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From: jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: /dev/null: The final frontier
Message-ID: <4032@teddy.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 22-May-87 11:06:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: teddy.4032
Posted: Fri May 22 11:06:21 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 23-May-87 15:50:41 EDT
References: <100@upas.UUCP> <1519@megatest.UUCP>
Reply-To: jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson)
Distribution: world
Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
Lines: 10

While it is true that bytes that are written to /dev/null go into the
bit bucket, it is not true that servicemen need to empty the bit bucket
periodically as long as the user community helps out a bit.  The
bitbucket is drawn upon by programs which use the "rand" and "random"
function interfaces.  Each call draws 16 or 32 bits out of the bit bucket.

There is a REASON why games like "rogue" and "backgammon" come with
unix:  Playing them helps to empty out the bit bucket.  Make sure you
play at least one hour of games a day, or the bit bucket may overflow
(this can cause your computer to blow up, so be careful out there!)