• (cs)

    First

    Love, Nagesh

  • (cs)

    Trwtf, tony is indian guy who find no need for taning.

  • Jan (unregistered)

    Yeah, computers are way overrated. I never did figure out why anyone would want to pay me for the programming I do.

  • geoffrey (unregistered)

    I am not sure massive exposure to high doses of UV radiation should be considered a gift.

    "At least once a day, one of the workstations would need to be rebooted because a customer accidentally closed Internet Explorer by pressing too close to the top of the screen. Occasionally, the beds would reconnect to the server without reboots. The reason for this was the original developer's choice of network configuration."

    Wow just wow. These problems were solved years ago. Remind me again why we stopped using TN3270? Sometimes I feel technology just marches ever backwards.

  • Doc Brown (unregistered) in reply to Nagesh
    Nagesh:
    Trwtf, tony is indian guy who find no need for taning.

    trwtf is the real Nagesh putting together a semi coherent sentence.

  • Bronie (unregistered) in reply to Nagesh
    Nagesh:
    First

    Love, Nagesh

    Thanks for appropriate first post

  • (cs)

    The real WTF is that Nagesh spelled First correctly. Anyways, I love this story, somtimes keep it simple is exactly what you need.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to geoffrey
    geoffrey:
    Wow just wow. These problems were solved years ago. Remind me again why we stopped using TN3270? Sometimes I feel technology just marches ever backwards.

    And this likely happened years ago.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Jan
    Jan:
    Yeah, computers are way overrated. I never did figure out why anyone would want to pay me for the programming I do.

    Technology for the sake of technology is TRWTF here. This is not just badly engineered, it was over engineered from the start when a simple lock and key works just as well.

  • (cs)
    The Article:
    Instead of configuring each tanning bed computer to communicate with a fixed server name or IP address, he used a clever, low-level networking trick to find the server. Each time the clients were rebooted, they sent a UDP broadcast packet that was picked up by the server and responded to with an IP address.
    DHCP anyone?
  • Michael (unregistered)

    Well, she asked a programmer... If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks a lot like a nail!

  • (cs) in reply to Michael

    A story on Thursday ! Its a miracle !

    spoke too soon.. its a classic.. wtf

  • (cs)
    The biggest problem, however, was theft.
    Yes, but too be fair, the article never implies just how much the software consulting firm robbed them of for this crap system.
  • The Mr. T Experience (unregistered)

    Alright! Tanning beds! Now that's something I can relate to, instead of the usual nerdy stuff around here.

  • The Situation (unregistered) in reply to Nagesh
    Nagesh:
    Trwtf, tony is indian guy who find no need for taning.
    Hmm. "Tony" sounds Italian to me. Plus, this is always a need for more tanning.
  • Tan (unregistered) in reply to Jan
    Jan:
    Yeah, computers are way overrated. I never did figure out why anyone would want to pay me for the programming I do.

    I agree. I never did figure out why anyone would want to pay you for the programming you do either.

  • Philipp (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    Jan:
    Yeah, computers are way overrated. I never did figure out why anyone would want to pay me for the programming I do.

    Technology for the sake of technology is TRWTF here. This is not just badly engineered, it was over engineered from the start when a simple lock and key works just as well.

    Well, when they would just have deployed an off-the-shelf solution which works like that (minus the design flaws, of course) I wouldn't consider it over-engineering. It could save one employee, because you no longer need someone who watches the keys and timers all the time.

    But developing a custom system from scratch and then dealing with all the problems this implies for only four (!) tanning beds is definitely over-engineering.

  • (cs) in reply to The Situation
    The Situation:
    Nagesh:
    Trwtf, tony is indian guy who find no need for taning.
    Hmm. "Tony" sounds Italian to me. Plus, this is always a need for more tanning.

    Nah, "Tony" is short for Tonesh Sandeep Nahasapeemapetilan, obviously Hindi.

    The real WTF is a line saying "The owner and her investors". I didn't know tanning salons had "investors", but maybe I'm thinking of "investor" in the VC-funding type of way.

