UniVerseLessOne
This is a work of fiction and a lot of unresearched topics so don't bash my trashy work too much.
As Alexander pondered on it, maybe it was because of some children's story called titled "The Fox and the Spider".
Once upon a time, there lived a sad Fox.
He had no house and no friends.
And... that was it...
It's basically a story about how a sad Fox finds an unlikely home... with a spider. Probably.
Never really got around to reading the rest of it.
He was rich but he wasn't about to waste 3 dollars and 19 cents on something childish that he just stumbled upon while stumbling across something weirder like The Spider and the Kitsune-like Lion.
Anyways, how does this relate to his deal with the big shots with Fox?
Not too much really.
Alexander can just attest that he sure had been doing a lot of negotiations lately.
Normally, he would have delegated it. To either Mr. Legalities, a professional negotiator, or just good Old Sullivan.
Then again, there's just times when he's got to do it himself.
Like fixing up the mess he had with his girlfriend and "girl friend".
He kind of didn't expect that he'd make a quick jump from that... and straight up confront the likes of Barry Diller and Rupert Murdoch.
These two sure weren't easy picking, were they?
They were even ready to eat up all that he's worked hard on, right then and there.
Fortunately, Alexander got through it with baiting and glib.
And everything just pushed through as it should have.
With 79 affiliate stations that reached up to 80 percent of homes in the United States... the Fox Broadcasting Company was able to really broadcast under a unified network.
With a late-night talk show hosted by comedian Joan Rivers, aired on October 9, 1986.
Not too long after that, the localized syndications of TMNT and Dragonball followed suit as well.
Effectively making it a win-win for those involved.
Of course, there's also that adage regarding those live-action shows.
To put it simply, Alexander had a grand plan for those. It's just that the logistics and nuances were too much for him to handle as of current.
Animated cartoons are pretty much taxing as it is. Ambitiously tackling sitcoms and the like would just add to the complexity of it.
The hungry, hungry foxes of Fox gave him an opportunity though.
Instead of shelving them until the time is right... why not entice just the right people that would really want it?
Production could actually happen and it would be someone like Barry Diller that will work on it. Potentially with Rupert Murdoch paying for it.
All that Alexander had to do was provide the copyright and the improved script... then he'll make money with it.
Granted, the deal wasn't actually as lopsided as that.
However, Alexander got what he wanted.
Out-wily-ing wily foxes of Fox and a shot at truly plundering television classics... just when he thought that he'll have nothing to show for.
And yeah... an influence at a wide-reaching network... just when he thought that he'll have to wait quite a long while to have something like it.
-------
Now, that's a productive October in just about anyone else's opinion.
However, it's actually going to get much more productive.
With a different kind of network involved... Alexander's long-awaited goal was close at hand.
This time, he was sort of forcefully invited... again.
Only that he was much more eager for what it was. Even though it was going to be quite the 5-hour drive.
With that said, Mr. Driver was busy driving him around. Not to some Fox Headquarters in Beverly Hills but actually to Berkeley.
Berkeley, California. Specifically UC Berkeley. Which is quite special among all the Californian Universities.
------
What was happening here was actually both simple and not simple as it seems.
After all, for the better part of 1986, the burgeoning Internet was nearly two decades old and had 10,000 users.
Hidden beneath this glory, it was actually facing imminent collapse!
At the time, workstations would send data at 10 megabits per second to routers, which then fed the data onto the Internet, which had a capacity of 56 kilobits per second.
It had to be said that 56 kb/s is already unprecedented in this age.
Then in this October of 1986, that stream actually slowed down to a trickle.
Making the transmission rate between Berkeley Lab and the University of California at Berkeley, only a quarter-mile away, slowed to 320 bits per second.
Mail that had gone through in minutes before now took an entire day. Threatening the whole concept of network communication.
Many were even saying that the great Internet couldn't scale.
Effectively affecting not just this Berkeley's network but threatening to trouble the great inter-network as a whole.
At each onramp, traffic was already backing up.
Multiply this by the thousands of users using the network simultaneously... a "traffic jam" was inevitable.
As the traffic had increased on the Internet, the systems that many users had relied on just amounted to self-destructive behavior.
In their attempts to break through the network gridlock, it just got worse.
