In message <9211270003.AA20577@napa.TELEBIT.COM> you write:

Has anyone given any thought to generating random numbers by counting particle emissions from a radioactive source? This might be more reliably random than using purely electronic means.

I don't think that for any given length of random bit string, you'd be practically happy carrying around a suitable source. Thermal noise, which is what you get from a diode, is just as good a random source as radioactive decay. Tony ------------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------+ | Tony Kidson |`morgan' is an 8MB 486/33 Cat-| Voice +44 81 466 5127 | | Morgan Towers, |Warmer with a 670 MB Hard Disk.| E-Mail | | Morgan Road, |It resides at Morgan Towers in| tony@morgan.demon.co.uk | | Bromley, |Beautiful Down Town Bromley. | tny@cix.compulink.co.uk | | England BR1 3QE | -=<*>=- | 100024.301@compuserve.com| +=================+===============================+==========================+