The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains, it flows south into Washington, then turns west to form most of that state's border with Oregon before emptying into the Pacific, 1,243 miles (2,000 km) from its source. By volume it is the fourth-largest river in the US and the largest in North America that enters the Pacific. The river system hosts salmon and other fish that migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. In the late 18th century, a private American ship became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river. Overland explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic but treacherous Columbia River Gorge. Railroads were built in the valley in the late 19th century, many running along the river. Since the early 20th century, the river has been dammed for power generation, navigation, irrigation, and flood control. The 14 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia (Bonneville Dam pictured), the Snake River, and the Columbia's other tributaries produce more than 44 percent of total US hydroelectric power. (Full article...)
... that when Brasheedah Elohim(pictured) signed with an Israeli women's basketball team in 2007, her unusual surname prompted local media to quip, "God has arrived in Israel"?
... that Ursula K. Le Guin's 1971 novel The Tombs of Atuan tells the coming-of-age story of a female character, a choice unusual to fantasy of the time?
... that Dutch-Jewish lawyer Abel Herzberg and his wife were moved by train from Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, liberated by the Soviets in May, survived typhoid, and arrived back in Amsterdam in June?
... that Coney Island's Cannon Coaster was designed to shoot its riders out of a giant cannon over a gap in the tracks?
Red Skelton (1913–1997) was an American entertainer. He was best known for his national radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971, and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. Skelton also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and many of his personal and professional effects are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes University in Indiana.
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