My Secret Obsession
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- This was such a delightful thing to have discovered about myself.
Another delightful thing about my life is that, once per month, a lovely pair of socks designed by an independent artist arrives at my doorstep. And that can be the case for you as well!!
The Awesome Socks Club: awesomesocks.club/products/aw...
----
Subscribe to our newsletter! eepurl.com/Bgi9b
And join the community at nerdfighteria.com
Help transcribe videos - nerdfighteria.info
Learn more about our project to help Partners in Health radically reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone: www.pih.org/hankandjohn
If you're able to donate $2,000 or more to this effort, please join our matching fund: pih.org/hankandjohnmatch
If you're in Canada, you can donate here: pihcanada.org/hankandjohn
John's twitter - / johngreen
Hank's twitter - / hankgreen
Hank's tumblr - / edwardspoonhands
Glad Hank was able to recognize the signs of this obsession
+
Ba dum tiss
Reading this before and after watching the video gives two very different tones.
I see what you did there.....
If it was in public there'd be a 2 minutes applause!
As someone who knows nothing about hunting (and is sleep deprived) I 100% thought the swan hunting one meant that the hunters needed some way for THEM to get retrieved, like too many hunters were being attacked by swans lol
Swans will kick you ass. They're definitely not to be messed with.
I assumed swan hunters kept shooting each other.
equally plausible
This non-sleep-deprived-person also interpreted it in the way you did, so I believe sleep deprivation is not the only way for one to extract that meaning.
I mean, have you met swans? That's entirely plausible.
Girl: “What’s your sign?”
Hank: “Thanks for asking, it is my secret obsession. Here are some of my favorites.”
I can see much humor in Hank getting this on his body at least as a good temporary tattoo.
@@anthonynelson6671 Ah yes the temporary tattoo that leaves only a burning red scorch mark
@@Ole_Rasmussen What?? They do that? (Or are you referring to something called a brand?🤔)
Hank's wife--"What's your sign"
Hank--Yes.
"I looked at this sign for a really long time but I could never figure out what the danger was" this is a phenomenal line!
America's like..."I looked at this sign for a really long time, but I could never figure out what the danger was."
regarding the illegible sign, was it near a dam or bridge? shame theres tree branches covering half of it, but:
DANGER
WATER LEVEL CAN [increase??]
AT ANY TIME ???
CLOSE TO BRIDGE?
@@time2fly2124 yes, came here to say just that!
@@time2fly2124 To me it looks like:
DANGER
POWER UN... ...
WATER LEVEL CANNOT ...
AT ANY ...
CLOSE TO ...
I think it's warning about something electrical and saying it mustn't get flooded.
@@davidmoore1253
I think perhaps:
WATER LEVEL CAN RISE
AT ANY TIME
Not sure about the other gaps, though.
My favorite genre of signs are ones that accidentally have the opposite effect as intended. For example, there was a sign over a water fountain in my university's physics department which said "no dumping chemicals, fountain is for drinking only". Nobody would drink out of that fountain...
Gee, I wonder why!
+
+
That signs a perfect solution. Prevents dumping chemicals and drinking 😂
So it worked, but also had an unintended side effect.
I like the signs that are specifically there because someone did a dumb thing. I worked in a kitchen where their walk in freezer said "taking your lunch break in here is prohibited" and the toaster in the break room said "this toaster is meant for toasting plain bread, not making grilled cheese sandwiches". I also saw another grocery place where customers could clearly see "don't use knives on the panini press" .. 'cause you know there was that one guy.
I went to a McDonald’s in Montana or somewhere and there was a sign on the soda fountain that said “do not pour oatmeal down the drain”
I don't understand the knife/panini one...
The panini press is that heated thing that you squeeze a sandwich inside to make it a panini right?
so what does using a knife mean here? Cutting the bread in half while it's still inside and thus scratching the metal surface? or using a knife to scrape a stuck sandwich? or is the panini press surface not electrically grounded?
I used to work at a place that had a walk in freezer and there was a sign that said "no making out in the freezer". You just know there's a good story there.
A personal favorite of mine is Yard Sard, which is a shockingly common yard sale mistake, and it has yet to stop being funny to me. 10/10 love this obsession for you.
Yale sale is a good one too
@@risxra sounds like a title for a satire about the college admissions scandals 😂
It must be common because I read right over the typo. I saw it as "Yard Sale"😂
Same genre as “the Legend of Zegend: Breath of the Weath”
Genuinely every time I see a yard sale sign I think of Yard Sard
Gonna need a two hour extended version on Hankschannel
it's a shame Hank probably doesnt have time to make that
+
@@juneguts If he has all his sign pictures in one folder, it shouldn't be too hard to write a bit of code that merges them all into a video, showing each for 5 sec or so.
