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San Diego's Fireworks Show Over In 15 Seconds
First time accepted submitter fotoguzzi writes "Garden State Fireworks is investigating how the entire Fourth of July show was launched after a signal was sent to the barges that would set the timing for the rest of the show after the introduction. Can anyone suggest how such a trivial step could go so disastrously wrong?" It's not the first time such a thing has happened, either.
But what an awesome 15 seconds that must have been!
But what an awesome 15 seconds that must have been!
Yep, just like my first time ... she didn't seem to think so though.
My work here is dung.
...premature Californication....
I hear that happens to every fireworks show at some point in its life. It just needs to relax, take some stress off and not worry about how it performs. Just enjoy the show.
The idea sounds awesome. The videos look awesome. They've all had probably a once in a lifetime experience. And the one guy in the article was complaining about having to pay for parking?
Now I know how my wife feels.
One possibility is that the show was run by SMPTE timecode and someone mistakenly either started the code at a late point in the show causing the firing system to "catch up". Another possibility is the timecode was played back at fast forward instead of normal speed.
FIreworks displays always run too long, that one sounds like it would have been great.
You could set them off over a period of 15 days, or 15 hours, or 15 minutes, or 15 seconds. How does is not get better as the time reduces?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15611160
I'd rather watch these short ones than be stood out in the rain (England) for hours.
...for fireworks to be like that, just constant rockets and explosions non-stop for 10-20 minutes. Why do fireworks shows limit their bursts to a Grand Finale?
Put me in charge of destroying money like this, and I'll create a number of bursts that keep you watching for the entire show, leading up to a ridiculous ending worthy of shore shelling from the Iowa.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
The video in TFA has no sound...
Track IP - Remotely track the IP address of a machine via email or MySQL.
Ok! Ok! I must have, I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place
or something. Shit. I always do that. I always mess up some mundane
detail.
Maybe the timings were in milliseconds instead of seconds (or a new version of the software suddenly thought they were). Now, 30 minutes of fireworks gets done in 1.8 seconds. But since fuses take a couple seconds and some are longer than others, you get a total of 15 seconds.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
I wonder if you were able to slow the playback of the audiences ooooohhhhhhs and aaaaaaahhhhhhhs, counted them, would they have been perfectly synchronized and in lock step with each burst?
come on fhqwhgads
People make mistakes, and nothing is perfect.
Next.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Don't do that. No one reads the comment subjects. When you stick the whole message there, you just look like an idiot.
. . . or it was an Imperial Units / Metric System mix up again.
Metric System: meters per second.
Imperial Units: furloughs per fortnight.
I always buy Metric System fireworks . . . that go up to 11.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
When I was in college I saw something similar. It was a sticky hot 4th of July evening. Just as the show was starting a big thunderstorm moved in. When they shot the first couple of rockets up, big flashes of lightning arced through the clouds in response. It was pretty impressive. They decided to shoot everything off at once, one after another; fireworks, thunder claps, lightning, all at once. It was totally awesome. Then it started to rain and all the braless coeds in tee-shirts had to walk back to campus. One of the better displays I've ever seen.
This was clearly an act of terrorism, trying to ruin a joyful event of 1/2 million people. 1/2 million people * 18 minutes = 17 years. They just wasted 17 years worth of time! FUCKING TERRORISTS
Well.....
There we go. That's more accurate, lol. I think "ruining the show" is a bit harsh :-P
By the way...
What ****ing planet is this person from?! It is NOT COLD in San Diego at the moment at any time of day.
Outsourcing?
There's tons of great video and it's funny as hell. Nobody was hurt except the profession reputations of the fireworks people.
Your sense of humor. Go work on it.
This is seriously not news. This kind of accident happens all the time with fireworks shows. How this got on to the front page of Slashdot I'll never know.
So what's it like working at Garden State Fireworks?
(Submitter here.) I should have put quote marks around the portion of the sentence about signals and introductions. I meant to, but after multiple previews I still forgot. It took me fifteen seconds to submit this story....
Their they're doing there hair.
they were using Windows 95 to control the display?
I think even Microsoft will avoid direct blame in this one. Expect 11 months of finger pointing, half-assed investigation, incriminations, recriminations, punishment of the innocent and promotion of non-participants.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Launch All Zerg
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Electric matches on the circuits take 5 milliamps to ignite them.
After the fireworks are loaded and wired up, testing is done to identify matches that aren't wired up right. Is there a chance that the testing process failed. On computer systems, it is pretty automated and happens fast. If the test resistor wasn't in the circuit properly, it might look like that.
Notes
I am a BATF licensed pryotechnician.
I assist with a small show every year (our last night went flawlessly)
I have never worked with a computer fired circuit
Voltage exerted on a ground wire can do silly things to pyrotechnics.
