “What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful word?” (00:00:18) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Hank names 'penumbra' as the most beautiful word. (00:00:21)
  • Q: “What was the most foolish thing you did as a child?” (00:00:29) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Asked the most foolish thing he did as a child, Hank remembers getting in a lot of trouble for throwing glass bottles off their fort. (00:00:31)
  • Q: “Hank, what do you think is the most beautiful phenomenon in the Anthropocene?” (00:00:36) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: For the most beautiful phenomenon of the Anthropocene, Hank guesses some colors that did not exist until humans came along. (00:00:39)
  • Q: “Hank, what is your all-time favorite foolish endeavor?” (00:00:48) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • John: John's favorite foolish endeavor: Tony Hawks hitchhiked around Ireland with a refrigerator to win a bet, and the resulting book is as amazing as you would hope. (00:00:52)
  • Q: “What is the best advice you ever got from your kid?” (00:02:02) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: The best advice Hank has had from his kid: sometimes Orin says 'Feel happy.' (00:02:04)
  • Q: “Are there any old-school nerdfighterisms that have made their way into your everyday language?” (00:02:14) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • John: John says he still uses Hank's line from the very first vlogbrothers video, 'auto power off, still some glitches to work out', whenever the camera goes wrong 13 years later. (00:02:14)
  • Q: “Is humanity worth saving?” (00:02:36) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Hank says humanity is 'super yes' worth saving; he has thought about it a lot, and John notes it is what Hank writes about in his novels. (00:02:44)
  • Q: “Kilko asks, how do you cope?” (00:03:09) — I'M FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE
    • Hank: Asked by Kilko on Twitter how he copes, Hank says a new season of RuPaul's Drag Race is coming, which will help; we're working through it, as a species and individually. (00:03:09)
  • Q: “Favorite creature of the land, sea, and sky?” (00:00:00) — Somebody Once Asked . . . · Question Tuesday
    • John: Asked his favorite creature of land, sea and sky, John answers humans, humans who are currently swimming, and owls. (00:00:00)
  • Q: “What are your thoughts on finding silver linings in times of global distress?” (00:00:00) — Somebody Once Asked . . . · Question Tuesday
    • John: John thinks we need silver linings in hard times: joyful experiences should still be joyful, and good news should be sought, welcomed and celebrated. (00:00:00)
  • Q: “What's your morning routine, and would you recommend it?” (00:00:29) — Somebody Once Asked . . . · Question Tuesday
    • John: John's morning routine: wake up, dress, brush his teeth and doomscroll through COVID news for 45 minutes; he wouldn't recommend it. (00:00:29)
  • Q: “What are owls plotting when they stare at us with those big eyes?” (00:00:58) — Somebody Once Asked . . . · Question Tuesday
    • John (joke): Asked what owls are plotting, John says he will welcome owl overlords and be excited when they take over because they dislike how we have handled all this. (00:00:58)
  • Q: “How does it feel now that you can find Wallet Island on Google Maps?” (00:02:52) — Somebody Once Asked . . . · Question Tuesday
    • John: Wallet Island being on Google Maps feels lovely: it would be a wonderful coda to Paper Towns if a place that only exists sometimes became real by being named on a map. (00:02:52)
  • Q: “Are you and Hank ever going to use that vacation time there was a poll about over a year ago?” (00:03:21) — Somebody Once Asked . . . · Question Tuesday
    • John: Last year (2019) Nerdfighteria voted to give the brothers three weeks of vacation per year; John has not used much of it. (00:03:21)
  • Q: “Joseph wants to know what my favorite pelican species is.” (00:00:00) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Hank's favorite pelican species is the brown pelican: he grants viewers may think white pelicans more majestic, but brown pelicans are closest to his heart and seem like nice birds. (00:00:00)
  • Q: “Penguincorn says, “how are you not constantly talking about your book?” (00:00:29) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Hank loves talking about his book and hearing people talk about it, and spends a lot of time reading what people say about it. (00:00:29)
  • Q: “What’s been my favorite song to listen to recently.” (00:01:09) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Hank's favorite song lately is Think About Things by Daði Freyr, whose name he admits he is mispronouncing. (00:01:09)
  • Q: “Sarah wants to know why pelicans.” (00:01:36) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Birds in general are just good, and pelicans are maybe the best of them; Hank grants this is probably controversial and entirely subjective. (00:01:36)
  • Q [request]: “Rachel just was diagnosed with ADHD and a lot of things are clicking into place. Advice?” (00:01:59) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Hank's biggest advice to someone newly diagnosed with ADHD: a brain that works differently does not work worse. (00:01:59)
  • Q: “Differentcat wants to know, who did you play when you did Rocky Horror shows? I’ve tried numerous times to find out.” (00:01:59) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Asked who he played in his Rocky Horror shows, Hank shows a photo and reveals he played Rocky. (00:01:59)
  • Q: “Rachel wants to know what my favorite microorganism is.” (00:01:59) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: Hank's favorite microorganism, for today, is Lacrymaria. (00:01:59)

Books & writing

  • Q: “Like, people often ask me if I ever run out of ideas for Vlogbrothers videos” (00:02:56) — practice
    • John: After over 13 years of making videos consistently, John's brain knows that from Saturday it must find an idea, works on it, and almost always has one by Monday (10 February 2020) night. (00:02:56)

Philosophy & meaning

  • Q: “And likewise, she says, these are dark days, so how do you lift your head to the light when the darkness is so heavy?” (00:02:47) — Could I Spare some Change for Gas? · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: To lift his head in dark days, Hank makes things with people he loves, looks at birds and follows his curiosity: finding things out is one of the few joys independent of the world. (00:02:47)

Pop culture

  • Q: “What's the last movie that made you cry?” (00:03:34) — Foolish · Beautiful · Question Tuesday
    • Hank: The last movie that made Hank cry was the last one he saw, Little Women, which was very good. (00:03:34)