% sesameseeds-demo.tex -- documentation and demo of the sesameseeds package
% Copyright (C) 2026 M. Fatih Toy and Tunçer Baykaş
% This work may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the
% LaTeX Project Public License, version 1.3c or (at your option) any later
% version; see https://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt
% Compile twice (the hand-placed debris uses `remember picture').
\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[margin=2.7cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}

\usepackage[mess=medium, randomseed=1525]{sesameseeds}

\title{On the Stochastic Deposition of \emph{Sesamum indicum} Seeds\\
       on Scholarly Manuscripts}
\author{A.~Hungry Academic\thanks{Who read the first draft on the
        Kadıköy--Karaköy ferry, simit in hand.}\\[2pt]
        \small Department of Breakfast Studies}
\date{Version 1.1, 3 November 2026\\[6pt]
      \small The \texttt{sesameseeds} package by M.~Fatih Toy and Tunçer Baykaş\\
      \small\url{https://biocil.github.io/fun/sesameseeds/}}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
\noindent
Coffee is not the only thing academics spill on papers. We present
\texttt{sesameseeds}, a \LaTeX{} package that decorates every page of a
document with the debris left behind by a simit -- the Turkish sesame-crusted
bread ring -- eaten over the manuscript: oven-roasted sesame seeds and
crumbs of caramelised crust. Deposition is random but reproducible, so the
mess is identical on every compilation and survives peer review. Users can
also sprinkle seeds by hand, protect a page with a napkin, and leave the ring
of debris shed by a simit that was put down on the page during a phone
call.
\end{abstract}

\section{Introduction}

The coffee stain has long been the canonical marker of a manuscript that was
actually read. In Istanbul, however, the reading snack of choice is the
simit, sold from red carts on every ferry pier. Before baking, the dough
ring is dipped in \emph{pekmez} (grape molasses) and rolled in sesame: the
pekmez makes the seeds stick and caramelises in the oven into the dark,
glossy crust, while the seeds roast to a deep golden brown. The finished
simit is dry and leaves no stain, but it is structurally incapable of being
eaten without shedding seeds onto whatever lies beneath it. Reviewers,
supervisors and thesis committees who annotate printouts over breakfast know
the result well: a drift of roasted seeds collecting in the margins, a few
over-roasted ones, and crumbs of crust lodged next to the equation that took
the longest to understand.

This package brings that authenticity to digital documents. Unlike a coffee
stain, sesame seeds are not a single event: they accumulate on every page,
cluster where the simit was held, and occasionally bounce into the most
inconvenient place possible.

\section{Usage}

Load the package in the preamble. Every page then receives its share of
seeds automatically; no second compilation is needed for this.
\begin{verbatim}
\usepackage[mess=medium]{sesameseeds}
\end{verbatim}
Settings can be changed later with \verb|\sesamesetup{...}|, which affects all
pages shipped out afterwards. A page is kept clean with \verb|\nosesame|, and the
automatic mess is stopped and resumed with \verb|\sesameoff| and
\verb|\sesameon|. Debris can also be placed by hand; coordinates are measured
from the lower-left corner of the page, and these commands use TikZ's
\texttt{remember picture}, so compile twice:
\begin{verbatim}
\sesamesprinkle[count=25, spread=1.5cm]{14cm}{6cm}
\simitring[radius=6cm]{10.5cm}{15cm}
\sesameseed[angle=30, roast=0.9]{3cm}{3cm}
\end{verbatim}

\begin{table}[t]
\centering\small
\begin{tabular}{@{}lll@{}}
\toprule
Key & Default & Meaning\\
\midrule
\texttt{mess}        & \texttt{medium} & \texttt{none}, \texttt{light}, \texttt{medium}, \texttt{heavy}, \texttt{catastrophic}\\
\texttt{off}         & --              & disable everything, hand-placed debris included\\
\texttt{seeds}       & --              & fixed number of seeds per page\\
\texttt{probability} & 0.8             & chance that a page gets anything at all\\
\texttt{randomseed}  & 1525            & change it for a different, still reproducible, mess\\
\texttt{crumbs}      & \texttt{true}   & crust crumbs\\
\texttt{layer}       & \texttt{foreground} & seeds over (\texttt{foreground}) or under the text\\
\texttt{firstpage}   & \texttt{true}   & allow mess on the title page\\
\texttt{size}        & 1               & seed size multiplier\\
\texttt{spread}      & 2.5cm           & size of the fall-out zone\\
\texttt{stray}       & 0.2             & fraction of seeds that bounced away\\
\texttt{roast}       & 0.5             & golden (0) to deep-brown (1) roast\\
\texttt{black}       & 0               & fraction of black sesame seeds\\
\texttt{crumbratio}  & 0.35            & crumbs per seed\\
\texttt{shadow}      & 0.28            & shadow opacity\\
\midrule
\texttt{count}       & 15 / 60         & seeds per \verb|\sesamesprinkle| / \verb|\simitring|\\
\texttt{radius}      & 6.5cm           & radius of a \verb|\simitring|\\
\texttt{angle}       & \texttt{random} & orientation of a \verb|\sesameseed|\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{Options, usable in \texttt{\textbackslash usepackage[...]},
\texttt{\textbackslash sesamesetup} and the optional argument of the manual
commands.}
\label{tab:options}
\end{table}

