Food for Thought
Gravitational Gleanings
Gravitational physics is what I specialize in. What are some of the coolest things, in my opinion, in gravity?
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Eccentricities in Gravitational Wave Binaries
Why does eccentricity matter in compact binary systems if orbits circularize before merger? A walkthrough of orbital …
Jun 1, 2024
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Why Gravitational Radiation Starts at the Quadrupole
An intuitive walkthrough of why monopolar and dipolar gravitational radiation don't exist, and why the quadrupole is the …
Jan 1, 2024
Probabilistic Ponderings
I work with data analysis and probability daily. But how much can I really apply it?
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P. Winkler
· Apr 2026
100 people board a plane. The first person lost their boarding pass and picks a random seat. Everyone else sits in their assigned seat if available, or picks randomly. What’s the probability the last person sits correctly?
02
D. Knuth
· Apr 2026
Mr. Smith works on the 13th floor of a 15-floor building. The elevator cycles 1, 2, …, 15, 14, …, 2, 1, … continuously. At 5pm it almost always goes up when it arrives. Why? For n elevators, find P(first one seen goes up).
Whimsical Wonderings
Using the most random thoughts I get to strengthen my mind to do back-of-the-envelope calculations.