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The Olympics


LSW

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OK, so I have been busy, never gotten it posted during.

 

Sports - Bah Humbug!

 

But you Canucks Rock in your opening ceremonies! Anyone catch it? Bloody awesome it was... and that from someone in Alaska who watches whales and salmon runs every year... the ice breaking up effect, the killer whales "under water" and the salmon run... Brilliant! I also like the woods and totem poles and the Aurora... I just did not care much for the end when the center piece was a mountain. But the rest was great, not to mention doing it last so the athletes could enjoy it. Well done!

 

But that was just a feast for the eyes... what I found best were the 1st Nations involvement. For those not in the know, 1st Nations are the major Native American... flavors. They are in turn broken down to the better knows individual tribes.

 

Just last month I was told the Canadians treat natives worse than US Americans do. I do not pay attention to the Olympics, just watched because my wife and daughter wanted to, so I may be wrong... but I do not think any US Olympics focused so much on the native culture. Once the official gabble was over, representatives of all nations came out and drummed and danced as the athletes were announced. Every thing from the natives closer related to ours in the lower 48 and my own Patawatomie (Great lakes area), as well as those from British Columbia who are closely related to our local Tlingit and Haida in SE Alaska and those from the far north related to the Aleuts (Eskimos). It blew me away that so much was done to represent our native peoples.

 

It is a shame that this grand show was tainted by the death of an athlete and the failure of one section of the torch to rise. I am afraid the death will mark this Olympics more than the wonderful opening ceremonies.

 

My only complaint was the French, OK I know, French Canadians and all... but it was in the English section and honestly English as the official languages should have been spoke first. But that is a minor issue considering.

 

Oh, and you Canadian type people, please accept my apologies for the once more embarrassing, not thought through, brainless comments uttered by our (thankfully) former Governor. Even many of her former followers here in Alaska are just shaking their heads about her comments on Canadian health care... especially as she admitted her family went to Canada for health care when she was a kid. She may have lived here but not all Alaskans like to admit it.

 

And I can almost throw a rock into Canada from my house! LOL

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I guess it was too specialized a joke.

 

Palin has been quoted as saying she could see Russia from her house. Not really what she said, her point was however that she is the governor of Alaska. Alaska includes a little island called "Little Diomedes" with one town and around 50 live there. Little Diomedes (and the town) is 2 miles from Big Diomedes, which is Russian and in fact has a large Russian Garrison, it is a reinforced Russian forward base.

 

So you can see Russia from Alaska & she argued that more or less made her a person with international experience. I think it may have been Sarurday Night Live and Tina Fey that started the "I can see Russia from my house".

 

Juneau is below the Juneau Ice Field, the Alaskan/Canadian border runs through the Juneau Ice Field. I live 2 miles from the face of the Mendenhall Glacier, some 20 miles from that border. The story is told here that a team firing a 105 MM Howitzer from Douglas Island at the Avalanche zones above Juneau overshot many years ago and the round impacted over the Canadian border on the ice field so the Governor of the time had to call Canada. Our highschool actually sits at the bottom of what is considered the most dangerous avalanche schute in the entire world.

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OK, to be fair, when the school was built it was not listed that way... but it is now. This is the first year I have been here where we have had no avalanches, just a mud slide... of course this year we have only had about 20 inches of snow compared to 199.7 inches in 2006. Average is around 90 inches of rain and 110 in of snow.

 

Gorgeous? Yes although the city itself is rather squished and ugly... it is from the 1800 and was once the home to Wyatt Erp and was the home of the "Byrd man of Alcatraz" (Killed his lover and a friend here, sentenced to Seattle prison, tried to escape and landed in Alcatraz for his crime here).

 

Volcanos? Well Alaska has 43 active volcanos, something like 104 total. The borough of Juneau includes Douglas island right across the channel from us. A fault line goes through the channel and according to this... we do have a volcano here.

Juneau Volcano.pdf

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