Wow! What a reputation: Alaska number one in sexually transmitted diseases? (Fairbanks: unemployed, university)

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by riceme

Well, I was going to say something mean, but I've been trying to be a better person lately, so I'll leave it to your imagination and simply say that your statement applies to much of the entire state. But I don't know what your malfunction is with Fairbanks, considering where you live.

Ask GVEA about how easy it is to retrofit or upgrade a coal plant. They would educate you on the subject.

Just because you live in fairbanks does not make you one but I would imagine there are alot there (they are also around wasilla, the talkeetna area, etc), not so much Anchorage other than the really run down parts and not so much in Palmer either. I could be wrong but probably not.

Industry does not like installing scrubbers because they are a cost and they dont have any economic benefits to the company/plant. Stack pollution is a perfect of example of socialized losses and privatized gains. Plants are going to whine any time they have to spend money that does not result in profits, they will go through the whole temper tantrum (we are going to shut down, we cant make it, etc, etc).

Putting in a gas scrubber is a whole different ball game from digging a giant pit to clean up dirt under the refinery. What the EPA did to the refinery was a crappy deal. Yea there was gasoline in the ground ... so what unless its right on a shallow water table that serves thousands of people its not a big deal to just leave it there.

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by riceme

You don't say?

Sounds like a fantastic project for you to work on in your downtime, Pitts.

I dont work on projects that I dont have the real estate to execute on. Building out geothermal will be mostly a political issue, getting private land holder interests out of the way first via state land purchases for CHEAP. Make sure all the land is bought up before anything of value is done so that rent seeking is minimized. That will have to be the VERY first step, just like what Walt Disney did.

I have other projects I am working on that I can execute on and attempt to monitize. This is not one of them lol.

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Fairbanks is the hub for the entire interior, so it has more economic clout than the population would suggest. I also think you underestimate just how much rural Alaska dislikes Anchorage. Fairbanks isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

As far as the university system goes, like it or not, a diploma from UAF has more cachet in almost every field than a diploma from UAA. UAA does not have a strong academic reputation - it's essentially considered an overgrown junior college. Heck, some of UAF-CTC's programs are commonly looked on more positively than UAA equivalents. Whether that rep is fair or not (certainly UAF's admission standards aren't high), I'm not inclined to debate, but nevertheless, UAF is by far the most developed of the three main branches, despite being in the boonies. UAF is also the only campus that actually functions as a campus, which helps attract students who aren't townies. And, UAF has physical room to expand (research facilities in particular) that UAA does not.

The UA system definitely needs to continue consolidation efforts (particularly in administration and e-learning), but they're not going to kill their flagship school in favor of its meh younger brother.

In almost every other state the university systems are based on population, UAF is an anomaly and they dont even seem to have the will to create an online program for their engineering masters programs. Alaska looses alot of students to out of state because no one wants to live in Fairbanks, it is a cold miserable middle of no where place, that cant be over stated, to simply state that "yea its in the boonies" and move on is dishonest because its a BIG deal. Most working professionals cant attend as most people live/work in south central or on the slope, not in Fairbanks.

UAF has some niche programs, I will agree. Why does a masters in electrical engineering or mathematics need to be in fairbanks? UAA has a new engineering building that can accommodate PhD programs in EE and mathematics. I dont need to be a frozen hell hole where my windshield cracks due to the temperature difference of my heater and the outside air temp to do math or electrical engineering work.

Outside of the niche programs that need to be up there, UAF is a boondoggle.

Anchorage does not care that the 5 people in rural Alaska dont like them. My hope is that anchorage will start getting off their butts and voting instead of rural Alaska driving WAY more politics than they ought.

Fairbanks survives because there are alot of instate scholarships given and instate tuition to entice students to go endure 4-5 years up there? But with the wue program I dont know how they make it, unless they are grant writing their rear ends off for federal funding every year.

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Yeah. Not that stats tell the whole story, but Fairbanks (compared to Anch) has a lower COLA, significantly more affordable housing, a much lower violent crime rate, and lower taxes. While obviously Fairbanks is colder, and that's a problem for some, it's also much sunnier and less humid/damp. Anchorage, of course, has a stronger job market and lower average unemployment, but it also has homelessness and chronic unemployment problems, so clearly that economic advantage isn't being distributed across the population - it has higher highs, but it also has lower lows. Objectively, slamming Fairbanks while being a booster for Anch is just weird. I entirely get that Fairbanks isn't for everyone, but it's not a bad little city, and compared to many other places in Alaska it's eminently livable.

