[HN Gopher] Alaska's one-house town, home to hundreds
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Alaska's one-house town, home to hundreds
Author : Jaruzel
Score : 129 points
Date : 2022-02-03 14:44 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.cnn.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.cnn.com)
| suzzer99 wrote:
| Seems like a ton of problems could be solved by just keeping the
| tunnel open an hour or so later. Maybe they don't want people
| driving drunk back from Anchorage. Force them to end their night
| early.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| That building sounds like a real-life version of the subterranean
| shelter in Wool, only...more Christian.
| mistrial9 wrote:
| and Coober Pedy, Australia right?
| TomAbel wrote:
| Whats Wool?
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| Hugh Howley book about life inside a subterranean shelter,
| where the cardinal rule is "if you talk about going outside,
| you get your wish." You're given a piece of wool to clean the
| lens on the camera before you die.
|
| I enjoyed the first three books, but the "prequels",
| decidedly less so. YMMV.
| FalconSensei wrote:
| First book in the Silo trilogy by Hugh Howey. I finished the
| 2nd book a couple weeks ago and so far, highly recommend -
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(series)
| judex wrote:
| This is normal e.g. in Hong Kong. I have met people who live like
| this there with everything in one huge building. Probably similar
| in many other asian cities - just guessing. Really interesting.
| Would you like to live like that?
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| I don't think that is very normal in HK. Ya, they have a lot of
| tall buildings, but people still go out to shop/eat/work
| (unless you mean...they never have to go outside because of the
| subway tunnels in Central HK?). Maybe when the Kowloon walled
| city was still around, but that is just an area that turned
| into a bunch of buildings that grew into each other.
| blamazon wrote:
| I found this amusing:
|
| >"Thompson pays a hefty sum for her junk food and returns to
| school. She shows off an indoor hydroponic garden she started so
| the kids would appreciate fruits and vegetables more. The school
| acquired the equipment after the police busted a guy who was
| using it to grow pot in his BTI condo."
| bootlooped wrote:
| There was a This American Life about it, centered around a family
| that moved there from American Samoa.
|
| https://www.thisamericanlife.org/555/transcript
| Lamad123 wrote:
| Heaven!
| qnsi wrote:
| I wonder what it does to people? Never leaving a building, not
| seeing sun for some people I speculate for days or weeks
|
| One of the important things everyone should do is see natural
| light (not through windows) in first hour after waking up.
| nickysielicki wrote:
| That's not possible during large stretches of winter in Alaska
| regardless of what kind of building you live in.
| vidarh wrote:
| Growing up in _Southern_ Norway, during winter it 'd usually be
| pitch black when I got up, and I'd not only not see much
| natural light in the first hour after waking up, but it'd still
| be twilight until the first school lesson was underway.
|
| It might be nice, but it's not that important.
| adventured wrote:
| > I wonder what it does to people?
|
| Entirely depends on your personality.
|
| I'm able to be alone for months at a time without it bothering
| me much. Other people go crazy after a few days of that. Some
| of that is determined by whether you merely enjoy the company
| of other people or if you _require_ other people.
|
| I enjoy the company of other people, however it extracts energy
| from me, and I preferably want to be alone afterward to
| recharge (social gatherings every night would deplete me, I'd
| require a break). Other people are more the social butterfly
| type, and they get recharged by being around other people,
| socializing, and they get increasingly depressed when that is
| missing.
|
| I could spend months reading/working/thinking alone on an
| island (so to speak), and not have a care in the world about
| the passing of time. I'd enjoy having hundreds of years just to
| spend that way, there are so many things to learn and think
| about.
| jhbadger wrote:
| The atmosphere (people dropping by for a visit at any hour in
| their pjs) reminds me of a university dorm. I'm not a
| particularly extroverted person, but I remember enjoying my
| time living in a dorm. I'm not sure I'd like it so much now
| though.
| jader201 wrote:
| I'd argue it's not so much about whether you're introverted
| or extroverted. In a place like this, it seems like you have
| plenty of opportunity to be around others, or be alone
| (though, the article makes it sound like sometimes even alone
| time can be interrupted by intruding neighbors).
|
| This is more about handling mostly indoor life vs. outdoor
| life, which impacts other aspects of wellbeing vs.
| socialization/introversion/extroversion.
| SeanAnderson wrote:
| Why does observation through a window change anything?
| solarmist wrote:
| I don't think it applies at apartment windows, but I believe
| many sky scrapes would have UV treatments on their windows.
| redweer wrote:
| they heard it on a podcast
| mariebks wrote:
| Sunlight through a window is much less bright according to
| lumen meters than when you're outside. We have neurons that
| wake you up more and directly respond to bright light early
| in the morning. (paraphrased, source from Huberman Lab
| podcast).
