Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 3

TOP FIVE:

1. Sweden's Gotland gets ready for anything amid rising Russian threats: DW reports suspicious of Moscow's territorial ambitions, Sweden is preparing for worst-case scenarios. Teri Schultz visits the island of Gotland that's being remilitarized to protect the region key to Baltic Sea security.

2. Musk: Robots to be bigger business than Tesla cars: BBC reports Elon Musk likes to have a focus - and this year, it looks like it might be robots. He told investors on a Tesla earnings call his nascent robot plans had "the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business, over time."

3. How one company took over the NFT trade: The Verge reports the NFT gold rush made OpenSea into a $13 billion company — but can it stay on top?

4. The mystery behind the Zucker shocker: Shawn McCreesh reports his office romance has been an open secret for years. So why is he really leaving?

5. Winter Olympics: Germany's secret bobsled weapon: DW the pandemic has meant that bobsled athletes heading to Beijing haven't had as much chance to practice on the track as usual. But Germany has come up with a secret weapon that the team keeps in a Munich office building.

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Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 2

TOP FIVE:

1. Why does Kyiv seem so strangely calm? Der Spiegel reports Russian troops have amassed near Ukraine’s borders, but the government in Kyiv seems oddly calm and detached. Why are President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top politicians playing down the threat?

2. Big Tech needs to stop trying to make their metaverse happen: Wired reports from Microsoft to Meta, the race is on to sell an amorphous concept that no one really wants them to build.

3. A crypto breakthrough? Western states consider taking digital currency: Politico reports proposals in Wyoming and Arizona to accept tax payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would undermine the dollar’s unique status.

4. Coachella will sell lifetime festival passes as NFTs: The Verge reports owners of the 10 lifetime NFTs will get tickets every year.

5. The loneliest mountaineer on Everest: NYT reports the German climber Jost Kobusch is attempting to be the first to scale the world’s tallest mountain in winter alone without supplemental oxygen. There’s nobody else out there.

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Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 1

TOP FIVE:

1. How Beijing is playing the Olympics: Evan Osnos reports China has long been fascinated with Olympic glory, but the run-up to the Winter Games has been beset by extraordinary pressures from the realms of politics, diplomacy, and public health.

2. More than 80% of NFTs created for free on OpenSea are fraud or spam, company says: Vice reports after reversing course on a limit to the amount of free NFTs a user can create, OpenSea said the decision was due to the amount of fraud and spam.

3. Red America’s favorite sport is at war with its fans: Politico reports NASCAR’s attempt to tamp down an anti-Biden catchphrase reflects the sharpest divides in American culture.

4. Podcaster Joe Rogan apologizes as Spotify plans for COVID content advisory: DW reports podcaster Joe Rogan has pledged "to balance things out" on his show after singers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled out of Spotify's list, in their protest against COVID-19 misinformation.

5. Eileen Gu: Born and raised in America, skiing for China: WP reports with one foot in each country, medal favorite seeks to strike a perilous balance.

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Brigadoon Daily | Jan. 31

TOP FIVE:

1. The empire returns: Russia, Ukraine, and the long shadow of the Soviet Union: FT reports as the Kremlin attempts to reassert control over its neighbors, Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy uncovers the deep roots of the crisis.

2. The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby review — the money men who gave us Apple, Amazon, and Google: The Times reports the rise of venture capitalism and how it gave us the world’s biggest companies.

3. Marine Le Pen limbers up for a fight with Valérie Pécresse, a bookish darling of the bourgeoisie: The Times reports born just a year apart in the same suburb of Paris, two very different female challengers to Emmanuel Macron are set to shape France’s political future.

4. Psychedelic therapy shows great promise. More states should legalize it: Economist reports Oregon’s trailblazing sets a fine example.

5. Tom Pidcock obliterates all competition to claim cyclocross world title: Cycling Weekly reports the Brit emerged victorious in Fayetteville after putting the rest of the field to the sword.

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