Podcasts about Ripoff Report

INTRODUCTION: Adrienne Zetty Barrows in fully licensed funeral director, embalmer, crematory retort operator, and life, health and accident insurance producer. She has an academic background in Religion, Philosophy, and Psychology, and strong community development and educational outreach skills. Adrienne is committed to the values and standards of independent and family-owned funeral homes. INCLUDED IN THIS EPISODE (But not limited to): ·      Insight Into The Mortician Profession·      Themed Funerals!!! #MardiGras·      Let's Talk Embalming ·      Paranormal Activity In Funeral Homes·      Can't Escape Karen – She Shows Up At The Funeral Home Too·      COVID-19 Burnout·      Accept That You Can Die At ANY Age – You Are Not Guaranteed To Get Old ·      Dangers In Donating Your Body To Science·      The Importance Of Life Insurance CONNECT WITH DE'VANNON: Website: https://www.SexDrugsAndJesus.comWebsite: https://www.DownUnderApparel.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sexdrugsandjesusYouTube: https://bit.ly/3daTqCMFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SexDrugsAndJesus/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sexdrugsandjesuspodcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TabooTopixLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devannonPinterest: https://www.pinterest.es/SexDrugsAndJesus/_saved/Email: DeVannon@SDJPodcast.com   DE'VANNON'S RECOMMENDATIONS: ·      Pray Away Documentary (NETFLIX)o  https://www.netflix.com/title/81040370o  TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_CqGVfxEs ·      OverviewBible (Jeffrey Kranz)o  https://overviewbible.como  https://www.youtube.com/c/OverviewBible ·      Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed (Documentary)o  https://press.discoveryplus.com/lifestyle/discovery-announces-key-participants-featured-in-upcoming-expose-of-the-hillsong-church-controversy-hillsong-a-megachurch-exposed/ ·      Leaving Hillsong Podcast With Tanya Levino  https://leavinghillsong.podbean.com  ·      Upwork: https://www.upwork.com·      FreeUp: https://freeup.net VETERAN'S SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS ·      Disabled American Veterans (DAV): https://www.dav.org·      American Legion: https://www.legion.org ·      What The World Needs Now (Dionne Warwick): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHAs9cdTqg INTERESTED IN PODCASTING OR BEING A GUEST?: ·      PodMatch is awesome! This application streamlines the process of finding guests for your show and also helps you find shows to be a guest on. The PodMatch Community is a part of this and that is where you can ask questions and get help from an entire network of people so that you save both money and time on your podcasting journey.https://podmatch.com/signup/devannon  TRANSCRIPT: Adrienne Zetty Barrows[00:00:00]You're listening to the sex drugs and Jesus podcast, where we discuss whatever the fuck we want to! And yes, we can put sex and drugs and Jesus all in the same bed and still be all right at the end of the day. My name is De'Vannon and I'll be interviewing guests from every corner of this world as we dig into topics that are too risqué for the morning show, as we strive to help you understand what's really going on in your life.There is nothing off the table and we've got a lot to talk about. So let's dive right into this episode.De'Vannon: Hello everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Sex Drugs in Jesus podcast. I'm your host of. And today I have with me a lovely woman by the name of Adrian Zeti Bar. Adrian is a fully licensed funeral director and embalmer, a crematory retort operator, and life health and accident insurance producer. So in the day's show,we're gonna be talking a lot about death, and we're gonna give you an [00:01:00] inside look into the life and profession of a mortician. We're gonna talk about covid 19 implications, paranormal activity in funeral homes, the importance of life insurance people please it. Life insurance, like seriously. Uh, the dangers in donating your body to science, cuz it's not always what it seems.And the fact that you need to accept that you can die at any age and that you're not guaranteed to get old. Please listen seriously and please share this with someone you love. Hello all you delicious souls out there and welcome back to the Sex Drugs in Jesus podcast. I'm your host, Devon, and I'm here with my homegirl Adrian Zeti, who is a mortician.Yes. I'm talking with a woman who deals with the dead today, darling. And I cannot wait to get into it. How the fuck is you doing? Adrienne: I am so excited. I just finished my funeral directors and morticians have [00:02:00] difficult schedules most of the time, so I'm just finishing up my 10 day. So I am doing absolutely nothing today except for talking with you, which I'm very excited about.Ooh, De'Vannon: I'm excited to have made it on your schedule. So I want to read over a few statistics before we get into like the questions. And so, you know, it is very rare you come across a mortician unless somebody didn't died, you know, you, you know, as a friend or in passing. And so this is a very, very interesting career field that a lot of people just, it's just not talked about.So, absolutely. You know, it's not, it's not like you're gonna be at dinner and be like, oh, so, you know, I was dealing with this body the other day, or whatever the case may mean. So, So in my research, and this, this website that I pulled this information from is called Zia, Z i P P I a.com. It says there are over 22,000 funeral [00:03:00] directors currently in the United States.64.7% of them are men, and about 35% of them are women. I was pleased to, to research that women are paid the same as men. Kinda. Adrienne: No, it's true. It's true. But so you have to look at, typically if you have a male dominated field, when women start coming into that field, rather than women's base pay rising to meet their men's, more often than not it the average salary goes down, sadly enough.So but yeah. So with assertiveness and shrewd salary negotiations typically yet is, it, is. It is pretty equal. And I would like to point out, yes, it is majority male field at the moment, but all, almost any funeral school, any funeral program is gonna have a majority of women in it at this point nowadays.So all of the new funeral directors, so people coming into the field right now are by and large [00:04:00] majority women. For instance, in my graduating class, I think one, I think there was one guy, maybe two guys made it. I'm not sure there's one. I don't think he passed final. But but the, you know, 90% of the class was female.De'Vannon: Do you think that that has to do with a breakdown of the patriarchy? I think, Adrienne: I think it has to do with. Hmm, that's a good question. I think it has to do with women. The value that women add to funeral services is it's kind of unique. There's a certain kind of warmth, I think, and a tenderness that we bring to it.Not to say that we're not all tough broads, you know what I mean? Like we can still hold our own with, of fellas in terms of the physical demands and the emotional demands of it. But I think there's a certain there's a certain qua I think that women add to funeral service, and I think that's appreciated by families.And [00:05:00] so I think women, well, you know, when I first started I think a lot of families kind of would see a female funeral director and think it was like the B team coming out. So I know that's your eyebrow raises exactly how I would feel the couple of times that I've encountered that. But as soon as they, they experience the kind of service that we're, you know, that, that women offer, I think that that.Breaks down any kind of misgivings that people have because it is a traditionally male career. So, Hmm. De'Vannon: Well, well, yeah, I would say then that then it, it's probably along that patriarchal like breakdown. Cause what, what you're saying is they didn't think that you could do it just cuz you're a girl and Correct.But the proof's in the pudding and, you know, the world is changing now and it's not all about old white men running every fucking thing anymore. Exactly. Adrienne: Exactly. And if you notice, it's old white men, bless their hearts [00:06:00] that have kind of painted the industry in a corner to a certain extent. You know, it's, it's the old, I don't know if you've seen the movie The Big Lebowski, but there's a scene where one of the characters dies and they go to the Mortician Hall says, this is our most modestly, you know what I mean?There's a certain kind of attitude or approach to funeral directing and how, you know, how we monetize the services that we offer people, you know what I mean? So, a lot of the misconceptions that people have, not just about female funeral directors, but a lot of people have a very negative impression of the industry in general.So I won't say we're as bad as car salesmen used car salesman use car salesman. But a lot of people, you know, they come, you know, they're sitting across the desk from the funeral director for the first time. If they've not had that kind of experience, they just kind of know what they know from TV or from, you know, what happened with Aunt Gladys's service or you know, they hear something and so they come and they're sitting down across from me and they have, a lot of people are very guarded because they [00:07:00] have this idea that my job is to separate them from their money, you know, to try to get them to prove how much they love their mom by spending more on a casket, that kind of thing.So those fears from the general public are from generations of. You know, same old, same old kind of treatment. And so I think women coming into the industry, hopefully is kind of helping the industry itself to express value to consumers, you know, so that we, we can really show them that it's not just, you know, sell you our, you know, whatever kind of, whatever they're trying to sell you.It's not about that. It's about family care, personal care to their families. So hopefully it's redefining the value that we offer. Mm-hmm. De'Vannon: Nothing like some good value, honey. Now, one this, this website also is saying that funeral directors are most in demand in Tucson, Arizona. [00:08:00] And now if that, I don't doubt them, but I wonder why.And I used to live in Tucson when I was stationed in the Air Force. I wonder, have you heard of any kind of like, demand in a certain city or state more than another? Or, or do you have any idea why? In Tucson that you'd, video1042642136: I Adrienne: think it probably correlates to a higher retirement age population. So if Tucson, Arizona is a popular area for folks to retire to when they're tired of the cold, you know, Northeast Winters that they would go to Miami or Tucson, you know what I mean?That you'd have a higher demand for funeral services in general. That De'Vannon: makes sense. That's my best guess. That, that makes perfect sense. You're so smart. I love that. We called it, we called them snow bunnies when I was Station. Yes. Adrienne: There. I've been called a snow bunny before. De'Vannon: Oh, we're not talking about role playing honey.Or, or, or, or getting our Wolf of Wall Street on too. [00:09:00] If you haven't seen the movie, then you'll know what I mean with, with the snow button references there. Yeah, so there's like, whenever starts to turn cold in Arizona, there's this large migration of RVs and shit that just swarm down into Tucson or wherever, whenever starts get cold in general.Cause some people gets to fuck away from the, the ice and they come down somewhere like that. That's not, that's, that's not gonna be iced out. And I, I'm sitting here thinking like, I wonder if it's like a breaking bad reference. It's like people getting shot up or whatever. But what she said made more sense.Adrienne: Well, no, but that, that could be a part of it too. I mean, it could be sad to say, you know, with substance use issues sometime play, play into it. So if you have, you know, endemic issues in, in a, you know, larger metropolitan area, that might sadly, you know, bring up the death rate. So you mentioned De'Vannon: Like school, what kind of training?Is [00:10:00] required. And then tell then tell us, well, before we get into the training, tell us exactly what you do and tell, explain to us the difference between a funeral director, mortician and an undertaker of what your Okay. Title. Adrienne: So some of some of those titles are a distinction without a difference kind of things.So, and some of 'em are just kind of more old fashioned. So like the old guard would more often than not identify themselves as a mortician or an undertaker. Nowadays more people say funeral director, it's a little imprecise because and it does vary state by state. But, so that could mean that they are just front of the house, so to speak, that their only job is to sit and meet with families, to plan services, to make funeral arrangements and or to take out those services, you know, go out to church and stuff.But in that, it could also, so most of the time I would introduce myself as a funeral director. Now I am also an embalmer, so I do front of the house and back of the house. Some states [00:11:00] it's some states it's one license to do both duties. In other states, you can get a funeral directing only license or an embalmers only license.That's a little less frequent. And then, and also, you know, there are some states that are either completely unregulated, like Colorado or states like Florida that have introduced something that's kind of like, I, I don't wanna, no offense anybody, but like funeral director light. Like it's a, it's a, it's a, it's an easier to obtain license that allows them to do most of the jobs of the, the front of the house of funeral directors under the guidance of a full fledged, fully licensed funeral director.So, but it's, it's, those are the three basic duties, the making arrangements, carrying out services, and then, you know, embalming back of the house. Whatever kind of prep work and care for the actual, the, the physical care of the decedent [00:12:00] that we, we De'Vannon: take care of. So when you go to school for one, do you go to school for all of them and they just kind of train you on everything or, Adrienne: and then, yeah.Most of the time, I'd say like the most, the, the, the typical route is going to be bef there's before Covid and after Covid. So I would say after Covid I mean, online schooling was existed before Covid certainly, but it seems like that seems to be primarily, you know, how most people since Covid go to funeral school?So I, I went well before Covid and so I physically went to school. So I, I went to I physically showed up in class every day, and it's a two year program. So most of those programs are something like, they'll have like a base requirement. Like you, you'll have to have had. Let's say 60 hours of something, just something just going to college, you know, math, whatever.And then after you have a requisite number of hours you can apply to be in the program. And then typically it's a two year program. It's an associate's degree in most places. There are some [00:13:00]places and a couple of states that actually require bachelor's degree. But majority of time it's it's a two year associate's degree program.Some of the programs are a little more regimented. Some of them are more flexible. And by that I mean like there are some programs where you take class 1, 2, 3, 4, and then the next semester you take 5, 6, 7, 8, versus some other programs that are a little more self-selecting for the students, but that tend to take longer.So it might take four years to graduate, for instance. So but it's pretty, I, I always joked I should have tried out for Jeopardy after I finished funeral school because you study a little bit of everything. So, I mean, there's, there's, you know, history, religion, law, accounting, computers. English, chemistry, pathology all, all kinds of stuff.It really runs the gamut. So it's pretty challenging and difficult. And then once you, you know, typically you pass, you [00:14:00] graduate from your program and then you have permission to sit for the national exam, the national board exam, there's two parts. Funeral directing and embalming, or well, and arts and sciences.And then you are licensed by the state and then you do whatever you're doing. Now there's also mixed in there an apprenticeship. So you have your schooling and then you have your actual work experience. And the two are surprisingly different. So what you're learning in school is to pass the national board exam, and it's very frequently it's a different, at the very least, it's a different kind of information than when you're actually practicing funeral directing and involvement.Do you see what I mean? Like what, what your day-to-day skillset looks a little bit different in the reality of it versus the school part of it. I'm sure that that's, you know, that that happens in other professions too, I'm sure. De'Vannon: Right? The, but why did you choose this career path? Did you, did you feel like it was a calling?Do you feel like it [00:15:00] was like a spiritual thing? Like of all the things you could have been in all the nine realms? Why, why this, Adrienne: that is a great question and I I came into it relatively late, so I had you know, I've gotten my bachelor's 10 years before I decided to go to funeral school. And for a long time, I guess in my personal case, it was important to me that I find meeting in what I do, like, I, I wanted to make sure that I, you know, I come from a long line of some, some good people that you know, you know, Social workers and psych psychiatric nurses and a, their whole careers were spent caring for and dedicated to people.And so I kind of wanted to do something that felt like it had that kind of impact. But, you know, I got a degree in philosophy and religion, so I ran a college bookstore for 10 years like you do, you know? So I, I, I guess I had a couple of life experiences. I had a couple of friends that either died or had a, a close, you know, close family member die.And [00:16:00] through those interactions and those events, I think that kind of planted a seed. And when I decided against law school, it kind of occurred to me personally that I, you know, I would've been a good lawyer, wedding planner, the. Pastor, nurse Carpenter, like all of the different component skills that you kind of smoosh together to make a good funeral director.But once, once that occurred to me, and I was into my thirties, I was well into my thirties, it was like, duh. You know, and then I like ran the thought past a couple of people who know me, who know me best, and they were like, oh yeah, that absolutely makes sense. And then from there on out, it was, that was it.And I, I've been doing it full, full course ever since. And it's, and you're right, to me, it is a, it is a vocation, it is a calling. It's not something that you just do like, instead of, you know, getting your insurance license. Do you know what I mean? You don't just capriciously happen upon it. I don't think, I, I think the best funeral directors would be hard pressed to find happiness in any [00:17:00] other line of work, if that makes De'Vannon: sense.It makes perfect damn sense. But have you ever, have you ever thought about getting out of this career field since you've, oh, you Adrienne: always kind of have to have, I don't wanna say an exit strategy. But it is a, it is a quickly changing field, and so I'm a very opinionated, strident kind of person. And so far I have been able to afford my integrity throughout my career.But, you know, you have to be able to you know, you gotta keep working and you have to, you know, if, if there ever comes a time when you're not gonna be able to find an environment that you're comfortable working in, then you have to have an exit strategy. And it's also incredibly physically demanding.It's almost every embalmer I know has a bad back and a lot of 'em have cancer. So it just kind of comes with the territory. It's, it's, you know, it, it's constant exposure, not constant, but I mean, it's, it's plentiful exposure to some pretty nasty chemicals. And while there are [00:18:00] certain safeguards that we take, there's a certain amount of risk, you know that we, that we take De'Vannon: on.Well, that brings me to my next question I was gonna ask you about like pathogens and physical safety and things like that. I was thinking in terms of like coming in contact with blood or whatever that is, you know, whatever's in the body, but where the fuck are people getting cancer from? And it's, I mean, you say it's so casually as though, oh well another person.Not like you don't care, but like, it happens so damn much. What, but how, how, how can, how can cancer be that prevalent in your career field and people aren't getting sued or something? Do you have to sign like waivers or some shit or what? Adrienne: No, but it's, I guess it's just something that's understood specifically when we go through funeral school and we take chemistry classes and we know about, you know, we know about the dangers of formaldehyde.So there are chemicals that we use in this country that other countries don't allow cause of that, you know, [00:19:00] kind of from the protecting the practitioner kind of point of view, we don't really have those kind of. Protections. You know, I think and, and I mean, I, and honestly, I don't know many people in the industry that are like fighting for those protections necessarily either.So it's just kind of an accepted risk that we take, I guess. De'Vannon: Ne it works for y'all. Let it work. It works for me too. Adrienne: You gotta die somehow, you know what I mean? So the fact that that we have a little bit more exposure, you know, it's, I think it's that sometimes we're called the, the last first responders, but I think a lot of first responders have that.There's just a certain amount of risk that you have, you know, er nurses and you know, cops, firemen, you know, it's, it's service. We're doing service. I'm certainly, I don't wanna compare us to, to the, the real first responders, as it were, but it, it's a similar kind of, there is risk that is inherent to the job, [00:20:00] so we do what we can, but it's always gonna be there.De'Vannon: Everyone has their role to play firefighters or whatever, but having to do with somebody's last rights is a, is a high honor as old as time. It is, it's sacred. Adrienne: It's it's sacred. And that's kind of the joke I make is that you know, when most people talk about the world's oldest profession, hey, let's talk about something else.But in truth you know, funeral, you know, funeral, the, the job of caring for the dead has been around since time. Im memorium. So, so yeah, it is, it is. It's, it's, it's sacred. It really is. So it's, sometimes it's a, it's a lot of day-to-day stuff too. You know, it's a lot of bureaucracy and logistics and that kind of stuff.But when you really get down to the core of it, when we're interacting with families, when we're there, we're the first people that, you know, we're the first call. It, it is, it's a high honor. [00:21:00]De'Vannon: For the schooling, do you have to do continuing education courses every year? Adrienne: Yes. Most states. So there, like I said, Colorado for instance, there's not a license that's required to practice in Colorado.So I think in that case, there's not and certainly the rules are different in some states it's, you know, 24 hours in a year, 12 hours, and yada, yada, yada. But yes, there is absolutely continuing education and hopefully, you know, practitioners are excited about that in the sense that just the developments in science and, and the, the way that the chemicals that we use are evolving and there's always something more to learn.video1042642136: So. De'Vannon: Mm-hmm. How many funerals do you do a day, or what's the most you've done in a day? That's hard to Adrienne: answer because, so a funeral versus. Making funeral arrangements. So there are, I would say nowadays in most places, cremations, specifically direct cremations. So that's a, that's a cremation with no associated rights or [00:22:00] services.So it's, it's for the most part, a matter of paperwork so that a body may be cremated and then you return the herb to the family and that's it. So I think for the highest volume firm I was at, I think I was handling like 12 to 14 cases a week. Now, of those only maybe two or three would actually be, and would involve a church or like going somewhere or doing something or viewing the body or doing any of the associated rights.So and it's, it's different rates in different communities. So in Louisiana where I first got my license, there's a lot of Catholic. And Catholics have a lot of rights and rituals that are associated with, with death and with burials. So we had a lot of services there. So, but I've also worked in more kind of secular communities.I worked around, you know, in, in New Orleans when Covid hit, so there were a lot of services where there were no services. It was just, [00:23:00] it was just here for the deceased and thatDe'Vannon: was it. Right. And so she mentioned Louisiana. She used to live down here. She's up in Maine now. I am eating up on my damn lobster.Adrienne: That's a big ass crawfish up here, huh?De'Vannon: I like your style. I'm picking up what you're putting down baby. So so how many, what's the most amount of bodies you've embalmed in a day? I'm just trying to get a feel for like, in a Adrienne: day. Mm. Three, maybe four, but I'm not I'm, I'm a very good embalmer, but I don't consider the speed with which I embalm a body as a, as an indicator of how good I am at embalming.So there are some embalmers that are like, I can embalming 45 minutes or something like that. So, but to me that the timing of it doesn't reflect the quality of the embalming. So for the most part, you know, it takes, I'd say an hour [00:24:00] and a half, two hours. They could be a lot longer, they could be a lot more complicated.That it every, literally, everybody is unique. And so certain things you wanna, a one pointer would be the, the, the thing that the embalmer most efficiently is gonna go for. And that's where we only have one point of entry into the arterial system. But sometimes, you know, shit happens and you, you have to raise other sites.And so every time you have to raise a different site, that adds on time. video1042642136: So De'Vannon: do you remember the first body you ever mbed? Adrienne: I remember the first autopsy body that I encountered. No, I do actually, no, I do remember the, well, not the first body that I embalmed. I remember the first time that I saw an embalming.Okay. And it was at one school that had, essentially, they had the contract that they would care for all of the indigent populations. So if a [00:25:00] homeless person passed away, they would kind of cycle through the funeral school and then go be cremated. And so the very first embalming I saw was a little off-put to me because it was kind of like, you know, the teacher said Go and then you'd have like five students just like go at it and it.It felt very un sacred, I guess. And so I was like I don't, I don't know if I can do this, you guys. So, but then I went back and then I, the next embalming I saw was kind of a, a demonstration. So it was someone who was coming to, to show a specific skill. So it was one embalmer working on the body, and he was much more respectful.And I, and that, that kind of helped me feel settled a little bit, you know? So but yeah, so I do, I do remember that, and it is quite an adjustment as is, like I mentioned, the autopsy. The first time I saw, I walked in and saw an autopsy body, I would said to my classmate, if I pass out, I'm [00:26:00] not even embarrassed because this is horrifying.It's, it's really existentially distressing, you know, to see So, but power through it. And that's that's, I think the thing that helps people kind of get over that bump is, like I mentioned, kind of the craftsmanship of it. That we put people back together and so they, they, they leave look at a hell of a lot better than they did when they came in.So that's, that's the goal. And so that's part of, I think how, how we could deal with what we deal De'Vannon: with. So with an autopsy, are you like peeling the skin back and digging in there versus with embalming, you're like using more like tools to put stuff in? Adrienne: Yeah, so for an on autopsy body, personally, I try to be as minimally intrusive as possible.So yeah, so we would try, if I can, if I can raise one area and that is sufficient to accomplish what I need to accomplish with arterial embalming. Great. With autopsies, you don't [00:27:00] have a choice. It's already, it's already been decided for you that it's, it's gonna be a different process. So but yes, it's, it's very, they're, they're opened and then you do what you're doing with the arterial system and you treat everything and then close 'em back up.But. Yeah, it's a lot. De'Vannon: Talk to me about the paranormal activity. Cause so a person, you know, when they die, when their spirit depart, like is severed from the body, but when they're in your hands, they have not officially been laid to rest yet. And so they're kind of like in a, a waiting period, like their soul is at this time.So, yeah. Have you ever seen a spirit? Has anyone spoken to you? Adrienne: Yeah. So not every funeral director would they not, they don't all [00:28:00] believe in paranormal activity, so I've seen some shit though. So yeah, no, I've seen a, I've seen a couple of my favorite one, I was standing in the prep room. I know I was ironing a flag or something, I don't know.And I look over and there was a corkboard on the wall. And two pieces of paper, not on one, not on one tack, on two separate tacks, two pieces of paper out of nowhere, flew vertically and then fell down. And so it wasn't like a loose tack and then gingerly, you know, lifted down to the floor. No, this, well, I flew across the room and all I could do is say hello.I acknowledge that something is here and I hope that you're doing okay, and I'm just gonna do what I'm doing, and that's great. So but I, yeah, no I, I've, most of the places that I've worked, most of the people acknowledge at least a [00:29:00] little bit of funny business, you know at the first place, the place where I I, I did my apprenticeship, had a name, I forgot what they named.It was like Bessie or something, but like, it was so frequent that, that certain things would happen to. Clocks in the room and this and that and that they named her. So, or him, I don't know. I didn't ask the gender, but and I have actually, I've heard things before, which is a little off-putting. So, but you know, a lot of these funeral homes, they're very, very old buildings.So, and if they've been funeral homes for that long, then yeah, it's, it's not really De'Vannon: surprising. When you say you heard things, is it like a, a rattling noise, an auditory voice, Adrienne: or, I've heard auditory voices. I've heard my name when I was verifiably the only person on the floor or in the building to the extent that I [00:30:00] got up from what I was doing and kind of walked around like, hello, who's there?You know what I mean? So that's happened a couple of times. So, but not every place, surprisingly. So the place that I'm currently working out of I haven't really, I haven't really encountered anything. And even though I probably work with more of the, more, more of the kind of spooky oriented people in the field at my current location, it's not, no one's ever mentioned anything at this particular place.So that's, it's not, it's not just the funeral homes. I think it has, there's, there's more to it than that, at least. What am I to say? I De'Vannon: would say some, I would say such, you know, funeral homes and places that are like a congregation of the dead would prove to be some sort of a nexus point, you know? Yeah, no, Adrienne: and it's, different cultures have different ideas of it too.So in I just did a Cambodian Buddhist [00:31:00] funeral and that is a part of it. So there's a big part of it is the, the monks. Come and they do this beautiful chanting, and the idea is that they're chanting instructions at the spirit of the deceased to kind of talk them through what their next steps are.Like hang a left at the, at the star, you know