Music (Autism movie) review:

 MUSIC (Autism movie) review:

I saw the movie: Music today. I had to see it, because it is about Autism and it was very controversial.

It stars: Maddie Ziegler. She plays the part of an autistic girl named Music.

Directed and co-written by: Sia Furler, an Australian singer, songwriter and movie maker.

The movie was based on an autistic boy that the 

Writer/Director (Sia) knew.

It's about Two Sisters: Music and Kazoo.

Music is severely Autistic.

Kazoo is a recovering alcoholic.

Kazoo takes care of her Sister, Music. 

Music is nonverbal- she can speak, but, she is too shy to do so. She uses a "Talker" (A device that looks like a miniature IPad. It has pictures on it, you touch the picture of what you want to say and the device says the word).

Music sticks to a routine. Most autistics do that. Every morning, she wants someone to braid her hair and cook her some Eggs. Then she goes out for a walk. She doesn't like it when she can't stick to her routine. If she can't stick to her routine, she gets stressed out. That can cause a minor meltdown.

Kazoo, Music's Sister, is a Singer, Dancer and performer. She takes care of Music the best she can.

A lot of people on the Autism Spectrum were offended by the movie before it was even released. Myself, I didn't find the movie offensive, just a little weird.

Some things that autistic people have complained about were:

Maddie Ziegler is not autistic in real life. A lot of autistics have complained about that. They think that they should have used an actor who really is autistic.

I cannot complain about that. Because, Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) and Dakota Fanning (Please Stand By) are not autistic either and they both did a really good job pretending they were autistic in those movies. (Those are my Two favorite Autism movies.)

Another big complaint the Autism community had about the movie is that it doesn't give a very accurate representation of people who are autistic. 

Yes, there are some people who are severely autistic and they act like Music does, but, most of us are not like that.

One more thing that really bothers people on the Autism spectrum was the way they responded to Music when she had a meltdown. They physically restrained her and took her down to the ground and held her down until she calmed down. (PLEASE DON'T DO THAT TO SOMEONE WHO IS AUTISTIC!!! It might do more harm than good! Some autistic people don't like it when people touch them!)

The movie was nominated for several awards. 

Most autistics who have seen the movie and reviewed it, including me, have said, "I don't think it deserves an academy award."

Overall, I think the movie is worth seeing. Especially if you are interested in Autism.

It's not the best Autism movie I've ever seen. However, I will give it a rating of: 3 out of 5 stars.

Outdated technology.

Stick shifts are dumb, old technology and they must get rid of them forever!
I'll bet you don't own a typewriter. You probably don't even know how to use a typewriter either!
You probably drive a car and you don't own a horse and buggy.
You probably have a cellphone and you don't look around trying to find a pay phone. You probably don't even have a phone in your house attached to the wall.
You probably also have a CD player and DVD player.
You don't own a cassette player or a VHS player.
You have a calculator on your cellphone, you don't know how to use a slide rule. You might not even know what a slide rule is.
You have a GPS in your car and/or on your phone. You will never need to look at a paper map again.
If you have a gun, I'll bet it's either a semiautomatic handgun or a pump action shotgun or some similar, modern style gun, not a muzzleloader.
You probably have a debit card and you very rarely write paper checks.
You carry cash made out of paper, silver and copper. Not clam shells that wash up on the beach or gold rocks and dust, like people used Thousands of years ago.
Just like everyone else in the US, you either throw your pennies in a jar at home or throw them all out your car window, because you don't give a shit about the damn things!
All the above mentioned crap is old, obsolete technology! We don't need, want or understand most of that old shit anymore! Nobody wants to buy it and if any company continued making that junk, the company would go broke, because no one would ever buy that stupid old junk! Stick shifts are getting to be that way to!
I hate them, can't drive the damn things and I don't give a damn about them! To hell  with stick shifts! They are obsolete technology! They are making less and less of them each year and starting to phase them out of existence! Good! Cause, I hate the useless things!

YouTube video ads and sponsors.

