On 12/31/2010 10:54 PM John Tserkezis spake thus:

David Nebenzahl wrote:

It's really simple. The display updates once a second. Each vertical
division--the space between two vertical green lines--is 3 seconds. So
there are 3 1-second samples between each pair of vertical lines. The
smallest feature in the display (i.e., the resolution) is 1 second. Does
that make sense?

You're describing two different timings.

If it's three seconds per horizontal division, and as per the image, I
saw (about) two to three divisions per peak or trough, (not counting the
steady bit on the right, that equates to six to nine seconds per peak or
trough. That's how it's counted.

Here's another snapshot:
http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/y...speed44-59.gif

Notice how regular the pattern is here (in this case, it's bouncing
between 4.4 and 4.9 K/sec). The same flat tops of the waves (minus a few
bobbles here and there). I've seen such a display that was absolutely
perfectly uniform across the entire display on a long download. (This
was downloading a PDF; line connection speed was 49.2, the highest
possible speed with my setup).

You're talking about the little variations?

Phew. Finally; yes, that's what I'm talking about, the "little"
fluctuations (between ~4K and ~5K in that second snapshot). They
intrigue me because they're ubiquitous (they happen all the time) and
they're sometimes so regular; it seems like a pattern that must have
something to do with the underlying transfer mechanism. If it's indeed
jitter, it's damned regular jitter.

Since at this point we both seem to be going on pure speculation, I'll
just thank you for your participation so far.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.