  • (cs) in reply to frits
    frits:
    The Article:
    Instead of configuring each tanning bed computer to communicate with a fixed server name or IP address, he used a clever, low-level networking trick to find the server. Each time the clients were rebooted, they sent a UDP broadcast packet that was picked up by the server and responded to with an IP address.
    DHCP anyone?
    No, unless you want to get into vendor-specific DHCP options and finding somewhere to store the server IP address until the time the application is launched. DNS is a far better solution here.
  • the beholder (unregistered)

    TRWTF is that I clicked the "Articles" link a few minutes ago and was greeted by a TDWTF page with russian (cyrillic, for the pedants out there) characters.

    It seems it was fixed three minutes later. I suspect we're going to see another regional TDWTF page soon.

  • (cs) in reply to Jaime
    Jaime:
    frits:
    The Article:
    Instead of configuring each tanning bed computer to communicate with a fixed server name or IP address, he used a clever, low-level networking trick to find the server. Each time the clients were rebooted, they sent a UDP broadcast packet that was picked up by the server and responded to with an IP address.
    DHCP anyone?
    No, unless you want to get into vendor-specific DHCP options and finding somewhere to store the server IP address until the time the application is launched. DNS is a far better solution here.
    ORLY? How are you going to use DNS without a name or ip address to resolve?
  • (cs) in reply to the beholder
    the beholder:
    TRWTF is that I clicked the "Articles" link a few minutes ago and was greeted by a TDWTF page with russian (cyrillic, for the pedants out there) characters.

    It seems it was fixed three minutes later. I suspect we're going to see another regional TDWTF page soon.

    I've had that occur a few times in the last couple of weeks. It's usually the Polish version, but I've also seen the French version.

  • dr memals (unregistered) in reply to frits

    DHCP supplies not only the IP address fort eh client to use but also the NETMASK, good luck without it. if there are four tanning beds and one server makes a hell of a lot of sense to hard code (static) the ip and net mask

  • geoffrey (unregistered)

    One thing I don't get. If someone fails to leave the sunbed before the timer expires presumably they would be locked in and can only be released by the arrival of a new customer?

    Then you have to consider date/time vulnerabilities that are typical with timers, eg Y2K - potentially someone who went into the sunbed on December 31st 1999 would be trapped for a century or until a member of staff went to check on them if the timer incorrectly rolled over to January 1st 1900.

  • (cs) in reply to geoffrey
    geoffrey:
    One thing I don't get. If someone fails to leave the sunbed before the timer expires presumably they would be locked in and can only be released by the arrival of a new customer?

    Then you have to consider date/time vulnerabilities that are typical with timers, eg Y2K - potentially someone who went into the sunbed on December 31st 1999 would be trapped for a century or until a member of staff went to check on them if the timer incorrectly rolled over to January 1st 1900.

    One thing is for sure: they would have one wicked tan!

  • (cs) in reply to geoffrey
    geoffrey:
    One thing I don't get. If someone fails to leave the sunbed before the timer expires presumably they would be locked in and can only be released by the arrival of a new customer?
    No, the timer is at the assistant's desk, and beeps to tell the assistant to kick the customer out (and reclaim the key).
  • IP Da Foo (unregistered)

    If you want to go old-school, you don't even need DHCP, just some cleverly crafted ARP/RARP tricks.

  • Mmmpf (unregistered) in reply to geoffrey
    geoffrey:
    One thing I don't get. If someone fails to leave the sunbed before the timer expires presumably they would be locked in and can only be released by the arrival of a new customer?

    Then you have to consider date/time vulnerabilities that are typical with timers, eg Y2K - potentially someone who went into the sunbed on December 31st 1999 would be trapped for a century or until a member of staff went to check on them if the timer incorrectly rolled over to January 1st 1900.

    Final Destination Explained.

  • (cs) in reply to geoffrey
    geoffrey:
    One thing I don't get. If someone fails to leave the sunbed before the timer expires presumably they would be locked in and can only be released by the arrival of a new customer?

    Then you have to consider date/time vulnerabilities that are typical with timers, eg Y2K - potentially someone who went into the sunbed on December 31st 1999 would be trapped for a century or until a member of staff went to check on them if the timer incorrectly rolled over to January 1st 1900.

    I assumed that the lock was on the door to the tanning rooms, not the equipment. The timer was probably a mechanical egg timer.

  • Bob (unregistered)

    This doesn't fix the "multiple people sharing the same card" problem, but it would probably mitigate it. Some people (sadly, not even close to all people) feel worse about lying to a person than lying to a machine.