You don't actually need any money at all to make and post a video on YouTube. It's FREE to post a YouTube video. I know this as a fact. I've posted 4 videos. I've taken them down, but they were absolutely free to post. I have some friends who post YouTube vids all the time and it's free for them to.
The only thing is that you need to get a good following, the more people that follow you, the more views you'll get. However, if you bribe YouTube by giving them money, they will advertise your videos more and post it on more peoples suggested videos and stuff. Other than that, I don't know why anyone thinks they need even one penny to make a YouTube video! Everyone wants to take advantage of people, rip us off and make people pay more money for things they didn't have to pay anything for before! It needs to stop! People don't very much money and we can't keep paying extra for everything! It's bulls**t!
Now, employers aren't paying much, they are too greedy! Airlines take advantage of us with baggage fees. Pizza delivery companies want to charge delivery fees and delivery insurance. YouTube wastes our time showing commercials before and after videos or we have to pay $120 a year to watch YouTube with no ads. Come on, YouTube used to be FREE and have no ads at all! WTF!
There are a lot of really good YouTube videos out there, but, it's FREE to make and post a YouTube video! You don't need to charge anything nor do you need a sponsor to post a video! But, at the end or beginning of the video, some people spend about Three to Five minutes talking about their sponsor! Nobody pays attention to that! NOBODY!
Why don't you just wear a hat or shirt with your sponsors name on it? We will see the name of your sponsor and that's good enough! We are sick and tired of all the ads and people talking about their sponsor in the videos! We don't care! Most of us don't even pay attention to that bull s**t anymore anyway! We either skip ad, fast forward through it completely or wait it out and completely ignore it! We look away from the screen of our computer or cellphone during any and all advertisements, we take off our headphones, turn the volume down or whatever we have to do to tune out and ignore those stupid, waste of time ads!
I'm just saying, quit wasting our time and yours with all the ads and talking about your sponsors on the videos! Because people just don't care, they don't watch or listen to that junk, we are sick of it and it is really aggravating! We hate it!
Why not make use of a product from the company that sponsors you in the video. For example: If Budweiser is your sponsor, drink a can of Budweiser during the video. Show the label on the can through the whole video. Put a huge Budweiser poster on the wall in the background. Wear a hat and tee shirt that say Budweiser on them. At some point in the video, say the word: "Budweiser". Have a friend with you in the video and give them a can of Budweiser was well. Put a whole case of Budweiser on the table next to you during the entire video.
A lot of TV Producers have been talking about advertising their sponsors like this for years, they just haven't done it yet. If they do this, they won't have to waste their time and everyone else's time by playing so many stupid, annoying commercials that nobody watches, nobody pays attention to them and nobody even cares about anymore anyway!
Just please STOP WASTING YOUR TIME AND EVERYONE ELSES TIME WITH ADVERTISEMENTS AND TALKING ABOUT YOUR SPONSORS! BECAUSE, YOU'RE WASTING EVERYONE'S TIME, NOBODY CARES, NOBODY PAYS ATTENTION TO THAT ANYWAY!
If the company sponsoring you has a jingle or song they play in their commercials, play it once or twice, quietly, in the background of your video. Whatever you have to do! It doesn't matter to me! Just quit wasting time in your videos, at the beginning or end of the video talking about your sponsor, because WE DON'T CARE! It is a waste of time and people don't pay attention to that bulls**t!
After reading this, I am willing to bet that most people who drink alcohol probably want to go drink a beer. More specifically, most of you want a Budweiser!

What are some good things that we've gotten out of the Space Program:

Hubble has shown the world Trillions of things that are too far away to see with a regular, backyard telescope.
NASA invented Velcro and a ton of things we use everyday.
The International Space Station (ISS) brought several countries together to work on a very big, expensive, Scientific project. We have made a lot of Scientific discoveries in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography, Astronomy and other branches of Science and Math on the ISS.
It's very expensive to launch a rocket into space. NASA has to spend over 1 Billion dollars every time they launch a rocket. That is money that goes to companies and people all over the US and the rest of the world. That's "trickle down economics".
NASA and other space agencies have proven from space that the world is not flat. Scientists can watch the weather from space. They can spot hurricanes, tornadoes, Tsunamis and other things long before they can harm anyone. They can see lightning hitting Earth. They have discovered that lightning actually strikes Earth between 50-100 times per second!
They have sent spacecraft's to every single planet. They learned that all the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have rings around them. The only one you can see with a regular telescope at home is Saturn's ring.
They've discovered signs of possible life on Mars and a few moons in the Solar system, but no proof yet.
They've put military satellites in space, as well as others for GPS, Astronomy, Geology, Google Earth, Weather, Earth's atmosphere, and other things.
They've sent signals to other planets, in hopes of aliens intercepting the signals a Million light years away. They are also listening for signals from aliens.
Metiors and other things are headed toward Earth. NASA wants to find a way to stop them from hitting us and preventing a mass extinction of humans. (That's what killed the dinosaurs.)
If we are no longer able to live on Earth, we must find somewhere else to go.
The government has set off nukes in space for Scientific and military purposes. (Maybe nukes can be used to save Earth from being hit with a Metior.)
A lot of new technology had to be invented to build rockets powerful enough to get humans to space and be able to survive up there. New, advanced technology had to be invented to communicate with Astronauts from the ground.
Voyages I and II are in interstellar space, going far away from Earth. They now know how big the Heliosphere is.
The temperature of space is close to Absolute Zero. Scientists have done experiments on the Space Station to get even closer to Absolute Zero than the temperature of space. They can get closer to that temp on the ISS than they can on Earth.
They have talked about sending regular civilians like you and me to space for vacation. I'd love to go up, but, it will be too expensive.
Scientists know the appropriate size and composition of all the planets.
Probes have been sent to Venus. They landed on the surface and they stopped working within a few hours. Probably because it's so hot that they all may have melted or the acid rain may have damaged them as well. Either way, NASA knows that they can never send humans up there.
Spy satellites have been sent up for military purposes over countries like Iraq. They also have some over the US for: Military, law enforcement and Science. (Who knows, the government of the US and other countries might be watching you right now!)
It is really a lot of fun to watch a rocket launch.
There's a lot of things that were built Thousands of years ago which nobody can figure out how to replicate them and build them the same way today, including the Great Pyramids. They probably had help from aliens.
Some of the Pyramids line up perfectly with Orion's belt.
This is only scratching the surface of all the good things that have come from the Space Program.

