Islandman you do realize that my comparison was one nasa satellite image vs another nasa satellite image and not maps, right? that is to say that in one image, north america takes up nearly the entire 1/2 globe and in others, its smaller than that, the scaling is off. review kairos pics from earlier in this thread, he posted some of the pics I'm talking about. these are easy to find using google and are official nasa imagery.
you do have some interesting observations about maps though... who would have ever thought that people would try to portray themselves as being more than they are...? nothing like internet forums, thank goodness!