Because of the congestion... the packets of information would that should have been transmitted would actually just return right back to the sender.
Computers had been programmed to deal with this by just immediately trying again... repeatedly resending the message until it went through.
Like pouring gasoline on a fire, the situation only got worse.
Users and experts all over the country were incredibly puzzled over how to revive it...
Marking the whole process to be quite of importance.
It's the Internet's very first congestion collapse, after all.
Historically, it would actually take them six months to puzzle over and finally solve it.
-------
That was old history though...
An anomaly just had to change things up.
Said anomaly, is, of course, Alexander, who was muttering aloud whilst fiddling on computers of old. With quite the spectatorship behind him.
"Essentially, when users send so many bits per second, their collective load on a link exceeds the capacity of that link. These packets are then stored in a buffer and they wait in the queue to be transmitted."
"But when that wait becomes too long, more incoming packets accumulate in the buffer until the buffer overflows and packets get dropped."
"That's when demand exceeds supply and you have yourselves a congestion."
"At this point, you just have to reduce the demand to alleviate congestion."
"Suppose the demand comes from different nodes in a network, then you just need to coordinate it in a distributed way." Alexander simply concluded with that.
"I see. I see." Mr. Eager Scholar can't help but hum in thought. "How do you suppose we solve this matter in the long run then?"
"Polite Protocols and Slow Start." Alexander proposed.
"The what now?" Even the eager scholar was stumped with that.
"Well, the Polite Protocol is to make the network users more polite." Alexander explained. "Not in the literal sense though but in a programmed manner. You just need to require a slight wait before any packet is retransmitted. When it's integrated into the TCP, everything should be good."
"As for Slow Start... it's the extension to the Polite Protocol. It should monitor the network and when congestions appears imminent, it will delay the transmission of packets anywhere from milliseconds to a second." Alexander thoughtfully ended with that.
The eager scholar could only repeatedly and appreciatively at that. "Little Creed, if there ever will be an Internet Hall of Fame, I'll make sure for you to be a part of it."
Then, turning to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratorists and network researchers, the scholar chastised. "See that. The kid's impressive, isn't he? Doubts are stumbling blocks to innovators, you know."
The chastised spectators could only nod helplessly.
They're quite accomplished in their fields and technically professors, how did any one of them expect to be humbled by a little kid on this very day?
With that said, they quickly got to work...
And by following little Alexander Creed's guidance on congestion avoidance and control... the tricky problem got solved in a matter of days.
Even guys like Van Jacobson and Mike Karels can't help but be in awe. Not knowing that these were actually solutions that they themselves should have been the ones to come up with.
--------
Of course, Alexander wasn't too guilty about what he's done. If anything, he was ready to double down on it some more.
Which was why he was here... scouting the place... responding positively to the DARPA representative's invitation... and establishing himself as quite the timely help.
Weaving the narrative and pulling some strings once again.
This time, he was going after something bigger. Bigger than the Fox network.
Other than an inter-network, what else could it be?
Which is why, out of nowhere, he asked.
"Mister from DARPA, have you guys ever considered hypertext and hyperlinking?"
The eager scholar was confused. "Considered it for what?"
"Well, I have an interesting idea that came to mind but I'm not too sure if it will work." Alexander simply supplemented. "It sort of ties back to the network congestion issues that you guys had just come across though."
To which, the scholar was more than eager to know. "Haha! After you're so-called Polite Protocol and Slow Start, it'd be no surprise if you have a third one! What is it then?"
"It actually just goes along the lines of a World Wide Web."
"A world wide web?!"
"Yep... A World Wide Web." As Alexander said so, it kind of ties back to being a spider, doesn't it?
And yeah... it's one of the rarest instances where a spider trumps a Fox. Not in a sense of nature but comparing in terms of networking should still count, right?
UniVerseLessOne
So yeah... the 3 Ws that I've alluded to when the ChaosNet was mocked as a stupid decision. The World Wide Web!
Also, if you're confused about the technicalities here, don't be. Because I'm confused too. Haha!
Just searched October 1986 and the Internet... and fictionalized everything from there. It is what it is.
Anyways, how great is it now that Alexander is shaping himself to be the new Tim Berners-Lee?
