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The Nightshift: 6 April 2017

Press Clippings:
Editor’s Note: The Nightshift will be published in abbreviated form for the next couple of weeks due to outside scheduling commitments. Weekend editions will be full-pack, but weekday commentary will be very streamlined.
Good Morning, It’s Thursday, 6 April 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The reality show that is American politics continues to amaze and bewilder. Yesterday, Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart, alt-right advisor to Donald Trump was booted off the NSC–just in time to miss the really good meetings while the group decides what to do with North Korea and the problem in Syria. General H.R.McMaster, the consummate military professional who is head of the NSC, is credited with evicting the amateur Bannon. Bannon’s still in the White House, but his run might be over and his power could be fading. The diversionary tactics continue as the White House tries to move attention from the real issue–Russian hacking/collusion/footsie playing–to non-important things like continuing refutation of wiretapping. So far–not very successful. An attempt to jump start the DOA Trumpcare program failed (they’re 0-2 in health care). There are serious issues facing the world. Let’s hope the administration can get it together.
Mary Anderson, the who who helped start outdoor retailer (and powerhouse)REI has died. She was 107 and yes, you probably have something you bought at REI if you hike or spend a lot of time outdoors.
In Augusta, Georgia, the Masters golf tournament starts today. One of the odds-on favorites to win, Dustin Johnson, suffered a fall at the home at which he was staying on Wednesday. There are reports that he might have injured his back. Not good for Dustin, who’s been having a pretty great year. The weather could be difficult this year.Youmight want If you’re wondering who will win, check out last night’s post about the stats required to win at Augusta, a pretty darn good analysis from our friends at GolfWRX and Rich Hunt. The first major golf tournament of the year will give golf fans something great to watch this weekend. Perfect.
That’s it for now.

Catch up on the news in the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
To keep you up with Washington and its’ so-called politics, we’ve added Politico. It’s at the bottom of the click-list.
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)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
The Fine Print: The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1055 for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.

A Statistical Look at Who Can Win The Masters

Paying Attention:

Embed from Getty Images

From our friends at GolfWRX, the insider’s guide to professional golf, here’s a very interesting analysis of who has the best chance to win the 2017 Masters. The research is done by Rich Hunt, who is a bit of a wizard at these things and who is very much worth following, and it breaks down the games of the players in the tournament and compares that to the metrics required to actually win the classic golf tournament. Interesting reading and great for discussion with golf pals. There are some surprises in Rich’s analysis. It’s all good stuff and you might want to stay tuned to GolfWRX all week (and after if you like golf).
The Fine Print: Image courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the 20th and 21st Century’s photographic history on file. If you’re running a non-profit blog, they are your go-to source for the right image for the times. Article produced by Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker.

Louis CK on mistakes

“If you take all the mistakes out of your life, you erase yourself…”

The Nightshift: 5 April 2017

Press Clippings:
Editor’s Note: The Nightshift will be published in abbreviated form for the next couple of weeks due to outside scheduling commitments. Weekend editions will be full-pack, but weekday commentary will be very streamlined.
Good Morning, It’s Wednesday, 5 April 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
Syria used chemical weapons in an attack that killed dozens of people in their ongoing Middle East conflict. President Donald Trump will meet this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. No doubt, North Korean’s continuing militancy (they tested another rocket Tuesday) will be on the agenda. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, often injured in the last few years, is retiring from football to become a broadcaster on NFL games with CBS. He will replace Phil Simms, who won two Super Bowls as QB of the NY Giants and who has been with the network for years; in broadcasting, new is always better than old. Amazon will stream Thursday night NFL games; the rights were obtained in a new $50M deal. It’s another sign that “cord cutters” are influencing broadcasting programming.
The Masters golf tournament is this week; tournament play starts tomorrow (Thursday). Susan Rice, an advisor for former President Obama, is now the center of attention in the “unmasking” controversy that is inciting loose lips on Capital Hill; just another distraction on the long road to the bottom of the Russia hacking investigation.
The retail fashion business continues its downward spiral: Ralph Lauren has announced he will close his flagship 5th Avenue store as part of a large reorganization of the business that will cost the company over $300 million. Apparently, even timeless style can run out of time.
Catch up on the news in the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
To keep you up with Washington and its’ so-called politics, we’ve added Politico. It’s at the bottom of the click-list.
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)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
The Fine Print: The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1052 for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.

The Nightshift: 4 April 2015

What Color is the Sky?

Editor’s note: We ran this post last year, about the colours of the University of North Carolina basketball team. The official colours for the university was developed by Alexander Julian, a friend since college. We repeat the post here today because Carolina is, again, playing for the National Championship and we have our traditions. Go Heels.

Paying Attention: It’s Carolina Blue. The true story of Alexander Julian and the University of North Carolina’s signature color of blue. This morning, I was directed to an article in the Wall Street Journal about the role that designer Alexander Julian played not just in designing the uniforms of the basketball team, but also in sorting the school’s corporate identity, starting with identifying the exact, precise, color that is designated as “Carolina Blue”. I have known Julian since college and he has always been a man with incredible bandwidth and massive kindness. He also happens to be one of the very best designers of our era, but don’t take my word for it, just take a look at some of the incredible work he’s done over the last few generations. Click through to read the WSJ article and then do the same for the Clickpak below to see Alex’s work. It’s a great way to start a Final Four weekend in which the UNC Tar Heels will try to win, again, another national championship in basketball.

An Alexander Julian ClickPak.

