Mandarin: it's more than just an orange.

Turns out there are some pretty nice tools for learning Chinese. One is a Firefox addon that translates from Japanese, Chinese or Korean to English just by holding the cursor over the word. I'm trying to learn Mandarin and this is pretty much the most handy thing ever. You can find more about it at Perapera-kun and you can find the addon itself here.
The other is an excellent podcast called Popup Chinese. The Absolute Beginner and Elementary episodes are to the point and entertaining enough to keep listening to. If you're interested the website is at http://popupchinese.com/.

Branded

I've been branded by the Federal Government. No, not the kind of branding that might make you think of Revelation and end times and all that. Just a moniker. "Rightwing Extremist". Yup. Just look at the following passage out of the most recent Department of Homeland Security memo

“Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

I added some emphasis to the bits pertaining to myself as a state and local rights advocate. I happen to think highly of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, particularly the Tenth Amendment, which states:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

I also oppose murder of innocent children, which puts me int the 'opposition to abortion' crowd. Never pegged myself as an extremist, even if the Obama administration does.

SPAMbalaya

So, apparently, jambalaya primarily consists of three ingredients, with other ingredients as a bit of an aside. As part of Mardi Gras I figured that this was as good a time as any to make some. Here are the 'big three':

1. Onion
2. Celery
3. Green Bell Pepper

Brown a meat, in my case cubes of SPAM, fry the veggies up together with a little oil, I added some salt, pepper, Louisiana hot sauce (peppers, vinegar and salt), garlic, sage and a couple bay leaves. Threw it in a crock pot with a few cups of rice... It smells good so far, I'll know more in another hour or so.