what I mean? Or whatever it is. So, but they're, they're actually trying to help guide spirits that may may not know how to proceed forward. So, but, and, and I al I also have heard of funeral homes as kind of being a transition point. So I've heard a couple of, of good ghost stories wherein they invited whatever entity was bothering them at their own home.And they went and they were just like, come on buddy. And they went to a funeral home and kind of like an elevator to the sky kind of a thing. Like it's a, it's a place of transition, but also though it's the place of the place where the death actually happens, [00:32:00] and then the place where the bodies ultimately go.So, you know, graveyards and, and that kind of thing. De'Vannon: And I would imagine the, the newly dead or practicing becoming dead and, you know, and getting used to those new abilities and everything like that. And you're their perfect little Guinea pig. I call out your name too. If I'm, if I, if you're like working on my body, need no one else to talk to you, Adrian's here.Well, Adrienne: and that's, it's, you know, and there are some people that kind of lean into that. And so I've known people that go so far as to try to find out the deceased person's musical tastes. And so rather than playing what I wanna hear when I have them in the prep room, or if I'm driving them to the cemetery, that you'd play a little Johnny Cash or whatever it is that they were into, to, you know, let 'em, let 'em feel a little at home at least for their, their last little time.De'Vannon: Okay, now play me some Beyonce or [00:33:00] Madonna. Girl. Go ahead. On and tw while you are working on me. So do you, do you ever have any dreams that are related to your job or anything Adrienne: like that? Not like I used to when I was a waitress. I've had waitressing dreams where I'm, you know, pour coffee in the middle of the night or anything like that.So, no, actually, I guess thankfully, no, not too much. I'm pretty good at kind of shaking it off. Yeah, having and uh, separating. De'Vannon: Separating it com. Compartmentalizing Adrienne: com compart, I'm so great at it, you know what I mean? I had a difficult childhood, so it's one of my life skills. De'Vannon: I've worked in the service industry and I, I, and I still do I I would agree.Waiting tables is way more horrific probably than you. It is the dead body. At least the bitch can't talk back like the motherfucker Karens and shit. Adrienne: Oh, you'd be surprised. We get some, Karens, we get some, and rightfully so, you know what I mean? Like, and I don't, not to poke fun at families, but there are [00:34:00] families that behave.They, you know, I'd say misbehave not because of grief, but because of an inflated sense of entitlement. So I, we get those two, but yeah, not, not as traumatizing, I don't think is in the restaurant world, to my recollection. De'Vannon: What the fuck could Karen come into her funeral home? But like, what, what could she demand that Is she, is she asking for free shit?She reduced to shit what the Adrienne: person Sometimes, sometimes it is. I want to come. So, you know, cause if you Google a funeral home, they're gonna say 24 hours. And what that means is that if a death occurs at three o'clock in the morning, we will dutifully respond to you and bring your loved one into our care regardless of the hour.That does not mean that you can follow, you know, the van back to the funeral home to make arrangements at three o'clock in the morning. So there are people that, that try to, you know, just show up whenever, or demand to make [00:35:00] arrangements outside of our normal operating hours. Or they'll, d i we, I had recently had a family that was gobsmack that a Catholic priest wouldn't have a, a funeral mass on a Sunday.They don't do that. Okay. They don't do that for archbishops. They don't, that's not that, that's just not a normal practice. And just, you know, the, oh, my, my word. How could you not? You know what I mean? So, and, or scheduling services before ever talking to the funeral home and then being surprised that, you know, Oh, I scheduled this mask to happen two days from now.What do you mean you can't, what do you mean you have three other services that day or, you know, so that, that kind of stuff. And so partially more often than not, it's people not knowing they haven't made arrangements before. So they don't know. They think, you know, maybe they just have a wrong idea, but sometimes it is just straight up entitlement, so.De'Vannon: Hmm. So do you see like a psychiatrist or do you, are you kind of meditating? Do you do yoga? How do you, how do you keep yourself mentally and emotionally in check? [00:36:00]Adrienne: I am very purposeful about my time away from work, so there is a tendency I'm tempted to say, especially with the ladies. I've seen it, I think a, a little more frequently with my female colleagues than with my male of being, I don't know, I don't wanna say overinvested, but like, Unable to check out on days off, like micro not micromanaging or being involved in things instead of just trusting and passing it off to your colleagues on your off days.Cuz that's, you know, you can try as we might, we try to minimize any kind of duties, you know what I mean? If, if a if a brand new family comes in and needs services on my day 10, I'm most likely not gonna be the director that sits with him to make arrangements because I am almost assuredly going to be out, you know, a as those arrangements need to be made.So some funeral directors have trouble setting those boundaries between being at work and being available. [00:37:00] You know, so I'm pretty good about that. Setting boundaries. So on my off times, I'm off for the most part. So that's a big part of it. I am, I have a very supportive partner. Who, so I have some mutual accountability in my household, which helps.So if I have had a particularly nasty day and I wasn't able to kind of shake it off on my way home, you know, on my commute or something like that, that I have I, I have, you know, my husband that can kind of since that and give me an opportunity to talk about something if I need to, if I'm struggling with some, you know, some, and it's, I think as a surprise to you, it has less to do with any kind of the grossness of my job, more so than it does about the emo emotional turmoil that, that we deal with.You know, it's hard. I, I'm very empathetic and so it's difficult to [00:38:00] see people suffer and then have to just, you know I dunno, it, it's hard to see people suffer and not have a way to help them. And so in, in one sense of it, I think it's easier for me because instead of just seeing suffering and just being like, oh, I wish I knew what I could do, I actually do know what to do in some circumstances.And so it's not just passively seeing suffering happen. I see the same suffering that everyone else does, but I can actually step up and I can help out and I can hopefully bring a little bit of peace to some people, and that is rewarding in and of itself. So I think that kind of feeds pour into my cup, as it were.That's a, a metaphor we hear a lot is you can't pour from an empty cup. So I, I try to focus on ways to pour back into my cup and so thank you notes. I, if I, if I'm really down or if I'm really exhausted, I have my thank you notes for [00:39:00] my families and that means the world to me and that is just a reminder of why, you know, why I'm doing what I do.And that helps too. So and then also mood altering substances. So, and Bravo personally helps me a lot. So, De'Vannon: well, this is the sex, drugs and Jesus podcast. So put on the drugs right now, drugs, man. And everything's a fucking drug. Fucking coffee. The fucking drug. Yeah. So I, I heard you and you said you can't pour from an empty cup.I've heard it said before in another way where it says you can't give away what you don't have. Yeah. And so whatever is, you can't, if you nothing in the cup, you can't pour a shit out, but you also can't create things that are not there. So, like you said, you're empathetic, but you have em empathy to give.So that's very, very, very highly high, high vibrational of you. I heard you say that you had a [00:40:00] traumatic childhood. What, what happened? Well, Adrienne: not traumatic, but, you know, my parents were divorced. My dad wasn't around a whole lot. You know, we were, you know, mom writing hot check for groceries, stuff like that.So, And I've, I've also looked like a 34 year old woman since I was about eight. So I was like five 11 I think by the time I was in the fourth grade. So just, just a weird, awkward a childhood lacking of privilege, I'll put it that way. So not too mad. I know there's a lot of people who've had it worse, so De'Vannon: we've come to a point in this fucked up ass country where the things that you just said, Or just as common as rain.Yeah, absolutely. But that shit's fucked up. It's not supposed to be that way. Yeah. That, that's still quite dramatic. We're this, this, this country has got so used to trauma, but I guess that's true. You know, from shootings in schools and every, wherever, every fucking day or a couple times a day to [00:41:00] this, this is like, oh, well dude, this is what we do.We get divorced and we shoot people. How are you? Right, right. Yeah. Whatever. I'm getting me a fucking Mexico citizenship. Yeah. Adrienne: I, I, yeah. Well, take me with you. I don't know where we're going, but it sounds great. De'Vannon: So what about your to, to the gaze, obviously to the gaze. I really, really like the way the cartel runs their state.Yeah. Down there there's nothing but peace in the streets. And people just don't, there's you, don't you? There's no violence, there's no fentanyl in the damn narcotics that you don't have that foolishness in Mexico. Why the fuck can the cartel run a country better than politicians? Adrienne: That's a really good question.That's a really good De'Vannon: question. Because they don't lie. I mean, they don't have an agenda. If you fuck up, you like die or you just gonna be dealt with. And it's just, it is what it is. It is what it's exactly. [00:42:00]And so that's my love going out to all my helico people down there. Have you ever seen anybody in your profession who just could not deal?I'm talking about somebody who had made it through school and was already. In the profession, and then something happened and they were just like, I can't even, Adrienne: yeah. And I've seen people that were almost a good fit, but then in some very important ways discovered that they were not. So I think I think the pandemic was an incredibly difficult time for this pro profession.And I think that if you made it through that, then you probably are made of, of, of the tough stuff and, and you're gonna make it through throughout your career. But yeah, it's high pressure. It is incredibly it's incredibly difficult and a lot of times it's thankless and a lot of times it's back to back to back to back.And, and [00:43:00] that can be difficult if you don't kind of so you know, at a lot of firms, when you have a properly functioning team, you can kind of support one another. So for instance, if a funeral director has a death in the family, A lot of times it's a little hard to deal with other people's families when you're actively dealing with your own grief.You know? So in those kind of cases, a director might step back from the front of the house stuff and just do prep room kind of stuff. So, or I'm, I'm particularly skilled with more tragic kind of cases, or maybe not skilled, but I'm, I'm more willing to, you know, put me in there, coach for a lot, a lot of the more difficult cases that some, some folks shy away from.But I can't do those kind of cases back to back to back, so I might have to No, continue. I, I saw your quizzical eyebrows and so I'm, I'm waiting for your, for your De'Vannon: question. Um, What, can you give me an example of what a difficult case would [00:44:00] be versus a non difficult case? Adrienne: Well, you know, we're all gonna die and I think when you know, when grandma dies after three months of hospice care and everybody got to fly in and.See her and hold her hand. And you know, you have that time to at least intellectually prepare for a death or if it's a death, that's kind of an in order death. Those, I don't wanna say they're easy. I mean, you, the person who's burying their mom, it's gonna be difficult for them regardless. But those kind of deaths that are expected and kind of feel more natural versus you know a two year old who was shot or a 13 year old who hung himself or a murder, suicide or just the tragic kind of circumstances because the care that the families need or, or, or when there's a death in kids are there.So not, not physically present with the death, but I mean, like when someone, when a child loses a parent, something like [00:45:00] that, or a child loses a sibling, those kind of cases are. Just a lot more complex in what the families need from the funeral director. And so there's just more coming out of the cup as it were, you know than with some, some deaths that are natural.I don't know if natural is the right word, but I think you get my meaning. De'Vannon: Right. What's your what's your most gut wrenching memory? Like something that when you think about it, it justAdrienne: I had a couple of of, of tough cases. I had one, the last place I was working in Louisiana was during Covid. And one lady, God bless her, she lost six family members inside of six months. They weren't all covid but. Yeah, she, she basically lost everyone that she loved. And so like the, the, like the, the [00:46:00] fifth or sixth time when I answered the phone, hi Peter, this is Adrian.And I heard her voice. I literally was like, are you hitting me? I never wanted to talk to you again. And it made her just have a belly laugh. So I'm glad that you know, that I was the one to help her through that. But that was difficult. I mean, I had one where, ah, a kid killed himself. Poor dumb kid, you know?And I had to pooch his Boy Scout truth were the Paul bearers. And so trying to talk that Boy Scout, you know, these kids through what is certainly a foundational moment in their lives, you know, it's the first time they've lost anyone and it's a peer. And they're at this like hugely well attended funeral service and all eyes on, and they, and it's the first time they're having to step into that role.And so having to give them kind of the. Giving them the pep talk and, and you know, the eyebrow nods and the getting 'em through it. That part of that, that, that one [00:47:00] stuck with me. That was a, that was a difficult one. So there's a lot. I mean, it's really, I think part of the beauty of this job, as draining as it can be, is I get to see some of the most beautiful human moments that are, you know, I had one time I we were about to put the urn into the niche, into the, you know, the wall of the mausoleum and I don't know, I think he was like eight and it was his grandfather, but they were very, very close and it was a very tough loss for him and Right.You know, right at the end, this little kid, you know, I'm like, you know, ladies and gentlemen, this is concludes our services and blah, blah, blah. And this kid just gets up and he goes and he lays on the table and he hugs the irm. You know, and it was just this incredibly beautiful, poignant display, you know?