| Skybird |
09-15-09 11:24 AM |
Add a little randomness to your life
Some people may have use for this. I use it myself for Backgammon software, that's also the way I found it. It works in the way that a set of 500 random numbers gets loaded by the BG program whenever the old set is used up, and these 500 numbers then serve as the results of dice rolls. It is done by the BG software automatically, you just switch on the option, and deactivate the random generator.
http://www.random.org/
Quote:
What's this fuss about true randomness?
Perhaps you have wondered how predictable machines like computers can generate randomness. In reality, most random numbers used in computer programs are pseudo-random, which means they are a generated in a predictable fashion using a mathematical formula. This is fine for many purposes, but it may not be random in the way you expect if you're used to dice rolls and lottery drawings.
RANDOM.ORG offers true random numbers to anyone on the Internet. The randomness comes from atmospheric noise, which for many purposes is better than the pseudo-random number algorithms typically used in computer programs. People use RANDOM.ORG for holding drawings, lotteries and sweepstakes, to drive games and gambling sites, for scientific applications and for art and music. The service has existed since 1998 and was built and is being operated by Mads Haahr of the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland.
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After having tested for several months several generators, and random.org , I prefer the latter. Manual use of dice would be best (and it definitely is not the same like a generator, if you played several dozen matches that way), but for the sake of comfort I accept random.org, too. The generators gave me a higher frequency of suspect events, I simply do not trust them anymore, no matter what they say about them. I swear by the beating of my heart! :D
About generating true and pseudo-randomness:
http://www.random.org/randomness/ |