Why is Michigan called: The Wolverine State?

WHY IS MICHIGAN CALLED THE WOLVERINE STATE:

Wolverines are not native to the state of Michigan. Wolverines do, however, live in Canada, Alaska and other really cold places. But, not MI. The few that live in MI are either in a zoo, owned illegally by people as pets or escaped from peoples houses who had them as illegal pets, etc. The ones in MI and all other Northern states were either brought there by people or they walked over the Canadian boarder by themselves.
The real reason for the nickname comes from the: Toledo War between Michigan and Ohio in 1835.
The city of Toledo is in Ohio, but, it is right on the edge of Michigan.
In 1835, the government of Michigan said, "I don't think that city officially belongs to Ohio. We need to claim it as part of our state!"
Wolverines have a reputation for being extremely aggressive animals. They will often attack other animals that are just minding their own business and not trying to harm anything. The Wolverine will attack the other animal for seemingly no good reason at all.
The state of Ohio was just minding their own business and not posing a threat to anybody. One day, the government in Michigan told the state Militia to attack Ohio.
It was quite a surprise when the Michigan Militia invaded Toledo and said, "We, the people of Michigan are taking the city over! The city belongs to us now!"
In 1936, President Jackson put an end to the war. He decided that since Ohio was already a state and Michigan wasn't and since he wanted Ohio's electoral votes in the upcoming election, he would let Ohio keep the city. In exchange, Michigan became an official state. The state also was given about Two Thirds of the Upper Peninsula. It sounded like a bad deal at the time, because nobody wanted the Upper Peninsula. But, it has a lot of: Copper, Iron and Timber. So the state took advantage of that.
After the war, some people in Ohio said, "The state of Michigan has the mentally and temperament of a Wolverine! MI should be known as: The Wolverine State!"
The name Wolverine State stuck. Michigan has had that name ever since.
Eventually, The University of Michigan adopted the name: "Michigan Wolverines".
That's how MI got that name.

BEWARE OF TIMESHARE AND VACATION SCAMS::

BEWARE OF TIMESHARE AND VACATION SCAMS:

