Random number interview question gets hilarious answer: requisition a NOAA weather balloon
BlancheMinerva · x · 2026-10-17
A classic programmer interview question resurfaced: implement uniform random selection from an array without built-in functions. The viral reply: "Well, first I'd call NOAA and explain I needed to requisition one of their weather balloons" — using atmospheric turbulence as a physical source of true randomness instead of a pseudo-random generator.
The joke's charm is answering an algorithm question with absurd over-engineering, while also highlighting the difference between pseudo-random and physically random numbers.
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