Random vector\Gaussian Noise

Not strictly an opengl question, but from the beginners board someone mentioned that its possible to use Gaussian Noise to generate or randomise a vector (a unit vector). Useful for firing off particles in a particle emitter in different directions. Ideally, I would like to know how to generate a random vector given a seed vector, within a certain angle.

Can anyone help out here?

Thanks.

This was already answered in the beginner’s forum.
http://www.opengl.org/discussion_boards/ubb/Forum2/HTML/008912.html