Why Anchorage is America’s Most OP City

Why Anchorage is America’s Most OP City

Get a year of both Nebula and Curiosity Stream for just $11.59 by December 24th here: https://curiositystream.com/?coupon=reallifelore
Watch the full companion video to this one about the Greco-Turkish Cold War here: https://bit.ly/3egkMrS

Select videos courtesy of Getty Images

Select videos courtesy of the AP Archive

You may also like...

51 Responses

  1. Paradise Travel says:

    I didn’t know Alaska was so important. Interesting.

  2. Yuri Sutton says:

    As someone who grew up in Anchorage, I can definitely attest that while it sucks to live in, its strategic importance has always been a huge point of emphasis. The military actually makes up a big part of its economy as the Army and Air Force have a huge joint base just north of downtown. And the fact it’s still such an important cargo hub is cool. My wife and I actually lived in a house that was just east of one of the runways and I would see 747s all the time. I even caught a picture of the Antonov An-225 (the largest airplane in the world) right above our house. I don’t miss much about Anchorage (moved out of Alaska in 2019) but I always tell people that it’s such an important place even today.

    • Ryeder Grenier says:

      @sharon k No its not too difficult! It comes pretty natural but if you like to skate or surf then id suggest snow boarding because it would be more comfortable. And yeah its easy to break things in any sport like that id say, 2 of my buddies have knee issues right now from skiing, huckin too many cliffs.

    • WeroVarela619 says:

      @Yuri Sutton Im from Tijuana Mexico, the only thing i know about Alaska is that many mexicans that can work in the USA go seasonally to Alaska to work as fisherman since that job pays for your food and housing, so one could easily go to Alaska for a couple of months to work and save all their money and go back to Mexico stacked

    • Colin Hoff says:

      I used to live in Eagle River, I loved it. But I guess I can say that because I’m in North Dakota right now, but aviation is everywhere. I loved going up to Talkeetna or Jim’s Creek, I think AK has a lot to offer it just depends on what your hobbies and passions are. It would be great to be involved in Bush Pilot Operations there.

    • Yuri Sutton says:

      @Parker hell yes! I live in TX now and I love life without snow!

    • Yuri Sutton says:

      @Ryeder Grenier I miss Seward so much. I didn’t get out of Anchorage much cause I’d be tired after a long work week. And when I did travel it was out of state.

  3. Seth R says:

    My dad was a cab driver in Anchorage in the 80s. They made bank shuttling around all of the folks with layovers in Anchorage. It was a big deal when those flights ended after Russia opened up the airspace. Although it’s a city that is very connected to the rest of the world, you’d never know it from the people there. I grew up there and would compare it more to rural Texas or somewhere else in the South more than anywhere else. Except for the legal weed.

    • HomerOJSimpson says:

      @Jason Rist you’re calling Alaska backward? OP didn’t say rural TX was backwards but you called Alaska backwards.

    • buck s says:

      @A BC People are leaving California due to it being expensive because it is the best place to strike it rich in the country. The tech an entertainment industries make a lot of millionaires. Their politics have nothing to do with it, democratic values are conservative on a global scale anyways.

    • Natenae says:

      @HomerOJSimpson That’s not warm 🤭😅

    • Adrian D says:

      @A BC Also, I lived in Texas for over a year and I don’t have much sympathy for what the government has allowed to happen there, the regression… Ooof. It’s devastating. So… Sorry. I would LOVE for Texas to become it’s own country (and Florida) so the rest of America doesn’t have to be continually embarrassed by the people and the things allowed to happen there.

    • A BC says:

      @Adrian D People being anti-Covid usually is not rooted in anti-Vax just anti *THESE* particular experimental vaccines! I know a lot of people who for various reasons don’t take the vaccine, because from a legal perspective they are obliged to give it the status experimental, regardless of what bright minds have worked to create it. We can’t compare a covid jab, to yellow fever jab, hepatitis jab or polio jab! And seeing as USA only offers Pfizer (developed in Germany), J&J (granted it was developed in Netherlands) and Moderna, not much choice either! Now in terms of traveling, let me blow my cover here. I am no longer in US , I was fortunate enough to make the plunge and settle in continental Europe (UK I never considered Europe to begin with). You’ve picked a good nation; Germany is a fairly efficient nation in terms of getting by (beware of their shitty internet though) . Free education, relatively good health care (lots of hospitals), inflation kept at bay. Out of curiosity, what languages are you proficient in?

