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TIL the heroines of the first Vietnamese independence movement were two sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, who led a rebellion (in 39-43 AD) against the Chinese Han-dynasty overlords and briefly established an autonomous state. They were finally defeated and committed suicide by drowning.

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VBr1D TIL the reason for something blue as part of the whole marriage tradition of something old, new, borrowed, blue, and a silver sixpence for your shoe, was that blue represents purity and fidelity in a marriage. All the others are centered around protection and good luck for the family in the future.
JY181 Did you wake up today with a craving for clay, or dirt? That’s called pica, an abnormal craving for substances other than typical food. If you went ahead and acted on your impulse, it's probably a good idea to head over to your doctor’s office. Research indicates that in most cases this craving is a result of a mineral or vitamin deficiency. This brings us to this week’s Today I Learned, as National Geographic Society grantee and ornithologist Luke Powell explains why macaws regularly munch on South American rain forest clay. Yummy! All animals (including humans) need salt to live. Animals that live in the Amazon rain forest face a curious predicament due to the way the Andes mountain range affects weather coming from the Pacific Ocean. This geography results in an extreme lack of salt in the Amazon and, consequentially, some unique behaviors and appetites.EDITOR: Laurence AlexanderSERIES PRODUCER: Chris Mattle
W7XPY TIL that the world's longest floating bridge spans Lake Washington in Seattle and is called the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. It is 7,710 feet long, the concrete floating bridge is the longest floating bridge in the world carrying State Route 520 from Seattle to its eastern suburbs.
1ad9V TIL Martin Van Buren is presently the only US President who spoke English as a second language.
X0GXD TIL: That to prepare for the role of Bridget Jones, actress Renée Zellweger worked at London book publishers Picador as a trainee in the publicity department.