SEBRING RESOURCES 2017

Paying Attention: 

The internationally famous 12 Hours of Sebring race is today. The flag drops at 10:40AM and runs until 10:40PM, ET. You can see the race on IMSA.tv, Fox Sports GO (app) and from 2:00PM to 11:00PM (ET) on Fox Sports 1. It’s not an easy race to follow. Our recommendation: radiolemans.com–the best audio coverage of The 12. But…for a totally different and thorough overview along with continuing uninterrupted coverage of the race, check out the Sebring Resources listed below–easily the best and most comprehensive list of information on the race. You never can tell what’s going to happen at Sebring. Last year’s race was something of a water festival….if you like big time sports car racing, this is one of the best.
Sites and Sounds to follow for The 12:
Live Timing and Scoring
 IMSA Twitter Feed
IMSA Instagram Feed 
Sebring Twitter Feed 
Sebring Instagram Feed
Risi Comp Twitter Stream
Risi Comp Instagram Feed
Regis Lefebure Instagram Feed  (Regis is the Official Risi Comp Photographer)
Keith Rizzo Instagram Feed (Keith also shoots for Risi Comp)
Camden Thrasher Instagram Feed (Cam is one of the best young photographers in the sport)
Rick Dole Instagram Feed (Rick is another top photographer. Follow ALL these guys)
Marshall Pruitt Twitter Feed (Marshall is a photographer/writer for Racer magazine other publications)
John Dagys Twitter Feed  (John is the founder/editor of Sportscar 365)
Sportscar 365 Twitter Feed (The daily journal of the sport’s twitter feed)
Graham Goodwin (Editor, Daily Sports Car Racing)
Eve Hewitt Radio Le Mans Twitter Feed (one of the voices from Radio Le Mans)
 Radio Le Mans
Fox Television Broadcast Schedule (scroll down for Sebring)
2017 Sebring Media Guide 
2017 IMSA Spotter Guide  
2017 IMSA Technical Specifications for GTLM Cars 
2017 IMSA Sporting Regulations 
2017 IMSA/Sebring Balance of Performance (BoP) Specifications
2017 Sebring Entry List 
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 post is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. 
 
 
 

The Nightshift: 17 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, Friday, 17  March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The first round of the NCAA tournament is in the books. The big upset of the day was the Middle Tennessee win over Minnesota  (who looked overmatched the entire game). Middle Tennessee was a 12 Seed, Minnesota was a 5. Northwestern won its’ first ever NCAA game after getting into its’ first ever NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt helped Northwestern along by making a critical foul in the closing seconds. Notre Dame, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida State, Villanova, Florida, Xavier, St.Mary’s, Purdue, Florida State, Wisconsin, Arizona, Iowa State and Gonzaga all won to advanced to the next round. How’s your bracket doing?    Get the full schedule here along with media coverage.  Enjoy the Madness…the second slate of first round games is on tap today and there will be basketball throughout the weekend.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump today–that’s going to be an interesting meeting. Trump trashed her during his Presidential campaign.  In other political news, the Presidents proposed budget is already under fire, joining his health care reform and travel band programs as policy initiatives that are in trouble. Business as usual.
Lots of sports to divert your attention this weekend: The 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race is on Saturday and the Arnold Palmer Invitational is on at Bay Hill in Florida. Add in March Madness, the World Alpine Skiing Championships in Aspen and there’s plenty of great world class sports to watch.
Tonight, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations will take place in earnest all across America. Everyone’s Irish for one day but don’t overdo it.
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:
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)
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. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1024  for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Nightshift: 16 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Thursday, 16 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The NCAA tournament kicks off today. The first games are early–12:15PM Eastern. Get the full schedule here along with media coverage.  Also–just in case you don’t have a bracket, print it out here. Enjoy the Madness. It’ll be a nice change from the political intrigue that’s tying up progress in Washington.
Gert Wilder’s bid for power in Holland fell short. Maybe Europe is not quite ready for far right popularism. In Australia, scientists are reporting that parts of the Great Barrier Reef are already dead. Let’s face it: we haven’t treated the earth very well and as a result there will be serious problems ahead.
The Federal Reserved raised (finally) the rate for federal funds by 1/4 of 1%. The earth did not wobble and business went on as usual. The result will be slightly higher rates for credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages. It is anticipated that–if the economy keeps moving ahead–there could be up to more small increases in 2017. The government charged Russian hackers with hacking Yahoo to the tune of 500 million (one-half a billion) names. Trump advanced the first draft of his proposed budget: more for defense and homeland security; less for the State Department, the EPA, and others.
Finally, mega-luxury store Neiman-Marcus is apparently on the ropes (aren’t most if not all department stores?). Hudson Bay Company is said to be in talks to acquire Stanley Marcus’ legendary retailer. The scenario that brought NM down is familiar to anyone who follows the equity buyout firms: take a firm over at a relatively high valuation with a lot of borrowed money and then be forced out when the acquired company can’t grow and afford to service the debt. The lesson here is simple: no one cares more about a company than the people who have both a financial and an emotional stake in it–like Stanley Marcus did. If it’s just a numbers game–especially in an industry under siege like department store retailing–and no one has a plan to revive/revitalize the acquired entity, it’s going down.
The 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race is this coming Saturday and Arnold Palmer’s golf tournament starts today at Bay Hill in Florida. Add in March Madness, the World Alpine Skiing Championships in Aspen and there’s plenty of great world class sports to watch this weekend. Enjoy.
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:
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)
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. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1023  for this site. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

Beginnings

Racing:
The official testing season for F1 cars is now in progress. Below, a short photo review, courtesy of our friends at GettyImages.com of some of the new models for 2017. More on the F1 season later.

