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.

It’s Record Store Day. Time to go queue up at your local record store and buy some vinyl. Most likely some vinyl that you already own if you’re into record store day, but perhaps not in the wierd and wonderful multi-coloured splatter vinyl that they decided to release of your favourite artist’s record to extract money from your wallet. I’m a bit of a vinyl junkie having grown up and developed a love for music (some would question whether my tastes are musical though I prefer to explain them as ‘eclectic’) in the 1980s during the period of transition from vinyl to Compact Disc. I guess I became a bit of an audiophile. I saved for months and bought my very first turntable and amplifier (both Yamaha) and AR20 speakers when I started doing part-time work at a local supermarket while at school.

The tangible physicality of a record is something I love. A 12″ gatefold sleeve, a lyric sheet, the artwork being as important as the noise from the grooves on the vinyl. The clicks and crackles, the warmth of the sound, and the ceremony of having to turn the record over to listen to the second half of the recording. I even recall going to a concert in my hometown when i was around age 16 and hearing a favourite band introduce the next song they were about to play as ‘Side 2 of their next album”. That was Marillion. The album was ‘Misplaced Childhood’. Although split into named sequences it essentially had two songs – Side A, and Side B. I went to my local record store to buy it on the day of release. I have the original album, the CD, the picture disc, and the heavy vinyl re-released box set. I love it!

Streaming music? All very convenient, and I enjoy the ease of use when I’m out and about. But it’s a bit soulless and merely functional. When I’m home, I get out the vinyl and crank it up loud. I recommend it.

As for Record Store Day – it’s been on the calendar since 2008 and was dreamt up by a collective of Independent Record Stores to celebrate their existence, or, more likely, to conjure up business to ensure they didn’t go out of business! But it garners some interesting and unique collectible releases every year if collecting vinyl is your thing. So here’s a map that shows the annual sales of music in the physical format as a Dorling cartogram because it was too obvious not to make the map this way.

Interestingly, ChatGPT knows what a Dorling Cartogram is and can make one. Google Gemini can’t (at the time of writing)

Original prompt (Chat GPT)

Can you create a map image to celebrate Record Store Day. I’m envisaging the use of vinyl records organised as a world map using a Dorling Cartogram. The size of the records should equate to some sort of measure of music sales of physical media, like vinyl and CDs.

I’m quite sure we’ve all felt that moment when you tune out and everyone sounds like the teacher in Charlie Brown’s class. Well this is a day to do the opposite – to tune in, be present, and get on with doing things. Listen. Execute tasks. Act now. Just stop putting off all those things you have been putting off. You know, you can always get AI to help you…just like I used it to make this map. Job done. Moving on.

Original prompt (Google Gemini)

Blah Blah Blah day is coming up. It’s a day to celebrate listening to the noise. It’s about recognising people and being present when they’re talking. It’s about doing those things that you never seem to get done. It’s a day about tuning in rather than tuning out. So can you help me by making a map that somehow helps people reflect on the meaning behind the day, and generate an image in celebration.

Today is National Orchid Day. You know, those ridiculously expensive but beautiful plants with ornate flowers that you buy when you want to impress someone. And which then someone has to work really hard to keep alive. Well here’s a map of the global diversity of orchids which shows their natural habitat rather than that of the supermarket florist sections they tend to inhabit.

Original prompt (Gemini Image)

Please create an image of a map of global orchid diversity. Make the map as illustrative as you can with beautiful orchids, preferably close to their natural habitat. Label the map with any useful information.

It’s National Dog Fighting Awareness Day. It’s also Pygmy Hippo Day. But National Draw a Bird Day caught my attention. for no real reason other than pondering what the heck we can do with that on a map. So i asked AI just that. And it did. Take it or leave it as is your desire. But now you have the basic technique for how to draw a bird. Give it a go!

