Joe Kittinger is not a household name with the general public, but explorers sure know who he is. In 1960, as research for NASA’s then-fledgling space program, he rode a helium balloon to 102,800 feet above Earth in a spacesuit, then jumped out, eclipsing 600 mph during free-fall. At 15,000 feet, his parachute deployed and he gently floated to the ground in the New Mexico desert. Kittinger proved that fighter pilots and astronauts could eject at extreme altitudes and survive. Waiting for him was a congratulatory telegram from the Mercury astronauts. Kittinger’s record stood until 2012, when Red Bull’s Felix Baumgartner, later Google’s Alan Eustace, broke it. Joe was cap-com for Baumgartner’s jump.
In this EC Lecture Series presentation, TEC Fellow Jim Clash will interview Kittinger about his big leap, his book “Come Up and Get Me” (Neil Armstrong wrote the Foreword) and his days as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War where he was shot down, then tortured for 11 months at the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” Most recently, Kittinger, at 93, braved a 170-mph thrill ride in a stock car at Daytona International Speedway with Clash behind the wheel, another topic of discussion.
“Come Up and Get Me” will be streamed live on explorers.org, our YouTube Channel, and our Facebook Live — Monday, January 24th at 7:00 pm EST.
The PBS did a very interesting show on Joe’s project, Chapter 1 of the Spacemen. Click here
On Aug. 16, 1960, Col. Kittinger stepped from a balloon-supported gondola at the altitude of 102,800 feet. In freefall for 4.5 minutes at speeds up to 714 mph and temperatures as low as -94 degrees Fahrenheit, he opened his parachute at 18,000 feet. (U.S. Air Force photo
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida head football coach Billy Napier announced Tuesday that Rob Sale will join his staff as the Gators’ offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
Sale heads to Gainesville after serving as the New York Giants’ offensive line coach in 2021.
A 14-year collegiate coaching veteran, Sale spent three seasons at Louisiana (2018-20) as the Ragin’ Cajuns offensive coordinator and offensive line coach under Napier.
In 2020, the Ragin’ Cajuns offense ranked third in the Sun Belt Conference in points per game (33.6), fifth in yards per game (421.5), third in yards per play (6.3) and fourth in rushing yards per game (213.0).
In 2019, Sale’s offense set numerous school records, including total yards (6,918), touchdowns (69), rushing yards (3,604), rushing touchdowns (42) and passing touchdowns (27).
In his first season coaching the Louisiana offense, three players rushed for more than 700 yards each. Trey Ragas logged 1,149 yards and nine touchdowns, Elijah Mitchell led the Sun Belt with 16 touchdowns and ran for 985 yards of his own, while Raymond Calais tallied 754 yards and seven scores.
Prior to Louisiana, Sale was the offensive line coach/running game coordinator at Arizona State in 2017, when the Sun Devils averaged 31.9 points, 427.6 total yards and 179.9 rushing yards a game.
In 2016, Sale served as the offensive line coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe. That season, the Warhawks ranked third in the Sun Belt with 181.3 rushing yards per game and allowed just 19 sacks.
Prior to ULM, Sale was the offensive line coach at Georgia in 2015, when the Bulldogs averaged 375 yards a game. The offensive line – led by All-SEC first-team offensive tackle John Theus – helped the team rush for more than 190 rushing yards per game.
Sale spent three seasons at McNeese State serving as the offensive line coach for the Cowboys from 2012-13 before being elevated to co-offensive coordinator in 2014. In his final season, the Cowboys offense averaged 32.4 points, 396.5 total yards and 221.9 rushing yards a game.
From 2007-11, Sale gained his first college coaching experience as a strength and conditioning assistant and offensive analyst at Alabama. He began his coaching career as the offensive line coach at Catholic High of Pointe Coupee in New Roads, La. in 2006.
Sale played in 35 games with 25 starts, including 13 at right guard as a senior in 2002, at LSU. As a junior, he started at both center and guard when the Tigers won the SEC title. During his sophomore season, he started the final five games of the regular season and the Peach Bowl at left guard.
I checked my email over the weekend and amid the usual promotional messages, reader letters, PR content, and obvious phishing attempts in my inbox, there were a few emails related to my YouTube account. Recently, Google warned that hackers were sending phishing emails to YouTube creators, offering antivirus software in exchange for a review on the channel. The antivirus was in fact malware designed to steal passwords and browser cookies, which can also hold login credentials.
Opening Cold Emails in the Phishing Age
Just to be safe, I didn’t open the messages or click on any links in the YouTube-related emails, but it occurred to me that identifying legitimate contact is difficult in the age of frequent phishing attempts. PCMag lead security analyst Neil J. Rubenking wrote about this quandary recently, after helping a friend figure out whether an email purporting to be from Facebook was a phishing lure. In the end, that email turned out to be a real marketing message from Facebook, but he had to go through through several steps to determine the message’s legitimacy.
Facebook keeps a list of verified correspondence in the account area of your profile, so it’s easy to match emails you receive in your inbox with the messages you see from Facebook in your account. But what if you want to verify that an email came from someone you know and contains safe links? The US Federal Trade Commission offers a few steps you can take to stay safe.
Look at the From email address. If you don’t recognize the address or the sender, think twice about opening any links contained within the email.