If someone wants you to go to a presentation about a timeshare or something similar, they are probably going to try to use high pressure sales tactics and make the deal sound too good to be true! One specific company that called me was called: "Nextgen Vacations". They said if I went to their presentation, they'd give me Two airline tickets to anywhere in the US I wanted to go, including Alaska and Hawaii. They would also pay for any hotel I wanted to stay at, even if it were a 5 star hotel.
I asked a few more questions, just to waste their time. Then, I set up an appointment and a time to to go to their presentation. However, I had no intention of going to something like this! I did that to waste Two seats at the presentation, that means, Two other people wouldn't be able to go and the people running the scam would be disappointed by having those Two empty seats and Two less people to scam!
They said they would call me the next day, about an hour or two before I was supposed to show up for the presentation, I said, ok, that's fine. But, I blocked their number, so they couldn't call me again!
I have heard from some people who say they had a good experience with Nextgen Vacations. I don't know any details of their experiences. But, they said it is a legit company and not a scam. They also said Nextgen did give them Two plane tickets and paid for their hotel. However, I don't recommend trusting anybody or any company like that. You would be taking a big risk. Imagine going to the airport, expecting to sign in and pick up your e-ticket to go from Detroit to LA for vacation. But, the tickets don't exist! The people at the airport don't know anything about your plane tickets either. You've been planning and looking forward to your vacation for Ten months now, only to find out at the last minute that it was a scam and the company didn't really buy you any plane tickets! Now you signed up for a scammer! The company stole your money and wasted your time! It does happen!
Keep in mind, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
If a company calls you randomly, especially if you are on the "National Do Not Call List" (DNC), and they want to sell you something, that should raise a red flag! It's probably not going to anything good. If YOU DIDN'T CALL THEM, but, they randomly called you, don't give them your personal information!
Nobody is going to give you something 100% free! Even if they did, you have to pay the tax, shipping fee, the companys processing fee, food, rental car and everything else. Yes, they may pay for your plane ticket and hotel, but, everything else is on you!
Years ago, I talked to someone about Amway
(AKA: SCAMWAY). I thought it sounded good at first, so, I scheduled a time to meet someone in a public place, I did not give them my home address! I talked to this guy about how I could make money without going to work. Sounds great right? Well, he was trying to pressure me into signing up. I would have had to pay a lot of money, buy a few books, videos and CDs to learn all about the company and how to use their high pressure sales tactics to get my friends and relatives to sign up under me. Then to get them to recruit their friends. Then, I'd have to keep going to their meetings, signing more people up, spending more money, etc!
After that, I realized, that guy was really trying to make it sound good, he was really motivated, trying to get me excited about the company and trying very hard to make me make a decision to sign the dotted line really quickly, immediately, without giving me any time to think about it! I also realized things like Amway are just too good to be true! They are going to use high pressure sales tactics and expect people to sign up impulsively.
Another time, I was in a bar, just hanging out. Some guy came over and started talking to me. I hung out with him for a while. Then, another guy came and started talking to us. This dude started talking about a company he works for and wanted us to sign up. I could smell a scam right away! It sounded similar to Amway and, again, it was way too to be true.
I told the scammer, "I fogot something. I have to go to my car and get it. I'll be back in a minute."
I grabbed the other guy by the arm as I was walking away and very quietly told him to follow me. I need to talk to you alone outside! It is really important!"
He followed me out the door. But, the other guy came out to.
We walked a few feet away from the scammer an I said, "This is a scam. He is trying to confuse us with some things he is saying. He is trying to pressure us into signing up for something stupid. He will expect us to sign up today and not think about it and the whole thing sounds bad! It is a scam! If you know what's good, you will follow me and just start running as far away from here as possible! If no, you go back and talk to that jackass and let him steal your money. I know we've only known eachother for an hour or so, but you have to trust me here and start running as far away from this place as possible, before he talks you into signing up for something stupid!
If you stay here, I'm leaving and our friendship is over!
I will not be able to stop that guy from scamming you!"
He went back and talked to the scammer. I ran as far away from that place as possible!

The origin of the expression: "Get your goat".

Don't let them get your goat!

Goats do keep horses calm.
The expression: Get your goat comes from Horse racing.
Years ago, people kept their horse in a stable before a race. To keep the horse calm, they put a goat in the stable with the horse. Now the horse could calm down and get some rest. Then the horse would be able to concentrate and have enough energy to run the race.
Sometimes, one of the competitors would not like one of the other people that was in the race or, maybe he thought one of the other horses was too fast and he didn't have a chance of winning against that horse.
So, the rider would try to give himself an unfair advantage. He waited till the day before the race, when nobody was looking, he'd go to that horses stable and steal that horses goat.
The next day, they got ready for the race and the owner of that horse noticed that his goat was missing.
Now the riders all brought their horses out to the track.
The one horse that was left to spend the whole day and night without a goat just wasn't ready for the race.
All the other horses were calm and well rested. Those horses were prepared to run really fast and concentrate on winning the race. However, the other horse acted like it had a severe case of ADHD.
The horse was too tired to run as fast as it possibly could, it may of been hyperactive and it couldn't concentrate very well on the race. That horse and rider were unable to win the race.
That left us with a very famous expression: "Don't let that other person 'GET YOUR GOAT'"!

