Tim Berners-Lee and the Toilet Paper Protocol

Related: a 1984 paper by Knuth, “The Toilet Paper Problem”.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2322567

Donald Norman (of The Design of Everyday Things fame) talks about the various strategies for this in his newest book, Living With Complexity. It's an interesting problem because it turns out enough people follow the antisocial strategy of taking from the larger roll (what Berners-Lee calls K in his protocol) that both rolls will often run out within short intervals of each other (less than µ).

Norman proposes the strategy of "nearest roll first" instead of "smallest roll first", which is an easier strategy to accommodate through toilet paper dispenser design. Many public stalls hide the spare roll inside a contraption for this purpose.

I've met Tim a few times, this doesn't sound like something he would write. But whether it is or isn't, it is hilarious.

Tim's email address is timbl@w3.org. Is this faked?