Sunday Morning

Lingering late in bed, having the house to myself, I decided to knock out that shower, instead of doing it this evening. This way, it can still be convenient to take my walk tomorrow morning, if this weather can hold out. Though, I see that there is a fair chance of rain tomorrow morning. In fact, it looks like it wants to rain now. Kind of overcast. Nice and peaceful, but overcast.

Trolls

It looks like there really is something the matter with trolls. I tended to think it was usually just boys being a bit too boysy, but, no, it looks like some of these boys may actually have women's heads in their freezers.

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In the past few years, the science of Internet trollology has made some strides. Last year, for instance, we learned that by hurling insults and inciting discord in online comment sections, so-called Internet trolls (who are frequently anonymous) have a polarizing effect on audiences, leading to politicization, rather than deeper understanding of scientific topics.

That’s bad, but it’s nothing compared with what a new psychology paper has to say about the personalities of trolls themselves. The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).

It is hard to underplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What’s more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the Internet.

-- Chris Mooney at Slate.com

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Ash

Ash comes in for a little visit. I pick her up for some huggies. I ask, “ How was your night? You didn’t get any birds, did you? I don’t see any blood or feathers around your mouth.” I hope not. There is plenty of good, healthy food here. The good times are still rolling.

Pop

Pop just now makes it back in. I enjoyed having the extended morning in peace and solitude. He is wearing his cowboy hat. He is dressed all in black to match his hat. At least he doesn't feel moved to wear spurs. I suppose he also sees himself as being six-foot-two and slim with cold, steel blue eyes.

Water Trip

I guess I was about finished with my nap anyway. Pop came into the big room with his travel bag. He asked if I wanted to get the water. I agreed to get it out of the way. I wasn’t in the middle of anything.

While I was filling up a jug, at the corner store, he asked if I wanted a burger. I told him I just had a big lunch. I wouldn't have felt that excited about a burger anyway. I wonder if he is ever going to offer Furr’s Buffet ever again, or is that only for Kay and Lorie?

That reminds me. I should make a point of going to Kentucky Fried Chicken once or twice before the summer comes and settles in.

How Fiction Works

In this excerpt, this quote from Barthes, Mr. Wood gives us a taste of some of the fancier literary theories about the conventions of fiction. This counters the basic, intuitive idea that fiction, at bottom, is imitative of reality, such that one writes to capture reality in one’s sentences. Instead, language is to be seen as its own reality, and writing is all about word-play.

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“The function of narrative is not to ‘represent,’ it is to constitute a spectacle still very enigmatic for us but in any case not of a mimetic order … ‘What takes place’ in the narrative is, from the referential (reality) point of view literally nothing; ‘what happens’ is language alone, the adventure of language, the unceasing celebration of its coming.”

-- Roland Barthes (from “How Fiction Works” by James Wood)

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One imagines that this quote could be particularly liberating for a beginning creative writing course. You are bound by no laws save those of grammar, as well as the basic need to be interesting, of course.

The Natural World

Now I can see better (by annkelliott)

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