WEIRD FACTS ABOUT
ALASKA
Alaska is the only state in the USA whose name can be typed on a single row of letters on a keyboard (cf PERU).
The Nenana Ice Classic is an Alaskan sweepstake that has been running since 1917.
It started when bored railway engineers erected a wooden tripod on the frozen Tanana River and placed bets on the exact moment in spring when it would fall through the ice.
It has taken place every year since and now attracts entrants from around the world, which has boosted the jackpot from an original $800 to around $300,000.
A paper in the journal Science in 2001 was devoted to demonstrating that the records of the Nenana Ice Classic are a valid measure of global warming.
In 2007, ticket sales added up to a $303,272 jackpot, which was shared among 22 winners who had predicted that the ice would break up at 3:47pm, Alaskan standard time, on April 28.
Alaska was purchased by the USA from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000.
This was almost twice the cost of making the film North to Alaska in 1960.
Until 1995 it was illegal to keep an elephant in Alaska. In that year, however, they changed the law regarding exotic pets specifically to allow an ex-circus elephant to stay there.
Under the Alaskan penal code 'wanton waste of a moose' is a class-A misdemeanour, equal in seriousness to drunken driving.
Related links:
ARGENTINA
Argentina has become a popular venue for unusual international congresses.
In 1995, the first International Housewives... MORE
BACULUM
The baculum. or penis bone, is present in all carnivorous and insectivorous mammals except the... MORE
CHICKEN
According to the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, verses 20-22, the chicken came before the... MORE
DRAGONFLY
The state insect of Alaska is the four-spot skimmer dragonfly.This should not be confused... MORE
GOLD
All the gold in Fort Knox is worth about £30 billion.
One-third of all the gold... MORE
MOOSE
The species know as a moose in North America is referred to as an elk... MORE
TEXAS
Texas is the only state in the USA that was a country in its own... MORE
TREADMILL
In 2006, Anchorage Zoo in Alaska became the world's first zoo to have a purpose... MORE
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