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Railroading in 2040

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Posted by MMLDelete on Saturday, November 7, 2020 10:41 PM

Smile

Really, I should have stayed on-message. My bad.

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Saturday, November 7, 2020 8:55 AM

Lithonia Operator
. I'm pretty sure that the News section is the last part of the magazine to "close" before it's put to bed. Add Quote to your Post

   We had a big discussion on the meaning of engines or trains "preparing to leave", and now you talk about the magazine being "put to bed."  Are you trying to start something? Devil

_____________ 

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Posted by MMLDelete on Saturday, November 7, 2020 1:18 AM

This story, about the report on the accident involving the drunk CSX engineer, appeared in the News Wire in Sept 15th.

The same basic story appears in the News section of the current (Dec) issue.

I assume that the online article appeared within a day or two of the report being released (9/15).

I think that gives us a rough idea of how late a story can be inserted into the magazine. I'm pretty sure that the News section is the last part of the magazine to "close" before it's put to bed.

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, November 6, 2020 3:25 PM

Lithonia Operator
However, the lead time for monthly magazines is surprisingly long. So the January issue might be the soonest it was able to be done.

I'm sure they have things planned six months and more out.

Considering that we already see our issues a month before the cover date, and it takes time to physically print and prepare the magazine for mailing and distribution, January may be optomistic. 

Barring a "stop the presses" event, the January issue has already been put to bed.  But the editor's comment may be in it.

Submission guidelines for editorial content indicate that your submission may not appear for six months, if accepted.  I'm sure the staff can drop stuff in much closer to the deadline, but I couldn't find info on when that might be.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by MMLDelete on Friday, November 6, 2020 2:18 PM

I'm not seeing any note about this from Jim Wrinn in the December issue.

However, the lead time for monthly magazines is surprisingly long. So the January issue might be the soonest it was able to be done.

When Don contacted Wrinn, this current issue may easily have already been "put to bed."

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Posted by Euclid on Saturday, October 31, 2020 11:56 AM

Going forward, we may all be looking back to the good old days of 2020. 

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Posted by MMLDelete on Saturday, October 31, 2020 12:07 AM

At my age I look back fondly to almost all those years. But going forward, 2020 will probably always be an exception!

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, October 30, 2020 7:49 PM

SFbrkmn
We all will be looking back talking of the good ole days of say 2007 

I don't know about you, but I already do.  

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by SFbrkmn on Friday, October 30, 2020 2:33 PM

If I'm still kicking, I will be 77 in 2040, long retired and likely no interest of the industry. We all will be looking back talking of the good ole days of say 2007 

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Posted by samfp1943 on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 11:57 AM

So at least there is somewhat of a  'happy ending'.... Could sort of be equated to the outcome of Samuel  Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Coleridge, paraphrased, kind of...  Whistling  "...He went like one that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn:  A sadder and a wiser man,..."  Huh?

 

 


 

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 11:41 AM

oltmannd
Colin was dancing a fine line between plagiarism and inspiration.  The way I see it, it's kind of like someone rewrote A Tale of Two Cities by changing the cities and manner of execution and Madam LaFarge's knitting to embroidery.

I thought of it as a Netflix live-action adaptation. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 11:39 AM

oltmannd

 

 
Euclid

 

 
oltmannd

Heard back from Jim Wrinn.  Most likely going to put a blurb in the next magazine issue saying Colin's article was inspired by my blog. 

I'm satisfied with that.   I hope Colin is sadder, but wiser and keeps writing!

 

 

 

I still don't know what this issue entailed.  You say the magazine will annonce that Collin's article was inspired by your blog.  What does inspired mean in this case?  That does not sound like infringement, plagiarism, or theft. 

 

By the sound of all the discussion here, I thought Collin must have duplicated word for word, what you had previously written and posted. 

Where is the wrong in being inspired and publishing your inspiration?

 

 

 

Colin was dancing a fine line between plagiarism and inspiration.  The way I see it, it's kind of like someone rewrote A Tale of Two Cities by changing the cities and manner of execution and Madam LaFarge's knitting to embroidery.

It's not his fault I didn't submit my story to Trains, so kudos to him for his initiative.

 

Don: You are very gracious and forgiving.  It was Colin's responsibility not to plagiarize and/or give proper credits to you.  

As a professor,  I am not so forgiving of intellectual dishonesty such as his.  His actions would have led to failing the course and a report to the academic dean recommending suspension. 

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Posted by oltmannd on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 8:51 AM

Euclid

 

 
oltmannd

Heard back from Jim Wrinn.  Most likely going to put a blurb in the next magazine issue saying Colin's article was inspired by my blog. 

