Sep 17 2009
Thursday Midday Links
Just to keep you updated on my tooth situation, apparently I will have to have a root canal. I said to my dentist “with all the advanced technology, this procedure will be totally painless, right?” He looked at me seriously and nodded his head in agreement. While I laughed semi hysterically, he tried to tell me that root canals have gotten a bad rap. That’s news, right? That root canals are totally painless and have gotten a bad rap?
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Google is claiming that it’s gotten a bad rap and it’s CEO is complaining that all the critics just want to preserve the status quo. No, I think the critics don’t want private companies to engage in a complete revision of the copyright law that would affect millions known and unknown, but maybe beleaguered plays better in the press. EMI told Google that it wasn’t going to supply Google with a list of over a million copyright owners. Dennis Chin has told both parties that they need to address some of the concerns. Maybe the Plaintiffs should do so as well. Petit has some question as to why Author’s Guild is speaking for the Plaintiffs of the Google Book Settlement when it isn’t even a named Plaintiff. It’s important to remember that the Google Book Settlement isn’t all about Google at all, but about the power that the Authors’ Guild is trying to coopt for itself in the name of those it purports to represent.
That, however, is no excuse for the Authors’ Guild’s prominent position in this litigation. Although the Authors’ Guild’s name remains in the caption, as a procedural matter it should not: The AG is not a named representative. Similarly, the Executive Director of the AG is not a named representative. Neither is the AG the counsel to the class. Thus, the AG should not be making public advocacy statements concerning the merits of this specific piece of litigation… and certainly should not be doing so “on behalf of” either the named plaintiffs or the absent class members.
There’s some interesting trademark claims going around. The first is that Ambercrombie & Fitch is claiming that Beyonce’s new line of fragrances will be infringing on their male cologne branded “Fierce.” Beyonce’s alter ego is Sasha Fierce. I don’t know what I think about a guy wearing cologne named “Fierce” unless it’s Christian Siriano.
In other trademark news claims is a link brought to my attention by Elise Logan and it hits closer to home. A blogger who doesn’t like a company made a couple of posts about it. The metadata for that post includes the company’s name, Monavie. The company then sent a Cease and Desist letter to the blogger demanding that he remove the company’s name from the source code. The blogger points out that the meta data is generated automatically by a search engine optimization plugin (I use that plugin here at Dear Author). Basically, the plugin scours the page for keywords and then inserts those keywords into the source code of the page. It helps search engines like Google to present the link as a search result. Personally, Monavie appears to be representing an inaccurate knowledge of trademark law. Just because the search term appears in the source code doesn’t necessarily mean that it is confusing to the consumer as to who Monavie is.
Barnes and Noble is bulking up its digital offerings. SparkNotes.com, a division of BN, has relaunched and BN is offering the over 700 study guides in the BN ebookstore.
Dan Brown’s book, The Lost Symbol, was pirated within minutes of its release but still managed to sell more than a million copies in one day. Amazon’s Kindle version of The Lost Symbol was outselling the print version if Amazon’s bestseller lists are to be believed. Over time, obviously, the digital version cannot outsell the print version because of the limited number of digital readers (even assuming 50% of the digital consumers read on their laptops). What it does show, however, is that digital readers are important consumers.
Simon & Schuster has set up a site where anyone can send in links to suspected piracy sites. I wish more publishers would do this because I think it would be a) more effective and b) lessen the advertisement of these sites on various blogs.
Send to Kindle
Sep 17, 2009 @ 11:21:00
People never believe me when I say this, but I swear it’s true—when I had my root canal I didn’t feel it at all. I literally didn’t realize that the dentist had done the procedure. For a bunch of reasons he had to do a lot of poking around in my mouth, checking other teeth and whatnot. I thought that was all he had done. When he stepped away I was about to ask if he was ready to start the root canal when he told me that he was done but I should relax for a few minutes before I got up and left the office.
