
The elegant timing contraption of the Nenana Ice Classic - fold
https://www.adn.com/opinions/2017/05/01/this-antique-engineering-marvel-records-spring-breakup-in-alaska-like-clockwork/
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nmcfarl
I can't miss this chance so: When someone uses the word debacle to describe a
minor problem I get to rebut with my favorite joke (that only works when you
are in Alaska and a nerd): Namely "That's not a debacle the Nena Ice Classic
is a debacle."

See definition 3:
[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/debacle](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/debacle)

Also: It's not nearly as good with "bets on a debacle", but it a good bit more
accurate.

Also: Yes all of my friends _hate_ my sense of humor.

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Terr_
I found this article fairly confusing. It seems to be geared towards readers
are already very familiar with the whole Punxsutawney-Phil-esque event,
eschewing any establishing pictures and bringing up "the tripod" and leaving
me to puzzle whether it was part of "the tower" or not, etc.

~~~
Zak
It's a type of lottery.

A large wooden "tripod" (it actually has four legs) is placed on the frozen
river in winter. When the ice breaks up in spring and the river starts
flowing, the current carries the tripod downstream, pulling a rope attached to
a tower built on land to trigger the mechanism described in the article to
stop the clock.

People buy tickets to place bets on the exact minute the clock will be
stopped. The closest bet wins, and if there are multiple bets on the winning
time, the winners split the prize. The prize has been over a quarter million
dollars in recent years.

~~~
Terr_
I understood that it was a lottery, I'm just grousing that 5% more set-up
would've made it much more approachable.

It doesn't quite say what happens when the slack runs out on the _other_
ropes, come to think of it. Unless the cleaver cuts them all at once somehow.

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Zak
I lived in Nenana as a child. I had no idea it was this complicated. I figured
it just pulled a pin to stop the clock.

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mordechai9000
I actually won this one year.

I was in a pool of 14 people and we spread our guesses across the most likely
times on the most likely days. Of course, that's what most people do, so there
were several winning tickets. It wound up being a few hundred bucks.

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erikpukinskis
I don't understand what the stopped clock is supposed to signify. It's a
device that show the current time except off by a bit—the number of large
changes in the ice flow? like my microwave?

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Sanddancer
There's a yearly lottery pool based on who guesses closest to the time when
the Nenana ice jam breaks up. The tripod falling over signifies when the
river's moving.

[http://www.nenanaakiceclassic.com/](http://www.nenanaakiceclassic.com/)