TV infomercials:

All infomercials are stupid! They are a waste of time and money. Everything on them is a cheap gimmick that's not worth anything. It will break probably by the third time you use it!
That's why, when I'm in a store and I see something that says: "As seen on TV on the box, I stay away from it!
I have bought three things in my entire life from Walmart that said As seen on TV on them. I thought, "Well, if they showed this on TV, it's got to be good."
I brought them home and 1st, they weren't as easy to use as they said on the box or on TV.
2. They didn't do "EXACTLY" what they promised to do. They came close, but, not exactly what they promised to do. In fact, sometimes they came barely close enough to where you wouldn't be able to sue them! The company would win the law suit if you did try to sue.
3. They broke very quickly. It will work fine the first 3 Times, but, the 4th time, it will break!
4. It is basically false advertising and they use some stupid, loud mouth idiot like Billy Mays getting people's attention and getting them excited about a piece of junk.
5. If they have to show the stupid infomercials at 0300 in the morning, when most people aren't even awake to see it anyway, you know there's something wrong with that!
It's cheaper to show things on TV after Midnight, especially at 3:00 AM, when very few people are going to see it anyway.
6. When they show stupid, cheap things on TV on a dumb infomercial, that ruins things for anything good that someone may show on TV.
Yes, there a lot of good things in this world. But, with the bad reputation that infomercials have, I don't care what they put on an infomercial, I don't trust it at all and I won't buy it!
Those infomercials have a paradoxical affect on things. They show something on there to get people to trust it, make us think that it will be something good and convince us that we actually NEED this piece of junk that they are advertising. But, when we see it on a TV, infomercial, we actually have less trust in the product! Just because it was advertised on an infomercial with a loud mouth like Willy Maze trying to sell it!
7. They have a bunch of "Customers" who have bought the product that is being advertised and they are all saying it works really well and they love it!
You don't know anything about the people on there. Maybe they did try the product out and maybe they did like it, but, maybe they didn't like it and they are just saying they liked it.
Maybe they haven't tried this thing out at all. They might even be paid actors!
Think of it this way: If I offer to pay you $25,000 or  $500,000 you will get on TV and say anything I want you to say! If you know nothing about something I want to sell or if you tried it but did not like it, you will still get on TV, radio, newspapers and anywhere else I hire you to go and you will say anything I want you to say, just so you will get the money!
I would probably do it to, if someone paid me enough money.
8. Most of this stuff looks like it could be made out of good quality materials, but, they are only charging $19.99.
If it were made out of good quality materials that would last a long time, they would be charging three or even ten times more than what they want for it.
9. They often say, "If you call within the next Ten minutes, we'll double the offer, you won't get one, but, Two of these stupid things at no extra charge! You just pay the shipping.
When they double the order for "FREE", they still have to get the money for the second item that they give you for free somehow.
Now, you are actually paying $10.00 each for these things. It probably costs the company $1.00 to make this piece of junk! If they pay the company advertising it $1.00 for each one they sell, they are still making $18.00 on each one if they don't give the customer an extra one free. $8.00 on the ones People bought "within the next Ten minutes". Because, they gave them a freebie.
If they want you to buy something in a hurry, in the next Ten minutes, for example, that doesn't give you enough time to think about it before you buy. If they want you to just buy something really fast, it's probably a scam!

When you see something advertised like this on TV, they will always try to make it sound too good to be true. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is not as good as people say it is!
Think before you buy something you see on TV, newspapers or the Internet!
Never buy something directly off a TV infomercial!
Ask a few trusted friends or relatives about things you see on TV. More than like, someone you know, knows someone that knows someone else who has bought it already. They can give you an honest review on the product.
Read some online reviews or check with the Better Business Bureau, Ripoorepott.com and Attorney General's office for complaints about the product, the company that makes it and the person advertising it before you buy the product.
The things I bought that said: "As seen on TV" on them, I didn't buy them from the company advertising them on TV, I don't even watch those infomercials. I found them at Walmart. I was able to open the box and look at the items first. Otherwise I would of never bought them in the first place.
If you have a bad feeling about something you see on TV or anywhere else, trust your instincts and either don't buy it at all or at least investigate it first!

For anyone asking: Why does the US need to have a SPACE FORCE?

FOR ANYONE WHO IS WONDERING WHY WE NEED A SPACE FORCE:

    I'm pretty sure there was a time when people said: "Why do we need a Navy? Why do we need an Air Force? What good are those going to do? That's a waste of money!
Why are they spending Billions of dollars creating Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Army Rangers, Delta Force and similar things? That's a waste of money! They are wasting my tax dollars on this!
Why are they spending so much money on building nuclear weapons? That could destroy the whole world in just a few minutes!
The enemy can and does attack the US and other countries from the air and water. That's why we need Air Force and Navy.
There's things going on in the world everyday that you and I will never know about. We have enemies all over the world. People are constantly thinking of things they can do to attack another country. Delta Force is a top secret military organization that, up until Clinton was in office, we weren't even supposed to know about. The government denied its existence completely. Bill Clinton hinted that there might be an organization like that, but that's all I'm going to say.
They are constantly protecting the world from terrorists.
Navy Seals and Special Forces take most of the missions that are way too difficult, dangerous and top secret for any other military units to take on.
SEALS killed Bin Laden, for instance.
The reason we have nukes is to PREVENT nuclear wars from ever happening in the first place. How? N. Korea, Russia, Iran and all other countries that don't like the US, they all know that the US invented both Atomic and Nuclear weapons. They also know that the US has more of them than most other countries. I'm sure there's probably a country somewhere in the world that probably has more than we do, but, the US has more than 99.999% of other countries in the world. They know better than to launch a nuke at the US or our allies. Because, the US can and will track their missiles coming in from tracking devices in space and on the ground. If they launch ONE single nuke at us, the President will first, launch about 20, multiwarhead missiles on their country and turn them into a pile of rubble!
Technology is changing really fast all over the world and we need a new way to fight crime, terror, illegal immigration, drugs, nuclear war, the list goes on and on.
Just like Science Fiction movies from the 1980's and even ling before that predicted, we would be in space by the year 2000. Well, we're late getting into space! 18 years late, but, it was inevitably going to happen.
Not only should we have a military presence in space, but also, a lot more Scientists should be up there studying the Earth and it's atmosphere.
As soon as the US gets a military presence in space, other countries will do the same. Our enemies will be up there to.
From outer space, you can see an entire continent, so, instead of an airplane flying over the ground between 300 feet to 5 miles off the ground, they have satellites and troops 20,000 miles or more above the ground. They will be able to look down and see everything. The enemy won't be able to hide very easily on the ground anymore.
The US and rest of the world will be forced to invent new technologies to keep up with the Space Force. When a Scientist tries to invent something specific, they will have to work on it for a long time. In the process, they will accidentally discover and invent other things. That is how we got the Lazer and the Microwave along with Millions of other things.
There is a lot of "Space Junk" flying around in space. It's all over up there. A lot is in orbit around Earth. That could crash in on us and cause a lot of problems. Space Force can protect us from that and try to find a way to clean it up.
They will watch for Metiors and yes, even UFOs!
Space Force will be above the atmosphere of Earth, so, they will have a better, much clearer view of outer space. That will help us study Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry and other things.
They can even send FBI agents up to watch down on the ground, not just in the US, but, in other countries to, and they can track criminals before they run too far away. Then, hopefully, it won't take 10 years to find them, like it did to get Bin Laden!
There's probably a Million other good reasons to have a Space Force.

Absolute Collections SCAM!

I just talked to a Lawyer about a call my sister received. about me owing money for a payday loan. IT IS A SCAM!!!
Things didn't even sound right with this anyway. First of all, I don't recall getting any payday loan or anything over the phone for a long time, especially not after filing bankruptcy.
Nobody has ever contacted me about any payday loan or anything from 2013. That sounded suspicious.
Then they told me on the phone that I used Mike Arndt as one of my references. That is a big red flag there! Believe me, if I ever do get a loan, Mike Arndt is the absolute last person I'd even consider using as reference! He doesn't like me very well and I am not a big fan of him! I don't trust him and I know he wouldn't give me a good reference anyway!
The other reference they said I used is someone I don't even  know at all!
All they told me over the phone was that the name of their company was: "Absolute". OK, Absolute what? They said they are a collection agency. Another thing that sounded suspicious about this was they told me on the phone that They were going to sue me. Then the lady I talked to told me, "Good luck in court!"
Why is someone going to tell the person they are going to sue: "Good luck in court?"
Things just didn't sound right at all, so, I did some research online about the company. I didn't find much information about them online. But, I did see one or two websites that said it was a scam. One other site that just said it was a collection agency and a website for an Attorney who fights this collection agency all the time. It said, "If Absolute Collections is calling and harassing you, call me, I can help."
So, I called the Attorney, he confirmed my suspicion that it was a scam. He told me to report them to the Florida Attorney General.
The Attorney didn't charge me anything and all it took was a 5 minute phone call.
I am going to report them to the Attorney General, police, Better Business Bureau, Ripoffreport.com, Yellopages.com, Google and any place else I can think of.

Scam baiting. A horrifying experience!

