XKCD | Website February 9, 2007

Alt TextRFC 1149.5 specifies 4 as the standard IEEE-vetted random number.

Transcript

int getRandomNumber()
{
	return 4;	//chosen by fair dice roll.
					// guaranteed to be random.
}

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[–] 25 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The mistake was to pre-roll the dice. Security could have been greatly improved by providing the randomness as a service, with the developer being paid a monthly fee to roll the dice for each function call.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

    Amazon did it. Cheap repetitive work for low wages and a slighting name for its workers, too!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Mechanical_Turk

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    Such a fitting name... telling people that they are worse than slaves, mere cogs in their machine and still they have no choice but to turn.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    I mean, the Mechanical Turk was actually a chess master who was pulling strings and levers under the table while seeing the chess field through mirrors. So it never was a machine and merely just a ruse. So the name is a bit less grim in that aspect, but it definitively doesn't change the inhuman work involved in it. Also, doesn't Lavarand exist?

    And a fun fact: the Mechanical Turk is the reason the German word "getürkt" (meaning "faked", "doctored") exists.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago

    And a fun fact: the Mechanical Turk is the reason the German word "getürkt" (meaning "faked", "doctored") exists.

    TIL. That's better than the racist explanation. Still won't use the phrase for the risk of being misunderstood.

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