Why do we rely on an animal to tell us how much more winter is left?  And why a groundhog of all animals?  Well for starters, it used to be a hedgehog until the Germans settled in Pennsylvania and found that groundhogs were much more abundant.  

Secondly, humans love traditions, especially when it comes to knowing whether or not we’re in for a polar vortex before Spring hits.  Lastly, betting has become all the rage in recent years as states and provinces legalize it across North America and so you can bet on whether this damn animal is going to see his shadow or not. I doubt you care but here are the betting odds that Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow. (if you do care then you are officially a betting degen)

Aside from inaccurate weather forecasts for what seems like the past 100 years, Groundhog Day has also blessed us with a classic film starring the great Bill Murray.  In a film (also called Groundhog Day) where you have no idea why he keeps reliving the same day over and over again, Bill Murray plays a disgruntled weatherman covering the yearly Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  Widely regarded as one of the best films of the 1990’s, Bill Murray said it himself that Groundhog Day was some of his best work to date.

If you haven’t watched Groundhog Day then I would highly recommend it.  The film answers the question, if you could relive a moment or a day, what would you do differently?  It’s fun to watch Phil relive the day and go from being this disgruntled guy who doesn’t care about the world because he’s just going to have to relive the same day anyway to someone who realizes maybe things will change for him if he’s actually a good person.  Also, let’s be honest, nothing beats a classic 90’s comedy anyway.

This week's issue is a 3 minute read:

🤳 Anti-Social Media

😴 The World’s Most Popular Dreams

👟 A Potential Air Max Day Dud(!)

Not a Good Week for Social Media

On Wednesday the heads of Meta, X, TikTok, and SnapChat all sat in front of congress and got questioned on why they continue to be billionaires while users of their platforms suffer.  OK OK - I’m exaggerating a little bit but the fact that a bunch of parents showed up with pictures of their kids and stood as Mark Zuckerberg was pressured into apologizing to them was quite the moment.  I would not have wanted to be in the car ride home with Zucks, that had to have been one of his top 5 most embarrassing moments of his life.

I’ve clipped it so you can watch it right here:

In a recent study in Buffalo it was found that there was a correlation between social media use and chronic inflammation - I mean how often do you have your neck bent downwards towards your phone while you doom scroll?  The study found that social media use increased C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood of study participants, a common sign of chronic inflammation.  

Meanwhile New York City announced this past week that social media has been designated by the city as an environmental toxin or ‘public health hazard’.  This makes me think of that video of the girl who was walking with her head down while on her phone and walked right into a fountain.

Let’s all give up social media for a week and meet back here next week - deal?  (I know, I can’t do it either!)

Teeth or Snakes - What’ll it be?

There are two dreams that, whenever I have them, and I can actually control the action, are a lot of fun.  The first is being able to float around or fly on command - essentially being in a conversation with someone and just deciding I feel like flying away and so I do, with distance or height not being a concern.  The other dream is a little more down to earth (haha!) and it involves playing basketball but not missing a shot and dunking on everyone in sight.  Much more normal, right?

A study was done over the summer around the most common dreams people have by country and it was no surprise in Canada the most common dream was having your teeth fall out.  Why no surprise you ask?  Well, when your teeth fall out in your dream it’s a sign in your waking life that you could be experiencing anxiety, a loss, or some form of distress.  And what might Canadians be anxious or distressed about?  Interest rates, losing jobs, taxes, the usual.  But we’re not a political newsletter so I digress.

Where in North America we dream the most about our teeth falling out, the rest of the world seems to be dreaming mainly about snakes.  The meaning behind snakes seems fairly similar to teeth falling out - suffice to say the whole world tends to be worried about something!

An Air Max Day Preview

I don’t know how to feel about this shoe.  Nike will be unveiling the Air Max DN on Air Max day on March 26th.  This week they gave everyone a preview of the shoe.  And I don’t know how to feel about this shoe - I had to say it again.  I’m a big fan of sleek uppers on running shoes and this shoe has that - it’s got that slim sleek look from the toe through the ankle but I don’t know if that gapped 4 air bubble look makes sense for a shoe like this.  

The heel has the same vibe for me as the Air Max Pre Day shoes that came out in 2021.  If you have a foot that is bigger than a size 9 then the heels become these giant clunkers, akin to those big Balenciaga shoes people wear...yeeuck

It’s rumoured that Nike will be running with the Air Max DN’s and evolving the line into the next year or two.  Other than the Vapormax’s and the Air Max 270’s, there hasn’t really been a new Air Max silhouette to come out and truly survive past the year it was launched - case in point what ever happened to the Air Max Pulse which was released last year?