Various & Sundry, Friday the 13th edition

And it's your lucky day because I have lots of good stuff to share--so much stuff, that I'm going to do a separate Obituary All Stars post, probably tomorrow.

It was not a lucky day for this poor guy, Patron X, whose cell phone went off during the last movement of the Mahler 9th the other day.  Oh, I feel his pain! Apparently, he had no idea it was his phone because it was a new phone to him and he'd turned it off and there was an alarm set and he didn't know the alarm would go off when the phone was in silent mode--oh, the misery in his apology is just palpable.

“You can imagine how devastating it is to know you had a hand in that,” said the man, who described himself as a business executive between 60 and 70 who runs two companies. “It’s horrible, horrible.” The man said he had not slept in two days.

It must be agony, but I hope he'll be able to laugh about it some day.

I'm not laughing about the post on bullying that Dirty Sexy Ministry posted earlier this week. Boy, do they nail the experience of bullying in the church.

Bullying is, in short, repeated actions that cause harm to others through verbal manipulation, intimidation, gossip, psychological assualt, and even physical assault.  Most bullying behavior is extremely covert and subtle.  Studies of people who engage in bullying behavior show that they use verbal and/or physical intimidation, that they demean others to promote themselves, and use guilt as a way of manipulation and control, and they are obsessed with authority (their own and others).

That is way too familiar to me, and to so many others. And the question of how to address it...well, I wish I had an answer.

I'll be setting up the DVR today to record the rebroadcast of a show on Food Network called The Big Waste.  In it, Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Anne Burrell, and Alex Guarnaschelli need to make a 4-course meal for 100 people using food that is designated to be thrown away. A big tip o' the hat to anibundel for bringing this show to my attention.  She writes that "I had to pick my jaw up off the ground at least twice. Every segment."

MadPriest had a post on a topic near to my heart: the strange demand for tithing.  I need to write about this myself one of these days, but in the meantime, I recommend his post on how tithing oppresses the poor as worthy of your attention.

Finally, also from MadPriest, this video is only worthy of your attention if you are a total Anglican Communion geek.  If you are, you'll think it's very funny.  If not, you'll probably just say, "huh?"  So this one is going out to the geeks. Enjoy, compatriots!