Good luck! I hope your experience is as easy and stress-free as mine was.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 11:31:32
I suppose the numbers for the digital version of Dan Brown’s new book isn’t surprising. From my understanding, his books have been the top selling ebooks for several years. Makes me wonder if at least half of all people who read ebooks don’t have at least one on their reader or laptop.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 11:38:31
Root canals have gotten a bad rap. They’re uncomfortable (since you’ll have a dam keeping your mouth open for awhile), but pretty painless. I highly recommend taking your ipod or mp3 player during it. You might also ask about going to an endodontist (a dentist who only does root canals). I find they’re generally faster and more gentle.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 11:45:29
I bought it for DH as kind of a joke but as it turned out it smells quite nice. He rarely wears cologne but when he does that’s what he wears.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 11:58:06
My root canal wasn’t bad at all. I’ve had fillings that were much much worse. For me it was like a run of the mill filling, except for the brush thingie… that was interesting.
The bad root canals are generally the people that have put off tooth pain until it was unbearable, and now have an infection on top of it all.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 12:11:22
Both my SO and our friend got root canals (both got 2 in the same sitting) and they were both good to go in less than a week (maybe 4 days of soreness).
Just make sure everything feels right before you leave; our friend ended up going back twice because her hole and a filling both had some issues.
When I got my wisdom teeth removed I was good after about 10 days of recovery, so I figure the doubled-up root canals were about 1/2 the pain. And if you’re only having ONE done, all the better! Good luck!
So far as the Google settlement, I think someone (the courts) ought to lay the smack down on the Author’s Guild for sticking their noses into something that isn’t their business, and then “accepting” settlements on the actual involved parties’ behalf! Can you imagine if this was happening in anther setting??
That’s just crazy! Like the National Contract Manager’s Association suddenly coming in and negotiating bonuses for contract managers, or the American Bar Association determining what the salary requirements for lawyers is. Ridiculous.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 12:21:03
my son just had all 4 of his wisdom teeth out. He missed Friday and Monday of school, but was back to school on Tuesday with minimal pain and swelling. Modern dentistry is truly amazing these days.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 12:27:13
My root canal was no different than a filling, too…and it was infected! In fact, that’s why I had to have one…one of my teeth suddenly “died” at the tip of the root, so my body started to reject it. No cavity, no nothing, until severe pain over the weekend.
But the root canal was just like a filling. A pinch/prick when it’s numbed, then you awkwardly hold your mouth open while they do the work. The dentist gave me a prescription for pain afterwards, if I needed it, but I never filled it. One tylenol was all I ever took. I don’t know if it really hurt that little, or if it just SEEMED that little after three days of some of the most intense pain I’d ever felt in my life.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 12:46:02
Having had several root canals from good dentists and not-so-good, I can tell you that really the only painful part was the shot to numb the nerves. I had one excellent dentist (endodontist) who had a special trick with shots where he did it so slowly and incrementally, I never even felt the pain of the shot. My regular dentist, unfortunately, doesn’t have that kind of patience.
If you can go to an endodontist instead of a dentist, do! That was my best root canal experience.
The only really annoying thing about a root canal is the time it takes to file the tooth remains down, but it’s not painful at all. Jaw a little achy for a while after, but a pain pill and a chocolate shake eases it all nicely. =)
Make sure you get a good, high quality crown. I think it’s worth the expense.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 13:46:32
One root canal. Tooth was infected. Worst pain I had ever had– EVER! And I have a very high pain tolerance. Root canal relieved pain and everything was fine after that. Didn’t even miss work the next day.
I asked my dentist about why the numbing shots hurt much less now. She told me that pre-AIDS they used to sterilize and reuse the needle which would get dull. Glad I did not know that at the time.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 13:51:56
I am going to an endodontist (referred there by my dentist) and it will be next Tuesday. If I am all crabby and horrible in the comments, the root canal will be my excuse. In fact, I might just be horrible in the comments and use the root canal as my excuse. How long can I carry on though? 2 days at the most?
Sep 17, 2009 @ 13:59:10
Ok I’ve said nothing up to now, but I can’t stand it any longer. Pardon me, but RStewie, whose business do you think the Authors Guild represents? Authors. Guild. Yeah, maybe authors. There is NO OTHER organization that represents the legal interests of published authors. Over the decades the AG has stood up against many many attempts to undercut authors in all sorts of ways, and advised authors (and this is the generic term “authors,” ie, any and all) on serious contractual and legal issues. To claim that the AG is making a power grab here is hilarious.
Was the Google settlement ideal? Of course not. But how do you think we got from where we are today, with the Goliaths (Congress and the US Copyright office) finally waking up, and 2004-5 when Google started slurping up copyrighted works right and left? Nobody was stopping them. Do you think the Copyright office was doing squat back then? No. Where were their lawyers when there were articles in Salon and the NYT about how it’s time to put an end to copyright? Google was just bulldozing right through, with absolutely nothing and nobody in their way until the AG filed a class action suit to stop it.
The AG is not rich, because it’s an organization financed by AUTHORS. We pay dues, and authors who make higher income from books are encouraged to pay higher dues, but not forced. It’s not some big fancy organization run by corporations, it doesn’t have 3 floors of full-time lawyers. I don’t know how many they have full time now but a few years back it was operating on one full-time attorney and some interns.
Were you perhaps thinking individual authors should all sue Google and make their own deals? In 2005, I couldn’t even figure out how to opt-out of having my books digitized by them on the webpage Google set-up for that purpose. (OF course opt-in was default.) They insisted that I sign up as a publisher and PROVIDE PROOF that I was the copyright owner of the copyrights they were planning to infringe upon, in order to prevent them from doing it.
Maybe there are a few individual authors out there with the means to stand up to a corporation like Google and file suit, but it’s not very many of us short of Nora and Steven King, and I didn’t see them doing it either.
What happened was, like any little guy in a lawsuit against a big guy, the AG ended up trying to cut the best deal they could cut at the time, in which Google BACKED DOWN from their assertion that what they were doing was Fair Use, in return for this class agreement which allowed orphaned books to be digitized. It wasn’t a power grab by the AG, it was desperation in the face of the juggernaut of Googlebooks, which was already scanning thousands of books. You can criticize the deal itself, that’s fine, there are many things that can be said about it pro or con, or whether they should have fought Google through to the bitter end, but maybe they had the wherewithal to do that and likely they didn’t or they would have, you know? Because what exactly do you suppose the AG or the members of it are getting out of the Google agreement? Rich?
It’s time to stop demonizing the Authors Guild for this. Frankly the copyright office wouldn’t give a hoot about the authors or copyright violation now, if not for the next dinosaur, Amazon, suddenly realizing that they might actually have to pay attention to copyright too, and oh noze, Google might get a jump on them, so their fancy lawyers started screaming and finally got the attention of the Feds. After nearly 5 years of this bosh, when nobody was listening to the authors, any authors, at all.
The AG is more like the Spartan 300 than the evil world dominating power that some here seem to think it is. Having been cognizant of the AG’s desperate struggle to pull the emergency brake on Google’s massive copyright grab over the past several years, I have to speak up and say it’s just an absurd concept.
So critique the agreement, please do. You have made good points about it. But don’t claim the AG is one of the villains, because it’s not.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 14:02:24
If I ever have to get a root canal, something I greatly dread, I am going to come back and read all these comments.
I’m glad about the S&S piracy reporting site, too. Currently, I was under the impression you had to report piracy to authors, which feels weird, because I want to report it to somebody when I see it, but it’s not like I know all these authors or really want to bother them. Sometimes if there are ads and I have a spare minute, I click on the ad and then I let the company have it for supporting piracy. I don’t know if it does anything, though. Probably not.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 14:02:48
I just had a root canal at the end of August (my second) and I had a horrible reaction to it. Hopefully, yours will go without incident. But if your posts are grouchy, we’ll understand. :-)
Sep 17, 2009 @ 14:07:11
Yeah, in my experience (and I’ve had several root canals) the root canal is a breeze – it’s the pain that necessitates the root canal that is well nigh unbearable. If you are having a root canal that’s not necessitated by an infection, I can understand having more trepidation about it, but it’s not so bad. They should numb you up good, and you may be sore after. I always ask for drugs. Better safe than sorry; they’ll try to tell you that you just need to rinse out your mouth with saltwater and take a few OTC pain relievers for any “discomfort”, but I’d rather have a prescription in hand for something stronger when I leave the dentist’s office, just in case I need it.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 15:28:08
I’ve had two. Once, when I was 8. Once a few years ago. I don’t remember the childhood one very well, but the second one was a little miserable. I only took the morning off work, and went in for the afternoon after. I was really sorry I didn’t take the whole day.
