Transitions: John Surtees (1934-2017)

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If you followed motor racing in the 50s and 60s you were familiar with the talent and virtuosity of John Surtees, the only man to win both the world motorcycle GP and F1 World Championships. Surtees was motorcycle world champion in the 500CC class four times, driving for the Italian firm MV Agusta and F1 Champion in 1964 driving for another Italian company, Ferrari. Highly intelligent and extremely competitive, Surtees set a standard for performance in both two and four wheel racing that has yet to be equaled. In today’s age of specialist drivers/racers, it is highly doubtful that his record(s) will be eclipsed.
Like countryman Stirling Moss, Surtees was very quick in all forms of automobile racing. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1963 in a 12 Cylinder Ferrari 250P; was third in the same race in 1964 in a 330P, won the 1000KM of Nurburgring in 1965, won the 1000KM of Monza in 1966. In 1966 he was Can-Am Champion. In motorcycles, he won the Isle of Mann Senior TT four times, taking it three times in a row between 1958-1960.
Surtees’ skill in sportscars and F1 was no doubt finely honed by his exceptional feel for the machine and road and the sense of balance developed racing motorcycles.Highly talented in multiple areas, John Surtees was once described as motor racing’s last polymath, but Surtees’ life was not without difficulty. In 1965, he had a huge crash at Mosport which nearly killed him; when the doctors were examining him after the crash they found that one side of his body was four inches shorter than the other. They managed to “stretch him” out enough to reduce the difference to only one inch. In 2009 , his son, Henry Surtees, a rising F2 racer, was killed in a freak accident when a loose tire struck him during a session on the track. In typical Surtees fashion, he began a charitable initiative–named after his son–to care for drivers who had been severely injured in a racing accident.
John Surtees retired from automobile racing in 1972. A wonderful appreciation of the life of John Surtees was written by Giles Richard of The Guardian. You must read it to get a sense of the man and his accomplishments.
John Surtees died on 10 March 2017 from respiratory failure.
The Fine Print:  Photographic 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: 12 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Sunday, 12 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The drama in Washington continues, the most recent victim being NY Federal Prosecutor Preet Bharara, who refused to resign along with the mass of other Federal Prosecutors who were suddenly asked by the Trump administration for their resignations; Bharara was fired for his refusal to voluntarily resign. Each administration traditionally replaces some or all key appointed Federal Prosecutor positions when they take office; generally, they don’t do it so suddenly or abruptly. Bharara had a previous meeting with Trump and the impression was that Bharara would stay on. Not so.  Is it a coincidence that Bharara, who was a deadly prosecutor of insider trading and other Wall Street financial crimes, was terminated by an administration that is filled with big name Wall Street executives?
Winter Storm Stella is bearing down on the Northeast. Weather forecasters are predicting a blizzard on Monday. Button up and find the snowblower.
Today is “Selection Sunday” for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. By tonight, college teams around the country will find out who’s in and who’s out for the big dance that is “March Madness”.
Today is the first day of Daylight Savings Time for most of the U.S., so if you haven’t set your clocks ahead by one hour, please do so now. That missing hour? It should show up again late in the fall.
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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 1015  for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Cars of Spring

Paying Attention: A short visual review of the Geneva Auto Show. See anything you like?

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 is the first GettyImages slide show for the site. We appreciate their kindness in making it possible.  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 1014 for this site. Thanks for reading.

