Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 18

TOP FIVE:

1. How China beat out the US to dominate South America: Bloomberg reports no province is too small or remote for Beijing’s careful attention.

2. Life on ‘Mars’: The strangers pretending to colonize the planet – in Utah: Guardian reports to study life on the red planet, people from around the world volunteer to live with strangers in the middle of nowhere.

3. French Socialist Anne Hidalgo urged to quit presidential race: The Times reports Hidalgo urged step aside to spare the left’s blushes, grandee tells Paris mayor.

4. Do something you suck at: Michael Easter writes trying new things is the antidote to your pandemic malaise.

5. China loves Eileen Gu. But it’s getting complicated. WSJ reports the San Francisco-born free skiing star is widely adored in her adopted home country, but more critical voices have emerged—and vanished.

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Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 17

TOP FIVE:

1. Can Bitcoin be a national currency? El Salvador is trying to find out. WSJ reports the country made bitcoin legal tender last September and now is aiming to raise $1 billion to fund expansive economic policies by cashing in on the crypto craze. But the IMF warns bitcoin is too risky, and Salvadorans are mostly sticking to dollars.

2. Out with the Facebookers. In with the Metamates. NYT reports now that Facebook has renamed itself Meta, that’s what employees will be known as, the company said.

3. Meta CEO Zuckerberg promotes Nick Clegg to lead on policy issues: Reuters reports Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that he had promoted policy chief Nick Clegg into a larger role to lead on all policy matters, signaling less involvement from Zuckerberg in the area.

4. John Podhoretz: PJ O’Rourke was America’s greatest satirist and coolest conservative

5. Five Latino TikTokers traded 9-to-5s for a Hollywood Hills house. This is how they live: LAT reports in only a few years, the five young Latinos in the Familia Fuego TikTok collective have gone from working day jobs to mixing with Hollywood’s elite.

Curating the emerging issues + independent thinkers shaping commerce + culture

Brigadoon Events are cool

Brigadoon is a global affairs news and information platform for curious decision-makers and world citizens.

Brigadoon Events are highly curated, small group settings that connect you with the emerging issues and independent thinkers shaping commerce and culture.

Here’s a rundown of upcoming Briagdoon Events:


Can a computer ever be a sommelier?

Brigadoon Monthly Call

Joe Fattorini | Managing Director + Behavioural Science Lead @ PixWine + Host of The Wine Show

February 16 @ 2:00 - 2:45 pm ET

- behavioral economics + marketing + wine industry -


Communications for startups | Strategy + Tactics

Brigadoon Workshop

Marc Ross | Global Communications Strategist + CEO Advisor

March 24 @ 12:00- 12:45 pm ET

- market intelligence + strategic planning + communications -


Curiosity drives creativity

Brigadoon Monthly Call

Carlo Navato | Founder @ Haxted

April 20 @ 2:00 - 2:45 pm ET

- design + architecture + photography -


Splinternets + Digital currencies

Brigadoon Monthly Call

Finn Brunton | Author of Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency

May 18 @ 2:00 - 2:45 pm ET

- cryptocurrency + blockchains + Web3 -


Better communications using the STOCK Framework™

Brigadoon Workshop

Marc Ross | Global Communications Strategist + CEO Advisor

May 26 @ 12:00 - 12:45 pm ET

- market intelligence + strategic planning + communications -


For more event information and sign up - click here.

Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 16

TOP FIVE:

1. The lesson Stalin could teach Putin about invading a neighbor: Casey Michel writes the Soviet Union’s attack on Finland in 1939 ended surprisingly badly for the much larger aggressor.

2. When you count users instead of dollars, the NFT world is tiny: FT reports why the infancy of non-fungible tokens may last a long time.

3. Americans’ trust in scientists, other groups declines: Pew reports trust in scientists and medical scientists has fallen below pre-pandemic levels, with 29% of U.S. adults saying they have a great deal of confidence in medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public. This is down from 40% in November 2020 and 35% in January 2019, before COVID-19 emerged. Other prominent groups – including the military, police officers, and public school principals – have also seen their ratings decline.

4. Nearly a quarter of Americans get news from podcasts: Pew reports the share of Americans who say they often get news from a podcast is quite small, at just 7%; 16% of adults say they sometimes do.

5. More than 101 million Americans watched Super Bowl LVI on live TV Sunday across NBC and Telemundo, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen.