~ ~ ~ Up, down, and probably inside out...

Where were their parents?!

The program "Inside Edition" follows the local news at noon on television here. Today, they had a story about two children making prank calls to 911.

The kids were a 13-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy. They made repeated short calls to 911 over a three-hour period, each call too short for police to locate them. During the first one, the girl said, "I was kidnapped. I'm in a dark, dark, place!" You can read more about it HERE.

So, here's my question -- Where the hell were their parents??

Migraines, Blogs, Blogspoot, and Google!

People who blog about Migraine disease and headaches are some of my favorite people. There are some superlative blogs out there that offer readers information, support, and hope.

Sadly, there are also others out there that irritate the daylights out of me. Why? Because they're put up by (I can't and won't say "written by.") people who can't be bothered to write their own content. Instead, they steal content from other blogs or Web sites. I've come across yet another of those who's owner is ripping off articles Nancy and I have written on MyMigraineConnection. Mind you, these articles all have copyright notices on them. This person just seems not to care. This blog is called "Migraine Mastery." It's published on Blogspot, which is owned by Google.

I'd love to give this person the benefit of the doubt and email them about this issue, but I can't. Nobody can email them because they've not put a profile on their blog, or an email address, or even their name. They also don't allow comments to their entries. So, there's just now way to contact them.

Google owns Blogspot, and I could contact them. I could fill out all their forms and snail mail or fax them, but their copyright infringement complaint system is complicated and time-consuming. I suspect they do that deliberately to discourage people from filing reports.

What I'm going to do about this is something I haven't yet decided. For now, I'm sad. Sad, frustrated, and yes, ticked off. Here are the URLs for the articles Nancy and I wrote and they ripped off:

• Migraines Often Tirggered By Chane In the Weather
• Famous Migraineurs - Terrell Davis (written by Nancy Bonk)
• Trileptal Fails Test for Migraine Prevention
• Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires
• Cluster Headaches - The Basics
• Chronic Daily Headaches - The Basics
• Acephalgic or Silent Migraine - The Basics
• Abdominal Migraine - The Basics
• Ice Pick Headaches - The Basics
• more...

Some of these articles have been republished on "Migraine Mastery," without permission, in their entirety. Others have been excerpted. They do say "For more information visit healthcentral.com, but that doesn't excuse using the content without permission. If a blogger likes an article they read elsewhere, there is a legal and respectful way to share it with their readers. They can excerpt a paragraph or two of the article and provide a link to the full article for people who want to read the rest.

You know, in one way, maybe I shouldn't be bothered by this. After all, it may be getting information to more people. Still, Nancy and I spend a great deal of time researching and writing our articles. The HealthCentral Network helps many people, but they have a business to run. When people republish our articles elsewhere, it may be taking traffic away from the THCN, and we must have traffic there to stay in business.

The bottom line is that his is wrong and disrespectful. It's stealing our work. I wonder how bloggers who do this would feel if someone were using their work this way.

Update on Blogspot "Migraine Treatment and Symptoms" blog

Thought I'd post an update on Blogspot "Migraine Treatment and Symptoms" blog.

For a few days after I last posted about this, that blog was "under review" for violation of the Blogspot terms of service. It is now gone completely.

Thank you, Blogspot and Google, for protecting copyright and holding people accountable!

Blogspot "Migraine Treatment and Symptoms" blog

I love my work -- love learning and sharing what I've learned so other people have better information for their struggle with Migraine disease and headaches.

Something I don't love, however, is having my work ripped off. Unfortunately, that's been happening more and more. The most recent culprit is whoever does the Blogspot blog "Migraine Treatment and Symptoms." I came across this blog through a Google Blog Alert on an article entitled "Abdominal Migraine What Is It?" That caught my attention because it's the title of an article that I originally wrote and published on About.com. The same article is now among my published articles on MyMigraineConnection.

This blogger doesn't have a profile on the blog, so there's no way to email or send them a message. So, I posted a comment to the blog asking that they contact me about the article. They didn't. They DID delete the comment AND close the blog to comments. They also published another of my articles, even giving the URL to the article.

It's possible that this person doesn't understand copyright law, but if that's the case, why delete my comment and close the blog to comments? I left my name. Copyright law does NOT say that it's legal to copy and republish an entire article. That is NOT "fair use." Fair use would have been copying and republishing a small portion of the article and providing a link for those readers who wished to read the rest. Posting the original URL or even the person's name doesn't make things legal either.

Obviously, this person likes my articles, or they wouldn't be copying them. If you like someone's work, don't you owe them some respect? It's hardly respectful to copy someone's work. If people don't visit my web sites, I won't have a job. Copying the full article is not only stealing my work, it means fewer people will come to my sites.

Google, who owns Blogspot makes it very difficult to report copyright violations. There's a long list of information that you must provide them with -- via snail mail or fax. They also say that anyone filing a copyright violation report that doesn't pan out will have to pay costs. Well, I'm going to take the time to do their onerous paper work because it's my work that's being stolen.

If you see something on my site or someone else's that you like and want to share, please be respectful and law abiding. Copy and paste only the first couple of paragraphs and provide your readers with a link to the original article. You'll be doing me and other writers a huge service.

Webkinz -- Great for kids, but...

Are you familiar with Webkinz? Before Christmas, all I knew was that Webkinz are adorable little stuffed animals that our grandchildren talk about -- a lot. Since Christmas, I have learned much more since Alex and Morgan gave me a Lil' Kinz Chihuahua as a gift so I can play with them.

