Elizabeth Carlisle is kinda cute.

TOO BAD SHE'S FREAKIN' CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY

Seriously, who drowns rabbits?! More to the point, who drowns rabbits and then takes a picture holding up their sodden corpses?!? AND THEN POSTS IT ON FACEBOOK FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE?!?!?!?

And y'all heard about the guy who let his daughter die because he was holding out for a miraculous cure from Jesus, right? I always find things like this interesting -- and unsurprising -- because it's actually quite rational within the religious mindset. Heck, given the stranglehold that Judeo-Christian faiths seem to have on the American public, I'm surprised these incidents don't happen more often. I mean, if everything is in God's hands and will always work out according to His Divine Plan, why should the doctor be called when a person gets sick? The doctor would just be meddling in affairs that God already has totally under control.

Of course, one could also ask why the doctor shouldn't be called, since it might be possible that God works through doctors and His efforts would, in fact, be impeded when people refuse to seek medical treatment. Except God's efforts are never impeded... so yeah.

I think the reality that most people aren't running through the streets eating each other is proof that the members of our so-called Christian nation don't truly take the Gospel to heart -- anyone who totally believed this stuff would be irredeemably batshit insane.

Seriously. Like Wikipedia, reading one entry at TV Tropes leads to another and then another and then another and then another still, and suddenly it's like, "Hey, why is it dark outside and what have I been doing for the past ten hours?!" But unlike Wikipedia, which might actually teach you something you didn't already know (whether you retain said knowledge or not), TV Tropes mostly involves browsing humorous descriptions and examples of stuff with which you were probably already familiar... so it's like time has just vanished and you don't have any new trivia about the diet of elephants or the habitat of penguins to share.

In fact, that's the main draw of the site! When I read about a familiar trope and go down the lengthy lists of examples, I mainly scan for shows I've seen so that I can recall the relevant scenes and enjoy a hearty laugh or a knowing smile. Yes. (more...)

In response to a comment criticizing companion Rose for her (admittedly awful) treatment of Mickey:

The Doctor was way worse to Martha, though. First there was that "one more trip" business, and then he basically made her a slave for however long (and consider the implications there) just so he could be "merciful" to a murderous gang of aliens that he later defeated by standing over them and glowering. And on top of consistently treating Martha like absolute dirt -- to add extreme insult to injury -- he concocted a world-saving plan that hinged upon her traveling the globe while not only telling everyone how great he is, but also urging them to pray to him! The Doctor is a jerk.

And regarding companions:

Tegan was easily my least favorite companion, with Donna coming in as a not-so-close-but-not-terribly-distant second. Peri and Mel were far too cute to make my list, and Adric -- while at times annoying -- died like a champion and took the dinosaurs with him. If that's not hardcore, I don't know what is.

Also (not posted on a Doctor Who forum; just sharing):

That'll do it for this entry, then. 😛

I thought the murders of pregnant women and Cesarean thefts of fetuses only occurred in fiction! But apparently that's not the case, as the body of a pregnant woman was recently found missing the baby -- which has since been found alive in the care of (I guess) the murderer. WHO THE HELL DOES SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!?!?! That's just... ick.

Other news items that deserve comment:

Canadian hitman admits to killing 27 — I've had this in a Firefox tab for a while now (since April, apparently) but am just now getting around to mentioning it. What amuses me about the piece is how he's described as "inconspicuous" -- the mayor of his town describes him as "an ordinary Joe, hard to identify in a crowd as someone who would commit crimes." This amuses me because, at least in the courtroom sketch, he looks exactly like the kind of person I'd expect to be a hitman. Really -- he looks just like Tom Cruise in Collateral. If you showed me a crowd and asked me to identify the hitman, I would point directly at him. Then I would duck, lest he see me and start shooting.

US father 'shoots his children' — Another article that's been tabbed in my Firefox for quite a while. What gets me here is the sheriff's comment: "This was not a tragedy. It was a rotten murder." He then adds, "This appears to be the terrible work of the biological father. If that doesn't break your heart, I don't know what does." But isn't something that breaks your heart tragic? And if so, wouldn't that make this a tragedy? Yes, it is a rotten murder, but I don't see why it can't be a tragedy as well.

Also, I am amused by the way that the BBC often puts portions of the headlines in single quotes: US father 'shoots his children.' I suppose that's their way of specifying that this is allegedly what happened, but I like to think that they're just being snarky. It certainly seems that way in other headlines, anyway -- see Earth landing for 'space cheese', Call for 'smarter' drugs policy, and Nigerian Islamist fighters 'flee'. Ah, you wacky Britons.

'Space cheese' sounds delicious.

Bacardi has discovered a box!

What's inside the box, you ask? (more...)