  4. Kyotosomo says:

    I can’t believe the Devs are gonna buff Anchorage in the upcoming global warming patch when it’s already near the top of the meta and players have been begging for a nerf for years, literally unplayable.

  5. InTheAKSnow says:

    It would also be interesting if you would cover anchorages problems. For example, anchorage is hemmed in by the inlet to the west/south, the chugach mountain range to the east, and a military airforce base to the north. So it doesn’t have an option to grow much larger. There’s also our port which requires a significant amount of dredging, despite there being an option for a deep water port on fire island. We have the second highest tides in the entire world. The ’64 earthquake was a 9.4, and is almost guaranteed to happen again due to our position directly on top of a fault line. And our absolutely insane rape and crime statistics. There’s also the problem that our capitol is I accessible to the majority of our states population, and whenever there’s a vote to move it to Anchorage suspicious happenings occur and power outages that limit voting. And as a fun side note, you should check out recent news about our mayor.

    • Carlos Leon says:

      @Rogaine Ablar They could just relax their car centric zoning laws and you could have more compact developments without building too high.

    • Alaska907 says:

      What about the Knik bridge we have hear about?? And not to mention Anchorage is already one of America’s most sprawled cities so there is still room. We just need to engineer ourselves out of it. Like we have since the first pioneers.

    • Scott Carman says:

      Anchorage is one of the larger cities in America. It has plenty of space to grow. On the basis of your rant, I will assume you will claim the aliens did it next.

    • Doctor Jones says:

      How old are you?

    • Frigidlava says:

      Well anchorage is very sparsely populated, they could density.

  6. J gw says:

    Russia didn’t necessarily sell Alaska just for money. Russia was concerned that Britain would be able to easily capture the land through Canada at the time so figured selling it to the US would stop Britain which it kind of did but then the US became a bigger problem than Britain in the long term.

    • Judas Iscariot says:

      @Greg What are you, stupid? Why are you spouting complete nonsense? War is never going anywhere because it is necessary to preserve ironic as that is. You see, your vision is full of flaws.

      One is mentality. You believe everyone wants to hold hands and sing kumbaya, well you’re wrong. There are quite a lot of people who like war or at the very least like violence. Asking everyone to be at peace is equivalent to giving these people the finger as you’d be robbing them of their will to make their own decisions.

      Two, your vision would only stand a chance at working under a global empire (one power controls the world). This would ensure all are subject to the same way of life better or worse and would practically remove the negative connotation of indifference. One problem though, we live in an age of countries. These countries have their own customs, laws and cultures and each want to be dominant because they know if they aren’t, they will be absorbed and assimilate.

      Why do you think so many people hate Americans? American culture has a monopoly on the world in movies, economy, alliances etc. It’s either assimilate and accept America or fight for your own cultures and customs to survive. Most go for the latter so your vision is bogus. War will continue until one power is left standing. I know the future so I know who that power is. All I can say is that there is a lot happening within the next 700 years. After that, then your vision will come true. It won’t be what you expect.

    • Jason Rist says:

      soviet union and communist ideology was the problem

    • GlanderBrondurg says:

      Also of note was that the sale of Alaska was used to cover something else Russia did to help America: to blockade the southern states during the US Civil War. Lincoln needed additional warships to enforce the blockade especially against the UK (called Great Brittain at the time) and this was technically a political embarrassment too. Russia demanded payment, in gold no less, for this service. Congress knew this too, but Congress wanted something more, and Alaska gave cover for this payment. This is why it was called Seward’s folly

    • Ellie Williams says:

      And in the long run, Russia did not need Alaska because it already has Siberia, which has three times more land than Alaska, and it’s crazy that if Russia did not sell Alaska, it would be on three continents and maybe it would be better that history went like this, because Russia even without alaska it is the largest country in the world

    • Gideon Mele says:

      And the Russians wanted to be on the young USA’s good side. Win friends and influence people while dodging an unnecessary piece in the Great Game, amirite?

