diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9fef1ca..45b3c62 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,10 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Highest priority:
 
-- Continue to refine the 'barbs' example, which broke some new ground.
 - Implement the continuous parametric transformations from 2020-05-07
   in my notes.  This will require some new abstractions.
-- Try some non-deterministic examples.
 - Get identical or near-identical meshes to `ramhorn_branch` from
   Python.  (Should just be a matter of tweaking parameters.)
 - Look at performance.
@@ -26,17 +24,6 @@
 
 ## Important but less critical:
 
-- Elegance & succinctness:
-  - Clean up `ramhorn_branch` because it's ugly.
-  - What patterns can I factor out?  I do some things regularly, like:
-    the clockwise boundaries, the zigzag connections.
-  - Declarative macro to shorten this `Tag::Parent`, `Tag::Body`
-    nonsense - and perhaps force to groups of 3?  Does this have any
-    value, though, over just making helper functions like `p(...)` and
-    `b(...)`?
-  - I'm near certain a declarative macros can simplify some bigger
-    things like my patterns with closures (e.g. the Y combinator like
-    method for recursive calls).
 - Docs on modules
 - Compute global scale factor, and perhaps pass it to a rule (to
   eventually be used for, perhaps, adaptive subdivision).  Note that
@@ -54,7 +41,6 @@
 
 ## If I'm bored:
 
-- Fix links in tri_mesh docs that use relative paths & do a PR?
 - Look in https://www.nalgebra.org/quick_reference/# for "pour
   obtain".  Can I fix this somehow?  Looks like a French-ism that made
   its way in.
@@ -70,26 +56,8 @@
 
 ## Research Areas
 
-- When I have an iterated transform, that is basically transforming by
-  M, MM=M^2, MMM=M^3, ..., and it seems to me that I should be able to
-  compute its eigendecomposition and use this to compute fractional
-  powers of the matrix.  Couldn't I then determine the continuous
-  function I'm approximating by taking the `d/di (M^i)V` - i.e. the
-  partial derivative of the result of transforming a vector `V` with
-  `M^i`?  (See also:
-  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigendecomposition_of_a_matrix#Functional_calculus
-  and my 2020-04-20 paper notes.  My 2020-04-24 org notes have some
-  things too - this relates to dynamical systems and eigenvalues.)
-  Later note: I have a feeling I was dead wrong about a bunch of this.
-
 ## Reflections & Quick Notes
 
-- My old Python version composed rules in the opposite order and I
-  think this made things more complicated.  I didn't realize that I
-  did it differently in this code, but it became much easier -
-  particularly, more "inner" transformations are much easier to write
-  because all that matters is that they work properly in the
-  coordinate space they inherit.
 - Generalizing to space curves moves this away from the "discrete
   automata" roots, but it still ends up needing the machinery I made
   for discrete automata.
diff --git a/src/examples.rs b/src/examples.rs
index 8090c7f..f2071c9 100644
--- a/src/examples.rs
+++ b/src/examples.rs
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ pub fn cube_thing() -> Rule<()> {
 }
 */
 
-pub fn barbs() -> Rule<()> {
+pub fn barbs(random: bool) -> Rule<()> {
 
     let (b0, bn);
     let base_verts: Vec<VertexUnion> = vec_indexed![
@@ -60,9 +60,24 @@ pub fn barbs() -> Rule<()> {
         @bn,
     ];
 
-    let barb_incr = id().translate(0.0, 0.0, 0.5).
-        rotate(&Vector3::y_axis(), -0.2).
-        scale(0.8);
+    let barb_incr = |random| {
+        if random {
+            let t = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(0.45, 0.55);
+            let s = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(0.7, 0.9);
+            let ry = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(-0.3, -0.1);
+            let rx = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(-0.04, 0.04);
+            let rz = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(-0.04, 0.04);
+            id().translate(0.0, 0.0, t).
+                rotate(&Vector3::y_axis(), ry).
+                rotate(&Vector3::x_axis(), rx).
+                rotate(&Vector3::z_axis(), rz).
+                scale(s)
+        } else {
+            id().translate(0.0, 0.0, 0.5).
+                rotate(&Vector3::y_axis(), -0.2).
+                scale(0.8)
+        }
+    };
 
     let barb = rule_fn!(() => |self_, base_verts| {
         let mut next_verts = base_verts;
@@ -74,10 +89,12 @@ pub fn barbs() -> Rule<()> {
             faces: vec![ 0, 2, 1,   0, 3, 2 ],
         };
 
+        let b = barb_incr(random);
+
         RuleEval {
-            geom: Rc::new(geom.transform(&barb_incr)),
+            geom: Rc::new(geom.transform(&b)),
             final_geom: Rc::new(final_geom), // no transform needed (no vertices)
-            children: vec![ child_iter!(self_, barb_incr, b0..bn) ],
+            children: vec![ child_iter!(self_, b, b0..bn) ],
         }
     });
 
@@ -86,10 +103,23 @@ pub fn barbs() -> Rule<()> {
         rotate(&Vector3::y_axis(), -FRAC_PI_2).
         translate(0.5, 0.0, 0.5)
     };
-    let main_incr = id().translate(0.0, 0.0, 1.0).
-        rotate(&Vector3::z_axis(), 0.15).
-        rotate(&Vector3::x_axis(), 0.1).
-        scale(0.95);
+    let main_incr = |random| {
+        if random {
+            let t = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(0.75, 1.25);
+            let s = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(0.85, 1.10);
+            let rz = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(0.05, 0.25);
+            let rx = rand::thread_rng().gen_range(0.08, 0.12);
+            id().translate(0.0, 0.0, 1.0).
+                rotate(&Vector3::z_axis(), rz).
+                rotate(&Vector3::x_axis(), rx).
+                scale(s)
+        } else {
+            id().translate(0.0, 0.0, 1.0).
+                rotate(&Vector3::z_axis(), 0.15).
+                rotate(&Vector3::x_axis(), 0.1).
+                scale(0.95)
+        }
+    };
 
     let main = rule_fn!(() => |self_, base_verts| {
         let mut next_verts = base_verts;
@@ -107,7 +137,7 @@ pub fn barbs() -> Rule<()> {
             geom: Rc::new(geom),
             final_geom: Rc::new(final_geom),
             children: vec![
-                child_iter!(self_, main_incr, b0..bn),
+                child_iter!(self_, main_incr(random), b0..bn),
                 child!(rule!(barb, ()), main_barb_xf(0), b0 + 0, b0 + 1, a0 + 1, a0 + 0),
                 child!(rule!(barb, ()), main_barb_xf(1), b0 + 1, b0 + 2, a0 + 2, a0 + 1),
                 child!(rule!(barb, ()), main_barb_xf(2), b0 + 2, b0 + 3, a0 + 3, a0 + 2),
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 5830c6a..ace188b 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -75,8 +75,10 @@ mod tests {
     */
 
     #[test]
-    fn barbs() { run_test(examples::barbs(), 80, "barbs", false); }
+    fn barbs() { run_test(examples::barbs(false), 80, "barbs", false); }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn barbs_random() { run_test(examples::barbs(true), 80, "barbs_random", false); }
     /*
     #[test]
     fn twist() {