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/48856
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Parenting: Freemon Seay, 38, was arrested in Thurston County, Wash., in October on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after disciplining his 16-year-old daughter for leaving home without his approval. Seay allegedly forced the girl to suit up in armor and helmet, with a wooden sword, and to fight him (also in armor, with a wooden sword) for over two hours until she could no longer stand up. Seay's wife (the girl's stepmother) was booked as an accessory and was said by deputies to have been supportive of her husband's "Renaissance fair" enthusiasm (which Freemon Seay called a "lifestyle"). [Bellingham Herald, 10-18-2011] Bright Ideas WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the week of Dec. 4. ARIES (March 21-April 19) It is all too easy to resist the ideas that don't come from you and that don't fi t with your notion of how the world is or should be. But one such idea will be your key to accomplishing something meaningful in the next six weeks and entering a new stage of life. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Your impossibly high standards were forged in the hours of practice and work you put into refi ning your talent. Now you expect the same level of com- mitment from others. And you just might get what you're looking for this week. Chuck Sheppard GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Your tendency to mind your own business will come in handy. What people think of you falls under the category of "none of your business," as well. Furthermore, anyone intent on pointing out your fl aws has big problems that have nothing to do with you. CANCER (June 22-July 22) As a rule, you are an extremely tolerant, patient person, though this week you may decide that too much toler- ance is hindering a person's growth — maybe your own. In Malone, N.Y., in September, Clyde Gardner, 57, was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for trying to murder his ex-girlfriend twice. Initially, he was going to dress in a recently skinned bear's hide — walk on its paws, so as not to leave shoe prints, and "maul" her with the claws. After abandoning that plan, he promised a friend $15,000 to kill the woman in a car crash, and since Gardner was a demolition derby driver, he offered expert instructions (though the friend turned Gardner in). [Google News-AP, 9-30-2011] Awesome! The ingenuity of drug smugglers is never to be underestimated, as one ABC News report from Nogales, Ariz., in October demonstrated. Smugglers had dug tunnels from Nogales, Mexico, underneath the border to Nogales, Ariz., engineered perfectly to end along International Street's metered parking spaces. Vans with false bottoms were parked in certain spaces (and meters were fed); smugglers in the vans broke though the pavement to meet the tunnelers, and the drugs were loaded. Still parked, the vans' crews repaired the pavement, and the vans departed. "(U) nbelievable," said the Arizona city's mayor. [Yahoo News-ABC News, 10-13-2011] Basically, "Toto" is to sophisticated toilets in Japan as "Apple" is to consumer electronics in America. In September, Toto unveiled a prototype motorcycle with a toilet bowl to convert a driver's waste into fuel, not only making it self-gassed-up but contributing to the company's goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent within six years. The company was launching a monthlong, cross-country publicity tour (presumably featuring a gastro- intestinally robust driver). [Huffington Post, 10-7-2011] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You see it when people pretend at happiness. You notice the tiny breaks in voices that give away the emotion underneath. You see the behavioral patterns and tendencies that go unnoticed by the people enacting them. You will use this ability for good this week, giving caring tenderness to the ones who sorely need it. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You know that change is possible. You see the mobility in seemingly fi xed institutions, beliefs and struc- tures. You understand how temporary states can seem permanent to the untrained eye, but there is always a way. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Your mind will go to great lengths to lead you away from the suf- fering of your past. The pain will lessen each time you do. Touching the raw emotion will release it, little by little, until it has no charge left. This week, you'll bravely be willing to go back in the name of moving forward. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You'll be faced with the kind of challenging situation that inspires you to play the "what if" game. Try to play this game in a positive way. For instance, instead of asking "What if I fail?" ask "What if I succeed?" SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) What you do is never as important as how you do it. The spirit you bring to your activities will speak volumes about who you are and how you see life now. Your beliefs will be apparent to anyone willing to study you in detail as you carry out the most mundane tasks, such as shopping for groceries or sitting in traffi c. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You'll manage to be simultaneously honest and kind. The way you deliver the truth makes people open up to you. You'll be asked to lead a small group this week, and more followers will be added next week after you've done a stellar job. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You'll under- stand your loved ones better this week, and this understanding will make you feel closer to them. What fi rst struck you as an absurd idea will now seem to have a solid place in a certain line of logic. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You'll get people talking, partly because you'll be doing the kind of novel and interesting activities that lead to questions from the outside world, but mostly because you ask some pretty astute questions yourself. Your curiosity will open new parts of the world to you. By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS Odd Manischewitz Out Several of my Jewish friends have found love on JDate. I am a 32-year-old man who isn't Jewish and has no aspiration to convert but would like to give JDate a try. Huge faux pas? — Lapsed Catholic JDate advertises that its mission is sustaining "Jewish traditions" — apparently including the tradition of pissing off one's parents by getting together with a Catholic. Where I live, in the 21 to 41 age group, I counted 279 non-Jewish JDaters, including four lesbians looking for nice Jewish girls. The thing to be wary of is that people are prone to be overly inclusive at the point of sale. A woman may sincerely believe some inter-faith thing can work, and then the relationship gets serious and her parents lay on the pressure, and before you know it, you're getting dumped for Shlomo McShlomowitz. Should you end up dating some hot Hebrew, as tempting as it is to focus on all the ways you're compatible, you'd better dig into all the ways you're not. Sure, relationships are compromise, but it's one thing to put off the zombie movie till next weekend and another thing entirely to try to answer the question "What will the children be?" with "Jewish on Wednesdays and Catholic on the weekends?" Amy Alkon You've Got Stale I'm a woman who's been online dating for two years. I've noticed that people who've been on the dating site as long as I have often put up different pictures. By never changing my picture in two years, am I broadcasting that I'm a loser? I feel changing it seems more loserish, as in, "Hey, anyone want me from a different angle?" — Still Here Do you also suspect Banana Republic is going out of business every time they update their store windows? Changing your picture is a way to say "New and Improved!" — a classic advertising gambit that seems to perk up sales despite everybody knowing it probably means "Toothpaste's largely the same, but check out the butterfl y and sparklies we added to the package!" Keep in mind that research has shown that men are drawn to fl irty, smiley shots of women, and common sense says to avoid cropping all your photos at the shoulders, as this leaves a little too much mystery about what shape the rest of you is in. Have fun while posing and you should seem like you're having fun putting yourself out there -- as opposed to having fears that the next man at your side will be the utility worker who discovers you sitting mummifi ed on your couch. Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 6, 2011 UCW 23