Brigadoon Daily Rundown = June 17, 2020

James Stavridis: The China-India border dispute just got real: With 20 of its troops dead, India may turn to the US as a bulwark against Chinese aggression. https://bloom.bg/2N72rzH

Innovating the world: Matt Ridley in his new book makes the case that ‘innovation is the child of freedom and the parent of prosperity.’ https://bit.ly/3dcFvdf

@mattwridley: "During the 1870s many people were working on electric lighting, and about 20 reasonable claimants for its invention can be identified. But it was really Thomas Edison — not just an inventor, but an innovator — who made electric lighting a reality."

Bannon tells Asia Times: US election is all about China: In an exclusive interview, Steve Bannon pulls no punches on what he really thinks about China and Trump's re-election chances. https://bit.ly/2YGklii

Bill Scher: 1968? 1920? 1932? Which election year is it? https://bit.ly/3hyB5QX

The US military is getting serious about nuclear thermal propulsion: There are many ways to get around space, but most of them are pretty slow. For decades, many rocket scientists have looked to a propulsion system powered by a nuclear reactor as the fastest practical means of getting to Mars and other places in the Solar System more quickly. https://bit.ly/2UHYBkX

“Activity in cislunar space is expected to increase considerably in the coming years.”

The first-ever interview on 'The Observer Effect' with Marc Andreessen. When planning for these series of interviews with interesting leaders and institutions, there was only one person Sriram Krishan had in mind to have here first - Marc Andreessen. https://bit.ly/3hsHxJo

"..The world's an incredibly complex and erratic place and trying to figure that out ...is kind of a lifetime occupation...."

The interview covers:

+ Productivity
+ Delegation
+ Goals and systems
+ Process, outcomes, and bets
+ Books
+ Learning and alternate viewpoints
+ Improvement and motivation
+ The “Build” essay

Jennifer Carroll Foy was one of the first black women to attend the Virginia Military Institute. This is what she knows about patriotism: Jennifer Carroll Foy was elected to the House of Delegates in the former capital of the Confederacy. Now she's hoping to be the country's first Black woman governor. https://bit.ly/3hwUnGB

One-third of US adults who watch television while working from home said they keep it on to have background noise, per Morning Consult.

Brigadoon Daily Rundown = June 16, 2020

Coronavirus lockdown: now it’s the economy, stupid: Fears of a return to 1980s levels of unemployment have put jobs at the top of the PM’s agenda. Dominic Cummings’s pet schemes may have to wait. https://bit.ly/37wtfTs

Hugo Rifkind: It’s zombie dawn in every shopping center: The only thing we really want to buy is a trip back in time but it’s our patriotic duty to get in the queue for a bargain. https://bit.ly/2AHh22d

The UK labor market has been impacted more than other developed economies.

Revealed: How Huawei conquered Britain: Bagging a key role in the 5G network was like ‘winning the Battle of Stalingrad’. But the Chinese telecoms giant’s march to the heart of the Establishment began 20 years ago. https://bit.ly/3ftBQce

The Salisbury poisonings: the inside story: The plot to kill Sergei Skripal with lethal nerve agent left one woman dead but could have been much worse. Declan Lawn, co-writer of a new television drama based on the attack and reports. https://bit.ly/2N7kjdH

How New Zealand eliminated coronavirus: In the First Wave series, Times and Sunday Times foreign correspondents investigate responses to COVID-19 and ask what happens next. Bernard Lagan looks at New Zealand’s approach — and the impact on its economy. https://bit.ly/2N3ooQ8

Sean Speer: The US and Canada have little differences, but today, they are adding up fast: One society is more dynamic and richer but less equal and a bit more chaotic. The other is fairer and more equal but less vital and a bit poorer. How do we judge which one is better? https://bit.ly/30Potz5

Richard Horton, The Lancet’s editor-in-chief, on coronavirus and controversies: “Viruses are creeping up on us. This one is bad. The next one could be even worse.” https://bit.ly/2Ccvi3B

It started as a nightmare. Now COVID-19 has turned us into a nation of dreamers: Whether we are stressed out, confused or simply sleeping longer, our lockdown dreams have been getting more vivid — and a lot weirder. https://bit.ly/2zFHtVK

The end of world order and American foreign policy: CFR reports, the United States should respond to the COVID-19 reordering moment and stop deterioration in the balance of power with China, bolster relations with India and Europe, and reform the way it deals with allies and partners. https://on.cfr.org/3eiKiLz

'Trump thought I was a secretary': Fiona Hill on the president, Putin and populism: She was the White House’s top Russia expert catapulted to fame by Trump’s impeachment. She reflects on her journey from County Durham to Washington. https://bit.ly/37AcJBL

Niall Ferguson: 2020 is not 1968. It may be worse. Social unrest helped doom Lyndon Johnson's presidency. It may end up saving Trump's. https://bloom.bg/2B9fEFy

"In short, history shows that pandemics all too often exacerbate existing social tensions between classes and ethnic groups. It also provides numerous examples of quarantines and public social restrictions intensifying citizens’ mistrust of the state."