Today I got bored and looked up some phone numbers of known scammers. I wanted to call some of them and waste their time and harass them, just like they do to us whenever they call somebody. Only they take things a little further and try to rip people off! They want to sell you some service or product that you don't need or they will claim to be the IRS and con you into paying them (the fake IRS agents) money for overdue taxes that you don't owe. They will tell you that you'll be arrested if you don't pay.
There are a lot of people out there that try to do us all a favor by calling these scammers and wasting their time. The longer these people stay on the phone with these scammers, the less time they have to call other people and rip them off. It also gets the scammer really frustrated if you waste too much of their time. This increases the chances of the scammer getting frustrated with the job and quitting. When people call and waste a scammers time, it is called: "SCAM BAITING".
A lot of people don't support scam baiting, because, it just gives the scammer more experience in dealing with difficult people and doing their job. However,  it is a lot of fun!
I looked up a scammers number on Google and called them. On the first call, I got one guy and told him I had a problem with my computer and needed his help to fix it.
He immediately told me to F off!
I said, "What the hell jackass! I am calling because I have a virus on my computer and it sent me a pop up message saying to call this number so you can fix it! This is Microsoft Tech support isn't it?" He immediately hung up on me!
So I called back about a minute later. I got the same guy this time.
I said, "Why did you hang up dude, I need your help getting rid of a virus." I was nice about it.
He cursed me out some more and got really mad. Then he hung up again!
So I called back a third time. I finally got a different person on the phone. I told him I had a virus and needed his help. He asked a few questions about the virus and he was nice about it.
So, I gave him a fake name. I didn't want this scammer to know my real name. I said I was John Simons.
He said  "Ok, turn on your computer."
I told him I had my computer on, but, I didn't really have it turned on. Then I tried to act like the dumbest person in the world who didn't know anything about computers at all. (For the record, I am not a computer genius. But, I do have some basic knowledge about them and I've taken a basic computer class.)
He told me to do a few things to give him remote access to my computer. I told him I didn't understand and asked him to repeat the instructions. He did repeat the instructions. Then he hung up. I was on the phone with him For about 20 minutes.
I called back and got the same guy. I talked to him about my fake computer virus for a few minutes, then he told me he was in Las Vegas. I said , "No you are not! You are in India and you are a scammer!"
Now, the guy started laughing!
I told him that I don't have a virus, I was just wasting his time!
He hung up again. So, I called him back. Now he said I am making him mad.
I didn't really have a virus , I was just doing this to waste his time anyway.
This was when things got really scary for me!
I was really lucky I did not have my computer turned on at all right now. Because now this scammer tried to hack into my ISP!
First of all Mr Scammer said, "David, why are you wasting my time?"
I thought, "How the hell does he know my real name?" I asked him, "How did you know my name is David?" He said it was a lucky guess.
I said, "Do you know my last name?"
He told me to tell him a last name randomly and he would tell me if I gave him my real name.
I said, "Smith."
He said, "No."
"Jones"
"No."
"Williams."
"No."
"Thomson."
"No."
"Arndt."
"Yes."
I thought, "Oh shit, he has caller ID and it works in India. He can get my name and number all the way over there. No big deal."
At least, that's what I thought at that moment!
He proceeded to say, "David Arndt Jr.
XXXX Signal Hill Rd. Orlando, FL. 32922.
Phone number: (407)XXX-XXXX.
ISP: 12345678900000
Email address: XXXXXXX@yahoo.com.
Your bank is Sun Trust in Orlando, FL.
You make $35,000/yr.
As soon as you turn your computer on, I'm going to get into your internet connection and on your computer and drain your bank account!"
I thought, "Holy shit! All that information is my OLD info! Luckily, the only two things that are still valid are my full name and phone number! The rest of it was valid a few years ago! Since then, I've moved to a different city, closed that bank account and went to a different bank, I no longer use that old email address, I have a different ISP and, even back then , a few years ago, I was not making  $35,000. But, I got really lucky that he did not have my current information! He must of looked my name up on the internet!"
I am not going to call that number again! However, proceed with caution if you want to scam bait this number!
It is a fake computer tech support company.
The number is:
1-877-786-2227.

Next-gen vacations scam. Beware!

Do me and everybody else in the world a favor and please call this number: 1-888-321-3840. Next-gen vacations. There in Kissimmee, FL. They called me to schedule an apt for tomorrow  afternoon to go to a seminar and promise me two free airline tickets anywhere in the US! It's obviously a damn scam! To hell with them ass holes! Yes, I did schedule a time to go to their seminar with my GF. But, hell no, I AIN'T GOING! I did that just to waste their time! I also wasted about 10 minutes on the phone with them to!
Now, they want to call me tomorrow before my appointment. But, I am going to block their number!
This is too good to be true! They will not give anybody 2 free plane tickets on any airline they want to any destination in the US to use anytime within the next year and let you stay at any hotel you want in the US at their expense (Including a 5 Star hotel), all at their expense!
But, please, everybody, call them and bomb these jackasses with calls! Also, schedule fake appointments like I did! Then block the number so they can't call you! Then you call them again! Call them often to!
Again, that is:
888-321-3840.

Their address: 5000 Ave of the Stars.
                            Kissimmee, FL. 34746.

Heart Attack Grill. Las Vegas.

