I had a lecturer (a Brit) who would insert the phrase 'Rule Britannia' into lecture notes to see if anyone ever read them.
There is also an urban myth about some entrance exam for Police/Army/Pilots etc where the instructions say read all the questions first. And the last question says, do not answer any questions just 'do some arbitrary thing' - to check wether you follow instructions properly.
But companies routinely do this in job interviews and then get decried for asking frivolous, irrelevant questions.
When Google asks prospective PMs what a binary search or hashtable is, it's not because they actually expect product managers to ever write one. It's because those are a proxy for general CS knowledge; it shows that either they've come out of an academic CS department or they hang around engineers enough to know the basic terminology. This in turn is a proxy for "Won't demand unreasonable features from engineering and can communicate reasonably well with them." This is rather important for a tech company, as anyone who's ever worked under someone with no clue about technology could tell you.
Similarly, when companies ask how many gas stations there are in the U.S, they don't actually care what the answer is. Rather, they want to see how you respond when put in a situation where you obviously don't have enough information to come up with a precise answer. They want to see what sort of background information you draw on to make an estimate; this is often a proxy for how open and aware you are to new experiences. They want to see you combine whatever background information you have to solve a problem. They want to see you self-check and see if your answer seems reasonable.
Yet for some reason, it's clever when Van Halen does it and pedantic when it happens in a job interview...
In previous teams I worked on, I've often had to send out long emails or documents because someone got on my back over an artificial deadline. I would send it and make sure that an important link in the document was broken. If they didn't notice it, they didn't need the document/email urgently and usually get to hear a lecture from me later on arbitrary deadlines.
The behavior behind the need for your checks is something that irks me. Because you can send one-off thoughts via email many people assume that all emails are just one-offs.
Kansas's rider specifies that the venue is not allowed to bill any other band as "the original Kansas", which is something of a reaction against Proto-Kaw, a band composed of the original members of Kansas (since Kansas itself has faced numerous personnel changes). Something of a Theseus' ship paradox. They also require prune juice! (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/kansas/kansas1.ht...)
According to the documentary on disc 2 on their latest live DVD, Dream Theater's rider specifies that their drummer, Mike Portnoy, be supplied with a jersey from the local basketball or soccer team. He has a sizable collection.
Meat Loaf is a superstar. Don't believe me? His rider specifies (and I quote):
"Purchaser acknowledges that it is promoting a worldwide "superstar" artist and that each and every element of such promotion, production, and other arrangements shall be absolutely first-class in nature and commensurate with the stature of a "superstar" in the entertainment industry". (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/meatloaf/meatloaf...)
That sounds like a standard 'negotiable' clause - you can argue that pretty much anything should/shouldn't have been done for a world class superstar.
The M+M one is cleverer because it is a no-arguements, you did it or did not. You don't have lawyers arguing about the meaning of "arrangements commensurate with"
To summarise the brown M&Ms were a "canary" to indicate if all the details of the contract had been attended too. If there were brown M&Ms then the rest of the contractual points would be examined with more stringency.
It's interesting that they used this as a careful "get out clause" or an indicator of other more serious ones.
A canary is a kind of bird. The parent poster is alluding to the phrase "canary in a coal mine". Coal miners supposedly carried caged birds down the shafts as fore-warning of suffocating conditions or gases, as the small bird would be affected before the humans. The generic idea here is to use a cheap sensor to check for impending failure in a system.
Very professional but often very narcissistic and demanding. I had a friend who was tour managing for a major artist-- the amount of logistics he had to juggle was mind-numbing-- only to be fired a couple months ago because he forgot to order a pizza for the artist after the show. :-/
From observation, this is often done in job postings for startups - several that I've encountered will contain an innocuous line something like "include an Italian sonnet in your cover letter to guarantee that your application will be forwarded to the development manager", presumably as a way to make sure that applicants read the entire posting and associated administrivia.
I'm reminded of the testing scene in Men in Black. When another candidate spouts a meaningless repeat of how they want "the best of the best of the best", Will Smith's character pokes fun at the idea that he doesn't even really know why they are there yet he is all jazzed. Will Smith's character is the only one who pulls the table up to his awkward, round chair to help him fill out paperwork. While everyone is going nuts killing aliens at the shooting range, Will Smith's character shoots the 8 year old girl carrying quantum physics books (or some such). And has to answer for it and explain himself. But he gets the job and everyone else gets their memory erased.
The driving school test I just passed (with flying colors I'll have you know) had this in the middle of it:
"A frog is a term used to describe train car couplings."
