Selecting a "random" quotation

Here is some code I use to select a "random" quotation to put an a web
page. It changes every 4 hours.

/**
* 86,400,000 the number of milliseconds in 24 hour day. Easily
fits into an int.
* We change the quotations every 4 hours, UTC.
*/
private static final int CHANGE_INTERVAL_IN_MILLIS = 4 * 60 * 60 *
1000;



final Adler32 digester = new Adler32();
int seed = ( int ) ( System.currentTimeMillis() /
CHANGE_INTERVAL_IN_MILLIS );
/// digester.update(int) not clearly documented, probably
wants ubyte.
digester.update( ( byte ) ( seed & 0xff ) );
digester.update( ( byte ) ( ( seed >>> 8 ) & 0xff ) );
digester.update( ( byte ) ( ( seed >>> 16 ) & 0xff ) );
digester.update( ( byte ) ( ( seed >>> 24 ) & 0xff ) );
digester.update( fileBeingProcessed.getPath().getBytes(
"UTF-8" ) );

// get rid of high sign bit, and low bit, which seem to be
1 disproportionately.
final int digest = (( ( int ) digester.getValue() ) << 1)
2;
final String[] candidates = category.getQuotations();

final String chosenQuote = candidates[ digest %
candidates.length ];

However it often SEEMS to sometimes pick the same quote for two
different pages, more often than I would intutitively think it would.

Further it SEEMS to favour certain quotes in the collection. I wonder
if this just my imagination, or there is some flaw in the algorithm.

--

Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com
.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: More on the geocentrism issue
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