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/241669
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney caught criticism for his proposed California home with parking on an upper floor, requiring a car elevator. Much more elaborate elevator access will be available in the new Porsche Design Tower near Miami (opening in 2016 and already 80 percent sold out, according to a December report by Slate.com). The 132 oceanside units (in square footage from 4,300 to 17,000 and in price from $5.3 million to $32.5 million) include glass-walled, elevator-accessed spaces for two or four cars (for people who would rather admire their Bugattis and Maseratis than the Atlantic Ocean). [Slate.com, 1211-2013] Chuck Sheppard Can't Be True Equality Under Law: (1) In December, Fort Worth, Texas, judge Jean Boyd sentenced teenager Ethan Couch to probation with no jail time for drunkenly killing four people in a car crash -apparently accepting Couch's "defense" that his affluent, permissive childhood had taught him irresponsibility. (WFAATV turned up a 2012 case in which Judge Boyd sentenced a 14-year-old black kid to prison for punching another boy who then fell, bumped his head and died.) (2) New York City prostitute murderer Rasheen Everett got a 29year sentence in December, despite his lawyer's "defense" that the victim was merely a transgendered prostitute. ("Shouldn't (29-year sentences) be reserved for people who are guilty of killing certain (higher) classes of individuals?") [KRLD-TV (DallasFort Worth), 12-10-2013] [WFAA-TV (Dallas-Fort Worth), 12-13-2013] [New York Post, 12-6-2013] Tension over digital security is such that an alarming disclosure made in 2004 (and largely ignored) can resurface on a website in 2013 and appear even more astonishing. At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s (and largely because of Pentagon-White House contentiousness), "safeguards" were installed to prevent rogue generals from launching nuclear war on their own. What today would be a "PIN" number was assigned to each missile, but Strategic Air Command generals mocked the PINs by setting each one to "00000000" -- a code that today would be ridiculed as naive. (Furthermore, "00000000" was then written out on each missile's instructions, according to the former launch control officer who disclosed it in 2004.) [Huffington Post, 12-5-2013] [Center for Defense Information, 4-4-2004] WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of January ARIES (March 21-April 19)If you don't know where to begin with someone, just think about what you really want and start as close to that as you can get. Honesty keeps you from wasting time. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Even those who don't appear to hear the call of the wild will heed it. They may deny their animal nature, but that won't make it go away. You will embrace your animal nature, hear the call and heed it. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Someone you're trying to help is being difficult — a sign that he or she does not in fact need the help so desperately. The old saying goes that a drowning man isn't picky about who throws him a rope. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You're not feeling completely enamored with a partnership, but it could still work out brilliantly, as many "marriages of convenience" do. This likely has to do with something other than a romantic relationship. 1, 2013 LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23)The person who is being greedy is really afraid that people won't think enough of him or her to provide for deep-seated needs. Allay this person's fear, and the greed will go away, too. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You'll have fun doing away with the formalities. Start a conversation in the middle or, even better, about three-quarters of the way through. Make a positive presumption and go from there. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) TYour intention changes an interaction. Instead of being concerned with what you can get out of a relationship, you'll think only about enjoying the other person, who in turn will become most enjoyable. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)You'll receive psychic information and know what a person is feeling or, more likely, hiding. This doesn't mean you have to call the person out. The kind thing would be to quietly make note and keep it to yourself. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In regard to sand castles and domino mazes, futility is the whole point. Some games are made for destruction, and you have a more satisfying experience with them when you keep this in mind. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)You can fake applause more easily than you can fake laughter, and you may have to do both to get through today's little show. But the good news is, when you come home, it's genuine joy all around! AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You're happy to help loved ones, but not when you're doing about 20 other things at the same time. Maybe you need more help than the people who are asking for it! PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Persevere. You don't have to change a thing about what you're doing; you just have to do it for a longer period of time. The resistance you are encountering eventually will wear down. 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 Eat, Pray and Barf My girlfriend and I just got back from vacationing in India, where we lived in an ashram (essentially a yoga camp) and she studied yoga and meditation for a month. Since we've been back, she's been wearing a sari everywhere, which stands out completely here, and she greets everyone by bowing and saying "namaste" (an Indian greeting). She talks constantly to people about spirituality and energy and, to be honest, comes off as totally pretentious. This is all starting to wear on me. Is it shallow of me to be bothered by her new look and attitude when she's feeling so enlightened? Amy Alkon — Downcast Dog When your girlfriend bows and says "namaste" to the bag guy at the supermarket, you have to wonder, are there two yogis in India fist-bumping and greeting each other, "Wassup, home slice?" and "Nuthin, dawg." It's understandable that you feel guilty about being annoyed that your girlfriend has gone Suddenly Swami. If she'd come back from Paris and started marching around in a beret and an Hermes scarf and speaking French to the grocery bagger, you'd probably deem her an obnoxious phony and suspect she has a superiority complex. The problem is, we're told we have to "respect" people's spiritual beliefs and practices. We should respect their right to have them, providing they don't involve baby eating or witch burnings, but there's been what British philosopher Simon Blackburn calls "respect creep," the expectation of "more substantial respect." Well, these things are earned; they can't be expected or demanded, and it's no more wrong to have critical thoughts about somebody's spiritual beliefs and expression than about their politics or choice of pizza toppings. So, getting back to your girlfriend, no, she isn't exempt from being considered a pretentious jerk when she signs her credit card slip in Sanskrit. It also isn't "shallow" to feel that the new her doesn't work for the relatively unchanged you. But you might give this some time. This might just be the yoga 'n' meditation version of somebody excited about losing weight on a new diet and wanting to spread the word, and she may become less affected, preachy and annoying in a month or two. To help speed the process, you could gently ask her to consider whether her clothes and talk might be creating distance between her and other people. A person shows their spiritual growth and attracts others to their path through how they act and treat people. Sure, Buddha dressed like an Asian monk, but it isn't the monk suit that made the man. (If Buddha were from Milwaukee, he'd be sitting crosslegged in Levi's and a trucker hat.) Amy Alkon all rights reserved JANUARY 15-21,12014 UCW 19