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Steven Hunley
01-25-2013, 11:12 PM
Plagiarism

by

Steven Hunley


What a player the Grandmaster was. There were rumors he’d been a boy genius, then a Russian Grandmaster at chess. Highly prestigious. Lived outside Petrograd on an estate in the country with his mother and aunt. Government paid for it all. Ate what he wanted, did what he chose.

Fame brought money, and in a typical youthful capitalist/communist way he wasted it, over- steeping himself in wine, women, and song. After that he was a gambling addict who thought he knew all the percentages and formulas, and positive he could correlate the rules of occurrences that determined the fall of dice, the spin of a wheel, every card in a hand of cards, and predict each and every outcome. He indulged in risky behavior, and unprotected sex. Unfortunately, his genius bloomed early in life, and by now his intellect had withered. He never again experienced the shining moments of his youth or savored its tender triumphs. He lived in a dingy studio next to the Babylon, the government still paid his rent, but from a different end of its benevolent spectrum, ten Kunas a week, one step from homeless.

To console himself he’d turned to opium, and under its calming influence, his flame of youth had settled down to passive dying embers, hardly enough to keep a man warm. At one time he was able to look ahead, predict the future, and plan his future moves. But now he spent more time falling behind, lost in reverie. Unwilling to escape his poisoned dreams, he preferred to clutch at fantasy with a crippled hand instead. Sometimes geniuses are so focused on genius they lose sight of their limitations.

Wishful sinful wicked youth, can’t escape the blues. They can’t even get in through the door.

OK madams and monsieurs, here’s the truly literate writer's test. A piece of this is as bold an example of plagiarism as I can make. It’s not hard to find, and there’s even a hint for the youngsters, LOL.

So what is it?

©2013 Steven Hunley

Ooops! Looks like I added a 'th'.

DocHeart
01-26-2013, 05:02 AM
Hm!

Saturday morning coffee is supposed to be leisurely and largely about nothing.

But now you got me thinking, Steven.

cafolini
01-26-2013, 04:26 PM
Plagiarism cannot be based on ideas. It is an application that might be protected. However, generic ideas cannot be protected even when the applications are the same. Check AOL against AT&T on "you got mail."

Steven Hunley
01-26-2013, 11:27 PM
Lyrics to Wishful Sinful by the Doors:

The line is from Wishful Sinful by the Doors…but not quite.

Wishful crystal
Water covers everything in blue
Coolin' water
Wishful sinful
Our love is beautiful to see
I know where I would like to be
Right back where I came
Wishful, sinful, wicked blue
Water covers you
Wishful, sinful, wicked you
Can't escape the blue
Magic risin'
Sun is shinin' deep beneath the sea
But not enough for you and me and sunshine
Love to hear the wind cry
Wishful sinful
Our love is beautiful to see
I know where I would like to be
Right back where I came
Wishful, sinful, wicked blue
Water covers you
Wishful, sinful, wicked you
Can't escape the blue
Love to hear the wind cry
Love to hear you cry, yeah, yeah

OK, so I got it wrong. I thought the lyrics were Wishful sinful wicked you(th) can’t escape the blues. So it was obviously plagiarism if they’d been the same. But I got it wrong, as the lyrics are different! Jim was a poet and published a book of poetry in the 60’s called The Lords and the New Creatures. The experience of reading it was similar to reading lyrics on liner notes.

So out of respect for a poet and song writer I was in no way going to plagiarize the dude. I believe, due to early training in school, in citing your sources.

But now, miracles of miracles, I got it wrong. The phrase is (by mistake) all mine. Do I own the rights to this phrase? OMG, I’m a man who owns ‘intellectual property’! I’m a property owner.

Or am I?

Just in case: ©StevenHunley2013 http://youtu.be/OxckkOwQN_I