[00:48:00] And as hard as that was to kind of navigate, I what an honor it is to just see that and, and to be able to help that kid process that, De'Vannon: thank God for the silver lining in these dark ass rain clouds. Now you've mentioned the pandemic a couple of times, and you know, when we were in the thick of it all over tv, you know, you saw like the the nurses, doctors, frontline workers, morticians or caregivers as well.So was there a lot of burnout? And is, is there anything you'd like the world, the world to know about your a how the covid effected y'all since it really didn't get a lot of media coverage? Well, Adrienne: it didn't, and I guess thanks for noticing that it didn't, so, because it, it did mean, not necessarily personally, but I've got some colleagues that were working in New York City at the height of the game.Oh lord gee. Yeah, I mean, and so when New York had, its like a heroes parade kind of [00:49:00] a thing, initially funeral directors were not included. And yeah, that was felt, that was felt by people, you know, because, you know just little old me in New Orleans, not New York, so we didn't have those kind of numbers.It was a hotspot city. It was bad. Wasn't that bad. But yeah, I mean, I know how many hours I was working a day and how many days, days on end that I quarantined myself from my family because I didn't want to bring home those germs. And so, you know, I was spending spending, you know, a week at a time.Away from them. So it's difficult not just because of the long hours and the hard work, but being separated from the emotional support of our families, you know, to keep them safe. That's incredibly difficult. And then to have everyone from, rightfully so, but everyone from, you know, the, the worker who shows up at Walgreens [00:50:00] and nurses and Uber drivers, rightfully so thanked and appreciated for showing up and for getting out there and for exposing themselves to risk so that they could serve their community in whatever the way that they do.But then not to have, not to have funeral directors included, kind of smarted a bit. So, but they did, I know at least with the, the first big one, the New York Heroes Parade or whatever, they did add funeral directors, but it was an afterthought, you know? But, but, and honestly, I think it's just kind of depressing.I think I, I don't think it was like an intentional slight like, ah, Stupid morticians. Nobody cares about this. It wasn't that, but it was, you know, how do we keep this hero's parade upbeat and like high five nurses, good job doctors, and great job, bringers of the Dead. You know what I mean? Like, it's, it's, it's, it's to acknowledge a mortician is to acknowledge death.And I think, you know, at certain points it just, it gets a little sticky. [00:51:00] But yeah. De'Vannon: Well, I, I, I love morticians and from my ww f Fandom Wrestling Days, you know the Pa Paul? Oh yeah. The Undertaker, the under the Paul Burrows, one of my fa everyone's fucking favorite character. He's coming there with that be toning his theme music and shit.That bitch was boss, so Yeah. I, I fucks with y'all. I fucks with it. Adrienne: We're fun at parties. I'll tell you what. So that's, that was my joke is you know, I'm my, I have a degree in religion. I was very politically active back in, back in my day, and I'm a mortician, so, you know, I'm fun at dinner parties.Right. So I, I bring all the good hot topics. De'Vannon: What, what kind of reactions do you get from people when, when you tell them what you do? Dinner parties or wherever? Adrienne: I've gotten some, I've gotten, so I lived, I was in Miami when I first started funeral school. I lived in Miami. And I was the, one of the two little [00:52:00] moments of my life where I was kind of a stay-at-home mom.So my daughter was started school in Miami. It's her first time at this school. And so I was doing like, you know, p t a kind of crap and selling pencils and doing whatever. And I had this like p t a buddy lady I don't remember her name or anything, but anytime we had a little activity, she was my buddy and we'd, you know, hang out.And then in talking, when I said that I was gonna start funeral school, She never made eye contact with me again. So for some people there's a really serious kind of taboo about it and people like literally avert their eyes sometimes. So that's kind of interesting. But for the most part people are just, I, I think either shocked because you don't meet many morticians and or shocked because I'm a lady mortician.And so I think it's, that's surprising to them too. And so a lot of times they kind of assume that I'm just, just a funeral director, [00:53:00] not to minimize people that are solely funeral directors, but they assume that I'm just a funeral director and that of course, I'm not an embalmer. No. You know, so that's interesting seeing people's reaction in that way, but for the most part, people are just curious.And I have gotten some very interesting questions from people, you know. De'Vannon: Y'all running from the mortician or averting your eyes, like what Adrian is saying is not gonna help you to cheat death. Adrienne: It's true. It's like they think I'm jinxing them. Yeah. So De'Vannon: We better get a grip on ourselves and get, and get with the program.You know, like, like when King David from the, from the, from the Bible got ready to die, he said, you know, I go the way of all the earth. Mm-hmm. You know, if you wanna believe you're coming back as a butterfly or a stingray or whatever, okay, that's on you. But either way, you gotta die before you can be reincarnated if that's what you believe is going to happen.So you cannot run from death. And the, the thing [00:54:00] that intrigues me the most, or intrigues me or extends out to me the most about death is something that my my spiritual mother evangelist Nelson would tell me when she was a alive. And, you know, she was like, it is no old people don't die as much as young people.You know? And I thought about it, I was like, I've been to a lot of funerals in my life, but maybe five of those were old people. Most of them have been people like in between like 20 and 40. Wow. You know, so, so no, we, we, we, we, we won't be running from death and don't be, don't be stupid and think just because you're young that you're guaranteed to live to get old.So get a grip on it. Get your spiritual life in order, because eventually you will be laying down on a table in front of Adrian someone. Well, yeah, Adrienne: and it's, and it's, I, some, I, I don't know. I guess I have my personal belief [00:55:00]system. I e everything's gonna be okay. It's either nothing or. Everything's fine.You know what I mean? I, I believe in a benevolence underneath underlying the universe. And so I'm not afraid of whatever's in the next room, so to speak. You know what I mean? But there are people that are just, that are deeply, deeply fearful of it. And it's sad. It just, and, and so you're right. So the kind of reaction is not to kind of process and reflect on that, but rather to completely avoid it.And, but that's not how this works, you know? Avoiding it, pretending it doesn't exist. It doesn't help. De'Vannon: Yeah. You don't want everything about how you live in this life affects your afterlife. The, the dead people I know, they still speak to me like in dreams and stuff like that. That's why I don't believe in reincarnation, because they are still spirits.So they couldn't be a giraffe and still hear in spirit talking to me. And so [00:56:00] you don't wanna part this plane of existence like. Like in any kind of like spliced way. Like you don't wanna like be feeling like you're being ripped. You need to be, you need to be at a point where you're ready to let it go because you don't want Absolutely.You don't wanna wrecked afterlife one thing that taught me this when I was in middle sch in high school now as a teenager, and I woke up dying in the middle of the night. I had like a strange heart rhythm. You know, it happens in teens sometimes. Yeah. It just does. And I woke up and I couldn't breathe.Like, I couldn't catch my breath. I'm not asthmatic it, I've never have been. It wasn't that, it wasn't an episode, it was like, and as this was happening in this dream state or whatever, I was in, it's like I was looking down this tunnel at the reception hall at the church that I was attending, but it was like, it was the, the person that I saw was someone who was dead already, and I [00:57:00] didn't recognize the other people.So it was almost like it was a flipped. A version of a reality and it almost looked like the dead people were still doing the same stuff that they used to do when they were alive. And as my breath was escaping me, it's like I saw them and I remember just really, really, really wanting more time. Cause I was like, somewhere between 15 and 16, you know, I was like, you know, I really wanted more time and I just could not breathe.I couldn't force myself to breathe. The air was just leaving and none was coming back in. And I just like passed out or whatever. And then I woke up, you know, the Lord wasn't ready for me to die. But what I remembered is that I wasn't ready to go. And I hated that sense of not being prepared. Adrienne: Well, no, and that's back in the old days, people used to carry like little do dads and jewelry pieces that would say, memento mori, remember you must die.You know, it's, it's the fact that we know that this is a [00:58:00] terminable date. That this life is not forever makes us value what we have right now. And I think that when you have that kind of experience, that it really, it makes you confront and be purposeful about, about where you are now because you have that undeniable experience of knowing that it's not forever.You know?De'Vannon: And I know, I know we're slightly over time. Can, can you gimme another Oh, I don't care. I'll talk to Adrienne: you all night. I'm fine. I ain't doing shit De'Vannon: today. Thank you. I appreciate it. There's a, there's a couple of more points that I really, really, really, really, really a need to make. Let's talk about life insurance for a second here.Okay. But my aunt kicked the bucket a couple of years ago. This shit, okay? She was one of those ones who liked to go spend a per check at the riverboat casino. Every, every month. I'm not judging her for that. We had plenty of good times at Casino. She was also one of those ones who [00:59:00] believed that the rapture would happen and that, that she therefore did not need life insurance.Well, she died and she didn't have any life insurance, and then she didn't have any savings because it was all up at the casino. Because she was always gonna strike it rich. Okay? On average, at least down here in Louisiana, I don't know what it is, everywhere else, you're looking at about 10 ish grand.Okay. To, to put a bitch in the ground if they're not a veteran, a beast, you know? So if you die and you don't have no money, then that burden then falls to your loved ones to either, I guess, just discard you and leave you in the morgue. Down here you'll see people having car washes and bake sales and shit, trying to hustle money to pay for a funeral.And these are not necessarily like, I mean, my mean, my aunt was like an older person. I think she was in like her sixties, seventies. Okay. Right, right. Like a 15 year old kid who just happened to, you know. Yeah. It's not a surprise Adrienne: that you know, [01:00:00] that you might die someday days or relatively soon, you know?Yeah, no, it happens. It happens all the time. And different, different places. So what's the question? So what do you do? Like, De'Vannon: I'm, I'm stressing the fact that this sort of thing can tear families down in a Oh, absolutely. Because my, a sibling that I no longer talked to attacked me because in their opinion, all three of a siblings were supposed to come up with like $2,500 or something like that.I told my mom to burn her sister up and cremate her. You don't have no money, you don't have no options. But my, but my mom didn't wanna do that, and so I was like, okay. Then I will figure out what I'm gonna donate and then we'll just do the funeral. But I'm giving you the side eye cuz I don't agree, but I'm still gonna help you, my mother.But the sibling of mine decided that they were going to come up with the money. [01:01:00] This person's always been controlling and I think probably a little narcissistic too, if not much. And so they decided to insult me and call me like entitled and everything. Cuz I said, I'm not paying 2,500 or 2,800.Let me see what I could come up with. And then they went and drudged up, you know, over, you know, years ago when I was homeless in Houston, when I got h i right and, you know, hepatitis and all of that. And were saying like, you owe this to our parents and they helped you and everything like that. I was like, no, no, they're not doing that now.It's not the time for you to bring up my history and then use it as a weapon to demonize me because you cannot control me. But. Her not having life insurance is what made the breeding ground for this. Now, this sibling of mine should have been come to me if they had some beef about what I went through.Right, right. Adrienne: And not, not wait for this terrible loss in your family to then also bring that up. How ridiculous is that? But it happens all the time. And I [01:02:00] think it's because it's, it's easier to fight with your siblings than it is to grieve a loss a lot of times. So, but you're absolutely right. Not every state life insurance isn't part of pre-planning in every state, which I didn't really know.So in Louisiana, yeah, if you wanna pre-plan, most of the time you, you sit down, you figure out what services you want, how much they cost, and then you essentially buy a, a, a, a, an insurance policy to fund it. Not every state does that. So it would, Maine, they have mortuary trusts and you specifically cannot have you can't sell life insurance for the purposes of funerals.But the point, the point, the underlying point being, We're all going to die. And a lot of people kind of make some assumptions about what's gonna happen or what the contingencies are, and oh, don't worry about me, just donate me to science. That's not how that works. So in most places, you have to be on a donor registry 30 to 60 days before death, and you're still not [01:03:00] guaranteed for acceptance.If they're all filled up with, you know, 67 year old chubby white ladies that day, then your body's not gonna be donated and someone's gonna have to pay for your funeral. Now, some states you know, some places the coroner will step up or there there's indigent funding or something like that. Like the city will pay X amount of dollars for cremation and y amount of dollars for burial, that kind of stuff.So sometimes there are some kind of safeguards, but not all the time and not every municipality. So there were some parishes in Louisiana. If you had a living blood relation who had a penny to their name, you were not going to be paid for your, you know, indigent funeral stuff was not gonna come into play.The coroner was simply not gonna approve that. So it is wise to, on some level, have some kind of preparation, whether or not that's a life insurance policy, an [01:04:00] emergency savings fund, or something like that. I think to your point, too, expressing what it is that you want or would want or absolutely don't want.So at some point I never knew, but my mom, she was like, please don't cremate me. That idea horrifies me. Okay. Dooly noted. You know what I mean? So, funding not withstanding, I, I know what she wants to do. So there's not, because families, a lot of times there's, there's, there is contention about what to do and the fact that sometimes families are limited by what, what funds they have available, you know, so yeah, aside from pre-planning, just giving yourself and your family members the grace to, you know, maybe grandma would've wanted a, you know, a copper basket and a most beautiful spot in the cemetery, but if you've only, you're only able to muster a couple of thousand dollars, then that's not gonna happen.And so let's, let's give ourselves permission to just do [01:05:00] what needs to be done and, you know offer ourselves some grace and forgiveness and it not being what we wish we could do, you know? But yeah, family, family, family's fighting all, all the time. Not just about financial stuff, but it, it becomes, I, I literally had one time, two sisters, dad died, his two sisters left, and at some point, the arrangement conference, I don't know what made her mad, but she looked over at her sister and she said, I don't even know why you're here making these arrangements.Daddy never even loved you. So, okay, let's take a step back ladies. Let's maybe take a deep breath and acknowledge that we're going through some difficult things right now, and maybe not try to rectify the entire history of your difficult sibling relationship right now. You know what I mean? So yeah, yeah.We, we see that girl. De'Vannon: Y'all get life [01:06:00] insurance. I don'

