Episode notes
Alex Schmidt is joined by bestselling author Jason Pargin (‘John Dies At The End’ series, ‘Zoey Ashe’ series) for a look at why random numbers are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.
LINKS FOR THE GUESTS:
RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
RESEARCH SOURCES:
- Wake Up, Sheeple: There’s No Real Difference Between Powerball and Mega Millions (Slate)
- Mega Millions “How To Play” page
- These are the odds you’ll win tonight’s $350 million Powerball jackpot (CNBC)
- Powerball, Mega Millions winners: 10 biggest lottery jackpots in history (ABC 7 San Francisco)
- Granddad Says He Won $344 Million Lotto Jackpot Thanks to Fortune Cookie (Vice)
- Identical winning numbers crop up in hundreds of U.S. lotteries. Are the drawings really random? (Des Moines Register)
- How much money do slot machines make? (WinkSlots)
- There are more ways to arrange a deck of cards than there are atoms on Earth (McGill University)
- Why six digit PINs are no better for security than four digits (Electronics Weekly)
- Will Entering Your PIN in Reverse at an ATM Summon the Police? — FALSE (Snopes)
- Random Numbers: Nothing Left to Chance (American Mathematical Society)
- How Computers Generate Random Numbers (How-To Geek)
- Intel Digital Random Number Generator(DRNG) Software Implementation Guide
- HotBits: Genuine random numbers, generated by radioactive decay
- The Race to Build a Computer Powerful Enough to Predict the Future (Slate)
- This Quantum Computer Can See the Future — All 16 of Them (LiveScience)
- Hollywood Flashback: An Ice Cream Man Hacked ‘Press Your Luck’ in 1984 (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Who Wants To Be a Thousandaire? (Damn Interesting)
- Wikimedia Commons upload of a diagram of the ‘Press Your Luck’ board’s weaknesses
- The Man Who Got No Whammies (Priceonomics)
- Lottery Codebreaker Shares Scratch-Off Secrets (NPR Weekend Edition)
- PDF of consultants’ report on how Mohan Srivastava beat the Ontario scratch-off lottery
- MapFight: Ontario vs Texas
- McMillion$ (HBO)
In this episode...
Guests
- Jason Pargin
About the show
A weekly podcast about the history, science, lore and surprises that make everyday things secretly incredibly fascinating. Hosted by comedy writer, emoji creator, and ‘Jeopardy!‘ champion Alex Schmidt. Join Alex & his co-host Katie Goldin for a joyful deep dive into seeing the world a whole new way!
Get in touch with the show
@sifpod
@sifpod
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