  • (cs)

    lots of poonjabi peepul name there sons Tony and doters as Pinky or Dollie

    go look fer facts and they stair you rite in face.

  • F (unregistered) in reply to Zolcos
    Zolcos:
    geoffrey:
    One thing I don't get. If someone fails to leave the sunbed before the timer expires presumably they would be locked in and can only be released by the arrival of a new customer?

    Then you have to consider date/time vulnerabilities that are typical with timers, eg Y2K - potentially someone who went into the sunbed on December 31st 1999 would be trapped for a century or until a member of staff went to check on them if the timer incorrectly rolled over to January 1st 1900.

    I assumed that the lock was on the door to the tanning rooms, not the equipment. The timer was probably a mechanical egg timer.

    Those mechanical eggs definitely constitute over-engineering.

  • (cs)

    gefrey geting lot of bites.

  • Nagesh (unregistered) in reply to Nagesh
    Nagesh:
    gefrey geting lot of bites.
    Scoolboy haker is sharing his acount information with hole computer lab.
  • iToad (unregistered)
    • Sometimes, software solves the problem.
    • Sometimes, software is the problem.
  • Otmane (unregistered)

    I loved it the first time i read it and I did enjoy it the secound time.

  • Mr Keith (unregistered) in reply to The Situation
    The Situation:
    Nagesh:
    Trwtf, tony is indian guy who find no need for taning.
    Hmm. "Tony" sounds Italian to me. Plus, this is always a need for more tanning.

    Indian-Italian... Sonia Gandhi?

  • Dave (unregistered)

    The real wtf is the white on white heading font. (At least in Firefox)

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Philipp
    Philipp:
    Anon:
    Jan:
    Yeah, computers are way overrated. I never did figure out why anyone would want to pay me for the programming I do.

    Technology for the sake of technology is TRWTF here. This is not just badly engineered, it was over engineered from the start when a simple lock and key works just as well.

    Well, when they would just have deployed an off-the-shelf solution which works like that (minus the design flaws, of course) I wouldn't consider it over-engineering. It could save one employee, because you no longer need someone who watches the keys and timers all the time.

    But developing a custom system from scratch and then dealing with all the problems this implies for only four (!) tanning beds is definitely over-engineering.

    You don't need a person to hand out keys and watch the timer. The person at the front desk can do that. There are only 4 beds and they make timers that ring when they expire (like the egg timers suggested by several others). Sure it doesn't scale to 100 beds, but you cross that bridge when you get there.

  • (cs)

    Parking meters can take credit cards now, so I assume it wouldn't be too hard to take off all the locks, and have the credit card reader control the power to the UV lights. CC starts the lights. Second time door is opened it stops the lights. Auto timeout after 1 hour. Pie.

  • geoffrey (unregistered)

    Also, I'd just like to point out that there is strong scientific evidence to support the position that tanning actually makes your MORE healthy.

    Look at it like this- we have all heard the reports that the UV exposure can cause cancer. However, statistically, the number of people that get cancer from UV radiation is quite low. Therefore, for the remainder of the population, you are only suffering minor damage.

    Our body's defense system is based upon conditioning itself to respond to damage. Get injured a lot, you start to heal faster. Get exposed to a lot of minor colds, you'll get sick less frequently. UV exposure, as long as it is in moderation, actually conditions the body to resist radiation. It makes sense that as long as you don't tan so much as to CAUSE cancer, tanning will actually make you healthier, and better able to RESIST cancer.

  • cappeca (unregistered)

    And yet, TRWTF is Java.

  • (cs) in reply to geoffrey
    geoffrey:
    Also, I'd just like to point out that there is strong scientific evidence to support the position that tanning actually makes your MORE healthy.

    Look at it like this- we have all heard the reports that the UV exposure can cause cancer. However, statistically, the number of people that get cancer from UV radiation is quite low. Therefore, for the remainder of the population, you are only suffering minor damage.

    Our body's defense system is based upon conditioning itself to respond to damage. Get injured a lot, you start to heal faster. Get exposed to a lot of minor colds, you'll get sick less frequently. UV exposure, as long as it is in moderation, actually conditions the body to resist radiation. It makes sense that as long as you don't tan so much as to CAUSE cancer, tanning will actually make you healthier, and better able to RESIST cancer.

