Tour De France Resources: 2017

Nightshift Sports:

The Tour De France–the world’s most famous bicycle race–has started. The peloton went off yesterday, starting in Düsseldorf, Germany and will continue racing until the 23rd of July and the finish in Paris.
If you’re going to follow the tour, you’re going to want to put the Official Tour De France website on an easy to access link.
We will continue to post information, photo essays, and news about the tour throughout the event. But this should serve to get you started and informed.
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This Image has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing.

The Wimbledon Dress Code

Nightshift Sports:

If you’re a player, you’re going to be wearing white. Here’s a link to the Official Wimbledon Clothing and Equipment Guide that competitors will be expected to follow. And, even if you are  a spectator there are guidelines for you as well.
Below, a Nightshift Sports ClickPak on the Wimbledon Dress Code and other elements of style at the world’s most famous tennis tournament.
What to Wear at Wimbledon  (Source: The Sun)
Wimbledon Wear (Source: The Telegraph)
Five Fast Facts About The Wimbledon Dress Code (Source:Heavy)
High Performance Tennis Outfits (Source: WTA)
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This file has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. Enjoy the tournament. 

Wimbledon: The Schedule

Nightshift Sports:

 

Wimbledon (The Championships) formally starts tomorrow, 3 July 2017. Expect coverage from Nightshift Sports. The basics first: here’s a link to Wimbledon’t site (and a very good one it is, indeed). IBM runs the site and…it’s very very good (it’s IBM). Even better, they’ve produced some apps to allow you to follow The Championships wherever you are. Just click this link. 
 
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This file has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. Enjoy the tournament. 

The Nightshift: 2 July 2017

Press Clippings:

Good Morning, it’s Sunday, 2 July 2017 and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
It’s the Fourth of July weekend and the perfect time to catch up on the news in the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The International Headlines are all at your fingertips. Have a great weekend and Fourth of July.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
Bloomberg.com (New York)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
Sputnik (Moscow)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
Lawfareblog (Washington, DC)
Wired (San Francisco, CA)
The Fine Print:  Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st Century on file. The image has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing.  The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1212 for this site. The Nightshift is a continually evolving experiment in news communications. This month, comments on the world’s news have been (severely) limited and a photo of one important story of the day is included. It’s all in rapid iteration. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Nightshift: 1 July 2017

Press Clippings:

Good Morning, it’s Saturday, 1  July 2017 and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
It’s the Fourth of July weekend and the perfect time to catch up on the news in the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The International Headlines are all at your fingertips. Have a great weekend and Fourth of July.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
Bloomberg.com (New York)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
Sputnik (Moscow)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
Lawfareblog (Washington, DC)
Wired (San Francisco, CA)
The Fine Print:  Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st Century on file. The image has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing.  The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1211 for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Poetry of Rock: "Peace Like A River"

Music:
It’s been a while since anything from the Poetry of Rock series has been published and that just not  a good thing, as I was reminded this morning when, while working on another project, Paul Simon’s “Peace Like A River” came on the audio system. It is one of his most melodic compositions–very streamlined and pure–and also one of his very best in terms of lyrical poetry:

“Peace like a river ran through the city
Long past the midnight curfew
We sat starry-eyed
We were satisfied
And I remember
Misinformation followed us like a plague
Nobody knew from time to time
If the plans were changed
If the plans were changed.You can beat us with wires
You can beat us with chains
You can run out your rules
But you know you can’t outrun the history trair
I’ve seen a glorious day.
Four in the morning
I woke up from out of my dreams
Nowhere to go but back to sleep
But I’m reconciled
Oh, oh, oh, I’m going to be up for awhile:
–Peace Like A River, by Paul Simon

The music is very soft and melodic, a perfect counter point to the anger and power in the lyrics. The last time I heard this song–or used these lyrics–was in a eulogy for a very good and influential friend of mine who died unexpectedly a few years ago. The last stanza in particular really brought home the deep sense of loss when a good friend leaves us.  I managed to find a live version (from the iFest in London in 2011) to reacquaint you with the song. Like all Simon live performances, it’s a slightly different interpretation, not a note-for-note reproduction (there has been controversy about the piano solo at the end of this version). A very great song, worth a listen and your time.

Meat and Greet

Paying Attention:

The Fourth of July holiday is coming up and no doubt–weather permitting–you will be cooking something outside.
But, what to cook? Check out your options with this review of the best meats for grilling, from Bon Appétit magazine.
 