I'm satisfied with that.   I hope Colin is sadder, but wiser and keeps writing!

 

 

 

I still don't know what this issue entailed.  You say the magazine will annonce that Collin's article was inspired by your blog.  What does inspired mean in this case?  That does not sound like infringement, plagiarism, or theft. 

 

By the sound of all the discussion here, I thought Collin must have duplicated word for word, what you had previously written and posted. 

Where is the wrong in being inspired and publishing your inspiration?

 

Colin was dancing a fine line between plagiarism and inspiration.  The way I see it, it's kind of like someone rewrote A Tale of Two Cities by changing the cities and manner of execution and Madam LaFarge's knitting to embroidery.

It's not his fault I didn't submit my story to Trains, so kudos to him for his initiative.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, October 26, 2020 11:26 PM

Lithonia Operator
His gift was the way he presented the info. I got that sheet twenty years ago, and still look at it probably half the days I practice. I do believe that the sheet was legitimately copyrightable.

Once again, it's not the content so much as it is the presentation.

Two plus two is still four, and in the public domain, but the story problem in which said information is presented may be copyrighted.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Monday, October 26, 2020 11:21 PM
 

SD70Dude

This opens an interesting can of worms, which I'm sure Overmod will have a lot to say about.  

Is software simply a bunch of mathematical equations?  And if it is, should it be able to be protected by copyright?

 

 

000100 0001 110000 01010 111100 011110

0111110 01100 11001 11110 0000101 0010

Might be possible to copyright

 
 
Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Posted by MMLDelete on Monday, October 26, 2020 10:35 PM

Maybe this is a good example.

Nothing about basic music theory isn't in the public domain. But I took guitar lessons once from a guy who had created a hand-out sheet, a very clever gridded chart which showed all the keys, the intervals, etc. The way he had done it was more instructive and intuitive and easy to undersand than anything else I've seen before or since. He had a copyright notice on the sheet, so I never copied it for any of my music-playing friends.

His gift was the way he presented the info. I got that sheet twenty years ago, and still look at it probably half the days I practice.

I do believe that the sheet was legitimately copyrightable.

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, October 26, 2020 8:12 PM

SD70Dude
Is software simply a bunch of mathematical equations?  And if it is, should it be able to be protected by copyright?

Not equations as such - instructions is a better description.

It might be possible to copyright an instruction, but most are part of the language anyhow.

The same might apply to a routine, which is a group of instructions which serve a purpose - but unless the routine does something unique, it's pretty much as open as the language itself.

So a computer program as a whole might be copyrightable, if you will, much the same as a book (a collection of commonly used words and phrases) is copyrightable.  It's not unusual in the business computer to buy or rent a program that will serve your purpose - the Office suite for Windows, for instance.  

Or, if you have the skills, you can write your own - but it needs to be different enough that it's not a direct copy.

This would apply to "apps" as well.  And games.

As background - I've written a number of programs in Basic, Fortran, COBOL, Pascal, RPG, and Job Control Language.  All are based on an underlying software which translates the instruction I write into instructions for the computer to follow.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by SD70Dude on Monday, October 26, 2020 7:55 PM

This opens an interesting can of worms, which I'm sure Overmod will have a lot to say about.  

Is software simply a bunch of mathematical equations?  And if it is, should it be able to be protected by copyright?

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by zugmann on Monday, October 26, 2020 1:37 PM

Euclid

Google this:  can math problems be copyrighted

 

 

I did.  And?

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Monday, October 26, 2020 1:19 PM

Euclid

References I read said that all information that a person presents had to have come from others because all information comes from without.  So when you are born, you are a blank slate with no information.  From then forward, you gradually acquire information from others.  Therefore any published work has to include the sources for all information to avoid being plagiarism.  This includes work based on inspiration.  Inspiration seems to be defined as remembering information produced by others, but not remembering that source.  I do not believe that everyone believes that all information comes from outside of oneself.

 

I would suggest that those of you who do not understand what plagiarism is,  harken back to your college and high school days, where you were almost certainly warned about that.  It's almost never about lawsuits, unless a commercial infringement. But it is a case of theft and/or fraud or misrepresentation.

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Posted by Euclid on Monday, October 26, 2020 1:00 PM

Google this:  can math problems be copyrighted?

 

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, October 26, 2020 11:57 AM

Convicted One
So the verbiage  where it states No part or portion of this book may be copied or reproduced without permission, is just pulling my leg?

I would opine that such verbiage is essentially boilerplate.  

I have little doubt that anyone who tried to sue for copyright violations on something like a math problem would get laughed out of court.  You have the same thing with geometry theorems.  The theorems are the same - it's the presentation that may vary.

