Did you know, Linux has an 'entropy pool' that collects randomness from its environment, in order to be able to give you good random numbers when you need them.

It collects things like the timings between key presses, and the retrieval time of internet access, as the lower-order bits of these (eg. the hundredths of a second) are likely to be randomly distributed.

It can even run out of randomness, and revert to a more predictable state, giving you only pseudo-random numbers generated by algorithm.

I only tell you this because when I first read about this entropy pool it struck me that humans are much the same. If you've been isolated for a long time, without having to deal with random strangeness and nonsense, then you start to feel a bit predictable. It's depressing to be able to tell what you're going to do at any given moment, far more exciting to constantly surprise yourself with your quick-thinking quirkiness when you have a healthy entropy pool to draw on.

Get out there and soak up some randomness!

This post was originally on LiveJournal.