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/54832
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Traditional bridge replacement on as prominent a highway as Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nev., has generally required rerouting traffic for as long as a year, but the new "accelerated" technology in January necessitated detours for less than a week. Excited engineers traveled in from around the country to watch the old bridge be demolished and the new one (which had been built on a platform off to the side) be slid into place using hydraulic jacks and Teflon-coated metal beams — lubricated with Dawn dishwashing detergent to glide them smoothly into the old frame. The Nevada Department of Transportation Chuck Sheppard estimated that the accelerated process saved commuters about $12 million in time and fuel costs. [Las Vegas Sun, 1-11-2012] The Entrepreneurial Spirit! "(Our critics) are absolutely right. We are professional liars," said Everett Davis, founder of the Internet-based Reference Store, which supplies pumped-up, but false, resumes for job-seekers having trouble landing work. Davis and associates are, he told Houston's KRIV-TV in November, ex-investigators schooled in deception and therefore good at fooling human resources personnel who follow up on the bogus work claims. Davis admitted he would even disguise a customer's past criminal record — but not if the job is in public safety, health care or schools. [KRIV- TV, 11-16-2011] Veterinary technician and food blogger Lauren Hicks recently inaugurated service on what is surely one of the few food trucks in the country catering exclusively to dogs. She parks her "Sit 'n Stay Pet Cafe" — a retrofitted mail truck — in downtown Winter Park, Fla., on Thursday nights (according to an October Orlando Sentinel report), serving gourmet organic snacks like the Poochi Sushi (jerky), "Ruff-in" muffins, and "Mutt-balls" and "Grrr-avy," among other specialties. [Orlando Sentinel, 10-19-2011] Western nations and foundations have tried for decades to build sewage treatment plants in sub-Saharan Africa, with little success (since many countries lack stable governments to assess operating fees), and to this day, raw sewage is still merely collected and dumped, either in rivers or directly onto beaches, such as the notorious (and formerly beautiful) Lavender Hill in Ghana. U.S. entrepreneurs recently established Waste Enterprises in Ghana to build the first-ever fecal-sludge-to-biodiesel plant (funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Feces undiluted by water, and then heated, is highly concentrated and more resembles coal than the goo that Americans associate with sewage. [Good Magazine (Los Angeles), 12-1-2011] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of Feb. 12, 2012 ARIES (March 21-April 19) You expect your- self to handle too much. You also don't give yourself credit for all of the amazing things you do in a day. These two factors are enough to make a person blue. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Even after years of endeavoring to grow and develop yourself, you still feel like you've accomplished little compared to what you want to accomplish. It's a sign of your high standards and also your considerable intelligence. Give yourself more credit. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) The urge to be overly involved in media could be a signal that your life has become too stressful. Stories on the tube may seem easier to deal with than real-life drama. The weekend will bring an improved state of mind. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Love is an act of thoughtful giving. Because you love another person, you feel compelled to consider their feelings, wants, dreams and goals. Others still have to be taught what love is and what it isn't. For instance, depending on a person isn't the same as loving that person. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) The way you treat loved ones on a daily basis will contribute to the larger picture of how you are regarded in this lifetime. You'll contribute kindness, generos- ity and selfl ess service. There's a whole lot of energy stacked in your favor. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Should you plow through the hurdle, or should you leap over it? Either way will work, though the easiest route is to walk around it. This is also the most pas- sive choice, and it takes a little longer, too. But no one gets hurt, and you may even cross the barrier undetected. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Balance is not as elusive for you as it is for some people. The work you do this week to strengthen your center will allow you to keep moving through life with your usual elegance. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You may en- counter certain restrictions, especially having to do with tangible resources, tools you may need and/or funding. However, what you lack in material items you more than make up for in ingenuity. Your imagination is free, and noth- ing can hold it back. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) The mystic Stuart Wilde suggests, "The solidity of the world is an illusion created by the speed at which atoms oscillate. If they slowed down just a little, you'd be able to walk through walls." You'll have an altered perception of your own reality this week. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Relationships of any kind at all will seem to take an awful lot of work this week. Alas, you'll be better at posi- tioning yourself than you could have imagined once you decide that it's important. By the way, it is important. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You'll love the precious moments in which you can concen- trate on nothing other than getting to know yourself. These are few and far between. Being alone is anything but lonely for you. You'll enjoy your solitude. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You may feel that the odds are stacked against you. You'll do 100 things right and then get called out on the two things you do wrong. The reason you're subjected to hard trials is because you're strong enough to take the lesson and do something remarkable with it. By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS Some Unenchanted Evenings My boyfriend lacks romantic ambition. In our two years together, we've never gone out to dinner someplace I can wear a dress and heels, and he never brings me fl owers or does anything for our anniversary or Valentine's Day. I've suggested he pick out lingerie he'd like to see me in and shown him how to set a romantic mood in our apartment. I've told him things like "Nothing makes me happier than fresh fl owers, especially lilies," and tried fl at- out asking him why he never brings me fl owers. He said, "I was thinking about doing it yesterday, but then I forgot! But now that you've asked me, I don't want to because it will seem like I bought them just because you asked." When I encourage him to take initiative in planning a night out, he'll Amy Alkon say that he's worried he'll choose wrong and that I complain about things I don't like, so I always end up deciding what we do. I know he loves me (from his other actions); I just want some romance! It's as important to me as good sex and intimacy. Should I just accept this as his fl aw? — Roseless You've done everything but hand him a pictorial to-do list complete with store addresses and closing times. So what's stopping him? Well, maybe because he doesn't need this fl owers and chocolates business, he thinks you shouldn't, either. And if he starts doing sweet things for you, he'll have to keep doing them. The problem is, as I wrote in a recent column, women evolved to feel a need for commitment cues from men. They didn't have cute cards back in the Stone Age, but a thoughtful giftie of fresh roadkill (some wildebeest that got trampled by elephants) probably made some ancestral lady's heart go pitter-patter. Falling in love isn't like falling in a big bottomless hole (one tumble and you're done). There's maintenance required. Your boyfriend should care about doing the little things that make you happy. If he doesn't, maybe instead of going for "long walks on the beach" (planned by you), he should be making short trips out to his car to load up boxes of his stuff. Explain that you need him to do these things so you feel loved, and explain that the only way he can really go wrong is by doing nothing. Even the smallest remembrances count — like scrawling a heart on a Post-it and anchoring it with a chocolate or drawing "You 'N' Me Forever" on your dirty car window. You, in turn, need to be sure you show appreciation for whatever effort he does make. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. FEBRUARY 8-14, 2012 UCW 23