title: MYSQL insert random from list
body: <p>I would like to add a random value to a table. While I know how to add random integers within a range, I am currently stumped on how to add a randomly selected item from a list.</p>
  
  <p>Let's say I have a MYSQL table for IM accounts. I would like to fill it with random data.</p>
  
  <pre><code>INSERT INTO `im` (`im`, `service`)
  SELECT LOWER(`last`), RANDOM-SELECTION-HERE
  FROM `contact`;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What this query should do is add to the IM table the contact's last name with a random selection from an array I would give. For example, the array would be:</p>
  
  <pre><code>['AIM', 'ICQ', 'MSN', 'Yahoo', 'GTalk', 'Other']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, I would like to add the users last name plus one of the random items from the array.</p>
  
  <p><strong>NOTE: <em>I know this is fully possible with a programming language such as PHP, Perl, etc., but I am not trying to do that. Please try to provide a way to do this strictly with MYSQL.</em></strong></p>