The Nightshift: 11 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Saturday, 11 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The Justice Department has asked for the resignations of  46 Federal Prosecutors who were political appointments of the Obama administration. At this point, the career attorneys in the Department are not affected. The official line is that this is standard business for an incoming administration; the unofficial line is that it’s attempt by the administration to stop the flow of information leaks from the new Administration. Good luck with that.
Mike Flynn, the former National Security Advisor–who resigned under fire and/or was fired just three weeks into his job with the new administration–had a second job as a registered foreign agent for Turkey while he was receiving intel briefings as NSA. Good to know he was 100% focused on his new national security position.
Duke beat Carolina with an incredible comeback after being down as much as 13, in the ACC semi-finals. Carolina has lost two of three to Duke this season. Carolina was hampered by the loss of point guard Joel Berry for 10 minutes in the second half, but, let’s face it, they fell apart when the Duke ran began. Next stop for both teams is the NCAA Tournament.
Keep your sweaters and jackets handy because a late winter storm is bearing down on the Northeast. Also, tomorrow most of the USA switches to Daylight Saving Time. You’ll get adjusted to it sooner or later.
Finally, as the Geneva Auto Show wraps up the big news is that the station wagon, whose family and gear hauling function was replaced by the SUV, is back, with Porsche, BMW, VW, and others announcing new models.  Is this the start of something big? Find out in the carpool line at school next fall.
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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 1013  for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Nightshift: 10 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Friday, 10 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
Washington is in full-on debate form over the proposed replacement/revision of Obamacare. The new bill apparently has a long way to go before it’s enthusiastically advanced. Look for plenty of revisions.
The air is not yet clear on the full extent of Russian hacking in the last election, or connections between the Trump campaign and the Russians. This whole mess will take quite a while to sort itself out; in the process, expect many reputations to take serious hits. And, in more hacking news this week: no proof yet that Trump Tower was wiretapped and plenty of proof that the CIA was. The drama goes on.
Tonight, Carolina and Duke face off for the third time this season; the teams have split the first two games. This time, they’re in the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament (moved to Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn from its’ traditional location in Greensboro, NC).  NFL free agency is out of the gate and pro teams are in the mix-and-match mode.
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Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
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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 This post is number 1012  for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Nightshift: 9 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Thursday, 9 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The administration presented their take on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (i.e. Obamacare) and other than the people who wrote it, it wasn’t received with any great enthusiasm. As Ted Turner once famously said, “It ain’t easy as it looks”. Ted should know–he pretty much did it all.
The CIA is trying to find out who let their secrets out to WikiLeaks. Good luck with that. Rather ironic that an agency that loves to find out everyone else’s secrets is having trouble maintaining their own privacy. Dangerous too–no small degree of national security is involved. A sign of the times: James Comey, head of the FBI, says that there is “no such thing as absolute privacy”.  Hmmm.. where’s my copy of 1984?
In sports, conference basketball championships are going on all over the country; the winners will get an automatic bid to the NCAA national championship (i.e. March Madness) and losers have to hope their season long performance and “strength of schedule” will be enough to generate a bid. Informed sources say that Tony Romo, the talented but very fragile former-starting-quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys will be given his release today. Tony–thanks for all that you did. See ya.
And, in business the American oil industry is now worried about too much oil (the result of successful shale oil production techniques), BMW profits are down as the company tries to close the tech gap on its contemporaries,  and Shell is selling Canadian oil sands properties ostensibly to cut debt (could it also  be because they believe they can replace the production later a lower cost?).
For a slow news day, that was a lot of news. There’s more where that came from.
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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 This post is number 1011  for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Nightshift: 8 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Wednesday, 8 March 2017, International Women’s Day, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
Washington is dealing with more leaks. This time they are allegedly very serious and not from the White House or “informed sources” but from Wikileaks, which has released thousands of classified documents it claims are from the CIA.  The CIA has yet to verify if the documents are in fact “real”; however, there is an investigation at the CIA to see how the documents, if authentic,  were leaked. If real, the release of these documents could have serious national security implications. In the new digital world, it’s cyber warfare all the time.
Also in Washington: still no evidence from the White House about the claim that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower; a replacement bill for Obama care was announced and conservative Republicans in congress have already declared it D.O.A. Trump’s various appointments are still winding their way through Congressional hearings; the swamp, it appears, is not as easily drained as proclaimed. And Ben Carson, now a cabinet member, is clueless.  Surprise, surprise.
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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 1010 for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Nightshift: 7 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Tuesday, 7  March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
More fallout from the President’s weekend tweet-fest. Predictably, the White House doubled-down on what seems like a giant mistake. There’s no evidence to back up the President’s assertion that Obama wire-tapped his phones; if he can produce some evidence, the tide might turn in his favor. If he can’t–it’s going to get very dark.  The U.S. responded to the most recent North Korean missile test by sending a missile defense system to South Korea–the Chinese immediately called that action (but not the firing off of banned ballistic missiles by North Korea), a “provocation”. Looks like Obama was right: the first Presidential crisis the current White House will face will be North Korea.
NCAA Conference Championships start this week. Winners get an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship tournament. Wall Street was down yesterday; the Administration released details of their new travel ban/immigration program; and the outlines of the GOP’s planned replacement for the Affordable Care Act were announced to no applause. They’ve got some work to do.  The Geneva Auto Show opens today with most of the worlds’ major automakers unveiling new models and designs. Ferrari’s new flagship “812 Superfast” goes zero-to-sixty in 2.9 seconds, which is slower than a Tesla Model S P100D (2.29 seconds). The message: speed is no longer an exclusive commodity in today’s automotive industry.
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South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
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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 1009 for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world. 

