Are Irritating Insects Driving You Buggy?

A guide to dealing with mosquitoes, bees, ticks, and more.

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Who Actually Made All Those Brand Name Sunglasses?

With lots of brands of shades available today, you'd think that the market for sunglasses is a healthy and competitive one - but you'd be wrong. Brett Arends of the Wall Street Journal writes:

Do you prefer the "quality" of Ray-Ban to Oakley? Do you think Bulgari is better than Dolce & Gabbana, or Salvatore Ferragamo is better than Prada? Wake up. They're all made by one company, Italian manufacturer Luxottica-one of the biggest consumer companies that consumers have never heard of. Luxottica also makes sunglasses branded Burberry, Chanel, Polo Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, Stella McCartney, Tiffany, Versace, Vogue, Persol, Miu Miu, Tory Burch and Donna Karan.

"We manufacture about 70% of those brands in our factories in Italy, and the balance in America and China," says Luxottica spokesman Luca Biondolillo. "We do the design, the manufacturing, and the marketing," he adds. The company makes most of those brands under license, working closely with designers at the relevant fashion houses. But it owns several brands itself, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples and REVO. [...]

In many cases, the same company is also selling you the glasses. Luxottica also owns LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut. This is extreme vertical integration. The eye doctor telling you that you need a new pair of glasses, the sales people helping you choose them and the people who design and make the glasses all work for the same company.

More in Brett's article Are Designer Sunglasses Worth the Price?: Link

http://www.neatorama.com/2010/07/15/who-actually-made-all-those-brand-name-sunglasses/

5 Sites With Job Interview Tips To Help You Ace Your Interview

Ah, the dreaded job interview. We all know that you need to be prepared, but how exactly do you get yourself ready for it? Moreover, what kind of questions should you be expecting? Do you know how to answer them all?

All of this and a lot more can contribute to the whole job interview experience becoming particularly stressful, but that's where the Web can come in handy to make the process a little less nerve-racking. There are tons of great resources available online with job interview tips to help you have a successful job interview.

Here's the top 5 sites to help you ace your job interview.

HotJobs

Yahoo HotJobs' Career Tools has an entire section dedicated to just preparing yourself for the all important job interview. You'll find a whole flurry of well-written articles with job interview tips covering every aspect of the interviewing process, so it really makes for great material to review before any interview.

All of the articles are organized into different categories. The first category features everything you need to know about preparation. Types of interviews is the next category, which has strategies on how to handle the interview itself, including questions and answers. The presentation category has helpful information about how to present yourself, followed by articles on what you should do after the interview.
About

The interviews and employment page at About is also chock full of articles to help you with every step of the job interview. The questions and answers guide is a good place to start, with articles on what kind of questions you may encounter and the recommended answers.

Additional articles include information about phone interview etiquette, what to wear, thank you letters, interview follow up, mistakes to avoid, and more. Be sure to also check out the website's helpful job interview videos.
Monster

The employment website Monster has some of the most comprehensive interviewing resources on the Web. It's all divided into four sections with job interview tips: interview preparation, questions, appearance, and follow up.

There's over a hundred useful articles to check out. Just click on the "Browse All Articles" link for the full listings, sorted by its rating. As for the articles themselves, they're written by Monster's own job experts and are all very straightforward, so it's a good idea to read up on them for invaluable information.
Job Interview Questions

Job Interview Questions is another great resource that offers help and advice for the entire interviewing process, not just questions and answers.

The left-hand side of the website displays links to all the sections you want as the job seeker, including interview questions, follow up, salary negotiation, and more. Be sure to also check out the articles on the job interview tips page and the interview guide for more unique topics, such as interviewing during a meal and questions for you to ask.
YouTube

For some watching rather than reading, just turn to YouTube. The site has a great collection of videos all about job interviews, so it's definitely another effective resource to improve your interviewing skills. Just search for "job interview tips" or job interview techniques."

What are some of your favorite sites with job interview tips to help you ace a job interview? Let us know in the comments.

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Yellow Jackets Don't Like Fireworks

A fireworks display Friday at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, California drew crowds of people -and yellow jackets! A swarm of insects stung fairgoers when their nest was disturbed.

The wasp attacks began shortly after the fireworks show started at 9:15 p.m. About 5,000 people were in the grandstands, and 15 minutes later sting victims started showing up in the first aid area, Knowles said.

"Apparently there were a number of (yellow jackets) also in attendance for the fireworks display last night," Knowles said Saturday.

She said emergency personnel at the fair set up a triage area to care for those who were stung. Everyone was treated on site and there were no hospitalizations, Knowles said.

By midnight Friday, an exterminator located and removed a ground nest, Mitchell said. The yellow jackets were probably disturbed by the vibrations as the fireworks were launched, not the explosions overhead, she said.

None of the victims were allergic to the stings. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user ChrisK4u)

http://www.neatorama.com/2010/07/05/yellow-jackets-dont-like-fireworks/

The Curse of the Little Rascals

When Robert Blake was arrested in 2002 and charged with the murder of his wife, a lot of people began to look back and wonder if the kids who starred in the Our Gang films were under some kind of cloud.

BACKGROUND

According to Our Gang producer Hal Roach, 176 kids played in the 221 Our Gang films made between 1922 and 1944. Only a few of these became major stars in the series.