On the whole, though, compared to wisdom teeth being removed and gum surgery (which I’ve also had), a root canal is a breeze.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 15:55:43
Yep, I will join in the chorus of “tooth hurt WAY more before root canal than root canal ever did”. The procedure itself was fine. In fact, once he numbed the tooth, I was so happy it wasn’t hurting anymore that I wouldn’t have cared what he did. I took a painkiller that night after the anaesthetic wore off and maybe ibuprofen the next morning after that fine.
Being a wimp, I did insist on him numbing me for the follow up visits, even though he assured me the nerve was dead so I wouldn’t feel anything!
Sep 17, 2009 @ 16:41:32
The root canal isn’t painful at all, but it is incredibly boring, which no one thought to tell me. Bring the iPod as others have suggested and relax. You’ll be fine and won’t feel the need to be crabby.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 16:50:19
It comes in at #3 for me. #1 – labor, #2 – kidney stone, #3 – infected tooth.
I agree that a root canal’s a breeze in comparison to having your wisdom teeth pulled. And all my wisdom teeth were above the gumline when they were extracted.
I think you should go ahead and milk it for at least three days afterward, Jane. =) I hope the procedure’s an easy one for you!
Sep 17, 2009 @ 16:53:08
No. No. No. At least a week. Push it toward a month. If anyone should ask why you are being bitchy merely point toward your jaw and look sad. You’ve been to hell and back and had a flippin’ Root Canal!! You should also be treated to a steak and lobster dinner. They are good for healing. Chocolate also works.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 17:24:29
@ Laura. That’s all fine and dandy but the AG represents 8000 authors. Nobody would have had a problem if they made a deal with google for those 8000 authors. They didn’t. They decided to make a deal with google about all authors everywhere. The AG has no right to represent anyone but its members. And you’re wrong the AG isn’t the only organisation to represent the interests of published authors. There are plenty of other organisations out there.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 17:27:43
Laura, as far as I can tell, the Authors Guild represents (some) American authors but in this case it’s been trying to make agreements which would affect the American copyright of works written by non-US authors (though now that the European Commission’s got involved, Google seems to have been trying to make some concessions to European authors and publishers. I don’t know anything about the situation for non-EU, non-US authors).
In addition, having scanned their website very briefly, I have the impression that the Authors Guild do not represent academic authors, yet a great many of the books affected by the settlement will be academic texts, since Google’s been busy scanning books in academic libraries.
Pamela Samuelson has written a letter in which she outlines some of the objections which are being made by some academic authors.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 18:32:25
I can see how it’s good that the AG stepped in, since no one else seemed to be stepping up, but my main problem with the whole Google settlement is that instead of going the distance and stopping Google until the problem could be properly addressed by all parties, they settled, instead…for everyone.
Effectively, the AG compromised, for everyone, with Google, instead of settling the suit in court, which (theoretically) would have shut Google down (after a long, drawn-out proceeding, presumably) based on their excessive copyright infringements. I understand it would have been expensive and difficult for AG to continue through to a court decision, but I don’t agree that AG was in a position to “settle”.
