Arizona hopes to get a win after a tough loss last week
The Arizona will try and get back on the right foot as they will play the Buffalo Bills at home this week. The game will be played at 4:05 PM at University of Phoenix Stadium. Arizona will come into the game after suffering their first loss last Thursday on the road in St. Louis. There, the Rams were able to get a 17-3 victory over Arizona thanks to a tough defense and just enough big plays. Arizona was sacked 9 times in that loss and thankfully has gotten some extra time to heal up from that contest.
The Cardinals have found success in unknown ways to be perfectly honest. They have lacked a running game all year with running back after running back being places on the IR. This began with Beanie Wells and has now extended to Ryan Williams. The team now will lean on LaRod Stephens-Howling or William Powell. Howling is trying to come back from a hip injury of his own and provides the only known-name NFL back on the team anymore. The team has basically relied heavily on their defense, which is something NFL teams can not sustain throughout a season and must get some more consistency offensively.
The Bills come into the game with a 2-3 record and have had some injury issues of their own including losing Spiller for some time with a shoulder injury. At the time, Spiller was breaking onto the NFL scene and had an amazing 10 yard average per rush. The Bills latest loss came last week to the 49ers that beat them to a pulp 45-3. Given this all, it is anyone’s game this Sunday.
Help wanted!
I wrote about this subject once before, but the point of my blog continues to be validated time and again since then. Please read on.
This morning I was reminded of an incident that happened to my daughter and me several weeks ago. We left the rest of her family and mine in the car and went into the KFC store to load up on picnic food for a day at the lake. We turned in our order and were waiting for it to be filled when the store manager walked up and introduced himself.
He pointed out a help wanted banner that was posted on the back wall that was offering management jobs. He talked directly to my daughter who is 28 years of age and began a spiel about what a great job he had to offer. She assured him that she was gainfully employed and not looking to change careers.
The manager apologized and said he was at the point of trying to find employees in any fashion open to him. While we were waiting, he told us that he needed at least three employees and two entry level managers immediately. He practically begged my daughter to ask around among her friends to find someone looking for a career in which they could quickly rise through the ranks.
That happened several weeks ago. This morning, I popped in on my daughter who generally works on her computer as a freelance writer in a local Starbucks coffee house. As I walked in, I noticed the manager of the shop sitting with my daughter. My daughter had introduced her to me previously. The manager excused herself and left. Jenny kind of laughed and made a joke about people trying to employ her. It turns out the manager tried to talk Jenny into coming to work at the shop. The pay was well above minimum wage and the tips—according to the manager—were very attractive.
My daughter thought it was funny that people were trying to recruit her as an employee while she was a customer. In this case, the coffee shop manager was at her wits end because she couldn’t find new employees and was considering quitting rather than continuing to provide substandard service due to being chronically shorthanded.
Foodservice employment may not have much status but it is a field in which good money can be made and advancement is quick. Sure, it isn’t easy work but it does provide a foothold in an industry that is continually growing and will always be a major part of American society.
Cowboys look to get over a .500 record
The Cowboys will take their 2-2 record to Baltimore on Sunday as they try and get above .500 on the year. They have been up and down with their play all season since their week one victory over the defending champion Giants. Sunday’s game will be quite the challenge at M&T Bank Stadium. There, the Ravens will be fighting to stay ahead in their AFC North division that they lead with a 4-1 record. The game is set to start at 1 p.m.
The Cowboys come into the game after their bye week last week, so they should be pretty well rested and healthy. Their last game in week 4 was a 34-18 loss at home against the Bears. This game will be even more difficult then that was as they are now on the road and facing an opponent that is just as strong, if not stronger, then Chicago. A loss could certainly get even more people talking and questioning Romo and the offense and Rob Ryan’s less-than-effective defense. The only way to avoid this is with a win.
The Ravens come into the game looking to solidify their position as one of the best teams in the NFL. Last week, however, they looked like anything but that as they barely squeaked by the Kansas City Chiefs in KC. They won just 9-6 last Sunday there and struggled overall offensively. It was especially surprising as the Chiefs won just one game to that point last week and have been one of the NFL’s worst. Sunday we will see what direction both of these teams are headed in.
Jets are looking for a win against the Colts
The Jets will continue to try and salvage an already tumultuous season this Sunday against the Colts in New York. The game will be played at MetLife Stadium at 1 p.m. and will certainly be a game to watch. The Jets and NFL would consider this a must win for New York who has veteran leadership and coaching. Meanwhile, the Colts start their rookie sensation Andrew Luck and are without their coach who is receiving treatment for cancer. The Jets come into the game with a 2-3 record while the Colts have already had their bye week and are 2-2.
