Month: August 2019

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People Share the Best Weaknesses You Should Share in a Job Interview

Job interviews are pretty rough for interviewees. The nerves are palpable, and the back-and-forth between employer and job prospect can often be rife with landmines.

Then there’s the dreaded question: “What’s your biggest weakness?”

Ugh, now what? Well, we’re all in luck. These AskReddit users shared their opinions on how you should answer the most infamously difficult question to get “right.”

1. Awareness

“When I was graduating college I got interview tips from my dad who was heavily involved in the hiring process at his company for his department. His advice on this one, which I’ve used ever since and has gone great, was:

The whole “say a weakness that’s actually a positive” has been done to death and is such common knowledge that it’s no longer a clever “trick” and is now seen as avoiding the question. People want to see some self awareness, obviously don’t bring something absolutely terrible up, but mention a real flaw and most importantly what you’ve done to address or work with it.

For example the one I tend to use is that I can be forgetful so I now keep multiple sets of calendars, reminders, notes, etc to cover as much as possible.”

2. Nervous excitement

“One of my actual weaknesses: when I get nervous/excited, I tend to speak really fast and breathlessly. This can actually have a negative influence on my job as I work in healthcare and have to respond/communicate during emergencies.

For my next interview, I will bring this up, and say I have discovered that taking a second to collect myself and take a deep breath seems to calm my nerves and allow me to do/say what is needed in a more collected manner.”

3. Might work?

“What’s your greatest-”

“Weakness? Finishing other peoples’ sentences.” Calan_adan

“That’s what I was gonna’ say!”

4. Sharing

“For my current job, I said that I had a hard time sharing my ideas with new groups.”

5. Controlling

“Actual weakness: Taking on jobs by myself, not taking time to train other people to do them. In the end, I’m usually “the guy” and find myself feeling burnt out.

Probably could be worded better at an interview, but this could sound like you’re a “go-getter.” It might also encourage your employer to find opportunities for you to train other people to do things you particularly don’t like doing.”

6. Dedicated

“I said “I don’t like letting go of unfinished projects” during my interviews. I feel like it shows that I’m dedicated to the work I take on.”

7. Brutal honesty

“Show enough self awareness to know your actual weaknesses and mention how you’re working to reduce their impact on your life. For example, I have an issue with speaking compassionately. For a long time, I believed brutal honesty was the best way to go about things, but it often backfired and made people less willing to work with me because they respected me less and they thought I respected them less.

My wife has helped me with this by, for example when I say something and it’s phrased badly, she’ll say “stop. Try it again.” And I’ll rephrase it to be more empathetic and kinder while still getting across the information I want to communicate.”

8. …Yet

“If you are changing industries, your biggest weakness is not knowing the industry… yet.

If you are younger, say inexperience. Anything to show your willingness to learn and develop.”

9. Good move

“I work in healthcare and always say “Not speaking Spanish” and odds are the interviewer is also not fluent in Spanish so it comes across as not really a weakness. WIN-WIN!”

10. How will you respond?

“Frame it in terms of something you’re looking to improve. “Well, at my last performance evaluation I received some constructive criticism regarding X, so since then I’ve been doing Y and Z to focus on improving in that regard.”

Honestly though, if an interviewer asks you that ridiculous cliched question either they have no idea what they’re doing and/or don’t give a crap, or they aren’t looking for an answer but just want to see how you respond to being pushed.”

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A Beagle-Shaped Airbnb Gives ‘Dog-Friendly Travel’ a Whole New Meaning

Do you have a pooch Need a hotel? Man, have we got the perfect Airbnb for you!

There is a beagle-shaped house in Cottonwood, Idaho, available on Airbnb for $132 per night. The house was built by Dennis Sullivan and Frances Conklin, artists who live in another (regular-shaped) house on the property. They started by building a 12-foot beagle named Toby in the late 1990s. It became so popular that they built a 30-foot tall beagle named Sweet Willy to use as a guest house, and that drew enough attention that they decided to rent it out to the public.

“Toby got some attention, but Sweet Willy put us into the stratosphere,” Frances told Roadside America.

The house has two bedrooms: one in the beagle’s belly and a loft in the head. The bathroom is located on the dog’s behind, of course. Nearby, there’s a giant fire hydrant to go with the giant beagle, and the property also features a visitor’s center and gift shop. Dennis and Frances live up the hill, and, since the house doesn’t have a kitchen, the couple prepare light breakfast foods for guests. There are also dog-themed books, games and puzzles for the truly dog-obsessed.

The Airbnb is, of course, dog-friendly, as long as canine guests are “responsible” and get along with the couple’s own dog — who is, shockingly, not a beagle, but a canine retriever.

Ready to book?! Sadly, so is everyone else. The Airbnb is completely filled until April 2020. But with endless 5-star reviews, it appears to be worth the wait.

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A Horrible Fart Forces Kenyan Regional Assembly to Pause Their Debate

Everyone passes gas sometimes, but not everyone’s farts are smelly enough to disrupt the political process.

A member of a Kenyan regional assembly emitted a fart that was so foul, the entire assembly had to disperse in the middle of a debate, BBC reports. The Homa Bay county assembly had just returned from a lunch break to debate market stalls when they were interrupted by the sudden stench. Several men began to argue over who had dealt it (obviously).

“Honorable Speaker, one of us has polluted the air and I know who it is,” Julius Gaya reportedly told the assembly.

He went on to directly accuse a fellow member, who denied having done the deed, saying: “I am not the one. I cannot do such a thing in front of my colleagues.”

Speaker Edwin Kakach then paused the debate and told members to step outside and take a break from the smell in the chamber. Edwin also asked officials to bring in air fresheners “to make it pleasant.”

“Get whatever flavor you will find in any office, whether it’s vanilla or strawberry. We cannot continue sitting in an environment that smells bad,” Edwin said.

Fortunately, that didn’t prove to be necessary. After a 10 minute break, members returned to the room to find that the smell had subsided before any air fresheners were found. The heated debate on market stalls continued.

Guess we’ll never know who dealt it for sure.

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Scientists Have Finally Figured out Why Some Squirrels Have Black Fur

If you live in certain regions of the U.S. or the U.K., you may have spotted squirrels that are black instead of gray. These unusual animals have been a bit of a mystery, but now scientists have figured out why they have such an odd color.

Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge University and the Virginia Museum of Natural History worked together on a project to test squirrel DNA. They discovered that black squirrels are the product of interspecies breeding between the common gray squirrel and the fox squirrel.

Photo Credit: iStock

Fox squirrels are usually reddish-brown, but some of them carry a faulty pigment gene that turns their fur a darker shade. Scientists believe that a black fox squirrel joined in on a mating fenzy among gray squirrels and mated with a female, who then gave birth to a black squirrel.

There may be an evolutionary benefit to black fur that caused the gene to be passed down. Black fur could help squirrels absorb and retain more heat — an important benefit in colder regions.

Black squirrels remain rare, however. There is an estimated one black squirrel in every 10,000 squirrels.

Photo Credit: iStock

In certain limited regions, though, the black squirrels have become predominant. At Kent State University in Ohio, for example, 10 black squirrels were released by students after they were captured by wildlife authorities, and they now populate the entire campus.

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A Navy SEAL Trains Dogs to Run and Attack School Shooters

No doubt about it: anxiety is running high in schools across the U.S. And that goes for students, teachers, and parents.

Many conversations center around prevention, gun laws and protection. What will it take to make sure another shooting, like the ones at Highlands Ranch STEM or Stoneman Douglas High School, never happens again?

While legislators and the voting public debate the issue, a Navy SEAL offers a solution that may mitigate loss of life and number of injured: specially trained dogs.

When Joshua Morten returned home from five tours overseas, his thoughts turned from the violence he witnessed on the battleground to what he heard was happening in schools. So he decided to do something about it; he’s using his skills at K-9 handling to train dogs to run after attackers and take them down.

Morton told NBC News, “I did not expect to see what I saw overseas, to see it in schools. But, unfortunately, it’s happening. I’ve been trying to find this solution for a very long time.”

After training dogs to search for drugs and explosives using what he calls the Morton Method, he set about teaching them to find shooters.

