Most of what’s wrong with the internet is just a math problem.
A guy ranting his bad opinions for four hours costs basically zero dollars, and so a lot of guys are doing that and eventually find an audience. A Crash Course episode on atomic orbitals, with researchers writing it, fact-checkers catching the things that aren't quite right, animators making it look good enough that no teacher gets a parent phone call about it…costs a LOT. The Crash Course episode might pull way more views. Doesn't matter. The economics don't work.
Good information is expensive. Bad information is cheap. That's most of the problem right there.
Here's the part that makes me a little crazy though: Crash Course is wildly expensive for a YouTube channel and astonishingly cheap for educational media. Per student we reach, we spend pennies. If we charged what traditional educational publishers charge, we'd make hundreds of millions a year. We don't want to do that. We want it to be free.
The only way we can do this…the only reason Crash Course exists is the Crash Course Coin. Minted from hand-engraved dies by Shire Post Mint, each coin purchased helps us to reach THOUSANDS of learners.
Not asking you to buy one. Asking you to consider whether they can. If everyone does that, then some people will, and that’s all it takes.
20 years ago tomorrow, these two nerds got married. I'm taking today off from vlogbrothers (and the Internet in general) to celebrate. See you next week!
HELLO!!!! John Green, who is my brother and who is very cool, will not be uploading a video today. Does he have a good excuse? Yes. Yes he does. It turns out that the trip to Sierra Leone (where is currently headed to visit, for the first time, the Maternal Center of Excellence) is not chock full of internet.
Now, could John have made a video and uploaded it before leaving? Certainly, that's the kind of thing that we sometimes do. But another thing we sometimes do is say, "I assume I'll be able to figure out how to get this done in the future" thinking, optimistically, that the future will be simpler than the present.
And then it turns out we're wrong!! And should we be punished for John's optimism by not getting a video this week, perhaps not, but we are anyway and we're just gonna have to live with that.
John will return next week! I will see you on Friday!!
Hi. I got sick toward the tail end of the project for awesome and unfortunately still don't feel well at all. I've spent all day in bed. So no video for me today. Still, I just want to highlight that this has been the most successful Project for Awesome ever, raising over $4,000,000, and you can still donate to get great perks: projectforawesome.com/donate see you next week I hope!
21 hours until the project for awesome officially begins, but thanks to matching donors and all the early supporters, we've already raised OVER $300,000! You can donate here: tiltify.com/+p4a-producers/project-for-awesome-202… See you tomorrow! -John
How'd a divinity school dropout become a novelist? Well, I talked with Joss Fong for Study Hall’s College Journeys about my high school and college experience, and the version of my life that almost happened. We also talked about how overwhelming big decisions can feel when you’re young, and how they rarely define you as much as you think they will.
I have a new podcast about the World Cup (is there going to be a World Cup?) with one of my oldest friends, the novelist Daniel Alarcon, who I've known since 1992. Here's an early picture of us. You can watch the podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpClM...
During the Project for Awesome, I pop balloons that have tasks inside of them. The tasks are, like “Pretend to be a crab, you have to do a good job” or “sing Smash Mouth’s All Star in a Terrible British Accent” or “Eat a banana filled with mayonnaise and pickles”.
UPDATE: I'm okay! Nothing to be concerned about. Just gonna rest for the day and should be back to normal tomorrow. Thanks for your well wishes! If I feel up to it, I may make a video tomorrow. Thanks. Hey. Unfortunately no video today because I'm getting some medical testing done and the wait times are extraordinary. I should be okay but just being cautious (as I am known to be). See you next week. (Also, there probably won't be a livestream on johnschannel today. Sorry!) -John
vlogbrothers
Most of what’s wrong with the internet is just a math problem.
A guy ranting his bad opinions for four hours costs basically zero dollars, and so a lot of guys are doing that and eventually find an audience. A Crash Course episode on atomic orbitals, with researchers writing it, fact-checkers catching the things that aren't quite right, animators making it look good enough that no teacher gets a parent phone call about it…costs a LOT. The Crash Course episode might pull way more views. Doesn't matter. The economics don't work.
