Nice example of a projection selected to accommodate the phenomena: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/04/15/GR20090415011...
Nice video of a globe transforming into different projected surfaces: http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2009/04/myriahedral_pro.php (and the link is from the Map Room, an blog about maps)
Nice explanations of major projections from the National Atlas site: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/mapping/a_projections.html
Freeware program for creating map projections: Flex Projector http://www.flexprojector.com/
Map projections used to create a globe in a different medium: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/kohsuke/archive/2009/06/afterjavaone_pr.html
Just about anything can show the continents: http://kevinvanaelst.com/photoapple.html