>In particular, I see no reason to highlight the US Debt vs. that of >other countries or regions other than as a political statement. The US debt has many digits, and is published regularly by an agency with a tradition of not fudging the data. It's a perfectly reasonable source of randomness. It's a large number because the US is a large rich country. I suppose the Japanese debt might be a usable substitute for next time, since it's also a large rich country with a large debt. R's, John