I don’t think they’re the villain, per se, but I DO think the entire settlement needs to be overturned…both Google AND AG are not in a position to decide this matter all by themselves, and out of court, to boot. Perhaps my comment about “laying the smack down on AG” should have been “lay the smack down on both Google AND AG”–this is certainly not a decision , or a precedence that should stand.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 20:20:15
Endontist = god among men … I’ve had 3 kids with no drugs but the pain of a toothache, omg, Beam me up, Give me drugs … I was sucking back vicodins like they were aspirins — before the root canal — and it did no good whatsoever. But the
godendontist plunged in whatever magic implement he was wielding and it was instant nirvana. Good luck … follow ALL the post-op instructions and make sure your family treats you like a Queen! (and I mean that with no San Fran overtones … seriously, milk it!).Sep 17, 2009 @ 20:46:44
Gosh, spell much: that would be endodontist :D
Sep 17, 2009 @ 21:12:36
@Laura Kinsale: As to why the Register of Copyrights spoke before Congress, it had nothing to do with Amazon’s involvement. The points she made were legally distinct from Amazon’s objection to the settlement, and in fact overlapped only at one point: that Congress, not the Courts, should be the one to find the solution to the problem at issue here.
Let me be clear: I think the LAWYERS hired by the Author’s Guild are either dumb or shady, and it is unclear to me how much of that has been sanctioned by the Author’s Guild.
Let me give one example. The Google Books Settlement purports to wipe out all future suits for trademark infringement as well as copyrights. That’s nice, but none of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit actually own any trademarks. That means that nobody was up there fighting for the value of them. Now if Nora Roberts was a named plaintiff, I would feel better, because she does have a trademark–her stylized NR that indicates something is a new work–and I would think, hey, she would make sure that the trademark was discharged for value (or make sure that it was not discharged in the settlement at all). As it is, I’m not sure anyone even questioned it.
It is a lawyer’s job, and particularly a class-action lawyer’s job, to notice things like this, the named plaintiffs do not adequately represent the interests at stake. The AG’s lawyers did not do that. There are a slew of examples in the objections besides the one I mentioned.
Another thing: The Author’s Guild–who already runs another rights registry–has an associational interest in creating a registry. This is an interest that is separate from the interests of individual authors, who are interested only in getting paid. By their nature, the Author’s Guild is going to want more money to go towards the organization; authors will want more money to go into their own pockets. I don’t see how the lawyers in question can represent both those interests without being conflicted. I’m not sure the Author’s Guild questioned this, either.
I’ve read about 70% of the filings in this case at this point, and so I could go on and on about things counsel have allegedly done that seem recklessly idiotic (did they really send notice to foreign plaintiffs that was translated by machine? are you *kidding* me?). I have edited about 2000 words out of this comment just for brevity’s sake, and as you can tell, brevity is not really my watchword here.
So let me be clear. I’m not demonizing the Author’s Guild for pursuing a settlement. But if even a quarter of the allegations I’ve read in the objections are true, the LAWYERS for the Author’s Guild are either unethical or incompetent, and quite possibly both–and yes, the lawyers *do* stand to get rich.
Sep 17, 2009 @ 22:13:57
A few years ago, part of one of my molars broke off. The next morning, I went to the dentist, meow meow meow, 30 minutes later she’s doing a root canal! It was totally painless during and after, and I had the temporary crown for only 5-7 days. The permanent crown has been holding up nicely, as well.
Which isn’t to say that you shouldn’t milk it for all the sympathy it’s worth, Jane. *wink*
Also, I’m not surprised the Kindle edition of The Lost Symbol was outselling the print version. According to Amazon, the print edition is 528 pages and weighs 1.5 pounds. I know I’m not eager to haul around a doorstop like that and try to keep it open while I’m taking the train to work — I always have to stand during the ride and hold onto a strap or pole to keep from falling. Holding open that book with one hand would be impossible in that situation. Ebooks definitely are the way to go for long books like that.
Sep 18, 2009 @ 01:11:51
Well, I’m glad to know that the feed was changed. I thought my reader was broken or something. (I did delete the old feed and add to the new one about five minutes before reading this post, but I was too lazy to see if the addresses were different.)
Sep 18, 2009 @ 18:14:25
I slept during my root canal. The dentist had put a plastic thingie in to hold my mouth open, and I zonked right out. Most relaxing dental procedure ever.
Wednesday Midday Links Roundup: | Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary
Sep 23, 2009 @ 12:01:56
[...] sales represents only about 5% of the 2 million copies sold so far which was in line with what I thought last week: Over time, obviously, the digital version cannot outsell the print version because of the limited [...]