Yes, Portage. Thanks! I’ll be driving from Anchorage to Talkeetna to Glennallen to Moose Pass and Homer, and we’ll pass through Portage (which is shown on the gMap). I wasn’t sure what to expect at Portage, and wasn’t planning to spend time there anyway. Thanks again.
Chefguy, we talked years back about my plan to drive north from San Francisco, up the Alcan, on up to Deadhorse (https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15064667#post15064667 – wow, six years ago now!). This trip will be flying, for the Iditarod next March, but that Alcan drive is getting closer. I’ve been gearing up. Maybe it’ll be in 2021 or thereabouts. Possibly even 2020. 2019 is all booked.
A dessert combining ice cream, cake and meringue, originally called omelette surprise, became popular decades later when chef Charles Ranhofer of Delmonico’s in New York City renamed it “Baked Alaska” in celebration of the United States’ acquisition of the territory in 1867.
The Alaska Purchase, “Seward’s Folly”, actually had mostly positive reactions in the 19th century US public. Purchased in 1867, Alaska finally became a state in 1959, on January 3rd. Less than 9 months later, on August 21, 1959, Hawaii joined the Union.
Alaska was sometimes called “Seward’s Folly” in the years after its purchase, poking fun at the supposed foolishness and profligacy of U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, who helped negotiate its purchase from Russia. However, the phase was not common at the time, and funding for the purchase was approved with relatively little debate and by a comfortable margin by the U.S. Congress.
Seward, Alaska, on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, has a population of less than 3,000. Seward is about 100 miles south-southeast of Anchorage, or about 125 miles by car on winding roads. In the Good Friday earthquake of 1964, damage to Seward, on the coast of Resurrection Bay of the Gulf of Alaska, was caused by post-quake tsunamis.
In comparison to the four Gospel writings on the resurrection of Jesus (which do contradict one another),the apocryphal Gospel of Peter describes the event as follows:
And in the night in which the Lord’s day was drawing on, as the soldiers kept guard two by two in a watch, there was a great voice in the heaven; and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descend with a great light and approach the tomb. And the stone that was put at the door rolled of itself and made way in part; and the tomb was opened, and both the young men entered in.
When therefore those soldiers saw it, they awakened the centurion and the elders, for they too were close by keeping guard. And as they declared what things they had seen, again they saw three men come forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting one, and a cross following them. And the heads of the two reached to heaven, but the head of him who was led by them overpassed the heavens. And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, You have preached to them that sleep. And a response was heard from the cross, Yes.
In play: In addition to his writing, William Carlos Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pediatrics and general medicine. He was affiliated with New Jersey’s Passaic General Hospital, where he served as the hospital’s chief of pediatrics from 1924 until his death. in 1963. The hospital, which is now known as St. Mary’s General Hospital, paid tribute to Williams with a memorial plaque that states “we walk the wards that Williams walked”.
Brotmanville and Alliance, New Jersey, were original established as Jewish settlements based on a cooperative farm. Later, there was a small coat factory that provided jobs for immigrants. Brotmanville is named for Abraham Brotman, who founded the coat factory, where my great grandfather worked for a time around 1900.
New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state by area but it is also the 11th-most populous, with 9 million residents as of 2017. It is the most densely populated of the fifty US States, followed by Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
The District of Columbia is about 10x as densely populated as New Jersey is.
Alaska is the least densely populated US state, with about 1 person per sq mi. Alaska’s entire population, across its vast 570,000 sq mi, is about the same as the city of Seattle WA. The next least densely populated state is Wyoming, which is about 6x the density of Alaska.
The most densely populated island in the world is probably Ilet a Brouee in Haiti, with a population of around 500 and an area of 0.004 sq km (less than an acre), which makes the density 125,000 per square km. It would still be the world’s most densely populated island even if the population estimate were lowered to 300.
Ap Lei Chau in Hong Kong, the next most densely populated island, has a population of 86,782 and a density of 66,755/ square km.
Myth debunked: the small town of Isla Vista, California is the most densely populated square mile west of the Mississippi River.
Facts: Isla Vista is not a square mile, but it is 2.2 square miles of land adjacent to UCSB, the University of California, Santa Barbara (a.k.a., the University of Casual Sex and Beer). Further, Isla Vista’s 8,635 people per square mile, while high, is not even close to the greatest population density west of the Mississippi or, for that matter, California; Isla Vista’s figures are far eclipsed by those of Buena Vista (24,099 inhabitants per square mile), East Compton (17,945), San Francisco (16,634) and several other cities.
The Walt Disney World Resort is located in the city of Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The lake was originally known as Black Lake before Walt Disney Enterprises acquired the land in the 1960s.
Walt or Wat Tyler was the leader of the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. He led a large group of peasants from Kent to London, opposing a poll tax that had been recently instituted, and arguing that peasants should be able to choose their own employer.
He and his supporters met with King Richard II, a youth of 14, at Smithfield outside of London. The encounter originally went well, but deteriorated quickly, ending in the Mayor of London killing Tyler. The rebellion quickly collapsed.
George Lucas based the Star Wars character of Palpatine (a corrupt member of the Galactic Senate who becomes chancellor and in time emperor, drawing on his powers as a Dark Lord of the Sith), in part on President Richard M. Nixon.
During WWII, Richard Nixon served in the US Navy. He received a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal) from his commanding officer for “meritorious and efficient performance of duty as Officer in Charge of the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command”. Nixon was the Officer in Charge of the Combat Air Transport Command at Guadalcanal.
Upon his return to the U.S., Nixon was appointed the administrative officer of the Alameda Naval Air Station near San Francisco.
Cynthia Nixon, best known for her role as Miranda in Sex and the City, is challenging incumbent Andrew Cuomo in the primary for Democratic candidate for Governor of New York. She states that she is not related to Richard Nixon and explains why her campaign slogan is “Cynthia for NY”, without her surname. “My mother used to say that she grew up during World War II with a father named Adolf, and then she lived through the 1970s with a husband named Nixon,” she said. “So I am aware of the dubious nature of my last name—but I also have to say, if I was given a choice, I would rather be the good Nixon than the bad Cuomo”.