It's not unusual for child stars to have a difficult time as they move into adulthood, and if anything life in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s was even tougher. Children who worked in the series typically started out earning less than $100 a week, and they never earned residuals-when the Our Gang films made their way to television in the early 1950s, the kids didn't get a penny. Result: when their fame ended, they didn't have any money to fall back on like child stars do today.

When you consider how many kids cycled through the Our Gang series, it stands to reason that quite a few of them would have problems later in life. Even so, the number of kids who suffered misfortune over the years is startling. You can't help but wonder: Are the Little Rascals cursed?

LOSS OF INNOCENCE

*Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer: Like many of the Little Rascals, Switzer had trouble finding movie roles as he grew older. He landed bit parts in films like It's a Wonderful Life and The Defiant Ones, supporting himself at such odd jobs as bartender, dog trainer, and hunting guide between acting gigs. He was shot to death in 1959 following an argument over $50. He was 31. (Carl's older brother, Harold, also appeared in the Our Gang series; in April 1967 he murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself. He was 42.)

*William "Buckwheat" Thomas: When his career in front of the camera ended, Thomas became a film technician with the Technicolor Corporation. In October 1980, a neighbor who hadn't seen Thomas in several days entered his home and found him dead in bed. Cause of death: heart attack. Thomas was 49.

*Robert "Wheezer" Hitchins: A cadet in the Army Air Corps, Hitchins was killed in 1945 while trying to land his plane during a training exercise. He died a few days shy of his 20th birthday.

*Matthew "Stymie" Beard: A high school dropout, Beard fought a heroin addiction for more than 20 years and was frequently in and out of prison. He beat the habit in the 1970s, but passed away in 1981, at age 56. Cause of death: pneumonia, following a stroke.

*"Darla" Hood Granson: Contracted hepatitis while in the hospital for minor surgery and died in 1979 at the age of 47.

*Norman "Chubby" Chaney: Chaney's weight was due to a glandular problem; by the time he was 17 he weighed more than 300 pounds. In 1935 he had surgery to treat his condition; that dropped his weight down to 130 pounds, but he never regained his health. He passed away in 1936 at the age of 18.

*"Scotty" Beckett: Scotty was the kid who wore a cap turned to the side of his head. A classic case of troubled former child star, Beckett slid into alcohol and drug abuse when his acting career petered out. He had two failed marriages, a history of violence, and numerous run-ins with the law. In 1968 he checked into a Hollywood nursing home after someone beat him up; two days later he was dead.  Investigators found a bottle of pills and a suicide note by his bed, but the coroner never ruled on whether it was the beating or the barbiturates that killed him. He was 38.

*William "Froggy" Laughlin: Rear-ended and killed by a truck while delivering newspapers on his motor scooter in 1948. He was 16.

*Richard "Mickey" Daniels: Long estranged from his wife and children, Daniels died alone in a San Diego hotel room in 1970. Cause of death: cirrhosis of the liver. Years passed before his remains were identified and claimed by his family. Daniels was 55 when he died; he is buried in an unmarked grave.

*Bobby Blake: (He used his real name, Mickey Gubitosi, in the Our Gang films until 1942.) If you're charged with murdering your wife and you beat the rap, does that count as being cursed or beating the curse? In the 1990s, Blake took up with a woman named Bonnie Lee Bakley. He didn't know it at the time, but she was a celebrity-obsessed con artist who wanted to have a baby with a Hollywood star. Blake took the bait, and in 2000 Bakley gave birth to Blake's daughter. Five months later they were married.

On May 4, 2001, Bakley was shot in the head and killed while sitting in her car outside a restaurant where she and Blake had just eaten dinner. In April 2002, Blake was arrested and charged with Bakley's murder; in March 2005, a jury found him not guilty. He beat the rap, but the media continues to doubt his innocence. Bblake says that as a result of the ordeal, he's now destitute.

OTHER RASCAL'S FATES

*Robert "Bonedust" Young. Fell asleep while smoking in bed in 1951; he died in the ensuing fire at the age of 33.

*Jay "Pinky" Smith (aka the freckle-faced kid). Stabbed to death in 2002 by a homeless man he'd befriended, who then dumped Smith's body in the desert outside of Las Vegas. He was 87.

*"Dorothy" Dandridge. Committed suicide in 1965 after losing all her money in a phony investment scheme. She was 41.

*Kendell "Breezy Brisbane" McComas. Committed suicide in 1981, two weeks before being forced into retirement as an electrical engineer. He was 64.

*Darwood "Waldo" Kaye. Waldo was the rich kid with glasses who competed with with Spanky and Alfalfa for Darla's affections. In 2002 he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking on the sidewalk. He was 72.

*Pete the Pup. The first dog to play Pete was poisoned by an unknown assailant in 1930.

VOICE OF REASON?

Hal Roach, who outlived many of his child stars and died in 1992 at the age of 100, never believed that the kids were cursed. "Naturally, some got into trouble or had bad luck," he told an interviewer in 1973. "They're the ones who made the headlines. But if you took 176 other kids and followed them through their lives, I believe you would find the same percentage of them having trouble later in life."

See also: The Little Rascals

_________________________

The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Fast-Acting Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check em out!

http://www.neatorama.com/2010/07/05/the-curse-of-the-little-rascals/