Invenio via vel creo
Leper! Outcast! Unclean!
Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took - I might have known!
I am officially gone from
They're crowdsourcing the investigation on Slashdot?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Among the accomplishments listed on the Garden State Fireworks (pyrotechnics company responsible for the show) web site:
Statue of Liberty Bicentennial Celebration
That time, they managed to shoot off the show a whole century early!
they were using Windows 95 to control the display?
Or maybe Vista?
(This seems oddly appropriate.)
I have designed the electronics and software of a fireworks firing system for a company that does regular shows here in Catalonia/Spain.
Believe me, experienced people are very cautious in everything they do, but unexperienced people can make big mistakes if they are overconfident in a black box system that will do everything for them.
In one point specifications said:
-The firing system must make an autotest for each circuit for the team to check all connections are in place.
They test the firing circuits of the fireworks several times before the show to fire all the material. In our case it was done exciting the fuses (sorry I'm not native english) with a safe very low current to see if the fuse is electrically present, and the inspections does a check of a circuit every 0.05s, so you can check the entire show in a few seconds.
For me this seems the check was done with full current on the circuits which fired all the fireworks during this test procedure.
It's quite surprising to have someone design a system that lets this happen from my point of view, in our case we made the circuits impossible (due hardware to redundant hardware switches and circuits) to excite to fire during the test (there are various physical limiter).
So... it seems someone who had not enought experience with fireworks managed to build his system and convince this people to use it... but its surprising, it's a pretty conservative people, at least the ones I know.
Outsourcing?
You mean to India and China? Well, they already have the missiles, re-aiming all of them at California shouldn't be a problem.
Ezekiel 23:20
A am a pryotechnician that works exclusively with computer fired shows. From what I'm hearing on the mailing lists so far, they were using the Fire One controller. We also use them (we have over 100 modules at $795 each). I haven't been involved in the "Loading" of the show into the embedded controller for the past few years, but I was called into action about 3 years ago when we had the same problem with our "semi automatic" shows (press a button for each event). I found there was an additional step when downloading the show from the PC to the firing controller called "Assign Delays" that had to be manually entered when loading. Without that step, all shells for each event fired immediately. I don't know if Fire One ever fixed it because it's now part of our written checklist for loading and we haven't had a problem since, and Fire One is notorious for fixing a problem with one customer, updating the firrmware but not telling the rest of their customer base that there is an update.
If you are using Fire One, you can thank me for the new Line receivers in the new modules, I had to go to the plant and show them the problem.
someone blundered but ... you magnificent bastard!
It ain't what they call you. It's what you answer to. http://mylyceum.us/
I wonder if they were thinking minutes but programming in seconds.
All they needed to fix it was a bunch of people dancing around really fast. Nobody'd notice.
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Can anyone suggest how such a trivial step could go so disastrously wrong?" WINDOWS
It was most likely just due to turning off the test mode. They were probably doing a last minute quick test to get the order correct. And forgot to put it into production delayed mode.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
they were using Windows 95 to control the display?
Or maybe Vista?
(This seems oddly appropriate.)
Windows 8 consumer preview.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Most of the videos are of a large, panoramic view and grossly overexposed, so you can't see much. This one is a much, much better picture. http://youtu.be/4ifn8LJl5n0
It was most likely just due to turning off the test mode. They were probably doing a last minute quick test to get the order correct. And forgot to put it into production delayed mode.
Ah - those sweet computers.
Which brings up an issue I have with modern fireworks displays. In our community, they have a pretty big fireworks display on the 4th. Big enough that people come from fairly far away to see it. They have been trying to outdo their selves every year, so what was once a really nice fireworks show is now a VIP Pass and pay-for event, synchronized with radio, computer controlled extravaganza that takes hours to get out of, so half the people try to leave while the display is still going on. All those headlights do not add to the ambiance, rest assured. They have had computer problems also, having to restart the show, ans restarting some of the tunes to re-synchronize. As a joke, I noted that it was probably a acrobat reader, or HP printer update.
Coupled with the "We are so damned great and awesome" ads and news stories for it, the whole event has become more of an ordeal than enjoyable.
Then a year or two ago, I happened upon a private fireworks display with a couple families and their children. A few hundred rockets, and the children playing with sparklers. Completely hand done, no synchronized music or anything. I enjoyed that a whole lot more than the "Bigger and better than last year" events by a long shot. Since then, I seek out the small shows.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
That was EPIC. I've seen so many fireworks shows and they're always the exact same. Pop. A few more pops. Bam. Some silence.. pop pop. A few fancy looking fireworks. Repeat for 20 minutes. Then unleash 20 things at once and call it a finale.
What I always want to see is EVERYTHING going off at once. That's some shit you don't forget, like when a bottle-rocket falls over and comes flying at you, you know?
