sutomcat
2024 Iggy Award (ACC Tournament Record)
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 27,745
- Like
- 124,891
Welcome to International Mountain Day!
Covering around 22 percent of the earth’s land surface, mountains play a critical role in moving the world towards sustainable economic growth. They not only provide sustenance and wellbeing to 915 million mountain people around the world, representing 13 percent of global population, but indirectly benefit billions more living downstream.
In particular, mountains provide freshwater, energy and food – resources that will be increasingly scarce in coming decades. However, mountains also have a high incidence of poverty and are extremely vulnerable to climate change, deforestation, land degradation and natural disasters. In fact, 1 out of 3 mountain people in developing countries is vulnerable to food insecurity and faces poverty and isolation.
The challenge is to identify new and sustainable opportunities that can bring benefits to both highland and lowland communities and help to eradicate poverty without contributing to the degradation of fragile mountain ecosystems.
...
SU News
The TNIAAM Interview: Dino Babers (TNIAAM; Casillo)
TNIAAM: First off: Congrats, and welcome to Syracuse. What’s been your favorite part of becoming SU’s new head coach so far?
Dino Babers: The most fun thing is getting to know all the guys, the people in the athletic department and shaking hands with all the students.
Have you been to Dinosaur Bar-b-que yet, and have they mentioned an endorsement deal since your name is similar to theirs?
No one’s taken me to Dinosaur yet. Been eating at the (football) complex and the hotel every day since I arrived.
(Ed. Note: Someone take Coach out to eat! He can't survive on Sheraton room service alone!)
How quick was the process to come aboard at Syracuse? What sold you on it?
What sold me was the tradition. The university itself. Great, private school education. The Carrier Dome. The athletic director. The Chancellor -- There are good people here.
You’ve obviously been at a lot of different schools. Does moving get easier for you and your family over time?
My dad was in the military so when I was younger, we moved around a lot. And we always made sure we had good boxes around. Whenever someone came across a good box, we'd throw it in the back of truck. My wife and girls are used to it, and good sports about it.
What are the advantages of coming into a new head coaching job with a full staff already, versus taking a job as a coordinator and building from scratch?
The big thing is familiarity with the core people that are going to come with you. The first time you're a head coach, you find out who your friends are. You rely on recommendations, word of mouth. You get a little uneasy about how it’s going to work out the first time. Once you have success and move on to a new opportunity, you want to reward those people too. "Dance with the girl that brought you," you know? If they did a good job before, why wouldn't they again?
...
College Football
Playoff Avoids ACC Refs, But Gets Pac-12 Refs in Title Game (cbssports.com; Fornelli)
The College Football Playoff received some good news and some bad news on Wednesday when it was announced which referee crews would be working each game.
Big Ten officials will work the Orange Bowl (No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Oklahoma), while Big 12 refs will work the Cotton Bowl (No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Michigan State), according to Kirk Bohls of the Austin-American Statesman. That makes sense, of course, because you don't want a Big Ten crew working a game with Michigan State in it for all the obvious conflicts of interest there.
There will be no ACC or SEC crews working any of the three games, and as any fan of ACC football can tell you, not having ACC referees deciding one of the biggest games of the season is good news.
But now for the bad news. The only game I haven't mentioned yet is the title game itself, and the only Power Five conference I haven't mentioned is ...
That's right, Pac-12 refs are working the title game, which means there's a decent chance the national title will be decided by a missed call.
...
Other
NORAD Santa Tracker 2015: How to Follow Santa's Trip Around the World (PS; Axelson)
Christmas Eve is just two weeks away, which means Santa Claus is gearing up for his yearly voyage to deliver gifts to girls and boys around the world.
NORAD has confirmed that it will once again help you and your family follow jolly old St. Nick on his journey around the Earth with its 2015 Official Norad Santa Tracker.
In fact, General Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that "the reindeer have been fed their quantity of oats and are prepared for the delivery of all of those gifts to those who have been nice and not naughty," at an Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.
On NoradSanta.org you can follow along as NORAD pinpoints where on Earth Santa has visited, and follows him to each destination on Christmas Eve. In the meantime, you can also play Christmas games, listen to songs, watch videos and learn facts about Santa, NORAD and holiday traditions from around the world.
NORAD's Santa Tracker is also available as an app for your Apple, Android andWindows devices. Twitter users can follow live updates from @NoradSanta on Christmas Eve.
This is the 60th year that NORAD has tracked Santa ever since a Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted a telephone number for children to call Santa in 1955. The number sent children to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The director decided to have his staff check for Santa flying down from the North Pole, and callers were given updates on his location.
...
