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Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

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Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#101

Post by mcv »

grrowl wrote: post #53
mcv wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you have to buy him pepsi but might be stuck with some undrunk pepsi afterward. Also, does he really want cans or small bottles over the more economical large bottle and a glass? (Yes, I'm currently imagining wat it'd be like to have him over. I think we'd get along fine on the tea thing, but I hate unnecessary waste.)

Less economical — paying $2 for a small pepsi fully drunk is better value than paying $3 for one twice the size, if half is left undrunk (wasted). I like it almost as much as, "anyone who wants to offer a spare couch, I would much rather stay there than in a hotel" — keep it simple, don't waste, operate efficiently and without friction.

Yeah, but it's two pepsis. Then I think a single large one becomes more economical. Less bottle too. And I can return the large bottle but not the small ones.

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#102

Post by jaynos »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #96
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't eccentric, it's poor communications though. It could basically be summarised as: "Please provide tea making facilities: tea bags, milk, sugar and hot water. If possible a couple of cans of Pepsi (not diet or other brands please) would be appreciated." Really, the person organising the speech doesn't really care how someone takes their tea or why they don't like Pepsi or what the conditions (which are total…

"Hot water and a cup for making tea..." Tea needs to be made with _boiling_ not boiled water. The amount of places that present you with a cup of warm water and expect you to put a tea-bag into it, is upsetting*. For reference, the correct way of making tea: http://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A61345

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#104

Post by hnal943 »

pdpi wrote: post #69
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused why you think him saying "I only want Pepsi" is in any way clearer than my saying "I only want Pepsi". EDIT: Make it clearer by saying "Pepsi (absolutely not Coke or any other brand)" by all means but the person buying the drink wants to make sure you get what you want and then get on with their lives, they're really not interested in the why. It feels to me that Stallman wants to use this - as with most…

Stallman's "I want pepsi" reads more like "I specifically don't want Coke, and Pepsi is the most common alternative". With that information in hand, I'd probably suggest he try some of the more boutique cola brands that are available. Your "I only want Pepsi" reads like "I specifically want Pepsi", without accounting for regional flavour differences, etc.

I wouldn't supply anything other than Pepsi for fear of needing to know the history and practices of the local company that makes the soda I thought would be a fun surprise for rms.

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#105

Post by TallGuyShort »

poolpool wrote: post #73
JonnieCache wrote: post #3

This seems like a good opportunity to post RMS' rider again: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/pipermail/developer... Fabulous stuff. I wonder how often he has/gets to hang out with random parrots since this document became widely known. In my mind he is surrounded constantly by sandal-wearing acolytes wielding exotic birds of every variety.

The RMS rider is full of lecturing and childish demands. I'm amazed people are applauding him for it.

I think it's more brutal honesty, than anything. As an engineer and a disliker-of-politicians, I appreciate it, even though I agree it can easily be seen as egotistical or eccentric. When I have hosted guests, I have really wished I had such a clear "opeating manual" (as others in this thread have called it) for them, so I know how I can make them feel comfortable and make their trip most effective.

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#106

Post by orblivion »

exDM69 wrote: post #17

I recall reading that the "no brown M&M's" clause was added after a near-fatal accident on stage where a member of the Van Halen band got electrocuted because of bad wiring on the stage.

Just a friendly FYI: "electrocuted" implies a fatality. (I learned this similarly on an internet forum I posted the word to years ago.)

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#107

Post by dvanduzer »

bjourne wrote: post #100
mehwoot wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume independence between the color of the marbles. This is highly unlikely. Promoters probably don't read the terms randomly and completely randomly fulfill them. Likely whether one of the marbles is black or white tells you a lot about whether the other ones are black or white, especially if it's a marble that you selected before hand in a way that will often change depending on how the marbles are colored.

But you are assuming there exists a positive correlation between absence of brown M&M:s and whether the other demands are also filled or not. I don't think you can show that since the M&M demand was singled out. Had they instead randomly inspected once piece of equipment and found an error that would have been totally different.

This is not about rigorous statistics, it's about human nature. In the sixth grade, my math teacher offered a test at the beginning of the year that included quite a lot of complicated instructions. The last instruction told students to ignore all the previous instructions, and just write their name at the top of the paper and turn it in.

Guess how well the typical top scorers in the class did on this one.

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#108

Post by dvanduzer »

You can listen to Ira Glass and John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants talk about it in the prologue: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/386/f...

"there's 30 people the promoter's going to hire on our behalf ... but in only half of them did we require that they be sober"

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#109

Post by TheCoelacanth »

tragic wrote: post #48
peteretep wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard a rumour of technical specification including some of the jokier RFCs to check that people were really reading them... http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt

Don't laugh too quickly. Given a slow enough connection and a big enough file, the pigeon (with flash drive strapped to leg) will win. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers#Other_av...

Except that RFC 1149 specifies a single IP datagram per pigeon, which means it will be slower than even the slowest of dial-up connections.

Re: Why Van Halen's tour contract had a "no brown M&M's" clause

#110

Post by ceejayoz »

rmc wrote: post #47
arrrg wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I just read this again. I first read it in a ridiculing context (“Parrots? Really?”) and didn’t think much to put it out of that context, but looking at it now I have to say my view on it has changed. I think it’s pretty alright, actually. Some of his demands have to do with his strong ethical views on software, and while I don’t agree completely with him on this, I certainly can respect him for being uncom…

Some of his demands have to do with his strong ethical views on software, and while I don’t agree completely with him on this, I certainly can respect him for being uncompromising on that. If you're going to host a talk from RMS, I'd presume you'd be aware that he has strong ethical views. I mean, that's one of the main reasons to get him to talk!

> If you're going to host a talk from RMS, I'd presume you'd be aware that he has strong ethical views.

Not necessarily. Think about the White House Correspondents Dinner that invited Colbert as the host. Somehow they thought he'd pull his punches.

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