Good information is expensive. Bad information is cheap. That's most of the problem right there.
Here's the part that makes me a little crazy though: Crash Course is wildly expensive for a YouTube channel and astonishingly cheap for educational media. Per student we reach, we spend pennies. If we charged what traditional educational publishers charge, we'd make hundreds of millions a year. We don't want to do that. We want it to be free.
The only way we can do this…the only reason Crash Course exists is the Crash Course Coin. Minted from hand-engraved dies by Shire Post Mint, each coin purchased helps us to reach THOUSANDS of learners.
Not asking you to buy one. Asking you to consider whether they can. If everyone does that, then some people will, and that’s all it takes.
If you think you can help, head to complexly.info/CCcoin26-2
4 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 9,960
View 172 replies
vlogbrothers
20 years ago tomorrow, these two nerds got married. I'm taking today off from vlogbrothers (and the Internet in general) to celebrate. See you next week!
1 week ago | [YT] | 71,158
View 843 replies
vlogbrothers
HELLO!!!! John Green, who is my brother and who is very cool, will not be uploading a video today. Does he have a good excuse? Yes. Yes he does. It turns out that the trip to Sierra Leone (where is currently headed to visit, for the first time, the Maternal Center of Excellence) is not chock full of internet.
Now, could John have made a video and uploaded it before leaving? Certainly, that's the kind of thing that we sometimes do. But another thing we sometimes do is say, "I assume I'll be able to figure out how to get this done in the future" thinking, optimistically, that the future will be simpler than the present.
And then it turns out we're wrong!! And should we be punished for John's optimism by not getting a video this week, perhaps not, but we are anyway and we're just gonna have to live with that.
John will return next week! I will see you on Friday!!
- Hank
1 month ago | [YT] | 29,210
View 508 replies
vlogbrothers
Hi. I got sick toward the tail end of the project for awesome and unfortunately still don't feel well at all. I've spent all day in bed. So no video for me today. Still, I just want to highlight that this has been the most successful Project for Awesome ever, raising over $4,000,000, and you can still donate to get great perks: projectforawesome.com/donate see you next week I hope!
2 months ago | [YT] | 10,009
View 148 replies
vlogbrothers
😅😮💨
2 months ago | [YT] | 7,341
View 151 replies
vlogbrothers
21 hours until the project for awesome officially begins, but thanks to matching donors and all the early supporters, we've already raised OVER $300,000! You can donate here: tiltify.com/+p4a-producers/project-for-awesome-202…
See you tomorrow! -John
2 months ago | [YT] | 3,472
View 30 replies
vlogbrothers
How'd a divinity school dropout become a novelist? Well, I talked with Joss Fong for Study Hall’s College Journeys about my high school and college experience, and the version of my life that almost happened. We also talked about how overwhelming big decisions can feel when you’re young, and how they rarely define you as much as you think they will.
2 months ago | [YT] | 472
View 5 replies
vlogbrothers
I have a new podcast about the World Cup (is there going to be a World Cup?) with one of my oldest friends, the novelist Daniel Alarcon, who I've known since 1992. Here's an early picture of us. You can watch the podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpClM...
2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 5,709
View 158 replies
vlogbrothers
Hello! It’s Hank.
During the Project for Awesome, I pop balloons that have tasks inside of them. The tasks are, like “Pretend to be a crab, you have to do a good job” or “sing Smash Mouth’s All Star in a Terrible British Accent” or “Eat a banana filled with mayonnaise and pickles”.
PLEASE SUGGEST TASKS!!
2 months ago | [YT] | 4,909
View 1,500 replies
vlogbrothers
UPDATE: I'm okay! Nothing to be concerned about. Just gonna rest for the day and should be back to normal tomorrow. Thanks for your well wishes! If I feel up to it, I may make a video tomorrow. Thanks.
Hey. Unfortunately no video today because I'm getting some medical testing done and the wait times are extraordinary. I should be okay but just being cautious (as I am known to be). See you next week. (Also, there probably won't be a livestream on johnschannel today. Sorry!) -John
2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 9,153
View 106 replies
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