UniVerseLessOne
This is a work of fiction and a lot of unresearched topics so don't bash my trashy work too much.
As Alexander pondered on it, maybe it was because of some children's story called titled "The Fox and the Spider".
Once upon a time, there lived a sad Fox.
He had no house and no friends.
And... that was it...
It's basically a story about how a sad Fox finds an unlikely home... with a spider. Probably.
Never really got around to reading the rest of it.
He was rich but he wasn't about to waste 3 dollars and 19 cents on something childish that he just stumbled upon while stumbling across something weirder like The Spider and the Kitsune-like Lion.
Anyways, how does this relate to his deal with the big shots with Fox?
Not too much really.
Alexander can just attest that he sure had been doing a lot of negotiations lately.
Normally, he would have delegated it. To either Mr. Legalities, a professional negotiator, or just good Old Sullivan.
Then again, there's just times when he's got to do it himself.
Like fixing up the mess he had with his girlfriend and "girl friend".
He kind of didn't expect that he'd make a quick jump from that... and straight up confront the likes of Barry Diller and Rupert Murdoch.
These two sure weren't easy picking, were they?
They were even ready to eat up all that he's worked hard on, right then and there.
Fortunately, Alexander got through it with baiting and glib.
And everything just pushed through as it should have.
With 79 affiliate stations that reached up to 80 percent of homes in the United States... the Fox Broadcasting Company was able to really broadcast under a unified network.
With a late-night talk show hosted by comedian Joan Rivers, aired on October 9, 1986.
Not too long after that, the localized syndications of TMNT and Dragonball followed suit as well.
Effectively making it a win-win for those involved.
Of course, there's also that adage regarding those live-action shows.
To put it simply, Alexander had a grand plan for those. It's just that the logistics and nuances were too much for him to handle as of current.
Animated cartoons are pretty much taxing as it is. Ambitiously tackling sitcoms and the like would just add to the complexity of it.
The hungry, hungry foxes of Fox gave him an opportunity though.
Instead of shelving them until the time is right... why not entice just the right people that would really want it?
Production could actually happen and it would be someone like Barry Diller that will work on it. Potentially with Rupert Murdoch paying for it.
All that Alexander had to do was provide the copyright and the improved script... then he'll make money with it.
Granted, the deal wasn't actually as lopsided as that.
However, Alexander got what he wanted.
Out-wily-ing wily foxes of Fox and a shot at truly plundering television classics... just when he thought that he'll have nothing to show for.
And yeah... an influence at a wide-reaching network... just when he thought that he'll have to wait quite a long while to have something like it.
-------
Now, that's a productive October in just about anyone else's opinion.
However, it's actually going to get much more productive.
With a different kind of network involved... Alexander's long-awaited goal was close at hand.
This time, he was sort of forcefully invited... again.
Only that he was much more eager for what it was. Even though it was going to be quite the 5-hour drive.
With that said, Mr. Driver was busy driving him around. Not to some Fox Headquarters in Beverly Hills but actually to Berkeley.
Berkeley, California. Specifically UC Berkeley. Which is quite special among all the Californian Universities.
------
What was happening here was actually both simple and not simple as it seems.
After all, for the better part of 1986, the burgeoning Internet was nearly two decades old and had 10,000 users.
Hidden beneath this glory, it was actually facing imminent collapse!
At the time, workstations would send data at 10 megabits per second to routers, which then fed the data onto the Internet, which had a capacity of 56 kilobits per second.
It had to be said that 56 kb/s is already unprecedented in this age.
Then in this October of 1986, that stream actually slowed down to a trickle.
Making the transmission rate between Berkeley Lab and the University of California at Berkeley, only a quarter-mile away, slowed to 320 bits per second.
Mail that had gone through in minutes before now took an entire day. Threatening the whole concept of network communication.
Many were even saying that the great Internet couldn't scale.
Effectively affecting not just this Berkeley's network but threatening to trouble the great inter-network as a whole.
At each onramp, traffic was already backing up.
Multiply this by the thousands of users using the network simultaneously... a "traffic jam" was inevitable.
As the traffic had increased on the Internet, the systems that many users had relied on just amounted to self-destructive behavior.
In their attempts to break through the network gridlock, it just got worse.
