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.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/116300
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD A Verizon risk team, looking for data breaches on a client's computers, discovered that one company software developer was basically idle for many months, yet remained productive — because he had outsourced his projects to a Chinese software developer who would do all the work and send it back. The employee earned several hundred thousand dollars a year, according to a January Los Angeles Times report, but paid the Chinese worker only about $50,000. The risk team eventually learned that sensitive company information was flowing to and from Chinese terminals, leading the company to suspect hackers, but that traffic was merely the U.S. employee (obviously, "exemployee" now) sending and receiving his workload. The U.S. man showed up for work every day, but spent his time leisurely web-surfing. [Los Angeles Times via Tampa Bay Times, 1-20-2013] The Entrepreneurial Spirit One of Britain's most famous "madams" announced in January that she was coming out of retirement to set up a brothel exclusively catering to disabled people and the terminally ill. An ordinary brothel Chuck Sheppard would be illegal in the town of Milton Keynes (45 miles from London), but Becky Adams insists that the government could not shut hers down without illegally discriminating against the disabled. [Milton Keynes Citizen, 1-11-2013] Advances in the Service Sector In January, the Japanese marketing firm Wit Inc. began hiring "popular" young women (judged by the extent of their "social network" contacts), at the equivalent of $121 a day, to walk around with advertising stickers on their thighs. (The stickers would be placed on the erotic "zettai ryouiki" — the Japanese mystical area between the hem of a short skirt and the top of long socks.) The women must be prepared to endure men hovering closely to read the ads. In January, the National Hockey League labor dispute ended and players returned to work, but as usual, some owners resumed claiming that players' high salaries were killing them financially. The Phoenix Business Journal reported in December that the Phoenix Coyotes, for example, stood to turn a profit for the 2012-2013 season only if the lockout had continued and wiped out all the games — indicating that, based on the team's projections, the only way for it to make money was to never play. [Phoenix Business Journal, 12-26-2012] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of March 24, 2013 ARIES (March 21-April 19) When someone you love is under a good deal of stress, you feel it's your job to protect that person. Not everyone you know got the memo about how to be a supportive friend and partner. Teach them this week. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Maybe it's because there are so many ways for you to contact and exchange with people. Whatever the reason, the business of life is getting exponentially busier. If you don't unplug and take a break, your resources will deplete. Take care of yourself! GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You feel comfortable with people who express themselves in an overt manner, because that's the way you communicate. But there is something of value you will glean from the methodical, patient and subtle communicators, too. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Step up to professional challenges. Just like heavy lifting builds your muscles, the efforts you put out at work will shape your professional image. A mentor will help you hone skills and gain a sharper sense of purpose. You'll soon be considered an invaluable asset to your team. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In order to determine who is good for you, do the gravity test. Do you feel heavier or lighter around the person? The answer to that question should override any logical reason for why you're together. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) For many days in a row, you'll do a hundred things right, and somehow it all goes unnoticed. Being taken for granted just comes with the territory. Luckily, you can give yourself the attention, encouragement and special care you deserve. So do it! LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Pushing against the social forces is a desire emerging in you to explore and project your individuality. Somewhere between what you want and what they want is a brilliant solution to what ails you both. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Self-restraint will be necessary, especially in social matters. Because you're a loyal person, you'll watch your words. If you have a feeling that what you want to say would hurt someone, you won't say it. What's wrong is wrong all the time. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Accepting yourself won't make you act confidently. Accepting yourself is confidence — no acting necessary. So when you fall short of your own expectations, don't get mad at yourself. Just smile, shrug and say inwardly, "Oh, well, that's me." CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) It's not unspiritual to want to make money, and ambition can be healthy and positive for all as long as it's kept in check. Keep reminding yourself that it's not about the dollars themselves, but about what they will enable you to do in the world. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) How much? This is the question that haunts your week as you endeavor to create fair exchanges. Keep in mind that your giving too much doesn't help anyone else. You show respect for others when you participate in a way that allows them to contribute. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Avoid obligating anyone. Things done out of obligation feel hollow and stiff. You hate to be the recipient of such gestures, and it's even worse to be the perpetrator. Of course, there will be things that need doing simply because it's expected, but you'll find the joy in them, thereby erasing the obligatory part of the equation. By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS The Math to True Love You need to tell men to never be the first to say those "three little words." A woman will tell you she's ready to hear them by telling you first. It seems the dating gurus agree: When a man says "I love you" first, he throws the attraction physics all off because he lowers his value in the woman's subconscious. — Concerned Guy It is wise to avoid spewing mush all over a woman on, say, the third date. The premature "I love you" tends to translate as "I really don't know you, beyond how you like your steak, but I love any woman who doesn't block my calls or spot me coming down the sidewalk and duck into a real estate office and beg them to hide her." Of course, what really lowers a man's "value in the woman's subconscious" is being someone who needs a "dating guru" to help him be calculating; he can't just be. Women value men who don't seem to be living by others' dictates — men who are spontaneous and fun and don't have a faraway look in Amy Alkon their eyes because they're trying to recall something they heard on some dating webinar. Now, a lot of men have childhoods that don't exactly lead them to walk the planet feeling like they own the place. So, it's understandable if you began your dating life as a wimpy, approvalseeking suckup, but if you continue along those lines, you're a lazy, wimpy, approval-seeking suckup. Having value in a woman's eyes takes having value in your own, which takes doing the work to develop self-respect instead of just fencing off that huge sinkhole in your self so no squirrels or neighborhood dogs fall in. Once you have self-respect, it'll seem ridiculous to pull out some dating calculus book to figure out what to say to a woman and when. The right words will just flow at the right time out of genuine feeling that's developed between you. Sure, there's always that chance that some woman who seemed into you will have an attack of the commitment heebies or decide that she doesn't feel the same way. If you're more of a man's man than a worm's worm, this won't be a statement on your worth. It's just a sign that you need to look for a woman who wants you as much as you want her. If you're secure, chances are you'll eventually find a partner who won't want to leave you — and not just because you always open the door for her when she gets that look in her eye that says, "I can't wait one more moment to pee on the neighbors' rosebushes." Amy Alkon all rights reserved. MARCH 20-26, 2013 UCW 23