On Groundhog’s day, the prediction was made that we are going to have an early spring. The groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, did not see his own shadow. As the legend goes, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Feb. 2, six more weeks of winter are expected. How accurate is this prediction?

 Data from the Stormfax Almanac’s data shows that Phil’s six-week prognostications have been correct about 39 percent of the time.This number is too low to confirm that the groundhog’s predictions are accurate enough to rely on.

Last night while the super bowl commercials were being broadcasted for millions to see, many people were already ranking those who have created the best ads. One of those was the Planter’s Ad. Many were set to believe that Planters was doing away with its iconic Mr. Peanut, however their notable advertisement birthed a new, baby peanut.  The Outline predicted days prior that Planters was simply taking advantage of what it called Grief Twitter.

This video by The Atlantic focuses on the issue of deep fakes, and media that is essentially not real.

The video discusses how the 2020 election may suffer at the hands of deep fakes.

The New York Times also published a video on deep fakes in August of 2019, explaining the phenomenon that is occurring.

An expert in online manipulation discusses how people are using technology to create video that isn’t what it appears to be, which can be dangerous and misleading.

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Nike promotes a 2020 cultural ad for the Chinese New Year which displays the respect Chinese have for their elders in a comedic way. The ad is different for the company and catches the attention because it is so unlike the normal ads produced by the athletic company. In this ad, a niece is supposed to respect her mother’s wishes and not take money from her aunt, whom she out runs in Nike sneakers. At the end, the aunt is the one wearing Nike sneakers and the chase to give the niece the envelope containing money continues.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.