The Slice: Saluting our proximity to the Last Frontier

Happy Alaska Day.

Seeing as how Washington is the closest state to our neighbor to the north, shouldn’t we be allowed to get in on today’s celebration?

Sure. So if you know someone originally from Alaska, please recognize him or her in some socially appropriate way.

In other words, ask permission before you administer your Polar Bear Hug.

Slice answers: In the matter of trying to explain the appeal of ice hockey to a nonfan, Paul Campbell had an idea. “I wouldn’t say anything except show them the 1980 Winter Olympics match between the USA and the Soviet Union, the so-called Miracle on Ice.”

That’s an idea. But I can’t recall now if that game was exceptionally exciting or if it was the tense, unlikely circumstances that made it seem so.

And Peter Yocom has experienced the magpie-sighting feast or famine The Slice asked about.

“When we moved here in 1991 we settled in the Cheney area and saw magpies all the time. We moved to the South Hill about five years ago and have seen nary a one since. We miss them.”

Which of these beers was never brewed in Spokane: A) Golden Age. B) Durst. C) Bohemian Club. D) Rainier. E) Schade. F) Brown Derby. G) Duff.

Yes, that’s correct.

Folklife winter forecast: “My brother’s neighbor asked him how his earwig population was doing, and they agreed it was booming this year, maybe worse than ever,” wrote Ken Carpenter of Moyie Springs, Idaho. “The neighbor then declared that this is a sign of a bad winter on the horizon. That was a new one on me. But my earwig gang had caught my attention too, and I do not remember ever having so many. When I find a bunch I scoop them up and throw them to the chickens, who consider them to be wiggly popcorn. I guess the little weather forecasters don’t taste like chicken.”

I told Ken I wouldn’t recognize an earwig if it addressed me by name. But now that I have hungry chickens living next door, I’ll be on the lookout.

Today’s Slice question: What demonstration of ignorance about American geography almost took your breath away?

I’m not asking to be mean or to make fun. But I think a lot of us operate on the assumption that most people are in approximately the same ballpark when it comes to general knowledge. And you know, a fair amount of evidence suggests that simply isn’t true.

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Nobody remembers Huckleberry Hound.