Letters to the editor
Get your terms straight
Your recent article “Walker’s bold investment plans fall victim to deficit, surging stock market” is deficient on several levels.
Most critically, the definition given for “arbitrage” in the article is wrong. Arbitrage is the act of profiting from a difference in price levels in different markets. The definition given in your article is that of “buying on margin.” While it is in some instances possible to profit from arbitrage by buying on margin, the two concepts are fundamentally distinct and should not be confused.
If you separate populations with identical genomes and let enough time pass, then the genome of the populations will diverge. Some genes will become more common; some will become less common or disappear entirely. A few genes will be completely new mutations from transcription errors or background radiation. Arguing minutiae doesn’t change that.
The Bible does not say that genomes are fixed, so why do the literalists get so emotional about this issue? What a lot of people don’t realize is that the evolution “debate” is a red herring. Bible literalists believe the Earth is only a few thousand years old, far too little time for single celled life to evolve into today’s menagerie. Rather than argue the age of the Earth directly, they use evolution as a straw man: “Evolution is impossible (not true, of course), which proves the Earth is 6,000 years old.”
I would appreciate it if they would argue their position directly, using geology for instance, rather than waste all this time and energy on evolution. Myself, I would consider these issues settled as well.
Permanent Fund jackpot
The Lower 48 mega lottery jackpot was $564 million for three lucky winners, and Alaskans only got to sit idly by, twiddling our thumbs in envy. But wait, we are Alaskans, and could care less about the Lower 48 ways. We can start our own state lottery by using the Alaska Permanent Fund. I hear you thinking, “Using the Alaska PFD, how dare you!” Well, hear me out before the public hanging.
Hypothetically, here is how an Alaska PFD lottery would work, using the 2013 Alaska PFD as an example. Keep in mind, a PFD lottery would have two goals: First, half of the lottery totals would be put back into the PFD balance to help with sustaining the Permanent Fund. Secondly, every year, some lucky Alaskan would become a multimillionaire by receiving the other half. Now, which politician would not want you to become a multimillionaire or not want you to help sustain the Permanent Fund?
That said, the 2013 Permanent Fund dividend payout had 631,470 eligible applicants. If each eligible applicant had voluntarily checked a box on the Alaska PFD application to donate $100 to the Alaska PFD Lottery, that would be $63,147,000 for the 2013 PFD jackpot. Half of it would go back into the PFD account, and half would go to a lucky winner, or $31,573,500 for the Alaska PFD account, and $31,573,500 for a lucky Alaskan.
Politicians view my one voice as one vote, but a community voice, such as the community of Anchorage, would be viewed as many voters; and would get more of the right attention.
If you think an Alaska PFD lottery is a good idea, please help form a community voice for Alaska’s government to hear.
Note: Bingo is OK, but Alaska is capable of stepping it up a bit.
## ## Thank you for considering an Alaska PFD lottery formation.
However, the one very important aspect missing from the scene is the display of the banners depicting tournament victories, retired jerseys, and other related basketball accomplishments.
These banners should be very much a part of the basketball venue to be seen and enjoyed by all and not hanging in some other part of the campus.
Someone wrote that the arena wasn’t designed to accommodate banners. To that I say nonsense. Other campuses with venues that hold 20,000 or more fans always find a place and a way to hang victory banners that both honor the players and the university.
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