Original Prompt (ChatGPT)

I need a world map to celebrate national draw a picture of a bird day. So maybe a world map with several birds that represent different countries, drawn in a pencil sketch style. Somewhere on the map should also be several images that illustrate how to construct a drawing of a bird using geometric shapes and other steps.

A species in decline – hence the day dedicated to raising awareness. Beavers build dams, they cleanse water, they are Canada’s national animal. But dig a little deeper and they’re fascinating rodents. Rather than being seen as a tree-munching nuisance they’re actually pretty efficient in their use of the environment. They eat buds, bark and leaves, and use the remainder for construction. Their dams help wetland areas, and trap sediment from downstream waterways. In turn, they help prevent the spread of wildfire.

Anyway, here’s a map of the main species distribution across the world.

And if you don’t care for a map of Beaver distribution, here’s Lieutenant Frank Drebin, played by Leslie Nielsen, admiring a ‘nice beaver’ in the classic Naked Gun sketch.

Original Prompt (Google Gemini)

Please create a world map showing beaver habitat, and create annotations to explain some of their characteristics.

It’s California Poppy Day. Beautiful flowers that tend to appear in superblooms in parts of the State for a short time each Spring. In fact, by the time this day comes most will have already flowered due to the unusually short winter and early onset of Spring this year. Something about climate change I guess but i digress. So here’s an illustrate map that gives some general locations of some of California’s most famous superblooms.

Original Prompt (ChatGPT)

Can you design an illustrative map that celebrates the California Poppy. perhaps identify places where poppy superblooms are located in California. Make the map beautiful!

The irony – it’s Read a Road Map day. Not ‘Blindly stick an address into a car’s satnav system and follow turn directions’ or ‘Use Google maps’. This is a day to celebrate maps. You know, maps on paper, in road atlases’ the sort of product that not only invited curiosity for the places you were to visit, but also the places along the journey. Satnav killed all that. It also killed the requirement for people to be able to read a map, even in a basic sense.

So i thought I’d see if AI can create some form of generic road map and show how it might be used as an educational tool. I chose an imaginary place largely because AI still hallucinates placename spelling. If the places are imaginary then the way they are spelt is the way they are spelt. That said, there’s still a few hallucinations in what follows.

Anyway, it’s passable, but only on the correct side, at the right speed. The irony? 100% AI created without any paper or real roads to generate the look of a paper product, using a computer. Meta.

Original Prompt (Google Gemini)

I need a map that could be used to promote “Read a Road Map” day. The map itself must look like a road map and contain all of the typical features you’d expect in a road atlas. Crucially it needs to direct people in how to read the map so it should be educational.

How do you ‘celebrate’ a day that’s all about the perils of internet censorship and lack of availability in different places from the country-level down to schools, libraries, and homes.

The most obvious would have been to make this web page default to a 404 which would be exactly what you’d expect to see. But instead let’s forego that obvious gag and, instead, make a map that identifies where in the world is the world closed. We can throw some gags onto the map instead.

Original Prompt (ChatGPT)

I need a map of the world to celebrate 404 day, a day used to reflect on the problems of censorship on the internet. I need the map to be heavily sarcastic and play into the idea of Page 404 being somewhere you land if something’s missing. Maybe use this concept as a basis for a map showing censored regions across the world. Go for it!

It’s Good Friday but that’s boring so what else is on the list for today…Tweed Day, Fishfingers and Custard Day, Aquatic Animal Day. Nah – it’s World Marbles Day!

It’s been a while since I actually played marbles but I recall many an hour in the school playground trying to beat my friends, and show off some sought after marble or other. The trade in marbles was almost as important as the game itself.

Today celebrates the rich history and joy that the simple game of marbles brings. And also commemorates the very first tournament held on Tinsley Green, England in 1588 where two competitors fought for the hand of a milk maiden.

Original Prompt (Google Gemini)

Can you draw me a map of world marbles day, maybe as a two hemisphere map poster with each hemisphere of the globe illustrated like marbles. Please include the polar regions as separate marble insets