Hi, Is it not a bit harsh to overwrite the "parent" state of this variable with something that never generates random numbers? I mean; say -- security etc.? I mean, we start with making sure RANDOM is a bit more RANDOM than usual: ;; Make RANDOM, well, random. (setf *random-state* (make-random-state t)) ..and we trust this will stay so, even for threads -- based on the 3 points mentioned here: http://www.sbcl.org/manual/Special-Variables.html#Special-Variables ..especially the first point, but then we end up with: SW> (bt:make-thread (lambda () (format t "~A~%" (random 1000)))) 464 #<SB-THREAD:THREAD FINISHED values: NIL {BBB2001}> SW> (bt:make-thread (lambda () (format t "~A~%" (random 1000)))) 464 #<SB-THREAD:THREAD FINISHED values: NIL {BC487D1}> ..and we have cross-session security problems and what not pop up... :( (..i know it is a pseudo random generator, but it is "good enough" for my uses when set to T and combined with something from /dev/random from time to time..) -- Lars Rune Nøstdal http://nostdal.org/