› added 10 years ago

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TIL that they used to call it “the calculus” (as in, I’ve studied the calculus, Newton invented the calculus, etc) because “calculus” used to be a generic name for any abstract theory until “the calculus” overshadowed all the other calculuses.

Read more mathworld.wolfram.com

via reddit.com

VO0D TIL Vin Diesel is a huge fan of Dungeons & Dragons, having played it for over 20 years including nights off when he was a bouncer, and wrote the foreward to the commemorative book “30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons”.
loAX1 TIL that Filipino churches built during Spain's colonial period used millions of egg whites in the concrete to make it more durable. This is also why Filipino desserts often use lots of egg yolks- many were developed to use up all the extra yolks from construction projects.
JYbMk TIL about cross dominance where each hand is better at different activities. Ex: being a lefty when writing but preferring the right hand for throwing a ball etc.
GYZNE TIL Robert Downey, Jr. started using drugs at age 6 when his father gave him pot. By age 8, he admits he was a drug addict. B/n 1995-2001, he cycled through arrests, rehab & prison. Sober since 2001, he became the highest-paid actor 2013-2015 and the 2nd highest-grossing box office star of all time.
kOZ55 TIL a cubic foot of air weighs .08 lbs. A cubic mile of air weighs around 6 million tons! Now, imagine all that moving across the sky - no wonder storms are violent.