Alexander Julian’s Colours

Alexander Julian background

A User’s Guide to UNC’s Colors

The Alexander Julian Prize For Design Excellence

UNC Uniform Designs

The Nightshift: 3 April 2015

The Weekend Concert Series: Paul McCartney, Good Evening New York City

The Hunt for New Music:
Just a terrific concert, Paul McCartney in New York to open the new Citi Field Stadium in 2009. The video is HD and the sound is very good; the song list a collection of Beatles and McCartney tunes. The opening is particularly well done. No need to puff this one up: it’s a rock legend performing in a city where the legend started, decades ago. As always, kick it to the flat screen (Chromecast works very well) and run it through your audio system, or if you’re watching on your computer, iPad, or phone..plug in the headphones. This is a classic….dig in and enjoy.
The Fine Print: Embed via YouTube, originally posted by MusicNic who did a heroic job in pulling all of this together. Very well done lads. All rights reserved by respective artists. We thank them for sharing.

The Nightshift: 2 April 2017

Press Clippings:

Embed from Getty Images

Editor’s Note: The Nightshift will be published in abbreviated form for the next couple of weeks due to outside scheduling commitments. Weekend editions will be full-pack, but weekday commentary will be very streamlined.
Good Morning, It’s Sunday, 2 April 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
On Saturday, the Final Four NCAA Men’s Basketball games were played. Both of the games were very tightly contested. In the first game of the day, Gonzaga survived a series of strong runs and withering defense by South Carolina to win a spot in the finals by the score of 77-73. In the second game of the day, North Carolina beat a very tough Oregon team 77-76, pulling ahead in the last few minutes of the game and then hanging on for a one point win in the final 30 seconds. On Monday night, a team that has never been to the NCAA Finals (Gonzaga) will play a team that’s been to the final four 20 times (Carolina). Gonzaga is big inside and can shoot from the outside. Carolina is Carolina. It could be another classic. How’s your bracket?
Artist James Rosenquist (pictured above) has died; he was one of the leaders of the pop art movement. Not as flamboyant at Andy Warhol (Who was?), Rosenquist’s art was exceptionally accessible and found great critical and popular acclaim. Rosenquist went from sign painter to inclusion in the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. He was 83.
Washington’s still a hot mess. The details are below.
Catch up on the news in the rest of the world by reading the front pages of the World’s Greatest newspapers.
Effective immediately, we’re adding in Politico so you can keep up with all the changing political fortunes in Washington and we can concentrate on other news. It’s at the bottom of the click-list.
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)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
The Fine Print: Embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. They remain the internet’s go-to source for photos. This visual has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. This particular photo is by legendary NYC photographer Patrick McMullen whose photo credit you’ve seen before if you’re paying attention. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1048 for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.

Has the game changed on ESPN?

Paying Attention:

Embed from Getty Images

Weekends are for sports and ESPN, the sports junkie’s go-to network for all things athletic. But right now, America’s favorite media player in the sports game is on a distinct losing trend, as subscriptions go down, rights fees go up, and more and more sports fans are preferring to obtain their sports coverage via cable-cutting options –and mobile devices.
Long the most expensive item on the cable services network channel line up (by a huge margin) ESPN is losing subscribers as more alternatives to cable arise and newer technologies (streaming in particular) make cable a more-expensive-and-less-desirable media channel. Cable TV is ESPN’s plan A; they don’t currently have a Plan B and that can be an economic problem. Bloomberg.com delivers a thorough (but long) analysis of why the game might be winding down at ESPN.
Like most things in sports today, the World Wide Leader’s problems begin with money. Live game/sports programming is expensive to buy and expensive to produce (Verne Lundquist is not cheap, nor is a digital production truck that can handle 10 or more cameras) and so increasingly the network is feeding its’ subscribers a constant series of sports talk shows (which is precisely what sports radio offers up for most of its programming) with varying degrees of success. This format has problems–not the least of which is you can hear it in other places, i.e. it’s not unique–but one of the most ironic is that if the program makes stars out of the announcers, their salaries and contracts rise and the very thing designed to reduce costs (a low-cost, one-set talk show) ends up increasing them (have to pay the help). If ESPN doesn’t pay the help, the help leaves for another network who will and–goes the thought process–takes the audience with them.
Left behind is a b-team of talk show hosts and conductors, hoping to rebuild an audience. Tricky stuff and really, haven’t we had enough of bombastic, over-enunciated, semi-big-word sports types with opinions that are like Russian foreign policy–i.e. the very opposite of what everyone thinks (the theory: controversy builds viewers; on the other hand, controversy could just be a PITA to the viewers). In the beginning, ESPN filled air time with re-runs of last weekends’s games but times have changed. Still–it’s not a bad option to be reconsidered.
There are some shows on ESPN that are absolute classics: who can imagine a fall football weekend without ESPN Game Day? Or a big time college basketball showdown without Dickie V and his unique take on things? Or morning sports talk without Mike & Mike? Or a replacement of 30 for 30? Each of these programming elements has crossed the line from show to tradition to classic. ESPN’s problem is two-fold: building the next round of classics while making the irrevocable decision of which delivery channel(s) to concentrate on. Not an easy set of decisions and if you’ve got some new thoughts, Bob Iger, at Disney (ESPN’s parent) might want to have a cup of coffee or two with you.
No one who loves sports wants ESPN to fall. On reflection, it’s obvious that ESPN–the world’s television sports leader–has to do what all great winning teams have to do from time to time: change their game so they can keep winning.
Check out the terrific piece from our friends at Bloomberg.com on ESPN. And enjoy this weekend’s big sports events, however you get them.
The Fine Print: Article link to Bloomberg.Com. We thank them for sharing. Image courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the 20th and 21st Century’s photographic history on file. If you’re running a non-profit blog, they are your go-to source for the right image for the times. Article produced by Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker.