Tangentially related story - Steve benner was the researcher whose work inspired me to go to grad school; during the 2017 eclipse I travelled with a friend to a remote mountain in the path if totality to observe it; on the way down I ran into Steve benner (there were about 6-8 people on the mountain that day), and was left wondering if sometimes serendipitous meetings are instead the result of similar deductive processes in activity selection and not serendipity at all.