Your Alaska trivia for the day.
 

Alaska is the largest state in the union. You probably know that already.

But if you take the largest borough (county) in Alaska, Yukon-Koyukuk, out of the state and made it its own state, Alaska would still be the largest state and Yukon-Koyukuk would be the 4th-largest state after Alaska, Texas, and California (bigger than Montana).

If you then did the same thing with the second-largest borough, North Slope, the three states would be the 1st, 4th, and 12th largest states (bigger than Idaho at #12).

If you then did the same thing with the third-largest borough, Bethel, the four states would be the 1st, 4th, 12th, and 38th largest states (bigger than Kentucky at #38).

If you then did the same thing with the fourth-largest borough, Northwest Arctic, the original state of Alaska would drop to 2nd (99.6% of the size of Texas), and the five states would be the 2nd, 4th, 12th, 38th, and 41st largest states (bigger than Indiana at #42).

Same thing with the fifth-largest, Valdez-Cordova, and you'd have the 2nd, 4th, 12th, 38th, 41st, and 43rd largest states (bigger than Maine at #44).

Same thing with the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th-largest, (Southeast Fairbanks, Matanuska-Susitna, Lake and Peninsula, and Nome) and you'd have the 2nd, 4th, 12th, 38th, 41st, 43rd, 46th, 47th, 49th, and 50th largest states (bigger than Maryland at #51). (Recall that there are now 59 states.) The original state of Alaska would still have four counties that are larger than Maryland.

The population of the top six of these new states from Kokuyuk through Southeast Fairbanks would only fill Arrowhead Stadium less than 3/4ths full.

You may resume your normal activities now.

Alaska is cool.

Alaska is really cool.

That would be a great state motto.

You must have had a slow day at work crunching numbers to come up with those stats.

Not as good as "Alaska has really good barbecue, and a moose is bigger than a cow or a pig."

At the other end of the spectrum, there are 626 counties in the United States that are larger than Rhode Island. One Missouri county, Texas County, is larger.

Dude alaska should do that, then they'd have 20 votes in the senate...

This is interesting. Down to one decimal point, Texas has the same population density as the United States in total. Both have 79.6 people per square mile.

If you've never been there, you should go. After going there, the Rockies and natural beauty in the lower 48 seem really, really inferior.

If the entire U.S. had the same population density as Manhattan, we would have 236,423,000,000 people (236 billion). That's 700 people for every 1 we have now.

If the entire U.S. had the same population density as the aforementioned Yukon-Koyukuk borough in Alaska, we would have 136,000 people. Kill off 1,999 out of every 2,000 people.

Have you been there? If so, where'd you go? I'm getting kind of interested in doing the Alaska Maritime Highway Ferry out to Unalaska. Seems like it'd be fun.

I saw eskimo's play a game of basketball once

I flew to Anchorage and drove over to Valdez for salmon fishing. About 300 miles or so. On the way, you could literally stop on the side of the road anywhere and take pictures that were of the breathtaking variety. Besides the outstanding fishing we did right off the bank, we also took a little glacier cruise and saw the whales and all that.

This is a picture I took and this kind of stuff was just everywhere.

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...1&postcount=30

The more I hear about Alaska, the more intrigued I get. I'm not a hunter or camper or fisherman, but I think it'd be cool just to go and see the scenery and see what it's like to live there.

I hear they're masters at the Aleut pass.

Were they enthusiastic, and really getting Inuit?

Okay, that's all I've got.

Juno where all the best basketball players come from?

Boo. Bad jokes, guys. I Anchorage you to stop making Alaskan basketball player jokes. Nome more.

That's some pretty amazing trivia. I'd rep you but I'm tapped out.

Have you seen the movie Into The Wild, Rain Man? It's a good movie. It will show you how not to go to Alaska though.

I grew up in AK actually. I attended East Anchorage High School! Our Mascot?...The Thunderbirds.

I go to Alaska to chill.

Well, not really.

I just open the windows.

Colorado is to alaska what your average putt-putt course is to Augusta.

Went to Chugach Elementary...

I'm not normally fan of trading down but if you have the number one overall and you can get this back in a trade down I say you have to go for it. And I'd stay away from Palin with the #2 pick I think she's going to be a bust and might quit halfway through the season.

