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/63116
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD care is debated, the French government's role was highlighted in February with a report on Slate.com about France's guarantee to new mothers of "10 to 20" free sessions of "la reeducation perineale" (vaginal re-toning to restore the pre- pregnancy condition, a "cornerstone of French post-natal care," according to Slate). The sessions involve yoga-like calisthenics to rebuild muscles and improve genital flexibility. Similar procedures in the U.S. not only are not government entitlements, but are almost never covered by private insurance, and besides, say surgeons, the patients who request them do so almost entirely for aesthetic reasons. The French program, by contrast, is said As the U.S. government's role in health to be designed not only for general health but to strengthen women for bearing more children, to raise the birth rate. [Slate, 2-15-2012] WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of April 29, 2012 ARIES (March 21-April 19) When deciding whether or not to trust someone, you can give your trust upfront and then withdraw it if the person proves untrustworthy, or you can with- hold your trust until you have suffi cient proof. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Your confi dent self-assurance will be a deterrent to anyone who might have tried to manipulate you. You'll do as you choose, and not what others want you to do. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) In deciding which events to give your time to, the strongest con- sideration will be the other people involved. If you like an activity but don't get along with the other participants, then don't do it. Time is your most valuable commodity, and you should spend it with those you enjoy. Chuck Sheppard CANCER (June 22-July 22) People tend to lean on you lately, which makes you less likely to go out of your way to spend time with them. However, it's important that you endeavor to keep up relations this week, as the benefi ts to staying social — like preventing depression and stress — will far outweigh the inconvenience. In assigning a bail of only $20,000, the judge in Ellisville, Miss., seemed torn about whether to believe that Harold Hadley is a terrorist — that is, did Hadley plant a bomb at Jones County Junior College? In February, investigators told WDAM-TV that the evidence against Hadley included a note on toilet paper on which he had written in effect, "I passed a bomb in the library." However, no bomb was found, and a relative of Hadley's told the judge that Hadley often speaks of breaking wind as "passing a bomb." The case is continuing. [WDAM-TV (Hattiesburg, Miss.), 2-8-2012] Melvyn Webb, 54, was acquitted in Compelling Explanations Drill, Baby, Drill: U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas may have been joking, but according to a February Washington Post story, he seemed serious at a Natural Resources Committee hearing when searching for yet more reasons why the U.S. should support oil drilling in Alaska. Caribou, he said, are fond of the warmth of the Alaskan pipeline. "So when they want to go on a date, they invite each other to head over to the pipeline." That mating ritual, Rep. Gohmert concluded, is surely responsible for a recent tenfold increase in the local caribou population. [Washington Post, 2-7-2012] LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Anyone who has suffered from arthritis and beat the pain can tell you that even though it sounds counter- intuitive, keeping the affected parts moving will keep you pain-free. You'll move through an uncomfortable situation and be healthier because of it. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You don't have to change your life all at once in order to change it completely. For instance, if you want to become a regular exerciser, incorporate 10 to 15 minutes into your daily routine, and increase the amount of time as you see fi t. By the year's end, you could be a different person because of just this one habit. ADVICE GODDESS Vulture Capital LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) What happens to you this week will be determined largely by your attitude and the reaction that brings out in other people. Instead of trying hard to speak to impress, you'll skip ahead to the easiest way to bring out the good in others — which is to relax and smile. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Thoughts are not produced in your mind all at once, nor are they added in a linear fashion. They form in a dialogue with your environment over time. That's why it's so important that you fi nd the right environment for you, one that includes plenty of positive and intelligent feedback. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You'll be sensitive to perceptions based on gender. You'll notice, for instance, the way an impa- tient man is considered a go-getter and an impatient woman is considered pushy. You'll try to observe the real truth of matters and be fair to everyone, regardless of their gender. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Because you've been given so much new information to learn and assimilate into your daily habits, you may lack the certainty you once had about a person or situation. You'll get it back, though, little by little as the week progresses. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You'll fi gure out what makes you the happiest, and you'll do that. You know yourself well, which is half the battle. Also, you realize that this week the onus is on you to make yourself happy, and the world will be a better place when you do this. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Your mind is a bit like a cluttered closet, with noisy, superfl uous thoughts distracting you from the truly useful and important contents. When you mentally quiet down, you'll have the laser focus needed to progress to where you want to be. FREE PAPERS In your home every week..... 74.4% of readers make their buying decisions from free newspaper advertising and editorial March of alleged indecent behavior on a train. An eight-woman, four-man jury in Reading (England) Crown Court found Webb's explanation entirely plausible — that he was a banjo player and was "playing" some riffs underneath the newspaper in his lap. "(S)ometimes I do, with my hands, pick out a pattern on my knees," he said. (On the other hand, the female witness against him had testified that Webb "was facing me, breathing heavily and snarling.") [Daily Mail, 3-7-2012] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 97.1% receivership 76.9% readership By Holiday Mathis This woman and I have been friends for a year. She's a free spirit of sorts with zero boundaries. In the time I've known her, she's been married and divorced and then engaged, and now that has ended. She always has another man on the side. (She did even when married and engaged.) She frequently mentions my husband — how he likes animated fi lms and so does she (they're not my thing) and offers to accompany him to them. She always gives him a big hug hello, even when I'm around, and goes on about how similar they are, and it just strikes me as odd. Here's the killer: Last week, she saw my husband at a gathering, came up behind him, and kissed him on the neck! Of course he told me, as he has no interest in her, but I was shocked. We are planning a business together, but now I don't want her near my husband! Should I confront her? — Disturbed This "friend's" sneak attack on your husband's neck meat, along with her notion of sexual fi delity — "Till death do us part or the NBA shot clock runs down" — suggests that she's a narcissist, a self- Amy Alkon Your Logo Here absorbed, manipulative user. Narcissists lack empathy and can't be true friends or partners because their aggressive self-interest always comes fi rst, although they tend to be good at faking friendship or partnership and painting their toxic opportunism as, say, free- spiritedness: A woman must follow her bliss! …right down the pants of another woman's man. (Oh, come on, Stuffy … she always has another man on the side — why not yours?) Do you really want to be in a partnership with a woman whose moral compass seems fi xed on magnetic ME! ME! ME!? In deciding that, be careful not to let momentum get the best of you. We're prone to want to continue down the path we've been on and rationalize why that's a good idea — even when evidence that it isn't keeps popping up like dogs in humiliating outfi ts on YouTube. If you're hellbent on working with her, get a partnership agreement drawn up by a lawyer (one who is not your alcoholic brother-in-law). Probably your best bet, however, is bowing out now with a host of vague but plausible reasons: You're not ready; you don't have the energy right now; it wouldn't be fair to her. Keep the actual reason to yourself: A startup takes a hands-on approach, but she's only got two hands, and they're usually crawling up some other woman's husband. TSCSI Amy Alkon all rights reserved. APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 2012 UCW 35