Because it gets -55 to -60 below 0. Thats like the surface of the dark side of the moon, that is quite a bit more extreme than "fairbanks is colder". If your furnace went out for some reason you would have very little time to make a mad scramble to drain all your pipes and try not to freeze to death within minutes.

I dont want to worry about that s*it when im trying to work lol. Its bad enough when Anchorage gets to 0 and our gas bill goes up, I could not even imagine -55 below. What are the heating bills like a $1000 a month or more with 2x12's filled with 80 grand worth of spray foam?

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by riceme

LOL, true! (We <3 you, Ray!)

The university also has cool stuff for kids going on all the time, which I love. I take my niece to a lot of that stuff. It's like secret science learning stuff. She's learning about science and she doesn't even realize it. And no matter how many times I take her to the Museum of the North, there's always something new and interesting to discover there. Her mom takes her to the ballets and stuff like that, again, all through the university.

I don't care what anyone says, the university contributes a lot to our community.

How many kids live in Fairbanks? Are you talking about tourists?

There are only 32k people in fairbanks.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

How many kids live in Fairbanks? Are you talking about tourists?

There are only 32k people in fairbanks.

Yes, Pitts. My niece, who I take to all of these local events, is a tourist.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

Because it gets -55 to -60 below 0. Thats like the surface of the dark side of the moon, that is quite a bit more extreme than "fairbanks is colder". If your furnace went out for some reason you would have very little time to make a mad scramble to drain all your pipes and try not to freeze to death within minutes.

I dont want to worry about that s*it when im trying to work lol. Its bad enough when Anchorage gets to 0 and our gas bill goes up, I could not even imagine -55 below. What are the heating bills like a $1000 a month or more with 2x12's filled with 80 grand worth of spray foam?

"within minutes"? That is an exaggeration. All of us have dealt with power outages, fuel outages, broken furnaces or Toyos, or whatever. We're all still here.

Fairbanks isn't for you, we get it. But I am at a loss as to why you're angry at Fairbanks for being here, and for being cold. You don't like it here, so stay in the city and call it a day. We do like it here. Why do you care?

Go for a run or something, bro. Maybe I should buy you some yoga pants.

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by riceme

"within minutes"? That is an exaggeration. All of us have dealt with power outages, fuel outages, broken furnaces or Toyos, or whatever. We're all still here.

Fairbanks isn't for you, we get it. But I am at a loss as to why you're angry at Fairbanks for being here, and for being cold. You don't like it here, so stay in the city and call it a day. We do like it here. Why do you care?

Go for a run or something, bro. Maybe I should buy you some yoga pants.

Because all the masters programs for engineering and mathematics is in fairbanks and they have no online programs to service the rest of Alaska. Out of state programs cost a fortune. It is a travesty.

There are 32k people in fairbanks and almost 400k in anchorage/valley area, THAT is a political issue.

that is the issue.

[Frostnip]

pitts, I'll tell you what, you're very good at making inaccurate underinformed sweeping declarations with great confidence. In some career fields that's a helpful skill, I suppose. I don't even know where to start pulling apart your UAF post or your comments about heating - you might as well have led with "UAF is located in Siberia and attended exclusively by Yeti."

Most of the top universities in the US are not located in their state's largest city.

It's actually a little chillier where I live than Fairbanks is, on average, and yet my house hasn't been destroyed, I haven't frozen, and my utilities are less than they'd be in Anchorage. Adaptable people adapt.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

Because all the masters programs for engineering and mathematics is in fairbanks and they have no online programs to service the rest of Alaska. Out of state programs cost a fortune. It is a travesty.

There are 32k people in fairbanks and almost 400k in anchorage/valley area, THAT is a political issue.

that is the issue.

So, you grudge-hate us? That makes more sense.

Just a couple points for you to ruminate:

-the university is not within city limits
-most of the students do not live within city limits
-about 100k people live in the borough

I don't even know why I'm still typing.