Never has it been so much fun to be a homebody on New Year’s Eve!  Sitting home and wondering how you can pass the time with fun people from around the globe without leaving the comfort of your desk chair? Wonder no more.  Join the happy crew in the Mudflats chatroom!  If you were not [...]

I found an interesting and sobering article in Business Week that talks about fatal airline flights, and other hazards of regional airlines.  We focus a lot of energy on the safety of our larger airlines, but don’t give a lot of thought to smaller, regional ones. Issues of pilot training, what planes are allowed to [...]

Well, Happy Last Day of 2009 everyone!  It’s been an interesting year to say the least. First things first.  Have you seen the moon?  If you haven’t, drop everything and go look!  In my neck of the woods, the “Blue Moon” is shining in a clear sky and reflecting off the icy cold water of [...]

A “Rascist.”  We were never quite sure what it was… a hybrid of fascism and racism, or just someone who can’t spell his own intolerance.  But whatever it is, there’s an hour less of it every day in Anchorage. That’s right folks, Eddie Burke, the local radio hatemonger on KBYR 700-am and Sarah Palin’s golden [...]

It’s that time again Mudflatters and Mudpups!  As 2009 draws to a close, we reflect back on the year that was. We Alaskans expected to slip back into obscurity once our governor and ex-VP candidate decided to come home, learn a little something about politics and international affairs and keep her nose to the grindstone. [...]

Enjoy a new open thread – full of possibility!  There’s a shiny clean white box at the bottom of the comments with your name on it!

Alaska’s War on Science Needs to End By Rick Steiner – University of Alaska Alaska’s escalating war on science should be a grave concern to us all. On climate change, endangered species, predator control, environmental impacts of industrial development, and other important policy issues, Alaska now has arguably the most anti-science government anywhere in the [...]

Here we go again…  The worldwide media circus once again has Wasilla Alaska as its third ring. Tripp Johnston (son of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston) just celebrated his first birthday and already the Palin name has brought the spotlight upon his little head.  His two 19-year old parents are now involved in a custody [...]

It’s still winter.  Last week, I did a quick mental tally and realized I’d gone nine whole days without seeing the sun.  I get up in the dark, go to work in the dark, come home in the dark…  So, I made it a point of cutting out of work early one day and zoomed [...]

Yes, I read Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue – An American Life.  I read it from cover to cover, including all the words.  Why would I do this?  Am I an unabashed masochist?  No.  The answer, my friend, is that I did it so you didn’t have to.  My own copy is marked up in various [...]

How Religious is Alaska? Mississippi is the most religious state in the union, according to a new survey. Results were based on how often responders went to church, how often they prayed and how they rate the strength in their belief in God.  Alabama and Arkansas tied for the #2 spot.  The least religious?  Vermont [...]

Mr. Redoubt (I’ve given up trying to correct my tendency to type that instead of “Mt.” Redoubt) is grumbling. The volcano that threatened to wipe out the Drift River tank farm dumping crude oil into Cook Inlet has been on “code green” since late September. But some earthquakes have been recently recorded, and now we’re [...]

OK, it’s not really an ice fortress… it’s more like a lovely, eccentric (and very tall) log cabin.  Don, our official Mudflats aviator took to the air today and sent back these pictures of an interesting structure somewhere between Anchorage and Talkeetna.  I’m guessing there must be one heck of a view from the top floor.  I wonder if [...]

Today’s Voices from the Flats contributing writer is Richard Fineberg. For three decades he has researched and reported on economic and environmental issues related to Alaska and global petroleum development. Fineberg came to Alaska in 1969 to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in political science at the University of Alaska, leaving that position in 1971 [...]

Got this great picture from an anonymous Mudflatter in Washington state.  She was doing a little Christmas shopping at her local Barnes & Noble and saw this display right after she walked in the front door.  A truer display there never was.