› added 4 years ago

144

TIL: Plato's real name was Aristocles, and that 'Plato' was a nickname (roughly 'the broad') derived either from the width of his shoulders, the results of training for wrestling, or from the breadth of his style, or from the size of his forehead.

Read more mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk

via reddit.com

x6jMo TIL: Shell created scenarios called Scramble and Blueprint to deal with dwindling energy resources by 2050. Written in 2008, 15 years later the Scramble scenario has proven scarily accurate.
MgEW TIL following the Volstead Act that began the Prohibition, crime rose by 24%, drug addiction by 44%, and federal expenditure on prisons rose by a staggering 1000%
erlk TIL Tattoos consist of pigment particles suspended in the skin that are permanent because they are too big to be removed by the body. Laser treatment causes tattoo pigment particles to heat up and fragment into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces are then removed by normal body processes.
jG7n TIL Abraham Lincoln is in the wrestling hall of fame, losing only one out of about 300 matches and once challenged an entire crowd of onlookers after dispatching an opponent: “I’m the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns.”
N7Xde TIL that Russian dolls aren't even really Russian and were imported from Asia in the 19th century