Finished The World is Flat, as I said before, and I’ve already started a couple of others. Philip Taubman wrote a book called Secret Empire, a book about the history of American espionage in space. Pretty interesting, but I’m hoping it gets better. I also found in the used bookstore a Noam Chomsky book. I was looking at the Latin America section of the history section and came across this one. Latin America – From Colonization to Globalization. Just started it, but he says something very interesting.

According to him, we still perpetuate the notion that Europeans in the Americas is a natural thing. It is evident by the constant use of the phrase ‘the discovery of America’. To him, it couldn’t have been a ‘discovery’, because that implies uninhabited continents. He says this ‘event’ in history, Europeans coming to the Americas, should be called the invasion of America, which is much more accurate.

And that’s just the beginning of the book. This one will take longer, as I have to actually read this one. After the one I’m listening to I have China Inc next up. I saw the author on a news program yesterday, briefly, as I was getting my lunch out of the fridge. The guy was very confident about what he was saying, answered the questions directly and distinctly, and I noted his name and looked the book up. The internet is great. I heard of the book, looked it up, then found someone that had an audio version. I also found a text version, but I have already started looking in the bookstores for it. I told my wife she needs to get the shelves up in the back room fast, I know of more than a few books I’ll be getting in the near future….

In other news, the new dog is doing much better. He now goes out on his own, through the new dog door in the wall, to deposit his wastes in the yard. Of course this was urged along by my wife’s antic when he did his business outside, whether we carried him out or not. She doesn’t jump up and down, but claps and says ‘gooboy’ as she gives him a treat. This wouldn’t be so bad, but lately she’s been inclined to add ‘pottie oussize’. She is supposed to be saying ‘good boy pottie outside, but she adds a ‘goo goo’ twang to it, which makes it sound the way it does. It’s funny to watch. The dog meanwhile just stands and looks up at her as if to say ‘the excitement is nice, but give me my fuckin treat if you’re going to’.

He has his moments. For some reason he has been attacking my arm as if it were an animal that needs subjugation. He will pounce on my hand from behind, then straddle my wrist to attack my hand. If I try to lift away, he grips my arm with his front legs as if riding a bull. If my arm slips from his grip, which isn’t hard cause he weighs about 12 lbs, he bats it down with a paw, as if to say ‘get back here, bitch’, then growls as he gnaws on my wrist and fingers. It is quite amusing to watch.