› added 12 years ago

92

TIL that a Magical Negro is a plot device used in American fiction where a black stock character offers his or her wisdom, insight, or magical powers to help a troubled, white main character

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

4kkYg TIL Fool's gold a.k.a. the mineral pyrite can naturally form into artificial looking shiny cubes.
R5kKa TIL about lava crickets, crickets that make their home in cooled lava and drink seafoam to survive
xVp40 TIL: Ernest Hemingway ended up being quarantined for most of the Summer with his wife and his mistress in 1926
QJrNp TIL of the "Pioneering Spirit", the world's largest ship (by gross tonnage)
x66aw TIL that one of the most elite army units in ancient Greece consisted exclusively of gay male couples, making them fight harder because they knew that their partner would likely die as well if they lost the battle