<![CDATA[tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not!]]>tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not!

measure them in Bq [becquerel] instead

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/b9cd671e-0a9e-42d4-8b7a-a1bdbd8e0832/tip-web-requests-should-not-be-measured-in-hz-hertz-as-that-is-only-used-for-periodic-frequencies-which-random-events-like-requests-hitting-a-web-server-are-notRSS for NodeThu, 30 Apr 2026 20:41:15 GMTSat, 25 Apr 2026 22:50:26 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:30:39 GMT]]>@lain_7 @moof @4censord @sophie

Using s=0.59c as the signal propagation rate of copper, Δt=10°C, and 17.6ppm/°C as the coefficient of expansion of copper, a 1km transmission line would see an additional 1ns delay when heated. (100ns for 100km and so on)

So clearly with plenty of wire and a dedicated measurement setup you could measure it.

(I was unable to find whether there's a temperature dependence to signal propagation rate in copper conductor nor do I have a good intuition as to why there should or shouldn't be. however this paper reviews two additional temperature-dependent factors:
https://www.haystack.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/memo_mark-5_067.pdf
such as phase delay due to changes in impedance)

Measuring it incidentally using network traffic seems harder. On less than 10m of cable (& 1 intervening network switch) my ping time standard deviation is 31us on 1000 packets. You'd need many measurements (and a very stable local timebase, not just a standard crystal oscillator) to find a nanosecond-level variation in transmission time through statistics on ping times. would love to hear more about whether & how this has actually been measured!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.afront.org/users/stylus/statuses/116477384445689123https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.afront.org/users/stylus/statuses/116477384445689123Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:30:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:33:03 GMT]]>@ben @moof @4censord @sophie core melted into a problematic noncritical puddle

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/johnefrancis/statuses/116476921991044335https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/johnefrancis/statuses/116476921991044335Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:33:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:45:17 GMT]]>@philcowans @moof @4censord @sophie https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/142750.142754 or https://scholar.google.com/scholar?oi=bibs&hl=en&cluster=9406488945496633684#d=gs_qabs&t=1777293873015&u=%23p%3DVDH3s9uPioIJ

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/wlukewindsor/statuses/116476734163458575https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/wlukewindsor/statuses/116476734163458575Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:45:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:11:09 GMT]]>@sekomi @sophie I can't find a link for this, but I'm sure I've seen John Graham-Cumming quoting Cloudflare's log rate in megahertz. And I'd argue that at those frequencies the distinction between Hz and Bq is academic!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/pozorvlak/statuses/116476128085201235https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/pozorvlak/statuses/116476128085201235Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:11:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:32:30 GMT]]>@tsukkitsune @ben @moof @4censord @sophie

It's not currently nuclear power stations, but it is true that the Urenco nuclear fuel processing plant at Capenhurst in Cheshire has a regular rhythmic sound that's always sounding to indicate that everything is okay. https://www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-100-tech/hardware-profile/article/uranium-firm-finds-path-to-enrichment-jl7bbp88xw3 - archived here https://archive.ph/2nK2H

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/drmikepj/statuses/116475976113976563https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/drmikepj/statuses/116475976113976563Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:32:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:30:32 GMT]]>@ben @moof @4censord @sophie Simpsons did it.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/DamonWakes/statuses/116475968408653745https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/DamonWakes/statuses/116475968408653745Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:30:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:29:10 GMT]]>@tsukkitsune @moof @4censord @sophie

It may not be still in use, but it definitely used to exist at UK sites that handle waste e.g. Sellafield.

But as pointed out here the continuous regular was more to show the alarm was still working.

Link Preview Image
Did U.K. nuclear power plants of the '80s play a continuous sound and indicate emergency by stopping it?

Allan Friswell's comment (scroll down) on this video for "O Superman" for Laurie Anderson contends: The UK nuclear power stations of the 80s had that "ha" sound on continuously 24/7. Apparently i...

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Skeptics Stack Exchange (skeptics.stackexchange.com)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bluetoot.hardill.me.uk/users/ben/statuses/116475963044754853https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bluetoot.hardill.me.uk/users/ben/statuses/116475963044754853Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:29:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:19:22 GMT]]>@ben @moof @4censord @sophie

As far as I know, this is not true. What is true is that the Trino Vercellese nuclear power station in Italy had acoustic transducers (basically microphones) mounted at several important points in the primary circuit, with the sound being piped to speakers in the control room, and after a few months the operators found that they could infer the state of the plant more quickly and reliably from that sound than from the instruments and gages. It makes the sound effects in STAR TREK (1966) suddenly seem a lot more reasonable.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://is.nota.live/users/tsukkitsune/statuses/116475924481271886https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://is.nota.live/users/tsukkitsune/statuses/116475924481271886Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:19:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:15:31 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie

Straight out of Douglas Adams!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://is.nota.live/users/tsukkitsune/statuses/116475909328404862https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://is.nota.live/users/tsukkitsune/statuses/116475909328404862Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:15:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:12:45 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie A friend of mine showed me the idea ages ago: https://pestilenz.org/~bauerm/shoestring/2004/06/30#netsound

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vernunftzentrum.de/users/ckeen/statuses/01KQ73CSC6197QNYKSSH1S6P5Whttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vernunftzentrum.de/users/ckeen/statuses/01KQ73CSC6197QNYKSSH1S6P5WMon, 27 Apr 2026 09:12:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:07:49 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie

Nuclear power stations have a criticality alarm which sounds all the time, it's when it stops that there is a problem and you really don't want to be there.

