Correcting misconnceptions about Alaska - know of a good graphic? (Central: fit in, library)

[cobolt]

That's just it...play on their ignorance. When they say "Why on earth would you want to go THERE?" I just give validate all their falty perceptions/visions/imaginations. Some people will believe anything. Tell them that the brain functions differently because the air is so clean and clear. Take a pic of a little trailer or run down shack in the middle of nowhere and tell them it's the governor's masion.......blah blah....they believe you....it's very funny.

[My2cats1]

Originally Posted by Tressa

Actually we like folks to think that it's a big ice berg and then they won't bother to come up, I've lived here for 35 years and my oldest sister thought that I lived in a igloo. I told her of course I do and it's a two story in the summer time we move to the tent. NimRods

That's hillarious! At least you will never be asked to host Thanksgiving dinner.

[Grammy Linna]

Actually we like folks to think that it's a big ice berg and then they won't bother to come up, I've lived here for 35 years and my oldest sister thought that I lived in a igloo. I told her of course I do and it's a two story in the summer time we move to the tent. NimRods

Thanks for the laugh, I about spit coffee through my nose.

[Glitch]

Home during the winter months, and a hot tub during the summer months.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

A lot of people (including Congress Critters from Alaska when describing ANWR) want to think that if they can't see trees, it's "barren wasteland".

In fact, Arctic tundra is a botanists delight! (Biologists love it too...) There is nothing "barren" about it, never mind "wasteland".



Well, if we put Ketchikan down in northern Florida, and Barrow over Minnesota, that puts Adak out in California. In a manner of speaking, it all but covers the entire Lower-48 when looked at in terms of potential climate range!

Here's a map with the overlay you want:



If you want to download it, here's a URL:

http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson/akforum/ov.gif

I've had this on my webpage for at least three years, but I don't remember where I got the original image from. I did do some significant work to make it look better, but basically I stole it from someone else and take no credit for its existence.

Actually, sorry Floyd, your map, as are most of the maps in books anywhere, is out of proportion, Alaska constitutes 1/3 the land mass of the US of A. It also has more coastline than the rest of the US combined. The reason most maps show Alaska as so small is - it is too long to fit on the average page of print if depicted on the same scale, particularly if the same spread of print also contains the lower 48. From the northeast corner, way the hell up north, down to the southern and western most tip of the Aleutians is really one great distance, the last of the islands are closer to Japan than the rest of the US. The Atlas would need a folded out page to depict Alaska accurately, ergo, it is not cost effective. Alaska is a lot bigger than you show on your map.

[DannyL]

I told a friend down south who wanted an actual state map "which quad do you want?" His reply.."Huh?"

[Glitch]

Dusty is correct. Both the lower-48 and Alaska are disproportionately displayed in Floyd's map. However, a proportional representation doesn't exactly fit over the lower-48. Below is an example. Both Alaska and the lower-48 use the same projection and scale, but the Aleutian Island chain ends up well below Mexico and much further west than Washington state.

[warptman]

Um, why are you arguing about how big Alaska is? We all know it is huge.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Glitch

Dusty is correct. Both the lower-48 and Alaska are disproportionately displayed in Floyd's map.

Are you guys Texans???

It is easy to demonstrate what is correct. Get yourself a globe map, and measure any distance you like on the Alaska part of it, and then compare that to the distance covered by that part of the map that I posted... They'll match. For example, I just measured from St. Lawrence Island to the Canadian border, and that precisely matches the same distance on the Lower-48 part of the map that is covered by the overlay on the map that I posted. Another measure that is easy to make is from Attu Island to Demarcation Point, and you'll discover it is about the same as Los Angeles to the upper part of Lake Superior, just as it is on the map that I posted.

Look at the map you posted, and note that Barrow is up in Canada while Kodiak Island is south of Texas. In fact Barrow to Kodiak is about 1000 miles, but Canada to the southern tip of Texas is more like 1500 miles.

I have no idea where one gets the idea that Alaska's land mass is 1/3rd the size of the land mass of the Lower-48 states. It isn't. The US, total, has 3.79 million square miles. Alaska is 570,380 of those square miles. Which means Alaska is about 18% the size of the entire Lower-48. The usual figure seen is "about 20%".

[Edit an hour later: Those numbers are from Wikipedia, but the US Census has more precise numbers. Alaska has 571.951.26 square miles. The USA total is 3,537,438.44 square miles. That makes Alaska exactly 19.287% the land mass of all the rest of the US.]

Just about the only thing you two got right is that there is more coastline in Alaska than there is in the entire Lower-48.

It's Alaska folks, not Texas. We don't have to exaggerate, it's big enough without telling tall tales.

[BudinAk]

Many eons ago, when God made Alaska, at first it was so monstrously huge that it didn't quite fit where He wanted it. With a broad swing of His left hand, the Aleutians were formed. With a deft sweep of his right hand, the panhandle was formed. Then, for good measure, He gave it all a hard swift kick. This resulted in the north slope plain to the north, and Alaska mountain range in the middle. He pointed a finger, and instantly Mt McKinley popped into being. It still didn't look quite right, so He tore off a chunk and gave that piece a little toss to the side, which landed down south. And so...that's the story of how Texas was made...




Bud