+
+
Two signs really stood out to me in my life. One was a help wanted sign that had a Spanish translation underneath that said "dishwasher wanted." A friend of mine noted that it was racist to advertise two different messages to two different groups of people, because it was saying "if you speak Spanish you're a dishwasher. If you don't, we have more options for you."
Another was a mistranslation that said "don't be eatable." I don't know what the original message was, but I tried my very best not to be eatable.
Really astute observation from your friend about the Spanish sign. It really does promote Spanish speaking ability as a sign of only “manual” labor and not intellectual
Pretty sure it’s also literally illegal
Yeah, agree on the first sign. A good example of racism and labor discrimination. Hard disagree on the second sign thought, I think we should all endeavour to be more eatable 😁
If you speak *only* Spanish. If you are interacting with English-speaking customers or coworkers on the line, you may need to be proficient in English to perform the functions of those jobs.
@@supernova622 You could be a cook if you only spoke Spanish. I've worked in a kitchen before where most people didn't speak English.
The thing I love about your obsession with signs is that it's a great example of finding beauty in the mundane and giving thought to the potential stories behind them.
Sometimes, when I go for a walk, I find odd bits of trash or litter and I usually thing "There's a story behind this." It's cool to see someone else who does something similar.
Whenever I see things people dropped on the side of the road (shoes, scarves, gloves, etc.) I always wonder what happened.
I once found a bottle of hair and nail vitamins at a Lake Superior beach. Which to me implies that someone went to the beach and like ate an entire bottle of vitamins? Or took the bottle with them because they knew they had to eat their last two but couldn't possibly wait until after the beach trip??
Watching this and thinking about my photos made me realize I have a similar obsession.
My favorite remains one from Nov 9th 2016, it was hand written in red marker on printer paper and stuck in a store window:
Office for Rant upstairs
Am I able to procure this space for ranting?
Is this where the ranters club meets biweekly to express their rage?
It still delights me whenever I come across it in my phone!
+
Good lord, he's hatched a new Vlogbrothers' genre! Instead of "Thoughts from Places" it's an entirely other thing called "Signs asserting Thoughts". This gives me a new desire for a side Instagram, Pinterest page, Tumblr page, or other in the custody of Hank and John wherein they place photography of signs that have captured a portion of their interest and musings.
I think the reason I like hank so much is that he can talk about his special interests with complete unbridled joy. And I happily participate in that joy
It's an ENFP thing.
+ 💕
It's literally the cure for depression I swear. Getting out of your conciousness and seeing how cool life and stuff around us realy is and having others see how cool that "average everyday" thing is
Yeah, and talk about it in a way that other people can easily understand. It's infectious, now I'm excited about signs
++++
the hello on the inside of the mailbox implies that hank walked around and opens random people’s mailboxes
Idk, in my neighborhood the mail carrier will often just leave mailboxes open which is mildly infuriating and somewhat of a theft risk
As someone who has sensory issues with clothes, my number one question about the Awesome Socks is -- what is the INSIDE like? This has been surprisingly difficult to find an answer to, as promotional shots usually focus on the cool outside rather than the boring inside, and show people wearing them or maybe putting them on, but never taking them off.
I’ll do my best to describe it with words since I can’t link a photo.
The pattern in the socks isn’t printed so there is a small raised outline of each color on the inside of the sock, but it is very small and soft so you don’t normally feel it when wearing the sock. There is no seam at the toe, heel, or top binding of the sock.
All in all it’s a pretty comfortable sock and I never really tend to notice it, but I hope this was decently descriptive enough.
I got the first year’s worth of socks so I can’t speak for the most recent pairs or if they’ve made any changes in the construction, but the insides on mine are mostly great. It varies somewhat with the design (more colors & complex patterns = more thread changes = less ‘smooth’ sock interior, and this varies a lot from month to month) so some may cause more sensory issues than others, and due to the surprise nature of it you can’t really find this out beforehand. So overall they’re really well constructed and I haven’t had any issues with them myself (I’m also picky about sock textures, and a couple of the simpler patterns are the comfiest socks I own) but it’s one thing that unfortunately can’t really be controlled for and it’d suck if month after month you got socks you weren’t comfortable wearing. But overall of all the patterned socks I own they are the most consistently comfortable, and they tend to stay that way even after a lot of wears & washes.
