Jeff AtwoodAug 9, 2024
When I see someone get important details wrong, I don’t think “eh that probably won’t matter” but “what other details are they missing” 🤔
Show threadPaul Hennell • Dev

@codinghorror
This reminds me of the Van Halen story where they were seen as divas for their demand there were no brown M&M’s in the backstage area of their gigs.

But it was apparently used more as a safety check test - with a show using tons of equipment and many pyrotechnics the presence of brown M&Ms indicated their instructions were not followed and everything needed to be diligently checked.

https://www.safetydimensions.com.au/van-halen/

Aug 9, 2024 at 7:29amWeb
Show threadT Alex BeamishAug 9, 2024

@hennell @codinghorror Yup -- that's exactly why they did it. If there were brown M&Ms in the dressing room (or no M&Ms at all -- or Reeses Pieces), there was no telling what else was wrong in the venue setup.

Another example -- the bogus scene that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck put into their Good Will Hunting screen play.

Details matter.

Show threadD C RossAug 9, 2024
@talexb @hennell @codinghorror
Also, there is the entire history of Lillian Virginia Mountweazel, the etymology of the fictional word "esquivalience" and the establishment of the very real place called Agloe, New York.
Show threadJeff AtwoodAug 9, 2024
@deeseearr @talexb @hennell oh wow this is amazing https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/esquivalience
esquivalience - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Wiktionary
Show threadPaul BartlettAug 9, 2024
@deeseearr @talexb @hennell @codinghorror Reminds me of "indoswiftjobinproduction". More details at https://searchengineland.com/google-bing-is-cheating-copying-our-search-results-62914
Google: Bing Is Cheating, Copying Our Search Results

Google has run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google's results,

Search Engine Land
Show threadPaul Hennell • DevAug 9, 2024
@talexb @codinghorror Despite being a writer, and having way more interest and knowledge of screenplays then music I've never heard that story before! Thanks for sharing!
Show threadSander van KasteelAug 9, 2024
@hennell @codinghorror it's a story as old as time and is still being done up to this day.

I used to be a sound engineer in a previous life and for one of the old bands I worked for, did a similar thing. We had a bass player that had allergies, so I included some outrageous things in our technical rider (like 3 grand microphones above the drum kit for example).

So if I knew that they either rented those mics for us, or the venue contacted us about our technical demands, we knew for a fact that the subsequent food of the venue was trustworthy. If not, we wouldn't eat there 😅😂