Random fact of the day

I was lying on the couch looking at the map on the wall when I started thinking about how it was drawn - with GMT right down the middle and the 12 hours plus and minus GMT to each extreme of the map.

What I wanted to know, was how long it took you to travel somewhere when you ended up a DAY behind your starting time, effectively travelling back through time.

Always something that has intrigued me, I looked it up. The International Date Line lines up roughly (with some diversions around terrirtory) along the 180 degree line of longitude - starting between Russia and Alaska and making its way down through the Pacific between Tonga and Samoa. The map on the left shows this (click to enlarge).

So really the answer to my questions is this. If you flew from Tonga (on the Western side of the IDL) to Samoa (on the Eastern side) it takes two hours. But because you cross the IDL, you arrive 22 hours before you left.

If you flew at 7am this morning (GMT), your departure time (and date) would have been 8pm on Mon 23rd Feb in Tonga. Your arrival time would have been 10pm Sun 22nd Feb.

An easier way to remember it: if Sarah Palin was looking at Russia from her house she could see into the future, for Russia is a whole day ahead of her. Now if only she'd said that she could see the future, people might have elected her VP...

I need to get out more.

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Was picking Palin a mistake?

I wrote before (in August) about the wisdom of selecting Sarah Palin as running mate on the Republican ticket. Among the six reasons I suggested she was a good pick for McCain were executive experience, her youthfulness, the fact that she was female and that she could energise the Republican (conservative) base with her views.

I suggested that with a "maverick" (moderate Republican) like McCain on the ticket the VP pick had to be someone that could appeal to conservatives to get the vote out. The fact that she was female was aimed at the pee-off Clinton supporters who were upset at her treatment by Obama and Democrats, while also attracting independents.

Two months later, like every Republican in America, I'm second-guessing that pick. While she has succeeded in energising the Republican base, potential cross-over Democrat voters that might have been won over by a woman on the ticket have been scared off by her conservative views.

At the time, I suggested that the choice of VP candidate for the Democrats would be made on the basis of someone who would win more states for them (and they went for what they needed - someone with clout in North East states) while the Republicans choice would be influenced by their need for someone to energise their base - which is what they went for.

However, might the Republicans have found someone who could have fulfilled that role while also winning more states - particularly in the North East? Someone, perhaps, like former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge? He'd certainly have the clout in Pennsylvania to perhaps swing it for McCain - but his pro-choice views would do little to appease the base who are already unconvinced by
McCain.

The decision to go with Palin has backfired in her inability to win battleground states for McCain, constant disagreements on policy issues with McCain himself and, well, Tina Fey's caricature of her hits quite close to home. Republican sources are starting to question the decision and ask whether other picks would have aided the campaign more.

I guess after the election there will be more of a discussion of the pick... when we know for sure whether it was a good or bad pick. I think if things had turned out differently to this point, and she'd done what was expected of her, then this discussion wouldn't be happening. But she's become the yardstick by which the Republican ticket is measured, and turned polls from what was a McCain lead to an Obama landslide. In that respect, and in so many others, Palin on the ticket has backfired for McCain.

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"I can see Russia from my house"

How much does Tina Fey look like Sarah Palin?



Some might say she sounds like her too...

Don't say I don't present a balanced view here!

Funny stuff.

ps - I'm considering liveblogging (for the first time) on the night of Nov 4th for the election. Just wondering if there will be anyone else blogging and/or anyone staying up to watch it?

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Hail Mary...

I have written previously that I though McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as running mate may have been the "Hail Mary" pass, the epitome of a last-minute, risk-reward strategy.



However, the New York Times thinks that it hasn't worked... and suggests the Republican ticket may need another trump play.



Their suggestion?



Ditch McCain. Put Palin at the top of the ticket. Make the race about the first woman v the first black man. Make it about cool v ice cold.



My initial thought is this: That is singularly the most crazy thing in politics since Gordon Brown invited Peter Mandelson back for a third stint in the Cabinet.



One thing is for sure though - the momentum, which had shifted away from the Democrats for much of 2008, is now swinging back Obama's way, just in time for the November election. The Republicans need to do something bold, or something needs to change; to break their way. Or Obama is getting the keys to the White House.



Anyone have any thoughts on what that could be?

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