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 Archeologists discovered in May that a construction company had bulldozed 2,300-year-old Mayan ruin in northern Belize — simply to mine the rocks for road fill to build a highway. A researcher said it could hardly have been an accident, for the ruins were 100 feet high in an otherwise flat landscape, and a Tulane University anthropologist estimated that Mayan ruins are being mined for road fill an average of once a day in their ancient habitats. Said another, "To realize" that Mayans created these structures using only stone tools and then "carried these materials on their heads" to build them — and then that bulldozers can almost instantly destroy them — is "mind-boggling." [Associated Press via Yahoo News, 5-14-2013] Fine Points of Law A woman in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood reported to a local news blog in May that she had seen (and her husband briefly conversed with) a man who was operating a "drone" from a sidewalk, guiding the noisy device to a point just outside a third-floor window in a private home. Chuck Sheppard The pilot said he was "doing research" and, perhaps protected by a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision, asserted that he was not violating anyone's privacy because he, himself, was on a public sidewalk while the drone was in public airspace. The couple called for a police officer, but by the time one arrived, the pilot and his drone had departed, according to a report on the Capitol Hill Seattle blog. [Capitol Hill Seattle via Betabeat.com (New York City), 5-14-2013] Perspective Army Major Nidal Hasan went on trial in June for killing 13 and wounding another 32 in the notorious November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, but his 43 months in lockup since then have been lucrative. WFAA-TV (DallasFort Worth) reported in May that Maj. Hasan has earned $278,000 (and counting) in salary and benefits because his pay cannot be stopped until he is convicted. By contrast, some of the 32 surviving victims complain of difficulty wrenching money out of the Army for worker compensation and disability treatment — because the Army has refused to classify the spree-shooting as a combat-similar "terrorist attack" (in favor of terming it the politically correct "workplace violence"). [WFAA-TV, 5-22-2013] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD 22 UCW JULY 3-9, 2013 WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of July 7, 2013 ARIES (March 21-April 19) You can't go on an adventure with another person without feeling somewhat responsible for him or her. To you, togetherness means watching out for each other. Assuming this high level of responsibility for your fellow humans will lead to heroics. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Your sign rules the appetite, and yours will be particularly strong this week. Too much of a good thing ruins the goodness of the thing. You'll have to remind yourself to think from your head instead of your appetites. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Your conversational skills are needed. You'll get invited to social gatherings, dinners and the like because you're well admired, but also because the host knows that you're the perfect one to break the ice and get the party started. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Some days you feel invincible, but this week you're humbler and more realistic than that. We are all limited people in a world that will test our limits over and over. You're ready for trials, optimistic that you'll either win or learn valuable lessons that will help you win the next time. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) As the leader, you'll deal with both delightful and difficult personalities. Passive-aggressive people will be among them. These types are experts at not taking responsibility for their actions. You may be tempted to call them out, but don't be surprised if they hide behind lame excuses. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) It may feel like you've skipped over the edge of your groove and are now in an insecure, unpredictable place. Don't try to get back into the same pattern, though. That groove was in danger of becoming a rut. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) People admire and fear your drive, which is in high gear at the top of the week. Caution: You'll only be able to keep your energy up if you take good care of yourself. Give kindness, relaxation and treats to yourself all along the way. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You could fret over flaws and obsess about what you perceive as shortcomings, but seeing the problems in yourself and others is really a waste of time. Happiness is focusing on what you do well. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) One of the best things you can do for your own creative spirit is to allow yourself to fail. Expecting greatness at every turn will only be discouraging in the end. Focus on enjoying yourself, learning more and getting out of your own way. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You have behaved honorably in a situation, but you are too modest to mention this to anyone but your nearest and dearest. Great choice. People see who you really are. You don't have to tell them. Your stellar character radiates in everything you do. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) No one is great at everything. Most humans excel at a handful of endeavors and specialize in one or two. That's why it's so important to know what you are really good at and what you could happily spend a great deal of your life pursuing. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) There's so much going on in your world now that you may not even remember why you were mad. But just because you drop the grudge doesn't mean you'll return to the relationship. Your energy is better used building a bright tomorrow you can move toward. By Holiday Mathis Good Morning Fayetteville with Goldy & Jim W Weekday Mornings 6-10 a.m. Talk Line: 910-864-6400 Local News, Weather, Traffic & Sports ADVICE GODDESS Not a Mourning Person My girlfriend died in a car accident four months ago, and I fear I'm not grieving the way I should. I was really broken up at first, crying hysterically, and I miss her terribly. I often think of things I wish I could tell her or we could do together, but I'm comforted by remembering all the positive things about us and her, and I'm grateful for the time we did have. Friends are worried, saying that I need to experience grief fully and work through all the stages in order to recover; otherwise, the grief could come back to bite me. I worry that I am suppressing stuff, but I have no idea what. Despite what's happened, I still like my life and my job. I even find myself laughing at stupid stuff. Am I just in major denial? — Living Those who care about you are worried that you aren't wallowing in pain and despair, and they're maybe even a little suspicious: "Come on, man, who's keeping you company if not Misery?" Supposedly, if you really loved somebody, you'll grieve big, long and showy: retire from personal hygiene, Amy Alkon refuse to leave your bed for six months and only stop sobbing into your pillow to ask somebody to plant weeping willows. But bereavement researcher Dr. George A. Bonanno points out in his terrific book, The Other Side of Sadness, that there's no evidence for this belief or a number of widely held beliefs about grieving, like the notion that there are "stages of grief" — five of them — that every bereaved person must go through before they can go on: "Whoops, you flunked anger. Better go back and punch four walls and get in two bar fights!" The "stages of grief" were based on psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth KublerRoss' observations of people who were themselves dying, not those who'd lost someone they loved. "Grieving over the death of a loved one is not the same as facing your own death," Bonanno points out. He adds that Freud's notion that the bereaved must do "grief work" to heal is unsupported by research. Yet another myth is that your failure to go into Scarlett O'Hara-style hysterics in the coffee room every day means you're postponing your grieving (perhaps until beach volleyball season ends?). In fact, the idea of "delayed grief" is another unsubstantiated idea from one of Freud's psychoanalytic minions. Studies find delayed grief extremely rare. What your behavior seems to reflect is resilience -- healthy coping through putting your girlfriend's life and death in perspective in ways that help you go on with your life. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM