[Bloat] Terminology for Laypeople

[Jonathan Morton]

> On 16 May, 2021, at 9:48 pm, john <email at matrix8.org> wrote:
> 
> After watching Dave's YouTube video, it seems to me, the congestion of 
> the packets which Dave was explaining is equivalent to sushi plats on 
> conveyor stuck on the route and colliding each other on the conveyor 
> since the conveyor keeps bringing more packets one after another to the 
> collision point, then plats overflow from the conveyor and dropped on 
> the floor.
> 
> So now, my question is the picture I described above is close to what 
> bufferbloat is? Or I am still very far from understanding? If I am still 
> far from understanding, will you be able to explain it to me, the 
> laypeople, using the sushi or donuts conveyor? Is the problem the speed 
> adjustment of the conveyor? Or too many plates or donuts are placed on 
> the conveyor? If so, why the rate or speed of each factors can not be 
> adjusted? I even wonder if you could explain it using the door to door 
> package delivery service since you are talking about delivering packets.

Here's an analogy for you:

Today there is a logging operation going on just up the road - not unusual in my part of the world.  They have a team felling trees, another team trimming off the branches, and the trunks are then stacked for later delivery to the sawmill (*much* later - they have to season first).  The branches are fed into a chopping machine which produces firewood and mulch, which is then weighed and bagged for immediate sale.

I need firewood for my sauna stove.  I know that if I load my trailer full of firewood, it'll last me about a year.  I figure I'll pay these guys a visit, and it shouldn't take more than half an hour of my time to get what I need.

Under normal circumstances, that would be true.  However, the hardware store in the town an hour away has also chosen today to replenish its stock of firewood, and they have a representative on site who's basically buying the branches from every tree as it comes down; every so often a big van turns up and collects the product.  He graciously lets me step in and buy the branches off one tree for my own use, and they're tagged as such by the loggers.

So instead of just loading ready-made bags of firewood into my trailer, I have to wait for the trimming team to get around to taking the branches off "my" tree which is waiting behind a dozen others.  The branches then go into a big stack of branches waiting for the chopping machine.  When they eventually get around to chopping those, the firewood is carefully put in a separate pile, waiting for the weighing and bagging.

It takes a full hour before I have the branches from "my" tree in a useful format for firing a sauna stove and in my trailer.  Which is now only half full.  To fill it completely, I have to go through the entire process again from the beginning - only the felling team has been going gangbusters and there are now *twenty* trees waiting for trimming.

I planned for half an hour.  It actually took me three hours to get my firewood.  Not for lack of throughput - that was one pretty effective logging operation - but because of the *queues*.

 - Jonathan Morton