Random Number Generator

http://gamesbyemail.com/News/DiceOMatic

I think this falls firmly into the "too much time on their hands"
category.

 

I think it's rather good, in an utterly loopy Wallace & Gromit stylee.

 

That is absolutely fabulous!

I love the line "..but have always received numerous complaints that
the dice are not random enough. Some players have put more effort into
statistical analysis of the rolls than they put into their doctoral
dissertation"

 

I like it: a great mix of real hardware and electronics.

As an aside, the guy is also obviously a Dune fan.

 

I've heard that Apple had to change their random song algorithm to
include some logic. Something about people thinking it wasn't random if
they heard the same song twice in succession, or concurrent songs from
and album. Either that or people just not liking random for that very
same reason.

Tim B

 

"May thy dice chip and shatter"

Yes, I noticed that, too.

 

There's an episode of "Numb3rs" [sic] that deals with that exact issue:
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/blogs/research/2009/03/03/behind-numb3rs/