Anonymous A (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later[^][v]#843,629
shuffle dem cocks
Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 5 minutes after the original post[^][v]#843,631
Perhaps you have wondered how predictable machines like computers can generate randomness. In reality, most random numbers used in computer programs are pseudo-random, which means they are generated in a predictable fashion using a mathematical formula. This is fine for many purposes, but it may not be random in the way you expect if you're used to dice rolls and lottery drawings.
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 8 minutes later, 13 minutes after the original post[^][v]#843,633
@previous (B)
Right, but is it even less random than that? Because shuffle seems to turn up newer topics a lot more than older ones.
Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 10 minutes later, 24 minutes after the original post[^][v]#843,634
@previous (A)
Yeah I just hit shuffle about ten times and got nothing older than a year. I wonder why that is. I bet r04r deviously plotted to make us all see only recent posts for reasons far beyond our mere human comprehension.
(Edited 1 minute later.)
r04r joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 4 minutes later, 29 minutes after the original post[^][v]#843,635
It only returns unlocked topics. Topics older than a year are automatically locked. Those topics are shuffled randomly by the database engine.
Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU replied with this 8 years ago, 9 minutes later, 38 minutes after the original post[^][v]#843,636
@previous (r04r)
That was going to be my twelfth guess.
Big Daddy Derek™ !Uvm54ORbmo joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 19 minutes later, 57 minutes after the original post[^][v]#843,637
@843,631 (B)
Just sample values from an analog white noise source, you neckbeard. Thanks.
Anonymous F joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 15 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^][v]#843,642
@previous (Big Daddy Derek™ !Uvm54ORbmo)
It can be hard to find a good source of randomness.
I usually just shout "Roll 1d10 damage!" into the basement. The D&D group that has been playing continuously down there since 1983 will begin shouting out random digits, arguing about them, and re-rolling them. This usually gives me enough to work with for generating random numbers.
Anonymous G joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 3 hours later, 4 hours after the original post[^][v]#843,685
Anonymous B replied with this 8 years ago, 3 hours later, 8 hours after the original post[^][v]#843,744
@843,637 (Big Daddy Derek™ !Uvm54ORbmo)
how exactly would that be implemented in the minichan shuffle feature??
squeegee joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 17 minutes later, 8 hours after the original post[^][v]#843,752
@843,631 (B)
hey, i just read about that yesterday and how cloudfare uses a wall of lava lamps to produce entropy which is used as a source to randomize seed generation for their encryption. otherwise it's a pseudorandom number generator. which actually makes it susceptible to physical attacks, like shining a laser into the camera watching the lava lamps to generate a specific seed. kinda neat. i guess you could use other chaotic systems to generate random seeds, like the trajectory of a double pendulum. apparently radioactive decay can also be used to randomize seeds.
oh, and actually the most useful one mentioned was the power supply, so the power draw fluctuates, and actually i think they mentioned that the source of power can fluctuate very slightly just because of how power grids work, so there's some truly random information that can be used to produce a seed to randomize the RNG.
the computer clock is also a good source for random seed generation to feed RNG, but that's no good for encryption because it's easily spoofed and the whole random number generation can be replicated. its quick and dirty RNG that works for most things was my takeaway.
Big Daddy Derek™ !Uvm54ORbmo replied with this 8 years ago, 25 seconds later, 8 hours after the original post[^][v]#843,753
@843,744 (B)
Using a combination of an noise generator and an sample and hold circuit, connected to voltage meter and triggered by a big red button. When someone clicks on "shuffle", an alarm is activated which signals the admin or mod whom is on duty to press the big red button, triggering the sample and hold circuit and causing an random value to be displayed on the voltage meter. This value will then be converted to a thread URL, which will be relayed to the user via PM. Thanks.
(Edited 2 minutes later.)
FuckAlms !vX8K53rFBI joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 2 hours later, 10 hours after the original post[^][v]#843,802
@previous (Big Daddy Derek™ !Uvm54ORbmo)
Why would a mod/admin need to push the button? Get a robot to do it.
Big Daddy Derek™ !Uvm54ORbmo replied with this 8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 10 hours after the original post[^][v]#843,804
@previous (FuckAlms !vX8K53rFBI)
Sometimes it's important to have the human touch.
Anonymous J joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 14 hours later, 1 day after the original post[^][v]#843,936