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/75689
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Japanese Scientists, Overperforming: (1) Researchers at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology have developed goggles that can enlarge the image of a bite of food so that the eater might fool himself into thinking he has consumed more than he has (and thus, that his hunger might dissipate sooner). The software is so sophisticated, they said, that the food carrier (a fork, or the eater's hand) is not transformed and appears at normal size. In basic tests, according to a June Agence France-Presse report, a 50 percent increase in imagined cookie size reduced actual consumption by 9 percent. (2) Prolific inventor Nobuhiro Takahashi announced in May that he had created a silicone- and-foam "buttocks robot" that can clench, twitch or protrude when probed (primarily for training proctology students to deal with patient anxiety). [Daily Telegraph (London), 6-4-2012] [Daily Mail (London), 5-14-2012] Compelling Explanations In May, two members of the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee requested the total number of U.S. citizens who have been legally spied upon (by phone calls, e-mail, etc.) since 2008 by the National Security Agency, but the NSA's inspector general said he was prohibited from answering. To go back through agency records, he said, would violate the privacy rights of those spied-upon U.S. citizens, which the agency cannot do without judicial warrant. [Wired.com Danger Room blog, 6-18-2012] Well-Put: Pushing for an Oklahoma state senate bill authorizing the open carrying of guns (which eventually passed), Sen. Ralph Shortey explained in a March committee hearing that it was an incident from his past that convinced him of the need to carry a gun openly. "I was in oil and gas. I was out on a lease at one time, and I got attacked by a turkey. Wait until you get attacked by a turkey. You will know the fear that a turkey can invoke in a person. And so I beat it with a club. That was all I could do. And (then) I started carrying a gun in my truck after that without a license because I didn't want to get attacked by a mountain lion." [Tulsa World, 3-31-2012] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of July 22, 2012 ARIES (March 21-April 19) When you put all of your goals together, you may fi nd they are in confl ict with one another. It's a momen- tum-blocker for sure. Luckily, you have a strong intuition about how to prioritize and press onward. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You wish you could invest time and money into a better education, but no matter how much you learn or what you know, it won't add up to a thing unless you also take action. This week you'll get into action and do more than those with fancy credentials. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Too many options produce an uncomfortable, unproductive state of confusion. Get clear on your No. 1 goal, and spend the better part of your time on it. It's not enough to simply narrow your focus. Chuck Sheppard CANCER (June 22-July 22) Reorganizing your life may produce an overnight improvement, though it will take about seven days to do the organizing. Take on a little restructuring each day, and you'll be poised to make the transformation you've been wanting for some time now. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Even though you'll be turning in work to someone else this week, the truth is that you are ultimately running your own business. You're the one who is intimately in touch with what you gain and invest and how the action is moving your professional goals along. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Everyone is multi- dimensional. Don't underestimate those around you or assume you know their next move. Also, don't assume you know what you are capable of. There's more to you than you know. ADVICE GODDESS Better Luck Nest Time LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Objective wanting is when you like the idea of something. Really wanting something is when you're willing to invest your energy, time and being into the thing you want. You're still on the fence about how far to take a certain "want." Why rush to decide? SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Don't be fooled into thinking that the person who is handed opportunities will be more successful than you. The one who carves out opportunities is far better off because that person won't have to wait for the next great offer. Life isn't about getting a chance; it's about taking a chance. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) A series of small, easily solvable predicaments will lead you down this winding path of a week. There may be a prize at the end, but it's nothing compared to the fun and satisfaction that come from solving each puzzle. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Note that this week's patterns are atypical. Days fi lled with leisure lead to your most productive period yet. So parcel out the work involved in that mammoth task you have to accomplish between lengthy, lazy, silly stretches of doing nothing at all. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) There is great freedom in letting go of what was and what should have been. The comfort of a familiar mindset also has benefi ts. Either way, you'll be working through what happened — or didn't happen — through writing, talking and artistic expression. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) What you want to happen may not be practical. So, things will get complicated — but deliciously so because you keep coming at them with a fun- and-games perspective. By Holiday Mathis For nine months, I've been having fun seeing a nice woman a few times a week. We're both 50ish. I told her I didn't want a serious relationship. She went along with this but now clearly wants more. She has a picture of me at her desk. (I wouldn't think of displaying her picture on mine.) She talks about our future, once even saying we should move in together, and said we should make plans to celebrate our upcoming one-year anniversary. Perhaps I'm emotionally blocked from being only one year out of a 33-year marriage, but I don't have lovey-dovey feelings for her now. (Part of me wants to date every woman available.) Is it wrong to keep this going when I know she wants more and may even be convincing herself that we have more? — Torn Maybe she thought she could go along with this, or maybe she fi gured she could nudge you into wanting more. Which for you is the anniversary of "I'm dating you in the wake of my 33-year marriage hitting the wall — mainly because it seems more life-affi rming than curling up in a fetal position and Amy Alkon Here's your chance to learn all about Dunn and meet their great business people! July 25 • Dunn Night July Non-Profi t Night - Come meet and learn about local non-profi ts. July 31 • Back to School Night Back to school gifts for kids - teachers get $1 off admission. • Fan Appreciation Night Final Fireworks extravaganza of the summer. August 2 Giveaways and prizes all game long. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. • First Pitch at 7:05 www.goswampdogs.com sucking my thumb for a year or two." The big myth of relationships is that you just have to fi nd "the right person." The reality is, it has to be the right person at the right time. A year ago, a giant meteorite landed on your life, and you've just about collected your wallet, your keys, and all the change that blew out of your pockets. Now's the time to crawl out of the hole, look around, and fi gure out what you want. Unfortunately, this is difficult with a woman clinging to your ankle, campaigning to change her Facebook relationship status to "engaged" while you're hunting for the button for "entrapped." If you decide to date around, explain that you really like her but the timing's off. ("Great moments in bad timing" is easier on the ego than "Great. I spent nine months with a guy who never really wanted me.") If you want to keep seeing her exclusively, remind her that you're far from ready to shop for bathroom accessories together. She may decide that some of you is better than none of you, but the ground rules will be clear: You can drag a guy to a chick movie, but you can't make him buy into the plot — unless it's the fi rst chick movie ever that ends with the male lead waking up hung over in Thailand with two bar hostesses, a tattoo, and a monkey on his belly. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. JULY 25-31, 2012 UCW 23 Baseball is Fun! Where Final Home Game!