The fallout from last week's Miami Carnival is the craziest EVER! Bands are getting sued. While I did not attend, I had peeps that did. #miamicarnival2021 #ashsaidit

The fallout from last week's Miami Carnival is the craziest EVER! Bands are getting sued. While I did not attend, I had peeps that did. #miamicarnival2021 #ashsaidit

Real Estate Investing is the Game. And today we are going to talk about coaching. Hello America! We don't encourage you to drop what you are doing and start flipping houses like you do on TV, but we do encourage everyone to consider real estate as a part of a balanced investment portfolio. And to that end, we intend to bring you the very best news and information, statistics, demographics, how-tos, methods, techniques and strategies, along with inspirational stories and people. All of this will help you make the best, most-informed decision about your own personal involvement in real estate.  Today we are going to talk about getting into the game of real estate and you are going to hear Starr's amazing and nightmarish experience with a real estate coach.  How to contact us www.RogerBlankenship.com. Leave a voicemail right from the home page! Facebook.com/flippingamericamedia Twitter and Instagram @FlippingAmerica Call our National Comment Line: 877-55-ROGER (877-557-6437)   ext 1. Leave your message or your question.  Sponsors American IRA: www.americanIRA.com Flipping America Funding : Get the money you need for your business, for your training, for infrastructure, and for your projects. Flipping America Funding is your one-stop shop for all of your business funding needs. FlippingAmericaFunding.com.   Legal Shield Announcements: Flipping America Funding is live! Monday May 16th.  Topic:   The Top Ten Ways to Know Your Real Estate Seminar is Actually a Con: The “nationally known” guru is not in attendance.  Whose experience is being taught?  Who has the experience to be able to credibly answer audience questions? What is the actual experience of the presenter and can it be verified? Where is their headquarters? Who is the person or persons behind this company? Someone did the work to gain the experience to teach. This can be taught from a curriculum and a powerpoint, but the most polished professional who is also inexperienced cannot truly serve a real estate audience.  The name of the company behind the event is vague, not mentioned, or purposely mis-leading.  Does he or she provide addresses of actual properties flipped? The Presenter's real estate credentials cannot be easily verified.  The Presenter does this presentation more than once a month. If they travel and do this presentation more than once a month there is NO possible way they are actively fixing and flipping houses.  Early in the presentation (usually within the first two hours), they will have you fill out a worksheet with all of your assets as possible funding sources. Available credit card spending, 401k balance, cash value of insurance policies, etc. Later they will use this information to prove to you that you actually can afford their 20-50k in training.  They take time to teach you how to call your credit card providers and ask for an increase in your limit. The really sneaky ones will put you in a group, challenge everyone to do it, bring you back and see if you collectively came up with an amount that would buy a house.  Results - lifestyle. Financial freedom Education of children - college Legacy  They make lots of promises to you. And they will seem great! They have an emotional story of their own financial distress and real estate saved the day. They will not let you take photos of the screens or record the event.  They want to sell you another more expensive course. Free - Low Cost - High Cost - Upgrade. Ways to check ahead of time: Check the name of the company. Look at their website. See what they emphasize.  Google the name of the company followed by the word “reviews.” This may not be helpful, but it can be. One company I researched had over 1000 hits on a website called “Ripoff Report.” Anyone can say anything there and not all of it should be believed. But 1000 reports? Ask in online forums - Bigger Pockets, Connected Investors, Facebook Groups, Google Plus Groups etc. What have you heard about …? At the event, get the presenter's full name. Find out where he/she is from. Note as many property addresses as you can during the event. Check those addresses online for ownership and transfers of ownership. Look for an entity that owned the property for 4-6 months in the past two years. Later on, if you get a chance to speak with the presenter, casually drop the name of the entity you found and see if you get a glimmer of recognition. If you're convinced they are lying, just for fun, make up an entity name (or use your own if you have one) and ask them if that was the entity that bought 123 Main St (or whatever). See if they say yes.  Qualities of a good coach Experience Character Longevity Communication / teaching skill Understanding of different learning styles Characteristics of a good coaching program Personal contact Flexibility Personalization Mix of content and activity Price is reasonable Program is valuable What you will learn is shared in advance. There is no mystery about what happens next.  Questions from Listeners: From RILA Motivational Quote: “If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” Henry Ford  

Is Meet Kevin Online courses worth it or not?   Watch the full video here - https://youtu.be/NQol7EhOSZQ

I've been getting a lot of questions about how to get started as a real estate investor. Today I'm going to talk about how to do that. There is a wealth of free information available to you if you have internet access. Google “learn how to flip houses” or “learn real estate investing” and you'll get hundreds of thousands of results instantly. You can do the same searches on YouTube and get similar results. Information is not the problem. Helpful, actionable step by step information is a little harder to find. The toughest part about this is how to know what is hype and what is good info. We are going to sort that out for you today. How to contact us Follow Starr @realestateislifeatlanta on IG and Facebook www.RogerBlankenship.com. Leave a voicemail right from the home page! Facebook.com/flippingamericamedia Twitter and Instagram @FlippingAmerica Call our National Comment Line: 877-55-ROGER (877-557-6437)   ext 1. Leave your message or your question.  Email your questions to questions@flippingamerica.net. Please always tell us where you are from. We like to know where the show is being heard. And let us know how you found out about us if you don't mind.  Sponsors American IRA: www.americanIRA.com Flipping America Funding : Get the money you need for your business, for your training, for infrastructure, and for your projects. Flipping America Funding is your one-stop shop for all of your business funding needs. FlippingAmericaFunding.com.  Real Estate Investing Quick Start. Announcements: The Buyers Club is open for new members for a limited time. I have a new video on our YouTube channel about the Buyers Club. As long as that video is up, we are accepting new members. When we reach capacity we will take it back down. Just go to YouTube and search Flipping America. You will see we are posting content that is both useful and a little bit fun. While you are there please subscribe and hit the notification bell so you will know whenever we upload new content.  Questions from Listeners: Starr's Questions from RILA: I understand that realtors sell your property...however, what should you look for when picking the right real estate agent?  Hey Roger, I am looking into investing...Is buying a condo a good investment?  I am looking for a management company for my properties...What is the going price for  property management and what should I look for when choosing the right one? Hey Roger, I am just getting into the investment game...would you advise in using hard money loans for first time investors? Content:  How to spot a fake guru. Emphasis on luxurious lifestyle. The B.S. artists feature the imagined lifestyle of the rich in their TV ads, come-on speeches, and “how-to” materials. They also accessorize themselves with flash, like ostentatious jewelry and rented limousines or rented private jets. Subjective self description. The “about-the-authors” of the gurus I respect are generally written in Jack Webb style: “Just the facts, Ma'am.”  B.S. artists tend to have book jacket or ad copy which describes them as the “leading real estate expert in the United States today” or the “Number One, most-sought-after...” Their bios are full of baseless, subjective adjectives and nouns, like “innovative...... famous, spectacularly successful,” “authority,” etc. B.S. artists often use photographs or videotape of themselves hanging around executive jets, limos, yachts, mansions, five-star hotels, exotic resorts, or expensive cars to imply that they have achieved great financial success. No pitfalls or corrections. There are dangers in everything. But you rarely read about danger in a book by a real estate B.S. artist—or hear about it in one of his CDs or TV infomercials. Everybody makes mistakes. But you rarely read about a guru's mistake or see a correction in a B.S. artist's newsletter. The B.S. artists are self-proclaimedly big on being “positive.” And one of the things they're positive about is that the dream world they depict will not be marred by unpleasant reality. It's better for you to learn from the mistakes of others than to reinvent the wheel and lose your money in the process. On the other hand, worthwhile gurus are as likely to write about mistakes made (often by the guru himself/herself) and dangers overlooked as about spectacular profits achieved. And all ethical periodicals writers run corrections when they make a mistake.  No bad news. In addition to teaching techniques, real-estate investment gurus have to respond to news like court decisions, legislation, economic trends, and so forth. Of course, some of the news is bad. But the B.S. artists invariably respond to bad news in Pollyanna fashion. They always see “opportunity.” The closest they come to acknowledging the unhappy truth is to describe a situation as a “challenge.” B.S. artists don't acknowledge bad news is that they simply cannot shut off their slinging mechanism. They are B.S. kinda guys. There's nothing wrong with looking for opportunity in ostensibly bad situations. Many of my shows have done just that. You only become a B.S. artist when you look for it, can't find it, but claim it's there anyway. Universally-applicable techniques. The various techniques one can use in real estate investment are like mechanic's tools. The one you use depends on the situation and your goal. Just as no tool is appropriate for every mechanical job, neither is any real-estate-investment technique appropriate for every situation. Each has advantages and disadvantages and most are only useful in a narrow range of circumstances. The B.S. artists trot out one obscure technique after another in an effort to impress the customer with all the “new” material they are getting. But rarely is a word spoken about when the technique is appropriate. The reader or listener is left with the impression that the technique is appropriate for any and all acquisitions. Emphasis on motivational material. Every successful person I know has benefited from motivational books like The Power of Positive Thinking. Many of us have had life experiences like emotional high-school football pep talks which gave dramatic evidence of the power of focused motivation. I would not diminish the role of motivation in success in real estate or any other field. However, motivational material ought to be packaged as such. When books or CDs are described as containing how-to information on real-estate investment, they ought to contain little or no motivational material. The protest that the customer “needs” to be motivated is beside the point. It is dishonest to promise how-to information, then deliver a bunch of “You-can-do-it” platitudes instead. The motivational business, like patriotism in Samuel Johnson's memorable phrase, is one of the last refuges of scoundrels. Although there are many who approach the field of motivation with rigorous scientific discipline, there are more for whom the motivation business is merely a con —a chance to sell yet another cure-all “elixir” without having to get FDA approval.  Claim to do lots of deals. Virtually all the B.S. artists say, “I don't just teach these techniques. I use them every day in my own investment program.” Baloney. There aren't enough hours in the day. Gurus get the same 24-hour days as you. Being an expert takes time. We have to read many trade journals, loose-leaf services, and books to keep up to date. We have to spend hours on the phone interviewing sources for articles and books —and hours in the library researching legal cases and other relevant facts. As experts, gurus get interviewed by the media on the phone and in radio and TV studios and they make speeches to investors. Finally, we have to manage the guru business itself. That means designing brochures, responding to customer-service problems, checking proofs from the printer, indexing books, negotiating with printers and recording studios, going over the income and expenses of the guru business, and so forth. Obviously, we do not, after all that, have as much time as non-gurus do for investing. But in the financial guru business, the question, “Are you using these techniques yourself or just teaching them?” is ubiquitous. And any answer but, “Oh, yes,” seems devastating to the credibility of the guru. In fact, real-estate gurus (other than those who just dabble in guruing) who do a deal a month or more are extremely rare. Or they are buying garbage properties by the dozen—with little or no analysis or due diligence—mainly so that they can claim they do lots of deals and be technically accurate. High prices. Legit real estate books cost about $20 to $80 depending on whether they sell in book stores or only by mail. Mail-only books cost more because fewer are sold, press runs are shorter, and printing and handling costs per unit are higher. Legit real-estate seminars cost up to $500 per day. B.S. artists charge hundreds for their books and thousands for their “boot camps,” “training,” and “mentoring” services.  The Top Ten Ways to Know Your Real Estate Seminar is Actually a Con: The “nationally known” guru is not in attendance.  Whose experience is being taught?  Who has the experience to be able to credibly answer audience questions? What is the actual experience of the presenter and can it be verified? Where is their headquarters? Who is the person or persons behind this company? Someone did the work to gain the experience to teach. This can be taught from a curriculum and a powerpoint, but the most polished professional who is also inexperienced cannot truly serve a real estate audience.  The name of the company behind the event is vague, not mentioned, or purposely mis-leading.  Does he or she provide addresses of actual properties flipped? The Presenter's real estate credentials cannot be easily verified.  The Presenter does this presentation more than once a month. If they travel and do this presentation more than once a month there is NO possible way they are actively fixing and flipping houses.  Early in the presentation (usually within the first two hours), they will have you fill out a worksheet with all of your assets as possible funding sources. Available credit card spending, 401k balance, cash value of insurance policies, etc. Later they will use this information to prove to you that you actually can afford their 20-50k in training.  They take time to teach you how to call your credit card providers and ask for an increase in your limit. The really sneaky ones will put you in a group, challenge everyone to do it, bring you back and see if you collectively came up with an amount that would buy a house.  Results - lifestyle. Financial freedom Education of children - college Legacy  They make lots of promises to you. And they will seem great! They have an emotional story of their own financial distress and real estate saved the day. They will not let you take photos of the screens or record the event.  They want to sell you another more expensive course. Free - Low Cost - High Cost - Upgrade. Ways to check ahead of time: Check the name of the company. Look at their website. See what they emphasize.  Google the name of the company followed by the word “reviews.” This may not be helpful, but it can be. One company I researched had over 1000 hits on a website called “Ripoff Report.” Anyone can say anything there and not all of it should be believed. But 1000 reports? Ask in online forums - Bigger Pockets, Connected Investors, Facebook Groups,  etc. What have you heard about …? At the event, get the presenter's full name. Find out where he/she is from. Note as many property addresses as you can during the event. Check those addresses online for ownership and transfers of ownership. Look for an entity that owned the property for 4-6 months in the past two years. Later on, if you get a chance to speak with the presenter, casually drop the name of the entity you found and see if you get a glimmer of recognition. If you're convinced they are lying, just for fun, make up an entity name (or use your own if you have one) and ask them if that was the entity that bought 123 Main St (or whatever). See if they say yes.  What is “good, actionable information?” Begin with an honest and trustworthy information broker. Verify with multiple honest sources. Dip a toe in. Trust further. What is hype? Loud excited, lots of exclamation points.  Preys on your fears Motivational Quote: “You can't plan for everything or you never get started in the first place.” ― Jim Butcher “Start before you're ready.” ― Steven Pressfield “You don't have to be good to start ... you just have to start to be good!” ― Joe Sabah “A little action often spurs a lot of momentum.” ― Noah Scalin “The secrets of success are getting started and being persistent.” ― Debasish Mridha “Don't let perfectionism become an excuse for never getting started.” ― Marilu Henner “To Begin, Begin”  - Roger Blankenship

