well ok i was born in CA. but i have been here 16 yrs now. i posted this to help get rid of some of the misconceptions about AK. in October of last year i went to CA to a job there. i spent 8mo in CA. i was astonished at the questions i got when my co-workers found out where i’d been living the past 16yrs. i’ll answer as best i can,as soon as i can…
note: i didn’t study the history of AK,i dont know census #'s, cant really tell you crime stats…
Are the mosquitos really the size of B-25s?
umm not here in southeast, the “no see ums” are the worst
Has my sister had her baby yet?
Might I assist, Tony?
Alaska has 3,000,000 lakes of an acre in size or larger. Many of these are on the North Slope, the plains north of the Brooks Range that extend to the coast. There, the mosquitos are about 1/2 an inch long but it’s the sheeer enormity of their numbers that’s staggering. I might look at a co-worker’s back and see 200. They’re constantly bouncing off your face unless you wear netting and the humming continues ceaselessly. It’s a large part of the reason so many birds raise their young there… endless food supply.
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ask the atheist or muslim guy
be my guest 
i live in southern southeast. the skeeters arent nearly as bad. i’ll go so far as saying when i travel to seattle or ca i dont really notice any difference, skeeter wise that is. as far as creepy crawlies ca is mucho worse…
Is it true theres some tremendously lopsided gender ratio, e.g. 10 men for every woman up there?
well ok i know THIS census answer. no its about 50/50. last fugure was pegged at 51.3 men 48.7 women. i read those lopsided figures were true in the gold rush days tho…
Do Alaska residents get moolah from the state treasury every year, for the oil?
yes this year its about 1800.00 smackers for every eligible resident. i THINK you have to be a resident two years…
I heard there’s no gambling there. No casinos, no state lottery, not even Bingo at the Mason’s Lodge(:eek: ).
What do your old ladies do to spend their time?
there’s pulltabs at the bars(and locations where minors aren’t allowed) and bingo held in different halls/different nights,but NO casinos 
She’s Catholic, IIRC, and lives in Kodiak. So I thought you might be able to help. Ok, I’ll ask some real questions:
Where are you? How far is Kodiak from there, in both distance and transit time? How far north in the state must one go to have “midnight sun”? What’s the most beautiful part of the state, in your opinion? When is the best time to visit? How’s the skiing?
i live in a town called ketchikan,located in southern-southest AK.kodiak is about 850mi north easterly direction from here, i have never traveled there so i cant tell you the transit time. i would guess youd have to travel to fairbanks to have midnight sun( also about 850mi away,but more of a norhtern direction) although when i spent time in anchorage,during early summer the sun did set but there was still plenty of daylight. IMHO southeast is the most beautiful part of AK. lotsa trees,mountainous,many lakes, paradise in the summer. skiing is more of an anchorage,juneau thing IMHO, i know there are skiing areas/lodges in those places. not too big here tho…
It sounds cold. How warm does it get at best in the height of summer? And how cold in winter?
Do you get polar bears wandering through town?
I am dying to have my Alaska questions answered; is is true that:
-there is a public beach in Anchorage , Alaska-does ANYBODY swim there?
-can you make a living panning for gold there?
-are the winters really that terrible? I heard that transplants from the lower 48 actually go mad in their first winter!
-can you still homestaed in Alaska?
-is moose meat good to eat?
Finally, what keeps you there?
Please tell me that question was a joke.
What is the latitude of Ketchikan in relation to other places? For example, Europe, Maine, Japan.
here in southeast (at least in KTN) it doesn’t get so cold.maybe 30’s at coldest. not much snow here either. it’ll snow off & on all winter. umm put it this way it’ll snow one week then rain the next, all winter like that.
summers gets maybe 85-90 f
it does get MUCH hotter in say fairbanks (summer) and MUCH colder in winter (lots more snow too)
no never seen a polar bear in my life. i’d have to travel maybe 1000 mi for that. however we do see alot of black bears in summer(no brown here)…
Alaska! I want to go there, and I just discovered I have a cousin or uncle or something that lives there. Now I have a reason.
So do people get really wired in the summer from all the sunlight? Do they get really depressed and wear those light hats in the winter like in ‘Northern Exposure’?
I’m not sure how much you look up at the sky, but I always wondered; during the winter, when there’s a Full Moon, is it up in the sky for 24 hours? How many nights do you see aurora borealis, and what does it look like (yeah, I’ve seen pictures, but I’m wondering what your impression was).
Do you hear wolves howling? Are there wolf hunts? I heard Alaskan tourism got boycotted because of the wolf hunts.
Thanks, Alaska guy!