The Fine Print: Slide Show 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. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker.  This post is number 1022 for this site. Thanks for reading.

The Nightshift: 15 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Wednesday, 15 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The big spring blizzard, Winter Storm Stella, was not quite as bad as projected but it still did plenty of damage, with up to three feet of snow dropped in some places. There were multiple deaths (most from car accidents) and flooding along the coast. It could have been much worse.
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament–March Madness–starts today in earnest. Yesterday, Mt. St. Mary’s, Kansas State, UC Davis and USC all played their way into the tournament. The Madness starts Thursday with a full slate of games across all time zones; games will continue through the weekend.  Enjoy the Madness and don’t forget to come up for fresh air, food, and water. See you in a couple of weeks.
NBC’s Rachel Maddow displayed Donald Trump’s tax return for 2005, which was obtained by a journalist who “received it via the mail”. In a somewhat disappointing reveal, the return was only the first two pages, was 12 years old, and did not have any of the supporting backup schedules that would detail how Trump earned and burned his money. There are some who believe that Trump or Trump associates actually leaked the return themselves to divert attention from other matters (wiretapping, Russian interference with the election, DOA Trumpcare)–after all, the return did have “client copy” stamped on it.  Still, the Holy Grail of investigative journalism–a full, complete, and current tax return for the only President since Nixon to not reveal his tax returns–is missing.
The Dutch elections are being closely watched across Europe and the world is watching to see if Holland is going to go to the far right. It could happen and, if it does, set off a European trend. Are France and Italy next?
Trumpcare is not receiving a warm reception in Congress with critics saying it’s too expensive, not very effective, and excludes entire groups of people who previously had coverage. Not a good first step for the new administration. Maybe the second pass will be better.
In business, Bill Ackman, head of the Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund, finally called it quits on a huge investment in the drug company Valeant after several years of riding it to the bottom. How far down did Valeant go? Pershing Square originally bought in at $196.72 and sold all of its stake on Monday for $11/share. The fund lost $4 billion in two years on the stock. To win big, sometimes you have to risk big but…..there is always a time to walk away from the table. That time was probably three billion dollars ago.
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:
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)
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. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1021  for this site. The teams that won play-in games for the NCAA tournament were initially incorrectly listed; that editorial oversight has been corrected.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

Is Gossip The New Nightly News?

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Editors Note: This piece was initially published in 2015. Given the current communications landscape, it seems appropriate to republish it now. If nothing else, it will give you a very solid understanding of how we got to where we are. 
You can’t escape the avalanche of good news, bad news, fake news,  snarky viewpoints, “gotcha” moments, downplay, upsell, pure hype, alternative facts, and forced adulation. Our trusted sources for trusted news now include Gossip, pumped up on digital steroids and grown from a back page list of blind-items and not-so-blind innuendos to network television shows, front-counter tabloids, Sunday morning talk shows, internet swipes and hypes via Twitter and Instagram.
Gossip has become another channel of news and the news may be right or it may be dangerously wrong, but it’s in your face, there for the taking (and commenting) 24 hours a day. Amplified by the easy access and ready anonymity of digital communications (smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) gossip is becoming the news source we all often too often believe, despite the lack of fact checking.
For an interesting overview of the world of commercial gossip, take a look at this exceptional feature from The Hollywood Reporter .  It’s so appropriate that this piece came from THR, because Hollywood (for commercial reasons ) and New York publishing (also for commercial reasons, i.e. to sell papers) are both two of the gossip world’s most accomplished and experience practitioners. But even those two centers of the un-sourced whisper, were shocked at the speed with which gossip blew into the mainstream, given an incalculable boost by the reach and access of the internet.
Interesting article, from THR, and one that needs to be read. More to come on gossip at a later date, but in the meantime, a crash course in the current state of the art is just a click away.
The Fine Print: The article link (“The New Gossip Culture”) is via TheHollywoodReporter.com . We thank them for sharing. 

The Nightshift: 14 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Tuesday, 14 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
Winter Storm Stella is working in full (and somewhat diminishing ) force on the East Coast this morning. Winter storm conditions are expected to continue through tomorrow. To date, over 7000 flights have been cancelled as a result.
The NCAA March Madness starts today with the first round of play-in games. Best to download your bracket sheet from SI.com and start filling it in.
The rest of the news is the usual stuff from the usual suspects. We’ll leave it all alone for now.  Stay warm and watch college basketball. It’ll be a good day (unless your power goes out …and then..it’ll not be a good day).
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:
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)
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. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1018  for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Nightshift: 13 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Monday, 13 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
A blizzard is bearing down on the East Coast of the United States. Winter Storm Stella is projected to drop between 10-16 inches of snow on New York, slightly less on Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. Late season storms are not unusual but also bring with them a whole new set of problems, not the least of which is a mental attitude that may already be focusing on the warmer weather and different lifestyle of spring. There’ll be plenty of coverage, of course; when these types of storms arise, one of the best places to keep track is by watching The Weather Channel.
Yesterday was “Selection Sunday” as the NCAA picked the teams to compete in this year’s collegiate men’s national basketball championship. Few surprises: the brand names of the sport–Duke, Kansas, UCLA, UNC, Gonzaga–were in and a few surprises were out (Syracuse, Indiana). The madness starts this week with the first games on Tuesday. You can see (and print) the entire bracket at SI.Com. 
Washington continues to be the reality TV show we can’t turn off; who knows what drama those guys will generate this week. One thing is guaranteed: it’s always unpredictable and not necessarily very effective.
Daylight Saving Time went into effect in much of the United States yesterday; a lot of people are not very happy with it( and still very sleepy). Perhaps it’s an idea that has outlived its’ time.
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:
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)
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. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1017  for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.