1400 HRS MAY 22ND 2007

I very seldom

take a break

for lunch.

But today,

I decided to go

for a walk around.

I stood outside this

nasi lemak stall,

and found it amusing,

why people (especially women)

place a packet of tissue paper

on the table,

to reserve the seat.

Just why do they do that?

I guess they want to be

assured of a seat

when they return

with their nasi lemak.

Its so amusing.

John Nash won

a Nobel Peace Prize

for his work

on the Game Theory.

I'm no mathematician

or genius like John Nash,

but we're both schizos I suppose.

The nasi lemak tissue paper seat grabber

is a simple example,

of that Game Theory.

I noticed,

it takes about 5 minutes

to queue up,

and about 10 minutes

to eat.

Let's say tissue paper seat grabbers

were banned

by Encik Nasi Lemak,

Everybody queues up

for his nasi lemak,

all things remaining equal,

with 5 minutes queuing time

and 10 minutes eating time,

every 15 minutes,

there will be a new seat available!!!

If everything goes according to

the Game Theory,

Encik Nasi Lemak

needs just 2 seats

to keep his business going

for 2 hours of lunch

to serve 22 customers!!!

And he probably has

about 25 seats!!!

So why does Encik Nasi Lemak

have a problem

seating his clients?

Its the tissue paper seat grabbers.

I guess the basic problem

is it is against human nature

to think of costs and benefits

from overall perspective.

We think only of benefits

and lay the costs

to others.

When it costs us,

we think of only our own benefits.

If the tissue paper seat grabbers

can realise that,

it is totally unproductive

to leave a packet of tissue paper

on the table,

serving no nasi lemak client,

whilst they queue up,

and that it has hardly any benefits,

whilst the cost,

is borned

by other clients

notwithstanding Encik Nasi Lemak.

Only humans,

exhibit this tendency

to reserve.

Animals never do.

They hunt

only when they're hungry.

They are inborn

with the Game Theory.

Its so easy,

to make this world

a nicer place

to live.