This place is terrible! A restaurant owned by a real Doctor. He used to be a nutritionist. How Ironic!
He is now doing just the opposite of what he was taught to do in Med school. This is the least nutritious food you can imagine. For example: A Triple Bypass Burger. Three huge burgers, cooked in Lard, not veritable oil or other things like normal restaurants or people at home, Lard! The bun is also smeared with lard.
They also have, what they called a Quadruple Bypass Burger. Four burgers, one pound of beef. Four slices of cheese, lard on the bun, burgers cooked in lard. Plus, anything else you want on the burger.
Even worse, there is an Octuple Bypass Burger. Eight burgers, 8 slices of chese, plus Lard. Good luck trying to eat that! This one has 20,000 calories! For most people, We are supposed to stick to a 2,000 cal diet. That's 10 times the amount of recommend cal intake!
If you ate the Octuple Bypass, you'd either gain a bunch of weight, get sick, have a Myocardial infarction  (med term for Heart Attack) for real or have really high cholesterol levels for the rest of your life.
All you can eat "Flat Line Fries". Those are also cooked in pure lard. They go through over 300 Lbs of fries a week.
If you weigh over 350 Lbs, you eat free.
They sometimes have people weigh in and out. Sometimes even check people's vital signs (Heart rate, breathing, pulse, etc.).
If you finish the entire meal, one of the Nurses (Waitresses) will wheel you out to your car in a wheelchair. If you don't finish everything, one of the Nurses will get a large paddle and whip your butt!
This whole restaurant goes against the oath the owner took when he got his medical  license. It's called: The Hippocratic Oath. Although it doesn't say these words specifically in the oath, it's implied and Doctors and other medical personnel have to learn the Latin phrase: Primum non nocere, which in English means: "FIRST DO NO HARM".

Computer tech support scam (Sophie Softech Solutions).

A (SCAM) computer tech support company called: Sophie Softech Solutions called me and said they found a virus on my computer. They said they found it the day that they called me. Actually, they said Microsoft called them and notified them of a virus on my computer. They said Microsoft found the virus on my computer when I was online recently.
I knew it was a scam right away, because I had not used my computer at all for about a month at that time. Usually when I use the Internet, I use my cellphone, which is Android, not Microsoft.
I checked my computer anyway, just to make sure nothing was wrong with it. There was no virus, my computer was OK.
I was still on the phone with this scammer when I checked my computer. I told him my computer was fine. But he said, "Oh no, there is a problem with it. You need to give me remote access to your computer so I can fix it."
I asked him a few questions like: What's their companies name? Where are they located? How much do they plan to charge me for their services? What's wrong with my computer? How long will they take to fix it? Etc.
He said he was with: Sophie Softech Solutions and they were in Florida. It will take an hour or two to remove the malware on my computer and he'd install an antivirus program. Then, I'd have to send a payment directly to him in India! I'd have to use Western Union to send him $250 US dollars!
I could tell from his voice that he was in India.
I said, "Wait a minute, you sais a minute ago that you were in the US! Now you say you're in India?"
He said, "The company is in the US, but the call center that he's at is in India."
From all the bull shit he was saying, I knew it was a scam.
I don't ever want to give remote access of my computer to anybody in the first place, except, MAYBE, to a close friend or relative! But, even then I'd have to think twice about it! You never know what they will do to it!
To make a long story short, I didn't give him access to my computer. I told him I know it's a scam. I called him an ass hole and told him don't ever call me again! Then I said, "Your English is terrible, you have poor grammar and I can't even understand you very well because of your damn Indian accent!" Quit trying to scam people!"
Then he started to repeat everything I said. I again said this is a scam. He repeated that and said, "This is a scam." I said, "Yes and you're an ass hole! he repeated that to along with some other things.
Then I insulted him and the company a few more times and he continued to insult and curse at me as well.
I told him I was going to report him to the Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, Rip off report, the FCC and a bunch of other places.
I have reported them. I have also filed a report about them on: WWW.ripoffreport.com.

(Before I reported this company to anybody, I did a little bit of research on Sophie Softech Solutions. I found out that they do have at least one office here in the United States. I think it is in California. However, that does not mean it isn't a scam. The people they hire to call you and rip you off are still in other countries.
Microsoft will probably NEVER call you nor will they tell someone else to contact you to tell you that you have a virus or any other problems with your computer!!!)

Just remember, if someone calls you like this, don't give them remote access to your computer! More than likely its a scam. They might even mess up your computer or give you a virus if you do that! Then they will trick you into thinking they've fixed your computer and charge you a lot of money after they damage it! Then it will be almost impossible to get your money back!