Because of the congestion... the packets of information would that should have been transmitted would actually just return right back to the sender.
Computers had been programmed to deal with this by just immediately trying again... repeatedly resending the message until it went through.
Like pouring gasoline on a fire, the situation only got worse.
Users and experts all over the country were incredibly puzzled over how to revive it...
Marking the whole process to be quite of importance.
It's the Internet's very first congestion collapse, after all.
Historically, it would actually take them six months to puzzle over and finally solve it.
-------
That was old history though...
An anomaly just had to change things up.
Said anomaly, is, of course, Alexander, who was muttering aloud whilst fiddling on computers of old. With quite the spectatorship behind him.
"Essentially, when users send so many bits per second, their collective load on a link exceeds the capacity of that link. These packets are then stored in a buffer and they wait in the queue to be transmitted."
"But when that wait becomes too long, more incoming packets accumulate in the buffer until the buffer overflows and packets get dropped."
"That's when demand exceeds supply and you have yourselves a congestion."
"At this point, you just have to reduce the demand to alleviate congestion."
"Suppose the demand comes from different nodes in a network, then you just need to coordinate it in a distributed way." Alexander simply concluded with that.
"I see. I see." Mr. Eager Scholar can't help but hum in thought. "How do you suppose we solve this matter in the long run then?"
"Polite Protocols and Slow Start." Alexander proposed.
"The what now?" Even the eager scholar was stumped with that.
"Well, the Polite Protocol is to make the network users more polite." Alexander explained. "Not in the literal sense though but in a programmed manner. You just need to require a slight wait before any packet is retransmitted. When it's integrated into the TCP, everything should be good."
"As for Slow Start... it's the extension to the Polite Protocol. It should monitor the network and when congestions appears imminent, it will delay the transmission of packets anywhere from milliseconds to a second." Alexander thoughtfully ended with that.
The eager scholar could only repeatedly and appreciatively at that. "Little Creed, if there ever will be an Internet Hall of Fame, I'll make sure for you to be a part of it."
Then, turning to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratorists and network researchers, the scholar chastised. "See that. The kid's impressive, isn't he? Doubts are stumbling blocks to innovators, you know."
The chastised spectators could only nod helplessly.
They're quite accomplished in their fields and technically professors, how did any one of them expect to be humbled by a little kid on this very day?
With that said, they quickly got to work...
And by following little Alexander Creed's guidance on congestion avoidance and control... the tricky problem got solved in a matter of days.
Even guys like Van Jacobson and Mike Karels can't help but be in awe. Not knowing that these were actually solutions that they themselves should have been the ones to come up with.
--------
Of course, Alexander wasn't too guilty about what he's done. If anything, he was ready to double down on it some more.
Which was why he was here... scouting the place... responding positively to the DARPA representative's invitation... and establishing himself as quite the timely help.
Weaving the narrative and pulling some strings once again.
This time, he was going after something bigger. Bigger than the Fox network.
Other than an inter-network, what else could it be?
Which is why, out of nowhere, he asked.
"Mister from DARPA, have you guys ever considered hypertext and hyperlinking?"
The eager scholar was confused. "Considered it for what?"
"Well, I have an interesting idea that came to mind but I'm not too sure if it will work." Alexander simply supplemented. "It sort of ties back to the network congestion issues that you guys had just come across though."
To which, the scholar was more than eager to know. "Haha! After you're so-called Polite Protocol and Slow Start, it'd be no surprise if you have a third one! What is it then?"
"It actually just goes along the lines of a World Wide Web."
"A world wide web?!"
"Yep... A World Wide Web." As Alexander said so, it kind of ties back to being a spider, doesn't it?
And yeah... it's one of the rarest instances where a spider trumps a Fox. Not in a sense of nature but comparing in terms of networking should still count, right?
UniVerseLessOne
So yeah... the 3 Ws that I've alluded to when the ChaosNet was mocked as a stupid decision. The World Wide Web!
Also, if you're confused about the technicalities here, don't be. Because I'm confused too. Haha!
Just searched October 1986 and the Internet... and fictionalized everything from there. It is what it is.
Anyways, how great is it now that Alexander is shaping himself to be the new Tim Berners-Lee?
