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App now has a processing spinner!
That was extremely complicated to add a spinner because I had to create a scope parallel to my screen manager to add it. One change like that rippled through 14 different files... draw update progress bar is now a normal height and not taking up 1/4 of the screen. Ensured that all 3 scripts involved in the update process do not run on the main thread... ALL functions now have zero risk of blocking the main thread! That was an essential requirement for the eventual android version. H...
Jan 21, 2026, 11:04 pm - hypersoniq

Yesterday was the halfway point of the last free week...
Nothing yet. As I proceed with the PA Lottery Results RSS feed scraper, it looks like I have to manually update the big game files to within a few weeks to make it work... that is a pain, but... needs to be done. I am also exploring using their website, as you can get a whole year at once. This would be more powerful help for catching up on the games that were not updated in a long time. Why does PA have to stay in the stone age by NOT having an API? It is MUCH easier to extract dat...
Aug 31, 2025, 6:54 am - hypersoniq

Seed vs seed in Match 6, day 2
The seed only test (also $28) over 7 days is already showing a bias in favor of picking the top 6 numbers regardless of position vs. The top number in each column. The first day had 0 hits, the second day saw a $5 hit on the newer method (top 6 over all). 5 days to go. I will not have a day off until Wednesday, so that will probably be my first opportunity to update the history files of the PB and MM. After the Match 6 test expires, might be worth a short run hea...
Oct 6, 2024, 6:47 am - hypersoniq

The skills built in this hobby were not wasted time
Even though I have seen the writing on the wall about trying to predict lottery numbers as an impossible task, I DID try for myself and not just give up. As it turns out, many of the skills with coding developed over these last 20 years are mostly directly applicable to this new quest to learn bioinformatics. The methods used in scraping the PA website for draw updates made working with actual APIs much easier. I was able to develop a FASTA file parser to read bio data in a few minu...
Apr 14, 2026, 9:42 am - hypersoniq

First 4 challenges complete on the bioinformatics "stronghold".
This is a fun challenge series. While there are simple solutions to these problems given their relatively small size, bioinformatics can scale up past your RAM quickly. I have given myself the extra challenge of making my solutions scalable and mindful of big O (the worst case run scenario). They let you use any language to solve the challenges, and Python is my main one, but I have passed the first 4 challenges using the power of C language subroutines in the Numpy packag...
Apr 6, 2026, 10:09 am - hypersoniq

Switching to Match 6 worked out... $27 on a $2 ticket!
Deciding to get out of week 3 of the pick 5 to chase the now $4,650,000 Match 6 jackpot was worth it. On the ticket, 2 of my numbers picked were drawn, then 3 on the first quick pick line, and 2 on the second quick pick line. The 3 on one line was a return of the $2 spent, and the 7/18 is worth $25. That was running the top of the Markov Chain Follower report... 2 of 6. That could have done better, but one takes what one is given. I would have had 3 of 6 if I viewed the cl...
Mar 9, 2026, 10:18 am - hypersoniq

Lessons learned so far
So, I have learned that every single game history comprises a discrete uniform distribution. Testing with a Chi Square Goodness of fit test verifies that whole histories to single columns of a smaller sample pass this test. Bottom line, whatever the draw method (ball machines or RNG), the data is random enough. Not only are past draws independent, but in the case of pick N games, the positions are also independent. Think about that... the pick 3 history is completely diff...
Feb 27, 2026, 1:16 pm - hypersoniq

So, why have 2 versions of this app?
The first reason was validating the data, the check for the same exact data display on both platforms was an easy confirmation that this works on Windows and Android. The main goal was to gain experience in creating an application that was truly cross platform. There are no missing or watered down features when going from laptop to phone, it is line by line the same code! And with the ability to view both programs running side by side, I can now view both classifier AND fo...
Feb 18, 2026, 7:14 am - hypersoniq

How I see draw histories
I keep draw histories to use for developing systems. I do not view these as a model of the data produced by the mechanical or PRNG process (or in PA, BOTH). I view it as a collection of the results they paid on. Every single state lottery runs test draws, some even publish the results. I place no value in this data because the state never intended to pay on those results. Power Ball used to publish test draw data. Up until the end of last year, I excluded PA double draw da...
Jan 25, 2026, 10:40 am - hypersoniq

Happy 2026 everyone! The goals for this year...
So, going to try and play for the whole year. $14/wk budget. Cycle is 10 weeks (4 weeks of PA Match 6, 3 of pick 3 and 3 of pick 5), so that will be 5.2 complete cycles. 52 weeks @ $14 per is $728, so the expense is known. First week is the match 6, so the running tab is so far -$14 On the coding front, I made some big strides last year on creating my first GUI program for windows, so the 2026 goal is to finish the windows app, then recreate it for android. Time...
Jan 1, 2026, 10:32 am - hypersoniq