From Alaska to the Moon

I know most people have moved on from the silly claim that Sarah Palin can see Russia from her backyard - but in case you're wondering 'wait, can she really?' (the U.S. media still seem to be wondering) - check out this amusing post from American expat Erik Rassmussen who has used a distance calculator and a google map to estimate just how physically impossible it would be:

"To see Russia from Juneau, you’d have to go up 330,715.1 meters. That’s
almost the 350 km altitude of the International Space Station."

Thanks to the blogger volunteers at Voices without Votes for aggregating this blog post, along with hundreds of other's from around the world. The US elections really do look different through the eyes of outsiders.