
Beans Were an Ancient Egyptian Emblem of Death - smollett
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/favism-fava-beans
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hprotagonist
this relates to one of my favorite hidden fart jokes in capital-L Literature.

from Moby Dick,

 _For as in this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from
astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim), so for the most
part the Commodore on the quarter-deck gets his atmosphere at second hand from
the sailors on the forecastle. He thinks he breathes it first; but not so._

~~~
scandinavegan
English is my second language, but couldn't this just mean that the sailors
inhale and exhale the air first, before it reaches the quarter deck? It talks
about "breathing it first", but you don't fart out air you've breathed in,
it's gas from the digestive system.

~~~
DFHippie
That's most of it, but note the mention of the "Pythagorean maxim". The fart
joke is an aside, not the main thrust of the passage.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
What's the "Pythagorean maxim"?

~~~
meko
Don't eat beans

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yareally
The pesky house sparrow was also the hieroglyph for misfortune. The nearly
identical swallow hieroglyph meant good.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_(hieroglyph)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_\(hieroglyph\))

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0xbadf00d
This reminded me of an article I read about the "Pythagorean" diet which not
only excluded meat but also beans. Can't find the exact citation but summary
with [https://brooklynbrainery.com/blog/pythagoras-the-superior-
ve...](https://brooklynbrainery.com/blog/pythagoras-the-superior-
vegetariansimilar) content here:

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woogiewonka
TIL Favism.

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mastrsushi
Is there a way I can filter out posts like this? I go to HackerNews to avoid
the meaningless buzz posts of Reddit, while everyday it feels more like it.

~~~
DanAndersen
You may be interested in using [http://hnapp.com/](http://hnapp.com/) to set
up a custom filter. It can create an RSS feed with your custom filter.

