Computer Glitch Halts Seattle New Year's Fireworks

supersat writes "At the stroke of midnight New Year's Eve, Seattle's fireworks show ground to a halt. The source of the problem is reported to be a corrupted file that wasn't checked until the last minute. After two reboots, the fireworks had to be detonated manually. And yes ... one blog commenter, claiming to have worked on prior shows, said that the shows run on Windows."

Runs on Windows?

Well, unless it was an operating system problem and not bad data or bad programming, what's the point in mentioning that other than childish bashing?

Re:Runs on Windows?

You must be new here.

Re:Runs on Windows?

I am not for discriminating against homos, pans, assexuals or whatever...

Pardon me, but your Freudian slip is showing...

Re:Runs on Windows?

nah. just good natured bashing..

Like when your co-worker drops his coffee on his lap.. you don't hate the co-worker, but you have lots of fun at his expense. "Coffee's hot, I bet."

Re:Runs on Windows?

...because Seattle is the home of Microsoft. There's a certain irony in this story.

Doesn't run on Windows®

Shouldn't that be "the show doesn't 'run' on Windows" ?

It's obvious what happened

Someone wasn't there click "Allow" when the dialog popped up asking "Are you sure you want to proceed with the fireworks extravaganza?"

Re:It's obvious what happened

I bet it was that &%^$&%^ talking paper clip that screwed things up. Or perhaps the "search dog" chose an untimely moment to go for a piss...

Re:It's obvious what happened

it looks like you're trying to light a firework,
do you want help with that?

Obviously...

Those fireworks were not vista Certified.

Sounds Vaguely Familiar

From the article: "The source of the problem is reported to be a corrupted file ..."

Gee, who can guess which version of Windows they were running?

Microsoft's Windows Home Server corrupts files [computerworld.com]?

Last MS caused disaster...

Is this 2007th's last Microsoft caused disaster...
...or 2008th first ?
The best part is that it happened in Microsofts backyard.
--
Just trying to get my first "Funny" tag in 2008 ;-)

Negligence.

Any company that puts the detonation of hundreds of pounds of explosives under the control of a windows machine is begging for a massive lawsuit.

-jcr

You need more data before you jump to conclusions

Unless you know what the file was stored on, what interactions with the computer caused the halting of the program and on what basis they decided to continue manually, you are jumping to conclusions. One guy even claimed there was BSOD mentioned in the article (nowhere was it mentioned I can see). After years of supporting computers and servers, I can confidently tell you there is no way of knowing what caused the glitches from the article. A corrupted file on which several pieces of hardware are going to coordinate something as complicated as a fireworks display is probably not caused by the operating system, as the operating system has no reason to modify the file at all, and will only be reading it. More likely is a malfunctioning hard drive, possibly bad media that was used to transfer the file from one location to another, Or possibly a bad connection between the file storing device and the computer running the program. If you look up corrupted file you will see that every operating system known to man has to deal with that. There is no operating system that can magically correct the corrupted file and cause a fireworks display to run correctly. That is just silly talk.

Re:You need more data before you jump to conclusio

From what little we have to go on in the article, it looks like there was a problem with syncing to time code. It's been a few years since I last did time as a tech at a major theme park, but our fireworks shows looked a little like this: There was a dedicated computer running the pyro controls, one running sound playback, one controlling the lasers, one controlling lights and fog, and one controlling some miscellany such as a 70mm film projector and the large water pumps that produced a screen the movie was rear-projected onto. All of these computers could be a little buggy given that this was in the days of windows 98 and getting device drivers to play nice was always a problem. But this stuff was worked out long before showtime. The biggest problem that could show up at the last minute would be the SMPTE time code that keeps it all synced up. One intermittent cabling problem somewhere in the system could cause a computer to get bad or no time code signal at all, causing at least that one element to not playback correctly. The best way to solve this problem was to notice it ASAP, usually in the few seconds of preroll before the show starts so that you can manually sync everything at a predetermined point. But there really is no ability to pause just one element or speed up others. Once you're off time code, you're going to have to go manual, and at least with pyro with all of the different fuse delays involved, manual just isn't going to be quite right. The only other last minute problem I could think of would be a corrupted file, or more than likely a revision that wasn't saved correctly or an outdated file being loaded automatically by the show control software and no one verifying that it was the proper version. These holiday shows are a one off, of course, so there is no dress rehearsel. You can run all the simulations you want, but you only get to fire off the pyro once.