OTOH, many publishers of information sources (maps, scanner frequency directories) have been known to insert fictional or incorrect information for the purpose of catching copycats.  This is the origin of the "paper town," a place that only exists on the map as such a trap.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Convicted One on Monday, October 26, 2020 11:24 AM

tree68
it's not the basic information that's copyrighted, it's the presentation.  

So the verbiage  where it states No part or portion of this book may be copied or reproduced without permission, is just pulling my leg?

I guess we are struggling over whether an idea is considered "part or portion"?

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Posted by Euclid on Monday, October 26, 2020 6:54 AM

References I read said that all information that a person presents had to have come from others because all information comes from without.  So when you are born, you are a blank slate with no information.  From then forward, you gradually acquire information from others.  Therefore any published work has to include the sources for all information to avoid being plagiarism.  This includes work based on inspiration.  Inspiration seems to be defined as remembering information produced by others, but not remembering that source.  I do not believe that everyone believes that all information comes from outside of oneself.

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, October 25, 2020 6:27 PM

The arithmetic example is akin to most textbooks - it's not the basic information that's copyrighted, it's the presentation.

 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Convicted One on Sunday, October 25, 2020 2:02 PM

If I was to say "Dewey defeats Truman" have I committed IP theft? The idea certainly originated in copyrighted sources, which I would have no thoughts to that effect if it had not.

Just as reading in Trains magazine that Amtrak  had allocated snow removal costs to their Miami station,  I can't unlearn  what I have come to know.

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Posted by Convicted One on Sunday, October 25, 2020 1:50 PM

I think we often get a "greased-up" interpretation of IP protocol from persons who make their livings creating content they would like to see universally protected.

Proctor & Gamble certainly learned there are limits to their ability to control how their soap boxes might be "featured" in the derivative works of others.  Devil

Sometimes "right vs wrong" does not factor nearly so prominent as does what you can get a jury  to believe.

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, October 25, 2020 12:52 PM

Convicted One
...

if I write  2+2=4 on one side you could say that the mathematical expression is public domain. But, if i gained that knowledge through a copyrighted source, for instance a text book, why should I not be expected to say:

2+2=4*

(* Introductory Arithmatic: Harcourt, Brace, & World 1963)

Certainly walks like a duck

You are not giving proper authentication to the other 2002 Arithmatic books that have been published and copyrighted with the same statements.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Convicted One on Sunday, October 25, 2020 12:27 PM

Euclid
This would mean that ideas that come to people solely from their own consciousness are not their ideas until they research the entire history of time and space to make sure that someone else did not receive those same ideas from their own consciousness at an earlier date. 

That is an interesting point, considering that most of what we know, we learned from others.

if I write  2+2=4 .....on one side you could say that the mathematical expression is public domain. But, if i gained that knowledge through a copyrighted source, for instance a text book, why should I not be expected to say:

2+2=4*

(* Introductory Arithmatic: Harcourt, Brace, & World 1963)

Certainly walks like a duck

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Posted by Euclid on Sunday, October 25, 2020 11:41 AM

All I am asking is whether inspiration can be plagiarism.  I ask because the conclusion of this thread seems to be that Colin committed plagiarism by being inspired by Don’s blog. 

Inspiration is the spontaneous mental reception of ideas and claiming them as your own.  Plagiarism is the conscious copying of someone else’s ideas and claiming of them as your own. 

When person “A” claims ideas that appear similar to ideas claimed by person “B”, how do you know weather person “A” received the ideas through plagiarism, or received them through inspiration?  Or is it the crime of plagiarism either way?  If the answer is yes, then that means that a person can commit plagiarism without and intention of doing so, or any awareness of having done so.

According to references I find, the answer is yes.  That is that whether given ideas come to a person through their personal inspiration-or-- by copying the ideas of others, it is the wrongdoing of plagiarism either way if another person had conceived of the ideas earlier.  In other words accidental, unintentional plagiarism is just as wrong as intentional plagiarism.   

This would mean that ideas that come to people solely from their own consciousness are not their ideas until they research the entire history of time and space to make sure that someone else did not receive those same ideas from their own consciousness at an earlier date. 

 

Unintended or Accidental Plagiarism:

https://secure.tlc.ontariotechu.ca/academic_integrity/module5/module52.html

 

Inspirational Plagiarism:

https://www.christopherfielden.com/short-story-tips-and-writing-advice/inspiration-or-plagiarism.php

 

The Difference between Inspiration and Plagiarism; and Dancing on the Head of a Pin:

https://dailyblogtips.com/the-difference-between-inspiration-and-plagiarism/#:~:text=How%20to%20Distinguish%20Between%20Inspiration,its%20logic%2D%20you%20are%20inspired

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