Now I can tell you more. Yes, Webkinz are adorable little stuffed animals, but they're much more. When you get a Webkinz, you're supposed to go to their web site and "adopt" your pet by entering the "secret code" printed on a special tag attached to it. When you do that, you get Webkinz dollars to spend on decorating your pet's room, feeding your pet, etc. You can earn more $$ by playing arcade games, searching for gems, answering trivia questions. You can also use KinzPost to send notes and gifts to people you've added to your friends list.

The site is safe and very educational. It teaches children that pets are a responsibility. If they don't pay attention to their pets, feed them, make sure they get exercise, etc., their pets become sad and ill. The games are superb for building hand-to-eye coordination and for learning.

BUT... It appears that the people who run Webkinz are not well prepared for the popularity of Webkinz. Just after Christmas, their site was down for a full day. Even now, it is frequently unavailable. If you have children, you can imagine the impact of their site being unavailable. How many times can kids ask, "Is it working yet?" in one day? Yikes!

In addition to being unavailable so frequently, the site also has problems with malfunctions. To add to that, their support system really stinks! It's hard to find where to ask a question other than some predefined questions they have listed. Once you find where to ask your questions, you will wait and wait for a reply and a resolution of your problem.

IMO, when you have a company that produces a product to be used in conjunction with a web site, you have a responsibility to maintain the site and anticipate the traffic and the needs of your users. This is where Ganz, the manufacturer of Webkinz is falling down. Hopefully, they will improve.

GiftBaskets.com -- Reliable and Professional? Not!

As some of you may know, I started working for the HealthCentral Network in January of 2007; so this was my first holiday season with them. My boss, Dan, and the rest of the staff at THNC are beyond fantastic! It's a great team; very supportive and professional.

On December 6, I went to www.GiftBaskets.com and ordered a holiday gift basket to be sent to THCN, to Dan, for the entire crew. It was to be delivered on 12/13. I received an email that it had shipped on 12/10. It was not delivered on the 13th or the 14th.

On the 17th, I called their customer service number. All the representative could or would tell me was that it was somewhere in the FedEx system and someone from FedEx would call; and no, I could NOT speak with a supervisor. Nobody called from FedEx. Called again on the 18th. Was told that the FedEx tracking system was down and that the GiftBaskets.com representative would find out what was going on and call me back. Once again, no, I could not speak with a supervisor. She did not call back. On Wednesday, the 19th, I called again. Regina was, I suppose, helpful. When I told her I wanted a replacement shipped FedEx overnight, she said she'd try. I told her that Thursday the 20th was the last day my boss would be in the office until after the first of the year. She placed my call on hold, checked with FedEx, and said it would get there, hopefully, on the 20th; if not, on the 21st. Not really good enough since Dan would be gone, but what was I going to do?

Today, I called yet again. The replacement had not been shipped FedEx, but by UPS and was delivered TODAY! Now, mind you, Dan will not be in until January 3. Only a couple of people are even in the office today. The package arriving today DOES NO GOOD WHATSOEVER. When I asked to speak with a supervisor, the woman spoke to the supervisor herself instead of connecting me with him. Once again, I insisted on speaking with the supervisor. I did, but that didn't really do any good either.

I understand that mistakes are made, things happen. What really counts is what a company does when such things occur, and GiftBaskets.com does nothing helpful. Remember, this was ordered on the 6th to be delivered on the 13th. This basket arrived 16 days after being shipped via FedEx, 13 days late. The supervisor had no answers as to why OR why it took me FOUR phone calls to be allowed to speak with a supervisor.

The gift basket looked quite nice, just what I wanted to send. But, it arrived so late that it's worthless. Their customer service was less than worthless.

So, if you want to order a nice gift for someone, do NOT count on GiftBaskets.com. They may or may not come through for you, and for the most part, their customer service personnel are as worthless as a gift that arrives so late that the recipients will be out of the office for another week.

So, to the people at GiftBaskets.com -- bite me! Believe me, you will never receive another order from me.

A new venture... podcasting!

There's no doubt that "multimedia" is popular online. It's also known that people learn differently. Some learn best by reading (visual), some by hearing (auditory), some by doing (kinesthetic.) These are both reasons why podcasting has become so popular and is a quickly growing medium.

For some time now, I've thought that a weekly podcast about Migraine disease and headaches could be a valuable tool, not only for patients, but for their families, coworkers, friends, and others impacted by these disorders. This week, that became a reality with the launch of MigraineCast at www.MigraineCast.com. Oh, and if you have requests for topics to be covered in future episodes of MigraineCast, be sure to leave me a comment!
 

If you suffer from Migraines or headaches or know someone who does, please go listen to the podcast. The first episode is, "Migraines - What Are They, Really," and it's available now. A new episode will be available every Tuesday.

A new year... a new job

With his new year has come an unexpected, but pleasant change for me. Nearly seven years ago, I started the headaches and Migraines site at About.com. It was a great opportunity, and I value the time I spend working there. Still, there comes a time when even good things come to a close, and I left About last month.

That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not continuing to write and work toward better patient education and support or that I won't be continuing my advocacy efforts. I'll still be writing here, and I've joined the HealthCentral Network as the Lead Expert Patient at MyMigraineConnection. At MyMigraineConnection, I'll be writing the same type of articles you're used to, blogging, and participating in the forum. When you have a few minutes, come say "Hello!" Visit MyMigraineConnection.com.