The number one question we get is “how do I get started in real estate investing?” Here is the answer I give everyone: Get information Get a coach Get going Today I’m going to talk to you about how to select and hire a coach. Plus, coming up in a few minutes in our annual “Best-of” series, I’m going to share with you the best places this year to invest in multi-family. I’ve done the research, I’ll link some articles, and then you will know.  How to contact us www.RogerBlankenship.com. Leave a voicemail right from the home page! Facebook.com/flippingamericamedia Twitter and Instagram @FlippingAmerica Call our National Comment Line: 877-55-ROGER (877-557-6437)   ext 1. Leave your message or your question.  Email your questions to questions@rogerblankenship.com. Please always tell us where you are from. We like to know where the show is being heard. And let us know how you found out about us if you don’t mind.  Sponsors American IRA: www.americanIRA.com The Flipping America Buyers Club bit.ly/flippingamericabuyersclub Announcements: We’re kicking off a new round of coaching in January. In six months I will tell you everything you need to know about real estate and real estate investing to set you on the path to financial freedom and generational wealth. My coaching program starts with a one-on-one interview with you and based on the person you are and your life situation, we develop and agree on a real estate strategy that fits you. You then have access to a series of online training courses to provide content and context. And nearly every Wednesday evening there is a group coaching call. Whether you want to own income properties, flip houses, or invest passively, we have a proven plan that’s right for you. Go to bit.ly/sixmonthcoaching and sign up today.  News: Best Places to Own Multi-family CBRE weighs in on the multi-family markets nationwide. Consider secondary markets. https://www.cbre.us/research-and-reports/2020-US-Real-Estate-Market-Outlook-Multifamily#:~:text=CBRE%20Research's%20top%20four%20markets,households%2C%20employment%20and%20multifamily%20demand. Trier Capital has thoughts on multi-family (and is looking for accredited investors!) https://www.cbre.us/research-and-reports/2020-US-Real-Estate-Market-Outlook-Multifamily#:~:text=CBRE%20Research's%20top%20four%20markets,households%2C%20employment%20and%20multifamily%20demand. Globe St. says multi-family investors should look to these cities and avoid THIS one. https://www.globest.com/2020/09/03/here-are-the-markets-where-multifamily-investors-are-buying/?slreturn=20201122144848 Mashvisor has a different take. And a quick read on five reasons why you should be in multi-family. https://www.mashvisor.com/blog/multi-family-homes-best-cash-flow-investments/ Topic: Hire a Coach Topic: The Top Ten Ways to Know Your Real Estate Seminar is Actually a Con: The “nationally known” guru is not in attendance.  Whose experience is being taught?  Who has the experience to be able to credibly answer audience questions? What is the actual experience of the presenter and can it be verified? Where is their headquarters? Who is the person or persons behind this company? Someone did the work to gain the experience to teach. This can be taught from a curriculum and a powerpoint, but the most polished professional who is also inexperienced cannot truly serve a real estate audience.  The name of the company behind the event is vague, not mentioned, or purposely mis-leading.  Does he or she provide addresses of actual properties flipped? The Presenter’s real estate credentials cannot be easily verified.  The Presenter does this presentation more than once a month. If they travel and do this presentation more than once a month there is NO possible way they are actively fixing and flipping houses.  Early in the presentation (usually within the first two hours), they will have you fill out a worksheet with all of your assets as possible funding sources. Available credit card spending, 401k balance, cash value of insurance policies, etc. Later they will use this information to prove to you that you actually can afford their 20-50k in training.  They take time to teach you how to call your credit card providers and ask for an increase in your limit. The really sneaky ones will put you in a group, challenge everyone to do it, bring you back and see if you collectively came up with an amount that would buy a house.  Results - lifestyle. Financial freedom Education of children - college Legacy  They make lots of promises to you. And they will seem great! They have an emotional story of their own financial distress and real estate saved the day. They will not let you take photos of the screens or record the event.  They want to sell you another more expensive course. Free - Low Cost - High Cost - Upgrade. Ways to check ahead of time: Check the name of the company. Look at their website. See what they emphasize.  Google the name of the company followed by the word “reviews.” This may not be helpful, but it can be. One company I researched had over 1000 hits on a website called “Ripoff Report.” Anyone can say anything there and not all of it should be believed. But 1000 reports? Ask in online forums - Bigger Pockets, Connected Investors, Facebook Groups, Google Plus Groups etc. What have you heard about …? At the event, get the presenter’s full name. Find out where he/she is from. Note as many property addresses as you can during the event. Check those addresses online for ownership and transfers of ownership. Look for an entity that owned the property for 4-6 months in the past two years. Later on, if you get a chance to speak with the presenter, casually drop the name of the entity you found and see if you get a glimmer of recognition. If you’re convinced they are lying, just for fun, make up an entity name (or use your own if you have one) and ask them if that was the entity that bought 123 Main St (or whatever). See if they say yes.  Qualities of a good coach Experience Character Longevity Communication / teaching skill Understanding of different learning styles Characteristics of a good coaching program Personal contact Flexibility Personalization Mix of content and activity Price is reasonable Program is valuable What you will learn is shared in advance. There is no mystery about what happens next.  Motivational Quote: “Earn a lot so you can have a lot so you can give a lot.” -Tom Olson

To start the 152nd episode of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable Podcast, Dave and I talk about a new threat to fast charging devices. The BadPower attack, sees firmware of fast charging devices altered in a manner that literally fries the devices using it. From there, we head into the legal end of the hacking of Ripoff Report. This also looks at the pending legal issues that the hacker faces in the States. The third story of the pod jumps into the cyber-world where China is proposing some changes for the Internet. We then sit down with Maria Namestnikova of our Global Research and Analysis team (GReAT) to discuss parenting in Covid times and things that families can do to stay engaged with everything remote. To close out the podcast, we stick to the family theme by taking a look at a new guide from Lego on tips for kids to stay safe online.

On today’s show we have Pierre Zarokian, Founder of Submit Express and veteran search marketer. We get into SEO, reputation management, how the SEM industry has changed, and more!  More on Pierre: Website – Twitter – LinkedIn Reputation management is 10X SEO. Pierre Zarokian Show Highlights We asked Pierre the following questions: How did you...

You can remove Ripoff Report permanently from Google while using the SEO & ORM Services. Star Welkin Solutions provide the guidance to eliminates these reports.

Legal battle continues in Results Property Management case A lawyer for Results Property Management has filed a motion to continue trial, and requesting sanctions in response to a motion filed by the plaintiff’s attorney to have him disqualified from the case. As reported Nov. 30, an ongoing legal battle between Jason Hartman and Results Property Management principals Ken Logan and Quentin Kearney continues with Hartman’s attorney calling for the disqualification of the attorney for Results Property Management. In a November 13 filing, Hartman’s attorney, Kenneth Caldwell, asked the court to disqualify defendants’ co-counsel David Zeiler due to “extraordinary circumstances.” For many years, Hartman had been represented by Lee Hardee III of Kansas City, Missouri, but the case took a bizarre turn in early August when Hardee was forced to recuse himself from the case when he was notified — while arguing in court on the same case — that Ken Logan and Quentin Kearney were suing him for abuse of process. The pair are represented by Zeiler and Michael Hughes. Hardee, who suffers from hypertension, was subsequently taken  to the hospital and admitted, reportedly due to stress. Due to a conflict-of-interest, Hardee had to file a motion to withdraw from the case, leaving Hartman without counsel just hours before the trial was scheduled to begin. Hartman’s new lawyer filed a motion seeking to disqualify Zeiler. In Hughes’ Nov. 19 motion, he states, “The Motion to Disqualify Counsel also misses the mark on the law. Plaintiff’s counsel must be confused in which case he is filing the instant motion. He appears to be arguing that counsel should be disqualified in the Hardee Lawsuit when discussing the standard for disqualification under the “necessary witness rule.” Nowhere does the plaintiff’s counsel suggest that either of defendants’ counsel are necessary witnesses in the instant case.” It continues, “Additionally, Plaintiff’s counsel offers no Missouri law to support his proposition that disqualification of counsel is an appropriate remedy due to Mr. Hardee’s withdrawal from this action.” Hughes further states, “The other reasons that plaintiff’s counsel asserts for the requested continuance are disingenuous at best. The fact that he entered his appearance on September 5, 2018, but just recently received the case file appears to be a problem between him, his client, and Mr. Hardee and does not rest at the feet of the Defendants. A previously scheduled trial is something that he should have disclosed to his client and something that his client should have considered before hiring him. ” Moreover, if plaintiff’s counsel had a previously scheduled trial when he entered his appearance on September 5, 2018, why is he waiting until now to request a continuance of the trial setting? It also should be pointed out to the Court that plaintiff has at least two other lawsuits pending in Jackson County, Missouri, with different attorneys on each one.” An eight-year case over vague invoices Logan and Kearney have been embroiled in a legal battle with real estate expert Hartman for eight years. The dispute began over invoices for property maintenance that Hartman alleged were so vague he was unable to determine what work had been done and who had performed the work. When he didn’t receive detailed invoices, Hartman recorded a video showing the invoices and posted it to the internet. Hughes wrote in his recent motion, “Additionally, regardless of how voluminous the case file may be, the issues in this case after nearly a decade of litigation are extremely narrow. First, were there repair and maintenance services performed on plaintiff’s property? Second, did the contract plaintiff signed obligate him to pay for these repair and maintenance services? Third, was the plaintiff responsible for paying for these repair and maintenance services? Fourth, did the defendants or their vendors perform these repair and maintenance services? Fifth, were the amounts that defendants charged plaintiff fair and reasonable? How long can it take plaintiff’s counsel to get up to speed on these issues that have a value of $2,500? As noted, by the time this case goes to trial, it will have been going on in one phase or another for nearly a decade. It is time to bring it to a conclusion by having the trial, as scheduled, on February 11, 2019. The Court should overrule the plaintiff’s Motion to Continue the Trial Setting.” Hartman also filed a Doe lawsuit after numerous libelous posts showed up on various websites, such as Ripoff Report. A Doe lawsuit is filed when the plaintiff wants to determine who is behind a defamatory or threatening anonymous post on the internet or someone who uses a fictitious name for the purpose of scamming or defrauding. Logan and Kearney allege that lawsuit unjustly named them.

FAR 198 The Guru Scam Expected Air Date: 10/18/18 Opening A friend sent me an email the other day with information about a real estate seminar he had signed up to attend. Wanted me to check it out and tell him what I thought. I did some checking and told him he was in for a high pressure sales pitch that rivaled something between a time-share and a used car. But they would be much more polished than either - in fact, you might not even realize you were being conned. I’ve seen these hucksters for years traveling the countryside taking people’s money and providing cheap canned information that anyone could learn for free. What’s worse is they know exactly how to convince you to pay $20-$50,000 and get their money by “helping” you raise your limits on existing credit cards or by borrowing from life insurance policies or your 401-K. If you’ve listened to my shows awhile you know I tend to get on a rant about this practice, but today I’m going to back up and have a little fun. A little later on I’m going to give you my Top Ten signs you’re real estate seminar is a worthless con. We also have Bre Braswell joining us today. She is a Principal at Sole Source Funding and she’s going to tell you how you can get up to $250,000 in unsecured funding to use in your business. That’s right. $250,000. Unsecured. Not attached to your personal credit. Game-changer. How to contact us www.flippingamericanetwork.com Facebook.com/flippingamericamedia Twitter and Instagram @FlippingAmerica YouTube: bit.ly/FlippingAmericaOnYouTube Linkedin: bit.ly/FlippingAmericaOnLinkedIn We now have a profile at houzz.com for what it’s worth. Call our National Comment Line: 404-369-1018, ext 1. Leave your message or your question. Announcements: FlipStarter Nov 2-3, Atlanta, GA   Lunch with me every Wednesday. Flipping America App is in the app store. You can listen to the show, read the show notes, and the entire catalog of shows is now available to you. It’s a free download and there are no upsells or in-app purchases. Free to download, free to listen. Go ahead and give it a try and drop me a line and let me know what you think. Want a quick analytical tool to tell you how strong a potential fix and flip deal is? Download the Property Grade app. You answer 10 simple questions about the property and the app instantly tells you what you can expect to make, your return on investment, your return on cash, and then the program gives the project a letter grade using the proprietary Flipping America Investment Property Grade algorithm.   Guest:  Bre Braswell, Sole Source Funding Topic: The Top Ten Ways to Know Your Real Estate Seminar is Actually a Con: The “nationally known” guru is not in attendance. Whose experience is being taught? Who has the experience to be able to credibly answer audience questions? What is the actual experience of the presenter and can it be verified? The name of the company behind the event is vague, not mentioned, or purposely mis-leading. Where is their headquarters? Who is the person or persons behind this company? Someone did the work to gain the experience to teach. This can be taught from a curriculum and a powerpoint, but the most polished professional who is also inexperienced cannot truly serve a real estate audience. The Presenter’s real estate credentials cannot be easily verified. Does he or she provide addresses of actual properties flipped? The Presenter does this presentation more than once a month. If they travel and do this presentation more than once a month there is NO possible way they are actively fixing and flipping houses. Early in the presentation (usually within the first two hours), they will have you fill out a worksheet with all of your assets as possible funding sources. Available credit card spending, 401k balance, cash value of insurance policies, etc. Later they will use this information to prove to you that you actually can afford their 20-50k in training. They take time to teach you how to call your credit card providers and ask for an increase in your limit. The really sneaky ones will put you in a group, challenge everyone to do it, bring you back and see if you collectively came up with an amount that would buy a house. They make lots of promises to you. And they will seem great! Results - lifestyle. They have an emotional story of their own financial distress and real estate saved the day. They will not let you take photos of the screens or record the event. They want to sell you another more expensive course. Free - Low Cost - High Cost - Upgrade. Ways to check ahead of time: Check the name of the company. Look at their website. See what they emphasize. Google the name of the company followed by the word “reviews.” This may not be helpful, but it can be. One company I researched had over 1000 hits on a website called “Ripoff Report.” Anyone can say anything there and not all of it should be believed. But 1000 reports? Ask in online forums - Bigger Pockets, Connected Investors, Facebook Groups, Google Plus Groups etc. What have you heard about …? At the event, get the presenter’s full name. Find out where he/she is from. Note as many property addresses as you can during the event. Check those addresses online for ownership and transfers of ownership. Look for an entity that owned the property for 4-6 months in the past two years. Later on, if you get a chance to speak with the presenter, casually drop the name of the entity you found and see if you get a glimmer of recognition. If you’re convinced they are lying, just for fun, make up an entity name (or use your own if you have one) and ask them if that was the entity that bought 123 Main St (or whatever). See if they say yes. Comment Line calls and Questions Call 404-369-1018, press 1 and leave your message! Motivational Thoughts for the day Earn a lot so you can have a lot so you can give a lot. -Tom Olson

Mike says sometimes you have people from your past come up and have their effect on you and then they go away. Mike says that this happened so long ago he forgot he reported this guy to the Ripoff Report. This guy had hired Torya to teach him social media. He then had Torya make him a bunch of social media posts. He would approve some and not others. He would then only pay for what he approved. He then used the others (the ones he didn't approve) on his social media. Mike had researched the guy and figured out that he is a criminal. Well, today the guy posted a rebuttal. The rebuttal was nothing but a personal attack against Torya. Torya reads the rebuttal. Mike points out there were about 22 links on the side relating to the guy. He has ripped off so many people. His approach is to not pay people and if they stand up to him, he personally attacks them. They then discuss how it is impossible to apportion blame when two people have done things that are wrong. Each of them is at fault and that's all that matters to Mike. They discuss the outrage on the Teen Mom reunion. Mike sees Kailyn as a "prim and proper college student" and Brianna as a "gangster." Torya gives her opinion of both of them. Torya says they should have a show for each person to fight. They list people they think should be on that show.  They segue into a hilarious conversation about Odie being MacGyver. Torya says he is destructive. Mike insists he is MacGyver. They all say Yogi is a genius, but he can't figure these things out. Odie is MacGyver and Yogi is afraid of his own shadow. 

Libel law leads two lives. Most famously, there is the life of presidential candidates and the New York Times; of celebrities and the National Enquirer; of exposes in Rolling Stone. The rules here seem settled, with the “actual malice" standard and public/private figure distinctions. President Trump seems to be questioning whether they were settled right -- were they?But there is also the life created by the Internet: of Yelp reviews, of gripe blogs, of consumer complaints on RipOffReport and sites such as BadBoyReport.kr and ShesAHomeWrecker.com. People are finding it easier than ever to widely publicize their grievances, whether accurate or not. Here the questions focus more on remedies than on “actual malice" and similar substantive standards. The traditional compensatory, presumed, and punitive damages remedies are often seen as largely pointless. Criminal libel survives, and is in some measure being revived; should it be? Injunctions against libel, long thought by many to be quintessential unconstitutional prior restraints, are routine; is that good? As to either life of libel law, how can the law punish defamatory falsehoods without unduly deterring accurate accusations?Mr. Paul Alan Levy, Attorney, Public Citizen Litigation GroupMs. Libby Locke, Partner, Clare Locke LLCProf. Rodney A. Smolla, Dean and Professor of Law, Widener University Delaware School of LawProf. Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles School of LawModerator: Hon. Jerry E. Smith, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Libel law leads two lives. Most famously, there is the life of presidential candidates and the New York Times; of celebrities and the National Enquirer; of exposes in Rolling Stone. The rules here seem settled, with the “actual malice" standard and public/private figure distinctions. President Trump seems to be questioning whether they were settled right -- were they?But there is also the life created by the Internet: of Yelp reviews, of gripe blogs, of consumer complaints on RipOffReport and sites such as BadBoyReport.kr and ShesAHomeWrecker.com. People are finding it easier than ever to widely publicize their grievances, whether accurate or not. Here the questions focus more on remedies than on “actual malice" and similar substantive standards. The traditional compensatory, presumed, and punitive damages remedies are often seen as largely pointless. Criminal libel survives, and is in some measure being revived; should it be? Injunctions against libel, long thought by many to be quintessential unconstitutional prior restraints, are routine; is that good? As to either life of libel law, how can the law punish defamatory falsehoods without unduly deterring accurate accusations?Mr. Paul Alan Levy, Attorney, Public Citizen Litigation GroupMs. Libby Locke, Partner, Clare Locke LLCProf. Rodney A. Smolla, Dean and Professor of Law, Widener University Delaware School of LawProf. Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles School of LawModerator: Hon. Jerry E. Smith, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Today I'm talking with Mike Blumenthal, an expert in online reputation creation & management as well as search optimization and online presence building. Three years ago, only about 50% of Americans were potentially willing to leave a review about their experience with a business. In the past three years, that number has gone up to 65%. With two-thirds of customers and clients potentially ready to review your business, you can no longer get by with assuming a customer with a lukewarm experience won’t leave a review for the whole world to see. In our conversation today, he uses his expertise to offer a huge amount of actionable advice. If you have a business with any sort of an online presence, you need to hear this episode! Find Out More About Mike Here: Blumenthal’s Mike Blumenthal’s blog @mblumenthal on Twitter Mike Blumenthal on LinkedIn Mike Blumenthal on Get Five Stars In This Episode: [01:14] - Mike suggests starting off by talking not about reputation management, but rather reputation development. [03:30] - We learn what a Net Promoter Score is, and why it’s a valuable number to keep track of. [05:24] - Mike touches on why most small businesses don’t like Yelp, then explains that many reviews are now showing up on Google anyway. [07:29] - If Yelp is ranking #2 for your company game in Google, that makes its contents more important, right? [08:57] - In general, Mike suggests just leaving sites like Ripoff Report alone and ignoring them. [09:34] - Stephan steps in to explain a bit about how Google features various sites. Mike then defines rich snippets. [11:15] - Mike explains more about the use of rich snippets and other review-related items on your own site. [13:04] - Are you allowed to take reviews you find elsewhere (like from Yelp) and put them on your website? [14:40] - We hear about Mike’s suggestions on the process of getting reviews on your own site. He then offers advice for what to do if you already have testimonials. [19:39] - The term for paying for fake reviews is “astroturfing.” [21:22] - Mike discusses how to correct Knowledge Panel information about their business. [25:38] - Can Moz Local fix things in existing listings, or is it only for new listings? [26:37] - Mike strongly recommends hiring a consultant to write your Wikipedia content instead of doing it yourself. [27:27] - We move on to Facebook, with Stephan and Mike talking about its increasing popularity as a review site. [30:35] - Mike offers advice for how to get Yelp reviews if you need to manage a currently negative Yelp profile. He and Stephan also discuss the importance of having Yelp friends. [33:27] - Should we pay attention to sites like YP.com and Superpages? [35:44] - Mike discusses Glassdoor and how to use it to your advantage. [38:43] - Stephan recommends a previous Marketing Speak episode with Kenton Hutcherson if you want to learn more about Ripoff Report. [39:25] - We hear Mike’s tips for getting better images to show for your business. [42:25] - Do you still need to upload inside photos if you run a home-based business rather than a retail store, for example? [43:42] - Mike offers Barbara Oliver Jewelry as an example of a site that has done a great job with its reviews page. Stephan then talks about his own testimonials page. [46:59] - In the world of reviews and ratings, what does Mike recommend that people do in terms of badges? [49:27] - Mike shares his thoughts on Trustpilot. [50:31] - Does Mike have any suggestions on types of awards to apply for? [51:51] - Local search is fundamentally different than organic search, Mike explains. He talks about how these differences are relevant and how to take them into account for your business. [57:13] - Mike points out that it’s important to have followers who engage and share your content, not just disengaged followers. [59:04] - Mike offers listeners several resources, including his Moz Local 2017 presentation. Links and Resources: Blumenthal’s Mike Blumenthal’s blog @mblumenthal on Twitter Mike Blumenthal on LinkedIn Mike Blumenthal on Get Five Stars GetFiveStars Local U Net Promoter Score Yelp Barbara Oliver Jewelry Ripoff Report Pissed Consumer Rich snippets Schema.org Gravity Forms Astroturfing The Carter Center Wikidata Knowledge Panel David Deering Touch Point Digital Marketing Moz Local Jonathan Hochman on Marketing Speak YP.com Superpages Houzz Glassdoor Kenton Hutcherson on Marketing Speak Google My Business forum Better Business Bureau Trustpilot Davey Awards The killing of Cecil the lion Are Words the New Links? - Mike Blumenthal’s Moz Local 2017 presentation  

