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 Your Government Knows Best: A 2007 federal energy-independence law required companies that supply motor fuel in the U.S. to blend in a certain cellulose-based ingredient starting in 2011 — even though (as the Environmental Protection Agency well knows) the ingredient simply does not now exist. A New York Times reporter checked with the EPA in January and found that the companies will still have to pay the monetary penalties for noncompliance (and almost certainly the even- stiffer penalties for 2012, since the ingredient is still two or three years from development). "It belies logic," said a petrochemicals Chuck Sheppard trade association executive. [New York Times, 1-9-2012] Cultural Diversity Two dozen religious leaders in India's Karnataka state are, as usual, protesting the annual, centuries-old Hindu ritual in which lower-caste people roll around in food leftovers of upper-caste people. "Hundreds" performed the exercise at temples, according to a January The Times of India report, believing that contact with sophisticates' food will alleviate pernicious skin conditions. [The Times of India, 1-8-2012] Far away from Karnataka, in the urban center of Calcutta, India, engineers are trying to save the historic Howrah Bridge from collapsing due to corrosion from spit. A half-million pedestrians (aside from the frenzied vehicle traffic) use the bridge every day and frequently spit their guthka and paan (half-chewed betel leaf and areca nut and slaked lime) onto the steel hangers that hold up the bridge — thus reducing the hanger bases by 50 percent in just the last three years. (Engineers' immediate remedies: cover the bases in washable fiberglass and conduct an education campaign in which "gods" implore pedestrians to hold their saliva until they've crossed the bridge.) [BBC News, 11-22-2011] On Nov. 5, the 220 inhabitants of Coll, an island off the coast of Scotland, endured the first "crime" that any of the residents could remember. Someone vandalized the public lavatories at a visitors' facility, doing the equivalent of about $300 damage. A constable was summoned from a nearby island to investigate, but seas were rough, and he had to wait for two days for the ferry to run. One Coll resident vaguely recalled an incident at a pub once in which a man threatened to throw a punch (but didn't), and another remembered that someone took whale bones left on a beach by researchers (but later gave them back). According to a Daily Telegraph report, the culprit is "still at large." [Daily Telegraph, 11-20-2011] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of Feb. 19, 2012 ARIES (March 21-April 19) You'll take steps to learn more about your interests, to really get inside the world of them. Your passion will grow with your knowledge. Every little bit you learn this week will bring you closer to the real- ity you desire. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Some of the things you've been saying to yourself are less than supportive. It's about time you get on your own side and start showing your positive feel- ings about yourself in tangible ways. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You will be thoughtful and quieter than usual this week, intent on learning all you can about the people and subjects that come up. Financial opportu- nity comes to you precisely because your mind is so open and your mouth is so shut. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You are both perceptive and agreeable. That's partly why you wind up in a position to lead others. You'll be as clear as possible about the exact behaviors you want to see and will structure all contin- gencies so that people get more attention for doing things right than they do for getting things wrong. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Your happiness prob- ably is not the force that keeps the Earth from crashing out of orbit. Still, it is important. Take stellar care of yourself. If you knew that your happiness was vitally crucial to survival — not just yours, but everyone's — what would you do differently? VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Life will lead you on a journey that helps you to understand what you believe and to become aware of certain forgotten or unconscious beliefs, as well. This personal inventory will allow you to take charge of a situation that has held you back. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) It may be challeng- ing to keep people from wasting your time, namely because you are patient, kind and compassionate. Be kind to yourself, too. Do not suffer in silence because another person is too oblivious to move things along. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You will be inspired to let go of your ego and become humble. It's not because the other person is so powerful, but rather because you want to learn from everyone you encounter. You'll have the sense that through surrender you will receive more than you gave up. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) This week you'll be a genius at confl ict resolution. You may be afraid, but you won't back down, because you know that action is the antidote to fear. Step away, and come up with a way for both of you to win. You will succeed. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You recognize that the Golden Rule is not a binding contract, and you do not expect others to "do unto you" just because they owe you one. Others may have a more "quid pro quo" approach, and there may be strings attached to their niceties. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You'll be sensi- tive this week, which is good because correctly interpreting emotional signals will help you understand the opportunities available. For instance, when someone doesn't want to leave a conversation with you, it indicates either loneli- ness or further interest. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) People change when they are ready to change. The most thankless task you could possibly take on is to try to explain reality to the oblivious in hopes of a transformation. Save yourself the trouble by meeting people where they are instead of where you want them to be. By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS Dim and Her I'm having a whirlwind romance with a man I met online on Thanksgiving. I moved across the country to live with him on December 20, and we're now building a life together. The problem is I have a high IQ (137), and he's very unintelligent and illogical. It's hard to have a good conversation unless we talk about sex. It's too late to leave now, so … any advice on how to keep our IQ difference from ripping us apart when things are less new and exciting? I really love him, as he's pure of heart. And boy, is he sexy and great in bed! So far, I've held back from telling him when he's gullible or irrational, but I worry that I'll eventually call him something nasty — like "idiot." I don't want to hurt him. I crave his company and love him for who he is, not what he knows. — The Smarter One Marriage researcher Dr. John Gottman found that expressions of contempt are the greatest predictor that a couple will go kaput. Of course, anybody you get involved with will have some annoying habits or fl aws that challenge the relationship. What's keeping you there is probably irrational thinking that economists call the "sunk cost fallacy" — deciding to keep investing in some endeavor based on what you've already invested (an unrecoverable cost) Amy Alkon C L COMMUNICATIONS Cape Fear Region's Dependable Source for Business and Professional Communication Products, Systems & Service NEC MITEL For more information and Free Consultation call 910.223.2526 www.cl-communications.com Rick Lawson Gen. Manager rather than assessing how your investment will pay off (if at all) in the future. People are especially prone to overvalue prior investment when their ego is also invested — like when sticking around helps them continue the fi ction that they've behaved wisely in going all-in with a guy whose intellectual "spirit animal" is probably the amoeba. Fools rush in, but the real fools fi nd themselves facedown in a pool of "boy, was I dumb" and get busy coming up with reasons why staying there is a wise idea. In The Folly of Fools, anthropologist Dr. Robert Trivers explains self-deceptions like yours, noting the difference between intelligence and consciousness: "You can be very bright but unconscious." When you realize you've been unconscious, you can choose to wake up and cut your losses — before you start saying cutting things to your goodhearted sexy simpleton. To live less sleepwalkingly in the future, refl ect on what got you into this — what void you tried to fi ll by telling your rationality to shut up and go sit in the corner so you could congratulate yourself on the great love you found. And goody for you on what you actually found — some really great sex — but let's call a cabana boy a cabana boy, lest you turn a story that should be "My Hunky Winter Vacation" into a move-in special. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. FEBRUARY 15-21, 2012 UCW 23