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GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
OriginalGriff15-May-23 10:49
mveOriginalGriff15-May-23 10:49 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
Mike Hankey15-May-23 11:52
mveMike Hankey15-May-23 11:52 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
jmaida15-May-23 13:29
jmaida15-May-23 13:29 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
Gary R. Wheeler15-May-23 13:36
Gary R. Wheeler15-May-23 13:36 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
Daniel Pfeffer15-May-23 14:42
professionalDaniel Pfeffer15-May-23 14:42 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
MarkTJohnson16-May-23 4:21
professionalMarkTJohnson16-May-23 4:21 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
trønderen16-May-23 16:16
trønderen16-May-23 16:16 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
trønderen16-May-23 15:34
trønderen16-May-23 15:34 
The story is old: In Andrew Tanenbaum's 'Computer Networks' (1981) book, the Chapter 1, Problem 1, states:

Imagine that you have trained your St. Bernhard, Bernie, to carry a box of three floppy disks instead of a flask of brandy. (When your disk fills up, you consider that an emergency.) These floppy disks each contain 250,000 bytes. The dog can travel to your side, wherever you may be, at 18 km/hour. For what distances does Bernie have a higher data rate than a 300 bps phone line?

Since 1981, there has been dozens, probably hundreds, derivatives of this 'problem'. Tanenbaum's book was so popular that we can assume that those creating derivatives in the 1980s and 90s were all familiar with Tanenbaum's problem statement. Those coming later either know of Tanenbaum, or they have learned of other Tanenbaum derivatives.

When I was teaching computer networking in the early 1990s, I used this problem in one final exam - but I had to update it to a box of 10 CDs, each 640 MByte, to be compared to a 2B ISDN line (128 kbps). I also asked the students to consider other aspect of this kind of communication. One pointed out the retransmission time in case of a checksum error. Another one referred to line noise in the form of bitches in heat along the route. A third one remarked that the data was physically protected from theft. Smile | :)

Note that Tanenbaum's problem statements point to one essential aspect: The distance. Most derivatives point only to the bit rate. You can have a tremendous bit rate on short distances, but once you need to access a server a few hundred or thousand kilometers away, then both Bernie and pigeons loose the game.
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
Daniel Pfeffer15-May-23 14:55
professionalDaniel Pfeffer15-May-23 14:55 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
GKP199215-May-23 18:19
professionalGKP199215-May-23 18:19 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
trønderen16-May-23 16:09
trønderen16-May-23 16:09 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
pkfox15-May-23 21:35
professionalpkfox15-May-23 21:35 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
Kenneth Haugland15-May-23 19:09
mvaKenneth Haugland15-May-23 19:09 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
honey the codewitch15-May-23 20:38
mvahoney the codewitch15-May-23 20:38 
JokeRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
trønderen16-May-23 16:10
trønderen16-May-23 16:10 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
den2k8815-May-23 21:24
professionalden2k8815-May-23 21:24 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
trønderen16-May-23 15:06
trønderen16-May-23 15:06 
GeneralRe: My doctor said I needed more fiber Pin
honey the codewitch16-May-23 15:09
mvahoney the codewitch16-May-23 15:09 
GeneralWhere's Kent Sharkey? Pin
MarkTJohnson15-May-23 6:43
professionalMarkTJohnson15-May-23 6:43 
GeneralRe: Where's Kent Sharkey? Pin
Sean Ewington15-May-23 6:46
staffSean Ewington15-May-23 6:46 
GeneralRe: Where's Kent Sharkey? Pin
MarkTJohnson15-May-23 7:54
professionalMarkTJohnson15-May-23 7:54 
GeneralRe: Where's Kent Sharkey? Pin
OriginalGriff15-May-23 9:18
mveOriginalGriff15-May-23 9:18 
GeneralRe: Where's Kent Sharkey? Pin
Sean Ewington15-May-23 10:44
staffSean Ewington15-May-23 10:44 
GeneralRe: Where's Kent Sharkey? Pin
Nelek15-May-23 7:11
protectorNelek15-May-23 7:11 
GeneralRe: Where's Kent Sharkey? Pin
RickZeeland15-May-23 9:03
mveRickZeeland15-May-23 9:03 

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