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a couple of those maps don't have Antartica at all!?



Antarctica?

That's just a figment of mapmakers' imaginations. Do YOU know anyone who's ever been to or seen Antarctica? See. Proves it's mythical.

Actually, the reason you see the maps as they are is because it's impossible to accurately show the surface of a globe in only two dimensions. Something has to give somewhere. Many maps show Greenland as appearing bigger than Australia actually is. Perhaps the best overall 2D view is what's called the Mercator projection, which looks sort of like an orange peel flattened out at the "top and bottom." In actuality there exists no such thing other than as a convention, and as you have seen the convention is not universal.

I assume most of you have seen Google Earth; if not, go do the free download and look at it. It's amazing. You can zoom right in to any point on earth, some with more resolution than others, but fascinating nonetheless.

In some of them you can actually pick out (and recognize) automobiles. If you look at 536 S Memphis Way, 80017, the white car parked in front of the house is now parked in back of my house here in 28752.

TEd