| wizzwizz4 wrote:
| Whether it's in your peripheral vision.
| chrisseaton wrote:
| > One of the important things everyone should do is see natural
| light (not through windows) in first hour after waking up.
|
| Is there some science behind this or is it a spirituality
| thing?
| t8e56vd4ih wrote:
| common sense?
| klyrs wrote:
| Sounds like a habit one living near the equator would take
| for granted and pass off as wisdom. In Anchorage, that would
| mean sleeping in past 9 in the winter. Good luck keeping a
| job on that schedule.
| wincy wrote:
| I'm pretty sure $300 worth of LED bulbs will work just fine.
| Getting to 50,000 lux or so in a room (which is some equation
| with lumens and the volume of the room, a small apartment
| should be easy to make bright as day vs a warehouse). It'll
| only cost as much as running a few hundred watt bulbs
| incandescent bulbs did back in the day. The sun isn't magic
| or anything.
| BenjiWiebe wrote:
| Not saying it wouldn't be just as good, but the spectrum of
| emitted light would not be the same as the sun.
| namibj wrote:
| Then get the good daylight-simulator LEDs from Yuji[0].
| If the spectrum is still too incomplete for your tastes,
| I'd recommend a carbon arc lamp, perhaps with a spectrum
| shaping filter to get up to 5600 K CCT.
|
| [0]: This model is AFAIK the cheapest one per lumen in
| their non-entry-level series:
| https://store.yujiintl.com/collections/vtc-
| series/products/v...
| thoughtstheseus wrote:
| It improves your sleep / wake cycles.
| chrisseaton wrote:
| What does the glass block that improves your sleep and wake
| cycle?
| FalconSensei wrote:
| The article could really use a couple pictures of inside and
| outside the building.
| inetsee wrote:
| There's an NPR article with a nice picture at the top showing
| the Begnich Towers building, with a dry-docked boat in front of
| it.
|
| https://www.npr.org/2015/01/18/378162264/welcome-to-whittier...
| troupe wrote:
| Here are some pictures from an apartment sold in 2021:
| https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/100-Kenai-St-510-511-Vald...
| camtarn wrote:
| Huh! It's a lot more colourful than I'd expected, given its
| origins as a military base. I guess that having something
| bright and colourful probably helps a lot in the grim
| weather.
| vmception wrote:
| don't trust real estate agents.
| peter303 wrote:
| Whittier is Anchorage's "port" where where cruise ships stop.
| There are shops inport. You can take day trips to Anchorage or
| overnight to Denali National Park.
|
| Whittier has other boats too forbwhale andbglacier tours,
| fishing, etc.
| beardog wrote:
| The tower is governed by a condominium association, so
| essentially everyone in this town has to follow private contract
| law as opposed to government ordinances.
|
| Here's their rules
| https://begichtowers.com/uploads/3/4/0/4/34048295/house_rule...
| MithrilTuxedo wrote:
| Makes me think of the Mayflower Compact.
| dmoy wrote:
| > If you do drip water or fish slime in the building, you must
| immediately clean up after yourself or call maintenance for
| assistance. (Adopted April 13, 2007)
|
| I wanna know what on earth happened in March 2007 lol
| konschubert wrote:
| Someone slipped?
| moralestapia wrote:
| "Oh yes, of course, the great slime event of 2007 ..."
| renewiltord wrote:
| What an absolute nightmare of rules haha. Jesus Christ, what a
| miserable existence.
| standardUser wrote:
| You might be shocked at how unreasonably repressive a lot of
| standard condo and apartment rules can be. I worked in the
| industry and recall one building where every unit had a
| really nice balcony, but they were almost all empty and
| unused because the rules were so strict.
|
| But in practice, I think most of these types of rules are
| rarely if ever enforced.
| i80and wrote:
| I don't see anything particularly out of line with regular
| apartment rules in my experience. The only thing I can see is
| the quiet hours do start a little early; 11pm is more common
| than 10pm.
| adventured wrote:
| People on here that are unfamiliar with rigid quiet hours,
| allow me to introduce you to how Germany does things
| (Ruhezeit) -
|
| https://blog.lingoda.com/en/what-is-ruhezeit-in-germany/
| majewsky wrote:
| Another German here. I'm legitimately surprised by this
| article saying that the entirety of Sunday is considered
| Ruhezeit. It's true that most stores are closed on
| Sunday, but I've done plenty of vacuuming and laundry on
| Sundays and never had anyone complain.
|
| Just to be sure, I just checked the house rules attached
| to my lease contract, and they define Ruhezeiten as Mon-
| Fri 13-15, 22-6 and Sat-Sun 13-15, 22-8. This is in East
| Germany, maybe the entire Sunday thing is a West German
| thing?