The Amazing Chronicles of Dr. Seuss

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March 2nd was the birthday of Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel) , who was born in 1904 and died in 1991. He would be 113 years old this week, but he’s really ageless and time does not affect our affection for him.
Dr. Seuss wrote and illustrated forty-four children’s books; no doubt, you know several titles without prompting: Horton Hears a Who; The Grinch Who Stole Christmas; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; The Cat in The Hat; Green Eggs and Ham. 
He has been a constant and original influence for generations of children and his playful turns of phrase and outrageous characters have become a part of modern culture (did you know that he is credited with creating the word “nerd”). Dr. Seuss did not have any children of his own (“they terrify me” he once told an interviewer). He graduated from Dartmouth and went to Oxford, with the goal of becoming an English teacher; he met his future wife there, and she convinced him to pursue his talent as an illustrator. When he returned to the U.S. (without earning his degree at Oxford), he found work as a political cartoonist and advertising illustrator. He was a Captain in the U.S. Army in WWII and ran the Animation Department for the Army. After the war, he and his wife, Helen, moved to La Jolla, California and he began to concentrate on Children’s Books. The rest is history and legend.
You can get a great sense of the spirit and creativity of Dr. Seuss just looking at the names of some of the characters he created:
Gerald McBoing-Boing
Foona-Loona Baboona,
Snorter McPhail and His Snore-a-Snort Band
Jo & Mo Red-Zoff
Van Vleck
Nixie Knox
Little Lola Lopp
Oscar
Peter Pepper & Papa
Queen of Quincy
Rosy Robin Ross
Silly Sammy Slick
Uncle Ubb & Vera Violet Vinn
Willy Waterloo, Waldo Woo & Warren Wiggins
Yoland Yorgenson
Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz
The Grinch
Dog – Max
Little Cindy-Lou Who
The Lomax
Horton
Happy Hunch & Homework Hunch
March 2nd has been designated as National Read Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss won two Academy Awards, two Emmys, a Peabody and The Pulitzer Prize. He was an original and blessed with perfect pitch in terms of story telling and illustration.
In Honor of Dr. Seuss’ life and contributions to our language, why not read (or re-read) a Dr. Seuss book this week? Or make Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast.
And remember, always, how much he thought of you:
“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”
 
 
 

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The Nightshift: 6 March 2017

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Good Morning. It’s Monday, 6 March 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the world’s overnight news feed.
The weekend cleanup from Washington and the White House is over and so we start a new weekly news cycle which, no doubt, will be complete with even more drama than before. Two things on this week’s schedule: a new “travel ban” and the first outline of the revised new “health plan”. Plenty to be debate on both of those.
General Motors has opted to sell its European operations to Peugeot, exiting a market that they’ve never quite been able to figure out. North Korean remains defiant and fired off four separate short/medium range missiles over the weekend. All this in direct opposition to the missile ban they are supposed to be observing. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters?
In sports, Dustin Johnson won the PGA’s WGC tournament in Mexico City and moved himself into early position as the favorite to win the Masters Tournament; conference championships in NCAA men’s basketball will start this week (next week is “Selection Sunday” to pick the teams for the NCAA National Championship tournament). Lots of basketball for the next couple of weeks.
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:
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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 1006 for this site.  Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.