What a good question and I'm glad that nerdfighteria is here to answer
Engagement to get your valid question higher!
This question thread is so wholesome and I am here for it.
I used to collect sounds for a friend! Now I collect smells (edit: for myself!!) but since those are hard to capture the catalogue is just in my brain. It's amazing how many different smells there are in the world. They all, for me as an enthusiast, can be categorized as "I want to smell that again, very cool!" and "That is repulsive, please never again". There is no inbetween. Even those smells you might think are bad, if they aren't repulsive, they are worth investismelling.
Liked for "investismelling"
There's also the, "that reminds me of something" and from then on and forever not remembering what it was. Lol!
Uhm.. are you Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Perfume)?? He literally did the exact same as you do, only he did it a bit more excessively. :))
@@louiseb6111 I went on a date once where we just chased scent memories! In a Saje shop. We'd close our eyes and smell each smell over and over until we got a clear memory related to it and shared it.
Neroli smelled like the cheap sunscreen my dad used to put on us. I can remember him cleaning up his hands and using the stuff that didn't rub onto our arms to gently cover our faces and noses.
I'm not convinced it was actually neroli smelling though because that is an expensive oil haha
@@logan2113this is beautiful. What a lovely date. 😊💞
'I don't know how I ended up with so much time, I guess I just talked really fast' says Hank Green, talking fast on the internet since 2007.
I also enjoy taking pictures of good signs.
Haha yep I was like you talked the same speed as normal silly
This video has all of the hallmarks of an amazing vlogbrothers video, it's got commentary on creativity, seeing the wonder in the world, and very very good absurdist jokes. 11/10
The aging sign at 1:36 looks like a variation on the "Danger: Swift water can be released at any time" signs seen near some dam flood gates. This one looks like it says something more like "Danger: Water level can change/rise AT ANY TIME CLOSE TO (dam? spillway? something.)"
Hank please share with us more of your favorite signs in a future video. This was really cool.
This is why I love vlogbrothers… making me think deeper about things I normally would take a second glance at
Any one of these could be its own 99% Invisible episode
Misspelled yard sale signs are the funniest thing to me. I still can't event think of the "Yard Sard" sign without giggling. It's been years...
yard sard is top tier humor and is on my list of stupid tattoos I don't yet have
After reading the title I thought Hank was gonna start a new company again
I mean, the signs were there
This is clearly a sign I need to buy more awesome socks.
I appreciate this obsession 😊 It reminds me of my four accidental obsessions as well: USPS, cappuccinos, plants, and chairs where they don’t belong.
Chairs where they don't belong is an A++ interest
You should check out the game Perfect Vermin if you haven't before. Forewarning, it is gory.
"Why do you have chairs on a Dalek spaceship anyway?"
Hank should drive between Grants Pass and the Oregon Coast on the Redwood Highway and see the infamous Sweet Cron sign.
Very happy a Dutch sign made it into the video :)
I've been a nerdfighter for a little over a year now and this is an amazing community. It has helped me make some really great friends! Thank you for everything Hank and John!
I don't have a picture of it, but a restaurant went out of business near my house when I was a kid. Their sign in the window said "Free delivery". After some time, the sticker deteriorated and for the longest time said "Free Liver". Sis and I still use it as a marker for how to get around town.
One of my favorite genre of signs is ones that have been translated into English and show how differently the same idea is expressed in the two languages/cultures. My personal favorite of those is "A single moment's carelessness results in the eternal loss of beauty," when I would have just written "Keep off the rocks."
I saw one in a Baja Californian beach themed fast-food restaurant, warning people of the danger of seals, in both English and Spanish. It was complete with a pinniped silhouette just to drive the point home. All was fine and good, except I noticed the word for seal on the Spanish half referred not to any species of marine mammal, but to the kind of seal that goes on a document.
I have always been obsessed with signs and I am so happy to share this obsession with Hank. My favorites are accidentally funny, too, but I was excited to hear about more categories of signs I might also become obsessed with.
I love finding joy in the small things but am not always in a mental place that allows me to notice them. Whenever that's the case, it helps to see other people sharing their small joys. So thank you for sharing this with us :)
Also, this is one of my favorite vlogbrothers videos in a minute. It’s so charming and wholesome
I’m watching this with my bird and she is literally staring at the video… this is her first time watching a vlogbrothers video and is in love 😂
Hello John & Hank! Just joined this channel! I’ve seen you guys over on Crash Course and you two have made learning fun for me. But I never knew you guys had a channel of your own!? I’m excited for what’s in store on VlogBrothers!