| Moru wrote:
| I was helping my mother in law mow the lawn a sunday
| afternoon, just like swedish people does it. Turns out
| that is a nono. West Germany.
| jader201 wrote:
| > The only thing I can see is the quiet hours do start a
| little early; 11pm is more common than 10pm.
|
| If we lived there, my wife would appreciate 10pm vs. 11pm
| being quiet hours, as she's often in bed well before 11pm.
| pc86 wrote:
| Ok
| datameta wrote:
| Yeah I'm generally not taken aback much, sounds about in
| line with a large NYC apartment. The one thing I can't live
| with is no roof access when there is such an elevated
| expansive view.
| syshum wrote:
| To many of us a large NYC Apartment also sounds like a
| nightmare...
|
| For me when I bought my house the number 1 rule,
| unbreakable that I gave my realtor was absolutely, under
| no circumstances how me a house with a HOA...
| gizmo686 wrote:
| These people didn't buy a house, they bought a portion of
| a larger building. That entire premise is utterly
| unworkable without some organization managing the larger
| structure. Most of the rules in the above document relate
| to usage of the shared portions of the building, not the
| specific condo that the person owns.
| FredPret wrote:
| Apartment rules are necessary but not to everyone's taste
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| Most of the rules struck me as being driven by necessity
| because a few eccentric assholes. Example:
|
| > The tops of the elevators shall not be used to move any
| materials
|
| Imagine the very deep sighs from the board when they had to
| institute that rule because some asshole was tripping
| maintenance mode on the elevator and using the top to move
| stuff for some reason...and when told not to, shouted "IT'S
| NOT AGAINST THEM ROOLS!"
|
| The rule about kids not playing with toys in hallways seems a
| bit authoritarian but was probably prompted by parents not
| sufficiently supervising their kids and toys getting left
| around and stepped/tripped on.
|
| The rules regarding entering an apartment are a bit more
| protective than in my state; a landlord has to provide notice
| (but only if not an emergency) and certainly doesn't have to
| leave a note, nor have a third party present, nor maintain a
| log.
|
| The biggest thing I see a problem with are the laundry room
| policies which seem like how they leverage control (ten days,
| in Alaska, to get a washer/dryer if you get a laundry room?
| Come on) and their excessive impound fees. Fifty bucks if you
| leave your gear in the wrong place at the wrong time of year?
|
| Fifty bucks if you don't return a cart within thirty minutes
| of using it?
|
| Fifty bucks if you leave your car in the loading dock longer
| than 30 minutes after unloading it?
|
| Basically violating any rule is "at least" fifty bucks. If
| you do it again, the fine doubles. It sounds like the fine
| doubles indefinitely, too.
|
| I did laugh at the "Horizontal Properties Regime Act". That
| is some straight-up dystopian-sounding bullshit.
| datameta wrote:
| Looks like some of the few newer rules are from 2007 which is
| when the railroad tunnel became also accessible to vehicles.
| PR move for visitors, it seems.
| beardog wrote:
| They do have a mayor and city council too, but I imagine the
| tower association has just as much if not more impact on day to
| day life
| [deleted]
| jader201 wrote:
| This video interviews the teacher mentioned in the article (Erika
| Thompson) and shows shots of life in the building, which helps
| give you a much better idea of their daily lives. Before watching
| this, I had a much different impression of what the building
| looked like/how life was, from reading the article alone.
|
| https://youtu.be/naPguX84Amg
|
| EDIT:
|
| And an even more recent one (from 2021) with Erika, that covers
| more of the city itself, vs. more focus on the BTI building. (The
| video above is from 2013.)
|
| https://youtu.be/P0y4D5RJuXE
| standardUser wrote:
| Thank you for this! It was _exactly_ as I pictured it from the
| article. One tidbit not mentioned in the article is that the
| town is a tourist destination during the summer, which was the
| first thing that came to my mind when I looked on Google maps
| and saw a museum, lounge and seafood restaurant:
| https://www.google.com/maps/@60.7739931,-148.6857725,1497m/d...
| throwaway48375 wrote:
| kgin wrote:
| Possibly a case study for future space settlements.
| aussieguy1234 wrote:
| I'm curious if humans ever lived on another planet where they
| couldn't go outside because of a toxic atomosphere if it might
| look something like this. A whole town or city inside one
| structure.
| fortysixdegrees wrote:
| Would be a good PhD subject, studying this place through that
| lens
| danielvaughn wrote:
| I went there in 2008, it was the first time I'd ever kayaked. I
| remember seeing the building in the distance, thinking it seemed
| like a fairly depressing place to live, even if the surrounding
| area is beautiful.
