"James F. Marshall" <marshall@ibm.net> writes:
On Tue, 18 Nov 1997 16:36:08 -0500, Edupage Editors wrote:
RANDOMLY GROOVY Scientists at Silicon Graphics have taken the mesmerizing flow of the lava lamp to the next level of utility -- using the favorite fixtures of the '60s to generate truly random numbers, something computers cannot do. The process involves using a digital camera to snap periodic shots of six oozing cylinders, combining those images with electronic noise and converting it into 1s and 0s, and then using the Secure Hash Algorithm from the National Institute of Standards and Technologies to compress and scramble the binary string to create a seed value for a standard random-number generator. (Scientific American Nov 97)
How do I implement this at home? ;*)
I've got a lava lamp as well as a wave machine. I have grave doubts that they're very random. I think I see recurring patterns, making the bit stream somewhat predictable. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps