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When purportedly random processes give rise to surprisingly nonrandom outcomes, how can one tell whether the process are truly random? One way exploits the relatively little-known method of runs. We discuss the perplexing probability problem that brought this procedure to our attention, and our experimental tests of random processes produced by (a) numerical algorithm, (b) coin selection, and (c) nuclear decay.

The minds of physicists are curious things, populated by multitudes of weird and wonderful creatures with wild names bearing meaning only to physicists. In this odd world, we meet Red Giants, Black Holes, Dwarves, and Quarks.