How to spot pirated DVD's

Selling and buying pirated DVD's is illegal and people are getting really good at making the fakes look real. So how can you avoid getting scammed? I've recently purchased some DVD box sets off ebay and when they came in they didn't look right. The covers were the same pictures as those I would have bought in say Target or Walmart except the images were grainy and blurry. When I popped the disk's in to watch, the video quality was very low, less than that of regular TV. The vollume was very low as well so the TV had to be turned up very high before you could understand anything being said. My research confirmed that these DVD's were in fact fake. When I emailed the seller they wanted me to mail them back the DVD's so they could "investigate" such alligation. There was no mention of them issuing a refund. When I opened up a clam against the seller ebay "resolved" it by saying: "We let the seller know the item wasn't as described. The seller has offered you a full refund for the purchase price plus original shipping if you return the item. To get your refund, ship the item back to the seller. You will need to cover the cost of returning the item. Make sure you ship the item by Jan 17, 2013." Ebay made no comment on if the seller would continue to be allowed to sale these fradulant DVD's. And when you look up their policy it says they won't do anything until the seller has had many alligations against them. The seller contacted me with snarky remarks: "That's some serious allegations your pushing" "Seems to me that you just want to get this item for free and are throwing some bs towards me." "That is nice. You should also file a small claims court lawsuit and try to get extra $ for moral damages. Just giving you ideas for future. Just know that your cyber unit wont issue you with a refund." Now by this time I didn't care if I got a refund or not. It was more important that they be shut down. Once I had their address I was able to go on Craigslist and low and behold I found many many listings where they were selling pirated DVD's, including the ones I bought at the EXACT same price of $42.99. So how can you tell if the DVD's your buying or bought are fake?: 1) Look at the cover: The cover should have clear pictures and wording. They should be the same as if you were to buy it at say Target or Walmart. Misspelled words are a dead giveaway that the DVD is in fact a fake. Gritty images, matte paper and dull colors indicate that the cover was probably photocopied. The UPC on the back of the DVD case should only be black. If additional ink colors can be seen overlaid over the black in the UPC, or if the lines in the UPC are indistinct because of the bar code’s image being re-processed with a halftone screen over it, then it is most likely that the DVD case has been copied. *Don't even think about ordering a DVD that come without a case even if its supposedly been a previous rental because thats a very easy way to pass off a fake. 2) All store bought DVD's now days are plastic wraped and most come with security seals. If those are missing then its a fake. 3)The advertisement of DVD-9 is often thought to be associated with fake DVD’s because many official studio releases never advertise this distinction; it is counterfeit distributors who specify it in relation to quality to differentiate their products from lower-quality DVD-5 counterfeits. In general, any advertisement of “quality” is a red flag, as original releases rarely mention it. The exception here is some genuine Thai DVDs that do mention DVD-9 if they are also released as DVD-5 (DVD-9 is dual layer and as such often has more extra features). 4)Examine the DVD: If you can see through it very well, it is most likely not authentic, though this is not always the case. If the disk is blue, gold, purple, etc of the colors listed above, it is most likely not a mass-produced DVD. Hold the DVD up to the light and tilt it to one side. You may be able to see a well-known manufacturer’s name, such as Maxell. If the disc has such a name, then the DVD was a burnable disc, and the disc’s contents are counterfeit. 5)Put the DVD into your DVD drive. In Windows, click on My Computer, then click your player’s drive. It will give you the size of the disc. There should be close to 5 GB used on a single layer or more on a double layer (but this varies depending on running time). Then go through Windows Explorer and right click on various files stored on the DVD to check properties. Look for the creation date. If the DVD is out of print, for example, and the date is recent, something is not right. However, this will probably not work with Disney imported DVD’s with copy protection and results may be misleading. 6)If the spine of the DVD is very thin, and the case is opaque, it is probably fake *Most counterfeits tend to come from Asia. If you are considering purchasing from an auction and the seller is shipped from Asia, be wary. Look to see what else they are selling and eye the descriptions very carefully. It should be noted though that many vendors from Asia do sell genuine DVDs and it would be unfair (and also possibly illegal) to discriminate against sellers based upon geographic location alone. Ive recently recieved fakes from here in the USA *Complain to the seller. If it is a store or a business, contact them for a refund. If they refuse, file a report with the Better Business Bureau or your country’s equivalent. If it is a street vendor, report them to your local authorities. And if it is an online seller, such as at an auction site, report them to the coordinating party and leave negative feedback. You can also report a seller of counterfeits to the studio’s anti-piracy department. If you do purchase a counterfeit DVD from a major online auction, you could report it to the FBI if you live in the USA: it is a federal case, not a local one. Who to look out for: ebay seller: kristazarnssales krista zarns Just beware, if the price is too good to be true, its probably because your buying pirated DVD's

Taylor Swift's Book Picks

According to the Sony Reader Library Taylor Swift's favorite and most influential book picks are:

Girl with a pearl earring by Tracy Chevalier

Stargirl by Sheila Weller

Holes by Luis Sachar

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Ive got a crawler!!