The Jets put up a great fight on Monday Night against the Houston Texans in New York. The team just fell short with a 23-17 defeat but did have some healthy performances on both sides of the ball. Still glaring, however, is the use of Tebow and exactly how and when to use him. They also have had significant difficulties in the running game getting any success. This combination of things is, more or less, a death sentence for Mark Sanchez who undoubtedly will not be able to survive without a running game. Not many quarterbacks can for that matter.
The Colts seem to be a rising team despite their rookie QB. They were able to get a huge win last week at home against the Green Bay Packers. The win was most impressive as they found out that week their first year coach Chuck Pagano was going to have to go through treatment for Leukemia. The outpouring was huge and the victory even huger. They will now look to build on that win in NY.
Miami looking to get third win against the Rams
The 2-3 Miami Dolphins will face the 3-2 St. Louis Rams on Sunday in Miami. The teams will face at 1 p.m. at Sun Life Stadium and should present a very close football game that features strength versus strength. Miami comes into the game with an offense that has shown some explosive ability behind running back Reggie Bush and receiver Brian Hartline. Meanwhile, the Rams have been stifling defensively as they give up few big plays or points to opposing teams.
The Dolphins come into this week 6 matchup after narrowly beating the Bengals last week 17-13. They did do this in Cincinnati, however, which is pretty impressive considering the Bengals are a team many can see going to the playoffs. The Dolphins have had some tough games this season and could easily have a bit better record. They seem to just need to put together a game that gets consistency from all phases of their team including the defense and special teams.
The Rams will come into the week’s game very refreshed as they have not taken the field since last Thursday when they faced the Cardinals. They were able to hand Arizona their first loss of the season as they nearly shutout the Cardinals 17-3 in that game. This was thanks mainly to the Rams defense that features two kids with famous dads in defensive lineman Jake Long and linebacker James Laurinaitis. Long’s father is legendary Raider Howie Long who is now an NFL Analyst while Laurinaitis’ father was one of the WWF’s road warriors. We will have to see if this combination will have enough in their tank to get a win on the road and try to propel the Rams into playoff talk.
Steelers travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans tonight
The Pittsburgh Steelers will play tonight on Thursday Night Football on the NFL Network against the Tennessee Titans. The game will be played in Tennessee at LP Field with an 8:20 PM kickoff time. The Steelers come into the game with a 2-2 record and are coming off a hard-fought victory over the Eagles last week. Tennessee, on the other hand, comes into the game with just one win this year. That victory came in week 3 against Detroit at home.
Pittsburgh will be a bit banged up coming into Thursday’s game and will be without Troy Palomalu who re-injured his calf last week. Palomalu missed action weeks earlier with that same calf injury and was unable to make it through the game against the Eagles without having further difficulties. Despite this huge loss, the Steelers were able to put together a final drive that lasted about 5 minutes and marched down the field to set up a game-winning field goal that was made as time expired.
Tennessee has seen some glimpses of hope in their team, but has failed to make anything happen so far this season. Chris Johnson has not been the same since his holdout 2 seasons ago and the team’s defense has been poor. The Titans have seen some glimpses from CJ who must get back to his 2010 production to try and get this team some wins. The Titans have played a very tough schedule this year, however, and Pittsburgh is actually one of the easier games they have had to this point.
The spire of Westwood
When I wound up in a special pilot program known as Family Focus back in the late 1980s, I had to go to Southwood Elementary school in Bloomington, Minnesota. But unlike the school I had just come from –Excelsior Elementary in Excelsior, Minnesota- Southwood did not have its own school library. The result was that we had to be bused to much bigger nearby Westwood Elementary and use their library.
Westwood stands near the built-up intersection of Old Shakopee Road and France Avenue. Our bus would roll up the latter street and then swing down a side street and up to the main entrance, where we would disembark and embark.
One sight that became firmly affixed in my memory was the tall chimney Westwood boasted. It rose like a landmark each time the school came into view as the bus hummed up France. I was not a happy camper in those days about being so far from home in a strange pilot program filled up with kids who did not fit into the cogs of public education like so many of our peers, and because of that mood that chimney soon took on a melancholy appearance as it frowned down on the school like a monolithic statue raised to celebrate the glories of public education. It frowned down on me on all those bad days and yes, the rare good one as my life’s path intersected with Westwood on a regular basis.
Then one day I was freed from that pilot program and now only see that chimney on rare occasions such as the day I snapped its picture for future use in an article about it. A chimney I now hereby dub “the spire of Westwood.” It seems to fit.