Finally!

We waited such a long time for that real Y2K bug!

The Blue Screen of... OOOhhh! AHhhhh!!

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Hello 2008...just like 2007

And yes ... one blog commenter, claiming to have worked on prior shows, said that the shows run on Windows

And yes ... this has not one goddamned thing to do with the reported problem.

I see Slashdot is going to resort to low brow sensationalism just as much in 2008 as they did in 2007.

New Years Resolution

Ballmer can help you launch chairs, not fireworks. Use FOSS for a happy new year.

No Substantiated Cause

Computer Glitch:ACCEPTED

OS: UNKNOWN

Slashdotters are 12 years old pretending to be thirteen.

Why Windows?

I've seen so many instances of BSOD's on things like gas pumps, ATM's, etc. Windows sucks. Am I using it, yes I am. I'm well familiar with its eccentricities. Would I use it for mission critical projects, hell no.

At least they didn't use the Window's "time" stuff

Yeah, it could have been worse, imagine if they used the algorithm from the program that determines how long a file will take to to transfer...

10... 9... 80.. 6430... 6... -3..

happy new years :)

corrupt file - windows?

My server had a corrupt file last month. I replaced an old harddisk and now everythijn is ok again, but....

Yes, in my blog you can read I run Windows Etch.

I mean I THOUGHT I had installed Debian, but as I read the article it seems corrupt files are a Windows thing so I must be running Windows Etch....

fireworks

What's that on the horizon? Microsoft Fireworks 2008. oh yes.

Video

A video of the event in H.264 video and AAC audio of if you're interested: http://aws.bluehome.net/2008.mp4 [bluehome.net] (Listen for the booing in the background.)

BSOD renamed to...

Black Sky Of Death

Dear Alberto

Dear Alberto,

It doesn't matter which OS you use as your controller, you ALWAYS have a fail-safe machine, or two.
I bet you'll remember that in the future.
ALWAYS.

Yes, I WAS a show tech.

Having seen the show live... it was hilarious

Just a token post about the fireworks show itself and not about the operating system. There should be one, you know.

Okay, what was hilarious was not so much how everything on the Needle just stopped without warning (funny as that was) but that once it finally restarted, they finished playing Liza Minelli's "Caberet" as the fireworks shot -- and then for the rest of the pyrotechnics it was without background music. Or that's how it played out on KING-5 TV, couldn't say about in person cuz some of us geeks don't get the night off and gotta work the night shift.

was there

I was there down on 4th and Denny... man you shoulda heard the boos and cursing.

Man what a spoiled lot of babies....

The Summary is a troll

Can you mod the Summary as troll?

This is why you do two wire sets to explosives

The failure demonstrates why explosives, including this type, should have two sets of wires to the ignitors with two controller panels.

As to OS, when I worked on the Space Needle database, it was an Oracle DBMS on Linux boxen, which we did migrate to WinOS later. The main failure point is the constant lightning strikes that burn out the systems more frequently than other protected ones.

Fireworks synchronised to music, suck.

It's a growing trend to synchronise major fireworks displays to music. The NYE fireworks in Sydney, Australia have had a 'soundtrack' for many years.

It never seems to work for me. The reason, is that they synchronise the mid-air explosion to the music, not the kaboom that accompanys the launch of the shell.

That is, every shell goes boom and a few seconds later when airborne, boom again. The second boom is usually a lot quieter. This is also before you add in the delay of the boom getting to you based on distance.

We are used to "booms" matching the music (think 1812 Overture). The only way it really works, is watching from a long way away, in which case the fireworks suck anyway.