PS I have it on good authority that at least one drafttabulator agrees with my analysis and the are the smartest mother ****ers in the world.

Wasn't Chalmers from AK?

Why doesn't Alaska have a football team ?

They really need one,it would make for a heck of a home field advantage.

WE DEMAND MORE ALASKA TRIVIA!!

One of my uncles was very well traveled. VERY well traveled. The trip he raved about the most was something like this -- fly out to seattle, train trip up to and around Alaska (some kind of windowed roof on the train, and not sure if he had to hop from SEattle to wherever before getting on said train), which eventually got back to the coast -- Juneau I believe.

The a cruise from Juneau, through the Panama Canal, back to Florida. Flew home from there.

I apologize for the vaguenss, but he told me about it 15+ years ago. Someday I'm going to do that same thing if I possibly can.

There was a really neat show on PBS about a guy who went out to Alaska back in the 60s or 70s. He was about 40'ish years old. Built a log cabin (by hand) and all the necessities. Took a fair bit of home footage. Lived all alone in the middle of nowhere. Shows how much snow he had to dig out to keep his path from his cabin to the nearby lake/river clear. Footage of bears, etc. How he kept his meat safe from animals. Just a REALLY interesting show.

The kicker comes at the end. When they tell you he stayed there for 30 odd years until he was in his 70s or something. That's when your jaw drops because you see what hard work it was.

Found it -- Alone in the Wilderness. I imagine it'll be back on PBS someday.

http://www.dickproenneke.com/

When it's springtime in alaska i'll be 6 be six feet below

Ah yes...wasn't that the school where all the "special" kids went? :D

Spent 6 months in Alaska in '78. Scenery is hypnotic... like another world. Teeming with fish & whales & porpoises & sea lions & eagles & bears & otters. You can pick up huge king crabs right off the sea floor. They don't even try to get away or pinch you - about the IQ of an oyster but still my favorite meal. Got a chance to visit Alaska? Take it!

While some of you might guess correctly that Alaska and not Hawaii is the Western most State, most would not guess that it is also the Eastern most state. Find where the international date line crosses the Aleutian Islands

The wife and I took the inside passage cruise 6 days/nights and then 4 days inland. Ports were, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, College Fjord, Glacier Bay. Disembarked at Seward then flew to Fairbanks for 2 days. Then we took the McKinley Express train back to Anchorage (2days). When we go back...and we will go back. We will fly to Fairbanks and rent a motorhome and car.

I managed a restaurant in Denali during the summer of 2007 and sympathized with the cruiseship people that were herded like cattle on their $10,000+ vacation. Renting a motorhome or car and seeing Alaska on your own terms is the way to go. Use the boats to see the coastline, but don't use the lines to see the interior.

Oh, maybe - I really don't know. My family moved when I was 6 so I don't have too many recollections of being special.

I hear ya but despite the blue hairs, we still enjoyed it. However, I want more time around Denali. I also saw some areas from the train ride that looked fun to travel, camp and fish. GPS a Gazatteer and a month to venture.

I heard this geography joke this morning, and I instantly thought of Rain Man.

Ireland walks up to England and asks, "So England, when is the baby due?"

"I'm not pregnant," England said. "That's Wales."

I like it up here. Neat to see the breakdown in the OP.

Really hmmmm I'd need darkness to do my photography stuff so summer is out its damn cold in the winter what to do :)

I think that's where we grow all our meth.

I loved Alaska when I visited in the summer. Not sure how I'd feel about winter.
but it's gorgeous. I'd love to take an Alaskan cruise.

My brother-in-law was in the Army infantry in Alaska near Fairbanks. They would go camping in the winter.

Alaska is one of three states I have not been to. Maybe someday.

My folks lived in Fairbanks for several years and went up and visited twice. The landscape is amazing but it seems every town around there looks like shit. Trash everywhere and tons of crap in peoples' yards. :shake:

I lived there for four years. All of you can have it. Fun for a visit and that is it in my book.

Did anybody know that Barrow, AK changed its name to Utqiaġvik, which I assume is a traditional Alaskan/Inuit name? I guess it happened in December of 2016. I realized this when I was at some bar trivia, and a question asked for the northernmost US city. They said it was Utqiagvik, but they would also accept Barrow, its former name.

