THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: The median age in the Wade Hampton Census Area is 22.5. The median age in the Anchorage census area is 39. Percentage of persons living below poverty in the Wade Hampton area is 30 percent. Percentage of persons living below poverty in the Anchorage area is 7.9 percent. Source: U.S. Census.

SPOILS OF OIL: Of the $170 billion Alaska’s oil patch has provided the state since 1978, the state has spent $125 billion and saved $45 biilion. Source: University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research.

YOUR NOSE GROWS WHEN YOU LIE? That’s not true, however, your nose’s temperature does increase every time you tell a lie, according to thermal-imaging studies conducted by researchers in the department of experimental psychology at the University of Granada in Spain. (Which possibly means the collective nose temperature of Congress could boil water). Source : AARP.

ALASKA’S PER CAPITA INCOME RANK IN THE U.S. In 2012, Alaska ranked 10th in the United States in terms of per capita income. The average per capita income in Alaska was $46,778.00. Source: Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of New Mexico.

DO YOU BELONG TO THIS CLUB? In 2012, six million U.S. households out of some 118.5 million had $1 million or more in investable or liquid assets (excluding sponsored retirement plans or real estate), Nationally, this represents about 5 percent of all households. In Alaska, there are 6.47 percent of the state’s households which hit this level. Source : Phoenix Marketing International.

FREE ENTERPRISE ISN’T FREE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $136.3 million last year lobbying Congress, spending more than three times as much for such as the next biggest trade association. The chamber’s president is paid an annual salary of $4.9 million. Overall, the Chamber operates on a budget of $1 miilion a day /  $5 million per week. Source: New York Times.

NUCLEAR NUTS: China, Pakistan and India have increased their nuclear weapons by about 10 warheads each. Meanwhile, the United States and Russia continue their disarmament as prescribed by treaty. The U.S. reduced its number of warheads to 7,700 from 8,000, and Russia cut its arsenal from 10,000 to 8,500 warheads. Source: The Stockholm International Peace. Research Institute.

THE FIRST ZIP CODE: By governmental edict, the residents of the Pribilof Islands were directed to spell their names according to which island they lived. St. George residents were ordered to spell their name with one f and the residents of St. Paul spelled their names with two fs. So, residents if St. George spelled their names : Lekanof, Merculief, Philemonof. And the residents of St. Paul : Lekanoff, Merculieff, Philemonoff, etc. Source: Pribilof residents.

NOBODY TOLD THE RESIDENTS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS ABOUT THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: The residents of the Pribilof Islands, under a trilateral agreement between the United States, Japan and Russia, served as indentured servants to harvest the fur seals which were indigenous to St. George and St. Paul up until 1959. Source: Century of Servitude: Pribilof Aleuts Under United States Rule, by Dorothy Knee Jones.

PAY OR PAY FOR ELECTRICITY: Unless the State of Alaska chips in for the cost to build the Susitna-Watana dam, the retail rate for Susitna power in 2024 for Railbelt customers will be about 40 cents per kilowatt-hour. In comparison, it will be about 21 cents per kilowatt-hour if utilities provide the electricity using natural gas. If the state pitches in $5 billion—or roughly $15,000 per family of three Railbelt residents—the cost of electricity from the dam will go down to about 23 cents per kilowatt-hour. Source: University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research.

NICE GOVERNMENT PARKING PERKS: Amount paid by state workers in Albany, New York for a covered, reserved parking space: $108.00 a month. Amount they pay for a covered non-reserved space: $54.00 a month. Amount paid by Alaska state workers for a covered, reserved or unreserved parking space working in the Atwood Building in Anchorage $0. Source: Offices of General Services, New York.

PAYING FOR THEIR SWEET PARKING SPOTS: Estimated total amount the tax payer will pay for the Atwood parking lot: $77 million with interest.