The Fine Print: Image embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This photo has not been altered in anyway. We thank them for sharing. Have a nice Fourth! 
 

The Nightshift: 29 June 2017

Press Clippings:

Good Morning, it’s Thursday, 29 June 2017 and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
Restrictions on travel into the U.S. go into effect today as part of a modest implementation of  select elements of the Administration’s proposed overall travel ban.  The U.S. Supreme Court will determine the legality of the  full extent of the travel ban’s coverage this fall when it reconvenes.
The Trumpcare health bill is now on life support. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has said that if the bill–criticized for the number of people  who would be denied insurance under the proposal and the built-in tax breaks hidden in the bill  for the rich–is not passed by this Friday (tomorrow), it’s finished. Without bi-partisan support, it doesn’t look like any health care bill is going to pass.Both sides and both houses of Congress need to re-think the entire process.
Again. The third ranking official in the Vatican and the leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, who is an aide to Pope Francis, has been charged with sexual assault and will appear in an Australian Court on 18 July 2017.
The cyberware attack that crippled businesses in Europe and Asia, was conducted with hacking tools taken from the U.S.’s National Security Agency. The attack  hit companies and government entities in the Ukraine and the United Kingdom particularly hard. The NSA has been criticized for creating a cyber warfare arsenal that it does not have sufficient protective control over and that does not have “backdoor” access to disable once the software is unleashed. The whole situation is starting to look a little like Stanley Kubrick’s classic cold war film, “Dr. Strangelove”.
Michael Bond, the creator of Paddington Bear, perhaps the world’s favorite childhood toy (or companion), has died. He was 91.
Finally, 10 years ago today the iPhone was born. All it did was change everything.
Now more than ever, catch up on the news in the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The International Headlines are all at your fingertips. Have a great week.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
Bloomberg.com (New York)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
Sputnik (Moscow)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
Lawfareblog (Washington, DC)
Wired (San Francisco, CA)
The Fine Print:  Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st Century on file. The image has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing.  The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1208 for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

Riding The Range: Inside the World of Golf Tech Reps

Nightshift Sports:

It’s summer, if you’re a golfer, you’re going to try to get in as many rounds as you can, maybe even during the week, not just on the weekend. Here’s an interesting story from our friends at Golf WRX that goes inside the ropes and into the reality of what a golf tech rep does. The sports industry has long employed a rep system for marketing their products and getting the word out. The tech rep has to be the expert on the product, who’s it for, what it does and why it’s right for the market/player/times…plus, knowing all the technology in the product and how to fit/use that technology for the benefit for the client. Golf tech reps are the guys and girls who show up at your local club or range on Demo Days to give golfers a chance to try a new brand or a new club. From a distance, all sports rep jobs look great: you do a sport you love, in the very best places, with the latest gear. But–as anyone with any job knows–it ain’t as easy as it looks. Well done piece by Ryan Barath for GolfWRX (if you’re into golf and not following them…you should).
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This image has not been altered in anyway. We thank them for sharing. 

The Nightshift: 28 June 2017

Press Clippings:

Good Morning, it’sWednesday, 28 June 2017 and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The United States Senate has decided to shelve their iteration of Trumpcare until after the 4th of July break. As more became known about the Trumpcare health bill–which was crafted in secrecy–more Republican Senators dropped their unconditional support, making the bill a non-starter for a vote. The non-vote was a setback for Senate leader Mitch McConnell.
An international cyberattack hit major institutions in Ukraine and then spread quickly throughout Europe and around the globe. Among the companies affect were shipping giant Maersk and pharmaceutical firm Merck. The cyberware stopped ATMs from operating and even invaded public utilities; the attackers demanded ransom for access to the affected computers and their data.
The University of Florida beat Louisiana State University 6-1 to win the College World Series. It’s Florida’s first baseball national championship.
Phil Jackson, the President of the New York Knicks, who won 11 NBA championships as a coach, is out. Jackson’s tenure in New York was controversial and ineffective.
Now more than ever, catch up on the news in the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
The International Headlines are all at your fingertips. Have a great weekend.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
Bloomberg.com (New York)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
Sputnik (Moscow)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
Lawfareblog (Washington, DC)
Wired (San Francisco, CA)
The Fine Print:  Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st Century on file. The image has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing.  The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1206 for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.