We're doing a toy drive to benefit Children's Hospital Central CA (Madera) for Christmas. Our hopes is to get toys, books, coloring books, blankets WHATEVER for ALL age groups. The donation will be made in Mid December when we take Liam back for a check-up. If you are interested in donating please contact us so that we have get you a mailing address. We appriciate every item as will the kids who have to spend Christmas in the hospital. Lets joing together and give sick kids a great Christmas!! http://mommyconfessionalinmyshoes.blogspot.com

Rafflecopter Launch Party Giveaway: Win an iPad & a Kindle Fire

I enetered to win a iPad and Kindle fire. Its free. All you have to do is go to http://blog.rafflecopter.com/2012/01/rafflecopter-launch-party/ to enter and win, but you have to hurry because theres only 5 days left!

11/2/2011

We were finnaly able to get Liam's feeds up to 4ml's per hour. He seems to be handling them well. He has no signs on respitory distress or high heart rate. Sometime early next week or as early as friday he will be going to have a CT scan. Because he is a baby and moves alot they will have to put him under and intubate him. I know its a test he really needs done but I am worried that this time around they won't be bale to excubate him or when they do him lung will colapse. It's always a fear. After his CT and he starts bottle feeding some we might get to take him home for awhile depending on what the CT shows. We will be back within a month for a follow up with the surgeons. There will also be follow ups with a pulmanalogist, geneticist, ocupational therapist and more. The surgeon told us today her reccomendation is to let Liam heal and rest up from this last surgery before we do another. She won't do his diaphragm until he's completly healed up unless absolutely neccessary. I'm praying we can have him home with us on thanksgiving and christams instead of spending it in the hospital. Pastor Mark came up and fellowshiped with us today. He read us Psalms 141 and prayed for Liam and our family. Spiritually I had been trying to hold on strong but knew I was weak. It did wonders for me to be able to listen to as well as talk about the blessing's God has given us. We haven't been to church in way too long yet our Pastor and our church are supporting us, praying for us. I feel guilty for having strayed away. I feel worse that my daughter hasnt been to church since she was too young to remember. Hopefully, God willing, Liam will be well enough that we can start going back to church. Now its comming up on RSV season and we have to be even more careful than before. There are so many unknown and uncertainties ahead of us.

11/1/2011

We keep getting hit with new issues left and right with Liam's health. Yesterday he had blisters on his face. It turned out to be contact dermititus. They put some cream on it and it was almost gone by morning. Yesterday we had to lower his feeds from 24ml's per hour to 16ml's per hour because he wasn't tolerating the feeds. His heart rate and respitory rate were too high all night long the night before. We had put him back on oxygen that night and it didn't take care of the problem so yesterday morning we lowered the feeds and within hours his heart rate and respitory rate went back to normal. We started mylacon drops and tylanol to help with gas and pain. This morning the specialist came in and gave us more news. They said the radiologist looked at Liam's xray and it appears his left lung (repair side) was stretched out during his repair surgery. Thats not good. It's also the reason his left lung appears twice the size of his right lung when his left lung was his underdeveloped lung. I had asked that question many times since seeing his xrays here at Childrens. Now theyre trying to get ahold of Liam's xrays and CT from USCSF so they don't have to do another one. Theyre hoping the CT and xrays will help explain why and how this happened. Just when I think things are looking up, things go down hill. I'm really struggling with this whole situation. I know God only chooses strong parents for these babies, but the blow is still harsh. They say the first year is full of hard times. Struggles and hospital stays. Then after the first year things are supposed to be more "normal". We're only 3 1/2 months into this. If I'm struggling this much, I can only imagine how Liam feels. It's so hard being here at a hospital 24-7. So very depressing. I won't leave Liam alone for more than I absolutely have too. I feel like I have to be here with him. Going home for a day or two just isn't an option in my book. Home feels so empty without him there. It's hard having two kids when one is in the hospital. It's harder to choose who to be with knowing that the other one will be alone. I know Lanie is not alone but I know she needs me. She doesn't get near enough of my attention as she deserves. No matter what I do it feels like I can't win for trying. ......
The pulmanologist came in and she basically wanted to know if we planned to follow up with them or UCSF. I told her if we could follow up with them we will. She said ok because they were having issues with UCSF wanting to release Liam's medical records even though I signed the paperwork so she wanted to order a CT scan but refuse to do so if were just going to be following up with UCSF. Waiting for her to come back now to let me know. She wanted to know what the plan was for Liams high right side so I told her the plan was it had to be repaired. I also told her that Dr Jones said she could repaire it here at Children's. so our plan was to do it here. I just pray we can start having good news soon.

10/29/2011

Liam is healing from his surgery. There were no complications. His lung did partially colapse yesterday but has since start re-inflating. He hasn't needed morphone since the night after surgery and has only been needing 1 dose of tylanol every 12-14 hours so far. I am very proud of him for being such a strong little boy. He was moved out of PICU today. Liam has slept most the day away again but he needs to to heal. He has only woken up to cry when his diaper was dirty or he felt hungry. Crying for food is an improvement already. It was like music to my ears. He hadn't been crying fo food lately because it hurt his belly everytime he ate. They're slowly weaning him off the oxygen/ We need to completly wean him off oxygen, get full feeds going and learn how to care for the Gtube as well as put one in ourselves before he will be released. We're looking at 5 days min unless they really try to rush him out. We refuse to let them rush him out the door though. I want to know that when we take Liam home that we will be staying home for while before we have to see another hospital again. .