code: def start_worker_thread(
              self,
              sleep_interval=1.0):
          
          # Start a worker thread responsible for sending logs
          if self.sleep_interval > 0:
              self.debug_log(
                  'starting worker thread')
              self.timer = Timer(
                  sleep_interval,
                  self.perform_work)
              self.timer.daemon = True  # Auto-kill thread if main process exits
              self.timer.start()
docs: start_worker_thread
  
          Start the helper worker thread to publish queued messages
          to Splunk
  
          :param sleep_interval: sleep in seconds before reading from
                                 the queue again