| [deleted]
| nickysielicki wrote:
| If you ever end up in Whittier, make sure you eat at Wild Catch
| Cafe.
| every wrote:
| Reminds me of the Soviet Siberian "towns"...
| bitwize wrote:
| Neat. A prototype arcology.
| datameta wrote:
| I have taken the tunnel mentioned in the article in 2011, I
| believe it was out of Whittier to Anchorage after arriving on a
| ferry from Seward. It's an interesting experience - single lane
| for what seemed like 5 minutes. Strangely, I don't remember the
| BTI building at all.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| It's weird that they haven't come up with a better system other
| than "the tunnel changes directions every hour and shuts down
| at a certain hour, forcing people to sleep in their cars." In
| the boonies when they have to make a bridge one-way they put
| traffic lights at each end with radar presence sensors.
|
| Seems like the rule is serving as an unofficial (and frankly
| illegal) town "drawbridge" to keep the riff-raff out.
|
| Edit: to all the replies telling me how it couldn't possibly
| work because people will break the rules: which is also true of
| the current system? And gates are a thing, folks. So is
| automated enforcement?
|
| If it's a private tunnel, nothing stops the railroad from
| saying "if you ignore the traffic control system, we fine you
| $x. If you do it again, you're barred from using the tunnel for
| a month and have a fine of $x*2. If you do it again, you're
| barred from using the tunnel permanently." Watch how fast
| people follow the rules.
| adamhearn wrote:
| The tunnel is the only way, besides helicopter to get to
| Whittier besides the port.
|
| https://dot.alaska.gov/creg/whittiertunnel/faq.shtml
|
| Why is Whittier so important to the Alaska Railroad?
|
| From an economic and geographic standpoint, Whittier
| represents the Alaska Railroad's only viable freight
| interchange point for its barge service connecting Alaska
| with the lower 48 states and Canada. Seward and Anchorage are
| not viable port alternatives for barge interline service.
| Anchorage is not free of ice year-round and Seward requires
| traveling over a mountain pass at a 3% grade (it would take
| six locomotives to haul a heavy load from Seward versus two
| from Whittier). Whittier is a year-round, ice-free, deep-
| water port. It is located only 50 miles from Anchorage and
| has slight grades for trains and engines. For these reasons,
| all the Alaska Railroad's railcars, locomotives, and rail-
| borne freight must enter and depart via Whittier.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| That's nice but doesn't explain why the traffic system for
| the tunnel's one lane of car traffic is so rudimentary and
| restrictive.
| sufficer wrote:
| Because there is essentially no traffic
| blincoln wrote:
| It's a really, really long tunnel. GP's estimate of 5 minutes
| travel time sounds reasonably accurate. If someone ignored
| the light and went down it while someone was coming in the
| other direction, getting traffic unsnarled could be a
| headache. Even more so if there was a collision.
| belkinpower wrote:
| You're underestimating how long the tunnel is, how many
| vehicles are waiting to go through, and how unwilling to
| follow rules people are. When I was waiting to drive through
| it last summer some guy decided he was tired of waiting and
| tried to drive around the line and into oncoming traffic. The
| railroad police had to chase after him and stop him before he
| shut the whole tunnel down.
| walrus01 wrote:
| there's a youtube video of a guy riding a freight train through
| that tunnel, with a gopro strapped to his head...
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOBCGmZppaA
| baybal2 wrote:
| Very small by Chinese standard. What about living in a condo
| compound with 8000 flats?
|
| I think the biggest apartment complex in the country (and
| probably in the world) went as far as 20000 flats with 20 towers
| joined at stylobate.
| Riseed wrote:
| > Whittier, including its hospital, school and city government,
| functions within one self-sufficient structure
|
| The story is not so much about a big building, but rather about
| an isolated town that exists inside only one building. Do these
| condo compounds with 8000 flats include the hospital, schools,
| city government, general store, post office, etc?
| baybal2 wrote:
| The mall taking up to 4th storey is bigger than most malls
| you see in the US.
|
| Some GP mini-clinics are surely there.
| Scoundreller wrote:
| Does China have them as standalones with basically nothing
| otherwise nearby?
| baybal2 wrote:
| If something like that built in a smaller town, it surely
| "sucks life out" of the rest of the neighbourhood as most of
| commerce migrates into a place with better deal for
| rent/revenue.
|
| There is a village called Sanmen in Zhejiang where the
| manufacturer of scooters I dealt with was located.
|
| It was a rather big village, turning into an industrial town.
| The moment they got a nuclear plant, a ton more of industry
| moved in there.
|
| A huge residential development with 40 highrise towers was
| built near the industrial park, and almost anybody of notable
| level of income in the village moved there, and all the
| commerce followed
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(page generated 2022-02-05 23:00 UTC)