Sure, it's Windows, but...

...at least they have an OS driver for the fireworks.

They at least started it out right...

Give the guys a break...they at least started it with the Star Wars theme. And the fireworks were almost in sync for the first few seconds! That gets them some credit...right?

Patience...

Seattle's firework display is powered by the same computer that hosts the XBOX live service
Give them time guys, they'll fix the problems one at a time.

Didnt notice.,..

I watched the fireworks on TV from a Seattle-area bar, and no one noticed anything was wrong. Of course, that was after 8 straight hours of drinking.

Re:Real Story

MiniCity link. Avoid as usual.

Re:Real Story

fuck those assholes.

Dear Taco,

I realize retirement is good but could you please come out of hiding, fix the code that shows the url a link points to in case it redirects...

And if not then please release the IPS of these clowns, I promise I won't leave any traces.

Happy new year

Re:terrible timing

Yeah, a whole 7 hrs and 33 minutes after the event. Well, more like 7 hrs and 27 minutes since there was a six minute pause during the show. Wow, Slashdot posters/moderators are the worst for having to, you know, sleep!

Re:Buggy software exhibits bugs when run on Window

Why is Windows relevant to this story at all?

Because of their past history [computerworld.com]. It's a common legal practice to take into account former violations [wikipedia.org] when accusing someone.

Re:Buggy software exhibits bugs when run on Window

Because it's in good fun, just like when Microsoft showed that video with a spoof of the Matrix where the Agents have trouble with Neo/Ballmer because their copy of Linux needed the "kernel to be recompiled with a new device driver", or when all of us made fun of the Linux-sponsored car "crashing" in its first race. Ha ha Linux crashing, get it? It's not some evil propaganda trying to convince you that Windows is bad.

I hate explaining jokes but looking at the Wikipedia entry for Redmond [wikipedia.org] and the looking at which city had this trouble, it's not hard to smile at that.

Re:relevant enough to plagiarize

I see nothing hypocritical or crazy about wishing to hold your own government to basic ethical standards. If anything it shows a love of your country to care that the constitutional right to a fair trial is upheld.

The hypocrisy lies in building prisons and interrogation centres in foreign countries to avoid those pesky American laws that would otherwise prevent the activities that go on in them. You seem to be under the mistaken apprehension that allowing the indefinite detainment and torture of suspects for information (suspects, not even convicted of any crime) makes the country a safer place. Maybe right now you don't fit the right profiles to be whisked off to Guantanamo but that can change much more easily than you'd like to believe. It makes no difference whether the country falls to its enemies or voluntarily gives up its rights; the end result is still the same - tyranny and lack of freedom.

Doubtless there are many brave and honorable people working in the armed forces and intelligence agencies to safeguard our existence and they deserve our gratitude but it is an impossible task to keep the country 100% safe from threats without depriving people of their liberty (and even then it is unlikely to be fully effective). To remain free we must accept a certain amount of risk - I would gladly choose a small increase in the probability of dying in a terrorist attack in return for knowing that my own government cannot hold people without trial or torture them. It strikes me that to do otherwise is the cowardly option.

Pointing out that there are worse violators of human rights in the world is irrelevent - it does not make American abuses any less egregious in the same way that the existence of serial killers does not justify committing murder.

Re:Windows in control of fireworks????

Great, so it'd be "Hundreds hurt in fireworks accident, Linux to blame" and be just as accurate?

Re:Windows in control of fireworks????

``Who in their ripe minds would put Windows in control of launching fireworks at a big event???''

If I were to venture a guess, I would say "people who have been doing exactly that, successfully, for a number of years."

``A Linux system would work much better''

Yes, but would it actually run the show? You need applications for that, you know.

``Using a Windows machine was just asking for a "Hundreds hurt in fireworks accident, Windows to blame" headline in all major US newspapers.''

Unlikely. Windows has been to blame for a number of large problems in IT, but I don't see any headlines about that, least of all in major US newspapers. In this case, my guess is the problem isn't even with Windows.