It was like I was living an absolute lie for 2 years. I essentially was. How many other cities and communities in this country have changed their name? How many well-known world cities have changed their name? I just don't know if I can trust the world any more. Am I going to wake up tomorrow and there will be no Walla Walla, WA? And if that does happen, how long will it be before I find out?

Hell, is the sun going to come out tomorrow? I don't even know that!

Why was I never notified of this? This is unacceptable. I don't even know how to pronounce that new name.

I have a major issue with maps changing. Other than tectonic shifts, maps should never change. It really bothered me when the Soviet Union broke up, solely from a cartographic perspective, and I still can't name all of those former Yugoslavian countries.

Bosnia AND Herzegovina? Which one is it? Pick a name.

The UN should intervene and make it illegal to use conjunctions in the name of your country.

It is cold in Alaska.

To experience true wilderness in solitude backpack the backcountry of Denali NP. I've been three times and on each trip did not see another human for two weeks, but did see grizzly, moose, caribou, wolves, and breathtaking scenery. Number of visitors to any unit is very limited. By far the most memorable wilderness adventures I've had. For the less adventurous fly to Anchorage, take the scenic rail trip to Denali, and ride the buses on the one road through the park.

Ooht - Ka - Rha -Veek
Ooht - Ka - Rha -Veek

Ut-qua-g-veek.

Utqiagvic

https://www.ktoo.org/2016/10/17/say-...-known-barrow/

The most confusing one of those places is P or Tl and/or Egon.

Alaska has the northernmost, the easternmost and the westernmost points of the US.

Alaskan Chief Fan
 

Longtime Lurker, First Post.

I retired from the Coast Guard here in Alaska. Seen a lot of the state from the N. Slope to the SE to the Aleutians from sea, land and air. Its not for everyone, you basically need to like the outdoors to live up here. I live for the summer, but enjoy the winter its quiet and peaceful; both the bears and the tourists are gone for the season. The high excitement for me today was the clearing of the 8 inches of overnight snow. BTW, grew up in Kansas and went to K-State (pre-Snyder).

Also they change our tallest mountain from mt mckinley to denali! The hell people.

Took a cruise in 2006 with a land tour beforehand. Started in Fairbanks (saw sled dog training, panned for gold, stood under the Alaska pipeline). Bus to Denali, then took a 6-hour bus tour halfway in (got good pic of the mountain). Then took a 9-hour train ride down the center of the state to Anchorage. Cruised to Ketchikan (saw a salmon run, totem poles), Juneau (Mendenhall Glacier, whale watch), Skagway (rented a car, drove the White Pass into the Yukon), cruised into College Fjord (got nice pics—clear day, no clouds, so I got sea and glaciers and sky all together). Then cruised the Inside Passage to Vancouver.

Going back in May on another cruise.

I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB back in the 90s and lived in Anchorage for awhile before moving to Eagle River.

Were you the panicked guy on the speakerphone when the fake missiles hit in “War Games”?

I hate Alaska. Lived there for 4 years. Too cold and boring.

You still live in ER?

I’m glad to see this. Your attitude helps keep the population down.

Sadly, no. :(

I'm currently in South Dakota. I often think about just packing up the truck and heading northwest though.

We are looking to take an Alaska trip in the late summer. There is so much that we want to do so I’m thinking at least 10 days. Given that time frame it will definitely be more expensive than I was hoping. But we definitely are thinking Denali, Kenai, a train ride, a short cruise in Kenai, and the northern lights. Plus a variety of things like hiking and maybe kayaking. Can that be done in that time frame? We are thinking a car rental but I don’t really have a good sense of how long activities or travel between them would take.

If you stand on Sarah Palin's porch you can see Russia - that's pretty neat

I bet the bears like the peace and quiet as well.

Three words: Kodiak bear tour.

It's one of the coolest things I've ever done.

That’s a lot in 10 days and seeing northern lights in the summer is hard. Too much daylight. I’d think 2 weeks. PM me and I’ll help you set up your trip. I’ll give you good places to stay and to do.

I went to Alaska a few summers ago and it was amazing. Landed on a glacier, visited with an Iditarod dog team, saw grizzly bears, caught Salmon, and other manly shit. The only thing that would drive me crazy living there is the bizarre lighting. It would be midnight and totally sunny out.

We went this year and you run out of adjectives trying to describe the beauty.