XKCD | Website February 9, 2007

::: spoiler Alt Text
RFC 1149.5 specifies 4 as the standard IEEE-vetted random number.
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int getRandomNumber()
{
	return 4;	//chosen by fair dice roll.
					// guaranteed to be random.
}

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The prophet has spoken. The holy scripture has once again proven itself. What more do you non-believers need? All hail xkcd!

While I agree XKCD is powerful, a prophet or a demigod even, my faith belongs to the Weinersmith.

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.

Probably the key was inspired from this instead

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

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.

69…. Check…. 420… check… six seven??? Check…. 4…. Check

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.

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.