Real Alaskans...

. . . know there are four true seasons: winter, still winter, almost winter and construction.

- Andy and Shannon Miner, Petaluma, Calif.

Got a suggestion for what defines a real Alaskan? Write us at: 619 E. Ship Creek Ave., Suite 329, Anchorage AK 99501. If we print it, you'll get a free Alaska magazine sweatshirt. Include your name, address and daytime phone.

Say What?

"It was so Wasilla." Sarah Palin, Wasilla mayor, after officiating at a wedding at the local Wal-Mart store.

The Duct Tapes

Dianne Barske of Anchorage wrote us about the case of the slippery seat. Her toddler kept sliding off his grandmother's unpadded high chair. "Got duct tape?" Barske's husband asked grandma. He then took a strip and doubled it over, sticky side out. He patted it on the bottom of his son's pants then set the child in the seat. "There you have it," Barske wrote. "He was anchored-stuck fast!"

How about you, readers? Got any good Alaska duct tape stories? Send your tales (and photographs!) to The Duct Tapes, Alaska magazine, 619 E. Ship Creek Ave., Suite 329, Anchorage AK 99501. If we print them, a free Alaska magazine sweatshirt is yours.

Update

Remains of a pachycephalosaurus, a dinosaur commonly known as "bonehead," were recently found in a new fossil bed south of Nuiqsut. The discovery brings to 12 the dinosaur types that were known to have roamed the prehistoric North Slope.

Stories

Alaska Remembers: January 1950

Scientists say it's impossible for a dog and a bear to mate, so "Horse," a remarkable creature in Anchorage, couldn't be. Continue Story

Hit-and-Run Whale Leaves Baleen at the Scene

All along, Ward Eldridge blamed a whale for sinking the Merlin, his 73-foot sailboat, while it was anchored south of Sitka last summer. Continue Story

Will the River Run Through It?

The Noatak River is moving in on the northwestern Alaska village of the same name.Continue Story

Fashion Police

Tangle with campus police at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and you might get to ride in one of their snazzy patrol cars, which recently won a top honor in the 1999 International Police Vehicle Design Competition. Continue Story

Tragedy's Survivor

For nearly a century, a red carved beaver with green markings sat in storage with other artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Only recently did its identity -- and significance to the Tlingit people of Angoon -- emerge.Continue Story

Illicit Intimacy

It was the photo shoot of a lifetime: extreme close-ups of a walrus at Round Island Walrus Sanctuary south of Togiak. Continue Story

Bering Sea Ordeal

Russians Rescued After Four Days AdriftContinue Story

Home Again

The Anchorage Museum of History and Art recently returned an antique ceremonial robe to its rightful Tlingit owners. Continue Story

Fueling a New Power

Leave it to researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to come up with a whole new form of energy that's attracting attention in the nation's capital. Continue Story

Cruising the Inside Passage

Some Alaska adventurers scale Mount McKinley. Continue Story