What God reads

I read everything. I could be happy reading garbage wrappers at a dump.

Right now, I'm reading Carver. Raymond Carver: Short cuts.
I want to read everything ever written. Seriously. Heaven is a kind of library. That should keep me busy for awhile. Multiple universes is like saying a few eternities. It kind of makes sense, but literally, it doesn't.

I want to read a set of Encyclopedias. I read a library book about a guy who read the Brittanica set. He went to Alex Trebek's house, and has kids that enjoy the expression "monkey poop." What kid doesn't? He's well adjusted. Some other guy who read the entire set committed suicide. I think I'll start out with either my Disney set or World Book.

Like I said, I ideally would like to read the entire library. Heaven is a kind of library, I quote. I want a long life, so I don't have to truncate my process of lifelong learning. Of course, the more you know, the more you know that you don't. They say ignorance is bliss, too. Up! Up! and quit your books! I read that. I have other things to do besides read, too. Like raise a family and write.

My library (including my wife's), with many books I haven't read yet, include: a really nice Oxford Atlas -13th edition, Ideas that shaped the World -Robert Stewart editor, Planet Earth by Alastair Fothergill, Astronomy by Mark Garlick, Exploring the Night Sky by Terence Dickinson, Kissinger's Does America need a foreign policy, Best American Short Stories 2007, the 2007 O. Henry Prize stories, Terry Pratchett's The Truth, Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, and many Art History books. I also have web access to the Economist magazine's entire archives. So much to do. Busy, busy, as Cat's Cradle said.

That should keep me busy for awhile. Plus, I need to keep in shape. I want to collect samples of all the various plant life in the area, and put the leaves in a book, so I can identify them all. I want to join the Audoban society, as well, and join some birdwatchers. I like to hike in Bogg Forest. I also will keep my blog going. Good life, I think. Bokonon said the busy, busy thing. A soul mate is a sole mate.

I haven't seen a movie I liked in quite awhile. We watched Grindhouse on tv the other day. I thought it was stupid. Our new dvd of Fantastic Planet isn't working, unfortunately. The birds are chirping much more in the sunshine, and the frogs are still going at it. I'm wearing a Mr. Frog's, Puerta Vallarta, T-shirt today. The bible talks about frogs in Revelation, and we have lots of croakers up here, in addition to the omnipresent JW's.

I read the internet, of course, too. I just watched a video about the military's "ray gun", the Active Denial System. I find tv ads painful, too. Seriously, they say there's no tissue damange, just pain, from a longer range than rifles, that forces its target to step out of its beam. Lines can now effectively be drawn (AND enforced) in the sand. Damn. I wonder how it works. Scary.

In fact, upon reflection, it's so damn scary I can't even begin to deal with it. Border patrols can torture anyone that wants to cross their borders, it can be used as a torture device (WITHOUT any trace), and the technology can be used by non-militaries if it is ever reverse-engineered. It's pretty damn scary. What if they make it larger than a beam? Ronald Raygun would not approve. Seriously, why can't we all just get along??

China is increasing it's military budget by 18% to 59B dollars. Come on people now. What the?? China can definitely use those billions, I would think, for infrastructure and food and whatnot, I would think. No one is going to take over China, for God's sake. What's 59B dollars got to do with the price of tea in China?

Last week the chief inspector of the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presented intelligence suggesting that Iran had in the past made attempts to weaponise uranium. A new resolution against Iran has been scrapped in the face of opposition led by China and Russia. Iran says it is using the nuclear fuel, provided by Russia, only for peaceful purposes.

My fourth military story of the day is about the Bush-brokered peace talks between Palestinians and Israel. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas broke off contacts with Israel at the weekend after its recent military offensive in Gaza killed more than 120 Palestinians. A one month old baby girl (Palestinian, as if it mattered) was killed.

I found a Psychology Today article, in the Napa County library I went to today, that talked about the allure of "magical thinking." I would like to read that, as I am quite prone. Then again, I think my case goes beyond magic into magical realism, if you want to call it that. I enjoyed reading The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende, and One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabo (GGM, or Gabriel Garcia Marquez). I need to read some good stuff like that again. It's been awhile.