\section{The deposition model}

Let $W\times H$ be the paper size. For each page $p$ the package seeds its
own pseudo-random stream with $s_0$ (the \texttt{randomseed}) and $p$, so the
debris does not depend on how many random numbers the rest of the document
consumed. With probability $\pi$ (\texttt{probability}) the page is eaten
over at all, in which case the number of seeds is
\begin{equation}
  N \sim \mathcal{U}\{n_{\min},\dots,n_{\max}\},
\end{equation}
with the bounds set by \texttt{mess}. A fraction $\approx\sigma_s$
(\texttt{stray}) of them bounces off and lands uniformly anywhere on the page.
The rest fall in one or, with probability $0.3$, two fall-out zones, centred
at $\mathbf{c}$. Because the simit moves while it is being eaten, each zone is
an elongated Gaussian with a random orientation $\theta$:
\begin{equation}
  \mathbf{x}_i = \mathbf{c} + R(\theta)
  \begin{pmatrix} a\,\xi_i \\ b\,\eta_i \end{pmatrix},
  \qquad \xi_i,\eta_i \sim \mathcal{N}(0,1),
\end{equation}
where $a$ and $b$ are random multiples of \texttt{spread}. Seeds that were
baked together onto the caramelised crust come off in pairs with probability
$0.08$, and about one seed in sixteen sat on the hot tray and is clearly
darker. Each seed is drawn with a random orientation, size, aspect ratio
(seeds resting on a crumb look narrower) and degree of roasting, together
with a soft contact shadow. Crumbs of crust, some showing the soft white
inside, are scattered around the same centres, slightly closer to the hand.

\clearpage
\section{Results}

\simitring{10.5cm}{9.5cm}%
Figure-free evidence is provided by the present page, on which the author
put the simit down to answer a phone call. Since a baked simit is dry, it
leaves no stain; what remains (\verb|\simitring|) is a ring of seeds and
crumbs that came off where it touched the paper and when it was picked up
again. Note that a hand-made simit is never perfectly round; the package
accounts for this with a small random ellipticity.

The deposition is robust across engines: pdf\LaTeX, Xe\LaTeX{} and
Lua\LaTeX{} place the same debris in the same spots. Pages that a reviewer printed in
black and white will show grey seeds, which is also realistic.

\clearpage
\nosesame
\section{Protecting a page}
This page was read with a napkin underneath. It carries a single
\verb|\nosesame| and therefore no seeds at all. The command works like
\verb|\thispagestyle|: it applies to the page on which \TeX{} is working when
the command is read, so put it near the top of the page you want to protect.

A whole section can be protected with \verb|\sesameoff| \dots\ \verb|\sesameon|.
The package option \texttt{off} disables everything, hand-placed debris
included, which is recommended for the camera-ready version. Or not.

\section{Conclusion}

We have shown that sesame seeds are a viable, reproducible and culturally
specific alternative to coffee stains. Future work includes the
\emph{açma} and \emph{poğaça} extensions, butter fingerprints, and a
\texttt{tea} option that leaves a small ring under a tulip-shaped glass.

\paragraph{Acknowledgements.} The author thanks the simit seller at the
ferry pier, and the seagulls, who removed most of the evidence.

\clearpage
\sesamesetup{mess=catastrophic, spread=3cm}
\appendix
\section{Reading while the ferry crosses a wake}

\sesamesprinkle[count=30, spread=1.2cm]{15cm}{5cm}%
When the ferry meets the wake of a passing tanker, the reader's hand makes a
sudden, involuntary motion and the simit releases a large fraction of its
remaining seeds at once. This appendix was typeset with
\begin{verbatim}
\sesamesetup{mess=catastrophic, spread=3cm}
\end{verbatim}
plus one extra \verb|\sesamesprinkle| near the bottom right corner, where the
seagull was looking.

Readers who need an even messier document can combine
\texttt{mess=catastrophic} with \texttt{black=0.2} for a simit that was sold
next to a black-sesame one, or with \texttt{layer=background} if the seeds
were already on the desk before the paper was put down.

\end{document}