Welcome to the Daily Article Podcast. I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison Forum,

narrating today's daily article written by Dr. Jim Denison. Nordic combined skiing is so named

because it combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The sport has been dominated in recent years by Norwegian athlete, Jarl Magnus Reber,

considered by NBC analyst Johnny Spillane to be the best Nordic combined skier ever.

As Reber prepared to compete in this year's Olympics, Spelaine predicted, if he has a good day, he pretty much is unstoppable.

He didn't have a good day.

Reber tested positive for COVID-19 upon his arrival at the games, missing the first event in every training session.

He cleared isolation on Monday in time to ski cross-country

for 10 kilometers on Tuesday. As he entered the first of 4.2.5 kilometer loops on the course,

he came to a fork. To the left was the cross-country circuit. To the right was the path

to the finish line. He had not

had a chance to practice on the track, so he had to guess and pick the lane on the right. He chose

poorly. After skiing around 50 yards, he realized he was going the wrong way and turned around. It was too late, however.

He had frittered away his lead and finished in eighth place.

It's a silly mistake, Reber said later, and it's not fun to show the world that I may be

wasting a gold medal on that. Let's consider his mishap a cultural parable.

There are many reasons to believe that we're skiing in the wrong direction these days,

but unlike Jarl Magnus Reber, it's not too late to turn around. Let's begin by identifying the wrong lane.

From surging inflation to rising sea levels, to religious persecution, to continuing tensions in Ukraine,

it's harder to find good news than bad news in the news.

Harvard history professor, Taya Miles, writes for the New York Times, and I quote,

Everyone around me seems to be talking about the end, the end of nearly a million American

...