Omg as someone who’s been here for over 10 years now, welcome!!! You have a LOT of content to look forward to😂
As a long time Nerdfighter (aka community member of vlogbrothers), Welcome! They also have a Podcast called 'Dear Hank and John' that's pretty awesome. You should check it out if you haven't already.
Welcome. This is actually where it all began, some 400 years ago or so. Give or take. 😅
I feel so welcomed! Thanks everybody!
@@bluetoes591 I can’t believe it’s been 400 years... they grow up so fast 😢
Oh, I love a good sign. I took so many photos of signs all over Scandinavia. I love your "deteriorating over time" series. One of my favourite signs of all time has to be from the entrance door to my old apartment building in Lethbridge, Alberta. "Please Remove Your Rubbers." Signs from a bygone era...
Hank you should check out the series of Signspotting books by Doug Lansky. I bet you’d enjoy them!
I laughed so hard. I need an extended version.
I love this idea that we have obsessions we don't know about. Also how Hank talks about himself as his own data set to research and analyze
I love this sign obsession thank you for sharing
One of my favorites was an exit sign near the Pittsburgh Airport that used to just read:
Beaver
Moon
Cargo
I don't know how those industrious beavers were getting to the Moon, but I guess they brought cargo back.
PLEASE make an Instagram just for your sign pics. We need to see the rest of your collection, Hank!
Could we get a video from Hank about how the company operates differently because it's for charity? Would be really interesting to understand how optimising for charity differs from standard businesses.
I absolutely love the Awesome Socks Club! Been subscribed for a year, and it's been a dream :)
Hank looking at his photos: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...
More… more! Please Hank, give us more!
As someone who works in the sign industry I love this.
The sign industry! Do you mean pre-printed signboard industry?
@@sexyscientist I usually sell channel letter and other building signs, but we make all sorts of signs. Pretty much everything we do is custom.
@@cloudwaveASMRsleepsounds Interesting! Can you share your website?
I don’t know of this is realistic production-wise, but please will you guys consider a 100% cotton option for your awesome socks club subscription? Much love and appreciation.🧦🤓💓
Wait, the socks aren´t cotton?
I would love to see this continued into a little series
This made my day a little more delightful. Thank you!
HAHA SECOND LIKE MWAHAHA
FIRST
I'm sorry, this is the first time that I'm the first. It says one view and 9 seconds on the clock, had to use that. Again, apologies for all seasoned comment section readers.
@@yokoono42 Genuinely laughing at your folllow up 😂 at least your excited comment was actually first! Congrats!
I also take accidentally funny sign pictures. From said collection, I particularly like the broken sign telling you to take care of things and the abandoned Shell station whose sign letters were missing everything except the metal sides of the letters, making both the sign and the station a shell of themselves.
I love this! The gourd/squash is my favorite 😍
My alma mater’s book store used to have a sign saying “world peace” over the art supplies aisle, next to the things like sketchbooks and paints. It’s been swapped out since, but it was my favorite sign for years!
I love signs! They take information that people need to know but can be hard to remember correctly and encode it into the environment exactly where it's most needed. I used to design signs for fun when I was a kid.
An Obsession So Secret Even Hank Didn't Know He Had!
Remember, they do hold to the claim that we contain multitudes.
More. I need MOAR!
I used to work at that aquarium- I love that sign and Im glad it brings joy to others. It also serves an important functional purpose, as people do flash the octopus regularly.
Ive been subscribed to awesome socks since the beginning and I can attest that every single pair are really actually awesome (especially October of this year with the potion and the dagger, easily my favorite design so far).
"My favorite genre of signs" - a phrase I have never heard before but instantly love
I do this too! Seems more fun than birding or something. Those old signs in abandoned places and at the end of long trails are seem by very few people. Same for signs inside old buildings, some of which no longer exist so no one will see those signs sent to landfills or buried in place
This is a top tier video, all these signs are so interesting!
Omg. I love signs that tell a story too! At a suspension bridge there was a danger no swimming sign that had collections of little "death" and "injury" icons at each of the places on the map where people had either been killed or injured by swimming, tallying the NUMBER of people hurt. When "don't swim" doesn't work.
Love this!
I’ve been in Florence and those signs are just funny. The stick figures are hilariously evocative of the warning
Amazing! I love accidental art and you have created a wonderful accidental life photography portfolio.
Whatever brings you joy, Hank.
This brings be back to high school, when circa 2010 my friends and I would goof off before computer lab by browsing humorous websites, and one of our favorites was just photos of funny signs. It's been long enough that I can't really remember what the site was called, but thank you Hank for helping me remember this great memory I hadn't thought about in years.
Subscribing to the awesome socks club has been one of the best things I’ve ever done… I love it so much
I didn't realize how much I enjoyed signs either, Especially the differences in the way that they deteriorate depending on the content of the sign and the material the sign is made out of.
This is actually so cool. I still use Tumblr but I mostly look at a few weird sign blogs which these photos would fit into spectacularly. Very nice landmark-in-a-liminal-space vibe.
My current favorite sign is at the mechanic's across the street from us that says "don't even THINK of parking here" in close proximity to their "danger: hot work occurring" sign. Both are posted near where they open the garage to weld and do other more specialized stuff that mechanics do.
Please continue taking photos of signs and then release a coffee table book. I would buy it!
Same, Hank. 😂 you got some great ones.
I just subscribed to the socks! I always thought that was a good idea so excited to see what I get! ❤
Wonderful
The passage of time is worthy of documenting😊
This is wonderful
The contemplative Hank with the expert sock changing editing made my day. Well done!
omg for real. Moving and the socks just CHANGED. Like not even wrinkles were out of place. That must have taken ages.
A most excellent addition to the internet. Thanks, Hank.
I thought I was silly for taking photos of random signs, but Hank, you made me realize I haven't leaned hard enough into it! Thank you for that. Really hoping I can sign up for next year's Awesome Sock's Club! I love fun socks, supporting a good cause and independent artists.
I freaking love signs!!! The stick figure ones are my favorite, but this is excellent.
Maybe I share this obsession and I didn't know it either? Last weekend on my walk in the cloud forest, I took several pictures of signs. One was so mossy that you could hardly see what was originally on it, one was a warning for a steep road grade but the image was showing a car going down like an 88° slope, and one just said "pura vida" and it made me happy.
Thank you for enriching my life
When I was in Sweden in 2013, I found out that there were two entire books this guy had made that were just compilations of misspelled signs and notes that people had left each other, to which he had added humorous captions. The title was Det Här Var Ju Tråkigt (essentially "well, that was boring"), which was what one of the notes said. My favorite was the sign at the recycling center that was supposed to say "returpapper" ("returned paper") but instead said "returpappor," with an O instead of an E ("returned fathers").
I love this.
I LOVED this video.
Awesome socks club genuinely brings me so much joy every month. Once a month I get home and have surprise awesome fun socks! I've for some reason intentionally worn two different socks every day (dont ask me why, I genuinely don't know iT JUST BRINGS ME JOY, and even more joy now that my 4 yo niece also intentionally does this to my sister's dismay) , which also makes it important to have multiples of the same style sock with different designs because wearing two socks that feel significantly different in your shoes is annoying. The awesome sock club's socks are all the same height, fabric and feel so I can mix and match them to my heart's content! LOVE THEM
You give me an idea of what a cool hobby can look like!
I also love signs. Especially the weird or funny ones. One of my favorites said "Road Ends In Water 300 to 1500 feet"
Thanks~
Holy shit, I know EXACTLY where that "Don't Flash the Octopus" sign is.
This needs to be series
Fairly new to the channel. I watch a fair amount of science stuff on CZcams, and so the algorithm offered me some Hank shorts, and then it noticed that I clicked every single Hank face that popped up on my feed, so it started offering me John and Brothers varieties, too.
Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I find it weirdly endearing the way you both end your videos with “(Brother), I’ll see you (day)”, in a way that feels very “Challenge accepted!”
great video hank
I would like an entire slideshow of these photos of signs.
I've also taken the photo of the Montana pit toilet sign (adjacent city). It's IMO an example of an excellent sign done correctly, because it includes the "why". Though I generally prefer signs that describe what "TO" do rather than what "NOT" to do, it's still an absolute winner.
1:35 the scariest kind of sign is one warning you of something, but that something has been obscured or lost
Oh man, this started for me with a roadsign that read "road unsafe when under water" and I couldn't help but picture a car with a snorkel on its face trying to get to the dangerous road. My latest sign tangent was sleep-deprived giggling brought on by "grass fed butter" leading me to picture just sticks of butter hopping around in a field eating grass.
This inspired me to go look for pictures I took of signs, and I can -highly- recommend this as a Friday night activity.
Corn Dog Castle in Disney California Adventure! I love all of the signs there. They evoke that kitchy seaside amusement park vibe along with the Disney Parks warmth.
Hank I'm laughing so hard at these signs. Thanks for sharing with us!