John Green's Blog, page 26

Felicia Day, Hannah Hart, and The Fine Brothers

In which Hank drives and vlogs (which you shouldn't do) and is grateful that he gets to hang out with cool people that think interesting things about online video...and also that are quite funny.

More footage from LA here: http://www.youtube.com/hankschannel

Hannah Hart: http://www.youtube.com/harto
Felicia Day: http://www.youtube.com/geekandsundry
The Fine Brothers: http://www.youtube.com/thefinebros

Inside North Korea

In which John discusses life inside a North Korean concentration camp as reported by Shin Dong-hyuk, the only person ever known to have gotten out of North Korea after being born in the infamous Camp 14. The remarkable book: http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-...

North Korea: Explained

Is North Korea going to bomb us? Is North Korea a Threat? Is North Korea Communist? Why does North Korea Hate us?

These (according to my extremely imprecise research) are the most common questions people in the world have about North Korea...I have done my best to answer these questions using mostly knowledge that I stole from a variety of sources around the internet over the course of a couple days of research.

TL:DW - North Korea is terrifying and terrible, they are a threat to global stability and even more of a threat to their own people. But, no, they are not going to nuke anybody...unless they really want to destroy themselves.

TFiOS Movie Casting, New Books, and Groundhog Wars: An Old School Vlogbrothers Video

Preorder Esther's book: http://www.amazon.com/This-Star-Wont-... or at B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/this-... or at your local independent bookstore.

Submit to Nerd Factor by making the video (just one please!) of your choice a response to this video.

In which John discusses the great news that Esther Earl's journals and other writings will be published, as well as discussing casting developments of the film version of The Fault in Our Stars, the brewing war between a goose and a groundhog outside his office, his forthcoming paternity leave, and Nerd Factor 2013.

Caviar Brownies – The Second Annual Hungry Games

In which Michael and Hank and Emily eat some gross stuff, some delicious stuff, and are silly. You can watch the innaugural Hungry Games here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrvkIz...

Emily Graslie is the host of The Brain Scoop: http://www.youtube.com/thebrainscoop

Michael Aranda does LOTS OF THINGS but his channel is at: http://www.youtube.com/michaelaranda

And YES YouTube ADDS A SECOND, so the video is not more than four minutes.

He also created the music for this episode which is available here: http://michaelaranda.bandcamp.com/tra...

A Poem for Spring

In which John welcomes the (calendrical) arrival of Spring by reciting some poetry, and also tells a story about moving to Indianapolis.

How Much is a Human Life Worth?

John on the Late Late Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwjjWh...

Once when I like 10 years old, I was sitting in a school auditorium...I looked at all the people, and the (required) fire exits in the room. And I thought to myself that there weren't enough doors to save everyone in every situation. In order to do that, you'd have to make the whole building doors...but it wasn't worth it...so there must be some calculus to determine how much trouble / money a human life was worth.

I was right...and it's not an inhuman thing, it's important to know. And in this video, we talk about the monetary value of a human life. It's variable...depending on whether you're talking about selling the individual moments, or ending the life forever. But I don't think it should be...if we're willing to sell all the individual moments of our lives for $2M, why would we then value the act of not dying at far more than that? Maybe it's because we treasure our histories more than we treasure the moments yet to come, but that seems wrong to me.

SOURCES:
$130,000 - http://www.time.com/time/health/artic...
$500,000 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
$500,000 (for organs) - http://gizmodo.com/5904129/heres-how-...
$9,000,000 - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/bus...

Ads Work…but for Whom?

In which John takes an unexpected visit to the gray speckled walls of America's airports to mull the role that advertising plays in shaping (and funding) online video content, at times incentivizing the popular over the significant.

Also I just had dental surgery, so I'm in a great mood.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

In which Hank gets a little self-indulgent and talks about YouTube and content and business and culture and etc.

HANK'S FACE REMIX CONTEST
http://edwardspoonhands.com/post/4544...

THE GIFMASTER AWARDS
http://edwardspoonhands.com/post/4544...

LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS
http://nerdfighteria.vanillaforums.com/
http://reddit.com/r/nerdfighters

THE BRAIN SCOOP
http://www.youtube.com/thebrainscoop

APPLY TO HELP
Email hankandjohn@gmail.com with one of the following:
DESIGN in the subject line, links to examples of websites and user interfaces that you have designed. An emphasis on user experience and simplicity preferred.

DEVELOPMENT in the subject line. Site will likely be developed in Ruby. Please let us know particularly of any experience you have with APIs, payment handling, and user databases.

DOMAIN in the subject line. Let us know what domain names you have lying around unused and what (hopefully discounted) prices you'd accept.

I LOVE THE INTERNET AND ONLINE VIDEO
Thanks to everyone for being a part of it.

Understand the Sequester (Spoiler: It’s Bananas.)

In which John explains how the United States arrived at Sequestration, while also describing what exactly the Sequester is. Along the way, he explores deficits and debts and other matters of governmental budgets. It's bananas.

Understanding the American debt and deficit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ugDU2...
CGP Grey's video about the debt ceiling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIbkoo...

(Gentle reminder: Educational and informational videos are allowed to be longer than four minutes, so no punishment for me by extensive precedent.)