  7. RealLifeLore says:

    I just uploaded a 19-minute long companion video to this one covering the modern-day cold war and conflict between Greece and Turkey to Nebula, here; https://bit.ly/3egkMrS It’s a part of my Modern Conflicts series, an exclusive to Nebula series of sensitive and controversial conflicts ranging from the Gulf War, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, the Armenia-Azerbaijan War and many others. The best way to get access to all of these videos along with dozens of other creator projects is through the CuriosityStream/Nebula bundle deal, and best of all with the current holiday deal, you can get 1 entire year of both Nebula and CuriosityStream with thousands of documentaries to entertain yourself with forever, for only $11.59 a year, here; https://curiositystream.com/?coupon=reallifelore

    • Doge boi be flying says:

      Another banger video!

    • Dillon Dexter says:

      < is the symbol for less than. Great video!

    • Spade Gaming says:

      Alaska the mot strategic location in the world I disagree I would argue the Mediterranean its a cargo hub between Asia Europe and the Americas.

    • alphædition says:

      @Richie Medina The Cultures in that land are way to diverse, it is impossible to unite the byzantines, you would need to include serbia, greece, turkey, georgia, armenia, bulgaria, southern romania, southern italy and more, which is impossible. it is as impossible as to unite india, pakistan, bangladesh and burma

    • Jorvick Mejía says:

      Now all you have to do now is the worlds worst city

  8. aylmer666 says:

    I lived in Alaska 17 years. Anchorage was basically like a larger, more boring version of Fairbanks with a bunch of strip clubs and higher crime rate. Usually the winters were a little more mild in Anchorage but that wasn’t always the case. Living there sounded terrible to me because houses in Anchorage were ridiculously expensive, so people would save money by living out in Palmer or Wasilla and commuting in on that single highway (which gets choked with traffic every day at rush hour). The solution one politician tried to fund was a bridge over the Knik Arm (labeled by the media a “bridge to nowhere”) which certainly would have helped commuter time but been ridiculously expensive. Alaska doesn’t have much in the way of mass transit at all, but building a light rail between Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley would help things immeasurably for people. The issue is Alaska doesn’t have much money, being overly reliant on the unstable oil market, tourism revenue (which has been really hurt in recent years), and federal money to pay for things, so infrastructure improvements up there (outside of paving roads) rarely get priority.

    • Tree Ring says:

      Yup, can’t stand Anchorage, haven’t driven down there in over 10 years. Fairbanks is a dirty little town though. Can’t stand going there either but is a must.

    • aylmer666 says:

      @Gabe K I think that moniker has been used to describe several abortive bridge projects in Alaska. There’s also that bridge down in Cordova (also called the “million dollar bridge”) that literally goes to nowhere because the earthquake in the 60’s destroyed the last portion of it and they never resumed production.

    • Parker says:

      Tried riding the train for a commute up to UAF from Anchorage. Horrible, there average speed was about 35mph. Definitely need some more infrastructure

    • Big Spruce Rabbitry says:

      @Tristan Bowen Come October you see all the cars in the ditch for about a month since everyone has forgotten how to drive in snow over the summer so forgot speed limits are a thing. Alaska might have better roads, but the drivers are the worst.

    • Tristan Bowen says:

      @Big Spruce Rabbitry I’m from Delta, so I know people can be dumb, but it snowed for three days here in San Antonio, and I had people insisting that they could still drive along freeways. Trust me, it’s worse here.

  9. highway2 heaven91 says:

    It’s quite interesting how cities such as Anchorage that we generally don’t discuss in real life are so important to governments around the world. Kind of makes you feel better if you got transferred to some of these places for work because you know that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself.

  10. Alaska907 says:

    I want to add to this. Throughout the interior of the state there is a river system that rivals that of the Mississippi with gold, copper, fertile land, and rare earth all along its banks. Its the Yukon. My hometown of Fairbanks used to export lumber by way of this river and honestly we have the fastest growing farmer population in this country. We have abundance in resources, arable land, and easy transport. I honestly believe Alaska may become one of America’s Top 3 power centers by the end of the century.

    • False Ambitions says:

      So you y’all expect to overtake states like Florida, Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts? I’d more realistically put Alaska as top 10 for importance militarily they’d be second though after Hawaii.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *