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Comment by ChrisMarshallNY | Hacker News Reader

This reminds me of the “Green M&Ms Canary” story; attributed to Van Halen.

They were famous for having a clause in the preparation checklist, that they had to have a bowl of M&Ms in the lounge, but no green ones.

Eddie Van Halen was asked about this, and his explanation was that their stage set was very complex, and required rigorous preparation. Failure could actually be dangerous (think the “pod” scene from Spinal Tap).

He said that if they found green M&Ms, then that meant the instructions were not read correctly.

[EDIT] I was wrong. It was brown M&Ms

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ahem...you clearly didn't read the rider. it was brown M&Ms

"The rider's "Munchies" section was where the group made its candy-with-a-caveat request: "M&M's (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES)." *

*https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/van-halens-leg...

> you clearly didn't read the rider.

You are correct, which is why I am not setting up metal stages.

I don't really understand your metaphor.

As you say, the M&Ms are just a proxy indicator. They indicate the instructions were read, but they have no direct role in the stage set.

The backup diesel generators, at this nuclear power plant, could be considered a proxy indicator that attention has been paid to more fundamental pieces of the reactor, as your metaphor implies, sure. But the backup diesel generators themselves play a direct and critical role in the preventing a power outage from turning into a nuclear meltdown.

Imagine if the M&Ms actually did act as a fire suppression system that would stop a pyrotechnics mishap from burning down the concert arena. That's more like the kind of M&Ms that were supposed to be in the bowl at this power plant.

It's cute, but it's a tattered and dirty band-aid compared to what you could do to ensure things were followed correctly.

But the correct way costs way more money than M&Ms.

The M&M test is a tactic. It's not the only strategy you would employ if you were trying to solve the issues that Fukushima had and money wasn't relevant to how this solution helped Van Halen. Drawing interesting parallels makes for better conversation, I'm not sure anyone needed to be reminded of the differences between a Band's live show setup and Nuclear Power Plant safety.

That being said... you would be surprised to learn how often "cute" tactics like these are utilized by governments to leverage human behavior.

I think its a pretty good indicator. Like the anti-tip labels for shipping delicate things.

Brown M&Ms. Which is tiny I know but I have a suspicion you did that to test us

No. It was my mistake. I didn't read the rider, so Dave would be stuck in a pod.

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