It's So Alaskan

Duh! Dept:

Galen West of Sitka, a 68-year-old retired dentist, says he is fortunate to be alive after he killed a charging mother grizzly with a "lucky" shot or three during a pheasant hunt in Montana. West said he first saw the bear standing upright on her hind legs about 20 feet away in heavy brush. Then she growled and charged. West fired three times with a 20-gauge shotgun -- with no time to aim -- and struck the bear between the eyes. It landed at his feet. "There was no decision to make," West said. "I had one thing to do and that was defend myself." The bear had three nursing cubs, which probably will not survive, said officials. They added that the incident appears to be a straightforward case of self-defense.

Self-defense ... ya think?!?

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All-The-Comforts-of-Home Dept:

David B. Offer, a retired Maine journalist serving as C.W. Snedden chairman in journalism at UAF this school year, writes a column for his hometown readers about Fairbanks residents who live in "dry" cabins -- those without running water. Such cabins are particularly attractive to UAF students and faculty because rent is cheap and showers are easily available on campus. Still, there's the issue of using an outhouse at 40 below. But acquaintances point out that some are heated, and some even have wireless Web access. "People take a lot of pride in their outhouses," professor Robert Prince tells Offer. "You just accept it; it's the nature of the beast."

You take care of your long winter nights, and they'll take care of theirs...

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That's-a-Little-Too-Wild Dept:

A drunken Wasilla man on the Alaska Railroad's "Murder on the Train" mystery charter was arrested Saturday when he refused to calm down, urinated from the moving train and then wouldn't get off in Talkeetna, police said. The theme of the charter was "The Wild Wild West."

I can't add anything to add to that.