Alyson Lex is a copywriter who specializes in high converting sales letters and in empathizing with prospects to create more effective sales letters. She believes in four levels of research: socially (how prospects relate to friends) relationally (how prospects relate to you, i.e. have they bought or tweeted you) psychologically (what keeps them up at night) demographics (gender, age, location) Research for Alyson consists of checking out industry news articles, social media (especially the comments section) and sites like RipOffReport to get a handle on peoples' problems, frustrations, fears, and beliefs. Then, her five step copywriting process is as follows: get attention (headline, pre-head, sub-head) identify the problem introduce a solution explain how to get it don't let them walk away without it Alyson also talks about common copywriting mistakes, such as using the word "I" within the first three paragraphs of a sales letter. Resources Alyson Lex (Official Site) Headline Generator (Site) Alyson (Twitter) Alyson (LinkedIn)

Nasir and Matt discuss the life cycle of a negative online review. They talk about how businesses should properly respond, how to determine if the review is defamatory, the options available to seek removal of the review, how to identify anonymous reviewers, whether businesses can require clients to agree not to write negative reviews, and the prospects of suing Yelp, Google, Ripoff Report, or other review sites. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our podcast! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. We’re two attorneys here with Pasha Law. NASIR: This is where we cover business in the news with our legal twist. Today, we’re covering the ultimate legal breakdown of online reviews – something that we’ve dealt with a ton with our client businesses, right? MATT: Yeah, probably more than I was expecting to ever but we’ve had clients where that’s been the only thing that’s been an issue. But, even for the clients that we do a lot of things for, it seems to be popping up with them as well, and I’m sure most people have, if they haven’t left their own reviews, they’ve at least used something like a Yelp or Google Reviews to at least look into something such as a restaurant or something else like that. NASIR: Yeah, and I think early on in the internet, especially with the online reviews, most of the issues were dealing with businesses that deal with consumers. But, now, even B2B businesses, service industry, pretty much everybody has some kind of online profile where people can leave reviews – whether by choice or not, sometimes, profiles get created whether you like it or not. MATT: Right. I’ve talked to a lot of different business owners who were confused how their Yelp pages even showed up. “I didn’t create this!” Well, it doesn’t really matter. They’re like, “Well, we can’t create my own page.” It’s like, well, good luck with that argument to Yelp. NASIR: Yeah. And so, Yelp is a great example of online reviews. In fact, I would say that that’s 80 percent of our business – people complaining about Yelp reviews – and then, 20 percent everything else. It’s one of the most popular ones. In particular, a negative review on Yelp seems to have the most impact. But, also, there’s Ripoff Report. I know, if you get a bad review on Ripoff Report, depending upon how strong you are on the web, that can come up pretty high in the search engines if they search your business. MATT: Yeah. Of course, it depends on the business. Sometimes, you type in a business’ name, it might be a whole bunch of things, and then their Yelp page. If you type the name in the right fashion, if you have a Google business page, it’ll pop up on the right. Reviews are right there, But, yeah, like you said, Ripoff Report, that can pop up really high on a search engine. It’s never anything good. Ripoff Report is only posting bad things so that’s going to be some bad news for your business. NASIR: What’s different about Ripoff Report versus Yelp, on Google especially, Ripoff Report, in their title tags, they’ll put the actual title of the review. And so, unlike Yelp where it may show how many stars, et cetera – which may be negative – but, if they have something scathing like, “Oh, this business is a fraud,” or fraudulent or whatever, that will be what it says in the actual Google result which can be very, very damaging. But is it enough just to be a bad review to have legal action? Probably not. I mean, a true review that is bad has very little recourse, actually. MATT: Yeah. To me, there’s different levels of “bad reviews” or one-star reviews. You have the ones that are – perfect example – you go to a restaurant, it was a terrible experience – bad service, food was bad. If you go on there and write completely truthful things about that experience, that’s just a legitimate bad review. And then, there’s ones where someone might leave a review, it’s more opinion-based or they just didn’t like the ambiance of a restaurant or something to that effe...

One post on Yelp, RipOffReport, or a fake profile on Grindr, and your life can be turned upside down in a heartbeat. In today's online, connected world it doesn't take much for your life or business to be severely damaged if you don't take care of your reputation. But how can you go about doing it when someone has anonymously posted a review? Who can you go after to get it resolved? Jason Hartman picks the brain of one of the most feared defamation lawyers in the United States, Neville Johnson, about just these things. Neville has protected stars like Nancy Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Moody Blues, and John Lennon. He has some tips on how to properly approach the situation, what we might need to do as a society to change things, and what laws people (and companies) are hiding behind to protect their ability to defame you. Key Takeaways: [1:17] How Neville started getting famous clients and get started in the defamation industry [4:52] The importance of the Communications Decency Act, passed over 20 years ago, and the impact it still has today [8:33] Fighting companies just to get them to observe the subpoena they were served [11:26] Our justice system is so bogged down that it might take 2.5-3 years before you go to trial, and some examples of people settling their defamation suits [16:07] A case in the California Supreme Court that potentially has serious ramifications [20:04] The distinction between impersonation and anonymity, and what we do about anonymous postings [22:02] Our defamation laws aren't going to be easy to change because special interest groups have a lot of power, and the potential dangers Google poses Website: www.JJLLPLaw.com

In Episode #298, Eric and Neil discuss how to do reputation management. Tune in to learn the strategies you can use to control your negative results regarding your brand or website. Also find out why getting help from a third party can be very helpful when dealing with your antagonizers. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How To Do Reputation Management 00:34 – Reputation management is managing the negative result for a website or brand 01:04 – Ripoff Report has a ton of reviews 01:28 – First is to look at Moz or Ahrefs; look at the top 10 results and the number of links going to the top 10 results 01:46 – If you have a Facebook page, you can link that to the top 10 results to push negative results down 02:06 – Neil uses InboundJunction—it works out deals with the site and forms a contract so the text will be removed 02:16 – It is the most effective, but most expensive too 03:00 – The post was telling people that Neil isn’t an effective marketer 03:10 – Neil learned that there are people who are difficult to deal with and it’s much easier to just get a third party to solve it 03:20 – Doing guest posts on popular sites like Entrepreneur 03:43 – It is difficult for your site alone to take the 5 spots 03:56 – High domain authority pages can push links a lot faster 04:30 – Reputation is an online reputation management platform 05:00 – Andrew Stubbs is a pay per performance guy who can also help with reputation management 05:30 – Marketing School is giving away a free 1 year subscription of Zapier which automates different web apps, create and different workflows 06:00 – Subscribe, rate and review Marketing School 06:06 – Text MARKETINGSCHOOL to 33444 06:30 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Once you see a negative result regarding your brand or website, find a way to control your traffic or your sales will suffer. There are people who enjoy tearing others down. Talking to them may be difficult so hire a third-party to negotiate with them. Linking to the top 5 spots can pull your positive results up. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

In Episode #298, Eric and Neil discuss how to do reputation management. Tune in to learn the strategies you can use to control your negative results regarding your brand or website. Also find out why getting help from a third party can be very helpful when dealing with your antagonizers. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today's topic: How To Do Reputation Management 00:34 – Reputation management is managing the negative result for a website or brand 01:04 – Ripoff Report has a ton of reviews 01:28 – First is to look at Moz or Ahrefs; look at the top 10 results and the number of links going to the top 10 results 01:46 – If you have a Facebook page, you can link that to the top 10 results to push negative results down 02:06 – Neil uses InboundJunction—it works out deals with the site and forms a contract so the text will be removed 02:16 – It is the most effective, but most expensive too 03:00 – The post was telling people that Neil isn't an effective marketer 03:10 – Neil learned that there are people who are difficult to deal with and it's much easier to just get a third party to solve it 03:20 – Doing guest posts on popular sites like Entrepreneur 03:43 – It is difficult for your site alone to take the 5 spots 03:56 – High domain authority pages can push links a lot faster 04:30 – Reputation is an online reputation management platform 05:00 – Andrew Stubbs is a pay per performance guy who can also help with reputation management 05:30 – Marketing School is giving away a free 1 year subscription of Zapier which automates different web apps, create and different workflows 06:00 – Subscribe, rate and review Marketing School 06:06 – Text MARKETINGSCHOOL to 33444 06:30 – That's it for today's episode! 3 Key Points: Once you see a negative result regarding your brand or website, find a way to control your traffic or your sales will suffer. There are people who enjoy tearing others down. Talking to them may be difficult so hire a third-party to negotiate with them. Linking to the top 5 spots can pull your positive results up. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

Completed, which is based in San Francisco, is the first verified peer review platform to cover all professionals in every industry. Its mission is to create the most comprehensive profile of an individual on the internet. A Completed profile will show the full person including constructive feedback that identifies their strengths and weaknesses, helping people improve themselves while at the same time opening the door to opportunities for other people to engage with them in a positive manner.  In the same way that Yelp! users review businesses, Completed.com allows users to rate and review every professional – from a waiter to Fortune 500 CEO – anonymously or using a verified identity. Completed’s easy-to-use 5-star ratings and reviews, which are verified by the company’s proprietary algorithm, can help professionals identify areas of weakness to improve their work and provide employers an unadulterated profile of a candidate to enable them to hire with confidence. “Yelp doesn’t identify employees, LinkedIn doesn’t identify weakness, one-off professional reviews sites, like RateMD.com, omit most industries, and professional complaint boards, like RipoffReport.com, are not trusted,” said Zammuto.  “The current professional review landscape is broken, and there is a clear need for a central information source and a trusted review system that provides accurate ratings for all professional in every industry.  I invited Michael Zammuto, CEO of San Francisco-based Completed onto the show to find out more. For more information, visit: www.completed.com.

Jim and Dave discuss social media imaging guidelines, YouTube's reduced subscriber criteria for their live stream feature, how Google will be launching "Google Hire" a job search service, and Google's 1210 acre land grab in Reno for future data center site. Jim and Dave also touch on the Google Earth's guided tours, importance of content hierarchy and website navigation, and Google's plan for a built in ad-blocker for Chrome. They go on to say Google offering its own ad-blocker in Chrome that targets specific types of ads that users find particularly annoying (like pop-overs and auto-playing audio and video) may cause those users to never seek out another third-party ad-blocking extension. They discuss how Google did not ban Infowars and how the right wing conspiracy machine had it wrong again, Ripoff Report subverting Google content takedowns through changing URLs, and Search Engine Land's columnist Megan Hannay's article on local reach in a post-rank world.

Jim and Dave discuss social media imaging guidelines, YouTube's reduced subscriber criteria for their live stream feature, how Google will be launching "Google Hire" a job search service, and Google's 1210 acre land grab in Reno for future data center site. Jim and Dave also touch on the Google Earth's guided tours, importance of content hierarchy and website navigation, and Google's plan for a built in ad-blocker for Chrome. They go on to say Google offering its own ad-blocker in Chrome that targets specific types of ads that users find particularly annoying (like pop-overs and auto-playing audio and video) may cause those users to never seek out another third-party ad-blocking extension. They discuss how Google did not ban Infowars and how the right wing conspiracy machine had it wrong again, Ripoff Report subverting Google content takedowns through changing URLs, and Search Engine Land's columnist Megan Hannay's article on local reach in a post-rank world.

Ripoff Report is one of the original complaint websites. It’s basically the work of one person, a man whom the internet describes as a kind of mythical villain, a Keyser Söze who wields power from behind his janky website. Reply All producer Sruthi Pinnamaneni visits his bunker.

With so many websites run by people with dubious ethics (take this one for example), we've been introduced to RipoffReport.com; an Alexa ranked website where the people who've been wronged can let the world know. With nearly 2 million reports filed, these people have a story to tell, but the story starts and ends with duh. This week, The F Plus wants to talk about your MILFaholism.

In Gunfight at the OK Corral, a U.S. Marshal from the prairie is called to Arizona to help his brother stand his ground against a band of cattle thieves. The character is an American archetype that is alive and well in the last untamed frontier — the Internet.Ben Smith, District Attorney for Sac County, Iowa is a modern Wyatt Earp. Unlike Gunfight, he was not summoned to Arizona, but rather Arizona came to him when Tempe-based RipOffReport.com and others sought to exploit a pending murder trial as part of a proxy war against an Internet security expert seeking to expose them. Also, Genevieve Dennis, founder and director of Easy Name Change, introduces us to her website that makes name changing easy.

Greg and Frank offer their take handling negative Reputation Management issues to the point that some websites are called out to Ripoff Report, allows you a central place to enter complaints about companies and individuals who are ripping people off.