Lazy bastard, work with your poor dogs to get them over their fear of unexpected noises. Yes, it will inconvenience you a little bit, well maybe a lot if you've let it go on long enough to become a phobia, but you'll improve thier quality of life dramatically. July 4 isn't the only day of the year when a loud noise happens unexpectedly, if your dogs don't know how to deal with it the next roof replacement or road work in your neighborhood is going to terrify them. It's not rocket science, either, my dad was dealing with gun-shy hunting dogs half a century ago. If he can do it with nothing more than a bag of Purina and a couple boxes of .410 shells you should be able to.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
That would be 18minutes / 64.
I.e. somebody slipped a few bits in setting the rhythm for the show timing.
Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
We watched two more displays (yawn) and you know the only one anybody is talking about? Yup, the one that all went off at the same time. You know which ones I'll be telling as a great story for years to come? Yup, the one that screwed up. Do you think anybody cares what the Sea World fireworks looked like July 4 2012? No, no they don't. Hell, I forgot them 10 minutes after they were finished.
The screw up was fantastic to watch and I'll still tell people about it years later: "Ever wonder what it would look and sound like if they all went off at the same time? Been there, witnessed that."
So it sucks people paid to park and sat in the chilly evening, but c'mon, now you have a great story. Nobody would care to hear about the fireworks if they had worked!
It is a troll. You aren't going to advance awareness by telling people you disagree with to burn in hell.
I think that pets need to be trained to handle loud noises because loud noises are going to happen. Cars backfire, thunderstorms, etc.
Man, you really need that seminar!
Have gnu, will travel.
seriously? windows is your reply?
What a dipshit.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It got on TV news too.. so if it suffices for their news (at least the time waster at the end of the news), it at least qualifies for 'idle' here, IMHO.
This is what happens when you use det cord between shells rather than using time fuse.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
I don't have any dogs (or other animals for that matter), just happen to have many neighbors with scared dogs. For some reason cats seams to do much better.
Sorry for the bad language, I was in a particular bad mood. One of them is at the vet since their dog wouldn't stop shaking after the fireworks and I was upset about it. It truly is torture for these poor souls.
Sorry for the bad language. I was in a particular bad mood, had just come home and found out that one of my neighbors is at the vet since their dog wouldn't stop shaking after the fireworks ended. For some reason it had been fine previously but I guess age or something else had set in. I was very upset at the moment but should have controlled my language better.
I agree... I watched my city's hand-launched display this year at a park a couple of miles away and really enjoyed being able to focus on the fireworks themselves as they appeared, especially when an unexpected finale was launched as I walked home about five minutes after the show seemingly ended. In contrast, I find that the computer-controlled ones always seem overly predictable due to the precise time gaps between explosions, and their invariably slightly-out-of-sync (or seemingly unrelated) music distracts me rather than enhancing the experience.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
I remember a similar type of show back in the late 1960's and I think it was on the 4th of July too. No computer control back then, but I think they might have been electrically fired from a console. The show was staged on top of Stone Mountain about 12 miles East of Atlanta Georgia. There was some sort of glitch in the electrical circuits or there might have been some induced current from lightning some distance away. In any case it looked like the top of the rock was erupting, which might be a fitting show for what was the magma chamber of a long gone volcano.
These people could have been the ones who built the control system for our ICBM network.
"How about a nice game of chess, Doctor Falken?"
Have gnu, will travel.
My reaction was probably excessive as well, but it really annoys me that so many people get a dog and then won't go to the trouble of learning how to help them get through something that happens every year. A lot of people seem to think of their dog as a small person with four feet that they can reason with, which is stupid. They're dogs, they see things and understand things differently that we do, they need to learn how to do things that we might take for granted, and if the 'owner' can't be bothered to learn that they aren't being fair to the dog.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
A neighbor bought a couple fireworks "cakes" that have their own internal timing (I'd imagine by fuse), much like this one shown on YouTube. They didn't shoot all that high (maybe 40-50 feet max), and they only had two of them (probably because they are expensive), but for everyone with a direct line of sight, they're just as flashy as the fancy professional shows. A group of people with synchronized watches could put on a show with these, though of course they wouldn't sync up with music particularly well. Most of them weren't stupidly loud either. There were a couple big booms, but they were visually unimpressive and may have been misfires. Almost all of the powder charge went into flash and propulsion, which is how it should be.
Get 20 people to chip in for some cakes, find a place where shooting them off is either legal or tolerated (the latter being the case here), and have your own awesome show!
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
That is awful! I hope their dog is OK.
On the topic of firework noise, a lot of people do the wrong things when their pets start acting scared. There is a lot of good information here that might be helpful. One common mistake is to physically or verbally comfort the pet, this trains them to play up their fear.
Man, you really need that seminar!
That's totally what happened when I lost my virginity.