Happy National Cold Cut Meats Day!
I imagine that this may have been started by the cold cut meats industry to offset National Colectoral Cancer Awareness Month. Cold cut meats are designated as a Class 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization, as deadly (and some research shows potentially more lethal) than smoking.
For me, it’s a tough call between a quarter kilo of thinly sliced turkey or salami or a pack of Dunhill International cigarettes. In most circles, i.e., around my kids and wife, it’s more socially acceptable to eat cold cuts. So I’ll probably stick with that. Though, if smoking is actually less deadly… I do miss smoking like an old friend. Maybe I should give up meat and go back to that? Perhaps I will just shun both! That’s an idea! Yes…
Regardless of cancer risk, today is a day to celebrate! Today is just as important and celebrated as any other self-declared day, including our discipline’s sacred GIS Day.
So tip your hats and salute the Cold Cuts Meat Industry! (And not just for the gall to place their day smack dab in the middle of Colectoral Cancer awareness week and month!)
Today is a day for cold cuts! And here is a map to celebrate the industry’s many triumphs!
View the map here.
LLM tools used:
- WebMapGPT: to create the map, interactivity, and layout, etc.
- ChatGPT 5.2 Image: for the background tiles.
- Google Gemini: to collect the CDC data on colectoral cancer rates by state.
WebMapGPT Prompt
Hi there. I have a dataset of colon and rectal cancer rates by state. I’m wondering if there is a way to get this information by county. Regardless, I’d like to make a thematic US map (with Alaska and Hawaii in the lower left) of colon and rectal cancer rates by state or country as a counter-celebration to National Cold Cut Meats Day on March 3. Processed meats are known to be carcinogenic and likely cause colon cancer, so I think it’s a good opportunity to highlight the risks. The background, behind the map, should be a large, tiled image of cold but meats layered on top of one another from a bird’s eye view angle. Can you create a background tile that makes it look like a neverending layering of sliced deli meats, including roast beef, salami, turkey, and ham, please? That should be the html body fill behind the map. The color should be caramel and brown, by and large, but the meat colors. I’m going for shock like Lady Gaga’s meat dress that one year. 🙂 The map itself should be a legitimate choropleth representation of the cancer rates (by county, preferably but state to start, to create the proof of concept). Use a quantitative color scheme from Color Brewer from orange/yellow to red (red being the highest rates). Let’s go with Natural Breaks and six categories. The info window should show the State Name, the colon and rectal cancer rate, and the state’s rank for highest rate to lowest. The title should be: “Cold Cutting Your Way to Cancer” Make the title look like one of those label stickers they slap on plastic cold cut meat bags at a deli. White rounded rectangle label with the title, a faux mini bar code under it, and March 3, 2026 as a date on it. Put the title in the upper left. Create a legend in the lower right. Double the legend as a multi-selet filter (clicking on certain classes will show them and remove unselected classes). Include a minimal reset button at the bottom of the legend. Also, a minimal Sources button in the bottom of the legend that will show the Sources Modal when clicked. When someone clicks anywhere outside of the sources modal, it should disappear. The sources modal MUST NOT be open when the map instantiates. Keep it hidden until it is asked for. The legend title should be something like colectoral cancer rates. The pop-up window should note, in fine print, at the bottom, but still readable, that processed meats have been deemed as carcinogenic as smoking by the WHO. Thanks!
