Skip to main content

Daily Tidbits

An alien joke, an alien poem, a scientist spotlight, and a number-theory fact — fresh every day.

Sep 1, 2026

🛸 Daily joke

Why are binary star systems such terrible places for a first date? There is always a second party involved.

📜 Daily poem

The Gravity Tug

A sudden bend in the velvet dark, A gravitational, whip-like arc. Centrifugal pull, a dizzying spin, As the slingshot effect begins. Pressed to my seat, a light-speed blur, Where the stars and the nebulae purr.

🔭 Scientist spotlight

George Dantzig 1920–2005 · Mathematics and Operations Research

George Dantzig is famously known for his accidental discovery of two famous problems in statistics. While arriving late to a graduate statistics class, he mistook two unsolved homework problems for standard exercises and proceeded to solve them. His work became foundational to the development of the simplex algorithm, a cornerstone of modern linear programming.

🔢 Number theory fact

The Art of Remainder Reconstruction

The Chinese Remainder Theorem allows you to find a single unknown number if you only know its remainders when divided by several different integers. It essentially proves that if you have enough pieces of a mathematical puzzle, you can reconstruct the original whole perfectly.