    You're just trying too hard dude...

    Remember, it's a delicate balance between stupidity and sincerity, and you're leaning a little too much to one side.

  • (cs) in reply to iToad
    iToad:
    - Sometimes, software solves the problem. - Sometimes, software is the problem.

    :s/software/religon/g

  • The Mr. T Experience (unregistered) in reply to C-Octothorpe
    C-Octothorpe:
    geoffrey:
    Also, I'd just like to point out that there is strong scientific evidence to support the position that tanning actually makes your MORE healthy.

    Look at it like this- we have all heard the reports that the UV exposure can cause cancer. However, statistically, the number of people that get cancer from UV radiation is quite low. Therefore, for the remainder of the population, you are only suffering minor damage.

    Our body's defense system is based upon conditioning itself to respond to damage. Get injured a lot, you start to heal faster. Get exposed to a lot of minor colds, you'll get sick less frequently. UV exposure, as long as it is in moderation, actually conditions the body to resist radiation. It makes sense that as long as you don't tan so much as to CAUSE cancer, tanning will actually make you healthier, and better able to RESIST cancer.

    You're just trying too hard dude...

    Remember, it's a delicate balance between stupidity and sincerity, and you're leaning a little too much to one side.

    ...and yet Coctopomtamus still responds.

    I noticed I'm featured in your forum signature. :) I think this is appropriate- It's like saying,"I will respond to any troll, because I am a toolbag and here's the proof."

  • (cs) in reply to BentFranklin
    BentFranklin:
    Parking meters can take credit cards now, so I assume it wouldn't be too hard to take off all the locks, and have the credit card reader control the power to the UV lights. CC starts the lights. Second time door is opened it stops the lights. Auto timeout after 1 hour. Pie.

    I would still let it run its hour.. if they open the door for any reason, if you're gonna kill the power, you better prorate their hour charged, at least in the first half hour.

  • foxfire (unregistered) in reply to Dave

    TRWTF IS FIREFOX

  • (cs) in reply to geoffrey
    john boehner:
    Also, I'd just like to point out that there is strong scientific evidence to support the position that tanning actually makes your MORE healthy.

    Look at it like this- we have all heard the reports that the UV exposure can cause cancer. However, statistically, the number of people that get cancer from UV radiation is quite low. Therefore, for the remainder of the population, you are only suffering minor damage.

    Our body's defense system is based upon conditioning itself to respond to damage. Get injured a lot, you start to heal faster. Get exposed to a lot of minor colds, you'll get sick less frequently. UV exposure, as long as it is in moderation, actually conditions the body to resist radiation. It makes sense that as long as you don't tan so much as to CAUSE cancer, tanning will actually make you healthier, and better able to RESIST cancer.

    Welcome to The Daily WTF, Mr. Speaker. It is quite an honor to have you chime in on our little forum, here.

  • (cs) in reply to geoffrey
    geoffrey:
    Also, I'd just like to point out that there is strong scientific evidence to support the position that tanning actually makes your MORE healthy.

    Look at it like this- we have all heard the reports that the UV exposure can cause cancer. However, statistically, the number of people that get cancer from UV radiation is quite low. Therefore, for the remainder of the population, you are only suffering minor damage.

    Our body's defense system is based upon conditioning itself to respond to damage. Get injured a lot, you start to heal faster. Get exposed to a lot of minor colds, you'll get sick less frequently. UV exposure, as long as it is in moderation, actually conditions the body to resist radiation. It makes sense that as long as you don't tan so much as to CAUSE cancer, tanning will actually make you healthier, and better able to RESIST cancer.

    It looks like he's kinda right according to bookface, which is, let's face it, one of the most reliable sources of information around.

  • (cs)
    Instead of configuring each tanning bed computer to communicate with a fixed server name or IP address, he used a clever, low-level networking trick to find the server. Each time the clients were rebooted, they sent a UDP broadcast packet that was picked up by the server and responded to with an IP address

    Ironically, this is exactly what the new standards for Announcement and Discovery Services do...

    ps: DHCP does not come into play at all. The overriding question is if the client (tanning bed) should need to know the name or IPAddr of the server at all...or should it just look for something broadcasting (that is an oversimplification) "Hey I Serve Tanning Beds!"

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