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TIL at Willamette Falls a hydro-electric facility was built in 1888. It had a 14-mile long line to Portland, becoming the first long-distance transmission of electricity in the US in 1889. A second station was built on the falls in 1895 and is still operating today (Falls: USA 2nd highest flow rate)

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mkkO TIL the Holocaust in Belarus killed up to 40% of its population. 100,000 Jews lived in the Minsk ghetto, with 1.5 meters of allotted space each and none for children. The Nazis planned to kill 75% of Belorussians - those with blonde hair/blue eyes would be allowed to live as slaves for Germans.
9YlpG TIL that in 2006, CNN mistakenly used an image of the Balrog from a 1977 Lord of the Rings calendar to represent Satan. Stephen Colbert recognized the image because he had that calendar and mocked CNN for the mistake.
Y7dDW TIL an advertising agency faked a movement to support book burning in order to create animosity against them and so subsequently save a local public library that was facing closure due to budget cuts. People rallied against the 'book burners' and voted to save the library.
9wP1p TIL that The Specials singer Terry Hall was abducted by a paedophile ring in France when he was 12 years old
nejyW TIL of Clara Brown, a woman who was born a slave in Virginia that, after receiving her freedom, would go on to start a laundry business, become the owner of mines in Colorado during the gold rush, and even traveled to Kansas to help freed slaves build communities