Ancient Wisdom or Legume Lunacy? The Philosopher Who Feared Beans More Than Death
Pythagoras (yes, the one responsible for making high school geometry a nightmare) had a dark secret. He wasn’t just a mathematical genius; he was also utterly and irrationally terrified of beans. Specifically, fava beans. And not just in an I-don’t-like-their-texture kind of way. He believed they were portals to the underworld, conduits for lost souls, and, perhaps most offensively, they caused distracting gases. Legend has it that Pythagoras was so committed to avoiding beans that, when fleeing from attackers, he and his followers refused to run through a blooming fava bean field. Instead of making their great escape, they chose to stand and fight. Spoiler alert: It didn’t end well for them. THE PHILOSOPHER VS. THE BEAN So, why was Pythagoras so scared of a simple legume? One of the more eyebrow-raising explanations is that he believed fava beans bore an uncanny resemblance to human reproductive organs. Apparently, the connection was so strong in his mind that he once declared, “Eating beans and eating the head of one’s parents are the same thing.” That is quite the leap, even for a philosopher.
Another theory suggests Pythagoras believed beans were literal doors to the underworld. He wasn’t alone in this, as the ancient Greeks and Romans were suspicious of fava beans, perhaps because they could cause a rare and severe genetic reaction called favism. Unbeknownst to the ancients, some people (especially in Mediterranean regions) have a genetic deficiency that makes fava beans potentially deadly. So, weirdly, Pythagoras may have been onto something, but not for the reasons he thought . THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE GOLDEN THIGH Of course, bean phobia wasn’t Pythagoras’s only claim to strangeness. His followers believed he was a demigod, possibly the son of Hermes or Apollo. They claimed he could tame wild animals just by speaking to them and that he had the power to write messages on the Moon. But the most outrageous legend? He supposedly had a golden thigh . He would flash his shimmering leg whenever someone doubted his divine status and instantly gain a new believer. And yet, despite all this mysticism, Pythagoras’s biggest fear was beans. This just goes to show that even history’s greatest minds had their odd quirks; some were just more odd than others.
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If you plan to sell an investment property, chances are that capital gains taxes are on your mind. With how real estate values have climbed in recent years, owners often walk away with a nice profit, but it also comes with a tax bill. The good news is that a 1031 exchange can give you a way to hold onto your gains while building your portfolio. HOW IT WORKS The concept is fairly simple. Instead of selling one investment property, paying taxes, and buying another, a 1031 exchange lets you defer those capital gains by rolling them directly into a new property. As long as the replacement property is of equal or greater value and you follow the right process, the taxes are deferred until a future sale. The approach is similar to a 401(k) rollover in that you avoid immediate taxation if you keep the funds invested. WHY IT’S POPULAR IN TODAY’S MARKET Using a 1031 exchange has become increasingly popular. Today, many investors utilize it to trade up. For instance, some sell smaller condos
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