My alarm went off. I hit the snooze button. Music started playing again. I snoozed. It sounded off once more, I rolled over and started having weird snippets of strange dreams. There were happy dogs to pet, and I was happy to do it, but there was a sense of foreboding, the kind you have when you know something bad is about to happen to the character on TV. Only I am not a television character and have no reason or real sense of why anything bad would happen. So I try not to acknowledge it or let on, for the happy dogs.

I hit the snooze button again.

It is part of my charm.

I watched the Tour de France stage, which everyone hyped beyond belief yesterday. And, with the announcers, lost track of the number of crashes, which took us to the sublimely ridiculous moment of asking the cyclists, before they’d had the chance to wipe the mud from their faces, if this stage which they had hyped so much, so not be included in the future. Television is a curious thing. When it steps unselfconsciously out of its element that is when it is most in its element, though the players never seem aware.

There’s only so many times you need to see guys lose control of their under-inflated tires in a roundabout and smack the asphalt. The cobblestones and rain together, it seems, were not worth it today. I should just go back to watching the mountain stages. I only watch the bike races for the mountains and the scenery anyway. But I watched that today.

Here’s a race I’d watch, Women’s Tour de France Needs You:

In one of the biggest developments in the history of the Tour de France, women will take their place in the iconic race this year…but now it’s up to you to help them.

Following a massive worldwide push for women to have their own Tour de France the UCI and ASO have responded with a one day race on the final stage.

[…]

This may just be one day, but it’s not a token gesture. It’s a trial. A test to see how popular, supported and lucrative women’s cycling is. It won’t remain a one day race forever, moving forward it will grow and develop in the sporting landscape and in people’s consciousness.

And a trailer for a related documentary:

I finished the laundry. I moved things around.

I had Whataburger for a late lunch and, there in the parking lot, got to watch two teenagers have a marginally dramatic disagreement. She was mad at him about something. And he loved her, you know. She worked at the Whataburger and her coworkers thought enough of all of it to come outside. He, in trying to demonstrate his love despite whatever had made her mad, parked behind her car and mine.

So I saved the day. Move the car, bub. I have fries to eat and many miles to go, etc.

Judging by his reaction, this guy had never read Robert Frost. But he had the sullen look down. And while he did that, she went inside to work and he left.

I wonder what he did wrong.

I did a full inventory of things at work. I wrote emails. I repaired tripods. You don’t know fun until you’ve fixed tripods with nothing more than a pair of pliers.

I listened to the Argentina-Netherlands game. Glad I didn’t watch that woof-fest.

All of that kept me longer than I’d hoped, but it did give me these views:

So, you know, a perfectly wonderful and stunning day.

Things to read … because reading always makes your day.

We’ll start off across the pond. Ed Miliband’s scare tactics will not cure the NHS:

A report published by the Royal College of Surgeons and Age UK shows that rationing is being extended to cover life-saving operations on elderly patients. A study found that in large parts of the country, hardly anyone above the age of 75 was receiving surgery for conditions such as breast cancer and gall bladder removal. This is wrong. There should be no automatic cut-off age for treatment, not least because the elderly have contributed sufficiently in taxes throughout their working lives to expect to be afforded decent and proper care.

Is it just me, or should that last sentence have a full stop at the comma?

Another interesting story about the U.S. you’ll find more prominently abroad. US military studied how to influence Twitter users in Darpa-funded research

This is one of the more thorough and cogent essays of the day. Media Ignorance Is Becoming A Serious Problem

I opened a closet door in my inventory efforts today. Don’t think I didn’t think of this. Misplaced Vials Of Smallpox Found Abandoned In Storage Room

There is a lot of interesting stuff to unpack here. A lot. Implementation Of Europe’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ About As Absurd As You’d Expect

Closer to home … Pathway to Graduation helps struggling readers succeed:

“I like the program because I got the nicest teachers and I like what we do in our decoding and fluency and we get into small groups and we work together and we try to figure the problem out,” Hicks said.

The college part goes two ways. It teaches younger students to dream of a future and furthering their education and it gives students in Samford’s School of Education valuable experience.

Service learning is such a great tool. I wish there were more ways to implement it in every field — and it is in place in a lot of areas to begin with.

Police: Mother of missing boy didn’t remember letting cousin take him home when she was intoxicated As always on al.com, avoid the comments.

Two interesting data points here. How Obamacare has changed the rate of Alabama’s uninsured

Words to live by. CNN’s social news editor: Engagement doesn’t have to mean clickbait

This is becoming a common refrain, I know. Mobile Leads Rise in Media Ad Spending

But … in that context …

A5 This year, 500 million phones will ship with NFC (Near Field Communication) built in #MMchat

— Chuck Martin (@chuckmartin) July 8, 2014

For context, 6 billion people globally have mobile phones; that’s 84% of the entire world population #MMchat

— Chuck Martin (@chuckmartin) July 8, 2014

The traditional sales funnel is dead, thanks to #mobile #MMchat

— Chuck Martin (@chuckmartin) July 8, 2014

The whole world is changing. The great disruptor in your pocket or purse is a part of that. Interesting feeling, no?