The process starts with finding trainable dogs that can run toward the danger while avoiding running children. He uses a partner who fires blank rounds from a semi-automatic rifle. Then, Morton guides the dog towards the noise.

This training is critical because he doesn’t want the dogs loose in a dangerous situation trying to locate the intruder at random. Instead, the dogs use all their senses to find the target.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Morton uses his friends to act as fleeing students and tries to create the scenario in a realistic manner as possible. The dog’s only objective is to aggressively attack and take down the shooter.

After the exercises are over and the protective padding comes off the “shooter,” it’s all smiles and wagging. Nothing personal.

“They’re trained to deal with that specific situation,” Morton says.

Those who have seen one of Morton’s dogs in action are impressed with the dog’s ability and focus. The dogs are clearly capable of bringing down the shooter in a matter of seconds.

Others strongly disapprove of Morton’s solution and took to Twitter with their concerns.

Others wondered if the solution was practical given that finding and training enough dogs would be difficult and expensive.

Then, there is the question of ethics. Is it right to send a dog into a shooting scenario where it runs the real and likely risk of getting injured or killed?

But the public’s skepticism does not seem to bother Morton. He, along with some of the school administrators he’s worked with, are convinced these dogs can help. He’s even breeding them so he can work with them as soon as they are old enough. Without fear and with specialized, formal training, Morton’s dogs will be at the ready the next time a former student or enraged stranger decides to take out their frustrations on our children.

Terrifyingly, they’ll be put to work soon.

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Oscar Meyer Has a Hot Dog Flavored Ice Cream Sandwich

Isn’t it really something when companies take two good things, like hot dogs and ice cream, and combine them into one horrific thing? Introducing the “ice dog sandwich,” a new dessert from none other than Oscar Mayer.

The brand collaborated with Il Laboratorio Del Gelato to create the ice dog sandwich, which consists of hot dog-flavored ice cream, candied hot dog bits (!!!), and spicy dijon mustard gelato, all sandwiched between two cookie “buns.”

Sound disgusting?

Yeah.

Oscar Mayer announced the sandwich on Twitter alongside a poll, and the results were a resounding “no thank you.”

“Please tell me this is a joke,” one user tweeted.

“We don’t joke about hot dogs…or ice cream! It’s artisan crafted in small batches made with candied bits of Oscar Mayer Angus Beef Hot Dogs,” the brand replied. They insist that the sandwich is delicious and “will NOT disappoint,” and to be fair, it’s not entirely unprecedented. Just one day before they announced the ice dog sandwich, French’s debuted yellow mustard ice cream.

Anyway, despite everyone’s protests, Oscar Mayer began selling the sandwiches out of their iconic Wienermobile (a 27-foot hot dog on wheels) in New York City on August 12. They handed out free samples; the sandwich is not available for sale.

For a limited time, those not in New York could slide into Oscar Mayer’s DMs for a sample, but they were flooded with DMs and had to close them.

For most of us, hot dog flavored ice cream will have to remain a distant nightmare.

Luckily.

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This 392-Year-Old Bonsai Tree Survived Hiroshima

If you find yourself at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C., check out a piece of Japan’s history that dates back to the 17th century.

It’s a bonsai tree, gifted by master Masaru Yamaki to America on its bicentennial. The 392-year-old white pine is the oldest tree in the collection – it was planted in 1625, cultivated and personally cared for over the years by one master or another, and was living only 2 miles from where the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

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i met a 400 year old tree today

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The Yamaki family – Masaru’s son and grandson – revealed that the tree was sitting on a garden bench at their home when the bomb went off. It survived (and so did all of the other trees in their garden, along with their family).

Though the tree’s history is amazing (it’s a rare specimen that hails from the island of Miyajima), it’s not the oldest bonsai in the world – that title belongs to a 550-year-old tree at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace.

They have one that’s 450 years old, too, though no word on how close either of those were to a bomb that stunned the world with its destructive power.

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Imperial palace Tokyo ??? #tokyo #japan #imperialpalacetokyo

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The gift of the tree was a nice gesture, but you have to wonder how it feels about residing in the country who dropped an atomic bomb so close to its home – and if plants had memories, whether it would ever be able to forget the devastation it must have witnessed that day, and in the years that followed.