Radioactive Waste 13 - Vitrification
We have been covering a lot of issues involving disposal of nuclear waste. There is a process called “vitrification” that helps prepare nuclear waste for disposal. The specific meaning of the term is the process of turning something into a glass. For substances that have a glass phase, vitrification would consist of causing the substance to undergo phase transition to its glass state. Chemical processes can also result the creation of a glass. A more general use of the term can apply it to embedding a material in a glassy matrix. This is the sense in which the term is used when referring to the vitrification of nuclear waste.
Nuclear waste is mixed with chemicals/materials that form glass such as sand. Then calcinating chemicals are mixed in to remove the water which would negatively affect the glass. Next, the mixture is continuously fed into a heating furnace and melted along with pieces of glass. The resulting molten glass is then poured into canisters where it solidifies into a hard material resembling obsidian. The glass should be stable for thousands of years and will prevent leaching of waste by ground water. Vitrification can also significantly reduce the volume of the waste which is very important because space is at a premium for temporary or permanent storage.
There is another technique called bulk vitrification in which electrodes are inserted into soil contaminated with nuclear waste. Sufficient electrical energy is fed to the electrodes to heat and melt the soil and the waste it contains. It hardens in a glass which stabilizes the waste. If left in the ground, the glass is less dangerous than the original contaminated soil. If necessary, the glass can be dug out and in much easier to handle that the contaminated soil would have been. This would be very useful in seriously contaminated areas such as the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Bechtel National, Inc. is currently designing, constructing, and commissioning the largest radioactive treatment plant in the world at the Hanford Reservation. The United States Department of Energy contracted the creation of the plant, in part, to deal with the enormous amount of waste currently stored at Hanford in leaking underground tanks. The Bechtel plant will be using the vitrification process and heat the vitrification mixture to over two thousand degrees Fahrenheit.
Recently, a memo, written by Gary Brunson to Hanford DOE officials, “listed 34 instances in which Brunson believed Bechtel provided design solutions or technical advice that was factually incorrect, not technically viable, not safe for future vitrification plant operators or otherwise seriously flawed.” The memo called for Bechtel to be immediately replaced as the agency responsible for writing the design requirements for the plant. Bechtel and DOE have managed to agree on the resolution of the issues raised in the memo and the project is going forward.
Although vitrification is a useful treatment for nuclear waste in theory, in practice, as always, the devil is in the details.
Mexican Chili
If you are looking for a good diversion from regular chili, I came across this recipe for Mexican Chili and it is wonderful. It is a great dish for the winter, and you can add extra things to make it more unique.
The ingredients you will need are:
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 large can tomato sauce
- 1 can stewed tomatoes
- ½ pkg. frozen corn
- 3 can pinto beans
- 1 can black beans
- 1 pkg. taco seasoning
- 1 pkg. ranch dip mix
- Tortilla chips
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
- Jalapenos
To make this chili, you will begin by frying the ground beef with the onion and green pepper. Cook this until the beef is done and then drain it. Place this mixture in a large pot and add all of the remaining ingredients with the exception of the tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream and jalapenos.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for an hour or two. You can simmer it for as long as you would like to get the flavor that you desire.
There are numerous things you can do to add more flavor to this too. You can add chili powder and cumin, for example. You can also add sliced jalapenos or green chilis to it.
When you are ready to eat this Mexican chili, crush tortilla chips into your bowl of chili and add some shredded cheese, chopped jalapenos and sour cream. You will love it, and you can make it spicier by adding more jalapenos.
Pecan Sandies
If you like pecan sandies, you will love these cookies. They are easy to make, and you will most likely have all of the ingredients needed on hand. You can make a double batch of these if you like them a lot, and this will result in a large amount of cookies. These are great to bring to potluck dinners or to a friend’s house for a gathering.
The ingredients for these are:
- ¼ c. powdered sugar
- 2 c. flour
- 1 c. pecans, finely chopped
- 1 c. butter, softened
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 T. water
- Additional powdered sugar for coating
For this recipe, you will need to preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Take out a large mixing bowl and place the butter and powdered sugar in it. Mix these ingredients together well with an electric mixer, until they are light and fluffy. Next, add the vanilla and water and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda together. Add this to the first mixture and mix well. Finally, add the chopped pecans.
Take the dough and form one-inch balls with it. Place the balls on ungreased cookie sheets and then flatten each one slightly with your hand. You can also place the dough in the refrigerator for an hour or so before you do this because it will help make it easier to work with.
Bake the cookies for around 20 minutes and let them cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack. When they are completely cool, place two or three in a bag filled with additional powdered sugar. Shake the bag gently to coat he cookies and then store them in an airtight container.