Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD The head of the Perse School in Cambridge, England, recently instituted a ���10-Second Rule��� for minor disciplinary infractions: Students could avoid punishment if they quickly produced a clever explanation for their misbehavior. ���Getting children to talk their way out of a tight corner in a very short period of time,��� said Ed Elliott, encourages creativity and could produce a generation of British entrepreneurs. Said a supporter, ���Often the ones who get further are the artful dodgers,��� who ���bend the truth.��� (Elliott warned, though, that ���out-and-out falseness��� would not be tolerated.) [BBC News, 11-19-2012] Can���t Possibly Be True ���Braco,��� a Croatian-born ���healer��� (although he rejects the term), seems to make legions of sick or troubled believers feel better merely by entering a room and gazing at them in silence for a few minutes before leaving. (A Washington Post reporter, seeking relief from his allergies, attended a 100-person session in Alexandria, Va., in October, but found no improvement.) ���Whatever is flowing through him,��� said one transfixed fan, ���is able to connect with Chuck Sheppard a part of us.��� Said another enthusiast, ���The thing that makes Braco unique is he really doesn���t do anything.��� [Washington Post, 10-12-2012] Sheriff���s officials in Deerfield Beach, Fla., arrested nine people in October and charged them in connection with a betting ring that set point spreads and took bets not only on pro and college games but on kids��� games of the South Florida Youth Football League. Six thousand children play in the 22-team association. [Associated Press via CBS News, 10-30-2012] Police in Geraldton, Australia, reported in November that they had captured a thief they were chasing in the dark through a neighborhood���s backyards. As the thief came to a fence and leaped over it, he happened to land on a family���s trampoline and was propelled backward, practically into cops��� laps. Guy Black, 76, was charged in Turbotville, Pa., in October with threatening housemate Ronald Tanner with a chainsaw. Tanner, defending himself with the only ���weapon��� within reach ��� an umbrella ��� managed to pin Black with it as the chainsaw jammed. (Most people who bring an umbrella to a chainsaw fight would be less successful.) [Australian Broadcasting Corp. News, 11-14- 2012] [Associated Press via WPVI-TV (Philadelphia), 10-22-2012] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of January 6, 2013 ARIES (March 21-April 19) An old relationship will move in a fresh direction this week. It could be your relationship with money, work or your own body that takes a turn for the better. Friday brings clarity regarding the rules you want to live by from here on out. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Poet John Donne wrote: ���No man is an island, entire of itself. Each piece of the continent, a part of the main.��� This week reveals your best supporters. One strong cheerleader will make a huge difference in the outcome of your endeavors. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Whatever a loved one asks of you, you���re up to the task. Learn from your past mistakes, and assert yourself sooner in a relationship rather than later. Also of note, there���s a mystery brewing. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You���ll want to talk about the deeper issues of life ��� the same ones that make others uncomfortable. If anyone can get people to open up, it���s you. If there���s something to get off your chest, just do it. You���ll be healthier for the effort. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Get prepared to run into exactly the person, problem or entity you want nothing to do with. Life���s not-sofunny little coincidences may seem inconvenient, but later you���ll appreciate this chance to rise to the occasion. The weekend brings pleasant attention. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You may suddenly feel more in control of your feelings and better able to separate emotions from facts. The practicalities of relationships may even seem to matter more than those passing feelings that you can���t quantify or touch. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) All hands point to your career, and you���ll get general focus and clarity regarding your next moves. This won���t come in the form of an idea that strikes like lightning from the blue. Instead, it comes from getting your hands dirty with the work that must be done. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) It may be challenging to stay lighthearted in your daily life as your ruling planet, Mercury, connects with the deeply intense dwarf planet Pluto. At times, it may feel as though you have to decide the fate of the whole world. If that is the case, it���s better to do it with a smile on your face. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Many deals involve money, but usually there is so much more than that at stake. Your ability to get to the real things being negotiated and exchanged ��� for instance, power, freedom, choices, ego grati���cation ��� will give you a de���nite business advantage. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Fast progress can happen over the next two weeks if you know speci���cally what you want. With ���ve luminaries in your part of the sky, it���s as though the heavens are cheering for you. Seize this time; it���s your time! AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Mars is an invigorating presence in your part of the sky, lending you a physical burst of strength and vitality that would be a shame to waste. Consider taking on a ���tness or dietary goal. The early week is ideal for planning how to make this a reality PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Mercury and Pluto connect to point out obstacles to personal growth. ���We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen.��� ��� Thomas Merton By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS New Kid on the Bloc I spent the last two years in the Peace Corps in Eastern Europe and just committed to another year. Before my assignment, I was dating a decent guy, but I told him it was temporary. When I was home on leave this summer, it was evident he hadn���t let the relationship go. I reiterated that I just wanted friendship, but when I was back in Europe he emailed, asking if I still love him. He���s always been really supportive, and even visited me in my ���rst year, but I again told him I didn���t have romantic feelings for him. He asked for time to get over us. I promised not to contact him until he contacted me. This month, after three months of silence, he messaged me saying he wanted to talk, but now he won���t respond to my emails to set up a Skype date. I miss him terribly and wonder if I made a mistake ending it with him. Then again, I���m living in a culture where women my age are all married with two kids, and I���m getting a lot of pressure to get married. ��� Confused Until recently, even with thousands of miles between Amy Alkon you, this guy���s been conveniently located: stuck on you. It sounds like you admire his good qualities ��� sort of in the way a great auntie appreciates her little grand-nephew���s accomplishments in the macaroni arts. But, romance? Nuh-uh. Not feelin��� it. Friendship only. And that���s ���nal. Well, sort of ���nal. Because, while absence, punctuated by the occasional Skype chat, couldn���t make the heart grow fonder, there���s nothing that gins up feeling in a girl like the sudden and inexplicable disappearance of a guy after years of his tongue-dragging, tail-wagging, puppydoglike reliability. Adding to this allure, you���re the single lady surrounded by all these happy villager couples. This leads to you telling yourself that maybe you���re only now recognizing the guy���s wonderfulness, but what you���re really saying is ���I don���t particularly have feelings for him, but he���s always had feelings for me, and I���m kinda lonely over here in Upper Eastern Wherever, where the milkmaid next door just got married at 14.��� Paraphrasing Kant on how people shouldn���t be treated as means to an end, ���Don���t be a user! That���s, like, so bogue.��� Instead, engage in a truly humanitarian gesture ��� leave the guy alone so he can get you out of his system and go ���nd somebody else. Ideally, she���ll also ���miss him terribly��� when they���re apart ��� but not simply because he���s the one man she has contact with who lacks both a wife and the belief that pink #300 sandpaper doubles for White Cloud and a glass of warm water is the week���s bath. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. JANUARY 2-8, 2013 UCW 19