Les Jones

Nifty > Attn: Jon Krakauer Fans

Phil Greenspun has fulfilled his dream of flying his plane to Alaska. Trip reports here and here.

Cool stuff, but what I found especially interesting was his description of the front page stories in the Anchorage Daily News. I've read books by Jon Krakauer and others about Alaska and the arctic, and it's a harsh environment with rough characters. Phil cites headlines like "3 bodies are found in Cessna" and "Bear that killed 2 was healthy male." I checked the ADN Web site and found this on the front page:

A man who was fatally shot by a North Pole police officer was linked to an attempt last year to break a friend out of Fairbanks Correctional Center by knocking down the prison wall with a front-end loader, authorities said.

You have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at that. Alaska's motto should be "Alaska: a good place to live and a good place to die."