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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stitch who wrote (4129)	6/3/1998 5:22:00 AM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 9980

Stitch, Alaska is beautiful, but I do miss the maples, basswoods, and oaks of my youth. When you've been here as long as I have, the boreal forest becomes the "bore all" forest. There are compensations though, like the white flowers of creeping dogwood carpeting the forest floor in midsummer, the robin's egg blue of the glacial Kenai River on a sunny day, and the dark trail of a volcanic vapor plume across Cook Inlet at twilight. This year the early Chinook (king salmon) run on the Kenai is so poor that there will probably be a closure. Some blame it on illegal Chinese longline drift-net fishing, and the U.S. and Russians have been out chasing them. The U.S. Coast Guard sprays water down their stacks to drown the engines. The Russians are not so subtle -- recently they shot and killed a Chinese ship captain and one of his crew. The Asian crisis is affecting our economy due to the decline in commodity prices. Oil, fish, timber, and gold are all down. But Alaska's economy is leaner and meaner now, so the effect has not been severe yet. And our oil-earnings savings account, the Permanent Fund, is a lot richer now -- to the tune of $20 billion. This year the Legislature retained control of about $600 million in earnings that should have been deposited, as a hedge for next year's budget in case oil prices remain low. There is also a thriving air cargo business transiting thru Anchorage. Regarding the durian fruit you recently discussed: Alaskan natives have a traditional delicacy known as "stink eggs", which are prepared by burying waterfowl eggs in for up to six months to allow for proper aging. I suspect the resulting product falls somewhere in the same ballpark as durian, and there is also a considerable danger of botulism. Imagine, a single dish with the palate-tempting allure of durian, and the dangerous thrill of fugo! Bon Appetit, Greg