Tails of the Unexpected: "Normality has been an accepted wisdom in economics and finance for a century or more. Yet in real-world systems, nothing could be less normal than normality. Tails should not be unexpected, for they are the rule." An eminently human-readable explanation of why normal models fail to describe the uncertainties of our abnormal world. [more inside]
posted by ecmendenhall on Jun 9, 2012 - 19 comments

Global British Columbia Sports Anchor Barry Deley wins lotto home draw, live on his own TV channel. But it turns out he's got an even more personal connection to the lottery.
posted by Potomac Avenue on Nov 3, 2011 - 78 comments

One of the better online random dungeon generators out there. Scroll down a bit to see it. You can change the size and learn more about it from the home page. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 5, 2010 - 80 comments

What does randomness look like? Random Walk asks this question and presents experiments in mathematics and physics, showing the mysterious interaction of chaos and order in randomness. via Information Aethetics, obviously.
posted by signal on May 30, 2009 - 21 comments

Digital Poetics is a film blog with a proposal for an interesting experiment called 10/40/70: write a film review of a DVD with three screen captures taken at arbitrary intervals (10, 40, 70 minutes into the film) and see how it changes the way you look at films. This 10/40/70 approach has led to some interesting interpretations of The Conversation, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Blue Velvet, Godard's Vivre Sa Vie, and 12 Angry Men, as well as a contrarian appreciation of Hudson Hawk. The blog Spectacular Attractions has even upped the ante by using a random number generator to determine where to select screen caps. Results include Jaws Randomised and This Is Spinal Tap Randomised with Two Brains. It's like Dogme 95, but for film bloggers.
posted by jonp72 on Mar 27, 2009 - 20 comments

Dylan Thomas, the wonderful Welsh poet, has been mentioned on the blue before. Now the BBC provide a Dylan Thomas Random Poem Generator. Bravo! [more inside]
posted by fcummins on Dec 31, 2008 - 4 comments

Quantum Mechanics: Myths and Facts (pdf), a recently-updated paper on the Cornell arXiv peer-review site. By Hrvoje Nikolić of the Rudjer Bošković Institute in Croatia. [more inside]
posted by XMLicious on Feb 25, 2008 - 47 comments

RANDOM.ORG offers true random numbers to anyone on the Internet. The randomness comes from atmospheric noise. Also has subsites such as a coin flipper, dice roller and a jazz scale generator.
posted by Kattullus on Aug 28, 2007 - 11 comments

Superbad. I'd forgotten what an evil time-waster this site is. OK, maybe you haven't. Yes, it's a double. But it's an OLD double.
posted by dersins on Mar 21, 2006 - 37 comments

The mystery of Qwert Shmarble--solved! If you've ever wondered how stunningly useful items like Qwert Shmarble end up on Amazon, here's the inside story, from the former Amazon temp who wrote the user manual to the NM-156 Reciprocating Emu Press.
posted by yankeefog on Dec 5, 2005 - 16 comments