I've been watching the debate and discussion unfold on usable sources of random data from environments, user actions, etc. I have a vocabulary question (and something of a bone to pick as a mathematician and physicist). Usually, the term "entropy" is being used to characterize one of two different things: (i) random data, as in "300 bits of entropy," and (ii) the "randomness" of data (i.e. high degree of variance in a statistic drawn from it), as in "you can find a lot of entropy in the low order bits of a timed interval between keystrokes." I suspect that there are other shades of meaning intended in other uses as well. This is odd. The term entropy describes an aspect of thermodynamic equlibrium in physical systems. Although sometimes used as a synonym for "random," that definition is vernacular, not technical. In fact, there is no meaningful relationship between "entropy" and random data of the type described in the postings related to seed values. In the presense of a perfectly suitable and precise mathematical term (i.e. random), why invent new terms? Why use them to mean at least two different things? dvw