[BigGuyWhoKills]

The sunlight doesn't shine evenly over the earth. When the sunlight is angled one square foot of sunlight covers more than one square foot of earth.

I see what I did wrong.  I used the cross-sectional area of the Earth, but also used the RE distance to the sun.  The FE distance needs to factor in the slope like you say.  I was only thinking of the slope due to curvature, which is why I used the cross-sectional area instead of half the surface area.  I will recalculate the numbers when I have a bit more time.

[Tumeni]

The sunlight doesn't shine evenly over the earth. When the sunlight is angled one square foot of sunlight covers more than one square foot of earth.

But surely you accept that IF the Earth is a globe, and one side of that globe points toward the Sun, the part of the globe nearest to the Sun would receive one square foot of sunlight straight-on, and not at any angle?

So at any one time, some area in the equatorial region is this point?

[QED]

The sunlight doesn't shine evenly over the earth. When the sunlight is angled one square foot of sunlight covers more than one square foot of earth.

But surely you accept that IF the Earth is a globe, and one side of that globe points toward the Sun, the part of the globe nearest to the Sun would receive one square foot of sunlight straight-on, and not at any angle?

So at any one time, some area in the equatorial region is this point?

Well, almost. Since the Earth's rotation axis is tilted relative to its orbital axis, the locations which receive direct sunlight vary over a calendar year. This is, of course, how we get seasons.