Then, in the test section, right after something about how far behind another car you should stop at an intersection, would be "What is another term for a train coupling?"
I assume this was to make sure you read the test. I just cut & pasted the stuff into a text editor, so I could search for these odd duck questions when they came up.
FTA (David Lee Roth): I went into full Shakespearean "What is this before me?" . . . you know, with the skull in one hand . . .
"What is this before me?" is from Macbeth ("dagger of the mind"). The "skull in one hand" is from Hamlet, in the "alas, poor Yorick" scene. Good scenes each, but they don't fit together.
I bet Roth knows that and just uses that sentence to see if anyone is paying attention ...
[+] [-] dkokelley|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ubernostrum|16 years ago|reply
http://neilbowers.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/pink-box-testing/
[+] [-] tyvkiuiyi|16 years ago|reply
I had a lecturer (a Brit) who would insert the phrase 'Rule Britannia' into lecture notes to see if anyone ever read them.
There is also an urban myth about some entrance exam for Police/Army/Pilots etc where the instructions say read all the questions first. And the last question says, do not answer any questions just 'do some arbitrary thing' - to check wether you follow instructions properly.
[+] [-] nostrademons|16 years ago|reply
When Google asks prospective PMs what a binary search or hashtable is, it's not because they actually expect product managers to ever write one. It's because those are a proxy for general CS knowledge; it shows that either they've come out of an academic CS department or they hang around engineers enough to know the basic terminology. This in turn is a proxy for "Won't demand unreasonable features from engineering and can communicate reasonably well with them." This is rather important for a tech company, as anyone who's ever worked under someone with no clue about technology could tell you.
Similarly, when companies ask how many gas stations there are in the U.S, they don't actually care what the answer is. Rather, they want to see how you respond when put in a situation where you obviously don't have enough information to come up with a precise answer. They want to see what sort of background information you draw on to make an estimate; this is often a proxy for how open and aware you are to new experiences. They want to see you combine whatever background information you have to solve a problem. They want to see you self-check and see if your answer seems reasonable.
Yet for some reason, it's clever when Van Halen does it and pedantic when it happens in a job interview...
[+] [-] AndrewWarner|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joe_the_user|16 years ago|reply
Enlightenment! There is a method to the madness of those insane autocrats who demands ridiculous things...
The thing is, it is madness all the same...
[+] [-] sriramk|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] benmathes|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philwelch|16 years ago|reply
According to the documentary on disc 2 on their latest live DVD, Dream Theater's rider specifies that their drummer, Mike Portnoy, be supplied with a jersey from the local basketball or soccer team. He has a sizable collection.
Meat Loaf is a superstar. Don't believe me? His rider specifies (and I quote):
"Purchaser acknowledges that it is promoting a worldwide "superstar" artist and that each and every element of such promotion, production, and other arrangements shall be absolutely first-class in nature and commensurate with the stature of a "superstar" in the entertainment industry". (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/meatloaf/meatloaf...)
[+] [-] tyvkiuiyi|16 years ago|reply
The M+M one is cleverer because it is a no-arguements, you did it or did not. You don't have lawyers arguing about the meaning of "arrangements commensurate with"
[+] [-] paulgb|16 years ago|reply
Neat, I'd never heard of that one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
[+] [-] sh1mmer|16 years ago|reply
It's interesting that they used this as a careful "get out clause" or an indicator of other more serious ones.
[+] [-] JabavuAdams|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tumult|16 years ago|reply
If you love insane/awesome riders, here's my favorite, Iggy Pop's: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/iggypop/iggypop1....
[+] [-] oldgregg|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jpwagner|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pchristensen|16 years ago|reply
(not much more on Van Halen than the Snopes page but the episode was pretty good)
[+] [-] JimmyL|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tptacek|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Mz|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] calvin|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bemmu|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Goose90053|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danbmil99|16 years ago|reply
"A frog is a term used to describe train car couplings."
Then, in the test section, right after something about how far behind another car you should stop at an intersection, would be "What is another term for a train coupling?"
I assume this was to make sure you read the test. I just cut & pasted the stuff into a text editor, so I could search for these odd duck questions when they came up.
[+] [-] BearOfNH|16 years ago|reply
"What is this before me?" is from Macbeth ("dagger of the mind"). The "skull in one hand" is from Hamlet, in the "alas, poor Yorick" scene. Good scenes each, but they don't fit together.
I bet Roth knows that and just uses that sentence to see if anyone is paying attention ...
[+] [-] unknown|16 years ago|reply
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