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Here’s Another Reason to Embrace Being Lazy: It’s Good for the Earth

Now this is good news!

In 2019, it’s not so unusual to have days where you only have to leave the sofa for pee breaks because entertainment, food, and social interaction all come to us via the internet. There are downsides to the new normal for many, but there’s also one big upside: it’s reducing our energy usage.

A new study by University of Texas researchers and published in Joule examined Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data and found that, between 2003 and 2012, people started to spend more time at home than time traveling to and from stores, restaurants, and work.

That means people weren’t burning fossil fuels tootling around town. And if they were working from home, office buildings were using less energy several days a year, too – in total, around 1.8% less energy in 2012 than in 2003 due to Americans embracing a more home-centric lifestyle.

Considering they used data from 2012, and all of the companies that have jumped on board for home delivery since then, those numbers have likely increased even more.

Only time will tell whether the gas required to deliver all of the essentials (and no-so-essential) goodies to your door causes fewer carbon emissions than everyone driving around getting goods themselves. Right now there isn’t enough data to say, though one study suggested whether you live in an urban or rural environment definitely plays a role.

We do know, though, that delivery trucks and ride-sharing apps are taking a toll on infrastructure, as they have added so many vehicles onto the road that cities are scrambling to keep pace. Drone delivery still presents an interesting alternative to using traditional fuels and existing roads, so perhaps if that idea comes to fruition, the scales will tip fully toward living the life of the hermit.

For now, maybe a good balance is the answer. After all, you still need sunlight and exercise, so you’ll have to go out occasionally.

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Step Aside Christmas, Ugly Halloween Sweaters Are Here

I’m not trying to tell you have to live your life, but you need to get on the Ugly Halloween Sweater bandwagon!

Ugly sweater parties were once only reserved for Christmas. It’s the hot holiday trend where your friends go out and buy the most hideous or blinged-out sweater to wear with pride to your party. Sometimes there were even prizes. But Santa Claus is passé – the Great Pumpkin is bringing it for 2019!

Halloween themed ugly sweaters are here, and they’re the perfect solution for your few friends who refuse to dress up for your Halloween party. Now they have a less involved option that keeps them participating in the spooky festivities.

Where can you find them?

Amazon has several available to fit your creepy fancy. Varieties include witches, Dracula, and even pumpkins.

Photo Credit: Amazon

And for the more reserved woman? Cardigans with skeletons!

Photo Credit: Amazon

FUN Wear is one of the biggest manufacturers that’s embracing all that is Halloween.

“COMFY COZY SPOOKY: We’re bringing the ugly sweater trend to the Halloween season with our exclusively made and expertly designed Ugly Halloween Sweaters. They’re Made by Us, and they’re Comfy Cozy Spooky!”

Photo Credit: Amazon

Photo Credit: Amazon

And if you’re more of a traditionalist who enjoys regular sweatshirts. No…um…sweat!

Photo Credit: Amazon

Even the kiddos can have fun dressing up. They offer many children sizes!

Photo Credit: Amazon

“But what if I don’t get invited to a party?”

No worries my friend, you can still strut your awful knit. Parents might enjoy wearing these while they trick or treat with the little ones – it’s low cost, low maintenance, and you won’t distract from you kid’s incredibly cute pumpkin costume or whatever.

Seems like they thought of everything!

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Here Are Some Tweets About Spiderman Leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe

You were probably as shell-shocked as the rest of us were to learn that Disney’s rift with Sony meant that Tom Holland’s Spiderman (arguably the best iteration) would be getting the boot.

In order to make everyone laugh (to keep from crying), the internet has come through with some pitch-perfect tweets and memes.

13. Meme perfection.

12. Basically.

11. A common enemy is a powerful thing.

10. It’s extra rough when you can’t even drink.

9. The web-rope isn’t that strong.

8. I mean, if Stan Lee said it…

7. Chump change.

6. Just do it.

5. You’d think they’d learn.

4. I can see it.

3. Kids, man.

2. I can’t.

1. This made me laugh so hard.

It doesn’t take the hurt away, but it does help a little bit!

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