Spot a generic greeting. A business email usually won’t begin with a casual greeting such as, “Hi Dear.” An email from a friend usually won’t spell your name wrong or address you with an honorific like “Mr., Mrs., or Miss”.
Look at the link URLs. Mouse over links before you click on them. Your browser will reveal the web address for each one. If the link looks suspicious (for instance, a link purporting to be from Netflix takes you to an entirely different domain), don’t click on it! Delete the email or report it as spam and move on.
Be wary of any emails that invite you to click on a link to update your payment details, update your account information, receive a coupon for free stuff, or include an invoice you aren’t expecting.
How to Combat Email Phishing Attempts
Even the most vigilant email user can be caught unaware by a malicious link in an email. Add extra layers of protection to your online life so you can mitigate the damage done by scammers.
Use security software. The best antivirus and security suites have phishing protection built right in. Set the software to update automatically and run in the background to protect you from phishing attempts.
Use multi-factor authentication everywhere you can online. Even if a scammer manages to get a hold of your username or password, if you set up multi-factor to be something you have (a hardware security key or an authenticator app passcode), or something you are (a scan of your fingerprint, retina, or face), it’s harder for the bad guys to log into your accounts.
Back up your data. Copy your important documents and information regularly and store them on an external hard drive or with an online backup or storage service.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -The preseason No. 2 Florida gymnastics team brings back its entire roster from last year’s team that made the NCAA finals. But as much as fans will enjoy seeing some familiar faces, the team’s newcomers are ready for their moment in the spotlight as well.
Freshman Sloane Blakely became the first UF freshman since Kytra Hunter in 2012 to win an All-Around crown in her collegiate debut, and Florida prevailed in Friday’s season-opening quad meet against Rutgers, Northern Illinois, and Texas Woman’s University, putting up a score of 197.675. Blakely’s All-Around score of 39.450 edged out teammate Megan Skaggs (39.400) for the honor.
Senior Trinity Thomas competed in two events and led all scorers on vault with a 9.950. On bars, 2021 Olympic alternate Leanne Wong and UF teammate Savannah Schoenherr tied for the highest mark, a 9.875. On beam, victory went to Blakely and Gator senior Leah Clapper at 9.950. And on floor, fifth-year gymnast Alyssa Baumann nearly pulled off a perfect 10, settling for a 9.975.
Florida gymnasts accounted for each of the top five scores on beam and six of the seven highest on bars.
The Gators stay home to face Alabama on Sunday, Jan. 16 in a meet that will be televised nationally on ABC at 2:45 p.m.
Former Alabama defensive lineman Alex Watkins is headed back to the SEC. He’s also reuniting with Billy Napier.
Watkins is joining Florida as an assistant strength and conditioning coach, the Gators announced Friday. He spent the last two years at Mississippi State, where he worked as a strength and conditioning coach. Before he went to Mississippi State, Watkins worked at Alabama-Birmingham, Texas Southern and Stillman College.
He played at Alabama from 2007-11 and won two national championships with the Crimson Tide. Napier worked as an analyst at Alabama on that 2011 national championship team.
Watkins played a year with the Tennessee Titans in 2012 before joining the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders in 2013. That’s when he headed to Stillman as head of the strength and conditioning department in 2014.
Billy Napier, Florida bring back program legend in coaching role
Florida has hired former Gators linebacker Mike Peterson as an assistant coach, coaching the outside linebackers and also serving as an alumni liaison for first-year head coach Billy Napier, according to a release.
Peterson is no stranger to the SEC, not just from his playing days but also from his coaching career. The former Florida linebacker coached the last six seasons at South Carolina as an outside linebackers and defensive ends coach, with some of his products — Kingsley Enagbare, TJ Brunson, Ernest Jones and DJ Wonnum — receiving All-SEC honors and/or being selected in the NFL Draft.
A native of Gainesville, Florida, Peterson attended Santa Fe High School before committing to the University of Florida under Steve Spurrier. He played for the Gators from 1995 to 1998 and was a member of the 1996 team that went 12-1, defeated the top-ranked Florida State Seminoles, 52-20, in the Sugar Bowl, and won the national championship. Peterson started 24 of the 42 games in which he appeared at Florida, and he posted 249 tackles, three forced fumbles, 8.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. His senior season, in 1999, Peterson was a first-team All-SEC linebacker and a first-team All-American, prompting the Indianapolis Colts to select him in the second round, with the 36th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft.
He played 13 seasons in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons, notching 951 total tackles, 21.5 sacks, eight forced fumbles and 19 interceptions, while once being named a second-team All-Pro in 2005, before beginning his coaching career in 2013.
The first role Peterson landed out of the NFL was also with Florida, as he served for three seasons as the program’s strength and conditioning coach. In 2016, after his first Florida coaching stint concluded, he accepted a role at South Carolina.
This title is often reserved for Auburn given the Tigers’ annual spells of highs and lows, but Florida under first-year coach Billy Napier will be one of college football’s most intriguing teams to watch in 2022. For starters, how the Gators fare against Utah in the season opener may have little to no bearing on the SEC opener the following weekend against Kentucky. Then, after beating USF in Week 3, the road trip to Tennessee is quite worrisome. Prepare yourself, Gators fans, for a wild and unpredictable first month before things settle down just a bit. The two-game stretch to open as well as consecutive contests against Georgia and Texas A&M after an open week will be season-defining.
James Gilbert/Getty Images.
