Initialisms Are Not Acronyms

I am a little late starting this, but I just heard about Blog Every Day in April (BEDA) and I thought it sounded like a cool project. To make up for missing Friday and yesterday, you get three blog posts today (or you'll get two today and two tomorrow depending on how well my brain comes up with stuff). Isn't that exciting?

And since the reason I heard about this was Nerdfighteria and the Vlog Brothers, I've decided this post will be about that. Because they are awesome. And hilarious. And are obsessed with Harry Potter and making the world suck less.

Okay, so for the people who don't know who or what I'm talking about, Vlogbrothers is a YouTube channel created by John Green (who wrote An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns and looking for Alaska and co-wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson (which is reviewed here if you just go back far enough. I promise, my next project is getting some proper tags on this stuff)) and his brother Hank Green (who writes awesome songs. Like Accio Deathly Hallows). And they send each other vlogs, back and forth, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Nerdfighteria is the awesome community that's been built with the people who watch their videos and who want to decrease World Suck. To learn more about Nerdfighters and Nerdfighteria (such as, what the heck it is) watch this video:

(I agree that puppy-sized elephants would be adorable.)

I've spent a lot of time watching this guys in the past couple of days (and posting their videos to Facebook because someone won't just watch stuff on YouTube). So I have a collection of their videos to show and talk about. So here we go!

Don't you wish you could learn all of your history this way? I mean, that's all very interesting and at the same time is told in a very entertaining way. "Never be a Russian and named Anastasia." It's true. Anastasias in Russia just meet very bad ends generally. Also "I get very upset when people screw around with libraries!" So do I John. So do I. The destruction of the Library at Alexandria is one of the worst crimes in history in my mind. Maybe not worse than the Holocaust but it's up there.

For every space nerd out there (and even the not space nerds) this is pretty freakin' cool. Plus it's fun to see how excited Hank gets about the space telescope. So think about the awesome people! (and also, I have no idea why his points are all out of order. There is no explanation).

This video isn't actually particularly hilarious, but it makes a good point. The truth resists simplicity. There is no black and white in our world for the most part. Because there's no easy or correct answer 100% of the time. Seriously, ask me a question and I will find you an answer that is correct and yet makes your answer wrong. (Challenge accepted!) The sooner we accept that there is always a margin of error, the sooner we can make the world more awesome. And be more open-minded.

So many of these things get on my nerves as well. Especially "I could care less." That is not what you are trying to convey. Listen to your words. Although I have no place to throw stones at mispronunciation. Because the first time I ever saw the word phlegm actually printed as opposed to simply hearing it audibly was in the sixth Harry Potter book. And it looked like nothing I thought it should have been spelled (I always imagined it would look like this: Flem. Doesn't that make more sense?) So I pronounced it f-leg-um. All I can say is that English is confusing.

I love just getting answers to random questions (some of which are actually real questions that I may have wondered about at one point. or random facts like the Clue thing. And Queue (which has a freakish amount of vowels for such a short word)). And yes, we all need Ester Bracelets. Because they are awesome ways of boosting your self-esteem. And I too am with the bakers.

I would totally go see The Dandy Lions. They could open for Scurvy Wench (aaaaaand only like three people will get this. If you really want to know, all you have to do is ask). I feel John's pain on the whole coming up with a title thing. Because I had to ask the NaNoWriMo community for help with my novel titles. Oh, and because John said he couldn't say the alphabet backwards, I made a video response in which I prove that I can say both the French and English backwards.

I think I can do this because I see words as letter patterns rather than seeing letters as their own entity. They're pattern blocks. Really you can put them in any order you want.

Hank writes many awesome songs (quite a few that actually deal with Harry Potter, which of course makes me grin). I think that it would be awesome if JK Rowling just wrote any of the ideas suggested. Marauders, Harry's kids, Voldemort's son (how big a twist would that be?) Dumbledore and Grindelwald. I really just want more Harry Potter.

Okay, I promise, this is the last video. Because I agree with all these rules. Especially rule 6, because I have come to love my name, but every time someone asks me what my name is and goes to write it down I have to wave my hands and say "Wait, wait wait, it's not spelled how you think." And then they start trying to guess how it's spelled and most people don't guess there is a g and two hs in it. On the plus side, I have become very proficient at spelling my name for people so that they understand what I'm saying. And anyone associated with Hollywood should never be allowed to name children. Here's a moment of silence for Quathyryn, Hi-ho Silva, and Apple. I love you Gwyneth Paltrow, but seriously? Apple?

So yes, being a nerdfighter is awesome because a) you help make the world suck less b) you get to watch John and Hank being hilarious and c) you get to know awesome people who also want to make the world suck less. And give you ideas on how to do so. And if you want to get more involved than just watching the videos, you can join the site Your Pants. Have fun!