Slashdot Mirror
Toilet Paper Algorithms
ziani writes "Computer science professor and ex-Apple technologist Don Norman posits a new "forcing function" in toilet paper use algorithms." Browsing through his website is a good way to kill a couple of hours.
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
These days, I can just use a couple of VA Software stock certificates and get the same effect. Plus, it is cheaper than toilet paper!
Friends don't let friends use multiple inheritance.
Academics, especially professors, spend a good deal of their time brown-nosing and kissing other people's asses in the hopes of securing yet another research grant. Hence, the seemingly odd fascination for toilet paper, the uses of.
"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -- George H. W. Bush
This topic is full of shit!
Table-ized A.I.
...I knew that degree in CS would come in handy some day.
"player 4 hit player 1 with 0 stroms"
So you can't use the 3 shells?
*Moohahahahaa*
(Demolition Man)
Disclaimer: This post was written deliberately in the long-practiced computer science tradition of over-analyzing simple problems.
___
Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
I think Emacs has a minor mode to enforce correct toilet paper selection.
t
The article does a good job of analyzing which roll to choose, but neglects the most important question of installing toilet paper rolls.
Should the paper come over the top of the roll, or out from under the bottom?
Clearly, over the top is better, because no matter how long or short the loose end is, it is always on the front so you can find it. With the under the bottom system, the loose end can be hanging behind the roll and you have to roll it until you can grab it.
If you want to make a fast buck, go the the hardware store, buy a bunch of sand-paper, and resell it at a Trekkie convention as Official Klingon Toilet Paper. (You might need to print up some fancy-looking packaging.)
Sells like hot cakes.
I just don't like to be around when they test it on a dare.
Table-ized A.I.
The author discussed, in true binary fashion, "available" vs. "unavailable" for a second roll.
People have also discussed "over the top vs. under the bottom".
There is a middle ground: two rollers, one "over the top" and the other "under the bottom". This would also self-regulate the usage of the rolls, ensuring one ran out before the other.
Which one runs out first depends on the physical characteristics of the holder.
For a fixed holder, the answer is probably "over the top".
But for a hanging holder, where the weight of the paper itself levers the paper into the wall, increasing the overall friction, "under the bottom" allows you to mitigate friction effects, while "over the top" increases them.
Since a fixed holder results in the choice being user preference, that doesn't solve anything; clearly, the fix is in two parts: (1) use hanging holders, and (2) make the primary roll "under the bottom" and the secondary roll "over the top".
Another solution (which is only statistical) is to locate rolls on either side of the toilet. Left handed people are outnumbered by right handed people 20 to 1, on average. But this fix only works "on average", as a result.
All in all, a "P-P complete" problem.
-- Terry
One can catch the paper against the roller holder and get more friction making tearing easier when the roll is installed "backwords". If you try to do this with a forwards roll you'll have to loop what you've got up and around, which tends to get complicated when one is focussed on the latest issue of Popular Mechanics... or whatever else one might read on the toilet... one-handed.
Oh, man. When I read "forcing function," I was going to suggest more fiber, but this is a bit different...
My
Limekiller