  By algebraic group theory, there is a map from the semisimple conjugacy
classes of a finite group of Lie type to the conjugacy classes of the Weyl
group. Picking a semisimple class uniformly at random yields a probability
measure on conjugacy classes of the Weyl group. Using the Brauer complex, it is
proved that this measure agrees with a second measure on conjugacy classes of
the Weyl group induced by a construction of Cellini using the affine Weyl
group. Formulas for Cellini's measure in type $A$ are found. This leads to new
models of card shuffling and has interesting combinatorial and number theoretic
consequences. An analysis of type C gives another solution to a problem of
Rogers in dynamical systems: the enumeration of unimodal permutations by cycle
structure. The proof uses the factorization theory of palindromic polynomials
over finite fields. Contact is made with symmetric function theory.
