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I’ve got a gut level feeling that Palin is going to be an exotic novelty for most of Europe. Alaskans are a culture of their own. Even driving on their highways you see that they live with the granite edge of reality. It’s almost like they are a distilled American, still having what we saw in our grandparents or great grand parents that had survived by subsistence hunting. Friendly, non-frivolous, and hard. Most of us could not mentally hack their winters for one, and outside of N. Skandinavia and remote Canada, they are unique. Thank you for speaking so eloquently of Alaskans, I pray many people search out and read up on our states colorful history, many do not know Alaska was occupied by Japanese troops in WW2, or that stretched out would reach across the US, or the other unique things we live with up here like the very long summer days, the annual combat fishing events in search of kings, or to the things we take for granted that stupefies a newcomer. Just a week or so ago I was teaching a newly hired recently from Texas driver of my company at a jobsite delivering concrete, he never saw a heated floor before. And I guess many freepers don't either, before concrete is poured there is a grid of rows and rows of special plastic tubic that we pump heated water through, its a very efficient way to heat our homes. And of course our homes are heavier built, most of course prefer log cabins, but all use lots of insulation, the walls of my house are over 10 inches thick with multiple layers of fiberglass and styrofoam. Our animal life is abundant, even in downtown Anchorage there is bear and moose. Flip side of course is winter, depending on north or south its long and can be brutal, we have to go to extremes just to cope with it, a second set of special soft studded tires, synthetic fluid replacement, engine and battery heaters and naturally 4wd. I could go on and on but not now.