How Google Docs became the social media of the resistance: Facebook and Twitter might have the bells and whistles, but the word processing software's simplicity and accessibility have made it a winning tool. https://bit.ly/37wtjma

Why gravity is not like the other forces: Quanta Magazine, asked four physicists why gravity stands out among the forces of nature. We got four different answers. https://bit.ly/2Y9xcKZ

Communications in the time of COVID: 7 lessons learned: Senior communications leaders in the manufacturing space share their response to a situation that has no playbook. https://bit.ly/3e6WXRw

1. Employees first
2. Empower regional and local staff
3. Leadership in the spotlight
4. Increase and expand communications
5. Communications is a two-way street
6. Return-to-work planning focused on empathy
7. Rethink everything

Dan Gilbert, author of "Stumbling on Happiness," challenges the idea that we'll be miserable if we don't get what we want. In the TED Talk, Gilbert explains how our "psychological immune system" lets us feel truly happy even when things don't go as planned. https://bit.ly/2Y1HX1x

Tom Denning: Be aware of the quiet ones like Keanu Reeves — They are the ones that actually make you think: The smarter you become, the less you speak. https://bit.ly/3hGDcm6

@ESPNFC: Official: Kevin Durant has bought a 5% stake in MLS team @PhilaUnion https://es.pn/2YzIoiV

Toto Wolff, CEO and team principal of Mercedes Formula One, and his wife, Susie, team principal of Venturi Formula E https://bit.ly/2Y6tTnD

Baseball + Brigadoon | ESPN's 30 for 30 | Long Gone Summer

Long Gone Summer @ ESPN

On Sunday, June 14 @ 9pm ET, AJ Schnack's “Long Gone Summer”, an official selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, will broadcast on ESPN.

The film chronicles Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s storied 1998 home run chase following the 1994 MLB strike. For the first time, both men discuss that summer at length, including its lasting legacy and undeniable complications.

AJ is a world-class documentarian and was generous to attend Brigadoon Sundance in 2014.

As part of the activities for the 2014 Brigadoon gathering, his film Caucus was shown in the original Sundance Screening Room and he conducted a Q+A session with the other participants following the presentation.

As a native son Missouri and a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan, AJ's film about the home-run record chase during the summer of 1998 will be a welcome bit of sports entertainment in a year that has been grim on many fronts.

You can catch the trailer below.

I am excited for AJ and his team and looking forward to watching some baseball Sunday night.

-Marc

Brigadoon Daily Rundown = May 20, 2020

Rutger Bregmn: The neoliberal era is ending. What comes next? In a crisis, what was once unthinkable can suddenly become inevitable. We’re in the middle of the biggest societal shakeup since the second world war. And neoliberalism is gasping its last breath. So from higher taxes for the wealthy to a more robust government, the time has come for ideas that seemed impossible just months ago. https://bit.ly/2WJpEh4

Garrett Graff: The storm we can’t see: We haven’t even begun to grasp how much damage the pandemic will do. https://wapo.st/3bGaM7n

ECFR: The meaning of systemic rivalry: Europe and China beyond the pandemic https://bit.ly/2zUcQvd

Beijing’s handling of the pandemic has changed long-standing European assumptions about its reliability as a crisis actor and its approach to the European project.

Europe’s immediate medical-supply needs and dire economic situation will limit the scope of shifts in its China policy – for now.

Governments’ pursuit of a “business as usual” approach to Beijing is growing harder to sustain.  

Inside Italy's COVID war: Frontline goes inside a hospital battling the coronavirus crisis in northern Italy, as doctors are forced to make life and death decisions. An intimate, exclusive story that follows one besieged ER doctor, her staff, and the patients suffering from COVID-19, from the darkest days to the signs of hope.

Watch the trailer here: https://to.pbs.org/2XaI0GS

Brook Sutherland: Future of factories is more robots and more Mexico: Whatever supply-chain upheaval comes from the coronavirus pandemic, it’s unlikely to lead to more US manufacturing jobs. https://bloom.bg/2zcQxkD

64%: How much higher March sales of electric vehicles were, compared to last year, in Europe. Overall, car sales fell 54 percent, according to data from S&P Global Platts Analytics Scenario Planning Service.

Bloomberg: Battle over world’s biggest wind turbine is heating up https://bloom.bg/3e1cIc8

Siemens Gamesa launches 14-megawatt machine for offshore wind

New model will beat General Electric’s version by two meters

Liam Denning: Smart energy stimulus means thinking small: Renewables can create more jobs and fewer of the headaches of massive projects of the past. https://bloom.bg/2XfxJJD

"All of the party was over": How the last oil bust changed Texas: Texas Tribune reports, a plunge in oil prices in the 1980s had ramifications across the state — even without landing at the same time as a pandemic and economic crisis. https://bit.ly/3e1yU6a

How soon will life go back to normal after the crisis? The massive social disruption imposed by COVID-19 has naturally led people to wonder if and when things will return to pre-pandemic normalcy. Chicago Booth’s Ayelet Fishbach says that some things may be permanently changed, but our human craving for interpersonal contact won’t be. And when it comes to congregating in places with other people, she predicts we’ll fall back into familiar practices sooner than we may think. https://bit.ly/3e1p1FE

Jeremy Clarkson: I now see the appeal of the caravan holiday. All it took was a global crisis and zero other options. https://bit.ly/2z0eknW

Why Zoom meetings are so dissatisfying: Internet chats disrupt the automatic, split-second cues on which conversation relies. https://econ.st/3dVCAWW

To avoid burnout, work less and ignore ‘productivity propaganda’: Recovery time is key to innovation and output, says digital anthropologist Rahaf Harfoush. https://bloom.bg/3cVAKW9