I knew there was some distortion... necessary to portray a 3D world on a flat plane, but wow, I had no idea the distortions were this dramatic.
Check it out:
Africa on the world map: What's the real size? - CNN.com
The left/right wipe maps are amazing. This totally just blew my perception of the world out of the water. Now, I'm gonna have to go back and visit a lot of places.