It’s National Hanging Out Day. I was imagining a day dedicated to just sitting around a bar, or a park or somewhere else just, y’know…hanging out. But no. This is far more practical. It’s a day set aside to celebrate the act of hanging out wet laundry and to extol the benefits of air-drying. Yes – it’s a day to do your laundry. And to forego the dryer.

So get out, use a washing line or a rotary dryer and save the planet by not using your electric or gas -powered dryer.

Fun anecdote – hanging washing outside is common in the UK (yes, even given the weather makes it a challenge sometimes) and when we moved to the US we bought a rotary washing line for the back yard. One day we had a maintenance guy come round and he brought his young boy with him (must have been some sort of vacation). I overheard the kid ask his dad if the people who lived here were poor because they have to dry their washing outside on a line rather than use their dryer.

Anyway, it gives me a chance to see what AI can make of Arthur Robinson’s famous statement about Arno Peters’ map projection which he referred to as showing “land masses are somewhat reminiscent of wet, ragged, long winter underwear hung out to dry on the Arctic Circle”.

Original Prompt (ChatGPT)

It’s national hanging out day so I’d like a map to celebrate the day which is designed to promote the benefits of hanging out laundry to air dry on a line. I would like a world map that is depicted in the Peters projection, and which was famously described as looking like “land masses are somewhat reminiscent of wet, ragged, long winter underwear hung out to dry on the Arctic Circle”. Can you create a world map that looks like the continents are being hung out to dry as envisioned by the quote itself.