<story><title>Why Van Halen&apos;s tour contract had a &quot;no brown M&amp;M&apos;s&quot; clause</title><url>http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>netcan</author><text>This is a fantastic read!&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;If you have previously done streaming using some streaming service and you can&amp;#x27;t immediately name the format it uses, chances are it is unacceptable and I won&amp;#x27;t let you use it for my speech.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;..This might seem unfair--if a ticket is lost, it could be my fault. But my income is not large, and I cannot afford to assume this risk myself if the event offers me no income.  The frustration I feel when I suffer such a loss is excruciating.  It is better for me to decline to travel to a certain place than to take such a risk.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;..DON&amp;#x27;T make a hotel reservation until we have fully explored other options.  If there is anyone who wants to offer a spare couch, I would much rather stay there than in a hotel (provided I have a door I can close, in order to have some privacy)... ... If you have found a person for me to stay with, please forward this section and the two following sections to that person.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;..find out what temperature it can actually lower a room to, during the relevant
dates ..I like cats if they are friendly. ..Dogs that bark angrily and&amp;#x2F;or jump up on me frighten me .. .. find a host for me that has a friendly parrot..  ..DON&amp;#x27;T buy a parrot figuring that it will be a fun surprise for me.  To acquire a parrot is a major decision: it is likely to outlive you.  If you don&amp;#x27;t know how to treat the parrot, it could be emotionally scarred and spend many decades feeling..&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I do NOT use browsers, I use the SSH protocol.. .. If a hotel says &amp;quot;We have internet access.. .. What parameters does the user need to specify in order to talk with it?… … Don&amp;#x27;t rely on information from such a person--talk to someone who knows! .. their phone switchboard may not recognize the tones produced by modems..&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;When you need to tell me about a problem in a plan, please do not start with a long apology.  That is unbearably boring. …If I am typing on my computer and it is time to do something else, please tell me.  Don&amp;#x27;t wait for me to &amp;quot;finish working&amp;quot; first, because you would wait forever.  I have to squeeze in answering mail at every possible opportunity, which includes whenever I have to wait.  I wait by working.  If instead of telling me there is no more need for me to wait, you wait for me to stop waiting for you, we will both wait forever -- or until I figure out what&amp;#x27;s happening. … Please don&amp;#x27;t try to pressure me to &amp;quot;relax&amp;quot; instead, and fall behind on
my work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I do not eat breakfast.  Please do not ask me any questions about ..what I will do breakfast. ..Please just do not bring it up .. If there is a chance to see folk dancing… … If you want to give me data about airplane tickets, please send that info as plain ASCII text&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;What a beautiful crazy person RMS is.</text></item><item><author>JonnieCache</author><text>This seems like a good opportunity to post RMS&amp;#x27; rider again:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/pipermail/developers-public/2011-October/007647.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;secure.mysociety.org&amp;#x2F;admin&amp;#x2F;lists&amp;#x2F;pipermail&amp;#x2F;developer...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fabulous stuff. I wonder how often he has&amp;#x2F;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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>arrrg</author><text>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.&lt;p&gt;I think it’s pretty alright, actually.&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;p&gt;He frequently emphasises the need to communicate. Decisions that affect both him and the host have to be decided together. He also shows quite some willingness to find alternate solutions if his preferred solution is somehow not possible, but emphasises the need to communicate about those changes.&lt;p&gt;All the rest may be slightly quirky, but it’s all not especially hard to do with some care and attention. Hey, he doesn’t even want super-accomodating hospitality.&lt;p&gt;(Also, hotel internet is the worst. Good on him for insisting that be properly checked. He needs it to work, after all.)</text></comment>
<story><title>Why Van Halen&apos;s tour contract had a &quot;no brown M&amp;M&apos;s&quot; clause</title><url>http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>netcan</author><text>This is a fantastic read!&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;If you have previously done streaming using some streaming service and you can&amp;#x27;t immediately name the format it uses, chances are it is unacceptable and I won&amp;#x27;t let you use it for my speech.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;..This might seem unfair--if a ticket is lost, it could be my fault. But my income is not large, and I cannot afford to assume this risk myself if the event offers me no income.  The frustration I feel when I suffer such a loss is excruciating.  It is better for me to decline to travel to a certain place than to take such a risk.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;..DON&amp;#x27;T make a hotel reservation until we have fully explored other options.  If there is anyone who wants to offer a spare couch, I would much rather stay there than in a hotel (provided I have a door I can close, in order to have some privacy)... ... If you have found a person for me to stay with, please forward this section and the two following sections to that person.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;..find out what temperature it can actually lower a room to, during the relevant
dates ..I like cats if they are friendly. ..Dogs that bark angrily and&amp;#x2F;or jump up on me frighten me .. .. find a host for me that has a friendly parrot..  ..DON&amp;#x27;T buy a parrot figuring that it will be a fun surprise for me.  To acquire a parrot is a major decision: it is likely to outlive you.  If you don&amp;#x27;t know how to treat the parrot, it could be emotionally scarred and spend many decades feeling..&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I do NOT use browsers, I use the SSH protocol.. .. If a hotel says &amp;quot;We have internet access.. .. What parameters does the user need to specify in order to talk with it?… … Don&amp;#x27;t rely on information from such a person--talk to someone who knows! .. their phone switchboard may not recognize the tones produced by modems..&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;When you need to tell me about a problem in a plan, please do not start with a long apology.  That is unbearably boring. …If I am typing on my computer and it is time to do something else, please tell me.  Don&amp;#x27;t wait for me to &amp;quot;finish working&amp;quot; first, because you would wait forever.  I have to squeeze in answering mail at every possible opportunity, which includes whenever I have to wait.  I wait by working.  If instead of telling me there is no more need for me to wait, you wait for me to stop waiting for you, we will both wait forever -- or until I figure out what&amp;#x27;s happening. … Please don&amp;#x27;t try to pressure me to &amp;quot;relax&amp;quot; instead, and fall behind on
my work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I do not eat breakfast.  Please do not ask me any questions about ..what I will do breakfast. ..Please just do not bring it up .. If there is a chance to see folk dancing… … If you want to give me data about airplane tickets, please send that info as plain ASCII text&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;What a beautiful crazy person RMS is.</text></item><item><author>JonnieCache</author><text>This seems like a good opportunity to post RMS&amp;#x27; rider again:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/pipermail/developers-public/2011-October/007647.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;secure.mysociety.org&amp;#x2F;admin&amp;#x2F;lists&amp;#x2F;pipermail&amp;#x2F;developer...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fabulous stuff. I wonder how often he has&amp;#x2F;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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>netcan</author><text>I just realized what this is. He wrote a manual for operating himself.</text></comment>