the reason the earth is not a true sphere was nt stated in the original post, and the comment about the moon is also confusing. the reason the earth isn't round is due to centrifical force. the speed a person is traveling at the equator is some where around 1700 kph. the centrifical force generated by that speed expands the circumferance of the earth by about 14 miles.

Ihave climbed to 16000 ft on Cotopaxi in Ecuador, which is even closer to the equator than Chimborazo. At that altitude, I would have been about 3500 ft above the summit of Everest.

But since centrifical force affects the atmosphere as well, the oxygen level at 16000 ft in Ecuador would be the same as 16000 ft on everest.

Obviously there isn't the same challenge, but it is fun to watch peoples expressions when I say that I have climbed higher than Everest.
drw

From the review I saw on dpreviews.com, it appears to be a bit bigger then the FZ-5, but smaller then the FZ-20. Features are better then the FZ-5 also, especially the movie mode:
� 640 x 480 (4:3) 30 / 10fps
� 320 x 240 (4:3) 30 / 10fps
� 848 x 480 (16:9) 30 / 10fps
� With audio
Don't know about zoom during movie mode.

It also has ISO settings of 800 and 1600.

Checkout the review on dpreview.com or Steve's Digicam website.

DRW