Randomness - definition and examples

Today I did more keying into Google of random words to see what would come up. In fact, I actually keyed in the word "random." Well, this amazing collection of photographs came up from a NY gallery named "rANDOM." Click on the link for an fabulous slide show of modern photography.

Then I found a site called random website dot com. There is a link in the middle which you click and a random website comes up. You then go back to the original page and click again for another site to come up. You can even add your own site!! How random is that!!

Next, there was the site RANDOM.ORG, which bills itself as a true randomness site. It tends to concentrate on randomness in numbers and offers a free password generating service.

Their other free services are:

Games and Gambling

Lottery Quick Pick is perhaps the Internet's most popular with over 170 lotteries
Keno Quick Pick for the popular game played at many casinos
Coin Flipper will give you heads or tails in many currencies
Dice Roller does exactly what it says on the tin
Playing Card Shuffler will draw cards from multiple shuffled decks
Birdie Fund Generator will create birdie holes for golf courses

Lists and Strings and Maps, Oh My!

List Randomizer will randomize a list of anything you have (names, phone numbers, etc.)
String Generator makes random alphanumeric strings
Password Generator makes secure passwords for your Wi-Fi or that extra Gmail account
iGoogle Password Generator is a handy tool for your iGoogle desktop
Clock Time Generator will pick random times of the day
Calendar Date Generator will pick random days across nearly three and a half millennia
Geographic Coordinate Generator will pick a random spot on our planet's surface
Bitmaps in black and white
Pregenerated Files contain large amounts of downloadable random bits
Pure White Audio Noise for composition or just to test your audio equipment
Jazz Scales to practice improvisation for students of jazz guitar
Samuel Beckett's randomly generated short prose
DNA Protein Sequence Randomizer (at Bio-Web)

Web Tools and Widgets for Your Pages

Integer Widget Wizard will put a mini-RANDOM.ORG on your web page or blog
Draw Widget Wizard will put the result of a paid drawing on your web page or blog
HTTP API to get true random numbers into your own code
Guidelines describe how to avoid getting in trouble
Banned Hosts lists who didn't behave and have been blocked

There are also paid services and links to learn about randomness and statistics.

Random picture
How long will this relationship last?

Finally, from the Urban Dictionary - a definition of "random."

The latest buzzword used amongst mindless teenagers as a way of showing just so utterly irreverent their predictable sense of humour is. Particularly dominant among English teens and University students, the word "random" or the act of being "random" is a desperate plea for others to recognise how totally against the grain of the norm you are and that you're really crazy and out there. Trouble is, being "random" is predictable, boring, moronic and extremely sad indeed.

Opps - maybe I shouldn't tell the other sites about this definition.

Have an organized day!!