It was Stream Energy/Ignite Inc. The energy markets in many US states are open to suppliers other than the utility companies. Ignite/Stream offered bad utility rates with pyramid scheme marketing tactics and eventually were sued. Complaint here
Got convinced by someone I very much trusted to join an MLM as a 19 or 20 year old. After my parents learned about it, they were able to talk some sense into me, and I realized I was part of a pyramid scheme. I got out and basically broke even, which was honestly the best possible outcome of that whole scenario. It unfortunately degraded my relationship with the person who convinced me to join, and I never really could fully trust them after that.
Between halite and quartz, absolutely. Halite and sylvite have the Moh’s hardness of 2, so your keys would scratch both.
Licensed Professional Geologist here, and licking is a totally valid method for distinguishing between mineral hand samples that have very similar properties otherwise. For instance, halite (NaCl, aka table salt) and sylvite (KCl) are isomorphous, which means they have the exact same crystal structure and are very difficult to distinguish using traditional methods. Halite tastes like salt, but sylvite makes your tongue tingle when licked. Our mineralogy professor told is it’s the only reliable way to differentiate the two without actual chemistry analysis.
That’s part of what made it sound good at first. It sounded like a unique opportunity with a “legitimate” company, and I was too young and inexperienced to really understand the implications of it, especially when coming from someone I had known for over a decade and really trusted.