It is apparently more jarring when it stops compared to starting a new sound.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bluetoot.hardill.me.uk/users/ben/statuses/116475879082232687https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bluetoot.hardill.me.uk/users/ben/statuses/116475879082232687Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:07:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:00:17 GMT]]>@4censord @sophie then you can refer to them as dosage & exposure, go for a lie down when you've had too much

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://meow.social/users/patterfloof/statuses/116475849452204735https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://meow.social/users/patterfloof/statuses/116475849452204735Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:00:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:58:10 GMT]]>@moof ah, so if you suddenly had a murder of crows, it would be signs that something was aflap *smile*

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.nu/users/bigpawedbear/statuses/116475841124696881https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.nu/users/bigpawedbear/statuses/116475841124696881Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:58:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:57:16 GMT]]>@bigpawedbear Generally I think it was a change in the pattern of birdsong. Every email was a chirp or tweet. If you had a whole burst of emails all of a sudden, you would hear it as a cacophony. If you heard a lot more, say, crows than, say, bluejays, that could be indicative of a larger number of MIME-encoded emails over a certain size, and the general mix of sounds would sound a little… off. That should be enough to start looking at monitoring and logs

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cupoftea.social/users/moof/statuses/116475837568005508https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cupoftea.social/users/moof/statuses/116475837568005508Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:57:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:54:23 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie I absolutely adore that forest/birdsong idea!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://twit.social/users/gilester45/statuses/116475826229488398https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://twit.social/users/gilester45/statuses/116475826229488398Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:54:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:53:19 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie I remember reading a story about a networking department monitoring network load in the coax era by swapping a terminator for a small electric motor with a long strip of plastic attached. More network load == faster spinning motor == wildly dancing plastic strip.

There’s also a http log visualiser based on pong that I forgot the name of. That is mighty fun to run on a Ubuntu mirror. On the hour, *WILD* pong assault. 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Tubemeister/statuses/116475822029718626https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Tubemeister/statuses/116475822029718626Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:53:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:50:54 GMT]]>@moof was the "something's wrong," sound a dying crow or something. terrible sqwawking. good use of alternative monitoring modes though *smile*

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.nu/users/bigpawedbear/statuses/116475812561364346https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.nu/users/bigpawedbear/statuses/116475812561364346Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:50:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:46:03 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie I was part of a group project at university to build an EDSAC simulator. We had no idea what the original sounded like, so threw stuff at the serial port and hoped for the best. Eventually we got one of the original designers (David Wheeler, if memory serves) to come and listen to it; he said it didn't sound much like the original but clearly served the same function, so we were happy enough with that.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/cjwatson/statuses/116475793442199082https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/cjwatson/statuses/116475793442199082Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:46:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:45:57 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie The EDSAC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDSAC) could have a wire attached from the accumulator to a speaker, allowing operators to listen to programs as they ran. For example, while it was generating primes you could hear it counting them out.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/cjwatson/statuses/116475793104693873https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/cjwatson/statuses/116475793104693873Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:45:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:17:25 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie Back in the early 2000s, I had configured my print servers so that they would play a rising triad for every completed print job, and a meep-meep if they needed to stash one due to being incomplete.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/farbenstau/statuses/116475444931400185https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/farbenstau/statuses/116475444931400185Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:17:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 06:40:13 GMT]]>@irvingreid @moof @4censord @sophie I think maybe this is what I was thinking of!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/heavyimage/statuses/116475298663027431https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/heavyimage/statuses/116475298663027431Mon, 27 Apr 2026 06:40:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 06:25:00 GMT]]>@moof @4censord @sophie In a previous life, our local test harness could play a couple of sound samples to indicate PASS or FAIL. I think they were clicks and beeps, but we did consider changing them to silence and either creepy laughs or footsteps, for the overnight runs…

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/kilbs/statuses/116475238864482792https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/kilbs/statuses/116475238864482792Mon, 27 Apr 2026 06:25:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 03:22:09 GMT]]>@lain_7 @moof @4censord @sophie copper coefficient of expansion is on the order of 20ppm/°C while a crystal oscillator might be 20ppm over its operating temperature range. So that's entirely plausible

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.afront.org/users/stylus/statuses/116474519855606205https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.afront.org/users/stylus/statuses/116474519855606205Mon, 27 Apr 2026 03:22:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to tip: web requests should not be measured in Hz [hertz] as that is only used for periodic frequencies, which random events (like requests hitting a web server) are not! on Mon, 27 Apr 2026 02:15:17 GMT]]>@stylus @moof @4censord @sophie

Yes “real time clocks” in chips are notoriously bad. The time I was talking about (notice the use of copper, not fiber) preceded the widespread use of reliable time-keeping even in main frames (no cellular net to distribute time-of-day from an atomic clock somewhere) which is why a protocol was developed (NTP) to distribute an approximation of click time suitable for distributed applications.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tldr.nettime.org/users/lain_7/statuses/116474256895809930https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tldr.nettime.org/users/lain_7/statuses/116474256895809930Mon, 27 Apr 2026 02:15:17 GMT